The prevalence of the postmastectomy pain syndrome (PMPS) and its clinical characteristics was assessed in a group of patients who had undergone surgery for breast cancer at the Department of Surgery, Odense University Hospital, within the period of 1 May 2003 to 30 April 2004. The study included 258 patients and a reference group of 774 women. A questionnaire was mailed to the patients 1 1 2 year after surgery and to the women in the reference group. The PMPS was defined as pain located in the area of the surgery or ipsilateral arm, present at least 4 days per week and with an average intensity of at least 3 on a numeric rating scale from 0 to 10. The prevalence of PMPS was found to be 23.9%. The odds ratio of developing PMPS was 2.88 (95% confidence interval 1.84 -4.51). Significant risk factors were as follows: having undergone breast surgery earlier (OR 8.12), tumour located in the upper lateral quarter (OR 6.48) and young age (OR 1.04). This study shows that, although recent advances in the diagnostic and surgical procedures have reduced the frequency of the more invasive surgical procedures, there still is a considerable risk of developing PMPS after treatment of breast cancer.

Clinical studies reveal changes in blood eosinophil counts and eosinophil cationic proteins that may serve as risk factors for human coronary heart diseases. Here we report an increase of blood or heart eosinophil counts in humans and mice after myocardial infarction (MI), mostly in the infarct region. Genetic or inducible depletion of eosinophils exacerbates cardiac dysfunction, cell death, and fibrosis post-MI, with concurrent acute increase of heart and chronic increase of splenic neutrophils and monocytes. Mechanistic studies reveal roles of eosinophil IL4 and cationic protein mEar1 in blocking H2O2- and hypoxia-induced mouse and human cardiomyocyte death, TGF-β-induced cardiac fibroblast Smad2/3 activation, and TNF-α-induced neutrophil adhesion on the heart endothelial cell monolayer. In vitro-cultured eosinophils from WT mice or recombinant mEar1 protein, but not eosinophils from IL4-deficient mice, effectively correct exacerbated cardiac dysfunctions in eosinophil-deficient ∆dblGATA mice. This study establishes a cardioprotective role of eosinophils in post-MI hearts.

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Abstract. The Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity Mission (SMOS) acquires surface soil moisture data of global coverage every three days. Product validation for a range of climate and environmental conditions across continents is a crucial step. For this purpose, a soil moisture and soil temperature sensor network was established in the Skjern River Catchment, Denmark. The objectives of this article are to describe a method to implement a network suited for SMOS validation, and to present sample data collected by the network to verify the approach. The design phase included (1) selection of a single SMOS pixel (44 × 44 km), which is representative of the land surface conditions of the catchment and with minimal impact from open water (2) arrangement of three network clusters along the precipitation gradient, and (3) distribution of the stations according to respective fractions of classes representing the prevailing environmental conditions. Overall, measured moisture and temperature patterns could be related to the respective land cover and soil conditions. Texture-dependency of the 0-5 cm soil moisture measurements was demonstrated. Regional differences in 0-5 cm soil moisture, temperature and precipitation between the north-east and south-west were found to be small. A first comparison between the 0-5 cm network averages and the SMOS soil moisture (level 2) product is in range with worldwide validation results, showing comparable trends for SMOS retrieved soil moisture (R 2 of 0.49) as well as initial soil moisture and temperature from ECMWF used in the retrieval algorithm (R 2 of 0.67 and 0.97, respectively). While retrieved/initial SMOS soil moisture indicate significant under-/overestimation of the network data (biases of −0.092/0.057 m 3 m −3 ), the initial temperature is in good agreement (bias of −0.2 • C). Based on these findings, the network performs according to expectations and proves to be well-suited for its purpose. The discrepancies between network and SMOS soil moisture will be subject of subsequent studies.

Patients with primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT) have continuously elevated parathyroid hormone (PTH) and consequently increased bone turnover with negative effects on cortical (Ct) bone with preservation of trabecular (Tb) bone. High-resolution peripheral quantitative computed tomography (HR-pQCT) is a new technique for in vivo assessment of geometry, volumetric density, and microarchitecture at the radius and tibia. In this study we aimed to evaluate bone status in women with PHPT compared with controls using HR-pQCT. The distal radius and tibia of 54 women-27 patients with PHPT (median age 60, range 44-75 years) and 27 randomly recruited age-matched healthy controls (median age 60, range 44-76 years)-were imaged using HR-pQCT along with areal bone mineral density (aBMD) by dual-energy X-ray absorptiomentry (DXA) of the ultradistal forearm, femoral neck, and spine (L1-L4). Groups were comparable regarding age, height, and weight. In the radius, patients had reduced Ct area (Ct.Ar) ( p ¼ .008), Ct thickness (Ct.th) ( p ¼ .01) along with reduced total ( p ¼ .002), Ct ( p ¼ .02), and Tb ( p ¼ .02) volumetric density and reduced Tb number (Tb.N) ( p ¼ .04) and increased Tb spacing (Tb.sp) ( p ¼ .05). Ct porosity did not differ. In the tibia, no differences in HR-pQCT parameters were found. Moreover, patients had lower ultradistal forearm ( p ¼ .005), spine ( p ¼ .04), and femoral neck ( p ¼ 0.04) aBMD compared with controls. In conclusion, a negative bone effect of continuously elevated PTH with alteration of HR-pQCT assessed geometry, volumetric density, and both trabecular and cortical microarchitecture in radius but not tibia was found along with reduced aBMD by DXA at all sites in female patients with PHPT. ß