Ultrafast quantitative ultrasound and shear wave elastography imaging of in vivo duck fatty livers

Multi-parametric ultrasound imaging is a promising tool for quantification of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. In this work, a protocol of plane wave quantitative ultrasound (QUS) and shear wave elastography imaging (SWEI), quasi-simultaneously acquired, dedicated to quantification of liver steatosis on in vivo fatty duck liver is presented. Shear wave velocity was estimated to classify stiffness in duck liver tissue. QUS consisted of local attenuation coefficient slope estimated with Spectral Log Difference method, and coherent-to-diffuse signal ratio computed from homodyned-K parametric maps. After 9 days of feeding, US attenuation reached a maximum and coherent-todiffuse signal ratio reached a minimum. Coupled together, QUS and SWEI promise a strong potential in steatosis monitoring of fatty liver tissue, in ducks or humans

IMPACT ANALYSIS OF URBANIZATION ON LAND USE LAND COVER CHANGE FOR KHULNA CITY, BANGLADESH USING TEMPORAL LANDSAT IMAGERY

Urbanization has given a massive pace in Land Use Land Cover (LULC) changes in rapidly growing cities like Khulna, i.e. the third largest city of Bangladesh. Such impacting changes have taken place in over-decadal scale. It is important because detailed analysis with regularly monitoring will be fruitful to drag the attention of decision maker and urban planner for sustainable development and to overcome the problem of urban sprawl. In this present study, changes in LULC as an impact of urbanization, have been investigated for years 1997, 2002, 2007, 2012 and 2017; using three generation of Landsat data in geographic information system (GIS) domain which has the height competence in recent time. Initially, LULC have categorised into Built-up, Vegetation, Vacant Land, and Waterbody with the help of supervised classification technique. Field work had been carried out for acquiring training dataset and validation. The accuracy has been achieved more than 85% for the changes assessed. Analysis has an outlet with increase in built-up area by 27.92% in year 1997 to 2017 and continued respectively in each successive interval of half a decade at the given years. On the other side waterbody and vacant land decreased correspondingly. Bound to mention, instead to having largest temporal durability, the moderate spatial resolution of Landsat data has a limitation for such urban studies. These changes are responsible by both of natural or anthropogenic factors. Such study will provide a better way out of optimization of land-use to prepare detail area plan (DAP) of Khulna City Corporation (KCC) and Khulna development authority (KDA)

Cytoplasmic Skp2 Expression Is Increased in Human Melanoma and Correlated with Patient Survival

BACKGROUND: S-phase kinase protein 2 (Skp2), an F-box protein, targets cell cycle regulators via ubiquitin-mediated degradation. Skp2 is frequently overexpressed in a variety of cancers and associated with patient survival. In melanoma, however, the prognostic significance of subcellular Skp2 expression remains controversial. METHODS: To investigate the role of Skp2 in melanoma development, we constructed tissue microarrays and examined Skp2 expression in melanocytic lesions at different stages, including 30 normal nevi, 61 dysplastic nevi, 290 primary melanomas and 146 metastatic melanomas. The TMA was assessed for cytoplasmic and nuclear Skp2 expression by immunohistochemistry. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to evaluate the patient survival. The univariate and multivariate Cox regression models were performed to estimate the hazard ratios (HR) at five-year follow-up. RESULTS: Cytoplasmic but not nuclear Skp2 expression was gradually increased from normal nevi, dysplastic nevi, primary melanomas to metastatic melanomas. Cytoplasmic Skp2 expression correlated with AJCC stages (I vs II-IV, P<0.001), tumor thickness (≤2.00 vs >2.00 mm, P<0.001) and ulceration (P = 0.005). Increased cytoplasmic Skp2 expression was associated with a poor five-year disease-specific survival of patients with primary melanoma (P = 0.018) but not metastatic melanoma (P>0.05). CONCLUSION: This study demonstrates that cytoplasmic Skp2 plays an important role in melanoma pathogenesis and its expression correlates with patient survival. Our data indicate that cytoplasmic Skp2 may serve as a potential biomarker for melanoma progression and a therapeutic target for this disease

Therapeutic Options for the SARS-CoV-2 Virus: Is There a Key in Herbal Medicine?

SARS-CoV-2 has been responsible for over 500 million cumulative cases all over the world since December 2019 and has marked the third introduction of a highly pathogenic virus after SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV. This virus is in a winning situation because scientists are still racing to explore effective therapeutics, vaccines, and event treatment regimens. In view of progress in current disease management, until now none of the preventive/treatment measures can be considered entirely effective to treat SARS-CoV-2 infection. Therefore, it is required to look up substitute ways for the management of this disease. In this context, herbal medicines could be a good choice. This article emphasizes the antiviral potential of some herbal constituents which further can be a drug of choice in SARS-CoV-2 treatment. This article may be a ready reference for discovering natural lead compounds and targets in SARS-CoV-2 associated works. </jats:p

Aurora kinase A drives the evolution of resistance to third-generation EGFR inhibitors in lung cancer.

