Turbinates

MR-guided microwave ablation (MWA) has proven effective in treating hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) with small-sized tumors, but the state-of-the-art technique suffers from sub-optimal workflow due to the limited accuracy provided by the manual needle insertions. This paper presents a compact body-mounted MR-conditional robot that can operate in closed-bore MR scanners for accurate needle guidance. The robotic platform consists of two stacked Cartesian XY stages, each with two degrees of freedom, that facilitate needle insertion pose control...

Nasal obstruction is a commonly reported issue in the Otorhinolaryngology Outpatient Department. In this case, an early adolescent boy with a long-standing problem of right-sided nasal obstruction since childhood sought consultation. Diagnostic nasal endoscopy revealed a deviation of the nasal septum to the left, coupled with right inferior turbinate hypertrophy, all overlying healthy mucosa. A CT scan of the nose and paranasal sinuses further identified a bony hyperdense lesion with ground glass attenuation, confined to the right inferior turbinate...

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to examine the characteristics of nasal and imaging findings of sinonasal lesions in granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA) patients and how these lesions change over time in both the active and remission phases of the disease. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed GPA patients with sinonasal lesions who were followed up at our department between January 2005 and December 2020. The following data were collected: age, sex, symptoms at initial presentation, anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA) type, and histopathological, nasal (initial and follow-up), and imaging (initial and follow-up) findings...

This paper, a hybrid method, is proposed for protecting the hybrid photovoltaic (PV) and wind turbine (WT) system. The proposed protecting method is the hybrid wrapper of both the multiple support vector machine (MSVM) and firebug swarm optimization (FSO), commonly named as MSVM-FSO method. The proposed technique is diagnosing the appropriate fault occurring in the hybrid system. The main purpose of the proposed system is to assure the system with lower complexity for the fault diagnosis and detection (FDD) for improving the power quality (PQ) of hybrid method...

Introduction  Despite the high level of patient satisfaction with functional endoscopic sinus surgery (FESS) and the clinical improvement, polyp recurrence is observed in 23% to 87% of patients and requires reoperation. Objective  To assess the prognostic value of polypoid changes of the middle turbinate (PCMT) in relapse of paranasal sinus polyps in patients with chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyp (CRSwNP) after FESS and the effect of partial middle turbinectomy (PMT) on the outcome of surgery...

Introduction  Angioleiomyoma is a rare neoplasm that represents ∼ 0.2 % of all head and neck benign tumors and ∼ 2% of total cases of tumors of the sinonasal tract. It was once considered a possible subtype of leiomyoma, but, in the 2020 World Health Organization (WHO) classification of soft tissue tumors, it is accepted as a singular entity. Objective  To systematically review the existing literature on angioleiomyoma in the light of the new classification of soft tissue tumors...

BACKGROUND: Nasal sprays are widely used in treating nasal and sinus diseases; however, there are very few studies on the drug delivery efficiency of nasal sprays. In this study, the drug delivery efficiency of three different nasal spray devices was evaluated in vitro using a 3D printed cast model of nasal cavity. METHODS: Three nasal spray devices with different nozzles and angles of administration were used in the 3D model of the nasal cavity and paranasal sinuses...

Background and aim Nasal obstruction is one of the most common reasons for consultation addressed by otolaryngologists. There are anatomical, physiological, and pathological etiologies. Sometimes the treatment can become a challenge for the specialist, so a detailed evaluation of the etiologies must be carried out. The involvement of the nasal vestibular body (NVB) in obstructive symptoms has been described. Therefore, we must be familiar with its anatomy, presentation, and contribution to this symptomatology...

This article scrutinizes the 2-dimensional and boundary layer flow of magnetohydrodynamic Williamson fluid flowing on a stretchable surface with variable viscosity. The thermal and solutal rates are examined through the Cattaneo-Christov model with Joule heating, heat source/sink, and chemical reaction. The authors are motivated to conduct this study because of its practical and scientific significance in various processes, including polymer processing, textile industries, food industries, solar energy, biomedical science, wind turbine blades, oil spill clean-up, metal rolling, and forging...

Plasmas are reactive ionised gases, which enable the creation of unique reaction fields. This allows plasmas to be widely used for a variety of chemical processes for materials, recycling among others. Because of the increase in urgency to find more sustainable methods of waste management, plasmas have been enthusiastically applied to recycling processes. This review presents recent developments of plasma technologies for recycling linked to economical models of circular economy and waste management hierarchies, exemplifying the thermal decomposition of organic components or substances, the recovery of inorganic materials like metals, the treatment of paper, wind turbine waste, and electronic waste...

Researchers from all around the world have been paying close attention to particle-based power tower technologies. On the King Saud University campus in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the first integrated gas turbine-solar particle heating hybrid system has been realized. In this study, two different types of experiments were carried out to examine how susceptible prospective liner materials for thermal energy storage tanks were to erosion. An accelerated direct-impact test with high particulate temperature was the first experiment...

