Effectiveness of endoscopic trans-tendineous repair for partial-thickness tears of medius gluteus: A systematic review of literature

Tears of the gluteus medius can result in chronic hip pain over time. Pathological onsets involving the gluteus medius cause pain and weakness of abductor strength. Endoscopic repair is a suitable, effective and safe surgical alternative to traditional open techniques and give satisfactory results over time restoring the footprint of gluteus medius. The purpose of this systematic review is to analyse the effectiveness of endoscopic trans-tendinous technique for partial-thickness tears, analysing the subjective and functional outcome over the time. A search of literature (PubMed, Scopus, WebOfKnowledge) was performed. The PRISMA method was used to screen the articles. A total of 4 articles was screened and included for qualitative analysis. For data extraction patient characteristics, pre-clinical examination, imaging, timing from symptoms to surgery, technique performed, subjective scales, functional outcomes, post-operative clinical assessment were analysed. Subjective scores at mean follow-up of 18 months show a significative improvement in all the scales reported, in relief of pain (VAS score) and in terms of strength of abductor. Trans-tendinous technique represents the gold standard to treat endoscopically these injuries. Furthermore, other studies with larger number of patients and longer follow-up are required to validate the best surgical approach for these injuries

The VersaLive platform enables microfluidic mammalian cell culture for versatile applications

Microfluidic-based cell culture allows for precise spatio-temporal regulation of microenvironment, live cell imaging and better recapitulation of physiological conditions, while minimizing reagents' consumption. Despite their usefulness, most microfluidic systems are designed with one specific application in mind and usually require specialized equipment and expertise for their operation. All these requirements prevent microfluidic-based cell culture to be widely adopted. Here, we designed and implemented a versatile and easy-to-use perfusion cell culture microfluidic platform for multiple applications (VersaLive) requiring only standard pipettes. Here, we showcase the multiple uses of VersaLive (e.g., time-lapse live cell imaging, immunostaining, cell recovery, cell lysis, plasmid transfection) in mammalian cell lines and primary cells. VersaLive could replace standard cell culture formats in several applications, thus decreasing costs and increasing reproducibility across laboratories. The layout, documentation and protocols are open-source and available online at https://versalive.tigem.it/

Sonographic evaluation for peripheral pulmonary nodules during video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery.

We express our opinion about the article of Yamamoto and associates. First, we congratulate them for the results they obtained in their study. We agree with author of the article [4] about the utility of intraoperative sonographic for locating peripheral pulmonary nodules. In our department, we have performed intrathoracoscopic localization of solitary pulmonary nodules. We think that intrathoracoscopic ultrasound is useful for locating not only pulmonary nodules, but also study structures around the nodule-like vessels, bronchi, and limphonodes. Moreover, we think intrathoracoscopic ultrasound also is useful for detecting resection margins. We think that intrathoracoscopic cannot play a role in the histology of the nodule [2, 3]. We have observed a frequent association between the final histology of the nodule and its ultrasound pattern. In fact, malignant pulmonary lesions have appeared as a homogeneous hypoechoic pattern with the sonographic disappearance of the hyperechoic pulmonary surface. Benign lesions often are associated with heterogeneous echogenicity. This sonographic pattern may be attributable to air bronchograms, the presence of different tissue, or hamartoma. However, we think this ultrasound pattern was not able to distinguish between benign and malign lesions. The Doppler can add something to the ultrasound pattern in defining the histology of the pulmonary nodule, but we are not sure it can determine intraoperative or final histology. We think it is impossible to base surgical treatment on the ultrasound or Doppler pattern alone because for us, only the intraoperative or final histology is sure and reliable. Ultrasound and Doppler patterns are only radiologic patterns, and although they give statistically significant results, they are not reliable for qualitative diagnosis of pulmonary lesions. Moreover, they are operator dependent [1]. We think that it currently is not ethically defensible to submit patients with a solitary pulmonary nodule to explorative thoracoscopy alone. Because the grade of intratumoral blood flow signal, as shown by Doppler, is low, we think that pulmonary resection with a frozen section of the specimen is mandatory. The Doppler pattern would play a role if this method is applied in the preoperative diagnosis, but it is impossible to perform a qualitative– quantitative study of a pulmonary nodule with percutaneous Doppler. We think, therefore, that it would be more correct to use ultrasound or Doppler only to locate and not to obtain a qualitative diagnosis of pulmonary nodules

Drawbacks to videothoracoscopic management of solitary pulmonary nodules.

