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Insects are exposed to a variety of potential pathogens in their environment, many of which can severely impact fitness and health. Consequently, hosts have evolved resistance and tolerance strategies to suppress or cope with infections. Hosts utilizing resistance improve fitness by clearing or reducing pathogen loads, and hosts utilizing tolerance reduce harmful fitness effects per pathogen load. To understand variation in, and selective pressures on, resistance and tolerance, we asked to what degree they are shaped by host genetic background, whether plasticity in these responses depends upon dietary environment, and whether there are interactions between these two factors. Females from ten wild-type Drosophila melanogaster genotypes were kept on high- or low-protein (yeast) diets and infected with one of two opportunistic bacterial pathogens, Lactococcus lactis or Pseudomonas entomophila. We measured host resistance as the inverse of bacterial load in the early infection phase. The relationship (slope) between fly fecundity and individual-level bacteria load provided our fecundity tolerance measure. Genotype and dietary yeast determined host fecundity and strongly affected survival after infection with pathogenic P. entomophila. There was considerable genetic variation in host resistance, a commonly found phenomenon resulting from for example varying resistance costs or frequency-dependent selection. Despite this variation and the reproductive cost of higher P. entomophila loads, fecundity tolerance did not vary across genotypes. The absence of genetic variation in tolerance may suggest that at this early infection stage, fecundity tolerance is fixed or that any evolved tolerance mechanisms are not expressed under these infection conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Oxidative degradation by reactive oxygen species (ROS) from inflammation initiates cross-linking, depolymerization, and formation of a quasi-crystalline quality in polypropylene (PP) meshes that cause embrittlement (J Urol 188:1052, 2012). Embrittlement leads to change in tensile strength and is associated with post-operative complications that include pain, adhesion, dislodgment, and fragmentation.Methods: A laboratory environment was constructed to study the relationship between concentration of ROS and change in tensile strength. Samples of Ethicon Ultrapro© PP mesh were exposed to 1 mM, 0.1 M, or 1 M hydrogen peroxide solutions for 6 months and were subjected to load displacement tensile testing (LDTT) and compared to unexposed (0 M) meshes of the same brand.Results: Load at failure and elongation to failure after LDTT were determined with 95 % confidence interval. For unexposed (0 M) samples, tensile strength was 28.0 ± 2.4 lbf and elongation to failure was 2.0 ± 0.3 in. For samples exposed to 1 mM, tensile strength was 19.2 ± 1.1 lbf and the elongation to failure was 2.0 ± 0.1 in. For samples exposed to 0.1 M, tensile strength was 19.3 ± 1.6 lbf and elongation to failure was 1.9 ± 0.1 in. For samples exposed to 1 M, tensile strength was 20.7 ± 1.2 lbf and elongation to failure was 0.47 ± 0.02 in.Conclusion: The results demonstrated that a 6-month exposure to a physiologic range of ROS (1 mM) decreased tensile strength of PP mesh by 31 %. 1 mM and 0.1 M samples behaved similarly demonstrating properties of a quasi-crystalline nature. 1 M samples displayed qualities of extreme embrittlement. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) observed fiber changes. 1 M meshes had features of brittle materials. Knowledge of changes in physical properties of PP meshes is useful for considerations for the development of a more biocompatible surgical mesh. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Trauma theory claims to represent a ‘new mode of reading and of listening’, but its Eurocentric roots lead to the question of whether or not this approach is relevant in postcolonial contexts. This essay makes the case that engaging trauma theory through African literatures is in fact a productive exercise, mostly because of what it does for the former. African social thought, expressed through its writers and critics, allows us to refine and address crucial problems in trauma theory, including questions about the representation of trauma and strategies for trauma healing. African writers' deployment of images such as the railroad, which is closely linked with discourses of trauma and of modernism, illustrates how their works can reframe trauma studies from an African perspective. An appreciation of the continent's traumatogenic contexts, of writers' cultural resources and strategies for speaking to those contexts, and of the intrinsically transformational impulse of the African moral imagination, suggests that African literatures are grounded in the types of imaginative ‘re-membering practice[s]’ that promote recovery and healing from the destructive effects of trauma. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Background: CALYPSO (CAeLYx in Platinum Sensitive Ovarian) patients compared carboplatin–pegylated liposomal doxorubicin (C–PLD) with carboplatin–paclitaxel (C–P) in patients with late-relapsing recurrent ovarian cancer (ROC). We analyzed outcomes in patients ≥70 years.Patients and methods: Nine hundred and seventy-six patients with taxane-pretreated ROC relapsing >6 months after first- or second-line platinum-based therapy were randomly assigned to 4-weekly C area under the curve (AUC) 5 plus PLD 30 mg/m2 or 3-weekly C AUC 5 plus P 175 mg/m2 for six or more cycles.Results: One hundred and fifty-seven (16%) patients ≥70 years (median: 74 years, C–PLD; 73 years, C–P; range 70–82 years) were included (n = 71, C–PLD; n = 86, C–P). In comparing elderly and younger, elderly patients experienced fewer grade ≥2 allergic reactions (P = 0.005) but more grade ≥2 sensory neuropathy (P = 0.007). Myelosuppression did not differ with age. Elderly patients completed planned treatment as frequently as younger (79%, C–PLD; 82%, C–P). In comparing arms within elderly patients, C–P was associated with more grade ≥2 alopecia, sensory neuropathy, arthralgia/myalgia (P < 0.001 for all), severe leukopenia plus febrile neutropenia; C–PLD was associated with more grade ≥2 hand–foot syndrome (P = 0.005). Median progression-free survival was 11.6 months (C–PLD) and 10.3 months (C–P; P = 0.44).Conclusions: Patients ≥70 years experienced more neuropathy, with a higher incidence in the C–P arm. Similar to all study patients, C–PLD provided a better therapeutic index with less toxicity than C–P in elderly women with platinum-sensitive ROC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the book "Purple Hibiscus" by Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie. The author describes how the book responds to works by author Chinua Achebe and how the book represents African literary intertextuality, or the dynamic between European and native African languages and cultures in African literature. The author cites critic Abiola Irele's book "The African Imagination," the difficulty of writing stories in an oral tradition, and the effect of colonialism on African literature.

Daniachew Worku's The Thirteenth Sun is a pilgrimage narrative with a father-son conflict at its core, offering a complex and loosely allegorical depiction of a conflicted Ethiopian society at the close of Haile Selassie's reign. Daniachew was already well known for his Amharic writing when he published The Thirteenth Sun in English, in Heinemann's African Writers Series (AWS) in 1973. Drawing on a range of contextual information including records from the AWS and from the University of Iowa's International Writing Program (IWP), this essay invites a reconsideration of this important Ethiopian text. Despite the ubiquitous decadence and violence of the narrative, the essay asserts that reconciliation emerges as a dominant theme, and that the novel thus offers a noteworthy instance of a writer's moral imagination at work at a time of conflicted transition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pain and fatigue are among the most frequently occurring symptoms experienced by patients with cancer. Numerous studies have described the impact these symptoms can have on patients' physical and psychological functioning as well as quality of life throughout the trajectory of the cancer experience. Recent research has focused on different types of interventions to control cancer symptoms. Prominent among these are nurse administered interventions and automated telephone interventions. In this study we investigated whether, in the presence of high (low) depression at intake, a nurse administered symptom management intervention (NASM) was more effective than an automated telephone symptom management intervention (ATSM) in the reduction of cancer pain and fatigue. Secondly, we investigated whether NASM was more effective than ATSM in the reduction of cancer pain and fatigue among older versus younger patients. Three hundred fifty-one patients were recruited who had been diagnosed with a solid tumor cancer or non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. These patients were randomly assigned to NASM (180) and ATSM (171). Separate ANCOVA models for predicting pain and fatigue showed that there was no difference in the effectiveness of NASM and ATSM in controlling either pain or fatigue, based on level of depression at intake. However, the ATSM intervention outperformed the NASM intervention in controlling severity of fatigue among younger patients, while NASM outperformed ATSM in controlling pain among older patients. These findings point in the direction that oncologists, when identifying the appropriate style of intervention for an individual patient, may need to determine, in consultation with the