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Describes the dominance of the Acropora hyacinthus and Acropora austera on a high-energy coral reef top at the Kosi Bay, South Africa.

Knowledge co-production has become part of an evolution of participatory and transdisciplinary research approaches that are increasingly important for achieving sustainability. To effectively involve the most appropriate stakeholders there is a need for engagement and increasing prominence of stakeholders in environmental management and governance processes. The paper aims at developing and testing a methodology for stratifying stakeholders by (i) classifying organisations involved in coastal and ocean governance by their agency, and (ii) grouping them into organisational archetypes for representation and selection in research processes. Agency was measured by the three dimensions of scale, resources, and power. Each dimension was further elaborated as a set of indicators. The methodology is applied in the context of a research project set in Algoa Bay, South Africa. The stratification of organisations enabled the research team to gain a better understanding of the stakeholder landscape of organisational agency, and thus identify the most relevant stakeholder with which to engage. The use of a hierarchical cluster analysis identified five organisational archetypes in relation to ocean and coastal governance in Algoa Bay. The methodology used in this study proposes an informed and intentional approach to create the conditions under which the co-production of and participation in research processes can take place., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is the gold standard method to study brain anatomy in vivo . Using MRI, subtle alterations to white matter structures in the brain are observed prior to cognitive decline associated with the ageing process, and neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease. Detection of such alterations provides hope for early clinical diagnosis. While MRI is essential to detect subtle alterations to brain structure in vivo , the technique is less suited to study and image the distribution of biochemical markers within specific brain structures. Consequently, the chemical changes that drive, or are associated with MRI-detectable alterations to white matter are not well understood. Herein, we describe (to the best of our knowledge) the first application of a complementary imaging approach that incorporates in vivo MRI with ex vivo Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopic imaging on the same brain tissue. The combined workflow is used to detect and associate markers of altered biochemistry (FTIR) with anatomical changes to brain white matter (MRI). We have applied this combination of techniques to the senescence accelerated murine prone strain 8 (SAMP8) mouse model ( n = 6 animals in each group, analysed across two ageing time points, 6 and 12 months). The results have demonstrated alterations to lipid composition and markers of disturbed metabolism during ageing are associated with loss of white matter volume.

Background: Circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA) may serve as a measure of tumour burden and a useful tool for non-invasive monitoring of cancer. However, ctDNA is not always detectable in patients at time of diagnosis of metastatic disease. Therefore, there is a need to understand the correlation between ctDNA levels and the patients' overall metabolic tumour burden (MTB)., Methods: Thirty-two treatment naïve metastatic melanoma patients were included in the study. MTB and metabolic tumour volume (MTV) was measured by 18F-fluoro-D-glucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography (FDG PET/CT). Plasma ctDNA was quantified using droplet digital PCR (ddPCR)., Results: CtDNA was detected in 23 of 32 patients. Overall, a significant correlation was observed between ctDNA levels and MTB (p < 0.001). CtDNA was not detectable in patients with an MTB of ≤10, defining this value as the lower limit of tumour burden that can be detected through ctDNA analysis by ddPCR., Conclusions: We showed that ctDNA levels measured by ddPCR correlate with MTB in treatment naïve metastatic melanoma patients and observed a limit in tumour size for which ctDNA cannot be detected in blood. Nevertheless, our findings support the use of ctDNA as a non-invasive complementary modality to functional imaging for monitoring tumour burden.

Objective: To illustrate the neuropsychiatric and imaging findings in a confirmed case of voltage-gated potassium channel antibody limbic encephalitis., Method: Case report and review of the literature., Results: A 64-year-old man presented with several months' history of obsessive thoughts and compulsions associated with faciobrachial dystonic seizures. He had no significant past medical and psychiatric history. Physical examinations revealed only mildly increased tone in the left upper limb. Bedside cognitive testing was normal. Positron-emission tomography showed intense symmetrical uptake in the corpus striatum. No underlying malignancy was identified on whole body imaging. Magnetic resonance imaging, lumbar puncture and electroencephalogram were normal. Serum voltage-gated potassium channel antibodies were strongly positive. The patient had a favourable response to antiepileptic drugs, oral steroids and immunotherapy., Conclusions: Voltage-gated potassium channel limbic encephalitis characteristically presents with neuropsychiatric symptoms and temporal lobe seizures. Positron-emission tomography-computed tomography can be a useful adjunct to the clinical and biochemical work-up., (© The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists 2016.)

We present the FDG and Ga DOTATATE PET/CT findings of a 68-year-old woman with pulmonary metastases 28 years after her initial diagnosis of central nervous system hemangiopericytoma. The largest of the pulmonary lesions showed prominent Ga DOTATATE uptake with comparatively minimal FDG avidity. Hemangiopericytoma is a rare mesenchymal tumor that arises from malignant pericytes, cells that form the walls of capillaries and postcapillary venules. This case demonstrates the potential of radiolabeled somatostatin analogs as a therapeutic option in the setting of widespread metastatic disease.

