Highlights • Brain metastases are frequent in ALK rearranged lung cancers. • Brain metastases are frequent in EGFR mutated lung cancers. • ∼25% of patients at diagnosis and half at 3-years of ...survival have brain metastases.
Nutrient‐poor ecosystems globally exhibit high plant diversity. One mechanism enabling the co‐existence of species in such ecosystems is facilitation among plants with contrasting ...nutrient‐acquisition strategies. The ecophysiological processes underlying these interactions remain poorly understood. We hypothesized that root positioning plays a role between sympatric species in nutrient‐poor vegetation. We investigated how the growth traits of the focal mycorrhizal non‐cluster‐rooted Hibbertia racemosa change when grown in proximity of non‐mycorrhizal Banksia attenuata, which produces cluster roots that increase nutrient availability, compared with growth with conspecifics. Focal plants were placed in the centre of rhizoboxes, and biomass allocation, root system architecture, specific root length (SRL), and leaf nutrient concentration were assessed. When grown with B. attenuata, focal plants decreased root investment, increased root growth towards B. attenuata, and positioned their roots near B. attenuata cluster roots. SRL was greater, and the degree of localized root investment correlated positively with B. attenuata cluster‐root biomass. Total nutrient contents in the focal individuals were greater when grown with B. attenuata. Focal plants directed their root growth towards the putatively facilitating neighbour's cluster roots, modifying root traits and investment. Preferential root positioning and root morphological traits play important roles in positive plant–plant interactions.
With an experimental design using rhizoboxes, we aimed to assess root–root interactions in putatively facilitative inter‐specific interactions. We highlight that sympatric plant species with contrasting nutrient‐acquisition strategies allow positive plant–plant interactions via preferential root positioning.
Background and aims
Belowground interspecific plant facilitation is supposed to play a key role in enabling species co-existence in hyperdiverse ecosystems in extremely nutrient-poor, semi-arid ...habitats, such as
Banksia
woodlands in southwestern-Australia. Manganese (Mn) is readily mobilised by
Banksia
cluster root activity in most soils and accumulates in mature leaves of native Australian plant species without significant remobilisation during leaf senescence. We hypothesised that neighbouring shrubs are facilitated in terms of Mn uptake depending on distance to surrounding cluster root-forming
Banksia
trees.
Methods
We mapped all
Banksia
trees and selected neighbouring shrubs within a study site in Western Australia. Soil samples were collected and analysed for physical properties and nutrient concentrations. To assesses the effect of
Banksia
tree proximity on leaf Mn concentrations Mn of non-cluster-rooted woody shrubs, samples of similarly aged leaves were taken. We used multiple linear models to test for factors affecting shrub leaf Mn.
Results
None of the assessed soil parameters showed a significant correlation with shrub leaf Mn concentrations. However, we observed a significant positive effect of very close
Banksia
trees (2 m) on leaf Mn in one of the understorey shrubs. We found additional effects of elevation and shrub size.
Conclusions
Leaf micronutrient concentrations of understorey shrubs were enhanced when growing within 2 m of tall
Banksia
trees. Our model predictions also indicate that belowground facilitation of Mn uptake was shrub size-dependent. We discuss this result in the light of plant water relations and shrub root system architecture.
Interictal Epileptiform Discharges (IED) and High Frequency Oscillations (HFO) in intraoperative electrocorticography (ECoG) may guide the surgeon by delineating the epileptogenic zone. We designed a ...modular spiking neural network (SNN) in a mixed-signal neuromorphic device to process the ECoG in real-time. We exploit the variability of the inhomogeneous silicon neurons to achieve efficient sparse and decorrelated temporal signal encoding. We interface the full-custom SNN device to the BCI2000 real-time framework and configure the setup to detect HFO and IED co-occurring with HFO (IED-HFO). We validate the setup on pre-recorded data and obtain HFO rates that are concordant with a previously validated offline algorithm (Spearman's ρ = 0.75, p = 1e-4), achieving the same postsurgical seizure freedom predictions for all patients. In a remote on-line analysis, intraoperative ECoG recorded in Utrecht was compressed and transferred to Zurich for SNN processing and successful IED-HFO detection in real-time. These results further demonstrate how automated remote real-time detection may enable the use of HFO in clinical practice.
Objectives:
To compare pediatric external auditory canal (EAC) foreign body extraction outcomes by clinical setting and identify factors predictive of successful removal.
Methods:
Retrospective ...review of pediatric patients with EAC foreign bodies to a single institution emergency department (ED) and otolaryngology clinic (OTO) between January 2010 and April 2015. Patient characteristics, foreign body type, removal attempts, instrumentation utilized, and complications were evaluated with respect to clinical setting and patient outcome.
Results:
In all, 1197 patients with EAC foreign bodies were identified, 759 (63%) of whom presented primarily to the ED. Successful removal was achieved in OTO in 92.9% of cases and the ED in 67.9% of cases. Beads and spherical objects had the overall lowest rates of successful removal. Likelihood of removal decreased significantly after one unsuccessful attempt. Complications were reported in 35.7% of patients undergoing removal in the ED and 5.0% of patients undergoing removal in the otolaryngology clinic.
