Correlation Between Cage Positioning and Lumbar Lordosis in Transforaminal Lumbar Interbody Fusion (TLIF).

 The present study evaluates radiographic outcomes and the lumbar lordosis achieved with a transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (TLIF) arthrodesis technique according to the positioning of an interbody device (cage) in the disc space.  This is a retrospective radiographic analysis of single-level surgical patients with degenerative lumbar disease submitted to a TLIF procedure and posterior pedicle instrumentation. We divided patients into two groups according to cage positioning.

Levosimendan as a treatment for acute renal failure associated with cardiogenic shock after hip fracture.

Inotropic drugs are part of the treatment of heart failure; however, inotropic treatment has been largely debated due to the increased incidence of adverse effects and increased mortality. Recently levosimendan, an inotropic positive agent, has been proved to be effective in acute heart failure, reducing the mortality and improving cardiac and renal performance. We report the case of a 75-year-old woman with history of heart and renal failure and hip fracture.

[Levosimendan as a treatment for acute renal failure associated with cardiogenic shock after hip fracture].

Inotropic drugs are part of the treatment of heart failure; however, inotropic treatment has been largely debated due to the increased incidence of adverse effects and increased mortality. Recently levosimendan, an inotropic positive agent, has been proved to be effective in acute heart failure, reducing the mortality and improving cardiac and renal performance. We report the case of a 75-year-old woman with history of heart and renal failure and hip fracture.

Chemical hardness and the discontinuity of the Kohn-Sham exchange-correlation potential.

Chemical hardness, identified as the difference between the vertical first ionization potential I and the vertical electron affinity A, is analyzed in the context of the ionization theorems to derive expressions for its evaluation at different levels of approximation that arise as a direct consequence of the derivative discontinuity of the exchange-correlation potential. The quantities involved in these expressions incorporate indirectly the effects of the discontinuity, but their values may be calculated with any functional of the local density approximation, generalized gradient approximation, or optimized effective potential type, with or without derivative discontinuity, and with or without the correct asymptotic behavior. By comparison with the vertical energy difference values of I and A, which requires the calculation of the N-, (N-1)-, and (N+1)-electron systems, it is found, for a set of 14 closed shell molecules, that the difference between the eigenvalues of the highest occupied molecular orbitals of the N- and (N+1)-electron systems leads to rather accurate values, when the correct asymptotic behavior is incorporated, and that a second-order one-body perturbation approach that only requires information from the N-electron system leads to reasonable values.

Suggested shape for a first generation endovascular untethered microdevice prototype.

Shape design optimization for an untethered microdevice meant to navigate in the human bloodstream is studied based on previous variational Finite Element (FE) work done. The suggested shape for a first generation prototype is a prolate spheroid design, which enables to minimize the drag force and to maximize the use of the MRI's magnetic gradients.

Evaluation of two genetic animal models in behavioral tests of anxiety and depression.

Anxiety- and depression-related disorders often appear associated and may be affected by common genetic factors. The inbred rat strains Lewis (LEW) and spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) and the outbred rat lines Floripa H and L, which were selectively bred for high and low locomotion in the central area of the open field (OF) test, respectively, have been proposed as experimental tools to study anxiety. The main goal of the present study was to characterize the behavior of these animals in two models of anxiety, elevated plus-maze (EPM) and OF, in two models of depression, forced swim test (FST) and tail suspension test (TST) and in their home-cages.