Analysis of Regional Mechanics in Canine Lung Injury Using Forced Oscillations and 3D Image Registration

Acute lung injury is characterized by heterogeneity of regional mechanical properties, which is thought to be correlated with disease severity. The feasibility of using respiratory input impedance ($Z_{rs}$) and computed tomographic (CT) image registration for assessing parenchymal mechanical heterogeneity was evaluated. In six dogs, measurements of ($Z_{rs}$) before and after oleic acid injury at various distending pressures were obtained, followed by whole lung CT scans. Each ($Z_{rs}$) spectrum was fit with a model incorporating variable distributions of regional compliances. CT image pairs at different inflation pressures were matched using an image registration algorithm, from which distributions of regional compliances from the resulting anatomic deformation fields were computed. Under baseline conditions, average model compliance decreased with increasing inflation pressure, reflecting parenchymal stiffening. After lung injury, these average compliances decreased at each pressure, indicating derecruitment, alveolar flooding, or alterations in intrinsic tissue elastance. However, average compliance did not change as inflation pressure increased, consistent with simultaneous recruitment and strain stiffening. Image registration revealed peaked distributions of regional compliances, and that small portions of the lung might undergo relative compression during inflation. The authors conclude that assessments of lung function using ($Z_{rs}$) combined with the structural alterations inferred from image registration provide unique but complementary information on the mechanical derangements associated with lung injury

Vitamins D and K as Factors Associated with Osteopathy in Chronic Pancreatitis. A Prospective Multicentre Study (P-BONE Study)

Background: Osteopathy is common in patients with chronic pancreatitis (CP), but previous studies carry several limitations. Vitamin K is essential for bone metabolism, but its role in this setting has never been investigated. Our aim is to assess the prevalence of osteoporosis and osteopenia in CP patients, and to investigate the association between osteopathy and CP features and nutritional parameters, especially vitamin D and K levels. Methods: Multicentre cross-sectional study on CP patients diagnosed according to M-ANNHEIM criteria. Bone density was evaluated by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry and pancreatic function by faecal elastase. Nutritional evaluation included vitamin D and vitamin K. Differences between patients with or without osteopathy were evaluated. The association between investigated variables and bone density were analysed with logistic regression analysis. Results: In total, 211 CP patients were enrolled at eight Centres (67% men; mean age 60). In total, 18% had advanced-marked CP, 56% suffered from pancreatic exocrine insufficiency and disease aetiology was alcoholic in 43%. Vitamin D and K were deficient in 56% and 32%, respectively. Osteopenia was diagnosed in 42% and osteoporosis in 22%. In the multivariate analysis, female sex (OR 2.78), age (OR 1.07 per year) and higher BMI (OR 0.84) were associated with the presence of osteoporosis. In male patients, the only factor associated with osteoporosis was vitamin K deficiency (OR 4.23). Conclusion: The present data confirm a high rate of osteopathy in CP patients and highlight the relevance of vitamin K deficiency as only factor associated with osteoporosis in male patients for the first time

Higher Winter-Spring Temperature and Winter-Spring/Summer Moisture Availability Increase Scots Pine Growth on Coastal Dune Microsites Around the South Baltic Sea

Coastal sand dunes near the Baltic Sea are a dynamic environment marking the boundary between land and sea and oftentimes covered by Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) forests. Complex climate-environmental interactions characterize these ecosystems and largely determine the productivity and state of these coastal forests. In the face of future climate change, understanding interactions between coastal tree growth and climate variability is important to promote sustainable coastal forests. In this study, we assessed the effect of microsite conditions on tree growth and the temporal and spatial variability of the relationship between climate and Scots pine growth at nine coastal sand dune sites located around the south Baltic Sea. At each site, we studied the growth of Scots pine growing at microsites located at the ridge and bottom of a dune and built a network of 18 ring-width and 18 latewood blue intensity chronologies. Across this network, we found that microsite has a minor influence on ring-width variability, basal area increment, latewood blue intensity, and climate sensitivity. However, at the local scale, microsite effects turned out to be important for growth and climate sensitivity at some sites. Correlation analysis indicated that the strength and direction of climate-growth responses for the ring-width and blue intensity chronologies were similar for climate variables over the 1903–2016 period. A strong and positive relationship between ring-width and latewood blue intensity chronologies with winter-spring temperature was detected at local and regional scales. We identified a relatively strong, positive influence of winter-spring/summer moisture availability on both tree-ring proxies. When climate-growth responses between two intervals (1903–1959, 1960–2016) were compared, the strength of growth responses to temperature and moisture availability for both proxies varied. More specifically, for the ring-width network, we identified decreasing temperature-growth responses, which is in contrast to the latewood blue intensity network, where we documented decreasing and increasing temperature-growth relationships in the north and south respectively. We conclude that coastal Scots pine forests are primarily limited by winter-spring temperature and winterspring/summer drought despite differing microsite conditions.We detected some spatial and temporal variability in climate-growth relationships that warrant further investigation

