SERUM SOLUBLE CD25 IN HEPATOCELLULAR CARCINOMA, SHALL WE BE ABLE TO CHANGE THE NATURAL HISTORY?

Background. Although hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common malignancy related mortality worldwide, it can be curable if detected in early stages. Emergence of a new marker that can early detect HCC could help in early treatment and therefore ameliorate the outcome.Objective. The aim of the research is to evaluate the performance of serum soluble CD25 (sCD25) in the prediction of early HCC and compare it to α-fetoprotein (AFP).Methods. Serum levels of sCD25 and AFP were measured in three groups of population; HCC group (40 patients), cirrhosis without HCC control group (20 patients) and healthy control group (20 patients). HCC group contained 20 early and 20 late stage patients according to Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) staging system (stage 0/A and B-D respectively). Levels of both biomarkers were compared in all groups. Predictive yield of both biomarkers for early HCC was evaluated using ROC curve analysis.Results. Level of sCD25 was significantly higher in patients with HCC than in both cirrhotic controls and healthy controls (P<0.0001and 0.013 respectively). For prediction of early HCC in patients with cirrhosis, the optimal sCD25 cut-off level was 7.15 ng/ml with sensitivity and specificity of 90% and 60% respectively (AUC=0.717; P=0.019) while sensitivity and specificity of AFP were 70% and 85% respectively at a cut-off value of 9.85 ng/ml (AUC=0.781; P=0.002) in the same settings.Conclusion. sCD25 seems to be a reliable biomarker for early detection of HCC and therefore could enhance the outcome.

Enhancement of mechanical properties of pure aluminium through contactless melt sonicating treatment

A new contactless ultrasonic sonotrode method was previously designed to provide cavitation conditions inside liquid metal. The oscillation of entrapped gas bubbles followed by their final collapse causes extreme pressure changes leading to de-agglomeration and the dispersion of oxide films. The forced wetting of particle surfaces and degassing are other mechanisms that are considered to be involved. Previous publications showed a significant decrease in grain size using this technique. In this paper, the authors extend this research to strength measurements and demonstrate an improvement in cast quality. Degassing effects are also interpreted to illustrate the main mechanisms involved in alloy strengthening. The mean values and Weibull analysis are presented where appropriate to complete the data. The test results on cast Al demonstrated a maximum of 48% grain refinement, a 28% increase in elongation compared to 16% for untreated material and up to 17% increase in ultimate tensile strength (UTS). Under conditions promoting degassing, the hydrogen content was reduced by 0.1 cm3/100 g

Citizen Participation in Smart Government: A Conceptual Model and Two IoT Case Studies

In its simplest form, smart government can be understood as the combination of new technologies and organizational innovation strategies to further modernize the public sector. Within this development, the Internet of Things (IoT) often forms a key technological foundation, offering government authorities new possibilities for inter-action with citizens and local communities. On one hand, citizens can indirectly partic-ipate in governmental services’ value creation by using public infrastructure or (un)knowingly sharing their data with the community. On the other hand, smart gov-ernment initiatives may rely more intensively on citizens’ active participation to im-prove public service delivery, increase trust in government actions, and strengthen community sentiment. In this chapter, we discuss active and passive participation sce-narios of smart government initiatives and explain how sensor-based systems may en-hance citizens’ opportunities to participate in local governance. We present two prac-tical cases from Switzerland demonstrating these two citizen involvement modes. We argue that active and passive participation of citizens and other stakeholders play key role in generating necessary data for algorithmic decision-making to enable personal-ized interaction and real-time control of infrastructure in the future. We close with a discussion of the possibilities and boundaries of the IoT in the public sector and their possible influences on citizens’ private lives and policy-making