Social science - STEM collaborations in agriculture, food and beyond: an STSFAN manifesto.

Interdisciplinary research needs innovation. As an action-oriented intervention, this Manifesto begins from the authors' experiences as social scientists working within interdisciplinary science and technology collaborations in agriculture and food. We draw from these experiences to: 1) explain what social scientists contribute to interdisciplinary agri-food tech collaborations; (2) describe barriers to substantive and meaningful collaboration; and (3) propose ways to overcome these barriers.

Cultivating intellectual community in academia: reflections from the Science and Technology Studies Food and Agriculture Network (STSFAN).

Scholarship flourishes in inclusive environments where open deliberations and generative feedback expand both individual and collective thinking. Many researchers, however, have limited access to such settings, and most conventional academic conferences fall short of promises to provide them. We have written this Field Report to share our methods for cultivating a vibrant intellectual community within the Science and Technology Studies Food and Agriculture Network (STSFAN).

Metrics and Mētis: work and practical knowledge in Agri-food sustainability governance.

In the mid twenty-tens, many major food companies committed to sustainably source their priority ingredients, including North American commodity crops. With deadlines set for the decade's end, companies joined multi-stakeholder initiatives and developed standards, metrics, and other assessment tools to help them track and drive progress. In short, they embarked on the sort of corporate supply chain governance that agri-food scholars have long studied.

Concentric craniotomy: removal of tumor involving the skull and the intracranial space.

Background: Removal of a tumor involving both the intracranial space and the skull presents technical challenges. This is especially so if there is a potential for significant hemorrhage due to a hemangioma or a significant attachment to the brain as with a meningioma.

Case Description: We describe a technique where the tumor attached to the skull is left undisturbed and a second wider concentric craniotomy exposes normal dura.

The consequence of delayed neurosurgical care at Tikur Anbessa Hospital, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Tikur Anbessa Hospital (TAH) is the major teaching hospital for Addis Ababa University and the only tertiary referral hospital for neurosurgery in Ethiopia. We explore the consequence of delayed treatment by examining the current system in place for treating patients and the wait times experienced by patients. A retrospective chart review was carried out on patients who received a neurosurgical operation at TAH between January 1 and June 30, 2007.

Cerebral vasospasm following intracranial hypotension caused by cerebrospinal fluid leak from an incidental lumbar durotomy. Case report.

The authors report on the unusual case of a patient with intracranial hypotension following an incidental durotomy complicated by an extensive but reversible cerebral vasospasm. Despite the dural tear repair and correction of the intracranial hypotension, the vasospasm ran its course. The precise mechanism of the cerebral vasospasm in this patient is unclear.

Brain tissue response to Holmium:YAG laser irradiation.

Objective: To evaluate the usefulness of pulsed infrared solid-state Holmium:Yttrium-Aluminum-Garnet (Ho:YAG) laser in neurosurgery, acute responses of brain tissue to Ho:YAG irradiation and to investigate the healing processes in rats and rabbits.

Methods: Animals were divided into groups according to different survival time and laser irradiation mode. Craniotomy was made and laser energy was delivered to the brain surface by two irradiation modes: 1) contact mode with the fiber in contact with the brain surface; and 2) non-contact mode with the fiber tip 5 mm above the brain surface.

Characterization of chemical meningitis after neurological surgery.

We reviewed the records of 70 consecutive adult patients with meningitis after a neurosurgical procedure, to determine the characteristics that might help to distinguish a sterile postoperative chemical meningitis from bacterial infection. The spinal fluid profiles in bacterial and chemical meningitis are similar. The exceptions are that a spinal fluid white blood cell count > 7500/microL (7500 x 10(6)/L) and a glucose level of < 10 mg/dL were not found in any case of chemical meningitis.

Intraoperative computerized tomography scanning to assess the adequacy of decompression in anterior cervical spine surgery.

Object: The purpose of this study was to improve the accuracy of bone removal during anterior spinal surgery. Intraoperative computerized tomography (CT) scanning was used to assess the success of bone resection and permit immediate correction in the event of inadequate bone removal.

