Bilateral Metastases to the Extraocular Muscles From Small Cell Lung Carcinoma

Bilateral orbital metastases restricted to the extraocular muscles (EOMs) are exceedingly rare. We report a case of bilateral extraocular muscle metastases from a small cell lung carcinoma and provide a review of the relevant literature. A 56-year-old smoker presented with proptosis, motility changes, and a relative afferent pupillary defect of the left eye, with a previous history of a small cell lung carcinoma. An orbital computerized tomography scan revealed a mass restricted to the left medial rectus. An incisional biopsy confirmed metastasis. Visual acuity of the left eye decreased rapidly, and right globe proptosis became evident. Orbital magnetic resonance imaging at two months follow-up showed marked left orbital mass enlargement and a new right lateral rectus mass. The patient was maintained on palliative care and died from metastatic disease-related complications.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Cluster Lenses

Clusters of galaxies are the most recently assembled, massive, bound structures in the Universe. As predicted by General Relativity, given their masses, clusters strongly deform space-time in their vicinity. Clusters act as some of the most powerful gravitational lenses in the Universe. Light rays traversing through clusters from distant sources are hence deflected, and the resulting images of these distant objects therefore appear distorted and magnified. Lensing by clusters occurs in two regimes, each with unique observational signatures. The strong lensing regime is characterized by effects readily seen by eye, namely, the production of giant arcs, multiple-images, and arclets. The weak lensing regime is characterized by small deformations in the shapes of background galaxies only detectable statistically. Cluster lenses have been exploited successfully to address several important current questions in cosmology: (i) the study of the lens(es) - understanding cluster mass distributions and issues pertaining to cluster formation and evolution, as well as constraining the nature of dark matter; (ii) the study of the lensed objects - probing the properties of the background lensed galaxy population - which is statistically at higher redshifts and of lower intrinsic luminosity thus enabling the probing of galaxy formation at the earliest times right up to the Dark Ages; and (iii) the study of the geometry of the Universe - as the strength of lensing depends on the ratios of angular diameter distances between the lens, source and observer, lens deflections are sensitive to the value of cosmological parameters and offer a powerful geometric tool to probe Dark Energy. In this review, we present the basics of cluster lensing and provide a current status report of the field.Comment: About 120 pages - Published in Open Access at: http://www.springerlink.com/content/j183018170485723/ . arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:astro-ph/0504478 and arXiv:1003.3674 by other author

Selective and “Veiled” Demarketing from the Perspective of Black Female Consumers

This study sheds light on the perspective of Black female consumers in regards to certain effects of marketing initiatives adopting the literature on demarketing as a framework. The context examined is their experience with the market of hair beauty and care. Media actions are analyzed along narrative interviews in order to understand the phenomenon. The findings reveal a structural dominant pattern which perpetuates the marginalized status of Black women’s natural traits. Emerging market initiatives point to movements concerning the visibility of such female consumers, who despite being eager to consume, have their demand discouraged. This suggests that they perceive a selective and veiled demarketing, as one of the results of marketing actions. The analysis invites for theoretical reflections on demarketing and veiled racism in Brazil

ATLANTIC EPIPHYTES: a data set of vascular and non-vascular epiphyte plants and lichens from the Atlantic Forest

Epiphytes are hyper-diverse and one of the frequently undervalued life forms in plant surveys and biodiversity inventories. Epiphytes of the Atlantic Forest, one of the most endangered ecosystems in the world, have high endemism and radiated recently in the Pliocene. We aimed to (1) compile an extensive Atlantic Forest data set on vascular, non-vascular plants (including hemiepiphytes), and lichen epiphyte species occurrence and abundance; (2) describe the epiphyte distribution in the Atlantic Forest, in order to indicate future sampling efforts. Our work presents the first epiphyte data set with information on abundance and occurrence of epiphyte phorophyte species. All data compiled here come from three main sources provided by the authors: published sources (comprising peer-reviewed articles, books, and theses), unpublished data, and herbarium data. We compiled a data set composed of 2,095 species, from 89,270 holo/hemiepiphyte records, in the Atlantic Forest of Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay, recorded from 1824 to early 2018. Most of the records were from qualitative data (occurrence only, 88%), well distributed throughout the Atlantic Forest. For quantitative records, the most common sampling method was individual trees (71%), followed by plot sampling (19%), and transect sampling (10%). Angiosperms (81%) were the most frequently registered group, and Bromeliaceae and Orchidaceae were the families with the greatest number of records (27,272 and 21,945, respectively). Ferns and Lycophytes presented fewer records than Angiosperms, and Polypodiaceae were the most recorded family, and more concentrated in the Southern and Southeastern regions. Data on non-vascular plants and lichens were scarce, with a few disjunct records concentrated in the Northeastern region of the Atlantic Forest. For all non-vascular plant records, Lejeuneaceae, a family of liverworts, was the most recorded family. We hope that our effort to organize scattered epiphyte data help advance the knowledge of epiphyte ecology, as well as our understanding of macroecological and biogeographical patterns in the Atlantic Forest. No copyright restrictions are associated with the data set. Please cite this Ecology Data Paper if the data are used in publication and teaching events. © 2019 The Authors. Ecology © 2019 The Ecological Society of Americ

Germinação do banco de sementes de espécies nativas sob dossel de espécies exóticas

As sementes no solo desempenham o importante papel de promover a regeneração da vegetação e a conservação da biodiversidade local, mas, a despeito dessa importância, estão sujeitas a fatores bióticos e abióticos que podem inibir sua germinação, entre eles efeitos alelopáticos desencadeados pelas plantas que estão presentes no ambiente do solo. Neste trabalho foi testada a hipótese de que a germinação das sementes presentes no banco do solo sob vegetação de Floresta Estacional Semidecidual (FES) é inibida sob o dossel de espécies arbóreas exóticas. Foram coletadas 50 amostras simples de 0,25 x 0,25 x 0,05 m do solo em um fragmento de FES, que foram homogeneizadas, constituindo amostra composta. Desta, foram retiradas amostras que foram submetidas a quatro tratamentos: depositadas em casa de vegetação (SMN-CV); devolvidas ao fragmento de mata (SMN-MN); depositadas sob dossel homogêneo de Pinus elliottii (SMN-P); e alocadas sob plantio homogêneo de Eucalyptus sp. (SMN-E). Foram coletadas, também, amostras de solo sob dossel de P. elliotti (SP-CV) e de Eucalyptus sp. (SE-CV), que foram transferidas para casa de vegetação. A cada 15 dias, o número de plantas foi contado em cada amostra e as plantas obtidas, identificadas quando possível. Foram obtidas, ao todo, 515 plantas de 15 famílias botânicas, 21 gêneros e 13 morfoespécies. A análise de variância dos dados e a comparação das médias pelo teste de Tukey-Kramer a 0,01% evidenciaram que não existem diferenças estatisticamente significativas entre o número de plantas obtidas em cada local. Esses resultados indicam que a baixa densidade e diversidade de plantas frequentemente verificadas no subosque de P. elliotti e Eucalyptus sp. não estão diretamente relacionadas com efeitos supressores promovidos pela presença dessas espécies, suportando dados recentes da literatura que apontam os plantios florestais de espécies exóticas como possíveis áreas de conservação da biodiversidade, em oposição à alcunha de "desertos verdes" que lhe são atribuídos