Open VS Closed Techniques for Laparoscopic Abdominal Surgeries

Background: Laparoscopic surgery or "minimally invasive" surgery is a type of specialist surgery. The most crucial, demanding, and risky part of the laparoscopy is the creation of pneumoperitoneum. The two most prevalent methods for creating a pneumoperitoneum are the closed and open approaches. Despite the fact that there is no universal consensus on the best approach to gain access to the peritoneal cavity in order to create a pneumoperitoneum. The aim of present study was to compare the operative time and post-operative outcome associated with closed technique and open classic technique. Methods: This randomized controlled trial was carried out by recruiting patients presented in surgery department of Ziauddin Hospital North campus. The samples were divided into two equal groups A and B. Group A was operated for Laparascopic abdominal surgery by open technique while group B operated through closed technique. Effectiveness of procedures was measured by number of complications occurred during and after surgery. Chi-square test and independent T-test were applied for association. P-value of < 0.05 was considered as significant. Results: Mean age was found to be 45.5±16 years and mean weight was 68±10.5 kilograms. Mean time of operations was 84.5±18.5 minutes. 60 (69.8%) of patients included underwent the laparoscopic cholecystectomy while 15 (17.4%) patients had laparoscopic appendectomy. 13/86: 15.1% of patients had the minor complication including 12/43: 27.9% in group B and 1/43: 2.3% in group A. The comparative analysis between the two groups in terms of effectiveness of either method compared by means of development of the complications was found to be highly significant with p value 0.002. Conclusion: The open approach to laparoscopic entrance has been linked to fewer surgical problems than the closed approach.

Classic versus High Lateral Tension Abdominoplasty in Post-bariatric Patients

Background: Obesity is a chronic condition with a high prevalence and multifaceted etiologies; it is accompanied by an increased risk of morbidity and mortality. Bariatric surgeries (weight loss surgeries) include a variety of procedures performed on people who have obesity. Skin redundancy is a common post-bariatric complication. Abdominoplasty or "tummy tuck" is a cosmetic surgery procedure used to make the abdomen thinner and more firm. The surgery involves the removal of excess skin and fat from the middle and lower abdomen in order to tighten the muscle and fascia of the abdominal wall. This type of surgery is usually sought by patients with loose or sagging tissues after pregnancy or major weight loss. This study is a comparison between Classic and High lateral tension abdominoplasty techniques in treatment of abdominal skin redundancy in post bariatric patients. In our research, we compared between two techniques of abdominoplasty in treatment of post bariatric abdominal skin redundancy, the classic technique and High Lateral Tension technique, the comparison was in patient satisfaction and in post operative complications The study showed that patient satisfaction was higher in classic technique than the High lateral tension technique due to smaller and less apparent scar, while post operative complications were almost the same in both techniques According to our study, we advise plastic surgeons to perform classic abdominoplasty technique in treatment of post bariatric abdominal skin redundancy.

Cardiac Activation Maps Reconstruction: A Comparative Study Between Data-Driven and Physics-Based Methods

One of the essential diagnostic tools of cardiac arrhythmia is activation mapping. Noninvasive current mapping procedures include electrocardiographic imaging. It allows reconstructing heart surface potentials from measured body surface potentials. Then, activation maps are generated using the heart surface potentials. Recently, a study suggests to deploy artificial neural networks to estimate activation maps directly from body surface potential measurements. Here we carry out a comparative study between the data-driven approach DirectMap and noninvasive classic technique based on reconstructed heart surface potentials using both Finite element method combined with L1-norm regularization (FEM-L1) and the spatial adaptation of Time-delay neural networks (SATDNN-AT). In this work, we assess the performance of the three approaches using a synthetic single paced-rhythm dataset generated on the atria surface. The results show that data-driven approach DirectMap quantitatively outperforms the two other methods. In fact, we observe an absolute activation time error and a correlation coefficient, respectively, equal to 7.20 ms, 93.2% using DirectMap, 14.60 ms, 76.2% using FEM-L1 and 13.58 ms, 79.6% using SATDNN-AT. In addition, results show that data-driven approaches (DirectMap and SATDNN-AT) are strongly robust against additive gaussian noise compared to FEM-L1.

A Ruler for Abdominoplasty Preoperative Markings: The Potential of Best Scar Symmetry

Background. Scar appearance is an important outcome in abdominoplasty surgery, and its asymmetry can have a significant impact on patient and surgeon satisfaction. Here, we compared the scar symmetry reached with a ruler specially designed for the preoperative marking in abdominoplasty to the classic preoperative incision marking. Methods. In this randomized, uni-blind study, 42 patients were allocated to 2 different groups. Group 1 patients had their preoperative marking made by a group of surgeons that used the classic technique as described by Baroudi (n = 21), and Group 2 patients received their preoperative marking by another group of surgeons, using a ruler specially designed to fit the abdominal contour (n = 21). Patients were evaluated using a standard questionnaire that collected information about general patient’s characteristics. On the follow-up period, we evaluated the presence of late surgical complications, need for revision surgery, patient’s satisfaction concerning the postoperative scar, and 4 distances were measured in both groups to assess symmetry. Statistical analysis was made. Results. A total of 42 patients underwent abdominoplasty and were evaluated on the follow-up period (mean time: 4 months). The mean difference of corresponding measures on each side (A-B vs. A-B’ and A-C vs. A-C’) was higher in Group 1 comparing to Group 2. The level of correlation between corresponding measurements was higher in Group 2. Better satisfaction regarding the scar symmetry was achieved in Group 2, being this result statistically significant ( P = .004). Conclusions. The use of the specialized ruler may help surgeons achieve a better scar symmetry with higher patient satisfaction.

