Absence Of Occlusion Research Articles

Results of biosimilar assessing of insulin aspart preparations of Russian and foreign production using the hyperinsulinemic euglycemic clamp method and studying the use of a new ultra-fast-acting Russian biosimilar in pumps

Introduction. Ultra-fast-acting insulin aspart has great potential for improving postprandial glycemia in patients with type 1 and type 2 diabetes mellitus due to its pharmacological characteristics. The development and production of biosimilars are increasing the availability of modern insulins for patients.Aim. To evaluate the comparability of the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics profiles of insulin aspart GP40311 (tested biosimilar of domestic production) and the reference drug (produced in Denmark) under conditions of a hyperinsulinemic euglycemic clamp in healthy volunteers. To evaluate the stability of a new ultrafast-acting biosimilar when used for continuous subcutaneous infusion in insulin pumps.Materials and methods. Double-blind, randomized, crossover study assessing the pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics and safety of the tested biosimilar GP40311 of domestic production and the reference drug produced in Denmark, in the form of a solution for intravenous and subcutaneous administration of 100 IU/ml, the study was conducted under conditions of a hyperinsulinemic euglycemic clamp with the participation of 36 healthy volunteers. A study of the stability, dosing accuracy and tendency to catheter occlusion of a domestic drug for continuous subcutaneous infusion was carried out using several types of insulin pumps using the gravimetric method for 72 hours. Dosing accuracy was determined at the minimum and maximum bolus dose, stability was assessed by pH and quantitative insulin content aspart. The quantitative content of insulin and impurities was assessed by high-performance liquid chromatography.Results and discission. The 90% confidence interval for the ratio of geometric mean values of the main parameters of pharmacokinetics (AUCins.0-t and Cins.max) of insulin aspart test and reference drugs corresponded to the acceptable values of 80.00– 125.00%, which indicated their biosimilarity. When assessing PD, the comparability of action parameters is shown. The safety of the study drugs is comparable. Domestic insulin aspart met the specification standards when used for continuous subcutaneous infusion according to physicochemical parameters: pH, quantitative determination of insulin aspart, impurity content. The accuracy of dosing and the absence of occlusions in systems for 72 hours when using the drug in pumps have been established.Conclusion. The study drugs were found to be biosimilar and equally safe. Domestic insulin aspart meets specification standards and can be used in various types of pumps.

Neurological Improvement by One-Thirds Is Associated With Early Recanalization in Stroke With Large Vessel Occlusion.

A proportion of large vessel occlusion strokes demonstrate early recanalization, obviating the initial intention to proceed to endovascular thrombectomy. Neurological improvement is a possible surrogate marker for reperfusion. We aimed to determine the optimal threshold of neurological improvement, as defined by the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS), which best associates with early recanalization. We retrospectively analyzed consecutive patients with large vessel occlusion transferred from primary stroke centers to a tertiary comprehensive stroke center in Melbourne, Australia, for possible endovascular thrombectomy from January 2018 to December 2022. Absolute and percentage changes in NIHSS between transfer, as well as other definitions of neurological improvement, were compared using receiver operating characteristic curve analysis for association with recanalization as defined by the absence of occlusion in the internal carotid artery, middle cerebral artery (M1 or M2 segments), or basilar artery on repeat vascular imaging. Six hundred and fifty-four transferred patients with large vessel occlusion were included in the analysis: mean age was 68.8±14.0 years, 301 (46.0%) were women, and 338 (52%) received intravenous thrombolytics. The proportion of extracranial internal carotid artery, intracranial internal carotid artery, M1, proximal M2, and basilar artery occlusion was 18.8%, 13.6%, 48.3%, 15.0%, and 4.3%, respectively, on initial computed tomography angiogram. Median NIHSSprimary stroke center and NIHSScomprehensive stroke center scores were 15 (interquartile range, 9-18) and 13 (interquartile range, 8-19), respectively. Early recanalization occurred in 82 (13%) patients. NIHSS reduction of ≥33% was the best tradeoff between sensitivity (64%) and specificity (83%) for identifying recanalization. NIHSS reduction of ≥33% had the highest discriminative ability to predict recanalization (area under the curve, 0.735) in comparison with other definitions of neurological improvement. One-third neurological improvement between the primary hospital and tertiary center was the best predictor of early recanalization.

