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Although numerous articles have been published not only on the classification of thoracic outlet syndrome (TOS) but also on diagnostic standards, timing, and type of surgical intervention, there still remains some controversy because of the lack of level 1 evidence. So far, attempts to generate uniform reporting standards have not yielded conclusive results. OBJECTIVE: To systematically review the body of evidence and reach a consensus among neurosurgeons experienced in TOS regarding anatomy, diagnosis, and classification. METHODS: A systematic literature search on PubMed/MEDLINE was performed on February 13, 2021, yielding 2853 results. Abstracts were screened and classified. Recommendations were developed in a meeting held online on February 10, 2021, and refined according to the Delphi consensus method. RESULTS: Six randomized controlled trials (on surgical, conservative, and injection therapies), 4 “guideline” articles (on imaging and reporting standards), 5 observational studies (on diagnostics, hierarchic designs of physiotherapy vs surgery, and quality of life outcomes), and 6 meta-analyses were identified. The European Association of Neurosurgical Societies’ section of peripheral nerve surgery established 18 statements regarding anatomy, diagnosis, and classification of TOS with agreement levels of 98.4 % (±3.0). CONCLUSION: Because of the lack of level 1 evidence, consensus statements on anatomy, diagnosis, and classification of TOS from experts of the section of peripheral nerve surgery of the European Association of Neurosurgical Societies were developed with the Delphi method. Further work on reporting standards, prospective data collections, therapy, and long-term outcome is necessary.

In the first part of this report, the European Association of Neurosurgical Societies' section of peripheral nerve surgery presented a systematic literature review and consensus statements on anatomy, classification, and diagnosis of thoracic outlet syndrome (TOS) along with a subclassification system of neurogenic TOS (nTOS). Because of the lack of level 1 evidence, especially regarding the management of nTOS, we now add a consensus statement on nTOS treatment among experienced neurosurgeons.To document consensus and controversy on nTOS management, with emphasis on timing and types of surgical and nonsurgical nTOS treatment, and to support patient counseling and clinical decision-making within the neurosurgical community.The literature available on PubMed/MEDLINE was systematically searched on February 13, 2021, and yielded 2853 results. Screening and classification of abstracts was performed. In an online meeting that was held on December 16, 2021, 14 recommendations on nTOS management were developed and refined in a group process according to the Delphi consensus method.Five RCTs reported on management strategies in nTOS. Three prospective observational studies present outcomes after therapeutic interventions. Fourteen statements on nonsurgical nTOS treatment, timing, and type of surgical therapy were developed. Within our expert group, the agreement rate was high with a mean of 97.8% (± 0.04) for each statement, ranging between 86.7% and 100%.Our work may help to improve clinical decision-making among the neurosurgical community and may guide nonspecialized or inexperienced neurosurgeons with initial patient management before patient referral to a specialized center.

Актуальність теми дослідження. Одними з найсильніших за дією та найбільш поширених хімічних забруднювачів харчових продуктів, зокрема молочних, є важкі метали. На сьогодні є нагальна потреба у визначені їх вмісту та пошуку шляхів зменшення ризиків, викликаних споживанням забрудненої продукції. Постановка проблеми. Перерозподіл важких металів у ході технологічних процесів не завжди забезпечує отримання продуктів із безпечним рівнем токсичних металів, тому необхідним є підбір сорбентів та пошук оптимальних технологічних режимів детоксикації вихідної молочної сировини. Аналіз останніх досліджень та публікацій. Вирішенню наукових та практичних питань, пов’язаних із моніторингом важких металів у харчових продуктах та розробкою способів їх елімінації, присвячені роботи багатьох відомих учених та практиків. Виділення недосліджених частин загальної проблеми. У літературних джерелах практично відсутні відомості про вміст важких металів у сухому молоці. У роботах, присвячених вибору сорбентів для детоксикації вихідної молочної сировини, не завжди враховано їхній вплив на вміст у молоці кальцію, білку, жиру тощо. Постановка завдання. Мета роботи – визначити вміст важких металів у сухому молоці, проаналізувати шляхи їх надходження та на основі отриманих результатів розробити технологічні режими та способи детоксикації важких металів. Виклад основного матеріалу. Наведені результати аналізу вмісту важких металів у сухому молоці. Запропоновані методи зниження концентрації Pb та Cd в молочній сировині з використанням сорбентів. Досліджений вплив сорбентів на якість сировини. Встановлено, що застосування поліфаму не впливає на органолептичні та основні фізикохімічні показники молока. Визначений ступінь очистки молока-сировини від важких металів. Встановлені оптимальні умови процесу детоксикації поліфамом (температура, час експозиції сорбенту та його концентрація). Висновки відповідно до статті. Проведені дослідження дозволяють використовувати молоко-сировину з підвищеним вмістом важких металів в подальшому виробництві молочних продуктів.

