Purpose
To investigate the correlation between multiple detector computed tomography (MDCT) features of pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (pNETs) and histopathologic grade and find valuable imaging ...criteria for grade prediction.
Material and methods
MDCT of 61 patients with 65 masses, which pNETs were approved histopathologically, underwent revision retrospectively. Each MDCT was evaluated for various radiologic characteristics. Absolute and relative (
R
: tumor/pancreas,
D
: tumor–pancreas) tumor enhancements were calculated in multiple post contrast phases.
Results
61 patients mean age = 50.70 ± 14.28 y/o and 30(49.2%) were male were evaluated and classified into 2 groups histopathologically:
G
1
: 32 (49.2%) and
G
2,3
: 33 (50.8%). Significant relationships were observed between histopathologic tumor grade regarding age (
p
= 0.006), the longest tumor size (
p
= 0.006), presence of heterogeneity (
p
< 0.0001), hypodense foci in delayed phase (
p
= 0.004), lobulation (
p
= 0.002), vascular encasement (
p
< 0.0001), adjacent organ invasion (
p
= 0.01), presence (
p
< 0.0001) and number (0.02) of liver metastases, presence of lymphadenopathy with short axis of more than 10 mm (LAP) (
p
= 0.008), pathologic lymph node size (
p
= 0.004), relative (R and D) (
p
= 0.05 and 0.02, respectively), and percentage of arterial hyper-enhancing area (
p
= <0.0001). Tumor grades, however, had no significant relationship with gender, tumor location, tumor outline, calcification, cystic change, or pancreatic (PD) or biliary duct (BD) dilation (
p
= 0.21, 0.60, 0.05, 0.05 1, 0.10, and 0.51, respectively). Then, we suggested a novel imaging criteria consisting of six parameters (tumor size > 33 mm, relative (R) tumor enhancement in arterial phase ≤ 1.33, relative (D) tumor enhancement in arterial phase ≤ 16.5, percentage of arterial hyper-enhancing area ≤ 75%, vascular encasement, and lobulation), which specificity and accuracy of combination of all findings (6/6) for predicting
G
2,3
were 100% and 70.1%, respectively. The highest accuracy (84.21%) was seen in combinations of at least 4 of 6 findings, with 80.00% sensitivity, 87.5% specificity, 83.33% PPV, and 84.85% NPV.
Conclusion
We suggested reliable imaging criteria with high specificity and accuracy for predicting the histopathologic grade of pNETs.
•Effects of nanoparticles on properties of self-compacting mortar were investigated.•Fresh and hardened properties of mortar were affected by the nanoparticle dosage.•Nanoparticles improve ...compressive strength and durability performance of mortar.•Adding nano-SiO2 and nano-TiO2 at 5% improved the all-round performance.
This article reports an investigation into the single and the combined effects of nano-SiO2 (NS), nano-Al2O3 (NA) and nano-TiO2 (NT) on the mechanical and durability properties of self-compacting mortar (SCM) containing fly ash. Three different nanoparticles at quantities of 1%, 3%, and 5% of the binder by weight were considered, with a constant fly ash amount of 25% of the weight of cement for all mixtures. Water absorption, electrical resistivity and rapid chloride permeability tests (RCPTs) were performed to observe the durability properties of SCM samples containing fly ash. Compressive strength was obtained at 3, 7, 28 and 90days. Mini V-funnel flow time and mini slump flow diameter tests were also performed to obtain rheological properties. The results indicate that 1%, 3%, and 5% of the binder provide the best compressive strength for nanoparticles NA, NS, and NT, respectively, when used on their own. For all combinations, the strength increased and reached its peak by the 90th day. The similar improvement effect was also seen with water absorption. In fact, the binary combinations NS/NT (NST) and NS/NA (NSA) at 5% and 1% had the greatest water absorption among all samples. In terms of electrical resistivity and chloride permeability, the best results were obtained with the ternary combination NSAT at 3%. Overall, the best all-round performance was provided by the binary combination NST at 5%.
•CRISP2 expression in seminal plasma fluid showed a significant decrease in TAZ, AZ, and TZ groups.•CRISP2 expression in spermatozoa showed a significant decrease in TAZ, AZ, and TZ ...groups.•MiR-582-5p expression significantly increased in TZ patients (p = 0.005).•The expression of MiR-582-5p significantly decreased in TAZ patients (p = 0.0006).•Reduction in miR-582-5p expression is associated with a decrease in CRISP2 expression in TAZ.•CRISP2 expression in spermatozoa showed a positive correlation with progressive motility in TAZ group.•CRISP2 expression in seminal plasma fluid showed a positive correlation with progressive motility in TAZ group.•CRISP2 expression in spermatozoa showed a positive correlation with progressive motility in AZ group.
