Blood selenium in healthy persons and individuals with malignant diseases

INTRODUCTION: Dislocation of the long head of biceps tendon, including subluxation to displacement out of the bicipital groove, is an uncommon cause of shoulder pain. We investigated the role of US in the diagnosis of this condition. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We examined eight patients with dislocation of the long head of biceps tendon: seven had a displaced, and one a subluxated tendon. All patients had early radiographic and US studies of the shoulder; then, three (37%) were submitted to CT-arthrography and two (25%) to MRI. US was performed at 7.5-13 MHz frequency, CT-arthrography with a volumetric acquisition technique and MRI with a surface coil at 1.5 T. Three patients with tendon dislocation had surgical confirmation of the diagnosis. RESULTS: Dislocation of the long head of biceps tendon was always diagnosed with US in all our eight patients; CT-arthrography and MRI confirmed the US findings. In the patient with subluxation of the long head of biceps tendon, US showed the tendon displaced over the lesser tuberosity whereas, in the 7 cases of complete luxations, the groove was empty and the tendon displaced medially. At CT-arthrography, the tendon was well outlined by contrast medium within its sheath. In dislocations, it was close to the anterior aspect of the humeral head. In two cases of dislocation, MRI showed both the empty bicipital sulcus and the medial tendon displacement. The subscapularis tendon tear was always associated with tendon dislocation; a supraspinatus tendon tear was observed in 6 cases. CONCLUSIONS: When imaging a painful shoulder, we should investigate the integrity and course of the long head of biceps tendon. In clinical practice, dislocation of this tendon can be reliably diagnosed with US. CT-arthrography and MRI should be used only to supplement inconclusive US studies.     

Influence of Fluorine on Thermal Properties of Fluorophosphate Glasses

Thermal properties of fluorinated and unfluorinated glasses based on the systems AlF₃-NaPO₃ and AlF₃-CaF₂-NaPO₃ were investigated. Crystallization is more distinct in glasses with a higher fluorine content. The increase in fluorine content in aluminofluorophosphate glasses increases the thermal dilatometry coefficient.     

TemplateTagger v1.0.0: A template matching tool for jet substructure

TemplateTagger is a C++ package for jet substructure analysis with Template Overlap Method. The code operates with arbitrary models within fixed-order perturbation theory and arbitrary kinematics. Specialized template generation classes allow the user to implement any model for a decay of a boosted heavy object. In addition to Template Overlap, the code provides ability to calculate other template shape and energy flow observables. We describe in detail the structure of the package, as well as provide examples of its usage.