To the best of our knowledge, this case report describes the oldest documented patient with periosteal Ewing sarcoma.

Loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) were grown in the field, under non-limiting nutrient conditions, in open-top chambers for 4 years at ambient CO 2 partial pressures (pCO 2 ) and with a CO 2 -enriched atmosphere (+ 30 Pa pCO 2 compared to ambient concentration). A third replicate of trees were grown without chambers at ambient pCO 2 . Wood anatomy, wood density and tree ring width were analysed using stem wood samples. No significant differences were observed in the cell wall to cell lumen ratio within the latewood of the third growth ring formed in 1994. No significant differences were observed in the density of resin canals or in the ratio of resin canal cross-sectional area to xylem area within the same growth ring. Ring widths were significantly wider in the CO 2 -enrichment treatment for 3 of 4 years compared to the ambient chamber control treatment. Latewood in the 1995 growth ring was significantly wider than that in the ambient control and represented a larger percentage of the total growth-ring width. Carbon dioxide enrichment also significantly increased the total wood specific gravity (determined by displacement). However, when determined as total sample wood density by X-ray densitometry, the density of enriched samples was not significantly higher than that of the ambient chamber controls. Only the 1993 growth ring of enriched trees had a significantly higher maximum latewood density than that of trees grown on non-chambered plots or ambient chambered controls. No significant differences were observed in the minimum earlywood density of individual growth rings between chambered treatments. These results show that the most significant effect of CO 2 enrichment on wood production in loblolly pine is its influence on radial growth, measured as annual tree ring widths. This influence is most pronounced in the first year of growth and decreases with age.

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Background Osteoarticular infections (OAI) are frequently encountered in children. Treatment may be guided by isolation of a pathogen; however, operative cultures are often negative. Metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS) allows for broad and sensitive pathogen detection that is culture-independent. We sought to evaluate the diagnostic utility of mNGS in comparison to culture and usual care testing to detect pathogens in acute osteomyelitis and/or septic arthritis in children. Methods This was a single-site study to evaluate the use of mNGS in comparison to culture to detect pathogens in acute pediatric osteomyelitis and/or septic arthritis. Subjects admitted to a tertiary children’s hospital with suspected OAI were eligible for enrollment. We excluded subjects with bone or joint surgery within 30 days of admission or with chronic osteomyelitis. Operative samples were obtained at the surgeon’s discretion per standard care (fluid or tissue) and based on imagining and operative findings. We compared mNGS to culture and usual care testing (culture and PCR) from the same site. Results We recruited 42 subjects over the enrollment period. mNGS of the operative samples identified a pathogen in 26 subjects compared to 19 subjects in whom culture identified a pathogen. In four subjects, mNGS identified a pathogen where combined usual care testing (culture and PCR) was negative. Positive predictive agreement and negative predictive agreement both were 93.0% for mNGS. Conclusion In this single site prospective study of pediatric OAI, we demonstrated the diagnostic utility of mNGS testing in comparison to culture and usual care (culture and PCR) from operative specimens.

We study analytically and numerically the unusual propagation of a stable spatially periodic state into an unstable spatially periodic state of an easy-plane ferromagnet. If the wave number of the unstable state exceeds a certain threshold, the front between the stable and the unstable state expands and builds up three well-separated fronts traveling with different velocities. With the help of the marginal-stability hypothesis we are able to calculate analytically front velocities and intermediate states. These results agree quantitatively very well with numerical simulations.