Biological Anomalies Research Articles

Domestic ferrets (Mustela putorius furo) with cholecystitis commonly show hyperbilirubinemia and common bile duct dilation, gallbladder sludge, and gallbladder wall thickening on ultrasound.

To report clinical signs, biological anomalies, treatment, and outcome in domestic ferrets with cholecystitis, describe the ultrasonographic features of cholecystitis, and compare the ultrasonographic appearance of the hepatobiliary system between diseased and healthy ferrets. 11 ferrets with confirmed cholecystitis and abdominal ultrasonography were retrospectively included. Ten healthy ferrets were prospectively recruited to undergo hepatobiliary abdominal ultrasonography. Comparisons of explanatory variables (group, age, body weight, and sex) were performed. The most common clinical signs were nonspecific, and icterus was observed in 1/4 of diseased ferrets. Compared with healthy individuals, diseased ferrets showed a larger common bile duct (CBD; ≥ 2.8 mm), a thicker CBD wall (≥ 0.7 mm), a thicker gallbladder (GB) wall, more frequent echoic GB luminal content, visible intrahepatic bile ducts, and a greater GB volume. Bile culture was positive in 9/11 mostly for Escherichia coli (8/9). Bile cytology indicated septic purulent cholecystitis in 7/7 ferrets. Survival time after antibiotic treatment ranged from 6 to 104 weeks, with a median of 36 weeks. Ferrets with cholecystitis presented with nonspecific clinical signs and frequently showed hyperbilirubinemia. Ultrasonography findings such as enlarged CBD, thickened CBD wall, thicker GB wall, GB sludge, visible intrahepatic bile ducts, and enlarged GB may suggest cholecystitis. Escherichia coli was commonly isolated from bile. The medium-term mortality rate was high despite targeted antibiotherapy. This is the first study describing the clinical signs, biological anomalies, ultrasonographic findings, and outcomes after treatment in a series of domestic ferrets with cholecystitis.

Thésaurismoses adultes et pédiatriques : maladies de surcharge lysosomale, surcharges lipidiques et glycogénoses

Thesaurismosis or storage diseases are rare genetic disorders due to an abnormal accumulation of an organic compound or its metabolite within cells. These conditions are either secondary to a defect in catabolism caused by enzymatic dysfunction or to a deficiency in transport proteins. They encompass lysosomal storage diseases, lipid storage diseases or dyslipidemias, and glycogen storage disorders or glycogenoses. Diagnosis is typically based on clinical and biological anomalies but may be made or suggested by the pathologist when symptoms are atypical or when biochemical or genetic tests are challenging to interpret. For accurate diagnosis, it is crucial to freeze a portion of the samples. Special staining and electronic microscopy can also aid in the diagnostic process. As the diagnosis is multidisciplinary, collaboration with clinicians, biochemists and geneticists is essential.

Endothelial Dysfunction and Pre-Existing Cognitive Disorders in Stroke Patients.

The origin of pre-existing cognitive impairment in stroke patients remains controversial, with a vascular or a degenerative hypothesis. To determine whether endothelial dysfunction is associated with pre-existing cognitive problems, lesion load and biological anomalies in stroke patients. Patients originated from the prospective STROKDEM study. The baseline cognitive state, assessed using the IQ-CODE, and risk factors for stroke were recorded at inclusion. Patients with an IQ-CODE score >64 were excluded. Endothelial function was determined 72 h after stroke symptom onset by non-invasive digital measurement of endothelium-dependent flow-mediated dilation and calculation of the reactive hyperemia index (RHI). RHI ≤ 1.67 indicated endothelial dysfunction. Different biomarkers of endothelial dysfunction were analysed in blood or plasma. All patients underwent MRI 72 h after stroke symptom onset. A total of 86 patients were included (52 males; mean age 63.5 ± 11.5 years). Patients with abnormal RHI have hypertension or antihypertensive treatment more often. The baseline IQ-CODE was abnormal in 33 (38.4%) patients, indicating a pre-existing cognitive problem. Baseline IQ-CODE > 48 was observed in 15 patients (28.3%) with normal RHI and in 18 patients (54.6%) with abnormal RHI (p = 0.016). The RHI median was significantly lower in patients with abnormal IQ-CODE. Abnormal RHI was associated with a significantly higher median FAZEKAS score (2.5 vs. 2; p = 0.008), a significantly higher frequency of periventricular lesions (p = 0.015), more white matter lesions (p = 0.007) and a significantly higher cerebral atrophy score (p < 0.001) on MRI. Vascular biomarkers significantly associated with abnormal RHI were MCP-1 (p = 0.009), MIP_1a (p = 0.042), and homocysteinemia (p < 0.05). A vascular mechanism may be responsible for cognitive problems pre-existing stroke. The measurement of endothelial dysfunction after stroke could become an important element of follow-up, providing an indication of the functional and cognitive prognosis of stroke patients.

