Thulium laser versus cold steel tonsillectomy: a prospective pilot study in adult patients

Abstract Background The aim of this pilot study was to compare the operation time, intraoperative and postoperative bleeding, postoperative pain, and wound healing of the thulium RevoLix laser tonsillectomy method over the more commonly practiced cold steel tonsillectomy. Methods A prospective, single-blinded randomized pilot trial was conducted. Twenty-four adult patients with a mean age of 28.7 years with chronic recurrent tonsillitis were observed and underwent tonsillectomy. The patients were randomly assigned to have one tonsil removed with a thulium RevoLix laser 200, and the conventional cold steel tonsillectomy method was used for the other side. Results The tonsillectomy time from incision to hemostasis was 12.08 ± 0.77 (SE) min with the laser method and 10.92 ± 1.31(SE) min with the cold dissection method, with no statistically significant difference (P < 0.121). Intraoperative blood loss in the cold dissection method was 10.92 ± 1.31 ml, and 2.04 ± 1.62 ml was observed during laser treatment (P < 0.000, t = 8.363). In the cold steel tonsillectomy group, the pain score was significantly higher than that in the laser tonsillectomy group on the 7th and 12th postoperative days. Conclusion The use of the thulium RevoLix 200 laser for tonsillectomy in the present pilot study of 24 patients showed significantly better outcomes than those in conventional cold dissection methods in terms of intraoperative bleeding and postoperative pain; however, there was no statistically significant difference in other parameters, such as operational time and late postoperative bleeding. A large full-scale prospective study is needed to increase the generalizability and reliability of the results. Clinical trial registration ISRCTN16280803, registered on 25 March 2020, https://www.isrctn.com/ISRCTN16280803

Where Brain, Body and World Collide

The production cross section of electrons from semileptonic decays of beauty hadrons was measured at mid-rapidity (|y| &lt; 0.8) in the transverse momentum range 1 &lt; pt &lt; 8 Gev/c with the ALICE experiment at the CERN LHC in pp collisions at a center of mass energy sqrt{s} = 7 TeV using an integrated luminosity of 2.2 nb^{-1}. Electrons from beauty hadron decays were selected based on the displacement of the decay vertex from the collision vertex. A perturbative QCD calculation agrees with the measurement within uncertainties. The data were extrapolated to the full phase space to determine the total cross section for the production of beauty quark-antiquark pairs

Autoimmunity and autoinflammation: A systems view on signaling pathway dysregulation profiles.

INTRODUCTION:Autoinflammatory and autoimmune disorders are characterized by aberrant changes in innate and adaptive immunity that may lead from an initial inflammatory state to an organ specific damage. These disorders possess heterogeneity in terms of affected organs and clinical phenotypes. However, despite the differences in etiology and phenotypic variations, they share genetic associations, treatment responses and clinical manifestations. The mechanisms involved in their initiation and development remain poorly understood, however the existence of some clear similarities between autoimmune and autoinflammatory disorders indicates variable degrees of interaction between immune-related mechanisms. METHODS:Our study aims at contributing to a holistic, pathway-centered view on the inflammatory condition of autoimmune and autoinflammatory diseases. We have evaluated similarities and specificities of pathway activity changes in twelve autoimmune and autoinflammatory disorders by performing meta-analysis of publicly available gene expression datasets generated from peripheral blood mononuclear cells, using a bioinformatics pipeline that integrates Self Organizing Maps and Pathway Signal Flow algorithms along with KEGG pathway topologies. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS:The results reveal that clinically divergent disease groups share common pathway perturbation profiles. We identified pathways, similarly perturbed in all the studied diseases, such as PI3K-Akt, Toll-like receptor, and NF-kappa B signaling, that serve as integrators of signals guiding immune cell polarization, migration, growth, survival and differentiation. Further, two clusters of diseases were identified based on specifically dysregulated pathways: one gathering mostly autoimmune and the other mainly autoinflammatory diseases. Cluster separation was driven not only by apparent involvement of pathways implicated in adaptive immunity in one case, and inflammation in the other, but also by processes not explicitly related to immune response, but rather representing various events related to the formation of specific pathophysiological environment. Thus, our data suggest that while all of the studied diseases are affected by activation of common inflammatory processes, disease-specific variations in their relative balance are also identified

