Triple Strut Concept for the Nasal Tip Projection in Small Lower Lateral Cartilages and Septum.

INTRODUCTION: This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of the triple strut graft technique for nasal tip projection in Asian patients with weak and small lower lateral cartilages and septum. The technique uses a combination of septal angle strut and, columellar strut grafts and lateral crural repositioning to provide support for the nasal tip. METHODS: The study included 30 Asian patients who underwent primary rhinoplasty using this technique between January 2019 and December 2021. The surgical procedure involved making an open rhinoplasty incision and performing a scroll area release. A small triangular-shaped septal angle strut graft was then placed, and the lower lateral cartilages were suspended anteriorly and placed on the anterior end of the septal angle after a columellar strut graft was performed between both medial crura. The lateral crura of the lower lateral cartilages were transposed medially on top of the upper lateral cartilages and maintained in place by spanning sutures at the cephalic margins of both lateral crura. RESULTS: The triple strut graft technique was shown to be effective in providing stable tip projection in Asian noses with weak and small lower lateral cartilages and septum. Statistically significant differences were found between the preoperative and postoperative values of the nasal tip projection ratio and Rhinoplasty Outcome Evaluation ( P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The triple strut graft tip projection technique can be an effective surgical option for Asian patients who have weak and small medial crura combined with a small septum, providing stability for the nasal tip projection.

Parallel patterning of nanoparticles via electrodynamic focusing of charged aerosols.

The development of nanodevices that exploit the unique properties of nanoparticles will require high-speed methods for patterning surfaces with nanoparticles over large areas and with high resolution. Moreover, the technique will need to work with both conducting and non-conducting surfaces. Here we report an ion-induced parallel-focusing approach that satisfies all requirements. Charged monodisperse aerosol nanoparticles are deposited onto a surface patterned with a photoresist while ions of the same polarity are introduced into the deposition chamber in the presence of an applied electric field. The ions accumulate on the photoresist, modifying the applied field to produce nanoscopic electrostatic lenses that focus the nanoparticles onto the exposed parts of the surface. We have demonstrated that the technique could produce high-resolution patterns at high speed on both conducting (p-type silicon) and non-conducting (silica) surfaces. Moreover, the feature sizes in the nanoparticle patterns were significantly smaller than those in the original photoresist pattern.

Highly charging of nanoparticles through electrospray of nanoparticle suspension.

Patterned deposition of nanoparticles is a prerequisite for the application of unique properties of nanoparticles in future nanodevices. Recent development of nanoxerography requires highly charged aerosol nanoparticles to avoid noise deposition due to random Brownian motion. However, it has been known that it is difficult to charge aerosol nanoparticles with more than two elementary charges. The goal of this work is to develop a simple technique for obtaining highly charged monodisperse aerosol nanoparticles by means of electrospray of colloidal suspension. Highly charged aerosol nanoparticles were produced by electrospraying (ES) and drying colloidal suspensions of monodisperse gold nanoparticles. Size and charge distributions of the resultant particles were measured. We demonstrate that this method successfully charges monodisperse nanoparticles very highly, e.g., 122 elementary charges for 25.0 nm, 23.5 for 10.5 nm, and 4.6 for 4.2 nm. The method described here constitutes a convenient, reliable, and continuous tool for preparing highly charged aerosol nanoparticles from suspensions of nanoparticles produced by either wet chemistry or gas-phase methods.

Sonographic measurements of normal gallbladder sizes in children.

PURPOSE: Our goal was to establish the range of sonographic measurements of normal gallbladders in children. METHODS: Six hundred ten children aged 0-16 years (male:female ratio, 1.5:1) with normal clinical and laboratory findings were included in this study. The sonographic parameters were the length, width, and calculated volume of the gallbladder, and the clinical parameters were the age, height, weight, and body surface area of the children. Statistical significance was determined through correlation and regression analyses. RESULTS: The length of the gallbladder showed significant positive correlations with age (r = 0.65), height (r = 0.67), weight (r = 0.63), and body surface area (r = 0.65; p < 0.01). The calculated volume of the gallbladder also showed moderate correlations with age (r = 0.53), height (r = 0.55), weight (r = 0.61), and body surface area (r = 0.57; p < 0.01). The gallbladder width showed modest but significant correlations with age (r = 0.48), height (r = 0.53), weight (r = 0.53), and body surface area (r = 0.55; p < 0.01). The highest correlation coefficients were found between the gallbladder length and subject age (r = 0.65; p < 0.01) and between the gallbladder length and subject height (r = 0.67; p < 0.01). For all correlations, statistical significance remained after regression analysis (p < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Values for the size of the normal pediatric gallbladder are defined and will be helpful in the diagnosis of gallbladder abnormalities.