A Tragic Trend. Why Terrorists Use Female And Child Suicide Bombers.

The Oct. 10, 2015, suicide bomber attack at the village of Baga Sola in Chad killed and wounded dozens. Amid a long litany of terrible attacks launched by the Islamist group Boko Haram, this one was notable not so much for its severity, but for its perpetra- tors: one male, two females and two child bombers.

Electric field Monte Carlo simulation of coherent backscattering of polarized light by a turbid medium containing Mie scatterers.

A method for directly simulating coherent backscattering of polarized light by a turbid medium has been developed based on the Electric field Monte Carlo (EMC) method. Electric fields of light traveling in a pair of time-reversed paths are added coherently to simulate their interference. An efficient approach for computing the electric field of light traveling along a time-reversed path is derived and implemented based on the time-reversal symmetry of electromagnetic waves. Coherent backscattering of linearly and circularly polarized light by a turbid medium containing Mie scatterers is then investigated using this method.

Microinvasive Paget's disease.

BACKGROUND: Microinvasive squamous cell carcinoma of the vulva is defined as stromal invasion < or =1 mm and is treated by wide local resection. Whether criteria for microinvasive squamous cell carcinoma can be applied to Paget's disease of the vulva is unknown because of the rarity of that disease. CASES: We initially evaluated three cases of microinvasive Paget's disease by using sentinel lymph node (SLN) analysis. The SLNs in two patients were negative; and these patients had no recurrence of invasive or metastatic Paget's disease. The other patient had a positive SLN (the only positive lymph node) and subsequently received complete lymph node dissection of the groin bilaterally. CONCLUSION: Evaluation of SLNs may be valid for evaluating microinvasive Paget's disease.

Unusual case of extradural choroid plexus papilloma of the sacral canal. Case report.

An unusual case of a sacral, extradural choroid plexus papilloma involving the S1-3 level is described. This 50-year-old woman presented with a 4-month history of pain involving her right buttock, perineum, and leg. Contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance (MR) imaging of the spine revealed a well-defined, mildly enhancing sacral canal mass at the S1-3 level; its appearance was consistent with that of a benign tumor. Intraoperatively, the lesion was found to be extradural in location and was entwined among nerve roots in the sacral canal. Microscopic examination of the gross totally resected tumor revealed typical features of a choroid plexus papilloma. Despite performing a thorough neuroimaging workup (craniospinal contrast-enhanced MR imaging) for an intracranial or spinal primary mass, none was found. The choroid plexus appeared entirely normal; however, both a cavum septum pellucidum and a cavum vergae were noted. Extraneural choroid plexus papilloma, specifically intrasacral, extradural choroid plexus papilloma has not been previously reported. The present example is thought to have arisen either from ectopic choroid plexus tissue or perhaps by metaplasia from ependymal rests.

Comparison of ThinPrep versus conventional smear cytopreparatory techniques for fine-needle aspiration specimens of head and neck masses.

OBJECTIVES: Diagnostic accuracy of the ThinPrep process (Cytyc, Boxborough, MA) was compared with that of conventional (smear) cytopreparation for fine-needle aspiration (FNA) of head and neck masses. METHODS: In a prospective, randomized, single-blinded study, 209 patients served as their own controls and underwent 236 FNAs using ThinPrep and conventional (smear) cytopreparatory techniques. RESULTS: ThinPrep produced less air-drying artifact and less mechanical distortion than the conventional method. The conventional technique was diagnostic in 63% of samples; the ThinPrep technique was diagnostic in 55% of samples. When all results were combined, pathologists subjectively preferred the conventional technique but accepted use of ThinPrep as the only cytopreparatory technique for most head and neck masses. CONCLUSIONS: For adequately experienced cytopathologists, ThinPrep is acceptable for FNA of salivary masses, neck cysts, metastatic lymph nodes, and thyroid lesions. Conventional smear technique should be used for FNA of nonmetastatic lymphoid lesions. Use of ThinPrep can complement use of the conventional (smear) cytopreparatory technique when aspirate is nondiagnostic or bloody, when the patient has a blood-borne infectious disease, when the clinician is inexperienced, or when aspirate has entered the syringe.