Serum CA15-3 measurement in breast cancer patients before and after mastectomy

Background: Much research is being carried out to find a tumor marker for early diagnosis of breast cancer when the lesion is still small. CA15-3, a glycoprotein, is one candidate with probable use as tumor marker in breast cancer. Objective: We conducted this study to analyze the relationship between serum levels of CA15-3 and several variables including age, clinical stage, and the number of lymph nodes involved in breast cancer patients. Methods: One hundred and thirty-six females including 39 normal controls, 54 patients with benign lesions, and 43 with malignant lesions entered this study. A second and third sample was obtained from patients who were diagnosed as having breast cancer, one week and one month postmastectomy, respectively. CA15-3 was measured by ELISA. Results: The number of patients in the malignant group (6 out of 43) with elevated CA15-3 levels was higher than that in the normal controls (3 out of 39) and patients with benign lesions (1 out of 54). Forty percent of patients in stages II and III had a higher frequency of abnormal CA15-3 values, whereas 13 of those in stage I disease did so. One week after mastectomy, the mean ± SD serum CA15-3 was 18.3 ± 14.6 U/mL. However, a month later, the mean ± SD was 21.7±19.7 U/mL, which was approximately the same as the preoperative values (mean ± SD: 22.1 ± 25.6 U/mL). There was an abnormal elevation in CA15-3 values when �4 lymph nodes were involved. The correlation between the elevated CA15-3 values and the number of involved lymph nodes was significant (P < 0.001). Analysis of the CA15-3 values showed a sensitivity of 14.0 and a specificity of 92.3. The positive and negative predictive values were 66.7 and 49.3, respectively. The relative efficiency was 1.8. Conclusion: In this study, CA15-3 was found to have no value in the screening for early diagnosis of breast cancer. We observed a strong correlation between elevated CA15-3 levels and the progression of breast cancer

Reflection seismic imaging of the end-glacial Pärvie Fault system, northern Sweden

Reflection seismic data were acquired along a c. 23. km long profile over the Pärvie Fault system with a nominal receiver and source spacing of 20. m. An hydraulic breaking hammer was used as a source, generating signals with a penetration depth of about 5-6. km. Steeply dipping reflections from the end-glacial faults are observed, as well as sub-horizontal reflections. The location and orientation of the reflections from the faults agree well with surface geological observations of fault geometries. Reflections from a potential fourth end-glacial fault is observed further to the east along the profile. The more sub-horizontal reflections may originate from gabbroic bodies within the granitic basement or from deeper lying greenstones. Our results indicate that the end-glacial faults dip at moderate to steep dips down to at least 2-3. km depth, and possibly continue at this dip to depths of 6. km. This result has significant implications for determining the state of stress required to activate the faults in the past and in the future. © 2009 Elsevier B.V

3D constraints and finite-difference modeling of massive sulfide deposits: The Kristineberg seismic lines revisited, northern Sweden

The Kristineberg mining area in the western part of the Skellefte ore district is the largest base metal producer in northern Sweden and currently the subject of extensive geophysical and geologic studies aimed at constructing 3D geologic models. Seismic reflection data form the backbone of the geologic modeling in the study area. A geologic cross section close to the Kristineberg mine was used to generate synthetic seismic data using acoustic and elastic finite-difference algorithms to provide further insight about the nature of reflections and processing challenges when attempting to image the steeply dipping structures within the study area. Synthetic data suggest processing artifacts manifested themselves in the final 2D images as steeply dipping events that could be confused with reflections. Fewer artifacts are observed when the data are processed using prestack time migration. Prestack time migration also was performed on high-resolution seismic data recently collected near the Kristineberg mine and helped to image a high-amplitude, gently dipping reflection occurring stratigraphically above the extension of the deepest Kristineberg deposit. Swath 3D processing was applied to two crossing seismic lines, west of the Kristineberg mine, to provide information on the 3D geometry of an apparently flat-lying reflection observed in both of the profiles. The processing indicated that the reflection dips about 30° to the southwest and is generated at the contact between metasedimentary and metavolcanic rocks, the upper part of the latter unit being the most typical stratigraphic level for the massive sulfide deposits in the Skellefte district