Sociodemographic characteristics of children born to HIV-infected mothers in Western French Guiana

BackgroundFrench Guiana is the French department most affected by HIV. The situation in Western French Guiana is complicated by the transborder context and isolation of many patients. This study aims to describe the epidemiological characteristics of children born to mothers living with HIV followed in Western French Guiana. MethodsThis was a retrospective and descriptive study. All children born to HIV-infected mothers between 2014 and 2018 were included. Data were collected using a survey sheet to generate an Excel database. ResultsWe recorded 177 newborns exposed to maternal HIV, four of whom (2.26 %) were infected. The majority of women (87 %) were of foreign origin, and only 7 % had conventional health insurance coverage. The infection was discovered during pregnancy in 20 % of women. Overall 21.71 % of newborns were preterm and 22.5 % hypotrophic. All neonates had received antiretroviral prophylaxis for four weeks, either as monotherapy (AZT) (67.43 %) or triple therapy (AZT/3TC/NVP) (25.71 %). Twenty-two neonates had at least one neonatal illness: transient respiratory distress (9 cases), asphyxia (3 cases), hyaline membrane disease (8 cases), and there were two cases with birth defects: clubfoot (1 case) and heart disease (1 case). The follow-up rate at 24 months was 65 % and 35 % of cases were lost to follow-up. The most common biological anomalies were anemia (69.14 %), hyperlacticaemia (23 %), and neutropenia (9.14 %). ConclusionThe prevalence of mother-to child transmission of HIV was high; a quarter of maternal infections were discovered during pregnancy. The mother’s socio-economic situation was often precarious and follow-up interruptions common.

Leptospirosis, the diagnostic challenge of an indigenous case

Leptospirosis is a global widespread zoonosis caused by a Gram-negative bacterium of the genus Leptospira, belonging to the Spirochaetes phylum, favored by unhealthy living conditions and some professional and recreational aquatic activities. Its diagnosis could be very difficult due to the presence of non-specific clinical presentation and biological anomalies common to other infectious diseases. To detect it, the choice of the right diagnostic method is fundamental. We hereby introduce the case of a patient with no classic risk factors for leptospirosis, showing febrile headaches and rapid deterioration of her general conditions with evolution towards septicemia.

Modern biophysical view of electromagnetic processes of the phenomenon of life of living biological systems as a promising basis for the development of complex medicine: the role of water

