Surgical Treatment for Extracapsular Condylar Fractures of the Mandible.

BACKGROUND: Condylar fractures are considered the most controversial mandibular fractures, regarding both the diagnosis and the treatment. With the increase in surgical indications for handling this type of fracture, it is important to discuss about the advantages and disadvantages of the several surgical approaches available. This article describes the surgical details and postoperative results of the mini-retromandibular transparotid approach for treating extracapsular condylar fractures of the mandible. METHODS: In a 1-year period, 16 patients affected by extracapsular condylar fractures with surgical indication were treated with the mini-retromandibular transparotid approach. All the surgeries were executed by the same surgeon. Preoperative and postoperative details of each patient were analyzed. RESULTS: In the postoperatory, only 2 patients had purulent drainage in the associated fractures area and only 1 patient had paresis of the buccal branch of the facial nerve. No scar issues concerning the surgical wound were observed and reintervention was not necessary in any of the patients. CONCLUSION: The mini-retromandibular transparotid approach offers advantages and should be included as an option for the open treatment of extracapsular condylar fractures of the mandible.

A DFT study of a set of natural dyes for organic electronics.

We systematically investigate, at density functional theory level, the electronic properties of a set of ten carotenoid molecules with different conjugation length. Ground state geometries were fully optimized using both B3LYP and its long-range corrected version, i.e., the CAM-B3LYP functional. The time-dependent DFT approach (TD-DFT) was also performed for the calculation of the excited states of the optimized geometries and the results were compared to the experimental ones, when available. Our findings indicate a dependence of the transition vertical energies, oscillator strengths, and transition dipole moments on the extension of conjugation, as expected. We also investigate the impact of the intra-molecular vibrations on the absorption spectrum by means of the Franck-Condon (FC) and nuclear ensemble (NE) approach to spectra simulation. Our simulations suggest that the Franck-Condon approximation may not be suitable to appropriately characterize the vibronic progression of these molecules, whereas the NE approach provides a contribution that vary from negligible to meaningful depending on which molecule and energy region is under analysis.

Prevention of Capsular Contracture Using Leukotriene Antagonists.

BACKGROUND: Capsular contracture is a common occurrence in plastic surgery, with a prevalence varying from 0.5 percent up to 30 percent. Although the standard treatment is capsulectomy, alternative treatments have been studied, such as the use of leukotriene inhibitors. These drugs have recently been evaluated in the prophylaxis of contracture. The authors aimed to assess the efficacy of montelukast (Singulair) in the prevention of capsular contracture in patients undergoing mammaplasty with textured silicone prostheses. METHODS: The authors followed 82 patients (164 breasts) for a minimum of 2 years. Of these, 37 were administered montelukast. RESULTS: The number of affected patients and the severity were higher among the 45 patients who did not use montelukast. CONCLUSION: The prophylactic use of Singulair was, in this sample, shown to be effective in helping to reduce the incidence of capsular contracture. CLINICAL QUESTION/LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Therapeutic, III.