Rectal prolapse typically presents in elderly women with protruding full-thickness rectum from the anus. Rectopexy using mesh is known to be a highly curative treatment for rectal prolapse, however, this procedure carries the risk of severe complication as mesh erosion.A 78-year-old woman who had undergone laparoscopic posterior rectopexy 4 years earlier visited the outpatient clinic with a complaint of bloody stool. A colonoscopy and computed tomography revealed that part of the mesh had migrated into the rectal lumen at 8 cm from the anal verge. Based on the above findings, a diagnosis of mesh erosion into the rectum was made. Complete removal of the mesh and tacker with rectal resection was performed. Before rectopexy, the patient had severe fecal incontinence, and her anal sphincter function was decreased, therefore, Permanent colostomy was indicated instead of anastomosis. In the resected specimen, the mesh was folded and placed in the mesenteric fat of the posterior wall of the rectum, with the corner of the edge of the mesh protruding into the inside lumen.Mesh erosion typically occurs when using mesh made of synthetic mesh and non-absorbable threads; it might induce chronic irritation and friction due to mesh shrinkage.To prevent mesh erosion, it is important to pay attention to the mesh materials used and ensure secure fixation. •Mesh erosion into rectum after Laparoscopic posterior rectopexy was reported.•Complete removal of the mesh and tacker with rectal resection was needed.•Colostomy was made because of existence of severe fecal incontinence, preoperatively.•Paying attention to the Shrinkage and secure fixation of synthetic mesh. Rectal prolapse is attributed to frail pelvic floor muscles accompanied by aging and childbirth, and it causes severe discomfort around the perineum. Surgical intervention is sometimes needed for treatment There are two procedures for surgically managing rectal prolapse: trans-abdominal approach and the trans-perineal approach. In elderly patients, the operative procedure is determined while taking into account the extent of prolapse, surgical invasiveness and expected quality of life after the operation The trans-abdominal approach is a more radical method of curing rectal prolapse and has a better surgical outcome than the trans-perineal approach. Mesh is used for rectopexy in the trans-abdominal approach to fix the rectum to the sacrum. However, this mesh is associated with specific complications, especially rare but severe complications of rectal erosion, which are observed in 1.7% of cases We herein report a case of mesh erosion into the rectum after laparoscopic posterior rectopexy along with a literature review. This report is in line with the SCARE criteria 2A healthy 78-year-old woman had been suffering from 10-cm rectal prolapse from the anus for several years. The patient had undergone laparoscopic posterior rectopexy via the Wells technique four years ago. At the operation, synthetic mesh composed of polypropylene at the sacral attachment side and expanded polytetrafluoro-ethylene at the organ attachment side had been used to fix the rectum. After the rectum was mobilized from the promontory of the sacrum down to the pelvic floor, the mesh was trimmed to three-quarters of the circumference of the rectal wall and then placed at the dorsal side of the rectum, where it was fixed with tackers at the sacrum. The mesh was then sutured and fixed to the rectal wall with absorbable string, and the whole mesh was completely covered with peritoneum . The patFour years after the surgery, the patient complained of a small amount of bloody stool. A colonoscopy examination revealed that part of the mesh had migrated into the rectal lumen at 8 cm from the anal verge . ComputeComplete removal of the mesh and tacker with rectal resection was performed by experienced colorectal surgeon. Before rectopexy, the patient had severe fecal incontinence and her anal sphincter function was decreased, therefore, Hartmann's operation was indicated instead of anastomosis. Intraoperative findings showed that the posterior wall of the rectum, the anterior surface of the sacrum and the mesh were tightly adherent, with firm scars. The mesh and tacker were completely removed from the presacral scar tissue by sharp dissection with electric scissors. The rectum was resected with the mesh and tacker, and sigmoid colostomy was constructed. In the resected specimen, the mesh was folded like a mesh plug for inguinal hernia repair and placed in the mesenteric fat of the posterior wall of the rectum, with the corner of the edge of the mesh protruding into the inside lumen a, b.Fig.The patient had a good postoperative course without any complications except for postoperative dysuria. She is still followed up in the outpatient clinic without any additional interventions.3Various surgical procedures are available for managing rectal prolapse, being mainly categorized into trans-abdominal and trans-anal approaches. Transabdominal rectopexy might be recommended for the treatment of rectal prolapse if a patient is deemed able to tolerate such an operation Three procedures of trans-abdominal rectopexy have been performed: anterior sling rectopexy (the Ripstein method), posterior rectopexy (the Wells method) and ventral rectopexy. These procedures use mesh to fix the rectum to the sacrum, and tackers or absorbable/non-absorbable threads are used to connect the mesh to the organs. Posterior rectopexy and Ventral rectopexy generally results in a better outcome in terms of recurrence and quality of life after the operation Representative major complications after trans-abdominal rectopexy are ileus (3%), wound infection (3%), and scar hernia (1%) Mesh erosion is phenomenon whereby rectum wall becomes damaged as a result of chronic contact and mechanical irritation or friction with implanted mesh for a long period The frequency of mesh erosion differs between synthetic and biomaterial meshes, with reported rates of 7–14% and 0%, respectively Using non-absorbable thread for mesh fixation can also cause mechanical irritation and may induce mesh erosion. There are also differences in the frequency of mesh erosion between absorbable and non-absorbable thread which is used for mesh fixation. The erosion occurred at a frequency of 2% in the nonabsorbable suture group, including erosions into the rectum and the vagina. On the contrary, there was no erosion in the absorbable suture group According to Nilesh et al., deeper stitches through the rectal wall and ischemia secondary to excessive tension placed around the rectum are both risk factors of mesh erosion. Therefore, it is important not to stitch the needle too deeply to the rectal wall when suturing the mesh, and to adjust the position of the stitch not to make an excessive tension on the rectal wall Treatment of mesh erosion depends on the location of erosion, severity of mesh protrusion into the rectum, presence of infection, and degree of fibrosis around the area of mesh. Mesh erosion is typically treated with surgery including trans abdominal or trans anal mesh removal and involved tissues in the fashion of rectal resection with or without stoma formation In the present case, synthetic mesh was used, with absorbable thread and tacker was used for fixation to sacrum. This may have caused the mesh to move, potentially contributing to its erosion into the rectum. Rectal resection was needed because of preoperative severe fecal incontinence.4Postoperative mesh erosion into the rectum is a rare but severe complication after rectopexy. The main reason for this event is considered to be continuous mechanical irritation between the mesh and rectum under conditions of continuous peristaltic movement. Mesh made of synthetic materials and non-absorbable threads might induce chronic irritation and friction due to mesh shrinkage. To prevent mesh erosion, it is important to pay attention to the mesh materials used and ensure secure fixation.This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.Not applicable.Written informed consent was obtained from the patient and her family for the publication of this case report and the accompanying images. A copy of the written consent is available for review by the Editor in Chief of this journal upon request.Not applicable.Tsuyoshi Enomoto.Not commissioned, externally peer-reviewed.SY contributed to play important role in clinical setting and wrote of the manuscript. TE is the corresponding author and conceptualization of treatment and the manuscript. YO, YO, YA, TO revised and approved the final manuscript.All authors declare no conflicts of interest.


Capybaras are the largest rodents cohabiting with humans within urban and peri-urban green areas. Surgical contraception has been recommended as a method of population control in cases of overpopulation and/or zoonotic disease transmission; however, scant data are available on sterilization procedures and relevant surgical anatomy. For surgical anatomic description, eight female capybara cadavers were dissected; the layers of the abdominal wall are described as well as the access to the uterine tubes and uterine horns by a lateral or ventral midline approach. For better description of the abdominal wall, ultrasonography was performed in one (1) living female. The uterine tubes were easily accessed by the bilateral flank approach, whereas the uterine horns were more easily exposed by the ventral midline approach. Given the lack of data regarding surgical anatomy for contraceptive surgeries in female capybaras, this study helps achieve more efficient contraceptive surgeries, both reducing the total surgical time and enhancing animal welfare.Capybaras are the largest rodents cohabiting with humans within urban and peri-urban green areas and are known by their prolificity. Surgical contraception has been recommended by official organizations as a way to control capybara populations in areas of zoonotic disease transmission, but little data are available concerning surgical anatomy. To obtain objective anatomical descriptions related to reproductive organs, eight female capybaras cadavers were dissected. The stratigraphy of the lateral (flank) and ventral, post-umbilical  abdominal wall is described as well as the vascular anatomy of reproductive organs and their syntopy with the abdominal viscera. We commented on the access to the uterine tubes and uterine horns for each approach, and for better description of abdominal wall stratigraphy, abdominal ultrasonography was performed in one live female. All of the animals were provenient from “in situ” population management projects that were properly authorized. Similar abdominal wall stratigraphy was found in comparison to domestic mammals, with emphasis on a thick cutaneous muscle, a thin linea alba, and a large, loose cecum. The uterine tubes were easily accessed by bilateral laparotomy, allowing tubal removal/ligation procedures, while uterine horn exposure was more readily reached by a midline post umbilical celiotomy, favoring horn ligature and hysterotomy techniques. This study can help achieve more efficient contraceptive surgeries in capybaras, reducing the total surgical time and enhancing animal welfare. Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris, Linnaeus 1766) are the largest living rodents found only in the Neotropics [Capybaras  via a bilateral flank approach was described by Yanai, whereas Passos Nunes [Odocoileus virginianus) populations in the United States, reinforcing both lateral and ventral approaches for contraceptive surgery in wild, free-ranging mammals. The awareness about abdominal anatomy, including muscular stratigraphy and the relation between abdominal viscera is essential for proper surgical planning. Little data are available concerning this relation in capybaras, with the data being limited to digestive anatomy and physiopathology [Contraceptive methods that preserve the gonads are used in free-ranging wildlife population control ,9,10. Tuos Nunes ,8 reportos Nunes  for surgathology ,15,16. Iathology .ovarium), uterine tubes , and uterine horns . A bilateral laparotomy or a midline post-umbilical celiotomy provided access to the reproductive organs of capybaras. The dorsal location of the ovary and uterine tubes requires a bilateral minilaparotomy for tubal ligation/removal performance and the easy identification of the uterine horns through a median post-umbilical celiotomy makes this approach better for uterine ligature or hysterotomy performance, with it being an efficient alternative to mass sterilization surgeries when the maintenance of the ovary is recommended.With the purpose of describing surgical abdominal anatomy and the enhancement of surgical efficiency in female capybaras, the lateral (flank) and midline, post umbilical (LA) regions of female capybara cadavers were dissected. Furthermore, ultrasonography was performed on one living female to confirm the presence of a complete linea alba. The abdominal wall stratigraphy was described as well as the vascular anatomy of reproductive organs and the syntopy with the abdominal viscera. We sustained the hypothesis that a bilateral laparotomy provides better access to the uterine tubes and ovaries, while a midline post umbilical celiotomy (LA) is preferred for the uterine body and horns. Our conclusion was that the stratigraphy of the abdominal wall follows the general anatomy described for mammals, with variations in muscular thickness and ease of identification of the linea alba. The loose and large cecum occupies the greatest part of the abdomen and is in syntopy with the ovaries , injected in the caudal direction of abdominal aorta. With the objective of enhancing the color and assisting the identification of the cutaneous muscle, musculus panniculus carnosus, the third cadaver was inked with a homemade alcoholic reduction of Hibiscus sp. . The other five cadavers were dissected after thawing was complete.Dissection of the abdominal region was performed in eight female capybara cadavers weighing between 25–80 kg, provenient from population control projects of free-ranging capybaras, previously authorized by corresponding government agencies , and by the ethical committee of the School of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science of São Paulo University (CEUA—FMVZ/USP: 3990010822). The animals died from different causes not related to management involving trauma and conspecific fighting. All of the cadavers were frozen and thawed in a tank with tepid water prior to dissection. One cadaver was fixed following the Tamayo–Arango technique ; for an In one adult living female (65 kg) provenient from a research project authorized by government authorities and by the ethical committee of the same institution , a ventral abdominal ultrasound was performed objectivating a non-invasive anatomic description of the ventral abdomen . The images were made at a transverse plane covering the pre-umbilical , umbilical, and post-umbilical regions .For a lateral abdominal dissection, the cadaver was set up on a lateral recumbency. The place of dissection was defined utilizing the ovary localization described by Pradere  as a basdermis and dermal white adipose tissue (WAT)  A, followue (WAT) B.Subsequently the following structures were dissected: the transverse fascia, external abdominal oblique muscle, internal abdominal oblique muscle (narrow), transversus abdominis muscle (showing slightly oblique fibers), and parietal peritoneum .The ipsilateral ovary and correspondent uterine tube, located caudally to the caudal pole of the kidney, could be accessed through a minilaparotomy approach with an incision over the cranio–caudal axis  at a lateral recumbency. This approach granted easy exposure of the ipsilateral ovary and uterine tube for tubal ligation/removal, but it did not provide enough exposure to the ipsilateral uterine horns for horn ligature or a hysterotomy. The uterine tube is a tubular structure near the mesosalpinx, and its irrigation comes from the tubarian branch of the ovarian artery, itself a direct branch of the abdominal aorta, emerging cranially to the caudal mesenteric artery. Considering the dorsal position of the ovary, the contralateral ovary could not be pulled through the same incision, demanding two lateral abdominal incisions for the bilateral tubal ligation/removal.corpus ceci) when the cecum is tympanic. On the left antimer, it is in syntopy with the descendent colon in a medial surface and with the body of the cecum on a ventral surface.The uterine tubes are in syntopy with the ipsilateral ovary and with the cranial end of the ipsilateral uterine horn. On the right antimer, the uterine tube can be in syntopy with the small intestine (jejunum) on a medial surface depending on the cecum and uterus distention and it is in syntopy with the spiral  ansa of the ascending colon on a ventral surface, with it sometimes being able to make contact with the cecum body (m. rectus abdominis) in a superficial plane, the aponeurosis of internal abdominal oblique muscle covering the rectus abdominis muscle on a superficial and deep plane, and the aponeurosis of transversus abdominis muscle covering the rectus abdominis muscle in a deep plane, forming together the rectus sheet (vagina m. recti abdominis) with its internal and external lamina (lamina interna and lamina externa), as well as the linea alba, in a median plane, dividing the two muscular bands of the rectus abdominis muscle , followed by the uterine body and uterine horns, both in syntopy with the descending colon (colon descendens). There is no evident great omentum supporting the abdominal organs at the most ventral view and the body of the cecum is found cranially to the urinary bladder. The cecum can occupy the pre-umbilical, umbilical, and post umbilical regions depending on its distention by ingesta and gas (basis ceci) is at the median plane of the abdominal cavity and is attached to the mesentery root (radix mesenterii) by a peritoneum fold, allowing the body of the cecum to be displaced to the left or to the right depending on the uterine distention in pregnant females. The cecum base gives rise to a sacculation where the cecum body begins. From the cranial part of this sacculation, the proximal ansa of the ascending colon begins and follows alongside the cecum body attached to it by the cecocolic fold (plica cecocolica). The cecum body goes on a superficial plane to the left side of the abdomen, making a flexure on the left flank. It returns to the middle abdomen and continues to the right, taking a dorsal direction to finish again in the middle plane with its apex (apex ceci), attached by the pyloric region through a peritoneal fold. The colic duodenal fold is present as well (plica duodenocolica).Identification of the linea alba is not always easy and the surgeon might have some difficulty in properly locating it. In some dissections, the presence of the  and gas . The basA minilaparotomy by this approach (incision length of approximately 3.5 cm) provided good exposure of both uterine horns and allowed the performance of Passos Nunes uterine horn ligature, also permitting hysterectomy performance in pregnant females. In the case of hysterotomies in pregnant multiparous females (when in possession of a more distensible uterus), with highly advanced pregnancy, the incision might be enlarged 4 cm cranially and the caudal part of the uterine tube might be identifiable through this approach. The irrigation of the uterine body and uterine horns arises cranially from a uterine branch from the ovarian artery and anastomoses caudally with the uterine artery, itself an internal iliac artery branch. The mesometrium is richly vascularized, with its arteries and vessels are distributed like a comb irrigating the uterine horns; thus, performing a hysterectomy becomes a challenge .The ultrasound findings are described in Cavia porcellus), hystricomorph rodents closely related to capybaras, also encompass the external abdominal oblique muscle as the outermost layer, followed by the internal abdominal oblique muscle, transversus abdominis, and rectus abdominis [linea alba visibility in this species. The aponeurosis of external abdominal oblique muscle in capybaras followed the description of Risk [In this study the lateral and ventral abdominal anatomy of female capybaras has been described to promote better surgical procedures for sterilization surgeries. The anatomy of the capybaras’ abdominal wall followed the general stratigraphy described for mammals , with vabdominis , althoug of Risk  for Equi of Risk , althouglinea alba formation and might cause extra bleeding on both surgical approaches to its thickness, adding an extra barrier to be sutured.The superficial cutaneous muscle, also called the cutaneous maximus by Potter , has bee(Rattus norvegicus). Yanai [Entering the abdominal cavity, the cecum occupies the greatest part of the ventral abdomen, as described by Vazquez, Yanai, and Herrera ,14,28 an). Yanai  in turn ). Yanai  for dogs). Yanai . In rela). Yanai  reports The stratigraphy of the abdominal wall of capybaras followed the general pattern described for other mammals. A bilateral laparotomy or midline post-umbilical celiotomy provided access to the reproductive organs of capybaras. While a bilateral laparotomy is necessary for good exposure of uterine tubes, a single midline celiotomy in a post-umbilical region provided good exposure of uterine horns but no access to the ovaries or uterine tubes, making the flank approach better for tubal ligation/removal and the post-umbilical approach for Passos Nunes uterine horn ligature, corroborating with our hypothesis.


The COVID-19 pandemic and measures to prevent the spread of the virus challenged public health practice at the local and regional level in Sweden. The objective of this study was to follow-up how local preventive ADT prevention  in Sweden was affected during 2020-2021.All Swedish municipalities (N = 290) were included in surveys on how the pandemic affected local ADT prevention. Response rates ranged between 82 and 91 percent. Quantitative data were analysed with reference to socioeconomic and demographic conditions. Qualitative data were analysed thematically.A majority of the municipalities reported a decrease in ADT prevention, especially aimed at groups such as parents, children, and young people. There was no correlation between the decrease in municipal ADT prevention and socio-demographic conditions. A majority of the municipalities reported that activities were adapted, often with a digital approach. Adaptation of ADT prevention was less common in smaller municipalities and municipalities where residents had lower levels of education and lower incomes. An increase in activities, as a consequence of measures to prevent the spread of the virus, was more common in larger municipalities and municipalities with a greater proportion of residents with higher educational backgrounds and higher incomes.ADT prevention carried out by municipalities in Sweden was initially deeply affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and by measures to prevent the spread of the virus. However, activities were adapted over time, mainly with a digital approach. The ability to adapt differed depending on the sociodemographic conditions of the municipalities. Follow-up studies on ADT prevention and the consequences of the digital approach during 2021 will be presented at the conference.


It is a fundamental challenge to understand how brain function is related to its functional and structural organization, i.e., what shapes the neuronal activity patterns observed across scales that define cognitive and behavioral processes, as well as their breakdown in mental health disorders , to neuronal populations' activity examined in terms of neural mass or neural field models  and to slow and ultra-slow fluctuations of neuronal and metabolic activity at the whole-brain scale .This Research Topic focuses on the structure-function relationship in neuronal networks at different temporal and spatial scales. The latter range from fast-spiking and bursting dynamics of individual neurons organized in recurrent networks (Berner and Yanchuk), to the impact of time delays in coupling and intrinsic activity , and to the effects of noise or stochastic perturbations , as well as to heterogeneity of individual and collective neuronal dynamics .Special attention is paid to the modeling of neuronal plasticity  in the hippocampus and its spectra as energy is quenched from the system. The authors examine rat LFPs recorded from the hippocampus and entorhinal cortex during barbiturate overdose euthanasia. The data obtained in this study support the energy cascade theory where the energy flows from large cortical populations to smaller loops.The experimental work of All other contributions report numerical or theoretical studies based on mean-field or network descriptions of neural systems. In particular, the following papers deal with neural mass and field models.Laing et al. present a powerful method for studying the influence of a network structure on its dynamics by employing the reduction technique by Ott and Antonsen  stabilize brain dynamics by temporarily preventing the onset to oscillatory and pathologically synchronized dynamics and (2) enhance or weaken synchronization depending on the underlying eigenvalue spectrum of the connectivity matrix.Bi et al. show that the E-I balance can cause various regimes observable in the brain. The authors classify the possible dynamical behaviors emerging in balanced E-I networks with structural heterogeneity. Analytic results show that both supra- and sub-threshold balanced asynchronous regimes are observable in the limit of large in-degrees. The coherent rhythms observed in the system can range from periodic and quasi-periodic collective oscillations to coherent chaos. These rhythms are characterized by regular or irregular temporal fluctuations joined to spatial coherence, similar to coherent fluctuations observed in the cortex over multiple spatial scales.Hutt et al. derive a closed-form mean-field representation for an Erdös-Rényi network with two populations of interconnected neurons driven by additive noise. Considering Gaussian and Poissonian stimulation to excitatory neurons, they observe coherence resonance and show that partial stochastic stimulation promotes coherence resonance compared to global stimulation.Coronel-Oliveros et al. consider a whole-brain model based on the Jasen and Rit neural mass Jansen and Rit . Through numerical simulations, the authors determine how the amount of information transferred between the populations depends on the connection delays and frequency detuning. The results highlight the role of the transthalamic V-motif in binding spatially separated cortical computations and suggest an important regulatory role of the direct cortico-cortical connection.Berner and Yanchuk introduce a methodology for studying synchronization in adaptive networks with heterogeneous adaptation rules. The authors consider a network of phase oscillators with distance-dependent adaptations. For such system, the master stability function approach  and No. 826421 . SY was supported by the German Research Foundation DFG, Project No. 411803875. JC was funded by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology grants UIDB/50026/2020, UIDP/50026/2020, and CEECIND/03325/2017.The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.


Visualizing the process of neural circuit formation during neurogenesis, using genetically modified animals or somatic transgenesis of exogenous plasmids, has become a key to decipher cortical development and evolution. In contrast to the establishment of transgenic animals, the designing and preparation of genes of interest into plasmids are simple and easy, dispensing with time-consuming germline modifications. These advantages have led to neuron labeling based on somatic transgenesis. In particular, mammalian expression plasmid, CRISPR-Cas9, and DNA transposon systems, have become widely used for neuronal visualization and functional analysis related to lineage labeling during cortical development. In this review, we discuss the advantages and limitations of these recently developed techniques. Neuroscientists for the longest time have been fascinated by the idea of neocortex as the “seat of intelligence,” tasked with integrating sensory inputs and supporting higher order cognitive processes that are paramount for survival. In the neocortex of the members of the mammalian clade, billions of neurons of various subtypes are organized radially into a stereotypical six-layered cytoarchitecture and tangentially into functional areas that subserve different cognitive functions . The way1 and the Allen Institute for Brain Science2 is testament to its popularity and success as a tool amongst neuroscientists using mouse as a model organism. However, as the field progresses, the usefulness of the house mouse (Mus musculus) as a prime model organism begins to fade in favor of other newly developed ones. This is in part due to its limitation as a lissencephalic mammal, but more so because evo-devo neuroscientists need to work on multiple organisms to elucidate the evolutionary mechanisms underlying neurogenesis. To establish transgenic lines in all the new model animals would be costly and time-consuming, or even out of the question in the case of human translational research on cognitive disorders. Hence there is a need for genetic manipulation tools that allow researchers to conduct their experiments without the use of transgenic lines, but also provide appropriate level of temporal and spatial control over the neurons that are targeted.Tools that label or allow for the genetic manipulation of neurons proved to be invaluable in this respect, providing information about a neuron’s birthdate and lineage at the time of labeling. The simplest form of labeling would be to utilize fluorescent proteins or small peptide tags to visualize a specific type of neurons. In its current iteration, this would be done using transgenic animals; reporter lines expressing “labeling” proteins such as LacZ and other fluorescent proteins , red fluorescent protein (RFP), yellow fluorescent protein (YFP); hereafter referred to as XFPs), are crossed with driver lines expressing recombinases under the promoters of the specific gene of interest to selectively label target cell types . The expCurrent approaches for neuronal visualization include the introduction of chemicals or vectors for endogenous genetic material, such as viruses or plasmids, into the cerebral ventricle . This spInjection of thymidine analogs such as bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) and 5-ethynyl-2′-deoxyuridine (EdU), allows the labeling of actively dividing progenitors at the time of injection. As the thymidine analogs are diluted with each successive cell division, only neurons born immediately following the injection will be strongly labeled. The recently developed Flash Tag (FT) method further limits labeling to only the neural progenitor population, by taking advantage of the process of interkinetic nuclear migration (IKNM) in which VZ progenitors move to the ventricular surface during the M-phase of the cell cycle. In contrast to previous methods of injections, FT introduces carboxyfluorescein esters (CFSEs) dyes, which only fluoresces when taken up by cells, into the ventricle of the mouse embryo. With a short labeling time of 1–2 h, FT is a much more powerful tool for fate mapping, birthdate analysis, and migration analysis as compared to its predecessors . Howeverin vitro and in vivo analysis  has been established over 30 years ago , and hasanalysis .loxP and FLEx systems  Microinjection of plasmids containing the gene of interest (GOI) into the ventricular lumen, (2) followed by the delivery of electrical pulses facilitated by an extra-uterine pair of electrodes. The electrical pulses destabilize the lipophilic membrane of the progenitors present at the ventricular surface, and negatively charged DNA is guided into cells closer to the anode end of the electrodes. Thus, different cortical areas can be targeted by changing the angle at which the electrodes are placed . Commerc systems . A key p systems . As a re systems .Currently two different approaches have been employed to achieve a higher cellular single cell resolution. The Tetbow system introduces a mixture of XFP plasmids into the cells resulting in stochastic multi-color labeling of electroporated neurons based on the combinatorial expression of XFPs . The swiThe myriad of plasmids and tools available allow for flexible genetic manipulation that can be tailored to suit the needs of the experiment. Owing to the rapid dilution of non-integrated expression vectors during cell division in the cortical progenitors, this method is preferably used for time-stamped neuronal birthdate labeling and the analysis of neuronal migration patterns.pLeakless-III vector which quenches donor leakage prior to insertion. To increase the insertion efficiency, the single-cell labeling of endogenous proteins by CRISPR-Cas9-mediated HDR” (SLENDR)  and the supplied sequence of interest can be integrated either by non-homologous end joining (NHEJ) or homology-directed repair in post-mitotic cells and actively dividing progenitors, respectively. Since its introduction as a tool for genetic manipulation, it has undergone several rounds of modification to overcome some of the early problems. For example, (SLENDR)  techniqu(SLENDR)  and Brai(SLENDR)  being puin trans, results in the stable and efficient integration into the target cell genome. The rise in the popularity of transposon based approaches in favor of transgenic animal lines in numerous in vivo applications, including fate mapping  can be electroporated, and when mobilized by the appropriate transposase supplemented  mapping , multipl mapping , assessm mapping , or dire mapping , is not  mapping . This al mapping . Star Tr mapping , Ubc  system, which achieves the CRISPR-Cas9-based transfer of ssODNs to E0.7 embryos capable of generating of knock-out by indels and knock-in of up to 1 kb in length (Amongst the various techniques presented, we believe that IUE would be the best way forward as it provides both spatial and temporal control over the neurons being target. IUE, however, does have its technical limitations, most of them concerning the visibility and accessibility to the ventricular lumen. For example, IUE of mice becomes difficult perinatally; despite having a neurogenic period up till E10, IOE in the chick can only be performed between E3 and E5 as the maturation of the blood vessels and the eye prevents access to the neocortex without damaging surrounding tissue , bottom.n length . Other mn length . The ultn length . Given tTK drafted the manuscript and created the Figures. TK and CO-M discussed and revised the manuscript. Both authors contributed to the study and approved the final manuscript.The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.


It is an established fact that the Covid-19 pandemic had a persistent economic uncertainty effect than health uncertainty. In this study, the researchers examined the effects of expanding sales online on the financial resilience of enterprises in sub-Sahara Africa (SSA) during the economic downturn. The researchers measured financial resilience by the extent of sales and cash-flows decline during the pandemic. The researchers collected 4751 unweighted data from the World Bank’s Enterprise Survey and it Covid-19 follow-up survey. Findings from the bivariate probit model and the predictive margin probabilities showed that most enterprises in SSA adopted or expanded proportion of sales online during the pandemic. Increasing the proportion of online sales exerted a decreasing effect on sales and cash-flow declines and thus improved financial resilience at a threshold of 40% during the pandemic. Large enterprises were observed to be more resilient than small and medium enterprises, yet domestic and foreign enterprises had the same level of financial resilience during the pandemic. For enterprises in Africa to realise the 40% threshold of online sales, the researchers encourage enterprises to invest in advertisement for product legitimacy. The level of economic or business uncertainty was very high at the early stages of the pandemic since rational expectations were hard to form, and the pandemic containment measures were direct affront on economic activities of all forms [An economic shock, such as the Covid-19 pandemic, distorts business environment and creates a new norm for business operations. It is an established fact that the covid-19 pandemic had a persistent economic uncertainty effect than health uncertainty  since the behaviour of the virus was understood faster than the behaviour of economic entities during the crisis  referredll forms . This leAdopting sales online was supposed to have its own positive and negative consequences. On the positive side, enterprises that sell more of their products online have access to unlimited customer base on which Covid-19 containment measures may impact less . Hence, winner’s curse phenomenon could imply where the cost of getting the product sold online may be higher than selling it onsite or in person; and hence the benefits of selling more online may be eroded. Also, outsourcing could come with additional service charges that consumers may implicitly consider as part of the cost of the product. The perceived high transaction cost from online activities could affect the volume of demand as compared to other closed substitute products sold in brick-and-mortar or offline sales. Second, the decision of an enterprise to go online must coincide with the decision of the customer-based, who may be the direct patrons of the internet for purchasing activities [The contribution of this paper therefore is to examine the effects of expanding sales online on the financial resilience of enterprises in sub-Sahara Africa (SSA) during the economic downturn. The researchers measured financial resilience by the extent of sales and cash-flow decline during the Covid-19 pandemic. Our decision to undertake such a study is borne out of the fact that, sub-Sahara Africa is plagued with some challenges with regard to selling products online and this could worsen the plight of existing enterprise especially in times of shocks such as the recent pandemic. These challenges could be presented in twofold. First, going online as a coping strategy to a crisis situation could require high initial set-up cost or may require that such services are outsourced . For thetivities . If the tivities . The resThe paper is organised as follows: section one is the background of the study that sets out the motivation for undertaking the study. The contribution the paper seeks to make as against the implications for not understudying this phenomenon is outlined in this section. “Theoretically, the study was grounded in the resource-based view of enterprise performance and transaction cost theory. Resource-based view stressed on the firm’s internal resources and capabilities in relation to its external environment . The res. [. [Yakup et al.  summaris. [.  became vThe effects of increasing online sales on financial performance may as well depend on its relationship with transaction cost. That is, whether selling more online improve financial resilience or not depends on how it affects the transaction cost of sales as well as its effect on the cash conversion cycle. The main focus of the current study was to examine and explain how the proportion of online sales influences financial resilience of enterprises during the deteriorated Covid-19 business environment.The extant literature suggests that there are several studies on online activities and electronic commerce (e-commerce) prior to the pandemic and few within the pandemic. For instance, Lockett (2018) identified online marketing strategies and online content strategies as among the strategies that SMEs can use to boost sales revenue. Toombs and Harlow  had earlDuch-Brown et al.  acknowleH1: strategies to increase online sales during pandemic is associated with high sales performance and guaranteed financial resilience of enterprisesWomen enterprises were not left-off the hook of the devastation caused by the pandemic. In a study Anggadwita et al. , which sAccording to Jovanovic et al. , there iH2: an increase in online sales through products popularity is associated with sales performance regardless of enterprise ownership and size.Wentrup  argued tThe study was purely quantitative following the positivist research philosophy. The design was explanatory and cross-sectional in time dimension. The dataset from the World Bank Covid-19 Follow-up Survey that traced enterprises that were involved in the Enterprise Survey (WBES) prior to the pandemic was used for the analysis. The follow-up survey included eight sub-Saharan African countries . Somalia, Zambia and Zimbabwe had completed second wave of the survey.α is the intercept, Together the dataset contained 4751 unweighted observations on SSA countries; which translates to 214,695 weighted sample size. A bivariate probit (bi-probit) model was fitted as presented in Eqs. (ε). That is, simultaneity biased was suspected which supports the use of simultaneous equation-based estimation. The appropriateness of the bivariate probit model was tested with the rho test. The maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) technique was used to estimate Eqs. (The model followed the seemingly unrelated regression equation (SURE) model which takes the possible endogeneity of sales and cash-flow decline into consideration through the correlation between the error terms (e and ate Eqs.  and 2)  ε). ThatThe distribution of sales and cash-flow situations is presented in Table Figure The results further suggested that foreign enterprises were more likely to sell more of their product online during the crisis than domestic enterprises in SSA. That is, foreign enterprises sold about 28.39% with a spread of 0.8882, whilst domestic firms sold about 24.81% of their output online with a spread of about 0.8382. The results further indicated that SMEs and large enterprises sold equal percentage of their product online  in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.The observation that most enterprises, irrespective of size or ownership structure, sold a significant proportion of their sales online was consistent with the earlier observation of UNCTAD  and TotoTable The results suggested that the percentage of enterprises’ sales online had significant direct but diminishing effects on both sales decline and cash-flow decline during the pandemic. The results implied a threshold effect at which further percentage increase in online sales begins to exert negative effects on sales and/or cash-flow decline. That is, both the sale and cash-flow models were identical in terms of shape- had inverted U-shaped. Figure The plot depicts a threshold effect of about 40% of online sales before further increase in online sales could reduce both sales and cash-flow decline. The consistency of the optimal percentage online adoption was vivid in the two plots, since the probability that an enterprise that adopt online sales shall not experience either sale or cash-flow decline also increases after 40% of adoption.The other two possibilities were the likelihood for an enterprise to experience sales decline without experiencing cash-flow decline, and the tendency that an enterprise shall experience cash-flow decline without having experienced sales decline. These two possibilities were estimated and presented in Fig. The plot in Fig. The outcome of the analysis provides support to the pre-pandemic views that increasing sales online could improve enterprises’ performance. Duch-Brown et al.  found thThe observation that a threshold effects exist on the effects of online sales on financial resilience has been observed elsewhere in earlier studies in Canada. The DBC observed a threshold of 50% of online sales before enterprises exhibit superior performance over their peers engaged in direct sales. But the current study observed a threshold of 40% of online sales to guarantee positive effects on financial resilience of enterprises during economic downturn of the Covid-19 pandemic.From Table The fact that there are moderating and mediating effects to the relationship between online sales and enterprise performance was consistent with the outcome of the studies of Jovanovic et al., . JovanovThe outcome of the study, however, contradicts the views of Ika et al.  who obseIn this study, we examined the effects of expanding sales online on the financial resilience of enterprises in sub-Sahara Africa (SSA) during the economic downturn. Our analysis was purely based on quantitative technique with about 4751 unweighted data observations from the World Banks Enterprise Survey (WBES) and it Covid-19 follow-up survey. We used the bivariate probit estimation approach along with the predictive margin probabilities and plots. The outcome of the analysis suggested that a significant number of enterprises, large and SMEs and domestic or foreign, sold significant proportion of their sales online as a coping strategy to improve financial resilience during the Covid-19 pandemic. However, though the adoption rate of both large enterprises and SMEs were almost identical, the foreign enterprises adopted more online sales than the domestic enterprises. The results gave some credence to the earlier held view prior to the pandemic that foreign owned enterprises may have high absorptive capacity to take advantage of an innovative spill-over than domestically owned enterprises. That is, the opportunity to go digital became cheaper and available during the pandemic such that the major hindrance to adoption was the position of an enterprise and their ability to recognise, assimilate and adopt.In terms of performance, the study could conclude that the proportion of online adoption initially reduces the resilience of an enterprise but improves resilience after selling more than 40% of total output online. That is, the relationship between the proportion of sales online and financial resilience during economic downturn is inverted U-shaped.Enterprise size was observed to improve financial resilience such that large enterprises were more financially resilient than SMEs in SSA, but ownership type as foreign or domestic had no statistical significant effects on financial resilience. Enterprise size and ownership type was found to moderate the relationship between online sales and financial resilience. Comparatively, large-foreign enterprises were relatively more resilient than large-domestic enterprises but domestic SMEs were relatively more resilient.Based on the results the study recommends that owners and managers of enterprises in sub-Sahara Africa (SSA) to increase their proportion of sales online beyond the threshold of 40% so as to reap the benefit of digital sales or e-commerce under the pandemic uncertain business environment. SMEs are encouraged to invest in infrastructure that could facilitate digital sales innovation since such innovation has promising performance effects on them just as large enterprises. Large-domestic enterprises need to reposition themselves in the digital market to reap the benefit of digitalisation just as large-foreign enterprises.


Cloud droplets form in the atmosphere on aerosol particles, many of which result from nucleation of vapors. Here the authors comment on current knowledge and open questions regarding the condensational growth of nucleated particles to sizes where they influence cloud formation. The SOA formation process includes emissions of volatile hydrocarbons, their multi-step oxidation in the atmosphere, and partitioning of the oxidation products into the condensed phase leading to particle growth3. Particle growth plays a critically important role here: to act as CCN, the formed tiny particles usually need to reach tens of nanometers (nm) in diameter. Growth competes with particle loss through coagulation—the faster the particles grow, the larger the fraction that survive to CCN size. An order-of-magnitude growth in diameter from e.g., 5 to 50 nm increases the particle volume by three orders of magnitude. The composition of the particles is therefore largely defined by the compounds that grow them by condensation, often organic vapors. Comprehension of particle growth and its reasonable description in global and regional scale models is needed to improve our understanding of aerosol-cloud interactions4, which are one of the most uncertain aspects of anthropogenic climate forcing5.A substantial fraction of particles acting as cloud seeds  originate from nucleation6 show particle growth rates of the order of 1–10 nm/h. Currently available data provide information of variability and seasonality of nanoparticle growth, although the majority of the observations are from the Northern hemisphere, specifically from ground-based remote or rural continental sites in Europe.Particle size distribution observations and diameter growth rates derived from them are essential for understanding the growth of freshly formed nanoparticles. Measurements from various environments2. The advancement of mass spectrometric techniques in the last few years has enabled the identification of source groups and compounds contributing to particle growth, for example highly oxygenated organic molecules10. However, their multi-phase nature and complexity have made the detection of individual organic molecules and their contributions to nanoparticle growth challenging. Given the fundamental role volatility plays in evaporation and condensation, one simplification is grouping condensable organics into experimentally determined volatility classes: extremely low, low, semi, and intermediate volatile organic compounds abbreviated as ELVOC, LVOC, SVOC, and IVOC, respectively. There is general understanding that the smaller the particles, the lower the volatility of a compound has to be in order for it to condense. In other words, the larger the particles, the larger the contribution of SVOC to their growth.Knowledge about the properties of the vapors that grow the particles has increased but is still incomplete Fig. . Sulfuri2. Hand-in-hand with the increasing amount of experimental data, also the availability and robustness of different predictive models for the thermodynamics of atmospherically relevant compounds and mixtures has increased11. These steps forward have allowed for the development of models describing the growth and evaporation of atmospheric >5 nm particles with good accuracy if the concentrations and molecular properties of the vapor phase compounds are known10. We have recently been able to capture nanoparticle growth in the boreal forest, and to characterize the organic vapors involved, by using a combination of chemical ionization mass spectrometry and a condensation model10. Therein we confirm the crucial role of oxidation products of biogenic volatile organic compounds for particle growth in this environment. Also on global and regional scales, the inclusion of a description of nanoparticle growth by organic compounds was shown to improve predictions of aerosol size distributions, hence suggesting that this process is important for capturing e.g., aerosol impacts on clouds12.In the absence of particle-phase chemistry or transport limitations, condensation of known compounds to homogeneous liquid droplets is well described by basic mass transport modelsNanoparticle growth spans different phases, thermodynamic and kinetic regimes, and spatial and temporal scales. Further scientific progress on this topic requires a multidisciplinary and multiangle approach. In the following we will discuss a few examples of open research questions and ongoing research efforts.13. There is indication that isoprene oxidation products may contribute to the high particle numbers observed in the upper troposphere over the Amazon14. At such high altitudes the lower temperature decreases the volatility of the molecules and shifts the equilibrium towards the particle phase. With the recent elucidation of the importance of NPF in urban environments15, we expect progress on understanding particle growth in polluted environments to be imminent, despite the increased complexity of the mix of anthropogenic and natural precursor gases and oxidants.To date, a consistent picture for the role of organic precursors other than monoterpenes, particularly α-pinene, is still developing. Particle growth mechanisms in environments other than the boreal forests, for example in the marine boundary layer, are not well understood. Ongoing research efforts concentrate for instance on isoprene, the most abundant VOC, and its oxidation products. Isoprene suppresses NPF and lowers SOA yields in mixed precursor environments2.Compared to gas or nanoparticle composition observations, growth rate measurements are more common and considered more robust. However, the interpretation of point observations of a particle population passing a measurement site in terms of growth is challenging due to possible effects of changes in air mass or vertical boundary layer mixing. In addition, traditional methods for calculating the growth rate based on mode peak diameter may not provide pure condensational growth rates when coagulation is significant. Also, these methods are fundamentally limited by the time resolution of the instrumentation. Development of promising new methods based on particle population dynamics is ongoingsat are therefore needed for accurate predictions of particle growth. However, the complex mixtures formed in the growing particles may not behave ideally and particle composition dependent activities need to be accounted for. There are large uncertainties how particle-phase chemical reactions or the formation of a viscous phase2 influence particle-phase volatilities, diffusivity and nanoparticle growth. This has led to e.g., the use of mass accommodation coefficients below unity for organic molecules colliding on SOA particles. We advise against below unity values due to the different ways diffusivity limitations or other SOA properties affect particle growth dynamics.Net particle growth is a competition between condensation and evaporation. Whereas the former is driven by the concentration of the condensing vapors, the volatilities of the condensed compounds govern the latter. Pure compound saturation vapor concentrations Csat of all oxidized organic compounds in the atmosphere is nearly impossible11. Hence, parametrizations of Csat, or the effective vapor concentration C* including non-ideality effects, with e.g., the molecular composition as input16 are increasingly used to obtain estimates of organic volatility distributions. However, the lack of molecular structure information, and again, far-from-complete representation of the complexity of the range of atmospheric compounds in developing the parametrizations, results in orders-of-magnitude uncertainties in saturation vapor concentrations10. As the experimental techniques for identifying molecular composition of oxidized compounds are becoming more common, it is crucial to develop more precise methods to convert the molecular compositions into volatility information.Experimentally determining CUltimately, an increased understanding at the molecular process level should lead to an improved description of the climate system at the global level. Assessing the climate impact of nanoparticle formation and growth therefore depends also crucially on our ability to represent them in large-scale models. Besides improving the fundamental understanding of the properties of the condensing species, it is also worthwhile to systematically investigate the minimum number of variables needed to represent their effects on the evolution of aerosol size distribution and composition. The optimal compromise between representing the complex particle growth processes and computational demands depends on the question at hand.2. Together with experimental challenges related to sampling and detection of the vapor and cluster populations, these issues make the interpretation of sub-5 nm particle growth observations challenging. Further work in the development of molecular resolution models and their systematic upscaling for various atmospherically relevant systems are therefore needed8.A few words on particle growth below 5 nm: At these sizes, the standard theoretical approaches applied for condensation and evaporation are not applicable anymoreWe expect the steep instrumental progress to continue in the next decade, and higher time- and chemical resolution data will become more widely available from various environments and different systems. The ability to process this wealth of data will likely become critical for improving our understanding on SOA, and emerging techniques based on e.g., machine learning will be needed. To support such analysis and the building of comprehensive understanding of the organic molecules in various environments, establishing open databases that combine the complex data and allow for broad use of the accumulating data will be helpful. We expect an increasing number of large-scale models to implement and/or improve the volatility representation for the condensing organic molecules in the coming decade, e.g., with a VBS (volatility basis set) scheme. This will allow for better assessment of the climate impacts of the atmospheric NPF, including nanoparticle growth.


Convex blazed gratings, which can effectively broaden the spectral range and improve spectral resolution, have gradually evolved into a crucial optical component for lightweight and compact imaging spectroscopy instruments. Their design, processing, and testing involve multidisciplinary interdisciplinary scientific issues, and they continue to be a major area of research in imaging optics applications. This paper summarizes the effects of various grating groove shapes and structural parameters on the spectral range and diffraction efficiency of convex blazed gratings, after providing a brief introduction to the typical functions and applications of convex blazed gratings. Firstly, the latest progress in typical processing methods for convex blazed gratings is reviewed. It focuses on the current fabrication processes and reviews their capabilities in creating convex blazed gratings from three main types of technologies, namely ultra-precision machining, high-energy density beam processing, and chemically assisted fabrication processes. Secondly, the adaptability of the manufacturing process for convex blazed gratings on different scales is summarized, analyzing the adaptation of current procedures to various grating fabrication scales and their bottlenecks. Finally, the characterization methods and future feasible characterization methods for convex blazed gratings are reviewed. The development trend of efficient and precise preparation of convex blazed gratings is pointed out. Due to their exceptional performance, microstructured functional surfaces are frequently used in advanced science and industry; yet, the surface quality of the production procedure limits their performance . Fresnelθb  with flight requirements [Electron beam lithography (EBL) is a type of micromachining that uses an electron beam instead of a mask to make high-resolution patterns on a substrate. Both convex and concave diffraction gratings are needed to make concentric imaging spectrometers. Direct-write electron beam lithography has been shown to be a good way to make highly efficient blazed gratings on surfaces that are not flat. At the moment, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in the United States is the only place in the world that can use direct electron beam writing to make high diffraction efficiency convex blazed gratings . Fujita irements . Maker Pirements  preparedirements  used eleDirect electron beam technology is a complicated way to make gratings because it requires expensive and specialized hardware and software. Most of the time, it can only make convex gratings with a large radius of curvature or gratings that are close to flat, and it still cannot make non-planar features. At the same time, the direct-written point-by-point processing method is inefficient and needs very accurate equipment. It is also expensive and hard to make large areas with this method, so it cannot be mass-produced.Commercial convex gratings made by holographic ion beam etching for imaging spectrometers are mostly made in Europe, the United States, and Japan by companies such as Jobin-Yvon Inc. in France; Carl Zeiss Inc. in Germany; NASA and Richarderson Grating Laboratory Inc. in the United States; and Headwall Photonics Inc., Spectrogon Inc., and Hitachi in Japan, but the details of the process have not been made public.Zamkotsian et al. ,43 used Due to the difficulty of making small blaze angle gratings with ion beam etching, Osterried  from ZeiHolographic ion beam etching is the most maturely studied and widely used method for preparing convex gratings, which has the advantages of low cost, controllable groove shape, and no ghost lines. However, the holographic method has no advantage in the fabrication of gratings with low inscribed line density , while tMost of the techniques for making gratings that are currently available, such as direct ruling, holographic ion beam etching, or electron beam lithography, work best for grating surfaces with simple substrates, such as flat surfaces or spherical surfaces with a large radius of curvature. The high machining accuracy of the diamond turning process has shown that it can be used to make advanced functional optical surfaces like discontinuous microstructures and freeform surfaces ,54. UsinThe fast tool servo-assisted turning process dynamically adjusts the depth of cutting by additional tool motion to machine more uniform multilayer and freeform diffractive optics. A nano-fast tool servo system (nFTS) was proposed by Brinksmeier et al.  to adjusMeier A  investigChun-Wei Liu et al.  employedDe Clercq C  utilizedAll freeform gratings based on three-mirror configuration (Offner type) spectrometers are machined using single-point diamond turning (SPDT) as part of the ESA Technical Research Program (TRP) . DiamondX-ray diffraction gratings operate at very shallow incidence angles due to the critical angle limitation, so the blaze angle of faceted or blazed gratings should be very small, ranging from a few degrees for extreme ultraviolet (EUV) and soft X-ray spectrometers to a fraction of a degree for hard X-ray applications  . For ultX-ray lithography to fabricate convex gratings first requires a grayscale mask with a triangular pattern on a gold-plated silicon nitride film, and then uniformly and linearly scanning the substrate masked by the mask with X-rays. If the exposure characteristic curve of the photoresist is linear, the blazed groove shape can be obtained. P. Mouroulis et al.  from JPLHitachi  came up Horugavye G et al.  from theHowever, these methods are not cost-effective, have low preparation efficiency, are only suitable for small-aperture optical components of about 20 mm, and are not commonly used processes.According to The processing quality of a convex blazed grating, which must be defined in terms of shape, diffraction effectiveness, polarization sensitivity, scattering, and operating spectrum range, directly affects the imaging performance and quality of a hyper-spectral imager. In the following sections, two methods of contact measurement and non-contact measurement will be used to analyze the current quality characterization methods for convex blazed gratings as well as the potential future methods.Atomic force microscopy’s contact mode is usually used to look at the profile integrity and blaze angle of convex blazed gratings . Becausetest and the root mean square value (RMS) was 0.085λtest, among which the test wavelength λtest was 632.8 nm, as shown in The phase difference of the grating diffraction wavefront determines the quality of the spectral lines and the resolution of the grating. The grating diffraction wavefront is often measured by comparing the actual wavefront to a standard plane or sphere. In the study , an inteA phase-shifted Fizeau interferometer (Zygo Verifire) can be used to take direct measurements of diffraction wavefronts at different levels of diffraction . To descThe nulling wavefront metrology method is detected using the experimental setup shown in Eliminating the influence of the groove pattern from the measured data is a major advancement for spherical gratings with an uncertain groove distribution. A spherical grating’s diffraction wavefront includes intrinsic wavefront contributions from the self-reflecting test equipment in addition to manufacturing-related wavefront imperfections. The magnitude of the latter is influenced by the spherical substrate and the groove pattern. A nonnull interference method for spherical grating interferometric detection was put forth in the study  by analyGrating surfaces that are smooth and can detect sharp edges are a requirement for high-performance optical applications. When the period of the convex grating is large and inspection by AFM is not appropriate, the geometry of the blazing structure can be measured and analyzed using white light interferometry. On each grating cell of the grating cross-sectional profile A and B, the structure height (h), the length of the optically effective surface (s), and the blaze angle (k) can be measured. The mean and standard deviation of the observed values of each parameter can then be calculated ,87. The The study  uses theη of a grating is defined as the ratio of the diffracted luminous flux Eg of the grating received by the detector to the luminous flux E0 incident on the surface of the grating at a particular wavelength λ and spectral diffraction order m.The diffraction efficiency of a grating is an important measure of how well it works. It is usually split into two types: absolute diffraction efficiency and relative diffraction efficiency. In terms of spectroscopy, the absolute diffraction efficiency η′ of the grating is defined as the ratio of the diffracted luminous flux Eg of the grating received by the detector to the reflected luminous flux rE of a standard reflector of the same aperture for a given wavelength λ and diffraction order m.The relative diffraction efficiency The purpose of distinguishing between absolute and relative diffraction efficiency is that the former can help spectroscopy instrument manufacturers to calculate the light energy utilization of the instrument, while the latter can help grating manufacturers to evaluate and improve the manufacturing process. From the definition of grating diffraction efficiency, it can be seen that the way to measure grating diffraction efficiency is to measure the incident luminous flux at a certain wavelength on the working order of the grating to be measured and the reflected luminous flux of the accompanying coating. The relative diffraction efficiency of the grating can be found using Equation (2). The absolute diffraction efficiency of the grating can be found by multiplying this value by the reflectivity of the coating that goes with it. Therefore, the measurement of grating diffraction efficiency is an indirect measurement.λE were recorded separately. The diffraction efficiency curve of the convex blazed grating is shown in So far, the relative diffraction efficiency of gratings has been measured in three different ways: the line spectrum method, the continuous scan method, and the Fourier transform method . BecauseEfficient and precise fabrication of convex blazed gratings is of great importance for scientific and industrial applications. In this paper, we reviewed several typical methods for processing convex blazed gratings and present the basic principles and methods for their further development, as well as their advantages and disadvantages. In particular, the structure and properties of various convex blazed gratings fabricated using these methods were presented to specify their respective limitations and feasibility. However, considering that different methods exhibit different performances in different applications, it would be inaccurate to use the same criteria to evaluate a particular index. In order to select the appropriate technology for the production of convex blazed gratings, the capacity and limitations of each method should be compared with the key performance aspects of the intended application.One of the challenges for future Earth observation spectroscopy instruments is to accommodate larger spectral ranges with better spatial and spectral resolution. A second challenge is the improvement in temporal sampling, which is driving the technology toward smaller satellite platforms and ultra-compact payloads. The design of imaging spectrometers requires finding the best compromise between form factor, spatial resolution, and polarization sensitivity to further miniaturize the spectrometer while maintaining good sensitivity and resolution. The application of freeform gratings offers the possibility of achieving the best compromise. Freeform gratings were developed to provide an additional parameter in the optimization of optical designs to reduce keystone and smile in spectrometers. Although this solution may increase the complexity of sophisticated optical components such as gratings, it has proven to be a key component in minimizing the number of optical components. Therefore, the research progress in the preparation and characterization of convex blazed gratings for hyper-spectral imaging spectrometers can be summarized as follows.(1)Freeform blazed gratings have broader application prospects than planar gratings.(2)The technology for efficient ultra-precise preparation of freeform blazed gratings needs to be developed.(3)Ultra-precision machining technology is applicable to the processing of high-curvature freeform surface blazed gratings.(4)Stitching measurements are essential for the complete characterization of machining accuracy of freeform blazed gratings.


Oxylipins are oxygenated metabolites of fatty acids that share several similar biochemical characteristics and functions to fatty acids including transport and trafficking. Oxylipins are most commonly measured in the non-esterified form which can be found in plasma, free or bound to albumin. The non-esterified form, however, reflects only one of the possible pools of oxylipins and is by far the least abundant circulating form of oxylipins. Further, this fraction cannot reliably be extrapolated to the other, more abundant, esterified pool. In cells too, esterified oxylipins are the most abundant form, but are seldom measured and their potential roles in signaling are not well established. In this review, we examine the current literature on experimental oxylipin measurements to describe the lack in reporting the esterified oxylipin pool. We outline the metabolic and experimental importance of esterified oxylipins using well established roles of fatty acid trafficking in non-esterified fatty acids and in esterified form as components of circulating lipoproteins. Finally, we use mathematical modeling to simulate how exchange between cellular esterified and unesterified pools would affect intracellular signaling.. The explicit inclusion of esterified oxylipins along with the non-esterified pool has the potential to convey a more complete assessment of the metabolic consequences of oxylipin trafficking. Oxylipins are oxygenated metabolites derived from, and functionally similar to, polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) with bioactivities that impact human health and disease. Oxylipin metabolism is physiologically and biochemically similar to PUFA metabolism, but the intricacies of oxylipins signaling expound on PUFA metabolism and can further specify the metabolic processes responsible for health and disease.This review informs a reader familiar with the bioactivities and metabolism of oxylipins about the complexities of fatty acid compartmentation in esterified and non-esterified forms within plasma, cells, and larger biological systems. It discusses how lipid compartmentation functions in oxylipin trafficking. The intent is that by informing the reader of key details, they can make better analytical decisions and interpretation of results regarding esterified oxylipins. To demonstrate the potential use and meaning of esterified oxylipins, we will: (1) survey the 2020 publication record to evaluate how oxylipins are currently measured, and show the gap in understanding the esterified pool, (2) review fatty acid trafficking in plasma, comparing lipoprotein transport to transport of non-esterified fatty acids (NEFA) and give evidence that plasma oxylipins are trafficked in the same way as plasma fatty acids; finally, (3) review intracellular trafficking of fatty acids, emphasizing the exchange of fatty acids with extracellular lipoprotein and NEFA pools, and use mathematical modeling based on PUFA utilization to demonstrate the potential roles esterified oxylipins could play in cell signaling.Survey of oxylipin publications: In a survey of 2020 publications listed in PubMed which measured oxylipins as an outcome  and non-esterified pools, the sample must be split and measured with and without hydrolysis. This was not the case in the majority of the surveyed publications, only one publication specified that both the total and the non-esterified pools were independently measured in order to calculate the esterified pool  as  as Intraied pool . The sloThe implications of recycling on oxylipin signaling: To demonstrate how recycling would impact systems undergoing transient adaptive stimuli, we used the model as a basis for simulating an activation event , not recycling.Rapid (but incomplete) signal termination: Recycling allows for rapid termination of most EpETrE activity in the cytosol. In the non-recycling systems where all disappearance is by cytosolic degradation, the half-life is 3.3 min with the signal nearly 50% terminated by 14 min; however, in the recycling system, the initial rapid half-life is identical and the signal is 50% terminated at nearly the same time.Signal extension: Despite rapid initial termination, signal duration in the recycling system is paradoxically extended. This is because most EpETrE disappearance is re-acylation, not sEH-mediated hydrolysis. The half-life for disposal of EpETrE by sEH hydrolysis is 34 min. After 10 min recycling becomes the dominant process, extending the presence of EpETrE in the cytosol so that it takes approximately 235 min until 10% of peak concentration remains, well beyond the modeled timeline.Stronger signal summation: Finally, recycling would facilitate signal summation. Successive stimuli of EpETrE production would summate more rapidly than systems lacking recycling. We summarize features of the simulation that differentiate the recycling system and could be useful in guiding studies measuring esterified oxylipins in cells. Important characteristics include:2 plays a central role in facilitating oxylipin recycling in addition to its traditional role of providing substrate for oxylipin production. Notably, in cases where the membrane oxylipin content is low, PLA2 activity is likely to have a minimal effect on NEOx since the amount of stored oxylipin in the membrane are low and oxylipins in the cytosol would be more directly related to the rate of oxylipin production by oxylipin producing enzymes. However, under conditions where the concentration of esterified oxylipins is high, PLA2 activity would have a large effect on NEOx and activation would result in substantial increases in non-esterified EpETrE, independent of the rate of appearance by CYPepox activity. This prediction has been demonstrated experimentally: loading of EpETrE into the phospholipids of coronary artery endothelial cells potentiates relaxation of porcine aortic rings upon activation of PLA2 [2 was dependent on whether 5-HETE or 15-HETE was loaded [PLA of PLA2 . The pres loaded . The comWe have provided an estimate of the focus of contemporary studies using oxylipins as predictors, mediators of physiology or pathology. We show a strong current emphasis on NEOx in plasma. Little attention is focused on the most abundant pools of circulating oxylipins in lipoproteins, specifically chylomicrons, VLDL, LDL, and HDL—each of which represent oxylipins targeted to specific tissue and cell classes—and opportunities to improve understanding of lipoprotein oxylipins are suggested. A minority of work is focused on esterified oxylipins and their intracellular bioactivities. We describe a working theory for how recycling, similar to the Lands cycle, could explain the biological function of oxylipins esterified in cell phospholipids. It is our hope that these theories will help improve experimental planning, analysis, and interpretation of oxylipin trafficking.


Background: The purpose of the present case report was to investigate a very rare ectopic third molar removal by a trans-sinusal approach and report the study findings through a systematic review of the literature on this topic. Case presentation: A 38-year-old female patient was visited for pain at the level of the right maxillary region. No relevant medical history was reported. The CBCT tomography assessment revealed an impacted third tooth at the level of the postero-lateral maxilla. Review Methods: An electronic search was performed through Boolean indicators query on Pubmed/Medline, EMBASE, Cochrane Library databases. The clinical reports were identified and selected in order to perform a descriptive analysis. The surgical approach concerned a trans-sinusal access to the site for the ectopic tooth removal with a lateral antrostomy. No evident inflammatory alteration was associated to the ectopic tooth and a non-relevant post-operative sequelae was reported at the follow up. Results: A total of 34 scientific papers were retrieved from the database search. Only two cases reported a wait-and-see radiographical follow-up approach, while the most common treatment was surgical removal, also for asymptomatic cases. Conclusion: The third-molar ectopic tooth into the maxillary sinus is an uncommon occurrence that is beast treated by an in-chair intraoral tran-sinusal approach, with a consistent reduction of the invasivity, a mild morbidity and a successful functional outcome. Problems with mandibular and maxillary third molars together with maxillary canines are frequently observed in oral surgery and their extraction is one of the most widespread procedures in oral surgery. Clinical and radiologic evaluation of surgical difficulty can help the practitioner plan the surgical technique for avoing the possible complications. Different surgical techniques has been proposed for maxillary ectopic teeth that described trans-oral and Caldwell-Luc approaches, extra-oral accesses , nasal eUsually, the diagnosis of impacted third molars is performed during the first dentistry visit or during primary care. The extraction of a maxillary wisdom tooth involves the risk of complications. The most frequent complications reported are the displacement in the maxillary sinus , oroantrThe present study was conducted in accordance to the ethical laws and the World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki  and the A 38-year-old female had chronic pain in the maxillary right region and was diagnosed with having an impacted third tooth by orthopantomogram (OPG) .Clinical examination revealed absence of the right maxillary third molar, radiologic examination excluded the presence of carious or periodontal disease borne by neighboring teeth . The sub®  with epinephrine of 1:100,000.. Written informed consent was acquired from the patient for publication of the case report. A modified triangular flap without anterior release was performed as previously described for access to the sinus maxillary [After explaining the different surgical possibilities to the patient, we decided to perform a transinusal access. The wisdom extraction was scheduled in an ambulatory setting and under local anesthesia. Prior to surgical treatment, the patient’s mouth was rinsed with a chlorhexidine 0.2% digluconate solution  for 2 min. The local anesthesia was performend by the administration of Articaineaxillary ,12. A wiThe tooth was observed in the posterolateral aspect of the maxillary sinus, no bone was present around the dental crown and no pericoronal lesion was detected. The maxillary sinus was entered through the Schneiderian membrane and the tooth was dislocated with a lever and then grasped with a klemmer and removed.The maxillary sinus window was covered by pericardium membrane  . The flaScreening of the articles was performed in accordance to the Standards for Reporting Qualitative Research principles (SRQR) and the “Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses” (PRISMA) guidelines. The search strategy was conducted on a keywords search strategy as described in The criteria necessary for inclusion in the qualitative synthesis were limited to human clinical trials, prospective and retrospective studies with a minimum follow up of 1 month with no restriction of surgical technique, alternative medical approach, post-operative sequelae, and number of protocol stages. The exclusion criteria were systematic and literature reviews, letters to the editor, and in vitro and laboratory simulation. The articles written in non-English language were eliminated from the assessment.The eligibility assessment was conducted independently by two expert reviewers . Also, a manual search was conducted to increase the article pool for the full-text assessment. The articles written in English that satisfied the inclusion criteria were considered while the duplicates and the articles excluded were categorized reporting the exclusion reasons.The data of the articles was evaluated independently by the reviewers using a special designed electronic form according to the following categories: study model design, patient’s age, major symptoms, neoplasms or associated neoformations, treatment protocol, surgical technique, post-operative sequelae, position of the teeth, number of subjects and study findings . The perThe manuscript screening and eligibility, as presented in The review selection included a total of 6 case series and 28 case reports for a total of 78 patients, 81 cases and 3 bilateral. The patients’ ages were between 8 years old and 61 years old. No clinical trial/randomized clinical trial related to the review search topic were identified. A total of 12 papers reported asymptomatic cases ,17,18,19Very few information has been detected concerning the peri-operative antibiotics and analgesic protocols in the included studies. An heterogeneous antibiotics prophylaxis administration was reported while the most common were amoxicillin ,46, amoxIn the present case report we describe the clinical characteristics of a patient with a wisdom tooth in the maxillary above the second molar that which caused chronic pain. Maxillary third molar extraction is a frequent surgical intervention in oral and maxillofacial surgery. As also evinced by the review of the literature, in this particular case the clinical presentation of the ectopic tooth was very rare and associated to the postero-lateral wall of the maxilla. In fact, the rationale of the present investigation was to contextualize the literature recurrency of this particular clinical condition and support a transinusal approach for impacted upper third molar. Many factors can influence ectopic tooth, including trauma presence of benign or malignant lesions including rhinogenic and odontogenic infections or iatrogenic activity ,49. The In conclusions, the ectopic teeth localization could deeply influence the clinical manifestation, symptoms and the surgical approach to reduce the post-operative morbidity and complications sequelae. In order provide a useful guidance for surgeons and dentists for the management of ectopic wisdom in clinical practice, the transinusal pathway approach combined with the antibiotic prophylaxis and corticosteroid administration could reduce the post-operative symptoms reducing the face edema and accelerate the recovery period.


The World Health Organization has called for elimination of cervical cancer as a public health problem and has adopted strategies in this regard. However, the estimates for achieving the goals depend on the ability to provide timely treatment in a certain proportion of cases. The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic has had a serious impact on healthcare delivery in many low and middle income countries (LMICs) with the highest burden of cervical cancer; funds and infrastructure are being reallocated to deal with the emergency, and cancer care has been seriously affected. In the absence of clear and reliable estimates, the exact extent of disruption remains unclear. It is, therefore, essential that pragmatic approaches are adopted to save lives. There has been considerable debate regarding the use of the 9 Gy × 2 fractions high dose rate brachytherapy schedule for the treatment of locally advanced cervical carcinoma. However, in LMICs with the highest global burden of locally advanced cervical cancer cases, radiation facilities have been using this fractionation schedule in many cases to deal with the overwhelming number of patients, who would have otherwise been denied timely treatment. In view of the current pandemic, and the difficulties in accessing and delivering timely healthcare, mortality owing to delayed treatment cannot be denied in LMICs, which already have underequipped healthcare facilities. Use of the shortest available fractionation schedule to provide timely treatment would serve to save more lives in regions with high incidence and mortality from the disease. Low and middle income countries (LMICs) are the major contributors to the global burden of cervical carcinoma, with most cases presenting at locally advanced stages; these countries also report the highest mortality rates from the disease . The numBrachytherapy has been an integral component of radiotherapy for carcinoma of the cervix, as it improves radiocurability by allowing the delivery of high doses of radiation to the central tumour volume . AlthougHypofractionated schedules serve to reduce the number of visits and increase patient turnover rates, both of which are particularly necessary in these settings. In view of the current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, there have been difficulties in healthcare delivery worldwide , 13. In The American Brachytherapy Society (ABS) consensus guidelines for HDR brachytherapy in locally advanced cervical carcinoma recommend the administration of five or six fractions, delivered weekly . A reporThe LMICs in Southeast Asia remain the major contributors to the global burden of cervical carcinoma and also have the highest mortality rates from the disease . In viewThe overall incidence of cancer is lower in LMICs compared to that of high-income countries; however, total cancer-related mortality is significantly higher in LMICs, especially among those younger than 65 years. The significant economic impact resulting from premature mortality and lost years of productivity is an area of considerable concern . The UniThe World Health Organization (WHO) has accordingly developed the WHO Cervical Cancer Elimination Modelling Consortium, involving three independent dynamic models of human papilloma virus infection, cervical carcinogenesis, screening and precancer and invasive cancer treatment. The triple-intervention strategy adopted by the WHO involves the use of vaccination strategies, screening and treatment for eliminating cervical cancer. It is expected that this strategy will prevent approximately a third of the premature deaths from cervical cancer in LMICs over the next 10 years, and nearly 90% of deaths over the next century.A recent study estimated the reductions in age-standardised rates of cervical cancer mortality in 78 low-income and lower-middle-income countries for three core scenarios, namely, girls-only vaccination; girls-only vaccination with once-lifetime screening and cancer treatment scale-up; and girls-only vaccination with twice-lifetime screening and cancer treatment scale-up . The stuThe study concluded that the strategy may achieve a one-third reduction in the rate of premature mortality from cervical cancer in LMICs over the next 10 years, and will thus allow realisation of the 2030 United Nations sustainable development goals. In addition, the successful implementation of the elimination strategy proposed by the WHO would reduce mortality due to cervical cancer by nearly 99%, and save more than 62 million lives over the next century.Notably, the mentioned study assumed that half of the patients with invasive cervical cancer would receive adequate treatment by 2023; this was expected to increase to 90% by 2030 –26, withIn the context of cervical cancer, most patients present in locally advanced stages in these settings . The staHypofractionation, therefore, represents a feasible approach for improving patient turnover. As the shortest available HDR fractionation schedule for locally advanced cervical cancer, the 9 Gy × 2 fractions regimen gains particular importance in saving lives.A multicentre international clinical trial that recruited 601 patients, demonstrated no significant differences in terms of overall survival or severe treatment-related side effects between patients who received HDR brachytherapy with four fractions of 7 Gy and those who received two fractions of 9 Gy each .In view of the prevailing difficulties in treatment during the pandemic, it is clear that the reduction of even a single extra fraction may offer definite benefits in terms of patient turnover in the overburdened brachytherapy facilities of LMICs .India is one of the major contributors to the global mortality from cervical cancer, accounting for nearly one-third of cervical cancer deaths worldwide. Women in this vast nation have a 1.6% cumulative risk of developing cervical cancer and a 1.0% cumulative risk of death from the disease . A reporLMICs face serious constraints in radiotherapy capacity, delaying timely intervention in many cases. Brachytherapy is particularly resource intensive, and there are numerous financial and accessibility issues that hinder access to timely treatment in these settings. Use of the shorter 2-fraction regimen will reduce patient waiting times and increase the number of completed treatments within a given timeframe; this, in turn will translate to more lives being saved. In the face of overwhelming patient numbers, the shorter schedule will also improve treatment quality in the overburdened radiotherapy facilities of LMICs.Although overburdened brachytherapy facilities in LMICs have been using shorter fractionation schedules to ensure timely delivery of treatment to many patients with cervical cancer, the need for expediting treatment completion has never been as critical as in the era of COVID-19. The serious impact on screening and treatment accessibility implies that the number of locally advanced cases is set to rise in future; increased cervical cancer related mortality is therefore inevitable. Under the circumstances, shorter brachytherapy fractionation will serve as a notable life-saver in the difficult times of COVID-19 and offer a practical means for realizing the United Nations sustainable development goals.None.None.