The results of a theoretical study of the role of water in electromagnetic generation and in the process of realizing the phenomenon of life are presented in the article. This article is a continuation of the theoretical study of the team of authors, which was published in the Journal of Complexity in Health Sciences, Vol. 5, Issue 1, 2022, p. 22-34. The aim of the theoretical study was to generalize the available scientific physical and biological knowledge of modern science about the role of water in the electromagnetic processes of the phenomenon of life at the cellular level in order to deepen the fundamental knowledge of Complex Medicine. This study is a fragment of research work on “Development of algorithms and technologies for implementing a Healthy Lifestyle in patients with Noncommunicable Diseases based on the study of functional status” (state registration number 0121U108237: UDC 613 616-056-06: 616.1/9-03). General scientific methods and theoretical methods were used in this theoretical study. The main conclusions of the theoretical study were made as follows: 1) Тhe “30/11 helix” is the main most typical fragmentary element of water self-organization into fractal structures and it forms energy-intensive fractal crystalline filamentous water structures in living biological systems, supported by energy constantly coming from biopolymers, and forming large constantly growing hierarchical structures that unite all the water of a living organism in a dynamic balance of opposite processes of destruction and growth of its energy-intensive crystalline structures; 2) Water has a key role in the process of transmission and perception of the coherent energy of a soliton through self-organizing fractal energy-intensive paramagnetic crystalline structures in living biological systems; 3) The phenomenon of biological life at the micro level is characterized by the presence of a state of water binding/organization into energy-intensive crystalline structures due to the constant supply of coherent energy from biopolymers and stops when this energy flow disappears, which corresponds to the onset of the phenomenon of biological death and is manifested by the degradation of energy-intensive fractal crystalline self-organization of water to an unbound water state. solution devoid of so-called biological anomalies.

Ammonia and Phosphine in the Clouds of Venus as Potentially Biological Anomalies

We are of the opinion that several anomalies in the atmosphere of Venus provide evidence of yet-unknown processes and systems that are out of equilibrium. The investigation of these anomalies on Venus should be open to a wide range of explanations, including unknown biological activity. We provide an overview of two anomalies, the tentative detection of ammonia and phosphine in Venus’s atmosphere. These anomalies fly in the face of the tacit assumption that the atmosphere of Venus must be in chemical redox equilibrium, an assumption connected to the belief that Venus is lifeless. We then discuss several major past discoveries in astronomy, biology and geology, which lead to the abandonment of certain assumptions held by many scientists as though they were well-established principles. The anomalies of ammonia and phosphine in the atmosphere of Venus are placed in the context of these historical discoveries. This context supports our opinion that persistence by the community in the exploration of these anomalies with a skeptical eye towards tacit assumptions will increase the chances of making profound discoveries about the atmosphere of Venus and the diverse and often strange nature of planetary environments. To be submitted to Aerospace Special Issue “The Search for Signs of Life on Venus: Science Objectives and Mission Designs”.

Systematic inspection of genomic tandem repeats and rearrangements in autism model

The mouse model for autism, BTBRT+ Itpr3tf/J (BTBR), has been intensively studied for various biological anomalies at genomic, transcriptomics and proteomics levels. However, complex genomic variations beyond linear differences (i.e., single base pair, or few pairs to several kilo-base pair alterations covering a chromosome) have been undetected, so far. This is largely due to limitations both in sequencing platforms and detection algorithms. However, recent advances have been encouraging in identifying complex genomic structures like tandem repeat variations, and complex inter-chromosomal rearrangements. To further uncover the distinct genetic architecture underlying autism-like phenotypes of this mouse model, we used long-read sequencing and advanced computational pipelines and identified tandem repeats, and rearrangements. We prioritised repeat alleles in 27 disease related genes and nine genomic rearrangements that are unique to the model. To assess impact on several phenotypes related to autism, we also predicted potential disrupting contributions of these alleles on the biological features, like protein structure integrity, genome 3D-folding, transcript splicing sites, enhancers of nearby other genes. Overall, we identified novel alleles that underpin the complex nature of genomic variations which could, together, govern autism related traits within BTBR.

