Short Bundles Research Articles

A case report of primary Kaposiform hemangioendothelioma of the humerus.

To examine the clinicopathological and immunohistochemical features of Kaposiform hemangioendothelioma (KHE) and discuss its differential diagnosis and prognosis. A patient with KHE was examined; the patient's clinical and histopathological features were observed, and the expression levels of CD31, CD34, ERG, D2-40, SMA, GLUT-1, and LANA-1 were assessed. The patient was a four-year-old child with primary KHE of the humerus. She was admitted to the hospital because of pain in the right elbow joint and limited movement for more than 2years. Imaging revealed Langerhans cell histiocytosis. The child was not diagnosed with Kasabach-Merritt phenomenon (KMP). The tumor consists of multiple hemangiomatous nodules with infiltrative growth separated by fibrous connective tissue. The proliferating hemangiomatoid nodules consisted of crisscrossing short spindle-shaped cell bundles and erythrocyte-containing lacunar or crescentic vessels. Immunohistochemical staining showed that the tumor cells diffusely expressed CD31, CD34, ERG, and other vascular endothelium-derived markers; further, the tumor cells expressed neither GLUT-1 nor LANA-1. The patient's general condition improved after surgical resection. There was no tumor recurrence after more than 8months of follow-up. Primary KHE of the humerus is a rare vasculogenic tumor. It presents with morphological features that require an accurate differential diagnosis.

The resurrection of vocational interests in human resources research and practice: Yes we can!

AbstractThis short article bundles our reactions to three commentaries on our provocation paper about the resurrection of vocational interests in human resources research and practice.

A rare case of nodular fasciitis presenting as a parotid tumor: Clues to cytodiagnosis

A 14-year-old boy presented with left preauricular painless swelling of 10 months’ duration. Local examination revealed a 3 × 2-cm, firm, nodular, nonmobile mass in the left preauricular area, just in front of tragus. Fine needle aspiration yielded paucicellular smears comprising singly scattered histiocyte/myofibroblast-like spindle cells and occasional giant cells. It was reported as benign mesenchymal lesion on cytology. Left superficial parotidectomy was performed. Histopathological and immunohistochemical analysis confirmed the diagnosis of nodular fasciitis (NF). It was an illcircumscribed cellular neoplasm, abutting and focally infiltrating into otherwise normal parotid gland. The tumor comprised spindle cells arranged in short bundles and storiform pattern with interspersed osteoclast-like giant cells, foam cells, extravasated red blood cells (RBCs), and focal areas of keloidal collagenization. The cells were positive for smooth muscle actin and negative for CD34, beta-catenin, S100, and pancytokeratin. Final diagnosis of NF was rendered. NF can rarely involve the parotid gland or present as parotid enlargement and pose diagnostic challenge, especially on cytology. However, in appropriate clinical context, subtle cytomorphological clues such as presence of myofibroblasts and fibrocollagenous stromal fragments can help in ruling out the commonly occurring salivary gland neoplasms and offering a definitive cytodiagnosis of NF which will be helpful in deciding the further course of management.

