Clinical Significance of Sentinel Lymph Node Detection in Patients with Invasive Cervical Cancer

The clinical significance of determining sentinel lymph nodes (SLN) in patients with invasive cervical cancer was studied. From 2013 to 2014, 30 cervical cancer patients (T1a1NxM0-T1b1NxM0) were treated at the Gynecological Oncology Department of the Cancer Research Institute. The day before surgery, four submucosal injections of 99mTc Al2O3 at a total dose of 80 MBq were made in each quadrant around the cervical tumor. Patients were submitted to preoperative lymphoscintigraphy and intraoperative SLN detection. The feasibility of preserving the reproductive potential in patients after radical abdominal trachelectomy was assessed. The 3-year, overall, disease-free and metastasis-free survival rates were analyzed. Thirty-four SLNs were detected by single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) and 42 SLNs were identified by intraoperative gamma probe. The sensitivity in detecting SLNs was 100% for intraoperative SLN identification and 80% for SPECT image. The reproductive potential was preserved in 86% of patients. The 3-year overall and metastases-free survival rates were 100%. Recurrence occurred in 8.6% of cases

Funding Field Catalysts from Origins to Revolutionizing the World

At Bridgespan, we call the organizations that are often key to unlocking equitable systems change "field catalysts." While equitable systems change requires a diverse set of actors playing distinct and complementary roles across a field or ecosystem, field catalysts harmonize and drive that multifaceted work, serving as a kind of nerve center for the matrix of activity needed to transform our inequitably designed systems. Think of the critical role Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, played in the eradication of polio, or the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids' contribution to the dramatic plunge in teen smoking rates. In another example, the goal of marriage equality in the United States was reached thanks, in part, to the Freedom to Marry organization, which orchestrated its campaign for 12 years.Behind the scenes, philanthropy often plays a role in these achievements. Surely there must be other opportunities for funders to support equitable systems change. So we set out to learn more about the origin stories of field catalysts, the challenges they face, and—importantly—the ways in which they believe funders can help them

Documenting the research process. Opportunities and challenges for Bibliometrics and Information Retrieval

This paper reports about knowledge management experiences in the EC funded project Polifonia (Research and Innovation Action funding scheme). Polifonia is a challenging project which aims at developing a methodological framework for musical heritage information. The project encompasses sources from text, sound, scores, settings (buildings), and experiences. It is organized around 10 Pilots which cover various actions such as preserving, studying, managing and interacting with musical heritage. Its advantage is that it uses semantic web technologies (ontologies and resulting knowledge graphs) as lingua franca binding the different Pilot data together. More specifically and additionally to the common use of GitHub repositories in research projects, Polifonia adds an additional organizational structure, what we call a Research Ecosystem. The Polifonia Research Ecosystem documents project outputs and their mutual dependencies as semantic artifacts, developing annotations for both (output and dependencies). This paper details the design and implementation of such a Research Ecosystem as a specific approach to effectively coordinate collaboration and related software production. Using the case of the Polifonia project, the paper reflects on the opportunities and challenges arising when it comes to formalize best practices to execute innovative research processes. Finally, we discuss the potential impact that such developments could have on future bibliometrics and information retrieval practices