NASO-RVG (NR) Technique as a Novel Approach to Nasal Bone Radiography Using Radiovisiography and Portable X-ray: A Pilot Study.

Introduction Accurate imaging of nasal bone fractures is essential for proper diagnosis and management. Traditional methods such as lateral cephalograms and standard radiographs often suffer from limitations in resolution and positioning accuracy. This study introduces and evaluates a novel radiographic technique, that is, NASO-RVG (NR), utilizing radiovisiography (RVG) in combination with a portable X-ray unit for the improved visualization of nasal bone structures.

Brain Injuries Associated With Maxillofacial Injuries: A Retrospective Study.

Objective:  This study aims to quantify the prevalence and severity of brain injuries in patients with maxillofacial fractures admitted to our trauma center over an eight-month period. Additionally, it seeks to analyze the correlation between specific patterns of facial fractures and the occurrence of brain injuries to enhance diagnostic accuracy, treatment strategies, and patient outcomes.

Methods: A retrospective analysis of medical records from 220 patients who presented with maxillofacial injuries at our center between January 2024 and August 2024 was conducted.

Introduction of sub-band augmentation with machine learning to develop an insomnia classification model using single-channel EEG signals.

Biological signals can be used to record sleep activities and can be used to identify sleep disorders. Insomnia is a sleep disorder that can be detected using supervised learning models developed using biological signal analysis. The baseline insomnia detection models segmented input signals based on various sleep stages, in which an imbalance in classes of the different subsets was visible.

Vascular rings in the current era: is this a new disease requiring a new approach?

Historically, vascular rings, formed by a right or double aortic arch, have been diagnosed in childhood following symptoms or signs of tracheo-oesophageal compression. Many of these features might be attributed to other non-surgical diagnoses, such as asthma, postviral symptoms or simply, sensory feeding behaviours. This has often led to families being falsely reassured, resulting in delayed referral to specialist services for assessment and definitive surgical treatment.

Common types of vascular rings: a pictorial guide.

A vascular ring is when vascular structures encircle the trachea and oesophagus and can lead to compression of these structures, and in the current era, these are commonly diagnosed prenatally. This pictorial piece describes the anatomical features of the three most encountered vascular rings in contemporaneous practice, namely, right aortic arch with left-sided ductal ligament and aberrant left subclavian artery; right aortic arch with left-sided ductal ligament and mirror image branching pattern and double aortic arch. A combination of fetal, paediatric and surgical images are used to display the anatomical features.

Characterizing fetoplacental response to acute maternal hyperoxygenation in suspected coarctation of aorta using fetal cardiac MRI.

Objective: To characterize the fetoplacental response to acute maternal hyperoxygenation (AMH) in fetuses with suspected coarctation of the aorta (CoA) using fetal cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

Methods: Pregnant women carrying a fetus with suspected CoA were recruited prospectively from a tertiary fetal cardiology center as part of the Fetal Imaging with Maternal Oxygen (FIMOx) study between February 2019 and April 2022. MRI included phase-contrast flow measurements and oxygen-sensitive T2* sequences to assess placental and fetal brain oxygenation.

Long-Term Outcome Following Prenatal Diagnosis of Transposition of the Great Arteries.

Outcomes following the arterial switch operation (ASO) are well documented. Survival and long-term morbidity for fetuses diagnosed with dextro-transposition of the great arteries (d-TGA) are less reported. We aimed to document survival, reinterventions and morbidity for prenatally diagnosed d-TGA to inform prenatal counseling.

Myocardial Deformation and Its Relation to Ventricular Shape, Preload, and Afterload in Fetuses with Suspected Coarctation of the Aorta.

Detailed characterization of myocardial deformation, ventricular shape, outflow tract size, inflow Doppler patterns, cerebroplacental circulation, and cardiac output of fetuses with suspected coarctation of the aorta (COA) and a control group to gain further insights into differences between these groups. Expectant women were prospectively recruited for assessment during the third trimester of pregnancy and a comparison of echocardiographic characteristics and fetoplacental circulation according to postnatal diagnosis of either confirmed COA (c-COA), false-positive COA (fp-COA), and a control population. There were 42 fetuses recruited with suspected COA of whom 20/42 (48%) had c-COA.

Comparative Study of Conventional Impressions vs Intraoral Scanning for Complete Denture Fabrication.

Background: Conventional impression techniques for complete denture fabrication, although traditional, often pose challenges regarding accuracy and patient comfort. Intraoral scanning offers a digital alternative that promises enhanced precision and patient satisfaction. This study aimed to compare the efficacy, accuracy, and patient outcomes between conventional impression methods and intraoral scanning for the fabrication of complete dentures.

Video Clip Extraction From Fetal Ultrasound Scans Using Artificial Intelligence to Allow Remote Second Expert Review for Congenital Heart Disease.

Objective: To use artificial intelligence (AI) to automatically extract video clips of the fetal heart from a stream of ultrasound video, and to assess the performance of these when used for remote second review.

Methods: Using a dataset from a previous clinical trial of AI to assist in fetal ultrasound scanning, AI was used to automatically extract video clips of the fetal heart from ultrasound scans of 48 fetuses in which the diagnosis was known: 24 normal and 24 with congenital heart disease (CHD). These, and manually still saved images, were shown in a random order to expert clinicians, who were asked to detect cardiac abnormalities.