Although targeted therapies often elicit profound initial patient responses, these effects are transient due to residual disease leading to acquired resistance. How tumors transition between drug responsiveness, tolerance and resistance, especially in the absence of preexisting subclones, remains unclear. In epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-mutant lung adenocarcinoma cells, we demonstrate that residual disease and acquired resistance in response to EGFR inhibitors requires Aurora kinase A (AURKA) activity. Nongenetic resistance through the activation of AURKA by its coactivator TPX2 emerges in response to chronic EGFR inhibition where it mitigates drug-induced apoptosis. Aurora kinase inhibitors suppress this adaptive survival program, increasing the magnitude and duration of EGFR inhibitor response in preclinical models. Treatment-induced activation of AURKA is associated with resistance to EGFR inhibitors in vitro, in vivo and in most individuals with EGFR-mutant lung adenocarcinoma. These findings delineate a molecular path whereby drug resistance emerges from drug-tolerant cells and unveils a synthetic lethal strategy for enhancing responses to EGFR inhibitors by suppressing AURKA-driven residual disease and acquired resistance

Hollow Cu-doped NiO microspheres as anode materials with enhanced lithium storage performance

Doping is an effective way to optimize the properties of electrode materials. In this study, hollow Cu-doped NiO microspheres were obtained via the hydrothermal method, in which the microspheres were aggregated from nanoparticles. Compared with the original NiO electrode, the Cu-doped NiO electrode exhibits prominent initial capacity (1180 vs. 900 mA h g−1) and better rate capability (80% vs. 30% retention) as anode materials. The superior electrochemical properties could be attributed to the enhanced conductivity by Cu doping

The Scottish Bladder Cancer Quality Performance Indicators Influencing Outcomes, Prognosis, and Surveillance (Scot BC Quality OPS) Clinical Project

The aim of the Scot BC Quality OPS clinical project is to create a reliable prospective data set for evaluating real-world effectiveness and efficiency consequent to standardisation and monitoring of bladder cancer treatment (through the national Quality Performance Indicator programme) and streamlined surveillance in Scotland. Several work packages have been created, reflecting wide clinical and research collaboration

C/EBPβ-Thr217 Phosphorylation Signaling Contributes to the Development of Lung Injury and Fibrosis in Mice

mice are refractory to Bleomycin-induced lung fibrosis the molecular mechanisms remain unknown. Here we show that blocking the ribosomal S-6 kinase (RSK) phosphorylation of the CCAAT/Enhancer Binding Protein (C/EBP)-β on Thr217 (a RSK phosphoacceptor) with either a single point mutation (Ala217), dominant negative transgene or a blocking peptide containing the mutated phosphoacceptor ameliorates the progression of lung injury and fibrosis induced by Bleomycin in mice. mice with a cell permeant, C/EBPβ peptide that inhibits phosphorylation of C/EBPβ on Thr217 (40 µg instilled intracheally on day-2 and day-6 after the single Bleomycin dose) also blocked the progression of lung injury and fibrosis induced by Bleomycin. Phosphorylation of human C/EBPβ on Thr266 (human homologue phosphoacceptor) was induced in collagen-activated human lung fibroblasts in culture as well as in activated lung fibroblasts in situ in lungs of patients with severe lung fibrosis but not in control lungs, suggesting that this signaling pathway may be also relevant in human lung injury and fibrosis.These data suggest that the RSK-C/EBPβ phosphorylation pathway may contribute to the development of lung injury and fibrosis

Outcomes of pediatric patients with therapy-related myeloid neoplasms

Long-term outcomes after allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) for therapy-related myeloid neoplasms (tMNs) are dismal. There are few multicenter studies defining prognostic factors in pediatric patients with tMNs. We have accumulated the largest cohort of pediatric patients who have undergone HCT for a tMN to perform a multivariate analysis defining factors predictive of long-term survival. Sixty-eight percent of the 401 patients underwent HCT using a myeloablative conditioning (MAC) regimen, but there were no statistically significant differences in the overall survival (OS), event-free survival (EFS), or cumulative incidence of relapse and non-relapse mortality based on the conditioning intensity. Among the recipients of MAC regimens, 38.4% of deaths were from treatment-related causes, especially acute graft versus host disease (GVHD) and end-organ failure, as compared to only 20.9% of deaths in the reduced-intensity conditioning (RIC) cohort. Exposure to total body irradiation (TBI) during conditioning and experiencing grade III/IV acute GVHD was associated with worse OS. In addition, a diagnosis of therapy-related myelodysplastic syndrome and having a structurally complex karyotype at tMN diagnosis were associated with worse EFS. Reduced-toxicity (but not reduced-intensity) regimens might help to decrease relapse while limiting mortality associated with TBI-based HCT conditioning in pediatric patients with tMNs