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A Killian-Jamieson diverticulum (KJD) is an unfamiliar and rare cervical esophageal diverticulum. This diverticulum originates on the anterolateral wall of the proximal cervical esophagus through a muscular gap (the Killian-Jamieson space) below the cricopharyngeal muscle and lateral to the longitudinal muscle of the esophagus. To date, only surgical treatment has been recommended for a symptomatic KJD due to its close proximity to the recurrent laryngeal nerve and the concern of possible nerve injury. Recently, traditional open surgery for a symptomatic KJD is being challenged by the development of new endoscopic techniques and devices. We present here a case of a symptomatic KJD that was successfully treated with the flexible endoscopic diverticulotomy using two new devices. An isolated-tip needle-knife papillotome (Iso-Tome) was used for the dissection of the tissue bridge of the diverticulum. And a flexible overtube with a modified distal end (a fitted overtube) was used for adequate visualization of the tissue bridge of the diverticulum and protection of the surrounding tissue during dissection of the tissue bridge. Our successful experience suggests that the flexible endoscopic diverticulotomy with the use of appropriate endoscopic devices can be a safe and effective method for the treatment of a symptomatic KJD.

Killian-Jamieson diverticulum is a rare diverticular disease. This disease differs from Zenker's diverticulum in its location and mechanism. Various treatment modality have been attempted, but traditional surgical treatment has been recommended for a symptomatic Killian-Jamieson diverticulum due to the concern of possible nerve injury. We performed surgical treatment by cervical incision. We report here on a case of Killian-Jamieson diverticulum and we briefly review the relevant literature.

A Killian-Jamieson diverticulum is an outpouching from the lateral wall of the proximal cervical esophagus. These diverticula are rare and are distinct from the more commonly known Zenker’s diverticulum. Literature regarding Killian-Jamieson diverticula and its suggested management is scarce. The present report describes a patient with symptomatic bilateral Killian-Jamieson diverticula. The patient had both diverticula excised and an esophagomyotomy performed. Following surgery, the patient’s symptoms resolved and he recovered well. A literature review and discussion of the etiology, clinical presentation and radiographic findings of Killian-Jamieson diverticulum follow, as do recommendations for clinical management.

Part diary, part scientific record, biological field notebooks often contain details necessary to understanding the location and environmental conditions existent during collecting events. Despite their clear value for (and recent use in) global change studies, the text-mining outputs from field notebooks have been idiosyncratic to specific research projects, and impossible to discover or re-use. Best practices and workflows for digitization, transcription, extraction, and integration with other sources are nascent or non-existent. In this paper, we demonstrate a workflow to generate structured outputs while also maintaining links to the original texts. The first step in this workflow was to place already digitized and transcribed field notebooks from the University of Colorado Museum of Natural History founder, Junius Henderson, on Wikisource, an open text transcription platform. Next, we created Wikisource templates to document places, dates, and taxa to facilitate annotation and wiki-linking. We then requested help from the public, through social media tools, to take advantage of volunteer efforts and energy. After three notebooks were fully annotated, content was converted into XML and annotations were extracted and cross-walked into Darwin Core compliant record sets. Finally, these recordsets were vetted, to provide valid taxon names, via a process we call “taxonomic referencing.” The result is identification and mobilization of 1,068 observations from three of Henderson’s thirteen notebooks and a publishable Darwin Core record set for use in other analyses. Although challenges remain, this work demonstrates a feasible approach to unlock observations from field notebooks that enhances their discovery and interoperability without losing the narrative context from which those observations are drawn.

“Compose your notes as if you were writing a letter to someone a century in the future.”

Perrine and Patton (2011)

Background

Professional working at computer notebooks is associated with high requirements on the body posture in the seated position. By the high continuous static muscle stress resulting from this position at notebooks, professionals frequently working at notebooks for long hours are exposed to an increased risk of musculoskeletal complaints. Especially in subjects with back pain, new notebooks should be evaluated with a focus on rehabilitative issues.

Methods

In a field study a new notebook design with adjustable screen was analyzed and compared to standard notebook position.

Results

There are highly significant differences in the visual axis of individuals who are seated in the novel notebook position in comparison to the standard position. Also, differences are present between further alternative notebook positions. Testing of gender and glasses did not reveal influences.

Conclusion

This study demonstrates that notebooks with adjustable screen may be used to improve the posture. Future studies may focus on patients with musculoskeletal diseases.

Background

eCAT is an electronic lab notebook (ELN) developed by Axiope Limited. It is the first online ELN, the first ELN to be developed in close collaboration with lab scientists, and the first ELN to be targeted at researchers in non-commercial institutions. eCAT was developed in response to feedback from users of a predecessor product. By late 2006 the basic concept had been clarified: a highly scalable web-based collaboration tool that possessed the basic capabilities of commercial ELNs, i.e. a permissions system, controlled sharing, an audit trail, electronic signature and search, and a front end that looked like the electronic counterpart to a paper notebook.

