Nodular Fasciitis with Cortical Erosion of the Hand

Nodular fasciitis is a benign, reactive myofibroblastic tumor that is often mistaken for a sarcoma because of its histological appearance and rapid growth. Involvement of a finger is extremely rare. We report a case of nodular fasciitis of the thumb, accompanied by bone erosion. Magnetic resonance findings suggested the possibility of a malignancy, which could have led to misdiagnosis as a malignant soft tissue sarcoma. Instead, the lesion was treated by excisional biopsy, which confirmed nodular fasciitis. There has been no evidence of local recurrence at recent follow-up, 1 year after surgery. This case illustrates that, to avoid unnecessarily aggressive surgery, nodular fasciitis must be included in the differential diagnosis for any finger lesion that resembles a sarcoma, even if bone erosion is present

Cellular bases for human atrial fibrillation

Atrial fibrillation (AF) causes substantial morbidity and mortality. It may be triggered and sustained by either reentrant or nonreentrant electrical activity. Human atrial cellular refractory period is shortened in chronic AF, likely aiding reentry. The ionic and molecular mechanisms are not fully understood and may include increased inward rectifier K<sup>+</sup> current and altered Ca<sup>2+</sup> handling. Heart failure, a major cause of AF, may involve arrhythmogenic atrial electrical remodeling, but the pattern is unclear in humans. Beta-blocker therapy prolongs atrial cell refractory period; a potentially antiarrhythmic influence, but the ionic and molecular mechanisms are unclear. The search for drugs to suppress AF without causing ventricular arrhythmias has been aided by basic studies of cellular mechanisms of AF. It remains to be seen whether such drugs will improve patient treatment

An evidence-base for the implementation of hospital-based palliative care programs in routine cancer practice:A systematic review

Background: Despite global support, there remain gaps in the integration of early palliative care into cancer care. The methods of implementation whereby evidence of benefits of palliative care is translated into practice deserve attention. Aim: To identify implementation frameworks utilised in integrated palliative care in hospital-based oncology services and to describe the associated enablers and barriers to service integration. Design: Systematic review with a narrative synthesis including qualitative, mixed methods, pre-post and quasi experimental designs following the guidance by the Centre for Reviews and Dissemination (PROSPERO registration CRD42021252092). Data sources: Six databases searched in 2021: EMBASE, EMCARE, APA PsycINFO, CINAHL, Cochrane Library and Ovid MEDLINE searched in 2023. Included were qualitative or quantitative studies, in English language, involving adults >18 years, and implementing hospital-based palliative care into cancer care. Critical appraisal tools were used to assess the quality and rigour. Results: Seven of the 16 studies explicitly cited the use of frameworks including those based on RE-AIM, Medical Research Council evaluation of complex interventions and WHO constructs of health service evaluation. Enablers included an existing supportive culture, clear introduction to the programme across services, adequate funding, human resources and identification of advocates. Barriers included a lack of communication with the patients, caregivers, physicians and palliative care team about programme goals, stigma around the term ‘palliative’, a lack of robust training, or awareness of guidelines and undefined staff roles. Conclusions: Implementation science frameworks provide a method to underpin programme development and evaluation as palliative care is integrated within the oncology setting.Farwa Rizvi, Helen Elizabeth Wilding, Nicole M Rankin, Roslyn Le Gautier, Lorna Gurren, Vijaya Sundararajan, Kylee Bellingham, Joyce Chua, Gregory B Crawford, Anna K Nowak, Brian Le, Geoff Mitchell, Sue-Anne McLachlan, Tanara Vieira Sousa, Robyn Hudson, Maarten IJzerman, Anna Collins, and Jennifer Phili

What traits are carried on mobile genetic elements, and why?

Although similar to any other organism, prokaryotes can transfer genes vertically from mother cell to daughter cell, they can also exchange certain genes horizontally. Genes can move within and between genomes at fast rates because of mobile genetic elements (MGEs). Although mobile elements are fundamentally self-interested entities, and thus replicate for their own gain, they frequently carry genes beneficial for their hosts and/or the neighbours of their hosts. Many genes that are carried by mobile elements code for traits that are expressed outside of the cell. Such traits are involved in bacterial sociality, such as the production of public goods, which benefit a cell's neighbours, or the production of bacteriocins, which harm a cell's neighbours. In this study we review the patterns that are emerging in the types of genes carried by mobile elements, and discuss the evolutionary and ecological conditions under which mobile elements evolve to carry their peculiar mix of parasitic, beneficial and cooperative genes

Sulfate production by reactive bromine: Implications for the global sulfur and reactive bromine budgets

Sulfur and reactive bromine (Bry) play important roles in tropospheric chemistry and the global radiation budget. The oxidation of dissolved SO2 (S(IV)) by HOBr increases sulfate aerosol abundance and may also impact the Bry budget, but is generally not included in global climate and chemistry models. In this study, we implement HOBr + S(IV) reactions into the GEOS-Chem global chemical transport model and evaluate the global impacts on both sulfur and Bry budgets. Modeled HOBr mixing ratios on the order of 0.1-1.0 parts per trillion (ppt) lead to HOBr + S(IV) contributing to 8% of global sulfate production and up to 45% over some tropical ocean regions with high HOBr mixing ratios (0.6-0.9 ppt). Inclusion of HOBr + S(IV) in the model leads to a global Bry decrease of 50%, initiated by the decrease in bromide recycling in cloud droplets. Observations of HOBr are necessary to better understand the role of HOBr + S(IV) in tropospheric sulfur and Bry cycles

