The establishment of China's core biodiversity metadata standard

Biodiversity metadata provide service to query, management and use of actual data sets. The progress of the development of metadata standards in China was analyzed, and metadata required and/or produced based on the Convention on Biological Diversity were reviewed. A biodiversity metadata standard was developed based on the characteristics of biodiversity data and in line with the framework of international metadata standards. The content of biodiversity metadata is divided into two levels. The first level consists of metadata entities and elements that are necessary to exclusively identify a biodiversity data set, and is named as Core Metadata. The second level comprises metadata entities and elements that are necessary to describe all aspects of a biodiversity data set. The standard for core biodiversity metadata is presented in this paper, which is composed of 51 elements belonging to 6 categories (entities), i.e. inventory information, collection information, information on the content of the data set, management information, access information, and metadata management information. The name, definition, condition, data type, and field length of metadata elements in these six categories (entities) are also described.     

Accuracy of touch imprint cytology in diagnosing lung cancer.

A 3-year study assessed the diagnostic accuracy of touch imprint smears in the diagnosis of lung cancer. Touch imprint smears were prepared from 90 computerized tomographic-guided core needle lung biopsies. Cytological diagnosis of touch imprint smears were correlated with the histological diagnosis of the corresponding core needle biopsy specimen, which was taken as the gold standard. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value of imprint smear results were 89%, 100%, 100% and 68%, respectively. There were no false positives, and all patients with small cell lung cancer were correctly diagnosed with this technique. Imprint cytology can be used to provide a rapid, preliminary diagnosis of lung cancer.     

Role of fine needle aspiration cytology in the diagnosis of soft tissue tumours and tumour-like lesions

In this study, we evaluated the usefulness of fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) in the diagnosis of soft tissue tumours. We have also assessed the various pitfalls of FNAC of soft tissue tumours. This was a retrospective study and here we analysed only 82 histopathology proven cases of FNAC of soft tissue tumours diagnosed in a five and half year period. On histopathological examination, 55 of these cases were malignant and 27 were benign. There was a total of 15 recurrences and histopathology was available prior to FNAC in only eight of these cases. Therefore, excluding these eight cases, malignant tumours were primarily diagnosed by FNAC in 47 cases. The sensitivity, specificity and positive predictive value of FNAC in diagnosis of soft tissue tumours were 91.5%, 92.5% and 95.5%, respectively. Only 22 of 47 cases (46.8%) were correctly categorized. There were two false-positive and four false-negative cases. One case each of fibromatosis and schwannoma were reported as sarcoma. False-negative cases were fibrosarcoma (1), malignant nerve sheath tumour (2) and haemangiopericytoma (1). FNAC was very useful in distinguishing benign from malignant soft tissue tumours. However, it was not so effective in exact categorization of tumours.     

Fine needle aspiration cytology in the work-up of mammographic and ultrasonographic findings in breast cancer screening: an attempt at differentiating in situ and invasive carcinoma.

This study evaluated the results of fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) from the first four years of organized mammography screening for breast cancer in Oslo, particularly our policy in differentiating in situ and invasive carcinoma. Lesions were aspirated directly, ultrasound guided, by stereotaxic device or biopsy localization plate. All lesions were aspirated by cytopathologists working with the radiologists at the breast diagnostic centre. Smears were evaluated immediately for assessment of adequacy and a preliminary diagnosis was given to the surgeon. When FNAC revealed malignancy, diagnostic terms were as follows: (1) invasive carcinoma; (2) ductal carcinoma in situ of comedo type (high nuclear grade), cannot evaluate infiltration; (3) ductal carcinoma in situ of low nuclear grade and (4) papillary tumour, cannot evaluate infiltration. There were 953 cases, 70% of which were nonpalpable. Insufficient material was obtained in 5.8%. Absolute and complete sensitivity were 81% and 91%, respectively. Specificity was 85%. There were 448 histologically proven carcinomas. 383 of these were invasive. 362 carcinomas (in situ and invasive) (80.8%) were diagnosed directly on FNAC. Distinction between invasive and in situ carcinoma was possible in 294 of 320 directly diagnosed invasive carcinomas (91.8%). PPV of a diagnosis of invasive carcinoma was 97%. Our data showed that definitive cytological diagnosis of invasive carcinoma was possible in more than 90% of fully diagnostic smears and allowed definitive primary surgery in these women.     

Fine needle aspiration in nodular fasciitis of the face

Nodular fasciitis (NF) appears typically as a rapidly growing solitary mass which is most commonly located on the extremities, followed by the trunk and then the head and neck. NF is often suitable for fine needle aspiration (FNA), but few reports of NF diagnosed cytologically have been published. The purpose of this paper is to describe FNA cytology in three cases of nodular fasciitis. All three cases were located on the face.     

An Ethnoarchaeological Study of Mobility, Architectural Investment, and Food Sharing among Madagascar's Mikea

Ethnoarchaeology is a field of study that aims to provide the information needed to draw reliable behavioral inferences from archaeological data. In this study, data from four settlement types (permanent villages, forest hamlets, seasonal hamlets, and foraging camps) of a forager–farmer population in southwestern Madagascar are examined from an archaeological perspective. Doing so shows that house size, house post diameter variability, outdoor workspace, trash disposal, and feature diversity jointly sort out settlements of different lengths of occupation. However, the relationship between mobility and material culture is not simply a product of the length of stay; it is also affected by differences in the social environments of settlements of different occupational lengths. Using the behavioral ecology of food sharing, we show that certain architectural changes that ensure privacy are expected to occur as settlements become larger and more permanent. These observations from Madagascar should be applicable to other areas.     

To share or not to share: Incentivizing data sharing in life science communities

Most scientists recognize the importance of sharing data online in an open fashion. Nonetheless, many studies have documented the concerns that accompany data sharing activities, including loss of credit or IP, misuse and the time needed to curate interoperable data. To this end, discussions around data sharing often identify incentives that could potentially ameliorate these disincentivising concerns. Nonetheless, current Open Data discussions often rely on evidence‐based studies to identify the disincentives to overcome. This results in highly specific and directed interventions. In contrast, this paper offers a different interpretation of these concerns. To do so, it makes use of the Thomas Theorem which suggests that: “If men define situations as real, they are real in their consequences”. Using empirical evidence from sub‐Saharan African (bio)chemistry laboratories, this paper illustrates how individual perceptions of research environments – whether associated with evidence or not – are highly influential in shaping data sharing practices. It concludes with the suggestion that discussion on incentivising data sharing amongst scientific communities need to take a broader set of concerns into account and offer a more creative approach to ameliorating environmental disincentives.     

An improved approach to evaluate car sharing options

We develop an improved approach to evaluate car sharing options under uncertain environments with the combination of Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (F-AHP) and Fuzzy Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (F-TOPSIS), which consists of three steps. In the first step, we propose a SCUMN (Specific, Comprehensive, Understandable, Measurable, and Neutral) methodology to identify appropriate indicators and obtain a final list of 24 indicators according to their relevance to car sharing options. In the second step, we determine the weight of each indicator with F-AHP and conduct consistency check of the comparison matrix of selected indicators. In the third step, comparison of different options is performed with selected indicators and F-TOPSIS. A case study is provided to validate the proposed approach. Twenty-four indicators are identified to evaluate five different car sharing options and rank them according to their closeness coefficients in decreasing order. And thirty-one sensitivity analysis experiments are conducted to figure out the influence of indicators on decision making. The experimental results show that the proposed approach is capable of evaluating car sharing options with uncertainty and vagueness. F-AHP is able to determine the weight for each selected indicator and F-TOPSIS demonstrates its advantage in comparing potential options.