Palliative Laparoscopic End Colostomy in a Nonagenarian

Patients with advanced gynecologic malignancy often require fecal diversion as a sole procedure in cases of obstruction or fistula formation. This unique patient population has a frequent history of advanced age, prior abdominal surgery, pelvic radiation, poor nutritional status and medical comorbidities. The use of laparoscopic colostomy for palliative fecal diversion in this context has not been well described in the gynecologic oncology literature. We present the first case of palliative laparoscopic end-colostomy in a nonagenarian as a sole procedure for fecal diversion in advanced gynecologic malignancy. Palliative laparoscopic end-colostomy is a safe, feasible, and effective method to optimize quality of life in select elderly women with advanced gynecologic malignancy

Ferromagnetic Ordering of Energy Levels for Uq(sl2)U_q(\mathfrak{sl}_2) Symmetric Spin Chains

We consider the class of quantum spin chains with arbitrary $U_q(\mathfrak{sl}_2)$-invariant nearest neighbor interactions, sometimes called $\textrm{SU}_q(2)$ for the quantum deformation of $\textrm{SU}(2)$, for $q>0$. We derive sufficient conditions for the Hamiltonian to satisfy the property we call {\em Ferromagnetic Ordering of Energy Levels}. This is the property that the ground state energy restricted to a fixed total spin subspace is a decreasing function of the total spin. Using the Perron-Frobenius theorem, we show sufficient conditions are positivity of all interactions in the dual canonical basis of Lusztig. We characterize the cone of positive interactions, showing that it is a simplicial cone consisting of all non-positive linear combinations of "cascade operators," a special new basis of $U_q(\mathfrak{sl}_2)$ intertwiners we define. We also state applications to interacting particle processes.Comment: 23 page

DBnorm as an R package for the comparison and selection of appropriate statistical methods for batch effect correction in metabolomic studies.

As a powerful phenotyping technology, metabolomics provides new opportunities in biomarker discovery through metabolome-wide association studies (MWAS) and the identification of metabolites having a regulatory effect in various biological processes. While mass spectrometry-based (MS) metabolomics assays are endowed with high throughput and sensitivity, MWAS are doomed to long-term data acquisition generating an overtime-analytical signal drift that can hinder the uncovering of real biologically relevant changes. We developed "dbnorm", a package in the R environment, which allows for an easy comparison of the model performance of advanced statistical tools commonly used in metabolomics to remove batch effects from large metabolomics datasets. "dbnorm" integrates advanced statistical tools to inspect the dataset structure not only at the macroscopic (sample batches) scale, but also at the microscopic (metabolic features) level. To compare the model performance on data correction, "dbnorm" assigns a score that help users identify the best fitting model for each dataset. In this study, we applied "dbnorm" to two large-scale metabolomics datasets as a proof of concept. We demonstrate that "dbnorm" allows for the accurate selection of the most appropriate statistical tool to efficiently remove the overtime signal drift and to focus on the relevant biological components of complex datasets

The Grizzly, February 2, 2017

Former Dean Files Lawsuit Against Ursinus; College Denies Charges • Diversity Committee Questions Campus Climate • Q&A with New Board Chair, Robert Wonderling • Changes to CIE Questions and Curriculum in Fall • Portraits of Protest: UC Students Take on Women\u27s March in D.C. • First-Person Perspective: Student Curator Shares Experience • Opinions: Betsy DeVos is a Danger to Our Education System; Scott Pruitt\u27s EPA Will Put Our Climate at Risk • Women\u27s Swimming on Pace to be Top of the Conference Again • Gymnastics Team Vaults Into Action • Message from the Grizzly Editorial Staffhttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/grizzlynews/1658/thumbnail.jp

On the Delta V_HB_bump parameter in Globular Clusters

We present new empirical estimates of the Delta V_HB_bump parameter for 15 Galactic globular clusters (GGCs) using accurate and homogeneous ground-based optical data. Together with similar evaluations available in the literature, we ended up with a sample of 62 GGCs covering a very broad range in metal content (-2.16<=[M/H]<=-0.58 dex). Adopting the homogeneous metallicity scale provided either by Kraft & Ivans (2004) or by Carretta et al. (2009), we found that the observed Delta V_HB_bump parameters are larger than predicted. In the metal-poor regime ([M/H]<=-1.7, -1.6 dex) 40% of GCs show discrepancies of 2sigma (~0.40 mag) or more. Evolutionary models that account either for alpha- and CNO-enhancement or for helium enhancement do not alleviate the discrepancy between theory and observations. The outcome is the same if we use the new Solar heavy-element mixture. The comparison between alpha- and CNO-enhanced evolutionary models and observations in the Carretta et al. metallicity scale also indicates that observed Delta V_HB_bump parameters, in the metal-rich regime ([M/H]=>0), might be systematically smaller than predicted