Epidemiological, Biological and Etiological Profile of Thrombocytopenia Diagnosed at the Hematology Laboratory of the Arrazi Hospital of the University Hospital Center Mohammed Vi-Marrakesh- Prospective Study (March 2021-August 2021)

Study objectives: This study attempts to describe the epidemiological and biological profiles as well as the common etiologies of thrombocytopenia in patients admitted to University Hospital center Mohammed VI in Marrakesh, Morocco, over a period of six months between March 2021 and August 2021. Patients and methods: This is a prospective study of 673 patients hospitalized in the University Hospital center -Mohammed VI-Marrakesh between March and August 2021 whose admission blood tests show thrombocytopenia. Results: Thrombocytopenia was found in 673 patients, mainly from the intensive care unit (28%) and the department of hematology &amp; oncology (16%), the sex ratio was 1.3 with a male predominance of 58%, the average age of our patients was 37.1 years. On biological plan, prothrombin (PT) and CRP were the two most noticed disturbed biological markers in our series, at 50% and 79% respectively, the etiological profile of our patients demonstrated a predominance of peripheral thrombocytopenia at 83.2%, The most frequent causes were infectious (43%), bacterial, viral or parasitic, followed by anomaly of distribution of platets (12%) and immunological thrombocytopenia (9%). Conclusion: Our study shows that thrombocytopenia is a frequent biological anomaly that can affect both sexes, of any age, it is most often multifactorial, but the main cause is infection, requiring a correlation of epidemiological, clinical and biological profiles in order to adapt the treatment.

Automated methods for sella turcica segmentation on cephalometric radiographic data using deep learning (CNN) techniques.

The objective of this work is to present a novel technique using convolutional neural network (CNN) architectures for automatic segmentation of sella turcica (ST) on cephalometric radiographic image dataset. The proposed work suggests possible deep learning approaches to distinguish ST on complex cephalometric radiographs using deep learning techniques. The dataset of 525 lateral cephalometric images was employed and randomly split into different training and testing subset ratios. The ground truth (annotated images) represents pixel-wise annotation of the ST using an online annotation platform by dental specialists. This study compared convolutional neural network architectures based on fine-tuned versions of the VGG19, ResNet34, InceptionV3, and ResNext50 architectures to select an appropriate model for autonomous segmentation of the nonlinear structure of ST. The study compared training and prediction results of the selected models: VGG19, ResNet34, InceptionV3, and ResNext50. The mean IoU scores for VGG19, ResNet34, InceptionV3 and ResNext50 are 0.7651, 0.7241, 0.4717, 0.4287, dice coefficients are 0.7794, 0.7487, 0.4714, 0.4363 and loss scores are 0.0973, 0.1299, 0.2049 and 0.2251, respectively. The obtained findings suggest that the VGG19 and Resnet34 architectures (mean IoU and dice coefficient > 75%) comparatively outperformed the InceptionV3 and ResNext50 architectures (mean IoU and dice coefficients is around 45%) for considered cephalometric radiographic dataset. The study findings can be used as a reference model for future investigation of non-linear ST morphological characteristics and related biological anomalies.

