811 research outputs found
A study of the discomalleolar ligament in the adult human
The discomalleolar ligament (Pinto’s ligament) is not described in the anatomy textbooks
but was demonstrated by Pinto and others. This is a ligamentous structure
connecting the malleus in the tympanic cavity and the articular disc and capsule of
the temporomandibular joint. This anatomical relationship between the middle ear
and the temporomandibular joint is supposed to be one of the explanations for the
aural symptoms associated with temporomandibular joint dysfunction.
The objectives of our study were to determine: (1) the frequency of occurrence
and morphology of the discomalleolar ligament, (2) its attachments, (3) the morphology
of Pinto’s ligament in endoscopic visualisation, and (4) whether tension
applied to the discomalleolar ligament could elicit movement of the malleus. Fourteen
adult human temporomandibular joint and tympanic cavity specimens were
examined with the use of an endoscope and then by gross dissection with the
superior approach and with the use of the operating microscope.
Endoscopic visualisation showed in four cases a band of tissue in the upper
temporomandibular joint compartment, known as Pinto’s ligament. The dissections
exposed a discomalleolar ligament in 11 specimens. We were able to identify
two main types of this ligament on the basis of its shape. The discomalleolar
ligament was either triangular in shape, as in the first group of seven specimens,
or longitudinal in shape, as in the second group of four specimens. We observed
that tension applied to the discomalleolar ligament resulted in movement
of the malleus in three specimens
Trigeminal neuralgia: a practical guide
Trigeminal neuralgia (TN) is a highly disabling disorder characterised by very severe, brief and electric shock like recurrent episodes of facial pain. New diagnostic criteria, which subclassify TN on the basis of presence of trigeminal neurovascular conflict or an underlying neurological disorder, should be used as they allow better characterisation of patients and help in decision-making regarding medical and surgical treatments. MR, including high-resolution trigeminal sequences, should be performed as part of the diagnostic work-up. Carbamazepine and oxcarbazepine are drugs of first choice. Lamotrigine, gabapentin, pregabalin, botulinum toxin type A and baclofen can be used either alone or as add-on therapy. Surgery should be considered if the pain is poorly controlled or the medical treatments are poorly tolerated. Trigeminal microvascular decompression is the first-line surgery in patients with trigeminal neurovascular conflict while neuroablative surgical treatments can be offered if MR does not show any neurovascular contact or where patients are considered too frail for microvascular decompression or do not wish to take the risk
Can treatment success with 5% lidocaine medicated plaster be predicted in cancer pain with neuropathic components or trigeminal neuropathic pain?
An expert group of 40 pain specialists from 16 countries performed a first assessment of the value of predictors for treatment success with 5% lidocaine-medicated plaster in the management of cancer pain with neuropathic components and trigeminal neuropathic pain. Results were based on the retrospective analysis of 68 case reports (sent in by participants in the 4 weeks prior to the conference) and the practical experience of the experts. Lidocaine plaster treatment was mostly successful for surgery or chemotherapy-related cancer pain with neuropathic components. A dose reduction of systemic pain treatment was observed in at least 50% of all cancer pain patients using the plaster as adjunct treatment; the presence of allodynia, hyperalgesia or pain quality provided a potential but not definitively clear indication of treatment success. In trigeminal neuropathic pain, continuous pain, severe allodynia, hyperalgesia, or postherpetic neuralgia or trauma as the cause of orofacial neuropathic pain were perceived as potential predictors of treatment success with lidocaine plaster. In conclusion, these findings provide a first assessment of the likelihood of treatment benefits with 5% lidocaine-medicated plaster in the management of cancer pain with neuropathic components and trigeminal neuropathic pain and support conducting large, well-designed multicenter studies
A Fast and Efficient Incremental Approach toward Dynamic Community Detection
Community detection is a discovery tool used by network scientists to analyze
the structure of real-world networks. It seeks to identify natural divisions
that may exist in the input networks that partition the vertices into coherent
modules (or communities). While this problem space is rich with efficient
algorithms and software, most of this literature caters to the static use-case
where the underlying network does not change. However, many emerging real-world
use-cases give rise to a need to incorporate dynamic graphs as inputs.
