FishShapes v1: Functionally relevant measurements of teleost shape and size on three dimensions.

Teleost fishes account for 96% of all fish species and exhibit a spectacular variety of body forms. Teleost lineages range from deep bodied to elongate (e.g., eels, needlefish), laterally compressed (e.g., ribbonfish) to globular (e.g., pufferfish), and include uniquely shaped lineages such as seahorses, flatfishes, and ocean sunfishes. Adaptive body shape convergence within fishes has long been hypothesized but the nature of the relationships between fish form and ecological and environmental variables remain largely unknown at the macroevolutionary scale. To facilitate the investigation of the interacting factors influencing teleost body shape evolution we measured eight functionally relevant linear traits on adult-sized specimens along with specimen mass. Linear measurements of standard length, maximum body depth, maximum fish width, lower jaw length, mouth width, head depth, minimum caudal peduncle depth, and minimum caudal peduncle width were taken in millimeters with calipers, or tape measures for oversized specimens. We measured these traits on a total of 16,523 specimens (1-3 specimens per species) at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History and took approximately 7000 person hours of data collection to complete. The data went through a three-step error-checking process to clean and validate the data and then species averages were calculated. We present the complete specimen data set, which encompasses approximately one-fifth of extant teleost species diversity, spanning ~90% of teleost families and ~96% of orders. The species and family names are compatible with the taxonomy used by FishBase and the order information with the phylogenetically informed taxonomy of Betancur-R and colleagues published in 2014. This dataset is licensed under Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) but please cite this paper when using the data or a subset of it.

A cMUT probe for ultrasound-guided focused ultrasound targeted therapy.

Ultrasound-mediated targeted therapy represents a promising strategy in the arsenal of modern therapy. Capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducer (cMUT) technology could overcome some difficulties encountered by traditional piezoelectric transducers. In this study, we report on the design, fabrication, and characterization of an ultrasound-guided focused ultrasound (USgFUS) cMUT probe dedicated to preclinical evaluation of targeted therapy (hyperthermia, thermosensitive liposomes activation, and sonoporation) at low frequency (1 MHz) with simultaneous ultrasonic imaging and guidance (15 to 20 MHz). The probe embeds two types of cMUT arrays to perform the modalities of targeted therapy and imaging respectively. The wafer-bonding process flow employed for the manufacturing of the cMUTs is reported. One of its main features is the possibility of implementing two different gap heights on the same wafer. All the design and characterization steps of the devices are described and discussed, starting from the array design up to the first in vitro measurements: optical (microscopy) and electrical (impedance) measurements, arrays' electroacoustic responses, focused pressure field mapping (maximum peak-to-peak pressure = 2.5 MPa), and the first B-scan image of a wire-target phantom.

Automatic optimal input command for linearization of cMUT output by a temporal target.

Capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducers (cMUTs) are a promising alternative to the piezoelectric transducer. However, their native nonlinear behavior is a limitation for their use in medical ultrasound applications. Several methods based on the pre-compensation of a preselected input voltage have been proposed to cancel out the harmonic components generated. Unfortunately, these existing pre-compensation methods have two major flaws. The first is that the pre-compensation procedure is not generally automatic, and the second is that they can only reduce the second harmonic component. This can, therefore, limit their use for some imaging methods, which require a broader bandwidth, e.g., to receive the third harmonic component. In this study, we generalized the presetting methods to reduce all nonlinearities in the cMUT output. Our automatic pre-compensation method can work whatever the excitation waveform. The precompensation method is based on the nonlinear modeling of harmonic components from a Volterra decomposition in which the parameters are evaluated by using a Nelder-Mead algorithm. To validate the feasibility of this approach, the method was applied to an element of a linear array with several types of excitation often encountered in encoded ultrasound imaging. The results showed that the nonlinear components were reduced by up to 21.2 dB.

Prevention of postoperative nausea and vomiting in children following adenotonsillectomy, using tropisetron with or without low-dose dexamethasone.