Tastes Like War by Grace M. Cho

Reviewed by: Tastes Like War by Grace M. Cho Sunhay You (bio) Tastes Like War, by Grace M. Cho. New York: Feminist Press, 2021, 296 pp. ISBN: 9781952177941. An “unintended sequel” to Haunting the Korean Diaspora, Grace Cho’s memoir, Tastes Like War, engages in a sociological mode of storytelling (6). Her voice is familiar, evoking the autoethnographic portions of her first book: an “experimental writing voice . . . intended to show the mixing up of fact and fiction, of self and other, so neither a discreet narrator nor a clear storyline is always [End Page 143] present” (203). True to her commitments to unraveling the limits of a discreet authorial subject, Cho weaves together Korean recipes, psychological texts, history, personal anecdotes, and dreams to uncover the tacit knowledge that lies in the wake of her mother’s schizophrenia. The memoir peels away at the insights of her first book, revealing another US imperial structure of shame and secrecy besides the military bride: mental disability. In the opening prologue, Cho claims that she was raised by at least three different mothers. The mother of her early childhood is a charismatic entrepreneur who sells foraged wild blackberries while supporting other racial minorities. Cho’s teenage years mark the onset of her mother’s schizophrenia, when she becomes a “prisoner to the voices that told her to stop doing the things she used to do” (3). In her thirties, Cho begins to observe her mother's vivacious qualities return while teaching Cho how to cook Korean food. The breaks in these three mothers organize the breaks between parts 2 to 4 of the memoir, the prologue and part 1 offering the sociological framework to her storytelling. As Cho cites throughout the first section, theories on the relationship between mental disability and structures of racial-sexual violence are relatively new. While research on schizophrenia from the 1970s and 80s explains the condition as “the result of a bad gene,” more recent studies suggest that schizophrenia is symptomatic of a social disease as much as a biological anomaly (4). Referring to T. M. Lurhmann’s 2016 study Our Most Troubling Madness: Studies in Schizophrenia, Cho explains that five of the six risk factors associated with schizophrenia apply to her mother: low socioeconomic status, childhood adversity, physical or sexual trauma, immigration, and “being a person of color in a white neighborhood” (56). Indeed, besides narratives of her mother’s passage to the United States as a military bride, many of Cho’s early recollections of her mother take place in Chehalis, Washington. She notes that the city is known for having hosted a regional meeting of approximately seventy thousand members of the KKK in 1924, a legacy of white supremacy that continues today. Cho’s mother grows especially paranoid about being a target of “the John Birch Society, a radical right-wing organization founded in 1958 and named after an American who had been killed by the Chinese at the end of World War II” (136). Through these details,Cho demonstrates how her mother’s experiences of racial-sexual violence undergird developments in her schizophrenic paranoia, which would later confine her to the home, the curtains drawn and cabinets closed on a dwindling supply of food. In part 3, Cho delves into the structural obstacles she faced as a teenager trying to help her mother in the absence of such a nuanced understanding of schizophrenia. A doctor at the local mental health center told her that if her mother was in danger of hurting someone, the police could force her mother [End Page 144] to seek treatment. Given her age and inability to convince her mother of her schizophrenia, Cho resorts to calling the police after aggravating one of her mother’s schizophrenic episodes. This event plants a seed of mistrust that casts a shadow over Cho’s future attempts to care for her mother. These careful and honest observations present a wide-spanning cognitive map of institutional structures, histories, and cultural forces that have impacted her mother's mental health as a military bride. Anecdotes about the healing power of food interrupt the more daunting stories of racial-sexual violence that give shape to her mother...

COVID-19 reinfection after pregnancy

BackgroundThere have been reports of COVID-19 reinfections, but the immunological characterization of these cases is partial. We report a case of reinfection with SARS-CoV-2, where the first infection occurred in the course of late pregnancy. Case presentationOn May 27, 2020, a 37-year-old woman gave birth at full term, 3 hours after full dilatation. She developed fever (38.3°C) after delivery. Mild biological anomalies compatible with COVID-19 were observed: lymphopenia, thrombocytopenia, elevated D-Dimers, CRP, and LDH. At 6-month follow-up, she reported having contracted COVID-19 with high fever, rhinorrhea, hand frostbites, cough, headache, dysgeusia and anosmia. ConclusionsWe report a case of COVID-19 reinfection with a first mild infection during late pregnancy and a more aggressive second infection 5 months later.

The testosterone barrier in sport

World Athletics (formerly known as IAAF) has recently published the eligibility regulations for female classification that apply to running events from 400 meters up to the mile. The regulations have prevented some elite women athletes with DSD (Difference of Sexual Development) to compete or have made some of them to change their preferred running event in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. According to World Athletics, female hyperandrogenism (a biological anomaly that naturally produces a high level of testosterone) must be in some way “compensated” to respect the fair play of the competition. Nonetheless, such argument rests upon a problematic assumption: hyperandrogenic women are not “natural” women —at least when it comes to compete in sports— so their “not-normal” condition must be fixed to meet the standards. Norbert Elias’s process-sociology helps to place the case of hyperandrogenic sportswomen within a broader context of power relations. In this fashion, we see that the case becomes problematic because these women athletes are perceived as a threat/disruption of one of the vertebral categories of sport: sex/gender. The testosterone barrier is to sex/gender what the colour barrier was to race in sports: a disciplinary strategy to maintain what is considered the “natural” sports categories of a certain era.

Perinatal outcome and need of care for term asphyxiated newborns without moderate or severe hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy.

Birth asphyxia can lead to organ dysfunction, varying from isolated biological acidosis to hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE). Pathophysiology of moderate or severe HIE is now well known and guidelines exist regarding the care required in this situation. However, for newborns without moderate or severe HIE, no consensus is available. Our objective was to describe the immediate neonatal consequences and need for care of asphyxiated newborns without moderate or severe HIE. Multicentre retrospective study from January 2015 to December 2017 in two academic centres, including neonates ≥37gestational weeks with pathological foetal acidemia (umbilical arterial pH<7.00 and/or lactate≥10mmol/L). Among 18 550 births, 161 (0.9%) had pathological foetal acidemia. 142 (88.0%) were not diagnosed with moderate or severe HIE. Among them, 82 (58.0%) were hospitalised. 13 (9.0%) had respiratory failure and required nutritional support. 100 (70.0%) underwent blood sampling, which showed at least one biological anomaly in 66 (66.0%) of cases. Newborns born with pathological foetal acidemia without the occurrence of moderate or severe HIE had metabolic disorders and could need organ support. A prospective study describing this vulnerable population would help to establish consensus guidelines for the management of this population.

Relevance of Routine Abdominopelvic Ultrasound in Suspected Child Abuse in Children Under 2 years of Age: Review of 15 years of Experience

In France, the current recommendation is to perform a routine abdominopelvic ultrasound in any child under 2years of age who is suspected to have been abused. We retrospectively studied the relevance of this practice in our center over the past fifteen years. This was a descriptive, retrospective study of all children under 2years of age who had been subject to suspected abuse. Abdominal images and reports were reviewed and cross-referenced with possible clinical and biological signs. Four hundred and five children were included between 2006 and 2020, of whom 296 underwent abdominal imaging (2 initial abdominopelvic CT scans, 4 ultrasounds followed by CT scans, and 290 ultrasounds alone). Four examinations revealed traumatic abnormalities related to abuse. These four children all had clinical or biological anomalies. In the absence of clinical or biological signs, no imagery showed any abnormality related to abuse.

Hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis, what about hair?

A 1-month-old boy, born to nonconsanguineous parents, without notable family health history, presented with febrile pancytopenia and splenomegaly. Clinical examination disclosed no other anomaly, notably no neurological alteration. His initial complete blood count showed normocytic anemia (hemoglobin 105 g/L), thrombocytopenia (84 × 109/L), and neutropenia (0.8 × 109/L) without lymphopenia. Upon worsening of this pancytopenia, associated with persistent fever despite antibiotics, a bone marrow aspirate revealed no blasts but the presence of histiocytes with hemophagocytosis (Image 1A). High serum triglycerides, ferritin, and lactic dehydrogenase were observed at respectively 3.3 mmol/L, 71 000 μg/L, and 788 U/L together with hypofibrinogenemia (1.1 g/L). Molecular tests for toxoplasmosis, HSV, EBV, CMV, HHV6, and parvovirus B19 were negative. Clinical examination revealed the presence of partial albinism with silver-gray hair. This feature associated to the biological anomalies, evoked a diagnosis of Griscelli or Chediak Higashi syndrome. However, bone marrow cells did not contain giant cytoplasmic granulations. Moreover, microscopic analysis of hair revealed clumps of melanin of various sizes irregularly distributed throughout the hair shaft, suggestive of Griscelli syndrome (Image 1B,C). Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) analysis revealed hyperproteinorachia (0.73 g/L) and 20/μL leucocytes (92% lymphocytes CD4+, CD3+, DR+, CD25−) in favor of asymptomatic central nervous system hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH). Sequencing of the RAB27 gene in a blood sample finally revealed a homozygous missense mutation in exon 3, confirming the diagnosis of type 2 Griscelli syndrome.1 Corticosteroid therapy was initiated followed by alemtuzumab administration. The patient then underwent a haplo-identical allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation and is well 8 months later. Children with GS2 indeed present with partial albinism, associated with hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis. RAB27A deficiency is responsible for a defective exocytosis of cytotoxic granules from T cells and natural killer cells, which may cause secondary immune overactivation leading to HLH. In the absence of treatment, the evolution is rapidly fatal. Although poorly codified, treatment consists in suppression of the triggering factor, control of HLH with chemotherapy or immunotherapy followed by an allo-HSCT.2 The pejorative evolution of this pathology makes its early recognition essential. Thus, children presenting with HLH must systematically benefit from a search for partial albinism. The presence of silver-gray hair makes necessary microscopic examination. The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest. ME and EC performed analyses. BLC, AH and CT treated the patient. BLC, MCB and ME wrote the manuscript.

