A new production method of elastic silicone carotid phantom based on MRI acquisition using rapid prototyping technique.

In vitro experimental simulations of blood fluid in carotid artery require ideal phantoms that are as precise as possible. The purpose of this work is to demonstrate a method for carotid phantom fabrication by rapid prototyping technique (RP). By using 3D reconstructed projection of the 3D time-of-flight (TOF) Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) sequence, a 12.

Enumeration of total viable microorganisms in an antibiotic raw material using ChemScan solid phase cytometer.

A preliminary study was performed for the enumeration of microorganism contamination of the macrolide antibiotic, Spiramycin, using epifluorescence with the ChemScan solid phase cytometer. The artificial spiking of Spiramycin powder antibiotic with pure culture of four microorganisms led to complete recovery of the tested organisms, whatever their sensitivity to the bacteriostatic activity of the drug. With the conventional plate method run in parallel, complete recovery was only obtained for Spiramycin resistant organisms.

[Parkinson syndrome, a possible adverse effect of calcium inhibitors].

The effects of calcium inhibitors are not limited to the muscles and may affect other systems and cause varied side effects. Two cases of Parkinsonian syndrome occurring after starting therapy with calcium inhibitors (verapamil in one case and diltiazem in the other) are reported. Complete regression of the symptoms after withdrawing the drugs was strongly in favour of a causal relationship.