Peritoneal Carcinomatosis in Primary Ovarian Cancer Staging: Comparison Between MDCT, MRI, and 18F-FDG PET/CT.

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to compare multidetector CT (MDCT), MRI, and FDG PET/CT imaging for the detection of peritoneal carcinomatosis (PC) in ovarian cancer. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Fifteen women with ovarian cancer and suspected PC underwent MDCT, MRI, and FDG PET/CT, shortly before surgery. Nine abdominopelvic regions were defined according to the peritoneal cancer index. We applied lesion size scores on MDCT and MR and measured FDG PET/CT standard uptake. We blindly read MDCT, MR, and PET/CT before joint review and comparison with histopathology. Receiver operating characteristics analysis was performed. RESULTS: Ten women had PC (67%). Altogether, 135 abdominopelvic sites were compared. Multidetector CT, MRI, and FDG PET/CT had a sensitivity of 96%, 98%, and 95%, and specificity was 92%, 84%, and 96%, respectively. Corresponding receiver operating characteristics area was 0.94, 0.90, and 0.96, respectively, without any significant differences between them (P = 0.12). FDG PET/CT detected supradiaphragmatic disease in 3 women (20%) not seen by MDCT or MRI. CONCLUSIONS: Although MRI had the highest sensitivity and FDG PET/CT had the highest specificity, no significant differences were found between the 3 techniques. Thus, MDCT, as the fastest, most economical, and most widely available modality, is the examination of choice, if a stand-alone technique is required. If inconclusive, PET/CT or MRI may offer additional insights. Whole-body FDG PET/CT may be more accurate for supradiaphragmatic metastatic extension

Assessment of pollen rewards by foraging bees

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Wiley via the DOI in this record.The removal of pollen by flower-visiting insects is costly to plants, not only in terms of production, but also via lost reproductive potential. Modern angiosperms have evolved various reward strategies to limit these costs, yet many plant species still offer pollen as a sole or major reward for pollinating insects. 2. The benefits plants gain by offering pollen as a reward for pollinating are defined by the behaviour of their pollinators, some of which feed on the pollen at the flower, while others collect pollen to provision offspring. 3. We explore how pollen impacts on the behaviour and foraging decisions of pollen-collecting bees, drawing comparisons with what is known for nectar rewards. This question is of particular interest since foraging bees typically do not ingest pollen during collection, meaning the sensory pathways involved in evaluating this resource are not immediately obvious. 4. Previous research focussed on whether foraging bees can determine the quality of pollen sources offered by different plant species, and attempted to infer the mechanisms underpinning such evaluations, mainly through observations of collection preferences in the field 5. More recent experimental research has started to focus on if pollen itself can mediate the detection of, and learning about, pollen sources and associated floral cues. 6. We review advancements in the understanding of how bees forage for pollen and respond to variation in pollen quality, and discuss future directions for studying how this ancestral floral food reward shapes the behaviour of pollinating insects

Initial Staging of Locally Advanced Rectal Cancer and Regional Lymph Nodes: Comparison of Diffusion-Weighted MRI With 18F-FDG-PET/CT.

The aim of the study was to compare diffusion-weighted MRI (DW-MRI) parameters with 18F-FDG PET/CT in primary locally advanced rectal cancer (LARC). From October 2012 to September 2014, 24 patients with histologically confirmed and untreated LARC (T3-T4) prospectively underwent a pelvic 1.5-T DW-MRI (b = 0 s/mm, b = 600 s/mm2) and a whole-body 18F-FDG PET/CT, before neoadjuvant therapy. The 2 examinations were performed on the same day. Two readers measured 18F-FDG SUVmax and SUVmean of the rectal tumor and of the pathological regional lymph nodes on PET/CT and compared these with minimum and mean values of the ADC (ADCmin and ADCmean) on maps generated from DW-MRI. The diagnostic performance of ADC values in identifying pathological lymph nodes was also assessed. Regarding tumors (n = 24), we found a significant negative correlation between SUVmean and corresponding ADCmean values (ρ = -0.61, P = 0.0017) and between ADCmin and SUVmax (ρ = -0.66, P = 0.0005). Regarding the lymph nodes (n = 63), there was a significant negative correlation between ADCmean and SUVmean values (ρ = -0.38, P = 0.0021), but not between ADCmin and SUVmax values (ρ = -0.11, P = 0.41). Neither ADCmean nor ADCmin values helped distinguish pathological from benign lymph nodes (AUC of 0.24 [confidence interval, 0.10-0.38] and 0.41 [confidence interval, 0.22-0.60], respectively). The correlations between ADCmean and SUVmean suggest an association between tumor cellularity and metabolic activity in untreated LARC and in regional lymph nodes. However, compared with 18F-FDG PET/CT, ADC values are not reliable for identifying pathological lymph nodes

Mobile Service Clouds: A self-managing infrastructure for autonomic mobile computing services

Abstract. We recently introduced Service Clouds, a distributed infrastructure designed to facilitate rapid prototyping and deployment of autonomic communication services. In this paper, we propose a model that extends Service Clouds to the wireless edge of the Internet. This model, called Mobile Service Clouds, enables dynamic instantiation, composition, configuration, and reconfiguration of services on an overlay network to support mobile computing. We have implemented a prototype of this model and applied it to the problem of dynamically instantiating and migrating proxy services for mobile hosts. We conducted a case study involving data streaming across a combination of PlanetLab nodes, local proxies, and wireless hosts. Results are presented demonstrating the effectiveness of the prototype in establishing new proxies and migrating their functionality in response to node failures.

