Search

Objectives: To evaluate the safety and clinical effectiveness of transoral laser microsurgery (TLM) with potassium‐titanyl‐phosphate (KTP) laser ablation for glottic neoplasms. Data Source: MEDLINE via PubMed, SCOPUS, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library. Review Methods: A systematic review and meta‐analysis of studies assessing the safety and efficacy of KTP laser therapy in patients with early‐stage glottic neoplasms. Results: Eight studies were included. After an average follow‐up of 3.3 years, the overall survival and disease‐free survival for patients who underwent KTP were 90.7% (95% CI 85%–96.5%) and 98.5% (95% CI 97.3%–99.8%), respectively. In the single‐arm meta‐analysis, the pooled estimate of recurrence was 7.7% (95% CI 3.4%–12%). The overall voice handicap index (VHI) estimate attributed to KTP in the single‐arm meta‐analysis was 6.76 (95% CI [3.05, 10.48]) and 5.21 (95% CI [2.86, 7.56]) within 6 months and after a one‐year follow‐up, respectively. Conclusion: KTP laser ablation is a safe and effective method for treating patients with early glottic neoplasms. Laryngoscope, 133:1806–1814, 2023 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To determine the distribution of female physicians throughout the rank from resident to leadership positions in German Otolaryngology‐Head and Neck Surgery (OHNS) departments. Methods: This cross‐sectional study collected data about the physician workforce in the German OHNS. The primary outcome was the proportion of female physicians. Data were collected from 165 departments from January 2022 to February 2022. The physician workforce was stratified based on gender and leadership. Results: We included 2089 physicians from 165 departments of OHNS in German hospitals. Female residents and specialists outnumbered male peers (484/872 [55.5%] vs. 388/872 [44.5%] and 224/363 [61.71%] vs. 139/363 [38.29%], respectively). However, the women proportion decreased gradually with elevated hierarchical rank starting at the attending physician level to reaching its lowest extreme (14/165 [7.23%]) at the head of the department level. Holding a leadership position was associated with being male (n = 282 [85.2%] vs. n = 49 [14.8%], p <.0001). This persisted even after controlling the academic rank in a multivariable regression model (OR: 5.027, 95% CI: 3.536–7.146). The gap between the two genders in favor of men regarding leadership persisted in all kinds of hospitals. However, this disparity was lowest in university hospitals, (male: n = 83 [78.3%] vs. female: n = 23, [21.7%], p <.0001). Conclusions: Even though women outnumbered men in resident and specialist positions, they are still underrepresented in leadership positions in OHNS. Continuous surveillance is needed to watch the dynamic changes in the gap between the two genders and address it with more sex equality‐supporting policies. Level of Evidence: IV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasing the evaporation zone inside the solar distiller (SD) is a pivotal method for augmenting its freshwater production. Hence, in this work, a newly designed prismatic absorber basin covered by linen wicks was utilized instead of the conventional flat absorber basin to increase the surface area of the vaporization zone in a double-slope solar distiller (DSSD). Meanwhile, for further enhancement of modified DSSD performance, dual parallel spraying nozzles are incorporated underneath the glass cover as a saltwater feed supply to minimize the thickness of the saltwater film on the wick, which enhances the heating process of the wick surface and, consequently, the evaporation and condensation processes are improved. Two double slope distillers, namely a double slope solar distiller with wick prismatic basin and dual parallel spraying nozzles (DSSD-WPB&DPSN) and a traditional double slope solar distiller (TDSSD), are made and tested in the outdoor summer conditions of Tanta, Egypt (31° E and 30.5° N). A comparative energic–exergic-economic analysis of the two proposed solar stills is also conducted, in terms of the cumulative distillation yield, daily energy efficiency, daily exergy efficiency, and cost per liter of distilled yield. The present results show that the cumulative distillation yield of the DSSD-WPB&DPSN was 8.20 kg/m2·day, which is higher than that of the TDSSD by 49.64%. Furthermore, the energy and exergy efficiencies were increased by 48.51% and 118.10%, respectively, relative to TDSSD. Additionally, the life cost assessment reveals that the cost per liter of the distilled yield of the DSSD-WPB&DPSN is decreased by 11.13% compared to the TDSSD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate skull stripping facilitates following neuro-image analysis. For computer-aided methods, the presence of brain skull in structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) impacts brain tissue identification, which could result in serious misjudgments, specifically for patients with brain tumors. Though there are several existing works on skull stripping in literature, most of them either focus on healthy brain MRIs or only apply for a single image modality. These methods may be not optimal for multiparametric MRI scans. In the paper, we propose an ensemble neural network (EnNet), a 3D convolutional neural network (3DCNN) based method, for brain extraction on multiparametric MRI scans (mpMRIs). We comprehensively investigate the skull stripping performance by using the proposed method on a total of 15 image modality combinations. The comparison shows that utilizing all modalities provides the best performance on skull stripping. We have collected a retrospective dataset of 815 cases with/without glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) and The Cancer Imaging Archive (TCIA). The ground truths of the skull stripping are verified by at least one qualified radiologist. The quantitative evaluation gives an average dice score coefficient and Hausdorff distance at the 95th percentile, respectively. We also compare the performance to the state-of-the-art methods/tools. The proposed method offers the best performance. The contributions of the work have five folds: first, the proposed method is a fully automatic end-to-end for skull stripping using a 3D deep learning method. Second, it is applicable for mpMRIs and is also easy to customize for any MRI modality combination. Third, the proposed method not only works for healthy brain mpMRIs but also pre-/post-operative brain mpMRIs with GBM. Fourth, the proposed method handles multicenter data. Finally, to the best of our knowledge, we are the first group to quantitatively compare the skull stripping performance using different modalities. All code and pre-trained model are available at: https://github.com/plmoer/skull_stripping_code_SR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate skull stripping facilitates following neuro-image analysis. For computer-aided methods, the presence of brain skull in structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) impacts