Sudden death in a case of sickle cell anemia: post-mortem computed tomography and autopsy correlation from a radiologist's perspective

Sickle cell anemia (SCA) is a hemolytic disease characterized by the production of abnormal hemoglobin chains and distorted red blood cell morphology or sickling. "Sickle cell crisis" includes vaso-occlusive crisis, a plastic crisis, sequestration crisis, haemolytic crisis and often culminating in serious complications, organ damage and even sudden death. Post-mortem computed tomography (PMCT) findings of sickle cell disease have never been reported in literature. This case of sudden death from acute hemolytic crisis in SCA where post-mortem computed tomography (PMCT) and autopsy findings complemented each other, both revealing findings invisible to the other and both crucial to the case.

Effects of dopaminergic and subthalamic stimulation on musical performance.

Although subthalamic-deep brain stimulation (STN-DBS) is an efficient treatment for Parkinson's disease (PD), its effects on fine motor functions are not clear. We present the case of a professional violinist with PD treated with STN-DBS. DBS improved musical articulation, intonation and emotional expression and worsened timing relative to a timekeeper (metronome). The same effects were found for dopaminergic treatment. These results suggest that STN-DBS, mimicking the effects of dopaminergic stimulation, improves fine-tuned motor behaviour whilst impairing timing precision.

Loads and loads and loads: the influence of prospective load, retrospective load, and ongoing task load in prospective memory

In prospective memory tasks different kinds of load can occur. Adding a prospective memory task can impose a load on ongoing task performance. Adding ongoing task load (OTL) can affect prospective memory performance. The existence of multiple target events increases prospective load (PL) and adding complexity to the to-be-remembered action increases retrospective load (RL). In two experiments, we systematically examined the effects of these different types of load on prospective memory performance. Results showed an effect of PL on costs in the ongoing task for categorical targets (Experiment 2), but not for specific targets (Experiment 1). RL and OTL both affected remembering the retrospective component of the prospective memory task. We suggest that PL can enhance costs in the ongoing task due to additional monitoring requirements. RL and OTL seem to impact the division of resources between the ongoing task and retrieval of the retrospective component, which may affect disengagement from the ongoing task. In general, the results demonstrate that the different types of load affect prospective memory differentially.

The genomic substrate for adaptive radiation in African cichlid fish

Cichlid fishes are famous for large, diverse and replicated adaptive radiations in the Great Lakes of East Africa. To understand the molecular mechanisms underlying cichlid phenotypic diversity, we sequenced the genomes and transcriptomes of five lineages of African cichlids: the Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus), an ancestral lineage with low diversity; and four members of the East African lineage: Neolamprologus brichardi/pulcher (older radiation, Lake Tanganyika), Metriaclima zebra (recent radiation, Lake Malawi), Pundamilia nyererei (very recent radiation, Lake Victoria), and Astatotilapia burtoni (riverine species around Lake Tanganyika). We found an excess of gene duplications in the East African lineage compared to tilapia and other teleosts, an abundance of non-coding element divergence, accelerated coding sequence evolution, expression divergence associated with transposable element insertions, and regulation by novel microRNAs. In addition, we analysed sequence data from sixty individuals representing six closely related species from Lake Victoria, and show genome-wide diversifying selection on coding and regulatory variants, some of which were recruited from ancient polymorphisms. We conclude that a number of molecular mechanisms shaped East African cichlid genomes, and that amassing of standing variation during periods of relaxed purifying selection may have been important in facilitating subsequent evolutionary diversification.

WOCAT - World Overview of Conservation Approaches and Technologies - Preliminary results from Eastern and Southern Africa

The World Overview of Conservation Approaches and Technologies (WOCAT) is a program of the World Association of Soil and Water Conservation (WASWC), organized as a consortium of several international institutions. The overall goal of WOCAT is to contribute to sustainable utilization of soil and water. WOCAT collects and analyzes information on soil and water conservation (SWC) technologies and approaches world-wide, and presents the collected information in computer databases and decision support systems, and in the form of handbooks, reports and maps readily accessible to SWC specialists and policy-makers world-wide. WOCAT has prepared a framework for the evaluation of soil and water conservation and has started data collection. The paper presents preliminary results with promising SWC technologies and approaches used in Eastern and Southern Africa. The first finding is that hardly any promising SWC activities could be found on common grazing lands. Analysis of the cropland shows some of the bio-physical and socioeconomic conditions under which certain SWC technologies and approaches are used, including land use types, climatic zones and land tenure, and looks at issues such as participation and costs. Furthermore, classification criteria for SWC technologies and approaches are discussed.

