An unusual timing for symptomatic chest pain in an adult chest wall myofibroma: a case report

INTRODUCTION: Myofibromas are benign mesenchymal neoplasms that can present as solitary and multicentric lesions. They can occur in several locations and can occur at any age from neonates to elderly patients. However, most of the lesions are found in neonates and babies. It rarely occurs in adults. CASE PRESENTATION: A 29-year-old Taiwanese man presented with persistent dull chest pain in his right lateral chest wall for 2 weeks. A chest X-ray showed a faint patchy opacity over the periphery of his right upper lung zone. Computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging showed a lobulated mass at the intercostal space between his right fifth and sixth ribs with contrast enhancement and bone invasion. Malignancy could not be excluded. A percutaneous needle aspiration biopsy failed due to technique issues, so he underwent a thoracotomy and the tumor was excised with Marlex mesh repairs for the thoracic defect. Pathology confirmed a myofibroma without malignancy. He recovered uneventfully and no local recurrence was detected at the 1-year follow-up examination. CONCLUSIONS: Chest wall myofibroma presenting with chest pain has never been reported in adults. It is a challenge to differentiate myofibroma from malignancy in chest wall preoperatively, such as seen in our patient. To the best of our knowledge, this has not been previously reported in the scientific literature. Although myofibroma rarely occurs in the chest wall and adults, it must be suspected in any chest wall tumor presenting with chest pain

On the Mass-Period Distributions and Correlations of Extrasolar Planets

In addition to fitting the data of 233 extra-solar planets with power laws, we construct a correlated mass-period distribution function of extrasolar planets, as the first time in this field. The algorithm to generate a pair of positively correlated beta-distributed random variables is introduced and used for the construction of correlated distribution functions. We investigate the mass-period correlations of extrasolar planets both in the linear and logarithm spaces, determine the confidence intervals of the correlation coefficients, and confirm that there is a positive mass-period correlation for the extrasolar planets. In addition to the paucity of massive close-in planets, which makes the main contribution on this correlation, there are other fine structures for the data in the mass-period plane.Comment: to be published in AJ, tentatively in December 200

Effects of IS Characteristics on the E-Business Success Factors for Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises

The current research presents a theoretically sound model on information systems (IS) characteristics’ effects on end-users’ perception of computer self-efficacy and outcome expectations. Based on the IS success model and the social cognitive theory, the relationship among factors with regard to small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Taiwan is examined. Using mail survey, 284 usable responses are obtained, and the total response rate is recorded at 51.64%. Structural equation modeling (SEM) is employed to assess the relationships among related constructs. In modeling the results of data analysis, it is shown that (1) there are no direct links between both information quality and service quality with computer self-efficacy, but the effect of system quality is observed; (2) the relationship between both system quality and service quality with outcome expectations is significant, but that with information quality is not; and (3) outcome expectations mediates the impacts of computer self-efficacy on end-users’ satisfaction. Finally, the implications of the results are provided, and directions for future research are discussed

A New Pixels Flipping Method for Huge Watermarking Capacity of the Invoice Font Image

Invoice printing just has two-color printing, so invoice font image can be seen as binary image. To embed watermarks into invoice image, the pixels need to be flipped. The more huge the watermark is, the more the pixels need to be flipped. We proposed a new pixels flipping method in invoice image for huge watermarking capacity. The pixels flipping method includes one novel interpolation method for binary image, one flippable pixels evaluation mechanism, and one denoising method based on gravity center and chaos degree. The proposed interpolation method ensures that the invoice image keeps features well after scaling. The flippable pixels evaluation mechanism ensures that the pixels keep better connectivity and smoothness and the pattern has highest structural similarity after flipping. The proposed denoising method makes invoice font image smoother and fiter for human vision. Experiments show that the proposed flipping method not only keeps the invoice font structure well but also improves watermarking capacity

Preventive and therapeutic role of traditional Chinese herbal medicine in hepatocellular carcinoma

AbstractHepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most prevalent malignancies worldwide. The clinical management of HCC remains a substantial challenge. Although surgical resection of tumor tissues seems promising, a high recurrence and/or metastasis rate accounting for disease-related death has led to an urgent need for improved postsurgical preventive/therapeutic clinical intervention. Developing advanced target-therapy agents such as sorafenib appears to be the only effective clinical intervention for patients with HCC to date, but only limited trials have been conducted in this regard. Because of their enhanced preventive/therapeutic effects, traditional Chinese herbal medicine (CHM)-derived compounds are considered suitable agents for HCC treatment. The CHM-derived compounds also possess multilevel, multitarget, and coordinated intervention effects, making them ideal candidates for inhibition of tumor progression and HCC metastasis. This article reviews the anticancer activity of various CHMs with the hope of providing a better understanding of how to best use CHM for HCC treatment