Cervical Spine Pain and the Impact on the Quality of Life of Patients with Multiple Sclerosis.

: The main aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of cervical pain on the quality of life of patients with multiple sclerosis in comparison with a group of healthy people (without diseases of the Central Nervous System). : Data were collected at the Specialist Hospital St. Łukasz in Końskie (Poland) in the period from November 2023 to August 2024.

Evaluation of a TEM based Approach for Size Measurement of Particulate (Nano)materials.

An approach for the size measurement of particulate (nano)materials by transmission electron microscopy was evaluated. The approach combines standard operating procedures for specimen preparation, imaging, and image analysis, and it was evaluated on a series of certified reference materials and representative test materials with varying physical properties, including particle size, shape, and agglomeration state. The measurement of the median value of the minimal external particle diameter distribution was intra-laboratory validated.

Factors determining uptake of diabetic retinopathy screening in Oxfordshire.

Aims: To investigate variables at the demographic and primary care practice levels that influence the uptake of diabetic retinopathy screening.

Methods: Data were extracted from the management software of one screening programme for 21 797 people registered with 79 general practices. Uptake was examined by gender, age group, modality of screening (mobile unit at general practice versus high-street optometrist), and by general practice.

Classification and Segmentation of Nanoparticle Diffusion Trajectories in Cellular Micro Environments.

Darkfield and confocal laser scanning microscopy both allow for a simultaneous observation of live cells and single nanoparticles. Accordingly, a characterization of nanoparticle uptake and intracellular mobility appears possible within living cells. Single particle tracking allows to measure the size of a diffusing particle close to a cell.

Dark field nanoparticle tracking analysis for size characterization of plasmonic and non-plasmonic particles.

Dark field microscopy is a widely unknown method to measure the particle size distribution of diffusing nanoparticles by particle tracking. Here we demonstrate that by using the surface plasmonic resonance of Au nanoparticles, size differences of ca. 20 nm can be identified within the particle size distribution.

High prevalence of sleep disordered breathing in patients with diabetic macular edema.

Background: Diabetic retinopathy is more common and severe in patients with sleep disordered breathing (SDB). This study aimed to establish whether this is also true for patients with diabetic clinically significant macular edema (CSME). It is hypothesized that SDB, through intermittent hypoxia and blood pressure oscillations, might provoke worsening of CSME.

Visual improvement following continuous positive airway pressure therapy in diabetic subjects with clinically significant macular oedema and obstructive sleep apnoea: proof of principle study.

Background: Diabetic retinopathy and diabetic macular oedema are more prevalent in patients with coexistent obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA).

Objectives: We assessed if treatment of OSA with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) might improve visual acuity (VA).

Methods: A total of 35 patients with clinically significant macular oedema (CSMO) and OSA [oxygen desaturation index (ODI) ≥10 or apnoea-hypopnoea index (AHI) ≥15] were identified and agreed to be studied.

The prevalence of retinopathy in men with Type 2 diabetes and obstructive sleep apnoea.

Aims: To clarify the relationship between obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) and diabetic retinopathy.

Research Design And Methods: A cohort of 240 men from primary and secondary care previously participated in a study on the prevalence of OSA in Type 2 diabetes and provided anthropometric information, details of their diabetes, had glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) measured and overnight oximetry performed. They were re-contacted for permission to review their routine screening clinical retinal photographs, which were then scored by a trained grader, providing detailed retinopathy, maculopathy and photocoagulation scores.

[Optimizing histological image data for 3-D reconstruction using an image equalizer].

Bone cells form a wired network within the extracellular bone matrix. To analyse this complex 3D structure, we employed a confocal fluorescence imaging procedure to visualize live bone cells within their native surrounding. By means of newly developed image processing software, the "Image-Equalizer", we aimed to enhanced the contrast and eliminize artefacts in such a way that cell bodies as well as fine interconnecting processes were visible.

Detection and prevalence of early diabetic retinopathy in juvenile diabetics with diabetes for 10 years or more.

