An 8-year-old female spayed German Shepherd cross was presented for acute onset of respiratory distress. Four days before presentation, the owner noticed a reduced appetite and reluctance to move. Clinical examination identified muffled lung sounds and a left base, diamond-shaped systolic murmur graded 4/6. Echocardiography identified pleural and pericardial effusion, ascites and a myxoid mass (39 mm/18.9 mm) obstructing the right ventricular outflow tract and interfering with the pulmonary valve function. Given the poor prognosis, the dog was euthanatised, and a postmortem examination was performed. Grossly, a mass with a heterogeneous appearance was identified below the pulmonary valve leaflets. Based on histopathological and immunohistochemical findings, a diagnosis of intracardiac myxosarcoma affecting the subvalvular region of the pulmonary artery was made. To the author's knowledge, this is the first report of right ventricle out flow tract myxosarcoma in the canine species.
Dog Diseases/pathology , Heart Neoplasms/veterinary , Myxosarcoma/veterinary , Ventricular Outflow Obstruction/veterinary , Animals , Dog Diseases/diagnosis , Dogs , Echocardiography/veterinary , Female , Heart Neoplasms/diagnosis , Heart Neoplasms/pathology , Myxosarcoma/diagnosis , Myxosarcoma/pathology , Ventricular Outflow Obstruction/diagnosis
The rapid expansion of laparoscopic surgery has led to the development of training methods for acquiring technical skills. The importance and complexity of laparoscopic liver surgery are arguments for developing a new integrated system of teaching, learning and evaluation, based on modern educational principles, on flexibility allowing wide accessibility among surgeons. This paper presents the development of e-learning platform designed for training in laparoscopic liver surgery and pre-planning of the operation in a virtual environment. E-learning platform makes it possible to simulate laparoscopic liver surgery remotely via internet connection. The addressability of this e-learning platform is large, being represented by young surgeons who are mainly preoccupied by laparoscopic liver surgery, as well as experienced surgeons interested in obtaining a competence in the hepatic minimally invasive surgery.
Computer-Assisted Instruction , Internet , Laparoscopy , Liver/surgery , User-Computer Interface , Clinical Competence/standards , Education, Medical, Continuing/organization & administration , Education, Medical, Graduate/organization & administration , Humans , Laparoscopy/methods , Learning , Romania , Task Performance and Analysis
A disclination line populated with point defects that break the translational symmetry forms near a free nematic (N) interface in a confined geometry. The disclination line is, however, absent in the smectic-A phase (SmA). We use this fact to control the formation of point defect distributions on a disclination line by directional melting of the SmA phase in a temperature gradient. A threshold velocity ( v(th)) exists below which a defect-free disclination line is formed. The frequency of nucleation of point defects increases steadily for v > v(th) and exhibits a remarkable regularity. We derive an empirical scaling for v(th) in terms of the experimental tuning parameters. We propose a simple model that allows to understand the formation of the point defects.
