A push‐pull integrated pest management scheme for preventing use of parrot nest boxes by invasive Africanized honey bees

Africanized honey bees (Apis mellifera scutellata) compete with endangered parrots for nest boxes and can hamper conservation efforts. We tested an integrated pest management push‐pull protocol in the Atlantic Forest in São Paulo, Brazil, in an effort to prevent bee swarms from colonizing nest boxes (N = 30 in the forest plus five in aviaries) meant for use by Vinaceous‐breasted Amazons (Amazona vinacea). Fifteen parrot nest boxes were treated with a permethrin insecticide to “push” scout bees away and each parrot box was paired with a bee trap box containing a pheromone lure to “pull” bees. Over a 1‐yr period (March 2013 to March 2014), 29 insect colonies moved into 18 of the 35 trap boxes. Nine Africanized honey bee, three native Jatai bee (Tetragonisca sp.), and 17 wasp colonies occupied trap boxes. Only one experimental push‐pull pair untreated parrot box was invaded by bees and no parrot boxes in aviaries were colonized. Four of the parrot nest boxes were occupied by birds during our study. Although none were used by Vinaceous‐breasted Amazons, Southern House Wrens (Troglodytes musculus), Green‐winged Saltators (Saltator similis), and Plain Parakeets (Brotogeris tirica) nested in the boxes and all nests were successful. Although long‐term studies are needed before drawing conclusions about the effectiveness of trap boxes, our results suggest that a push‐pull protocol may prove useful for reducing the use of nest boxes meant for parrots and other cavity‐nesting birds by Africanized honey bees and other insects.     

Évaluation des pratiques professionnelles. Pertinence des indications de la tomographie à émission de positons en cancérologie

IntroductionAs part of the health care quality and safety policy in France, Professional Practice Assessment (PPA) are mandatory in the health services “certification” process. We present our study regarding the pertinence of Positron Emission Tomography (PET) indications in oncology.Materials and methodsA multidisciplinary task group used the Quick Audit method with two rounds of 100 request forms each. The assessment list of criteria comprised four items of decreasing relevance grading the PET scans clinical indications, which were derived from the three French published guidelines (SOR [FNCLCC], “Guide du bon usage des examens d’imagerie médicale” [SFR-SFMN], “Guide pour la rédaction de protocoles pour la TEP au FDG en cancérologie” [SFMN]) and five additional items: clinical information, patient's body weight, previous treatments dates, diabetes, claustrophobia.ResultsThe first round showed that 68% of the requested scans corresponded to the two most relevant groups of indications (SOR Standards and Options). The request forms were correctly filled in regarding the clinical information, but this was not the case for the other items we tested. Several actions were conducted: dedicated PET request form, availability of the SOR on the hospital intranet, boost of the referring physicians awareness during the multidisciplinary oncology meetings (Réunions de Concertation Pluridisciplinaires RCP). The second round showed a better pertinence of the PET scans indications (75% versus 68%); the patient's body weight was more frequently mentioned on the request form.DiscussionThis study is an example of PPA in our discipline. It led to an improvement of the oncologic PET scans clinical indications in our hospital. This work is pursued in everyday discussion with the referring clinicians, especially during the RCP.     

Quantification Methodology of “Health Human Resources” Related to “Health Technologies” Based on Indicators “RhSan”, “TechSan” and “RhTech”: Application to Senegal

ObjectivesAfter a century of spectacular advances, healthcare systems are facing unprecedented crisis, linked to shortage of health human resources and health technologies. In fact, availability of care depends on both technological and human resources of health. The objective of this study is to develop indicators that can measure qualitatively human resources and technologies of health in healthcare facilities, in order to assess availability of care in sub-Saharan African countries.Materials and MethodsRegarding “health technology” related to “medical devices”, an indicator called “TechSan” for “Technologies de Santé” was previously developed and published (Ndione FB et al. (2019) [6]). To address the deficiencies in usual indicators related to health human resources, a second indicator called “RhSan” for “Ressources humaines de santé” in French is proposed. This indicator assigns a weight to each health worker taking into account his specific “level of medical knowledge” and “experience”. In order to correlate “RhSan” with “TechSan”, a third indicator called “RhTech” is also developed to assess matches between “health technologies” and “health human resources” and establish realistic availability of care. These indicators have the advantage to be consolidated by specialty such as laboratory, imaging, surgery, and “mother and child care”.ResultsThe application of TechSan, RhSan and RhTech to data collected in Senegal in 2016, enabled to assess the distribution of “health technology” and “health human resources” in this country. They also permit the mapping of care availability per specialty in Senegal. The results show a strong oversupply of Dakar in terms of both human resources and technologies of health compared to other Senegalese regions. Oppositely, Sedhiou, Kaffrine, Matam and Kédougou are poorly endowed showing limits of the Senegalese health pyramid system.ConclusionTechSan, RhSan and RhTech can provide reliable decision-making tools in order to elaborate health policies in sub-Saharan African countries on more rigorous basis.     

