Sonographic measurements of normal gallbladder sizes in children.

PurposeOur goal was to establish the range of sonographic measurements of normal gallbladders in children.MethodsSix hundred ten children aged 0-16 years (male:female ratio, 1.5:1) with normal clinical and laboratory findings were included in this study. The sonographic parameters were the length, width, and calculated volume of the gallbladder, and the clinical parameters were the age, height, weight, and body surface area of the children. Statistical significance was determined through correlation and regression analyses.ResultsThe length of the gallbladder showed significant positive correlations with age (r = 0.65), height (r = 0.67), weight (r = 0.63), and body surface area (r = 0.65; p < 0.01). The calculated volume of the gallbladder also showed moderate correlations with age (r = 0.53), height (r = 0.55), weight (r = 0.61), and body surface area (r = 0.57; p < 0.01). The gallbladder width showed modest but significant correlations with age (r = 0.48), height (r = 0.53), weight (r = 0.53), and body surface area (r = 0.55; p < 0.01). The highest correlation coefficients were found between the gallbladder length and subject age (r = 0.65; p < 0.01) and between the gallbladder length and subject height (r = 0.67; p < 0.01). For all correlations, statistical significance remained after regression analysis (p < 0.01).ConclusionsValues for the size of the normal pediatric gallbladder are defined and will be helpful in the diagnosis of gallbladder abnormalities

Discovery of Maritrema obstipum (Digenea: Microphallidae) from Migratory Birds in Korea

Adults of Maritrema obstipum (Digenea: Microphallidae) were found in the intestines of 4 species of migratory birds, including the sanderling (Crocethia alba), Kentish plover (Charadrius alexandrines), Mongolian plover (Charadrius mongolus), and red-necked stint (Calidris ruficollis), collected from Yubu Island, Chungcheongnam-do, Korea. The worms of were 451×265 µm in size, and were easily identifiable as Maritrema species by the presence of the cirrus sac, and the ring-like distribution of the vitellaria. More specifically, the ejaculatory duct curved posteromedially, and the 2 parts of vitelline follicles were found to be distinct at the posterior end. The eggs were brown-colored, and 19.8×12.3 µm in size. All these findings implicated M. obstipum as the pertinent species of the worms. Beside these, adult worms of Gynaecotyla squatarolae, Parvatrema duboisi, and Acanthoparyphium sp. were also discovered. This is the first report establishing migratory birds as the natural definitive hosts for M. obstipum

EFFECTS OF THREE PREPARATORY MOVEMENTS ON SIDEWARD PROPULSIVE MOVEMENT

This study investigated the effects of three preparatory movements (squat, countermovement and hopping) on the sideward propulsive movement. Seven subjects were analyzed in 3-D to determine how fast they reacted to external signals, using three techniques, to reacl1 an aIming spot. The hopping and the countermovement types were considered better than the squat type in the propulsion. The hopping particularly showed the shortest duration from the external signal to take-off and also recorded high extension moments due to the pre-stretch mechanism for the push-off phase

Hepatic resection of metastatic tumor from serous cystadenocarcinoma of the ovary.

Metastatic carcinomas are the largest group of malignant tumors of the liver. But parenchymal liver metastasis from cystic ovarian adenocarcinoma is very rare. We report a case in which the resection of metastatic liver neoplasm from ovarian serous cystadenocarcinoma was done 7 yr after initial treatment. A 48-yr-old oriental housewife complained of easy fatigability and right lower quadrant discomfort. The hepatic mass was detected by ultrasonographic examination. Serum albumin, bilirubin, and aspartate aminotransferase/alanine aminotransferase were normal. Alkaline phosphatase level was slightly increased at 146 IU/L. A tumor marker study showed alpha-fetoprotein 0.97 IU/mL, carcinoembryonic antigen 0.965 ng/mL, cancer antigen 125 1,267 ng/mL and CA 19-9 106.1 ng/mL. The operation involved cholecystectomy and segmentectomy VI and VII of the liver. The patient recovered from the surgery without any complication. On the 10th postoperative day, the patient received a single-regimen chemotherapy with paclitaxel (Taxol, 155 mg/m(2) BSA) and was discharged. She has been carefully followed-up without any evidence of recurrence after completion of the remaining 5 cycles of chemo-therapy, at intervals of three weeks

Amortized Large Look-up Table Evaluation with Multivariate Polynomials for Homomorphic Encryption

