Abstract: The possibility of absorbing wave energy using a submerged balloon fixed to the sea bed is investigated. The balloon is in the form of a fabric encased within an array of meridional tendons which terminate at a point at the top of the balloon and at some radius at the bottom. The expansion and contraction of the balloon in waves pump air via a turbine into and out of a chamber of cons...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the biomechanical changes of balloon inflating and cement filling in avascular necrosis of the femoral head using finite-element analysis. METHODS The procedure of percutaneous balloon inflating and cement filling was simulated in fresh specimen of human femoral head. CT scan and three-dimensional reconstruction were used to establish the three-dimensional model of the f...

Removing a foley catheter can sometimes be a challenge, especially when it is related to non-deflating balloons which represent most of the cases. In female patients, due to their urethral anatomy, several techniques have been proposed for balloon puncture when other maneuvers have failed. We present a simple technique for non-deflating balloon catheter removal in an old female patient with a p...

BACKGROUND Arterial remodeling after balloon angioplasty has been recognized as a major determinant of restenosis. Perturbation of collagen metabolism might be important. After balloon injury, matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) expression is upregulated. We investigated the effect of Batimastat, a nonspecific MMP inhibitor, on late lumen loss, arterial remodeling, and neointima formation after ball...

OBJECTIVE To assess the feasibility, safety, and efficacy of transtympanic balloon catheter dilatation of the Eustachian tube (ET) in a cadaver model. PATIENTS AND INTERVENTIONS A cadaveric study of 10 cadaver heads, which underwent unilateral transtympanic dilatation of the ET with a 3 × 20 mm balloon catheter with full endoscopic guidance and visualization. RESULTS Procedural safety was d...

Dotter and Judkins in 1964, the Dotter set was a combination of 8 and 12 Fr coaxial Teflon catheters. Under these conditions, which involved the risk of severe afterbleeding, possible pulsating hematomas, av-fistulas and acute rethromboses in the groin arteries, it was more than reasonable to perform interventional radiological procedures instead of vascular surgery only under stationary condit...

This paper presents a framework to fit data to a model consisting of multiple connected ellipses. For each iteration of the fitting algorithm, the representation of the multiple ellipses is mapped to a Gaussian mixture model (GMM) and the connections are mapped to geometric constraints for the GMM. The fitting is a modified constrained expectation maximisation (EM) method on the GMM (maximising...

OBJECTIVE P-selectin-mediated leukocyte-endothelium and leukocyte-platelet interaction has been reported after vascular injury and has been correlated with neointimal hyperplasia, but its role in neointimal formation after arterial injury in diabetes has not been described. METHODS AND RESULTS Using a Zucker diabetic rat balloon injury model, we examined the role of P-selectin in the vascular...