A rare variation in the origin of the lingual artery: thyro-linguo-laryngeal trunk.

The anatomy of the external carotid artery and its variations are of ground significance in head and neck surgery. During a dissection of a male cadaver, an undescribed common trunk between superior thyroid, superior laryngeal, and lingual arteries was found. The variations of the anterior cervical branches of the external carotid artery and their clinical implications are discussed. The described unusual branching pattern of the external carotid artery must always be considered in invasive or non-invasive procedures because it may lead to unexpected complications.

University Students' Self-Rated Health in Relation to Perceived Acoustic Environment during the COVID-19 Home Quarantine.

BACKGROUND: Online education became mandatory for many students during the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and blurred the distinction between settings where processes of stress and restoration used to take place. The lockdown also likely changed perceptions of the indoor acoustic environment (i.e., soundscape) and raised its importance. In the present study, we seek to understand how indoor soundscape related to university students' self-rated health in Bulgaria around the time that the country was under a state of emergency declaration caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: Between 17 May and 10 June 2020, we conducted a cross-sectional online survey among 323 students (median age 21 years; 31% male) from two universities in the city of Plovdiv, Bulgaria. Self-rated health (SRH) was measured with a single-item. Participants were asked how frequently they heard different types of sounds while at home and how pleasant they considered each of those sounds to be. Restorative quality of the home (the "being away" dimension of the Perceived Restorativeness Scale) was measured with a single-item. A priori confounders and effect modifiers included sociodemographics, house-related characteristics, general sensitivity to environmental influences, and mental health. Our analysis strategy involved sequential exploratory factor analysis (EFA), multivariate linear and ordinal regressions, effect modification tests, and structural equation modeling (SEM). RESULTS: EFA supported grouping perceived sounds into three distinct factors-mechanical, human, and nature sounds. Regression analyses revealed that greater exposure to mechanical sounds was consistently associated with worse SRH, whereas no significant associations were found for human and nature sounds. In SEM, exposure to mechanical sounds related to lower restorative quality of the home, and then to poorer SRH, whereas nature sounds correlated with higher restorative quality, and in turn with better SRH. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest a role of positive indoor soundscape and restorative quality for promoting self-rated health in times of social distancing.

Does greenery experienced indoors and outdoors provide an escape and support mental health during the COVID-19 quarantine?

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly changed people's ability to recreate in public green spaces, which is likely to exacerbate the psychological impacts of the pandemic. In the current study, we seek to understand whether greenery can support mental health even with insufficient outdoor exposure in times of physical isolation from the outdoor environment. METHODS: Between 17 May and 10 June, 2020, we conducted an online survey among 323 students (21.99 ± 3.10 years; 31% male) in health-related programs from two universities in the city of Plovdiv, Bulgaria. Severities of depressive and anxiety symptoms over the past two weeks were measured with the Patient Health Questionnaire 9-item and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item scale. We employed two self-reported measures of greenery experienced indoors (number of houseplants in the home and proportion of exterior greenery visible from inside the home) and two measures of greenery experienced outdoors (presence/absence of a domestic garden and availability of neighborhood greenery). Restorative quality of the home (the "being away" dimension of the Perceived Restorativeness Scale; PRS) and the neighborhood (the "being away" and "fascination" dimensions of the PRS), engagement with outdoor greenery (frequency of different types of interaction) and perceived social support were treated as mediators. Associations between greenery and mental health were tested using generalized linear regression and logistic regression. Structural equation modelling (SEM) techniques were used to test the theoretically-indicated relations among the variables. RESULTS: Clinically-meaningful symptoms of moderate depression and anxiety were reported by approximately 33% and 20% of the students, respectively. The relative abundance of greenery visible from the home or in the neighborhood was associated with reduced depressive/anxiety symptoms and lower depression/anxiety rates. Having more houseplants or a garden was also associated with some of these markers of mental health. As hypothesized, the mental health-supportive effects of indoor greenery were largely explained by increased feelings of being away while at home. Neighborhood greenery contributed to neighborhood restorative quality, which in turn facilitated social support and more frequent engagement with greenery, and that led to better mental health. CONCLUSIONS: Students who spent most of their time at home during the COVID-19 epidemic experienced better mental health when exposed to more greenery. Our findings support the idea that exposure to greenery may be a valuable resource during social isolation in the home. However, causal interpretation of these associations is not straightforward.

The advantage of the virtual forensic autopsy - A new approach which could benefit forensic expertise.

We aimed to assess the accuracy and advantages of postmortem CT examination and three-dimensional (3D) view of the cadaver with the Sectra Visualization Table compared to the full conventional autopsy of a forensic suicidal case. Our survey concerned unusual case of self-strangulation where a body was found in the stage of mummification with a nylon cable tie around the neck and another around the feet. The case was initially determined as a homicide, but later reconsidered a suicide based on objective scene investigation, virtual autopsy and the positions of knots. Unlike the physical autopsy in case of mummification 3D examination does not alter evidence and can revisit the body for additional investigation.

A Technical Problem in Diagnosis Clarity of Solitary Spinal Cord Neurofibroma in an Eleven-month-old Boy.

Spinal neurofibroma is one of the rarest of the neoplasms involving the spinal cord or roots and occurs much less often than neurinoma, meningioma or glioma. The sixth pediatric case of solitary intramedullary tumor was described in 2013, according to B. Eljebbouri et al. We present a rare, difficult to diagnose and may-be the seventh pediatric case of solitary neurofibroma of the cauda equine in an 11-month-old infant. The patient underwent a laminectomy of T12, L1, L2 and L3, extirpation of intradural, intramedullary and extramedullary spinal cord tumor. The patient is fully recovered for 5 years of monitoring. Although rare, spinal neurofibromas in children should be diagnostically considered and radically treated for a favorable outcome.

Sternalis muscle--a riddle that still awaits an answer short communication.

One important variant of the panniculus carnosus remnants--a superficial muscle layer in the thoracic region typical for lower mammals, is an often found variation known by the name of sternalis muscle. It was discovered for the first time by Cabrolius in 1604 and identified precisely in 1726 by Du Puy. Even today, the variation is still an object of description and attempted to be classified and defined. We found an abnormal muscle band known as sternalis muscle (m. sternalis). The variation was accompanied by a partial bilateral agenesia of the pars sternocostalis of the pectoralis major muscle. Although m. sternalis was first described 3 centuries ago, its origin is still unclear. Some authors suggest that it originates from adjacent muscles such as the sternocleidomastoid muscle, pectoralis major muscle, rectus abdominis muscle, etc. Kadanov considers the muscle a remnant of panniculus carnosus, a muscle layer located immediately under the skin in lower mammals. Our case confirms the hypothesis of the pectoral origin of m. sternalis. It is not only a rare variation of interest to morphologists, but also a structure which is important for clinicians. The location of the muscle makes it essential for general and plastic surgeons as well as for the specialists in imaging diagnostics. In conclusion we consider that this anomaly belongs to the group of the rudimentary structures in human beings, which appear to be more variable. The suggestion of its development as a possible phylogenic regularity in the evolution makes it all the more important for the morphological science and medical practice.