Intranasal melanoma treated with radiation therapy in three dogs

Three dogs were investigated for chronic unilateral nasal discharge. In all cases CT imaging showed an intranasal mass causing turbinate lysis and no evidence of metastasis. Cytology in cases 1 (a 14-year-old neutered male crossbreed dog) and 2 (a five-year-old neutered male German Shepherd dog) demonstrated a pleomorphic cell population with variable intracellular pigment suspicious of melanocytic neoplasia. Histopathology with immunohistochemistry (Melan-A and vimentin, plus PNL-2 in one case) confirmed the diagnosis of melanoma in all dogs. All dogs were treated with megavoltage radiotherapy using linear accelerators. Cases 1 and 3 (a nine-year-old neutered female beagle dog) received a hypofractionated (4 × 8 Gy) protocol and case 2 received a definitive (12 × 4 Gy) protocol. Complete remission was demonstrated on repeat CT scan five months after diagnosis in case 1 and seven months in case 2. Stable disease was documented on CT at four months for case 3; however, clinical signs in this dog remained controlled for 10 months in total. Case 1 died of unrelated causes five months after diagnosis, case 2 was euthanased due to the development of seizures 13 months after diagnosis, and case 3 was lost to follow-up 12 months after diagnosis. Melanoma should be considered as a rare differential diagnosis for primary nasal neoplasia in the dog and radiation therapy can be used as effective local therapy

Protocolized Versus Nonprotocolized Weaning to Reduce the Duration of Invasive Mechanical Weaning in Neonates A Systematic Review of All Types of Studies

Mechanical ventilation is one of the most commonly used treatments in neonatology. Prolonged mechanical ventilation is associated with deleterious outcomes. To reduce the ventilation duration, weaning protocols have been developed to achieve extubation in adult and pediatric care in a safe and uniform manner. We performed a systematic review to obtain all available evidence on the effect of protocolized versus nonprotocolized weaning on the duration of invasive mechanical ventilation in critically ill neonates. The Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, Web of Science, and the International Clinical Trial Registry Platform were searched until January 2018. Quantitative and qualitative studies involving neonates that investigated or described protocolized versus nonprotocolized weaning were included. Primary outcome was the difference in weaning duration. A total of 2099 potentially relevant articles were retrieved. Three stud

Entangled Photons from Small Quantum Dots

We discuss level schemes of small quantum-dot turnstiles and their applicability in the production of entanglement in two-photon emission. Due to the large energy splitting of the single-electron levels, only one single electron level and one single hole level can be made resonant with the levels in the conduction band and valence band. This results in a model with nine distinct levels, which are split by the Coulomb interactions. We show that the optical selection rules are different for flat and tall cylindrically symmetric dots, and how this affects the quality of the entanglement generated in the decay of the biexciton state. The effect of charge carrier tunneling and of a resonant cavity is included in the model.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figure

Rapid white matter changes in children with conduct problems during a parenting intervention

Studies report that the microstructural integrity of the uncinate fasciculus (UF; connecting the anterior temporal lobe to the orbitofrontal cortex) is abnormal in adults with psychopathy and children with conduct problems (CP), especially those with high callous-unemotional (CU) traits. However, it is unknown if these abnormalities are 'fixed' or 'reversible'. Therefore, we tested the hypothesis that a reduction in CP symptoms, following a parenting intervention, would be associated with altered microstructural integrity in the UF. Using diffusion tensor imaging tractography we studied microstructural differences (mean diffusivity (MD) and radial diffusivity (RD)) in the UF of 43 typically developing (TD) and 67 boys with CP before and after a 14-week parenting intervention. We also assessed whether clinical response in CP symptoms or CU traits explained changes in microstructure following the intervention. Prior to intervention, measures of MD and RD in the UF were increased in CP compared to TD boys. Following intervention, we found that the CP group had a significant reduction in RD and MD. Further, these microstructural changes were driven by the group of children whose CU traits improved (but not CP symptoms as hypothesized). No significant microstructural changes were observed in the TD group. Our findings suggest, for the first time, that microstructural abnormalities in the brains of children with CP may be reversible following parenting intervention