Aim: To review factors resulting in a false-negative outcome or delayed cancer diagnosis in women recalled for further evaluation, including ultrasound, after an abnormal screening mammogram., Materials and Methods: Of 646,692 screening mammograms performed between 1 January 1995 and 31 December 2004, 34,533 women were recalled for further assessment. Nine hundred and sixty-four interval cancers were reported in this period. Forty-six of these women had been recalled for further assessment, which specifically included ultrasound evaluation in the preceding 24 months, and therefore, met the inclusion criteria for this study. Screening mammograms, further mammographic views, ultrasound scans, clinical findings, and histopathology results were retrospectively reviewed by two consultant breast radiologists., Results: The interval cancer developed in the contralateral breast (n=9), ipsilateral breast, but different site (n=6), and ipsilateral breast at the same site (n=31) as the abnormality for which they had recently been recalled. In the latter group, 10 were retrospectively classified as a false-negative outcome, nine had a delay in obtaining a biopsy, and 12 had a delay due to a non-diagnostic initial biopsy. Various factors relating to these outcomes are discussed., Conclusion: Out of 34,533 women who attended for an assessment visit and the 46 women who subsequently developed an interval breast cancer, 15 were true interval cancers, 10 had a false-negative assessment outcome, and 21 had a delay to cancer diagnosis on the basis of a number of factors. When there is discrepancy between the imaging and histopathology results, a repeat biopsy rather than early follow-up would have avoided a delay in some cases. A normal ultrasound examination should not deter the radiologist from proceeding to stereotactic biopsy, if the index mammographic lesion is suspicious of malignancy., (Copyright © 2011 The Royal College of Radiologists. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

South African coral reefs are limited in size but, being marginal, provide a model for the study of many of the stresses to which these valuable systems are being subjected globally. Soft coral cover, comprising relatively few species, exceeds that of scleractinians over much of the reefs. The coral communities nevertheless attain a high biodiversity at this latitude on the East African coast. A long-term monitoring programme was initiated in 1993, entailing temperature logging and image analysis of high resolution photographs of fixed quadrats on representative reef. Sea temperatures rose by 0.15 degrees C p.a. at the site up to 2000 but have subsequently been decreasing by 0.07 degrees C p.a. Insignificant bleaching was encountered in the region during the 1998 El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) event, unlike elsewhere in East Africa, but quantifiable bleaching occurred during an extended period of warming in 2000. Peak temperatures on the South African reefs thus appear to have attained the coral bleaching threshold. While this has resulted in relatively little bleaching thus far, the increased temperatures appear to have had a deleterious effect on coral recruitment success as other anthropogenic influences on the reefs are minimal. Recruitment success diminished remarkably up to 2004 but appears again to be improving. Throughout, the corals have also manifested changes in community structure, involving an increase in hard coral cover and reduction in that of soft corals, resulting in a 5.5% drop in overall coral cover. These "silent" effects of temperature increase do not appear to have been reported elsewhere in the literature.

Background: Sentinel node biopsy is rapidly gaining popularity as a less invasive approach to nodal staging in breast cancer. The optimal route of injection of radiocolloids and dye is controversial. The purpose of the present paper was to review and assess the literature., Methods: A MEDLINE search for reports of studies involving different injection sites of colloid and/or dye was performed., Results: Although controversial, current evidence suggests that subareolar (SA) or intradermal/subdermal (ID/SD) injection will map the same axillary sentinel nodes (SN) as peritumoral (PT) injection in the vast majority of cases, is at least as successful, and is better logistically. Peritumoral, but not alternative routes, identify extra-axillary sentinel nodes, which are important in a minority of patients., Conclusions: It is recommended that at least some of the radiocolloid be injected peritumorally to avoid missing those SN not located in the ipsilateral axilla. Injection of the dye and a portion of radiocolloid in an ID/SA location is reasonable to take advantage of the general ease and accuracy of ID/SA injections in identifying axillary SN.

Coral bleaching, involving the expulsion of symbiotic zooxanthellae from the host cells, poses a major threat to coral reefs throughout their distributional range. The role of temperature in coral bleaching has been extensively investigated and is widely accepted. A bleaching event was observed on the marginal high-latitude reefs of South Africa located at Sodwana Bay during the summer months of 2000. This was associated with increased sea temperatures with high seasonal peaks in summer and increased radiation in exceptionally clear water. The bleaching was limited to Two-mile Reef and Nine-mile Reef at Sodwana Bay and affected <12% of the total living cover on Two-mile Reef. Montipora spp., Alveopora spongiosa and Acropora spp. were bleached, as well as some Alcyoniidae (Sinularia dura, Lobophytum depressum, L. patulum). A cyclical increase in sea temperature (with a period of 5-6 years) was recorded during 1998-2000 in addition to the regional temperature increase caused by the El Niño Southern Oscillation phenomenon. The mean sea temperature increased at a rate of 0.27 degrees Cyear(-1) from May 1994 to April 2000. High maximum temperatures were measured (>29 degrees C). The lowest mean monthly and the mean maximum monthly temperatures at which coral bleaching occurred were 27.5 and 28.8 degrees C, respectively, while the duration for which high temperatures occurred in 2000 was 67 days at > or = 27.5 degrees C (4 days at > or = 28.8 degrees C). Increased water clarity and radiation appeared to be a synergistic cause in the coral bleaching encountered at Sodwana Bay.