Management of thyroglossal tract disease after failed Sistrunk’s procedure

Sistrunk’s procedure for thyroglossal duct remnants has a very high success rate, there remains the occasional patient, however, that will have recurrent disease despite a competently performed operation. Applied anatomy and embryology proffer a solution to this problem. Extending the Sistrunk operation, with an anterior wide local excision remaining within normal tissue, enables removal of the entire thyroglossal tract remnant. A retrospective case note review was conducted to study our experience using this extended procedure to treat patients with thyroglossal tract disease that had recurred after a previous Sistrunk’s operation. Six patients aged from five to 33 years were included in the study. There was one recurrence and the complication rate was comparable to the standard operation. It was concluded that a wide local excision is a valuable extension of the Sistrunk operation for the management of recurrent disease

Dairy heifers naturally exposed to Fasciola hepatica develop a type-2 immune response and concomitant suppression of leukocyte proliferation

Fasciola hepatica is a parasitic trematode of global importance in livestock. Control strategies reliant on anthelmintics are unsustainable due to the emergence of drug resistance. Vaccines are under development, but efficacy is variable. Evidence from experimental infection suggest vaccine efficacy may be affected by parasite-induced immunomodulation. Little is known about the immune response to F. hepatica following natural exposure. Hence we analysed the immune responses over time in calves naturally exposed to F. hepatica infection.Cohorts of replacement dairy heifer calves (n=42) with no prior exposure to F. hepatica, on three commercial dairy farms, were sampled over the course of a grazing season. Exposure was determined through F. hepatica-specific serum antibody ELISA and fluke egg counts. Concurrent changes in peripheral blood leukocyte sub-populations, lymphocyte proliferation and cytokine responses were measured. Relationships between fluke infection and immune responses were analysed using multivariable linear mixed effect models.All calves from one farm showed evidence of exposure, whilst cohorts from the remaining two farms remained negative over the grazing season. A type-2 immune response was associated with exposure, with increased interleukin (IL)-4 production, IL-5 transcription and eosinophilia. Suppression of parasite-specific PBMC proliferation was evident; while decreased mitogen stimulated IFN-γ production suggested immunomodulation, which was not restricted to parasite-specific responses. Our findings show that the global immune response is modulated towards a non-proliferative type-2 state following natural challenge with F. hepatica This has implications for vaccination programmes in terms of the timing of administration of vaccination programmes, and for host susceptibility to co-infecting pathogens

Phase I study of TP300 in patients with advanced solid tumors with pharmacokinetic, pharmacogenetic and pharmacodynamic analyses

Background: A Phase I dose escalation first in man study assessed maximum tolerated dose (MTD), dose-limiting toxicity (DLT) and recommended Phase II dose of TP300, a water soluble prodrug of the Topo-1 inhibitor TP3076, and active metabolite, TP3011. <p/>Methods: Eligible patients with refractory advanced solid tumors, adequate performance status, haematologic, renal, and hepatic function. TP300 was given as a 1-hour i.v. infusion 3-weekly and pharmacokinetic (PK) profiles of TP300, TP3076 and TP3011 were analysed. Polymorphisms in CYP2D6, AOX1 and UGT1A1 were studied and DNA strand-breaks measured in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). <p/>Results: 32 patients received TP300 at 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12 mg/m2. MTD was 10 mg/m2; DLTs at 12 (2/4 patients) and 10 mg/m2 (3/12) included thrombocytopenia and febrile neutropenia; diarrhea was uncommon. Six patients (five had received irinotecan), had stable disease for 1.5-5 months. TP3076 showed dose proportionality in AUC and Cmax from 1--10 mg/m2. Genetic polymorphisms had no apparent influence on exposure. DNA strand-breaks were detected after TP300 infusion. <p/>Conclusions: TP300 had predictable hematologic toxicity, and diarrhea was uncommon. AUC at MTD is substantially greater than for SN38. TP3076 and TP3011 are equi-potent with SN38, suggesting a PK advantage

Joint Optical Flow and Temporally Consistent Semantic Segmentation

The importance and demands of visual scene understanding have been steadily increasing along with the active development of autonomous systems. Consequently, there has been a large amount of research dedicated to semantic segmentation and dense motion estimation. In this paper, we propose a method for jointly estimating optical flow and temporally consistent semantic segmentation, which closely connects these two problem domains and leverages each other. Semantic segmentation provides information on plausible physical motion to its associated pixels, and accurate pixel-level temporal correspondences enhance the accuracy of semantic segmentation in the temporal domain. We demonstrate the benefits of our approach on the KITTI benchmark, where we observe performance gains for flow and segmentation. We achieve state-of-the-art optical flow results, and outperform all published algorithms by a large margin on challenging, but crucial dynamic objects.Comment: 14 pages, Accepted for CVRSUAD workshop at ECCV 201

Drain blocking has limited short-term effects on greenhouse gas fluxes in a Molinia caerulea dominated shallow peatland (article)

