Impact of hiatal hernia on histological pattern of non-erosive reflux disease

BACKGROUND: Hiatus hernia (HH) has major pathophysiological effects favoring gastroesophageal reflux and hence contributing to esophageal mucosa injury, especially in patients with severe gastroesophageal disease. However, prospective studies investigating the impact of HH on the esophageal mucosa in non-erosive reflux disease (NERD) are lacking. This study evaluated the association between the presence of (HH) and the histological findings in symptomatic patients with NERD. METHODS: Fifty consecutive patients with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) were enrolled. After conventional endoscopy, Lugol solution was applied and biopsy specimens were obtained. Histological parameters including basal zone hyperplasia, papillary length and cellular infiltration were evaluated. The chi-square test with Yates' correlation was used for comparing discrete parameters between groups. However, Fisher's exact probability test was used where the expected frequencies were lower than 5. Wilcoxon's test for unpaired samples was preferred in cases of semi-quantitative parameters. RESULTS: The presence of HH along with more severe findings (0.01 <P < 0.05) was confirmed in 18 patients. NERD was observed in 29 (58%) patients. Basal zone hyperplasia and loss of glycogen accompanied HH in all cases, and the correlation was significant in NERD (P < 0.001). The remaining histological patterns were similar between erosive reflux disease and NERD in the presence of HH. CONCLUSION: The presence of HH is correlated with more severe endoscopy findings, and predisposes for severe histological abnormality in cases of NERD

Leadership in Orchestra Emerges from the Causal Relationships of Movement Kinematics

Non-verbal communication enables efficient transfer of information among people. In this context, classic orchestras are a remarkable instance of interaction and communication aimed at a common aesthetic goal: musicians train for years in order to acquire and share a non-linguistic framework for sensorimotor communication. To this end, we recorded violinists' and conductors' movement kinematics during execution of Mozart pieces, searching for causal relationships among musicians by using the Granger Causality method (GC). We show that the increase of conductor-to-musicians influence, together with the reduction of musician-to-musician coordination (an index of successful leadership) goes in parallel with quality of execution, as assessed by musical experts' judgments. Rigorous quantification of sensorimotor communication efficacy has always been complicated and affected by rather vague qualitative methodologies. Here we propose that the analysis of motor behavior provides a potentially interesting tool to approach the rather intangible concept of aesthetic quality of music and visual communication efficacy

Precise measurement of the W-boson mass with the CDF II detector

We have measured the W-boson mass MW using data corresponding to 2.2/fb of integrated luminosity collected in proton-antiproton collisions at 1.96 TeV with the CDF II detector at the Fermilab Tevatron collider. Samples consisting of 470126 W->enu candidates and 624708 W->munu candidates yield the measurement MW = 80387 +- 12 (stat) +- 15 (syst) = 80387 +- 19 MeV. This is the most precise measurement of the W-boson mass to date and significantly exceeds the precision of all previous measurements combined

Measurement of the Bottom-Strange Meson Mixing Phase in the Full CDF Data Set

We report a measurement of the bottom-strange meson mixing phase \beta_s using the time evolution of B0_s -> J/\psi (->\mu+\mu-) \phi (-> K+ K-) decays in which the quark-flavor content of the bottom-strange meson is identified at production. This measurement uses the full data set of proton-antiproton collisions at sqrt(s)= 1.96 TeV collected by the Collider Detector experiment at the Fermilab Tevatron, corresponding to 9.6 fb-1 of integrated luminosity. We report confidence regions in the two-dimensional space of \beta_s and the B0_s decay-width difference \Delta\Gamma_s, and measure \beta_s in [-\pi/2, -1.51] U [-0.06, 0.30] U [1.26, \pi/2] at the 68% confidence level, in agreement with the standard model expectation. Assuming the standard model value of \beta_s, we also determine \Delta\Gamma_s = 0.068 +- 0.026 (stat) +- 0.009 (syst) ps-1 and the mean B0_s lifetime, \tau_s = 1.528 +- 0.019 (stat) +- 0.009 (syst) ps, which are consistent and competitive with determinations by other experiments.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, Phys. Rev. Lett 109, 171802 (2012

Precursor lesions of early onset pancreatic cancer

Early onset pancreatic cancer (EOPC) constitutes less than 5% of all newly diagnosed cases of pancreatic cancer (PC). Although histopathological characteristics of EOPC have been described, no detailed reports on precursor lesions of EOPC are available. In the present study, we aimed to describe histopathological picture of extratumoral parenchyma in 23 cases of EOPCs (definition based on the threshold value of 45 years of age) with particular emphasis on two types of precursor lesions of PC: pancreatic intraepithelial neoplasia (PanIN) and intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms (IPMNs). The types, grades, and densities of precursor lesions of PC were compared in patients with EOPCs, in young patients with neuroendocrine neoplasms (NENs), and in older (at the age of 46 or more) patients with PC. PanINs were found in 95.6% of cases of EOPCs. PanINs-3 were found in 39.1% of EOPC cases. Densities of all PanIN grades in EOPC cases were larger than in young patients with NENs. Density of PanINs-1A in EOPC cases was larger than in older patients with PC, but densities of PanINs of other grades were comparable. IPMN was found only in a single patient with EOPC but in 20% of older patients with PC. PanINs are the most prevalent precursor lesions of EOPC. IPMNs are rarely precursor lesions of EOPC. Relatively high density of low-grade PanINs-1 in extratumoral parenchyma of patients with EOPC may result from unknown multifocal genetic alterations in pancreatic tissue in patients with EOPCs

Extra-Intestinal Manifestations of Familial Adenomatous Polyposis

Familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP) is an autosomal dominantly inherited disorder, which results from a germ line mutation in the APC (adenomatous polyposis coli) gene. FAP is characterized by the formation of hundreds to thousands of colorectal adenomatous polyps. Although the development of colorectal cancer stands out as the most prevalent complication, FAP is a multisystem disorder of growth. This means, it is comparable to other diseases such as the MEN syndromes, Von Hippel-Lindau disease and neurofibromatosis. However, the incidence of many of its clinical features is much lower. Therefore, a specialized multidisciplinary approach to optimize health care—common for other disorders—is not usually taken for FAP patients. Thus, clinicians that care for and counsel members of high-risk families should have familiarity with all the extra-intestinal manifestations of this syndrome. FAP-related complications, for which medical attention is essential, are not rare and their estimated lifetime risk presumably exceeds 30%. Affected individuals can develop thyroid and pancreatic cancer, hepatoblastomas, CNS tumors (especially medulloblastomas), and various benign tumors such as adrenal adenomas, osteomas, desmoid tumors and dental abnormalities. Due to improved longevity, as a result of better prevention of colorectal cancer, the risk of these clinical problems will further increase