Dynamic analysis of serum Ca-125 levels during neoadjuvant chemotherapy in patients with advanced epithelial ovarian cancer: a retrospective study

Background: Assessment of CA-125 kinetics was commonly used as a tool for tumor response to chemotherapy in ovarian cancer patients. The study aimed to determine any logarithmic/linear relationship between pre-chemotherapy and pre-operative CA-125 levels in ovarian cancer.Methods: Total 52 patients who underwent neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) followed by interval cytoreductive surgery were included. CA-125 levels before starting chemotherapy, during chemotherapy and the preoperative value, with the date of measurement recorded. Cox’s proportional hazards regression was used to evaluate univariate and independent multivariable association with the effect of clinical, pathological and CA-125 kinetic parameters on outcome endpoints.  Results: The study couldn’t establish any relationship in logarithmic fall of CA-125 values among ovarian cancers as a result of neo-adjuvant chemotherapy. The disease-free survival among the patients was 12.2 months.Conclusions: There is an inverse relationship between serum CA-125 levels and survival in ovarian cancer. NACT resulted in adequate fall of CA-125 levels in most of the patients, but the rate of fall was not predictive of prognosis

Quantifying alignment in carbon nanotube yarns and similar two‐dimensional anisotropic systems

The uniaxial orientational order in a macromolecular system is usually specified using the Hermans factor which is equivalent to the second moment of the system\u27s orientation distribution function (ODF) expanded in terms of Legendre polynomials. In this work, we show that for aligned materials that are two‐dimensional (2D) or have a measurable 2D intensity distribution, such as carbon nanotube (CNT) textiles, the Hermans factor is not appropriate. The ODF must be expanded in terms of Chebyshev polynomials and therefore, its second moment is a better measure of orientation in 2D. We also demonstrate that both orientation parameters (Hermans in three dimensional (3D) and Chebyshev in 2D) depend not only on the respective full‐width‐at‐half‐maximum of the peaks in the ODF but also on the shape of the fitted functions. Most importantly, we demonstrate a method to rapidly estimate the Chebyshev orientation parameter from a sample\u27s 2D Fourier power spectrum, using an analysis program written in Python which is available for open access. As validation examples, we use digital photographs of dry spaghetti as well as scanning electron microscopy images of direct‐spun carbon nanotube fibers, proving the technique\u27s applicability to a wide variety of fibers and images

Solid Substrate Fermentation of Mycoherbicidal Agent Alternaria alternata FGCC#25

Optimization of suitable fermentation technology for mass production of mycoherbicides is the main aim of the present study and selection of suitable cheaper and easily available agro-waste substrate for the mass production of mycoherbicidal agent. Alternaria alternata FGCC#25 which is highly effective bionerbicidal agent against Lantana camara L is the main objective of this study. The out come of the study indicates that host leaf was most suitable solid substrate for the mass production of the mycoherbicidal agent Alternaria alternata FGCC#25 (1.36 x 108 spores/gm) for the effective managements of the weed Lantana camara L