Extinction of ants' feeding and social foraging on myrmecochorous seeds

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Fibrocaps is a dry powder fibrin sealant containing human plasma-derived fibrinogen and thrombin. The safety, efficacy, and application methods for Fibrocaps were evaluated in an exploratory, first-in-human, noncomparative, clinical study. METHODS: Patients with minor bleeding/oozing after elective partial hepatic resection had Fibrocaps applied to the bleeding site either directly from the vial or from a spray device, with manual pressure applied using a cellulose, collagen, or gelatin sponge, if needed. Safety was evaluated at screening and postoperative days 1, 2, and 5, and weeks 4 and 12. The formation of anti-thrombin antibodies was assessed at baseline, and after 4 and 12 weeks. Time to hemostasis (TTH) within 10 min was determined. RESULTS: Twenty-nine patients were treated with Fibrocaps; 6 experienced serious adverse events that were not related to the course of treatment. Adverse events occurring in >10% of patients were nausea, constipation, hypotension, obstipation, hypokalemia, and postoperative pain. Most adverse events were mild or moderate in severity. No patient developed anti-thrombin antibodies. The percentage of patients who achieved hemostasis was 93%; the median TTH was 3.8 min (range 0.3-10.3). Manual pressure was applied with Fibrocaps in 19 patients and considered beneficial in most. CONCLUSION: Fibrocaps was well tolerated in patients undergoing elective hepatic resection and resulted in rapid hemostasis. These safety and efficacy results support further clinical testing of this ready-to-use fibrin sealant as an adjunct to surgical hemostasis. (c) 2015 S. Karger AG, Basel

The effect of intrathecal bupivacaine/morphine on quality of recovery in robot-assisted radical prostatectomy: a randomised controlled trial

Robot-assisted radical prostatectomy causes discomfort in the immediate postoperative period. This randomised controlled trial investigated if intrathecal bupivacaine/morphine, in addition to general anaesthesia, could be beneficial for the postoperative quality of recovery. One hundred and fifty-five patients were randomly allocated to an intervention group that received intrathecal 12.5 mg bupivacaine/300 μg morphine (20% dose reduction in patients > 75 years) or a control group receiving a subcutaneous sham injection and an intravenous loading dose of 0.1 mg.kg−1 morphine. Both groups received standardised general anaesthesia and the same postoperative analgesic regimen. The primary outcome was a decrease in the Quality of Recovery-15 (QoR-15) questionnaire score on postoperative day 1. The intervention group (n = 76) had less reduction in QoR-15 on postoperative day 1; median (IQR [range]) 10% (1–8 [−60% to 50%]) vs. 13% (5–24 [−6% to 50%]), p = 0.019, and used less morphine during the admission; 2 mg (1–7 [0–41 mg]) vs. 15 mg (12–20 [8–61 mg]), p < 0.001. Furthermore, they perceived lower pain scores during exertion; numeric rating scale (NRS) 3 (1–6 [0–9]) vs. 5 (3–7 [0–9]), p = 0.001; less bladder spasms (NRS 1 (0–2 [0–10]) vs. 2 (0–5 [0–10]), p = 0.001 and less sedation; NRS 2 (0–3 [0–10]) vs. 3 (2–6 [0–10]), p = 0.005. Moreover, the intervention group used less rescue medication. Pruritus was more severe in the intervention group; NRS 4 (1–7 [0–10]) vs. 0 (0–1 [0–10]), p = 0.000. We conclude that despite a modest increase in the incidence of pruritus, multimodal pain management with intrathecal bupivacaine/morphine remains a viable option for robot-assisted radical prostatectomy

A cross-sectional investigation of communication in Do-Not-Resuscitate orders in Dutch hospitals

Background: The decision to attempt or refrain from resuscitation is preferably based on prognostic factors for outcome and subsequently communicated with patients. Both patients and physicians consider good communication important, however little is known about patient involvement in and understanding of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) directives. Aim: To determine the prevalence of Do No

Cerebrospinal Fluid of Preeclamptic and Normotensive Pregnant Women Compared to Nonpregnant Women Analyzed with Mass Spectrometry

Preeclampsia is a pregnancy-specific multiorgan disorder in which impaired placental functioning and excessive oxidative stress play an important role. We previously showed distinct differences between cerebrospinal fluid proteins in patients with preeclampsia and normotensive pregnant women. An additional group of nonpregnant women was included to study the presence of pregnancy-related proteins in normotensive and preeclamptic pregnancies and whether pregnancy-related proteins were associated with preeclampsia. Cerebrospinal fluid samples were tryptically digested and subsequently measured with a nano-LC-tribrid Orbitrap mass spectrometry system. Proteins were identified by shotgun proteomic analysis based on a data-dependent acquisition method. Proteins identified in preeclampsia, normotensive pregnant controls, and nonpregnant groups were compared to the Progenesis method according to the criteria as previously described and with a secondary analysis using a Scaffold method including Benjamini-Hochberg correction for multiple testing. For preeclampsia, the Progenesis and the Scaffold method together identified 15 (eight proteins for both analyses with one overlap) proteins that were significantly different compared to normotensive control pregnancies. Three of these 15 proteins, which were elevated in cerebrospinal fluid of preeclamptic women, were described to be pregnancy proteins with a calcium-binding function. Using two analysis methods (Progenesis and Scaffold), four out of 15 differential proteins were associated with pregnancy, as described in the literature. Three out of the four pregnancy-related proteins were elevated in preeclampsia. Furthermore, the contribution of elevated (n = 4/15) and downregulated (n = 2/15) calcium-binding proteins in preeclampsia is remarkably high (40%) and needs to be elucidated further

