Review article liver metastases

Liver metastases are a very common site of distant metastases. Detection and accurate characterization of liver metastases is of importance to guide therapy. A variety of imaging modalities such as US (including contrast agents), MDCT, MRI with liver –specific contrast agents and PET/CT are available for this purpose. This review presents imaging techniques and summarizes the current knowledge, how the different imaging modalities should be used

Polarization of Lambda^0 hyperons in nucleus-nucleus collisions at high energies

The measurement of Lambda^0 hyperons polarization in nucleus-nucleus collisions is considered as one of possible tools to study the phase transition. Fixed target and collider experiments are discussed for the case of Lambda^0's production from Au-Au central collisions at \sqrt{s_{NN}} of several GeV.Comment: 15 pages, 6 figure

Bi-allelic <i>NIT1 </i>variants cause a brain small vessel disease characterized by movement disorders, massively dilated perivascular spaces, and intracerebral hemorrhage

Purpose: To describe a recessively inherited cerebral small vessel disease, caused by loss-of-function variants in Nitrilase1 (NIT1). Methods:We performed exome sequencing, brain magnetic resonance imaging, neuropathology, electron microscopy, western blotting, and transcriptomic and metabolic analyses in 7 NIT1-small vessel disease patients from 5 unrelated pedigrees. Results: The first identified patients were 3 siblings, compound heterozygous for the NIT1 c.727C&gt;T; (p.Arg243Trp) variant and the NIT1 c.198_199del; p.(Ala68∗) variant. The 4 additional patients were single cases from 4 unrelated pedigrees and were all homozygous for the NIT1 c.727C&gt;T; p.(Arg243Trp) variant. Patients presented in mid-adulthood with movement disorders. All patients had striking abnormalities on brain magnetic resonance imaging, with numerous and massively dilated basal ganglia perivascular spaces. Three patients had non-lobar intracerebral hemorrhage between age 45 and 60, which was fatal in 2 cases. Western blotting on patient fibroblasts showed absence of NIT1 protein, and metabolic analysis in urine confirmed loss of NIT1 enzymatic function. Brain autopsy revealed large electron-dense deposits in the vessel walls of small and medium sized cerebral arteries. Conclusion: NIT1-small vessel disease is a novel, autosomal recessively inherited cerebral small vessel disease characterized by a triad of movement disorders, massively dilated basal ganglia perivascular spaces, and intracerebral hemorrhage.</p

Hyperon polarization and single spin left-right asymmetry in inclusive production processes at high energies

It is shown that the polarization of hyperons observed in high energy collisions using unpolarized hadron beams and unpolarized nucleon or nuclear targets is closely related to the left-right asymmetries observed in single spin inclusive hadron production processes. The relationship is most obvious for the production of the hyperons which have only one common valence quark with the projectile. Examples of this kind are given. Further implications of the existence of large polarization for hyperon which has two valence quarks in common with the projectile and their consequences are discussed. A comparison with the available data is made. Further tests are suggested.Comment: REVTeX, 12 pages, 2 figures embedde

Phagocytosis of Cholesteryl Ester Is Amplified in Diabetic Mouse Macrophages and Is Largely Mediated by CD36 and SR-A

Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is associated with accelerated atherosclerosis, which accounts for approximately 75% of all diabetes-related deaths. Here we investigate the link between diabetes and macrophage cholesteryl ester accumulation. When diabetic (db/db) mice are given cholesteryl ester intraperitoneally (IP), peritoneal macrophages (PerMΦs) recovered from these animals showed a 58% increase in intracellular cholesteryl ester accumulation over PerMΦs from heterozygote control (db/+) mice. Notably, PerMΦ fluid-phase endocytosis and large particle phagocytosis was equivalent in db/+and db/db mice. However, IP administration of CD36 and SR-A blocking antibodies led to 37% and 25% reductions in cholesteryl ester accumulation in PerMΦ. Finally, in order to determine if these scavenger receptors (SRs) were part of the mechanism responsible for the increased accumulation of cholesteryl esters observed in the diabetic mouse macrophages, receptor expression was quantified by flow cytometry. Importantly, db/db PerMΦs showed a 43% increase in CD36 expression and an 80% increase in SR-A expression. Taken together, these data indicate that direct cholesteryl ester accumulation in mouse macrophages is mediated by CD36 and SR-A, and the magnitude of accumulation is increased in db/db macrophages due to increased scavenger receptor expression

Analysis of synonymous codon usage in Hepatitis A virus

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Hepatitis A virus is the causative agent of type A viral hepatitis, which causes occasional acute hepatitis. Nevertheless, little information about synonymous codon usage pattern of HAV genome in the process of its evolution is available. In this study, the key genetic determinants of codon usage in HAV were examined.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The overall extent of codon usage bias in HAV is high in <it>Picornaviridae</it>. And the patterns of synonymous codon usage are quite different in HAV genomes from different location. The base composition is closely correlated with codon usage bias. Furthermore, the most important determinant that results in such a high codon bias in HAV is mutation pressure rather than natural selection.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>HAV presents a higher codon usage bias than other members of <it>Picornaviridae</it>. Compositional constraint is a significant element that influences the variation of synonymous codon usage in HAV genome. Besides, mutation pressure is supposed to be the major factor shaping the hyperendemic codon usage pattern of HAV.</p