¿Es adecuado el sistema español de evaluación de la actividad investigadora para su aplicación a las Ciencias de la Tierra y otros campos afines?

Through the survey «Research activities in the R&D system in Earth Sciences in Spain (1990-1994)>>, information about different aspects of the professional activity of Spanish researchers in this field has been retrieved, as well as their opinion about prevailing research evaluation criteria. Starting from survey's results, we discuss the suitability of the present Spanish scientific evaluation system for assessing research activity of said researchers. Results show scientist's disagreement with the prevailing evaluation procedures and criteria. More than 70 % of both University and CSIC researchers consider that evaluation criteria are inappropriate or unacceptable, being this percentage significantly higher than the obtained from scientists belonging to other institutions. Disagreement with evaluation criteria is significantly lower among authors that only publish in foreign journals. Positive correlation has been found between opinion about evaluation criteria and the level of consolidation and stability of research teams. Main cause of disagreement is concerned with the over-valuation of papers published in SCI journals and the scarce consideration given to high quality papers published in serious domestic journals and to other scientific contributions. Results suggest that the evaluation system could have been detrimental to researchers working in some scientific fields, but does not seem to have discriminate among basic and applied research or among research of local or national interest and those more internationally-oriented. The research evaluation system should consider the idiosyncrasy of the different scientific fields, as well as their particular and distinctive characteristics and dynamics. It should take into the adequate consideration quality scientific work that, despite being of particular importance in fields as Earth Sciences, is not published in SCI joumals.A través de la opinión expresada por los propios investigadores, se discute la idoneidad del actual sistema español de evaluación de la actividad investigadora, para su aplicación en el campo de las Ciencias de la Tierra. Dicha opinión ha sido obtenida a través de la encuesta «Actividades de investigación realizadas en el Sistema de I+D en Ciencias de la Tierra en España, 1990-1994», que recoge información sobre distintos aspectos de la actividad profesional de los investigadores españoles en este campo. Los resultados muestran su desacuerdo con los criterios y el procedimiento de evaluación actualmente vigentes. Más del 70 % tanto de los profesores universitarios como de los investigadores del CSIC considera que los criterios de evaluación son inadecuados o inaceptables, siendo su grado de disconformidad con los mismos significativamente más elevado que el de los investigadores del resto de instituciones. Este porcentaje es significativamente menor entre los científicos que publican exclusivamente en revistas extranjeras. Asimismo, se ha detectado una correlación positiva entre la opinión acerca de los criterios de evaluación y el nivel de consolidación y estabilidad de los equipos de investigación, de modo que cuanto mayor es éste más elevada es la proporción de juicios favorables a los mismos. El principal motivo de disconformidad con el procedimiento de evaluación se refiere a la excesiva importancia que se concede a los trabajos publicados en revistas del SCI, en detrimento de los publicados en revistas españolas de calidad y de otras contribuciones científicas. Los resultados indican que el sistema de evaluación podría estar produciendo una discriminación entre los investigadores pertenecientes a distintos campos científicos, más que entre investigación básica y aplicada o entre investigación de interés local y/o nacional y aquella de ámbito internacional. Consideramos que el sistema de evaluación debe tener en cuenta la idiosincrasia y características propias y distintivas de cada campo científico y debe tomar en la adecuada consideración los trabajos de contrastada calidad que, por diversos motivos, no se publican en revistas del SCI, los cuales tienen una especial importancia en ciertos campos científicos, entre los que se encuentran las Ciencias de la Tierra

Papillary carcinoma arising in a thyroglossal duct cyst with associated microcarcinoma of the thyroid and without cervical lymph node metastasis: a case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>This is a case report of a 44-year-old woman with papillary carcinoma of a thyroglossal duct cyst.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>A 44 year-old woman presented to the otolaryngology outpatient clinic with an asymptomatic anterior midline neck mass. A cervical ultrasound showed a lesion which appeared to be a thyroglossal duct cyst and surgical resection using Sistrunk's procedure was performed. The histopathologic diagnosis showed papillary carcinoma evolving from a thyroglossal duct cyst, confined to the thyroglossal cyst, with a tumor diameter of 2 cm. The patient then underwent total thyroidectomy and bilateral neck dissection. The final pathology reported an 8 mm papillary cancer in the left lobe of the thyroid without any metastasis to the cervical lymph nodes. The patient was treated with radioactive iodide and thyroid suppresion therapy was given as adjuvant treatment. The patient has been following for two years without any metastasis.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Malignancy within a thyroglossal duct cyst is very rare but should be considered in the differential diagnosis of a midline neck mass.</p

NCAM (CD56) Expression in keratin-producing odontogenic cysts: aberrant expression in KCOT

