Lymph Node Harvest in Dukes' A Cancer Pathologist May Need to Consider Fat Dissolving Technique: An Observational Study

Background. National institute of clinical excellence (NICE) recommends that a median of 12 lymph nodes be examined in patients operated on with curative intent- to- treat colorectal cancer (CRC). Patients with lymph node harvest less than this may be considered under staged and may receive adjuvant chemotherapy. The aim of our study was to ascertain median number of lymph nodes examined in early colorectal cancers. Method. Patients undergoing colorectal resection between June 2007 and May 2008 were identified and pathological staging obtained using pathology database. Results. 146 patients underwent standardised laparoscopic or open resection of colorectal cancers during this period. Overall median number of lymph nodes harvested/patient was 14 (3–40). When analysed by stage, median number of lymph nodes harvested in Dukes' A, B, and C cancers was 10, 14, and 15, respectively. 11/18 (61%) patients with Dukes' A carcinoma had lymph node harvest of less than 12 compared with 15/55 (27%) patients with Dukes' B. Conclusion. Lymph node harvest in Dukes' A cancers using standard techniques tends to be low. Pathologists may have to consider special techniques in harvesting lymph nodes for early colorectal cancers

Chapter 08: Vulnerability of seagrasses in the Great Barrier Reef to climate change

Seagrasses are flowering plants and, along with mangroves, have greater affinities to terrestrial plants than other marine macrophytes such as algae. Approximately 55 species of seagrass occur in five different plant families and represent at least three independent evolutionary lineages. Thus, seagrasses are not a taxonomically unified group but a ‘biological’ or ‘ecological’ group85,149. The evolutionary adaptations required for survival in the marine environment have led to convergence in morphology. Seagrasses evolved under differing ambient CO2 and temperature conditions so may have different tolerances to changing environmental conditions. A wide range of tolerances across marine environments exist amongst the extant diversity of seagrasses, reflecting their substantial adaptive capacity as a group.This is Chapter 8 of Climate change and the Great Barrier Reef: a vulnerability assessment. The entire book can be found at http://hdl.handle.net/11017/13

The risk of multiple anthropogenic and climate change threats must be considered for continental scale conservation and management of seagrass habitat

Globally marine-terrestrial interfaces are highly impacted due to a range of human pressures. Seagrass habitats exist in the shallow marine waters of this interface, have significant values and are impacted by a range of pressures. Cumulative risk analysis is widely used to identify risk from multiple threats and assist in prioritizing management actions. This study conducted a cumulative risk analysis of seagrass habitat associated with the Australian continent to support management actions. We developed a spatially explicit risk model based on a database of threats to coastal aquatic habitat in Australia, spanning 35,000 km of coastline. Risk hotspots were identified using the model and reducing the risk of nutrient and sediment pollution for seagrass habitat was assessed. Incorporating future threats greatly altered the spatial-distribution of risk. High risk from multiple current threats was identified throughout all bioregions, but high risk from climate change alone manifested in only two. Improving management of nutrient and sediment loads, a common approach to conserve seagrass habitat did reduce risk, but only in temperate regions, highlighting the danger of focusing management on a single strategy. Monitoring, management and conservation actions from a national and regional perspective can be guided by these outputs

The Theory of Fuzzy Logic and its application to Real Estate Valuation

Fuzzy logic is based on the central idea that in fuzzy sets each element in the set can assume a value from 0 to 1, not just 0 or 1, as in classic set theory. Thus, qualitative characteristics and numerically scaled measures can exhibit gradations in the extent to which they belong to the relevant sets for evaluation. This degree of membership of each element is a measure of the element’s "belonging" to the set, and thus of the precision with which it explains the phenomenon being evaluated. Fuzzy sets can be combined to produce meaningful conclusions, and inferences can be made, given a specified fuzzy input function. The article demonstrates the application of fuzzy logic to an income-producing property, with a resulting fuzzy set output

Antibiotic dosing in the 'at risk' critically ill patient: Linking pathophysiology with pharmacokinetics/pharmacodynamics in sepsis and trauma patients

Background: Critical illness, mediated by trauma or sepsis, can lead to physiological changes that alter the pharmacokinetics of antibiotics and may result in sub-therapeutic concentrations at the sites of infection. The first aim of this project is to identify the clinical characteristics of critically ill patients with significant trauma that have been recently admitted to ICU that may predict the dosing requirements for the antibiotic, cefazolin. The second aim of this is to identify the clinical characteristics of critically ill patients with sepsis that may predict the dosing requirements for the combination antibiotic, piperacillin-tazobactam

The pharmacokinetics of cefazolin in patients undergoing elective & semi-elective abdominal aortic aneurysm open repair surgery

Background: Surgical site infections are common, so effective antibiotic concentrations at the sites of infection are required. Surgery can lead to physiological changes influencing the pharmacokinetics of antibiotics. The aim of the study is to evaluate contemporary peri-operative prophylactic dosing of cefazolin by determining plasma and subcutaneous interstitial fluid concentrations in patients undergoing elective of semi-elective abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) open repair surgery

Monitoring Seagrass within the Reef 2050 Integrated Monitoring and Reporting Program: final report of the Seagrass Expert Group

