Clinical and pathologic factors associated with survival in young adult patients with fibrolamellar hepatocarcinoma

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Fibrolamellar Carcinoma (FLC), a subtype of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), is a rare primary hepatic malignancy. Several aspects of the clinic features and epidemiology of FLC remain unclear because most of the literature on FLC consists of case reports and small cases series with limited information on factors that affect survival.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We did a retrospective analysis of the clinical and histological characteristics of FLC. We also determined the rate of cellular proliferation in biopsies of these tumors. We assessed whether these variables were associated with survival.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We found 15 patients with FLC out of 174 patients with HCC (8.6%). Between patients with these neoplasms, we found statistically significant survival, age at onset, level of alpha fetoprotein, and an earlier stage of the disease. The 1, 3 and 5 year survival in patients with FLC was of 66, 40 and 26% respectively. The factors associated with a higher survival in patients with FLC were age more than 23 years, feasibility of surgical resection, free surgical borders, absence of thrombosis or invasion to hepatic vessels and the absence of alterations in liver enzymes. The size of the tumor, gender, cellular proliferation and atypia did not affect the prognosis.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>We concluded that FLC patients diagnosed before 23 years of age have worse prognosis than those diagnosed after age 23. Other factors associated with worse prognosis in this study are: lack of surgical treatment, presence of positive surgical margins, vascular invasion, and altered hepatic enzymes.</p

Corrosion inhibition properties of pyrazolylindolenine compounds on copper surface in acidic media

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The corrosion inhibition performance of pyrazolylindolenine compounds, namely 4-(3,3-dimethyl-3H-indol-2-yl)-pyrazole-1-carbothioamide (InPzTAm), 4-(3,3-dimethyl-3H-indol-2-yl)-1H-pyrazole-1-carbothiohydrazide (InPzTH) and 3,3-dimethyl-2-(1-phenyl-1H-pyrazol-4-yl)-3H-indole (InPzPh),) on copper in 1M HCl solution is investigated by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), open circuit potential (OCP) and linear scan voltammetry (LSV) techniques.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The results show that the corrosion rate of copper is diminished by the compounds with the inhibition strength in the order of: InPzTAm> InPzTH > InPzPh. The corrosion inhibition efficiencies for the three inhibitors are 94.0, 91.4 and 79.3, for InPzTAm, InPzTH and InPzPh respectively with the same inhibitor concentration (2 mM).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>From the EIS, OCP and LSV results it was concluded that pyrazolylindolenine compounds with S-atom (with an amine group) have illustrated better corrosion inhibition performance compared to hydrazine and phenyl group.</p

Climate change: What do we know about the IPCC?

This is the first of a series of three biennial reviews of research on the subject of climate change. This review is concerned with the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC): its origins and mandate; its disciplinary and geographical expertise; its governance and organizational learning; consensus and its representation of uncertainty; and its wider impact and influence on knowledge production, public discourse and policy development. The research that has been conducted on the IPCC as an institution has come mostly from science and technology studies scholars and a small number of critical social scientists. The IPCC's influence on the construction, mobilization and consumption of climate change knowledge is considerable. The review therefore ends by encouraging geographers of science to turn their research and scholarship to understanding the roles played by the IPCC, and equivalent institutional processes of climate change knowledge assessment, in the contemporary world