Examining arts education policy development through policy frameworks

ABSTRACT

While policy formation frameworks are commonly used to understand public policy developments, scholars rarely have used them to reflect on arts education policies. Such analysis is important because it can assist both in identifying the genesis of past policies, including who the important actors are, how issues are framed and problematized, and how specific solutions are designed, as well as how to interpret unfolding policies. In this article, I review three prominent policy frameworks: Kingdon's “multiple streams framework,” Sabatier and Jenkins-Smith's “advocacy coalition framework,” and Baumgartner and Jones' “punctuated equilibrium framework.” After reviewing the frameworks, I address the following questions: (a) How would these conceptual frameworks predict arts education policy development to proceed? (b) How would these conceptual frameworks explain constituents and coalitions that affect the arts education policy sphere? (c) How would these conceptual frameworks illuminate precipitating events that drive the policy development process? I apply the frameworks to several instances of arts education policy development, including the formal designation of the arts as a core subjects under the Goals 2000: Educate America Act of 1994 (P.L. 103-227), the development of the 2014 National Core Arts Standards, and music's enumeration in the Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015. Because these three policy issues differ in important ways, they can help to illuminate the breadth of arts education policy.     

Lochkovian (earliest Devonian) miospores from the Solimões Basin,northwestern Brazil

Eighteen core samples from PETROBRAS well 1-JD-1-AM (Jandiatuba area, Solimões Basin, northwestern Brazil) have been studied for miospores. Fifty-three species are identified. This assemblage is tentatively correlated with the Z Phylozone of the BZ Oppel Zone (Steemans, P., 1989. Palynostratigraphie de l'Eodévonien dans l'ouest de l'Europe. Professional Paper. Mémoires Explicatifs pour les Cartes Géologiques and Minéralogiques de la Belgique, 27, pp. 453.), dated late Lochkovian. This is in accordance with previous age determinations based on chitinozoans and acritarchs. Numerous representatives of the miospore genus Dictyotriletes are observed. These enable recognition of the Dictyotriletes emsiensis morphon, an informal classification unit which includes Dictyotriletes granulatus, D. emsiensis, Dictyotriletes cf. subgranifer, specimens previously misassigned to D. subgranifer and some Dictyotriletes spp. provisionally left in open nomenclature. Since all intermediate forms from typical D. granulatus to typical D. emsiensis coexist, it is currently difficult to determine the base of “E” Interval Biozone in South America as originally defined in Western Europe. It is suggested, therefore, that the base of the “Ems” Biozone defined in Brazil cannot be correlated with the base of the “E” Biozone. Instead, it should be included in an interval of uncertainty ranging from the European “Si” to “E” Biozones. Indeed, the underlying “NsZ” Biozone from South America contains species not known below the “Si” Biozone. Here, the D. emsiensis morphon Assemblage Zone is erected, which may be coeval with the “N” through “E” Biozones of Western Europe. The PISA palynoflora from the Paraná Basin is also attributed to this new biozone. However, in the absence of species observed in the “BZ” Biozone (and also in the Solimões Basin), the PISA assemblage could be somewhat older than that of well 1-JD-1-AM.     

Biotic homogeneity of putative biogeographic units in the Neotropics: A test with Sapotaceae

Aim

To evaluate Morrone's (2001, Biogeografia de America Latina y el Caribe. Zaragoza, Spain: CYTED, ORCYT‐UNESCO, Sociedad Entomológica Aragonesa (SEA)) Neotropical regionalization by testing the prediction that biotas are more homogeneous within than among biogeographic units.

Location

Neotropics.

Methods

We conducted pairwise comparisons of beta diversity of Sapotaceae species within and between biogeographic units in the hierarchical regionalization proposed by Morrone (2001, Biogeografia de America Latina y el Caribe. Zaragoza, Spain: CYTED, ORCYT‐UNESCO, Sociedad Entomológica Aragonesa (SEA)), at a spatial resolution of 1‐degree cells. We used a null model to control differences in sampling effort across 1‐degree cells and performed beta‐diversity comparisons conditional on geographic distance to control for distance decay of biotic similarity.

