Eagle's Syndrome: A Fortunate Discovery in a Symptomatic Patient.

Eagle's syndrome is a condition characterized by an elongated styloid process or a calcified stylohyoid ligament, which can lead to a plethora of symptoms, such as neck and facial pain upon movement, dysphagia, pharyngeal foreign body sensation, headache, and vertigo-like sensations. This pathology may affect one or both of a patient's styloid processes (unilateral or bilateral), with most of these cases going undiagnosed due to the vague nature of their symptoms. Nonetheless, the diagnosis of Eagle's syndrome must derive from the combined findings of both clinical examination and radiographic imaging.

Idiopathic Sclerosing Encapsulating Peritonitis Associated With Persistent Descending Mesocolon: A Surgical Puzzle.

During our practice as clinical surgeons, we have encountered situations in which exploratory abdominal laparotomies have yielded unexpected outcomes, despite conducting thorough and rigorous preoperative studies. A rare condition called sclerosing encapsulating peritonitis (SEP), in which a fibrocollagenous membrane encircles the intestine and other abdominal organs, surprised us in a case of an acute abdomen. Persistent descending mesocolon is another unusual condition in which the descending colon is transferred downward and to the right abdominal region because its mesocolon is unable to merge with the posterior abdominal wall.

Nanomechanical properties of hybrid coatings for bone tissue engineering.

Bone tissue engineering has emerged as a promising alternative approach in the treatment of bone injuries and defects arising from malformation, osteoporosis, and tumours. In this approach, a temporary scaffold possessing mechanical properties resembling those of natural bone is needed to serve as a substrate enhancing cell adhesion and growth, and a physical support to guide the formation of the new bone. In this regard, the scaffold should be biocompatible, biodegradable, malleable and mechanically strong.

Pre-osteoblastic cell response on three-dimensional, organic-inorganic hybrid material scaffolds for bone tissue engineering.

Engineering artificial scaffolds that enhance cell adhesion and growth in three dimensions is essential to successful bone tissue engineering. However, the fabrication of three-dimensional (3D) tissue scaffolds exhibiting complex micro- and nano-features still remains a challenge. Few materials can be structured in three dimensions, and even those have not been characterized for their mechanical and biological properties.

Nanomechanical and nanotribological properties of plasma nanotextured superhydrophilic and superhydrophobic polymeric surfaces.

Oxygen plasma-induced surface modification of polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA), under plasma conditions favouring (maximizing) roughness formation, has been shown to create textured surfaces of roughness size and morphology dependent on the plasma-treatment time and subsequent morphology stabilization procedure. Superhydrophobic or superhydrophilic surfaces can thus be obtained, with potential applications in antireflective self-cleaning surfaces, microfluidics, wetting-dewetting control, anti-icing etc, necessitating determination of their mechanical properties. In this study, nanoindentation is used to determine the reduced modulus and hardness of the surface, while nanoscratch tests are performed to measure the coefficient of friction.