Clinicopathologic features of endometrial cancer with mismatch repair deficiency

The inclusion of DNA mismatch repair (MMR) evaluation as a standard of care for endometrial cancer management will result in a growing population of patients with MMR deficiency and negative germline Lynch syndrome testing (MMR-deficient). In this systematic review and study, the clinicopathologic features of endometrial cancer in patients with MMR-intact, MLH1 methylation positive, MMR-deficient or Lynch syndrome are evaluated. A systematic search of online databases between 1990 and 2018 identified studies of endometrial cancer patients with tumour testing (MMR protein immunohistochemistry or microsatellite instability) and germline assessment for Lynch syndrome. Extracted data included tumour testing, germline genetic testing, age, body mass index (BMI), family history, tumour stage, grade and histologic type. Associations between MMR-intact, MLH1 methylation positive, MMR-deficient and Lynch syndrome groups were analysed using descriptive statistics. The comprehensive search produced 4,400 publications, 29 met inclusion criteria. A total of 7,057 endometrial cancer cases were identified, 1,612 with abnormal immunohistochemistry, 977 with microsatellite instability. Nine-hundred patients underwent germline genetic testing, identifying 212 patients with Lynch syndrome. Patients in the Lynch syndrome and MMR-deficient groups were significantly younger than patients in the MMR-intact and MLH1 methylation positive groups. Patients with MMR-intact tumours had the highest BMI, followed by MMR-deficient, then Lynch syndrome. MMR-intact tumours were more likely to be grade I at diagnosis than other groups. Patients with Lynch syndrome and MMR-deficient tumours were less likely to have stage I disease as compared to patients with MMR-intact tumours. Endometrial cancer patients with MMR-deficient tumours have similar features to those with germline Lynch syndrome mutations, including age, grade, histology and stage. Even in the absence of a germline mutation, tumour evaluation for MMR status may have important clinical implications

On the mixing time of the 2D stochastic Ising model with "plus" boundary conditions at low temperature

We consider the Glauber dynamics for the 2D Ising model in a box of side L, at inverse temperature $\beta$ and random boundary conditions $\tau$ whose distribution P either stochastically dominates the extremal plus phase (hence the quotation marks in the title) or is stochastically dominated by the extremal minus phase. A particular case is when P is concentrated on the homogeneous configuration identically equal to + (equal to -). For $\beta$ large enough we show that for any $\epsilon$ there exists $c=c(\beta,\epsilon)$ such that the corresponding mixing time $T_{mix}$ satisfies $\lim_{L\to\infty}P(T_{mix}> \exp({cL^\epsilon})) =0$. In the non-random case $\tau\equiv +$ (or $\tau\equiv -$), this implies that $T_{mix}< \exp({cL^\epsilon})$. The same bound holds when the boundary conditions are all + on three sides and all - on the remaining one. The result, although still very far from the expected Lifshitz behaviour $T_{mix}=O(L^2)$, considerably improves upon the previous known estimates of the form $T_{mix}\le \exp({c L^{1/2 + \epsilon}})$. The techniques are based on induction over length scales, combined with a judicious use of the so-called "censoring inequality" of Y. Peres and P. Winkler, which in a sense allows us to guide the dynamics to its equilibrium measure.Comment: 39 pages, 8 figures; v2: typos corrected, two references added. To appear on Comm. Math. Phy

Search for MSSM Higgs bosons decaying to μ+μ-in proton-proton collisions at √s=13TeV

A search is performed for neutral non-standard-model Higgs bosons decaying to two muons in the context of the minimal supersymmetric standard model (MSSM). Proton-proton collision data recorded by the CMS experiment at the CERN Large Hadron Collider at a center-of-mass energy of 13TeVwere used, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 35.9fb-1. The search is sensitive to neutral Higgs bosons produced via the gluon fusion process or in association with a bbquark pair. No significant deviations from the standard model expectation are observed. Upper limits at 95% confidence level are set in the context of the mmod+hand phenomenological MSSM scenarios on the parameter tanβas a function of the mass of the pseudoscalar Aboson, in the range from 130 to 600GeV. The results are also used to set a model-independent limit on the product of the branching fraction for the decay into a muon pair and the cross section for the production of a scalar neutral boson, either via gluon fusion, or in association with bquarks, in the mass range from 130 to 1000GeV