Thoracic outlet syndrome (TOS) is a rare condition resulting from the compression of the brachial plexus and/or the subclavian vessels in the thoracic outlet (TO). Neurogenic TOS (NTOS) is the most common form in up to 95% of the cases, while venous TOS (VTOS) occurs in 3-5% and arterial TOS (ATOS) in 1-2% of the cases. Patients may suffer from the pathologic coexistence of arterio-venous compression in the TO called arterio-venous TOS (AVTOS) with an overlap of clinical symptoms.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe topological response of matter to electromagnetic fields is a highly demanded property in materials design and metrology due to its robustness against noise and decoherence, stimulating recent advances in ultrafast photonics. Embedding topological properties into the enantiosensitive optical response of chiral molecules could therefore enhance the efficiency and robustness of chiral optical discrimination. Here we achieve such a topological embedding by introducing the concept of chiral topological light-a light beam which displays chirality locally, with an azimuthal distribution of its handedness described globally by a topological charge.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: Smoking, with a prevalence of about 25%-30% in Switzerland, is proven to cause major systemic, avoidable diseases including lung cancer, increasing societies morbidity and mortality. Diverse strong quitting smoking recommendations have been made available providing advice facilitating smoking cessation globally. In other European countries like Germany, clinical practice guidelines for smoking cessation services have been implemented.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUpper limb actions require intersegmental coordination of the scapula, shoulders, elbows, forearms, wrists, and hand muscles. Stroke hemiparesis, presenting as an impairment of an intersegmentally coordinated voluntary movement, is associated with altered integrity of corticospinal tract (CST) transmission from the motor cortex (M1) to muscles. Motor evoked potentials (MEPs) elicited by M1 transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) of "at rest" muscles, or as a backup, during muscle contraction have been used to identify CST integrity and predict the outcome after hemiparesis, under the implicit assumption that MEPs present in only one or two muscles are manifest surrogates of CST integrity for other muscles of the upper limbs.
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