Results

None of the biogeographic units proposed by Morrone (2001, Biogeografia de America Latina y el Caribe. Zaragoza, Spain: CYTED, ORCYT‐UNESCO, Sociedad Entomológica Aragonesa (SEA)) was biotically homogeneous with respect to all other units at the same hierarchical level. This was the case even for units commonly reported to be isolated and to host distinctive taxa like “Choco.” However, five of 45 biogeographic units were biotically homogenous relative to several other units. These units were “Cuba,” “Chaco,” “Varzea,” “Cauca” and “Costa Pacífica Mexicana.” Also, beta diversity within units was often lower than beta diversity between units at relatively short geographic distances.

Main conclusions

The distribution of Sapotaceae species showed generally low biotic homogeneity within Morrone's (2001, Biogeografia de America Latina y el Caribe. Zaragoza, Spain: CYTED, ORCYT‐UNESCO, Sociedad Entomológica Aragonesa (SEA)) biogeographic units and did not support his biogeographic regionalization. This result suggests a strong role for dispersal and biotic interchange among biogeographic units and across barriers like the Andes. It also casts doubt on the usefulness of Morrone's (2001, Biogeografia de America Latina y el Caribe. Zaragoza, Spain: CYTED, ORCYT‐UNESCO, Sociedad Entomológica Aragonesa (SEA)) biogeographic units as tools for the identification of priority areas for the conservation of biodiversity. However, relatively high biotic homogeneity within some biogeographic units suggests that they capture significant spatial patterns. In particular, noteworthy biotic homogeneity within “Cuba,” “Cauca” and “Costa Pacifica Mexicana” could be explained by isolation. Also, in “Costa Pacifica Mexicana,” patterns of biotic homogeneity could reflect closer affinities to humid lowland montane forest in Central America than to lowland rain forest in South America. Finally, substantial biotic homogeneity within “Varzea” could result from common adaptation to edaphic environments near the Amazon River.

     

An Analysis of the Formation of Ciliary Primordia in the Hypotrich Ciliate Urostyla weissei*

SYNOPSIS. The protargol technic was used in a study of the development of oral, cirral, and dorsal primordia of Urostyla weissei fixed during division, reorganization, and regeneration following transection at different levels. While the course of development is similar in all situations, differences were observed in the way in which some primordia are initiaily formed. The primordium of the new AZM always appears posterior to the old AZM. It develops into an entire new membranellar band in dividing cells and in opimers (posterior fragments from equatorial transections), while it eventually joins with a portion of the old AZM in reorganizers, promers (anterior fragments from equatorial transections) and “large opimers” (cells whose anterior tip has been cut off). The UM-primordium of proters is derived from disaggregation of the kinetosomes of the 2 old UM's, that of opisthes and opimers is formed “de novo” to the right of the AZM-primordium, while the UM-primordium of reorganizers, promers, and “large opimers” is of composite origin, partly “de novo” and partly from the old UM's. The UM primordium differentiates into the new UM's and the 1st frontal cirrus. The primordia of the remaining frontal, ventral, transversal (F-V-T) and marginal cirri originate as “streaks” of cilia, most of which are derived from re-alignment of the constituent cilia of certain pre-existing cirri. New cirri differendiate from the streaks, and replace the remaining old cirri. The streaks are formed similarly in all developmental situations, except for the 1st 3 F-V-T streaks. In proters, reorganizers, and promers, these originate from the posterior 3 frontal cirri, while in opisthes and opimers they are formed “de novo” to the right of the UM-primordium. In the “large opimers” these streaks are formed “de novo” behind the 1st 3 frontal cirri, in spite of the continued presence of these cirri at the anterior tip of the fragments. The site of formation of these streaks thus appears to be determined by an anteriorposterior gradient, rather than by any preformed cortical structure. The new dorsal bristle rows I to III develop from the proliferation of portions of the old rows, while rows IV and V originate from short kineties formed “de novo” on the right margin. New caudal cirri differentiate at the posterior ends of the new rows I to III. The numbers of ventral cirral rows and transversal cirri are variable; these variations are correlated, and related to variations in numbers of developing streaks. A survey of hypotrich developmental patterns revealed extensive parallels, especially in the sites of appearance of primordia. The primordium site appears to be a more constant feature of cortical development than is the “source” of ciliary units. It is concluded that sites of primordia are determined by cellular gradients, with competent preformed structures being utilized if they are appropriately positioned within these gradients.     

