Clinical Impact of 18F-FDG PET/CT on the Management of Gynecologic Cancers: One Center Experience

Objective(s): We aim to investigate the clinical impact of 18F-FDG PET/CT in managing patients with gynecological malignancies and pelvic or extrapelvic lymph nodes that are of equivocal significance on conventional imaging.Methods: We retrospectively evaluated 18F-FDG PET/CT scans of patients with gynecologic tumors who were referred to King Hussein Cancer Center from January 2010 to August 2014. PET/CT results were compared with MRI and CT findings. We evaluated sensitivity and specificity of 18F-FDG PET/CT, its role in changing treatment planand its positive predictive value (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV).Results: Ninety seven patients (mean age: 49 years) underwent 18F-FDG/PET in the study period (40 cervical, 37 endometrial and 20 ovarian cancers). PET/CT scan provided additional information in 23 patients; upstaging 4.1% (4 patients; 3 true positive) and down staging in 19.5% (19 patients; 15 true negative). As a result, treatment strategy was changed from curative to palliative in three patients, and modification of radiation field or additional curative therapy was implemented following exclusion of distant metastasis in 11 patients. Mean follow up time for the whole cohort was 35 months (range 6 - 60 months). NPV of 18F-FDG PET/CT in detecting extrapelvic lymphadenopathy was 83.3%.Conclusion: 18F-FDG PET/CT has high clinical impact in management of gynaecological cancers as it alters the treatment plan in a substantial number of patients who had equivocal findings on conventional imaging,as well as it offers excellent validity in lymph nodes staging

Carbohydrates and lipids metabolic enzymes inhibitory, antioxidant, antimicrobial and cytotoxic potentials of Anchusa ovata Lehm. from Palestine

Introduction: Throughout history, therapeutically active plant products have received substantial attention due to their valuable role in the discoveries of specific medications. The aim of this study was to assess, for the first time, the antimicrobial, antioxidant, antilipase, anti-α-amylase and cytotoxic properties of four fractions derived from Anchusa ovata Lehm. (AO) leaves. Methods: Antioxidant, antilipase and anti-amylase potentials of (AO) were established using DPPH (1,1-diphenyl- 2-picrylhydrazyl), p-nitrophenyl butyrate and dinitro-salicylic acid procedures, respectively, while antimicrobial activity was conducted using broth microdilution assay against eight Gram-positive, Gram-negative bacterial strains in addition to one fungal strain. Moreover, the MTS [3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-5-(3-carboxymethoxyphenyl)- 2-(4-sulfophenyl)-2H-tetrazolium] cytotoxic assay was utilized against cervical cancer cells (HeLa). Results: The methanol fraction of AO showed potential antioxidant, antilipase, and α-amylase inhibitory activities with IC50 values of 9.55 ± 0.13, 53.7 ± 0.41 and 16.55 ± 1.84 μg/ml, respectively compared with the positive controls Trolox, Orlistat and Acarbose that had IC50 values of 3.23 ± 0.92, 12.3 ± 0.35 and 28.18 ± 1.22 μg/ml, respectively. Moreover, the hexane, acetone, and methanol fractions had wide ranges of antimicrobial potential. In addition, the cytotoxic activity outcomes which showed the best activity was for the aqueous followed by acetone, hexane and methanol fractions with IC50 values of 1.04, 2.72, 3.96 and 17.67 mg/ ml, respectively. Conclusion: Our data demonstrate a wide range of biological characteristics for each AO plant fraction. This profiling information about the methanol fraction provided important data for further research and pharmaceutical applications.The authors would like to acknowledge the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at An-Najah National University for facilitating the accomplishment of the current study

Causes of death and survival analysis for patients with retinoblastoma in Jordan

PurposeTo analyze causes and prognostic factors for death among Retinoblastoma (Rb) patients treated at a single specialized tertiary cancer center in Jordan.MethodsWe reviewed the mortality causes for all Rb patients who have been treated at the King Hussein Cancer Center between 2003 and 2019 and were followed for at least 3 years after diagnosis. The main outcome measures included demographics, laterality, tumor stage, treatment modalities, metastasis, survival, and causes of death.ResultsTwenty-four (5%) of the 478 patients died from retinoblastoma and 5-year survival was 94%. The mean age at diagnosis was 15 months (median, 18 months; range, 4–38 months); eight (33%) received diagnoses within the first year of life. Eleven (46%) were boys, 16 (67%) had bilateral disease, and 3 (13%) had a positive family history. The stage for the worst eye was C for 1 (4%) patient, D in 6 (25%) patients, and E (T3) in 15 (63%) patients. Two patients had extraocular Rb at diagnosis, and four of the patients who had intraocular Rb at diagnosis refused treatment and then came back with extraocular Rb. In total, extraocular disease was encountered in six eyes (six patients). After a 120-month median follow-up period, 24 patients (5%) died of second neoplasms (n = 3) or metastases (n = 21). Significant predictive factors for metastasis and death included advanced IIRC tumor stage (p < 0.0001), the presence of high-risk pathological features in the enucleated eyes (p = 0.013), parental refusal of the recommended primary treatment plan (p < 0.0001), and extraocular extension (p < 0.0001).ConclusionThe 5-year survival rates of Rb patients in Jordan are as high as those in high-income countries. However, 5% are still dying from metastatic disease, prompting the need for awareness campaigns to educate the public about the high cure rates and to prevent treatment abandonment

