Embolization in an adrenocortical carcinoma as palliative therapy

Background: With an annual incidence of 0.2% of new cases per 100,000 inhabitants, adrenocortical carcinoma is rare. In advanced tumor only palliative treatment modalities are practicable. Because of scarcity of the tumor, standard treatment has not been defined. The decision on therapy frequently depends on the individual situation. Tumor embolization and chemotherapy are amongst the possible options. Patient and Methods: We report on a case of a 32-year-old female patient with a large-volume hormonally active adrenocortical carcinoma and hematogenous liver metastases. This carcinoma was confirmed histologically by means of liver biopsy. Owing to the large tumor extent and metastatic spreading and also in view of the poor general condition of the patient, curative surgical therapy was not possible. For this reason, a local approach was chosen primarily with transarterial tumor embolization at the capillary level. Systemic chemotherapy was given afterwards. Results: Improvement of the patient's general condition, especially the pronounced pain symptoms, could be achieved for a short time by the embolization: both, the patient's clinical condition and the laboratory test parameters improved. However, a rapid tumor progression occured under chemotherapy, which was started after embolization. Conclusion: In advanced adrenocortical carcinoma, tumor embolization can lead to a stabilization of the disease and improvement of the symptoms as appraised by palliative criteria in some patients

B=3 Tetrahedrally Symmetric Solitons in the Chiral Quark Soliton Model

In this paper, B=3 soliton solutions with tetrahedral symmetry are obtained numerically in the chiral quark soliton model using the rational map ansatz. The solution exhibits a triply degenerate bound spectrum of the quark orbits in the background of tetrahedrally symmetric pion field configuration. The corresponding baryon density is tetrahedral in shape. Our numerical technique is independent on the baryon number and its application to $B \geq 4$ is straightforward.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

DNA methylation: a historical perspective

In 1925, 5-methylcytosine was first reported in bacteria. However, its biological importance was not intuitive for several decades. After this initial lag, the ubiquitous presence of this methylated base emerged across all domains of life and revealed a range of essential biological functions. Today, we are armed with the knowledge of the key factors that establish, maintain, and remove DNA methylation and have access to a staggering and rapidly growing number of base-resolution methylation maps. Despite this, several fundamental details about the precise role and interpretation of DNA methylation patterns remain under investigation. Here, we review the field of DNA methylation from its beginning to present day, with an emphasis on findings in mammalian systems, and point the reader to select experiments that form the foundation of this field

Vírus da murcha do abacaxi.

As murchas em abacaxizeiro podem ser causadas principalmente por encharcamento, deficiência hídrica, fungos e vírus. Aqui será abordada a murcha causada por vírus. O vírus da murcha do abacaxi causa prejuízos de dois modos: levando a planta à morte, antes mesmo da frutificação, ou impedindo a frutificação normal pelo elevado número de frutos refugos. Os primeiros sintomas desta murcha são constatados no sistema radicular, que apresenta crescimento prejudicado. Os sintomas foliares aparecem dois a três meses após o início da infecção pelo vírus. Na cultivar Smooth Cayenne descreveu-se os seguintes sintomas: aparecimento de coloração vermelho-bronzeada e amarelada nas folhas centrais; suas margens tendem a se curvar para baixo, perdem a turgescência e suas pontas ficam secas; as plantas infectadas apresentam menor porte do que as sadias. Em alguns períodos do ciclo da cultura, algumas plantas infectadas podem não apresentar sintomas. O avermelhamento das folhas também pode ser devido à presença de nematóides na área ou por causa de deficiência de cobre.bitstream/item/25863/1/TodafrutaID27258abacaxi.pdfDisponível em: Acesso em: 24 jan. 2011

One-loop vertex integrals in heavy-particle effective theories

We give a complete analytical computation of three-point one-loop integrals with one heavy propagator, up to the third tensor rank, for arbitrary values of external momenta and masses.Comment: 10 pages, Latex, to appear in J. Phys.

The status quo of research on South Africa’s water resource management institutions

The South African water resource management institutional landscape has seen some dramatic changes since the new dispensation came into power in 1994. Not only have legislation and policies changed, but there has also been a significant increase in the number of non-state actors in the policy development process. Water resource governance has therefore become more complex and its regulatory component is being implemented by a number of legislative institutions: catchment management agencies, water user associations, irrigation boards, and international water management bodies. Policy development is influenced by a myriad of non-state actors, scientists included. A comprehensive literature review of research on water resource management institutions published between 1997 and 2011 shows that scientists are focusing predominantly on catchment management agencies and aspects regarding their institutionalisation and organisational functionality. There is much less of a focus on other entities, such as advisory committees, international water management bodies, irrigation boards, the water tribunal and water user associations. What the review has also revealed is that research on water resource management institutions has been conducted predominantly by scientists from the natural sciences. There is therefore an evident need for a research focus on water resource management institutions other than catchment management agencies. In addition, there should be a focus on informal aspects of water resource governance and new theoretical developments, also from disciplines other than the natural sciences, in the fields of water resource governance and politics.Keywords: Water resource management institutions, literature review, catchment management agencies,water user associations, legislation, irrigation boards, catchment forums, international water management bodie

Domain walls without cosmological constant in higher order gravity

We consider a class of higher order corrections with arbitrary power $n$ of the curvature tensor to the standard gravity action in arbitrary space-time dimension $D$. The corrections are in the form of Euler densities and are unique at each $n$ and $D$. We present a generating functional and an explicit form of the corresponding conserved energy-momentum tensors. The case of conformally flat metrics is discussed in detail. We show that this class of corrections allows for domain wall solutions since, despite the presence of higher powers of the curvature tensor, the singularity structure at the wall is of the same type as in the standard gravity. However, models with higher order corrections have larger set of domain wall solutions and the existence of these solutions no longer depends on the presence of cosmological constants. We find for example that the Randall-Sundrum scenario can be realized without any need for bulk and/or brane cosmological constant.Comment: latex, 10 pages, introduction extended, references added, typos correcte

Electric Polarizability of the Nucleon in the Nambu--Jona-Lasinio Model

The electric polarizability of the nucleon is calculated in the soliton approach to the Nambu--Jona-Lasinio model. We analyze the leading-$N_c$ contributions, as well as the effects of rotational $1/N_c$ corrections and $\Delta$-$N$ mass splitting. Our model prediction is substantially reduced compared to other soliton calculations, and is closer to the experimental value.Comment: 16 pages, RevTeX, 3 figures (included, PS, uuencoded), RUB-TPII-55/93 and TPR-93-3