Purpose
To evaluate endovascular popliteal artery aneurysm repair using a an “off-label” abdominal endograft limb-module with nitinol-ring structure.
Materials and Methods
Retrospective observational ...study of 14 popliteal artery aneurysms in 12 male patients (mean age 76 years and median ASA grade 3) treated electively using the Anaconda™ endograft limb (Terumo Aortic) at a single teaching hospital. Eight limbs were treated percutaneously and 6 limbs required surgical arterial exposure. The mean popliteal artery aneurysm diameter treated was 3.6 cm (range 2.1–5.3 cm). Stent-graft diameters and lengths used were 10–15 and 60–140 mm, respectively. The median covered stented length was 218 mm (range 160–270 mm) and median duration of follow-up was 3.7 years. Outcomes assessed included technically successful aneurysm exclusion, primary patency, re-intervention and survival.
Results
All patients had successful stent-graft deployment and aneurysm exclusion, with no early complications or mortality at 30 days. Primary stent-graft patency at 1, 3 and 4 years was 93%, 75%, and 64%. By 8 years, patency had declined with 29% (2/14) stent-grafts patent. 7/14 limbs occluded; 3 underwent re-intervention (2 surgical, 1 endovascular). There were no deaths related to the procedure. Freedom from re-intervention and survival at 1/5 years was 93%/84% and 93%/67%, respectively.
Conclusion
The Anaconda™ endograft limb for endovascular popliteal artery aneurysm repair offers good mid-term patency and acceptable long-term patency up to 4 years when compared with other grafts and open surgery. It may be considered in older comorbid patients unfit for surgery and can be performed percutaneously under local anaesthesia when anatomically feasible.
Graphical Abstract
The routine use of arterial spin-labeling (ASL) in a clinical population has led to the depiction of diverse brain pathologic features. Unique challenges in the acquisition, postprocessing, and ...analysis of cerebral blood flow (CBF) maps are encountered in such a population, and high-quality ASL CBF maps can be generated consistently with attention to quality control and with the use of a dedicated postprocessing pipeline. Familiarity with commonly encountered artifacts can help avoid pitfalls in the interpretation of CBF maps. The purpose of this review was to describe our experience with a heterogeneous collection of ASL perfusion cases with an emphasis on methodology and common artifacts encountered with the technique. In a period of 1 year, more than 3000 pulsed ASL cases were performed as a component of routine clinical brain MR evaluation at both 1.5 and 3T. These ASL studies were analyzed with respect to overall image quality and patterns of perfusion on final gray-scale DICOM images and color Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) CBF maps, and common artifacts and their impact on final image quality were categorized.
Purpose
The incidence of self-harm is an important indicator in suicide surveillance and a target outcome for suicide prevention. Self-harm rates vary by geographic location and rurality appears to ...be a risk factor. The objectives of this study were to estimate rates of self-harm hospitalization in Canada over a 5-year period by sex and age group, and examine relationships between self-harm and rurality.
Methods
Hospitalizations related to self-harm were identified in a national dataset (the Discharge Abstract Database) for all patients aged 10 years or older who were discharged from hospital between 2015 and 2019. Self-harm hospitalization rates were calculated and stratified by year, sex, age group, and level of rurality, as measured using the Index of Remoteness. A Poisson regression was fit to estimate rate ratios for the levels of rurality.
Results
Rates of self-harm hospitalization were higher for females than males across all levels of rurality and increased with each level for both sexes, except for among young males. The widest rural-to-urban disparities were observed for the 10–19 and 20–34-year old age groups. Females aged 10–19 in very remote areas had the highest self-harm hospitalization rate.
Conclusion
The rate of self-harm hospitalization in Canada varied by sex, age group, and level of rurality. Clinical and community-based interventions for self-harm, such as safety planning and increased access to mental health services, should be tailored to the differential risks across geographic contexts.
Whether species interactions influence species response to environment and species ranges has always been a central question in ecology. Joint species distribution models (JSDMs) simultaneously model ...the species–environment relationships of multiple species and the residual correlation between these species. These residual correlations are assumed to depict whether species co‐occur less or more often than expected by the modelled species–environment relationships, which could ultimately be attributed to species interactions, or hidden environmental information. Here, we propose to specifically test the capacity of JSDMs to detect species interactions from co‐occurrence data, at different scales of data aggregation. Using a recently published point‐process model, we simulated equilibrium co‐occurrence patterns of species pairs by varying the strength and type of interactions (e.g. competition, predator–prey, mutualism) as well as the prevalence of the interacting species in homogeneous environments (assuming the environment does not influence the species responses and co‐occurrence). Then, we fitted JSDMs without environmental predictors, and compared the estimated residual correlations against the known interaction coefficients. JSDMs detected competition and mutualism well, but failed with predator–prey interactions. For the latter, JSDMs predicted both negative and positive residual correlations for these kinds of interactions, depending on the prevalence of the interacting species. Interestingly, the estimated residual correlation was strongly influenced by species’ prevalence and can thus not be translated to interaction strength. At increasingly coarser data resolution, the signals of negative and positive interactions became indiscernible by JSDMs, but – reassuringly – were rarely confounded. The underlying point‐process model simulates the consequences rather than the mechanisms of interspecific interactions, and thus is better at corroborating rather than discrediting JSDMs. Nevertheless, our simple theoretical exercise pinpoints important limitations of JSDMs. In conclusion, we caution against interpreting residual correlations from JSDMs as interaction strength and against comparing these across different species and communities.