PURPOSE: Postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) after adenotonsillectomy in children is, in spite of the prophylactic administration of tropisetron, still a frequent event. The aim of this study was to evaluate the benefit of the additional systemic administration of low-dose dexamethasone (0.15 mg x kg(-1)) for the prevention of PONV. METHODS: With hospital ethics committee approval, we investigated children undergoing adenotonsillectomy receiving tropisetron (0.1 mg x kg(-1); maximum dose, 2 mg) or tropisetron (0.1 mg x kg(-1); maximum dose, 2 mg) plus dexamethasone (0.15 mg x kg(-1); maximum dose, 6 mg) intraoperatively. The incidence of vomiting episodes and the need for postoperative analgesics were recorded. Patient data were analyzed using the t-test and the chi(2) test (significance level of P = 0.05). Data values are means +/- SD. RESULTS: Ninety children (39 girls and 51 boys), aged 5.6 +/- 2.8 years and weighing 21.9 +/- 8.8 kg, were enrolled in the study. The overall incidence of vomiting was 38.9% within the first 24 h (67 vomiting events) and 44.4% within 48 h postoperatively (87 vomiting events). The incidence of vomiting in the tropisetron-only group was 53.3% (24/45) at 24 h and 60% (27/45) at 48 h (24 h: P < 0.001 and 48 h: P = 0.04) and 24.4% (11/45) at 24 h and 28.9% (13/45) at 48 h in the tropisetron-dexamethasone group. The need for postoperative nalbuphine was double in patients treated with tropisetron-dexamethasone (0.61 mg +/- 0.36 mg x kg(-1) x 48 h(-1)) compared to that in patients receiving only tropisetron (0.31 mg +/- 0.28 mg x kg(-1) x 48 h(-1); P < 0.0001). CONCLUSION: A low-dose bolus of dexamethasone (0.15 mg x kg(-1)) in combination with tropisetron, compared to tropisetron alone, considerably reduced the incidence of vomiting in children following pediatric adenotonsillectomy.

Early vs late intraoperative administration of tropisetron for the prevention of nausea and vomiting in children undergoing tonsillectomy and/or adenoidectomy.

BACKGROUND: Tropisetron is a long-acting 5HT3 receptor antagonist and was shown to be effective in the prevention of postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) after tonsillectomy. The aim of the study was to compare the effects of early vs late intraoperative administration of tropisetron with regard to prevention of PONV during the first 48 h after extubation. METHODS: In a randomized double-blind study, we investigated 120 children aged 1-12 years undergoing general anesthesia for tonsillectomy or adenotonsillectomy. Patients received 0.1 mg x kg(-1) tropisetron (maximum 2 mg) immediately after inhalational induction (early) and establishment of intravenous access or after the end of surgery before extubation (late). PONV and the need for antiemetic rescue medications were recorded within the following 48 h. Patient data were analyzed using t-test, chi-squared test (significance level of alpha = 0.05) and Spearman rank correlation test. RESULTS: The overall incidence of vomiting was 55.3%, with 60% (36/60) in the early treatment and 51.6% (31/60) in the late treatment group (P = 0.46). The observed time course 48 h postoperatively showed no difference regarding the number of vomiting episodes between the two groups and the need for antiemetic rescue medication. The incidence of nausea was higher in the late application group in the first 6 h after extubation (P = 0.001) and higher in the early application group between 24 and 48 h after extubation (P = 0.02). Morphine and the age over 3 years had a strong influence on the incidence of vomiting. CONCLUSION: The intraoperative time point (early vs late) of intravenous administration of a single prophylactic dose of tropisetron has no impact on the incidence of PONV during the first 48 h after tonsillectomy and/or adenoidectomy in children.

The results of functional (Sarmiento) bracing of humeral shaft fractures.

At the Department of Orthopaedics of the Kantonsspital Fribourg, 67 humeral shaft fractures were treated by Sarmiento bracing in a 15-year period. There were 54 isolated fractures and 13 fractures sustained as a component of polytrauma. Fifty-eight cases (87%) had healed clinically at a mean of 10 weeks; 9 cases failed to heal, so further treatment was carried out operatively. Of the conservatively managed fractures, 95% (55 cases) healed with an excellent or good result. Three patients noted a slight limitation of active range of motion, but all 58 patients returned to full duty at their jobs. Among 9 patients with delayed or nonunion leading to operative intervention, there were 6 cases with transverse fractures. Major reasons for failed conservative management were an incorrect indication, a significant axial deformity, or a hyperextended position of the fracture fragments. In our experience, active repositioning of humeral shaft fractures is not effective in avoiding a delay in fracture healing. The decision to use functional bracing in polytrauma patients should depend on the time of expected bedridden immobilization, on the presence of additional fractures of the ipsilateral upper extremity, and on the patient's need for crutches. The conservative treatment of humeral shaft fractures with the Sarmiento brace remains the treatment of choice, in spite of newer intramedullary operations that are allegedly minimally invasive and technically less complicated.