A Rare Malignant Triton Tumor

Malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumor with rhabdomyoblastic differentiation, malignant triton tumor, has a rare incidence. We report such a case in a 40-year-old male who presented with a mass over the buttock. He was a previously diagnosed case of neurofibroma in the same area. Histomorphology supported by immunostaining with S-100 protein confirmed the diagnosis. Malignant triton tumor has a poor prognosis owing to its aggressive biological behavior. The fact that the presence of this tumor in the buttock region is extremely rare has prompted the authors to report this case

Documenting the Development and use of coupled Surface and Groundwater Models to Determine the Fate of Nutrients in a Karst Aquifer

Coupled surface water-groundwater (SW-GW) models are increasingly being used to help guide the management of karst watersheds, where quick infiltration and high spatial variability can lead to rapid and complex transport of dissolved pollutants. In the Santa Fe River basin in northern Florida, nutrient loading to the karstic Floridan Aquifer System (FAS) from agriculture and other anthropogenic sources has caused increasing nitrate concentrations associated with harmful algal blooms and aquatic ecosystem degradation. Increasing agricultural and municipal water use also threatens the region’s natural ecosystems. Best Management Practices (BMPs) have been developed to manage water and fertilizer use and subsequent nutrient loading while striving to maintain agricultural yields. However, given the complexities of GW-SW interactions in the watershed, assessing the efficacy of different BMPs on FAS water quality across multiple spatial and temporal scales is challenging. To address this challenge, we are using an integrated SW-GW modeling approach, applied at nested spatial scales, to capture the effects of climate, land-use, and land management (via BMPs) on water quantity and quality. We use the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) to capture spatiotemporal variability of land uses and farming practices and to simulate BMPs via changes to fertilizer application rates, irrigation schedules, and crop rotations. We then couple SWAT to the groundwater model MODFLOW to capture the geological heterogeneity of the FAS and represent SW-GW interactions that support critical habitats (e.g. springs). Here, we detail our efforts to develop the model at scales ranging from farm-scale calibration of specific crops and BMPs to a fully coupled watershed-scale model. Preliminary results of the coupled model highlight the relative roles of climate/weather variability vs. land use and BMP application in helping meet regulatory water quantity and quality targets

Quantifying the Effects of Land Use and Management on Receiving Water Quantity, Quality, and Ecosystem Health in a Karst Watershed

The Upper Floridan Aquifer (UFA), one of the most productive aquifers in the world, supports productive agricultural and silvicultural industries, and provides drinking water to more than 10 million people. A significant portion of the UFA is unconfined and thus is rapidly recharged by rainfall and easily polluted by a variety of land uses. As a result, the aquifer and the springs and rivers it feeds face significant threats to water quality, water quantity and ecosystem health. In Florida, minimum flows and levels (MFLs) and numeric nutrient criteria (NNC) for nitrate-nitrogen (NO3-N) have been set to protect the ecological integrity springs and rivers fed by the UFA, but these standards are not currently being met throughout much of the state.This study focuses on the Santa Fe River Basin, where it is estimated that a 11.3 % reduction in water withdrawals and 35% reduction in NO3-N leaching to the UFA are needed to meet the mandated MFL and NNC. Land use in the basin is dominated by production forestry and agriculture (primarily corn, peanut, hay, pasture). The objective of this study was to quantify NO3-N loads and net groundwater recharge across the range of production practices currently being implemented for these land uses and to understand changes needed to achieve environmental standards. Results showed that, for current practices, corn-peanut rotations yield average net recharge of -170 mm/year and average NO3-N leaching of 200 kg/ha/yr. For grazed pastures, hay, and production forestry, average net recharge was 504, 476, and 316 mm/yr, and average NO3-N leaching was 110, 3.4, 4, kg/ha, respectively. We found that required reductions in irrigation pumping and NO3-N leaching can be achieved by conversion from more intensive (corn, peanut, pasture) to less intensive (hay, forest) land uses, or by strict adoption of advanced irrigation and nutrient management strategies such as soil moisture sensor triggered irrigation, reduced rates and improved timing of fertilizer application, reduced stocking densities, and rotational grazing. Current work is investigating the regional economic impact of required changes and assessing both the public’s willingness to pay and producers’ willingness to accept incentives to bring about these changes

