“
“One of the most challenging questions

regarding aquatic search and rescue or recovery operations is the physiological status of the victims. A Probability of Survival Decision Aid (PSDA) was developed to predict survival time for hypothermia and dehydration during prolonged exposure C59 wnt in vitro in marine environments for a wide range of environmental conditions. PSDA calculates the survival time of a victim in the water or floating in an emergency craft as a function of environmental conditions, clothing and human anthropometric parameters. PSDA consists of a human thermoregulatory model and a Graphic User Interface, which manages inputs, run the model and display outputs. PSDA was validated using historical survival data and reports of accidental water immersions. For eight immersion victims of known height and weight, the victims’ predicted survival time was either in close agreement or greater than the observed survival time. Additional physiological data from case histories and/or controlled studies are needed find more to validate the PSDA and to expand its application to other hazardous

situations. PSDA is intended to assist the search and rescue personnel in operation optimal planning. Published by Elsevier Ltd.”
“Dissecting the early steps of tumourigenesis is key to our understanding of cancer biology. However, lack of knowledge of initiating mutations and the target ‘cell of origin’ has slowed progress towards this goal. Genetically engineered mouse models of the tumour-predisposition syndrome neurofibromatosis type-1 provide a rare opportunity to study tumour initiation resulting from a known genetic change in a known cell type. Recent exciting work using these models now sheds more light onto early tumourigenesis. Here, we discuss

the studies that have identified mature differentiated Schwann cells as the cell of origin and revealed the molecular and cellular mechanisms of neurofibroma initiation. A novel dual and opposing role for the microenvironment, from pro-differentiative to pro-carcinogenic, has emerged.”
“Percutaneous vertebroplasty, i.e. the consolidation of a vertebral body with polymethylmethacrylate, is a safe and effective image-guided technique increasingly used as a treatment option for different pathologic conditions, AG-120 molecular weight mainly vertebral body fractures secondary to osteoporosis, hemangiomas and metastasis. The procedure, although minimally invasive, could be painful and is better tolerated if a conscious sedation regimen is added to local anesthesia. An anesthesiologist usually performs the sedo/analgesia, but frequently, he is not available in our angiography unit, so we have begun to perform the sedo/analgesia ourselves following an analogous situation that physicians of the Digestive Endoscopic Unit of our institution experienced some years ago.