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The ephemerides of minor planets are computed on the basis of astrometric observations. The asteroid orbit determination process requires these observations to be properly weighted to take into account the expected accuracy of the data. If not directly provided by the observers, the weights are, in general, computed after a station-specific statistical analysis on the observation residuals, where the influence of external factors such as epoch of observation, magnitude, and employed catalogue has been proven. In this paper, we perform a statistical analysis on observation residuals of the major surveys taking into account a new factor, i.e. the dynamical classification of asteroids, to understand whether the observation quality may have a dependence on the different type of observed object. If an influence is actually found, then it will be possible to develop a new weighting system based on these results. The weights will be easily applicable once one knows the asteroid orbit. In particular, four stations have been found having different qualities depending on whether they are observing near-Earth asteroids or main-belt asteroids. Moreover, the cross-correlation between the dynamic classification and epoch, magnitude, and catalogue is investigated, as well as the influence of these factors on observations’ quality.

Comparing the results of the treatment of abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA) with infra-renal neck length ≤1 cm with open repair (OR) and with endovascular treatment (EVAR) with standard endograft.Patients treated from January 2005 to December 2009 for infra-renal AAA with neck length ≤1 cm, were prospectively included. The choice of treatment was made up on anatomical and clinical criteria. Cases treated with OR (G1) and EVAR (G2) were compared. Primary end-points were: peri-operative mortality/morbidity and re-interventions, renal function worsening at discharge, mortality and re-interventions during follow-up. Secondary end points were: procedure time, need and time of intensive unit care (IUC) hospitalization, need for blood transfusions and hospital days. The comparison between groups was estimated by the Long-rank test.Eighty-two patients were treated (76 males and 6 females); the mean age was 71.4 years (range 56-86) and the mean AAA diameter was 6.2 cm. Forty-four patients were enrolled in G1 and 38 in G2. The two groups were clinically homogeneous, except for: age (G1G2: P0.001), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) (G1G2: P=0.016) and obesity (G1G2: P=0.045). The mean follow-up was 26 months (range 1-63.6). The overall operative mortality was 3.7%: all deaths (3 cases) occurred in G1 (6.8%) while no deaths occurred in G2 (P=NS). The association of peri-operative morbidity and mortality was higher in G1 (P=0.012). There were 7 peri-operative re-interventions, 4 in G1 (9%) and 3 in G2 (7.8%) (P=NS). There was no statistical difference in renal function worsening at discharge between the two groups. At 36 months overall survival was 84% and the survival of G1 and G2 was respectively 80.5% and 87.4% (P=NS). At 36 months, freedom from re-intervention was 82.6% in G1 and 88.4% in G2 (P=NS). All the secondary end points were significantly better in G2.These results show that EVAR with standard endograft is an effective and reliable option in AAA with neck length ≤1 cm in short and mid-term follow-up. Long-term follow-up results are needed.

Tympanosclerosis and atherosclerosis seem to have a similar inflammatory origin despite the different tissues involved. We have investigated the possible relationship between tympanosclerosis and atherosclerosis by evaluating the incidence of tympanic plaques in patients with significant carotid disease.Between September 1(st) 2002 and April 30th 2003, we have evaluated all patients undergoing carotid surgery for significant carotid stenosis (group A). If at least 1/5 of the eardrum was occupied by plaques, then the case was considered positive. A control group of patients of similar age and no history of otological nor vascular pathologies was enrolled (group B). The 2 groups were compared statistically by Fisher's test and significance was set at p=0.05.Group A consisted of 84 patients. In this group 32 patients (38.1%) had tympanosclerosis; it was bilateral in 12 cases. Group B had 84 patients. In this group tympanosclerosis was present in 11 cases (13%). The difference between the 2 groups was statistically significant (p=0.005).More studies are needed before we can understand the cause of the association between these 2 pathologies. However early screening of atherosclerotic disease in patients with tympanosclerosis seems justifiable on the basis of the data of both the literature and the present study.

A case of the inferior pancreaticoduodenal artery aneurysm, associated with occlusion of the celiac axis is reported. The aneurysm seemed to be related to a high-flow state secondary to the associated occlusion of the celiac axis. The occlusion was typical of the atheromatous disease. The aneurysm was atherosclerotic in origin and was treated with resection and PTFE patching. Eighty months later an angiogram was performed, demonstrating a normal patency of the pancreaticoduodenal arcades. The treatment of these aneurysms is discussed, and the literature on this uncommon disease is reviewed.

