Evaluation of vertebral artery dominance, hypoplasia and variations in the origin: angiographic study in 254 patients

Background: The aim of this study was to determine the dimensional characteristics and variations in the origin of vertebral arteries (VA). Materials and methods: We retrospectively reviewed angiographic studies in 254 patients (133 males, 121 females) for the evaluation of diameter differences in VA. We examined different criteria from the literature (difference of ≥ 0.3 mm, ≥ 0.8 mm, ≥ 1 mm between the widths of two VA and diameter ratio more than 1.4) to find out the dominant VA, rate of co-dominance and hypoplasia. The differences among groups were analysed using the c2 and Kruskal-Wallis test. Also concordance analysis test was used to determine correspondence between the tests. We also noticed the variations in the origin of VA. Results: The average diameter of VA in 254 patients was 3.21 ± 0.7 mm on the right, and 3.16 ± 0.7 mm on the left. The average diameter difference was found 0.88 ± 0.7 mm. The rate of hypoplasia was found 7.1% on the right and 9.4% on the left. Among 254 patients according to the criterion of any diameter difference; right side was found wider in 126 (49.6%) patients and left side was found wider in 120 (47.2%) patients. The criterion of 0.3 mm or greater difference showed right VA dominance in 107 (42.1%) patients, left VA dominance in 99 (39%) patients. Co-dominance was mainly observed when we used the criteria of 0.8 mm and 1 mm or greater difference and diameter ratio more than 1.4. We found out harmony of two criterion of difference of ≥ 0.8 mm and ≥ 1 mm (concordance analysis test, 76.1%). There was no statistically significant relation between age, gender and any dominance criteria (p > 0.05). The majority of VA showed classical origin arising from both subclavian arteries with a rate of 94.9%. Conclusions: The most striking result we have found is the dominance of the right VA in diameter by using all different criteria unlike with previous reports in the literature.

The Current Perspectives of Stem Cell Therapy in Orthopedic Surgery

Context: Musculoskeletal injuries may be painful, troublesome, life limiting and also one of the global health problems. There has been considerable amount of interest during the past two decades to stem cells and tissue engineering techniques in orthopedic surgery, especially to manage special and compulsive injuries within the musculoskeletal system. Evidence Acquisition: The aim of this study was to present a literature review regarding the most recent progress in stem cell procedures and current indications in orthopedics clinical care practice. The Medline and PubMed library databases were searched for the articles related with stem cell procedures in the field of orthopedic surgery and additionally the reference list of each article was also included to provide a comprehensive evaluation. Results: Various sources of stem cells have been studied for orthopedics clinical care practice. Stem cell therapy has successfully used for major orthopedic procedures in terms of bone-joint injuries (fractures-bone defects, nonunion, and spinal injuries), osteoarthritis-cartilage defects, ligament-tendon injuries, femoral head osteonecrosis and osteogenesis imperfecta. Stem cells have also used in bone tissue engineering in combining with the scaffolds and provided faster and better healing of tissues. Conclusions: Large amounts of preclinical studies have been made of stem cells and there is an increasing interest to perform these studies within the human population but preclinical studies are insufficient; therefore, much more and efficient studies should be conducted to evaluate the efficacy and safety of stem cells

Extending and validating a human papillomavirus (HPV) knowledge measure in a national sample of Canadian parents of boys

As the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine is now recommended for males, a reliable, comprehensive HPV knowledge measurement tool which addresses issues relevant to males is needed. We aimed to replicate, validate and test the comprehensiveness of an existing general HPV and an HPV vaccination knowledge scale in English and French. We also measured parental HPV knowledge and changes over time. An online questionnaire was administered in February (Time 1; T1) and November 2014 (Time 2; T2) to a nationally representative sample of Canadian parents of boys. Dimensionality, internal consistency and model fit were evaluated at both time points and separately in English and French sub-samples. Differences in knowledge scores were measured. Analyses were performed on 3117 participants at T1 and 1427 at T2. The 25-item HPV general knowledge and an 11-item HPV vaccination scale were unidimensional, showed high internal consistency (α>0.87, α>0.73) and had good model fit. Both general HPV and vaccine-specific knowledge significantly increased over time in both languages, but remained low at T2, with only about half of the items being answered correctly. Correct responses at T2 are best explained by correct responses at T1, with some small changes from 'Don't know' at T1 to correct at T2. The extended general and vaccine-specific knowledge scales are valid, reliable and comprehensive, and could be used among parents of boys, in both English and French. Educational interventions could target specific knowledge gaps and focus on providing information rather than correcting misconceptions

