Location and Extent of Cavernous Transformation of the Portal Vein Dictates Different Visceral Side Revascularization in Meso-Rex Bypass

BACKGROUND: As an emerging standard of care for portal vein cavernous transformation (PVCT), Meso-Rex bypass (MRB) has been complicated and variated. The study aim was to propose a new classification of PVCT to guide MRB operations. METHODS: Demographic data, the extent of extrahepatic PVCT, surgical methods for visceral side revascularization, intraoperative blood loss, operating time, changes in visceral venous pressure before and after MRB, postoperative complications and the condition of bypass vessels after MRB were extracted retrospectively from the medical records of 19 patients. RESULTS: The median age of the patients (13 males and 6 females) was 32.5 years, while two patients were underage. Causes of PVCT can be summarized as follows: thrombophilia such as dysfunction of antithrombin III or proteins C; secondary to abdominal surgeries; secondary to abdominal infection or traumatic intestinal obstruction, and unknown causes. Intraoperatively, the median operation time was 9.5 h (7-13 h), and the intraoperative blood loss was 300 mL (100-1,600 mL). Ten cases used autologous blood vessels while 10 used allogeneic blood vessels. The vascular anastomosis was divided into the following types according to the site and approach: Type (T) 1-PV pedicel type, T2-confluence type, T3-major visceral vascular type; and T4-collateral visceral vascular type. Furthermore, the visceral venous pressure before and after MRB dropped significantly from 36 cmH CONCLUSIONS: MRB can effectively reduce visceral venous pressure in patients with PVCT. It is feasible to determine the PVCT type according to the extent of involvement and to choose individualized visceral side revascularization performances

Robust estimation of bacterial cell count from optical density

Optical density (OD) is widely used to estimate the density of cells in liquid culture, but cannot be compared between instruments without a standardized calibration protocol and is challenging to relate to actual cell count. We address this with an interlaboratory study comparing three simple, low-cost, and highly accessible OD calibration protocols across 244 laboratories, applied to eight strains of constitutive GFP-expressing E. coli. Based on our results, we recommend calibrating OD to estimated cell count using serial dilution of silica microspheres, which produces highly precise calibration (95.5% of residuals <1.2-fold), is easily assessed for quality control, also assesses instrument effective linear range, and can be combined with fluorescence calibration to obtain units of Molecules of Equivalent Fluorescein (MEFL) per cell, allowing direct comparison and data fusion with flow cytometry measurements: in our study, fluorescence per cell measurements showed only a 1.07-fold mean difference between plate reader and flow cytometry data

Editorial: Sub- and Supra-Second Timing: Brain, Learning and Development

PubMedSSCIEDITORIAL [email protected]

Sub- and Supra-Second Timing: Brain, Learning and Development

Time perception in the range of milliseconds to a few seconds is essential for many important sensory and perceptual tasks including speech perception, motion perception, motor coordination, and cross-modal interaction. For the brain to be in synchrony with the environment, the physical differences in the speeds of light and sound, as well as stimuli from other modalities such as odors, must be processed and coordinated (Pöppel & Bao 2014; Bao et al., 2015). Time is a subjective feeling that is modulated by emotional states which trigger temporal distortions (temporal dilation vs. contraction) (Wittmann et al., 2014), hence give rise to subjective time that may be different to event time as initially registered in the brain. Recent research suggests that time perception in a multisensory world is subject to prior task experience and shaped by (statistical) learning processes. Humans are active learners. That is, the engagement of the own body in a timing task within a perceptual-action loop will make a noticeable difference in timing performance, as compared to when humans only passively perceive the same perceptual scenario (Bao et al., 2015; Chen & Vroomen, 2013). This Research Topic of “Sub-and Supra-Second Timing: Brain, Learning and Development” has integrated sixteen submissions of novel research on sub- and supra-timing. We have categorized the papers in this topic into the following four themes, from which we can deduce trends of research about multisensory timing in the sub- and supra-second range: Sensory timing, interaction and reliability Adaptive representation of time, learning and temporal prediction Sensorimotor synchronization, embodiment and coordination Perspective of psychological moment and temporal organization Overall, the collections in “Sub-and Supra-Second Timing: Brain, Learning and Development” show some recent trends and debates in multisensory timing research as well as provide a venue to inspire future work in multisensory timing

An enhanced three-stage design with trend analysis for allergen immunotherapy trials.

