BACKGROUND Activated macrophages play an important role in the pathogenesis of acute ischemic syndromes. It has been postulated that detection of heat released by activated inflammatory cells of atherosclerotic plaques may predict plaque rupture and thrombosis. Previous ex vivo studies have shown that there is thermal heterogeneity in human carotid atherosclerotic plaques. METHODS AND RESULTS...

BACKGROUND To quantify the development of radiation neuropathy in corneal subbasal nerve plexus (SNP) after plaque brachytherapy, and the subsequent regeneration of SNP micromorphology and corneal sensation. METHODS Nine eyes of 9 melanoma patients (ciliary body: 3, iris: 2, conjunctiva: 4) underwent brachytherapy (ruthenium-106 plaque, dose to tumour base: 523 ± 231 Gy). SNP micromorphology ...

Rationale: Atherosclerotic plaques that give rise to acute clinical symptoms are typically characterized by degradation of the connective tissue and plaque rupture. Experimental studies have shown that mechanisms to repair vulnerable lesions exist, but the rate of remodeling of human plaque tissue has not been studied. Objective: In the present study, we determined the biological age of differe...

PURPOSE To report on local tumor control after (106)Ru brachytherapy for choroidal melanoma. METHODS AND MATERIALS A total of 458 patients with choroidal melanoma were treated at a single institution between January 1993 and December 2001. The tumors had a median longest basal dimension of 10.6 mm and a median height of 3.2 mm. The brachytherapy was administered using a 15- or 20-mm plaque. F...

BACKGROUND There is a need for non-invasive and accurate techniques for assessment of severity of atherosclerotic disease in the carotid arteries. Recently an automated single sweep three-dimensional ultrasound (3D US) technique became available. The aims of this study were to evaluate the feasibility and reproducibility of the automated single sweep method in a cohort of patients undergoing cl...

As early as 1927, legislation in the United States governing the packaging of lyeand acidcontaining products mandated that warning labels be placed on these products. In response to the recognition that caustic exposures were more frequent in children, the Federal Hazardous Substances Act and Poison Prevention Packaging Act were passed in 1970; these acts mandated that all caustics with a conce...

S106 is a bipolar nebula illuminated and excited by a central star called S106 IR. Depending on its distance (literature values range from 500 pc to 5.7 kpc) this star is of late O to early B spectral type. There is evidence that S106 is physically associated with the molecular cloud complex of Cygnus X. The bipolar nebula is the dominant feature in an embedded cluster of young stars forming in...