Examiner workload comparison: three structured oral examination formats for the European diploma in anaesthesiology and intensive care.

The COVID-19 pandemic triggered transformations in academic medicine, rapidly adopting remote teaching and online assessments. Whilst virtual environments show promise in evaluating medical knowledge, their impact on examiner workload is unclear. This study explores examiner's workload during different European Diploma in Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care Part 2 Structured Oral Examinations formats.

Parasitizing Tobacco Cultivars in Brazil.

Foliar nematodes ( spp.) are known to be parasites of tobacco in restricted areas, but symptoms caused by in tobacco are not well characterized, despite the great importance of this nematode worldwide. This study aimed to evaluate the host reaction of four cultivars (Comum, Xanthi, Samsun, and TNN) and cultivar Comum to and to characterize the symptoms and the parasitism of this nematode.

[Features of patients admitted with COVID-19 to a Chilean regional hospital during the first stages of the pandemic].

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic posed a great strain in health services.

Aim: To describe the epidemiological and clinical features of patients with SARS-CoV-2 admitted to a regional hospital in southern Chile between April and August 2020.

Material And Methods: Clinical records of all hospitalized patients with RT-PCR (+) for SARS-CoV-2 were retrospectively analyzed.

Bone Volumes and Trajectory Angles for Acetabular Anchor Placement Can Be Optimized.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine the optimal anchor placement and trajectory when repairing acetabular labral tears during hip arthroscopy with the primary focus on the 12 to 3 o'clock positions on the acetabular rim.

Methods: Three-dimensional computational models of the pelvis were generated from 13 cadaveric specimens using 3D slicer medical imaging software. A set of cones, consistent with the dimensions of a commonly used sutured anchor, were virtually embedded into the models at the 12, 1, 2, and 3 o'clock positions around the acetabulum.

Magnetic Characterization by Scanning Microscopy of Functionalized Iron Oxide Nanoparticles.

This study aimed to systematically understand the magnetic properties of magnetite (FeO) nanoparticles functionalized with different Pluronic F-127 surfactant concentrations (FeO@Pluronic F-127) obtained by using an improved magnetic characterization method based on three-dimensional magnetic maps generated by scanning magnetic microscopy. Additionally, these FeO and FeO@Pluronic F-127 nanoparticles, as promising systems for biomedical applications, were prepared by a wet chemical reaction. The magnetization curve was obtained through these three-dimensional maps, confirming that both FeO and FeO@Pluronic F-127 nanoparticles have a superparamagnetic behavior.

Room-temperature synthesis of earth-abundant semiconductor ZnSiN on amorphous carbon.

This manuscript reports room-temperature one-step synthesis of earth-abundant semiconductor ZnSiN on amorphous carbon substrates using radio frequency reactive magnetron co-sputtering. Transmission Electron Microscopy and Rutherford Backscattering Spectrometry analysis demonstrated that the synthesis has occurred as ZnSiN nanocrystals in the orthorhombic phase, uniformly distributed on amorphous carbon. The technique of large-area deposition on an amorphous substrate can be interesting for flexible electronics technologies.

Specialist and Generalist Fungal Parasites Induce Distinct Biochemical Changes in the Mandible Muscles of Their Host.

Some parasites have evolved the ability to adaptively manipulate host behavior. One notable example is the fungus , which has evolved the ability to alter the behavior of ants in ways that enable fungal transmission and lifecycle completion. Because host mandibles are affected by the fungi, we focused on understanding changes in the metabolites of muscles during behavioral modification.

Automated tracking and analysis of ant trajectories shows variation in forager exploration.

Determining how ant colonies optimize foraging while mitigating pathogen and predator risks provides insight into how the ants have achieved ecological success. Ants must respond to changing resource conditions, but exploration comes at a cost of higher potential exposure to threats. Fungal infected cadavers surround the main foraging trails of the carpenter ant Camponotus rufipes, offering a system to study how foragers behave given the persistent occurrence of disease threats.

The metabolic alteration and apparent preservation of the zombie ant brain.

Some parasites can manipulate the behavior of their animal hosts to increase transmission. An interesting area of research is understanding how host neurobiology is manipulated by microbes to the point of displaying such aberrant behaviors. Here, we characterize the metabolic profile of the brain of an insect at the moment of the behavioral manipulation by a parasitic microbe.

Zombie ant death grip due to hypercontracted mandibular muscles.

There are numerous examples of parasites that manipulate the behavior of the hosts that they infect. One such host-pathogen relationship occurs between the 'zombie-ant fungus' and its carpenter ant host. Infected ants climb to elevated locations and bite onto vegetation where they remain permanently affixed well after death.

Experimental and theoretical evidences for the ice regime in planar artificial spin ices.

In this work, we explore a kind of geometrical effect in the thermodynamics of artificial spin ices (ASI). In general, such artificial materials are athermal. Here, We demonstrate that geometrically driven dynamics in ASI can open up the panorama of exploring distinct ground states and thermally magnetic monopole excitations.

Evidence for convergent evolution of host parasitic manipulation in response to environmental conditions.

