Incarcerated inguinal hernia and small bowel obstruction as a rare complication of a penile prosthesis.

In this paper, we present a rare case of a small bowel obstruction secondary to an incarcerated inguinal hernia as a short-term complication of a penile prosthesis implantation. The patient underwent prosthesis implantation to treat refractory erectile dysfunction after a robotic-assisted laparoscopic radical prostatectomy. He presented 2 weeks later with the incarcerated hernia to our emergency department and surgical service. The hernia was repaired in a tension-free manner, and the bowel was uncompromised. The patient is symptom free at follow-up.

Electronic state spectroscopy of 1,4-pentadiene as studied by VUV photoabsorption spectroscopy and ab initio calculations.

We present high resolution VUV photoabsorption spectra of 1,4-pentadiene, C(5)H(8), over the wavelength range 115-247 nm (10.8-5.0 eV). These spectra reveal several new features not previously reported in the literature. These measurements are complemented by the first ab initio calculations for the three most abundant conformational isomers of 1,4-pentadiene, C(5)H(8), which we then use in the assignment of valence and Rydberg transitions. Calculations of the two lowest energy ionic states of 1,4-pentadiene are also presented and compared with the experimental data available in the literature. The measured absolute photoabsorption cross sections have been used to calculate the photolysis lifetime of 1,4-pentadiene in the upper stratosphere (20-50 km).

Intra-striatal estradiol in female rats impairs response learning within two hours of treatment.

Estradiol treatment administered systemically or directly to the dorsolateral striatum across two days impairs performance on a response task in which rats learn to make a specific body turn to locate food on a maze. Estradiol can act through both slow and rapid signaling pathways to regulate learning impairments, however it is impossible to dissociate the slow from the rapid contributions of estradiol following long exposures. To assess the rapid effects of estradiol on striatum-sensitive learning, we trained rats on a response learning task after either relatively short or long treatments of estradiol infused directly into the striatum. Three-month-old female rats were ovariectomized 21 days before training and received guide cannulae implanted bilaterally into the dorsolateral striatum. For short duration treatments, rats were given bilateral infusions (0.5 µl) of 17ß-estradiol-sulfate (0, 5, 50, or 500 nM in aCSF-vehicle) either 2h or 15 min prior to training. For long duration treatments, rats received a series of estradiol infusions (500 nM) at 48, 24, and 2h prior to training. Replicating previous findings (Zurkovsky et al., 2007), intra-striatal estradiol treatments given for two days prior to training impaired response learning. Estradiol-induced impairments in performance were also demonstrated 2h, but not 15 min, after single infusions. Thus, estradiol acts within hours of exposure in the striatum, a structure lacking classical estrogen receptors, to impair response learning.

Instrumented toys for studying power and precision grasp forces in infants.

Currently the study of infants grasping development is purely clinical, based on functional scales or on the observation of the infant while playing; no quantitative variables are measured or known for diagnosis of eventually disturbed development. The aim of this work is to show the results of a longitudinal study achieved by using a "baby gym" composed by a set of instrumented toys, as a tool to measure and stimulate grasping actions, in infants from 4 to 9 months of life. The study has been carried out with 7 healthy infants and it was observed, during infants development, an increase of precision grasp and a reduction of power grasp with age. Moreover the forces applied for performing both precision and power grasp increase with age. The proposed devices represent a valid tool for continuous and quantitative measuring infants manual function and motor development, without being distressful for the infant and consequently it could be suitable for early intervention training during the first year of life. The same system, in fact, could be used with infants at high risk for developmental motor disorder in order to evaluate any potential difference from control healthy infants.

Design and development of "biomechatronic gym" for early detection of neurological disorders in infants.

The study and measurement of grasping actions and forces in humans is important in a variety of contexts. In infants, it can give insights on the typical and atypical motor development, while it poses functional and operative requirements that are not fully matched by current sensing technology. Novel approaches for measuring infants' grasping actions are based on sensorized platform usable in natural settings. A new set of instrumented toys has been designed for the assessment/stimulation of upper limbs of infants between 4 and 9 months. A purposive biomechatronic gym has been developed by integrating pressure and force sensors and visual/auditory stimulations to the usual gym structure and hanging toys (cow, flower and ring puppets), so that the infants' actions on the gym can be monitored, measured and stimulated. With the developed system, a longitudinal clinical validation has been carried out with seven healthy infants. From data analysis it is possible to identify a trend in manual forces development and this result confirms the usefulness of the system proposed as a clinical tool for monitoring infants' grasping development.

[Multidisciplinary approach to diagnosis and prevention of musculoskeletal diseases in work environment. Long term follow- up]. / Approccio multidisciplinare per la diagnosi e prevenzione delle malattie muscolo-scheletriche in ambiente di lavoro. Controllo a distanza.