The ischemia-reperfusion syndrome, first described by Haimovici in 1960, is a severe complication following surgery for acute ischemia. We evaluated the incidence of this complication in 264 patients operated on between 1972 and 1981 (1st group) and compared it with another of 392 patients operated on between 1982 and 1991 (2nd group), our aim being to assess the effects of pharmacological prophyiaxis based on preoperative overhydration followed by an intra-arterial bolus of 250 ml 14/1000 HCO3-, containing 1 g dexamethasone and 2500 I.U. sodium heparin, injected into the femoral artery before suturing the arteriotomy. This regimen was based on the measurement of myoglobin and glutathione levels respectively carried out in two subgroups of 25 patients. The results of experimental ischemia-reperfusion syndromes induced in animal using radical scavengers and membrane-protective compounds were also taken into consideration. Following experimental research on sheep, 5 patients in the second group with very severe ischemia due to aortic occlusion received local dialysis in the extracorporeal circulation using hemodialysis or hemofiltration techniques. Mortality was 6.3% in the first group and 5.4% in the second, while the amputation rate was 3% and 1.8% respectively. The overall incidence of the reperfusion syndrome was 3% in the 1st period and 1.8% in the second. Our findings confirm the protective effect of hyper-hydration, radical scavengers and dexamethasone in the ischemia reperfusion syndrome, and indicate that local hemodialysis is a useful adjunct in very severe ischemia.

The authors report the clinical history and the treatment of 5 patients with visceral artery aneurysms. The celiac trunk, the common hepatic artery, the inferior pancreaticoduodenal artery and the splenic artery (in 2 different patients) were affected by the aneurysmal disease. Various techniques have been employed in the successful treatment of these patients: radiological embolization of the celiac trunk aneurysms, Dacron graft reconstruction of the common hepatic artery aneurysm, endosaccular ligature and PTFE patching of the inferior pancreatico-duodenal artery aneurysm, endosaccular ligature in one of the two splenic artery aneurysm and simple ligature and splenectomy in the remainder splenic artery aneurysm. Early diagnosis is important in these lesions, because of the trend toward rupture and subsequent high mortality rate. Ultrasonography (US), Computed Tomography (CT) and Magnetic Resonance (MR) are very helpful as diagnostic tools, however angiography represents the method of choice since it could be the first step of the embolization treatment. Furthermore angiography is useful for detection of associated visceral lesions and for the study of collateral blood supply. Treatment choice depends on visceral artery aneurysms localization, the presence of associate lesions and the possible general contraindications. In the latter case, radiological embolization could be the first-choice treatment.

The incidence of isolated left-side inferior vena cava ranges from 0.2-0.5%. This anomaly is associated infrequently with an abdominal aortic aneurysm. A case is reported of left-side inferior vena cava associated with a symptomatic, 5-cm inflammatory abdominal aortic aneurysm. Preoperative computed tomography showed a perianeurysmal mantle strongly adherent to a left-side inferior vena cava. This report is the first of an infrarenal inferior vena cava anomaly associated with an inflammatory abdominal aortic aneurysm. The technical details required to perform the aortic reconstruction via a transperitoneal approach are described and discussed.

One of the most important aspects of Behçet's disease is aneurysmal arteriopathy. The major problem of this complication is its tendency to develop recurrent false aneurysms at anastomotic and traumatic sites, such as angiographic punctures. We present a clinical case in which five aneurysms, some true, some false, were operated on during a period of 6 years, with the aid of ultrastructural observations of the wall of a true and a false aneurysm. One of the true aneurysms, localized in the aorta, was treated by direct aneurysmorrhaphy, and the 6-year follow-up demonstrated the absence of recurrences. Based on both this experience and the data in the literature, we suggest that the most appropriate surgical approach would, when possible, be direct aneurysmorrhaphy.

