Aesthetics of the Female Breast: Correlation of Pluralistic Evaluations with Volume and Surface Area

The goal of cosmetic and reconstructive breast surgery is to fashion symmetric breasts with aesthetically acceptable shapes. Breast shape is largely determined by volume of tissue and surface area of the skin envelope. Values for breast surface area have never been published in the literature. The investigators developed an inexpensive, non-invasive optical method to objectively measure breast volume and surface area. The aims were to validate the method, to assess the accuracy of visual inspection by plastic surgeons, to determine ideal anthropomorphic measurements, and to derive a mathematical relationship between volume and surface area for an aesthetically acceptable shape. In the novel method, an optical grid was projected onto each breast and two images were captured in order to create a computerized three-dimensional model from which volume (V), surface area (A), and maximum vertical projection (Z) were calculated. The method was used to measure volume and surface area of the breasts of female volunteers. Anthropomorphic measurements were also recorded. Images of their breasts were arranged into a computerized survey, and plastic surgeons, cosmetic patients, and reconstructive patients were interviewed for aesthetic feedback. The method was validated on geometric shapes and female breasts. Simple geometric shapes (n = 22) were analyzed, and the actual V, A, and Z were compared with the imaged values using least-squares linear regression. There was excellent correlation in all three parameters (R \u3e 0.995, p \u3c 1014). The mean differences in V, A, and Z were 28 ± 28 mL (mean ± SD), 2 ± 9 cm2, and 0.4 ± 0.5 cm, respectively. Female breasts (n = 14) were analyzed, and the actual V and A were measured using plaster casts. Based on least-squares linear regression, there was excellent correlation between the imaged values and actual values (R \u3e 0.992, p \u3c 1011), and the mean differences in V and A were 32 ± 22 mL and 3 ± 11 cm2, respectively. The breasts of 109 female volunteers were measured and included for aesthetic evaluation. 252 plastic surgeons, 15 cosmetic patients, and 25 reconstructive patients submitted totals of 3,641, 368, and 437 evaluations, respectively. On average, plastic surgeons underestimated volume by 7% ± 49% (mean ± SD) and overestimated surface area by 15% ± 69%. Ideal anthropomorphic measurements and volume to surface area ratios were calculated and compared to previously published values. Cosmetic patients were most attentive to insufficient cleavage, and reconstructive patients were most attentive to severe asymmetry. For the first time, an optical method was demonstrated to measure volume and surface area with accuracy. When applied to the breast, measurement errors were small and clinically insignificant. Plastic surgeons were more accurate in estimating volume than surface area, though showing significant inconsistencies in both parameters from one breast to the next. Ideal anthropomorphic measurements were similar among plastic surgeons and breast surgery patients. Reconstructive patients preferred higher volume to surface area ratios than plastic surgeons and cosmetic patients

Comprehensive analysis of the pseudogenes of glycolytic enzymes in vertebrates: the anomalously high number of GAPDH pseudogenes highlights a recent burst of retrotrans-positional activity

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Pseudogenes provide a record of the molecular evolution of genes. As glycolysis is such a highly conserved and fundamental metabolic pathway, the pseudogenes of glycolytic enzymes comprise a standardized genomic measuring stick and an ideal platform for studying molecular evolution. One of the glycolytic enzymes, glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH), has already been noted to have one of the largest numbers of associated pseudogenes, among all proteins.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We assembled the first comprehensive catalog of the processed and duplicated pseudogenes of glycolytic enzymes in many vertebrate model-organism genomes, including human, chimpanzee, mouse, rat, chicken, zebrafish, pufferfish, fruitfly, and worm (available at <url>http://pseudogene.org/glycolysis/</url>). We found that glycolytic pseudogenes are predominantly processed, i.e. retrotransposed from the mRNA of their parent genes. Although each glycolytic enzyme plays a unique role, GAPDH has by far the most pseudogenes, perhaps reflecting its large number of non-glycolytic functions or its possession of a particularly retrotranspositionally active sub-sequence. Furthermore, the number of GAPDH pseudogenes varies significantly among the genomes we studied: none in zebrafish, pufferfish, fruitfly, and worm, 1 in chicken, 50 in chimpanzee, 62 in human, 331 in mouse, and 364 in rat. Next, we developed a simple method of identifying conserved syntenic blocks (consistently applicable to the wide range of organisms in the study) by using orthologous genes as anchors delimiting a conserved block between a pair of genomes. This approach showed that few glycolytic pseudogenes are shared between primate and rodent lineages. Finally, by estimating pseudogene ages using Kimura's two-parameter model of nucleotide substitution, we found evidence for bursts of retrotranspositional activity approximately 42, 36, and 26 million years ago in the human, mouse, and rat lineages, respectively.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Overall, we performed a consistent analysis of one group of pseudogenes across multiple genomes, finding evidence that most of them were created within the last 50 million years, subsequent to the divergence of rodent and primate lineages.</p