patient, which symptoms should receive the highest priority, and what approach would feel most comfortable to them, so that optimal symptom control can be achieved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The timing of the transition between life stages is of key importance for an organism. Depending on the environmental conditions, maturing earlier at a smaller size or maturing later at a larger size can be advantageous for fitness. Exposure to parasites and subsequent immune activation may lead to alterations in development. Immune defence often comes at a cost, such as energy drain towards immune function, which is likely to delay development. On the other hand, animals may react to an anticipated risk of infection with a phenotypically plastic shift in life history, which may more likely lead to accelerated development and earlier maturation. We tested these alternatives in the red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum. Young larvae were exposed to a non-infectious immune challenge with heat-killed bacteria (either Escherichia coli or Bacillus thuringiensis) and they were followed up for their development, survival, adult size and reproduction. We found that animals that had experienced a bacterial challenge developed into adults earlier than sham-treated beetles, while they did not differ significantly in survival or adult size. Beetles exposed to E. coli produced fewer offspring, while exposure to B. thuringiensis did not affect offspring number. Taken together, our results indicate that T. castaneum is able to speed up its development when facing a risk of infection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay recapitulates a discussion that appeared in a series of articles in the early 1980s in Yekatit, an Ethiopian periodical, in which three leading Ethiopian literary critics - Asfaw Damte, Sahle Sellassie Berhane-Mariam, and Menghistu Lemma - debate whether African national literatures may be written in non-African languages. Their observations and arguments, made with an awareness of the larger debate that was occurring elsewhere on the continent, offer insights on the topic from a distinctively Ethiopian perspective. That perspective is worthy of our attention for two reasons. First, it serves as a noteworthy example of the nature of Ethiopian literary critical activity during this period, which has been too often overlooked in African studies. Second, the historical perspective offered by this debate, now more than two decades old, offers fruitful background for considering the future directions of Ethiopian literatures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy and toxicity of pegylated liposomal doxorubicin (PLD; Caelyx®)-cyclophosphamide combination in older metastatic breast cancer patients. Methods: A multicenter phase II trial was conducted. Inclusion criteria were age 65–75 years, ECOG 0–1 and left ventricular ejection fraction ≥50%. First-line chemotherapy was given to metastatic breast cancer patients resistant to hormonal therapy. The treatment schedule was PLD 40 mg/m2 and cyclophosphamide 500 mg/m2 on day 1 every 4 weeks. Efficacy was the primary endpoint, while response duration and tolerance were the secondary endpoints. Results: Thirty-five patients (median age 71.3 years) were enrolled. No treatment-related death, no congestive heart failure or decrease in left ventricular ejection fraction and no febrile neutropenia were reported. Toxicity: grade 3 dyspnea was found in 1 patient, neutropenia in 11 patients (7 grade 3, 4 grade 4), grade 3 mucositis in 4 patients, grade 3 hand-foot syndrome in 1 patient and a generalized rash in 1 patient. An objective response (complete and partial response) was achieved in 10 (28.6%) patients and disease control in 24 (69%) with a progression-free survival of 8.8 months and a median overall survival of 20.3 months. Conclusion: The PLD-cyclophosphamide combination is moderately active and safe in elderly metastatic breast cancer patients, but cannot be recommended routinely due to myelotoxicity and mucositis hazards. Copyright © 2008 S. Karger AG, Basel [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present an algorithm that determines an optimal refinement strategy for a given finite element mesh. The algorithm automatically selects optimal (possibly anisotropic) h-refinements and distribution of (also anisotropic) order of approximation p. The local selection between h-refinement and p-enrichment is made to decrease the projection-based interpolation error of a reference (fine grid) solution with maximum rate with respect to the number of local degrees of freedom (dof) added. A reconciliation step maintains the 1-irregularity of the mesh. When applied iteratively, the algorithm delivers exponential convergence in the energy norm for model elliptic problems with singular or nearly singular solutions. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper presents a description of par2Dhp—a 2D, parallel fully automatic hp-adaptive finite element code. The parallel implementation is an extension of the sequential code 2Dhp90, which generates fully automatic hp-approximations for solutions of various boundary value problems. The presented work addresses parallelization of each stage of the automatic hp-adaptive algorithm, including decomposition of the computational domain, load balancing and data re-distribution, a parallel frontal solver, and algorithms for parallel mesh refinement and mesh reconciliation. The application was written in Fortran 90 and MPI, and the load balancing is done through an interface with the Zoltan library. Numerical results are presented for the model L-shape domain problem, and a highly anisotropic heat conduction (battery) problem from Sandia National Laboratories. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Given both the increase in the mean age of the population of Western countries and the high incidence of breast cancer beyond the age of 65 years, it is evident that breast cancer in older women will be a very common problem for the medical oncologist. Metastatic breast cancer is still not amenable to a cure; therefore quality of life during therapy is an important issue, which until recently has been poorly investigated. Similarly, despite recent advances in breast cancer therapy, physicians have been reluctant to enrol older patients in clinical trials, and there is a lack of data regarding this population. This review focuses on quality-of-life issues during metastatic breast cancer treatment in geriatric patients, comparing the standard therapeutic options and newer approaches. Although first-line endocrine therapy with tamoxifen remains a standard treatment, the newer third-generation aromatase inhibitors provide similar or better efficacy with fewer adverse effects and a better quality of life. It has been a common belief that chemotherapy impairs quality of life, but recent studies in advanced breast cancer have shown that this therapy has a positive effect on quality of life, at least in responders. Consequently, chemotherapy should not be denied to elderly patients with metastatic breast cancer, provided a prior geriatric assessment is performed to evaluate the risk-benefit ratio. New chemotherapy strategies, such as the taxanes and orally administered chemotherapy, represent a very attractive alternative for a better quality of life in elderly patients with metastatic breast cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agranulocytosis is a life-threatening disorder that frequently occurs as an adverse reaction to drugs. The overall incidence of nonchemotherapy drug-induced agranulocytosis (DIA) ranges from 2.6 to 10 cases per million patients exposed to drugs per year. Although patients experiencing DIA may initially be asymptomatic, the severity of the neutropenia usually leads to severe sepsis, requiring intravenous broad-spectrum antibiotic therapy. In this setting, old age, septicaemia, shock, and the metabolic complications of infection, such as renal failure, are poor prognostic variables. The severity of neutropenia (< 0.1 × 109 /l) and its duration (> 10 days) may also impact negatively on the outcome. With appropriate management using pre-established procedures, the mortality rate is now around 5%. Haematopoietic growth factors have been shown to shorten the duration of neutropenia in DIA. However, it has yet to be determined whether their use translates into a better outcome in DIA patients experiencing sepsis. DIA still remains a rare event. However, given the increased life expectancy and subsequent longer exposure to drugs, as well as the development of new agents, physicians should be aware of this complication and its management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examined evolutionary stable sperm allocation and included stochastic variation in male mating frequency, not included in previous models examining sperm allocation strategies. We assumed sperm mixing and variation in female quality and used a genetic algorithm to analyse the evolution of male sperm allocation. Our results show that males should invest more sperm in initial copulations than in subsequent copulations as a male might fail to mate again. The inclusion of variation in female fecundity had no influence on the evolutionary stable sperm allocation strategy if males were unable to recognize female quality. If males were assumed to allocate sperm in response to female quality, the proportion of sperm allocated was positively correlated with female quality. Moreover, with increasing variance in female quality, males conserved more sperm for later copulations. Literature data on sperm allocation from diverse taxa show a good fit with the predictions given by our model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Lung cancer is a major health