Endocrinopathy and Aging in Ferrets Bakthavatchalu, V.; Muthupalani, S.; Marini, R. P. ...
Veterinary Pathology,
03/2016, Letnik:
53, Številka:
2
Book Review, Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Ferrets have become more popular as household pets and as animal models in biomedical research in the past 2 decades. The average life span of ferrets is about 5-11 years with onset of geriatric ...diseases between 3-4 years including endocrinopathies, neoplasia, gastrointestinal diseases, cardiomyopathy, splenomegaly, renal diseases, dental diseases, and cataract. Endocrinopathies are the most common noninfectious disease affecting middle-aged and older ferrets. Spontaneous neoplasms affecting the endocrine system of ferrets appear to be increasing in prevalence with a preponderance toward proliferative lesions in the adrenal cortex and pancreatic islet cells. Diet, gonadectomy, and genetics may predispose ferrets to an increased incidence of these endocrinopathies. These functional proliferative lesions cause hypersecretion of hormones that alter the physiology and metabolism of the affected ferrets resulting in a wide range of clinical manifestations. However, there is an apparent dearth of information available in the literature about the causal relationship between aging and neoplasia in ferrets. This review provides a comprehensive overview of the anatomy and physiology of endocrine organs, disease incidence, age at diagnosis, clinical signs, pathology, and molecular markers available for diagnosis of various endocrine disorders in ferrets.
Measuring prompt fission neutrons to high precision is an experimental challenge, especially for radioactive fissioning nuclides. However, accurate average multiplicities, ν¯p, and kinetic energy ...distributions of prompt fission neutrons are essential for fundamental and applied nuclear physics. We present here a recent measurement of the 239Pu (n,f) ν¯p as a function of the incident-neutron energy, over the range 1-700 MeV. The measurement was performed with a cutting-edge setup and an innovative technique, which allowed to minimize and account for the main sources of bias. An unprecedented precision was therefore achieved. Our data are compared to GEF predictions as well as to evaluated libraries. For the first time, at low energies, the ENDF/B-VIII.0 nuclear data evaluation is validated with an independent measurement and the evaluated uncertainty reduced by up to 60%. This work paves the way to precisely measure prompt fission neutron multiplicities on highly radioactive nuclei.
•Bipolar radiofrequency ablation often coupled to vertebral augmentation is a safe treatmentfor spine metastases.•Bipolar radiofrequency ablation and vertebral augmentation may be indicated to ...achieve pain relief or local tumor control in selected patients.•The use of ancillary protective measures is encouraged to increase the safety of bipolar radiofrequency ablation in spine metastases.
To investigate the safety and clinical efficacy of bipolar radiofrequency ablation (b-RFA) with increased (>70°C) target temperature for the treatment of spine metastases with the intent of achieving pain relief or local tumor control.
Thirty-one patients with a total of 37 metastases who were treated with b-RFA with increased temperature and vertebroplasty from January 2016 to May 2019 were retrospectively included. There were 20 women and 11 men with a mean age of 62.4±10.5 (SD) years (range: 40–78years). Patients and metastases characteristics, procedure details and clinical outcomes were analyzed.
Metastases were predominantly located in lumbar (22/37; 59.5%) or thoracic spine (13/37; 35.1%). Mean target temperature was 88.4±3.5 (SD) °C (range: 70–90°C). Technical success was 100% (37/37 metastases). One (1/37; 2.7%) major complication unrelated to b-RFA was reported. One (1/37; 2.7%) metastasis was lost to follow-up. Favorable outcome was noted in patients receiving b-RFA for pain management (16/20 metastases; 80%; mean follow-up, 3.4±2.9 SD months) or with oligometastatic/oligoprogressive disease (6/6 metastases; 100%; mean follow-up, 5.0±4.6 SD months). In patients receiving b-RFA to prevent complications, favorable outcome was noted in 6/10 metastases (60%; mean follow-up, 3.8±4.8 SD months).
B-RFA with increased target temperature has an excellent safety profile and results in high rates of pain relief and local metastasis control in patients with oligometastatic/oligoprogressive disease. Suboptimal results are achieved in patients receiving b-RFA to prevent complications related to the growth of the index tumor.
At CERN-ISOLDE, high-purity radioactive ion beams of
Fr and
RaF were investigated with α-decay spectroscopy at the CRIS and ASET experiments in the course of three different experimental campaigns. ...The half-life of
At, α-decay daughter of
Fr, is measured to be 36.3(3)9μs, and that of
Ra was determined to be 26.2(1)6s, both of which are well in line with the trends in this region of the nuclear landscape but at odds with some of the reported literature.
