The art of otology

Management of chronic ear infections dependent on recognition of the differences (pathological and clinical) between tympano-tubal lesions and attico-antral disease. Chronic suppurative otitis media as a reason for rejection for military service. Statistics obtained from the Ministry of Labour and National Service. Relative incidence of tympanic and attico-antral disease in a series of 500 hospital patients at the present time. Resistant chronic tympanic disease still a problem. Relation to acute suppurative otitis media. Recurrent and relapsing attacks of acute otitis media. Does early chemotherapy interfere with development of immunity?Problems presented by acute otitis media likely to be elucidated by the general practitioner rather than by the otologist. The general practitioner's opportunities for research in this clinical problem. Incidence of ear diseases in average general practice.Training of medical students in diseases of the ear, nose and throat. Methods of instruction followed in the teaching schools of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and attitude of the Examining Bodies to this subject. The contribution of otologists to the education of doctors.Some observations on facial paralysis. Importance of prognosis. Different criteria in early and late stages of paralysis. Reasons for abandoning the faradic-galvanic tests in the management of facial paralysis. Use of constant current square pulse stimulators in early days of facial paralysis. Electromyography of value in later stages.Present-day difficulties in acquiring skill for facial nerve surgery. Importance of the stylomastoid artery. Recent investigations on the blood supply of the facial nerve: gross vascular pattern and the interfascicular plexus. Further work necessary to relate these anatomical facts to the condition of Bell's palsy.     

The art of entrainment

The circadian system actively synchronizes the temporal sequence of biological functions with the environment. The oscillatory behavior of the system ensures that entrainment is not passive or driven and therefore allows for great plasticity and adaptive potential. With the tools at hand, we now can concentrate on the most important circadian question: How is the complex task of entrainment achieved by anatomical, cellular, and molecular components? Understanding entrainment is equal to understanding the circadian system. The results of this basic research will help us to understand temporal ecology and will allow us to improve conditions for humans in industrialized societies.     

The art of mismanagement

Is it possible that ImClone didn't do its homework on Erbitux's patents?     

The art of arteriogenesis

The identification of collateral artery growth (arteriogenesis) as the only mechanism to compensate for the loss of an occluded artery forced us to define the mechanisms responsible for this type of vessel growth. To achieve this, a variety of coronary as well as peripheral models of arteriogenesis have been developed. Based on these studies it is obvious that arteriogenesis obeys different mechanisms than angiogenesis, the sprouting of capillaries. Upon occlusion of an artery, the blood flow is redirected into preexisting arteriolar anastomoses that experience increased mechanical forces such as shear stress and circum ferential wall stress. The endothelium of the arteriolar connections is then activated, resulting in an increased release of monocyte-attracting proteins as well as an upregulation of adhesion molecules. Upon adherence and extravasation, monocytes promote arteriogenesis by supplying growth factors and cytokines that bind to receptors that are expressed on vascular cells within a limited time frame. Animal studies evidenced that factors, such as monocyte chemoattractant protein-1, granulocyte-monocyte colony-stimulating factor, or transforming growth factor-β₁, that either attract or prolong the lifetime of monocytes efficiently enhance collateral artery growth, an effect that was seen only to a minor degree after application of a single growth factor. Bone marrow-derived stems cells and endothelial progenitor cells do not incorporate in growing arteries but, rather, function as supporting cells. Complete elucidation of the mechanisms of arteriogenesis may lead to efficacious therapies counteracting the devastating consequences of vascular occlusive diseases.     

The medical physics specialization system in Poland

This paper presents the situation of the profession of medical physicists in Poland. The official recognition of the profession of medical physicist in Polish legislation was in 2002. In recent years, more and more Universities which have Physics Faculties introduce a medical physics specialty. At present, there are about 15 Universities which offer such programmes. These Universities are able to graduate about 150 medical physicists per year. In 2002, the Ministry of Health introduced a programme of postgraduate specialization in medical physics along the same rules employed in the specialization of physicians in various branches of medicine. Five institutions, mostly large oncology centres, were selected as teaching institutions, based on their experience, the quality of the medical physics professionals, staffing levels, equipment availability, lecture halls, etc. The first cycle of the specialization programme started in 2006, and the first candidates completed their training at the end of 2008, and passed their official state exams in May 2009. As of January 2016, there are 196 specialized medical physicists in Poland. Another about 120 medical physicists are undergoing specialization.The system of training of medical physics professionals in Poland is well established. The principles of postgraduate training and specialization are well defined and the curriculum of the training is very demanding. The programme of specialization was revised in 2011 and is in accordance with EC and EFOMP recommendations.     

The costs of hemispheric specialization in a fish

Laboratory and field studies have documented better cognitive performance associated with marked hemispheric specialization in organisms as diverse as chimpanzees, domestic chicks and topminnows. While providing an evolutionary explanation for the emergence of cerebral lateralization, this evidence represents a paradox because a large proportion of non-lateralized (NL) individuals is commonly observed in animal populations. Hemispheric specialization often determines large left–right differences in perceiving and responding to stimuli. Using topminnows selected for a high or low degree of lateralization, we tested the hypothesis that individuals with greater functional asymmetry pay a higher performance cost in situations requiring matching information from the two eyes. When trained to use the middle door in a row of a nine, NL fish correctly chose the central door in most cases, while lateralized fish showed systematic leftward or rightward biases. When choosing between two shoals, each seen with a different eye, NL fish chose the high-quality shoal significantly more often than the lateralized fish, whose performance was affected by eye preference for analysing social stimuli. These findings suggest the existence of a trade-off between computational advantages of hemispheric specialization and the ecological cost of making suboptimal decisions whenever relevant information is located on both sides of the body.     

The art of the revision

Earnest revisions based on editorial and referee feedback improve published papers.