Removable partial denture metal framework manufactured by selective laser melting technology – A clinical report

The selective laser melting technology is an additive digital method that permits producing metal frameworks for removable partial dentures. The existing literature has compared this technique with the classic technique in terms of precision, quality of fit, and function. This work describes a clinical case of a metal framework produced by the selective laser melting technique in a patient rehabilitated with a removable partial denture. No adjustments were required when the metal framework was inserted, showing good adaptation and stability to the abutment teeth and surrounding tissues. Further studies are necessary for a significant assessment of this technique’s clinical applicability.

Comparisons of Macro-Kinematic Strategies During the Rounds of a Cross-Country Skiing Sprint Competition in Classic Technique

This study was designed to examine macro-kinematic parameters of six female cross-country skiers during the qualifying, semi-final and final rounds of a 1.1 km sprint competition in classical technique. During each round these skiers were monitored continuously with a single micro-sensor, and their cycle parameters and relative use of these two sub-techniques calculated. Within each round six sections of the course, during which all skiers employed either double pole (DP) or diagonal stride (DS) sub-technique, were chosen for additional analysis. The mean macro-kinematic cycle parameters and relative usage of sub-techniques over the full course did not differ significantly between rounds. On average 54% of the course was covered employing DP and 13% using DS, while 32% was covered utilizing a non-cyclical or irregular technique. With DP, the mean racing speed and cycle rate (CR) on the starting, middle and finishing sections of the course differed significantly, with no differences in mean cycle length (CL) between the last two sections. At the finish, higher DP speed was achieved by increasing CR. On the three hills, where all athletes utilized DS, mean racing speed and CL, but not mean CR, differed significantly. On these sections DS speed was increased by utilizing longer cycles. The individual skiers utilized a variety of macro-kinematic strategies during different rounds and on different sections of the course, depending on individual strengths, preferences and pacing strategies, as well as the course topography and tactical interactions with other skiers. Such collection of macro-kinematic data during competitions can help to identify an individual skier's strengths and weaknesses, guiding the testing of different cycle rates, and lengths on different terrains during training in order to optimize performance.

Diversity, Ecology and Therapeutic Properties of the Medicinal Plants in Ziban Region (Algeria)

With the aim to assess the floristic population diversity, distribution and therapeutic properties in the Ziban region (Algeria), a survey was conducted along two successive study years in the main area. The objective of this study was to contribute to the knowledge and description of this plant groups with exhaustive inventory spontaneous vegetation. In order to study the dynamics of medicinal plants, we used a quantitative method based essentially on the classic technique of linear surveys and floristic inventory using the minimum area method. The results showed that the floristic procession of medicinal plants is represented by 21 species belonging to the 13 families, with a total of 31 species for the 08 study stations, which represents 68% of the total procession. The results obtained showed that the overall recovery is higher at the Ain Ben Noui station with 69%, even if the clumps of Aristida pungens, Atractylis serratuloides and Atriplexhalimus are isolated and scattered. The lowest overall coverage at the Oumache station is less than 21%, as it is an area with sandy soils. The species that contribute most to the recovery of mobile sand accumulations is Astragalus armatus with a rate of 76.19% at the Ain Ben Noui station. Frequency results allowed us to say that Atriplex halimus and Zizyphus lotus are the ubiquitous species (100% of the surveys). On the other hand, Nitraria retusa, Teucrium polium, Shismus barbatus, Sueda mollis and Halocnemum strobilaceum are the species present in only one survey.

Coupled Relational Symbolic Execution for Differential Privacy

Differential privacy is a de facto standard in data privacy with applications in the private and public sectors. Most of the techniques that achieve differential privacy are based on a judicious use of randomness. However, reasoning about randomized programs is difficult and error prone. For this reason, several techniques have been recently proposed to support designer in proving programs differentially private or in finding violations to it.In this work we propose a technique based on symbolic execution for reasoning about differential privacy. Symbolic execution is a classic technique used for testing, counterexample generation and to prove absence of bugs. Here we use symbolic execution to support these tasks specifically for differential privacy. To achieve this goal, we design a relational symbolic execution technique which supports reasoning about probabilistic coupling, a formal notion that has been shown useful to structure proofs of differential privacy. We show how our technique can be used to both verify and find violations to differential privacy.

Do Uranus’s Moons Have Subsurface Oceans?

Scientists tested whether a classic technique could detect subsurface oceans on the moons of Uranus. In this scenario, the planet’s oddball magnetic field offers a big advantage.