Long-term results after liver transplantation for primary hepatic epithelioid hemangioendothelioma

Background: Hepatic epithelioid hemangioendothelioma (PHEHE) is a multifocal, low-grade malignant neoplasia characterized by its epithelial-like appearance and vascular endothelial histogenesis. The outcome of 16 patients treated with orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) is the subject of this report. Methods: A retrospective study of 16 patients with HEHE (7 men, 9 women) with ages ranging from 24 to 58 years (mean 37 ± 10.6 years). Follow-up intervals ranged from 1 to 15 years (median of 4.5 years). Results: Actual patient survival at 1, 3, and 5 years was 100, 87.5, and 71.3%, respectively. Disease-free survival at 1, 3, and 5 years was 81.3, 68.8, and 60.2%, respectively. The 90-day operative mortality was 0. Involvement of the hilar lymph nodes or vascular invasion did not affect survival. The 5-year survival of HEHE compares favorably with that of hepatocellular carcinoma at the same stage (stage 4A): 71.3 versus 9.8% (p=0.001) Conclusions: The long-term survival obtained in this series justifies OLT for these tumors even in the presence of limited extrahepatic disease. © 1995 The Society of Surgical Oncology, Inc

External perceptions of successful university brands

Branding in universities has become an increasingly topical issue, with some institutions committing substantial financial resources to branding activities. The particular characteristics of the sector present challenges for those seeking to build brands and it therefore seems to be timely and appropriate to investigate the common approaches of those institutions perceived as having successful brands. This study is exploratory in nature, seeking to investigate how successfully UK universities brand themselves, whether they are distinct and if the sector overall communicates effectively. This is approached through examining the perspective of opinion formers external to universities but closely involved with the sector – a key stakeholder group in UK higher education Overall, the research’s exploratory nature aims to further the debate on effective branding in UK higher education. The findings and conclusions identify some issues surrounding university branding activity; most UK universities were considered to be distinct from one another, but few were seen to have real fully formed brands. Although a number of institutions that were seen as having more ‘successful’ brands were identified, it was argued that whilst many UK universities communicate their brand well enough to key stakeholders, they fail to consistently do this across all audiences. It was also suggested that UK universities may concentrate on areas of perceived immediate strategic importance (in terms of branding) to an extent where others are neglected

Laser Cooling of Optically Trapped Molecules

Calcium monofluoride (CaF) molecules are loaded into an optical dipole trap (ODT) and subsequently laser cooled within the trap. Starting with magneto-optical trapping, we sub-Doppler cool CaF and then load $150(30)$ CaF molecules into an ODT. Enhanced loading by a factor of five is obtained when sub-Doppler cooling light and trapping light are on simultaneously. For trapped molecules, we directly observe efficient sub-Doppler cooling to a temperature of $60(5)$ $\mu\text{K}$. The trapped molecular density of $8(2)\times10^7$ cm$^{-3}$ is an order of magnitude greater than in the initial sub-Doppler cooled sample. The trap lifetime of 750(40) ms is dominated by background gas collisions.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure

Metabolomics to unveil and understand phenotypic diversity between pathogen populations

Visceral leishmaniasis is caused by a parasite called Leishmania donovani, which every year infects about half a million people and claims several thousand lives. Existing treatments are now becoming less effective due to the emergence of drug resistance. Improving our understanding of the mechanisms used by the parasite to adapt to drugs and achieve resistance is crucial for developing future treatment strategies. Unfortunately, the biological mechanism whereby Leishmania acquires drug resistance is poorly understood. Recent years have brought new technologies with the potential to increase greatly our understanding of drug resistance mechanisms. The latest mass spectrometry techniques allow the metabolome of parasites to be studied rapidly and in great detail. We have applied this approach to determine the metabolome of drug-sensitive and drug-resistant parasites isolated from patients with leishmaniasis. The data show that there are wholesale differences between the isolates and that the membrane composition has been drastically modified in drug-resistant parasites compared with drug-sensitive parasites. Our findings demonstrate that untargeted metabolomics has great potential to identify major metabolic differences between closely related parasite strains and thus should find many applications in distinguishing parasite phenotypes of clinical relevance

Regional Genetic Structure in the Aquatic Macrophyte Ruppia cirrhosa Suggests Dispersal by Waterbirds

The evolutionary history of the genus Ruppia has been shaped by hybridization, polyploidisation and vicariance that have resulted in a problematic taxonomy. Recent studies provided insight into species circumscription, organelle takeover by hybridization, and revealed the importance of verifying species identification to avoid distorting effects of mixing different species, when estimating population connectivity. In the present study, we use microsatellite markers to determine population diversity and connectivity patterns in Ruppia cirrhosa including two spatial scales: (1) from the Atlantic Iberian coastline in Portugal to the Siculo-Tunisian Strait in Sicily and (2) within the Iberian Peninsula comprising the Atlantic-Mediterranean transition. The higher diversity in the Mediterranean Sea suggests that populations have had longer persistence there, suggesting a possible origin and/or refugial area for the species. The high genotypic diversities highlight the importance of sexual reproduction for survival and maintenance of populations. Results revealed a regional population structure matching a continent-island model, with strong genetic isolation and low gene flow between populations. This population structure could be maintained by waterbirds, acting as occasional dispersal vectors. This information elucidates ecological strategies of brackish plant species in coastal lagoons, suggesting mechanisms used by this species to colonize new isolated habitats and dominate brackish aquatic macrophyte systems, yet maintaining strong genetic structure suggestive of very low dispersal.Fundacao para a Cincia e Tecnologia (FCT, Portugal) [PTDC/MAR/119363/2010, BIODIVERSA/0004/2015, UID/Multi/04326/2013]Pew FoundationSENECA FoundationMurcia Government, Spain [11881/PI/09]FCT Investigator Programme-Career Development [IF/00998/2014]Spanish Ministry of Education [AP2008-01209]European Community [00399/2012]info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Green Fluorescent Protein Labeling of Listeria, Salmonella, and Escherichia coli O157:H7 for Safety-Related Studies

