Huge Symptomatic Brenner Tumour Simulating Uterine Fibroid: A Case Report

Background: Brenner tumours are rare ovarian neoplasms which are frequently so small and symptomless as to be incidental findings at laparotomies for other conditions. The occurrence of a huge symptomatic Brenner tumour is even rarer in our environment. Our objective is to report a case of huge symptomatic Brenner tumour in a -67 year old post-menopausal woman and to alert practicing Gynaecologists that though rare, this condition still occurs and to re-emphasize the need for proper and routine histological examination of all surgical specimen.Method: The case note of the patient who presented at the gynaecology clinic of the University of Port-Harcourt Teaching Hospital with 15 years history of abdominal swelling and pain and repeated ultrasound scan diagnosis of multiple uterine fibroids and managed in our centre, was retrieved and studied. Literature on the subject was also reviewed using available journals and online resources.Results: The patient had exploratory laparotmy, total abdominal hysterectomy and bilateral salpingo-ovariectomy. Intraoperative findings were clean peritoneal cavity, a hard, 15cm diameter irregular right ovarian mass, slightly bulky uterus with 3cm long cervix, normal tubes and left ovary. The ovarian mass was confirmed histologically as benign Brenner tumour. She did remarkably well post-operatively and had since been discharged from the gynaecology clinic.Conclusion: This case illustrates that even rarer huge symptomatic Brenner tumours still occur in our environment. Practicing Gynaecologists should be aware of this condition and the need for proper histologic examination of surgically removed specimen.Keywords: Huge, symptomatic, Brenner Tumour, uterine fibroid

Major and minor flares on Cygnus X-3 revisited

Intense flares at cm-wavelengths reaching levels of tens of Jy have been observed from Cygnus X-3 for many years. This active high mass X-ray binary also has periods of quenching before major outbursts, and has minor flares at levels of a few hundred mJy. In this paper we show that the minor flares have much shorter rise times and durations suggesting more rapid expansion of the synchrotron radiation emitting material than in the strong flares. They also appear closer to the binary, whereas the large flares form a more developed jet. Calculations of physical conditions show that the minor out-bursts have lower minimum power but have larger magnetic fields and energy densities than the major flares. Minor flares can occur while a major flare is in progress, suggesting an indirect coupling between them. The spectral evolution of the minor flares can be explained by either an expanding synchrotron source or a shock model. The possibility that there is a brightening zone as in SS433 is explored

A Meta-Analysis of Genome-Wide Association Scans Identifies IL18RAP, PTPN2, TAGAP, and PUS10 As Shared Risk Loci for Crohn's Disease and Celiac Disease

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited

Scintillator-based ion beam profiler for diagnosing laser-accelerated ion beams

Next generation intense, short-pulse laser facilities require new high repetition rate diagnostics for the detection of ionizing radiation. We have designed a new scintillator-based ion beam profiler capable of measuring the ion beam transverse profile for a number of discrete energy ranges. The optical response and emission characteristics of four common plastic scintillators has been investigated for a range of proton energies and fluxes. The scintillator light output (for 1 MeV > Ep < 28 MeV) was found to have a non-linear scaling with proton energy but a linear response to incident flux. Initial measurements with a prototype diagnostic have been successful, although further calibration work is required to characterize the total system response and limitations under the high flux, short pulse duration conditions of a typical high intensity laser-plasma interaction

A novel pathway producing dimethylsulphide in bacteria is widespread in soil environments

The volatile compound dimethylsulphide (DMS) is important in climate regulation, the sulphur cycle and signalling to higher organisms. Microbial catabolism of the marine osmolyte dimethylsulphoniopropionate (DMSP) is thought to be the major biological process generating DMS. Here we report the discovery and characterisation of the first gene for DMSP-independent DMS production in any bacterium. This gene, mddA, encodes a methyltransferase that methylates methanethiol (MeSH) and generates DMS. MddA functions in many taxonomically diverse bacteria including sediment-dwelling pseudomonads, nitrogen-fixing bradyrhizobia and cyanobacteria, and mycobacteria, including the pathogen Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The mddA gene is present in metagenomes from varied environments, being particularly abundant in soil environments, where it is predicted to occur in up to 76% of bacteria. This novel pathway may significantly contribute to global DMS emissions, especially in terrestrial environments, and could represent a shift from the notion that DMSP is the only significant precursor of DMS