Actividad de la micafungina contra las biopelículas de Candida

BackgroundMost recalcitrant infections are associated to colonization and microbial biofilm development. These biofilms are difficult to eliminate by the immune response mechanisms and the current antimicrobial therapy.AimTo describe the antifungal of micafungin against fungal biofilms based in the scientific and medical literature of recent years.MethodsWe have done a bibliographic retrieval using the scientific terms “micafungin”, “activity”, “biofilm”, “Candida”, “Aspergillus”, “fungi”, “mycos”*, susceptibility, in PubMed/Medline from the National Library of Medicine from 2006 to 2009.ResultsMost current antifungal agents (amphotericin B and fluconazole) and the new azole antifungals have no activity against fungal biofilms. However, micafungin and the rest of echinocandins are very active against Candida albicans, Candida dubliniensis, Candida glabrata, and Candida krusei biofilms but their activities are variable and less strong against Candida tropicalis and Candida parapsilosis biofilms. Moreover, they have not activities against the biofilms of Cryptococcus y Trichosporon.ConclusionsThe activity of micafungin against Candida biofilms gives more strength to its therapeutic indication for candidaemia and invasive candidiasis associated to catheter, prosthesis and other biomedical devices.     

Charles de Gerville et les premiers restes de Plesiosauria signalés dans le Jurassique inférieur de France (Hettangien,région de Valognes,Manche)

The historian, archaeologist, and naturalist Charles de Gerville (1769–1853) reported as early as January 1816 the presence of fossil bones in the quarries of the region of Valognes, in the department of Manche. These quarries exploited the “Calcaire de Valognes” and the underlying “Argiles et Calcaires d’Huberville”, both formations dated as Lower Hettangian (Lower Jurassic). De Gerville communicated to Jacques-Louis-Marin Defrance a watercolour drawing of one of these fossil bones, discovered in July 1820, in which it is possible to recognize a plesiosaur femur. This femur, as well as a fragment of rib and three vertebrae of Plesiosauria from de Gerville's collection, was then figured in a publication by Arcisse de Caumont, in 1825. The plesiosaur femur was later acquired by Pierre Tesson of Caen, who owned one of the most important collections of fossils in Normandy. The Tesson collection was later purchased in 1857 by the British Museum (now The Natural History Museum, London), where the femur has been rediscovered. This specimen is the first known plesiosaur specimen ever discovered in the Lower Jurassic of France, before the genus Plesiosaurus was established upon material from the Lias of southwestern England. One of the vertebrae figured by de Caumont has been rediscovered in the “Muséum Emmanuel-Liais” (Cherbourg-en-Cotentin), which had acquired part of de Gerville's collection. The interpretation of the “fossil bones of Valognes” by Georges Cuvier, Henri Marie Ducrotay de Blainville, Arcisse de Caumont, Jacques-Amand Eudes-Deslongchamps and Constant Duméril is revealed through unpublished documents.     

Plan quality and robustness in field junction region for craniospinal irradiation with VMAT

PurposeTo propose a “staggered overlap” technique in volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) for craniospinal irradiation (CSI) and compare the dose distribution and plan robustness with “overlap” technique and “gradient optimization” approach.Methods and Materials6 patients previously treated in our clinic were retrospectively selected. 9 VMAT plans of each patient were optimized with “staggered overlap”, “overlap” and “gradient optimization” in overlapping region of 3 cm, 6 cm, and 9 cm separately. For the “staggered overlap” plan, adjacent field sets were intentionally overlapped by staggering field edges in an appropriate step size to avoid sharp dose gradient. Evaluation metrics including V_95%, D_2%, D_98%, conformity number (CN) and homogeneity index (HI) were employed to evaluate the dose distribution. Moreover, shifts of the upper spinal field isocenter in each direction were performed to simulate junction errors for robustness analysis.ResultsThe CN and HI of VMAT plans with “staggered overlap” were 0.82 (0.811–0.822) and 0.113 (0.112–0.114), while they were 0.778 (0.776–0.782) and 0.131 (0.130–0.131) for plans with “gradient optimization”. In the robustness study, <3% dose deviations were found for 5 mm shifts in lateral and vertical directions with all techniques. In cranial-caudal direction, “overlap” technique created hot spots (D_2% > 170%) and cold spots (D_98% < 44%) in the junction region with 10 mm shifts. The dose deviations were decreased to 22% for plans with “staggered overlap” and 9 cm overlapping region.Conclusion“Staggered overlap” technique provides better plan quality as compared to “gradient optimization” approach and makes the plan more robust against junction errors as compared to “overlap” technique.     