The value of Nigella sativa in the treatment of experimentally induced rhinosinusitis

Obiettivo del presente studio è stato quello di investigare leffetto della Nigella sativa e della cefalexina nel trattamento della rinosinusite batterica indotta in setting sperimentale. La rinosinusite batterica è stata indotta mediante stafilococco aureo. I conigli sono stati suddivisi in 5 gruppi; uno di controllo (n = 6), N. sativa 50 mg/kg/d (n = 6), N. sativa 100 mg/kg/d (n = 6), N. sativa 200 mg/kg/d (n = 6), e cefalexina 20 mg/kg/d (n = 6). La N. sativa è stata somministrata per via orale per 7 giorni. Lo stesso volume di soluzione salina (% 0,9 NaCl) è stato quindi somministrato al gruppo di controllo per lo stesso periodo di tempo. Dopo il periodo di trattamento i campioni di mucosa dei seni mascellari sono stati valutati utilizzando metodologie istopatologiche e stereologiche. La metà dei campioni di mucosa del seno mascellare sono stati congelati a -80°C per una successiva analisi dei livelli di ossido nitrico. Lanalisi patologica ha rivelato un intenso processo infiammatorio in atto nei conigli trattati con sola soluzione salina. Solo un lieve grado di infiammazione è stato invece rilevato nei conigli nei gruppi trattati con cefalexina, N. sativa 100 mg/kg/d, e N. sativa 200 mg/kg/d. Il livello di ossido nitrico, elevato nel gruppo placebo, è risultato invece essere ridotto negli altri gruppi. La N. sativa potrebbe prevenire i ambiamenti istopatologici indotti dalla rinosinusite mediante una riduzione dei livelli di ossido nitrico con andamento dose dipendente, e potrebbe essere usata nel trattamento della rinosinusite

Non Equilibrium Electronic Distribution in Single Electron Devices

The electronic distribution in devices with sufficiently small diemnsions may not be in thermal equilibrium with their surroundings. Systems where the occupancies of electronic states are solely determined by tunneling processes are analyzed. It is shown that the effective temperature of the device may be higher, or lower, than that of its environment, depending on the applied voltage and the energy dependence of the tunneling rates. The I-V characteristics become asymmetric. Comparison with recent experiments is made

Meta-Stable Brane Configurations of Triple Product Gauge Groups

From an N=1 supersymmetric electric gauge theory with the gauge group SU(N_c) x SU(N_c') x SU(N_c'') with fundamentals for each gauge group and the bifundamentals, we apply Seiberg dual to each gauge group and obtain the N=1 supersymmetric dual magnetic gauge theories with dual matters including the additional gauge singlets. By analyzing the F-term equations of the dual magnetic superpotentials, we describe the intersecting brane configurations of type IIA string theory corresponding to the meta-stable nonsupersymmetric vacua of this gauge theory. We apply also to the case for N=1 supersymmetric electric gauge theory with the gauge group Sp(N_c) x SO(2N_c') x Sp(N_c'') with flavors for each gauge group and the bifundamentals. Finally, we describe the meta-stable brane configurations of multiple product gauge groups.Comment: 80pp, 10 figures; shorten the draft and to appear in IJMP

