Imaging aspects of the lacrimal gland in Sjögren syndrome--case report.

PURPOSE: The study presents a case of bilateral lacrimal gland hypertrophy with secondary glaucoma due to the increased episcleral venous pressure. METHOD: The case was investigated by means of clinical methods associated with ultrasound (A and B-scan, Doppler-ultrasound) and magnetic resonance imaging techniques. RESULTS: The clinical data revealed proptosis, episcleral congestion, and elevated intraocular pressure. An abnormal Schirmer test and xerophthalmia were also present. Ultrasound examination identifies enlarged masses in the bilateral lacrimal fossa, supra-temporal to the globe, mostly on the left side, having a cystic structure. The Doppler ultrasound investigation revealed the vascularisation, and the magnetic resonance imaging completed the dates offered by the ultrasound methods. According to the clinical aspect and the possible visual impairment produced by the secondary glaucoma, the mass lesion was removed on the left side by neurosurgical approach. The histopathological exam confirmed the destruction of the lacrimal gland, and, furthermore, the immunohistochemical study revealed the aspect of Sjögren syndrome lesions. CONCLUSIONS: Sonography is able to provide noninvasively much of the information needed by the clinician. Ultrasound techniques (A-scan, B-scan and color Doppler) and magnetic resonance imaging allow tracking and discrimination of the orbital diseases, such as lacrimal gland lesions. Associated with the clinical features, these methods offer the basis of a correct diagnosis and a proper therapy for lacrimal gland pathology.

[Orbital varices]. / Varice orbitare.

The purpose of this study was to point out a case with orbital venous abnormalities at the left eye, associated with varices of the legs. The clinical picture of this case was: intermittent exophthalmos, venous malformations at the level of the lids and episclera, elevated ocular pressure. All this signs reveal an abnormality at the level of venous wall, indicating a constitutional weakness of the venous system. The case was investigated by imagistic methods: ultrasound examination, Doppler -ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging. According to the facts offered by clinical and imagistic investigation this case can be included into the first type of orbital varices, associated with secondary glaucoma provoked by an elevated episcleral venous pressure.

Fullerometallic ion chemistry: reactions of C(60)Fe+ and C(20)H(10)Fe+ in the gas phase.

Fe+ has been attached to buckminsterfullerene, C(60), and corannulene, C(20)H(10), in the gas phase, and the reactivities of C(60)Fe+ and C(20)H(10)Fe+ have been measured with several small inorganic and organic molecules in helium bath gas at 0.35 Torr using a selected-ion flow tube (SIFT) mass spectrometer. Comparisons with measured reactivities of the bare Fe+ ion indicate that the presence of C(60) and C(20)H(10) leads to enhancements in reactivity at room temperature of up to 5 orders of magnitude. Ligation was the only chemistry observed with D(2), N(2), CO(2), CH(4), C(2)H(2), C(2)H(4), SO(2), C(6)D(6), NH(3), H(2)O, and CO, but other channels were observed to compete with adduct formation in the reactions with N(2)O and O(2). The number of molecules sequentially ligated to the ion was different: up to five molecules of ligand added sequentially to Fe+, up to four molecules of ligand were observed to attach to C(60)Fe+, while only up to three molecules added to C(20)H(10)Fe+. C(60)+ and C(20)H(10)+ were observed to be unreactive toward the same ligands. The kinetic results show the influence of carbonaceous surfaces on metal ion reactivity and are interpreted in terms of the nature of the coordination of Fe+ to the carbonaceous surface. Catalytic effects of the carbonaceous surfaces were identified for the reactions with N(2)O and O(2).

A quantum adiabatic evolution algorithm applied to random instances of an NP-complete problem.

A quantum system will stay near its instantaneous ground state if the Hamiltonian that governs its evolution varies slowly enough. This quantum adiabatic behavior is the basis of a new class of algorithms for quantum computing. We tested one such algorithm by applying it to randomly generated hard instances of an NP-complete problem. For the small examples that we could simulate, the quantum adiabatic algorithm worked well, providing evidence that quantum computers (if large ones can be built) may be able to outperform ordinary computers on hard sets of instances of NP-complete problems.