Trivaline Molecular Complexes with Trinucleotides Form in Solution the Extended,about 1000 Å in Length Structures

Abstract

The fluorescence, flow linear dichroism and electron microscopy (EM) have shown the trivaline ability to interact in solution with certain molecules of trinucleotides. This interaction results in formation of extended structures up to several. thousand angstroms in length. Such structures were observed for trivaline complexes with homopurine, homopyrimidine or random sequences of deoxyribo- and ribonucleotides, independently of the presence or absence of the terminal 5′-phosphate residue. A model of such a structural organization is proposed. An elementary structural unit consists of a trivaline β-dimer and adsorbed trinucleotide. So, “dimeric” complex is formed. Two such “dimeric” complexes combine with each other by means of peptide-peptide contacts (as with β-sandwich). So, “tetrameric” complex is formed It has a dyad axis. Two such structural units combine with each other by means of Hoogsteen's hydrogen bonds. So, “octamreic” complex is formed. It has three mutually perpendicular dyad axes. The “octameric” complexes appear to be able to combine with each other by means of stacking interactions, and to form the regular organized aggregates consisting of many dozens of elementary units. So, “stacking” structure is formed. The “octameric” complex is the symmetry translational unit of such a stucture. The spatial position of the bases in all these structures is additionally fixed by the nucleo-peptide interactions. These aggregates have the appearance of extended structures on electron micrographs.     

Trilobite monophyly revisited

Fortey's and Whittington's recent refutation of Lauterbach's hypothesis of a paraphyletic Trilobita is supported. However, much of the character evidence raised by Fortey and Whittington to substantiate the monophyly of the Trilobita (including, inter alia, "Olenellinae”; and Agnostoidea) is ambiguous. Of seven proposed synapomorphies, only one (dorsal cuticle calcification) may be maintained at that node after testing within a cladistic framework. The other six characters are either constrained by calcification or define nodes up or down the cladogram. As positioned by Fortey's and Whittington's characters, Agnostoidea could be regarded either as the most primitive trilobites, or as being outside that clade. Lauterbach's support for an “olenelline"‐chelicerate clade is found to include interdependent characters which are reduced here to two testable derived similarities. Only one of these may conform to general criteria indicative of homology, such as detailed similarity and topology. It is, however, rejected on the basis of parsimony. We emphasize that resolution of the chelicerate‐"olenelline"‐trilobite three‐taxon problem must be based on recognition of homologies among each of these taxa. Nectaspida are excluded from Trilobita as defined by cuticle calcification, but as ingroup “Arachnata”; (sensu Lauterbach) they are important for determining character generality in this clade.     

Association of ABO and Rh blood groups with breast cancer

ObjectivesThe aim of this study was to determine the association of “ABO” and “Rhesus” blood groups with incidence of breast cancer.MethodsIn this study, we identified 70 research documents from data based search engines including “PubMed”, “ISI-Web of Knowledge”, “Embase” and “Google Scholar”. The research papers were selected by using the primary key-terms including “ABO blood type”, “Rhesus” blood type and “breast cancer”. The research documents in which “ABO” and “Rhesus” blood types and breast cancer was debated were included. After screening, we reviewed 32 papers and finally we selected 25 research papers which met the inclusion criteria and remaining documents were excluded.ResultsBlood group “A” has high incidence of breast cancer (45.88%), blood group “O” has (31.69%); “B” (16.16%) and blood group “AB” has (6.27%) incidence of breast cancer. Blood group “A” has highest and blood group “AB” has least association with breast cancer. Furthermore, “Rhesus +ve” blood group has high incidence of breast cancer (88.31%) and “Rhesus –ve” blood group has least association with breast cancer (11.68%).ConclusionBlood group “A” and “Rhesus +ve” have high risk of breast cancer, while blood type “AB” and “Rhesus –ve” are at low peril of breast cancer. Physicians should carefully monitor the females with blood group “A” and “Rh +ve” as these females are more prone to develop breast cancer. To reduce breast cancer incidence and its burden, preventive and screening programs for breast cancer especially in young women are highly recommended.     

