Is barium esophagram enough? Comparison of esophageal motility found on barium esophagram to high resolution manometry.

Background: The aim of the study is to determine if barium esophagram (BE) alone is sufficient to diagnose esophageal dysmotility when compared to the gold standard, high-resolution manometry (HRM).

Methods: This is a retrospective review of patients that underwent laparoscopic fundoplication by two surgeons at a single institution from 10/1/2015-6/29/2019. Patients with large paraesophageal hernias and patients without both BE and HRM were excluded.

Perioperative considerations in nonagenarians.

Objective: The nation's aging population presents novel perioperative challenges. Potential benefits of operative interventions must be scrutinized in relation to recoverable quality of life. The purpose of this study is to evaluate common risk calculators used for medical decision making in a nonagenarian patient population.

Bentho-pelagic divergence of cichlid feeding architecture was prodigious and consistent during multiple adaptive radiations within African rift-lakes.

Background: How particular changes in functional morphology can repeatedly promote ecological diversification is an active area of evolutionary investigation. The African rift-lake cichlids offer a calibrated time series of the most dramatic adaptive radiations of vertebrate trophic morphology yet described, and the replicate nature of these events provides a unique opportunity to test whether common changes in functional morphology have repeatedly facilitated their ecological success.

Methodology/principal Findings: Specimens from 87 genera of cichlid fishes endemic to Lakes Tanganyka, Malawi and Victoria were dissected in order to examine the functional morphology of cichlid feeding.