Lexical Bundles in Indonesian EFL Textbooks: A Corpus Analysis

Background. Lexical bundles in textbooks are of paramount importance in foreign language learning. They provide a framework for new vocabulary acquisition and help to build fluency. Despite many studies on lexical bundles, investigations into their usage in EFL textbooks in the Indonesian context are still rare.
 Purpose. This corpus-based study examines the patterns and structural classifications of lexical bundles in EFL course textbooks for Indonesian senior high school students. As such, it could yield ready-made chunks of English which could be incorporated into students’ spoken and written communication.
 Method. The AntConc software version 3.5.9 was used to extract lexical bundles from five Indonesian Senior High School English textbooks. These books were endorsed by the government to be used across the country. The corpus revealed that the textbooks had 54,009 lexical bundles. In addition, the bundles were categorized into patterns and structural classifications based on Biber et al. (1999).
 Results. The results showed the patterns included three-word lexical bundles with 32,527 occurrences, four-word with 11,620, five-word with 6,073, and six-word with 3,789. Furthermore, eleven structural classifications of lexical bundles were found in the textbooks: “noun phrase + of phrase fragment” with 173 occurrences; “noun phrase + other post modifier fragment” with 44; “other noun phrases fragment” with 157; “prepositional phrase + of” with 13; “other prepositional phrases” with 243; “anticipatory it + verb phrase/adjective phrase” with 13; “passive verb + prepositional phrase” with 19; “copula be + noun phrase/ adjective phrase” with 30; “(verb phrase +) that- clause” with 59; and “(verb/adjective +) to- clause” with 239.
 Conclusion. Three-word lexical bundles were the most frequent in the senior high English textbooks. High frequency implies repetition of the bundles. Also, the other prepositional phrase fragment was the most frequent structural classification. Short bundles may have been intended to help students to retain vocabulary and recall the bundles in the usage. This study, therefore, provides valuable insights into the most common groups of words used in the Indonesian EFL textbooks. Pedagogically speaking, repeated bundles in English textbooks can familiarize EFL students with the patterns, and they can use them in spoken and written communication.

Efficient Distributed MAC for Dynamic Demands: Congestion and Age Based Designs

Future generation wireless technologies are expected to serve an increasingly dense and dynamic population of users that generate short bundles of information to be transferred over the shared spectrum. This calls for new distributed and low-overhead Multiple-Access-Control (MAC) strategies to serve such dynamic demands with spectral efficiency characteristics. In this work, we address this need by identifying and developing two fundamentally different MAC paradigms: (i) congestion-based paradigm that estimates the congestion level in the system and adapts to it; and (ii) age-based paradigm that prioritizes demands based on their ages. Despite their apparent differences, we develop policies under each paradigm in a generic multi-channel access scenario that are provably throughput-optimal when they employ any asymptotically-efficient channel encoding/decoding mechanism. We also characterize the stability regions of the two designs, and investigate the conditions under which one design outperforms the other. We perform extensive simulations to validate the theoretical claims and investigate the non-asymptotic performances of our designs.

Disentangling the variability of the superficial white matter organization using regional-tractogram-based population stratification

Each variation of the cortical folding pattern implies a particular rearrangement of the geometry of the fibers of the underlying white matter. While this rearrangement only impacts the ends of the long pathways, it may affect most of the trajectory of the short bundles. Therefore, mapping the short fibers of the human brain using diffusion-based tractography requires a dedicated strategy to overcome the variability of the folding patterns. In this paper, we propose a fiber-based stratification strategy splitting the population into homogeneous groups for disentangling the superficial white matter bundle organization. This strategy introduces a new refined fiber distance which includes angular considerations for inferring fine-grained atlases of the short bundles surrounding a specific sulcus and a subtractogram distance that quantifies the similitude between fiber sets of two different subjects. The stratification splits the population into groups with similar regional fiber organization using manifold learning. We first successfully test the hypothesis that the main source of variability of the regional fiber organization is the variability of the regional folding pattern. Then, in each group, we proceed with the automatic identification of the most stable bundles, at a higher granularity level than what can be achieved with the non-stratified whole population, enabling the disentanglement of the very variable configuration of the short fibers. Finally, the method searches for bundle correspondence across groups to build a population level atlas. As a proof of concept, the atlas refinement achieved by this strategy is illustrated for the fibers that surround the central sulcus and the superior temporal sulcus using the HCP dataset.

Numerical simulation of mechanical properties of short basalt fiber bundles reinforced concrete (SBFBRC)

The performance of short basalt fiber bundles reinforced concrete (SBFBRC) is studied in depth through numerical simulation. Based on the data of the flexural test of basalt fiber-reinforced concrete with 0% and 0.2% content, the basalt fiber-reinforced concrete is established by ABAQUS. The validity of the model is verified by the existing test data. The influence of basalt fiber bundle content, length, and diameter on the compressive strength of concrete is studied. The results show that the load-displacement curve obtained by the simulation in this paper is approximately the same as the curve obtained by the experiment, and the simulated peak load and peak deflection are similar to the average value of the test group, which reflects the accuracy of the model. Parameter analysis shows that with the increase of fiber bundle content, the strength and toughness of concrete gradually increase; the increase of basalt fiber bundle length has no obvious effect on improving the compressive strength of concrete; when the fiber bundle content is constant, it is increased appropriately. The aspect ratio of the fiber bundle is beneficial to the improvement of compressive strength and toughness.

