Peripheral primitive neuroectodermal tumour - A rare cause of a popliteal fossa mass: A case report and review of the literature

A literature review of peripheral primitive neuroectodermal tumours, illustrated with an index case report describing an 80-year-old woman who presented with a mass in the left popliteal fossa, is reported. An excision biopsy was performed, revealing a possible peripheral primitive neuroectodermal tumour as the primary pathology. Normally confined to the chest wall and axial soft tissues of children and young adults, reports of this tumour existing in other areas and in the elderly population are scarce

“What if There's Something Wrong with Her?”‐How Biomedical Technologies Contribute to Epistemic Injustice in Healthcare

While there is a steadily growing literature on epistemic injustice in healthcare, there are few discussions of the role that biomedical technologies play in harming patients in their capacity as knowers. Through an analysis of newborn and pediatric genetic and genomic sequencing technologies (GSTs), I argue that biomedical technologies can lead to epistemic injustice through two primary pathways: epistemic capture and value partitioning. I close by discussing the larger ethical and political context of critical analyses of GSTs and their broader implications for just and equitable healthcare delivery

Thermal susceptibility of the Planck-LFI receivers

This paper is part of the Prelaunch status LFI papers published on JINST: http://www.iop.org/EJ/journal/-page=extra.proc5/jinst . This paper describes the impact of the Planck Low Frequency Instrument front end physical temperature fluctuations on the output signal. The origin of thermal instabilities in the instrument are discussed, and an analytical model of their propagation and impact on the receivers signal is described. The experimental test setup dedicated to evaluate these effects during the instrument ground calibration is reported together with data analysis methods. Finally, main results obtained are discussed and compared to the requirements.Comment: This is an author-created, un-copyedited version of an article accepted for publication in Journal of Instrumentation. IOP Publishing Ltd is not responsible for any errors or omissions in this version of the manuscript or any version derived from it. The definitive publisher authenticated version is available online at 10.1088/1748-0221/4/12/T1201

Effects of alteplase for acute stroke according to criteria defining the European Union and United States marketing authorizations: individual-patient-data meta-analysis of randomized trials

Background: The recommended maximum age and time window for intravenous alteplase treatment of acute ischemic stroke differs between the Europe Union and United States. Aims: We compared the effects of alteplase in cohorts defined by the current Europe Union or United States marketing approval labels, and by hypothetical revisions of the labels that would remove the Europe Union upper age limit or extend the United States treatment time window to 4.5 h. Methods: We assessed outcomes in an individual-patient-data meta-analysis of eight randomized trials of intravenous alteplase (0.9 mg/kg) versus control for acute ischemic stroke. Outcomes included: excellent outcome (modified Rankin score 0–1) at 3–6 months, the distribution of modified Rankin score, symptomatic intracerebral hemorrhage, and 90-day mortality. Results: Alteplase increased the odds of modified Rankin score 0–1 among 2449/6136 (40%) patients who met the current European Union label and 3491 (57%) patients who met the age-revised label (odds ratio 1.42, 95% CI 1.21−1.68 and 1.43, 1.23−1.65, respectively), but not in those outside the age-revised label (1.06, 0.90−1.26). By 90 days, there was no increased mortality in the current and age-revised cohorts (hazard ratios 0.98, 95% CI 0.76−1.25 and 1.01, 0.86–1.19, respectively) but mortality remained higher outside the age-revised label (1.19, 0.99–1.42). Similarly, alteplase increased the odds of modified Rankin score 0-1 among 1174/6136 (19%) patients who met the current US approval and 3326 (54%) who met a 4.5-h revised approval (odds ratio 1.55, 1.19−2.01 and 1.37, 1.17−1.59, respectively), but not for those outside the 4.5-h revised approval (1.14, 0.97−1.34). By 90 days, no increased mortality remained for the current and 4.5-h revised label cohorts (hazard ratios 0.99, 0.77−1.26 and 1.02, 0.87–1.20, respectively) but mortality remained higher outside the 4.5-h revised approval (1.17, 0.98–1.41). Conclusions: An age-revised European Union label or 4.5-h-revised United States label would each increase the number of patients deriving net benefit from alteplase by 90 days after acute ischemic stroke, without excess mortality

Parental, prenatal, and neonatal associations with ball skills at age 8 using an exposome approach.

