Cryptosporidium spp. and Giardia spp. in wild rodents: using occupancy models to estimate drivers of occurrence and prevalence in native forest and exotic Pinus radiata plantations from Central Chile.

The conversion of native forest to forestry plantations is a worldwide practice, affecting biodiversity and host-parasite interactions. One of the most common timber plantations in the world are monocultures of Monterey pine (Pinus radiata). Using occupancy models, we analyzed the occurrence and prevalence of Cryptosporidium spp.

Altered fire regimes modify lizard communities in globally endangered Araucaria forests of the southern Andes.

Wildfire regimes are being altered in ecosystems worldwide. The density of reptiles responds to fires and changes to habitat structure. Some of the most vulnerable ecosystems to human-increased fire frequency are old-growth Araucaria araucana forests of the southern Andes.

Colon Transit Scintigraphy in Schaaf-Yang Syndrome.

Schaaf-Yang syndrome is a genetic disorder characterized by delayed psychomotor development, hypotonia, intellectual disability, feeding difficulties, and variable dysmorphic facial features. It is an extremely rare disorder with over 250 cases reported in the medical literature. This condition has been determined to be inherited by an autosomal dominant pattern.

Gastrointestinal Transit Scintigraphy in a Case of Syringomyelia.

Syringomyelia is a rare degenerative disease affecting the spinal cord and brain stem causing progressive neurological dysfunction. The presence of gastrointestinal symptoms in these patients is common, although references related to nuclear medicine imaging procedures in this pathology are limited, focusing on the study of gastric emptying. We present a 47-year-old male patient diagnosed with syringomyelia and persistent digestive symptoms who underwent gastrointestinal transit scintigraphy to assess the extent of dysmotility.

Positron Emission Tomography-Computed Tomography in a Case of POEMS Syndrome.

The POEMS syndrome is a rare and multisystemic disease characterized by the presence of polyneuropathy, organomegaly, endocrinopathy, presence of M protein, and alterations in the skin. The existence of bone lesions is frequent, being generally blastic or mixed and rarely lytic. We present the case of a 54-year-old male patient diagnosed with POEMS syndrome, with atypical presence of lytic lesions, who was referred for an 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography-computed tomography (PET-CT) study for initial staging of the process.

PET/CT in a Patient Diagnosed With Dandy-Walker Syndrome.

The Dandy-Walker syndrome (DWS) is a rare congenital posterior fossa malformation characterized by aplasia or hypoplasia of the cerebellar vermis, cystic dilatation of the fourth ventricle, and enlargement of the posterior fossa. We present a 52-year-old Caucasian man diagnosed with gastrointestinal stromal tumor and submitted to 18F-FDG PET/CT as a staging procedure. The patient was previously diagnosed with DWS in brain CT scan.

Functional fecal retention visualized by (111)In-DTPA colon transit scintigraphy.

Constipation is an extremely common problem in children, varying from mild and short-lived to severe and chronic. Chronic constipation is a serious childhood condition and requires further investigation, including blood test, colonoscopy, radio-opaque marker study, and/or scintigraphy. We present small bowel and colon transit scintigraphy of a 14-year-old girl with history of chronic constipation, abdominal pain, weight loss, and poor response to medical treatment.

High liver FDG uptake on PET/CT in patient with lymphoma diagnosed with hereditary hemochromatosis.

Hereditary hemochromatosis is an autosomal recessive disorder of iron metabolism resulting in toxic accumulation of iron in vital organs. We present a 64-year-old white man with non-Hodgkin lymphoma treated with high-dose chemotherapy and stem cell transplant that was subsequently diagnosed with hereditary hemochromatosis. F-FDG PET/CT was performed as routine follow-up and showed a pathological finding of homogeneous increased liver glucose metabolism.

Levels of immune cells in transcendental meditation practitioners.

Context: Relationships between mind and body have gradually become accepted. Yogic practices cause modulation of the immune system. Transcendental meditation (TM) is a specific form of mantra meditation.

