The effects of exercise on pain, fatigue, insomnia, and health perceptions in patients with operable advanced stage rectal cancer prior to surgery: a pilot trial

Background: Promoting quality of life (QoL) is a key priority in cancer care. We investigated the hypothesis that, in comparison to usual care, exercise post-neoadjuvant chemoradiation therapy/prior to surgical resection will reduce pain, fatigue, and insomnia, and will improve physical and mental health perceptions in patients with locally advanced stage rectal cancer. Methods: In this non-randomized controlled pilot trial, patients in the supervised exercise group (EG; Mage = 64 years; 64% male) and in the control group (CG; Mage = 72 years; 69% male) completed the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer core Quality of Life questionnaire and the RAND 36-Item Health Survey three times: pre-neoadjuvant chemoradiation therapy (Time 1; nEC = 24; nCG = 11), post-neoadjuvant chemoradiation therapy/pre-exercise intervention (Time 2; nEC = 23; nCG = 10), and post-exercise intervention (Time 3; nEC = 22; nCG = 10). The 6-week exercise intervention was delivered in hospital and comprised of interval aerobic training. Patients trained in pairs three times per week for 30 to 40 minutes. Data were analyzed by Mann-Whitney tests and by Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed rank tests. Results: No significant between-group differences in change were found for any of the outcomes. In both groups, fatigue levels decreased and physical health perceptions increased from pre- to post-exercise intervention. Pain levels also decreased from pre- to post-exercise intervention, albeit not significantly. Conclusions: The findings from this study can be used to guide a more definitive trial as they provide preliminary evidence regarding the potential effects of pre-operative exercise on self-reported pain, fatigue, insomnia, and health perceptions in patients with locally advanced rectal cancer. Trial registration: This study has been registered with clinicaltrials.gov (NCT01325909; March 29, 2011)

Why historians (and everyone else) should care about counterfactuals

There are at least eight good reasons practicing historians should concern themselves with counterfactual claims. Furthermore, four of these reasons do not even require that we are able to tell which historical counterfactuals are true and which are false. This paper defends the claim that these reasons to be concerned with counterfactuals are good ones, and discusses how each can contribute to the practice of history

The central dusty torus in the active nucleus of NGC 1068

International audienceActive galactic nuclei (AGNs) display many energetic phenomena—broad emission lines, X-rays, relativistic jets, radio lobes—originating from matter falling onto a supermassive black hole. It is widely accepted that orientation effects play a major role in explaining the observational appearance of AGNs. Seen from certain directions, circum-nuclear dust clouds would block our view of the central powerhouse1,2. Indirect evidence suggests that the dust clouds form a parsec-sized torus-shaped distribution. This explanation, however, remains unproved, as even the largest telescopes have not been able to resolve the dust structures. Here we report interferometric mid-infrared observations that spatially resolve these structures in the galaxy NGC 1068. The observations reveal warm (320 K) dust in a structure 2.1 parsec thick and 3.4 parsec in diameter, surrounding a smaller hot structure. As such a configuration of dust clouds would collapse in a time much shorter than the active phase of the AGN3, this observation requires a continual input of kinetic energy to the cloud system from a source coexistent with the AGN

Carrot floral development and reproductive biology

The defining characteristic of the botanical family of Apiaceae (former Umbelliferae) is the inflorescence. The flowers aggregate in terminal umbels that may be commonly compound, often umbelliform cymes. Likewise, flowers of the carrot are clustered in flat, dense umbels, partially with zygomorphic petals at the edges. Carrot producers and consumers mainly consider the vegetative phase namely the storage root as vegetable. Nevertheless, the reproductive phase is an important topic for genetic research, for breeding new cultivars and seed production. Hence, an improved knowledge on the genetic control mechanisms of reproduction such as flowering time, flower development and architecture, pollen fertility and male sterility as well as seed set are of essential importance. The chapter reviews key steps on carrot floral development and reproductive biology especially under consideration of the comprehensive genomic data set recently obtained from carrot.Fil: Linke, Betina. Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin; AlemaniaFil: Alessandro, Maria Soledad. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro Regional Mendoza-San Juan. Estación Experimental Agropecuaria La Consulta; ArgentinaFil: Galmarini, Claudio Romulo. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro Regional Mendoza-San Juan. Estación Experimental Agropecuaria La Consulta; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias; ArgentinaFil: Nothnagel, Thomas. Institute for Breeding Research on Horticultural Crops; Alemani