Comparative analysis of processed ribosomal protein pseudogenes in four mammalian genomes

An analysis of ribosomal protein pseudogenes in the four mammalian genomes reveals no correlation between number of pseudogenes and mRNA abundance

Phage Displayed Peptides to Avian H5N1 Virus Distinguished the Virus from Other Viruses

The purpose of the current study was to identify potential ligands and develop a novel diagnostic test to highly pathogenic avian influenza A virus (HPAI), subtype H5N1 viruses using phage display technology. The H5N1 viruses were used as an immobilized target in a biopanning process using a 12-mer phage display random peptide library. After five rounds of panning, three phages expressing peptides HAWDPIPARDPF, AAWHLIVALAPN or ATSHLHVRLPSK had a specific binding activity to H5N1 viruses were isolated. Putative binding motifs to H5N1 viruses were identified by DNA sequencing. In terms of the minimum quantity of viruses, the phage-based ELISA was better than antiserum-based ELISA and a manual, semi-quantitative endpoint RT-PCR for detecting H5N1 viruses. More importantly, the selected phages bearing the specific peptides to H5N1 viruses were capable of differentiating this virus from other avian viruses in enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays

Clinical Characteristics of 26 Human Cases of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza A (H5N1) Virus Infection in China

BACKGROUND: While human cases of highly pathogenic avian influenza A (H5N1) virus infection continue to increase globally, available clinical data on H5N1 cases are limited. We conducted a retrospective study of 26 confirmed human H5N1 cases identified through surveillance in China from October 2005 through April 2008. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Data were collected from hospital medical records of H5N1 cases and analyzed. The median age was 29 years (range 6-62) and 58% were female. Many H5N1 cases reported fever (92%) and cough (58%) at illness onset, and had lower respiratory findings of tachypnea and dyspnea at admission. All cases progressed rapidly to bilateral pneumonia. Clinical complications included acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS, 81%), cardiac failure (50%), elevated aminotransaminases (43%), and renal dysfunction (17%). Fatal cases had a lower median nadir platelet count (64.5 x 10(9) cells/L vs 93.0 x 10(9) cells/L, p = 0.02), higher median peak lactic dehydrogenase (LDH) level (1982.5 U/L vs 1230.0 U/L, p = 0.001), higher percentage of ARDS (94% [n = 16] vs 56% [n = 5], p = 0.034) and more frequent cardiac failure (71% [n = 12] vs 11% [n = 1], p = 0.011) than nonfatal cases. A higher proportion of patients who received antiviral drugs survived compared to untreated (67% [8/12] vs 7% [1/14], p = 0.003). CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The clinical course of Chinese H5N1 cases is characterized by fever and cough initially, with rapid progression to lower respiratory disease. Decreased platelet count, elevated LDH level, ARDS and cardiac failure were associated with fatal outcomes. Clinical management of H5N1 cases should be standardized in China to include early antiviral treatment for suspected H5N1 cases

