Tomographic ultrasound imaging of the anophthalmic socket for future 3D printing of ocular prostheses.

Purpose: There is a need for a simple, non-invasive, and easily accessible 3D imaging technique for the anophthalmic socket to create imaging data for future 3D printing of prostheses. This study aimed to investigate the feasibility of using a novel handheld tomographic ultrasound for 3D mapping of the anophthalmic socket.

Methods: Ten anophthalmic sockets were scanned using a tomographic ultrasound system and the results were compared to CT scanned impression molds from the same sockets.

Determining Asymmetry Thresholds in Anophthalmia/Microphthalmia Using a Three-dimensional Animated Model.

Purpose: Congenital microphthalmia and anophthalmia are rare development disorders with underdevelopment of the orbital region, resulting in asymmetry of the face. No clear guidelines exist to determine when these deviations are acceptable.

Methods: The face of a healthy 6-year-old child was three-dimensionally scanned.

Long term follow-up of axial length and orbital dimensions in congenital microphthalmia and anophthalmia.

Purpose: To evaluate axial length (AL), orbital width (OW) and height (OH) development in congenital microphthalmia and anophthalmia (MICA) using serial ultrasonography measurements.

Methods: A longitudinal prospective cohort (n = 74) of unilaterally and bilaterally affected MICA patients was followed from 2013 to 2022 at the university hospital in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Clinical entity, age, severity category based on axial length, conformer treatment and intra-orbital cysts were registered.

Workflow and treatment results for computer-aided design and 3D-printed conformer therapy of congenital anophthalmia and microphthalmia.

Background/aims: To evaluate treatment with custom, three-dimensional (3D) printed conformers for socket expansion in congenital microphthalmia and anophthalmia (MICA).

Methods: Retrospective analysis of prospective cohort from 2016 to 2020. All children received custom-made 3D-printed conformers increasing in size.

[Design and validation of a computer-based task for the induction of a mental workload spectrum].

As part of the driver's cab 4.0 project funded by the BMBF, an adaptive human-machine interface for agricultural machinery, which detects the current level of mental workload by analysing physiological data is being developed. For this purpose, an experimental task is designed and evaluated, which can induce a mental workload spectrum from little to very strenuous in humans.

Three-Dimensional Computer-Aided Design of a Full-Color Ocular Prosthesis with Textured Iris and Sclera Manufactured in One Single Print Job.

Three-dimensional (3D) printing of ocular prosthesis has been scarcely described in medical literature. Although ocular prostheses have been 3D printed successfully, iris colors are often manually added to the final product afterward. The objective was to produce a 3D-printed ocular prosthesis with textured iris and sclera in one single print job.

In-home mandibular repositioning during sleep using MATRx plus predicts outcome and efficacious positioning for oral appliance treatment of obstructive sleep apnea.

Study Objectives: Oral appliance therapy is not commonly used to treat obstructive sleep apnea due to inconsistent efficacy and lack of established configuration procedures. Both problems may be overcome by information gathered while repositioning the mandible during sleep. The purpose of this investigation was to determine if an unattended sleep study with a mandibular positioner can predict therapeutic success and efficacious mandibular position, assess the contribution of artificial intelligence analytics to such a system, and evaluate symptom resolution using an objective titration approach.

The acoustical and perceptual features of snore-related sounds in patients with obstructive sleep apnea sleeping with the dynamic mandibular advancement system MATRx plus®.

Purpose: The effect of snoring on the bed partner can be studied through the evaluation of in situ sound records by the bed partner or unspecialized raters as a proxy of real-life snoring perception. The aim was to characterize perceptual snore events through acoustical features in patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) with an advanced mandibular position.

Methods: Thirty-minute sound samples of 29 patients with OSA were retrieved from overnight, in-home recordings of a study to validate the MATRx plus® dynamic mandibular advancement system.

Perceptual snoring as a basis for a psychoacoustical modeling and clinical patient profiling.

Purpose: The perceptual burden and social nuisance for mainly the co-sleeper can affect the relationship between snorer and bedpartner. Mandibular advancement devices (MAD) are commonly recommended to treat sleep-related breathing such as snoring or sleep apnea. There is no consensus about the definition of snoring particularly with MAD, which is essential for assessing the effectiveness of treatment.

Recurrent contracted sockets treated with personalized, three-dimensionally printed conformers and buccal grafts.

Purpose: Recurrent contracted sockets are complex situations where previous surgeries have failed, disabling the wear of an ocular prosthesis. A combined method of surgery and long-term fixation using custom-made, three-dimensional (3D) printed conformers is evaluated.

Methods: Retrospective case series of nine patients with recurrent excessive socket contraction and inability to wear a prosthesis, caused by chemical burns ( = 3), fireworks ( = 3), trauma ( = 2) and enucleation and radiotherapy at childhood due to optic nerve glioma ( = 1) with three average previous socket surgeries (range 2-6).

Classification for treatment urgency for the microphthalmia/anophthalmia spectrum using clinical and biometrical characteristics.

Purpose: Current clinical classifications do not distinguish between the severity of the MICrophthalmia/Anophthalmia (MICA) spectrum with regard to treatment urgency. We aim to provide parameters for distinguishing mild, moderate and severe MICA using clinical and biometrical characteristics.

Methods: We performed a single-centre, cross-sectional analysis of prospective cohort of 58 MICA children from September 2013 to February 2018 seen at the Amsterdam University Medical Center, The Netherlands.

Validation of a new unattended sleep apnea monitor using two methods for the identification of hypopneas.

