However, to be effective they must be based on high spatial-and temporal resolution environmental data. Such a sensitive and spatially explicit predictive approach may be used to inform more effective adaptive management strategies of resources in novel climatic conditions.

Objective In this study, we investigated the roles of presepsin (PSP) and midregional proadrenomedullin (mr-proADM) in children with febrile neutropenia (FN) due to chemotherapy. Methods We assessed 36 FN episodes in 26 children. Patients were classified into bacteremia (B) and fever of unknown origin (FUO) groups. We evaluated PSP and mr-proADM at admission (T0), after 24/48 h (T1), and after 5 days (T2). Results PSP and mr-proADM levels were elevated at T0 and significantly decreased at T2. mr-proADM levels did not significantly differ between the B and FUO groups. PSP levels significantly differed between the B and FUO groups only at T1. Both PSP and mr-proADM levels at T0 were a predictor of length of hospital stay but not of the duration of fever. Finally, receiver operating characteristic curve analysis showed that PSP and mr-proADM had low diagnostic accuracy for blood culture positivity. Conclusion PSP and mr-proADM display poor clinical usefulness for FN in oncologic children.

Ultra small angle neutron scattering (USANS) instruments have recently covered the gap between the size resolution available with conventional intermediate angle neutron scattering and small angle neutron scattering (SANS) instruments on one side and optical microscopy on the other side. New fields of investigations are now open and important areas of material science (ceramics, glass fibers, natural materials) and fundamental physics (phase transition, phase separation and critical phenomena) can be studied in bulk samples with an accuracy previously unobtainable owing to a combination of favourable features of the neutron-matter interaction: high penetrability of neutrons, even cold neutrons, ability to easily manipulate local scattering amplitudes by means of isotopic substitution methods, small absorption for most nuclei and hardly any radiation damage. In particular, neutrons see rocks as two-phase systems, and therefore the data analysis is enormously simplified. Rocks showing fractal behavior in over two decades of momentum transfer and seven orders of magnitude of intensity are examined and fractal parameters are extracted from the combined USANS, SANS and intermediate angle neutron scattering curves.

Following Mandelbrot's pioneering work in 1977, we attempt to use the concept of fractal dimension in petrology. Fractal dimension is an intensive property of matter which offers a quantitative measure of the degree of surface roughness. Neutron scattering experiments have been performed on 18 volcanic rocks from different localities. The scattered intensity as a function of the momentum transfer obeys a power law whose exponent varies, for the rock samples presented, between -3 and -4. W'e conclude that, at the molecular level, our volcanic rocks are not fractal volumes.%'ith regard to the particle-matrix interface, it is not possible to provide a determination at the present stage of research. Our findings suggest it is feasible to verify the degree of surface irregularity at a resolution which is relevant to many aspects of petrology.

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