Markers of bone turnover for the management of patients with bone metastases from prostate cancer

Although increased bone formation is a prominent feature of patients with osteosclerotic metastases from prostate cancer, there is also some evidence for increased bone resorption. The aim of this study was to compare the clinical utility of new bone resorption markers to that of bone formation in patients with bone metastases from prostate cancer before and after bisphosphonate treatment. Thirty-nine patients with prostate cancer and bone metastasis, nine patients with prostate cancer without bone metastases, nine patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia and 355 healthy age-matched men were included. Urinary non-isomerized (α CTX) and β isomerized (β CTX) type I collagen C-telopeptides (CTX) and a new assay for serum CTX were used to assess bone resorption. Bone formation was determined by serum osteocalcin, serum total (T-ALP) and bone (BAP) alkaline phosphatase and serum type I collagen C-terminal propeptide (PICP). Fourteen patients with bone metastases were also evaluated 15 days after a single injection of the bisphosphonate pamidronate (120 mg). Levels of all bone formation and bone resorption markers were significantly (P< 0.006–0.0001) higher in patients with prostate cancer and bone metastasis than in patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia, patients with prostate cancer without bone metastases and healthy controls. In patients with bone metastases the median was increased by 67% for serum osteocalcin, 128% for T-ALP, 138% for BAP, 79% for PICP, 220% for urinary α CTX, 149% for urinary β CTX and 214% for serum CTX. After bisphosphonate treatment all three resorption markers significantly decreased by an average of 65% (P = 0.001), 71% (P = 0.0010) and 61% (P = 0.0015) for urinary α CTX, urinary β CTX and serum CTX, respectively, whereas no significant change was observed for any bone formation markers. Patients with prostate cancer and bone metastases exhibit a marked increase in bone resorption, which decreases within a few days of treatment with pamidronate. These findings suggest that these new resorption markers may be useful for the management of these patients. © 2000 Cancer Research Campaig

Grading hampers cooperative information sharing in group problem solving

We hypothesized that individual grading in group work, a widespread practice, hampers information sharing in cooperative problem solving. Experiment 1 showed that a condition in which members' individual contribution was expected to be visible and graded, as in most graded work, led to less pooling of relevant, unshared information and more pooling of less-relevant, shared information than two control conditions where individual contribution was not graded, but either visible or not. Experiment 2 conceptually replicated this effect: Group members primed with grades pooled less of their unshared information, but more of their shared information, compared to group members primed with neutral concepts. Thus, grading can hinder cooperative work and impair information sharing in groups.SCOPUS: ar.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Geochemistry of volcanic glasses from the Louisville Seamount Trail (IODP Expedition 330): Implications for eruption environments and mantle melting

Volcanic glasses recovered from four guyots during drilling along the Louisville Seamount Trail, southwest Pacific, have been analyzed for major, trace, and volatile elements (H2O, CO2, S, and Cl), and oxygen isotopes. Compared to other oceanic island settings, they are geochemically homogeneous, providing no evidence of the tholeiitic stage that characterizes Hawaii. The degrees and depth of partial melting remained constant over 1–3 Ma represented by the drill holes, and along-chain over several million years. The only exception is Hadar Guyot with compositions that suggest small degree preferential melting of an enriched source, possibly because it erupted on the oldest and thickest lithosphere. Incompatible element enriched glass from late-stage volcaniclastics implies lower degrees of melting as the volcanoes moved off the melting anomaly. Volcaniclastic glasses from throughout the igneous basement are degassed suggesting generation during shallow submarine eruptions (<20 mbsl) or as subaerial flows entered the sea. Drill depths may no longer reflect relative age due to postquench downslope movement. Higher volatile contents in late-stage volcaniclastics indicate submarine eruptions at 118–258 mbsl and subsidence of the edifices below sea level by the time they erupted, or generation in flank eruptions. Glass from intrusion margins suggests emplacement ∼100 m below the surface. The required uplift to achieve these paleo-quench depths and the subsequent subsidence to reach their current depths exceeds that expected for normal oceanic lithosphere, consistent with the Louisville melting anomaly being <100°C hotter than normal asthenosphere at 50–70 Ma when the guyots were erupted. Key Points: - Louisville glasses show remarkable temporal geochemical homogeneity - All recovered Louisville glasses are variably degassed - Louisville melting anomaly was <100°C hotter than normal asthenospher

Domestic thermal upgrades, community action and energy saving: a three-year experimental study of prosperous households

A three-year field experiment was conducted with 185 prosperous households to assess whether behavioural interventions by a community environmental group during and after thermal upgrades (cavity wall and/or loft insulation) can achieve reductions in households’ energy use, including reductions in direct and indirect rebound. The engineering interventions on the thermal efficiency of dwellings appear effective in reducing energy use in both treatment and control groups: a direct rebound effect is estimated to be at most 40 per cent from the engineering interventions. However, across a range of measures of energy use, we observe no significant effect of the community behavioural intervention across the total lifetime of the project. Qualitative data collected on similar community groups suggests substantial constraints on their capacity to realise reductions in energy use amongst households

Does the Choice of Extraction Site During Minimally Invasive Colorectal Surgery Change the Incidence of Incisional Hernia? Protocol for a Systematic Review and Network Meta-Analysis.