Knowledge as the source of progress: The Marshall family testament to the “Bushmen”

There can be no doubt that the Marshalls’ testament to the “Bushmen,” particularly Elizabeth's The Harmless People and John's The Hunters, played a major role in shaping a public image of humankind's ancient ancestors, especially in the United States. John has said, correctly I believe, that simply by being made known through his family's efforts, Khoisan‐speaking “Bushmen” were brought into the surviving ethnographic record that intrigued a growing number of anthropologists as well as the general public at the beginning of the 1960s. I offer here a preliminary account, based on archival materials, personal letters, etc., of the paradigms and politics that underlay their efforts. I begin with an examination of the extent to which Laurence Marshall must be seen as the inspiration for and the driving force behind the family project, then turn to a consideration of J. O. Brew's role in it. Although this was an ethnoarchaeological project from its beginning, Brew's role has been wholly unappreciated, but cannot be exaggerated; he was, in terminology appropriate to the business nature of the case, Chief Executive Officer to Laurence's Chairman of the Board.

I then turn to the political arena of prehistory—of the living and the dead—that became as important as the arena of its field sites in the 1960s. The Marshalls were thrust into dormancy by academically more powerful rivals who publicly and privately contested their work, but there can be little doubt that their record critically influenced reawakening anthropological interest in hunting societies. Indeed, struggles to be the proprietary heirs to the Marshalls’ “Bushman” legacy ricochetted off the walls of academia from Cambridge (US) to Berkeley to Johannesburg to London to Cambridge (UK).

Finally, I consider the mythic underpinnings of the Marshalls’ work, and conclude that while Elizabeth, in The Harmless People, presents the least occluded view of the Marshalls’ Kalahari, seen as a whole John's “Bushmen” films reveal the expanding of a sensitive consciousness not only to a gestalt of life but to the complexity of filmic (re)presentation and to the limitations of audiences to comprehend what is presented. Collectively, his films constitute important ethnographic documents. They are not, however, dependable documents of the objectified peoples made subjects in the films, but faithful documents of the filmmaker/ethnographer situated in the discourse of a distorted modernity at the time they were made. They permit us to draw inferences about the species of colonial ideology that was pervasive at that time.     

Participation of women medical Physicists in European scientific events: The European experience

PurposeThough the number of women scientists is increasing over the years, studies show that they are still under-represented in leadership roles. The purpose of this work is to establish the percentage of women Medical Physicists (wMPs) that have participated in European scientific events and evaluate it as an indication of the current position of women in the field of Medical Physics in Europe and to propose possible ways to encourage their participation.Materials and MethodsData regarding the participants in European scientific events of Medical Physics were collected. The participants were divided into categories according to the program of the events and their gender was identified. The percentage of wMPs in each category was evaluated.ResultsThe participation of wMPs attending courses is greater than 50%. The categories with the greatest participation are “Organizing Committees”, “Chairpersons-Moderators” and “Oral Presentations”. The categories with the lower participation of wMPs are “Scientific Committee”, “Symposiums” and “Invited Speakers”. None of wMPs were represented as “Course Directors”.ConclusionsThe attendance of wMPs in courses is slightly greater than average. However, wMPs do not have an equally important recognition in special invited roles in conferences. They are still under-represented in “Scientific Committees”, “Invited Speakers”, “Symposiums” and “Course directors”. wMPs should be encouraged to participate even more actively in European conferences and the organizing committees should invite more wMPs in special roles. More studies concerning the status of female MPs in each country separately should be encouraged as they will help in understanding the position of wMPS in Europe.     

Characteristics of cases with unknown stage prostate cancer in a population-based cancer registry

BackgroundThe New South Wales Central Cancer Registry (NSW CCR) is the only population-based cancer registry in Australia that has routinely collected summary stage at diagnosis since its inception in 1972. However, a large proportion of prostate cancer cases have “unknown” stage recorded by the registry. We investigated the characteristics of prostate cancer cases with “unknown” stage recorded by the NSW CCR, and examined survival for this group.MethodsData were obtained from the NSW CCR for all first primary prostate cancer cases diagnosed in 1999–2007. Summary stage was recorded as localised, regional, distant or “unknown”. Associations between disease stage and patient characteristics (age, place of residence at diagnosis, year of diagnosis and country of birth) and prostate cancer specific survival were investigated using multivariable logistic regression and Cox proportional hazards models respectively.ResultsOf 39 852 prostate cancer cases, 41.8% had “unknown” stage recorded by the NSW CCR. This proportion decreased significantly over time, increased with increasing age at diagnosis and was higher for those living in socio-economically disadvantaged areas. The proportion with “unknown” stage varied across area health services. Prostate cancer specific survival for cases with “unknown” stage was significantly poorer than for those with localised stage but better than for those with regional or distant stage.ConclusionsResearchers or others using cancer registry stage data to examine prostate cancer outcomes need to consider the differences between cases with “unknown” stage at diagnosis and those with known stage recorded by the registry, and what impact this may have on their results.     