Cysteine-Rich Secretory Protein 2 (CRISP2) plays an important role in the morphology and motion of male ejaculated spermatozoa. The association of its expression with some miRNAs is also well known. The aim of this study was to determine the expression of CRISP2 and mir-582 in the seminal plasma fluid and spermatozoa of three groups of infertile men and the possible association of their expressions. In this experimental study, the expression of CRISP2 in seminal plasma fluid and spermatozoa of 17 men with asthenozoospermia, 15 men with teratozoospermia, 17 men with teratoasthenozoospermia, and 18 infertile individuals with normozoospermia were measured using western blotting. Then by using bioinformatics studies, miR-582-5p was nominated as a CRISP2-associated miRNA, and its expression was evaluated by means of Real-Time PCR. Comparison of expression of CRISP2 and miRNA-582 in the studied groups was analyzed by t-test and Mann-Whitney U test. The expression of CRISP2 showed a significant reduction in the spermatozoa and seminal plasma fluid of all three groups, (p < 0.05). MiR-582-5p expression significantly increased in teratozoospermia patients (<0.05), and significantly decreased in teratoasthenozoospermia patients (p < 0.05). Meanwhile, changes in the expression of miR-582-5p in teratoasthenozoospermia individuals was associated with a decrease in the expression of CRISP2, which could represent the potential role of miR-582-5p in regulation of CRISP2 expression in teratoasthenozoospermia individuals.
This part of the review aims to reduce the start-up burden of data collection and descriptive analytics for statistical modeling and route optimization of risk associated with motor vehicles. From a ...data-driven bibliometric analysis, we show that the literature is divided into two disparate research streams: (a) predictive or explanatory models that attempt to understand and quantify crash risk based on different driving conditions, and (b) optimization techniques that focus on minimizing crash risk through route/path-selection and rest-break scheduling. Translation of research outcomes between these two streams is limited. To overcome this issue, we present publicly available high-quality data sources (different study designs, outcome variables, and predictor variables) and descriptive analytic techniques (data summarization, visualization, and dimension reduction) that can be used to achieve safer-routing and provide code to facilitate data collection/exploration by practitioners/researchers. Then, we review the statistical and machine learning models used for crash risk modeling. We show that (near) real-time crash risk is rarely considered, which might explain why the optimization models (reviewed in Part 2) have not capitalized on the research outcomes from the first stream.
Under unprecedented environmental crisis associated with greenhouse gas emission, biomass has attracted a great deal of attention due to renewable and carbon neutral nature. In this study, the ...premixed combustion of various types of wood and its derived syngases are examined for steady and oscillating sates. For this purpose, the poplar, birch, beech and pin sawdust woods and syngases composing of H2, CH4 and CO are considered. To model dust cloud combustion, a novel and comprehensive flame structure consisting of drying, two-step pyrolysis and homogeneous and heterogeneous reactions is proposed. Afterward, the governing equations and their appropriate boundary conditions are derived and solved analytically-numerically. The oscillating combustion is also modeled by exerting an external perturbation on the velocity field. The results indicate that due to the occurrence of heterogeneous reactions in wood combustion, the flame propagation velocity of wood is higher than that of syngases which contributes to high oscillations amplitude of syngases. When the mixture initial temperature changes between 300 and 550 K, the flame velocities of woods and syngases vary in the ranges of 0.4–0.7 m/s and 0.1–0.27 m/s, respectively. The maximum amplitude of temperature oscillation of syngases is approximately 8 times more than that of woods.
•Steady and pulsating flames of various woods and syngases are scrutinized.•Two-step pyrolysis and homogeneous and heterogeneous reactions are considered.•The oscillating combustion is examined via external perturbation on velocity field.•Maximum amplitude of temperature oscillation of syngases is 8 times that of woods.