This is the final version. Available on open access from Elsevier via the DOI in this recordThe dataset associated with this article is available in ORE at https://doi.org/10.24378/exe.2723Drained peatlands dominated by purple moor grass (Molinia caerulea) are widespread in the UK and Western Europe. Although substantial carbon stores may be present in these peatlands, in this degraded state they are not currently acting as carbon sinks. Therefore, M.caerulea dominated peatlands have been identified as potential sites for ecohydrological restoration to tackle the current climate emergency. However, at present little is known about whether ditch blocking can raise water tables and promote the recovery of bog plant species, and the subsequent effects on carbon sequestration in these peatlands. To investigate the potential for restoration, we measured changes in water table depth, vegetation composition, photosynthesis at 1000 μmol Photons m−2 s−1 (PG1000), ecosystem respiration (REco) and partitioned below-ground respiration in two M.caerulea dominated peatlands in which drainage ditches had been blocked located in Exmoor National Park, southwest England. Measurements were made in two headwater catchments at ⅛, ¼ and ½ of the distance between adjacent drainage ditches at four control-restored paired sites, during the growing seasons pre- (2012) and post- (2014, 2016 & 2018) restoration. Restoration had a small but significant (p = 0.009) effect on water table depths however, this did not result in a significant change in vegetation composition (p > 0.350). Ecosystem respiration increased in both the control and restored locations following restoration however, this increase was significantly smaller (p = 0.010) at the restored locations, possibly due to a similarly reduced increase in photosynthesis, although this change was not significant (p = 0.116). Below-ground respiration showed no significant changes following restoration. This research illustrates how degraded these shallow peatlands are, and raises concerns that ditch blocking alone may not bring about the high and stable water tables required to perturb the existing Molinia caerulea-dominated ecosystem and substantially alter the carbon balance. Additional restoration measures may be required.South West Water (SWW)University of ExeterTechnology Strategy Board CouncilNatural Environment Research Council (NERC

Sibling relationships and family functioning in siblings of early adolescents, adolescents and young adults with autism spectrum disorder

The purpose of the study was to investigate how family functioning (defined as the ability that family members hold to manage stressful events, and intimate and social relationships), the degree to which family members feel happy and fulfilled with each other (called family satisfaction), and the demographical characteristics of siblings (age and gender) impacted on sibling relationships. The Circumplex Model of Marital and Family Systems and Behavioral Systems constituted the theoretical frameworks that guided our study. Eighty-six typically developing adolescents and young adults having a sister or a brother with autism spectrum disorder were enrolled. Results indicated that the youngest age group (early adolescents) reported to engage more frequently in negative behaviors with their siblings with ASD than the two older age groups (middle adolescents and young adults). No significant differences were found among the three age groups regarding behaviors derived from attachment, caregiving and affiliative systems. Family satisfaction and age significantly predicted behaviors during sibling interactions. Suggestions on prevention and intervention programs were discussed in order to prevent parentification among typically developing siblings and decrease episodes of quarrels and overt conflicts between brothers and sisters with and without AS

A comparison of photocatalytic reforming reactions of methanol and triethanolamine with Pd supported on titania and graphitic carbon nitride

© 2017 The Author(s).Direct comparison between Pd supported on P25 TiO2 and on C3N4 is made for photocatalytic hydrogen production, with UV activity being distinguished from visible light activity. Two very different, but commonly studied hole scavengers were used and compared, namely, methanol and triethanolamine (TEOA). Using full arc irradiation of a solar simulator the titania supported catalysts showed the best activity. Although with TEOA the carbon nitride supported catalyst shows some activity in visible light only, it is very small (ca. 15%) compared to that observed using the whole spectrum. When using methanol, even in the presence of UV light, the carbon nitride catalyst show only very low hydrogen yields

Elevation and cholera: an epidemiological spatial analysis of the cholera epidemic in Harare, Zimbabwe, 2008-2009

BACKGROUND: In highly populated African urban areas where access to clean water is a challenge, water source contamination is one of the most cited risk factors in a cholera epidemic. During the rainy season, where there is either no sewage disposal or working sewer system, runoff of rains follows the slopes and gets into the lower parts of towns where shallow wells could easily become contaminated by excretes. In cholera endemic areas, spatial information about topographical elevation could help to guide preventive interventions. This study aims to analyze the association between topographic elevation and the distribution of cholera cases in Harare during the cholera epidemic in 2008 and 2009. METHODS: We developed an ecological study using secondary data. First, we described attack rates by suburb and then calculated rate ratios using whole Harare as reference. We illustrated the average elevation and cholera cases by suburbs using geographical information. Finally, we estimated a generalized linear mixed model (under the assumption of a Poisson distribution) with an Empirical Bayesian approach to model the relation between the risk of cholera and the elevation in meters in Harare. We used a random intercept to allow for spatial correlation of neighboring suburbs. RESULTS: This study identifies a spatial pattern of the distribution of cholera cases in the Harare epidemic, characterized by a lower cholera risk in the highest elevation suburbs of Harare. The generalized linear mixed model showed that for each 100 meters of increase in the topographical elevation, the cholera risk was 30% lower with a rate ratio of 0.70 (95% confidence interval=0.66-0.76). Sensitivity analysis confirmed the risk reduction with an overall estimate of the rate ratio between 20% and 40%. CONCLUSION: This study highlights the importance of considering topographical elevation as a geographical and environmental risk factor in order to plan cholera preventive activities linked with water and sanitation in endemic areas. Furthermore, elevation information, among other risk factors, could help to spatially orientate cholera control interventions during an epidemic

Model-free Consensus Maximization for Non-Rigid Shapes

Many computer vision methods use consensus maximization to relate measurements containing outliers with the correct transformation model. In the context of rigid shapes, this is typically done using Random Sampling and Consensus (RANSAC) by estimating an analytical model that agrees with the largest number of measurements (inliers). However, small parameter models may not be always available. In this paper, we formulate the model-free consensus maximization as an Integer Program in a graph using `rules' on measurements. We then provide a method to solve it optimally using the Branch and Bound (BnB) paradigm. We focus its application on non-rigid shapes, where we apply the method to remove outlier 3D correspondences and achieve performance superior to the state of the art. Our method works with outlier ratio as high as 80\%. We further derive a similar formulation for 3D template to image matching, achieving similar or better performance compared to the state of the art.Comment: ECCV1