Neural field models with threshold noise

The original neural field model of Wilson and Cowan is often interpreted as the averaged behaviour of a network of switch like neural elements with a distribution of switch thresholds, giving rise to the classic sigmoidal population firing-rate function so prevalent in large scale neuronal modelling. In this paper we explore the effects of such threshold noise without recourse to averaging and show that spatial correlations can have a strong effect on the behaviour of waves and patterns in continuum models. Moreover, for a prescribed spatial covariance function we explore the differences in behaviour that can emerge when the underlying stationary distribution is changed from Gaussian to non-Gaussian. For travelling front solutions, in a system with exponentially decaying spatial interactions, we make use of an interface approach to calculate the instantaneous wave speed analytically as a series expansion in the noise strength. From this we find that, for weak noise, the spatially averaged speed depends only on the choice of covariance function and not on the shape of the stationary distribution. For a system with a Mexican-hat spatial connectivity we further find that noise can induce localised bump solutions, and using an interface stability argument show that there can be multiple stable solution branches

Reproducibility of postural control measurement during unstable sitting in low back pain patients

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Postural control tests like standing and sitting stabilometry are widely used to evaluate neuromuscular control related to trunk balance in low back pain patients. Chronic low back pain patients have lesser postural control compared to healthy subjects. Few studies have assessed the reproducibility of the centre of pressure deviations and to our knowledge no studies have investigated the reproducibility of three-dimensional kinematics of postural control tests in a low back pain population. Therefore the aim of this study was to assess the test-retest reproducibility of a seated postural control test in low back pain patients.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Postural control in low back pain patients was registered by a three dimensional motion analysis system combined with a force plate. Sixteen chronic low back pain patients having complaints for at least six months, were included based on specific clinical criteria. Every subject performed 4 postural control tests. Every test was repeated 4 times and lasted 40 seconds. The force plate registered the deviations of the centre of pressure. A Vicon-612-datastation, equipped with 7 infra-red M1 camera's, was used to track 13 markers attached to the torso and pelvis in order to estimate their angular displacement in the 3 cardinal planes.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>All Intraclass Correlation Coefficients (ICC) calculated for the force plate variables did not exceed 0.73 (ranging between 0.11 and 0.73). As for the torso, ICC's of the mean flexion-extension and rotation angles ranged from 0.65 to 0.93 and of the mean lateral flexion angle from 0.50 to 0.67. For the pelvis the ICC of the mean flexion-extension angle varied between 0.66 and 0.83, the mean lateral flexion angle between 0.16 and 0.81 and the mean rotation angle between 0.40 and 0.62.</p> <p>Consecutive data suggest that the low test-retest reproducibility is probably due to a learning effect.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The test-retest reproducibility of these postural control tests in an unstable sitting position can globally be considered as rather moderate. In order to improve the test-retest reproducibility, a learning period may be advisable at the beginning of the test.</p

Deciphering the complex signalling systems that regulate intestinal epithelial cell death processes and shedding

Intestinal epithelial cells play a fundamental role in maintaining homeostasis. Shedding of intestinal cells in a controlled manner is critical to maintenance of barrier function. Barrier function is maintained during this shedding process by a redistribution of tight junctional proteins to facilitate closure of the gap left by the shedding cell. However, despite the obvious importance of epithelial cell shedding to gut health a central question is how the extrusion of epithelial cells is achieved, enabling barrier integrity to be maintained in the healthy gut and restored during inflammation remains largely unanswered. Recent studies have provided evidence that excessive epithelial cell shedding and loss of epithelial barrier integrity is triggered by exposure to lipopolysaccharide (LPS) or tumour necrosis factor (TNF). Subsequent studies have provided evidence of the involvement of specific cellular components and signalling mechanisms as well as the functionality of microbiota that can be either detrimental or beneficial for intestinal barrier integrity. This review, will focus on the evidence and decipher how the signalling systems through which the mucosal immune system and microbiota can regulate epithelial cell shedding and how these mechanisms interact to preserve the viability of the epithelium

Measurement of the branching fraction and CP content for the decay B(0) -> D(*+)D(*-)

This is the pre-print version of the Article. The official published version can be accessed from the links below. Copyright @ 2002 APS.We report a measurement of the branching fraction of the decay B0→D*+D*- and of the CP-odd component of its final state using the BABAR detector. With data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 20.4  fb-1 collected at the Υ(4S) resonance during 1999–2000, we have reconstructed 38 candidate signal events in the mode B0→D*+D*- with an estimated background of 6.2±0.5 events. From these events, we determine the branching fraction to be B(B0→D*+D*-)=[8.3±1.6(stat)±1.2(syst)]×10-4. The measured CP-odd fraction of the final state is 0.22±0.18(stat)±0.03(syst).This work is supported by DOE and NSF (USA), NSERC (Canada), IHEP (China), CEA and CNRS-IN2P3 (France), BMBF (Germany), INFN (Italy), NFR (Norway), MIST (Russia), and PPARC (United Kingdom). Individuals have received support from the A.P. Sloan Foundation, Research Corporation, and Alexander von Humboldt Foundation

Measurement of the B0-anti-B0-Oscillation Frequency with Inclusive Dilepton Events

The $B^0$-$\bar B^0$ oscillation frequency has been measured with a sample of 23 million \B\bar B pairs collected with the BABAR detector at the PEP-II asymmetric B Factory at SLAC. In this sample, we select events in which both B mesons decay semileptonically and use the charge of the leptons to identify the flavor of each B meson. A simultaneous fit to the decay time difference distributions for opposite- and same-sign dilepton events gives $\Delta m_d = 0.493 \pm 0.012{(stat)}\pm 0.009{(syst)}$ ps$^{-1}$.Comment: 7 pages, 1 figure, submitted to Physical Review Letter