Tree rings of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) as a source of information about past climate in northern Poland

Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) is a very common tree in Polish forests, and therefore was widely used as timber. A relatively large amount of available wood allowed a long-term chronology to be built up and used as a source of information about past climate. The analysis of reconstructed indexed values of mean temperature in 51-year moving intervals allowed the recognition of the coldest periods in the years 1207–1346, 1383–1425, 1455–1482, 1533–1574, 1627–1646, and 1694–1785. The analysis of extreme wide and narrow rings forms a complementary method of examining climatic data within tree rings. The tree ring widths, early wood and late wood widths of 16 samples were assessed during the period 1581–1676. The most apparent effect is noted in the dry summer of 1616. According to previous research and our findings, temperature from February to March seems to be one of the most stable climatic factors which influenced pine growth in Poland. Correlation coefficients in the calibration and validation procedure gave promising results for temperature reconstruction from the pine chronology

Diagnosis and treatment of thyroid cancer in children in the multicenter analysis in Poland for PPGGL

Introduction: Differentiated thyroid carcinoma (DTC) in children presents different biological behavior in comparison to adults. Authors presents preliminary results of multicenter analysis concerning incidence, diagnostics and treatment of DTC in children. Material and methods: The study is a retrospective analysis of 107 pediatric patients from 14 academic centers based on the data from 2000 to 2005 obtained by questionnaire in hospitals involved in the treatment of DTC in children. Results: Papillary thyroid cancer was diagnosed in 83 children, follicular thyroid cancer in 10 children and medullary thyroid cancer in 14 children. Incidence of DTC in children was estimated between 18 and 23 cases per year. The biggest group of patients consisted of children between 11 and 15 years of age, with girls to boys ratio 3.3 : 1. Clinically DTC in children presented most often as solitary thyroid nodule. Cervical lymphadenopathy was observed in 42% of patients. Intraoperative verification indicated metastatic nodes in 50% of children. Low stage DTC predominated (T1 in 36% and T2 in 26% of children). One step surgery was performed in 65% of children with DTC, two step surgery in 25% of patients. I131 therapy was undertaken in 80% of children. Lung metastases were indicated in post therapeutic studies in 14% of children with DTC. Prophylactic thyroidectomies were performed in 79% of children in the group of patients with MTC and RET gene mutations. Conclusions: The necessity of introduction of unified therapeutic standard in children with DTC in Poland is underlined.Wstęp: Zróżnicowane raki tarczycy (DTC, differentiated thyroid carcinoma) występują u dzieci rzadko. Większość przypadków wykrywanych jest w wieku 11-17 lat. W odróżnieniu od dorosłych DTC u dzieci prezentują odmienne zachowanie biologiczne. Mała liczba przypadków DTC w poszczególnych ośrodkach oraz względnie łagodny ich przebieg utrudniają ocenę występowania i leczenia DTC u dzieci w Polsce, uzależniając ją od wysiłków włożonych w uzyskanie rzetelnych danych. Autorzy przedstawiają wstępne wyniki analizy wieloośrodkowej dotyczące występowania, diagnostyki i leczenia DTC u dzieci. Materiał i metody: Podjęte badania są retrospektywną analizą obejmującą lata 2000-2005, opartą na danych z historii chorób uzyskanych z ankiet rozesłanych do ośrodków dla dzieci i dorosłych podejmujących leczenie DTC. Do analizy zgłoszono 107 pacjentów z 14 ośrodków akademickich w Polsce. Analizie poddano wiek i płeć dzieci z DTC, wielkość i lokalizację zmian w tarczycy, sposoby rozpoznawania DTC, rodzaje i zakres wykonywanych zabiegów operacyjnych oraz leczenie uzupełniające izotopem J131. Wyniki: Raka brodawkowatego stwierdzono u 83 dzieci, pęcherzykowego u 10 dzieci, a rdzeniastego u 14 dzieci. Częstość występowania DTC u dzieci w Polsce wahała się między 18 a 23 przypadkami rocznie. W województwach: mazowieckim i połączonych wielkopolskim i lubuskim wykazano w okresie 2000-2005 wyższą (24 i 25) częstość występowania DTC, w pozostałych województwach wykazywano od 2 do 10 przypadków DTC. Największą grupę pacjentów stanowiły dzieci w wieku 11-15 lat, a stosunek dziewcząt do chłopców wynosił 3,3 : 1. Klinicznie DTC prezentowały się najczęściej jako pojedyncze guzki tarczycy. Limfadenopatię szyjną w badaniu klinicznym stwierdzono u 42% pacjentów, a śródoperacyjnie u 50% dzieci. U większości pacjentów dominowały niższe stopnie zaawansowania DTC (T1 u 36% i T2 u 26% dzieci). Operacje jednoetapowe wykonano u 65% dzieci, operacje dwuetapowe u 25% dzieci, a profilaktyczne tyreoidektomie u 79% dzieci z grupy pacjentów z rakiem rdzeniastym tarczycy (MTC, medullary thyroid cancinoma) i mutacją genu Ret. Leczenie izotopowe J131 podjęto u 80% dzieci. Przerzuty do płuc w scyntygrafii poterapeutycznej wykazano u 14% dzieci z DTC. Wnioski: We wnioskach podkreśla się konieczność wdrożenia na terenie całego kraju ujednoliconego i ocenianego na podstawie obiektywnych przesłanek sposobu postępowania z dziećmi z DTC