Joint EVS/WVS 2017-2022 Dataset (Joint EVS/WVS)

The European Values Study (EVS) and the World Values Survey (WVS) are two large-scale, cross-national and longitudinal survey research programmes. They include a large number of questions on moral, religious, social, political, occupational and family values which have been replicated since the early eighties. Both organizations agreed to cooperate in joint data collection from 2017. EVS has been responsible for planning and conducting surveys in European countries, using the EVS questionnaire and EVS methodological guidelines. WVSA has been responsible for planning and conducting surveys in countries in the world outside Europe, using the WVS questionnaire and WVS methodological guidelines. Both organisations developed their draft master questionnaires independently. The joint items define the Common Core of both questionnaires. The Joint EVS/WVS is constructed from the two EVS and WVS source datasets: - European Values Study 2017 Integrated Dataset (EVS 2017), ZA7500 Data file Version 5.0.0, doi:10.4232/1.13897 (https://doi.org/10.4232/1.13897). Haerpfer, C., Inglehart, R., Moreno,A., Welzel,C., Kizilova,K., Diez-Medrano J., M. Lagos, P. Norris, E. Ponarin & B. Puranen et al. (eds.). 2024. World Values Survey: Round Seven–Country-Pooled Datafile. Madrid, Spain & Vienna, Austria: JD Systems Institute & WVSA Secretariat. Version. 6.0.0, doi:10.14281/18241.24.1. Perceptions of life: importance of family, friends, leisure time, politics, work, and religion; feeling of happiness; self-assessment of state of health; satisfaction with life; internal or external control; importance of educational goals: desirable qualities of children; membership in voluntary organisations (religious organisations, cultural activities, trade unions, political parties or groups, conservation, environment, ecology, animal rights, professional associations, sports, recreation, consumer groups, or other groups); membership in humanitarian or charitable organisation, self-help group or mutual aid; tolerance towards minorities (people of a different race, heavy drinkers, immigrants/ foreign workers, drug addicts, homosexuals - social distance); trust in people; protecting the environment vs. economic growth. 2. Work: attitude towards work (people who don’t work turn lazy, work is a duty towards society, work always comes first); job scarce: men should have more right to a job than women (3-point scale and 5-point scale), employers should give priority to (nation) people than immigrants (3-point scale and 5-point scale). 3. Religion and morale: religious denomination; current frequency of religious services attendance; frequency of prayer (WVS7); pray to God outside of religious services (EVS5); self-assessment of religiousness; belief in God, life after death, hell, and heaven; importance of God in one´s life; morale attitudes (scale: claiming government benefits without entitlement, avoiding a fare on public transport, cheating on taxes, accepting a bribe, homosexuality, prostitution, abortion, divorce, euthanasia, suicide, having casual sex, political violence, death penalty). 4. Family: attitude towards traditional understanding of one´s role of man and woman in occupation and family (gender roles); homosexual couples are as good parents as other couples; duty towards society to have children; it is child´s duty to take care of ill parent; one of main goals in life has been to make own parents proud. 5. Politics and society: most important aims of the country for the next ten years (first choice, second choice), aims of the respondent (first choice, second choice)); post-materialist index 4-item; willingness to fight for the country; expectation of future development (less importance placed on work and greater respect for authority); political interest; political participation (political action: signing a petition, joining in boycotts, attending lawful/ peaceful demonstrations, joining unofficial strikes); self positioning in political scale; equal incomes vs. incentives for individual effort; private vs. state ownership of business and industry; individual vs. government responsibility for providing; competition good vs. harmful for people; confidence in institutions (churches, armed forces, the press, labour unions, the police, parliament, the civil services, major regional organisations (combined from country-specific), the European Union, the government, the political