Primary angiitis of the central nervous system presenting with subacute and fatal course of disease: a case report

BACKGROUND: Primary angiitis of the central nervous system is an idiopathic disorder characterized by vasculitis within the dural confines. The clinical presentation shows a wide variation and the course and the duration of disease are heterogeneous. This rare but treatable disease provides a diagnostic challenge owing to the lack of pathognomonic tests and the necessity of a histological confirmation. CASE PRESENTATION: A 28-year-old patient presenting with headache and fluctuating signs of encephalopathy was treated on the assumption of viral meningoencephalitis. The course of the disease led to his death 10 days after hospital admission. Postmortem examination revealed primary angiitis of the central nervous system. CONCLUSION: Primary angiitis of the central nervous system should always be taken into consideration when suspected infectious inflammation of the central nervous system does not respond to treatment adequately. In order to confirm the diagnosis with the consequence of a modified therapy angiography and combined leptomeningeal and brain biopsy should be considered immediately

Wrist-Worn Wearables Based on Force Myography: On the Significance of User Anthropometry

Background Force myography (FMG) is a non-invasive technology used to track functional movements and hand gestures by sensing volumetric changes in the limbs caused by muscle contraction. Force transmission through tissue implies that differences in tissue mechanics and/or architecture might impact FMG signal acquisition and the accuracy of gesture classifier models. The aim of this study is to identify if and how user anthropometry affects the quality of FMG signal acquisition and the performance of machine learning models trained to classify different hand and wrist gestures based on that data. Methods Wrist and forearm anthropometric measures were collected from a total of 21 volunteers aged between 22 and 82 years old. Participants performed a set of tasks while wearing a custom-designed FMG band. Primary outcome measure was the Spearman’s correlation coefficient (R) between the anthropometric measures and FMG signal quality/ML model performance. Results Results demonstrated moderate (0.3 ≤|R| < 0.67) and strong (0.67 ≤ |R|) relationships for ratio of skinfold thickness to forearm circumference, grip strength and ratio of wrist to forearm circumference. These anthropometric features contributed to 23–30% of the variability in FMG signal acquisition and as much as 50% of the variability in classification accuracy for single gestures. Conclusions Increased grip strength, larger forearm girth, and smaller skinfold-to-forearm circumference ratio improve signal quality and gesture classification accuracy

Evidence-Based PET for Abdominal and Pelvic Tumours

Evidence-based data about the usefulness of positron emission tomography (PET) and hybrid imaging methods (PET/CT and PET/MRI) in abdominal and pelvic tumours have been collected and discussed in this chapter. These data were divided in three sections: (1) gastrointestinal tumours, (2) uro-genital tumours, (3) gynaecological tumours. Several pooled data (diagnostic and prognostic data), clinical settings (e.g. staging, restaging, treatment evaluation) and radiotracers as fluorine-18 fluorodeoxyglucose (18F-FDG), radiolabelled choline and prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) were considered

MRI measurements of craniospinal and intracranial volume change in healthy and head trauma cases BUILDING NEW BRIDGES AT THE FRONTIERS OF ENGINEERING AND MEDICINE

The volumes of the intracranial space and the craniospinal system as a whole change during the cardiac cycle. These volume changes are caused by the pulsatile arterial inflow to the cranium, venous outflow from the cranium, and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) flow that oscillates back and forth between the cranium and the spinal canal. The volume changes can be measured accurately and reproducibly using a dynamic, motion-sensitive MRI technique [1]. It appears intuitive that the volume change of the entire craniospinal system (CSVC) should be greater than the intracranial volume change (ICVC). However, since they exhibit varying temporal information, CSVC can be smaller than ICVC. In the present study, these volume changes were measured in healthy humans and trauma cases. In the trauma cases, it was found that CSVC was smaller than ICVC. The cause was found to be increased pulsatility in the venous flow channels. It is suspected that the resulting relationship between ICVC and CSVC is related to the incidence of trauma, and perhaps CSVC being smaller than ICVC could serve as an indicator

A DXDR large deflection analysis of uniformly loaded square, circular and elliptical orthotropic plates using non-uniform rectangular finite-differences

A finite-difference analysis of the large deflection response of uniformly loaded square, circular and elliptical clamped and simply-supported orthotropic plates is presented. Several types of non-uniform (graded) mesh are investigated and a mesh suited to the curved boundary of the orthotropic circular and elliptical plate is identified. The DXDR method-a variant of the DR (dynamic relaxation) method-is used to solve the finite-difference forms of the governing orthotropic plate equations. The DXDR method and irregular rectilinear mesh are combined along with the Cartesian coordinates to treat all types of boundaries and to analyze the large deformation of non-isotropic circular/elliptical plates. The results obtained from plate analyses demonstrate the potential of the non-uniform meshes employed and it is shown that they are in good agreement with other results for square, circular and elliptical isotropic and orthotropic clamped and simply-supported plates in both fixed and movable cases subjected to transverse pressure loading