Reflection seismic imaging of the upper crust in the Kristineberg mining area, northern Sweden

The Kristineberg mining area is located in the western part of the Palaeoproterozoic Skellefte Ore District, one of the most important mining districts in Europe. As a part of a 3D geologic modeling project, two new reflection seismic profiles were acquired with a total length of about 20. km. One profile (HR), parallel to previous seismic profiles, was acquired using a 10. m receiver and source interval and crosses the steeply dipping structures of the Kristineberg mine. The other profile (Profile 2) runs perpendicular to all existing profiles in the area. Although the structural geology is complex, the processed seismic data reveal a series of steeply dipping to sub-horizontal reflections, some of which reach the surface and allow correlation with surface geology. Our general interpretation of the seismic images is that the Kristineberg mine and associated mineral horizon are located in the northern part of a series of steeply south dipping structures. Overall, main structures plunge to the west at about 30°-40°. Cross-dip analysis and reflection modeling were carried out to obtain the 3D orientation of the main reflections and to provide insight into the possible contribution of out-of-the-plane reflections. This helped, for example, to obtain the 3D geometry of a deep reflection that was previously interpreted as structural basement to volcanic rocks. The new reflection seismic profiles have improved our understanding of shallow geological structures in the area and in conjunction with recently acquired potential field data, magnetotelluric data and geological observations will help to refine previous 3D geologic modeling interpretations that were aimed at larger scale structures. © 2010 Elsevier B.V

Crustal geometry of the central Skellefte district, northern Sweden - constraints from reflection seismic investigations

The Palaeoproterozoic Skellefte mining district in Sweden is one of the most important mining districts in Europe. As a part of a 4D geologic modeling project, three new sub-parallel reflection seismic profiles, with a total length of about 95. km, were acquired in the central part of the district. Processed seismic data reveal a series of gentle- to steeply- dipping reflections and a series of diffraction packages. The majority of reflections that extend to the surface can be correlated with geological features either observed in the field or interpreted from the aeromagnetic map. A set of south-dipping reflections represent inferred syn-extensional listric extensional faults that were inverted during subsequent crustal-shortening. Cross-cutting north-dipping reflections are correlated to late-compressional break-back faults. Flat-lying reflections in the central parts of the study area could represent lithological contacts within the Skellefte Group, or the contact between Skellefte Group rocks and their unknown basement. Flat-lying reflections occurring further north are inferred to originate from the top of the Jörn intrusive complex or an intrusive contact within it. So far unknown south- and north-dipping faults have been identified in the vicinity of the Maurliden deposit. Based on the seismic results, a preliminary 3D-model has been created in order to visualize the fault pattern and to provide a base for future 3D/4D modeling in the Skellefte district

Crustal 3-D geometry of the Kristineberg area (Sweden) with implications on VMS deposits

Structural analysis of the Palaeoproterozoic volcanogenic massive sulfide (VMS) hosting Kristineberg area, Sweden, constrained by existing magnetotelluric (MT) and seismic reflection data, reveals that the complex geometry characterized by non-cylindrical antiformal structures is due to transpression along the termination of a major high-strain zone. Similar orientations of the host rock deformation fabrics and the VMS ore lenses indicate that the present-day geometry of the complex VMS deposits in the Kristineberg area may be attributed to tectonic transposition. The tectonic transposition was dominantly controlled by reverse shearing and related upright to overturned folding, with increasing contribution of strike-slip shearing and sub-horizontal flow towards greater crustal depths. Furthermore, the northerly dip of the previously recognized subsurface crustal reflector within the Kristineberg area is attributed to formation of crustal compartments with opposite polarities within the scale of the whole Skellefte district. The resulting structural framework of the main geological units is visualized in a 3-D model which is available as a 3-D PDF document through the publication website