ABSTRACT
Extra-abdominal fibromatosis is an uncommon, benign locally aggressive fibrous soft-tissue tumor that usually occurs in the shoulders, chest wall, back, thigh, and head and neck affecting the young adult population. It is commonly located in the subcutaneous tissue and may infiltrate the adjacent skeletal muscles. We hereby report a rare case of a large extra-abdominal fibromatosis of the leg and foot in a 38-year-old woman. The patient presented with a large voluminous lesion clinically and on imaging, which was difficult to diagnose. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was very helpful in diagnosing the lesion. It revealed a large relatively well-defined, lobulated hypointense mass in the posterior compartment of the leg with extension into the lower thigh and foot with local infiltration into the gastrocnemius and soleus muscles. An incisional biopsy was performed, and the mass was diagnosed on pathological examination as a spindle-shaped fibroblast proliferation suggesting extra-abdominal fibromatosis.
Subject(s)
Cysts , Hyperbilirubinemia , Humans , Hyperbilirubinemia/diagnosis , Hyperbilirubinemia/etiology , Infant, NewbornABSTRACT
The development of "portable, low cost and low consumption" gas microsensors is one of the strong needs for embedded portable devices in many fields such as public domain. In this paper, a new approach is presented on making, on the same chip, a network of head-to-tail facing PN junctions in order to miniaturize the sensor network and considerably reduce the required power for heating each cell independently. This paper is about recognizing a device that integrates both sensing and self-heating. This first study aims to evaluate the possibilities of this type of diode network for use as a gas sensor. The first part concerns the description of the technological process that is based on a doped polysilicon wafer in which a thin layer of metal oxide (a gallium-doped zinc oxide in our case) is deposited by RF sputtering. An electrical model will be proposed to explain the operation and advantage of this approach. We will show the two types of tests that have been carried out (static and dynamic) as well as the first encouraging results of these electrical characterizations under variable atmospheres.
ABSTRACT
STUDY DESIGN: Prospective case series. PURPOSE: This study aimed to investigate the impact of education, financial income, occupation, and patient counseling on the timing of enrolment in a spinal cord injury (SCI) rehabilitation program. OVERVIEW OF LITERATURE: A rehabilitation program following SCI is essential to improve functional outcomes. Socioeconomic factors can affect the timing of enrolment to a rehabilitation program. Literature on the effects of socioeconomic factors among patients with SCI in the Indian scenario is limited. METHODS: A prospective, consecutive analysis of patients with SCI was performed with 1-year follow-up. Assessment of the timing of enrolment to a rehabilitation program was performed using the modified Kuppuswamy socioeconomic scores (MKSS). Patients admitted to the SCI unit (group A), underwent intensive individual, group, and family counseling sessions to encourage early enrolment into a rehabilitation program. Patients presenting directly for rehabilitation (group B) were analyzed for comparison. RESULTS: A total of 153 patients were recruited. Group A was composed of 122 patients who started the rehabilitation program after a mean of 28 days, compared with a mean of 149 days for 31 patients in group B. In group A, 104 patients (85%; mean MKSS, 14.02) and 18 patients (15%; mean MKSS, 15.61) enrolled for rehabilitation <6 weeks and ≥6 weeks, respectively. In group B, 12 patients (39%; mean MKSS, 13.69) and 19 patients (61%; mean MKSS, 12.10) enrolled for rehabilitation <6 weeks and ≥6 weeks, respectively. The total MKSS and scores for education, income, and occupation did not show a significant difference between the two both groups (p>0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Early patient counseling in the acute care unit helps in the early enrolment of patients with poor socioeconomic demographic profile to a rehabilitation program.
ABSTRACT
With the ever growing population, advancements in edible vaccines and related technologies have seen a rise in popularity. Antigenic peptides incorporated into an edible part of a plant can be administered raw as a vaccine. While conventional vaccines have improved the quality of life by drastically reducing the onset of diseases, edible vaccines are able to perform the same with greater accessibility and at an affordable price. Low cost of production, ease of storage, transportation and administration are some of the many reasons behind the push for the development of edible vaccines. This article aims at giving an overview of the different plant systems used to produce vaccines in various experiments, as well as the merits and demerits of using that particular expression system. Further, the article elaborates on the problems faced in the production of edible vaccines and the measures adopted to surpass them. The major obstacle in the process is attaining a sufficiently large concentration of foreign antigen in the plant system. The article discusses various plant expression systems like banana, rice, alfalfa, mushroom, potato, tomato, pea, tobacco, and maize. When these were reviewed, it was found that the inability to produce the desired antigen concentration was one of the primary reasons why edible vaccines sometimes fail to generate the desired level of immune response in the recipient. We conclude with a promising solution to the problem by incorporating nano-technological advancements to the already existing protocols for edible vaccine development.