Seagrass is widely distributed throughout the Great Barrier Reef (the Reef), with a documented 35,000 square kilometres and a potential habitat area of 228,300 square kilometres. Seagrass meadows occur in many different environmental conditions, both within and beyond the impact of flood plumes, and are common in areas of high anthropogenic activity, such as ports and areas adjacent to urban centres. Many processes and services that maintain the exceptional values of the Reef occur in seagrass meadows. To provide the services that support these values seagrass habitats include a range of species, growth forms and benthic landscapes, that respond to pressures in different ways. In many cases seagrasses also modify their environments to improve environmental conditions on the Reef. Seagrasses vary spatially and temporally in their distribution and abundance across the Reef, occurring in different water quality types (estuaries, coastal, reefal and offshore) and at different water depths (intertidal, shallow subtidal, deep water). The diversity of potential seagrass habitats is one reason they support so many of the environmental services and values of the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area (World Heritage Area), including: habitat for crabs, prawns and fish –– supporting recreational and commercial fishing; primary food resource for species of conservation significance (dugong, green turtles, migratory shore birds); shoreline stabilisation by binding sediment to slow erosion; water clarity improvement, by promoting the settlement of fine particulate matter; and providing a natural carbon sink. To deliver the seagrass components of the knowledge system required to deliver Reef 2050 Long-Term Sustainability Plan (Reef 2050 Plan) reporting and other management activities, there will need to be modifications and enhancements made to the current seagrass monitoring programs. The Drivers, Pressures, State, Impact, Response (DPSIR) framework was used to facilitate the identification of linkages between the pressures on seagrass, state of the seagrass, the impact a decline in seagrass would have on community values, and the responses management agencies can take to mitigate loss of values. We have also defined twelve seagrass habitat types that occur on the Reef, identified by a matrix of water body type and water depth. The seagrasses occurring in each habitat are exposed to different pressures and require different management actions (responses) to protect and enhance the values of the community and Reef ecosystems. The proposed monitoring program has three spatial and temporal scales, with each scale providing different information (knowledge) to support resilience-based management of the Reef. 1. Habitat assessment: will occur across the Reef at all sites where seagrass has a potential of occurring. It will determine seagrass abundance, species composition and spatial extent of each habitat type within the World Heritage Area. This scale will be focused on supporting future outlook reports, but will also provide information for operational and strategic management and contribute towards other reports. 2. Health assessment: will take place at representative regional sites, for each habitat type. These sites will provide managers with annual and seasonal trends in seagrass condition and resilience at a regional scale for each habitat. This scale will provide higher temporal detail (i.e. at least annually) of seagrass condition and resilience, supporting tactical, operational and strategic management applications. This scale will provide the majority of information for regional/catchment report cards and the assessment of management effectiveness at a catchment wide scale. It will also contribute important trends in condition and resilience to Outlook reports and other communication products with more frequent reporting. 3. Process monitoring: will take place at the fewest number of sites, nested within habitat and health assessment sites. Due to the time-consuming and complex nature of these measurements the sampling sites will be chosen to focus on priority knowledge gaps. This scale will provide managers with information on cause-and-effect relationships and linkages between different aspects of the Reef’s processes and ecosystems. This scale will include measures of seagrass resilience (for example, feedback loops, recovery time after disturbance, history of disturbance and thresholds for exposure to pressures). The attributes measured at these sites will also provide confidence to managers regarding the impact a change in seagrass condition is likely to have on other values of the Reef (for example, fish, megafauna, coral, Indigenous heritage, and human dimensions). To ensure that future seagrass monitoring delivers the information required to report on the Reef 2050 Plan and meets the other knowledge requirements of managers, a spatially balanced random sampling design needs to be implemented on the Reef. Existing monitoring programs can and should be integrated into this design. However, current seagrass monitoring programs do not provide a balanced assessment of seagrass condition across the entire Reef, hence are not suitable to meet the Reef 2050 Plan reporting requirements and many other management information needs. Existing sites within current monitoring are focused on habitat types that are intertidal and shallow sub-tidal and lie close to the coast. These habitats have been previously selected because they face high levels of cumulative anthropogenic risk and therefore have higher levels of management demand for information. The current sites are likely to decline more rapidly, in response to catchment run-off and other anthropogenic pressures, than the average for seagrass meadows across the entire Reef. They also have a greater potential to show improvements from Reef catchment management actions that reduce pollution associated with run-off. This report sets out the framework for a recommended new seagrass monitoring program, highlighting the substantial improvements in knowledge and confidence this new program will deliver, and provides a scope for the statistical design work required to support implementation of this program

Understanding the Effects of Trenbolone Acetate, Polyamine Precursors, and Polyamines on Proliferation, Protein Synthesis Rates, and the Abundance of Genes Involved in Myoblast Growth, Polyamine Biosynthesis, and Protein Synthesis in Murine Myoblasts

Research suggests that androgens increase skeletal muscle growth by modulating polyamine biosynthesis. As such, the objective of this study was to investigate effects of anabolic hormones, polyamine precursors, and polyamines relative to proliferation, protein synthesis, and the abundance of mRNA involved in polyamine biosynthesis, proliferation, and protein synthesis in C2C12 and Sol8 cells. Cultures were treated with anabolic hormones (trenbolone acetate and/or estradiol), polyamine precursors (methionine or ornithine), or polyamines (putrescine, spermidine, or spermine). Messenger RNA was isolated 0.5 or 1, 12, or 24 h post-treatment. The cell type had no effect (p \u3e 0.10) on proliferation, protein synthesis, or mRNA abundance at any time point. Each treatment increased (p \u3c 0.01) proliferation, and anabolic hormones increased (p = 0.04) protein synthesis. Polyamines increased (p \u3c 0.05) the abundance of mRNA involved in polyamine biosynthesis, proliferation, and protein synthesis. Treatment with polyamine precursors decreased (p \u3c 0.05) the abundance of mRNA involved in proliferation and protein synthesis. Overall, C2C12 and Sol8 myoblasts do not differ (p \u3e 0.10) in proliferation, protein synthesis, or mRNA abundance at the time points assessed. Furthermore, anabolic hormones, polyamines, and polyamine precursors increase proliferation and protein synthesis, and polyamines and their precursors alter the abundance of mRNA involved in growth