Campus & alumni news

Boston University Medicine was published by the Boston University Medical Campus, and presented stories on events and topics of interest to members of the BU Medical Campus community. It followed the discontinued publication Centerscope as Boston University Medicine from 1991-2005, then continued as Campus and Alumni News from 2006-2013 before returning to the title Boston University Medicine from 2014-present

Solar Magnetic Tracking. IV. The Death of Magnetic Features

The removal of magnetic flux from the quiet-sun photosphere is important for maintaining the statistical steady-state of the magnetic field there, for determining the magnetic flux budget of the Sun, and for estimating the rate of energy injected into the upper solar atmosphere. Magnetic feature death is a measurable proxy for the removal of detectable flux. We used the SWAMIS feature tracking code to understand how nearly 20000 detected magnetic features die in an hour-long sequence of Hinode/SOT/NFI magnetograms of a region of quiet Sun. Of the feature deaths that remove visible magnetic flux from the photosphere, the vast majority do so by a process that merely disperses the previously-detected flux so that it is too small and too weak to be detected. The behavior of the ensemble average of these dispersals is not consistent with a model of simple planar diffusion, suggesting that the dispersal is constrained by the evolving photospheric velocity field. We introduce the concept of the partial lifetime of magnetic features, and show that the partial lifetime due to Cancellation of magnetic flux, 22 h, is 3 times slower than previous measurements of the flux turnover time. This indicates that prior feature-based estimates of the flux replacement time may be too short, in contrast with the tendency for this quantity to decrease as resolution and instrumentation have improved. This suggests that dispersal of flux to smaller scales is more important for the replacement of magnetic fields in the quiet Sun than observed bipolar cancellation. We conclude that processes on spatial scales smaller than those visible to Hinode dominate the processes of flux emergence and cancellation, and therefore also the quantity of magnetic flux that threads the photosphere.Comment: Accepted by Ap

Being the parent of a child with limb difference who has been provided with an artificial limb:An interpretative phenomenological analysis

Purpose: Rehabilitative care for children with limb difference often includes the provision and use of an artificial (or prosthetic) limb. Of key influence in this process is how parents experience and respond to their child’s limb difference and prosthesis use. However, research on this is lacking. Therefore, this study aimed to explore the experiences of parenting a child with limb difference who had been provided with an artificial limb. Design: Semi-structured interviews took place with seven parents. Interview data was recorded, transcribed and analyzed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. Results: The analysis identified four themes: (1) managing the initial emotional experience through the development of coping resources; (2) opportunities through prosthesis use and its relationship with “normality”; (3) managing and making sense of social reactions toward their child; (4) the intrinsic role of support: developing a collective connection and enabling shared knowledge. Conclusions: The study highlighted salient aspects to parents’ experiences and sense-making that can inform clinical support. Emotional support, the management of social responses, and the holistic co-ordination of healthcare support with peer support networks are discussed. Healthcare professionals involved in the prosthetic rehabilitation process should look to explore these meanings to help support the management of the child’s prosthesis use.Implications for rehabilitation Understanding the sense-making of parents is important in effective service provision for children with limb difference. Service provision for children with limb difference should consider the support needs of parents. Working with limb difference charities and voluntary organizations could help services develop needed parent-to-parent support networks

Relative effectiveness of robot-assisted and standard laparoscopic prostatectomy as alternatives to open radical prostatectomy for treatment of localised prostate cancer : a systematic review and mixed treatment comparison meta-analysis

© 2013 The Authors. BJU International © 2013 BJU International.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Early-life adversity accelerates cellular ageing and affects adult inflammation: experimental evidence from the European starling

Early-life adversity is associated with accelerated cellular ageing during development and increased inflammation during adulthood. However, human studies can only establish correlation, not causation, and existing experimental animal approaches alter multiple components of early-life adversity simultaneously. We developed a novel hand-rearing paradigm in European starling nestlings (Sturnus vulgaris), in which we separately manipulated nutritional shortfall and begging effort for a period of 10 days. The experimental treatments accelerated erythrocyte telomere attrition and increased DNA damage measured in the juvenile period. For telomere attrition, amount of food and begging effort exerted additive effects. Only the combination of low food amount and high begging effort increased DNA damage. We then measured two markers of inflammation, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein and interleukin-6, when the birds were adults. The experimental treatments affected both inflammatory markers, though the patterns were complex and different for each marker. The effect of the experimental treatments on adult interleukin-6 was partially mediated by increased juvenile DNA damage. Our results show that both nutritional input and begging effort in the nestling period affect cellular ageing and adult inflammation in the starling. However, the pattern of effects is different for different biomarkers measured at different time points

Can Seeding in the Clinic Reach a Wide Audience? A Proof of Concept Study on Spreading a Health Message About Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis Using a Shareable Online Video