Purpose: To compare clinical examination using green light with clinical examination using white light in detecting early diabetic retinopathy (DR) in juvenile diabetic patients with disease for 10 or more years.

Methods: All patients were examined clinically using both green light and white light to determine the presence of DR. Each patient underwent seven-field fundus photography, which was used as the defined standard against which the clinical examinations were compared and also to determine the prevalence of DR.

Brain tissue slice thickness monitored by ion-profile measurement.

The thickness of a brain tissue slice preparation governs the amount of time required for substances to diffuse from the bathing solution to preparation. Slice thickness may increase during the experiment, e.g.

Graphical visualization of the pattern of muscular weakness in neuromuscular diseases.

A graphical method for the description of the spatial extension and temporal development of muscular weakness in neurological disorders implemented on a personal computer is described. Different degrees of paresis of individual muscle groups are represented by distinct grey tone values or colors in a semi-anatomic scheme. This representation provides a rapid recognition of essential features of the clinical syndrome, such as the pattern of muscular weakness and its temporal development.

Time courses of lidocaine effects on sodium membrane currents in small and large neurons.

Time courses of effects of lidocaine on sodium currents and sodium dependent action potentials were studied in somata of small and large neurons. Cultured rat sensory spinal ganglion cells (diameter: 30 microns) and neurons of the buccal ganglion of Helix pomatia (diameter: 150 microns) served as the test cells. The latency of the suppressive action of lidocaine was the longer the larger the of the cells was.

Model calculations of oxygen supply to tissue slice preparations.

Excised tissue slice preparations are widely used in experimental medicine, pharmacology and physiology. Since slices are separated from the vascular system they have to be supplied with oxygen from the bath solution in which the slices are fixed. Otto Warburg designed a simple model of oxygen diffusion in such a tissue preparation.

New trends in computer graphics and computer vision to assist functional neurosurgery.

Computer vision (CV), a computerized method to analyze digital images (e.g., CT scans), and computer graphics (CG), a set of computer programs for displaying two, three- or four-dimensional data, are recent computer techniques which are appropriate to assist functional stereotactic surgery.

Diffusion in slice preparations bathed in unstirred solutions.

A diffusion model is described here, which allows for the estimations of drug concentration changes in porous media, such as in slice tissues of the central nervous system (CNS) bathed in unstirred solutions following abrupt changes of drug concentration. This model may be used for the interpretation of data obtained in neuropharmacological studies if (i) the diffusion coefficient of the molecules under investigation is constant within the excised tissue, (ii) drug molecules are diffusing only in the extracellular space (ECS) and are not bound by the tissue, (iii) drug molecules diffuse mainly within one dimension, (iv) the drug concentration in the bath is changed within 5 s, and (v) the bathing solutions at the surfaces of the slices are stagnant during the period of diffusion. To test this model, estimated tetramethylammonium (TMA) ion concentrations within a tissue slice were compared to actual TMA concentration changes measured at the same depth in the tissue of hippocampal slices by means of TMA-sensitive microelectrodes.

Computer-assisted analysis of functional anatomy of human ventrolateral thalamus.

A three-dimensional map was created by a computer-assisted analysis of functional and somatotopic organization of the target area in the human ventrolateral thalamus. Stimulation in the target area mostly elicited increased tone in skeletal muscles, with a concomitant decrease or stop of tremor. Despite averaging of all responses, no clear somatotopic organization could be demonstrated for the tonifying stimulation effects.

Transformation modes in computerized human thalamic brain mapping.

An exact transfer of data intraoperatively gathered in thalamic nuclei to an anatomical atlas requires an efficient mathematical transformation mode. Three different kinds of transformation modes were analyzed: First, the AC PC distance was used as a parameter to correlate data with the atlas coordinate system. Second, the influence of the patients 3rd ventricle widths on the transformation procedure.

pO2-dependent distribution of potassium in hippocampal slices of the guinea pig.

The distribution of extracellular K+-concentration (cK+s) in 200-1000-micron thick hippocampal slices was studied with ion-selective microelectrodes. In ca. 500-micron thick slices cK+s increased from the surface to the innermost layers by ca.