For centuries, owners of private, commercial and military sea vessels have attempted, with varying degrees of success, to surface treat their underwater hulls with coatings to prevent the adhesion and/or growth of large fouling organisms that cause severe drag, reducing vessel speed and maneuverability, and increasing fuel consumption. Two major approaches are currently under development: (1) “...

Conventional management of debilitating pediatric scar contractures, including hand therapy and surgery, may often be beset by delayed treatment, suboptimal results, and additional surgical morbidity. Ablative fractional laser resurfacing is an emerging adjunctive procedural option for scar contractures because of its promising efficacy and safety profile. However, its use to improve function h...

BACKGROUND Given the natural tendency for 15% to 40% of infantile hemangiomas to spontaneously involute over time, much debate surrounds the issue of treatment. Until recently, effective therapies to improve the appearance of residual textural skin changes in these patients were lacking. We suggest the use of ablative fractional resurfacing for the treatment of textural skin changes resulting f...

Surgical options for Parkinson's disease (PD) are rapidly expanding and include ablative procedures, deep brain stimulation, and cell transplantation. The target nuclei for ablative surgery and deep brain stimulation are the motor thalamus, the globus pallidus, and the subthalamic nucleus. Multiple factors have led to the resurgence of interest in the surgical treatment of PD: 1) recognition th...

The broad acceptance of "spot scanning" or "flying spot" excimer lasers in the last decade has enabled the domination of corneal ablative laser surgery over other refractive surgical procedures for the correction of hyperopia, hyperopic and mixed astigmatism. This review outlines the most important reasons why the ablative laser correction of hyperopia, hyperopic and mixed astigmatism for many ...

During the last years, a number of new devices have been developed to improve the dermal and epidermal signs of photo- and chronological skin ageing. There are well-established ablative and non-ablative skin resurfacing options using different lasers and light sources, but side effects have been observed frequently. A recently developed photorejuvenation method using non-thermal stimulation of ...

PURPOSE We describe the use of a hemostatic wax sealant during laparoscopic renal ablative procedures to allow airtight transabdominal access of the treatment probe through a standard 5-mm port. METHODS Following Tru-cut biopsy of the renal mass, Bone Wax was used to occlude the external opening of an established 5-mm laparoscopic port. The cryotherapy or radiofrequency treatment probe was th...

Economic viability of small launch vehicles, i.e., microlaunchers, is impaired by several factors, one which a higher dry to wet mass ratio as compared conventional size launchers. Although reusability may reduce cost, it can drive and/or unfeasibly high levels. In particular, for load-bearing components that are exposed convective heating during the aerothermodynamic phase re-entry, increase d...

The ablation of atrial fibrillation (AF) is an area of intense research in cardiac electrophysiology. In this review, we discuss the development of catheter-based interventions for AF ablation. We outline the pathophysiologic and anatomic bases for ablative lesion sets and the evolution of various catheter designs for the delivery of radiofrequency (RF), cryothermal, and other ablative energy s...

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