There is little consistency in the literature concerning factors that influence motor coordination in children. A hypothesis-free "exposome" approach was used with 7359 children using longitudinal information covering 3 generations in regard to throwing a ball accurately at age 7 years. The analyses showed an independent robust negative association with mother's unhappiness in her midchildhood (6-11 years). No such association was present for study fathers. The offspring of parents who described themselves as having poor eyesight had poorer ability. This hypothesis-free approach has identified a strong negative association with an unhappy childhood. Future studies of this cohort will be used to determine whether the mechanism is manifest through differing parenting skills, or a biological mechanism reflecting epigenetic effects

HVOF and laser cladded Fe-Cr-B coating in simulated biomass combustion: microstructure and fireside corrosion

Biomass is often considered as a low carbon alternative to fossil fuels in the power industry. However the heat exchangers in biomass plants can suffer from chloride based aggressive fireside corrosion. A commercially available amorphous Fe-Cr-B alloy was deposited onto a stainless steel substrate by HVOF thermal spray and laser cladding. The controlled environment corrosion tests were conducted in a HCl rich environment at 700°C for 250 h with and without KCl deposits. The samples were examined with XRD, SEM and EDX mapping to understand the corrosion mechanisms. In the absence of any deposits, the amorphous HVOF coating performed very well with a thin oxide growth whereas the crystalline laser cladding suffered from ~350 μm metal loss. The scales were composed of MnWO₄, Fe₂O₃, Fe₃O₄ and Cr₂O₃. When a KCl deposit was present, the HVOF sprayed coating delaminated from the substrate and MnCl₂ was found in the scale

Planck pre-launch status: calibration of the Low Frequency Instrument flight model radiometers

The Low Frequency Instrument (LFI) on-board the ESA Planck satellite carries eleven radiometer subsystems, called Radiometer Chain Assemblies (RCAs), each composed of a pair of pseudo-correlation receivers. We describe the on-ground calibration campaign performed to qualify the flight model RCAs and to measure their pre-launch performances. Each RCA was calibrated in a dedicated flight-like cryogenic environment with the radiometer front-end cooled to 20K and the back-end at 300K, and with an external input load cooled to 4K. A matched load simulating a blackbody at different temperatures was placed in front of the sky horn to derive basic radiometer properties such as noise temperature, gain, and noise performance, e.g. 1/f noise. The spectral response of each detector was measured as was their susceptibility to thermal variation. All eleven LFI RCAs were calibrated. Instrumental parameters measured in these tests, such as noise temperature, bandwidth, radiometer isolation, and linearity, provide essential inputs to the Planck-LFI data analysis.Comment: 15 pages, 18 figures. Accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysic

Interaction between oxytocin receptor DNA methylation and genotype is associated with risk of postpartum depression in women without depression in pregnancy

Postpartum depression (PPD) affects up to 19% of women, negatively impacting maternal and infant health. Reductions in plasma oxytocin levels have been associated with PPD and heritability studies have established a genetic contribution. Epigenetic regulation of the oxytocin receptor gene (OXTR) has been demonstrated and we hypothesized that individual epigenetic variability at OXTR may impact the development of PPD and that such variability may be central to predicting risk. This case-control study is nested within the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children and included 269 cases with PPD and 276 controls matched on age group, parity, and presence or absence of depressive symptoms in pregnancy as assessed by the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale. OXTR DNA methylation (CpG site -934) and genotype (rs53576 and rs2254298) were assayed from DNA extracted from blood collected during pregnancy. Conditional logistic regression was used to estimate odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for the association of elevated symptoms of PPD with genotype, methylation, and their interaction adjusted for psychosocial factors (n=500). There was evidence of an interaction between rs53576 and methylation in the OXTR gene amongst women who did not have depression prenatally but developed PPD (p interaction=0.026, adjusted for covariates, n=257). Those women with GG genotype showed 2.63 greater odds of PPD for every 10% increase in methylation level (95% CI: 1.37, 5.03), whereas methylation was unrelated to PPD amongst A carriers (OR=1.00, 95%CI: 0.58, 1.73). There was no such interaction among women with PPD and prenatal depression. These data indicate that epigenetic variation that decreases expression of OXTR in a susceptible genotype may play a contributory role in the etiology of postpartum depression