Reply: Thymidylate synthase polymorphism and survival of colorectal cancer patients treated with 5-fluorouracil

British Journal of Cancer (2002) 86, 1366. DOI: 10.1038/sj/bjc/6600230 www.bjcancer.co

Terminology of Geological Time: Establishment of a Community Standard

It has been recommended that geological time be described in a single set of terms and according to metric or SI (“Système International d’Unités”) standards, to ensure “worldwide unification of measurement”. While any effort to improve communication in scientific research and writing is to be encouraged, we are also concerned that fundamental differences between date and duration, in the way that our profession expresses geological time, would be lost in such an oversimplified terminology. In addition, no precise value for ‘year’ in the SI base unit of second has been accepted by the international bodies.Under any circumstances, however, it remains the fact that geological dates – as points in time – are not relevant to the SI. Known dates may define durations, just as known durations may define dates, or dates may simply be punctual references that support historical narratives, but dates are not quantities. Furthermore, dates, as datum points, belong to a specific type of guiding information that is in constant use not only by the disciplines that explore the unwritten past, but in the physical sciences and engineering as well. Accordingly, we recommend a new standardization of the distinction between geohistorical date, in years before present expressed in ‘annus’, symbol ‘a’,with the multiples ‘ka’, ‘Ma’, and ‘Ga’ for thousands, millions and billions of years ago, according to a convention that has been very widely adopted during the last 30 years, and geohistorical duration, expressed in ‘year’, symbol ‘yr’, with multiples ‘kyr’, ‘Myr’ and ‘Gyr’, respectively, as the most appropriate among the various formats in the current literature. Agreement on these two sets of terms throughout the wide community that deals with paleochronology would remove a false impression of improvisation and uncertainty as to appropriate terminology, and would lead to more effective communication in areas where a simplified but needlessly SI-conisistent terminology would be less, not more useful

Tumoración pancreática en paciente con parasitosis por Ascaris lumbricoides

Ascaris lumbricoides is an infrequent ethiology of intestinal tract infection in our country. A 86 years-old woman was admitted in Internal Medicine with vomiting, weight loss and abdominal pain and parasite expulsion. Physical examination showed a bad general condition without other findings. Laboratory tests showed leucocytosis with eosinophilia (12.4%). The scanner showed an infiltrative pancreatic mass with peritoneal carcinomatosis. Microbiogical analysis showed an Ascaris lumbricoides. The patient was treated with mebendazole during 3 days. Unfortunately, due to age and comorbidities, the patient died in a few months.La parasitosis intestinal por Ascaris lumbricoides es infrecuente en nuestro medio. Una mujer de 86 años consultó por vómitos y síndrome general. Asoció la expulsión de un parásito con un episodio de vómito. La exploración física objetivó mal estado general y caquexia. En la analítica destacaba leucocitosis con eosinofilia (12,4%). La TC puso de manifiesto la existencia de una tumoración pancreática con carcinomatosis peritoneal y en el análisis microbiológico el parásito fue identificado como Ascaris lumbricoides. La paciente fue tratada con mebendazol durante 3 días. Su evolución fue tórpida, con deterioro progresivo, falleciendo a los pocos meses del diagnóstico

Real-time lossless compression of multibeam echosounder water column data

Multibeam echosounders can generate vast amounts of data when recording the complete water column, which poses logistic, economic and technical challenges. Lossy data compression can reduce data size up to one or two orders of magnitude, but often at the expense of significant image distortion. Lossless compression ratios tend to be modest and at a high computing cost. In this work we test a high-performance data compression algorithm, FAPEC, initially developed for Space data communications with low computing requirements. FAPEC provides good compression ratios and supports tailored pre-processing stages. Here we show its advantages over standard and high-end lossless compression solutions currently available, both in terms of ratios and speedR+D work on FAPEC is supported by the ESA Business Incubation Programme through Barcelona Activa, by the MINECO (Spanish Ministry of Economy) – FEDER through grants ESP2014-55996-C2-1-R, AYA2014-59084-P and MDM-2014-0369 of ICCUB (Unidad de Excelencia ‘María de Maeztu’), and by the AGAUR. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No 658358 (D. Amblas). The authors acknowledge funding received from the Spanish RTD grant NUREIEV (CTM2013-44598-R) and from EC contract MIDAS (GA-603418). GRC Geociencies Marines is recognized by Generalitat de Catalunya as an excellence research group (ref. 2014 SGR 1068)

Protocol for the detection and nutritional management of high-output stomas

Introduction: An issue of recent research interest is excessive stoma output and its relation to electrolyte abnormalities. Some studies have identified this as a precursor of dehydration and renal dysfunction. A prospective study was performed of the complications associated with high-output stomas, to identify their causes, consequences and management.Materials and methods: This study was carried out by a multidisciplinary team of surgeons, gastroenterologists, nutritionists and hospital pharmacists. High-output stoma (HOS) was defined as output ≥1500 ml for two consecutive days. The subjects included in the study population, 43 patients with a new permanent or temporary stoma, were classified according to the time of HOS onset as early HOS (<3 weeks after initial surgery) or late HOS (≥3 weeks after surgery). Circumstances permitting, a specific protocol for response to HOS was applied. Each patient was followed up until the fourth month after surgery.Results: Early HOS was observed in 7 (16 %) of the sample population of 43 hospital patients, and late HOS, in 6 of the 37 (16 %) non-early HOS population. By type of stoma, nearly all HOS cases affected ileostomy, rather than colostomy, patients. The patients with early HOS remained in hospital for 18 days post surgery, significantly longer than those with no HOS (12 days). The protocol was applied to the majority of EHOS patients and achieved 100 % effectiveness. 50 % of readmissions were due to altered electrolyte balance. Hypomagnesaemia was observed in 33 % of the late HOS patients.Conclusion: The protocol developed at our hospital for the detection and management of HOS effectively addresses possible long-term complications arising from poor nutritional status and chronic electrolyte alteration

