68 research outputs found
Montana's Crucial Areas and Connectivity Assessment: An Update and Demonstration of the Crucial Areas Mapping Service
Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP) completed the Comprehensive Fish and Wildlife Conservation Strategy (CFWCS) in October 2005 as a landscape level plan to identify aquatic and terrestrial focus areas important to species and habitats of "Greatest Conservation Need." As implementation of the CFWCS began, FWP saw a need to refine the conservation scale and include terrestrial game and sport fish, FWP lands, and other recreational values into a Comprehensive Plan for Conservation. The "Crucial Areas and Connectivity Assessment" is an attempt to refine the conservation scale and identify important game and nongame fish and wildlife habitats, critical corridors, and valued recreational areas using a combination of empirical data, modeling based on these data, and expert opinion. The goal of this project is to identify and display critical and important habitats for fish and wildlife. Multiple benefits are perceived through achievement of this goal: increased efficiency in planning and commenting on development proposals, effective targeting and planning for the conservation of valued habitats, and increased opportunity for coordination with other agencies states. FWP spent the past year developing data layers, vetting the layers both internally and within the scientific community. Layers available to date include: game quality, game fish life history, watershed integrity, species of concern, aquatic connectivity, angler use, terrestrial species richness, and core area index. In parallel, FWP has developed an interactive Crucial Areas Mapping Service (CAMS) that depicts these resource values and allows users to relate each resource value to risk factors including energy development, urbanization, and subdivision. As the project develops and nears completion, best management practices and policy related to critical habitats will be produced. In mid-March, we plan to release CAMS to the public as a preplanning tool and comprehensive decision support system
ATRT-02. Neuropsychological function in infant atypical teratoid/rhabdoid tumor versus low-grade glioma survivors reflects tumor malignancy and multimodal treatment [Abstract]
BACKGROUND: Therapy of infants with brain tumors predisposes these patients to increased risks for cognitive sequelae, especially following radiotherapy. Neuropsychological outcome gains importance for those 40-60% of patients with an atypical teratoid/rhabdoid tumor (ATRT) who survive beyond 2 years. Still, reports on cognitive late-effects in children with ATRT are scarce compared to other pediatric brain tumor groups. We analyzed neuropsychological outcome for long-term ATRT-survivors registered in EU-RHAB and infant low-grade glioma (LGG) survivors from the SIOP-LGG 2004-study and LGG-registry. PATIENTS+METHODS: Age at diagnosis of both cohorts was 0-36 months. ATRT-patients (n=13) treated with up to 54Gy radiotherapy (median age 22 months (±7.1)) were evaluated with the “ATRT-Neuropsychology” tool based on SIOPE-BTG QoS-Group recommendations at median 6.8 years (±2.8) after diagnosis. LGG-patients (n=15) treated without radiotherapy (4/15 with chemotherapy) were analyzed with the German “Neuropsychological-Basic-Diagnostic” tool 5.2 years (±0.6) post-diagnosis. RESULTS: The ATRT- vs. LGG-cohorts were comparable for median age at diagnosis, sex-ratio and tumor-localization, though they differed slightly in median age at assessment (9.5/7.2 years (±2.5/1.1)). Results of age-appropriate tests showed increased impairments for ATRT-patients in fluid intelligence (FI) (p=.006, d=1.214) and in visual-spatial processing (VSP) (p<.001, d=2.233) compared to LGG-patients. The median for neuropsychological test results of ATRT-patients spanned from considerably below the normal to the lower normal range (median=65-90), while results of LGG-patients were mostly in the lower normal range (median=83-103). Results for psychomotor speed abilities (PMS) were distinctly below the norm for both patient groups (p=.002-.007). CONCLUSION: Infant ATRT- and LGG-patients develop significant impairments in PMS abilities following multimodal treatment. Long-term survivors of ATRT suffer from additional FI and VSP deficits. Our data suggest that high malignancy requiring multimodal treatment determines the inferior cognitive outcome for the ATRT-cohort. Long-term neuropsychological monitoring (and treatment options) should be implemented as standard of care in ATRT- and LGG-trials
