Detecting active sinkholes through combination of morphometric-cluster assessment and deformation precursors.

Sinkhole hazards pose considerable challenges in the west-central region of Texas. This study integrates multisource datasets and innovative techniques to detect early sinkhole development and identify the processes governing their formation. The techniques employed encompass feature extraction, cluster analysis, and deformation process monitoring.

Hyperdiluted Botulinum Toxin and Intense Pulsed Light Treatment: A Case Series to Illustrate a Novel Protocol for Hypertrophic Scar Reduction.

Hypertrophic scars can have significant and far-reaching effects on patients that range from itching to creating difficulty with mobility, all of which can negatively impact the individual's quality of life. A recent study showed that many patients with recent scars report pain, burning, pruritus, erythema, in combination with psychological difficulties that impact bodily movement, choice of clothing, and participation in leisure activities. Botulinum toxin Type A (BoNTA) and intense pulsed light (IPL) have shown promise in treating such scars.

Long-term Outcomes of Vocal Fold Paralysis Following Patent Ductus Arteriosus Ligation in Neonates.

Introduction: In patients undergoing patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) ligation there is a significant risk of left vocal fold paralysis (LVFP) particularly in premature neonates who are small for gestational age. The objective of this study is to determine the incidence of LVFP in infants following PDA ligation and report on long-term outcomes in patients with LVFP.

Methods: We performed a prospective study of patients undergoing PDA ligation in the newborn intensive care unit (NICU) between April 2004 and May 2014.

Phalangeal Osteoid Osteoma of Thumb.

Osteoid osteomas are typically benign osteoblastic bone tumors. Patients often present in their twenties with progressively increasing pain that is worse at night and relieved with nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. These lesions rarely occur in the hand or wrist; however, when those are involved, the proximal phalanx is the most common location and the index finger is the most commonly affected digit.

Cerebrospinal Fluid Pressure Reduction Results in Dynamic Changes in Optic Nerve Angle on Magnetic Resonance Imaging.

Background: Optic nerve sheath tortuosity is a previously reported, but incompletely characterized, finding in idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH). We hypothesized that optic nerve angle (ONA), as a quantitative measure of tortuosity, would change dynamically with cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) pressure status of patients with IIH immediately before and after lumbar puncture (LP).

Methods: Consecutive patients with suspected IIH referred for MRI and diagnostic LP were prospectively enrolled in this single institution, institutional review board-approved study.

Frequency of equivocation in surgical meta-evidence: a review of systematic reviews within IBD literature.

Objective: To assess the level of equivocation among level 1 evidence in ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease and determine whether any predisposing factors are present.

Method: MEDLINE, Embase, CINHAL and Cochrane were searched from 2006 to 2017. Papers were scored using AMSTAR and categorised into surgical (S), medical (M) or medical and surgical (MS) groups.

Atherosclerotic Disease and its Relationship to Lumbar Degenerative Disk Disease, Facet Arthritis, and Stenosis With Computed Tomography Angiography.

Background: The intervertebral disk is the largest avascular structure in the body. It relies on passive diffusion from arteries at the periphery of the disk for nutrition. Previous studies have suggested a correlation between vascular disease and lumbar degenerative disk disease (DDD), but the association with facet arthritis and stenosis has not been evaluated.

Assessing Foraminal Stenosis in the Cervical Spine: A Comparison of Three-Dimensional Computed Tomographic Surface Reconstruction to Two-Dimensional Modalities.

Study Design: Retrospective radiographic study.

Objective: The optimal radiographic modality for assessing cervical foraminal stenosis is unclear. Determination on conventional axial cuts is made difficult due in part to the complex, oblique orientation of the cervical neuroforamen.

Epidural Lipomatosis and Associated Spinal Stenosis-The Impact of Weight Loss: A Case Report.

Lumbar stenosis is a common radiographic finding that sometimes can be symptomatic. It usually results from a degenerative process of hypertrophic facets, ligamentum flavum hypertrophy, and disc involvement. A prominence of fat in the epidural space, epidural lipomatosis, can also be a contributing factor.

Novel orbital findings of intracranial hypotension.

Purpose: To determine whether orbital findings on routine brain MRI can be used to differentiate patients with intracranial hypotension from controls.