Background Type-1 diabetes (T1D) occurs following autoimmune-induced pancreatic beta cells death. Among several treatment modalities, mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) transplantation is promising for ...autoimmune disorders due to immunomodulation, regeneration, and migration to damaged tissue upon systemic injection. This study assessed the safety and efficacy of intravenous injection of autologous bone marrow-derived MSCs in newly diagnosed T1D patients. Methods After receiving informed consent, 21 patients who met the study criteria were enrolled and randomly assigned to receive either MSCs or placebo. Each patient in the experimental group received two doses of MSCs and was followed for at least one-year post-transplantation. Results The results have shown that this transplantation is safe and significantly reduces the number of hypoglycemic episodes. MSCs transplantation improved glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c), shifted serum cytokine patterns from pro-inflammatory to anti-inflammatory, increased the number of regulatory T-cells in the peripheral blood, and improved quality of life. Early transplantation of MSCs significantly improved HbA1c and C-peptide levels and shifted pro-inflammatory cytokines to anti-inflammatory cytokines. Also, exercise combined with MSCs transplantation improved glycemic and immunologic indices. Conclusions Taken together, autologous MSC transplantation is safe and effective, and its early transplantation is a promising treatment in newly diagnosed T1D children suffering from hypoglycemic episodes. Trial registration: This clinical trial was registered at the Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials (IRCT) with the identifier IRCT ID: IRCT2016070428786N1 registered on August 20, 2016 (Retrospectively registered) ( Keywords: Type 1 diabetes, Mesenchymal stem cells, Cell therapy, Immunomodulation, Randomized controlled trial, Regulatory T cells
An extracellular laccase-producing ascomycete was isolated from soil and identified as
Paraconiothyrium variabile using rDNA sequence analysis. Typical laccase substrates including ...2,2′-azinobis-(3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulphonate) (ABTS), 2,6-dimethoxyphenol (DMP), and guaiacol were oxidized by the purified enzyme (designated as
PvL). The molecular mass of
PvL was 84
kDa and it showed a p
I value of 4.2. The enzyme acted optimally at pH 4.8 and exhibited an optimum temperature of 50
°C. Using ABTS,
PvL represented
K
m and
V
max of 203
μM and 40
μmol
min
−1
mg
−1, respectively. After 24
h incubation at pH 4.8 and 4
°C, 80% of the initial activity of
PvL remained. The enzyme was inhibited by Fe
2+, Hg
2+, and Mn
2+, but induced by Cu
2+. EDTA (10
mM), 1,4-dithiothreitol (DTT) (0.1
mM), and NaN
3 (10
mM) were found to completely inhibit
PvL. Sixty-eight percent of Malachite green was decolorized by 4
U/mL of
PvL after 15
min incubation at 30
°C.
In the first part of the review, we observed that there exists a significant gap between the predictive and prescriptive models pertaining to crash risk prediction and minimization, respectively. In ...this part, we review and categorize the optimization/ prescriptive analytic models that focus on minimizing crash risk. Although the majority of works in this segment of the literature are related to the hazardous materials (hazmat) trucking problems, we show that (with some exceptions) many can also be utilized in non-hazmat scenarios. In an effort to highlight the effect of crash risk prediction model on the accumulated risk obtained from the prescriptive model, we present a simulated example where we utilize four risk indicators (obtained from logistic regression, Poisson regression, XGBoost, and neural network) in the
shortest path algorithm. From our example, we demonstrate two major designed takeaways: (a) the shortest path may not always result in the lowest crash risk, and (b) a similarity in overall predictive performance may not always translate to similar outcomes from the prescriptive models. Based on the review and example, we highlight several avenues for future research.
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•The first immobolization of (NH4)2MoS4 on Cu-BTC metal organic frameworks.•MoS4−2 enhances the stability of S-functionalized MOFs & simplify its storage problems.•The MoS4-MOF showed ...high potential affinities for soft heavy metal ions removal.•High distribution coefficients (Kd) of 6.0 × 103-5.5 × 104 mL g−1 are obtained.•The maximum sorption capacities (714.3–1000.0 mg g−1) is almost twice of other reported MOFs.
In this work, a novel sulfur functionalized porous metal-organic framework based on Cu(II) and benzene-1,3,5- tricarboxylic acid (Cu-BTC) was synthesized. Tetrathiomolybdate (MoS42−), inorganic sulfur-containing transition metal compound, was immobilized for the first time on the MOF for selective removal of heavy metal ions of Hg2+, Pb2+, Ni2+, Cd2+, and Zn2+ from wastewaters. The MoS4-MOF sorbent shows high potential with excellent selectivity for the sorption of a variety of soft Lewis acid heavy metal ions by M–S bonding interactions. The crystal phase and morphology of the as-prepared MoS4-MOF were characterized by X-ray diffraction, field emission scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, transmission electron spectroscopy, thermal gravimetric and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) analysis. Sorption isotherm corresponds with the Langmuir model and shows good agreement with monolayer coverage of the heavy metal ions on the MoS4-MOF surface through a chemical sorption process. The sorption kinetic curves for metal ions fitted well with the pseudo-second-order model. The MoS4-MOF displays selectivity order of Hg2+ > Cd2+ ∼ Pb2+ > Zn2+ > Ni2+. The enormous sorption capacities of 714.3–1000.0 mg g-1 and very high distribution coefficients (Kd) of 6.0 × 103-5.5 × 104 mL g-1 (C0 = 100 mg L-1) place the porous MoS4-MOF as a promising sorbent for the removal of polluted water. The synthesized MoS4-MOF showed good chemical stability and recyclability.
The first immobilization of (NH4)2MoS4 on Cu-BTC MOFs which enhances the stability of S-functionalized MOFs, simplifies its storage problems & enhanced maximum sorption capacities.
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