Subgaleal Effusion and Brain Midline Shift After Cranioplasty: A Retrospective Study Between Polyetheretherketone Cranioplasty and Titanium Cranioplasty After Decompressive Craniectomy

Cranioplasty with polyetheretherketone (PEEK) has recently shown better cerebral protection performance, improved brain function, and aesthetic contour compared with titanium mesh. However, whether patients undergoing PEEK cranioplasty tend to develop subgaleal effusions remains elusive. This retrospective study included patients who underwent cranioplasty with PEEK implants or titanium mesh after decompressive craniectomy between July 2017 and July 2020. Patient information, including general information, location, size of the defect, subgaleal depth, and brain midline shift was collected and statistically analyzed. There were 130 cases of cranioplasty, including 35 with PEEK implants and 95 with a titanium mesh. Patients who underwent cranioplasty with a PEEK implant had a higher subgaleal effusion rate than those who underwent cranioplasty with titanium mesh (85.71% vs. 53.68%, P < 0.001), while a midline shift >5 mm was more frequently observed in the PEEK group than in the titanium group (20% vs. 6.3%, P = 0.021). The PEEK material was the only factor associated with subgaleal effusion after cranioplasty (OR 5.589, P = 0.002). Logistic regression analysis further showed that age was a protective factor against midline shift in the PEEK cranioplasty group (OR 0.837, P = 0.029). Patients who underwent cranioplasty with PEEK implants were more likely to develop severe subgaleal effusion and significant brain midline shifts than those with titanium mesh implants

Examining resilience in local adaptation policies – pilot studies in Taipei and Tainan, Taiwan

Resilience has gained considerable attention over recent years in both theories and decision-making practices. In Taiwan, the term resilience is generally considered as a synonym for adaptation. This may limit the use of the notion. By understanding resilience in terms of adaptation and mitigation, we identify six attributes for assessment. The assessment is addressed in local level climate change adaptation policies in two selected cities. The city of Taipei represents places where local adaptation policies were directed mainly by the national government. The city of Tainan represents places where the municipal government plays a more critical role in framing these policies. This can result in different policymaking considerations. The assessment points out that the proposed actions of these policies are broader than a general understanding of adaptation. Mitigation strategies are addressed and sometimes highly recommended. Because of this, we can interpret these actions as resilience strategies covered under the use of the term adaptation. The notion of resilience does not stay on the rhetorical level alone. It is happening in shaping decisions – without using the terminology directly. The broadness of the resilience notion, in spite of being abstract, can provide a more general framework for cross-sectorial discussion and collaboration in policy-making. This is particularly important for dealing with complex issues, such as climate-related disturbances, which cannot be managed by a single group of professions

The role of 245 phase in alkaline iron selenide superconductors revealed by high pressure studies

Here we show that a pressure of about 8 GPa suppresses both the vacancy order and the insulating phase, and a further increase of the pressure to about 18 GPa induces a second transition or crossover. No superconductivity has been found in compressed insulating 245 phase. The metallic phase in the intermediate pressure range has a distinct behavior in the transport property, which is also observed in the superconducting sample. We interpret this intermediate metal as an orbital selective Mott phase (OSMP). Our results suggest that the OSMP provides the physical pathway connecting the insulating and superconducting phases of these iron selenide materials.Comment: 32 pages, 4 figure

Case report: Intraabdominal infection of Mycobacterium syngnathidarum in an immunocompetent patient confirmed by whole-genome sequencing

BackgroundThe taxonomic group of non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) encompasses more than 190 species and subspecies, some of which can cause pulmonary and extrapulmonary diseases across various age groups in humans. However, different subspecies exhibit differential drug sensitivities, and traditional detection techniques struggle to accurately classify NTM. Therefore, clinicians need more effective detection methods to identify NTM subtypes, thus providing personalized medication for patients.Case presentationWe present the case of a 47-year-old female patient diagnosed with an intraabdominal infection caused by Mycobacterium syngnathidarum. Despite computed tomography of the chest suggesting potential tuberculosis, tuberculosis infection was ruled out due to negative TB-DNA results for ascites fluid and sputum and limited improvement of lung lesions after treatment. Additionally, acid-fast staining and Lowenstein–Jensen culture results revealed the presence of mycobacterium in ascites fluid. Subsequent whole-genome sequencing (WGS) confirmed the DNA sequences of Mycobacterium syngnathidarum in colonies isolated from the ascites fluid, which was further corroborated by polymerase chain reaction and Sanger sequencing. Ultimately, the patient achieved a complete recovery following the treatment regimen targeting Mycobacterium syngnathidarum, which involved clarithromycin, ethambutol hydrochloride, pyrazinamide, rifampicin, and isoniazid.ConclusionThis is the first reported case of Mycobacterium syngnathidarum infection in humans. Mycobacterium syngnathidarum was detected by WGS in this case, suggesting that WGS may serve as a high-resolution assay for the diagnosis of different subtypes of mycobacterium infection

31st Annual Meeting and Associated Programs of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC 2016) : part two

Background The immunological escape of tumors represents one of the main ob- stacles to the treatment of malignancies. The blockade of PD-1 or CTLA-4 receptors represented a milestone in the history of immunotherapy. However, immune checkpoint inhibitors seem to be effective in specific cohorts of patients. It has been proposed that their efficacy relies on the presence of an immunological response. Thus, we hypothesized that disruption of the PD-L1/PD-1 axis would synergize with our oncolytic vaccine platform PeptiCRAd. Methods We used murine B16OVA in vivo tumor models and flow cytometry analysis to investigate the immunological background. Results First, we found that high-burden B16OVA tumors were refractory to combination immunotherapy. However, with a more aggressive schedule, tumors with a lower burden were more susceptible to the combination of PeptiCRAd and PD-L1 blockade. The therapy signifi- cantly increased the median survival of mice (Fig. 7). Interestingly, the reduced growth of contralaterally injected B16F10 cells sug- gested the presence of a long lasting immunological memory also against non-targeted antigens. Concerning the functional state of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs), we found that all the immune therapies would enhance the percentage of activated (PD-1pos TIM- 3neg) T lymphocytes and reduce the amount of exhausted (PD-1pos TIM-3pos) cells compared to placebo. As expected, we found that PeptiCRAd monotherapy could increase the number of antigen spe- cific CD8+ T cells compared to other treatments. However, only the combination with PD-L1 blockade could significantly increase the ra- tio between activated and exhausted pentamer positive cells (p= 0.0058), suggesting that by disrupting the PD-1/PD-L1 axis we could decrease the amount of dysfunctional antigen specific T cells. We ob- served that the anatomical location deeply influenced the state of CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocytes. In fact, TIM-3 expression was in- creased by 2 fold on TILs compared to splenic and lymphoid T cells. In the CD8+ compartment, the expression of PD-1 on the surface seemed to be restricted to the tumor micro-environment, while CD4 + T cells had a high expression of PD-1 also in lymphoid organs. Interestingly, we found that the levels of PD-1 were significantly higher on CD8+ T cells than on CD4+ T cells into the tumor micro- environment (p < 0.0001). Conclusions In conclusion, we demonstrated that the efficacy of immune check- point inhibitors might be strongly enhanced by their combination with cancer vaccines. PeptiCRAd was able to increase the number of antigen-specific T cells and PD-L1 blockade prevented their exhaus- tion, resulting in long-lasting immunological memory and increased median survival