Methods: The authors evaluated axial T2-weighted images for the amount of optic nerve sheath CSF and 3D-T1-weighted images for optic nerve angle of sixteen patients with intracranial hypotension and 60 controls.

Results: Patients with intracranial hypotension demonstrated significantly decreased CSF in the optic nerve sheath.

Imaging of Intracranial Pressure Disorders.

Intracranial pressure (ICP) is the pressure inside the bony calvarium and can be affected by a variety of processes, such as intracranial masses and edema, obstruction or leakage of cerebrospinal fluid, and obstruction of venous outflow. This review focuses on the imaging of 2 important but less well understood ICP disorders: idiopathic intracranial hypertension and spontaneous intracranial hypotension. Both of these ICP disorders have salient imaging findings that are important to recognize to help prevent their misdiagnosis from other common neurological disorders.

Repair of a traumatic subarachnoid-pleural fistula with the percutaneous injection of fibrin glue in a 2-year-old.

Subarachnoid-pleural fistulas (SPFs) are rare clinical entities that occur after severe thoracic trauma or iatrogenic injury during anterolateral approaches to the spine. Treatment of these fistulas often entails open repair of the dural defect. The authors present the case of an SPF in a 2-year-old female after a penetrating injury to the chest.

Intracranial abscess as a complication of allergic fungal sinusitis.

Background And Purpose: This case involves a common disease, allergic fungal sinusitis (AFS), with the uncommon complication of intracranial abscess. Although AFS is known to result in bone erosion, invasive complications are rare.

Methods: The clinical and pathologic information were reviewed.

Multimodality treatment of brain metastases: an institutional survival analysis of 275 patients.

Background: Whole brain radiation therapy (WBRT), surgical resection, stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS), and combinations of the three modalities are used in the management of patients with metastatic brain tumors. We present the previously unreported survival outcomes of 275 patients treated for newly diagnosed brain metastases at Cancer Care Northwest and Gamma Knife of Spokane between 1998 and 2008.

Methods: The effects treatment regimen, age, Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group-Performance Status (ECOG-PS), primary tumor histology, number of brain metastases, and total volume of brain metastases have on patient overall survival were analyzed.

Nonclinical dose formulation analysis method validation and sample analysis.

Nonclinical dose formulation analysis methods are used to confirm test article concentration and homogeneity in formulations and determine formulation stability in support of regulated nonclinical studies. There is currently no regulatory guidance for nonclinical dose formulation analysis method validation or sample analysis. Regulatory guidance for the validation of analytical procedures has been developed for drug product/formulation testing; however, verification of the formulation concentrations falls under the framework of GLP regulations (not GMP).

Comment on "Wetland sedimentation from hurricanes Katrina and Rita".

Turner et al. (Reports, 20 October 2006, p. 449) measured sedimentation from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in coastal Louisiana and inferred that storm deposition overwhelms direct Mississippi River sediment input.

Estimating the energetic contribution of hydrogen bonding to the stability of Candida methylica formate dehydrogenase by using double mutant cycle.

An homology model of Candida methylica formate dehydrogenase (cm FDH) was constructed based on the Pseudomonas sp. 101 formate dehydrogenase (ps FDH) structure. In wild type cm FDH, Thr169 and Thr226 can form hydrogen bonds with each other.

Cloning, sequence and expression of the lactate dehydrogenase gene from the human malaria parasite, Plasmodium vivax.

Increased drug resistance to anti-malarials highlights the need for the development of new therapeutics for the treatment of malaria. To this end, the lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) gene was cloned and sequenced from genomic DNA of Plasmodium vivax ( PvLDH) Belem strain. The 316 amino acid protein-coding region of the PvLDH gene was inserted into the prokaryotic expression vector pKK223-3 and a 34 kDa protein with LDH activity was expressed in E.

Aromatase inhibition for the treatment of idiopathic hypogonadotropic hypogonadism in men with premature ejaculation.

Background: Idiopathic hypogonadotropic hypogonadism (IHH) has been observed to occur in men with premature ejaculation (PE). Common IHH therapies include testosterone replacement, which increases testosterone levels but suppresses gonadotropin release; and gonadotropin-releasing hormone supplementation, which restores gonadotropin levels but is impractical for chronic use. Hormonal imbalances associated with IHH/PE are thought to be related to hyperactivity of the cytochrome P-450 enzyme aromatase.