Coordinated gamma oscillations in the lateral hypothalamus, lateral septum and medial prefrontal cortex are shown to drive food-seeking behaviour in mice independently of nutritional need and to organize firing of feeding behaviour-related hypothalamic neurons. In both humans and other animals there can be a dissociation between food-seeking behaviour and metabolic need. How this uncoupling occurs is not known, although the hypothalamus is known to be involved in feeding behaviour. Here the authors identify a role for coordinated gamma oscillations in the lateral hypothalamus and cortical regions in driving food-seeking behaviour that is independent of physiological need. Both humans and animals seek primary rewards in the environment, even when such rewards do not correspond to current physiological needs. An example of this is a dissociation between food-seeking behaviour and metabolic needs, a notoriously difficult-to-treat symptom of eating disorders. Feeding relies on distinct cell groups in the hypothalamus1,2,3,4, the activity of which also changes in anticipation of feeding onset5,6,7. The hypothalamus receives strong descending inputs from the lateral septum, which is connected, in turn, with cortical networks8, but cognitive regulation of feeding-related behaviours is not yet understood. Cortical cognitive processing9,10 involves gamma oscillations11,12,13,14,15, which support memory16,17, attention18, cognitive flexibility19 and sensory responses20. These functions contribute crucially to feeding behaviour by unknown neural mechanisms. Here we show that coordinated gamma (30–90 Hz) oscillations in the lateral hypothalamus and upstream brain regions organize food-seeking behaviour in mice. Gamma-rhythmic input to the lateral hypothalamus from somatostatin-positive lateral septum cells evokes food approach without affecting food intake. Inhibitory inputs from the lateral septum enable separate signalling by lateral hypothalamus neurons according to their feeding-related activity, making them fire at distinct phases of the gamma oscillation. Upstream, medial prefrontal cortical projections provide gamma-rhythmic inputs to the lateral septum; these inputs are causally associated with improved performance in a food-rewarded learning task. Overall, our work identifies a top-down pathway that uses gamma synchronization to guide the activity of subcortical networks and to regulate feeding behaviour by dynamic reorganization of functional cell groups in the hypothalamus.

This study focuses on the potential involvement of carnitine palmitoyltransferase (CPT) on the phospholipid and triglyceride fatty acid turnover in neurons. This category of enzymes, which has been identified in several rat brain tissues, is well known for its role in modulating cellular fatty acid oxidation. Neuronal cell cultures from rat brain cortex incorporated radioactive palmitate or oleate into phospholipids and triglycerides. The largest fraction of radioactive fatty acids was recovered in phosphatidylcholine followed by triglycerides and, to a lesser extent, phosphatidylethanolamine. CPT activity measured in neuronal lysates obtained from neurons treated with 40 microM 2-tetradecylglycidic acid (TDGA) was almost completely abolished. Furthermore, between 2 and 10 microM TDGA CPT activity dropped more rapidly than between 10 and 40 microM. When the cells were pretreated with TDGA, the incorporation process of either radioactive fatty acid into triglycerides was dose-dependently suppressed. Radioactive fatty acid incorporation into phosphatidylcholine was significantly decreased in cells treated with TDGA. In contrast, phosphatidylethanolamine reacylation was essentially not affected by the CPT inhibitor. Similar results on the fatty acid incorporation into triglycerides and phospholipids were observed with neurons treated with palmitoyl-DL-aminocarnitine (PAC), a reversible CPT inhibitor, which does not consume free CoA. These effects do not seem to be the result of an inhibitory activity toward one of the steps involved in the acylation-deacylation process of triglycerides or phospholipids, as cellular lysates from TDGA-treated cells or lysates containing PAC incorporated radioactive fatty acids at rates comparable to controls. Our results suggest that CPT may be an important partner in the pathway of phospholipid and triglyceride fatty acid turnover in neurons.

