Kann die 18F-FDG-PET/CT-Untersuchung die Panendoskopie zur Detektion von synchronen Zweitkarzinomen ersetzen?

Ziel der Arbeit war es, die Wertigkeit der 18F-FDG-PET/ CT-Untersuchung bezüglich synchroner Zweitkarzinome im Vergleich mit der Panendoskopie beim initialen Staging zu untersuchen. 311 Patienten wurden mit beiden Untersuchungsmethoden abgeklärt. Als Referenz galt die zytologische, histologische und/oder klinische oder radiologische Untersuchung. Die Prävalenz für synchrone Zweitkarzinome betrug mit der Panendoskopie 4,5%, während die Prävalenz mittels PET/ CT-Untersuchung 6,1% betrug. Die Sensitivität für die Panendoskopie betrug 74%, die Spezifität 99,7%, der positiv prädiktive Wert 93% und der negativ prädiktive Wert 98%. Die Sensitivität für die PET/CT-Untersuchung betrug 100%, die Spezifität 95,7% der positiv prädiktive Wert 59% und der negativ prädiktive Wert 100%. Die PET/CT-Untersuchung scheint der Panendoskopie überlegen zu sein. Bei bezüglich synchroner Zweitkarzinome unauffälligem PET/CT kann die Panendoskopie auf die Endoskopie und Beurteilung des Primärtumors beschränkt werden kann. Aufgrund der hohen Kosten und der grossen Anzahl falsch positiver Resultate, welche durch das PET/CT generiert werden, empfehlen wir die Durchführung dieser Untersuchung nur bei fortgeschrittenen Tumoren mit der Frage nach Fernmetastasen. Die Panendoskopie bleibt weiterhin der Goldstandar

Link between distal sensory polyneuropathy, insulin-like growth factor-I and bone mineral density in elderly diabetics

Background: The association between Distal Sensory Polyneuropathy (DSP) and systemic osteopenia was studied before in type 1 Diabetes Mellitus (DM), however, is not all clear, with scanty researches in type 2 DM. In addition, Insulin-like Growth Factor-I (IGF-1) could be the most important mediator of bone growth, and an important neurotrophic factor for peripheral sensory neurons. Therefore, the aim of this study was to study the association between bone mineral density (BMD) and DSP, in elderly patients with type 2 DM, and the link between IGF-1 and both BMD and DSP.Methods: Eighty eight elderly patients, aged ≥60 years, were involved in this case (43 diabetics with DSP and 17 diabetics without DSP) - control (28 non diabetics) study. BMD and IGF-1 were measured.  Results: There was no significant difference between cases and controls regarding T score of either lumbar spine or femoral neck or IGF-1 (P = 0.83, 0.96 and 0.17 consecutively). DM without DSP had higher IGF-1 than both DM with DSP& the control group (P = 0.011 and 0.010 consecutively). IGF-1 was a significant predictor of T score of both femoral neck and lumbar spine, only in the control group (P = 0.008 and <0.001 consecutively) (OR=1.44 and 2.4 consecutively) (CI=1.1-1.9 and 1.9-3.1 consecutively). Neither DSP nor IGF-1 was (were) a significant predictor of BMD in diabetics.Conclusion: There was no association between type 2 DM and BMD. IGF-1 was higher in diabetics without DSP than those with DSP or the control group. IGF-1 was a positive predictor of BMD only in the control group.

Preparation, Surface active properties, and Anticorrosion Application of some novel surfactants based on cottonseed oil and diethanolamine on carbon steel in CO2 environments

Novel surfactants were synthesized based on cottonseed oil and diethanolamine and the structures of these compounds were confirmed by FTIR spectroscopy. The surface and thermodynamic properties of these compounds have been investigated. The corrosion behavior of the synthesized surfactant corrosion inhibitors was evaluated by using potentiodynamic (Tafel) polarization curves, linear polarization resistance corrosion rate techniques. The experimental results showed that these inhibitors revealed a very good corrosion inhibition even at low concentrations. The protection efficiency increased with increasing inhibitor concentration, getting maximum values ranged between 87.37 and 97.91 % at 100 ppm after 20 hour of exposure. The adsorption process was found to obey the Langmuir adsorption isotherm

The value of PET, CT and in-line PET/CT in patients with gastrointestinal stromal tumours: long-term outcome of treatment with imatinib mesylate