Microtubule organization changes severely after mannitol and n-butanol treatments inducing microspore embryogenesis in bread wheat

BackgroundA mannitol stress treatment and a subsequent application of n-butanol, known as a microtubule-disrupting agent, enhance microspore embryogenesis (ME) induction and plant regeneration in bread wheat. To characterize changes in cortical (CMT) and endoplasmic (EMT) microtubules organization and dynamics, associated with ME induction treatments, immunocytochemistry studies complemented by confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) were accomplished. This technique has allowed us to perform advanced 3- and 4D studies of MT architecture. The degree of MT fragmentation was examined by the relative fluorescence intensity quantification.ResultsIn uni-nucleated mannitol-treated microspores, severe CMT and EMT fragmentation occurs, although a complex network of short EMT bundles protected the nucleus. Additional treatment with n-butanol resulted in further depolymerization of both CMT and EMT, simultaneously with the formation of MT aggregates in the perinuclear region. Some aggregates resembled a preprophase band. In addition, a portion of the microspores progressed to the first mitotic division during the treatments. Bi-nucleate pollen-like structures showed a high MT depolymerization after mannitol treatment and numerous EMT bundles around the vegetative and generative nuclei after n-butanol. Interestingly, bi-nucleate symmetric structures showed prominent stabilization of EMT.ConclusionsFragmentation and stabilization of microtubules induced by mannitol- and n-butanol lead to new configurations essential for the induction of microspore embryogenesis in bread wheat. These results provide robust insight into MT dynamics during EM induction and open avenues to address newly targeted treatments to induce ME in recalcitrant species.

An overview: characterization of natural fiber reinforced hybrid composites

Purpose The purpose of this study is to understand the behavior of hybrid bio-composites under varied applications. Design/methodology/approach Fabrication methods and material characterization of various hybrid bio-composites are analyzed by studying the tensile, impact, flexural and hardness of the same. The natural fiber is a manufactured group of assembly of big or short bundles of fiber to produce one or more layers of flat sheets. The natural fiber-reinforced composite materials offer a wide range of properties that are suitable for many engineering-related fields like aerospace, automotive areas. The main characteristics of natural fiber composites are durability, low cost, low weight, high specific strength and equally good mechanical properties. Findings The tensile properties like tensile strength and tensile modulus of flax/hemp/sisal/Coir/Palmyra fiber-reinforced composites are majorly dependent on the chemical treatment and catalyst usage with fiber. The flexural properties of flax/hemp/sisal/coir/Palmyra are greatly dependent on fiber orientation and fiber length. Impact properties of flax/hemp/sisal/coir/Palmyra are depended on the fiber content, composition and orientation of various fibers. Originality/value This study is a review of various research work done on the natural fiber bio-composites exhibiting the factors to be considered for specific load conditions.

An innovative scheme to conserve natural Uranium in Indian Pressurized Heavy Water Reactors

Natural Uranium being a limited resource on earth needs to be conserved and utilized optimally when used in the reactor core. Pressurized heavy water reactors (PHWRs) are fueled with natural Uranium (NU) in the form of short length bundles. Features like online refueling and short length bundles in PHWRs, provide the flexibility in towards optimizing the fuel requirement and the discharge burn-up during any stage of operation. In equilibrium core conditions, nearly fifty percent of fuel bundles have achieved burnup <3.5 GWD/TeU which is half of their target value of ~7GWD/TeU. There are instances like En-masse coolant channel replacement (EMCCR) or planned de-commissioning, where the full core has to be emptied. A small modification in fuel management scheme months before long shutdown activity can help in utilizing the low burn-up bundles present in the core for extended operation of reactor and save NU bundles. In this paper, a novel scheme for refueling and re-shuffling of fuel bundles has been developed based on heuristic approach which is further supported by numerical simulation. This modified in-core fuel management (ICFM) scheme leads to a net economic benefit in terms of saving of fresh NU bundles as the feed rate of fresh NU bundles will be reduced to ~35% of feed rate during normal ICFM.