Many food safety-related studies require tracking of introduced foodborne pathogens to monitor their fate in complex environments. The green fluorescent protein (GFP) gene (gfp) provides an easily detectable phenotype so has been used to label many microorganisms for ecological studies. The objectives of this study were to label major foodborne pathogens and related bacteria, including Listeria monocytogenes, Listeria innocua, Salmonella, and Escherichia coli O157:H7 strains, with GFP and characterize the labeled strains for stability of the GFP plasmid and the plasmid's effect on bacterial growth. GFP plasmids were introduced into these strains by a CaCl2 procedure, conjugation or electroporation. Stability of the label was determined through sequential propagation of labeled strains in the absence of selective pressure, and rates of plasmid-loss were calculated. Stability of the GFP plasmid varied among the labeled species and strains, with the most stable GFP label observed in E. coli O157:H7. When grown in nonselective media for two consecutive subcultures (ca. 20 generations), the rates of plasmid loss among labeled E. coli O157:H7, Salmonella and Listeria strains ranged from 0%–30%, 15.8%–99.9% and 8.1%–93.4%, respectively. Complete loss (>99.99%) of the plasmid occurred in some labeled strains after five consecutive subcultures in the absence of selective pressure, whereas it remained stable in others. The GFP plasmid had an insignificant effect on growth of most labeled strains. E. coli O157:H7, Salmonella and Listeria strains can be effectively labeled with the GFP plasmid which can be stable in some isolates for many generations without adversely affecting growth rates

The Role of Individual Variables, Organizational Variables and Moral Intensity Dimensions in Libyan Management Accountants’ Ethical Decision Making

This study investigates the association of a broad set of variables with the ethical decision making of management accountants in Libya. Adopting a cross-sectional methodology, a questionnaire including four different ethical scenarios was used to gather data from 229 participants. For each scenario, ethical decision making was examined in terms of the recognition, judgment and intention stages of Rest’s model. A significant relationship was found between ethical recognition and ethical judgment and also between ethical judgment and ethical intention, but ethical recognition did not significantly predict ethical intention—thus providing support for Rest’s model. Organizational variables, age and educational level yielded few significant results. The lack of significance for codes of ethics might reflect their relative lack of development in Libya, in which case Libyan companies should pay attention to their content and how they are supported, especially in the light of the under-development of the accounting profession in Libya. Few significant results were also found for gender, but where they were found, males showed more ethical characteristics than females. This unusual result reinforces the dangers of gender stereotyping in business. Personal moral philosophy and moral intensity dimensions were generally found to be significant predictors of the three stages of ethical decision making studied. One implication of this is to give more attention to ethics in accounting education, making the connections between accounting practice and (in Libya) Islam. Overall, this study not only adds to the available empirical evidence on factors affecting ethical decision making, notably examining three stages of Rest’s model, but also offers rare insights into the ethical views of practising management accountants and provides a benchmark for future studies of ethical decision making in Muslim majority countries and other parts of the developing world

Embryonic Diapause Is Conserved across Mammals

Embryonic diapause (ED) is a temporary arrest of embryo development and is characterized by delayed implantation in the uterus. ED occurs in blastocysts of less than 2% of mammalian species, including the mouse (Mus musculus). If ED were an evolutionarily conserved phenomenon, then it should be inducible in blastocysts of normally non-diapausing mammals, such as domestic species. To prove this hypothesis, we examined whether blastocysts from domestic sheep (Ovis aries) could enter into diapause following their transfer into mouse uteri in which diapause conditions were induced. Sheep blastocysts entered into diapause, as demonstrated by growth arrest, viability maintenance and their ED-specific pattern of gene expression. Seven days after transfer, diapausing ovine blastocysts were able to resume growth in vitro and, after transfer to surrogate ewe recipients, to develop into normal lambs. The finding that non-diapausing ovine embryos can enter into diapause implies that this phenomenon is phylogenetically conserved and not secondarily acquired by embryos of diapausing species. Our study questions the current model of independent evolution of ED in different mammalian orders

Transglutaminase 2 in cartilage homoeostasis: novel links with inflammatory osteoarthritis.

Transglutaminase 2 (TG2) is highly expressed during chondrocyte maturation and contributes to the formation of a mineralised scaffold by introducing crosslinks between extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins. In healthy cartilage, TG2 stabilises integrity of ECM and likely influences cartilage stiffness and mechanistic properties. At the same time, the abnormal accumulation of TG2 in the ECM promotes chondrocyte hypertrophy and cartilage calcification, which might be an important aspect of osteoarthritis (OA) initiation. Although excessive joint loading and injuries are one of the main causes leading to OA development, it is now being recognised that the presence of inflammatory mediators accelerates OA progression. Inflammatory signalling is known to stimulate the extracellular TG2 activity in cartilage and promote TG2-catalysed crosslinking of molecules that promote chondrocyte osteoarthritic differentiation. It is, however, unclear whether TG2 activity aims to resolve or aggravate damages within the arthritic joint. Better understanding of the complex signalling pathways linking inflammation with TG2 activities is needed to identify the role of TG2 in OA and to define possible avenues for therapeutic interventions