Estimation of Dietary Iron Bioavailability from Food Iron Intake and Iron Status

Currently there are no satisfactory methods for estimating dietary iron absorption (bioavailability) at a population level, but this is essential for deriving dietary reference values using the factorial approach. The aim of this work was to develop a novel approach for estimating dietary iron absorption using a population sample from a sub-section of the UK National Diet and Nutrition Survey (NDNS). Data were analyzed in 873 subjects from the 2000–2001 adult cohort of the NDNS, for whom both dietary intake data and hematological measures (hemoglobin and serum ferritin (SF) concentrations) were available. There were 495 men aged 19–64 y (mean age 42.7±12.1 y) and 378 pre-menopausal women (mean age 35.7±8.2 y). Individual dietary iron requirements were estimated using the Institute of Medicine calculations. A full probability approach was then applied to estimate the prevalence of dietary intakes that were insufficient to meet the needs of the men and women separately, based on their estimated daily iron intake and a series of absorption values ranging from 1–40%. The prevalence of SF concentrations below selected cut-off values (indicating that absorption was not high enough to maintain iron stores) was derived from individual SF concentrations. An estimate of dietary iron absorption required to maintain specified SF values was then calculated by matching the observed prevalence of insufficiency with the prevalence predicted for the series of absorption estimates. Mean daily dietary iron intakes were 13.5 mg for men and 9.8 mg for women. Mean calculated dietary absorption was 8% in men (50th percentile for SF 85 µg/L) and 17% in women (50th percentile for SF 38 µg/L). At a ferritin level of 45 µg/L estimated absorption was similar in men (14%) and women (13%). This new method can be used to calculate dietary iron absorption at a population level using data describing total iron intake and SF concentration

Accuracy of nature of call screening tool in identifying patients requiring treatment for out of hospital cardiac arrest

BackgroundA new pre-triage screening tool, Nature of Call (NoC), has been introduced into the telephone triage system of UK ambulance services which employ National Health Service Pathways (NHSP). Its function is to provide rapid recognition of patients who may need immediate ambulance dispatch for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) and withholding dispatch for other calls while further triage is undertaken. In this study, we evaluated the accuracy of NoC and NHSP in identifying patients with potentially treatable or imminent OHCA.MethodsThis retrospective, observational study reviewed consecutive calls to a UK ambulance service between October 2016 and February 2017 in which NOC, and then NHSP were applied sequentially. Only those calls for which a corresponding electronic Patient Clinical Record was available were included. Sensitivity and specificity of NOC and NHSP for recognition of an OHCA were determined by comparing allocated priority dispositions with an OHCA Treatment Registry (OHCATR).ResultsOf 96 423 calls received, 71 373 were reviewed. For 590 (0.8%) of these calls, the patients received treatment for OHCA. NOC identified 458 OHCATR patients; NHSP identified 467; together they identified 496. NoC captured 29 patients not identified by NHSP; NHSP captured 38 patients not identified by NOC. For NOC sensitivity was 77.6% (95% CI 74.1 to 80.8) and specificity 86.9% (95% CI 86.6 to 87.1). NHSP sensitivity was 79.2% (95% CI 75.7 to 82.2) and specificity 93.4% (95% CI 93.2 to 93.6). NoC and NHSP combined had a sensitivity of 84.1% (95% CI 80.9 to 86.8) and specificity of 85.3% (95% CI 85.1 to 85.6).ConclusionsNoC and NHSP call categorisation each achieved similar sensitivity for the identification of OHCATR, identifying most of the same patients, but each captured unique patients. Using both methods sequentially improved accuracy. The 16% of OHCATR patients not identified by either method present a challenge to ambulance dispatch systems.</jats:sec

Basement structure of the United Arab Emirates derived from an analysis of regional gravity and aeromagnetic database

