Relaminarisation of Re=100 channel flow with globally stabilising linear feedback control

Published versio

Infraorbital cutaneous angiosarcoma: a diagnostic and therapeutic dilemma

Background A cutaneous angiosarcoma is a rare malignant tumour of vascular endothelial cells with aggressive clinical behaviour and poor prognosis. Diagnosis is often delayed due to its variable and often benign clinical appearance. Case presentation This case presents a 64-year-old man with a six-month-history of a recurrent diffuse and erythematous painless swelling below the left eye. Several resections with intraoperatively negative resection margins followed, but positive margins were repeatedly detected later on permanent sections. Histopathologic examination of the specimen diagnosed a cutaneous angiosarcoma. Neither, finally achieved negative margins on permanent sections, nor a following chemotherapy could prevent the recurrence of the disease after five months and the patient's dead 21 months after the first diagnosis. Conclusion The case elucidates the current diagnostic and therapeutic dilemma of this entity, which shows an unfavourable clinical course in spite of multimodal therapy

Effects of Intra- and Interpatch Host Density on Egg Parasitism by Three Species of Trichogramma

Host-foraging responses to different intra- and interpatch densities were used to assess three Trichogramma spp. (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae) Trichogramma deion Pinto and Oatman, T. ostriniae Pang and Chen, and T. pretiosum Riley — as potential biological control agents for the Indian meal moth, Plodia interpunctella Hübner (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae). Single naïve females were allowed 6 h to forage in Plexiglas arenas with four different spatial arrangements of host eggs, nine single-egg patches), nine four-egg patches, 36 single-egg patches, and 36 four-egg patches. No significant differences were found among species in the number of patches parasitized. As expected, all three species parasitized the most eggs in the 36 four-egg patch treatment and the least in the nine single-egg patch treatment. T. deion parasitized significantly more eggs than T. pretiosum on the nine four-egg patches. T. ostriniae parasitized significantly more patches when intrapatch density was greater, regardless of interpatch density. In contrast, T. deion only parasitized more patches at the greater intrapatch density when the interpatch density was low. Patch density had no effect on T. pretiosum. The spatial pattern of parasitism was more aggregated for T. deion and T. ostriniae in the 36 four-egg patches treatment compared to the 36 single-egg patches treatment. Therefore, intrapatch density was more important than interpatch density for T. ostriniae, and potentially for T. deion, but not for T. pretiosum. T. deion may be the best candidate for augmentative biological control because it parasitized either slightly or significantly more eggs than the other two species in all four treatments. Furthermore, the pattern of parasitism by T. deion in the 36 four-egg patches treatment was the most aggregated among the three species, suggesting a more thorough searching pattern. In contrast, T. pretiosum had the least aggregated pattern of parasitism and therefore may have used a more random foraging pattern

Merkel cell carcinoma of skin-current controversies and recommendations

The review covers the current recommendations for Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC), with detailed discussion of many controversies. The 2010 AJCC staging system is more in-line with other skin malignancies although more complicated to use. The changes in staging system over time make comparison of studies difficult. A wide excision with margins of 2.5–3 cm is generally recommended. Even for primary </= 1 cm, there is a significant risk of nodal and distant metastases and hence sentinel node biopsy should be done if possible; otherwise adjuvant radiotherapy to the primary and nodal region should be given. Difficulties of setting up trials owing to the rarity of the disease and the mean age of the patient population result in infrequent reports of adjuvant or concurrent chemotherapy in the literature. The benefit, if any, is not great from published studies so far. However, there may be a subgroup of patients with high-risk features, e.g. node-positive and excellent performance status, for whom adjuvant or concurrent chemotherapy may be considered. Since local recurrence and metastases generally occur within 2 years of the initial diagnosis, patients should be followed more frequently in the first 2 years. However delayed recurrence can still occur in a small proportion of patients and long-term follow-up by a specialist is recommended provided that the general condition of the patient allows it. In summary, physician judgment in individual cases of MCC is advisable, to balance the risk of recurrence versus the complications of treatment

Peri-operative management of anti-platelet agents and anti-thrombotic agents in geriatric patients undergoing semi-urgent hip fracture surgery

Hip fractures are common events in the geriatric population and are often associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Over the coming decades, the size of the greying population is forecast to increase and hence, the annual incidence of hip fracture is expected to rise substantially. Several studies have shown that hip fracture surgery performed within 24 to 48 h of hospitalisation significantly reduces mortality. Medical specialists including cardiologists are often involved in the care of these geriatric patients as most of them have comorbid conditions that must be managed concomitantly with their fracture. Cardiovascular and thromboembolic complications are among some of the commonest adverse events that could be experienced by these elderly patients during hospitalisation. We review in this article the current recommendations and controversies on the peri-operative management of anti-platelet agents and anti-thrombotic agents in geriatric patients undergoing semi-urgent hip fracture surgery

