Whole-tumor apparent diffusion coefficient measurements in nephroblastoma: Can it identify blastemal predominance?

PURPOSE: To explore the potential relation between whole-tumor apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) parameters in viable parts of tumor and histopathological findings in nephroblastoma. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Children (n = 52) with histopathologically proven nephroblastoma underwent diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) (1.5T) before preoperative chemotherapy. Of these, 25 underwent an additional MRI after preoperative chemotherapy, shortly before resection. An experienced reader performed the whole-tumor ADC measurements of all lesions, excluding nonenhancing areas. An experienced pathologist reviewed the postoperative specimens according to standard SIOP guidelines. Potential associations between ADC parameters and proportions of histological subtypes were assessed with Pearson's or Spearman's rank correlation coefficient depending on whether the parameters tested were normally distributed. In case the Mann-Whitney U-test revealed significantly different ADC values in a subtype tumor, this ADC parameter was used to derive a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. RESULTS: The 25(th) percentile ADC at presentation was the best ADC metric correlated with proportion of blastema (Pearson's r = -0.303, P = 0.026). ADC after preoperative treatment showed moderate correlation with proportion stromal subtype at histopathology (r = 0.579, P = 0.002). By ROC analysis, the optimal threshold of median ADC for detecting stromal subtype was 1.362 × 10(-3) mm(2) /s with sensitivity and specificity of 100% (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.65-1.00) and 78.9% (95% CI 0.57-0.92), respectively. CONCLUSION: ADC markers in nephroblastoma are related to stromal subtype histopathology; however, identification of blastemal predominant tumors using whole-tumor ADC measurements is probably not feasible. Level of Evidence 3 J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2016;00:000-000

Localization and genomic structure of human deoxyhypusine synthase gene on chromosome 19p13.2-distal 19p13.1

The amino acid hypusine is formed post-translationally in a single cellular protein, the eukaryotic translation initiation factor 5A, by two enzymes, namely deoxyhypusine synthase and deoxyhypusine hydroxylase. Hypusine is found in all eukaryotes and in some archaebacteria, but not in eubacteria. The deoxyhypusine synthase cDNA was cloned and mapped by fluorescence in situ hybridization on chromosome 19p13.11-p13.12. Rare cDNAs containing internal deletions were also found. We localized the deoxyhypusine synthase gene on a high resolution cosmid/BAC contig map of chromosome 19 to a region in 19p13.2-distal 19p13.1 between MANB and JUNB. Analysis of the genomic exon/intron structure of the gene coding region showed that it consists of nine exons and spans a length of 6.6kb. From observation of the genomic structure, it seems likely that the internally deleted forms of mature RNA are the result of alternative splicing, rather than of artifacts

A fine physical map of the CACNA1A gene region on 19p13.1-p13.2 chromosome

The P/Q-type Ca(2+) channel alpha(1A) subunit gene (CACNA1A) was cloned on the short arm of chromosome 19 between the markers D19S221 and D19S179 and found to be responsible for Episodic Ataxia type 2, Familial Hemiplegic Migraine and Spinocerebellar Ataxia type 6. This region was physically mapped by 11 cosmid contigs spanning about 1. 4Mb, corresponding to less than 70% of the whole region. The cosmid contig used to characterize the CACNA1A gene accounted only for the coding region of the gene lacking, therefore, the promoter and possible regulation regions. The present study improves the physical map around and within the CACNA1A by giving a complete cosmid or BAC contig coverage of the D19S221-D19S179 interval. A number of new STSs, whether polymorphic or not, were characterized and physically mapped within this region. Four ESTs were also assigned to cosmids belonging to specific contigs

The Seroepidemiology of Haemophilus influenzae Type B Prior to Introduction of an Immunization Programme in Kathmandu, Nepal.

Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) is now recognized as an important pathogen in Asia. To evaluate disease susceptibility, and as a marker of Hib transmission before routine immunization was introduced in Kathmandu, 71 participants aged 7 months-77 years were recruited and 15 cord blood samples were collected for analysis of anti-polyribosylribitol phosphate antibody levels by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Only 20% of children under 5 years old had levels considered protective (>0.15 µg/ml), rising to 83% of 15-54 year-olds. Prior to introduction of Hib vaccine in Kathmandu, the majority of young children were susceptible to disease

Brucellosis remains a neglected disease inthe developing world: a call forinterdisciplinary action

Brucellosis places significant burdens on the human healthcare system and limits the economic growth of individuals, communities, and nations where such development is especially important to diminish the prevalence of poverty. The implementation of public policy focused on mitigating the socioeconomic effects of brucellosis in human and animal populations is desperately needed. When developing a plan to mitigate the associated consequences, it is vital to consider both the abstract and quantifiable effects. This requires an interdisciplinary and collaborative, or One Health, approach that consists of public education, the development of an infrastructure for disease surveillance and reporting in both veterinary and medical fields, and campaigns for control in livestock and wildlife species

