Outcomes from elective colorectal cancer surgery during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic

This study aimed to describe the change in surgical practice and the impact of SARS-CoV-2 on mortality after surgical resection of colorectal cancer during the initial phases of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic

Orbital Aspergillosis or Giant Cell Arteritis — A Diagnostic Dilemma

Orbital aspergillosis is an uncommon but potentially fatal disease. Its initial clinical presentation can be nonspecific and may be easily confused with other systemic diseases (such as neoplasms, other orbital infections which could include bacterial, mycobacterium and fungal infections), systemic vasculitis and other inflammatory conditions. Use of systemic corticosteroid may result in transient symptom relief further delaying the diagnosis. We describe its occurrence in a 76-year-old Chinese female with underlying rheumatoid arthritis who presented with a four-week history of left fronto-temporal headache, and ipsilateral blurring of vision with an elevated erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR). Although temporal artery biopsy was negative for giant cell arteritis (GCA), high-dose corticosteroids were initially started for presumptive GCA. There was an initial transient improvement in headache and in her left eye's visual acuity. However, this was followed by a worsening headache and complete visual loss in her left eye. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed a new orbital apical mass-like lesion extending from the sphenoid sinus which was diagnosed as aspergillus infection on biopsy. Her condition improved and remained stable after the institution of appropriate anti-fungal therapy

Microbial population dynamics of granular aerobic sequencing batch reactors during start-up and steady state periods

This study investigates microbial population dynamics in granular sequencing batch reactors (GSBR). The experimental results of DGGE fingerprint of sludge demonstrated that the microbial community structure of sludge shifted significantly during granulation period and nutrient removal improvement period. After reactor performance and physical characteristics of sludge reached steady state, microbial population of sludge became relatively stable. The high similarity of microbial community structure between co-existed flocculated sludge and granular sludge in GSBR at different operation phases indicated that similar microbial consortium could exist in compact aggregated form or in amorphous flocculated form. Therefore, strong selection pressure was still required to wash out flocs to maintain the stability of reactor operation. In addition, it was found that substrate type had considerable impact on microbial species selection and enrichment in granular sludge. The clone library of granular sludge showed that microbial species in divisions of alpha-Proteobacteria, beta-Proteobacteria, gamma-Proteobacteria and Bacteroidetes existed within acetate-fed granule communities and Thauera spp. from beta-Proteobacteria accounted for 49% of the total clones in the whole clone library. It is thus speculated that Thauera spp. are important for the formation of acetate-fed granules under the conditions used in this study, maintaining the integrity of granules or substrate degradation.Environment & Water Industry Development Council of Singapore (EWI