Cavitation erosion poses a significant challenge in fluid systems like hydraulic turbines and ship propellers due to pulsed pressure from collapsing vapor bubbles. To combat this, various materials and surface engineering methods are employed. In this study, nano and micro scale particles of silicon carbide (SiC) or boron carbide (B4 C) were incorporated as reinforcement at 6% and 12% ratios, owing to their exceptional resistance to abrasive wear and high hardness. Microparticles were incorporated to assess the damage incurred during the tests in comparison to nanoparticles...

This paper presents a comprehensive exploration of a hybrid energy system that integrates wind turbines with photovoltaics (PVs) to address the intermittent nature of electricity production from these sources. The necessity for such technology arises from the sporadic nature of electricity generated by PV cells and wind turbines. The envisioned outcome is an emissions-free, more efficient alternative to traditional energy sources. A variety of optimization techniques are utilized, specifically the Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm and Electric Eel Foraging Optimization (EEFO), to achieve optimal power regulation and seamless integration with the public grid, as well as to mitigate anticipated loading issues...

This study utilizes neural networks to detect and locate thermal anomalies in low-pressure steam turbines, some of which experienced a drop in efficiency. Standard approaches relying on expert knowledge or statistical methods struggled to identify the anomalous steam line due to difficulty in capturing nonlinear and weak relations in the presence of linear and strong ones. In this research, some inputs that linearly relate to outputs have been intentionally neglected. The remaining inputs have been used to train shallow feedforward or long short-term memory neural networks using measured data...

Decongestion reduces blood flow in the nasal turbinates, enlarging the airway lumen. Although the enlarged airspace reduces the trans-nasal inspiratory pressure drop, symptoms of nasal obstruction may relate to nasal cavity air-conditioning. Thus, it is necessary to quantify the efficiency of nasal cavity conditioning of the inhaled air. This study quantifies both overall and regional nasal air-conditioning in a cohort of 10 healthy subjects using computational fluid dynamics simulations before and after nasal decongestion...

Frequent injections of anti-CD124 monoclonal antibody (αCD124) over long periods of time are used to treat chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps (CRSwNP). Needle-free, intranasal administration (i.n.) of αCD124 is expected to provide advantages of localized delivery, improved efficacy, and enhanced medication adherence. However, delivery barriers such as the mucus and epithelium in the nasal tissue impede penetration of αCD124. Herein, two novel protamine nanoconstructs: allyl glycidyl ether conjugated protamine (Nano-P) and polyamidoamine-linked protamine (Dendri-P) were synthesized and showed enhanced αCD124 penetration through multiple epithelial layers compared to protamine in mice...

Characterization of inflammation in chronic rhinosinusitis with (CRSwNP) and without nasal polyps (CRSsNP) is an ongoing research process. To overcome limitations of current cytologic techniques, we investigated whether immunofluorescence multiplex image cytometry could quantify intact neutrophils, eosinophils, and other immune cells in solid upper airway mucosa. We used a four-channel immunofluorescence-microscopy technique for the simultaneous detection of the leukocyte marker CD45, the neutrophil marker myeloperoxidase, two eosinophil markers, i...

BACKGROUND: Parkinson's disease (PD) is one of the most prevalent neurodegenerative diseases, following Alzheimer's disease. The onset of PD is characterized by the loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra. Stem cell therapy has great potential for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, and human nasal turbinate-derived stem cells (hNTSCs) have been found to share some characteristics with mesenchymal stem cells. Although the Hippo signaling pathway was originally thought to regulate cell size in organs, recent studies have shown that it can also control inflammation in neural cells...

Wind turbines (WTs) have highly nonlinear and uncertain dynamics due to aerodynamic complexity, mechanical factors, and fluctuations in wind conditions. Turbulence and wind shear add complexity to modelling, especially in constant power region (region 3). Thus, an effective control design demands a deep understanding of the nonlinearities and uncertainties. This paper suggests a novel model-free reinforcement learning (RL) collective pitch angle controller to operate efficiently in region 3. The proposed controller stabilizes generator speed, maximizes power output, and minimizes fluctuations while accommodating system uncertainties, nonlinearity, and pitch limits...

UNLABELLED: To avoid unexpected failures of units in manufacturing systems, failure mode recognition and prognostics are critically important in prognostics health management (PHM). Most existing methods either ignored the effects of various failure modes on remaining useful lifetime (RUL) prediction or implemented failure mode recognition and RUL prediction as two independent tasks, which failed to exploit failure mode information to obtain accurate RUL prediction. In fact, RUL highly depends on failure modes because sensor signals under different failure modes usually present different degradation patterns...