Managing the heat: In-Vessel Components.

The Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production (STEP) programme aims to deliver a first-of-a-kind fusion prototype powerplant (SPP). The SPP plasma places extreme heat, particle and structural loads onto the plasma-facing components (PFCs) of the divertor, limiters and inboard and outboard sections of the first wall. The PFCs must manage the heat and particle loads and wider powerplant requirements relating to safety, net power generation, tritium breeding and plant availability.

Small cell carcinoma of the urinary bladder: a rare, aggressive neuroendocrine malignancy.

Small cell carcinoma of the urinary bladder is a rare, often fatal, disease. Its presenting symptoms and gross morphology are similar to those of conventional urothelial carcinoma, whereas its prognosis is much poorer with frequent metastasis. Small cell carcinoma of the urinary bladder shares similar histology with its counterparts in other organs; however, its immunoreactivity to conventional neuroendocrine markers is low.

Schistosomiasis: an unusual finding of the cervix.

Background: Schistosomiasis remains a major threat to women's health in many resource-poor countries and is being seen with increasing frequency in developed countries among immigrants and tourists who have a history of freshwater exposure in endemic areas.

Case: A 28-year-old asymptomatic African immigrant presented with an abnormal Pap test result showing rare atypical squamous cells. Colposcopy examination showed pale-yellow, finely granular cervical lesions.

Is specific gravity a good estimate of urine osmolality?

Context: Urine specific gravity (USG) is often used by clinicians to estimate urine osmolality. USG is measured either by refractometry or by reagent strip.

Objective: We studied the correlation of USG obtained by either method with a concurrently obtained osmolality.

Is the QuantiFERON-TB blood assay a good replacement for the tuberculin skin test in tuberculosis screening? a pilot study at Berkshire Medical Center.

The QuantiFERON-TB Gold In-Tube method (QFT-GIT; Cellestis, Carnegie, Australia) is a recently US Food and Drug Administration-approved interferon-gamma release assay (IGRA) for the detection of tuberculosis infection, which has been screened for by the tuberculin skin test (TST) for nearly a century. We report a pilot study comparing the QFT-GIT and TST results for screening health care workers (HCWs) at Berkshire Medical Center (BMC; Pittsfield, MA), the second hospital in Massachusetts to use QFT-GIT. For the study, 40 BMC HCWs, 20 TST+ and 20 TST-, were screened with the QFT-GIT test.