Fatal imaginations: death squads in Davao City and Medellín compared

This article examines the role social imaginations play in legitimizing extrajudicial killings by death squads in the era of globalization. The role of popular imagining has expanded into a widespread social practice as people increasingly draw on images from all over the world via modern communication technologies. Drawing on Mary Douglas' concept 'matter out of place' and Nancy Scheper-Hughes' 'symbolic apartheid' we argue that to a certain extent, dehumanizing imaginations about socially excluded groups legitimize death squad killings. The article compares two case studies on death squads in the cities of Medellín, Colombia and Davao City, Philippines. We conclude that social imaginations in the era of globalization may be a driving force behind death squads in these and other major cities in the world

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Oral health in patients with end-stage renal disease: A scoping review

Objectives: In patients with end stage, renal disease a high rate of morbidity and mortality is present. Studies suggest that end stage renal disease may affect oral health. Therefore, the aim of this study was to perform a scoping review on periodontal disease, dental caries, xerostomia, and hyposalivation in end stage renal disease patients. Materials and methods: A literature search (in PubMed and Embase.com) was performed up to September 29, 2020, in collaboration with a medical information specialist. Included outcome variables were the community periodontal index, probing pocket depth, gingival index, bleeding on probing, decayed-missing-filled-teeth, carious-absent-obturated index, Xerostomia Inventory and the (un)stimulated whole salivary flow rate. Results: Forty three out of 1293 studies were included in the final review comprising 7757 end stage renal disease patients. The average age was 58.3 ± 29.4 years. 28.2%–78.8% of patients reported xerostomia and the (un)stimulated salivary flow rates were significantly lower. Higher community periodontal index scores were measured in end stage renal disease patients. More decayed-missing-filled-teeth were recorded, but no differences were found between groups. Conclusions: Xerostomia and hyposalivation were highly prevalent in end stage renal disease patients. Patients have more deepened pockets, but an equal number of carious teeth compared to healthy controls

Deciphering the glioblastoma phenotype by computed tomography radiomics

Introduction: Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most common malignant primary brain tumour which has, despite extensive treatment, a median overall survival of 15 months. Radiomics is the high-throughput extraction of large amounts of image features from radiographic images, which allows capturing the tumour phenotype in 3D and in a non-invasive way. In this study we assess the prognostic value of CT radiomics for overall survival in patients with a GBM. Materials and methods: Clinical data and pre-treatment CT images were obtained from 218 patients diagnosed with a GBM via biopsy who underwent radiotherapy +/- temozolomide between 2004 and 2015 treated at three independent institutes (n = 93, 62 and 63). A clinical prognostic score (CPS), a simple radiomics model consisting of volume based score (VPS), a complex radiomics prognostic score (RPS) and a combined clinical and radiomics (C + R)PS model were developed. The population was divided into three risk groups for each prognostic score and respective Kaplan-Meier curves were generated. Results: Patient characteristics were broadly comparable. Clinically significant differences were observed with regards to radiation dose, tumour volume and performance status between datasets. Image acquisition parameters differed between institutes. The cross-validated c-indices were moderately discriminative and for the CPS ranged from 0.63 to 0.65; the VPS c-indices ranged between 0.52 and 0.61; the RPS cindices ranged from 0.57 to 0.64 and the combined clinical and radiomics model resulted in c-indices of 0.59-0.71. Conclusion: In this study clinical and CT radiomics features were used to predict OS in GBM. Discrimination between low-, middle- and high-risk patients based on the combined clinical and radiomics model was comparable to previous MRI-based models. (c) 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. Radiotherapy and Oncology 160 (2021) 132-139 This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)