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Morbidity and impacts on quality of life remain significant issues following oesophagectomy for oesophageal cancer. This paper reviews and weighs the current evidence both in favour of and against the adoption of an organ-preserving approach in patients with a complete clinical response to neoadjuvant therapy.

Anal fissure is the most common cause of severe anorectal pain in adults, contributing significantly to coloproctology workloads. There are a wide variety of management options available, including topical nitrites, calcium channel blockers, botulinum toxin injection and sphincterotomy. The aim of this study was to review current options for the treatment of chronic anal fissure.A comprehensive search identifying randomized controlled trials comparing treatment options for anal fissure published between January 2000 and February 2020 was performed. The primary outcome assessed was healing at 8 weeks post commencing treatment. Secondary outcomes included recurrence, intolerance of treatment and complications.A total of 2822 studies were identified. After removal of duplicates and non-relevant studies, we identified nine randomized controlled trials which met pre-defined criteria. There was a total of 775 patients. At 8 weeks, healing rates were 95.13% in those treated with sphincterotomy, 66.7% in the botulinum toxin group, 63.8% in the nitrate group, 52.3% for topical diltiazem and 50% for topical minoxidil. Recurrence was highest amongst those treated with botulinum toxin injection (41.7%) and lowest for sphincterotomy (6.9%). Although the absolute number is low, there was a risk of permanent incontinence with sphincterotomy.This review of the randomized control data demonstrates that healing was significantly higher amongst those treated with sphincterotomy versus more conservative modalities. Topical nitrites had similar outcomes to botulinum toxin injection but were poorly tolerated in comparison to other treatments. The benefit of sphincterotomy was at a cost of increased complications, notably permanent incontinence.

A powerful technique for studying the excitation dynamics of thin-film condensed matter is demonstrated. The field-enhancement within a Fabry-Perot etalon, and the sensitivity of such a structure to the optical coefficients of the spacer layer material, is combined with the time and spectral resolution afforded by use of time-delayed picosecond-continuum monitoring. Applied to ZnSe interference-filter material the optoelectronic refractive nonlinearity is identified, however rapid lattice heating is observed leading to dominance of the optothermal nonlinearity (of opposite sign) within 3 ps after photoexcitation.

De-excitation γ-rays have been detected from nuclear states following positive pion induced two-nucleon removal from 12 C and four-nucleon removal from 16 O. Excitation functions for population of discrete states were obtained for positive pions of 75, 125, 150, 200, 225, 250 and 290 MeV. The pion-nucleon (3, 3) resonance is not reflected in the cross sections for either reaction. Implications of the observed energy dependence are discussed.

A study is reported which explores the feasibility of a highway transportation system that electromagnetically transfers energy to vehicles from powered roadways for high-speed or long-range travel, and uses energy stored in the vehicles for other travel. The energy coupling between roadway and vehicle is functionally similar to a transformer. The roadway energy source is imbedded flush with the roadway surface. When vehicle's energy pickups are suspended over the source, energy is magnetically coupled through the clearance gap between source and pickup. Analyses and modeling indicated that adequate power can be efficiently coupled by the system. The economics of the system appear to be favorable, and no implementational problems were identified that would make the system impractical. In addition to the engineering development of the power system, including performance verification with prototype hardware, continuing efforts should further address the effects of stray magnetic fields, the compatibility of the system with existing automobiles, electrical safety, and the process of transition from the use of existing automobiles.