Drawbacks to videothoracoscopic management of solitary pulmonary nodule

Impact of laparoscopy and ultrasonography in gastrointestinal malignancies.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: An adequate preoperative disease staging is highly required before surgical treatment, even in gastrointestinal malignancies. Our study wants to give a contribution in order to define echolaparoscopy weight in gastrointestinal tumors and its impact in surgical therapy. METHODOLOGY: 33 patients were affected by pancreas, 22 by stomach, 16 by extrahepatic biliary tract and 18 by liver cancers; every patient was considered worthy of radical or palliative surgery according to preoperative staging (thorax-abdominal CT and percutaneous ultrasonography). Paired sample t-tests were used to analyze the results of each methodical and probability values of less than 0.05 were considered significant. RESULTS: Preoperative instrumental examinations gave correct evaluations only in 44 of 89 cases (49%) while echolaparoscopic gave correct evaluations in 82 on 89 cases (92%) (P<0.05). So after echolaparoscopic in only 7 cases we performed an explorative laparotomy. CONCLUSIONS: Laparoscopy and ultrasound impact on therapy is worthy of attention. It seems to be able to give advantages in staging gastrointestinal malignancies, except for pancreas cancers, in which some limits and negative aspects have been demonstrated, regarding the possibility of giving correct diagnosis of portal axis infiltration

Thoracoscopic localization techniques for patients with solitary pulmonary nodule and history of malignancy

Our aim was to evaluate the best intrathoracoscopic localization technique in patients with single pulmonary nodule and a history of malignancy. We divided 50 patients in two groups, well matched for diameter and depth of the pulmonary lesion. In 25 patients we performed intrathoracoscopic ultrasound to locate the pulmonary nodule (group A), whereas in the other 25 patients the radio-guided technique was adopted (group B). In both group A and group B, the localization techniques were compared with finger palpation. In group A, 12 nodules were in the left lung and 13 in the right one; in group B, 11 lesions were in the left and 14 in the right lung. In both groups, the distance of the nodule from the pleural surface was 2.6 ± 0.5 cm (2 to 2.5 cm in 14 patients, and >2.5 cm for the remaining 11). The diameter of the nodule was 1.26 ± 0.22 (â¤1 cm in 10 patients, and 1 to 1.5 cm in 15) in both groups. All patients underwent thoracoscopic wedge resection, and 10 patients with a primary pulmonary lesion underwent posterior-lateral thoracotomy for lobectomy and mediastinal lymphadenectomy. In group A, ultrasound localized the nodule in 24 of 25 patients (96%) whereas finger palpation localized it in 19 of 25 (76%; not significant). In group B, both the radio-guided and finger palpation techniques localized the nodule in 20 of 25 patients (80%; not significant). No complications were recorded with the ultrasound technique; however, 10 cases of pneumothorax were detected after the radio-guided technique (p < 0.01). Both the ultrasound and radio-guided techniques are accurate to detect solitary pulmonary nodules, but the radio-guided method yields complications as compared with the ultrasound. © 2005 by The Society of Thoracic Surgeons

Thoracoscopic Localization Techniques for Patients with a Single Pulmonary Nodule and Positive Oncological Anamnesis: A Prospective Study

Introduction: Our aim was to evaluate the best intrathoracoscopic localization technique in patients with a single pulmonary nodule and a history of malignancy. Method: We divided 30 patients into two groups, well matched for diameter and depth of the pulmonary lesion. In 15 patients (group A) we performed intrathoracoscopic ultrasound (US) to locate the pulmonary nodule, while in the other 15 patients (group B) intrathoracoscopic radioguided occult lesion localization (ROLL) was used. In both groups, the localization technique was compared to finger palpation. In group A, 6 nodules were in the left lung and 9 in the right; in group B, 7 lesions were in the left and 8 in the right lung. In each group, the distance of the nodule from the pleural surface was 2-2.5 cm in 8 patients, and > 2.5 cm in the remaining 7. In both groups, the diameter of the nodule was â\u89¥ 1 cm in 6 patients, and 1-1.5 cm in 9 patients. All patients underwent thoracoscopic wedge resection, and 6 patients with a primary pulmonary lesion underwent posterior-lateral thoracotomy for lobectomy and mediastinal lymphadenectomy. Results: In group A, US localized the nodule in 15 of 15 patients (100%) while finger palpation located the nodule in 11 of 15 (73%) (P = NS). In group B, both ROLL and finger palpation localized the nodule in 12 of 15 patients (80%) (P = NS). Conclusion: Intrathoracoscopic US seems superior to radioguided and finger palpation localization techniques for single pulmonary nodules. Thus, we are now routinely using intraoperative US to identify single pulmonary nodules

I Carafa di Maddaloni e la feudalità napoletana nel Mezzogiorno spagnolo

I saggi raccolti nel volume approfondiscono la storia del grande casato dell’aristocrazia napoletana dei Carafa duchi di Maddalaoni nel contesto della feudalità dell’Italia meridionale sotto la dominazione spagnolaThe essays collected in the volume deepen the history of the Carafa Dukes of Maddaloni, a great family of the Neapolitan aristocracy, in the context of the feudal system in southern Italy under Spanish rul