parties, major companies, the environmental protection movement, justice system/ courts, the United Nations); satisfaction with the political system in the country; preferred type of political system (strong leader, expert decisions, army should rule the country, or democracy); party the respondent would vote for: first choice (WVS); political party with the most appeal (ISO 3166-1) (EVS5); essential characteristics of democracy; importance of democracy for the respondent; rating democracy in own country; vote in elections on local level and on national level; assessment of country´s elections (votes are counted fairly, opposition candidates are prevented from running, TV news favors the governing party, voters are bribed, journalists provide fair coverage of elections, election officials are fair, rich people buy elections, voters are threatened with violence at the polls); opinion on the government´s right to keep people under video surveillance in public areas, to monitor all e-mails and any other information exchanged on the Internet, to collect information about anyone living in the country without their knowledge. 6. National Identity: trust in people from various groups (family, neighborhood, personally known people, people you meet for the first time, people of another religion, and people of another nationality); citizen of the country; national pride; evaluation of the impact of immigrants on the country´s development; geographical group the respondent feels belonging to (continent, e.g. Europe, Asia etc., world, village, town or city, county, region, district, country). Demography: sex; age; age recoded (6 intervals and 3 intervals); respondent immigrant/ born in the country of interview; country of birth (ISO 3166-1 code, ISO 3166-1/3 Alpha code); highest educational level (ISCED-code one digit); highest educational level (recoded); employment status; Institution of occupation; job profession/ industry (2 digit ISCO08) (EVS5); occupational group (WVS7); marital status; number of children; number of people in the household (household size); living together with parents; scale of incomes (WVS7), scale of incomes (EVS5). Information on partner/spouse: highest educational level (ISCED-code one digit); highest educational level (recoded); employment status; job profession/ industry (2 digit ISCO08) (EVS5); occupational group (WVS7). Information on respondent’s parents: father and mother born in the country; country of birth of father and mother (ISO 3166-1 code, ISO 3166-1/3 Alpha code); highest educational level of father and mother (ISCED code one digit); highest educational level of father and mother (recoded); occupational group of respondent’s father (EVS5-main earner) (respondent 14 years old). Interviewer rating: respondent´s interest during the interview. Additionally encoded: study; wave; version of Joint EVS/WVS; version of EVS5 und WVS7 source data files; source of the Joint EVS/WVS; unified respondent number (Joint); interviewer number; country code (ISO 3166-1 Numeric code and ISO 3166-1 Alpha-2 code); country (CoW Numeric code); year of survey; year/month of start of fieldwork; year/month of end of fieldwork; country – year; mode of data collection; mixed mode/ matrix design (EVS5); mode of data collection (follow up) (EVS5); matrix attribution (group/variable bloc) (EVS5); year/ month of start of fieldwork (matrix design) EVS5); year/ month of end of fieldwork (matrix design) (EVS5); survey year (follow up) (EVS5); total length of the interview (start hour and start minute, end hour and end minute); date of the interview; date of the interview (follow up) (EVS5); time of the interview – start (constructed) (follow up) (EVS5); time of the interview – end (constructed) (follow up) (EVS5); language of the interview (WVS/EVS list of languages); language of interview (ISO 639-1 alpha-2 / 639-2 alpha 3); weighting factors (calibration weights, population size weight, equilibrated weight-1000); region where the interview was conducted (NUTS-1); region where the interview was conducted (NUTS-2); region where the interview was conducted (ISO); size of town where the interview was conducted (5 categories).Die European Values Study (EVS) und die World Values Survey (WVS) sind zwei groß angelegte, länderübergreifende und längsschnittliche Umfrage-Forschungsprogramme. Sie umfassen eine große Anzahl von Fragen zu moralischen, religiösen, gesellschaftlichen, politischen, beruflichen und