Consensus Statements: Session 1 - Screening and Surveillance

The introduction of transient elastography in clinical practice has allowed the early identification of patients with chronic liver disease (CLD) at risk of developing clinically significant portal hypertension (CSPH) (1b;A).

Anatomia in qua tota humani corporis fabrica... Amstelodami, Ioannes Ianssonius, 1617

A paper affixed to the rear free endpaper of the item states that is edition contains “fine reproductions of the Gemini plates.” “Thomas Geminus was a a pseudonym for Thomas Lambrit, an engraver and printer…shown as active from about 1540; he died in May 1562.” http://www.arsanatomica.lib.ed.ac.uk/geminus.html accessed 11/20/2012. Geminus (Lambrit) printed Compendiosa totius anatomiae delineation aere exarata in 1545 copied from Vesalius’ 1543, De humani corporis fabrica . (Wellcome Library catalog, accessed 11/20/2012.) This book is a 1617 reproduction of the engraved copperplates which Lambrit himself copied from the original woodblock prints of the Vesalius’ book. Because the illustrations were based on those in the Vesalius’ book, because the name Vesalius helped sell the book, because copyright laws were not in effect, and because photocopies and digital images were not available, the author of this book is given as Andreas Vesalius. (Vesalius may or may not have been pleased.) For more information on Thomas Geminus (Lambrit) see The Anatomy of Thomas Geminus, by Geoffrey Keynes, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2413790/?page=1

(Table 2) B/Ca, d11B, Mg/Ca and d18O record for ODP Hole 130-806B samples

We present the first continuous records from 0 to 5 Ma (in 0.333 m.y. integrated time steps) of paired boron/calcium (B/Ca) ratios and boron isotopes (d11B) in the planktonic foraminifera Globogerinoides sacculifer (without sacc) from a site in the western equatorial Pacific Ocean (Ocean Drilling Program Site 806). These measurements, the first made in conjunction with calcification temperature (magnesium/calcium ratios) and average shell mass measurements, indicate that pH is not the sole environmental variable controlling B in planktonic foraminiferal calcite. Our data are consistent with calcification temperature exerting a primary control on B concentration and isotopic composition in planktonic foraminifera. If so, calcification temperature must be taken into account if pH for past oceans and atmospheric pCO2 are to be estimated from B isotope measurements in foraminiferal calcite. Doing so will substantially increase the uncertainty of pH estimates. Although this work was designed as a temporal study, its results define new aspects of calibrating the d11B paleo-pH tracer.

Isotopic ratios of methane, ethane, carbon dioxide, inorganic carbon and organic matter from ODP Leg 164 sites

The isotopic characteristics of CH4 (d13C values range from -101.3 per mil to -61.1 per mil PDB, and dD values range from -256 per mil to -136 per mil SMOW) collected during Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Leg 164 indicate that the CH4 was produced by microbial CO2 reduction and that there is not a significant contribution of thermogenic CH4 to the sampled sediment gas from the Blake Ridge. The isotopic values of CO2 (d13C range -20.6 per mil to +1.24 per mil PDB) and dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC; d13C range -37.7 per mil to +10.8 per mil PDB) have parallel profiles with depth, but with an offset of 12.5 per mil. Distinct downhole variations in the carbon isotopic composition of CH4 and CO2 cannot be explained by closed-system fractionation where the CO2 is solely derived from the locally available sedimentary organic matter (d13C -2.0 per mil ± 1.4 per mil PDB) and the CH4 is derived from CO2 reduction. The observed isotopic profiles reflect the combined effects of upwards gas migration and decreased microbial activity with depth.