Our aim was to determine whether ablated liver parenchyma surrounding a tumour can be assessed by MRI with ferucarbotran administered prior to radiofrequency ablation (RFA) compared with enhanced CT.
...55 hepatocellular carcinomas (HCCs) in 42 patients and 5 metastatic liver cancers in 3 patients were treated by RFA after ferucarbotran administration. We then performed T(2)* weighted MRI after 1 week and enhanced CT after 1 month. T(2)* weighted MRI demonstrated the ablated parenchyma as a low-intensity rim around the high intensity of the ablated tumour in these cases. The assessment was allocated to one of three grades: margin (+), high-intensity area with continuous low-intensity rim; margin zero, high-intensity area with discontinuous low-intensity rim; and margin (-), high-intensity area extending beyond the low-intensity rim.
Margin (+), margin zero and margin (-) were found in 17, 35 and 5 nodules, respectively. All 17 nodules with margin (+) and 13 of those with margin zero were assessed as having sufficient ablative margins on CT. The remaining 22 nodules with margin zero had insufficient margins on CT. The overall agreement between MRI and CT for the diagnosis of the ablative margin was moderate (κ = 0.507, p < 0.001). No local recurrence was found in 15 HCC nodules with margin (+), whereas local recurrence was found in 4 (11.8%) out of 34 HCC nodules with margin zero.
Administration of ferucarbotran before RFA enables the ablative margin to be visualised as a low-intensity rim, and also enables the evaluation of the ablative margin to be made earlier and more easily than with enhanced CT.
A low-power 2Mb ReRAM macro was developed in 90 nm CMOS platform, demonstrating lower power data-writing (x1/7) and faster data-reading (x2~3) as compared to a conventional flash. The memory window ...at -6σ for 10 years was confirmed with a high-speed 1-bit ECC considering operating temperature ranging from -40 to 85 °C, where the worst conditions are high-temperature (85°C) "Off" writing and low-temperature (-40°C) "On" writing followed by high-temperature (85°C) retention. A pulse-modulated Off-state verify and an interface-control of Ru electrode are effective for suppressing random fluctuation of R off readout and for sustaining the On-state retention, respectively.
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► Detection of recombinant human growth hormone abuse in sport. ► Comparison between different immunoassays employed. ► Dissection of the antibody specificity of all antibodies by ...SPR. ► Final validation with a dedicated human clinical trial.
Detecting recombinant human growth hormone (rhGH) abuse in sport remains one of the major challenges in doping control. We have compared two different approaches to detect the hGH (human growth hormone) abuse. The first measures the concentrations of the 22kDa hGH isoform (rec assay) and pituitary derived isoforms (pit assay) and a ratio rec/pit is obtained. The second measures the concentrations of 22 and 20kDa hGH isoforms and also a ratio 22/20kDa is derived.
Using a single set (nine healthy male subjects, 7 days, 0.026mg/kg/day of rhGH, 2 week wash out period) both approaches were compared. To quantify the agreement between the immunoassays, B.A. (Bland–Altman) analysis and P.r. (Pearson correlation) were used. To fully understand the assay readings, all relevant antibodies were characterised by surface plasmon resonance (SPR).
In either approach the ratio numerator produces similar results and the denominator determines both signal-amplitude and time-frame of possible application. The rec vs pit approach displays a higher distinctive capacity to detect hGH abuse but the complex binding properties of the capture antibodies make it very difficult to evaluate the precise contributions of the individual hGH variants to the assay result. In the 22 vs 20 approach, the 20kDa hGH concentration measures determine its applicability.
Both approaches are based on a different principle, should be preferably applied within 24h after rhGH administration, and are perfectly comparable given the results obtained. The reduced time frame of application indicates that their principle application should be preferably in an out-of-competition setting.
This work reports hygroscopic, thermal, and mechanical properties of biomass composites comprising sisal fiber reinforcing castor oil PU resin. The effects of reinforcement geometry and alkaline ...treatment of fibers were evaluated. In general, alkaline treatment improved quasi-static tensile properties of composites with short randomly oriented and long aligned sisal fibers, respectively. On the other hand, an adverse effect of alkaline treatment was observed in the mechanical behavior of the composite with bidirectional fabric architecture. The outstanding influence of moisture on thermo-mechanical properties of biomass composites was confirmed through thermogravimetric and differential scanning calorimetry techniques. Dynamical-mechanical thermal analysis showed increased storage modulus (i.e., stiffness) and decreased damping properties of biomass composites as compared to neat PU matrix. Dynamical-mechanical testing also detected unexpected decrease on glass transition temperature of composites in regard to the neat polymer resin; resin plasticization due to moisturized fibers and/or alkaline treatment residues was identified as probably the culprit.
Nanometric powders bear significant problems in the efficiency of dispersion. The ideal situation would be to ensure full nanoparticle separation in suspensions or composites matrix, which is hard to ...achieve due to the high reactivity and aggregation. This study evaluates the conditions to stabilize nano-metakaolin (NMK) in water suspension by analyzing the influence of solute concentration, pH, type and content of dispersants. Potentiometric titration curves, zeta potential and average particle size measurements were performed, along with rheological measurements, at different times: 0 h, 3 h, 6 h and 24 h. NMK particles showed the same tendency of surface charge distribution, regardless of solute concentration. The dispersed NMK particles presented two isoelectric points, attributed to the multiple arrangements they form when in suspension. Polycarboxylate (PC) was the dispersant that provided greater dispersion stability. Regarding the rheological and zeta potential measurements, the suspensions presented stability up to 24 h.
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•The use of suspensions minimizes the adverse effects of handling ultrafine powders.•Particle size, surface charges, and pH are critical factors to stabilize suspension.•The stability of suspensions was analyzed for zeta potential and rheology over time.•Polycarboxylate promoted the greatest stability of nano-metakaolin suspensions.
Beta-catenin forms complexes with Tcf and Lef-1 and functions as a transcriptional activator in the Wnt signalling pathway. Although recent investigations have been focused on the role of the ...adenomatous polyposis coli (APC)/ beta-catenin/Tcf pathway in human tumorigenesis, there have been very few reports on mutations of the beta-catenin gene in a variety of tumour types. Using PCR and single-strand conformational polymorphism analysis, we examined 93 lung, 9 breast, 6 kidney, 19 cervical and 7 ovarian carcinoma cell lines for mutations in exon 3 of the beta-catenin gene. In addition, we tested these same samples for mutations in the NH2-terminal regulatory region of the gamma-catenin gene. Mutational analysis for the entire coding region of beta-catenin cDNA was also undertaken in 20 lung, 9 breast, 5 kidney and 6 cervical carcinoma cell lines. Deletion of most beta-catenin coding exons was confirmed in line NCI-H28 (lung mesothelioma) and a silent mutation at codon 214 in exon 5 was found in HeLa (cervical adenocarcinoma). A missense mutation at codon 19 and a silent mutation at codon 28 in the NH2-terminal regulatory region of the gamma-catenin gene were found in H1726 (squamous cell lung carcinoma) and H1048 (small cell lung carcinoma), respectively. Neither deletions nor mutations of these genes were detected in the other cell lines examined. These results suggest that beta- and gamma-catenins are infrequent mutational targets during development of human lung, breast, kidney, cervical and ovarian carcinomas.
In this study, we present the results of the influence of chemical additives (antioxidant and UV stabilizer) and pigments (titanium dioxide and carbon black) on the short-term dielectric breakdown ...test of high-density polyethylene (HDPE). These additives and pigments are commonly added to polyolefins, which are used as insulating material for medium voltage cables. The incorporation was performed in a single screw extruder and thin films specimens were obtained by hot compression from extruded materials. For the dielectric breakdown test, an automated system has been used. A voltage ramp of 500 V/s was applied to specimens immersed in a silicon oil bath at room temperature. The degree of crystallinity and chemical modification of the formulations were evaluated by X-ray diffraction and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), respectively. The dielectric breakdown results have been analyzed by a Weibull distribution. The shape and scale parameters of this distribution have been obtained by a graphic and maximum likelihood method. These results showed that the carbon black is the component that affects the dielectric strength, that the /spl beta/ shape parameter from the graphic method can be used to evaluate additive mixing conditions, and that the weakest point for formation of the rupture channel is on the carbon black agglomerate.
This work aims at evaluating the rheological and thermal properties and non‐isothermal crystallization kinetics of blends of linear homopolymer polypropylene (HPP) and branched polypropylene (BPP). ...Two linear polypropylene's of different melt flow index (MFI) are used: H301 (10 g per 10 min) and H604 (1.5 g per 10 min); and one BPP (2 g pr 10 min). The rheological result shows that the H301/BPP blends have an increase in complex viscosity proportional to the addition of BPP amount, while for the H604/BPP blends, it is observed a higher influence of H604 on rheological properties. With the addition of 25 wt% of BPP, the strain hardening behavior is observed in the extensional rheology tests of the polymer blend. The DSC results show that the melt temperature and the crystallinity content in blends with BPP are affected by the molecular weight (MW) of the linear polymer. Results suggest that Pseudo‐Avrami/Jeziorny and Mo models can be used to predict the experimental results of crystallization kinetics of the blends with sufficient precision for all systems studied, regardless of MW. Therefore, it is possible to use the blends of HPP/BPP in processes that demand a combination of rheological properties, such as high strain hardening, and fast crystallization.
Analogs of berberine
1 and related compounds were prepared to evaluate structure-activity relationships. Among the 13-alkyl-substituted and the 13-unsubstituted protoberberinium salts, the ...13-ethyl-9-ethoxyl homolog
30, the 13-ethyl analog
29, and the 13-methyl derivative
3 showed an increase in antibacterial activity against
Staphylococcus aureus by eight-, four- and twofold respectively over the parent base berberine
1; this is suggestive that steric effects play a significant role in the antibacterial activity. Reduction of the protoberberinium salts yielding the tetrahydro derivatives greatly reduced the antibacterial activity. Replacement of methoxyl groups at the C-2 and the C-3 of ring A by a methylenedioxy group resulted in increased antibacterial activity. These data strongly suggest that the quaternary nitrogen atom such as in protoberberinium salts, an alkylsubstituent at C-13, and a methylenedioxy function at C-2 and C-3 are required for enhanced activity. Tetrahydroprotoberberine α-
N-metho salts showed higher activity than tetrahydroprotoberberine hydrochlorides, but appreciably lower activity than protoberberinium salts. The effects of substitution at C-13 and on ring A in the α-
N-metho salt were similar to those in protoberberinium salts. Stereochemical changes of the B/C ring juncture from
trans to
cis, and of the methyl group at C-13 from α to β, had, respectively, marked and slight effects on the activity. The tested compounds were less active against
Escherichia coli (Gram-negative bacterium) and
Candida albicans (fungus) than
S aureus (Gram-positive bacterium).
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