Study Objectives: The objective of the present study was to evaluate the accuracy of a home sleep apnea test (HSAT), MATRx plus (Zephyr Sleep Technologies, Calgary, Alberta, Canada), in identifying apneas and hypopneas and estimating indices of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA).

Methods: Individuals with suspected OSA underwent a one-night study wearing both HSAT and polysomnogram (PSG) sensors. The results provided by the overnight HSAT were compared with those from the simultaneously recorded PSG.

Effects of Intrinsic Properties on Fracture Nucleation and Propagation in Swelling Hydrogels.

In numerous industrial applications, the microstructure of materials is critical for performance. However, finite element models tend to average out the microstructure. Hence, finite element simulations are often unsuitable for optimisation of the microstructure.

Influence of Cell Configuration and Long-Term Operation on Electrochemical Phosphorus Recovery from Domestic Wastewater.

Phosphorus (P) is an important, scarce, and irreplaceable element, and therefore its recovery and recycling are essential for the sustainability of the modern world. We previously demonstrated the possibility of P recovery by electrochemically induced calcium phosphate precipitation. In this Article, we further investigated the influence of cell configuration and long-term operation on the removal of P and coremoved calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), and inorganic carbon.

Is There a Precipitation Sequence in Municipal Wastewater Induced by Electrolysis?

Electrochemical wastewater treatment can induce calcium phosphate precipitation on the cathode surface. This provides a simple yet efficient way for extracting phosphorus from municipal wastewater without dosing chemicals. However, the precipitation of amorphous calcium phosphate (ACP) is accompanied by the precipitation of calcite (CaCO) and brucite (Mg(OH)).

An Individualized 3-Dimensional Designed and Printed Conformer After Dermis Fat Grafting for Complex Sockets.

Purpose: To introduce a novel technique to design individually customized conformers for postenucleation sockets with dermis fat implants.

Methods: We use a 3-dimensional scan of the frontal face/orbit and eyelid contour to design an individualized conformer. This polymethylmetacrylate printed conformer is adapted to patients' socket, palpebral fissures, horizontal eyelid aperture, curvature of the eyelids, and mean diameter of patients' contralateral eye.

Aerial ULV control of Aedes aegypti with naled (Dibrom) inside simulated rural village and urban cryptic habitats.

We conducted aerial fixed wing ultra low volume (ULV) spray trials with naled to investigate penetration of exposed and simulated cryptic habitat within opened buildings, partially sealed buildings, and outdoor locations targeting sentinel adult Aedes aegypti mosquitoes in north central Florida. Mortality was observed in open and closed buildings and outdoors, even in mosquitoes placed in cryptic habitats. Observations on the impact of building type, mosquito exposure method such as placement in cryptic habitat, and spray nozzle size on mosquito mortality are described and analyzed.

Integration efficiency for model reduction in micro-mechanical analyses.

Micro-structural analyses are an important tool to understand material behavior on a macroscopic scale. The analysis of a microstructure is usually computationally very demanding and there are several reduced order modeling techniques available in literature to limit the computational costs of repetitive analyses of a single representative volume element. These techniques to speed up the integration at the micro-scale can be roughly divided into two classes; methods interpolating the integrand and cubature methods.

A Feedback-Controlled Mandibular Positioner Identifies Individuals With Sleep Apnea Who Will Respond to Oral Appliance Therapy.

Study Objectives: Mandibular protruding oral appliances represent a potentially important therapy for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). However, their clinical utility is limited by a less-than-ideal efficacy rate and uncertainty regarding an efficacious mandibular position, pointing to the need for a tool to assist in delivery of the therapy. The current study assesses the ability to prospectively identify therapeutic responders and determine an efficacious mandibular position.

3D Orbital Reconstruction in a Patient with Microphthalmos and a Large Orbital Cyst-A Case Report.

Background: Orbital cysts are rare developmental anomalies that can occur in microphthalmic and anophthalmic patients. Such cysts can promote orbital growth and subsequently markedly increase the size of the orbit, which is commonly underdeveloped in these patients. Cyst removal is therefore generally dissuaded (at least) in the first 5 years.

Simulation of muscle and adipose tissue deformation in the passive human pharynx.

Quantifying the contribution of passive mechanical deformation in the human pharynx to upper airway collapse is fundamental to understanding the competing biomechanical processes that maintain airway patency. This study uses finite element analysis to examine deformation in the passive human pharynx using an intricate 3D anatomical model based on computed tomography scan images. Linear elastic properties are assigned to bone, cartilage, ligament, tendon, and membrane structures based on a survey of values reported in the literature.

A comparison of Bt transgene, hybrid background, water stress, and insect stress effects on corn leaf and ear injury and subsequent yield.

Experimentally manipulated water and insect stresses were applied to field-grown corn with different Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) transgenes and no Bt transgenes, and different nontransgenic hybrid backgrounds (2011 and 2012, Corpus Christi, TX). Differences in leaf injury, ear injury, and yield were detected among experimental factors and their interactions. Under high and low water stress, injury from noctuid larvae (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) on leaves during vegetative growth (primarily from fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda J.

Remotely controlled mandibular protrusion during sleep predicts therapeutic success with oral appliances in patients with obstructive sleep apnea.

Study Objectives: The present study addresses the need for a validated tool that prospectively identifies favorable candidates for oral appliance therapy in treatment of obstructive sleep apnea. The objective of the study was to evaluate the ability of a mandibular titration study, performed with a remotely controlled mandibular positioner (RCMP), to predict treatment outcome with a mandibular repositioning appliance (MRA) and to predict an effective target protrusive position (ETPP).

Design: A prospective, blinded, outcome study.