problem throughout the world. It is the leading cause of cancer-related death in men and women in the USA, with a 5-year survival rate of only 14%. It has been hypothesized that variables such as physical and social functioning, cancer-related symptomatology, comorbid conditions, cell type, and treatment are valid predictors of the psychological response to a diagnosis of lung cancer. Methods: As part of a larger longitudinal study, 211 patients, 65 years of age or older, with an incident diagnosis of lung cancer, were recruited from 23 sites within a midwestern state. Repeated measures analysis of variance techniques were used to analyse how age, gender, comorbid conditions, stage of disease, cell type, as well as the time-dependent variables symptoms, physical functioning, social functioning, and treatment predict depressive symptomatology at four assessments over the first year following diagnosis. Results: Social functioning (p <0.0001), symptoms severity (p <0.0001) and radiation treatment (p =0.017) were significant predictors of depressive symptomatology, with more symptoms and more restricted social functioning generally corresponding to higher levels of depressive symptomatology. Patients who had not received radiation treatment were more depressed than those who had received treatment at least 40 days prior to the interview. Conclusions: At a clinical level of patient care, these findings mandate early identification of psychosocial difficulties experienced, an individualized symptom management plan and the application of other interventions, such as information giving, reassurance and referral to other resources. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Otological manifestations exceptionally reveal acute leukaemia, whereas leukaemic infiltration of any tissue is frequent at postmortem examination. We present two cases of acute myeloblastic leukaemia revealed by a loss of hearing due to a middle-ear leukaemic infiltration. The characteristics of such a clinical and radiological finding are emphasized. It is suggested that middle and inner ear can be a ‘sanctuary’ localization, which might sometimes require radiation therapy to achieve durable and complete remission. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to help identify factors to assess which elderly patients are likely to experience problems with physical and psychological functioning in association with cancer or its treatment. description of Study: A study was undertaken with a sample of 420 patients with cancer who were between the ages of 65 and 98 years and had received an incident diagnosis of breast, colon, lung, or prostate cancer. An analysis of covariance technique was used to determine how cancer site, treatment type, stage of disease, gender, age, comorbidity, symptom severity, and prediagnosis levels of physical functioning were related to physical functioning deficit, and how all of these in turn influenced patient depressive symptomatology. Results: Prediagnosis physical functioning, symptom severity, and days since surgery were significant predictors of physical functioning deficit. Patients who had been treated only with surgery experienced greater physical functioning deficits than did patients who had received both surgery and adjuvant therapy. This apparent anomaly was partly explained by the time interval from surgery to interview. Higher levels of symptom severity, lower levels of prior physical functioning, and greater physical functioning deficits all predicted higher levels of depressive symptomatology. clinical Implications: In the care of elderly patients with cancer, it is important for healthcare providers to consider the prediagnosis levels of physical functioning of patients with cancer to understand and anticipate the physical and psychological consequences of cancer and its treatment. Equally important is the proper management of patient symptoms in maximizing both the physical and psychological quality of life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines postcolonial Kenyan literature of African language and ideology, analyzing David Maillu's literary work. Background information on Maillu; Description of Maillu's reputation; Examination of criticisms of Maillu's work; Identification of other works by Maillu; Assessment of evils in Kenyan society.

This article emphasizes the importance of innate immunity in understanding the likelihood of amphibians to survive a deadly fungus that has started to impact their population. It explains that innate immune system offers a fast and efficient protection against most pathogens and parasites. It regrets that most textbooks do not give sufficient attention to innate immunity. Textbooks tend to focus extensively on adaptive or acquired immunity. There is good reason to believe that amphibians develop more slowly their adaptive immunity. It calls for more studies on this area of immunology.