Assembling evidence for identifying reservoirs of infection

Many pathogens persist in multihost systems, making the identification of infection reservoirs crucial for devising effective interventions. Here, we present a conceptual framework for classifying patterns of incidence and prevalence, and review recent scientific advances that allow us to study and manage reservoirs simultaneously. We argue that interventions can have a crucial role in enriching our mechanistic understanding of how reservoirs function and should be embedded as quasi-experimental studies in adaptive management frameworks. Single approaches to the study of reservoirs are unlikely to generate conclusive insights whereas the formal integration of data and methodologies, involving interventions, pathogen genetics, and contemporary surveillance techniques, promises to open up new opportunities to advance understanding of complex multihost systems

Engineering of quantum dot photon sources via electro-elastic fields

The possibility to generate and manipulate non-classical light using the tools of mature semiconductor technology carries great promise for the implementation of quantum communication science. This is indeed one of the main driving forces behind ongoing research on the study of semiconductor quantum dots. Often referred to as artificial atoms, quantum dots can generate single and entangled photons on demand and, unlike their natural counterpart, can be easily integrated into well-established optoelectronic devices. However, the inherent random nature of the quantum dot growth processes results in a lack of control of their emission properties. This represents a major roadblock towards the exploitation of these quantum emitters in the foreseen applications. This chapter describes a novel class of quantum dot devices that uses the combined action of strain and electric fields to reshape the emission properties of single quantum dots. The resulting electro-elastic fields allow for control of emission and binding energies, charge states, and energy level splittings and are suitable to correct for the quantum dot structural asymmetries that usually prevent these semiconductor nanostructures from emitting polarization-entangled photons. Key experiments in this field are presented and future directions are discussed.Comment: to appear as a book chapter in a compilation "Engineering the Atom-Photon Interaction" published by Springer in 2015, edited by A. Predojevic and M. W. Mitchel

A comparative study on long-term evoked auditory and visual potential responses between Schizophrenic patients and normal subjects

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The electrical signals measuring method is recommended to examine the relationship between neuronal activities and measure with the event related potentials (ERPs) during an auditory and a visual oddball paradigm between schizophrenic patients and normal subjects. The aim of this study is to discriminate the activation changes of different stimulations evoked by auditory and visual ERPs between schizophrenic patients and normal subjects.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Forty-three schizophrenic patients were selected as experimental group patients, and 40 healthy subjects with no medical history of any kind of psychiatric diseases, neurological diseases, or drug abuse, were recruited as a control group. Auditory and visual ERPs were studied with an oddball paradigm. All the data were analyzed by SPSS statistical software version 10.0.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In the comparative study of auditory and visual ERPs between the schizophrenic and healthy patients, P300 amplitude at Fz, Cz, and Pz and N100, N200, and P200 latencies at Fz, Cz, and Pz were shown significantly different. The cognitive processing reflected by the auditory and the visual P300 latency to rare target stimuli was probably an indicator of the cognitive function in schizophrenic patients.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This study shows the methodology of application of auditory and visual oddball paradigm identifies task-relevant sources of activity and allows separation of regions that have different response properties. Our study indicates that there may be slowness of automatic cognitive processing and controlled cognitive processing of visual ERPs compared to auditory ERPs in schizophrenic patients. The activation changes of visual evoked potentials are more regionally specific than auditory evoked potentials.</p

Quantitative PCR for Detection and Enumeration of Genetic Markers of Bovine Fecal Pollution

Accurate assessment of health risks associated with bovine (cattle) fecal pollution requires a reliable host-specific genetic marker and a rapid quantification method. We report the development of quantitative PCR assays for the detection of two recently described bovine feces-specific genetic markers and a method for the enumeration of these markers using a Markov chain Monte Carlo approach. Both assays exhibited a range of quantification from 25 to 2 × 106 copies of target DNA, with a coefficient of variation of <2.1%. One of these assays can be multiplexed with an internal amplification control to simultaneously detect the bovine-specific genetic target and presence of amplification inhibitors. The assays detected only cattle fecal specimens when tested against 204 fecal DNA extracts from 16 different animal species and also demonstrated a broad distribution among individual bovine samples (98 to 100%) collected from five geographically distinct locations. The abundance of each bovine-specific genetic marker was measured in 48 individual samples and compared to quantitative PCR-enumerated quantities of rRNA gene sequences representing total Bacteroidetes, Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron, and enterococci in the same specimens. Acceptable assay performance combined with the prevalence of DNA targets across different cattle populations provides experimental evidence that these quantitative assays will be useful in monitoring bovine fecal pollution in ambient waters