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BackgroundCOVID-19 pandemic has strained human and material resources around the world. Practices in surgical oncology had to change in response to these resource limitations, triaging based on acuity, expected oncologic outcomes, availability of supportive resources, and safety of health care personnel.MethodsThe MD Anderson Head and Neck Surgery Treatment Guidelines Consortium devised the following to provide guidance on triaging head and neck cancer (HNC) surgeries based on multidisciplinary consensus. HNC subsites considered included aerodigestive tract mucosa, sinonasal, salivary, endocrine, cutaneous, and ocular.RecommendationsEach subsite is presented separately with disease-specific recommendations. Options for alternative treatment modalities are provided if surgical treatment needs to be deferred.ConclusionThese guidelines are intended to help clinicians caring for patients with HNC appropriately allocate resources during a health care crisis, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. We continue to advocate for individual consideration of cases in a multidisciplinary fashion based on individual patient circumstances and resource availability.

BackgroundCOVID-19 pandemic has strained human and material resources around the world. Practices in surgical oncology had to change in response to these resource limitations, triaging based on acuity, expected oncologic outcomes, availability of supportive resources, and safety of health care personnel.MethodsThe MD Anderson Head and Neck Surgery Treatment Guidelines Consortium devised the following to provide guidance on triaging head and neck cancer (HNC) surgeries based on multidisciplinary consensus. HNC subsites considered included aerodigestive tract mucosa, sinonasal, salivary, endocrine, cutaneous, and ocular.RecommendationsEach subsite is presented separately with disease-specific recommendations. Options for alternative treatment modalities are provided if surgical treatment needs to be deferred.ConclusionThese guidelines are intended to help clinicians caring for patients with HNC appropriately allocate resources during a health care crisis, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. We continue to advocate for individual consideration of cases in a multidisciplinary fashion based on individual patient circumstances and resource availability.

The COVID-19 pandemic has shifted from traditional face-to-face teaching to technology-mediated distance learning, creating significant new challenges for teachers and students. The rapid integration of new technologies into the teaching and learning process can give rise to privacy issues. This study investigates how teachers and students of undergraduate and graduate courses in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) have been educated about protecting their privacy during online course activities. An exploratory qualitative-quantitative study was conducted, and 91 participants were interviewed to determine how they were guided to protect their privacy during online course activities. The study found that 75% of teachers consider teaching about privacy in ICT courses to be “very important”. However, these teachers still lack guidance, as 66% have not communicated privacy-related rights to their students. Furthermore, 80% have yet to communicate about websites or the location of privacy information from the educational institution. Despite some positive results identified in the study, such as 93% of teachers reporting that they are recording activities and 91% of students stating that they were informed about the recording of activities, challenges still need to be addressed regarding privacy issues during online teaching and learning activities. Therefore, the study proposes some good privacy practices that can be adopted by educational institutions, teachers, and students in the context of technology-mediated education.

