Dermatology Office

I intern at a local dermatology office where I primarily shadow the head dermatologist but also shadow another dermatologist, a nurse practitioner, and a physician assistant. I shadow surgical procedures such as Mohs surgery which is a technique used to remove cancerous cells from the skin one layer at a time for the purpose of preserving healthy tissue. I also shadow cosmetic surgeries like injections and laser procedures. During my internship, there have been interesting clinical cases, so I am working on publishing articles about them with the help of the head dermatologist. I have also spent time in the office laboratory learning how to identify malignant cells under the microscope. In addition, I sterilize the instruments, record patients\u27 medical history, and translate in the Russian language whenever needed

Recognition of Bearing Type by Spectrum Analysis: Recognition of Bearing Type by Spectrum Analysis

The methods of bearing condition analysis advanced much since the processor technologies had enormously raised the computational power.  Both smaller and larger platforms have gained in computational speed. The manufacturers of portable vibration measurement devices have got the opportunity to apply such efficient but heavy tools as digital filters, convolution, fast Fourier transforms with better resolution, wavelet transforms, pattern recognition or even neural networks with 2D- and 3D-representation of data. But even then obtaining of good results is limited with multiple conditions as shown in [1]. Having solved the problem with CPU power it may seem that there are no limitations to use the hard methods. But, the electronic component’s lifetime still has the limits: read/write operations and etc. Although these limits are high, it is always good to prolong the lifetime of entire device or reduce its power consumption, or increase the diagnostic speed by using a less demanding algorithm at least at some parts of diagnostic procedure. The laboratories of bearing analysis which are commonly the part of bearing production enterprises have the best opportunities to test the bearings. The type is known, the dimensions are known. The test SW is tuned to the bearing type and the detailed diagnosis gives the best outcome. It is unlike in field service where the bearing type is unknown.  Knowing it in the field would help to tune the vibrometer (as in laboratory) and then to switch on the heavy diagnostic methods. The purpose of this work was to create a prototype of software and the bearing model. The model would have the features enough to be determined by the frequency analysis of signal mix and recognized as a certain bearing type

Dermatology Technique: Mohs Micrographic Surgery

This paper aims to educate the readers about a novel surgery approach that is becoming popular among dermatologists. This technique, Mohs surgery, is implemented in order to treat malignant skin cancer types. This paper incorporates the history of Mohs micrographic surgery, the advantages and disadvantages of the procedure, and alternatives to this approach. The main advantage is healthy tissue preservation while disadvantages include holes in fragmented tissue margins and tissue orientation complications

The role of adaptive trans-generational plasticity in biological invasions of plants

High-impact biological invasions often involve establishment and spread in disturbed, high-resource patches followed by establishment and spread in biotically or abiotically stressful areas. Evolutionary change may be required for the second phase of invasion (establishment and spread in stressful areas) to occur. When species have low genetic diversity and short selection history, within-generation phenotypic plasticity is often cited as the mechanism through which spread across multiple habitat types can occur. We show that trans-generational plasticity (TGP) can result in pre-adapted progeny that exhibit traits associated with increased fitness both in high-resource patches and in stressful conditions. In the invasive sedge, Cyperus esculentus, maternal plants growing in nutrient-poor patches can place disproportional number of propagules into nutrient-rich patches. Using the invasive annual grass, Aegilops triuncialis, we show that maternal response to soil conditions can confer greater stress tolerance in seedlings in the form of greater photosynthetic efficiency. We also show TGP for a phenological shift in a low resource environment that results in greater stress tolerance in progeny. These lines of evidence suggest that the maternal environment can have profound effects on offspring success and that TGP may play a significant role in some plant invasions

The effect of mean and variance in resource supply on survival of annuals from Mediterranean and desert environments

Resource availability is often characterized by mean annual amounts, while ignoring the spatial variation within habitats and the temporal variation within a year. Yet, temporal and spatial variation may be especially important for identifying the source of stress in low productivity environments such as deserts where resources are often pulsed and resource renewal events are separated by long periods of low resource availability. Therefore, the degree of stress will be determined in part by the length of time between recharge events. Here, we investigated the effect of timing and total amount of water application on two congeneric pairs, each with a population from a low (desert) and a high (Mediterranean) productivity habitat. As expected, highest survival and greatest growth were found at low or intermediate recharge intervals, and the magnitude of response to increases in total seasonal amounts was greater for Mediterranean species than desert species. The species that had greater survival switched in the hierarchy under high total water depending on interval length. These results demonstrate that temporal variation in resource availability can be as important as annual total amounts for plant performance and that response to temporal dynamics can vary between species. This has implications for community-level processes, as competitive hierarchies may switch based on resource dynamics rather than only total availability.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/47707/1/442_2003_Article_1435.pd

When can stress facilitate divergence by altering time to flowering?