We previously introduced a three-stage design and associated end-of-stage analyses for allergen immunotherapy (AIT) trials. End-of-stage differences alone may not provide a fuller picture of Stages 2 and 3 effects because they may depend upon stage-specific durations. Therefore, we introduce an additional trend analysis to evaluate the difference in progression curves of two groups over the entire stage. Results from such analysis are used to inform persistence of end-of-stage benefit and thus provide evidence for stagewise effects beyond the study periods. We jointly apply end-of-stage and trend analyses to support the enhanced three-stage design to determine treatment response over time and sustained response to AIT. A simulation study was performed to illustrate the statistical properties (bias and power) of trend analyses under varying statistical missing mechanisms and effect sizes. The extent of bias depended on the missing mechanism and magnitude. Powers were largely driven by effect and sample sizes as well as pre-specified success margins, particularly of relative trend. As an illustration, assuming relative treatment differences of 25-30%, stagewise dropout rate of 15%, and parallel outcome progressions, a sample size of 200 per group may achieve 97% power to demonstrate a treatment effect and 53% power to demonstrate a sustained effect post-treatment. Trend analysis supplements the end-of-stage analysis to enhance the statistical claims of stagewise effects. Inferential statistics support our proposed trend analysis for evaluating benefits of AIT over time and inform clinical understanding and decisions

Heavy metal content in selected flavouring plants and in ultra-basic soil of Felda Rokan Barat,Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia

A study was carried out at an ultrabasic soil area in Felda Rokan Barat (FRB), Negeri Sembilan. Twenty plants of samples namely chili, turmeric, pandan and lemon grass were collected randomly for the determination of heavy metal contents such as Fe, Cd, Co, Cu, Mn, Ni, Pb, Cr and Zn. Heavy metals in plants were extracted by wet digestion method, whereas available and resistant heavy metals in soil were extracted by sequential extraction. Total heavy metals content in the soil were obtained by summation of resistant and available heavy metals. Heavy metals content in soil and plant extract were determined by using the Flame Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (FAAS). Results showed that Fe was the dominant composition in soil in the study area while Cd concentration was very low with values of < 10 mg/kg. The range of heavy metals concentration in soils were Fe (2618.4 to 4248 mg/kg), Mn (240.9 to 741.9 mg/kg), Zn (81.9 to 324.8 mg/kg), Cr (46.8 to 438.7 mg/kg), Cu (15.7 to 81.7 mg/kg), Pb (14.9 to 116.8 mg/kg), Ni (10.1 to 545.6 mg/kg), Cd (5.6 to 10.6 mg/kg) dan Co (0.8 to 126.1 mg/kg). Available Fe recorded the highest value in all of the plant substrates followed by Mn, Zn, Pb, Ni, Cr, Cu, Co and Cd. Based on percentage of availability Mn, Pb and Zn are considered most available by plant with availability percentage of 8 to 10%. Concentration of Fe, Mn, Ni and Zn were high in all parts of plants compared to the other metals. The value of biological absorption coefficient (BAC) in chili, turmeric, pandan and lemon grass were in the range of 0.02-0.36, 0.03-0.41, 0.03-0.63 and 0.03-1.15, respectively. It can be concluded that the uptake of heavy metals by plants were normal even though the heavy metals concentration in the ultrabasic soil was high

Fig 2 -

(A) Study durations and frequencies of measured outcomes of the simulated trial; (B) Eight scenarios of different levels of Stage 2 or 3 effect. Xt2 = Average TCRS of the original treatment group at the end of Stages 2. Xp2 = Average TCRS of the crossover group at the end of Stages 2. Xt3 = Average TCRS of the original treatment group at the end of Stages 3. Xp3 = Average TCRS of the crossover group at the end of Stages 3. βt2 = Slope of the original treatment group during Stage 2. βp2 = Slope of the crossover group during Stage 2. βt3 = Slope of the original treatment group during Stage 3. βp3 = Slope of the crossover group during Stage 3. Note: All Stage 3 scenarios were investigated following Stage 2 scenario C.</p

Stagewise statistical hypotheses for an enhanced three-stage design.

Stagewise statistical hypotheses for an enhanced three-stage design.</p