Survival probability of Baltic larval cod in relation to spatial overlap paterns with their prey obtained from drift model studies

Temporal mismatch between the occurrence of larvae and their prey potentially affects the spatial overlap and thus the contact rates between predator and prey. This might have important consequences for growth and survival. We performed a case study investigating the influence of circulation patterns on the overlap of Baltic cod larvae with their prey. A three-dimensional hydrodynamic model was used to analyse spatio-temporally resolved drift patterns of larval Baltic cod. A coefficient of overlap between modelled larval and idealized prey distributions indicated the probability of predator–prey overlap, dependent on the hatching time of cod larvae. By performing model runs for the years 1979–1998 investigated the intra- and interannual variability of potential spatial overlap between predator and prey. Assuming uniform prey distributions, we generally found the overlap to have decreased since the mid-1980s, but with the highest variability during the 1990s. Seasonally, predator–prey overlap on the Baltic cod spawning grounds was highest in summer and lowest at the end of the cod spawning season. Horizontally variable prey distributions generally resulted in decreased overlap coefficients. Finally, we related variations in overlap patterns to the variability of Baltic cod recruitment success

Comparison of the Hemostatic Efficacy of Pathogen-Reduced Platelets vs Untreated Platelets in Patients With Thrombocytopenia and Malignant Hematologic Diseases: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Importance: Pathogen reduction of platelet concentrates may reduce transfusion-transmitted infections but is associated with qualitative impairment, which could have clinical significance with regard to platelet hemostatic capacity. Objective: To compare the effectiveness of platelets in additive solution treated with amotosalen-UV-A vs untreated platelets in plasma or in additive solution in patients with thrombocytopenia and hematologic malignancies. Design, Setting, and Participants: The Evaluation of the Efficacy of Platelets Treated With Pathogen Reduction Process (EFFIPAP) study was a randomized, noninferiority, 3-arm clinical trial performed from May 16, 2013, through January 21, 2016, at 13 French tertiary university hospitals. Clinical signs of bleeding were assessed daily until the end of aplasia, transfer to another department, need for a specific platelet product, or 30 days after enrollment. Consecutive adult patients with bone marrow aplasia, expected hospital stay of more than 10 days, and expected need of platelet transfusions were included. Interventions: At least 1 transfusion of platelets in additive solution with amotosalen-UV-A treatment, in plasma, or in additive solution. Main Outcomes and Measures: The proportion of patients with grade 2 or higher bleeding as defined by World Health Organization criteria. Results: Among 790 evaluable patients (mean [SD] age, 55 [13.4] years; 458 men [58.0%]), the primary end point was observed in 126 receiving pathogen-reduced platelets in additive solution (47.9%; 95% CI, 41.9%-54.0%), 114 receiving platelets in plasma (43.5%; 95% CI, 37.5%-49.5%), and 120 receiving platelets in additive solution (45.3%; 95% CI, 39.3%-51.3%). With a per-protocol population with a prespecified margin of 12.5%, noninferiority was not achieved when pathogen-reduced platelets in additive solution were compared with platelets in plasma (4.4%; 95% CI, -4.1% to 12.9%) but was achieved when the pathogen-reduced platelets were compared with platelets in additive solution (2.6%; 95% CI, -5.9% to 11.1%). The proportion of patients with grade 3 or 4 bleeding was not different among treatment arms. Conclusions and Relevance: Although the hemostatic efficacy of pathogen-reduced platelets in thrombopenic patients with hematologic malignancies was noninferior to platelets in additive solution, such noninferiority was not achieved when comparing pathogen-reduced platelets with platelets in plasma. Trial Registration: clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT01789762

Determination of the Deep Inelastic Contribution to the Generalised Gerasimov-Drell-Hearn Integral for the Proton and Neutron

The virtual photon absorption cross section differences [sigma_1/2-sigma_3/2] for the proton and neutron have been determined from measurements of polarised cross section asymmetries in deep inelastic scattering of 27.5 GeV longitudinally polarised positrons from polarised 1H and 3He internal gas targets. The data were collected in the region above the nucleon resonances in the kinematic range nu < 23.5 GeV and 0.8 GeV**2 < Q**2 < 12 GeV**2. For the proton the contribution to the generalised Gerasimov-Drell-Hearn integral was found to be substantial and must be included for an accurate determination of the full integral. Furthermore the data are consistent with a QCD next-to-leading order fit based on previous deep inelastic scattering data. Therefore higher twist effects do not appear significant.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, 1 table, revte

Observation of a Coherence Length Effect in Exclusive Rho^0 Electroproduction

Exclusive incoherent electroproduction of the rho^0(770) meson from 1H, 2H, 3He, and 14N targets has been studied by the HERMES experiment at squared four-momentum transfer Q**2>0.4 GeV**2 and positron energy loss nu from 9 to 20 GeV. The ratio of the 14N to 1H cross sections per nucleon, known as the nuclear transparency, was found to decrease with increasing coherence length of quark-antiquark fluctuations of the virtual photon. The data provide clear evidence of the interaction of the quark- antiquark fluctuations with the nuclear medium.Comment: RevTeX, 5 pages, 3 figure