Aarskog-Scott syndrome (AAS), also known as facio-digito-genital syndrome, is a rare heterogenous syndrome characterized by facial dysmorphism, brachydactyly, and genetic abnormalities. Although severe craniofacial abnormalities have been reported in AAS, little is known about speech and resonance issues in AAS. Specifically, published data to date have only indicated reports of hypernasality associated with a cleft palate in AAS. This case report provides clinical and anatomic information surrounding hypernasal speech in the absence of an overt cleft palate in a patient with AAS.

Schwannomas are tumors of the macroglia cells, most frequently localized to the brain, in the pontocerebellar angle. We present the case of a 53 year-old female patient who presented multiple times with diffuse abdominal pain and was initially diagnosed as having a complex right adnexal mass. Exploratory laparotomy found a retroperitoneal mass and later on, the presence of a sacral schwannoma was found, suspected initially on contrast magnetic resonance imaging of the abdomen and pelvis, and confirmed by means of lesional biopsy and histopathology. This is a rare and unusual presentation accounting for only 5% of this tumor location and poses a challenge for imaging diagnosis, directly impacting the approach to the patient and any future interventions. There are few reports in the literature about giant sacral schwannomas, but these tumors have been found to extend within the spinal space towards the vertebral space, even occupying part of the abdomen. Hence, the importance of recognizing the presence of this tumor as well as its imaging features.

Environmental pollution in the site of the high school \'Rolando da Piazzola\' in Piazzola sul Brenta (Padua, Veneto Region, Northern Italy) was discovered by chance in 2020. Since then, investigations on the environmental damage have been ongoing, while the school is anyway working. The purpose of this article is twofold. On the one hand, to narrate the stratification uses in the area from 1891 to nowadays: a story accounting for both the processing of chemical fertilizers at the origin of pollution and its oblivion between the 1960s and 1980s. On the other hand, to shed light on such forgotten memories by recovering last-century narratives and current voices on the past, thus providing a first assessment of a work in progress. The industrial legacy and the sudden change of use of the area itself exhibit a \'cognitive dissonance\' between the harmfulness of the place, known to the population since the factory was active, and the inertia of top-down projects, passed in the name of interests and variously conceived notion of development. Such dissonance is now to be grasped by the school, in the light of an ecological view. The participatory reasoning on the environmental and health risks alludes to the civic mission of the school and calls for a syntonic relationship with the territory. These operations require a resonance inside and outside the institute, which has still not been found. What is at stake is the need to reconnect the memory between generations and the relationships between human and non-human entities (i.e., the environment). On these basis, it would be possible to build some scientific citizenship that can face uncertainty without paralyzing effect, but in a new, transparent, and horizontal narrative about the sense of a place and of itself.

BACKGROUND: The metallic stent is a new device for relieving the urinary tract in patients with malignant ureteral obstruction with short life expectancy and has been used frequently worldwide for its efficacy and safety. A ureteroarterial fistula with indwelling ureteral stent is rare but highly fatal, and there are several reports of ureteroarterial fistula treated by conventional polymer stents, although there are no reports on metallic stents. To our knowledge, this paper describes the first case of a ureteroiliac artery fistula caused by a full-length metallic ureteral stent in malignant ureteral obstruction.
METHODS: Our patient was a 57-year-old Asian woman with a history of locally advanced cervical cancer who underwent abdominal total hysterectomy and chemoradiotherapy. She was diagnosed with right hydronephrosis and hydroureter secondary to upper ureteral obstruction because of retroperitoneal lymph node metastasis. A urinary tract obstruction after placement of 12 months of polymer stent followed by 18 months of metallic stent was relieved, consequently resulting in intermittent gross hematuria with bladder tamponade and anemia. Contrast-enhanced computed tomography could not reveal a ureteroarterial fistula; however, retrograde pyelography emphasized the existence of a ureteroiliac artery fistula. The patient underwent successful endovascular heparin-bonded stent graft placement, and her gross hematuria disappeared thereafter.
CONCLUSIONS: The metallic stent is a useful device for patients with malignant ureteral obstruction with a short life expectancy, although it may impose a higher pressure on the extraureteral tissue than conventional polymer stents due to its properties and may cause a ureteroarterial fistula. The narrowing of the external iliac artery diameter visualized by computed tomography may be helpful for predicting ureteroarterial fistulas.

Changes to the velum and velopharyngeal muscles following Furlow double-opposing Z-plasty in a 7-year-old female with submucous cleft palate and velopharyngeal dysfunction (VPD) were evaluated. Perceptual, instrumental (ie, nasometry and aerodynamic pressure flow), and research magnetic resonance imaging analyses were used during pre- and postsurgical time points at a university research clinic. Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy was trialed following a failed surgery for residual VPD in the patient. Increases in velar length and thickness and decreases in levator veli palatini muscle angle of origin and contraction were observed following the Furlow double-opposing Z-plasty surgery. Variable improvements in residual hypernasality following the home-based CPAP therapy protocol were observed.