Conclusions:
Patients commonly present to the ED for removal of EAC foreign bodies. Referral to an otolaryngologist is recommended if the object is spherical or after one unsuccessful attempt at removal.
Humans have made such dramatic and permanent changes to Earth's landscapes that much of it is now substantially and irreversibly altered from its preanthropogenic state. Remote islands, until ...recently isolated from humans, offer insights into how these landscapes evolved in response to human-induced perturbations. However, little is known about when and how remote systems were colonized because archaeological data and historical records are scarce and incomplete. Here, we use a multiproxy approach to reconstruct the initial colonization and subsequent environmental impacts on the Azores Archipelago. Our reconstructions provide unambiguous evidence for widespread human disturbance of this archipelago starting between 700
and 850
Common Era (CE), ca. 700 y earlier than historical records suggest the onset of Portuguese settlement of the islands. Settlement proceeded in three phases, during which human pressure on the terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems grew steadily (i.e., through livestock introductions, logging, and fire), resulting in irreversible changes. Our climate models suggest that the initial colonization at the end of the early Middle Ages (500 to 900 CE) occurred in conjunction with anomalous northeasterly winds and warmer Northern Hemisphere temperatures. These climate conditions likely inhibited exploration from southern Europe and facilitated human settlers from the northeast Atlantic. These results are consistent with recent archaeological and genetic data suggesting that the Norse were most likely the earliest settlers on the islands.
Transcatheter left atrial appendage occlusion (LAAO) is an increasingly used alternative to oral anticoagulation in selected patients with atrial fibrillation. Intraprocedural imaging is a crucial ...for a successful intervention, with transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) as the current gold standard. Since some important limitations may affect TEE use, intracardiac echocardiography (ICE) is increasingly used as an alternative to TEE for guiding LAAO. The lack of a standardized imaging protocol has slowed the adoption of ICE into clinical practice. On the basis of current research and expert consensus, this paper provides a protocol for ICE support of left atrial appendage occlusion.
The aim of this study was to compute and validate estimation equations for the trunk transverse surface area (TTSA) to be used in assessing the swimmer's drag force in both genders. One group of 133 ...swimmers (56 females, 77 males) was used to compute the estimation equations and another group of 131 swimmers (56 females, 75 males) was used for its validations. Swimmers were photographed in the transverse plane from above, on land, in the upright and hydrodynamic position. The TTSA was measured from the swimmer's photo with specific software. Also measured was the height, body mass, biacromial diameter, chest sagital diameter (CSD) and the chest perimeter (CP). With the first group of swimmers, it was computed the TTSA estimation equations based on stepwise multiple regression models from the selected anthropometrical variables. For males TTSA=6.662*CP+17.019*CSD-210.708 (R2=0.32; Ra2=0.30; P<0.01) and for females TTSA=7.002*CP+15.382*CSD-255.70 (R2=0.34; Ra2=0.31; P<0.01). For both genders there were no significant differences between assessed and estimated mean TTSA. Coefficients of determination for the linear regression models between assessed and estimated TTSA were R2=0.39 for males and R2=0.55 for females. More than 80% of the plots were within the 95% interval confidence for the Bland-Altman analysis in both genders.
Background Chagas Disease (CD) affects 6-7 million people worldwide and is related to poverty-promoting conditions. Chronic asymptomatic cases are mostly invisible to health systems. Aiming (1) to ...translate CD discoveries into education/information practices to raise alertness and empowerment of affected people; and (2) to perform an active search of CD cases, articulating intersectoral actions to improve the access of infected people to the local health service for the treatment of CD; our research group developed and tested under field conditions as innovative social technology: an itinerant education interdisciplinary setting named "Chagas Express XXI" (CE21). Methodology CE21 was created as an "imaginary train" with ~40 ArtScience workshops, games, laboratory activities and conversation circles. An entry/exit plus six activity modules combined associations of affected people, microscopic observations, One Health education, and wellness activities. CE21 was conceived as a social technology, since all the processes were co-created with CD patients and inter-sector local partners. Descriptive statistics showed quantitative data collected throughout the expeditions (CD knowledge, serological results). Qualitative data accessed the public perceptions about the education activities. Principal findings CE21 was exhibited in local educational institutions (schools, universities) in four cities, engaging 2,117 people that evaluated the 41 activities carried out. Citizens and health professionals enjoyed acquisition of information related to blood, parasites, vectors, reservoirs, environmental changes, and social determinants of CD. Further, local legacies of 600 participants volunteer for health promotion groups and CD associations, local empowerment groups to fight for better health conditions, and 05 mural paintings. We observed that 81% of the participants ignored the possibility of treating CD while 52% of the participants requested a blood test for CD showing seropositivity in 20% of them. Conclusions CE21 is a social technology potentially useful for health and science education and active search of asymptomatic CD chronic cases. Moreover, this technology may be adapted to understand and to cooperate in other potentially epidemic situations, especially NTDs related.
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