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Purpose of Review: Rectal cancers are treated with chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and surgery. While trials have illustrated the benefits of radiotherapy for locoregional control, recent investigations have questioned the need in select cases. This review seeks to understand why, how, and when radiation can be omitted from rectal cancer management. Recent Findings: Absolute contraindications of radiation include pregnancy, and relative contraindications include fertility concerns, sexual outcomes, autoimmune conditions, and prior radiation. Low-risk features of rectal cancer might warrant the omission of neoadjuvant radiation. MRI-directed therapy, chemotherapy alone, and immunotherapy may offer future ways to omit radiation. Summary: While radiation continues to be an essential component for rectal cancer treatment, there may be circumstances that it can be omitted. It is important to educate patients that not receiving radiation is a deviation from standard of care. In the future, we may see developments and changes in the treatment paradigm for rectal cancer.

Determining the density and morphology of dendritic spines is of high biological significance given the role of spines in synaptic plasticity and in neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric disorders. Precise quantification of spines in three dimensions (3D) is essential for understanding the structural determinants of normal and pathological neuronal function. However, this quantification has been restricted to time‐ and labor‐intensive methods such as electron microscopy and manual counting, which have limited throughput and are impractical for studies of large samples. While there have been some automated software packages that quantify spine number, they are limited in terms of their characterization of spine structure. This unit presents methods for objective dendritic spine morphometric analysis by providing image acquisition parameters needed to ensure optimal data series for proper spine detection, characterization, and quantification with Neurolucida 360. These protocols will be a valuable reference for scientists working towards quantifying and characterizing spines. © 2016 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.