Purpose: Gastrointestinal stromal tumours (GIST) are mesenchymal neoplasms of the gastrointestinal tract that are unresponsive to standard sarcoma chemotherapy. Imaging of GIST patients is done with structural and functional methods such as contrast-enhanced helical computed tomography (ceCT) and positron emission tomography (PET) with 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG). The aim of this study was to compare the prognostic power of PET and ceCT and to evaluate the clinical role of PET/CT imaging. Methods: All patients with GIST undergoing PET or PET/CT examinations were prospectively included in this study, and the median overall survival, time to progression and treatment duration were documented. The prognostic significance of PET and ceCT criteria of treatment response was assessed and PET/CT was compared with PET and ceCT imaging. Data for 34 patients (19 male, 15 female, 21-76 years) undergoing PET or PET/CT for staging or restaging were analysed. Results: In 28 patients, PET/CT and ceCT were available after introduction of treatment with the tyrosine kinase inhibitor imatinib mesylate (Gleevec; Novartis, Basel, Switzerland). Patients without FDG uptake after the start of treatment had a better prognosis than patients with residual activity. In contrast, ceCT criteria provided insufficient prognostic power. However, more lesions were found on ceCT images than on PET images, and FDG uptake was sometimes very variable. PET/CT delineated active lesions better than did the combination of PET and ceCT imaging. Conclusion: Both PET and PET/CT provide important prognostic information and have an impact on clinical decision-making in GIST patients. PET/CT precisely delineates lesions and thus allows for the correct planning of surgical intervention

Risk-adapted FDG-PET/CT-based follow-up in patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma after first-line therapy

Background: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of 2-[fluorine-18]fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose-positron emission tomography/computed tomography (FDG-PET/CT) during follow-up of patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) being in complete remission or unconfirmed complete remission after first-line therapy. Patients and methods: DLBCL patients receiving FDG-PET/CT during follow-up were analyzed retrospectively. Confirmatory biopsy was mandatory in cases of suspected disease recurrence. Results: Seventy-five patients were analyzed and 23 (30%) had disease recurrence. The positive predictive value (PPV) of FDG-PET/CT was 0.85. Patients >60 years [P = 0.036, hazard ratio (HR) = 3.82, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.02-7.77] and patients with symptoms indicative of a relapse (P = 0.015; HR = 4.1; 95% CI 1.20-14.03) had a significantly higher risk for relapse. A risk score on the basis of signs of relapse, age >60 years, or a combination of these factors identified patients at high risk for recurrence (P = 0.041). Conclusions: FDG-PET/CT detects recurrent DLBCL after first-line therapy with high PPV. However, it should not be used routinely and if only in selected high-risk patients to reduce radiation burden and costs. On the basis of our retrospective data, FDG-PET/CT during follow-up is indicated for patients 60 years with and without clinical signs of relaps

Bulk Segregant Analysis Using Single Nucleotide Polymorphism Microarrays

Bulk segregant analysis (BSA) using microarrays, and extreme array mapping (XAM) have recently been used to rapidly identify genomic regions associated with phenotypes in multiple species. These experiments, however, require the identification of single feature polymorphisms (SFP) between the cross parents for each new combination of genotypes, which raises the cost of experiments. The availability of the genomic polymorphism data in Arabidopsis thaliana, coupled with the efficient designs of Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP) genotyping arrays removes the requirement for SFP detection and lowers the per array cost, thereby lowering the overall cost per experiment. To demonstrate that these approaches would be functional on SNP arrays and determine confidence intervals, we analyzed hybridizations of natural accessions to the Arabidopsis ATSNPTILE array and simulated BSA or XAM given a variety of gene models, populations, and bulk selection parameters. Our results show a striking degree of correlation between the genotyping output of both methods, which suggests that the benefit of SFP genotyping in context of BSA can be had with the cheaper, more efficient SNP arrays. As a final proof of concept, we hybridized the DNA from bulks of an F2 mapping population of a Sulfur and Selenium ionomics mutant to both the Arabidopsis ATTILE1R and ATSNPTILE arrays, which produced almost identical results. We have produced R scripts that prompt the user for the required parameters and perform the BSA analysis using the ATSNPTILE1 array and have provided them as supplemental data files

A One Pot, One Step, Precision Cloning Method with High Throughput Capability

Current cloning technologies based on site-specific recombination are efficient, simple to use, and flexible, but have the drawback of leaving recombination site sequences in the final construct, adding an extra 8 to 13 amino acids to the expressed protein. We have devised a simple and rapid subcloning strategy to transfer any DNA fragment of interest from an entry clone into an expression vector, without this shortcoming. The strategy is based on the use of type IIs restriction enzymes, which cut outside of their recognition sequence. With proper design of the cleavage sites, two fragments cut by type IIs restriction enzymes can be ligated into a product lacking the original restriction site. Based on this property, a cloning strategy called ‘Golden Gate’ cloning was devised that allows to obtain in one tube and one step close to one hundred percent correct recombinant plasmids after just a 5 minute restriction-ligation. This method is therefore as efficient as currently used recombination-based cloning technologies but yields recombinant plasmids that do not contain unwanted sequences in the final construct, thus providing precision for this fundamental process of genetic manipulation