Having successfully gone through the onset of pilot units in oncogeriatrics, which turned into regional coordination units, the oncogeriatric practice is nowadays a part of oncologists' routine practice. In the light of our experience in this development, we present a global outlook on the advances and pitfalls of changing practices in oncogeriatrics as well as the stakes in the years to come. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comments on the use of nucleic acid testing (NAT) of blood donors for hepatitis C virus (HCV) to ensure the safety of blood and blood products. Factors influencing the implementation of HCV NAT screening by blood transfusion services in Great Britain; Problems that could affect the cost effectiveness of HCV NAT screening; Difficulties in using cost-effectiveness information to analyze policies on blood-donation screening; Issue of the impact of royalty charges on the cost of virology screening.

Rapeseed (RS) is an abundant and inexpensive source of energy and AA in diets for monogastrics and a sustainable alternative to soybean meal. It also contains diverse bioactive phytochemicals that could have antinutritional effects at high dose. When the RS-derived feed ingredients (RSF) are used in swine diets, the uptake of these nutrients and phytochemicals is expected to affect the metabolic system. In this study, 2 groups of young pigs (17.8 ± 2.7 kg initial BW) were equally fed a soybean meal-based control diet and an RSF-based diet, respectively, for 3 wk. Digesta, liver, and serum samples from these pigs were examined by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry-based metabolomic analysis to determine the metabolic effects of the 2 diets. Analyses of digesta samples revealed that sinapine, sinapic acid, and gluconapin were robust exposure markers of RS. The distribution of free AA along the intestine of RSF pigs was consistent with the reduced apparent ileal digestibility of AA observed in these pigs. Despite its higher fiber content, the RSF diet did not affect microbial metabolites in the digesta, including short-chain fatty acids and secondary bile acids. Analyses of the liver and serum samples revealed that RSF altered the levels of AA metabolites involved in the urea cycle and 1-carbon metabolism. More importantly, RSF increased the levels of multiple oxidized metabolites and aldehydes while decreased the levels of ascorbic acid and docosahexaenoic acid-containing lipids in the liver and serum, suggesting that RSF could disrupt redox balance in young pigs. Overall, the results indicated that RSF elicited diverse metabolic events in young pigs through its influences on nutrient and antioxidant metabolism, which might affect the performance and health in long-term feeding and also provide the venues for nutritional and processing interventions to improve the utilization of RSF in pigs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In industrialised areas, teleost fish are often exposed to anthropogenic changes of the water quality. These often have negative effects on species with a narrow ecological range. Species with a wider ecological range, such as the three-spined stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus Linneaus, 1758), might benefit if water quality alteration reduces interspecific competition and/or parasite infection pressure. In the present study, we investigated sticklebacks in an inland brook, in which the inlet of warm and salty coal mine drainage water increases water temperature and changes the brook from freshwater to brackish (approx. 20 mS cm−1) conditions. We collected sticklebacks up- and downstream of the saltwater inlet (henceforth called freshwater and saltwater sites or habitats) in monthly intervals from April to October 2010, and monitored their body condition parameters and parasite infections. In particular during spring, the water temperature was higher (3.7–4.5°C) in the saltwater habitat and juvenile sticklebacks occurred earlier and grew faster compared to juveniles in the freshwater habitat. In the saltwater habitat, fewer parasite species were detected compared to the freshwater situation (7 vs. 10). Moreover, parasite index, which peaked in young-of-the-year sticklebacks in September, was lower in sticklebacks from the saltwater site. The present study suggests that changes of freshwater conditions by the inlet of warm and salty coal mine drainage water match the adaptive range of three-spined sticklebacks, which grew faster and had lower parasite burden in the altered habitat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For every oil field, there is a challenge in understanding and characterizing compartmentalization from the first exploration well to the cessation of production. This challenge is even more pronounced in regions like the Gulf of Mexico where dynamic well test data are seldom available prior to first production. Hence, utilization of all available static data to predict field performance becomes essential: but how should we integrate seismic data, geological models, pressure