Pathology and Telepathology Methods in the Child Health and Mortality Prevention Surveillance Network
This manuscript describes the Child Health and Mortality
Prevention Surveillance (CHAMPS) network approach to pathologic
evaluation of minimally invasive tissue sampling (MITS)
specimens, including guidelines for histopathologic examination
and further diagnostics with special stains,
immunohistochemistry, and molecular testing, as performed at the
CHAMPS Central Pathology Laboratory (CPL) at the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention, as well as techniques for
virtual discussion of these cases (telepathology) with CHAMPS
surveillance locations. Based on review of MITS from the early
phase of CHAMPS, the CPL has developed standardized
histopathology-based algorithms for achieving diagnoses from
MITS and telepathology procedures in conjunction with the CHAMPS
sites, with the use of whole slide scanners and digital image
archives, for maximizing concurrence and knowledge sharing
between site and CPL pathologists. These algorithms and
procedures, along with lessons learned from initial
implementation of these approaches, guide pathologists at the
CPL and CHAMPS sites through standardized diagnostics of MITS
cases, and allow for productive, real-time case discussions and
consultations
The secrets of T Pyxidis II. A recurrent nova that will not become a SN Ia
By various methods, we obtained L 70 L and
1.1 10 Myr. These values were
about twice as high in the pre-1966-outburst epoch. This allowed the first
direct estimate of the total mass accreted before outburst,
M= t, and its comparison with the
critical ignition mass M. We found M and M to be in
perfect agreement (with a value close to 5 10M) for
M 1.37 M, which provides a confirmation of the
thermonuclear runaway theory. The comparison of the observed parameters of the
eruption phase, with the corresponding values in the grid of models by Yaron
and collaborators, provides satisfactory agreement for values of M close to
1.35 M and log between -8.0 and -7.0, but the observed value
of the decay time t is higher than expected. The long duration of the
optically thick phase during the recorded outbursts of T Pyx, a spectroscopic
behavior typical of classical novae, and the persistence of P Cyg profiles,
constrains the ejected mass M to within 10 - 10
M. Therefore, T Pyx ejects far more material than it has accreted,
and the mass of the white dwarf will not increase to the Chandrasekhar limit as
generally believed in recurrent novae. A detailed study based on the UV data
excludes the possibility that T Pyx belongs to the class of the supersoft X-ray
sources, as has been postulated. XMM-NEWTON observations have revealed a weak,
hard source and confirmed this interpretation
Proctitis following stereotactic body radiation therapy for prostate cancer
Background
Proctitis after radiation therapy for prostate cancer remains an ongoing clinical challenge and critical quality of life issue. SBRT could minimize rectal toxicity by reducing the volume of rectum receiving high radiation doses and offers the potential radiobiologic benefits of hypofractionation. This study sought to evaluate the incidence and severity of proctitis following SBRT for prostate cancer.
Methods
Between February 2008 and July 2011, 269 men with clinically localized prostate cancer were treated definitively with SBRT monotherapy at Georgetown University Hospital. All patients were treated to 35-36.25Gy in 5 fractions delivered with the CyberKnife Radiosurgical System (Accuray). Rectal bleeding was recorded and scored using the CTCAE v.4. Telangiectasias were graded using the Vienna Rectoscopy Score (VRS). Proctitis was assessed via the Bowel domain of the Expanded Prostate Index Composite (EPIC)-26 at baseline and at 1, 3, 6, 9, 12, 18 and 24 months post-SBRT.