Abstract WMP72: Accurate LVO and MeVO Detection Using a Multiphase CT Angiography Perfusion-Based Tool

Background and Aims: Early and accurate detection of vessel occlusion is essential for the management of acute ischemic stroke (AIS). Current automated occlusion detection tools mostly rely on single-phase CTA (sCTA), which makes it challenging to accurately identify Medium Vessel Occlusions (MeVO). Multiphase CTA (mCTA), which consist of an additional two low-dose scans to the traditional CTA workflow, may be able to allow precise detection of MeVO occlusions. In this work, we aim to validate StrokeSENS mCTA Occlusion Detection in its ability to detect LVOs and MeVOs up to and including the M3/A3/P3 segments of the Middle/Anterior/Posterior Cerebral Arteries (MCA/ACA/PCA). Methods: Validation was performed on 512 studies of suspected AIS patients with baseline mCTA. Studies had MeVO (PCA:11, ACA:4, MCA:83), LVO (ICA:116, PCA:8, MCA:263), and no occlusion: 27. Expert neuroradiologists annotated the presence and location of the occlusion. StrokeSENS mCTA Occlusion Detection processed mCTA data to produce hypoperfusion extent probability maps, and presence or absence of occlusion. To validate the ability of the tool to detect occlusion, we used ROC analysis, specificaly the AUC and Sensitivity/Specificity metrics. Results: The full cohort AUC was 96.7% (95% C.I.: [94.7%,97.7%]). For LVO subgroups, ICA AUC=98.2%, MCA AUC=98.0%, PCA AUC=68.5%. For MeVO, MCA AUC=95.0%, ACA AUC=78%, PCA AUC=91.2%. At the selected operational point, overall Sensitivity was 86.0% (95% C.I.: [0.829, 0.891], N=485), and Specificity was 92.6% (95% C.I.: [0.766, 0.979], N=27). Figure 1 shows examples of the hypoperfusion extent produced by the tool for LVO and MeVO cases. Conclusion: In this work, we evaluated the tool StrokeSENS Occlusion Detection in its ability to detect LVO and MeVO occlusions. The tool has shown very high accuracy in detection occlusions up to and including the M3/A3/P3 segments of the Middle/Anterior/Posterior Cerebral Arteries (MCA/ACA/PCA).

Ripening dynamics revisited: an automated method to track the development of asynchronous berries on time-lapse images

BackgroundGrapevine berries undergo asynchronous growth and ripening dynamics within the same bunch. Due to the lack of efficient methods to perform sequential non-destructive measurements on a representative number of individual berries, the genetic and environmental origins of this heterogeneity, remain nearly unknown. To address these limitations, we propose a method to track the growth and coloration kinetics of individual berries on time-lapse images of grapevine bunches.ResultsFirst, a deep-learning approach is used to detect berries with at least 50 ± 10% of visible contours, and infer the shape they would have in the absence of occlusions. Second, a tracking algorithm was developed to assign a common label to shapes representing the same berry along the time-series. Training and validation of the methods were performed on challenging image datasets acquired in a robotised high-throughput phenotyping platform. Berries were detected on various genotypes with a F1-score of 91.8%, and segmented with a mean absolute error of 4.1% on their area. Tracking allowed to label and retrieve the temporal identity of more than half of the segmented berries, with an accuracy of 98.1%. This method was used to extract individual growth and colour kinetics of various berries from the same bunch, allowing us to propose the first statistically relevant analysis of berry ripening kinetics, with a time resolution lower than one day.ConclusionsWe successfully developed a fully-automated open-source method to detect, segment and track overlapping berries in time-series of grapevine bunch images acquired in laboratory conditions. This makes it possible to quantify fine aspects of individual berry development, and to characterise the asynchrony within the bunch. The interest of such analysis was illustrated here for one cultivar, but the method has the potential to be applied in a high throughput phenotyping context. This opens the way for revisiting the genetic and environmental variations of the ripening dynamics. Such variations could be considered both from the point of view of fruit development and the phenological structure of the population, which would constitute a paradigm shift.

