Endoluminal radiotherapy for rectal tumors

The present study was performed to evaluate local tumor control and side effects of endoluminal radiotherapy given to patients with rectal tumors. Twelve patients with adenocarcinoma and 10 patients with villous/adenovillous adenomas were treated with curative intent from 1989 to 1995. The majority of patients were of advanced age and in poor medical condition, and had previously been found unable to undergo radical surgery or colostomy. Three patients had tumor remains following radiotherapy, they successfully received local surgery (n = 2) or an iridium implant (n = 1) as second-line treatment. Two patients (adenomas) later experienced a local relapse. No serious side effects were observed. We conclude that endoluminal radiotherapy is an efficacious option for patients with malignant or premalignant tumors in the lower rectum who are in poor medical condition.     

Method of choice for urinary diversion in surgical treatment of bladder carcinoma

Spirometric, gasometric and electrocardiogarphic studies were carried out in 17 patients at rest, who were treated surgically for extreme obesity (overweight from 52 to 175 per cent in relation to the normal weight). The measurements were made before operation. It was found that the mean spirometric values were within the range of acceptable deviations from the normal value. The residual volume showed a tendency towards decreasing, especially in young patients. The values of dynamic parameters indicated a tendency towards ventilatory changes of a restrictive type in both groups. Minute ventilation at rest increased proportionally to obesity. Decreased values of respiratory equivalent indicated a good economy of respiration in obese persons when at rest. The mean gasometric values in capillary blood at rest were also within the acceptable range of abnormalities. Electrocardiographic tracings taken at rest showed considerable changes in the group of more obese persons.     

Oocyte donation: does a previous attempt affect a subsequent attempt?

Epidermal infiltration by neoplastic CD4+ T cells is a characteristic histologic feature of early stage mycosis fungoides, the most common type of cutaneous T cell lymphoma (CTCL). The mechanisms involved in epidermotropism are unknown. It has been suggested that the CXC chemokines IL-8 and interferon-gamma inducible protein 10 (IP-10) may play a role, but evidence that these chemokines are produced within the epidermis in epidermotropic CTCL is lacking. In this study skin biopsies from 17 CTCL patients, including 12 mycosis fungoides, four pleomorphic CTCL, and one CD8+ CTCL, were investigated for epidermal IL-8 and IP-10 mRNA expression by RNA in situ hybridization. In addition, the expression of monokine induced by gamma-interferon (Mig) mRNA, a CXC chemokine closely related to IP-10, was studied as well. The expression of IL-8 receptors A and B (CXCR1 and CXCR2, respectively) was investigated by immunohistochemistry. The results were correlated with the number and phenotype of epidermotropic T cells. Epidermal expression of IP-10 and Mig mRNA was detected in 10 of 11 and seven of 11 epidermotropic CTCL, respectively, but not in five nonepidermotropic CTCL biopsies or normal human skin. Epidermal IP-10 and Mig mRNA expression correlated with epidermal infiltration of CD4+ T cells, but not of CD8+ T cells. IL-8 mRNA was demonstrated in the epidermis of only two of 15 CTCL biopsies, and was associated, in both cases, with accumulation of neutrophils. Consistently, immunostaining of the (intraepidermal) T cells with antibodies against CXCR1 and CXCR2 was not observed. In conclusion, the results of this study indicate that IP-10, and to a lesser extent Mig, but not IL-8 is involved in the preferential infiltration of neoplastic CD4+ T cells in CTCL.     

Dapsone poisoning

Two cases of suicidal dapsone ingestion are reported. These patients presented with marked cyanosis and had significant methaemoglobinaemia on admission. One patient also had acute psychosis and haemolytic anaemia. Both patients responded to intravenous methylene blue therapy and nasal oxygen inhalation and recovered without any sequelae.     

Morphological edge detection and brain tumor segmentation in Magnetic Resonance (MR) images based on region growing and performance evaluation of modified Fuzzy C-Means (FCM) algorithm

Multimedia Tools and Applications - The medical image processing has become indispensable with an increased demand for systematic and efficient detection of brain tumor in a short period of time....     

Iris Recognition using Multi Objective Artificial Bee Colony Optimization Algorithm with Autoencoder Classifier

Neural Processing Letters - In recent decades, iris recognition is a trustworthy and important biometric model for human recognition. Criminal to commercial products, citizen confirmation and...     

A novel microstrip antenna loaded with EBG and ELC for bandwidth enhancement

This paper proposes the design of three compact antennas for WiMAX, WLAN and ISM band applications. Antenna 1 consists of a monopole radiating element with an electromagnetic band gap (EBG) structured ground. By employing the EBG structure, an ultra-wide band frequency of 2.4–4.8 GHz (66.66%) is achieved. Antenna 2 is configured with an electric-LC (ELC) element, which achieved an ultra-wide band (UWB) frequency of 2.38–4.91 GHz (69.41%). Antenna 3 is integrated with ELC and EBG together, in which a UWB frequency of 2.3–5.3 GHz (78.94%) is obtained with improved impedance matching. The three antennas have omnidirectional radiation patterns which cover the ISM band at 2.4 GHz and WiMAX at 2.5/3.5 GHz over the operating bands. The radiation efficiency is?>?75% throughout the operating bands of all the antennas. In addition to the WiMAX and ISM bands, antenna 3 covers WLAN in the 5.2 GHz band. The proposed design can be applied to wireless mobile communication systems, which have the advantage of ease of fabrication and compactness.

     

Evaluation of DGEBA

Analytical studies using chemical, spectral, and chromatographic methods have been carried out for four commercial diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A (DGEBA) resins (AER, EER, DER, and NER) in order to evaluate the essential parameters of DGEBA for synthesizing 2,2-bis [4- (2-hydroxy-3-methacryloyloxypropoxy)] phenyl propane (BIS-GMA), an impportant precursor for dental composites. Parameters such as epoxy equivalent weight, hydroxyl value, and hydrolyzable chlorine content have been estimated. The role of these parameters in determining the final purity of BIS-GMA has also been discussed.     

Analysis of Collaborative Brain Computer Interface (BCI) Based Personalized GUI for Differently Abled

Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCI) use Electroencephalography (EEG) signals recorded from the brain scalp, which enable a communication between the human and the outside world. The present study helps the patients who are people locked-in to manage their needs such as accessing of web url’s, sending/receiving sms to/from mobile device, personalized music player, personalized movie player, wheelchair control and home appliances control. In the proposed system, the user needs are designed as a button in the form of a matrix, in which the main panel of rows and columns button is flashed in 3 sec intervals. Subjects were asked to choose the desired task/need from the main panel of the GUI by blinking their eyes twice. The double eye blink signals extracted by using the bio-sensor of NeuroSky’s mind wave device with portable EEG sensors are used as the command signal. Each task is designed and implemented using a Matlab tool. The developed Personalized GUI application collaborated with the EEG device accesses the user’s need. Once the system identifies the desired option through the input control signal, the appropriate algorithm is called and performed. The users can also locate the next required option within the matrix. Therefore, users can easily navigate through the GUI Model. A list of personalized music, movies, books and web URL’s are preloaded in the database. Hence, it could be suitable to assist disabled people to improve their quality of life. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) is also carried out to find out the significant signals influencing a user’s need in order to improve the motion characteristics of the brain computer interface based system.