Hippocampal theta oscillations support encoding of an animal's position during spatial navigation, yet longstanding questions about their impact on locomotion remain unanswered. Combining optogenetic control of hippocampal theta oscillations with electrophysiological recordings in mice, we show that hippocampal theta oscillations regulate locomotion. In particular, we demonstrate that their regularity underlies more stable and slower running speeds during exploration. More regular theta oscillations are accompanied by more regular theta-rhythmic spiking output of pyramidal cells. Theta oscillations are coordinated between the hippocampus and its main subcortical output, the lateral septum (LS). Chemo- or optogenetic inhibition of this pathway reveals its necessity for the hippocampal regulation of running speed. Moreover, theta-rhythmic stimulation of LS projections to the lateral hypothalamus replicates the reduction of running speed induced by more regular hippocampal theta oscillations. These results suggest that changes in hippocampal theta synchronization are translated into rapid adjustment of running speed via the LS., Hippocampal theta oscillations support encoding of spatial information during navigation, yet their role in locomotion is poorly understood. Here the authors demonstrate that hippocampal theta oscillations regulate the speed of locomotion in rodents through a hippocampo-lateral septal-hypothalamic pathway.

The profiles of the 253.7 nm spectral line, emitted from the capillary argon–mercury isotope high-frequency electrodeless discharge, are measured by means of a pressure-scanned Fabry–Perot spectrometer. Spectral line profiles are collected from two lamps at the argon pressure of 2 and 10 Torr, in dependence on the discharge current and Hg vapor densities corresponding to the cold spot temperatures of 25–80 °C. By means of a multi-parameter non-linear line profile fitting procedure of multiple overlapping self-reversed Voigt profiles, the temperature of the radiating atoms and the optical density were estimated. The capillary and spherical discharge conditions were compared. The optimal working conditions avoiding self-absorption were obtained. The measurements were completed by means of the Zeeman scanning spectrometer, allowing the getting of additional information about the instrument functions. The necessity to take into account the instrument function also by comparable small values of its width was shown.

Radial emission properties of high-frequency electrodeless discharge lamps (HFEDLs) in argon–mercury mixtures are investigated both numerically and experimentally. The radial profile of the intensities of the mercury triplet lines 404.7, 435.8 and 546.1 nm are measured for two different values of the high frequency generator power. A model describing physical processes in an HFEDL, including the calculation of radial plasma parameters, is developed. Radial intensity dependences of the lines 404.7, 435.8 and 546.1 nm are calculated and are found to be in good agreement with the experimental measurements.

Computed tomography is a powerful tool for plasma diagnostics. Unfortunately, viewing access in many plasma experiments is strongly limited, which leads to a highly underdetermined ill-posed problem. A maximum a posteriori (MAP) algorithm is a promising statistical approach to this problem. In this paper, we study the MAP algorithm which yields the most probable image estimate from limited and noisy data. An adaptive chi-square statistical criterion is proposed to control the quality of reconstruction. An improvement in reconstruction image quality over conventional tomographic methods, such as the algebraic reconstruction technique and maximum entropy algorithm, is illustrated by several numerical examples.

D. Serikbayev East Kazakhstan State Technical University Abstract: This article describes cluster model of gaseous materials and prospects of using the model. Equations set for the calculation of different sizes clusters concentrations are presented. The authors produce numerical solution of the equation set. Results of the numerical solution are compared with the results that derived from analytical solution.