MBT3D: Deep learning based multi-object tracker for bumblebee 3D flight path estimation.

This work presents the Multi-Bees-Tracker (MBT3D) algorithm, a Python framework implementing a deep association tracker for Tracking-By-Detection, to address the challenging task of tracking flight paths of bumblebees in a social group. While tracking algorithms for bumblebees exist, they often come with intensive restrictions, such as the need for sufficient lighting, high contrast between the animal and background, absence of occlusion, significant user input, etc. Tracking flight paths of bumblebees in a social group is challenging. They suddenly adjust movements and change their appearance during different wing beat states while exhibiting significant similarities in their individual appearance. The MBT3D tracker, developed in this research, is an adaptation of an existing ant tracking algorithm for bumblebee tracking. It incorporates an offline trained appearance descriptor along with a Kalman Filter for appearance and motion matching. Different detector architectures for upstream detections (You Only Look Once (YOLOv5), Faster Region Proposal Convolutional Neural Network (Faster R-CNN), and RetinaNet) are investigated in a comparative study to optimize performance. The detection models were trained on a dataset containing 11359 labeled bumblebee images. YOLOv5 reaches an Average Precision of AP = 53, 8%, Faster R-CNN achieves AP = 45, 3% and RetinaNet AP = 38, 4% on the bumblebee validation dataset, which consists of 1323 labeled bumblebee images. The tracker's appearance model is trained on 144 samples. The tracker (with Faster R-CNN detections) reaches a Multiple Object Tracking Accuracy MOTA = 93, 5% and a Multiple Object Tracking Precision MOTP = 75, 6% on a validation dataset containing 2000 images, competing with state-of-the-art computer vision methods. The framework allows reliable tracking of different bumblebees in the same video stream with rarely occurring identity switches (IDS). MBT3D has much lower IDS than other commonly used algorithms, with one of the lowest false positive rates, competing with state-of-the-art animal tracking algorithms. The developed framework reconstructs the 3-dimensional (3D) flight paths of the bumblebees by triangulation. It also handles and compares two alternative stereo camera pairs if desired.

A study on oxidized-LDL cholesterol in normolipidemic retinal vein occlusion

Background: Oxidized low-density lipoprotein (ox-LDL) has been implicated in atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. Arteriolosclerosis is an important causative factor for retinal vein occlusion (RVO). Till, date there is dearth of literature on ox-LDL and RVO. Aims and Objectives: The objectives of this study were to see whether ox-LDL cholesterol is an independent risk factor in RVO with normal lipid profile. Materials and Methods: Lipid profiles and ox-LDL levels were assayed in 122 adult unilateral RVO cases and 142 age and sex matched controls in this 1 year old case–control study. Results: ox-LDL cholesterol levels were significantly elevated in RVO cases than controls (54.5±6.1 in cases vs. 36.6±5.6 in controls, P<0.01), although serum lipid profiles were normal in both cases and controls. Conclusion: The ox-LDL-induced atherosclerosis may be responsible for the retinal venous occlusion in absence of other risk factors. Hence, screening for ox-LDL in RVO patients should be worth considering especially in patients with normal lipid profiles.

Multiple High-Speed Vision for Identical Objects Tracking

In multi-object tracking of identical objects, it is difficult to return to tracking after occlusions occur due to three-dimensional intersections between objects because the objects cannot be distinguished by their appearances. In this paper, we propose a method for multi-object tracking of identical objects using multiple high-speed vision systems. By using high-speed vision, we take advantage of the fact that tracking information, such as the position of each object in each camera and the presence or absence of occlusion, can be obtained with high time density. Furthermore, we perform multi-object tracking of identical objects by efficiently performing occlusion handling using geometric constraints satisfied by multiple high-speed vision systems; these can be used by appropriately positioning them with respect to the moving region of the object. Through experiments using table-tennis balls as identical objects, this study shows that stable multi-object tracking can be performed in real time, even when frequent occlusions occur.