On supersymmetry breaking in string theory from gauge theory in a throat

We embed the supersymmetry breaking mechanism in N=1 SQCD of hep-th/0602239 in a smooth superstring theory using D-branes in the background R^4 \times SL(2)_{k=1}/U(1) which smoothly captures the throat region of an intersecting NS5-brane configuration. A controllable deformation of the supersymmetric branes gives rise to the mass deformation of the magnetic SQCD theory on the branes. The consequent instability on the open string worldsheet can be followed onto a stable non-supersymmetric configuration of D-branes which realize the metastable vacuum configuration in the field theory. The new brane configuration is shown to backreact onto the background such as to produce different boundary conditions for the string fields in the radial direction compared to the supersymmetric configuration. In the string theory, this is interpreted to mean that the supersymmetry breaking is explicit rather than spontaneous.Comment: 29 pages, harvmac, 8 figures; v2 typos corrected, reference adde

Are Canadian Women Prepared for the Transition to Primary HPV Testing in Cervical Screening? A National Survey of Knowledge, Attitudes, and Beliefs

As Canadian provinces and territories prepare to transition to HPV-based primary screening for cervical cancer, failure to identify and address potential barriers to screening could hinder program implementation. We examined screening-eligible Canadians' attitudes towards and knowledge of cervical screening. A nationally representative sample of screening-eligible Canadians (N = 3724) completed a web-based survey in the summer of 2022. Oversampling ensured that half of the sample were underscreened for cervical cancer (>3 years since previous screening or never screened). The participants completed validated scales of cervical cancer, HPV, and HPV test knowledge and HPV test and self-sampling attitudes and beliefs. Between-group differences (underscreened vs. adequately screened) were calculated for scales and items using independent sample t-tests or chi-square tests. The underscreened participants (n = 1871) demonstrated significantly lower knowledge of cervical cancer, HPV, and the HPV test. The adequately screened participants (n = 1853) scored higher on the Confidence and Worries subscales of the HPV Test Attitudes and Beliefs Scale. The underscreened participants scored higher on the Personal Barriers and Social Norms subscales. The underscreened participants also endorsed greater Autonomy conferred by self-sampling. Our findings suggest important differential patterns of knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs between the underscreened and adequately screened Canadians. These findings highlight the need to develop targeted communication strategies and promote patient-centered, tailored approaches in cervical screening programs

U(n) Spectral Covers from Decomposition

We construct decomposed spectral covers for bundles on elliptically fibered Calabi-Yau threefolds whose structure groups are S(U(1) x U(4)), S(U(2) x U(3)) and S(U(1) x U(1) x U(3)) in heterotic string compactifications. The decomposition requires not only the tuning of the SU(5) spectral covers but also the tuning of the complex structure moduli of the Calabi-Yau threefolds. This configuration is translated to geometric data on F-theory side. We find that the monodromy locus for two-cycles in K3 fibered Calabi-Yau fourfolds in a stable degeneration limit is globally factorized with squared factors under the decomposition conditions. This signals that the monodromy group is reduced and there is a U(1) symmetry in a low energy effective field theory. To support that, we explicitly check the reduction of a monodromy group in an appreciable region of the moduli space for an $E_6$ gauge theory with (1+2) decomposition. This may provide a systematic way for constructing F-theory models with U(1) symmetries.Comment: 41 pages, 14 figures; v2: minor improvements and a reference adde

Meta-Stable Brane Configurations with Seven NS5-Branes

We present the intersecting brane configurations consisting of NS-branes, D4-branes(and anti D4-branes) and O6-plane, of type IIA string theory corresponding to the meta-stable nonsupersymmetric vacua in four dimensional N=1 supersymmetric SU(N_c) x SU(N_c') x SU(N_c'') gauge theory with a symmetric tensor field, a conjugate symmetric tensor field and bifundamental fields. We also describe the intersecting brane configurations of type IIA string theory corresponding to the nonsupersymmetric meta-stable vacua in the above gauge theory with an antisymmetric tensor field, a conjugate symmetric tensor field, eight fundamental flavors and bifundamentals. These brane configurations consist of NS-branes, D4-branes(and anti D4-branes), D6-branes and O6-planes.Comment: 34pp, 9 figures; Improved the draft and added some footnotes; Figure 1, footnote 7 and captions of Figures 7,8,9 added or improved and to appear in CQ