Objectives: Vessel size imaging is a novel technique to evaluate pathological changes of the microvessel density quantity Q and the mean vessel size index (VSI). As a follow-up study, we assessed these parameters for microscopic description of ischemic penumbra and their potentials in predicting lesion growth. Methods: Seventy-five patients with a perfusion-diffusion mismatch were examined within 24 h from symptom onset. We defined three regions of interest: the initial infarct (INF), the ischemic penumbra (IPE), and the healthy region (HEA) symmetric to the IPE. For 23 patients with a 6th-day follow-up, IPE regions were divided into areas of infarct growth and areas of oligemia. Result: The median values of Q and VSI were: for INF 0.29 s-1/3 and 15.8 µm, for IPE 0.33 s-1/3 and 20.6 µm and for HEA 0.36 s-1/3 and 17.4 µm. The Q in the IPE was significantly smaller than in HEA, and VSI was significantly larger. The Q with a threshold of 0.32 s-1/3 predicted the final infarction with a sensitivity of 69% and a specificity of 64%. Conclusions: The reduced Q and increased VSI in the IPE confirmed our previous pilot results. Although Q showed a trend to identify the severity of ischemia in an overall voxel population, its potential in predicting infarct growth needs to be further tested in a larger cohort including a clear status of reperfusion and recanalization.

A tomographic reconstruction of emitting mercury atom spatial profiles in a capillary lamp with an inner diameter of 1 mm has been made for the first time in this work. Measurements of emission intensity have been performed for the capillary lamp in a xenon-mercury mixture in dependence on the operation position. Intensities were measured for the 546.1-nm Hg line for vertically and horizontally operated lamps. We have found that the emitting mercury atoms in the state 73S1 (the upper state of the 546.1-nm transition) are differently distributed within the lamp in the vertical and horizontal lamp positions.

We continue the research of low-pressure capillary discharge lamps of 500 μ m in radius in Ar/Hg, Kr/Hg and Xe/Hg mixtures. In the previous paper, an experimental approach which combines the optical emission spectroscopy (OES) and tomographic methods was developed to study the capillary discharge. The present work is focused on interpretation of the tomographic reconstruction results for understanding the physical processes occurring in a capillary plasma. Analyzing the results of reconstruction, it was concluded that the radial profiles of Ar, Kr and Xe emission coefficients are in a good agreement with the Schottky theory. According to the Schottky model, ionization processes in plasma are balanced by electrons and ions transfer to the wall due to ambipolar diffusion. Using the Schottky model, the electron temperature in an Ar/Hg capillary lamp was estimated. The value of the temperature was higher in comparison with that in a large-scale Ar/Hg discharge. A simplified model describing the excited atomic states kinetics is analyzed. This model agrees with all radial profiles of emission coefficients, obtained by using a tomography approach, except one for mercury line of 546.07 nm in the Ar/Hg capillary lamp. We suppose that the simplified model did not include the processes which were important for the mercury population balance in Ar/Hg mixture. It was proposed that the transfer of high-excited mercury atoms may play an appreciable role in the Ar/Hg capillary discharge.

In this work, the diagnostics using tomography in Hg/Xe and Hg/Ar capillary lamps is presented. First, the imaging of the lamps was performed using selected emission lines of mercury, argon and xenon in different operation conditions. Thus the tomographic reconstruction was made, to determine the spatial distribution of the emitting Hg and rare gas atoms. Significant differences of the distribution of the emitting atoms have been found in vertical and horizontal operation positions. The emitting mercury atoms in the state 73S1 were differently distributed within the lamp in the vertical and horizontal lamp positions. The radial profile has demonstrated a substantial depletion of the population density from the lamp centre in the vertical operating position, whereas the profile had a flat top shape in the horizontally operating lamp. A theoretical hypothesis is proposed to explain the observed phenomenon. Strong inhomogeneous structure of the argon atom distribution was found as well.

Low-pressure capillary discharge lamps in Ar–Hg and Xe–Hg mixtures are studied. The discharge size is 0.5 mm (500 µm) in radius. According to the literature, such types of plasma sources are classified as microplasmas. The studies include spectrally resolved optical measurements, tomographic reconstructions and numerical simulations using the collisional–radiative model for an Ar–Hg plasma. We discuss the problems of theoretical modelling and experimental diagnostics of microplasma sources. It is shown that the conventional collisional–radiative model, based on the assumption that transportation of atoms in the highly excited states can be neglected, has limitations in modelling a capillary discharge in an Ar–Hg mixture. It is found that diffusion of highly excited mercury atoms to the wall influences the emission properties of the capillary discharge. We have concluded that applications of the emission tomography method to microplasmas require a special analysis in each particular case.