BACKGROUND: Shareable online video offers the potential for spreading a health message across online and real world social networks. Seeding a message in a clinical setting may be advantageous. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the potential of an online video to spread a health message about juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) when delivered or seeded in a clinical setting and investigate factors that influence sharing behavior. METHODS: Multimethod proof of concept study. Concepts for two different styles of video were developed using focus groups and interviews and reviewed by an online market research panel. We compared dissemination of the two videos from two specialist pediatric rheumatology clinics in NHS Hospitals. Participants were 15 patients, family members, and clinical staff with knowledge of JIA at concept stage; 300 market research panel members in development stage; and 38 patients and their parents or guardians in the seeding stage. Newly diagnosed patients with JIA and/or parents or guardians were invited to view and share an online video with a health message about JIA across real-life and electronic social networks. Main outcome measures were viewing statistics, sharing behavior and patterns, and participant feedback. RESULTS: Of 38 patients and/or their parents or guardians given links, 26 visited the video webpage and shared the link, 2 visited and did not share, and 10 did not visit. Most links were viewed and shared within a few days. A total of 3314 pageviews were recorded with a mean of 89.6 pageviews per link (range 0-1245). Links were accessed from 26 countries, with most viewers in the United Kingdom (82.5%). Mothers were the most active group of sharers. CONCLUSIONS: Distribution of a video link in a clinical setting may be an effective way to spread a health message. Parents or guardians of children with JIA are more likely to share a link than young people. Dissemination depends on a small number of active sharers, the content of the video, and the willingness of participants to share health information about themselves. TRIAL REGISTRATION: UK Clinical Research Network Study Portfolio ID (UKCRN): 13747; http://public.ukcrn.org.uk/Search/StudyDetail.aspx?StudyID=13747 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/6eeXlMmM6)

A prospective study comparing radiographer and clinician based localisation for patients with metastatic spinal cord compression (MSCC) to assess the feasibility of a radiographer led service.

OBJECTIVES: To investigate if there was parity between treatment fields localised by radiographers and clinicians, by comparing geographical variations and hence determining the feasibility of a radiographer led service. METHODS: 23 patients with metastatic spinal cord compression (MSCC) were prospectively sampled. 4 radiographers not involved in the original planning performed a localisation on each patient. The 92 localisations were compared to the clinicians approved field. Agreement was defined as ≤0.5cm between field length, width and 3 isocentre coordinates. To be feasible agreement was required in a minimum of 97% of the cases. The potential time saved with a radiographer led approach was also recorded. RESULTS: Agreement between clinicians and radiographers was 97.8%. For all field parameters, the average differences were <0.3cm and was significantly different from the 0.5cm median (p<0.0001) that would establish no agreement using wilcoxon signed rank test. The average (range) delay waiting for clinician approval was 54 minutes (4 minutes to 141 minutes). CONCLUSIONS: Strong agreement between radiographers and clinicians localisation was established. It was also highlighted that time could be saved in the patient's pathway by removing the need to wait for clinician approval. We believe this supports a radiographer led service. Advances in Knowledge: This article is novel as it is the first known comparison between clinicians and radiographers in the localisation of MSCC radiotherapy. This data shows the feasibility of introducing radiographer led practice and a methodology that could be potentially transferred to investigate the localisation parity for other treatment sites

A case series of premenstrual disorders presenting to the UK's National Female Hormone Clinic

Aims and method We aimed to describe the clinical characteristics of female patients presenting with premenstrual disorders to a tertiary service in the UK. We conducted a retrospective case-note review of referrals to the National Female Hormone Clinic from April 2014 to August 2020. Based on clinical assessment, we determined whether the patient met criteria for premenstrual dysphoric disorder or premenstrual exacerbation of an underlying psychiatric disorder. Results Of 146 patients seen in clinic for premenstrual disorders, an ICD-10 psychiatric diagnosis was made in 130 (89.0%); a minority 16 (11.0%) did not have a psychiatric diagnosis. Following assessment, 94 patients (64.4%) met criteria for premenstrual dysphoric disorder and 67 (45.6%) had exacerbation of a psychiatric disorder. Clinical implications Patients presenting to this specialist service had complex psychiatric comorbidity; almost half presented with exacerbation of a psychiatric disorder

Transcriptomes of parents identify parenting strategies and sexual conflict in a subsocial beetle

This work was funded by UK NERC grants to M.G.R. and A.J.M. an NERC studentship to D.J.P. the University of Georgia and a US NSF grant to A.J.M. and M.G.R.Parenting in the burying beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides is complex and, unusually, the sex and number of parents that can be present is flexible. Such flexibility is expected to involve specialized behaviour by the two sexes under biparental conditions. Here, we show that offspring fare equally well regardless of the sex or number of parents present. Comparing transcriptomes, we find a largely overlapping set of differentially expressed genes in both uniparental and biparental females and in uniparental males including vitellogenin, associated with reproduction, and takeout, influencing sex-specific mating and feeding behaviour. Gene expression in biparental males is similar to that in non-caring states. Thus, being ‘biparental’ in N. vespilloides describes the family social organization rather than the number of directly parenting individuals. There was no specialization; instead, in biparental families, direct male parental care appears to be limited with female behaviour unchanged. This should lead to strong sexual conflict.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe