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Background The EIF1AX mutation has been identified in various benign and malignant thyroid lesions, with a higher prevalence in poorly differentiated thyroid carcinoma (PDTC) and anaplastic thyroid carcinoma, especially when combined with RAS or TP53 mutation. However, data and clinical significance of EIF1AX mutations in thyroid nodules is still limited. We investigated the prevalence of EIF1AX mutations and co-mutations in cytologically indeterminate thyroid nodules at our institution. Methods A 5-year retrospective analysis was performed on surgically resected thyroid nodules with identified EIF1AX mutations on molecular testing with ThyroseqV3®. Mutation type and presence of co-mutations were correlated with histopathologic diagnosis and clinical characteristics. Histopathology diagnoses were subsequently categorized as benign, borderline, malignant or aggressive malignant (≥ 10% PDTC component). Chi-square test was used to compare the malignancy associations of the: 1) A113_splice mutation compared to non-A113_splice mutations 2) singular A113_splice mutations compared to singular non-A113_splice mutations. Fisher’s Exact Test was used to determine the association of A113_splice mutation with aggressive malignancies compared to non-A113_splice mutations. A p value of 0.05 or less was considered statistically significant. Results Out of 1583 patients who underwent FNA, 621 had further molecular testing. 31 cases (5%) harbored EIF1AX mutations. Of these cases, 12 (38.7%) were malignant, 2 (6.5%) were borderline, and 17 (55%) were benign. 4/31 cases (13%) were aggressive malignant (≥ 10% PDTC component). The most prevalent mutation was the A113_splice mutation at the junction of intron 5 and exon 6 (48%). All other mutations, except one, were located at the N-terminal in exon 2. 7/31 cases (22.6%) harbored ≥ 1 co-mutation(s), including 4 RAS, 3 TP53, 1 TERT and 1 PIK3CA, with 86% of them being malignant. All 4 nodules with RAS co-mutations were malignant including one PDTC. Conclusion Our study reports the largest cohort of EIF1AX mutations in Bethesda III/IV FNA samples with surgical follow-up to our knowledge. The presence of the EIF1AX mutation confers a 45.2% risk of malignancy (ROM) or borderline after surgery. However, the coexistence of EIF1AX mutations with other driver mutations such as RAS, TERT or TP53 conferred an 86% ROM. While 55% of thyroid nodules were benign at the time of surgery, the possible malignant transformation of these nodules, had they not been resected, is unknown. Finally, 13% of the nodules with EIF1AX mutations were aggressive with a significant PDTC component. These findings can further aid in clinical decisions for patients with thyroid nodules. Graphic Abstract

In the version of this article initially published, the author affiliations incorrectly listed “Candiolo Cancer Institute FPO-IRCCS, Candiolo (TO), Italy” as “Candiolo Cancer Institute, Candiolo, Italy.” The change has been made to the HTML and PDF versions of the article.

Motivated by rate-independent stress-strain hysteresis observed in filled rubber, this article considers a scalar viscoelastic model in which the constitutive law is random and varies on a lengthscale which is small relative to the overall size of the solid. Using stochastic two-scale convergence as introduced by Bourgeat, Mikelic and Wright, we obtain the homogenized limit of the evolution, and demonstrate that under certain hypotheses, the homogenized model exhibits hysteretic behaviour which persists under asymptotically slow loading. These results are illustrated by means of numerical simulations in a particular one-dimensional instance of the model., 54 pages, 4 figures

The slip of glaciers over the underlying bed is the dominant mechanism governing the migration of ice from land into the oceans, contributing to sea-level rise. Yet glacier slip remains poorly understood or constrained by observations. Here we observe both frictional shear-stress and slip at the bed of an ice stream, using 100,000 repetitive stick-slip icequakes from Rutford Ice Stream, Antarctica. Basal shear-stresses and slip-rates vary from 10^4 to 10^7 Pa and 0.2 to 1.5 m day^(-1), respectively. Friction and slip vary temporally over the order of hours and spatially over 10s of meters, caused by corresponding variations in ice-bed interface material and effective-normal-stress. Our findings also suggest that the bed is substantially more complex than currently assumed in ice stream models and that basal effective-normal-stresses may be significantly higher than previously thought. The observations also provide previously unresolved constraint of the basal boundary conditions of ice dynamics models. This is critical for constraining the primary contribution of ice mass loss in Antarctica, and hence the endeavour to reduce uncertainty in sea-level rise projections.

The systematic development of Coarse-Grained (CG) models via the Mori-Zwanzig projector operator formalism requires the explicit description of several terms, including a deterministic drift term, a dissipative memory term and a random fluctuation term. In many applications, the memory and fluctuation terms are related by the fluctuation-dissipation relation and are, in general, more challenging to derive than the drift term. In this work we analyse an approximation of the memory term and propose a rational basis for a data-driven approach to an approximation of the memory and fluctuating terms which can be considered included in the class of the Markovian ones., 39 pages, 2 Figures

BACKGROUND The authors developed a validated geographic search filter to retrieve research about the United Kingdom (UK) from OVID Embase. It was created to be used alongside their previously published OVID MEDLINE UK filter in systematic literature searches for context-sensitive topics. OBJECTIVES To develop a validated geographic search filter to retrieve research about the UK from OVID Embase. METHODS The Embase UK filter was translated from the MEDLINE UK filter. A gold standard set of references was generated using the relative recall method. The set contained references to publications about the UK that had informed National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance and it was used to validate the filter. Recall, precision and number-needed-to-read (NNR) were calculated using a case study. RESULTS The validated Embase UK filter demonstrated 99.8% recall against the references with UK identifiers in the gold standard set. In the case study, the Embase UK filter demonstrated 98.5% recall, 7.6% precision and a NNR of 13. CONCLUSION The Embase UK filter can be used alongside the MEDLINE UK filter. The filters have the potential to save time and associated resource costs when they are used for context-sensitive topics that require research about UK settings.

We show that Witt groups of spinor varieties (aka.\ maximal isotropic Grassmannians) can be presented by combinatorial objects called even shifted young diagram. Our method relies on the Blow-up setup of Balmer-Calm\`es, and we investigate the connecting homomorphism of the localization sequence via the projective bundle formula of Walter-Nenashev, the projection formula of Calm\`es-Hornbostel and the excess intersection formula of Fasel., Comment: An appendix by Heng Xie; Final version. Generalized to the case of general bundles with complete flags

Multitask learning has led to significant advances in Natural Language Processing, including the decaNLP benchmark where question answering is used to frame 10 natural language understanding tasks in a single model. In this work we show how models trained to solve decaNLP fail with simple paraphrasing of the question. We contribute a crowd-sourced corpus of paraphrased questions (PQ-decaNLP), annotated with paraphrase phenomena. This enables analysis of how transformations such as swapping the class labels and changing the sentence modality lead to a large performance degradation. Training both MQAN and the newer T5 model using PQ-decaNLP improves their robustness and for some tasks improves the performance on the original questions, demonstrating the benefits of a model which is more robust to paraphrasing. Additionally, we explore how paraphrasing knowledge is transferred between tasks, with the aim of exploiting the multitask property to improve the robustness of the models. We explore the addition of paraphrase detection and paraphrase generation tasks, and find that while both models are able to learn these new tasks, knowledge about paraphrasing does not transfer to other decaNLP tasks.

Objectives Health apps are software programs that are designed to prevent, diagnose, monitor, or manage conditions. Inconsistent terminology for apps is used in research literature and bibliographic database subject headings. It can therefore be challenging to retrieve evidence about them in literature searches. Information specialists at the United Kingdom's National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) have developed novel validated search filters to retrieve evidence about apps from MEDLINE and Embase (Ovid). Methods A selection of medical informatics journals was hand searched to identify a “gold standard” (GS) set of references about apps. The GS set was divided into a development and validation set. The filters’ search terms were derived from and tested against the development set. An external development set containing app references from published NICE products was also used to inform the development of the filters. The filters were then validated using the validation set. Target recall was >90 percent. The filters’ overall recall, specificity, and precision were calculated using all the references identified from the hand search. Results Both filters achieved 98.6 percent recall against their validation sets. Overall, the MEDLINE filter had 98.8 percent recall, 71.3 percent specificity, and 22.6 percent precision. The Embase filter had 98.6 percent recall, 74.9 percent specificity, and 24.5 percent precision. Conclusions The NICE health apps search filters retrieve evidence about apps from MEDLINE and Embase with high recall. They can be applied to literature searches to retrieve evidence about the interventions by information professionals, researchers, and clinicians.

Background The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence's (NICE) United Kingdom (UK) geographic search filters for MEDLINE and Embase (OVID) retrieve evidence in literature searches for UK-focused research topics with high recall. Their precision and number-needed-to-read (NNR) was examined previously in case studies using a single review. This paper details a larger post-development study that was conducted to test the NICE UK filters' precision and NNR more extensively. Methods The filters' recall of included UK references from 100 reviews was calculated. As reproducible search strategies were not available for every review, the MEDLINE filter's precision and NNR were calculated using strategies from 25 reviews. Strategies from nine reviews were used for the Embase filter. Results The MEDLINE filter achieved an average of 96.4% recall for the included UK references from the 100 reviews and the Embase filter achieved an average of 97.4% recall. Compared to not using a filter, the MEDLINE filter achieved an average of 98.9% recall for the 25 reviews. Precision was increased by an average of 7.8 times, reducing the NNR from 357 to 46. The Embase filter achieved an average of 97.1% recall for the nine reviews. Precision was increased by an average of 5.1 times, reducing the NNR from 746 to 146. Conclusion There is more evidence to demonstrate that the NICE UK filters retrieve the majority of UK evidence from MEDLINE and Embase while increasing precision and reducing NNR. The filters can save time spent on selecting evidence for UK-focused research topics.

In this paper, we construct stable Bott–Samelson classes in the projective limit of the algebraic cobordism rings of full flag varieties, upon an initial choice of a reduced word in a given dimension. Each stable Bott–Samelson class is represented by a bounded formal power series modulo symmetric functions in positive degree. We make some explicit computations for those power series in the case of infinitesimal cohomology. We also obtain a formula of the restriction of Bott–Samelson classes to smaller flag varieties.

In this paper, we prove determinantal formulas for the K -theory classes of the structure sheaves of degeneracy loci associated to vexillary permutations in type A . As a consequence we obtain determinantal formulas for Lascoux–Schutzenberger’s double Grothendieck polynomials associated to vexillary permutations. We also prove a generalization of the formula in algebraic cobordism.

We formulate and study a stochastic model for the thermally-driven motion of interacting straight screw dislocations in a cylindrical domain with a convex polygonal cross-section. Motion is modelled as a Markov jump process, where waiting times for transitions from state to state are assumed to be exponentially distributed with rates expressed in terms of the potential energy barrier between the states. Assuming the energy of the system is described by a discrete lattice model, a precise asymptotic description of the energy barriers between states is obtained. Through scaling of the various physical constants, two dimensionless parameters are identified which govern the behaviour of the resulting stochastic evolution. In an asymptotic regime where these parameters remain fixed, the process is found to satisfy a Large Deviations Principle. A sufficiently explicit description of the corresponding rate functional is obtained such that the most probable path of the dislocation configuration may be described as the solution of Discrete Dislocation Dynamics with an explicit anisotropic mobility which depends on the underlying lattice structure., Comment: Major revision, including overhaul of notation, additions to Section 6 on Large Deviations, and resolution of conjecture in original version. 45 pages, 2 figures, 1 table

In this paper we express the class of the structure sheaves of the closures of Deligne--Lusztig varieties as explicit double Grothendieck polynomials in the first Chern classes of appropriate line bundles on the ambient flag variety. This is achieved by viewing such closures as degeneracy loci of morphisms of vector bundles., Comment: 8 pages, minor changes

In this paper, we prove a generalization of Kempf-Laksov formula for the degeneracy loci classes in even infinitesimal cohomology theories of the Grassmannian bundle and the Lagrangian Grassmannian bundle.

We study the double Grothendieck polynomials of Kirillov--Naruse for the symplectic and odd orthogonal Grassmannians. These functions are explicitly written as sums of Pfaffian and are identified with the stable limits of the fundamental classes of Schubert varieties in the torus equivariant connective K-theory of these isotropic Grassmannians. We also provide a combinatorial description of the ring formally spanned by double Grothendieck polynomials., Comment: This article was originally a part of our previous paper [arXiv:1504.02828]. It was separated from its published version and became an independent paper

We develop a model for an anti-plane crack defect posed on a square lattice under an interatomic pair-potential with nearest-neighbour interactions. In particular, we establish existence, local uniqueness and stability of solutions for small loading parameters and further prove qualitatively sharp far-field decay estimates. The latter requires establishing decay estimates for the corresponding lattice Green’s function, which are of independent interest.

We compute the equivariant cohomology of complex projective spaces associated to finite-dimensional representations of $C_2$, using ordinary cohomology graded on representations of the fundamental groupoid, with coefficients in the Burnside ring Mackey functor. This extension of the $RO(C_2)$-graded theory allows for the definition of Euler classes, which are used as generators of the cohomology of the projective spaces. As an application, we give an equivariant version of Bezout's theorem., Comment: 57 pages, this is a major update. The proof of the main result has been simplified. As an application an equivariant version of Bezout's theorem was added

In this paper we provide generalisations of Pfaffian formulas for the degeneracy loci classes in the algebraic cobordism of symplectic/odd orthogonal Grassmann bundles., Comment: 19 pages

We compute a rigorous asymptotic expansion of the energy of a point defect in a 1D chain of atoms with second neighbour interactions. We propose the Confined Lennard-Jones model for interatomic interactions, where it is assumed that nearest neighbour potentials are globally convex and second neighbour potentials are globally concave. We derive the {\Gamma}-limit for the energy functional as the number of atoms per period tends to infinity and derive an explicit form for the first order term in a {\Gamma}-expansion in terms of an infinite cell problem. We prove exponential decay properties for minimisers of the energy in the infinite cell problem, suggesting that the perturbation to the deformation introduced by the defect is confined to a thin boundary layer., Comment: 26 pages, 3 figures

K5 lyase A (KflA) is a tail spike protein (TSP) encoded by a K5A coliphage, which cleaves K5 capsular polysaccharide, a glycosaminoglycan with the repeat unit [-4)-betaGlcA-(1,4)- alphaGlcNAc(1-], displayed on the surface of Escherichia coli K5 strains. The crystal structure of KflA reveals a trimeric arrangement, with each monomer containing a right-handed, single-stranded parallel beta-helix domain. Stable trimer formation by the intertwining of strands in the C-terminal domain, followed by proteolytic maturation, is likely to be catalyzed by an autochaperone as described for K1F endosialidase. The structure of KflA represents the first bacteriophage tail spike protein combining polysaccharide lyase activity with a single-stranded parallel beta-helix fold. We propose a catalytic site and mechanism representing convergence with the syn-beta-elimination site of heparinase II from Pedobacter heparinus.

We prove a determinantal formula and Pfaffian formulas that respectively describe the $K$-theoretic degeneracy loci classes for Grassmann bundles and for symplectic Grassmann and odd orthogonal bundles. The former generalizes Damon--Kempf--Laksov's determinantal formula and the latter generalize Pragacz--Kazarian's formula for the Chow ring. As an application, we introduce the factorial $G\Theta / G\Theta'$-functions representing the torus equivariant $K$-theoretic Schubert classes of the symplectic and the odd orthogonal Grassmannians, which generalize the (double) theta polynomials of Buch--Kresch--Tamvakis and Tamvakis--Wilson., Comment: This is a major update. In particular, we extended the results in arXiv:1602.04448 and included in this version. We modified the expositions in several places from the previous version

The Oxford bookseller and publisher John Henry Parker (1806–84), a supporter of the Tractarian movement and a friend of Cardinal Newman, was also a historian of architecture, whose two-volume Glossary of Terms Used in Grecian, Roman, Italian, and Gothic Architecture is also reissued in this series. In 1851, he published a volume on English domestic architecture from the Norman Conquest to 1300 by the antiquary Thomas Hudson Turner (1815–52), and on Turner's death he completed the second volume, on the fourteenth century, himself. Both volumes are highly illustrated with line drawings and plans. Volume 1, after an introductory chapter about pre-Conquest buildings, discusses architectural plans, features, building materials and techniques of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, and gives examples of surviving buildings, from grand to modest, all over England, as well as reproducing documents throwing light on the painting and decoration of medieval buildings.

We prove a formula for the push-forward class of Bott-Samelson resolutions in the algebraic cobordism ring of the flag bundle. We specialise our formula to connective K-theory providing a geometric interpretation to the double beta-polynomials of Fomin and Kirillov by computing the fundamental classes of Schubert varieties. As a corollary we obtain a Thom-Porteous formula generalising those of the Chow ring and of the Grothendieck ring of vector bundles., Comment: 20 pages

Recent analyses of major incidents, such as BP's Texas City disaster and the loss of the space shuttle Columbia, have moved from considering immediate factors and basic organisational failings to considering cultural issues. Cultural issues are, however, even more difficult to incorporate into incident investigations and analyses than are organisational factors. This paper provides a structured approach to analysing individual, organisational and cultural/regulatory factors based upon the Bow Tie methodology, using well-defined rules to distinguish three levels of causation. Level 1 analysis describes barriers implemented at the individual and immediate hardware level; Level 2 describes the organisational factors that support level one barriers; Level 3 describes the cultural and regulatory environment that ensures that the organisation implements level 2, thereby ensuring the integrity of level 1 barriers. Incident investigation and analysis can be performed as a structured search for failed barriers at any or all of these three levels. Both organisational failure (L2) and problems with the safety culture and regulatory environment (L3) can be reliably identified, rather than relying upon the intuitions of investigators.

A common feature of many bacteria is the expression of a layer of extracellular polysaccharide usually organised into a discrete structure termed the capsule. The expression of a capsule results in the coating of the bacterium in a hydrated shell of high molecular weight polysaccharide molecules that mediate interactions between the bacterial cell and its immediate environment. The ubiquity of capsule expression across a diverse array of bacterial genera suggests that capsule expression is advantageous in a number of scenarios including infections of plants and animals and maintenance in a broad range of ecosystems. In this chapter we discuss the roles of polysaccharide capsules in the biology of a number of bacterial species and describe how expression of capsule gene expression is achieved in a broad range of bacterial pathogens.

1. Activation of neutrophils results in increased tyrosine phosphorylation of several proteins that may have important roles in receptor/effector coupling. In this study, the effect of a protein tyrosine kinase inhibitor on receptor-mediated neutrophil activation by platelet-activating factor (PAF), leukotriene, B4 (LTB4) and N-formylmethionylleucylphenylalanine (FMLP) is investigated. 2. alpha-Cyano-3,4-dihydroxythiocinnamamide dose-dependently inhibited intracellular calcium release and superoxide generation from human neutrophils activated by 1 microM LTB4, PAF, and FMLP. 3. In the presence of cytochalasin B, FMLP stimulated elastase release from neutrophils was also inhibited to unstimulated levels by 5 min pretreatment with alpha-cyano-3,4-dihydroxythiocinnamamide. 4. The inhibitory action of alpha-cyano-3,4-dihydroxythiocinnamamide was found to be at or upstream of phospholipase C activation, blocking both phosphatidylinositol hydrolysis and protein kinase C activation. alpha-Cyano-3,4-dihydroxythiocinnamamide did not affect agonist receptor binding sites or receptor affinity in neutrophils. 5. Immunoblot analysis demonstrated the tyrosine phosphorylation of proteins of 41, 56, 66, and 104 kDa in neutrophils treated with agonists. Treatment of neutrophils with alpha-cyano-3,4-dihydroxythiocinnamamide prior to stimulation with chemoattractants reduced tyrosine phosphorylation of the above phosphoproteins. 6. These results indicate that alpha-cyano-3,4-dihydroxythiocinnamamide might be a useful agent in characterizing the essential proteins and biochemical pathways that regulate neutrophil activation.

The intracellular expression of the K5 lyase enzyme, which degrades the K5 polysaccharide, decreased cell surface expression of the Escherichia coli K5 capsule. This indicates that biosynthesis of K5 polysaccharide in the cytoplasm is accessible to the action of K5 lyase and is not synthesized within a protected cytoplasmic compartment.

We will present the development of a remote Precision Photonic Readout for Focal Plane Array Detectors. Its underlying principles, design and tests as well as limitations will be discussed. The design, in essence, constitutes a remote, via fiber optics, analog-to-digital converter, where the low level focal plane signals are encoded as differential optical phase shifts. These phase shifts are then recovered as digital numbers at a location external to the detector dewar. The input transducer, a waveguide modulator is electrically passive with a response, which is absolute and unaffected by temperature. The design also provides for nearly complete EMI immunity and appears to be tolerant to radiation effects. As presently comprised it can satisfy the requirements of resolution, precision, bandwidth and dynamic range for all existing Focal Plane Imagers, as well as for future ones under development. Its small size, negligible mass and minimal heatload contribute to its use where these factors are important. We present quantitative data supporting these points, as well as visible and IR Imagery, which were obtained and transmitted off the focal plane by a prototype design.

Moffatt M, ed; Biggs Harris K, associate ed. Thorofare, NJ 08086, Slack Inc, 2006, paperback, 160 pp, illus, ISBN: 1-55642-670-4; $50.95. This book is 1 of a series of 4 books ( Musculoskeletal Essentials, Neuromuscular Essentials, Cardiovascular Essentials, and Integumentary Essentials ) that are designed to help physical therapists, physical therapist assistants, and students use the American Physical Therapy Association's Guide to Physical Therapist Practice (Guide). Integumentary Essentials uses patient cases to illustrate the application of the patient/client management model to each of the 5 integumentary system practice patterns. The first chapter addresses the prevention and risk reduction for integumentary disorders practice pattern. Chapters 2 through 5 cover the other integumentary practice patterns that are based on depth of tissue loss. Each chapter begins with a …

The effects of ten putative protein-tyrosine kinase inhibitors on the activation of protein-serine kinase and germinal vesicle breakdown (GVBD) in maturing sea star oocytes were investigated. Erbstatin and tyrphostins such as AG18 and AG125 blocked 1-methyladenine-induced GVBD in sea star oocytes with IC 50 values of less than 20 μM. Inhibition of the rate of GBVD was achieved even when these compounds were added up to 15 min after exposure of the oocytes to 1-methyladenine. The action of these substances on oocyte maturation was reversed by subsequent washing and culturing of the cells in natural sea water free of the inhibitors. Cell viability was maintained for at least 12 h in their presence, as assessed by Trypan blue dye exclusion. These inhibitors prevented the 1-methyladenine-induced activations of the histone H1 kinase p34 cdc2 , the myelin basic protein kinase p44 mpk and a ribosomal S6 peptide kinase. Erbstatin, AG18 and AG125 prevented 1-methyladenine-induced tyrosine dephosphorylation of p34 cdc2 , and they inhibited tyrosine phosphorylation of p44 mpk . These studies imply that activation of a protein-tyrosine kinase may be necessary for stimulation of p34 cdc2 in maturing sea star oocytes.

Novel hydroxynaphthoquinones are reported with outstanding efficacy against Plasmodium, Eimeria and Theileria species. Biochemical evidence is presented for the selective toxicity of these compounds being due to inhibition of parasite respiratory systems.

For assessment of the role of cyclic adenosine 3′,5′-monophosphate (cAMP) in lymphocyte mitogenesis, adenylate cyclase activity, cAMP content, 3H-thymidine (3H-THY) incorporation, and blast transformation were examined in lymphocytes incubated with mitogenic agents, and with prostaglandins, cholera toxin, or theophylline. When tested over a wide dose range with mouse spleen cells, the mitogens phytohemagglutinin-P (PHA-P), staphylococcal enterotoxin B (SEB), concanavalin-A (CON-A), and endotoxin did not stimulate adenylate cyclase activity or increase cellular cAMP content. Similarly, in human lymphocytes, neither SEB, CON-A, nor mitogenic doses of PHA-P altered cellular cAMP levels. A rapid increase in human lymphocyte cAMP was noted in response to high doses of PHA-P, but such doses resulted in little induction of 3H-THY incorporation compared to lower doses that were ineffective in elevating cAMP. Further, PGE1, cholera toxin, and theophylline, agents which all significantly increased lymphocyte cAMP content, uniformly suppressed both basal and mitogen-induced 3H-THY incorporation and blast transformation in a dose-related manner. The inhibitory effects of PGE1, cholera toxin, and theophylline on mitogen induced 3H-THY incorporation were time-dependent. After a 36-hr exposure of mouse spleen cells to CON-A increases in cellular cAMP no longer inhibited subsequent DNA synthesis, perhaps owing to the fact that those metabolic events influenced by cAMP were already completed in the majority of mitogen-activated cells by 36 hr. Moreover, washing mouse spleen cells which had been concomitantly incubated with CON-A and with PGE1 or theophylline for periods up to 36 hr abolished the inhibitory actions of the latter agents on 3H-THY incorporation. It seems possible from these results that elevated cellular cAMP levels may only delay, by a reversible process, the flow of mitogen-activated lymphocytes through their growth cycle and that lymphocytes remain susceptible to such inhibition for only a finite period after stimulation with mitogens.

Involvement of the retroperitoneal space in traumatic perforation of the rectum has been discussed. The anatomic limits of the retroperitoneal space are outlined. Transverse colostomy should be contemplated in all perforating wounds of the rectum. Extraperitoneal drainage of retroperitoneal abscess is stressed.

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A method of surgical repair of ectropion of mucosa occurring after an improperly-performed amputative type of hemorrhoidectomy has been described. Results after anoplasty, employing the S-plasty technic, have been excellent.

The records of 200 patients with adenomatous polyps of the rectum, followed 3 to 15 years, were reviewed. Rectal adenomas were most prevalent in patients between the ages of 45 to 65 years. Men predominated over women (ratio, 1.6 : 1.0). The recurrence rate of adenomatous polyps of the rectum was 31 per cent.