Clinicopathological and prognostic significance of HER-2/neu and VEGF expression in colon carcinomas

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>HER-2/neu and VEGF expression is correlated with disease behaviors in various cancers. However, evidence for their expression in colon cancer is rather contradictory both for the protein expression status and prognostic value. HER-2/neu is found to participate in VEGF regulation, and has known correlation with VEGF expression in some tumors. In this study, we investigated HER-2/neu and VEGF expression in Chinese colon patients and explored whether there was any correlation between their expression patterns.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>HER-2/neu and VEGF were investigated immunohistochemically using tumor samples obtained from 317 colon cancer patients with all tumor stages. Correlation of the degree of staining with clinicopathological parameters and survival was investigated.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Positive expression rates of HER-2/neu and VEGF in colon cancer were 15.5% and 55.5% respectively. HER-2/neu expression was significantly correlated with tumor size and distant metastases (<it>P </it>< 0.05), but was not an independent prognostic marker of survival <it>(P > 0.05)</it>. Expression of VEGF was significantly correlated with tumor size, tumor stage, lymph node metastases, and distant metastases (<it>P </it>< 0.05). The 5-year survival rate in patients with negative and positive VEGF expression was 70.2% and 61.9% respectively; the difference was not statistically significant <it>(P = 0.146)</it>. No correlation between HER-2/neu and VEGF expression was detected (<it>P = </it>0.151).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>HER-2/neu and VEGF are not important prognostic markers of colon cancer. The present results do not support any association between HER2/neu and VEGF expression in this setting.</p

Improving pulse crops as a source of protein, starch and micronutrients

Pulse crops have been known for a long time to have beneficial nutritional profiles for human diets but have been neglected in terms of cultivation, consumption and scientific research in many parts of the world. Broad dietary shifts will be required if anthropogenic climate change is to be mitigated in the future, and pulse crops should be an important component of this change by providing an environmentally sustainable source of protein, resistant starch and micronutrients. Further enhancement of the nutritional composition of pulse crops could benefit human health, helping to alleviate micronutrient deficiencies and reduce risk of chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes. This paper reviews current knowledge regarding the nutritional content of pea (Pisum sativum L.) and faba bean (Vicia faba L.), two major UK pulse crops, and discusses the potential for their genetic improvement

An assessment of the torrefaction of North American pine and life cycle greenhouse gas emissions

Bioenergy is increasingly being used to meet EU objectives for renewable energy generation and reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Problems with using biomass however include high moisture contents, lower calorific value and poor grindability when compared to fossil fuels. Torrefaction is a pre-treatment process that aims to address these issues. In this paper four torrefaction treatments of pine were performed and a mass–energy balance calculated. Using experimental data, a pellet production supply chain incorporating torrefaction was modelled and compared to an existing wood pellet system to determine life-cycle GHG emissions. Two utility fuels, wood chips and natural gas, were considered to provide process heat in addition to volatile gases released during torrefaction (torgas). Experimental results show that torrefaction reduces the moisture content and increases the calorific value of the fuels. Increasing torrefaction temperature and residence time results in lower mass and energy yields. GHG emissions reduce with increasing torrefaction severity. Emissions from drying & torrefaction and shipping are the highest GHG contributors to the supply chain. All 4 torrefaction conditions assessed outperformed traditional wood pellet supply chain emissions but more land is required which increases with temperature and residence time. Sensitivity analysis results show that emissions increase significantly where natural gas is used for utility fuel and no torgas is utilised

Synthesis of some new biheterocyclic triazole derivatives and evaluation of their antimicrobial activity