We conducted a retrospective review of all patients undergoing repair of abdominal aortic aneurysm at or above the proximal anastomosis of a previous infrarenal aortic graft between 1986 and 1991. Infected grafts and patients with suprarenal aneurysms present at the time of the original graft were excluded. Twenty-one patients, 19 men and two women, were included. The original indication for surgery was aneurysm in 14 patients and occlusive disease in seven; the mean interval from initial surgery to presentation was 10 years (range, 3 to 23 years). Twelve lesions were anastomotic false aneurysms, and nine were true aneurysms beginning in the proximal juxta-anastomotic aorta. Fourteen patients had an asymptomatic abdominal mass. Seven patients had symptoms of acute expansion (three), rupture (three), or thrombosis (one). True aneurysm and symptomatic presentation were correlated with aneurysm as the original indication for surgery. Repair was accomplished by an interpositional graft in 13 and graft replacement in eight. Seven patients required suprarenal anastomosis or renal and visceral reconstruction. Five operative deaths (24%) occurred, including two of three patients with rupture (67%) and two of seven patients (28%) in the suprarenal group. The mortality rate for elective repair with an infrarenal anastomosis was 11%. Two additional late deaths occurred during the follow-up period.

Clinical and histological analyses were made of 18 consecutive cases of peripheral artery atherosclerotic aneurysms (PAAA) (common, deep femoral and popliteal arteries) and compared to a group of 10 specimens obtained from the atherosclerotic, non aneurysmal femoral arteries of 10 cadavers with similar characteristics to the 18 patients. Although neither the clinical nor the macroscopic morphological data indicated the presence of an inflammatory process in the PAAA, the histological examination revealed the presence of a considerable infiltrate (greater than 11 inflammatory cells/2116 microns2) in a surprisingly high percentage of cases (4 cases, 22.8%). In 5 other cases (27.7%) the presence of lymphomonoplasmonocytic cells, although less pronounced, was greater than normally seen in atherosclerotic arterial walls (greater than 4 and less than 11 inflammatory cells/2116 microns2). The median number of inflammatory cells present in the media and adventitia varied from 2.2 +/- 0.3 to 13.2 +/- 0.3 per 2116 microns2. These values are significantly different compared to the results of atherosclerotic arteries at the same level (P less than 0.001 Mann-Whitney's U test). These findings of lymphomonoplasmocytic infiltrates in the absence of other pathology, together with an analysis of the data in the literature, makes it possible to presume that the inflammation present is associated with atherosclerosis and is more common in aneurysmal rather than stenotic forms. The pathogenesis may be determined by immune reaction phenomena.

Activated cellular oncogenes have frequently been reported in primitive neuroectodermal tumors. As regards malignant gliomas, either primary tumors or cell lines, gene amplifications, rearrangements, overexpressions of a spectrum of oncogenes have been described.

The blood radioactivity curve after i.v. injection of 1 microC/kg of C14 labeled serotonin runs significantly lower in schizophrenic than in normal subjects.

The objective of the study was to characterize a low-cost and reliable working standard material for quality control of estrogen receptor (ER) determination with dextran-coated charcoal (DCC) and enzyme immunoassay (EIA) methods. Human fibromatous uterine lyophilized cytosol demonstrated good characteristics of stability and applicability for this purpose. Eleven laboratories participated in the intralaboratory and interlaboratory quality control study, and they achieved slightly higher coefficients of variation for ER-EIA (interlaboratory, 37.7%; intralaboratory, 22.9%) than for ER-DCC (interlaboratory, 24.2%; intralaboratory, 15.7%). There was an excellent correlation between ER results with ER-EIA and ER-DCC for 268 breast cancer biopsies. Quality assurance for ER assays using DCC techniques and immunometric methods with monoclonal antibodies (ER-EIA) can be set up with this available material of human origin to satisfy the characteristics of both techniques and the species specificity of monoclonal antibodies.

To investigate the sporadic occurrence of hemophilia A and to estimate the sex ratio of mutation rates directly, 17 families with isolated cases of the disorder were studied by RFLP analysis and by clotting assays. Three RFLPs, one intragenic and two with close linkage to hemophilia A, were used. In eight families the RFLP study excluded the carrier status of the maternal grandmothers. Since hemostatic studies showed that the eight mothers of these propositi were hemophilia carriers, the origin of the newly mutated genes was inferred from the RFLP patterns: six hemophilic genes derived from the normal maternal grandfathers and two, from maternal grandmothers. The data indicate a higher mutation rate in males than in females, as previously suggested by segregation analysis and coagulation studies. However the sex ratio indicated by the RFLP analysis is lower than previously reported and could explain previous conflicting estimates.

