A case report of coexistence of a sialolith and an adenoid cystic carcinoma in the submandibular gland

Ôhe occurrence of sialoliths in the submandibular gland is 80% due to the specific anatomy of both the gland and its duct. The diagnosis is rather easy because of the obvious clinical signs of the entity. Imaging studies are always necessary in order to treat the patient as effectively as possible. The stones do not tend to occur within the gland as frequently as in the respective duct. The coexistence of sialoliths and malignant tumors is extremely rare. A 70-year-old woman with intraparenchymal stone was operated in our ENT department. In addition to the sialolith the pathological examination revealed the existence of an adenoid cystic carcinoma (ACC), that extended to the neighboring skeletal muscle. This is the reason why we believe it would be useful to report this case of a large stone (14 mm in diameter) located in the submandibular gland coexisting with ACC. This case report is a very good example illustrating that all available means should be used prior to reaching a conclusion and making a health professional decision

Photonic integration enabling new multiplexing concepts in optical board-to-board and rack-to-rack interconnects

New broadband applications are causing the datacenters to proliferate, raising the bar for higher interconnection speeds. So far, optical board-to-board and rack-to-rack interconnects relied primarily on low-cost commodity optical components assembled in a single package. Although this concept proved successful in the first generations of optical-interconnect modules, scalability is a daunting issue as signaling rates extend beyond 25 Gb/s. In this paper we present our work towards the development of two technology platforms for migration beyond Infiniband enhanced data rate (EDR), introducing new concepts in board-to-board and rack-to-rack interconnects. The first platform is developed in the framework of MIRAGE European project and relies on proven VCSEL technology, exploiting the inherent cost, yield, reliability and power consumption advantages of VCSELs. Wavelength multiplexing, PAM-4 modulation and multi-core fiber (MCF) multiplexing are introduced by combining VCSELs with integrated Si and glass photonics as well as BiCMOS electronics. An in-plane MCF-to-SOI interface is demonstrated, allowing coupling from the MCF cores to 340x400 nm Si waveguides. Development of a low-power VCSEL driver with integrated feed-forward equalizer is reported, allowing PAM-4 modulation of a bandwidth-limited VCSEL beyond 25 Gbaud. The second platform, developed within the frames of the European project PHOXTROT, considers the use of modulation formats of increased complexity in the context of optical interconnects. Powered by the evolution of DSP technology and towards an integration path between inter and intra datacenter traffic, this platform investigates optical interconnection system concepts capable to support 16QAM 40GBd data traffic, exploiting the advancements of silicon and polymer technologies

Leucocyte-rich platelet-rich plasma enhances fibroblast and extracellular matrix activity: Implications in wound healing

© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. Background: Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) is an autologous blood product that contains a high concentration of platelets and leucocytes, which are fundamental fibroblast proliferation agents. L iterature has emerged that offers contradictory findings about leucocytes within PRP. Herein, we elucidated the effects of highly concentrated leucocytes and platelets on human fibroblasts. Methods: Leucocyte-rich, PRP (LR-PRP) and leucocyte-poor, platelet-poor plasma (LP-PPP) were compared to identify their effects on human fibroblasts, including cell proliferation, wound healing and extracellular matrix and adhesion molecule gene expressions. Results: The LR-PRP exhibited 1422.00 ± 317.21 × 103 platelets/µL and 16.36 ± 2.08 × 103 white blood cells/µL whilst the LP-PPP demonstrated lower concentrations of 55.33 ± 10.13 × 103 platelets/µL and 0.8 ± 0.02 × 103 white blood cells/µL. LR-PRP enhanced fibroblast cell proliferation and cell migration, and demonstrated either upregulation or down-regulation gene expression profile of the extracellular matrix and adhesion molecules. Conclusion: LR-PRP has a continuous stimulatory anabolic and ergogenic effect on human fibroblast cells

A programmable, multi-format photonic transceiver platform enabling flexible optical networks

Development of programmable photonic devices for future flexible optical networks is ongoing. To this end, an innovative, multi-format QAM transmitter design is presented. It comprises a segmented-electrode InP IQ-MZM to be fabricated in InP, which can be directly driven by low-power CMOS logic. Arbitrary optical QAM format generation is made possible using only binary electrical signals, without the need for high-performance DACs and high-swing linear drivers. The concept enables a host of Tx-side DSP functionality, including the spectral shaping needed for Nyquist-WDM system concepts. In addition, we report on the development of an optical channel MUX/DEMUX, based on arrays of microresonator filters with reconfigurable bandwidths and center wavelengths. The device is intended for operation with multi-format flexible transceivers, enabling Dense (D)WDM superchannel aggregation and arbitrary spectral slicing in the context of a flexible grid environment