An uncommon cause of stroke in young adults.

We describe a previously healthy 48-year-old man who presented with clinical characteristics suggestive of internal carotid artery dissection, confirmed by magnetic resonance imaging. He developed a massive infarction of the left cerebral hemisphere and died after 3 days of transtentorial herniation. Post-mortem examination identified a dissection of the thoracic aorta caused by Erdheim-Gsell cystic medionecrosis, with the characteristic degeneration of the elastic fibers of the lamina media.

A silicon bidirectional flow sensor for measuring respiratory flow.

We describe a solid-state, silicon integrated, bidirectional flow sensor for respiratory applications. The sensor is a thermal vector sensor. The electronic circuitry for obtaining bidirectional sensitivity is presented together with actual application to a healthy volunteer put on mechanical ventilation.