Increasing evidence implies the existence of a visceral pain pathway in the dorsal column of the spinal cord. Limited midline myelotomy has been used to treat intractable pelvic cancer pain. However, no obvious evidence has been provided that high cervical punctate midline myelotomy (CPMM) relieves visceral pain originating from the abdomen. This study was designed to examine the pain relief effect of CPMM in a mouse model of visceral pain. Thirty-six Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) mice were divided into three groups: Group 1, healthy controls; Group 2, treated with CPMM at C1 and C2; and Group 3, a sham group that underwent laminectomy at C1 and C2 without CPMM. All animals were tested for antinociception in the writhing test 24 hours after surgery. Visceral pain-related behaviors were counted from 5-20 minutes after intraperitoneal injection of 0.6% acetic acid. Writhing test scores were not significantly different between Groups 1 (56.7 +/- 10.7) and 3 (50.7 +/- 17.4). However, Group 2 (30.0 +/- 14.3) showed more than 40% antinociception after treatment, and writhing test scores were significantly different from those of Groups 1 and 3 (p < 0.001). Our results confirm that midline punctate myelotomy can relieve visceral pain and imply that there is a pathway in the posterior funiculus that signals visceral pain. Punctate midline myelotomy at the cervical or high thoracic level may be an alternative strategy in the management of intractable visceral pain due to abdominal or pelvic cancers.
Traditional cephalometry with a cast-mounted articulator is a useful and well-established tool for orthognathic surgery 7 planning. However, 2-D planning with dental casts cannot provide 8 comprehensive information on facial bone conditions, especially 9 with regards to symmetry. To plan and predict postsurgical facial 10 symmetry and occlusions, this paper uses an optical navigation system to track the movement of the upper and lower dental models 12 in model surgery. The corresponding movement and the new position of the jawbones are demonstrated in the computer and the 14 symmetry status can be evaluated. Surgical splints can be fabricated from the virtual models and used in surgery. The procedure 16 provides more realistic predictions, which can assist surgeons to 17 better control postsurgical facial harmony.
This paper presents a smart device-based thermostatic control system for cooling vest application. The whole system consists of three parts: a pumpbased circulating cooling system, a temperature sensing module, and an Android-based application software. The smart device uses Bluetooth technology to receive temperature sensor datum from the vest. The thermostatic control App determines whether to turn the pump motor on or off in order to transmit the motor signal to the vest. One smart device can control and record multiple cooling or heating vests at the same time in order to easily manipulate and save resources. A simple experiment was designed and implemented to verify the effect of thermostatic control to the vests. The results showed that this system helps to enhance the duration of the cooling or heating system and provides high efficiency and flexibility. The future work will focus on biomedical signal monitoring and web-based remote control.
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