Angiosarcoma is a rare malignant tumor of the soft tissues (less than 1% of sarcoma). It may affect various parenchymae (bones, liver, breast), the soft tissues or the skin. In the latter case it may be associated with lymphedema. Onset in the arm is typical with postmastectomy lymphedema (Stewart-Treves syndrome). The forms occurring in limbs with chronic lymphedema not associated with mastectomy are much rarer, with a total of 38 cases occurring in patients with an average age of 46.8 years and with lymphedema present for an average of 20 years. The survival rate for 5 years is 16.6%. The case observed by us had the characteristic onset of the malignant neoplasm on a pre-existing "angiomatosis lymphangiomatosis" pattern also featuring angiographycally detected arteriovenous fistula.

The case examined was a multifocal diffuse glomus tumor covering most of the right leg of a 24-year-old woman. The lesion, present at birth, had never caused any symptoms. Macroscopically, it had a simulangiomatous aspect, whereas histologically it was identified as a glomangiomyoma. The Authors have examined 26 (46.4%) of the 56 cases of multiple tumors reported to date. Multiple glomus tumors are benign lesions, which generally appear at an early age (70% by the age of 20), with no clear distinction between the two sexes. The lesions usually occur on the upper limbs, which account for 80% of the cases. Pain is reported in half of the cases. There are 3 histological types: "sensu strictu" glomus tumor, glomangioma and glomangiomyoma; the glomangioma being the most frequent (80.8%) as compared to 19.2% for the glomangiomyomatosis type. No case of "sensu strictu" glomus tumor was observed.

Introduction Kissing balloon technique with two low-profile catheters (KBT) could be the treatment of choice for diseased infrapopliteal artery bifurcation in critical limb ischemia (CLI). Report From April to December 2006, 8 patients with CLI and tibial artery disease located in the infrapopliteal bifurcation were treated with KBT. Technical success was achieved in all patients without major or minor complications. Discussion Angioplasty of the bifurcation of the popliteal and tibio-peroneal trunk using KBT is a safe and effective procedure in CLI.

In this paper, Maze et al. report a series of 18 patients treated for aortic graft infection over a period of 11 years. Only one of them, presenting with an aortoduodenal fistula, was treated surgically as a first intention, while the other 17 were treated conservatively, despite the fact that 11/18 (61%) showed signs of systemic infection. The only patient initially treated surgically with complete graft removal remained alive 128 months after treatment. Of the 17 patients treated with antimicrobial therapy and graft retention, there was a recurrence of infection in almost 60% (10/17). A quarter of these patients died as a result of the first relapse episode. Surgery was performed in 35% (6/17) of patients initially treated conservatively. Of note also is that for patients treated by non-operative management the overall survival rate was 1/9. Although this article aimed to investigate the assumption that conservative management may be an alternative to graft removal with or without revascularization, there are several issues to be considered before reaching a conclusion from the data presented.

Enzymatic pancreatic injury (EPI) in abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) treatment has been scarcely studied in the literature. Aim of this work was to compare perioperative EPI in AAA patients treated by endovascular repair (EVAR) or open repair (OR).Forty AAA patients consecutively treated with either EVAR (GI, 20 pts) or OR (GII, 20 pts) were prospectively evaluated in terms of epidemiology, comorbidities and technical details. Serum levels of amylase, lipase and pancreatic isoamylase were assessed before treatment (T0), before aortic clamping/endograft deployment (T1), 1, 2, and 6 hours after aortic declamping/endograft deployment (T2, T3, T4) and 24, 48, and 72 hours after the procedure (T5, T6, T7). GI and GII were compared by Mann Whitney test with significance set at p < 0.05.GI patients were significantly older and with higher frequency of preoperative renal insufficiency than GII ones (p = 0.001 and 0.047 respectively). Other characteristics were not significantly different. Pancreatic enzymes values at T0 were within normal parameters in all patients. Total serum amylase was significantly greater at T4 (p = 0.003), T5 (p = 0.010), T6 (p = 0.003), T7 (p = 0.011) and isoamylase at T3 (p = 0.052), T4 (p = 0.037), T5 (p = 0.016) and T6 (p = 0.014) in GII compared with GI. Amylase and isoamylase peak occurred 24 hours after the procedure. Lipase was significantly different in the two groups only in T4 (p = 0.028). No acute pancreatitis occurred in the whole study group.EVAR significantly reduces EPI compared with OR in the AAA treatment.

Primary malignant tumors of the aorta: two treated cases.