We present a new method for efficient look-up table (LUT) evaluation in homomorphic encryption (HE), based on Ring-LWE-based HE schemes, including both integer-message schemes such as Brakerski-Gentry-Vaikuntanathan (BGV) and Brakerski/Fan-Vercauteren (BFV), and complex-number-message schemes like the Cheon-Kim-Kim-Song (CKKS) scheme. Our approach encodes bit streams into codewords and translates LUTs into low-degree multivariate polynomials, allowing for the simultaneous evaluation of multiple independent LUTs with minimal overhead. To mitigate noise accumulation in the CKKS scheme, we propose a novel noise-reduction technique, accompanied by proof demonstrating its effectiveness in asymptotically decreasing noise levels. We demonstrate our algorithm\u27s effectiveness through a proof-of-concept implementation, showcasing significant efficiency gains, including a 0.029ms per slot evaluation for 8-input, 8-output LUTs and a 280ms amortized decryption time for AES-128 using CKKS on a single GPU. This work not only advances LUT evaluation in HE but also introduces a transciphering method for the CKKS scheme utilizing standard symmetric-key encryption, bridging the gap between discrete bit strings and numerical data

The resistance anomaly in the surface layer of Bi2_2Sr2_2CaCu2_2O8+x_{8+x} single crystals under radio-frequency irradiation

We observed that radio-frequency (rf) irradiation significantly enhances the $c$-axis resistance near and below the superconducting transition of the CuO$_{2}$ layer in contact with a normal-metal electrode on the surface of Bi$_{2}$Sr$_{2}$CaCu$_{2}$O$_{8+x}$ single crystals. We attribute the resistance anomaly to the rf-induced charge-imbalance nonequilibrium effect in the surface CuO$_{2}$ layer. The relaxation of the charge-imbalance in this highly anisotropic system is impeded by the slow quasiparticle recombination rate, which results in the observed excessive resistance.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figure

Maysin and Its Flavonoid Derivative from Centipedegrass Attenuates Amyloid Plaques by Inducting Humoral Immune Response with Th2 Skewed Cytokine Response in the Tg (APPswe, PS1dE9) Alzheimer\u27s Mouse Model

Alzheimer\u27s disease (AD) is a slow, progressive neurodegenerative disease and the most common type of dementia in the elderly. The etiology of AD and its underlying mechanism are still not clear. In a previous study, we found that an ethyl acetate extract of Centipedegrass (CG) (i.e., EA-CG) contained 4 types of Maysin derivatives, including Luteolin, Isoorientin, Rhamnosylisoorientin, and Derhamnosylmaysin, and showed protective effects against Amyloid beta (Aβ) by inhibiting oligomeric Aβ in cellular and in vitro models. Here, we examined the preventative effects of EA-CG treatment on the Aβ burden in the Tg (Mo/Hu APPswe PS1dE9) AD mouse model. We have investigated the EA-CG efficacy as novel anti-AD likely preventing amyloid plaques using immunofluorescence staining to visually analyze Aβ40/42 and fibril formation with Thioflavin-S or 6E10 which are the profile of immunoreactivity against epitope Aβ1-16 or neuritic plaque, the quantitation of humoral immune response against Aβ, and the inflammatory cytokine responses (Th1 and Th2) using ELISA and QRT-PCR. To minimize the toxicity of the extracted CG, we addressed the liver toxicity in response to the CG extract treatment in Tg mice using relevant markers, such as aspartate aminotransferase (AST)/ alanine aminotransferase (ALT) measurements in serum. The EA-CG extract significantly reduced the Aβ burden, the concentration of soluble Aβ40/42 protein, and fibril formation in the hippocampus and cortex of the Tg mice treated with EA-CG (50 mg/kg BW/day) for 6 months compared with the Tg mice treated with a normal diet. Additionally, the profile of anti-inflammatory cytokines revealed that the levels of Th2 (interleukin-4 (IL-4) and interleukin-10 (IL-10)) cytokines are more significantly increased than Th1 (interferon-γ (IFN-γ), interleukin-2(IL-2)) in the sera. These results suggest that the EA-CG fraction induces IL-4/IL-10-dependent anti-inflammatory cytokines (Th2) rather than pro-inflammatory cytokines (Th1), which are driven by IL-2/IFN-γ. With regard to the immune response, EA-CG induced an immunoglobulin IgG and IgM response against the EA-CG treatment in the Tg mice. Furthermore, EA-CG significantly ameliorated the level of soluble Aβ42 and Aβ40. Similarly, we observed that the fibril formation was also decreased by EA-CG treatment in the hippocampus and cortex after quantitative analysis with Thioflavin-S staining in the Tg brain tissues. Taken together, our findings suggested that Maysin and its derivative flavonoid compounds in the EA-CG fraction might be beneficial therapeutic treatments or alternative preventative measures to adjuvant for boosting humoral and cellular include immune response and anti-inflammation which may lead to amyloid plaque accumulation in Alzheimer\u27s patients\u27 brains