No systematic effects of sampling direction on climate-growth relationships in a large-scale, multi-species tree-ring data set

Ring-width series are important for diverse fields of research such as the study of past climate, forest ecology, forest genetics, and the determination of origin (dendro-provenancing) or dating of archaeological objects. Recent research suggests diverging climate-growth relationships in tree-rings due to the cardinal direction of extracting the tree cores (i.e. direction-specific effect). This presents an understudied source of bias that potentially affects many data sets in tree-ring research. In this study, we investigated possible direction-specific growth variability based on an international (10 countries), multi-species (8 species) tree-ring width network encompassing 22 sites. To estimate the effect of direction-specific growth variability on climate-growth relationships, we applied a combination of three methods: An analysis of signal strength differences, a Principal Component Gradient Analysis and a test on the direction-specific differences in correlations between indexed ring-widths series and climate variables. We found no evidence for systematic direction-specific effects on tree radial growth variability in high-pass filtered ring-width series. In addition, direction-specific growth showed only marginal effects on climate-growth correlations. These findings therefore indicate that there is no consistent bias caused by coring direction in data sets used for diverse dendrochronological applications on relatively mesic sites within forests in flat terrain, as were studied here. However, in extremely dry, warm or cold environments, or on steep slopes, and for different life-forms such as shrubs, further research is advisable.</p

Regional Patterns of Late Medieval and Early Modern European Building Activity Revealed by Felling Dates

Although variations in building activity are a useful indicator of societal well-being and demographic development, historical datasets for larger regions and longer periods are still rare. Here, we present 54,045 annually precise dendrochronological felling dates from historical construction timber from across most of Europe between 1250 and 1699 CE to infer variations in building activity. We use geostatistical techniques to compare spatiotemporal dynamics in past European building activity against independent demographic, economic, social and climatic data. We show that the felling dates capture major geographical patterns of demographic trends, especially in regions with dense data coverage. A particularly strong negative association is found between grain prices and the number of felling dates. In addition, a significant positive association is found between the number of felling dates and mining activity. These strong associations, with well-known macro-economic indicators from pre-industrial Europe, corroborate the use of felling dates as an independent source for exploring large-scale fluctuations of societal well-being and demographic development. Three prominent examples are the building boom in the Hanseatic League region of northeastern Germany during the 13th century, the onset of the Late Medieval Crisis in much of Europec. 1300, and the cessation of building activity in large parts of central Europe during armed conflicts such as the Thirty Years’ War (1618–1648 CE). Despite new insights gained from our European-wide felling date inventory, further studies are needed to investigate changes in construction activity of high versus low status buildings, and of urban versus rural buildings, and to compare those results with a variety of historical documentary sources and natural proxy archives.</jats:p

Statistical learning theory and consumer learning : an experimental investigation / BEBR No. 43

Bibliography: p. 27-30