Construction of Solitary Two-Wave Solutions for a New Two-Mode Version of the Zakharov-Kuznetsov Equation

A new two-mode version of the generalized Zakharov-Kuznetsov equation is derived using Korsunsky’s method. This dynamical model describes the propagation of two-wave solitons moving simultaneously in the same direction with mutual interaction that depends on an embedded phase-velocity parameter. Three different methods are used to obtain exact bell-shaped soliton solutions and singular soliton solutions to the proposed model. Two-dimensional and three-dimensional plots are also provided to illustrate the interaction dynamics of the obtained two-wave exact solutions upon increasing the phase-velocity parameter

Identifying Combination of Dark–Bright Binary–Soliton and Binary–Periodic Waves for a New Two-Mode Model Derived from the (2 + 1)-Dimensional Nizhnik–Novikov–Veselov Equation

In this paper, we construct a new two-mode model derived from the (2+1)-dimensional Nizhnik–Novikov–Veselov (TMNNV) equation. We generalize the concept of Korsunsky to accommodate the derivation of higher-dimensional two-mode equations. Since the TMNNV is presented here, for the first time, we identify some of its solutions by means of two recent and effective schemes. As a result, the Kudryashov-expansion method exports a combination of bright–dark binary solitons, which simulate many applications in optics, photons, and plasma. The modified rational sine and cosine functions export binary–periodic waves that arise in the field of surface water waves. Moreover, by using 2D and 3D graphs, some physical properties of the TMNNV were investigated by means of studying the effect of the following parameters of the model: nonlinearity, dispersion, and phase–velocity. Finally, we checked the validity of the obtained solutions by verifying the correctness of the original governing model

The Blue Ocean Strategy and its Role in Creating Value for the Palestinian Computers Marketing Companies

The study aims to introduce the Blue Ocean strategy based on four dimensions: exclusion, reduction, increase, and innovation). It also underscores the part the Blue Ocean plays in promoting computers marketing companies in Palestine. The sample study consists of all the employees (the number of which is 533) of the seven large companies that are agents of international brands and work in the field of computers marketing. For the purpose of the study, a random sample consisting of 226 respondents has been chosen. The main results showed that the Palestinian companies that are involved in computers marketing apply the Blue Ocean strategy in its four dimensions with a very high degree of efficiency. In view of the study results, the researchers recommend that the Palestinian companies working in computers marketing in Palestine should continue to utilize the Blue Ocean strategy in its four dimensions

Asymptotic-sequentially solution style for the generalized Caputo time-fractional Newell–Whitehead–Segel system

Abstract The Caputo fractional version of the generalized Newell–Whitehead–Segel model is considered. We introduced a numerical scheme to solve analytically the proposed application. We updated the style of the generalized Taylor series for a reliable treatment of the time-fractional derivative. The effect of the fractional derivative is explored on the obtained solutions for different cases of the problem. A sequential-asymptotic phenomenon has been observed upon varying the order of the fractional derivative from no-memory “ α=0 $\alpha=0$” to full-memory “ α=1 $\alpha=1$”

Proper triangular Ga-actions on A^4 are translations

We describe the structure of geometric quotients for proper locally triangulable additve group actions on locally trivial A^3-bundles over a noetherian normal base scheme X defined over a field of characteristic 0. In the case where dim X=1, we show in particular that every such action is a translation with geometric quotient isomorphic to the total space of a vector bundle of rank 2 over X. As a consequence, every proper triangulable Ga-action on the affine four space A^4 over a field of characteristic 0 is a translation with geometric quotient isomorphic to A^3

Analytic solution of homogeneous time-invariant fractional IVP

Abstract In this work, we propose a novel analytical solution approach for solving a general homogeneous time-invariant fractional initial value problem in the normal form Dtα[u(x‾,t)]=F(u(x‾,t)),0≤t<R,u(x‾,0)=f(x‾), $$\begin{aligned}& D_{t}^{\alpha } \bigl[u(\overline{x},t) \bigr] = F \bigl(u( \overline{x},t) \bigr),\quad 0\leq t < R, \\& u(\overline{x},0) = f(\overline{x}), \end{aligned}$$ where Dtα $D_{t}^{\alpha }$ is the Caputo fractional operator with 0<α≤1 $0<\alpha \leq 1$. The solution is given analytically in the form of a convergent multi-fractional power series without using any particular treatments for the nonlinear terms. The new approach is taken to search patterns for compacton solutions of several nonlinear time-fractional dispersive equations, namely Kα(2,2) $K_{\alpha }(2,2)$, ZKα(2,2) $ZK_{\alpha }(2,2)$, DDα(1,2,2) $DD_{\alpha }(1,2,2)$, and Kα(2,2,1) $K_{\alpha }(2,2,1)$. Remarkably, the graphical analysis showed that the n-term approximate memory solutions, labeled by the memory parameter 0<α≤1 $0<\alpha \leq 1$, are continuously homotopic as they reflect, in some sense, some memory and heredity properties

Approximate solutions to the generalized time-fractional ito system

In this work, we consider the time-fractional version of the well-known integrable Ito system to study the effect of its fractional index "memory index". A modified approach of a relatively new method called residual power series (RPS) is applied to construct an analytical solution for the fractional system. For purpose of comparison, we derive one of the classical Ito system solitary wave solution using Tanh method.Scopu