Morphometrical analysis of transbronchial cryobiopsies

The recent introduction of bronchoscopically recovered cryobiopsy of lung tissue has opened up new possibilities in the diagnosis of neoplastic and non-neoplastic lung diseases in various aspects. Most notably the morphological diagnosis of peripheral lung biopsies promises to achieve a better yield with a high quality of specimens. To better understand this phenomenon, its diagnostic options and perspectives, this study morphometrically compares 15 cryobiopsies and 18 transbronchial forceps biopsies of peripheral lung tissue a priori without considering clinical hit ratio or integration of results in the clinical diagnostic processing. Cryotechnically harvested specimens were significantly larger (mean: 17.1 ± 10.7 mm2 versus 3.8 ± 4.0 mm2) and contained alveolar tissue more often. If present, the alveolar part in cryobiopsies exceeded the one of forceps biopsies. The alveolar tissue of crybiopsy specimens did not show any artefacts. Based on these results cryotechnique seems to open up new perspectives in bronchoscopic diagnosis of lung disease

Preneoplastic lesions of the lung

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide. If we can define and detect preneoplastic lesions, we might have a chance of improving survival. The World Health Organization has defined three preneoplastic lesions of the bronchial epithelium: squamous dysplasia/carcinoma in situ; atypical adenomatous hyperplasia; and diffuse idiopathic pulmonary neuroendocrine cell hyperplasia. These lesions are believed to progress to squamous cell carcinoma, adenocarcinoma and carcinoid tumors, respectively. In this review we summarize the data supporting the preneoplastic nature of these lesions, and delve into some of the genetic changes found in atypical adenomatous hyperplasia and squamous dysplasia/carcinoma in situ

TGV: Tester Generic and Versatile for Radiation Effects on Advanced VLSI Circuits

International audienceThe purpose of this work is to describe a novel tester for radiation effects experiments, called TGV (Tester Generic and Versatile) based on a commercial development board ZEDBOARD. The main idea is to implement the whole DUT (Device Under Test) board architecture controlled by an FPGA, whose configuration is obtained from compiling the description of key features of the DUT in a high-level language such as C. This tester constitutes a powerful tool with generic capabilities for the functional validation and test under radiation of any digital circuit, with a particular focus on processor-like circuits. In this way, there is only a minor hardware development, limited to wiring the DUT pins to the ones of the tester connector. During the demonstration will be shown details of TGV platform, its use being illustrated be means of fault injection experiments which reproduces in a realistic way the random occurrence in time and location of SEUs in sensitive targets of the considered circuit

Assessing Contact Graph Routing Performance and Reliability in Distributed Satellite Constellations

International audienceExisting Internet protocols assume persistent end-to-end connectivity, which cannot be guaranteed in disruptive and high-latency space environments. To operate over these challenging networks, a store-carry-and-forward communication architecture called Delay/Disruption Tolerant Networking (DTN) has been proposed. This work provides the first examination of the performance and robustness of Contact Graph Routing (CGR) algorithm, the state-of-the-art routing scheme for space-based DTNs. To this end, after a thorough description of CGR, two appealing satellite constellations are proposed and evaluated by means of simulations. Indeed, the DtnSim simulator is introduced as another relevant contribution of this work. Results enabled the authors to identify existing CGR weaknesses and enhancement opportunities

New frontiers for qualitative textual data analysis: a multimethod statistical approach

In recent years, the increase in textual data production has meant that researchers require faster text analysis techniques and software to reliably produce knowledge for the scientific-nursing community. Automatic text data analysis opens the frontiers to a new research area combining the depth of analysis typical of qualitative research and the stability of measurements required for quantitative studies. Thanks to the statistical-computational approach, it proposes to study more or less extensive written texts produced in natural language to reveal lexical and linguistic worlds and extract useful and meaningful information for researchers. This article aims to provide an overview of this methodology, which has been rarely used in the nursing community to date

IMP3 is a novel biomarker for adenocarcinoma in situ of the uterine cervix: an immunohistochemical study in comparison with p16(INK4a) expression

Adenocarcinoma in situ of the uterine cervix remains a diagnostic challenge in a small proportion of cases. This suggests a need for biomarker that may be of help in establishing the diagnosis. The aim of this study was to evaluate the potential of insulin-like growth factor-II mRNA-binding protein 3 and cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p16(INK4a) as biomarkers for adenocarcinoma in situ. Forty-four samples of adenocarcinoma in situ from 40 patients and 23 control cases of benign uterine cervix were included in this study. In addition to benign endocervical epithelium, 19 of these 23 control cases also showed focal tubal metaplasia. Cytoplasmic immunoreactivity for insulin-like growth factor-II mRNA-binding protein 3 was identified in 41 (93%) adenocarcinoma in situ samples, among which, 29 (71%), 10 (24%), and 2 (5%) samples showed insulin-like growth factor-II mRNA-binding protein 3 positive staining in 50% or more, \u3e5 to \u3c50 and\u3e\u3c5% of adenocarcinoma in situ lesional cells, respectively. Immunohistochemical reaction intensity for insulin-like growth factor-II mRNA-binding protein 3 was found to be strong in 34 adenocarcinoma in situ samples, intermediate in five, and weak in two. All 23 control cases were negative for insulin-like growth factor-II mRNA-binding protein 3. p16(INK4a) expression was identified in all of the adenocarcinoma in situ samples with intermediate staining intensity seen in seven samples and strong in the remainder. Fourteen of 19 (74%) tubal metaplasia cases showed p16(INK4a) immunoreactivity in \u3e50% of the tubal metaplastic epithelium with staining intensity ranging from weak to strong. Our findings demonstrate significant expression of insulin-like growth factor-II mRNA-binding protein 3 and p16(INK4a) in adenocarcinoma in situ as compared to benign endocervical glands, suggesting that expression of these biomarkers may be helpful in the distinction of adenocarcinoma in situ from benign endocervical glands, particularly in difficult borderline cases