In this paper, we present a fast and efficient incremental approach toward
dynamic community detection. The key contribution is a generic technique called
, which examines the most recent batch of changes made to an
input graph and selects a subset of vertices to reevaluate for potential
community (re)assignment. This technique can be incorporated into any of the
community detection methods that use modularity as its objective function for
clustering. For demonstration purposes, we incorporated the technique into two
well-known community detection tools. Our experiments demonstrate that our new
incremental approach is able to generate performance speedups without
compromising on the output quality (despite its heuristic nature). For
instance, on a real-world network with 63M temporal edges (over 12 time steps),
our approach was able to complete in 1056 seconds, yielding a 3x speedup over a
baseline implementation. In addition to demonstrating the performance benefits,
we also show how to use our approach to delineate appropriate intervals of
temporal resolutions at which to analyze an input network
Exploring patient satisfaction of a joint-consultation clinic for trigeminal neuralgia: Enabling improved decision-making
Background: Trigeminal neuralgia (TN) is a relatively rare condition which has a profound impact not only on the patient but also on those around them. There is no cure for TN, and the management of the condition is complex. The most effective forms of treatment are either through medication, neurosurgery, or combination of the two. Each option has risks and implications for the patient. As with all clinical decisions, it is important for patients to understand and be fully informed of the treatments available to them. A London UK unit adopted a joint-consultation clinic approach where the patient meets with both physician and neurosurgeon at the same time to discuss treatment options. The purpose of this evaluation is to understand patients’ level of satisfaction with the joint-consultation clinic and evaluate utilisation of a clinical decision-making tool. Method: Patients who had attended the joint-consultation clinic over a period of 12 months were invited to participate in a telephone or paper survey (N = 55). Responses were analysed using descriptive statistics and thematic analysis. Results: Forty-one patients (77% response rate) participated in the survey, and the results were overwhelmingly positive for the joint-consultation clinic regarding satisfaction. The benefits were broad ranging including increased understanding, collaboration and confidence in decision-making. Conclusions: A joint-consultation clinic comprising a neurosurgeon and a physician for the treatment of TN is valued by patients who become better informed and able to make decisions about their care. Positive application of clinical decision-making aids in this situation offers potential across specialities
Conformational analysis of nucleic acids revisited: Curves+
We describe Curves+, a new nucleic acid conformational analysis program which is applicable to a wide range of nucleic acid structures, including those with up to four strands and with either canonical or modified bases and backbones. The program is algorithmically simpler and computationally much faster than the earlier Curves approach, although it still provides both helical and backbone parameters, including a curvilinear axis and parameters relating the position of the bases to this axis. It additionally provides a full analysis of groove widths and depths. Curves+ can also be used to analyse molecular dynamics trajectories. With the help of the accompanying program Canal, it is possible to produce a variety of graphical output including parameter variations along a given structure and time series or histograms of parameter variations during dynamic
Evaluating the impact of trigeminal neuralgia
Patients with idiopathic trigeminal neuralgia (TN) were categorised into 3 subtypes (n 5 225). Group 1 (n 5 155, 68.9%) had TN
without concomitant pain, group 2 (n532, 14.2%) had TN with intermittent concomitant pain, and group 3 (n539, 16.9%) had TN
with autonomic symptoms. We tested 2 hypotheses: (1) that different pain profiles would be associated with the different groups; (2)
that the severe pain associated with TN would impact negatively on activities of daily living and thereby result in disability as defined
by the World Health Organisation. A different pain profile was found across the groups. We obtained unequivocal evidence that TN
causes disability with up to 45% of patients being absent from usual daily activities 15 days or more in the past 6 months. On the
Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, 35.7% patients had mild-to-severe depression and over 50% were anxious. The Pain
Catastrophizing Scale showed that 78% of patients had considerable negative thoughts with scores.20 and a mean score of 36.4.
Prior to referral, only 54% had been prescribed carbamazepine while opioids had been prescribed in 14.6% of the patients. Prior to
referral, over 80% had already been to 1 specialist centre which had not provided appropriate management. Patients with TN report
varied characteristics but all result in some degree of psychosocial disability especially before adequate therapy is attained
Referrals to a facial pain service
AIM: To assess the quality of referral letters to a facial pain service and highlight the key requirements of such letters.
METHOD: The source of all referral letters to the service for five years was established. For one year the information provided in 94 referrals was assessed. Using a predetermined checklist of essential information the referral letters were compared to these set criteria.
RESULTS: The service received 7,001 referrals and, on average, general dental practitioners (GDPs) referred 303 more patients per year than general medical practitioners (GMPs). Seventy-one percent of all referrals were from primary care practitioners, the rest were from specialists. Over 70% of GMP and 52% of GDP letters included a past medical history, with GMPs more likely to suggest a possible diagnosis and include previous secondary care referrals. The mean score for GMP referrals compared to the standard proforma (maximum of 12) was 5.6 and for GDP referrals 5.0. A relevant drug history was included by 75.6% GMP compared to 38.7% of GDPs. GMPs were more likely to include any relevant mental health history.
CONCLUSIONS: The overall quality of referral letters is low which makes it difficult for the specialists to provide robust treatment plans
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