Blood Blister-Like Aneurysms of the Internal Carotid Artery

Internal carotid artery blood blister-like aneurysms are challenging lesions that arise from the artery trunk at non-branching sites. They have been recognized since 1969 and are distinct from typical saccular aneurysms. Usually, these aneurysms are broad-based, with no clearly identifiable neck and have extremely friable and fragile walls, thus with a great propensity to cause subarachnoid hemorrhage and to rupture during treatment. Apparently, blister-like aneurysms are formed through an acquired defect of the inner layers (tunica intima and media) of the internal carotid artery wall, probably due to hemodynamic stress in the carotid siphon.Several surgical and endovascular techniques have been described for the treatment of these aneurysms, however, there is still no consensus on the best technique or method, exposing how challenging the treatment of internal carotid artery blister-like aneurysms is, for both neurosurgeons and neurointerventionists. In this chapter, we review the main aspects of the pathogenesis, diagnosis, and therapeutics and report our experience in the microsurgical treatment of these formidable lesions.

Vanadium oxide nanoparticles as optical sensors of cysteine

We report on the synthesis of vanadium oxide nanoparticles using the laser ablation in solution technique. The particles were characterized by dynamic light scattering-DLS, transmission electron microscopy-TEM, X-ray diffraction-XRD, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy-XPS and UV-Vis optical spectroscopy. The oxide nanoparticles are mainly composed of tetragonal V2O5, a semiconductor with a 2.2 eV band gap. The interaction of the nanoparticles with cysteine, a very important aminoacid present in proteins, was studied. Upon reaction with cysteine, the bandgap of the nanoparticles shifts to the ultraviolet region at 2.87 eV. This color change from yellow to transparent can be used for selective cysteine sensing. Additionally, the intervalence band of the optical absorption spectra shows capability for cysteine sensing in the microM range.