The Importance of Process Representation for Simulating Coupled Surface-Groundwater Flow in Karst Watersheds: A Comparison of SWAT, SWAT-MODFLOW and DisCo

The highly permeable matrix and conduit-dominated flow of karst systems make them vulnerable to contamination due to rapid infiltration and groundwater transport. Critical issues in karst regions with intensive agriculture include water overallocation and high nutrient loads, motivating the need for management strategies to reduce further impairment. But, developing strategies for aquifer and aquatic ecosystem protection is challenging due to the need for hydrological models that capture the spatiotemporal variability in nutrient loading and water use and adequately represent the complex flow dynamics common in karst aquifers. Models that can simulate land and water management strategies and capture the complexity in karst systems are limited. Surface-runoff models such as the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) are useful for simulating changing land management practices and quantifying pollutant loads, but they apply simplistic groundwater routines. Notably, SWAT can now be coupled to the USGS groundwater flow model MODFLOW to overcome these limitations, but simulating integrated surface and groundwater flow systems may still be limited when coupling two distinct models. Fully coupled surface and groundwater models such as Discrete Continuum (DisCo) can simulate 3-D surface and groundwater flow using Richards equation for variably saturated subsurface flow and capture turbulent flow in discrete conduits. While fully coupled models may better represent the flow physics in karst terrain, their inability to simulate management strategies remains a major limitation for guiding watershed management. In this work, we compare the ability of SWAT, SWAT-MODFLOW and DisCo to reproduce surface and groundwater interactions and hydrodynamics in a karst watershed in northern Florida. Model development is part of the USDA-NIFA funded Floridan Aquifer Collaborative Engagement for Sustainability (FACETS) project, which aims to understand land use changes needed to achieve agricultural water security while meeting environmental regulations. Preliminary results show all models perform well, but DisCo captures baseflow and storage in karst systems more effectively. We use these results to discuss the limitations and benefits of each model for karst watershed management in the context of the FACETS project

Utility of circulating cell-free Mycobacterium tuberculosis DNA for the improved diagnosis of abdominal tuberculosis.

Abdominal tuberculosis (ATB) continues to pose a major diagnostic challenge for clinicians due to its nonspecific clinical presentation, variable anatomical location and lack of sensitive diagnostic tools. In spite of the development of several assays till date; no single test has proved to be adequate for ATB diagnosis. In this study, we for the first time report the detection of circulating cell-free Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tuberculosis) DNA (cfMTB-DNA) in ascitic fluid (AF) samples and its utility in ATB diagnosis. Sixty-five AF samples were included in the study and processed for liquid culture, cytological, biochemical and molecular assays. A composite reference standard (CRS) was formulated to categorize the patients into 'Definite ATB' (M. tuberculosis culture positive, n = 2), 'Probable ATB' (n = 16), 'Possible ATB' (n = 13) and 'Non-TB' category (n = 34). Two molecular assays were performed, namely, the novel cfMTB-DNA qPCR assay targeting M. tuberculosis devR gene and Xpert MTB/RIF assay (Xpert), and their diagnostic accuracy was assessed using CRS as reference standard. Clinical features such as fever, loss of weight, abdominal distension and positive Mantoux were found to be strongly associated with ATB disease (p<0.05). cfMTB-DNA qPCR had a sensitivity of 66.7% (95% CI:40.9,86.7) with 97.1% specificity (95% CI:84.7,99.9) in 'Definite ATB' and 'Probable ATB' group collectively. The sensitivity increased to 70.9% (95% CI:51.9,85.8) in the combined 'Definite', 'Probable' and 'Possible' ATB group with similar specificity. The cfMTB-DNA qPCR assay performed significantly better than the Xpert assay which demonstrated a poor sensitivity of ≤16.7% with 100% (95% CI:89.7,100) specificity (p<0.001). We conclude that cfMTB-DNA qPCR assay is an accurate molecular test that can provide direct evidence of M. tuberculosis etiology and has promise to pave the way for improving ATB diagnosis

Multiplicity dependence of light (anti-)nuclei production in p–Pb collisions at sNN=5.02 TeV