2-{3-(4-Substitutedbenzyl)-4-[2-(1H-indol-3-yl)ethyl]-5-oxo-4, 5-dihydro-1H-1,2,4-triazol-1-yl}-N' -(arylmethylene) acetohydrazides (5a-g), 4-amino-2-{3-(4-substitutedbenzyl)-5-oxo-4,5-dihydro-1H-1,2,4-triazol-1- yl}-N' -(arylmethylene)acetohydrazides (6a,b), and 4-[2-(1H-indol-3-yl)ethyl]-5-(4- substitutedbenzyl)-2-{[5- (phenylamino)-1,3,4-thiadiazol-2-yl]methyl}-2,4- dihydro-3H-1,2,4-triazol-3-ones (8a,b) were synthesized starting from 4-alkyl-5-(4-substitutedbenzyl)-2,4-dihydro-3H-1,2,4-triazol-3-ones (2a-c) by several steps and their structures were well characterized by elemental analyses, IR, 1H-NMR, 113C-NMR, and mass spectral studies. They were also screened for their microbial activities. The obtained antimicrobial activity results revealed that 12 among the 24 compounds tested displayed variable growth inhibition effects on the tested grampositive and gram-negative bacterial strains. None of the compounds showed antifungal activity against yeast-like fungi. © TÜBİTAK

Prediction models for higher heating value based on the structural analysis of the biomass of plant remains from the greenhouses of Almería (Spain)

Within the realm of renewable energies, biomass will play a fundamental role in the coming years, especially due to the rise in the prices of fossil fuels, the doubtful safety of nuclear energy, and the need to reduce CO2 emissions. In Almería (SE Spain), a million tonnes of plant wastes are generated per year from greenhouse crops such as Cucurbita pepo L., Cucumis sativus L., Solanum melongena L., Solanum lycopersicum L., Phaseolus vulgaris L., Capsicum annuum L., Citrillus vulgaris Schrad, and Cucumis melo L., which have an energy potential of around a million MWh year-1. The aim of the present work is to conduct structural analyses (lignin, cellulose, hemicellulose, and extractives) together with new HHV prediction models based on these parameters. For the analyses, internationally recognised methods and norms were used. Also, in the 15 univariate and multivariate prediction equations formulated, R2 and adjusted R2 proved higher in all cases (0.748 and 0.717), respectively, with the mean absolute percentage error varying between 0.119 and 0.623. Finally, only 10 equations were validated.This work has been partially financed by Research Project C400860 (University of Almeria).Callejon-Ferre, AJ.; Carreno-Sanchez, J.; Suarez-Medina, FJ.; Perez-Alonso, J.; Velázquez Martí, B. (2014). Prediction models for higher heating value based on the structural analysis of the biomass of plant remains from the greenhouses of Almería (Spain). Fuel. 116:377-387. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fuel.2013.08.023S37738711

Eccrine Spiradenoma of the Thigh: Sonographic Findings And Review of the Literature

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LHV Predication Models and LHV Effect on the Performance of CI Engine Running with Biodiesel Blends

The heating value of fuel is one of its most important physical properties, and is used for the design and numerical simulation of combustion processes within internal combustion (IC) engines. Recently, there has been a significant increase in the use of dual fuel and blended fuels in compression ignition (CI) engines. Most of the blended fuels include biodiesel as one of the constituents and hence the objective of this study is to investigate the effect of biodiesel content to lower heating value (LHV) and to develop new LHV prediction models that correlate the LHV with biodiesel fraction, density and viscosity. Furthermore, this study also investigated the effects of the LHV on CI engines performance parameters experimentally. To achieve the above mentioned objectives density, viscosity and LHV of rapeseed oil biodiesel, corn oil biodiesel and waste oil biodiesel at different blend fraction values (B0, B5, B10, B20, B50, B75, and B100, where ‘B5’ denotes a blend of 5% biodiesel and 95% mineral diesel, etc) were measured as per EN ISO 3675:1998, EN ISO 3104:1996 and DIN 51900 standards. The engine experimental work was conducted on a four-cylinder, four -stroke, direct injection (DI) and turbocharged diesel engine by using rapeseed oil and normal diesel blends. Based on the experimental results, models were developed which have the capability to predict the LHV corresponding to different fractions, densities and viscosities of biodiesel. The models are shown to produce consistent results with experimentally measured ones and compared with previous researches’ models. Furthermore the effects of LHV on brake specific fuel consumption (BSFC) and thermal efficiency were analysed and it has been seen that for the neat biodiesel which its LHV is lower by 8% than diesel resulted in an increment of BSFC and thermal efficiency by 18% and 25% respectively