We describe the ultrasound (US) appearance of transient synovitis. Transient synovitis of the hip typically occurs in 3 to 8-year-old children. The onset is clinically characterized by acute hip pain and limp with limited joint mobility, and the leg is usually held in a position of flexion and external rotation to avoid pain. US image is characterized by joint effusion in the hip joint anterior recess, as described in the literature. Our experience confirms the importance of the technique with which the US examination is performed. In order to obtain the best diagnostic information the hip must be examined with the patient in the supine position and the hip joint in a neutral position (abduction of the hip with extension and slight external rotation) by means of an anterior approach along the long axis of the femoral neck in the parasagittal plane.

Ultrasoundelastography (USE) is a new imaging technique that is performed with a normal ultrasound transducer. It provides improved characterization of a tissue or nodule based on the latter’s elasticity and stiffness. The aim of the present, prospective study was to assess the validity of USE in characterizing thyroid nodules. USE patterns were analyzed in light of nodule cytology (British Thyroid Association classification) to determine whether these patterns can be used to decide whether or not fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) is indicated. We examined a consecutive series of 617 thyroid nodules in patients referred for the first time to the Endocrinology Unit of Atri Hospital (Atri, [TE]). Patients underwent ultrasonographic and USE examinations of their thyroid nodules, which were then subjected to FNAC. All nodules with Thy 1 cytology were excluded, leaving 567 nodules for analysis. USE findings were classified on the basis of the degree and distribution of elasticity within the lesion: four patterns were identified (1, 2, 3a, 3b, or 4).

Thyroid cysts and pseudocysts, or hemorrhagic cysts, are quite frequent thyroid pathologies. Surgical theraphy has always been the treatment of choice in this pathology, but percutaneous ethanol injection (PEI) is becoming still more common. PEI was originally used in the treatment of liver nodules and subsequently in solid, hyperfunctioning thyroid nodules, but today it is used exclusively in cysts. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of PEI in reducing thyroid cyst volume 12 and 84 months after treatment and to compare cost-benefit to that of surgical treatment. The study includes 110 consecutive patients, who all underwent PEI after cytological analysis had excluded the presence of neoplasia. All patients had refused surgical treatment. One patient died during the follow-up due to cerebral hemorrhage. Each patient received an average of 5.3±2.7 PEI treatments. After 12 months, volume was reduced by 82.6% and after 84 months by 93.03%. Dysphonia occurred in 2 cases of which one resolved spontaneously and one received cortisone therapy. The cost of PEI treatment is considerably lower than the cost of surgical therapy (the cost saving in our patient population was about €200,000). PEI should therefore be preferred to surgical treatment due to its efficacy and lower cost.

Among histological aggressive non-Hodgkin lymphomas (NHL), the overall risk of central nervous system (CNS) relapse is approximately 5%, a figure which is too low to offer prophylaxis to all patients. The aim of this work is to demonstrate the utility of flow cytometry (FCM) in detecting occult leptomeningeal disease in this subtype of NHL. We studied cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) involvement in 42 newly diagnosed aggressive NHL patients at risk for CNS involvement. We used multicolour FCM to detect CSF infiltrating neoplastic cells. Among the 42 patients studied, 11 had CSF involvement as detected by FCM. Of these, only four were also positive for conventional morphology (p=0.046). These results designate that FCM as the first choice technique in NHL CSF clinical cell analysis.

The first ionization potential of the PuO2 molecule was for a long time considered to be 4-5 eV higher than that of UO2. This feature could hardly be explained by the most advanced "ab initio" calculations, which, on the other hand, provide satisfactory results for other actinide oxides. From recent experiments, performed with different techniques, a lower ionization potential of approximately 7 eV was measured, in better agreement with the theoretical predictions. Our recent experiments, where thermally produced ions were measured, make it possible to formulate an accurate relation between the ionization potential of PuO2 and that of PuO: I0(PuO2) = I0(PuO) + 0.42 +/- 0.005 eV. The present uncertainty of I0(PuO) leads to the final assessment, 6.2 < or = I0(PuO2) < or = 6.6 eV, whereby the upper limit is more in line with the aforementioned recent measurements. Considering the still existing uncertainties, one can conclude that these results remove major doubts on the validity of the current theoretical predictions. However, the very small ionization cross section of PuO2 by low-energy electron collisions, which led to the previous spurious assessment of the ion appearance potential, has still an unexplained cause.

Mass spectrometric measurements of effusing vapours over PuO2 and (U, Pu)O2 indicate the presence of volatile PuO3 (g) molecules. The formation of plutonium trioxide vapour is due to a chemical process involving oxygen adsorbed during oxidation of the sample. Although in the examined samples, the fraction of trioxide effusing in vacuo was of the order of 0.02 ppm of the plutonium content, under steady-state oxidation conditions it has been shown that the process can have a relevant effect on the sublimation rate of the dioxide.

The ionization and dissociation energies of the different uranium and plutonium oxides have been measured by mass spectrometry of molecular beams produced by Knudsen effusion at high temperature. The values obtained constitute a set of self-consistent quantities, which are in agreement with the existing thermodynamic data of these oxides. On the basis of the experimental molecular parameters, general formulas for the ionization and dissociation/ionization cross sections due to electron inelastic scattering have been obtained for collision energies up to about 60 eV. These formulas are sufficiently accurate to calculate the composition of equilibrium vapor mixtures over UO2 and PuO2 from conventional mass spectrometric measurements.