Social evaluation of municipal solid waste management systems from a life cycle perspective: a systematic literature review

Purpose

The social aspects of municipal solid waste management (MSWM) systems are underpinning their sustainability and effectiveness. The assessment of these systems from a life cycle perspective is widespread throughout environmental life cycle assessment (LCA), but few studies have used social life cycle assessment (S-LCA). The present study is an innovative review with the objective to analyse and describe the current level of development of S-LCA applications in MSWM, and to identify the main methodological challenges and best practices, aiming at recommending approaches to harmonise future S-LCA applications in MSWM.

Materials and methods

A systematic review of the literature found 36 relevant scientific articles. These were submitted to bibliometric and content analysis, which includes an analysis of how methodological aspects of the four phases of S-LCA were applied in comparison with best practice and existing guidelines.

Results and discussion

There was a predominance of case studies in developing countries (59%) and evaluation of the stages of collection/transportation, pre-processing (sorting) and landfilling (55%). There were more studies focusing on stakeholders, “workers” and “local communities” and in the impact subcategories “employment”, “working hours”, “health and safety/working conditions”, “community involvement/participation” and “health and safety/living conditions of community”. There was great variability in the application of the method (47% of the studies included methodological developments). However, the 39% based on UNEP guidelines were closer to a methodological consensus.

Conclusion

In general, studies need more detail and clarity in describing the methodological decisions used. Improvements are needed for issues that limit the S-LCA method, including the difficulties of covering the entire life cycle, relating impacts to the functional unit, standardizing impact assessment methods, addressing allocation and data quality issues and interpretation of results and their limitations. Improvements can be achieved by using participatory methods in the selection of categories, subcategories and impact indicators, as well as by clarifying the definition of a product system and detailing “cut-off criteria” of processes/organizations and the impact of these decisions on results.

     

A Finite Element Model for Ice Ball Evolution in a Multi-probe Cryosurgery

The ice formation in a water body is examined for the computation of temperature field, phase change and a moving ice–water interface whose location is not known à priori. This is classically referred to as the Stefan problem [Rubinstein, L.I. (1971) The Stefan Problem (American Mathematical Society, Providence, Rhode Island 02904]. Based on the Duvaut [Duvaut, G. (1973) “Résolution d'un problème de Stefan” C.R. Acad. Sci. Paris 276, 1461–1463] transformation, the governing equations for heat conduction are formulated within a variational principle that is readily amenable to a standard finite element solution without remeshing. Numerical simulation results pertaining to the freezing of tumour tissue in a multi-cryoprobe cryosurgery are presented. These results lend both quantitative and graphical support to the current empirical standards of “effective therapy” in view of refining clinical applications.     