measurements, and fluid samples in a meaningful way?The Atlantis subsurface team took on this challenge by integrating existing static data with previous compartmentalization studies to develop an original approach for assessing pre-production static reservoir compartmentalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of antiangiogenic drugs, besides chemotherapy, is a cornerstone for the treatment of epithelial ovarian cancer and is highly recommended in 2014. This review of the literature on this topic focuses on the most outstanding clinical trial results in which a number of drugs have been tested in France and worldwide, whereas only bevacizumab is, so far, approved. We review the major antiangiogenic drugs that have been investigated in epithelial ovarian cancer, and discuss, the forthcoming situation where multiple and relatively similar drugs will be challenging each other at all stages of the disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: We focus on the development of a reliable numerical model for investigating the bone-conduction of sound in the human head. The main challenge of the problem is the lack of fundamental knowledge regarding the transmission of acoustic energy through non-airborne pathways to the cochlea. A fully coupled model based on the acoustic/elastic interaction problem with a detailed resolution of the cochlea region and its interface with the skull and the air pathways, should provide an insight into this fundamental, long standing research problem. To this aim we have developed a 3D hp-finite element code that supports elements of all shapes (tetrahedra, prisms and pyramids) to better capture the geometrical features of the head. We have tested the code on a multilayered sphere and employed it to solve an idealized model of head. In the future we hope to attack a model with a more realistic geometry. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The isolated myeloid sarcomas of the cervix are tumors whose forecast was dark for a long time. However, an effective but invasive treatment associating chemotherapy and radiotherapy allows for local remission. This treatment generally causes an ovarian failure and especially infertility. We report the case of a 29-year-old woman suffering from a myeloid sarcoma isolated from the uterine cervix and wishing a pregnancy. A prevention of the deficit ovarian was carried out. This patient presented normal menstrual cycles and a biochemical pregnancy three years after the beginning of the treatment. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Parasite-mediated sexual selection theory presumes that variation in sexual traits reliably reflects variation in parasite resistance among available mates. One mechanism that may warrant signal honesty involves costs of immune system activation in the case of a parasitic infection. We investigated this hypothesis in male field crickets Gryllus campestris, whose attractiveness to females depends on characteristics of the sound-producing harp that are essentially fixed following adult eclosion. During the nymphal stage, males subjected to one of two feeding regimes were challenged with bacterial lipopolysaccharides (LPS) to investigate condition-dependent effects on harp development as compared to other adult traits. Nymphal nutritional status positively affected adult body size, condition, and harp size. However, nymphal immune status affected harp size only, with LPS-males having smaller harps than control-injected males. In addition, the harps of LPS-males showed a lesser degree of melanization, indicating an enhanced substrate use by the melanin-producing enzyme cascade of the immune system. Thus, past immune status is specifically mirrored in sexual traits, suggesting a key role for deployment costs of immunity in parasite-mediated sexual selection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agranulocytosis is a life-threatening disorder in any age, but particularly so in elderly patients who are receiving, on average, a larger number of drugs than younger patients. Drug-induced agranulocytosis still remains a rare event, with an annual incidence rate of approximately 3-12 cases per million population. This disorder frequently occurs as an adverse reaction to drugs, particularly antibacterials, antiplatelet agents, antithyroid drugs, antipsychotics or antiepileptic drugs, and NSAIDs. Although patients experiencing drug-induced agranulocytosis may initially be asymptomatic, the severity of the neutropenia usually translates into the onset of severe sepsis that requires intravenous broad-spectrum antibacterial therapy. In this setting, haematopoietic growth factors have been shown to shorten the duration of neutropenia. Thus, with appropriate management, the mortality rate of idiosyncratic drug-induced agranulocytosis is now 5-10%. However, given the increased life expectancy and subsequent longer exposure to drugs, as well as the development of new agents, physicians should be aware of this complication and its management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]