Stressors and heterogeneity are ubiquitous features of natural environments, and theory suggests that when environmental qualities alter flowering schedules through phenotypic plasticity, assortative mating can result that promotes evolutionary divergence. Therefore, it is important to determine whether common ecological stressors induce similar changes in flowering time. We review previous studies to determine whether two important stressors, water restriction and herbivory, induce consistent flowering time responses among species; for example, how often do water restriction and herbivory both delay flowering? We focus on the direction of change in flowering time, which affects the potential for divergence in heterogeneous environments. We also tested whether these stressors influenced time to flowering and nonphenology traits using Mimulus guttatus. The literature review suggests that water restriction has variable effects on flowering time, whereas herbivory delays flowering with exceptional consistency. In the Mimulus experiment, low water and herbivory advanced and delayed flowering, respectively. Overall, our results temper theoretical predictions for evolutionary divergence due to habitat‐induced changes in flowering time; in particular, we discuss how accounting for variation in the direction of change in flowering time can either increase or decrease the potential for divergence. In addition, we caution against adaptive interpretations of stress‐induced phenology shifts

Species diversity in restoration plantings: important factors for increasing the diversity of threatened tree species in the restoration of the Araucaria forest ecosystem

The Araucaria forest ecosystem in southern Brazil is highly threatened: less than one percent of the original forest remains, and what is left is a fragmented agro-mosaic of mostly early-to-late secondary forest patches among high-yield agriculture and timber monocultures. Forest restoration initiatives in this region aim to restore degraded areas, however the limited number of species used in restoration projects represents a missed opportunity for species-rich plantings. High diversity plantings represent a larger number of functional groups and provide a targeted conservation strategy for the high number of threatened species within this ecosystem. This study interviewed nurseries (Ns) and restoration practitioners (RPs) in Paraná and Santa Catarina states to identify what species are being cultivated and planted, and what factors are driving the species selection process. An average of 20 species were reportedly used in restoration plantings, most of which are common, widespread species. Baseline data confirms that Ns and RPs have disproportionately low occurrences of threatened species in their inventories and plantings, supporting findings from previous research. Questionnaire responses reveal that opportunities for seed acquisition are an extremely important factor in order for nurseries to increase their diversity of cultivated species. Results also suggest that facilitating species-rich plantings for restoration practitioners would only be feasible if it did not increase the time required to complete planting projects, as it would minimize their ability to keep costs low. This study proposes solutions for increasing the number of species used in restoration practice—such as developing a comprehensive species list, fostering knowledge-sharing between actors, creating seed sharing programs, and increasing coordination of planting projects. Long-term strategies involve complimenting traditional ex situ approaches with emerging inter-situ and quasi in situ conservation strategies which simultaneously provide long-term preservation of genetic diversity and increase seed production of target species

Conserving plants within and beyond protected areas - still problematic and future uncertain

Against a background of continuing loss of biodiversity, it is argued that for the successful conservation of threatened plant species we need to ensure the more effective integration of the various conservation actions employed, clarify the wording of the CBD targets and provide clearer operational guidance as to how they are to be implemented and their implementation monitored. The role and effectiveness of protected areas in conserving biodiversity and in particular plant species are discussed as are recent proposals for a massive increase of their extent. The need for much greater effort and investment in the conservation or protection of threatened species outside protected areas where most plant diversity occurs is highlighted. The difficulties involved in implementing effective conservation of plant diversity both at an area- and species/population-based level are discussed. The widespread neglect of species recovery for plants is noted and the desirability of making a clearer distinction between species recovery and reintroduction is emphasized. Key messages from a global overview of species recovery are outlined and recommendations made, including the desirability of each country preparing a national species recovery strategy. The projected impacts of global change on protected areas and on species conservation and recovery, and ways of addressing them are discussed

Plant conservation in the Anthropocene - challenges and future prospects

Despite the massive efforts that have been made to conserve plant diversity across the world during the past few decades, it is becoming increasingly evident that our current strategies are not sufficiently effective to prevent the continuing decline in biodiversity. As a recent report by the CBD indicates, current progress and commitments are insufficient to achieve the Aichi Biodiversity Targets by 2020. Threatened species lists continue to grow while the world's governments fail to meet biodiversity conservation goals. Clearly, we are failing in our attempts to conserve biodiversity on a sufficient scale. The reasons for this situation are complex, including scientific, technical, sociological, economic and political factors. The conservation community is divided about how to respond. Some believe that saving all existing biodiversity is still an achievable goal. On the other hand, there are those who believe that we need to accept that biodiversity will inevitably continue to be lost, despite all our conservation actions and that we must focus on what to save, why and where. It has also been suggested that we need a new approach to conservation in the face of the challenges posed by the Anthropocene biosphere which we now inhabit. Whatever view one holds on the above issues, it is clear that we need to review the effectiveness of our current conservation strategies, identify the limiting factors that are preventing the Aichi goals being met and at the same time take whatever steps are necessary to make our conservation protocols more explicit, operational and efficient so as to achieve the maximum conservation effect. This paper addresses the key issues that underlie our failure to meet agreed targets and discusses the necessary changes to our conservation approaches. While we can justifiably be proud of our many achievements and successes in plant conservation in the past 30 years, which have helped slow the rate of loss, unless we devise a more coherent, consistent and integrated global strategy in which both the effectiveness and limitations of our current policies, action plans and procedures are recognized, and reflect this in national strategies, and then embark on a much bolder and ambitious set of actions, progress will be limited and plant diversity will continue to decline