Prenatal Zidovudine Treatment Modifies Early Development of Rat Osteoid – Confocal Microspectroscopy Analysis

Autofluorescence of the bone extracellular matrix (ECM) has not been widely explored although the ECMplays a very important role in bone development. In our research we focused on examining the bone matrix of very young animals due to the intense growth process during the first month of life. Structure images and fluorescence spectra of the bone surface were carried out using confocal fluorescence microscope Eclipse Ti-S inverted CLSM (NIKON, Japan) for compact tibia of healthy 7-, 14- and 28-dayold rat newborns after prenatal zidovudine administration in comparison with control. Spectral features of ECM autofluorescence were analyzed statistically by taking into consideration p < 0.05. The CLSM technique allows for simultaneous examination of the structure and autofluorescence from selected areas of the bone surface. Excessive autofluorescence of ECM after prenatal zidovudine administration influences bone growth incommensurably to the newborns’ age. Therefore the possibility of an additional non-enzymatic mechanism of collagen cross-linking in the first two weeks of life of newborn rats prenatally treated with zidovudine has been considered. Our results suggest that ECMautofluorescence can be an indicator of bone development in the normal and pathological state

Recanalisation of cerebral artery aneurysms treated endovascularly — a midterm follow-up

Endovascular methods of aneurysm treatment, as an alternative to neurosurgical clipping, have proved a welcome opportunity to treat patients with unruptured aneurysms or those disqualified from neurosurgical intervention. This paper presents our own experience of endovascular treatment of cerebral aneurysms in 107 patients. It includes clinical and technical data from the perioperative period and a 12-month radiological follow-up of 78 patients. Method. Our retrospective evaluation covered patients with intracranial aneurysms treated endovascularly. The following were analysed: age, sex, neurological symptoms, and familial burden of intracranial aneurysm. Multivariate analysis was performed to determine independent factors of recanalisation of the cerebral aneurysm 12 months after embolisation. Results. The data of 107 patients at a mean age of 61 years [57.09 ± 14.27] treated with embolisation was analysed. The indication for intervention in 16 patients was subarachnoid haemorrhage; in the remaining 91 cases, aneurysms were revealed during diagnostic procedures for different symptoms or during imaging examinations. The intracranial segment of the internal carotid artery and the anterior communicating artery were the most common locations for aneurysms. After embolisation, subarachnoid haemorrhage occurred in one patient, ischaemic stroke in two patients, and one patient died because of acute circulatory insufficiency. The functional status of 94 patients on the day of discharge from the department (on days 4-21) was very good. 78 patients completed a 12-month follow-up period. In 11 of those, a follow-up MR angiography revealed recanalisation 12 months after the intervention. Except for one patient reporting vertigo, aneurysm recanalisation procedures were asymptomatic. The only independent risk factor for recanalisation was the size of aneurysm &gt; 10 mm; OR 3.0; CI [1.15–7.83] p = 0.0255. Conclusions. Embolisation of cerebral aneurysms is a safe method with few perioperative complications, and most of these are mild and transient.The size of the aneurysm during qualification for embolisation is a risk factor for recanalisation in the subsequent 12 months. Recanalisation of embolised cerebral aneurysms concerns less than 20% of patients in a one-year follow-up and is most often asymptomatic

The impact of the sound reflection model on the ray tracing simulation variability

Geometrical acoustics is the most commonly used method of room acoustics prediction. Its efficiency can be improved by explicit calculation of ray contribution to each receiver during reflection called algebraic reflection. The aim of this research is to analyse the applicability and impact of reflection model choice on algebraic reflection calculation using the ray tracing with next event estimation. The tested reflection models include the specular and Lambert reflection combination and the Phong reflection model. Classical ray tracing algorithm, without algebraic reflections, is used as a reference. Based on simulation results and statistical analysis we conclude that the change of the reflection model significantly affects the acoustics conditions within the simulation changing echograms in early reflections region and the reverberation times. Statistical analysis proved that echograms obtained with the combination of ray tracing with next event estimation and Phong reflection model have lowest simulation to simulation variability

Statistical analysis with Kolmogorov-Smirnov distance for reflections’ directions of arrival and amplitudes for sound field diffuseness estimation

Many parameters are used for rating the quality of the sound field inside qualified acoustic halls describing the strength, clarity, and definition of the sound. Sound field diffuseness level and spatial impression parameters are used rarely because of the problem in their measurements and interpretation. Previous research on that topic provided some sound field diffuseness coefficients. Some of them are complicated in estimation and measurement. This paper presents a method for the sound field diffuseness level estimation basing on example measurements of the Arthur Rubinstein Philharmonic in Łódź, Poland. New directional parameters are proposed based on the statistical analysis of the sound reflections’ incidence angles and their amplitudes with Kolmogorov-Smirnov distance. The paper contains a discussion on the quality evaluation with the proposed method, including analysing the sound field diffuseness and non-uniform spatial distributions of sound reflections. The usability of the selected parameters and their importance for the spatial impression is discussed. The performed experiments allow setting the direction of future work in the field taken of the study, especially applying the proposed method for extended sound field diffuseness ratings with methods based on different physical principles, including directional, energetic, and time coefficients