Assessment of oral health literacy of principal caregivers and its association with dental caries in Mexican disabled pediatric patients

Open bite can be defined as an absence of occlusion, most frequently located in the anterior region of dental arches and its etiology is multifactorial. We present a clinical case of an 8 years and 10 months child presenting an anterior open bite (AOB) with transverse maxillary deficiency caused by tongue thrust during mixed dentition. The malocclusion was corrected by means of a McNamara expander with a palatal crib jointly with the association of speech therapy for tongue repositioning, and otolaryngology to treat adenoid hypertrophy due to its correlation with AOB. The multidisciplinary approach was effective in correcting the malocclusion with stable results after 2 years post-treatment.

Multidisciplinary approach in the anterior open bite using a McNamara expander with palatal crib during mixed dentition stage: A case report

Open bite can be defined as an absence of occlusion, most frequently located in the anterior region of dental arches and its etiology is multifactorial. We present a clinical case of an 8 years and 10 months child presenting an anterior open bite (AOB) with transverse maxillary deficiency caused by tongue thrust during mixed dentition. The malocclusion was corrected by means of a McNamara expander with a palatal crib jointly with the association of speech therapy for tongue repositioning, and otolaryngology to treat adenoid hypertrophy due to its correlation with AOB. The multidisciplinary approach was effective in correcting the malocclusion with stable results after 2 years post-treatment.

Hawk´s Beak Form in Midventricular Takotsubo Syndrome: Two Case Reports from Latin America

Takotsubo syndrome is a type of acute reversible heart failure that can involve a form of acute catecholaminergic myocardial stunning. This clinical entity shows a pattern of temporary left ventricular dysfunction in the absence of occlusion of any coronary artery. A midventricular type is a form of Takotsubo syndrome where the atypical morphological variant is Hawk’s beak. The prevalence of this type is estimated to be 10-15% in several series in Asian and Western countries (predominantly Caucasian patients). In Latin America, there are no studies reporting this type of presentation. Two cases are reported in women initially diagnosed with acute myocardial infarction with the finding of the atypical hawk's beak morphology of Takotsubo syndrome, confirmed by left ventriculography. One of them was followed up early, observing recovery in her ventricular function without structural compromise at the level of contractility and with a good response to the outpatient treatment proposed. As there is a low prevalence and few published reports, these 2 cases are presented to promote long-term studies and increase the information regarding the evolution and morbidity/mortality of this type of presentation compared with the classical form of the syndrome.

Contamination of multiuse eyedrop bottles by exhaled air from patients wearing face masks during the COVID-19 pandemic: Schlieren imaging analysis.

To determine whether mask-induced redirected exhaled air through the superior mask gap contacts multiuse eyedrop bottles during drop administration and the efficacy of interventions to reduce such exposure. Academic ophthalmology center. Interventional analysis. Schlieren airflow imaging was taken of an examinee wearing frequently used face masks and enacting common clinical scenarios-with and without manual occlusion of the superior mask gap and/or neck extension-and maximum visible vertical breath plume height was quantified. Bottle height during eyedrop administration was measured for 4 ophthalmologists during instillation to 8 eyes of 4 subjects. Breath plume height (mean ± SD 275.5 ± 16.3 mm) was significantly greater than mean bottle height (13.9 ± 4.7 mm; P < .01). Plume height was reduced with manual mask occlusion vs without (P < .01) and was also lower than mean bottle height with manual mask occlusion (P < .01) but not in the absence of occlusion (P < .01). Neck extension alone did not adequately redirect liberated breath to prevent contact with a bottle. Exhaled air liberated from commonly worn patient face masks was able to contact multiuse eyedrop bottles during eyedrop administration. These findings have important patient safety implications during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic and with other respiratory pathogens because these multiuse bottles could potentially serve as vectors of disease. Occlusion of the superior mask gap significantly reduces breath contamination and should be strongly considered by eyecare providers during drop administration in eye clinics.

Effects of External Auditory Meatus Occlusion on Ocular Vestibular Evoked Myogenic Potentials Induced by Bone Conducted Sound.