Robustness assessment of the ‘cooperation under resource pressure’ (CURP) model: Insights on resource availability and sharing practices among hunter-gatherers

A well-known challenge in archaeological research is the exploration of the social mechanisms that hunter-gatherers may have implemented throughout history to deal with changes in resource availability. The agent-based model (ABM) ‘cooperation under resource pressure’ (CURP) was conceived to explore food stress episodes in societies lacking a food preservation technology. It was particularly aimed at understanding how cooperative behaviours in the form of food sharing practices emerge, increase and may become the prevailing strategy in relation to changes in resource availability and expectancy of reciprocity. CURP’s main outcome is the identification of three regimes of behaviour depending on the stress level. In this work, the model’s robustness to the original selection mechanism (random tournament) is assessed, as different dynamics can lead to different persistent regimes. For that purpose, three other selection mechanisms are implemented and evaluated, to identify the prevailing states of the system. Results show that the three regimes are robust irrespective of the analysed dynamics. We consequently examine in more detail the long-term archaeological implications that these results may have.Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (former Ministry of Science and Innovation): SimulPast Project (CSD2010- 00034 CONSOLIDER-INGENIO 2010), HAR2009-06996 and CULM Project (HAR2016- 77672-P); from the Argentine National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET): Project PIP-0706; from the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research: Project GR7846; from the project H2020 FET OPEN RIA IBSEN/662725 and from the European Social Fund as one of the authors is the recipient of a predoctoral grant from the Department of Education of Junta de Castilla y León (Spain)

More insight into the fate of biomedical meeting abstracts: a systematic review

BACKGROUND: It has been estimated that about 45% of abstracts that are accepted for presentation at biomedical meetings will subsequently be published in full. The acceptance of abstracts at meetings and their fate after initial rejection are less well understood. We set out to estimate the proportion of abstracts submitted to meetings that are eventually published as full reports, and to explore factors that are associated with meeting acceptance and successful publication. METHODS: Studies analysing acceptance of abstracts at biomedical meetings or their subsequent full publication were searched in MEDLINE, OLDMEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, CINAHL, BIOSIS, Science Citation Index Expanded, and by hand searching of bibliographies and proceedings. We estimated rates of abstract acceptance and of subsequent full publication, and identified abstract and meeting characteristics associated with acceptance and publication, using logistic regression analysis, survival-type analysis, and meta-analysis. RESULTS: Analysed meetings were held between 1957 and 1999. Of 14945 abstracts that were submitted to 43 meetings, 46% were accepted. The rate of full publication was studied with 19123 abstracts that were presented at 234 meetings. Using survival-type analysis, we estimated that 27% were published after two, 41% after four, and 44% after six years. Of 2412 abstracts that were rejected at 24 meetings, 27% were published despite rejection. Factors associated with both abstract acceptance and subsequent publication were basic science and positive study outcome. Large meetings and those held outside the US were more likely to accept abstracts. Abstracts were more likely to be published subsequently if presented either orally, at small meetings, or at a US meeting. Abstract acceptance itself was strongly associated with full publication. CONCLUSIONS: About one third of abstracts submitted to biomedical meetings were published as full reports. Acceptance at meetings and publication were associated with specific characteristics of abstracts and meetings

A Novel Assay to Trace Proliferation History In Vivo Reveals that Enhanced Divisional Kinetics Accompany Loss of Hematopoietic Stem Cell Self-Renewal

BACKGROUND: The maintenance of lifelong blood cell production ultimately rests on rare hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) that reside in the bone marrow microenvironment. HSCs are traditionally viewed as mitotically quiescent relative to their committed progeny. However, traditional techniques for assessing proliferation activity in vivo, such as measurement of BrdU uptake, are incompatible with preservation of cellular viability. Previous studies of HSC proliferation kinetics in vivo have therefore precluded direct functional evaluation of multi-potency and self-renewal, the hallmark properties of HSCs. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We developed a non-invasive labeling technique that allowed us to identify and isolate candidate HSCs and early hematopoietic progenitor cells based on their differential in vivo proliferation kinetics. Such cells were functionally evaluated for their abilities to multi-lineage reconstitute myeloablated hosts. CONCLUSIONS: Although at least a few HSC divisions per se did not influence HSC function, enhanced kinetics of divisional activity in steady state preceded the phenotypic changes that accompanied loss of HSC self-renewal. Therefore, mitotic quiescence of HSCs, relative to their committed progeny, is key to maintain the unique functional and molecular properties of HSCs