Nodular fasciitis of the breast: a clinicopathological and genetic analysis of seven cases

Objective: To investigate the clinicopathological and genetic features of nodular fasciitis of the breast (NFB). Methods: The clinical and histologic features of seven NFBs were retrospectively reviewed. Immunohistochemistry, fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) were performed. Results: All the seven patients were female, with a mean age of 36 years (range from 15 to 51 years). The duration of the lesion ranged from 10 days to 2 years. There was no history of trauma for all patients. The lesions occurred in the upper quadrant (4 cases), the lower quadrant (2 cases) and the axillary tail region (1 case). The maximum diameter was 1.0-3.5 cm. All cases showed similar morphology as nodular fasciitis occurring elsewhere in the body. They were composed of plump spindle cells arranged in short bundles or fascicles within a loose collagenous/myxoid stroma. Erythrocyte extravasation, mixed chronic inflammatory cells infiltration and microcystic changes were typically seen. Mitoses were present, with no atypical mitoses observed. The spindle cells were positive for smooth muscleactin(SMA, 6/6), CD10(2/3), and negative for desmin, β-catenin, CD34, CKpan, EMA, S-100, p63 and ALK-1.The Ki-67 index were 5%-15%. USP6 gene rearrangement was found in six cases and MYH9-USP6 gene fusion in two cases. Local resection was performed in six cases. Spontaneous regression was observed in one case. Follow-up of all seven cases revealed no recurrence or metastasis. Conclusions: Although rare, NFB can mimic breast cancer clinically, radiologically and histologically. It should be always considered in the differential diagnosis for the spindle cell proliferations of the breast. A diagnosis of NFB can be achieved basing on the typical clinicopathological presentation. FISH detection of USP6 gene rearrangement in challenging cases is of great value.

Cutaneous leiomyosarcoma with visceral metastases in a White Carneau pigeon and literature review.

Cutaneous leiomyosarcomas are malignant mesenchymal tumors of smooth muscle origin and are reported occasionally in avian species. A 14-y-old male laboratory White Carneau pigeon (Columba livia) was presented for surgical excision of a cervical soft tissue mass. Ultrasonography with color flow Doppler imaging revealed multiple cavitations of mixed echogenicity within the mass and vascularization. Histologically, the dermis and subcutis were expanded by a densely cellular multinodular mass comprised of fusiform cells forming haphazardly arranged broad streams and short interwoven bundles, often surrounding blood vessels and variably sized cavitations. Neoplastic cells were strongly immunopositive for desmin and α-smooth muscle actin, and negative for pancytokeratin, S100, and von Willebrand factor. Based on histopathology and IHC findings, the cutaneous mass was diagnosed as leiomyosarcoma (LMS). The pigeon died 312 d post-operatively. Postmortem examination revealed masses infiltrating the left and right pulmonary airways and one hepatic nodule, but no regrowth at the surgical site. Histologic and IHC evaluation of the pulmonary and hepatic masses were consistent with LMS, representing metastatic foci from the primary cutaneous LMS. Our case highlights the malignant behavior and histomorphologic features of cutaneous LMS in an avian species.

Vascular bundle modifications in nodes and internodes of climbing Marantaceae

AbstractNodes are interfaces between stems and leaves. Vascular bundles originate here and elongate into leaves and internodes. In Marantaceae, internodal bundles are highly diverse, including inverted bundles in the climbing genus Haumania. The objective of this paper is to characterize bundle forms, their position across the stem and their connection to leaves and short shoots in Haumania spp. and other unrelated African branch-angle climbers in the family (Hypselodelphys, Trachyphrynium). We question whether bundle inversion is a genus-specific trait in Haumania or related to the climbing growth form. Vascular bundles in internodes are scattered across the stem diameter in a characteristic pattern. Four (to five) bundle types follow each other in a centripetal order from highly sclerenchymatic ‘a’-bundles close to the epidermis to ‘d’-bundles in the centre with a low sclerenchyma proportion. Inverted bundles only appear in internodes of Haumania, making this trait a synapomorphy for the genus. The nodes show stem, leaf and short shoot bundles in a remarkably diverse pattern with partitioned phloem clusters and apparently augmented xylem elements. Our preliminary conclusion is that the inversion of bundles happens when leaf and short shoot traces join the main axis bundle layers.