To facilitate more reliable recordings of the ocular vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (oVEMP) induced by bone-conducted sound using the B81 bone conduction transducer, we preliminarily studied the effects of external auditory meatus occlusion using an earplug on such oVEMP. Eight healthy volunteers (four males and four females, 26–48 years of age, mean age: 34. 5 years) and 14 patients with vestibular disease (2 males and 12 females, 18–59 years of age, mean age: 41.5 years) were enrolled. oVEMP testing was performed using a B81 placed on the temple. Tone bursts (500 Hz, rise/fall time: 2 ms, plateau time: 2 ms, and 70 dB nHL) were presented at a rate of 5.1 Hz. N1-P1 amplitudes were measured and analyzed. Occlusion resulted in significantly larger N1-P1 amplitudes [mean ± SE (SD): 12.3 ± 1.67 (6.71) μV vs. 9.55 ± 1.55 (6.21) μV; p = 0.020, paired t-test]. While four patients did not exhibit any response on either side in the absence of occlusion, all of them showed unilateral or bilateral responses when occlusion was employed. In any patient occlusion did not result in loss of oVEMP responses. External auditory meatus occlusion using an earplug could allow more reliable recordings of bone conduction transducer-induced oVEMP.

The Division of Labor in Communication: Speakers Help Listeners Account for Asymmetries in Visual Perspective.

Recent debates over adults' theory of mind use have been fueled by surprising failures of perspective-taking in communication, suggesting that perspective-taking may be relatively effortful. Yet adults routinely engage in effortful processes when needed. How, then, should speakers and listeners allocate their resources to achieve successful communication? We begin with the observation that the shared goal of communication induces a natural division of labor: The resources one agent chooses to allocate toward perspective-taking should depend on their expectations about the other's allocation. We formalize this idea in a resource-rational model augmenting recent probabilistic weighting accounts with a mechanism for (costly) control over the degree of perspective-taking. In a series of simulations, we first derive an intermediate degree of perspective weighting as an optimal trade-off between expected costs and benefits of perspective-taking. We then present two behavioral experiments testing novel predictions of our model. In Experiment 1, we manipulated the presence or absence of occlusions in a director-matcher task. We found that speakers spontaneously modulated the informativeness of their descriptions to account for "known unknowns" in their partner's private view, reflecting a higher degree of speaker perspective-taking than previously acknowledged. In Experiment 2, we then compared the scripted utterances used by confederates in prior work with those produced in interactions with unscripted directors. We found that confederates were systematically less informative than listeners would initially expect given the presence of occlusions, but listeners used violations to adaptively make fewer errors over time. Taken together, our work suggests that people are not simply "mindblind"; they use contextually appropriate expectations to navigate the division of labor with their partner. We discuss how a resource-rational framework may provide a more deeply explanatory foundation for understanding flexible perspective-taking under processing constraints.

Two cases of asymptomatic axillary artery occlusion difficult to diagnose preoperatively: pitfalls and its solution in endovascular therapy when approaching from the upper extremity

BackgroundApproaching from the left brachial artery is an important access route in endovascular therapy for complicated aortic and peripheral artery cases.Here, we report two cases of a poor access route from the left brachial artery because of asymptomatic axillary artery occlusion (AAO), despite no preoperative upper arm blood pressure laterality, a normal ankle brachial pressure index, and absence of occlusion of the subclavian artery on CT scan.Case 1Seventy-six-year-old female. We planned endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR) for para-renal abdominal aortic aneurysm using the snorkel technique in the renal artery, but we failed to pass through the left subclavian artery when approaching from the left brachial artery because of AAO.Case 2Seventy-three-year-old female. We planned zone 2 thoracic endovascular aneurysm repair (TEVAR) for thoracic aortic aneurysm and embolization of the left subclavian artery via the left brachial artery, but we failed to pass through the left subclavian artery because of AAO, and therefore, we simply covered the orifice of the left subclavian artery using a stent graft without embolization.ConclusionsThe presence of an asymptomatic AAO may alter the treatment plan but may be difficult to diagnose preoperatively. In those cases in which a brachial or radial artery access is planned, contrast medium should be injected from the contralateral upper extremity during preoperative enhanced CT since the absence of halation of the ipsilateral subclavian/axillary vein provides improved visualization of the AAO which may lead to a better preoperative strategy including the choice of the side of upper extremity access.