Methods: The Phillips Tomoscan M was used to obtain preoperative cervical scans before and after cervical bone resection was complete.

Hot flushes in men with pituitary adenoma.

Background: Hot flushes are common in menopausal women and also in men made acutely hypogonadal after orchiectomy or testicular injury. It is, however, an unusual symptom in patients with hypogonadism secondary to pituitary tumors.

Methods: In evaluating the histories of men with hypogonadal state associated with nonfunctioning pituitary macroadenoma we were struck by the presence of hot flushes in four of them.

Repair of injured vertebral artery in anterior cervical procedures.

Study Design: A case report of treatment of injury to the vertebral artery in anterior cervical procedures is presented with a review of the literature.

Objectives: The feasibility of direct surgical repair is suggested.

Summary Of Background Data: Currently, ligation or tamponade is accepted as the treatment of injury to the vertebral artery in anterior cervical surgery.

Closure of cerebrospinal fluid leakage after transsphenoidal surgery: technical note.

It is necessary to pack the sella turcica to prevent the leakage of cerebrospinal fluid after transsphenoidal surgery if the arachnoid has been torn. The packing is usually supported by nasal cartilage. If this is not available, we recommend the Synthes minifragment plate to support the intradural pack.

Experience with symptomatic spinal epidural cysts.

Epidural cysts, either synovial or ganglion, are an unusual cause of epidural compressive syndromes. We report a series of 26 patients with cysts, including 1 cervical, 2 thoracic, and 23 lumbar. Complaints at the time of admission and findings were similar to those associated with other epidural lesions at the same locations.

MRI appearances of an ectopic pituitary adenoma: case report and review of the literature.

MR images of an ectopic pituitary adenoma have been published in only a single case, a suprasellar mass. We present a patient with Cushing's disease in whom MRI revealed a pituitary adenoma within the sphenoid sinus. Radiologic characteristics of ectopic pituitary adenomas are reviewed, with emphasis on MRI, which demonstrates a soft tissue mass, isointense with gray matter on T1-weighted images, which enhances in a heterogeneous manner.

Vascularized fibular graft to replace resected cervical vertebral bodies. Case report.

Use of a vascularized free fibular graft is described as a method of replacing excised cervical vertebrae when severe instability is present. The vascularized bone graft heals more rapidly and with greater strength than a nonvascularized autogenous graft.

Transsphenoidal pituitary surgery in the treatment of patients with Cushing's disease.

Transsphenoidal adenomectomy is the treatment of choice for patients with Cushing's disease. The combination of high serum and urinary cortisol and high plasma ACTH point to a nonadrenal source for Cushing's syndrome. It is important to rule out an ectopic source of ACTH production.

Glucocorticoid dependency as a prognostic factor in radiotherapy for cerebral gliomas.

Records of 76 consecutive patients treated with radiotherapy for cerebral gliomas were reviewed. Eleven patients had no tissue diagnosis, and their outcome was comparable to that of patients with glioblastoma. Patients with other histologic diagnoses had much better results.

Lymphocytic hypophysitis in a man.

Fewer than 20 patients with lymphocytic adenohypophysitis have been reported, all of them women, and it usually occurs during pregnancy or the postpartum period. We report the recognition of lymphocytic adenohypophysitis in a man. The patient presented with anterior hypopituitarism and an intrasellar mass on computed tomography.

Pedicled myocutaneous flap of latissimus dorsi muscle for reconstruction of anterior and middle skull defects: an alternative.

Three cases are presented demonstrating the use of a pedicled myocutaneous flap of latissimus dorsi muscle to reconstruct large defects of the anterior and middle skull after ablative surgery for carcinoma. This method is proposed as an alternative to reconstruction with a free myocutaneous flap in selected patients.

Gouda frame redesigned specifically for computed tomographic compatibility.

The Gouda stereotactic frame has been redesigned for use with computed tomography. The patient is attached to the frame, is scanned, and is moved to the operating room for stereotactic biopsy. The Gouda frame permits accurate biopsy of otherwise inaccessible tumors of the brain.