An Efficient of Chimera Grid Scheme with Spline Interpolation in FBTS Inversion Technique for Extremely Dense Breast Cancer Detection

Microwave imaging system is classified as non-invasive, simple to perform and inexpensive compared to MRI and X-Ray machine. Therefore, the novel idea of this research work is to develop a Chimera Grid Scheme (CGS) incorporate with the microwave inverse scattering technique in a low cost, non-ionising and safe short-range. The CGS with spline interpolation in Forward Backward Time-Stepping (FBTS) inversion technique can determined an accurate result especially for the biological anomalies like breast tumours at an early curable stage due to the high electrical properties contrast between malignant cells and normal cells. The findings showed that the proposed method successfully detected and reconstructed the breast structure in relative permittivity profiles. The quantitative information of reconstructed images, such as location, shape, size and internal composition also can be obtained. Furthermore, the normalised functional error for proposed method was also lower than the FDTD method in FBTS. At 150th iteration, the difference of normalised functional error between these two methods was 1.74 × 10−5. The result shows that the CGS method in FBTS inversion technique would reconstruct breast composition more precisely.

A Site of Unsettlement

A Site of Unsettlement

From the Elephant Man to Barbie Girl: Dissecting the Freak from the Margins to the Mainstream

From the Elephant Man to Barbie Girl: Dissecting the Freak from the Margins to the Mainstream

Satellite observations of phytoplankton enrichments around seamounts in the South West Indian Ocean with a special focus on the Walters Shoal

Spatial anomalies associated with seamounts and islands have been detected in the South West Indian Ocean using a new surface chlorophyll-a based enrichment index (EI). Calculated from daily L3 4-km MODIS chl-a data from 2003 to 2018, the EI was used to quantify recurrent (seasonal) surface enrichment associated with these features. Most notable were the shallow Walters Shoal (18 m) and nearby deeper WS-2 seamount (480 m), both located on the southern Madagascar Ridge, which showed high EI values of 40% and 15% local enhancement. Tromelin Island, east of Madagascar, exhibited more moderate values of 15% local increase. Other shallower seamounts including La Pérouse (60 m) and MAD-Ridge (240 m) exhibited sporadic or no measurable surface maxima. Regions of strong mesoscale activity such as south of Madagascar where the South East Madagascar Current detaches from the continent also revealed high EI values. A marked seasonality of the EI was observed over the Walters Shoal, with higher values during the oligotrophic season than in the austral winter. The seasonal variability of the MLD in combination with the seamount bathymetry appears to induce the thermal and biological anomalies observed there, possibly favoured by the presence of a Taylor cap at the summit. Ship-collected in situ measurements showed the satellite observed enrichment to be associated with shallowing of the deep chlorophyll maximum, as well as a shift of phytoplankton groups towards diatoms and small flagellates. No net increase of integrated chl-a was measured but a potential doubling in primary productivity is expected. The EI developed in this study, designed to reveal sporadic, small localised chl-a maxima, is likely applicable to other areas in the ocean where there is local enrichments.