Leptomeningeal carcinomatosis as only pathological finding at FDG-PET/CT in case of tumor marker elevation in breast cancer.

Leptomeningeal carcinomatosis is an infrequent disease and although its treatment is palliative, earlier diagnosis will lead to prolonged survival and improve functional outcome. Whole-body FDG-PET allows the entire spinal cord to be examined noninvasively, so close attention should be paid to the spinal canal, since these lesions can easily be mistaken for physiologic uptake, sometimes there is no clinical suspicion and may occur without concurrent active cancer. We present a female patient with a history of carcinoma of the breast, who presented an elevation of serum tumor marker CA 15-3.

Brain hypoperfusion on Tc-99m-ethylene dicysteine diethyl ester single-photon emission computed tomography in Hashimoto's encephalopathy.

We present a 17-year-old female, previously diagnosed of autoimmune hyperthyroidism who had an acute neurological episode and presented high antithyroid antibodies titers, cerebral spinal fluid and electroencephalogram changes. Tc-99m ethylene dicysteine diethyl ester brain single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) showed global and patchy hypoperfusion. With glucocorticoid therapy, clinical symptoms disappeared; there was a decrease in antithyroid antibody levels and repeat brain SPECT revealed improvement of perfusion.

Utility of 67Ga scintigraphy in disseminated infection after BCG instillation for treatment of bladder carcinoma.

Intravesical instillations of bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG), an attenuated live strain of Mycobacterium bovis, is the treatment of choice for superficial bladder cancer. Local side effects are frequent, although adverse systemic reactions are uncommon, but more serious. We present 2 patients who developed disseminated M.

Scintigraphy in Ochoa syndrome.

The Ochoa or urofacial syndrome is a disease characterized by non-neurogenic bladder dysfunction and unusual facial expressions when smiling or crying. It is an extremely rare disorder with over 150 cases reported in the medical literature. This condition has been determined to be inherited by an autosomal recessive pattern.

SMS-based optimization strategy for ultra-compact SWIR telephoto lens design.

A new optical design strategy for rotational aspheres using very few parameters is presented. It consists of using the SMS method to design the aspheres embedded in a system with additional simpler surfaces (such as spheres, parabolas or other conics) and optimizing the free-parameters. Although the SMS surfaces are designed using only meridian rays, skew rays have proven to be well controlled within the optimization.

Musashi 2 is a regulator of the HSC compartment identified by a retroviral insertion screen and knockout mice.

We used a retroviral integration screen to search for novel genes that regulate HSC function. One of the genes that conferred HSC dominance when overexpressed due to an adjacent retroviral insertion was Musashi 2 (Msi2), an RNA-binding protein that can act as a translational inhibitor. A gene-trap mouse model that inactivates the gene shows that Msi2 is more highly expressed in long-term (LT) and short-term (ST) HSCs, as well as in lymphoid myeloid primed progenitors (LMPPs), but much less in intermediate progenitors and mature cells.

An application of the SMS method for imaging designs.

The Simultaneous Multiple Surface (SMS) method in planar geometry (2D) is applied to imaging designs, generating lenses that compare well with aplanatic designs. When the merit function utilizes image quality over the entire field (not just paraxial), the SMS strategy is superior. In fact, the traditional aplanatic approach is actually a particular case of the SMS strategy.

Radioguided surgery in brain tumors with thallium-201.

Rationale: Malignant astrocytomas show thallium uptake with a high target-to-background ratio, allowing the use of radioguided surgery.

Method: We report on 6 patients (3 men) diagnosed with malignant astrocytoma. All patients signed informed consent documents.

[Surgical area: introduction].

We review the most common types of lesion produced by terrorist blasts and the general principles of their treatment. We also describe the resources of the General Surgery Department and surgical specialties of the Gregorio Maranon University Hospital as a general introduction to the specific resources of each surgical area. The center's surgical capacity, in terms of both staffing and operating rooms, is also described.