Successful en bloc resection with acceptable cosmesis of a right recurrent giant scalp-orbital AVM causing severe disfigurement: a case report

Scalp arteriovenous malformation (AVM) accounts for only 8.1% of all AVM cases. These lesions are made up of an abnormal fistulous tangle of tortuous dysmorphic network of vessels “vascular nidus” directly connecting between the feeding arteries and draining veins, without capillary connection, located within the incision subcutaneous layer. With time, these congenital lesions may evolve and enlarge and clinically manifest with variable features. The only effective method of preventing evolution of these malformations is to exclude the lesion completely from the circulation. Involvement of the orbit and face may cause severe facial disfigurement, proptosis, visual obstruction and even facial palsy. These lesions may be complicated by ulceration, infection and profuse bleeding. We present a rare case of 40-year-old female with a recurrent congenital scalp-orbital AVM causing proptosis, visual obstruction on the right eye with severe facial disfigurement. The lesion was successfully excised with acceptable cosmesis and removal of the visual obstruction. A brief literature review, imaging findings and the surgical techniques have been presented.

Speech Perception through Face Masks by Children and Adults

Face masks can cause speech processing difficulties. However, it is unclear to what extent these difficulties are caused by the visual obstruction of the speaker’s mouth or by changes of the acoustic signal, and whether the effects can be found regardless of semantic context. In the present study, children and adults performed a cued shadowing task online, repeating the last word of English sentences. Target words were embedded in sentence-final position and manipulated visually, acoustically, and by semantic context (cloze probability). First results from 16 children and 16 adults suggest that processing language through face masks leads to slower responses in both groups, but visual, acoustic, and semantic cues all significantly reduce the mask effect. Although children were less proficient in predictive speech processing overall, they were still able to use semantic cues to compensate for face mask effects in a similar fashion to adults.

Saltmarsh vegetation and social environment influence flexible seasonal vigilance strategies for two sympatric migratory curlew species in adjacent coastal habitats

Background Animals need to adjust their vigilance strategies when foraging between physically contrasting vegetated and non-vegetated habitats. Vegetated habitats may pose a greater risk for some if vegetation characteristics function as a visual obstruction but benefit others if they serve as protective shelter. Variation in group size, presence of similar species, along with variation in environmental conditions and anthropogenic disturbance can also influence vigilance investment. Methods In this study, we quantified the vigilance behaviour of two large-bodied, sympatric migratory curlew species—Far Eastern Curlew (Numenius madagascariensis) and Eurasian Curlew (N. arquata)—in vegetated Suaeda salsa saltmarsh and non-vegetated mudflat habitat in Liaohekou National Nature Reserve, China. We used linear mixed models to examine the effects of habitat type, season, tide time, flock size (conspecific and heterospecific), and human disturbance on curlew vigilance investment. Results Both species spent a higher percentage of time under visual obstruction in S. salsa habitat compared to mudflat habitat but in response, only Far Eastern Curlew increased their percentage of vigilance time, indicating that visual obstruction in this habitat is only a concern for this species. There was no evidence that S. salsa vegetation served as a form of cryptic background colouration since neither species decreased their vigilance effect in S. salsa habitat in spring compared to the autumn migration season. The effect of curlew social environment (i.e. flock size) was habitat dependent since percentage of vigilance time by curlews in saltmarsh increased with both the number of individual curlews and number of other birds present, but not in mudflat habitat. Conclusions We conclude that both migratory curlew species exhibit a flexible vigilance adjustment strategy to cope with the different environmental and social conditions of adjacent and sharply contrasting coastal habitats, and that the trade-off between the risks of foraging and the abundance of prey may be a relatively common phenomenon in these and other shorebird populations.

Greater Sage-Grouse nest bowls buffer microclimate in a post-megafire landscape although effects on nest survival are marginal

Temperature at fine spatial scales is an important driver of nest site selection for many avian species during the breeding season and can influence nest success. Sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) communities have areas with high levels of vegetation heterogeneity and high thermal variation; however, fire removes vegetation that provides protection from predators and extreme environmental conditions. To examine the influence of microclimates on Greater Sage-Grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) nest site selection and nest success in a fire-affected landscape, we measured black bulb temperature (Tbb) and vegetation attributes (e.g., visual obstruction) at 3 spatial scales (i.e. nest bowl, microsite, and landscape) in unburned and burned areas. Nest bowls exhibited greater buffering of Tbb than both nearby microsites and the broader landscape. Notably, nest bowls were warmer in cold temperatures, and cooler in hot temperatures, than nearby microsites and the broader landscape, regardless of burn stage. Nest survival (NS) was higher for nests in unburned areas compared to nests in burned areas (unburned NS = 0.43, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.33–0.54; burned NS = 0.24, 95% CI: 0.10–0.46). The amount of bare ground was negatively associated with NS, but effects diminished as the amount of bare ground reached low levels. Shrub height and visual obstruction were positively associated with NS during the entire study period, whereas minimum Tbb had a weaker effect. Our findings demonstrate that thermoregulatory selection by Greater Sage-Grouse at nest sites had marginal effects on their NS. However, given that increases in vegetation structure (e.g., shrub height) provide thermal refuge and increase NS, vegetation remnants or regeneration in a post-fire landscape could be critical to Greater Sage-Grouse nesting ecology.

Photoelectrochromic Devices with Enhanced Power Conversion Efficiency

In the present work, we propose a new architecture for partly covered photoelectrochromic devices with a modified anode layout, so that the TiO2 film is deposited first on the substrate, covering a small part of its surface, followed by the WO3 film that covers the remaining device area. As a result, the TiO2 film can be subjected to the proper thermal and chemical treatment without affecting the electrochromic performance of the WO3 film. The proposed design led to photoelectrochromic (PEC) devices with a power conversion efficiency (PCE) four times higher than that of typical partly covered devices, with a measured maximum of 4.9%. This, in turn, enabled a reduction in the total area covered by the photovoltaic unit of the devices by four times (to 5% from 20%), thus reducing its visual obstruction, without affecting the depth, uniformity and speed of coloration. A detailed study of the parameters affecting the performance of the new devices revealed that, with the cover ratio decreasing, PCE was increasing. The photocoloration efficiency also exhibited the same trend for cover ratio values below 15%. Storage of the devices in short circuit conditions was found to accelerate optical reversibility without affecting their photovoltaic and optical performance.