Laser speckle imaging identification of increases in cortical microcirculatory blood flow induced by motor activity during awake craniotomy.

Object: The goal of awake neurosurgery is to maximize resection of brain lesions with minimal injury to functional brain areas. Laser speckle imaging (LSI) is a noninvasive macroscopic technique with high spatial and temporal resolution used to monitor changes in capillary perfusion. In this study, the authors hypothesized that LSI can be useful as a noncontact method of functional brain mapping during awake craniotomy for tumor removal.

Threshold amplitude and frequency for ocular tissue release from a vibrating instrument: an experimental study.

Purpose: During retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) and choroid graft translocation in the treatment of patients with exudative age-related macular degeneration, the adhesion of the graft to the translocation instrument complicated its submacular release. Vibration of the instrument improved the release of the graft. This study was conducted to validate the effectiveness of the principle of vibration and to determine the threshold amplitude and frequency required for development of an optimized instrument.

Predictive value of infant lung function testing for airway malacia.

Airway malacia is present in a small proportion of wheezing infants. The usefulness of infant lung-function testing (ILFT) in ruling out malacia in wheezy infants is unknown. We assessed the predictive value of ILFT parameters for airway malacia diagnosed by flexible bronchoscopy.

Non-invasive measurement of tendon excursion with a colour Doppler imaging system: a reliability study in healthy subjects.

The excursion of the flexor digitorum profundus tendon during active flexion of the third finger was measured with colour Doppler imaging in 10 healthy volunteers. Repeated measurements were made by one observer in three sessions to assess the test-retest reliability. An analysis of variance (ANOVA) was done to find out the multiple sources of measurement error.

Reliability of tendon excursion measurements in patients using a color Doppler imaging system.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to assess the test-retest reliability of tendon excursion measurements with color Doppler imaging in patients with flexor tendon injuries following a modified Kleinert protocol.

Methods: One observer performed repeated measurements at 3 different time periods in 13 patients with flexor tendon injuries, following a modified Kleinert protocol. The intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), the standard error of measurement (SEM), and related indices of measurement error were calculated.

Worsening of V'maxFRC in infants with chronic lung disease in the first year of life: a more favorable outcome after high-frequency oscillation ventilation.

Little is known about the development of maximal flow at functional residual capacity, a measure of airway patency, in infants with chronic lung disease (CLD). In a follow-up study, we evaluated V'maxFRC in very low birth weight infants with CLD, treated with high-frequency oscillation ventilation (HFOV) or conventional mechanical ventilation. In 36 infants with CLD, V'maxFRC was evaluated at 6 and/or 12 months corrected age, and the relationship between perinatal factors and lung function was studied.