Sister Mary Joseph's Nodule at a University Teaching Hospital in Northwestern Tanzania: A Retrospective Review of 34 cases.

Sister Mary Joseph's nodule is a metastatic tumor deposit in the umbilicus and often represents advanced intra-abdominal malignancy with dismal prognosis. There is a paucity of published data on this subject in our setting. This study was conducted to describe the clinicopathological presentation and treatment outcome of this condition in our environment and highlight challenges associated with the care of these patients, and to proffer solutions for improved outcome. This was a retrospective study of histologically confirmed cases of Sister Mary Joseph's nodule seen at Bugando Medical Centre between March 2003 and February 2013. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics. A total of 34 patients were enrolled in the study. Males outnumbered females by a ratio of 1.4:1. The vast majority of patients (70.6%) presented with large umbilical nodule > 2 cm in size. The stomach (41.1%) was the most common location of the primary tumor. Adenocarcinoma (88.2%) was the most frequent histopathological type. Most of the primary tumors (52.9%) were poorly differentiated. As the disease was advanced and metastatic in all patients, only palliative therapy was offered. Out of 34 patients, 11 patients died in the hospital giving a mortality rate of 32.4%. Patients were followed up for 24 months. At the end of the follow-up period, 14(60.9%) patients were lost to follow-up and the remaining 9 (39.1%) patients died. Patients survived for a median period of 28 weeks (range, 2 to 64 weeks). The nodule recurred in 6 (26.1%) patients after complete excision. Sister Mary Joseph's nodule of the umbilicus is not rare in our environment and often represents manifestation of a variety of advanced intra-abdominal malignancies. The majority of the patients present at a late stage and many with distant metastases. The patient's survival is very short leading to a poor outcome. Early detection of primary cancer at an early stage may improve the prognosis

Diving into the vertical dimension of elasmobranch movement ecology

Knowledge of the three-dimensional movement patterns of elasmobranchs is vital to understand their ecological roles and exposure to anthropogenic pressures. To date, comparative studies among species at global scales have mostly focused on horizontal movements. Our study addresses the knowledge gap of vertical movements by compiling the first global synthesis of vertical habitat use by elasmobranchs from data obtained by deployment of 989 biotelemetry tags on 38 elasmobranch species. Elasmobranchs displayed high intra- and interspecific variability in vertical movement patterns. Substantial vertical overlap was observed for many epipelagic elasmobranchs, indicating an increased likelihood to display spatial overlap, biologically interact, and share similar risk to anthropogenic threats that vary on a vertical gradient. We highlight the critical next steps toward incorporating vertical movement into global management and monitoring strategies for elasmobranchs, emphasizing the need to address geographic and taxonomic biases in deployments and to concurrently consider both horizontal and vertical movements

On the mechanisms governing gas penetration into a tokamak plasma during a massive gas injection

A new 1D radial fluid code, IMAGINE, is used to simulate the penetration of gas into a tokamak plasma during a massive gas injection (MGI). The main result is that the gas is in general strongly braked as it reaches the plasma, due to mechanisms related to charge exchange and (to a smaller extent) recombination. As a result, only a fraction of the gas penetrates into the plasma. Also, a shock wave is created in the gas which propagates away from the plasma, braking and compressing the incoming gas. Simulation results are quantitatively consistent, at least in terms of orders of magnitude, with experimental data for a D 2 MGI into a JET Ohmic plasma. Simulations of MGI into the background plasma surrounding a runaway electron beam show that if the background electron density is too high, the gas may not penetrate, suggesting a possible explanation for the recent results of Reux et al in JET (2015 Nucl. Fusion 55 093013)

Different rebound rise in plasma prolactin during the postdopamine infusion phase in puerperal women and patients with pathological hyperprolactinemia

Dopamine infused at a rate of 4 micrograms/kg . min for 120 min induced at the end of the infusion period a clear-cut and similar suppression of circulating PRL levels in normal and puerperal women as well as in patients with hyperprolactinemia either due to a tumor or of unknown etiology. At the discontinuation of the infusion there was a marked PRL rebound above baseline levels in normal subjects and a rapid return to basal levels in subjects with pathological hyperprolactinemia. In contrast, there was no increase in plasma PRL in puerperal women, in whom PRL levels remained suppressed during the whole postinfusion period. The reason(s) for this pattern in puerperal women is presently unknown, although previous estrogen loading of the lactotropes during pregnancy may be involve

The Microtubule Plus-End Tracking Proteins SPR1 and EB1b Interact to Maintain Polar Cell Elongation and Directional Organ Growth in Arabidopsis

The microtubule plus-end tracking proteins (+TIPs) END BINDING1b (EB1b) and SPIRAL1 (SPR1) are required for normal cell expansion and organ growth. EB proteins are viewed as central regulators of +TIPs and cell polarity in animals; SPR1 homologs are specific to plants. To explore if EB1b and SPR1 fundamentally function together, we combined genetic, biochemical, and cell imaging approaches in Arabidopsis thaliana. We found that eb1b-2 spr1-6 double mutant roots exhibit substantially more severe polar expansion defects than either single mutant, undergoing right-looping growth and severe axial twisting instead of waving on tilted hard-agar surfaces. Protein interaction assays revealed that EB1b and SPR1 bind each other and tubulin heterodimers, which is suggestive of a microtubule loading mechanism. EB1b and SPR1 show antagonistic association with microtubules in vitro. Surprisingly, our combined analyses revealed that SPR1 can load onto microtubules and function independently of EB1 proteins, setting SPR1 apart from most studied +TIPs in animals and fungi. Moreover, we found that the severity of defects in microtubule dynamics in spr1 eb1b mutant hypocotyl cells correlated well with the severity of growth defects. These data indicate that SPR1 and EB1b have complex interactions as they load onto microtubule plus ends and direct polar cell expansion and organ growth in response to directional cues