BACKGROUND: Various sites are used for specimen extraction in oncological minimally invasive colorectal surgery. The objective is to determine if the choice of extraction site modulates the incidence of incisional hernia (IH). METHODS/DESIGN: A systematic review will be performed in accordance to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) statement. MEDLINE, Embase and CENTRAL will be searched to look for original studies reporting the incidence of IH after minimally invasive colorectal surgery. Studies will be excluded from the analysis if: 1) they do not report original data, 2) the outcome of interest (incidence of incisional hernia) is not clearly reported and does not allow to extrapolate and/or calculate the required data for network meta-analysis, 3) they include pediatric patients, 4) they include a patients' population with a conversion rate to laparotomy >10%, 5) they do not compare at least two different extraction sites for the operative specimen, 6) they report patients who underwent pure (and not hybrid) natural orifice transluminal endoscopic surgery (NOTES). Network meta-analysis will be performed to determine the incidence of IH per extraction site. DISCUSSION: By determining which specimen extraction site leads to reduced rate of IH, this systematic review and network meta-analysis will help colorectal surgeons to choose their extraction site and reduce the morbidity and costs associated with IH. REGISTRATION: The systematic review and meta-analysis protocol is registered in the International Prospective Register of Ongoing Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO) with number CRD42021272226. HIGHLIGHTS: Various sites are used for specimen extraction in oncological minimally invasive colorectal surgery, and the choice of the site may probably modulate the incidence of incisional hernia.The present protocol aims to design a systematic review which will identify original studies comparing two extraction sites during minimally invasive colorectal surgery in terms of incidence of incisional hernia.Network meta-analysis will be performed to determine the incidence of IH per extraction site

Clinopyroxene diversity and magma plumbing system processes in an accreted Pacific ocean island, Panama

Characterising equilibrium and disequilibrium crystal-melt processes is critical in determining the extent of magma mixing and crystallization conditions in the roots of volcanoes. However, these processes remain poorly investigated in most Pacific intraplate ocean settings that are difficult to access and study. To help address this issue, we investigated crystallization conditions of clinopyroxene phenocrysts in an accreted Palaeogene oceanic island in Panama. Petrographic and geochemical observations, petrological modelling of major and trace elements, and liquid-mineral multicomponent equilibrium tests were carried out using basalts, picrites, and hawaiites of the transitional tholeiitic shield to alkaline post-shield volcanic stages of the island. Five types of clinopyroxene crystals were identified, including (1) microphenocrysts with micron-scale oscillatory zoning, (2) primitive, yet resorbed picrite-hosted phenocrysts, (3) chemically homogeneous, anhedral crystals found in the remaining basalts, (4) Ti–rich euhedral hawaiite-hosted phenocrysts, and (5) evolved sector-zoned phenocrysts. Liquid-clinopyroxene multicomponent equilibrium tests in combination with textural analysis show that ~ 74% of the studied clinopyroxenes are in possible major element equilibrium with one of the available whole rock magma compositions, of which only 21% are equilibrated with their carrier liquid. To deconvolute clinopyroxene-melt pairings and determine plumbing system conditions, we combine rhyolite-MELTS modelling, geothermobarometry, and major- and trace-element equilibrium evaluations, limiting crystallization conditions to crustal levels (< 23 km depth). No migration of magmatic reservoirs to deeper levels is observed during the shield- to post-shield transition. These results suggest the occurrence of an extensive crystal mush system during the late shield to post-shield volcanic stages of this intraplate volcanic system, with both primitive and evolved crystallization domains sampled during eruptions

Phenotypic redshifts with self-organizing maps: A novel method to characterize redshift distributions of source galaxies for weak lensing

Wide-field imaging surveys such as the Dark Energy Survey (DES) rely on coarse measurements of spectral energy distributions in a few filters to estimate the redshift distribution of source galaxies. In this regime, sample variance, shot noise, and selection effects limit the attainable accuracy of redshift calibration and thus of cosmological constraints. We present a new method to combine wide-field, few-filter measurements with catalogs from deep fields with additional filters and sufficiently low photometric noise to break degeneracies in photometric redshifts. The multi-band deep field is used as an intermediary between wide-field observations and accurate redshifts, greatly reducing sample variance, shot noise, and selection effects. Our implementation of the method uses self-organizing maps to group galaxies into phenotypes based on their observed fluxes, and is tested using a mock DES catalog created from N-body simulations. It yields a typical uncertainty on the mean redshift in each of five tomographic bins for an idealized simulation of the DES Year 3 weak-lensing tomographic analysis of $\sigma_{\Delta z} = 0.007$, which is a 60% improvement compared to the Year 1 analysis. Although the implementation of the method is tailored to DES, its formalism can be applied to other large photometric surveys with a similar observing strategy.Comment: 24 pages, 11 figures; matches version accepted to MNRA

Mapping household direct energy consumption in the United Kingdom to provide a new perspective on energy justice

Targets for reductions in carbon emissions and energy use are often framed solely in terms of percentage reductions. However, the amount of energy used by households varies greatly, with some using considerably more than others and, therefore, potentially being able to make a bigger contribution towards overall reductions. Using two recently released UK datasets based on combined readings from over 70 million domestic energy meters and vehicle odometers, we present exploratory analyses of patterns of direct household energy usage. Whilst much energy justice work has previously focussed on energy vulnerability, mainly in low consumers, our findings suggest that a minority of areas appear to be placing much greater strain on energy networks and environmental systems than they need. Households in these areas are not only the most likely to be able to afford energy efficiency measures to reduce their impacts, but are also found to have other capabilities that would allow them to take action to reduce consumption (such as higher levels of income, education and particular configurations of housing type and tenure). We argue that these areas should therefore be a higher priority in the targeting of policy interventions