Low-level laser therapy: an efficient supplement to treatments of vulvar Lichen sclerosus to improve quality of life.

Background: Lichen sclerosus (LS) is a chronic, inflammatory disease of the genital and extra genital skin, causing pruritus, soreness, pain and dyspareunia. The aim of this study was to investigate whether Low Level Laser Therapy (LLLT) can improve the quality of life in women with Lichen sclerosus (LS) and insufficient topical treatment.

Methods: In a descriptive prospective observational study conducted between 02.

Medical Robotics for Ultrasound Imaging: Current Systems and Future Trends.

Purpose Of Review: This review provides an overview of the most recent robotic ultrasound systems that have contemporary emerged over the past five years, highlighting their status and future directions. The systems are categorized based on their level of robot autonomy (LORA).

Recent Findings: Teleoperating systems show the highest level of technical maturity.

Towards automated ultrasound imaging-robotic image acquisition in liver and prostate for long-term motion monitoring.

Real-time volumetric (4D) ultrasound has shown high potential for diagnostic and therapy guidance tasks. One of the main drawbacks of ultrasound imaging to date is the reliance on manual probe positioning and the resulting user dependence. Robotic assistance could help overcome this issue and facilitate the acquisition of long-term image data to observe dynamic processesover time.

A visual probe positioning tool for 4D ultrasound-guided radiotherapy.

Ultrasound (US) guidance is a rapidly growing area in image-guided radiotherapy. For motion compensation, the therapy target needs to be visualized with the US probe to continuously determine its position and adapt for shifts. While US has obvious benefits such as real-time capability and proven safety, one of the main drawbacks to date is its user dependency - high quality results require long years of clinical experience.

Investigating multi-leaf collimator tracking in stereotactic arrhythmic radioablation (STAR) treatments for atrial fibrillation.

Stereotactic arrhythmia radioablation (STAR) is an emerging treatment option for atrial fibrillation (AF). However, it faces possibly the most challenging motion compensation scenario: both respiratory and cardiac motion. Multi-leaf collimator (MLC) tracking is clinically used for lung cancer treatments but its capabilities with intracardiac targets is unknown.

Investigation of the XCAT phantom as a validation tool in cardiac MRI tracking algorithms.

Purpose: To describe our magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) simulated implementation of the 4D digital extended cardio torso (XCAT) phantom to validate our previously developed cardiac tracking techniques. Real-time tracking will play an important role in the non-invasive treatment of atrial fibrillation with MRI-guided radiosurgery. In addition, to show how quantifiable measures of tracking accuracy and patient-specific physiology could influence MRI tracking algorithm design.

Online 4D ultrasound guidance for real-time motion compensation by MLC tracking.

Purpose: With the trend in radiotherapy moving toward dose escalation and hypofractionation, the need for highly accurate targeting increases. While MLC tracking is already being successfully used for motion compensation of moving targets in the prostate, current real-time target localization methods rely on repeated x-ray imaging and implanted fiducial markers or electromagnetic transponders rather than direct target visualization. In contrast, ultrasound imaging can yield volumetric data in real-time (3D + time = 4D) without ionizing radiation.

Towards real-time MRI-guided 3D localization of deforming targets for non-invasive cardiac radiosurgery.

Radiosurgery to the pulmonary vein antrum in the left atrium (LA) has recently been proposed for non-invasive treatment of atrial fibrillation (AF). Precise real-time target localization during treatment is necessary due to complex respiratory and cardiac motion and high radiation doses. To determine the 3D position of the LA for motion compensation during radiosurgery, a tracking method based on orthogonal real-time MRI planes was developed for AF treatments with an MRI-guided radiotherapy system.

Treatment Planning Considerations for Robotic Guided Cardiac Radiosurgery for Atrial Fibrillation.

Purpose: Robotic guided stereotactic radiosurgery has recently been investigated for the treatment of atrial fibrillation (AF). Before moving into human treatments, multiple implications for treatment planning given a potential target tracking approach have to be considered.

Materials & Methods: Theoretical AF radiosurgery treatment plans for twenty-four patients were generated for baseline comparison.

Radiotherapy beyond cancer: target localization in real-time MRI and treatment planning for cardiac radiosurgery.

Purpose: Atrial fibrillation (AFib) is the most common cardiac arrhythmia that affects millions of patients world-wide. AFib is usually treated with minimally invasive, time consuming catheter ablation techniques. While recently noninvasive radiosurgery to the pulmonary vein antrum (PVA) in the left atrium has been proposed for AFib treatment, precise target location during treatment is challenging due to complex respiratory and cardiac motion.

A tissue-specific approach to the analysis of metabolic changes in Caenorhabditis elegans.

The majority of metabolic principles are evolutionarily conserved from nematodes to humans. Caenorhabditis elegans has widely accelerated the discovery of new genes important to maintain organismic metabolic homeostasis. Various methods exist to assess the metabolic state in worms, yet they often require large animal numbers and tend to be performed as bulk analyses of whole worm homogenates, thereby largely precluding a detailed studies of metabolic changes in specific worm tissues.

Swedish anthropometrics for product and workplace design.

The present study describes the anthropometrics of the Swedish workforce, aged 18-65, and compares the measurements with data collected four decades earlier. This anthropometric information is based on measurements of a total of 367 subjects, 105 males and 262 females. Of the 367 subjects, 268 responded to advertisements (Study A) and 99 were randomly selected from a community register (Study B).

[Enzyme histochemical diagnosis of gastrointestinal motility disorders. A laboratory guide].