Paciente con síndrome de intestino corto y progresión atípica de adenocarcinoma de endometrio

The most common location of distant metastasis of endometrial adenocarcinoma is the lung, although sometimes it could appear soft tissue involvement. Short bowel syndrome can potentially cause serious electrolite changes that require a global management. Patient admitted for severe electrolyte changes secondary to a short bowel syndrome after an intestinal resection. Octreotide LAR was successfully used to control intestinal losses. During the outpatient follow up was detected two soft tissue masses in gluteal region compatible with tumour progression of an endometrial adenocarcinoma diagnosed 10 years before. The usefulness of octreotide to control chronic diarrhoea in short bowel syndrome and other diseases should be taken into account as an option for the management of these diseases. The presence of soft tissue masses in a patient with a history of endometrial adenocarcinoma should alert on the possibility of tumour progression at that level.La afectación metastásica del adenocarcinoma de endometrio más frecuente es la pulmonar, ocasionalmente puede progresar a nivel de partes blandas. El síndrome de intestino corto puede provocar alteraciones iónicas potencialmente graves. Paciente que ingresa por alteraciones iónicas graves secundarias a un síndrome de intestino corto tras una resección por bridas. Para lograr un óptimo control de las pérdidas intestinales se utilizó con éxito octreótido LAR. Durante su seguimiento ambulatorio se detectaron dos masas de partes blandas en región glútea compatibles con progresión tumoral del adenocarcinoma de endometrio que había sido diagnosticado más de 10 años antes. La utilidad del octreótido para el control de la diarrea crónica en casos de síndrome de intestino corto y otras patologías, debe ser tenida en cuenta como una opción más a valorar de forma individualizada en cada enfermo. La presencia de masas de partes blandas en un paciente con antecedentes de adenocarcinoma de endometrio debe alertar sobre la posibilidad de una progresión tumoral a dicho nivel

Intraoperative radiotherapy electron boost followed by moderate doses of external beam radiotherapy in resected soft-tissue sarcoma of the extremities

To analyze the patterns of failure and the toxicity profile of intraoperative electron beam radiotherapy (IOERT) after resection of soft tissue sarcomas of the extremities (STS). PATIENTS AND METHODS: Forty-five patients with extremity STS were treated with IOERT and moderate-dose postoperative radiotherapy (45-50 Gy). Twenty-six patients were treated for primary disease (PD) and 19 patients for an isolated recurrence (ILR). Tumor size was >5 cm (maximum diameter) in 36 patients (80%), and high-grade histology in PD patients was present in 14 patients (54%). In nine patients, IOERT was used alone, due to previous irradiation or patient refusal. Chemotherapy (neoadjuvant and/or adjuvant) was mainly given to high-grade tumors. RESULTS: Nine patients relapsed in the extremity (20%), and 12 patients in distant sites (28%). Actuarial local control at 5 years was 88% for patients with negative/close margins and 57% for patients presenting positive margins (P=0.04). Five patients (11%) developed neuropathy associated with the treatment. Extremity preservation was achieved in 40 patients (88%). With a median follow-up of 93 months (range: 27-143 months) for the patients at risk, 25 patients remain alive (a 7-year actuarial survival rate of 75% for PD and 47% for ILR; P=0.01). CONCLUSIONS: IOERT combined with moderate doses of external beam irradiation yields high local control and extremity preservation rates in resected extremity STS. Peripheral nerves in the IOERT field are dose-limiting structures requiring a dose compromise in the IOERT component to avoid severe neurological damage

El manejo de la prevención de endocarditis infecciosa por odontólogos del Área Metropolitana de Monterrey.

La endocarditis infecciosa (EI) es una enfermedad cardiovascular con un alto índice de mortalidad en México, que va del 15-40%. Es una infección de la membrana interna del corazón causada por la entrada de microorganismos por diferentes motivos, incluyendo tratamientos dentales. El Consejo de Salubridad General (CSG) formuló recomendaciones para la prevención de EI a través del empleo de antibióticos profilácticos en pacientes con alto riesgo. El conocimiento adecuado de estos fármacos es indispensable para el profesional de la odontología

Moments of Inertia of Nuclei in the Rare Earth Region: A Relativistic versus Non-Relativistic Investigation

A parameter free investigation of the moments of inertia of ground state rotational bands in well deformed rare-earth nuclei is carried out using Cranked Relativistic Hartree-Bogoliubov (CRHB) and non-relativistic Cranked Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov (CHFB) theories. In CRHB theory, the relativistic fields are determined by the non-linear Lagrangian with the NL1 force and the pairing interaction by the central part of finite range Gogny D1S force. In CHFB theory, the properties in particle-hole and particle-particle channels are defined solely by Gogny D1S forces. Using an approximate particle number projection before variation by means of the Lipkin Nogami method improves the agreement with the experimental data, especially in CRHB theory. The effect of the particle number projection on the moments of inertia and pairing energies is larger in relativistic than in non-relativistic theory.Comment: 18 pages + 2 PostScript figure