Evaluation of the SAMEO-ATO surgical classification in a Dutch cohort

Purpose: Differences in the definition and classification of cholesteatoma hinders comparing of surgical outcomes of cholesteatoma. Uniform registration is necessary to allow investigators to share and compare their findings. For many years surgical cholesteatoma procedures were divided into two main groups: canal wall up mastoidectomy (CWU) and canal wall down mastoidectomy (CWD). Recently, mastoid obliteration can be added to both procedures. Because of great variation within these main groups, the International Otology Outcome Group (IOOG) proposed the new SAMEO-ATO classification system to categorize tympanomastoid operations. The aim of our study was to correlate the mastoid bone extirpation (M-stage) with the contemporary (CWU, CWD with or without obliteration) system. Methods: Demographic characteristics and type of performed surgery were registered for 135 cholesteatoma patients from sixteen hospitals, both secondary and tertiary care institutions, across the Netherlands. In addition, the surgical reports were collected, retrospectively classified according to the contemporary system and the new system and compared. Correlations of the outcomes were calculated. Results: In total, there were 112 CWU and 14 CWD (both with or without obliteration) suitable for correlation analysis. Z test for correlation between the M-stage and CWU procedure was significant for M1a and M1b procedure and significant for M2c with the CWD procedure. Conclusion: The newly proposed SAMEO-ATO classification seems to be more detailed in the registration of surgical procedures than surgeons currently are used to. All M-stages of the SAMEO-ATO system are correlating well to the standard CWU and CWD except one ‘in between’ M-stage

Measurement of the Bs0→J/ψKS0B_s^0\to J/\psi K_S^0 branching fraction

The $B_s^0\to J/\psi K_S^0$ branching fraction is measured in a data sample corresponding to 0.41$fb^{-1}$ of integrated luminosity collected with the LHCb detector at the LHC. This channel is sensitive to the penguin contributions affecting the sin2$\beta$ measurement from $B^0\to J/\psi K_S^0$ The time-integrated branching fraction is measured to be $BF(B_s^0\to J/\psi K_S^0)=(1.83\pm0.28)\times10^{-5}$. This is the most precise measurement to date

Model-independent search for CP violation in D0→K−K+π−π+ and D0→π−π+π+π− decays

A search for CP violation in the phase-space structures of D0 and View the MathML source decays to the final states K−K+π−π+ and π−π+π+π− is presented. The search is carried out with a data set corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.0 fb−1 collected in 2011 by the LHCb experiment in pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV. For the K−K+π−π+ final state, the four-body phase space is divided into 32 bins, each bin with approximately 1800 decays. The p-value under the hypothesis of no CP violation is 9.1%, and in no bin is a CP asymmetry greater than 6.5% observed. The phase space of the π−π+π+π− final state is partitioned into 128 bins, each bin with approximately 2500 decays. The p-value under the hypothesis of no CP violation is 41%, and in no bin is a CP asymmetry greater than 5.5% observed. All results are consistent with the hypothesis of no CP violation at the current sensitivity

Measurement of the CP-violating phase \phi s in Bs->J/\psi\pi+\pi- decays

Measurement of the mixing-induced CP-violating phase phi_s in Bs decays is of prime importance in probing new physics. Here 7421 +/- 105 signal events from the dominantly CP-odd final state J/\psi pi+ pi- are selected in 1/fb of pp collision data collected at sqrt{s} = 7 TeV with the LHCb detector. A time-dependent fit to the data yields a value of phi_s=-0.019^{+0.173+0.004}_{-0.174-0.003} rad, consistent with the Standard Model expectation. No evidence of direct CP violation is found.Comment: 15 pages, 10 figures; minor revisions on May 23, 201

Search for the lepton-flavor-violating decays Bs0→e±μ∓ and B0→e±μ∓

A search for the lepton-flavor-violating decays Bs0→e±μ∓ and B0→e±μ∓ is performed with a data sample, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.0  fb-1 of pp collisions at √s=7  TeV, collected by the LHCb experiment. The observed number of Bs0→e±μ∓ and B0→e±μ∓ candidates is consistent with background expectations. Upper limits on the branching fractions of both decays are determined to be B(Bs0→e±μ∓)101  TeV/c2 and MLQ(B0→e±μ∓)>126  TeV/c2 at 95% C.L., and are a factor of 2 higher than the previous bounds

Absolute luminosity measurements with the LHCb detector at the LHC

Absolute luminosity measurements are of general interest for colliding-beam experiments at storage rings. These measurements are necessary to determine the absolute cross-sections of reaction processes and are valuable to quantify the performance of the accelerator. Using data taken in 2010, LHCb has applied two methods to determine the absolute scale of its luminosity measurements for proton-proton collisions at the LHC with a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV. In addition to the classic "van der Meer scan" method a novel technique has been developed which makes use of direct imaging of the individual beams using beam-gas and beam-beam interactions. This beam imaging method is made possible by the high resolution of the LHCb vertex detector and the close proximity of the detector to the beams, and allows beam parameters such as positions, angles and widths to be determined. The results of the two methods have comparable precision and are in good agreement. Combining the two methods, an overall precision of 3.5% in the absolute luminosity determination is reached. The techniques used to transport the absolute luminosity calibration to the full 2010 data-taking period are presented.Comment: 48 pages, 19 figures. Results unchanged, improved clarity of Table 6, 9 and 10 and corresponding explanation in the tex