The enzyme histochemical reactions for acetylcholinesterase, lactic dehydrogenase, succinic dehydrogenase and nitroxide synthase are currently the gold standards for the diagnosis of gastrointestinal motility disorders. The acetylcholinesterase staining reaction shows the cholinergic nerve fibre network of the muscularis mucosae and muscularis propria, and correlates with their acetylcholinesterase activity. Lactic dehydrogenase, succinic dehydrogenase and nitroxide synthase selectively demonstrate the nerve cells of the myenteric and submucous plexus.

Perisomatic granules (non-plaque dystrophic dendrites) of hippocampal CA1 neurons in Alzheimer's disease and Pick's disease: a lesion distinct from granulovacuolar degeneration.

A number of pathological changes have been reported in relation to CA1 pyramidal cells in Alzheimer's disease (AD), among them hyperphosphorylation of tau protein followed by the formation of filamentous tau lesions, granulovacuolar degeneration (GVD), Hirano bodies and spindle-shaped dilatations of distal apical dendrites. Juxtacellular clusters of glutamate receptor (GluR)-positive granules around pyramidal cells of the CA1 sector have been recently reported under the term "non-plaque dystrophic dendrites". We independently found that CA1 pyramidal cells in AD patients are regularly surrounded by ubiquitin-positive granules measuring 1-4 microns in diameter, which we have termed perisomatic granules (PSG).

[Respiratory insufficiency caused by dapsone-induced methemoglobinemia].

We present a case of pneumonia and dapsone-induced methaemoglobinaemia. Methaemoglobinaemia leads to impaired delivery of oxygen to tissue. In our patient we observed that methaemoglobin interferes with the accuracy of pulse oximeter data.

Satisfaction with managed care.

This article reports the findings of 1996, 1997, and 1998 patient satisfaction surveys administered to managed care enrollees in Utah. More than 14,000 managed care enrollees (both Medicaid and commercial) were selected randomly and contacted by telephone. The 38-question survey was based on Health Plan Employer Data and Information Set (HEDIS) and the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) measures.

Astrocytes expressing hyperphosphorylated tau protein without glial fibrillary tangles in argyrophilic grain disease.

Argyrophilic grain disease (AgD), a frequent type of late onset dementia, is characterized by the occurrence of Gallyas-stained neuropil grains in the hippocampus, entorhinal cortex, amygdala and hypothalamus. High numbers of neurons containing hyperphosphorylated tau protein, but devoid of tangles, are encountered in areas rich in argyrophilic grains (ArGs). A third type of change consists of slender argyrophilic and tau-immunoreactive cytoplasmic inclusions in white matter oligodendrocytes, the coiled bodies.

Argyrophilic grains of Braak: occurrence in dendrites of neurons containing hyperphosphorylated tau protein.

Braak's argyrophilic grains (ArGs) are spindle-shaped neuropil structures originally found in patients afflicted with adult onset dementia. We recently observed that tau protein is hyperphosphorylated in most nerve cells in areas rich in ArGs, suggesting that these grains may be a morphological expression of tau protein pathology in local neurons. The aim of this study was therefore to determine in three cases with ArGs whether grains are associated with individual neurons containing hyperphosphorylated tau.

Beyond Section 504: satisfaction and empowerment of students with disabilities in higher education.

College and university students with disabilities were surveyed to determine their levels of satisfaction with accessibility, special services, and accommodations at their schools. In addition, students were requested to identify barriers to postsecondary education, improvements in services, and other concerns. Respondents generally expressed satisfaction with the services that they had received.

Thrombolysis-related early patency reduces ECG late potentials after acute myocardial infarction.

To assess the effects of thrombolysis and reperfusion on late potentials after myocardial infarction, 101 patients (79 men, age 63.2 +/- 10.5 years) underwent signal-averaged ECG studies at 10.

Effects of early thrombolytic therapy (anistreplase versus streptokinase) on enzymatic and electrocardiographic infarct size in acute myocardial infarction. TEAM-2 Investigators.

The effects of thrombolytic therapy on enzymatic and electrocardiographic indexes of myocardial infarction were examined in 370 patients who were enrolled within 4 hours of onset of symptoms and were randomized to blinded therapy with intravenous anistreplase (30 U/5 min, n = 188) or streptokinase (1.5 million IU/1 hour, n = 182). Creatine kinase and its MB isoenzyme were initially measured every 4 to 6 hours, and lactic dehydrogenase (LDH) and its cardiac isoenzyme (LDH-1) every 8 to 12 hours.

Deposition of beta/A4 protein along neuronal plasma membranes in diffuse senile plaques.

The origin of the extracellular beta-amyloid protein (beta/A4) found in senile plaques and the cellular mechanisms responsible for its deposition in cerebral tissues are still an unresolved issue in Alzheimer's disease. In this study we analyzed in detail the distribution of various epitopes of beta/A4 in relation to local cellular elements in diffuse plaques of the hippocampal region. We also correlated our findings with the presence and distribution of non-beta/A4 epitopes of the amyloid precursor protein (APP) and with synaptophysin immunoreactivity in the cortical neuropil.

Impact of field-transmitted electrocardiography on time to in-hospital thrombolytic therapy in acute myocardial infarction.

To assess the impact of a field-transmitted electrocardiogram (ECG) on patients with possible acute myocardial infarction, randomized and open trials were performed with a portable electrocardiographic system coupled with a cellular phone programmed to automatically transmit ECGs to the base hospital. Consecutive patients served by the 6 units of the Salt Lake City Emergency Rescue System were studied; 71 patients were randomized to in-field ECG (n = 34) versus no ECG (n = 37). Time on scene was 16.