Ethnographic surreality,possession and the unconscious

In the Second Manifesto of Surrealism, issued by André Breton in 1929, surrealism was described as “a total recuperation of our psychic strength by a means of none other than vertiginous descent into ourselves, systematic illumination of the hidden places and progressive darkening of the other places, a perpetual walk in the forbidden zone”. Surrealism sought to represent the unconscious and forbidden zones of the psyche, of the body, of the noumenal world within, which offered access, for surrealists, to energies and intuitions repressed by “civilized” modes of perception. For Jean Rouch, the significance of surrealism, of automatic writing and ciné‐transe, rested in the potential escape they offered from the formal constraints of conventional film and of conventional perception and observation. In his celebration of ciné‐transe, and of the technological apparatus that makes it possible, it is possible to detect his desire for a freeing‐up of the constraints of consciousness—a desire to “write with the body”, to dream, to tap the unexplored power of the unconscious in its overturning of “reality”, of system, and of convention. As a phaneroscopic “wide‐angle lens”, surreality aimed to document the scientifically unexplainable, the immense experiential overload of ritual possession. It attempted to make visible, in the movement between observation and participation and across disjunctive points of view; the crossings‐over into the unconscious world by which possessed Songhay dancers gained access to powers of phaneroscopic perception. By adopting filmic techniques which follow the surrealist practice of creating “verbal and visual collage”, in which randomly‐generated images, emerging out of a trance‐like state (of “automatic writing” or "ciné‐transe"), are juxtaposed in indeterminate and polyphonic relations with each other in an attempt to disturb or destroy patterns of perception which are confining, rationalistic, linear, or restricted to conscious phenomena, Rouch believed he could create powerful representations of the unknowable. This paper relates the phaneroscopic practice of ethnographic surrealism to psychoanalytic models of the unconscious. In a discussion of Rouch's interpretation of the Hauka spirit cult in his film Les Maîtres Fous, the paper argues that the neo‐Freudian paradigm which allowed him to depict the Sohghay's weekend Hauka rites as a parodic reversion to “savagery” (which both reversed the hierarchy of colonizer/colonized and enabled participants to experience a therapeutic release from the traumas of colonization) has been challenged by Lacanian and post‐Lacanian “re‐readings” of Freud that call into question the extent to which the unconscious can be equated with a pre‐linguistic state characterized by disjunctive “primitive” and “instinctive” energies. The surrealist longing for a rupture of the symbolic order of Western rationalism and a return to the “imaginary order” of the unconscious is confounded in the Lacanian conception of the unconscious as a zone inhabited by the “discourse of the Other”. However, the work of Gillès Deleuze and Félix Guanari [1977] provides a means of conceptualizing the unconscious in terms that avoid simplistic binary logic (phenomenon/noumenon; signifier/signified; subject/object; conscious/unconscious; civilization/savagery). The unconscious is not the “unrepresentable” Other of consciousness; it is a schizophrenic phaneron, a signifying “machine”, a transgressive producer of “group fantasy”. Rejecting both Freud's Oedipal model (the unconscious as primal imagery or “ghostly signifieds"), and the Lacanian notion of the unconscious (as a play of “empty signifiers"). Deleuze and Guattari argue that the unconscious cannot be accounted for in terms of the individual child and its entry into language any more than it can be conceived of as the domain of the primitive. On the contrary, the unconscious is constituted as “group fantasy”, as collective public memory which need not be reduced to elemental (Oedipal) signifiers: “all delirium possesses a world‐historical, political and racial content”. The schizophrenic embodies the public nature of unconscious meaning, since schizophrenia is primarily a communication disorder in which an individual never sees himself in terms of a linguistically‐generated “selfhood”, and fails to adopt the “false” identity which is offered to him in the language of the Other. Schizophrenia is characterized by a refusal to treat some meanings as superior to others, to remain within the bounds of a stable identity, or to distinguish between material (noumenal) things and actions and their (phenomenal) meanings. The schizophrenic unconscious treats all experience as signs, registering language in the same way as the body registers physical stimuli. Thus “meanings in the unconscious are simply meanings as workings of the body” [Harland 1987:174–175]. The schizophrenic as a model for the unconscious holds several implications for those interested in representing the experiential power of public rituals, for the public meanings in circulation during such rituals are material and noumenal, and are registered on the bodies of the dancers as they transgress boundaries and pass beyond consciousness. Rouch's surreality attempted to inscribe this unconscious production of public meaning as it was manifested in the movements of the ritual and in the movements of the camera‐body.     

Sarcome d’Ewing agressif apparaissant comme une lésion froide sur la scintigraphie osseuse

Ewing's sarcoma classically presents as a hot spot on bone scan as a result of increased vascularity of the tumor and new bone formation.PurposeWe report and analyze an uncommon pattern of a “cold” lesion in Ewing's sarcoma on bone scan and its physiopathologic significance.Case reportA 15-year-old boy complaining of thigh pain. CT scan evocated Ewing's sarcoma or osteitis. MRI evocated chronic osteitis. Scintigraphy showed a fairly intense and heterogeneous uptake on the femoral lesion and no abnormal uptake elsewhere. Biopsy showed none pathologic pattern. Three months later, a second biopsy concluded to Ewing's sarcoma. Bone scan showed a larger lesion with peripheral intense uptake centered by enlarged “cold” area in the left femoral diaphysis and no evident bone metastasis. The patient underwent chemotherapy and surgery. Three months later, bone scan showed extensive skeletal metastasis.ConclusionEwing's sarcoma appears usually as an intense lesion on bone scan. Nevertheless, decreased radiopharmaceutical uptake or “cold” lesion may be seen in aggressive Ewing's sarcoma with lytic tumor, growth of which is very rapid and bony reaction is minimal.