Significance: These results indicate that sex-related differences may exist in the pruritogen-responsive

neurons that transmit the itch signal induced by SLIGRL-NH2, but not by histamine or 5-HT. (C) 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.”
“Which animals use their energy better during movement? One metric to answer this question is the energy cost per unit distance per unit weight. Prior data show that this metric decreases with mass, which is considered to imply that massive animals are more efficient. Although useful, this metric also implies find more that two dynamically equivalent animals of different sizes will not be considered equally efficient. We resolve this longstanding issue by first determining the scaling of energy cost per unit distance traveled. The scale is found to be M-2/3 or M-1/2, where

M is the animal mass. Second, we introduce an energy-consumption coefficient (C-E) defined as energy per unit distance traveled divided by this scale. C-E is a measure of efficiency of swimming and flying, analogous to how drag coefficient quantifies aerodynamic drag on vehicles. Derivation ARO 002 of the energy-cost scale reveals that the assumption that undulatory swimmers spend energy to overcome drag in the direction of swimming is inappropriate. We derive allometric scalings that capture trends in data of swimming and flying animals over 10-20 orders of magnitude by mass. The energy-consumption coefficient reveals that swimmers beyond a critical mass, and most fliers are almost equally efficient as if they are dynamically equivalent; increasingly massive

animals are not more efficient according to the proposed metric. Distinct allometric scalings are discovered for large and small swimmers. Flying animals are found to require relatively more energy compared with swimmers.”
“Background: Although breast-conserving surgery is oncologically safe for women with early-stage breast cancer, mastectomy rates are increasing. The objective of this study was to examine the role of breast reconstruction in the surgical management of unilateral early-stage breast cancer. Methods: A retrospective cohort study of women diagnosed with unilateral early-stage breast cancer (1998 to 2011) identified in the National MI-503 Cancer Data Base was conducted. Rates of breast-conserving surgery, unilateral and bilateral mastectomy with contralateral prophylactic procedures (per 1000 early-stage breast cancer cases) were measured in relation to breast reconstruction. The association between breast reconstruction and surgical treatment was evaluated using a multinomial logistic regression, controlling for patient and disease characteristics. Results: A total of 1,856,702 patients were included. Mastectomy rates decreased from 459 to 360 per 1000 from 1998 to 2005 (p smaller than 0.01), increasing to 403 per 1000 in 2011 (p smaller than 0.01).