Results

During the development of the beta version feedback was incorporated from many groups including the FDA's Center for Biologics Evaluation & Research, Uppsala University, Children's Hospital Boston, Alex Swarbrick's lab at the Garvan Institute in Sydney and Martin Spitaler at Imperial College. More than 100 individuals and groups worldwide then participated in the beta testing between September 2008 and June 2009. The generally positive response is reflected in the following quote about how one lab is making use of eCAT: "Everyone uses it as an electronic notebook, so they can compile the diverse collections of data that we generate as biologists, such as images and spreadsheets. We use to it to take minutes of meetings. We also use it to manage our common stocks of antibodies, plasmids and so on. Finally, perhaps the most important feature for us is the ability to link records, reagents and experiments."

Conclusion

By developing eCAT in close collaboration with lab scientists, Axiope has come up with a practical and easy-to-use product that meets the need of scientists to manage, store and share data online. eCAT is already being perceived as a product that labs can continue to use as their data management and sharing grows in scale and complexity.

With massive amounts of data being generated in electronic format, there is a need in basic science laboratories to adopt new methods for tracking and analyzing data. An electronic laboratory notebook (ELN) is not just a replacement for a paper lab notebook, it is a new method of storing and organizing data while maintaining the data entry flexibility and legal recording functions of paper notebooks. Paper notebooks are regarded as highly flexible since the user can configure it to store almost anything that can be written or physically pasted onto the pages. However, data retrieval and data sharing from paper notebooks are labor intensive processes and notebooks can be misplaced, a single point of failure that loses all entries in the volume. Additional features provided by electronic notebooks include searchable indices, data sharing, automatic archiving for security against loss and ease of data duplication. Furthermore, ELNs can be tasked with additional functions not commonly found in paper notebooks such as inventory control. While ELNs have been on the market for some time now, adoption of an ELN in academic basic science laboratories has been lagging. Issues that have restrained development and adoption of ELN in research laboratories are the sheer variety and frequency of changes in protocols with a need for the user to control notebook configuration outside the framework of professional IT staff support. In this commentary, we will look at some of the issues and experiences in academic laboratories that have proved challenging in implementing an electronic lab notebook.

This study shows that a small electret condenser microphone connected to a notebook or a personal computer (PC) has a prominent response in the extremely low frequency region in a specific environment. It confines most acoustic waves within a tiny air cell as follows. The air cell is constructed by drilling a small hole in a digital versatile disk (DVD) plate. A small speaker and an electret condenser microphone are attached to the two sides of the hole. Thus, the acoustic energy emitted by the speaker and reaching the microphone is strong enough to actuate the diaphragm of the latter. The experiments showed that, once small air leakages are allowed on the margin of the speaker, the microphone captured the signal in the range of 0.5 to 20 Hz. Moreover, by removing the plastic cover of the microphone and attaching the microphone head to the vibration surface, the low frequency signal can be effectively captured too. Two examples are included to show the convenience of applying the microphone to pick up the low frequency vibration information of practical systems.

The University of Minnesota Medical School has an innovative curriculum, called Didactic/Selective, which provides third- and fourth-year medical students with multidisciplinary and multispecialty courses. Within this framework, the Bio-Medical Library planned a course to teach the knowledge and skills necessary for library research and information management. It included (1) searching case-related topics in print indexes, (2) formulating and processing MEDLINE searches on BRS Colleague, (3) building a personal file with PC-File or Notebook, and (4) exploring various methods for current awareness. Students' evaluations were positive, with the majority indicating that they found the course interesting and the knowledge gained substantial.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether memory data presented for a schizophrenia sample in the Technical Manual of the Wechsler Memory Scale-Third Edition support trends identified in a previously published review of studies employing an earlier version of the instrument, the Wechsler Memory Scale-Revised. DESIGN: Archival: reformulation of published data. PATIENTS: Patients with schizophrenia, Alzheimer's disease, Korsakoff's syndrome or traumatic brain injury (TBI) for whom intelligence and memory data were reported in the Technical Manual of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Third Edition Wechsler Memory Scale-Third Edition (WAIS-III WMS-III). OUTCOME MEASURES: Mean Full Scale, Verbal, and Performance Intelligence Quotients of the WAIS-III and mean WMS-III Immediate and General Memory Indexes. Single-trial learning and learning slope data were also culled from the WAIS-III WMS-III Technical Manual. RESULTS: Memory indexes for patients with Alzheimer's disease or Korsakoff's syndrome were substantially lower than those for patients with schizophrenia or TBI. In tests of learning processes, patients with schizophrenia had an inferior ability to repeat material presented just once, in comparison with the standardization sample. However, they did relatively better with repeated presentations than patients with Alzheimer's disease or Korsakoff's syndrome. The learning slope for patients with schizophrenia demonstrated an ability to absorb and consolidate increasing amounts of material with repeated exposure that is inconsistent with pronounced memory impairment. CONCLUSIONS: Although patients with schizophrenia exhibit new learning deficiencies, their memory capabilities are not substantially weaker than their general intellectual abilities, and do not approach the memory impairment exhibited by patients with Alzheimer's disease or Korsakoff's syndrome.