Maternal Near Miss and Mortality in a Rural Referral Hospital in Northern Tanzania: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Maternal morbidity and mortality in sub-Saharan Africa remains high despite global efforts to reduce it. In order to lower maternal morbidity and mortality in the immediate term, reduction of delay in the provision of quality obstetric care is of prime importance. The aim of this study is to assess the occurrence of severe maternal morbidity and mortality in a rural referral hospital in Tanzania as proposed by the WHO near miss approach and to assess implementation levels of key evidence-based interventions in women experiencing severe maternal morbidity and mortality. A prospective cross-sectional study was performed from November 2009 until November 2011 in a rural referral hospital in Tanzania. All maternal near misses and maternal deaths were included. As not all WHO near miss criteria were applicable, a modification was used to identify cases. Data were collected from medical records using a structured data abstraction form. Descriptive frequencies were calculated for demographic and clinical variables, outcome indicators, underlying causes, and process indicators. In the two-year period there were 216 maternal near misses and 32 maternal deaths. The hospital-based maternal mortality ratio was 350 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births (95% CI 243-488). The maternal near miss incidence ratio was 23.6 per 1,000 live births, with an overall case fatality rate of 12.9%. Oxytocin for prevention of postpartum haemorrhage was used in 96 of 201 women and oxytocin for treatment of postpartum haemorrhage was used in 38 of 66 women. Furthermore, eclampsia was treated with magnesium sulphate in 87% of all cases. Seventy-four women underwent caesarean section, of which 25 women did not receive prophylactic antibiotics. Twenty-eight of 30 women who were admitted with sepsis received parenteral antibiotics. The majority of the cases with uterine rupture (62%) occurred in the hospital. Maternal morbidity and mortality remain challenging problems in a rural referral hospital in Tanzania. Key evidence-based interventions are not implemented in women with severe maternal morbidity and mortality. Progress can be made through up scaling the use of evidence-based interventions, such as the use of oxytocin for prevention and treatment of postpartum haemorrhage

Media, Capabilities, and Justification

In this paper, I evaluate the ‘capability approach’ developed by Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum as a normative perspective for critical media research. The concept of capabilities provides a valuable way of assessing media and captures important aspects of the relationship between media and equality. However, following Rainer Forst’s critique of outcome- oriented approaches to justice, I argue the capability approach needs to pay more attention to questions of power and process. In particular, when it comes to deciding which capabilities media should promote and what media structure and practices should promote them, the capability approach must accept the priority of deliberative and democratic processes of justification. Once we do this, we are urged to situate the concept of capabilities within a more process-oriented view of justice, focused not on capabilities as such, but on outlining the conditions required for justificatory equality. After discussing the capability approach, I will outline the process-oriented theory of justice Forst has developed around the idea of the ‘right to justification’. While Forst does not discuss media in depth, I argue his theory of justice can provide a valuable alternative normative standpoint for the critical media research

The Pioneer Anomaly

Radio-metric Doppler tracking data received from the Pioneer 10 and 11 spacecraft from heliocentric distances of 20-70 AU has consistently indicated the presence of a small, anomalous, blue-shifted frequency drift uniformly changing with a rate of ~6 x 10^{-9} Hz/s. Ultimately, the drift was interpreted as a constant sunward deceleration of each particular spacecraft at the level of a_P = (8.74 +/- 1.33) x 10^{-10} m/s^2. This apparent violation of the Newton's gravitational inverse-square law has become known as the Pioneer anomaly; the nature of this anomaly remains unexplained. In this review, we summarize the current knowledge of the physical properties of the anomaly and the conditions that led to its detection and characterization. We review various mechanisms proposed to explain the anomaly and discuss the current state of efforts to determine its nature. A comprehensive new investigation of the anomalous behavior of the two Pioneers has begun recently. The new efforts rely on the much-extended set of radio-metric Doppler data for both spacecraft in conjunction with the newly available complete record of their telemetry files and a large archive of original project documentation. As the new study is yet to report its findings, this review provides the necessary background for the new results to appear in the near future. In particular, we provide a significant amount of information on the design, operations and behavior of the two Pioneers during their entire missions, including descriptions of various data formats and techniques used for their navigation and radio-science data analysis. As most of this information was recovered relatively recently, it was not used in the previous studies of the Pioneer anomaly, but it is critical for the new investigation.Comment: 165 pages, 40 figures, 16 tables; accepted for publication in Living Reviews in Relativit