Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma

A 61-year-old gentleman who lives with his wife and 20-year-old son, presented to the polyclinic with a four week history of pruritus. On examination he was found to be jaundiced and his LFTs were high. Consequently he was referred to Mater Dei Hospital where, following ERCP and MRCP, he was found to have a tumour of the head of the pancreas, causing a stricture of the common bile duct, with consequent obstructive jaundice. The patient was planned for Whipple’s operation (pancreatico-duodenectomy), which was extended to total pancreatectomy, splenectomy and cholecystectomy. The operation was successful and the patient is recovering.peer-reviewe

Radial Migration in Spiral Galaxies

The redistribution of stars in galactic disks is an important aspect of disk galaxy evolution. Stars that efficiently migrate in such a way that does not also appreciably heat their orbits can drastically affect the stellar populations observed today and therefore influence constraints derived from such observations. Unfortunately, while the theoretical understanding of the migration process is becoming increasingly robust, there are currently few specific observable predictions. As a result, we do not yet have a clear handle on whether the process has been important for the Milky Way in the past or how to constrain it. I discuss some of the expected qualitative outcomes of migration as well as some current controversies.Comment: To appear in "Lessons from the Local Group - A Conference in honor of David Block and Bruce Elmegreen" eds. Freeman, K.C., Elmegreen, B.G., Block, D.L., and Woolway,

Adverse events following intravesical Bacillus Calmette-Guérin therapy in Mater Dei Hospital, Malta

Introduction: Intravesical administration of Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG), following transurethral resection of bladder tumour, has been shown to reduce recurrence and progression in appropriately selected patients with non-muscle invasive bladder cancer. The aim of the study was to report the local incidence and range of adverse events experienced by patients managed with intravesical BCG. Methods: All patients who received at least one dose of intravesical BCG treatment at Mater Dei Hospital in 2014 were included in the study. A database including demographic, histological and chronological data, together with complication type, degree and treatment required was created. Patient medical files were reviewed and the patients were invited to take part in this audit via a telephone survey. Results: 55 patients satisfied inclusion criteria and were included in the study. 54 patients were documented to have had induction BCG, with maintenance BCG in 32 patients. 22 of these experienced at least 1 adverse event with BCG, whilst 33 had no complications. 1 patient had 3 adverse events, 7 patients had 2 adverse events and 14 patients had 1 complication. Most adverse events were considered to be mild or moderate in severity. Storage bladder symptoms accounted for most of these adverse events. No death as a consequence of intravesical BCG therapy was recorded. Conclusion: Intravesical BCG therapy remains one of the mainstay therapies in the management of bladder cancer. The majority of adverse effects recorded were self-limiting or easily treatable with oral analgesics or antibiotics.peer-reviewe

Observable Properties Of Double-Barred Galaxies In N-Body Simulations

Although at least one quarter of early-type barred galaxies host secondary stellar bars embedded in their large-scale primary counterparts, the dynamics of such double-barred galaxies are still not well understood. Recently we reported success at simulating such systems in a repeatable way in collisionless systems. In order to further our understanding of double-barred galaxies, here we characterize the density and kinematics of the N-body simulations of these galaxies. This will facilitate comparison with observations and lead to a better understanding of the observed double-barred galaxies. We find the shape and size of our simulated secondary bars are quite reasonable compared to the observed ones. We demonstrate that an authentic decoupled secondary bar may produce only a weak twist of the kinematic minor axis in the stellar velocity field, due to the relatively large random motion of stars in the central region. We also find that the edge-on nuclear bars are probably not related to boxy peanut-shaped bulges which are most likely to be edge-on primary large-scale bars. Another kinematic feature often present in our double-barred models is a ring-like feature in the fourth-order Gauss-Hermite moment h(4) maps. Finally, we demonstrate that the non-rigid rotation of the secondary bar causes its pattern speed to not be derived with great accuracy using the Tremaine-Weinberg method. We also compare with observations of NGC 2950, a prototypical double-barred early-type galaxy, which suggest that the nuclear bar may be rotating in the opposite sense as the primary.H.J.S. fellowshipUniversity of WashingtonNSF ITR PHY-0205413McDonald Observator