Surface Pretreatment and Fabrication Technology of Braided Carbon Fiber Rope Aluminum Matrix Composite

Carbon fiber is mainly distributed in the shape of short fibers and continuous fiber bundles as the reinforcing phase in metal matrix composites, and it is seldom studied as braided rope shaped to reinforce the matrix. For this paper, the pretreatment and the surface metallization of the carbon fiber braided rope were studied. Besides, the casting experiments of aluminum-based carbon fiber braided rope composites were performed without external pressure. XPS analysis shows that the surface of the carbon fiber braided rope treated with ultrasonic degumming contains many hydrophilic oxygen-containing functional groups C-OH, C=O, COOH, etc., which can effectively improve the wettability between the carbon fiber braided rope and the aluminum matrix. SEM, EDS, and XRD were used to analyze the micromorphology and structure of the copper plating on the surface of carbon fiber braided ropes obtained from different pH plating solutions. When pH is 12, a continuous, uniform, and dense layer was formed on the surface of carbon fiber braided ropes. In addition, copper coating can effectively inhibit the formation of Al4C3 brittle phase. Finally, the mechanical properties results indicated that the tensile strength of the carbon fiber bundle and carbon fiber rope reinforced composite materials were 69 MPa and 83 MPa, respectively, indicating that the reinforcing effect of the carbon fiber rope is better than that of the carbon fiber bundle.

Automatic group-wise whole-brain short association fiber bundle labeling based on clustering and cortical surface information

BackgroundDiffusion MRI is the preferred non-invasive in vivo modality for the study of brain white matter connections. Tractography datasets contain 3D streamlines that can be analyzed to study the main brain white matter tracts. Fiber clustering methods have been used to automatically group similar fibers into clusters. However, due to inter-subject variability and artifacts, the resulting clusters are difficult to process for finding common connections across subjects, specially for superficial white matter.MethodsWe present an automatic method for labeling of short association bundles on a group of subjects. The method is based on an intra-subject fiber clustering that generates compact fiber clusters. Posteriorly, the clusters are labeled based on the cortical connectivity of the fibers, taking as reference the Desikan–Killiany atlas, and named according to their relative position along one axis. Finally, two different strategies were applied and compared for the labeling of inter-subject bundles: a matching with the Hungarian algorithm, and a well-known fiber clustering algorithm, called QuickBundles.ResultsIndividual labeling was executed over four subjects, with an execution time of 3.6 min. An inspection of individual labeling based on a distance measure showed good correspondence among the four tested subjects. Two inter-subject labeling were successfully implemented and applied to 20 subjects and compared using a set of distance thresholds, ranging from a conservative value of 10 mm to a moderate value of 21 mm. Hungarian algorithm led to a high correspondence, but low reproducibility for all the thresholds, with 96 s of execution time. QuickBundles led to better correspondence, reproducibility and short execution time of 9 s. Hence, the whole processing for the inter-subject labeling over 20 subjects takes 1.17 h.ConclusionWe implemented a method for the automatic labeling of short bundles in individuals, based on an intra-subject clustering and the connectivity of the clusters with the cortex. The labels provide useful information for the visualization and analysis of individual connections, which is very difficult without any additional information. Furthermore, we provide two fast inter-subject bundle labeling methods. The obtained clusters could be used for performing manual or automatic connectivity analysis in individuals or across subjects.

Experimental study on the interfacial bond between short cut basalt fiber bundles and cement matrix

Bonding performance of basalt fiber reinforced cementitious composites (BFRCC) was studied through analyses on pull-out tests and scanning electron microscope (SEM) results. It is concluded that: (1) The rupture failure occurred for dispersed and flexible-type fibers, the pull-out failure controlled cluster-type fibers, and failure modes of alkali-resistant fibers are related to their embedded lengths (le). (2) As le increases, peak pull-out load (Npmax) increases and then becomes unchanged. Appropriate le is within 15–18 mm. (3) As specimen ages, Npmax first increases and starts to decrease at 7-day. (4) Comparisons of bonding strength among different fiber types: dispersed > flexible > alkali-resistant > cluster. (5) SEM analyses are consistent with the macro bonding performance of BFRCC.

