Chinese government officials and some Canadian foreign policy experts have challenged the content and tone of Canadian media's coverage of China. Canadian media coverage is thought to negatively bias ...public opinion and thereby constrain foreign policy choices available to policymakers. Scholars of Canada-Japan relations worry that decreasing media attention could have longer term effects on bilateral ties. Through an analysis of over 30,000 articles appearing in three major Canadian news publications over a 15-year time span (2000-2015), we identify how news about these countries is framed to the Canadian public and how these frames change over time. Our central finding is that the Canadian media experienced a "twenty-first century discovery of China" in 2004-2005. The volume of coverage of Chinese economic news spiked, while coverage of political rights declined, portraying China as a leader in the global economy and therefore a viable economic partner. Yet we find that media coverage is only loosely tied to public opinion. Counterintuitively, Canadian attitudes toward China have become more negative with increased positive news coverage, while declining coverage of Japan is correlated with increasingly positive views of the country.
To evaluate current routine trabeculectomy technique preferences among Australian and New Zealand Glaucoma Society surgeons regularly performing trabeculectomy surgery.
Survey of experienced surgeons ...who perform trabeculectomy.
Forty-nine surgeons (33 male:16 female) participated in the survey. Trabeculectomy was performed as day surgery (39/47, 83.0%) under local anesthesia (44/47, 93.6%). The surgical techniques most commonly used were a corneal traction suture (44/47, 93.6%), fornix-based conjunctival flap (43/47, 91.5%) and half-thickness scleral flap (38/47, 81.0%). Mitomycin C antifibrotic agent was used in routine cases by 45/46 (97.8%) surgeons. Surgeons applied the antifibrotic agent under the Tenon layer with a pledget (36/46, 78.2%) with a concentration of 0.02% (37/46, 80.4%) for 2 (11/46, 23.9%) or 3 min (30/46, 65.2%). The Kelly (26/46, 56.5%) and the Khaw Descemet (19/46, 41.3%) punches were used to perform the sclerostomy. Most surgeons performed a peripheral iridectomy in all phakic patients (46/47, 97.9%), but less commonly in pseudophakic patients (34/47, 72.3%). Techniques for closure of the limbal conjunctival edge were quite varied with a combination of suturing including purse string (21/47, 57.4%), wing (20/47, 42.6%) and horizontal mattress sutures (33/47, 70.2%). Surgeons reviewed their routine patients four times in the first month (29/47, 61.7%) and continued the postoperative topical steroids for 3-4 months (28/47, 59.6%).
Although a wide range of techniques for trabeculectomy exists among surgeons, there are consistent procedures currently in use to optimize patient outcomes. This report will assist surgeons in choosing which surgical techniques fit their best practice.
Despite multimodal treatment, long term outcome for patients with Ewing sarcoma is still poor. The second "European interdisciplinary Ewing sarcoma research summit" assembled a large group of ...scientific experts in the field to discuss their latest unpublished findings on the way to the identification of novel therapeutic targets and strategies. Ewing sarcoma is characterized by a quiet genome with presence of an EWSR1-ETS gene rearrangement as the only and defining genetic aberration. RNA-sequencing of recently described Ewing-like sarcomas with variant translocations identified them as biologically distinct diseases. Various presentations adressed mechanisms of EWS-ETS fusion protein activities with a focus on EWS-FLI1. Data were presented shedding light on the molecular underpinnings of genetic permissiveness to this disease uncovering interaction of EWS-FLI1 with recently discovered susceptibility loci. Epigenetic context as a consequence of the interaction between the oncoprotein, cell type, developmental stage, and tissue microenvironment emerged as dominant theme in the discussion of the molecular pathogenesis and inter- and intra-tumor heterogeneity of Ewing sarcoma, and the difficulty to generate animal models faithfully recapitulating the human disease. The problem of preclinical development of biologically targeted therapeutics was discussed and promising perspectives were offered from the study of novel in vitro models. Finally, it was concluded that in order to facilitate rapid pre-clinical and clinical development of novel therapies in Ewing sarcoma, the community needs a platform to maintain knowledge of unpublished results, systems and models used in drug testing and to continue the open dialogue initiated at the first two Ewing sarcoma summits.
Introduction
Radiotherapy to the bladder has a risk of toxicity to pelvic structures, which can be reduced by using fiducial markers for targeting. Injectable contrast offers an alternative marker to ...gold seeds, which may fall out or exacerbate scarring. Combining contrast agents with tissue glue can minimize dispersion through tissue, enhancing its utility. We evaluated combinations of contrast agents and tissue glue using porcine bladder, for feasibility and utility as fiducial markers to aid image-guided radiotherapy.
Methods
Different contrast agents (Lipiodol ultra or Urografin) were combined with different tissue glues (Histoacryl, Tisseal or Glubran2). The mixtures were endoscopically injected into porcine bladder submucosa to identify the area of interest with multiple fiducial markers. The porcine bladders were imaged within a phantom porcine pelvis using standard radiation therapy imaging modalities. The feasibility as an injectable fiducial marker and visibility of each fiducial marker on imaging were scored as binary outcomes by two proceduralists and two radiation therapists, respectively.
Results
Lipiodol–glue combinations were successfully administered as multiple fiducials that were evident on CT and CBCT. Lipiodol with Histoacryl or Glubran2 was visible on kV imaging. The Lipiodol Glubran2 combination was deemed subjectively easiest to use at delivery, and a better fiducial on KV imaging.
Conclusion
This study demonstrates the feasibility of mixing contrast medium Lipiodol with Histoacryl or Glubran2 tissue glue, which, injected endoscopically, provides discrete and visible fiducial markers to aid image-guided radiotherapy. Although promising, further study is required to assess the durability of these markers through a course of radiotherapy.
Genetic screens are valuable for identifying novel genes involved in the regulation of developmental processes. To identify genes associated with cell growth regulation in
, a mutagenesis screen was ...performed. Undergraduate students participating in Fly-CURE phenotypically characterized the
mutant which is associated with rough eyes and antennae overgrowth. Following complementation analysis and subsequent genomic sequencing,
was identified as a novel mutant allele of
, a gene involved in ecdysone biosynthesis important for the timing of developmental events. The abnormal eye and antenna phenotypes observed resulting from the loss of
suggest its role in tissue growth.
Omics software tools have reshaped the landscape of modern biology and become an essential component of biomedical research. The increasing dependence of biomedical scientists on these powerful tools ...creates a need for easier installation and greater usability. Packaging, virtualization, and containerization are different approaches to satisfy this need by wrapping omics tools in additional software that makes the omics tools easier to install and use. Here, we systematically review practices across prominent packaging, virtualization, and containerization platforms. We outline the challenges, advantages, and limitations of each approach and some of the most widely used platforms from the perspectives of users, software developers, and system administrators. We also propose principles to make packaging, virtualization, and containerization of omics software more sustainable and robust to increase the reproducibility of biomedical and life science research.
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