Reliable neutron-induced-reaction cross sections of unstable nuclei are essential for nuclear astrophysics and applications but their direct measurement is often impossible. The surrogate-reaction ...method is one of the most promising alternatives to access these cross sections. In this work, we successfully applied the surrogate-reaction method to infer for the first time both the neutron-induced fission and radiative capture cross sections of 239Pu in a consistent manner from a single measurement. This was achieved by combining simultaneously measured fission and γ-emission probabilities for the 240Pu (4He, 4He′) surrogate reaction with a calculation of the angular-momentum and parity distributions populated in this reaction. While other experiments measure the probabilities for some selected γ-ray transitions, we measure the γ-emission probability. This enlarges the applicability of the surrogate-reaction method.
To report the technique of percutaneous double oblique anterior access to the acetabulum and evaluate its feasibility and safety.
Pelvic computed tomography (CT) examinations of 60 patients (30 men ...and 30 women; mean age 62.6±13.2 years) were retrieved randomly from the picture archiving and communication system (PACS). A virtual intraosseous trajectory was defined on both sides on the axial CT images with the entry point marked 1 cm above the anterosuperior iliac spine and the endpoint defined just above the level of the ischial spine at the midpoint of the posterior acetabulum. Patient age, sagittal oblique angulation, axial oblique angulation, length of intraosseous trajectory, distance from the hip joint, thickness of the iliac bone cortex, and intervening structure(s) between the skin and the bone entry points were recorded.
The mean sagittal and axial oblique angulations were 34.2±4.5° and 31.5±6.7°, respectively, and mean length of the intraosseous trajectory was 11.8±0.9 cm. The axial oblique angle and length of the intraosseous trajectory were significantly lower in the female than the male population (p<0.05). None of the virtual trajectories traversed the hip joint. In 112/120 trajectories (93.3%), there were no cortical breaches in the iliac bones. In eight trajectories in four patients, the virtual trajectory crossed either the medial iliac cortex (4/120; 3.3%) or the medial iliac cortex and the iliacus muscle (4/120; 3.3%).
The anterosuperior iliac and ischial spines can be used safely and reliably as landmarks to perform the double oblique anterior approach.
•The double oblique anterior approach to the acetabulum is anatomically feasible.•The posterior and superior acetabulum can be accessed with a single puncture.•The antero-superior iliac and ischial spines can be used as landmarks.
The sesquiterpenoid rotundone is the compound responsible for the “black pepper” aroma of many plant species, including several economically important wine grape varieties. Since its identification ...in wine in 2008, there has been an increased interest in understanding how individual climatic or cultural factors affect the accumulation of rotundone in grapes and subsequently the level of wine “pepperiness.” However, no study has assessed climatic and viticultural factors together to identify which variables have the strongest influence on rotundone accumulation. Our study aimed to fill this knowledge gap by developing a predictive model that identified factors that explain rotundone concentrations in Noiret (
Vitis
sp.) grapes at harvest. Over the 2016 and 2017 seasons, we measured 21 viticultural, meso- and microclimatic variables and concentrations of rotundone in Noiret wine grapes at seven vineyards in the northeastern U.S. Vineyard growing degree days (GDD
v
) and the amount of solar radiation (cumulative solar exposure; CSE
v
) accumulated from the beginning of fruit ripening to harvest were the variables best correlated (
r
= 0.70 and
r
= 0.74, respectively) with rotundone concentrations. Linear correlations between microclimatic parameters and rotundone concentrations were weaker, but overall rotundone was negatively correlated with low (<15°C) and high (>30°C) berry temperatures. Using the 2-year data set we were able to develop a four-variable model which explained more than 80% of the variation in rotundone concentration at harvest. The model included weather growing degree days during fruit ripening (GDD
v
) and plant-related variables (concentrations of phosphorus and calcium in the leaf petiole, and crop load). The model we developed could be used by wine producers to identify sites or cultural practices that favor rotundone accumulation in Noiret grapes after performing a model validation with an additional, external data set. More broadly, the statistical approach used here could be applied to other studies that also seek to assess the effects of multiple factors on a variable of interest under varying environmental conditions.
Multi-nucleon transfer reaction between 136Xe beam and 198Pt target was performed using the VAMOS++ spectrometer at GANIL to study the structure of n-rich nuclei around N=126. Unambiguous charge ...state identification was obtained by combining two supervised machine learning methods, deep neural network (DNN) and positional correction using a gradient-boosting decision tree (GBDT). The new method reduced the complexity of the kinetic energy calibration and outperformed the conventional method improving the charge state resolution by 8%.
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