familiären Werten, die seit Anfang der achtziger Jahre repliziert wurden. Beide Organisationen vereinbarten, ab 2017 bei der gemeinsamen Datenerhebung zusammenzuarbeiten. Der EVS war verantwortlich für die Planung und Durchführung von Umfragen in europäischen Ländern unter Verwendung des EVS-Fragebogens und der methodischen Richtlinien des EVS. Der WVSA war für die Planung und Durchführung von Umfragen in Ländern außerhalb Europas verantwortlich, wobei der WVS-Fragebogen und die methodischen Richtlinien des WVS verwendet wurden. Beide Organisationen entwickelten ihre Entwürfe für Master-Fragebögen unabhängig voneinander. Die gemeinsamen Items definieren den gemeinsamen Kern beider Fragebögen. Der Gemeinsame EVS/WVS wird aus den beiden Quellendatensätzen des EVS und des WVS erstellt: - European Values Study 2017 Integrated Dataset (EVS 2017), ZA7500 Data file Version 5.0.0, doi:10.4232/1.13897 (https://doi.org/10.4232/1.13897). Haerpfer, C., Inglehart, R., Moreno,A., Welzel,C., Kizilova,K., Diez-Medrano J., M. Lagos, P. Norris, E. Ponarin & B. Puranen et al. (eds.). 2024. World Values Survey: Round Seven–Country-Pooled Datafile. Madrid, Spain & Vienna, Austria: JD Systems Institute & WVSA Secretariat. Version. 6.0.0, doi:10.14281/18241.24.1. Lebenswahrnehmung: Bedeutung von Familie, Freunden, Freizeit, Politik, Arbeit und Religion; Glücksgefühl; Selbsteinschätzung des Gesundheitszustandes; Lebenszufriedenheit; interne oder externe Kontrolle; Bedeutung von Bildungszielen: erwünschte Eigenschaften von Kindern; Mitgliedschaft in freiwilligen Organisationen (religiöse Organisationen, kulturelle Aktivitäten, Gewerkschaften, politische Parteien oder Gruppen, Naturschutz, Umwelt, Ökologie, Tierrechte, Berufsverbände, Sport, Erholung, Verbrauchergruppen oder andere Gruppen); Mitgliedschaft in humanitären oder karitativen Organisationen, Selbsthilfegruppen oder gegenseitige Hilfe; Toleranz gegenüber Minderheiten (Menschen einer anderen Rasse, starke Trinker, Immigranten/Ausländer, Drogenabhängige, Homosexuelle - soziale Distanz); Vertrauen in Menschen; Schutz der Umwelt vs. wirtschaftliches Wachstum. 2. Arbeit: Einstellung zur Arbeit (Menschen, die nicht arbeiten, werden faul, Arbeit ist eine Pflicht gegenüber der Gesellschaft, die Arbeit steht immer an erster Stelle); Arbeit ist knapp: Männer sollten mehr Recht auf einen Arbeitsplatz haben als Frauen (3-Punkte-Skala und 5-Punkte-Skala), Arbeitgeber sollten Menschen (der Nation) Vorrang vor Einwanderern geben (3-Punkte-Skala und 5-Punkte-Skala). 3. Religion und Moral: Religionszugehörigkeit; derzeitige Häufigkeit des Besuchs von Gottesdiensten; Häufigkeit des Gebets (WVS7); außerhalb der Gottesdienste zu Gott beten (EVS5); Selbsteinschätzung der Religiosität; Glaube an Gott, Leben nach dem Tod, Hölle und Himmel; Bedeutung Gottes im eigenen Leben; moralische Einstellungen (Skala: Inanspruchnahme staatlicher Leistungen ohne Anspruch, Umgehung von Fahrgeldern in öffentlichen Verkehrsmitteln, Steuerbetrug, Annahme von Bestechungsgeldern, Homosexualität, Prostitution, Abtreibung, Scheidung, Euthanasie, Selbstmord, Gelegenheitssex, politische Gewalt, Todesstrafe). 4. Familie: Einstellung zum traditionellen Verständnis der eigenen Rolle von Mann und Frau in Beruf und Familie (Geschlechterrollen); homosexuelle Paare sind genauso gute Eltern wie andere Paare; Pflicht gegenüber der Gesellschaft, Kinder zu haben; es ist die Pflicht des Kindes, sich um den kranken Elternteil zu kümmern; eines der Hauptziele im Leben ist es, die eigenen Eltern stolz zu machen. 5. Politik und Gesellschaft: wichtigste Ziele des Landes für die nächsten zehn Jahre (erste Wahl, zweite Wahl), Ziele des Befragten (erste Wahl, zweite Wahl)); postmaterialistischer Index 4; Bereitschaft, für das Land zu kämpfen; Erwartungen an die zukünftige Entwicklung (weniger Bedeutung von Arbeit und größerer Respekt vor Autorität); politisches Interesse; politische Partizipation (politische Aktion: Unterzeichnung einer Petition, Teilnahme an Boykotten, Teilnahme an rechtmäßigen/friedlichen Demonstrationen, Teilnahme an inoffiziellen Streiks); politische Selbsteinstufung; gleiches Einkommen vs. Anreize für individuelle Anstrengung; privates vs. staatliches Eigentum an Unternehmen und Industrie; individuelle vs. staatliche Verantwortung für die Versorgung; Wettbewerb ist gut vs. schädlich für die Menschen; Vertrauen in Institutionen (Kirchen, Streitkräfte, Presse, Gewerkschaften, Polizei, Parlament, öffentliche