Recurrent Convolutional Neural Networks: A Better Model of Biological Object Recognition.

Feedforward neural networks provide the dominant model of how the brain performs visual object recognition. However, these networks lack the lateral and feedback connections, and the resulting recurrent neuronal dynamics, of the ventral visual pathway in the human and non-human primate brain. Here we investigate recurrent convolutional neural networks with bottom-up (B), lateral (L), and top-down (T) connections. Combining these types of connections yields four architectures (B, BT, BL, and BLT), which we systematically test and compare. We hypothesized that recurrent dynamics might improve recognition performance in the challenging scenario of partial occlusion. We introduce two novel occluded object recognition tasks to test the efficacy of the models, digit clutter (where multiple target digits occlude one another) and digit debris (where target digits are occluded by digit fragments). We find that recurrent neural networks outperform feedforward control models (approximately matched in parametric complexity) at recognizing objects, both in the absence of occlusion and in all occlusion conditions. Recurrent networks were also found to be more robust to the inclusion of additive Gaussian noise. Recurrent neural networks are better in two respects: (1) they are more neurobiologically realistic than their feedforward counterparts; (2) they are better in terms of their ability to recognize objects, especially under challenging conditions. This work shows that computer vision can benefit from using recurrent convolutional architectures and suggests that the ubiquitous recurrent connections in biological brains are essential for task performance.

Safety Control of Industrial Robots Based on a Distributed Distance Sensor

In the field of human–robot interaction in industrial environments, the active control of robot based on exteroceptive sensors' measurements is a viable approach to the issue of safety enhancement. Among all possible solutions, onboard sensors have several advantages, in terms of ease of deployment and calibration, and absence of occlusions. In this paper, we present a prototype of a distributed distance sensor that can be mounted on an industrial robot. The sensor's outputs have been used as part of a newly conceived control strategy, aimed at improving human safety by means of assessing the level of danger induced by the robot. Several experiments on an ABB IRB140 industrial robot have been carried out, demonstrating the feasibility of the proposed approach in a realistic scenario.

Cystic adventitial disease of the popliteal artery: report of two cases and review of the literature

Cystic adventitial disease (CAD) is a rare vascular disease that causes a localized stenosis or occlusion in absence of alterations of blood vessels in other sites of the body. CAD is predominantly located to the popliteal artery, although cases have been described involving other arteries. Typically it affects young men with minimal cardiovascular risk factors, presenting a short history of progressive claudication. Imaging is based on US, CTA and MRA. Suspected diagnosis is confirmed at the time of the surgery. We report two cases of CAD involving the popliteal artery. In the first case a 59 year-old man was treated by resection of the popliteal artery and a reversed saphenous vein was used to restore circulation. In the second case a 53 year-old man was treated by resection of the popliteal artery and a cryo-preserved arterial graft was used to restore circulation. We also made a review of the literature on this subject.

Visceral stent patency in fenestrated stent grafting for abdominal aortic aneurysm repair