Gravity and aeromagnetic data covering the whole territory of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have been used to evaluate both shallow and deep geological structures, in particular the depth to basement since it is not imaged by seismic data anywhere within the UAE. Thus, the aim has been to map the basement so that its structure can help to assess its control on the distribution of hydrocarbons within the UAE. Power spectrum analysis reveals gravity and magnetic signatures to have some similarities, in having two main density/susceptibility interfaces widely separated in depth such that regional-residual anomaly separation could effectively be undertaken. The upper density/susceptibility interface occurs at a depth of about 1.5 km while the deeper interface varies in depth throughout the UAE. For gravity, this deeper interface is assumed to be due to the combined effect of lateral changes in density structures within the sediments and in depth of basement while for magnetics it is assumed the sediments have negligible susceptibility and the anomalies unrelated to the volcanic/magmatic bodies result from only changes in depth to basement. The power spectrum analysis over the suspect volcanic/magmatic bodies indicates they occur at ~ 5 km depth. The finite tilt-depth and finite local wavenumber methods were used to estimate depth to source and only depths that agree to within 10% of each other were used to generate the depth to basement map. This depth to basement map, to the west of the UAE-Oman Mountains, varies in depth from 5 km to in excess of 15 km depth and is able to structurally account for the location of the shear structures, seen in the residual magnetic data, and the location of the volcanic/magmatic centres relative to a set of elongate N-S to NE-SW trending basement highs. The majority of oilfields in the UAE are located within these basement highs. Therefore, the hydrocarbon distribution in the UAE basin appears to be controlled by the location of the basement ridges

Basement structure of the United Arab Emirates derived from an analysis of regional gravity and aeromagnetic database

Gravity and aeromagnetic data covering the whole territory of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have been used to evaluate both shallow and deep geological structures, in particular the depth to basement since it is not imaged by seismic data anywhere within the UAE. Thus, the aim has been to map the basement so that its structure can help to assess its control on the distribution of hydrocarbons within the UAE. Power spectrum analysis reveals gravity and magnetic signatures to have some similarities, in having two main density/susceptibility interfaces widely separated in depth such that regional-residual anomaly separation could effectively be undertaken. The upper density/susceptibility interface occurs at a depth of about 1.5 km while the deeper interface varies in depth throughout the UAE. For gravity, this deeper interface is assumed to be due to the combined effect of lateral changes in density structures within the sediments and in depth of basement while for magnetics it is assumed the sediments have negligible susceptibility and the anomalies unrelated to the volcanic/magmatic bodies result from only changes in depth to basement. The power spectrum analysis over the suspect volcanic/magmatic bodies indicates they occur at ~ 5 km depth. The finite tilt-depth and finite local wavenumber methods were used to estimate depth to source and only depths that agree to within 10% of each other were used to generate the depth to basement map. This depth to basement map, to the west of the UAE-Oman Mountains, varies in depth from 5 km to in excess of 15 km depth and is able to structurally account for the location of the shear structures, seen in the residual magnetic data, and the location of the volcanic/magmatic centres relative to a set of elongate N-S to NE-SW trending basement highs. The majority of oilfields in the UAE are located within these basement highs. Therefore, the hydrocarbon distribution in the UAE basin appears to be controlled by the location of the basement ridges

The entropy of black holes: a primer

After recalling the definition of black holes, and reviewing their energetics and their classical thermodynamics, one expounds the conjecture of Bekenstein, attributing an entropy to black holes, and the calculation by Hawking of the semi-classical radiation spectrum of a black hole, involving a thermal (Planckian) factor. One then discusses the attempts to interpret the black-hole entropy as the logarithm of the number of quantum micro-states of a macroscopic black hole, with particular emphasis on results obtained within string theory. After mentioning the (technically cleaner, but conceptually more intricate) case of supersymmetric (BPS) black holes and the corresponding counting of the degeneracy of Dirichlet-brane systems, one discusses in some detail the ``correspondence'' between massive string states and non-supersymmetric Schwarzschild black holes.Comment: 51 pages, 4 figures, talk given at the "Poincare seminar" (Paris, 6 December 2003), to appear in Poincare Seminar 2003 (Birkhauser