In many science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines, women are outperformed by men in test scores, jeopardizing their success in science-oriented courses and careers. The current ...study tested the effectiveness of a psychological intervention, called values affirmation, in reducing the gender achievement gap in a college-level introductory physics class. In this randomized double-blind study, 399 students either wrote about their most important values or not, twice at the beginning of the 15-week course. Values affirmation reduced the male-female performance and learning difference substantially and elevated women's modal grades from the C to B range. Benefits were strongest for women who tended to endorse the stereotype that men do better than women in physics. A brief psychological intervention may be a promising way to address the gender gap in science performance and learning.
We describe the formation of a suite of 3catenanes via multicomponent coordination-driven self-assembly and host–guest complexation of a rectangular scaffold comprising a 90° Pt-based acceptor ...building block with a pseudorotaxane bis(pyridinium)ethane/dibenzo-24-crown-8 linear dipyridyl ligand and three dicarboxylate donors. The doubly threaded 3catenanes are formed from a total of 10 molecular components from four unique species. Furthermore, the dynamic catenation process is reversible and can be switched off and on in a controllable manner by successive addition of KPF6 and 18-crown-6, as monitored by 1H and 31P NMR spectroscopy.
Quantifying how functional traits relate to environmental gradients provides insight into mechanisms governing species distributions. Here, we bring together the fields of species distribution ...modelling and functional trait ecology with hierarchical modelling by explicitly incorporating traits into a multi-species distribution model. We combined traits from the leaf-height-seed strategy scheme (specific leaf area (SLA), plant height and seed mass) with a distribution model for 20 eucalypt taxa in Victoria, Australia. The key insight of this approach is how traits modulate species responses to environmental gradients. The strongest link was between SLA and percent rock cover (species with low SLA had positive responses to rockiness, whereas high SLA species responded negatively to rockiness). We found evidence for complex yet potentially important interactions. For instance, the probability of species occurrence increased with rainfall and solar radiation on average yet the response varied depending on species height and SLA. Tall species were predicted to increase with rainfall and solar radiation across the range of SLA values (tall species with low SLA were especially sensitive to rainfall). Short species responded positively to rainfall and solar radiation only if they had low SLA. This framework readily accounts for interactions between combinations of traits and environmental variables unlike multi-step approaches. Further application of this concept will contribute to a generalized mechanistic understanding of how traits influence species distributions along environmental gradients, with implications for understanding the response of species to global change.
A novel approach toward the construction of multicomponent two-dimensional (2-D) and three-dimensional (3-D) metallosupramolecules is reported. Simply by mixing carboxylate and pyridyl ligands with ...cis-Pt(PEt3)2(OTf)2 in a proper ratio, coordination-driven self-assembly occurs, allowing for the selective generation of discrete multicomponent structures via charge separation on the metal centers. Using this method, a variety of 2-D rectangles and 3-D prisms were prepared under mild conditions. Moreover, multicomponent self-assembly can also be achieved by supramolecule-to-supramolecule transformations. The products were characterized by 31P and 1H multinuclear NMR spectroscopy, electrospray ionization mass spectrometry, and pulsed-field-gradient spin echo NMR techniques together with computational simulations.
This paper describes the science motivation, measurement objectives, performance requirements, detailed design, approach and implementation, and calibration of the four Hot Plasma Composition ...Analyzers (HPCA) for the Magnetospheric Multiscale mission. The HPCA is based entirely on electrostatic optics combining an electrostatic energy analyzer with a carbon-foil based time-of-flight analyzer. In order to fulfill mission requirements, the HPCA incorporates three unique technologies that give it very wide dynamic range capabilities essential to measuring minor ion species in the presence of extremely high proton fluxes found in the region of magnetopause reconnection. Dynamic range is controlled primarily by a novel radio frequency system analogous to an RF mass spectrometer. The RF, in combination with capabilities for high TOF event processing rates and high current micro-channel plates, ensures the dynamic range and sensitivity needed for accurate measurements of ion fluxes between ∼1 eV and 40 keV that are expected in the region of reconnection events. A third technology enhances mass resolution in the presence of high proton flux.
In order to calibrate the four HPCA instruments we have developed a unique ion calibration system. The system delivers a multi-species beam resolved to
M
/Δ
M
∼100 and current densities between 0.05 and 200 pA/cm
2
with a stability of ±5 %. The entire system is controlled by a dedicated computer synchronized with the HPCA ground support equipment. This approach results not only in accurate calibration but also in a comprehensive set of coordinated instrument and auxiliary data that makes analysis straightforward and ensures archival of all relevant data.
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