Results
The median age was 69 years with a median prostate volume of 39 cc. The median follow-up was 3.9 years with a minimum follow-up of two years. The 2-year actuarial incidence of late rectal bleeding ≥ grade 2 was 1.5%. Endoscopy revealed VRS Grade 2 rectal telangiectasias in 11% of patients. All proctitis symptoms increased at one month post-SBRT but returned to near-baseline with longer follow-up. The most bothersome symptoms were bowel urgency and frequency. At one month post-SBRT, 11.2% and 8.5% of patients reported a moderate to big problem with bowel urgency and frequency, respectively. The EPIC bowel summary scores declined transiently at 1 month and experienced a second, more protracted decline between 6 months and 18 months before returning to near-baseline at two years post-SBRT. Prior to treatment, 4.1% of men felt their bowel function was a moderate to big problem which increased to 11.5% one month post-SBRT but returned to near-baseline at two years post-SBRT.
Conclusions
In this single institution cohort, the rate and severity of proctitis observed following SBRT is low. QOL decreased on follow-up; however, our results compare favorably to those reported for patients treated with alternative radiation modalities. Future prospective randomized studies are needed to confirm these observations
Species distribution models for Denali National Park and Preserve, Alaska
Thesis (M.S.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2007The objective of this study is to explore the use of existing data to model the distribution of four species in Denali National Park; caribou, moose, grizzly bear, and wolf. Radiolocation data consisting of 1331 locations collected over three years for female caribou, 1329 locations collected over three years for female moose, 6579 locations collected over ten years for grizzly bears, and 2686 locations collected over three years for wolves were obtained from park biologists. A geographic information system was used to derive landscape characteristics associated with the animal locations and random locations placed in the same area. Caribou models were developed at three spatial scales with three different algorithms. Classification tree models showed a high prediction success, correctly classifying 75 to 94 percent of randomly withheld animal locations. Fall models for female caribou had the poorest prediction ability while summer models for female grizzly bears performed best. Topographic landscape characteristics such as elevation and terrain ruggedness were important classifiers for most of my prediction models. Distribution maps were developed for individual and multiple species during different seasons. Areas of moderate elevation along the north side of the Alaska Range are important for all our study animals.Caribou distribution models from opportunistic data : exploring scale and comparing algorithms -- Distribution models for moose, grizzly bears, and wolves from opportunistic data
TRECVID 2016. Evaluating Video Search, Video Event Detection, Localization and Hyperlinking
Contains fulltext :
166368.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)TRECVID 2016, 14 november 201
Effects of silicon addition on the electrical and magnetic properties of copper-doped (La,Ca)MnO3 compounds
In this paper we report about the electrical properties of La0.7Ca0.3MnO3 compounds substituted by copper on the manganese site and/or deliberately contaminated by SiO2 in the reactant mixture. Several phenomena have been observed and discussed. SiO2 addition leads to the formation of an apatite-like secondary phase that affects the electrical conduction through the percolation of the charge carriers. On the other hand, depending on the relative amounts of copper and silicon, the temperature dependence of the electrical resistivity can be noticeably modified: our results enable us to compare the effects of crystallographic vacancies on the A and B sites of the perovskite with the influence of the copper ions substituted on the manganese site. The most original result occurs for the compounds with a small ratio Si/Cu, which display double-peaked resistivity vs. temperature curves. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved
Magnetic and electronic ground states of B-site-substituted LaMnO3: from antiferromagnetism to ferromagnetism
We report about the physical properties of samples obtained by different substitutions on the Mn site of LaMnO3: LaMn0.85Ni0.15O3, LaMn0.85Ga0.15O3 and LaMn0.5Ga0.5O3. It is well known that the antiferromagnetic orbitally ordered ground state of LaMnO3 is easily destroyed to give way to ferromagnetism. However, this ferromagnetic behaviour can result from several mechanisms: depending on the nature of the substituting cation and on the substitution level, the physical properties derived from a complex interplay between exchange interactions, orbital ordering and Jahn-Teller distortion. As a result, there are noticeable differences between the physical properties of the different samples, even though all three samples display a ferromagnetic component in zero applied magnetic field. In this paper we compare the crystallographic, electrical and magnetic properties of these samples, with a special attention for the AC susceptibility behaviour. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved
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