Environmental conditions exert strong selection on animal behavior. We tested the hypothesis that the altered behavior of hosts due to parasitic manipulation is also subject to selection imposed by changes in environmental conditions over time. Our model system is ants manipulated by parasitic fungi to bite onto vegetation.

Three-dimensional visualization and a deep-learning model reveal complex fungal parasite networks in behaviorally manipulated ants.

Some microbes possess the ability to adaptively manipulate host behavior. To better understand how such microbial parasites control animal behavior, we examine the cell-level interactions between the species-specific fungal parasite and its carpenter ant host () at a crucial moment in the parasite's lifecycle: when the manipulated host fixes itself permanently to a substrate by its mandibles. The fungus is known to secrete tissue-specific metabolites and cause changes in host gene expression as well as atrophy in the mandible muscles of its ant host, but it is unknown how the fungus coordinates these effects to manipulate its host's behavior.

Minimally invasive prostate cancer detection test using FISH probes.

Purpose: The ability to test for and detect prostate cancer with minimal invasiveness has the potential to reduce unnecessary prostate biopsies. This study was conducted as part of a clinical investigation for the development of an OligoFISH(®) probe panel for more accurate detection of prostate cancer.

Materials And Methods: One hundred eligible male patients undergoing transrectal ultrasound biopsies were enrolled in the study.

Disease in the Society: Infectious Cadavers Result in Collapse of Ant Sub-Colonies.

Despite the growing number of experimental studies on mechanisms of social immunity in ant societies, little is known about how social behavior relates to disease progression within the nests of ants. In fact, when empirically studying disease in ant societies, it is common to remove dead ants from experiments to confirm infection by the studied parasite. This unfortunately does not allow disease to progress within the nest as it may be assumed would happen under natural conditions.

From So Simple a Beginning: The Evolution of Behavioral Manipulation by Fungi.

Parasites can manipulate the behavior of their hosts in ways that increase either their direct fitness or transmission to new hosts. The Kingdom Fungi have evolved a diverse array of strategies to manipulate arthropod behavior resulting in some of the most complex and impressive examples of behavioral manipulation by parasites. Here we provide an overview of these different interactions and discuss them from an evolutionary perspective.

Disease Dynamics in Ants: A Critical Review of the Ecological Relevance of Using Generalist Fungi to Study Infections in Insect Societies.

It is assumed that social life can lead to the rapid spread of infectious diseases and outbreaks. In ants, disease outbreaks are rare and the expression of collective behaviors is invoked to explain the absence of epidemics in natural populations. Here, we address the ecological approach employed by many studies that have notably focused (89% of the studies) on two genera of generalist fungal parasites (Beauveria and Metarhizium).

Office Based Photovaporization of the Prostate for Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia: Outcomes and Patient Satisfaction.

Introduction: We determined the efficacy, safety and tolerability of photovaporization of the prostate in the office setting for benign prostatic hyperplasia.

Methods: Between 2009 and 2011, 139 men with moderate to severe benign prostatic hyperplasia based on I-PSS (International Prostate Symptom Score) underwent photovaporization of the prostate using a 980 nm diode laser under local anesthesia. We compared preoperative and postoperative post-void residual urine volume, maximum urine flow and I-PSS/quality of life questionnaire responses.

Emergence and mobility of monopoles in a unidirectional arrangement of magnetic nanoislands.

Magnetricity, the magnetic equivalent of electricity, was recently verified experimentally for the first time. Indeed, like the stream of electric charges that produces electric current, emergent magnetic monopoles have been observed to roam freely in geometrically frustrated magnets known as spin ice. However, such phenomena demand extreme physical conditions, say, a single spin ice crystal has to be cooled to very low temperature, around 0.

One-year monitoring of an oligonucleotide fluorescence in situ hybridization probe panel laboratory-developed test for bladder cancer detection.

Background: Previously, we had developed and manufactured an oligonucleotide fluorescence in situ hybridization (OligoFISH) probe panel based on the most clinically sensitive chromosomes found in a reference set of bladder carcinoma cases. The panel was clinically validated for use as a diagnostic and monitoring assay for bladder cancer, reaching 100% correlation with the results of the UroVysion test. After 1 year of using this probe panel, we present here the comparison of cytology, cystoscopy, and pathology findings to the OligoFISH probe panel results to calculate its clinical performance.

Long-term disease dynamics for a specialized parasite of ant societies: a field study.

Many studies have investigated how social insects behave when a parasite is introduced into their colonies. These studies have been conducted in the laboratory, and we still have a limited understanding of the dynamics of ant-parasite interactions under natural conditions. Here we consider a specialized parasite of ant societies (Ophiocordyceps camponoti-rufipedis infecting Camponotus rufipes) within a rainforest.

Foraging ants trade off further for faster: use of natural bridges and trunk trail permanency in carpenter ants.

Trail-making ants lay pheromones on the substrate to define paths between foraging areas and the nest. Combined with the chemistry of these pheromone trails and the physics of evaporation, trail-laying and trail-following behaviours provide ant colonies with the quickest routes to food. In relatively uniform environments, such as that provided in many laboratory studies of trail-making ants, the quickest route is also often the shortest route.