brain tissue identification, which could result in serious misjudgments, specifically for patients with brain tumors. Though there are several existing works on skull stripping in literature, most of them either focus on healthy brain MRIs or only apply for a single image modality. These methods may be not optimal for multiparametric MRI scans. In the paper, we propose an ensemble neural network (EnNet), a 3D convolutional neural network (3DCNN) based method, for brain extraction on multiparametric MRI scans (mpMRIs). We comprehensively investigate the skull stripping performance by using the proposed method on a total of 15 image modality combinations. The comparison shows that utilizing all modalities provides the best performance on skull stripping. We have collected a retrospective dataset of 815 cases with/without glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) and The Cancer Imaging Archive (TCIA). The ground truths of the skull stripping are verified by at least one qualified radiologist. The quantitative evaluation gives an average dice score coefficient and Hausdorff distance at the 95th percentile, respectively. We also compare the performance to the state-of-the-art methods/tools. The proposed method offers the best performance. The contributions of the work have five folds: first, the proposed method is a fully automatic end-to-end for skull stripping using a 3D deep learning method. Second, it is applicable for mpMRIs and is also easy to customize for any MRI modality combination. Third, the proposed method not only works for healthy brain mpMRIs but also pre-/post-operative brain mpMRIs with GBM. Fourth, the proposed method handles multicenter data. Finally, to the best of our knowledge, we are the first group to quantitatively compare the skull stripping performance using different modalities. All code and pre-trained model are available at: https://github.com/plmoer/skull_stripping_code_SR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nanotechnology is the key solution for many human problems such as energy conversion, water treatment, and material science. In composite materials, nanoparticles are dispersed in a matrix material such as metals, ceramics, or polymers to enhance their mechanical and thermophysical properties. Polymer nanocomposite materials found their applications in vital fields such as the automotive and aircraft industries. There are many techniques adopted to produce polymer nanocomposites, and they are summarized and discussed according to our best known in this paper. All techniques aim to produce nanocomposite materials with uniform dispersion and without aggregations. Melt-mixing, mixing, in-situ polymerization, electrospinning, and selective laser sintering techniques are the most commonly used techniques to produce polymer nanocomposite. The utilization of water, atomic layer deposition, and plasma-assisted mechanochemistry are found to eradicate the issue of nanoparticles aggregation for melt-mixing technique. Also, sonication with high frequencies plays the same role for mixing techniques. In-situ polymerization provides fabrication of nanocomposites that are thermodynamically stable. Electrospinning represents an effective method which is suitable for producing porous structures. In addition, fabrication of nanocomposites via selective laser sintering has obvious benefits to overcome the problem of aggregation. The working principles of each technique, including the advantages and disadvantages, are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Different engineering components may be subjected to fatigue loading with sudden overloads which result in unexpected catastrophic failure. Polymeric pipes used in water and gas conveying networks may be subjected to this type of loading. The preparation of specimens for fatigue crack propagation tests from pipes as well as the application of overloads during such tests is a cumbersome issue. The present work introduces a technique for preparing and testing of single edge notch bending specimens made of polymeric pipes to conform with standards of fatigue test. Experiments were carried out on specimens made of High-Density Polyethylene (Grade 100) used in high pressure pipe applications. The proposed preparation sequences succeeded to minimize the effect of preparation process on the test results. Also, the developed fatigue machine is supplied by a special developed software which ensures a very smooth application of overloads during the fatigue crack propagation tests without any test disturbance. Crack retardation is observed in the tested specimens due to the overload effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This is the first study that assessed patient satisfaction with a tertiary hospital in Egypt. Ain Shams University Surgery Hospital, which is one of the largest hospitals in Egypt and serves millions of patients each year, was the site of the study. Methods: A version of the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey was used to query 361 patients from November 2015 until July 2018 Survey questions were divided into the following categories: communication with doctors, responsiveness of hospital staff, cleanliness of the hospital environment, quietness of the hospital environment, pain management, communication about medicines, discharge information, overall rating of the hospital, and willingness to recommend the hospital. Results: A total of 361 patients were interviewed. The results showed both positive and negative levels of satisfaction. The positive results included no delay in admission, friendly staff including nurses and doctors, better patient outcomes regarding pain management and adverse side effects, and the overall rating of the hospital was good, which reflected patient satisfaction. The negative findings were lack of proper communication between the medical staff and patients. Patients indicated they did not get a satisfactory explanation of their prescribed drug doses and drug adverse effects. In addition, they did not get enough instruction on what to do after being released from the hospital. Conclusion: The medical staff at Ain Shams University Surgery Hospital should focus more on the patient's own preferences and communicate better with patients. We recommended that the hospital organize regular communication skills courses for medical students, physicians, and nurses. Patients should understand the discharge report and indications and side effects of the medications before leaving the hospital. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

M.A. and N.T. verified the ground truth of the experimental dataset and revised the manuscript. Correction to: I Scientific Reports i https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-14983-4, published online 27 June 2022 The original version of this Article contained errors in the spelling of the authors Murat Ak and Nursima Ak, which were incorrectly given as A.K. Murat and A.K. Nursima, respectively. [Extracted from the article]