Dienste, große regionale Organisationen (kombiniert aus länderspezifischen), die Europäische Union, die Regierung, die politischen Parteien, Großunternehmen, die Umweltschutzbewegung, Justiz/Gerichte, die Vereinten Nationen); Zufriedenheit mit dem politischen System des Landes; bevorzugte Art des politischen Systems (starker Führer, Expertenentscheidungen, Armee sollte das Land regieren, oder Demokratie); Partei, für die der Befragte stimmen würde: erste Wahl (WVS); politische Partei mit der größten Anziehungskraft (ISO 3166-1) (EVS5); wesentliche Merkmale der Demokratie; Bedeutung der Demokratie für den Befragten; Bewertung der Demokratie im eigenen Land; Stimmabgabe bei Wahlen auf lokaler und nationaler Ebene; Bewertung der Wahlen im eigenen Land (Stimmen werden fair ausgezählt, Oppositionskandidaten werden an der Kandidatur gehindert, Fernsehnachrichten begünstigen die Regierungspartei, Wähler werden bestochen, Journalisten sorgen für eine faire Berichterstattung über die Wahlen, Wahlbeamte sind fair, Reiche kaufen Wahlen, Wähler werden mit Gewalt an den Urnen bedroht); Meinung über das Recht der Regierung zur Videoüberwachung von Menschen in öffentlichen Bereichen, alle E-Mails und alle anderen im Internet ausgetauschten Informationen zu überwachen, Informationen über jeden, der im Land lebt ohne dessen Wissen zu sammeln. 6. Nationale Identität: Vertrauen in Menschen aus verschiedenen Gruppen (Familie, Nachbarschaft, persönlich bekannte Personen, Menschen, denen man zum ersten Mal begegnet, Menschen einer anderen Religion und Menschen einer anderen Nationalität); Staatsbürger des Landes; Nationalstolz; Bewertung der Auswirkungen von Einwanderern auf die Entwicklung des Landes; geographische Gruppe, der sich der Befragte zugehörig fühlt (Kontinent, z.B. Europa, Asien usw., Welt, Dorf, Stadt, Landkreis, Region, Bezirk, Land). Demographie: Geschlecht; Alter; umkodiertes Alter (6 Intervalle und 3 Intervalle); Befragter ist Einwanderer/ im Befragungsland geboren; Geburtsland (ISO 3166-1-Code, ISO 3166-1/3 Alpha-Code); höchster Bildungsgrad (ISCED-Code einstellig); höchster Bildungsgrad (umkodiert); Erwerbsstatus; Institution des Berufs; Beruf/Branche (2-stellig ISCO08) (EVS5); Berufsgruppe (WVS7); Familienstand; Anzahl der Kinder; Anzahl der Personen im Haushalt (Haushaltsgröße); Zusammenleben mit den Eltern; Einkommensskala (WVS7), Einkommensskala (EVS5). Informationen über den Partner/Ehepartner: höchster Bildungsgrad (ISCED-Code einstellig); höchster Bildungsgrad (rekodiert); Erwerbsstatus; Beruf/Branche (2-stellig ISCO08) (EVS5); Berufsgruppe (WVS7). Informationen über die Eltern der Befragten: im Land geborener Vater und im Land geborene Mutter; Geburtsland von Vater und Mutter (ISO 3166-1-Code, ISO 3166-1/3-Alpha-Code); höchster Bildungsgrad von Vater und Mutter (ISCED-Code einstellig); höchster Bildungsgrad von Vater und Mutter (umkodiert); Berufsgruppe des Vaters des Befragten (EVS5-Hauptverdiener) (Befragter 14 Jahre alt). Interviewerbewertung: Interesse des Befragten während des Interviews. Zusätzlich kodiert: Studie; Welle; Version des Joint EVS/WVS; Version der EVS5- und WVS7-Quelldateien; Quelle des Joint EVS/WVS; einheitliche Befragtennummer (Joint); Interviewer-Nummer; Ländercode (ISO 3166-1 Numerischer Code und ISO 3166-1 Alpha-2-Code); Land (CoW Numerischer Code); Erhebungsjahr; Jahr/Monat des Beginns der Feldarbeit; Jahr/Monat des Endes der Feldarbeit; Land - Jahr; Modus der Datenerhebung; gemischter Modus/Matrixdesign (EVS5); Modus der Datenerhebung (Follow-up) (EVS5); Matrixattribution (Gruppe/Variablenblock) (EVS5); Jahr/Monat des Beginns der Feldarbeit (Matrixdesign) (EVS5); Jahr/Monat des Endes der Feldarbeit (Matrixdesign) (EVS5); Erhebungsjahr (Follow-up) (EVS5); Gesamtlänge des Interviews (Startstunde und Startminute, Endstunde und Endminute); Datum des Interviews; Datum des Interviews (Follow-up) (EVS5); Zeit des Interviews - Beginn (konstruiert) (Follow-up) (EVS5); Zeit des Interviews - Ende (konstruiert) (Follow-up) (EVS5); Sprache des Interviews (WVS/EVS-Sprachenliste); Sprache des Interviews (ISO 639-1 alpha-2 / 639-2 alpha 3); Gewichtungsfaktoren (Kalibrierungsgewichte, Gewicht der Bevölkerungsgröße, äquilibriertes Gewicht - 1000); Region, in der das Interview durchgeführt wurde (NUTS-1); Region, in der das Interview durchgeführt wurde (NUTS-2); Region, in der das Interview durchgeführt wurde (ISO); Größe der Stadt, in der das Interview durchgeführt wurde (5 Kategorien)