The measurement of the deuteron and anti-deuteron production in the rapidity range −1 < y < 0 as a function of transverse momentum and event multiplicity in p–Pb collisions at √sNN = 5.02 TeV is presented. (Anti-)deuterons are identified via their specific energy loss dE/dx and via their time-of- flight. Their production in p–Pb collisions is compared to pp and Pb–Pb collisions and is discussed within the context of thermal and coalescence models. The ratio of integrated yields of deuterons to protons (d/p) shows a significant increase as a function of the charged-particle multiplicity of the event starting from values similar to those observed in pp collisions at low multiplicities and approaching those observed in Pb–Pb collisions at high multiplicities. The mean transverse particle momenta are extracted from the deuteron spectra and the values are similar to those obtained for p and particles. Thus, deuteron spectra do not follow mass ordering. This behaviour is in contrast to the trend observed for non-composite particles in p–Pb collisions. In addition, the production of the rare 3He and 3He nuclei has been studied. The spectrum corresponding to all non-single diffractive p-Pb collisions is obtained in the rapidity window −1 < y < 0 and the pT-integrated yield dN/dy is extracted. It is found that the yields of protons, deuterons, and 3He, normalised by the spin degeneracy factor, follow an exponential decrease with mass number

HΛ3 and H‾Λ‾3 lifetime measurement in Pb–Pb collisions at √sNN=5.02 TeV via two-body decay

An improved value for the lifetime of the (anti-)hypertriton has been obtained using the data sample of Pb–Pb collisions at √sNN = 5.02 TeV collected by the ALICE experiment at the LHC. The (anti-)hypertriton has been reconstructed via its charged two-body mesonic decay channel and the lifetime has been determined from an exponential fit to the dN/d(ct) spectrum. The measured value, τ = 242+34 −38 (stat.) ± 17 (syst.) ps, is compatible with representative theoretical predictions, thus contributing to the solution of the longstanding hypertriton lifetime puzzle

Measurement of electrons from semileptonic heavy-flavour hadron decays at midrapidity in pp and Pb–Pb collisions at √sNN = 5.02 TeV

The differential invariant yield as a function of transverse momentum (pT) of electrons from semileptonic heavy-flavour hadron decays was measured at midrapidity in central (0–10%), semi-central (30–50%) and peripheral (60–80%) lead–lead (Pb–Pb) collisions at √sNN = 5.02 TeV in the pT intervals 0.5–26 GeV/c (0–10% and 30–50%) and 0.5–10 GeV/c (60–80%). The production cross section in proton–proton (pp) collisions at √s = 5.02 TeV was measured as well in 0.5 < pT < 10 GeV/c and it lies close to the upper band of perturbative QCD calculation uncertainties up to pT = 5 GeV/c and close to the mean value for larger pT. The modification of the electron yield with respect to what is expected for an incoherent superposition of nucleon–nucleon collisions is evaluated by measuring the nuclear modification factor RAA. The measurement of the RAA in different centrality classes allows in-medium energy loss of charm and beauty quarks to be investigated. The RAA shows a suppression with respect to unity at intermediate pT, which increases while moving towards more central collisions. Moreover, the measured RAA is sensitive to the modification of the parton distribution functions (PDF) in nuclei, like nuclear shadowing, which causes a suppression of the heavy-quark production at low pT in heavy-ion collisions at LHC

Study of the Λ–Λ interaction with femtoscopy correlations in pp and p–Pb collisions at the LHC

This work presents new constraints on the existence and the binding energy of a possible – bound state, the H-dibaryon, derived from – femtoscopic measurements by the ALICE collaboration. The results are obtained from a new measurement using the femtoscopy technique in pp collisions at √s = 13 TeV and p–Pb collisions at √sNN = 5.02 TeV, combined with previously published results from pp collisions at √s = 7 TeV. The – scattering parameter space, spanned by the inverse scattering length f −1 0 and the effective range d0, is constrained by comparing the measured – correlation function with calculations obtained within the Lednický model. The data are compatible with hypernuclei results and lattice computations, both predicting a shallow attractive interaction, and permit to test different theoretical approaches describing the – interaction. The region in the (f −1 0 ,d0) plane which would accommodate a – bound state is substantially restricted compared to previous studies. The binding energy of the possible – bound state is estimated within an effective-range expansion approach and is found to be B = 3.2+1.6 −2.4(stat)+1.8 −1.0(syst) MeV