Fenestrated endovascular abdominal aortic aneurysm repair (F-EVAR) has been introduced for treatment of aneurysms in which visceral arteries are incorporated. Patency of target vessels has been reported to be excellent. Results of the use of stent grafts to accommodate visceral arteries in F-EVAR are presented in this study, including an overview of factors that affect outcome. All patients treated with fenestrated stent grafts in a single center between November 2001 and October 2011 were reviewed. Patients treated for suprarenal, juxtarenal, and infrarenal short-necked aortic aneurysms were included. Patients with thoraco-abdominal aneurysms or aneurysms treated with grafts with fixed side branches were excluded. Polytetrafluoroethylene covered stents were used routinely since June 2005. Target vessels and stents were examined using computed tomography angiography reconstructions. Primary end points were primary patency, defined as the absence of occlusion, and loss of renal function. Secondary end points were technical success, stenosis (defined as a ≥50% angiographic diameter reduction), stent fracture, and mortality. A total of 138 patients with a median age of 73 years (range, 50-91 years) met the inclusion criteria. Median computed tomography angiography follow-up was 13 months (range, 1-97 months). In total, 392 target vessels were provided with 140 scallops and 252 fenestrations. Visceral stents (-grafts) were placed in 254 target vessels. Technical success was obtained in 249 arteries (98.0%). Overall stent patency of target vessels was 95.7% at 1 year and 88.6% at 4 years. Renal artery stent patency was 97.4% at 1 year and 91.2% at 4 years (96.8% and 89.1% for uncovered stents; 97.3% and 92.4% for covered stents, respectively). There was no significant difference in patency between covered and uncovered stents in renal arteries (P = .71). Renal artery stenosis occurred in 26 stented arteries (11.3%) and occlusion in seven arteries. Renal artery stent stenosis occurred significantly more in uncovered than in covered stents (P = .04). Stent fractures occurred more in uncovered than in covered stents (P = .01) and was associated with a significantly lower visceral stent patency rate (P < .01). During follow-up, 13 patients developed permanent renal function impairment (9.4%), of which two required permanent dialysis (1.4%). Renal dysfunction was significantly associated with renal stent occlusion or stenosis (P < .01). Patency rates of visceral artery stent (-grafts) in F-EVAR were 95.7% at 1 year and 88.6% at 4 years. Patency rates were affected by stent fractures, which occurred more in uncovered compared with covered stents. Renal artery stent stenosis occurred more in uncovered compared with covered stents. Renal dysfunction was significantly associated with renal stent occlusion or stenosis.

The impact of surface loading and dosing scheme on the skin uptake of fragrances

This study compared the skin uptake of γ-undecalactone, decanol, and dodecyl acetate in an in vitro, un-occluded penetration assay in which they were applied to porcine skin at different finite loadings and application schemes. The pattern of fractional uptake differed between the chemicals and did not show the often assumed inverse correlation with surface loading. Furthermore, the mass uptake of identical cumulative amounts of the chemicals was not always additive. These results show that the uptake of fragrances in absence of occlusion and at finite loadings is chemical-specific and depends on the surface loading, the application scheme, and most probably, on the effects of the chemicals on the skin barrier efficiency. The observed lack of additivity might explain some of the differences in the responses observed in patch and repeated open application tests, and the boosting of the allergic state in sensitized individuals by sub-clinical exposures.

Stereoscopy benefits processing of dynamic visual scenes by disambiguating object occlusions

How and to what extent stereoscopic cues help process dynamic visual scenes is still unknown. As we navigate in crowds or when we play sports we are often obliged to make rapid decisions in complex motion environments while attending to multiple elements. Stereoscopy can improve speed thresholds for a multiple object tracking (MOT) (Faubert & Sidebottom, 2012), but the nature of this advantage remains undetermined. From an attention perspective, there are at least two possible hypotheses to explain this advantage. One possibility is that stereoscopy reduces the attentional bottleneck as seen in 2-dimensional MOT environments (Intrilligator & Canavagh, 2001) by distributing attention uniformly in 3D space. Another hypothesis is that the stereoscopy helps attentional tracking by segregating the target and the non-target objects during occlusions. We have addressed these hypotheses by testing subjects with and without stereoscopic cues for different stimulus configurations in which pairs of spheres were rotating in orbit with one another in a 3D virtual space. In one set of conditions, object pairs rotated without ever occluding each other. In the second set of conditions, the objects occasionally occluded each other as they were rotating around an axis perpendicular to the observer. All conditions consisted of 4 pairs of spheres presented in each quadrant of the visual field at 20 degrees of eccentricity. Stereoscopy improved MOT speed threshold by a factor of about 3 when objects occluded each other, but slightly, yet significantly, impaired speed threshold by about 18% when objects did not occlude each other. We conclude that the overall benefit of stereoscopy for processing dynamic scenes comes from improved attention tracking by disambiguating targets from non-targets during occlusions. Conversely, stereoscopic cues were a disadvantage in absence of occlusions. Meeting abstract presented at VSS 2013