Background: Keratin-producing odontogenic cysts (KPOCs) are a group of cystic lesions that are often aggressive, with high rates of recurrence and multifocality. KPOCs included orthokeratinised odontogenic cyst (OOC) and parakeratotic odontogenic cysts, which are now considered true tumours denominated keratocystic odontogenic tumours (KCOTs). GLUT1 is a protein transporter that is involved in the active uptake of glucose across cell membranes and that is overexpressed in tumours in close correlation with the proliferation rate and positron emission tomography (PET) imaging results. Methods: A series of 58 keratin-producing odontogenic cysts was evaluated histologically and immunohistochemically in terms of GLUT1 expression. Different data were correlated using the beta regression model in relation to histological type and immunohistochemical expression of GLUT1, which was quantified using two different morphological methods. Results: KPOC cases comprised 12 OOCs and 46 KCOTs, the latter corresponding to 6 syndromic and 40 sporadic KCOTs. GLUT1 expression was very low in OOC cases compared with KCOT cases, with statistical significant differences when quantification was considered. Different GLUT1 localisation patterns were revealed by immunostaining, with the parabasal cells showing higher reactivity in KCOTs. However, among KCOTs cases, GLUT1 expression was unable to establish differences between syndromic and sporadic cases. Conclusions: GLUT1 expression differentiated between OOC and KCOT cases, with significantly higher expression in KCOTs, but did not differentiate between syndromic and sporadic KCOT cases. However, given the structural characteristics of KCOTs, we hypothesised that PET imaging methodology is probably not a useful diagnostic tool for KCOTs. Further studies of GLUT1 expression and PET examination in KCOT series are needed to confirm this last hypothesis. Keywords: Glucose transporter protein, Immunohistochemistry, Keratin-producing odontogenic cyst, Keratocystic odontogenic tumour, Orthokeratinised odontogenic cyst, Positron emission tomograph

S-100 protein positive cells in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC): absence of prognostic significance. A clinicopathological and immunohistochemical study of 40 cases

An immunohistochemical study of S-100 protein in 43 nasopharyngeal carcinomas (NPC) of known clinical evolution (33 primary and 10 metastatic) is presented. Sixty per cent of primary site cases as well as all metastatic forms showed S-100 protein positive cells intermingled with tumour cells. These S-100 positive elements were identified as Langerhans cells. No significant differences were found when correlating S-100 protein positivity and histological NPC variants, neither in age nor in sex of patients. Statistical analysis failed to demonstrate any positive correlation between S-100 protein reactivity and clinical survival

High through-put sequencing of the Parhyale hawaiensis mRNAs and microRNAs to aid comparative developmental studies

Understanding the genetic and evolutionary basis of animal morphological diversity will require comparative developmental studies that use new model organisms. This necessitates development of tools for the study of genetics and also the generation of sequence information of the organism to be studied. The development of next generation sequencing technology has enabled quick and cost effective generation of sequence information. Parhyale hawaiensis has emerged as a model organism of choice due to the development of advanced molecular tools, thus P. hawaiensis genetic information will help drive functional studies in this organism. Here we present a transcriptome and miRNA collection generated using next generation sequencing platforms. We generated approximately 1.7 million reads from a P. hawaiensis cDNA library constructed from embryos up to the germ band stage. These reads were assembled into a dataset comprising 163,501 transcripts. Using the combined annotation of Annot8r and pfam2go, Gene Ontology classifications was assigned to 20,597 transcripts. Annot8r was used to provide KEGG orthology to our transcript dataset. A total of 25,292 KEGG pathway assignments were defined and further confirmed with reciprocal blast against the NCBI nr protein database. This has identified many P. hawaiensis gene orthologs of key conserved signalling pathways involved in development. We also generated small RNA sequences from P. hawaiensis, identifying 55 conserved miRNAs. Sequenced small RNAs that were not annotated by stringent comparison to mirBase were used to search the Daphnia pulex for possible novel miRNAs. Using a conservative approach, we have identified 51 possible miRNA candidates conserved in the Daphnia pulex genome, which could be potential crustacean/arthropod specific miRNAs. Our study presents gene and miRNA discovery in a new model organism that does not have a sequenced genome. The data provided by our work will be valuable for the P. hawaiensis community as well as the wider evolutionary developmental biology community

Case Report Synovial Cysts of the Temporomandibular Joint: An Immunohistochemical Characterization and Literature Review

Synovial cysts of the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) are very rare, and to date, only 12 cases of a synovial cyst in the TMJ region have been reported in the literature. In this paper, we present the clinicopathological and immunohistochemical characteristics of one such lesion affecting a 48-year-old woman, presented with a mass in the left preauricular region. We describe the usefulness of immunohistochemical analysis for recognizing the synovial lining, which allowed for clear differentiation between ganglion and synovial cysts. Immunohistochemical analyses can be used to diagnose synovial cysts with certainty; however, using at least two markers is advisable to distinguish the two existing synovial cell subtypes. Our findings indicate that synovial cysts of TMJ possess an internal lining dominated by type B (fibroblast-like) synoviocytes