Measurement of the impact-parameter dependent azimuthal anisotropy in coherent ρ0 photoproduction in Pb–Pb collisions at √sNN = 5.02 TeV

The first measurement of the impact-parameter dependent angular anisotropy in the decay of coherently photoproduced ρ0 mesons is presented. The ρ0 mesons are reconstructed through their decay into a pion pair. The measured anisotropy corresponds to the amplitude of the cos(2ϕ) modulation, where ϕ is the angle between the two vectors formed by the sum and the difference of the transverse momenta of the pions, respectively. The measurement was performed by the ALICE Collaboration at the LHC using data from ultraperipheral Pb−Pb collisions at a center-of-mass energy of sNN−−−√ = 5.02 TeV per nucleon pair. Different impact-parameter regions are selected by classifying the events in nuclear-breakup classes. The amplitude of the cos(2ϕ) modulation is found to increase by about one order of magnitude from large to small impact parameters. Theoretical calculations, which describe the measurement, explain the cos(2ϕ) anisotropy as the result of a quantum interference effect at the femtometer scale that arises from the ambiguity as to which of the nuclei is the source of the photon in the interaction

Measurement of the production cross section of prompt Ξ0c baryons in p–Pb collisions at √sNN = 5.02 TeV

The transverse momentum (pT) differential production cross section of the promptly-produced charm-strange baryon Ξ0c (and its charge conjugate Ξ0c¯¯¯¯¯¯) is measured at midrapidity via its hadronic decay into π+Ξ− in p−Pb collisions at a centre-of-mass energy per nucleon−nucleon collision sNN−−−√ = 5.02 TeV with the ALICE detector at the LHC. The Ξ0c nuclear modification factor (RpPb), calculated from the cross sections in pp and p−Pb collisions, is presented and compared with the RpPb of Λ+c baryons. The ratios between the pT-differential production cross section of Ξ0c baryons and those of D0 mesons and Λ+c baryons are also reported and compared with results at forward and backward rapidity from the LHCb Collaboration. The measurements of the production cross section of prompt Ξ0c baryons are compared with a model based on perturbative QCD calculations of charm-quark production cross sections, which includes only cold nuclear matter effects in p−Pb collisions, and underestimates the measurement by a factor of about 50. This discrepancy is reduced when the data is compared with a model in which hadronisation is implemented via quark coalescence. The pT-integrated cross section of prompt Ξ0c-baryon production at midrapidity extrapolated down to pT = 0 is also reported. These measurements offer insights and constraints for theoretical calculations of the hadronisation process. Additionally, they provide inputs for the calculation of the charm production cross section in p−Pb collisions at midrapidity