A Systematic Molecular Pathology Study of a Laboratory Confirmed H5N1 Human Case

Autopsy studies have shown that human highly pathogenic avian influenza virus (H5N1) can infect multiple human organs other than just the lungs, and that possible causes of organ damage are either viral replication and/or dysregulation of cytokines and chemokines. Uncertainty still exists, partly because of the limited number of cases analysed. In this study, a full autopsy including 5 organ systems was conducted on a confirmed H5N1 human fatal case (male, 42 years old) within 18 hours of death. In addition to the respiratory system (lungs, bronchus and trachea), virus was isolated from cerebral cortex, cerebral medullary substance, cerebellum, brain stem, hippocampus ileum, colon, rectum, ureter, aortopulmonary vessel and lymph-node. Real time RT-PCR evidence showed that matrix and hemagglutinin genes were positive in liver and spleen in addition to positive tissues with virus isolation. Immunohistochemistry and in-situ hybridization stains showed accordant evidence of viral infection with real time RT-PCR except bronchus. Quantitative RT-PCR suggested that a high viral load was associated with increased host responses, though the viral load was significantly different in various organs. Cells of the immunologic system could also be a target for virus infection. Overall, the pathogenesis of HPAI H5N1 virus was associated both with virus replication and with immunopathologic lesions. In addition, immune cells cannot be excluded from playing a role in dissemination of the virus in vivo

Measurement of the cross-section and charge asymmetry of WW bosons produced in proton-proton collisions at s=8\sqrt{s}=8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

This paper presents measurements of the $W^+ \rightarrow \mu^+\nu$ and $W^- \rightarrow \mu^-\nu$ cross-sections and the associated charge asymmetry as a function of the absolute pseudorapidity of the decay muon. The data were collected in proton--proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 8 TeV with the ATLAS experiment at the LHC and correspond to a total integrated luminosity of 20.2~\mbox{fb^{-1}}. The precision of the cross-section measurements varies between 0.8% to 1.5% as a function of the pseudorapidity, excluding the 1.9% uncertainty on the integrated luminosity. The charge asymmetry is measured with an uncertainty between 0.002 and 0.003. The results are compared with predictions based on next-to-next-to-leading-order calculations with various parton distribution functions and have the sensitivity to discriminate between them.Comment: 38 pages in total, author list starting page 22, 5 figures, 4 tables, submitted to EPJC. All figures including auxiliary figures are available at https://atlas.web.cern.ch/Atlas/GROUPS/PHYSICS/PAPERS/STDM-2017-13

Search for chargino-neutralino production with mass splittings near the electroweak scale in three-lepton final states in √s=13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for supersymmetry through the pair production of electroweakinos with mass splittings near the electroweak scale and decaying via on-shell W and Z bosons is presented for a three-lepton final state. The analyzed proton-proton collision data taken at a center-of-mass energy of √s=13  TeV were collected between 2015 and 2018 by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 139  fb−1. A search, emulating the recursive jigsaw reconstruction technique with easily reproducible laboratory-frame variables, is performed. The two excesses observed in the 2015–2016 data recursive jigsaw analysis in the low-mass three-lepton phase space are reproduced. Results with the full data set are in agreement with the Standard Model expectations. They are interpreted to set exclusion limits at the 95% confidence level on simplified models of chargino-neutralino pair production for masses up to 345 GeV

Broad-Spectrum Drugs Against Viral Agents

Development of antivirals has focused primarily on vaccines and on treatments for specific viral agents. Although effective, these approaches may be limited in situations where the etiologic agent is unknown or when the target virus has undergone mutation, recombination or reassortment. Augmentation of the innate immune response may be an effective alternative for disease amelioration. Nonspecific, broad-spectrum immune responses can be induced by double-stranded (ds)RNAs such as poly (ICLC), or oligonucleotides (ODNs) containing unmethylated deocycytidyl-deoxyguanosinyl (CpG) motifs. These may offer protection against various bacterial and viral pathogens regardless of their genetic makeup, zoonotic origin or drug resistance