Study of the tensile properties of a biocomposite material reinforced with bamboo short fiber bundles

En la presente investigación se determinaron las propiedades mecánicas atracción del material biocompuesto de polipropileno(PP)isotáctico reforzado conhaces defibras cortas de bambú orientadas al azar. Se prepararon muestras del material con diferentes contenidos de refuerzo (20, 30 y 40%), empleando como agente de acople el polipropileno con injertos de moléculas de anhídrido maleico (MAPP). Un grupo de estas muestras fueron sometidas a un tratamiento de envejecimiento térmico acelerado para evaluar el efecto de dicho tratamiento sobre las propiedades a tensióndel biocompuesto. Se realizaron ensayos de tracción a diferentes velocidades de deformación (10 y 50 mm/min) y se obtuvo un aumento de la resistencia a la tracción(de 29a 45 MPa)y del módulo de elasticidad(de 1 a 3GPa)del PP con el contenido de fibras. Para diferentes velocidades de estiramiento, se obtuvo una mejor resistencia a altas velocidades. El envejecimiento térmico durante 24 horas a 100ºC aumentó la resistencia del PP puro. Para los biocompuestos, se obtuvo una baja resistencia en las muestras envejecidas en mayor tiempo (98ºC, 10 días). A través de la microscopia electrónica de barrido se realizó unacaracterización microestructural que permitió explicar el mejoramiento de la resistencia del PP reforzado con fibras, y en algunos casos, la pérdida de resistencia debido al tratamiento térmico

Dynamic organelle distribution initiates actin-based spindle migration in mouse oocytes

Migration of meiosis-I (MI) spindle from the cell center to a sub-cortical location is a critical step for mouse oocytes to undergo asymmetric meiotic cell division. In this study, we investigate the mechanism by which formin-2 (FMN2) orchestrates the initial movement of MI spindle. By defining protein domains responsible for targeting FMN2, we show that spindle-periphery localized FMN2 is required for spindle migration. The spindle-peripheral FMN2 nucleates short actin bundles from vesicles derived likely from the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and concentrated in a layer outside the spindle. This layer is in turn surrounded by mitochondria. A model based on polymerizing actin filaments pushing against mitochondria, thus generating a counter force on the spindle, demonstrated an inherent ability of this system to break symmetry and evolve directional spindle motion. The model is further supported through experiments involving spatially biasing actin nucleation via optogenetics and disruption of mitochondrial distribution and dynamics.

LOW-FAT SPINDLE CELL LIPOMA OF THE LOWER LIP: IMMUNOHISTOCHEMICAL ANALYSIS

A 29-year-old white man was referred for a nodular lesion on the lower lip. The lesion originated after trauma and gradually increased in volume for 2 months without symptomatology and cervical lymphadenopathy. Clinically, a sessile nodule covered by normal-appearing oral mucosa was observed. Surgical removal was performed, and microscopic analyses revealed scarce mature adipose tissue arranged in irregular small nests or single cells, supported by predominantly collagenous stroma, containing foci of wiry to ropey collagen. Spindled cells were arranged discreetly in short bundles surrounded by small blood vessels. No fibrous capsule surrounding the lesion was observed. To better characterize the lesion, a panel of immunohistochemistry was performed, which showed uniform and strong positivity for CD34 (endothelial and spindled cells), as well as reactivity for S100 (adipocytes) and α–smooth muscle actin (vessel walls). The patient's postoperative recovery showed no complications and no recurrence after 1.5 years of follow-up.

High-grade astrocytoma with ventricular invasion in a dog

A 13-year-old female German Shepherd dog was euthanised and submitted to necropsy after a 7-month history of prolonged recumbency and vocalisation. Gross anatomical changes consisted of a well-demarcated, 3.5×1.5 cm,...