Purpose: To report the results of a 2020 international survey of the most commonly used materials and techniques for the fabrication of extraoral maxillofacial prosthetics and to assess the use of 3D technology.Materials and Methods: A 43-question survey was administered via Qualtrics to the members of the American Academy of Maxillofacial Prosthetics, the International Anaplastology Association, and the International Society of Maxillofacial Rehabilitation. The use of current 3D technology in the fabrication of maxillofacial prostheses, as well as barriers to care such as patient cost and insurance coverage, were also assessed.Results: A total of 134 respondents (13%) completed the survey; 96 (73%) reported that they were currently fabricating maxillofacial prostheses and were thus included in the survey. The majority of respondents reported currently using Silastic MDX4-4210 BioMedical Grade Elastomer (DuPont) with either Silastic Medical Adhesive Silicone Type A or Silastic MDX4-4210 crosslinker. Incorporating the use of current CAD/CAM technology was reported by a majority of respondents (58%; 45/77); however, a small cohort (33%, 15/45) reported they were "still experimenting how best to use technology." A total of 39 clinicians (49%) reported that facial prosthetics were most often paid for by the patient (fee for service), with the fee ranging from $10 to $5,500 USD.Conclusion: The results of this survey indicate that current CAD/CAM technology has been adopted and incorporated into the design and fabrication of maxillofacial prostheses. More research is needed to advance CAD/CAM technology as well as the physical and mechanical properties of materials in maxillofacial prosthetics and anaplastology clinical practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This paper presents a mathematical study applied to Hepatitis B disease utilizing fractional calculus and numerical methods. We begin by discussing mathematical fundamentals, focusing on fractional calculus concepts and relevant numerical aspects for disease modeling. We then formulate the problem, describing a nonlinear fractional differential system that models hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection and its response to drug therapy. A detailed theoretical analysis explores system properties and biological implications. We provide a qualitative analysis of the model, discussing important dynamic behaviors such as stability and parameter sensitivity. Subsequently, numerical analysis is performed to validate the model and estimate unknown parameters from patient data. Our findings include significant insights into biological parameters and their impact on therapeutic response. We conclude that the proposed fractional-order model is effective, offering optimal therapeutic strategies for hepatitis B. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The weather poses challenges for wildlife. Environmental challenges can be responded to at the group level by social animals, but the influence of weather on group behavior is poorly understood. We investigated how weather affects behavior in a gregarious species by monitoring common waxbills (Estrilda astrild) in a large mesocosm during 5 yr. We found seasonal patterns in collective foraging, aggressiveness, and the structure of the social network, usually showing 2 cycles per year: one peaking in Spring and a smaller one peaking in late Summer. Controlling for seasonality, we found behavioral changes related to increased energy demands in colder and/or cloudier days, such as more frequent and larger foraging groups that resulted in less-structured social networks. Rain and wind disturb movement, and we found that, on rainy days, foraging group journeys became briefer and more synchronous, resulting in stronger associations between individuals and less-structured networks, and that on windy days foraging groups were less frequent, larger, and with more within-group aggression. The results show that the weather has more varied effects than anticipated on ecologically relevant group behavior. We discuss how such weather-related effects can improve predictions of how social animals will react to environmental changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Abundant literature exists on the morphology of the carpal tunnel. Despite this, the shape of the carpal tunnel has been reported erratically, and most studies did not attempt to correlate findings with measurements taken from cadavers. The objective of this study was to perform a morphological analysis, determine the shape and mean dimensions of the carpal tunnel, determine the level of the narrowest area of the tunnel, and establish a set of values capable of serving as a reference for carpal tunnel release. Methods: The carpal tunnels of 20 fresh cadaveric hands were dissected, and acrylic casts were created and measured using industrial computed tomography. Results: Of the 20 casts, 19 were shaped like elliptic cylinders, with little variation in their measurements along the length. The location of the narrowest section of the carpal tunnel is very different among casts, and the length of the roof of the carpal tunnel ranged from 21.26 to 29.86 mm. Conclusions: The most common shape of the carpal tunnel is an elliptic cylinder. Because of the unpredictability of the location of the narrowest area of the carpal tunnel, carpal tunnel release must continue through all extension of its roof. We advise that the release should rarely be extended distally more than 30 mm from the distal palmar wrist crease, which corresponds, in most cases, to the middle of the pisiform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sexual signals such as colour ornamentation and birdsong evolve independently of each other in some clades, and in others they evolve positively or negatively correlated. We rarely know why correlated evolution does or does not occur. Here, we show positively correlated evolution between plumage colour and song motor performance among canaries, goldfinches and allies, associated with species differences in body size. When controlling for body size, the pattern of correlated evolution between song performance and colour disappeared. Syllable diversity was not as strongly associated with size, and did not evolve in a correlated manner with colour. We argue that correlated evolution between song and colour was mediated by large size limiting song motor performance, likely due to constraints on the speed of moving heavier bills, and by larger species having less saturated plumage colour, possibly due to life-history traits of larger birds (e.g. longevity, stable pairs) contributing to weaker sexual selection. Results are consistent with the hypothesis that correlated evolution between sexual signals is influenced by how, in a clade, selective pressures and constraints affecting each type of signal happen to be co-distributed across species. Such contingency helps explain the diversity in clade-specific patterns of correlated evolution between sexual signals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is the leading cause of anovulatory infertility in women of reproductive age, and obesity can increase the severity and development of the PCOS phenotype. Prenatal testosterone (T) treatment between gestational days 30-90 advanced puberty and disrupted the reproductive and metabolic phenotype in female sheep, recapitulating attributes of women with PCOS, with postnatal obesity amplifying its severity. On the other hand, prenatal T treatment from gestational days 60-90 led to a much milder phenotype. We hypothesized that reproductive neuroendocrine defects programmed by prenatal T treatment between gestational days 60-90 are amplified by postnatal obesity in sheep. Suffolk ewes received T propionate (T; 100 mg) or corn oil (C; vehicle) twice weekly from gestational days 60-90. At 5 months of age, T lambs were assigned to either a maintenance (100% of NRC requirements) or overfed (130% NRC) diet and C lambs were fed the maintenance diet. We compared the timing of puberty (n = 15/group) determined by twice weekly measurement of progesterone concentrations, estradiol positive feedback responsiveness (n = 8/group) determined by assessing LH secretion in response to exogenous estradiol, periovulatory LH dynamics during the second breeding season (n = 8/group) following synchronization with two injections of PGF2α, and progesterone negative feedback (n = 8/group) determined by characterizing LH pulses during the mid-luteal phase between C, T-maintenance and T-overfed groups. Our findings indicate that postnatal obesity: 1) exacerbated reproductive defects and further deteriorated reproductive cyclicity during the second breeding season (adulthood); 2) did not amplify the impairment in estradiol positive feedback in delaying the timing and amplitude of the LH surge, although it reduced the total amount of LH secreted during the preovulatory LH surge; 3) amplified the reduced responsiveness to progesterone negative feedback manifested as an increase in LH pulse amplitude and peak. These observations, in addition to supporting our previous findings that prenatal T treatment results in reproductive neuroendocrine dysfunction and periovulatory disruptions, provide evidence that these neuroendocrine defects programmed between gestational days 60-90 are amplified by postnatal obesity in female sheep. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]