Acute Maternal Hyperoxygenation to Predict Hypoxia and Need for Emergency Intervention in Fetuses With Transposition of the Great Arteries: A Pilot Study.

Background: Newborns with transposition of the great arteries (TGA) are at risk of severe hypoxia from inadequate atrial mixing, closure of the arterial duct, and/or persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn (PPHN). Acute maternal hyperoxygenation (AMH) might assist in identifying at-risk fetuses. We report pulmonary vasoreactivity to AMH in TGA fetuses and its relationship to early postnatal hypoxia and requirement for emergency balloon atrial septostomy (e-BAS).

The onset of coarctation of the aorta before birth: Mechanistic insights from fetal arch anatomy and haemodynamics.

Accurate prenatal diagnosis of coarctation of the aorta (CoA) is challenging due to high false positive rate burden and poorly understood aetiology. Despite associations with abnormal blood flow dynamics, fetal arch anatomy changes and alterations in tissue properties, its underlying mechanisms remain a longstanding subject of debate hindering diagnosis in utero. This study leverages computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations and statistical shape modelling to investigate the interplay between fetal arch anatomy and blood flow alterations in CoA.

Double aortic arch: a comparison of fetal cardiovascular magnetic resonance, postnatal computed tomography and surgical findings.

Background: In double aortic arch (DAA), one of the arches can demonstrate atretic portions postnatally, leading to diagnostic uncertainty due to overlap with isolated right aortic arch (RAA) variants. The main objective of this study is to demonstrate the morphological evolution of different DAA phenotypes from prenatal to postnatal life using three-dimensional (3D) fetal cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging and postnatal computed tomography (CT)/CMR imaging.

Methods: Three-dimensional fetal CMR was undertaken in fetuses with suspected DAA over a 6-year period (January 2016-January 2022).

Association of Prenatally Diagnosed Isolated Single Left Superior Vena Cava and Postnatal Development of Coarctation of the Aorta.

To report the prevalence of coarctation of the aorta (CoA) in fetuses with single left superior vena cava (SL-SVC) and to evaluate changes in echocardiographic measurements. Additionally, to report the prevalence of associated malformations. Retrospective observational study of fetuses diagnosed with SL-SVC between 2012 and 2021 at a tertiary fetal cardiology unit.

Interaction between clinicians and artificial intelligence to detect fetal atrioventricular septal defects on ultrasound: how can we optimize collaborative performance?

Objectives: Artificial intelligence (AI) has shown promise in improving the performance of fetal ultrasound screening in detecting congenital heart disease (CHD). The effect of giving AI advice to human operators has not been studied in this context. Giving additional information about AI model workings, such as confidence scores for AI predictions, may be a way of further improving performance.

Unusual Vascular Ring in the Fetus.

We present the clinical course and echocardiographic and genetic findings of two fetuses with an unusual vascular ring, created by a left aortic arch with a right arterial duct and an aberrant right subclavian artery. One fetus was diagnosed with 22q11.2 microdeletion and the other became symptomatic in infancy.

N-Doped porous carbons obtained from chitosan and spent coffee as electrocatalysts with tuneable oxygen reduction reaction selectivity for HO generation.

Nitrogen-containing porous carbons prepared by the pyrolysis of adequate biopolymer-based precursors have shown potential in several electrochemical energy-related applications. However, it is still of crucial interest to find the optimal precursors and process conditions which would allow the preparation of carbons with adequate porous structure as well as suitable nitrogen content and distribution of functional groups. In the present work we suggested a straightforward approach to prepare N-doped porous carbons by direct pyrolysis under nitrogen of chitosan : coffee blends of different compositions and using KOH for simultaneous surface activation.

Impact on the trachea in children with prenatally diagnosed vascular ring formed by a right aortic arch.

Objective: There has been a rise in the prenatal detection of right sided aortic arch (RAA). When associated with a left-sided arterial duct (LD), this forms a vascular ring encircling the trachea. Infants may have symptoms or signs suggestive of tracheoesophageal compression but many are asymptomatic.

Post-operative Outcomes for Vascular Rings: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

Objectives: Vascular rings may cause tracheal and/or oesophageal compression. For many patients, symptoms/signs have been present for a long period before diagnosis. However, in the era of prenatal diagnosis, some units advocate universal early surgery.

Systematic review of long QT syndrome identified during fetal life.

Fetal long QT syndrome (LQTS) may present with sinus bradycardia, functional 2:1 atrioventricular block (AVB), and ventricular arrhythmias (ventricular tachycardia [VT]/torsades de pointes [TdP]) and lead to fetal or postnatal death. We performed a systematic review and individual participant data meta-analysis of 83 studies reporting outcomes of 265 fetuses for which suspected LQTS was confirmed postnatally and determined risk of adverse perinatal and postnatal outcomes using logistic and stepwise logistic regression. A longer fetal QTc was more predictive of death than any other antenatal factor (receiver operating characteristic [ROC] area under the curve [AUC] 0.