To have the right value of the possible causes responsible of muscles-skeleton disorders, and to have a right therapeutic measures, the Authors have get ready an holistic method, that value not only the damage's point, but also research in the others body-districts, named Peripheral Receptors, the causes responsible of pathologic manifestation. The methods is used on 61 VDU and it consists in: clinical rachis exam (like EPM methods), postural, odontological, oculistic, podiatric and psychologic visits. The study have permitted to underlines muscles-skeletons disorders precociously, not only in symptomatic subjects, but also in those asymptomatic, so it is an important prevention's instrument, diagnostic framing and medico-legal of studied pathologies.

[Baropodometric walking analysis in healthy elderly and in arthritic patients before and after knee prosthesis implantation]. / Analisi baropodometrica del passo in soggetti sani anziani ed in pazienti gonartrosici prima e dopo intervento di artroprotesi di ginocchio.

Standing and walking are complex activities which require integral skeletal-muscular and central nervous systems. Body is usually, evenly distributed between both the lower limbs with 40% on the ball of the foot and 60% on the heel, therefore, the body's centre of gravity falls between the feet in correspondence to Chopart's articulation. Some diseases can influence standing and walking including cardiovascular diseases (chronic edema, claudication, cardiopathies etc.) neurosensorial ones (cataract, Menière's disease, Parkinson's disease etc.) and orthopedic ones (kyphosis, scoliosis, hallux valgus, metatarsalgia, osteoarthritis etc.). In this study arthritis was considered the main cause of changes in posture and deambulation. An electric baropodometer with a modular platform 240 cm long and 40 cm wide was used which provided the pressure information for each in three distinct phases: static, dynamic and postural Baropodometric step analysis was performed on ten healthy, elderly subjects and ten elderly subjects with arthritis of the knee. The latter group was evaluated both pre- and post prosthetic knee surgery. The data revealed that the ten healthy subjects with arthritis who, prior to surgery presented unequal weight distribution on the diseased side which was slowly redistributed after surgery.

Evaluation of brain perfusion with high resolution single photon emission tomography in the diagnosis of brain death.

Nuclear Medicine studies performed with tomographic acquisition and tracers such as Technetium-99m hexamethyl-propyleneamine oxime (99mTc-HMPAO) are able to assess cerebral blood flow. A case is reported of a patient with a large intracranial tumor, of possible pituitary origin, with a clinical and electroencephalographic suspicion of brain death. The patient had endocrinous-metabolic impairments for a history of impotence, since 18 months, and diabetes insipidus with a urine output of 350 ml/hr in the first 24 hours from the clinical suspicion of brain death. Due to the endocrinous-metabolic impairments, according to Italian law, it was necessary to confirm the diagnosis of brain death by performing a study able to assess cerebral blood flow. A single Photon Emission Tomography (SPET) scan was performed after the intravenous administration of 99mTc-HMPAO using a high resolution, brain dedicated device. No tracer uptake was evident in cerebral, cerebellar and brain stem structures. The cerebral blood flow study by SPET confirmed the diagnosis of brain death and made the organ transplant possible in a short period of time. High resolution SPET studies are useful to confirm the diagnosis of brain death when there are factors that can influence clinical and electroencephalographic signs, reducing time to authorise the organ explant.

Multivariate analysis of behavioral aging highlights some unexpected features of complex systems organization.

Ten different behavioral tests were performed on a population of young (n = 20) and aged (n = 20) Fischer 344 rats. The relationship structure among these tests was studied by principal component analysis applied both to the entire data set and separately to the two age groups. This analysis proved very useful in highlighting a global index of the rat "behavioral" age based on the entire test set. The analysis effected separately on the two age groups evidenced qualitative differences between them that were linked to the different meaning the same test would assume in rats of different ages. From an overall methodological viewpoint, this work indicates that the correlations among behavioral parameters appear to depend on the observational scale and that the spin-glass model represents an appropriate metaphor to approach the study of the correlations in biological systems.

[Immuno-histological findings on Sjögren's syndrome]. / Indagini immuno-istologiche nella sindrome di Sjögren.

Six cases of SS, 12 cases of SS in association with other diseases (AR, LES, MCTD, SSP) and 14 cases of various diseases with no clinical signs of SS (AR, UCTD, LES, MCTD, PM, cutaneous PAN, Scheuermann's disease, ankylosing spondylitis) have been examined. Examination of the patients included general clinical, stomatological and ophthalmological examinations, slit lamp and Schirmer I test, labial biopsy direct immunofluorescence on labial biopsy, indirect immunofluorescence on labial biopsy of a healthy subject scialography and salivary scintiscan. Various seroimmunological tests were also performed--in the hope of identifying LE, ANA, anti-ENA and anti-dsDNA factors. The results of these clinical, immunological, bioptic and instrumental tests were studied with a view to clarifying the diagnostic and nosographic problems of the syndrome. The diagnostic importance of immunological and instrumental tests is emphasized. Labial biopsy in particular also makes it possible to quantify the glandular lesion to some extent as well as providing other histological data regarding any associated disease. Nosographically, it is suggested that SS be definitively included among the connective tissue diseases in recognition of its polymorphism and variety of clinical forms which cover a wide range from definite SS, whether in pure form or associated with other diseases, to "subclinical" SS in systemic diseases.