Near‐infrared fluorescent image‐guided lymph node dissection compared with locoregional lymphadenectomies in dogs with mast cell tumours

Objectives: Near-infrared fluorescent imaging has been described for intraoperative mapping of the draining lymph nodes in human cancer and canine oral tumours. The aim of this study was to retrospectively describe the results of lymphadenectomies in dogs with mast cell tumours treated either by standard unguided locoregional lymph node dissection or near-infrared fluorescent image-guided lymph node dissection. Methods: Medical records between 2012 and 2020 were reviewed for dogs that were presented for surgical resection of mast cell tumours with concurrent lymphadenectomy either with (near-infrared fluorescent image-guided lymph node dissection) or without near-infrared fluorescence image guidance (lymph node dissection). The number and location of lymph nodes planned for surgical dissection and actually dissected nodes, presence of metastases and perioperative complications were recorded. Results: Thirty-five patients underwent near-infrared fluorescent image-guided lymph node dissection, and 43 lymph node dissections. The number of nodes preoperatively planned for resection were 70 and 68, respectively. Fifty-eight of those (83%) were identified during near-infrared fluorescent image-guided lymph node dissection procedures, compared with 50 (74%) during lymph node dissection. near-infrared fluorescent image-guided lymph node dissection resulted in resection of additional fluorescent nodes not corresponding to locoregional nodes in 15 of 35 dogs. Using near-infrared fluorescent image-guided lymph node dissection, we identified at least one metastatic node in 68% of dogs (24 of 35) compared with 33% (14 of 43) when lymph node dissection was used without imaging. No complications related to near-infrared fluorescent imaging were reported. Clinical significance: The present study suggests that near-infrared imaging is a promising technique for intraoperative detection of the draining lymph nodes in dogs with mast cell tumours. Further validation of the technique is required to assess if near-infrared fluorescent imaging can detect the true sentinel lymph node

Characterization of the glass transition in vitreous silica by temperature scanning small-angle X-ray scattering

The temperature dependence of the x-ray scattering in the region below the first sharp diffraction peak was measured for silica glasses with low and high OH content (GE-124 and Corning 7980). Data were obtained upon scanning the temperature at 10, 40 and 80 K/min between 400 K and 1820 K. The measurements resolve, for the first time, the hysteresis between heating and cooling through the glass transition for silica glass, and the data have a better signal to noise ratio than previous light scattering and differential thermal analysis data. For the glass with the higher hydroxyl concentration the glass transition is broader and at a lower temperature. Fits of the data to the Adam-Gibbs-Fulcher equation provide updated kinetic parameters for this very strong glass. The temperature derivative of the observed X-ray scattering matches that of light scattering to within 14%.Comment: EurophysicsLetters, in pres

The Upper Precambrian of South America

This paper deals with the structural organization and tectonic evolution of South American Continent basement during the Upper Precambrian. The South American Platform is the old platform of South America. It has more than half of this extension covered by sediments and volcanic rocks of Phanerozoic age; the basement is exposed in three vast shields and several little massifs. In the exposed basement some cratonic nuclei have been distinguished, with structures developed in the Middle Precambrian (Trans-Amazonic) and Lower Precambrian (Jequié and Guriense). The Lower Precambrian structures are described in small scattered nuclei, all the rest seeming to have been remobilized by tectonic, magmatic and thermal processes of Trans-Amazonic age. These processes affected large areas but are still insufficiently understood. In the Upper Precambrian, these cratonic nuclei underwent intense process of reactivation, in large areas, with formation of volcano-sedimentary covers, acid, basic and alkaline intrusive rocks, cataclastic zones and thermally affected zones. During the Upper Precambrian, geosynclinal evolution processes developed at the borders and between the cratons, generating fold belts and regions. The firstly developed belt is located in Central Brazil, related to the Uruaçuano Cycle (ca. 1300-1000 m.a.). The Espinhaço and Uruaçu Belts are attributed to this cycle. The other units are related to the Brasiliano Cycle ( 1000 m.y. to Cambro-Ordovician time). The fold belts are located in marginal position and the fold regions are between cratonic areas: both show different characteristic of organization, sedimentation, structures, tectonism, metamorphism, magmatism and metallogenesis. In the southern border of the South American Platform a fold region developed, which possibly represents the extension of the Southeastern Fold Region, and continues to the Andean Belt. The South American Platform consolidated during Cambro-Ordovician time. Its western and southern adjacent areas were places of geosynclinal evolution up to the Devonian in the Patagonian Platform and up to the Cenozoic in the Andean Chain. The eastern half of the South American Platform had a platformal evolution since the Siluria

Paramecia Affected by Leaf Extracts

Leaves and needles from deciduous and coniferous trees play a major role in the formation of soil in their respective forests and thus help to determine the type of life that can successfully live there. Because of the known effects of leaf and needle litter on larger invertebrate life, earthworms, millipedes, etc., it was decided to experiment with infusions of paramecia derived from both leaves and needles to see if they were similarly affected

IP modeling of the survivable hop constrained connected facility location problem

Abstract We consider a generalized version of the rooted connected facility location problem which occurs in planning of telecommunication networks with both survivability and hop-length constraints. Given a set of client nodes, a set of potential facility nodes including one predetermined root facility, a set of optional Steiner nodes, and the set of the potential connections among these nodes, that task is to decide which facilities to open, how to assign the clients to the open facilities, and how to interconnect the open facilities in such a way, that the resulting network contains at least λ edge-disjoint paths, each containing at most H edges, between the root and each open facility and that the total cost for opening facilities and installing connections is minimal. We study two IP models for this problem and present a branch-and-cut algorithm based on Benders decomposition for finding its solution. Finally, we report computational results

Active interaction switching controls the dynamic heterogeneity of soft colloidal dispersions

We employ Reactive Dynamical Density Functional Theory R DDFT and Reactive Brownian Dynamics R BD simulations to investigate the dynamics of a suspension of active soft Gaussian colloids with binary interaction switching, i.e., a one component colloidal system in which every particle stochastically switches at predefined rates between two interaction states with different mobility. Using R DDFT we extend a theory previously developed to access the dynamics of inhomogeneous liquids [Archer et al., Phys. Rev. E Stat., Nonlinear, Soft Matter Phys., 2007, 75, 040501] to study the influence of the switching activity on the self and distinct part of the Van Hove function in bulk solution, and determine the corresponding mean squared displacement of the switching particles. Our results demonstrate that, even though the average diffusion coefficient is not affected by the switching activity, it significantly modifies the non equilibrium dynamics and diffusion coefficients of the individual particles, leading to a crossover from short to long times, with a regime for intermediate times showing anomalous diffusion. In addition, the self part of the van Hove function has a Gaussian form at short and long times, but becomes non Gaussian at intermediates ones, having a crossover between short and large displacements. The corresponding self intermediate scattering function shows the two step relaxation patters typically observed in soft materials with heterogeneous dynamics such as glasses and gels. We also introduce a phenomenological Continuous Time Random Walk CTRW theory to understand the heterogeneous diffusion of this system. R DDFT results are in excellent agreement with R BD simulations and the analytical predictions of CTRW theory, thus confirming that R DDFT constitutes a powerful method to investigate not only the structure and phase behavior, but also the dynamical properties of non equilibrium active switching colloidal suspension