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Distribution by Scientific Domains

Medical Sciences	50%

Selected Abstracts

DOES LARGE BODY SIZE IN MALES EVOLVE TO FACILITATE FORCIBLE INSEMINATION?

EVOLUTION, Issue 11 2005
A STUDY ON GARTER SNAKES
Abstract A trend for larger males to obtain a disproportionately high number of matings, as occurs in many animal populations, typically is attributed either to female choice or success in male-male rivalry; an alternative mechanism, that larger males are better able to coercively inseminate females, has received much less attention. For example, previous studies on garter snakes (Thamnophis sirtalis parietalis) at communal dens in Manitoba have shown that the mating benefit to larger body size in males is due to size-dependent advantages in male-male rivalry. However, this previous work ignored the possibility that larger males may obtain more matings because of male-female interactions. In staged trials within outdoor arenas, larger body size enhanced male mating success regardless of whether a rival male was present. The mechanism involved was coercion rather than female choice, because mating occurred most often (and soonest) in females that were least able to resist courtship-induced hypoxic stress. Males do physically displace rivals from optimal positions in the mating ball, and larger males are better able to resist such displacement. Nonetheless, larger body size enhances male mating success even in the absence of such malemale interactions. Thus, even in mating systems where males compete physically and where larger body size confers a significant advantage in male-male competition, the actual selective force for larger body size in males may relate to forcible insemination of unreceptive females. Experimental studies are needed to determine whether the same situation occurs in other organisms in which body-size advantages have been attributed to male-male rather than male-female interactions. [source]

Evidence-based medicine: the time has come to set standards for staging,

THE JOURNAL OF PATHOLOGY, Issue 4 2010
Phil Quirke
Abstract For international communication in cancer, staging systems such as TNM are essential; however, the principles and processes used to decide about changes in every new edition of TNM need to be subject to debate. Changes with major impact for patient treatment are introduced without evidence. We think that TNM should be a continual reactive process, rather than a proactive process. Changes should only occur after extensive discussion within the community, and before the introduction of any changes these should be tested for reproducibility and compared to the currently used gold standard. TNM should not be used to test hypotheses. It should introduce established facts that are beneficial to predicting patient prognosis. TNM should thus be restructured on a basis equivalent to evidence-based guidelines. The strength of the evidence should be explicitly stated and the evidence base given. It is time for the principles of staging to be widely debated and new principles and processes to be introduced to ensure that we are not in the same situation in the future. The disparity between therapeutic decision making and TNM staging is marked and we would appeal for the radical overhaul of TNM staging to make it fit for the twenty-first century. TNM is central to the management of cancer patients and we must protect and enhance its reputation. Copyright © 2010 Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]

EVER Lecture: Can uveal melanoma be conquered?

ACTA OPHTHALMOLOGICA, Issue 2007
T KIVELÄ
The deadly natural history of uveal melanoma was fully described, unknowingly, in a well known English artist in 1792 and soon thereafter in an unknown Scottish woman around 1808. It became a well recognised entity much later, by 1868. Today, with the exception of being able to save the eye of their patient, ocular oncologists managing patients with uveal melanoma find themselves in essentially the same situation than their forebears: mortality rates have not noticeably decreased and metastatic melanoma continues to be the "hideous picture of disease" that it was 150 years ago. Metastatic melanoma is the single overwhelming cause of death in patients with uveal melanoma, and no consistently effective treatment is known for disseminated disease. One reason for this unhappy state of affairs is that patients formerly were dismissed after enucleation until they presented with advanced metastasis to an oncologist who did not recognise uveal melanoma as a disease very different from cutaneous melanoma. The advent of ocular oncology has led to rational early detection programs for subclinical metastasis, validated staging of metastatic disease, and first controlled clinical trials of managing metastases with therapies specifically aimed against this cancer. Basic research highlights uveal melanoma as a typically slowly growing, early metastasising cancer, and staging, grading and typing of primary tumours is leading to rational assignment of patients to follow-up and adjuvant treatment trials, which hopefully will improve their survival rate. The current understanding is that, by the time the eye becomes symptomatic, uveal melanomas prone to metastasis already have seeded micrometastases, which need to be kept under control if we are to eventually conquer this disease. [source]

Scaring the Monster Away: What Children Know About Managing Fears of Real and Imaginary Creatures

CHILD DEVELOPMENT, Issue 6 2009
Liat Sayfan
Children around 4, 5, and 7 years old (N = 48) listened to scenarios depicting a child alone or accompanied by another person (mother, father, friend) who encounters an entity that looks like a real or an imaginary fear-inducing creature. Participants predicted and explained each protagonist's fear intensity and suggested coping strategies. Results showed age-related increases in judgments that different people will experience different intensities of fear in the same situation. With age, children also demonstrated increasing knowledge that people's minds can both induce and reduce fear, especially in situations involving imaginary creatures. Suggestions of reality affirmation strategies (e.g., reminding oneself of what is real vs. not real) significantly increased with age, whereas positive pretense strategies (e.g., imagining it is a friendly ghost) significantly decreased. [source]