Ambulatory subcutaneous internal sphincterectomy]

The internal anal sphincterotomy operation represents the best therapy for the treatment of those anal lesions, above all anal fissures, which cause hypertrophy and spasms of the internal anal sphincter. The Authors report their experience of 253 operations of internal subcutaneous sphincterotomy carried out between 1989 and 1995 under local anaesthesia in the outpatient clinic. The excellent results achieved prove that the procedure can easily be carried out under local anaesthesia in an outpatient clinic and, therefore, it is preferable to the surgical technique of isolation of the internal sphincter, not only for its practicality but also for the improved results.     

The Ultrawideband Leaky Lens Antenna

A novel directive and nondispersive antenna is presented: the ultrawideband (UWB) leaky lens. It is based on the broad band Cherenkov radiation occurring at a slot printed between different infinite homogeneous dielectrics. The first part of the paper presents the antenna concept and the UWB design. The issues that are specifically addressed include the impedance matching, the radiation pattern and the phase purity. Subsequently the hardware demonstrator and the results of the measurement campaign are shown. The results fully validate the antenna concept. The antenna presents decade bandwidth impedance matching, directive and frequency independent patterns in the H-plane over two octaves, negligible cross-polarization levels, weak amplitude dispersivity and, according to the authors, the most stable phase center for a directive antenna over an ultra wide frequency range.     

Absorption and distribution of arachidonate in rats receiving lysophospholipids by oral route

Absorption and distribution of polyunsaturated fatty acids was investigated in rats receiving lysophospholipids per os (30 mg kg-1). Lysophosphatidylcholine (lysoPC) increased [3H]arachidonate absorption and its incorporation into mucosal phosphatidylcholine. Transport of [3H]arachidonate by the phospholipid fraction of lymph lipoproteins and the level of [3H]arachidonate in plasma and liver lipids was also increased by lyso PC. Lysophosphatidylserine also increased [3H]arachidonate absorption but channeled the fatty acids into the aminophospholipid fraction of mucosal phospholipids, thus decreasing its efflux in lymph lipoproteins. As a consequence, lysophosphatidylserine caused [3H]arachidonate accumulation in mucosa. As similar results were obtained with [14C]linoleate, the data suggest that the addition of an appropriate lysophospholipid to the diet may direct absorption and distribution of polyunsaturated fatty acids.     

An enhanced exact procedure for the absolute robust shortest path problem

The aim of this paper is to investigate the use of heuristic information to efficiently solve to optimality the robust shortest path problem. Starting from the exact algorithm proposed by Murty and Her, we describe how this algorithm can be enhanced by using heuristic rules and evaluation functions to guide the search. The efficiency of the proposed enhanced approach is tested over a range of random generated instances. Our computational results indicate that the use of heuristic criteria is able to speed up considerably the search and that the enhanced exact solution method outperforms the state‐of‐the‐art algorithm proposed by Murty and Her in most of the instances.     

Semi-transparent blotches removal from sepia images exploiting visibility laws

This paper presents a novel model for the removal of semi-transparent blotches on the digitized copy of sepia archive photographs. As these defects cannot be successfully eliminated by conventional interpolation methods, a proper combination of a novel visual distortion and multiresolution analysis is used for performing user-independent detection and restoration. Extensive experimental results and comparative studies show the potential of the proposed model in terms of visual quality and computational complexity.     

The Role of Vitamin D in Sleep Disorders of Children and Adolescents: A Systematic Review

This review investigates the association between vitamin D and sleep disorders. Vitamin D is an essential nutrient known to play an important role in the growth and bone health of the human body, but it also appears to play a role in sleep. The goal of our review is to examine the association between vitamin D and sleep disorders in children and adolescents. We summarize the evidence about the role and the mechanism of action of vitamin D in children and adolescents with sleep disorders such as insomnia, obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), restless legs syndrome (RLS), and other sleep disorders. Systematic electronic database searches were conducted using Pubmed and Cochrane Library. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guideline was followed. The studies that met the established inclusion criteria were analyzed and compared. Results suggest a strict relationship between vitamin D deficiency in children and sleep disorders. There is evidence that vitamin D is implicated in the different neurochemical mechanisms involved in sleep regulation and mainly in the serotonergic and dopaminergic pathways. This might be responsible for the association of vitamin D deficiency and restless sleep, sleep hyperhidrosis, OSA, and RLS.     

Phase Information and Space Filling Curves in Noisy Motion Estimation

This correspondence presents a novel approach for translational motion estimation based on the phase of the Fourier transform. It exploits the equality between the averaging of a group of successive frames and the convolution of the reference one with an impulse train function. The use of suitable space filling curves allows to reduce the error in motion estimation making the proposed approach robust under noise. Experimental results show that the proposed approach outperforms available techniques in terms of objective (PSNR) and subjective quality with a lower computational effort.