Sterotactic Body Radiation Therapy for Liver Tumors

As a common deposit for tumor cells, the liver is second only to the lymph nodes as a site of metastatic disease. Unfortunately, by the time patients present with liver metastases there is usually evidence of the systemic spread of the disease, and patients can not longer be considered as candidates for surgery or other local ablative treatments. Because the liver is the first major organ reached by venous blood draining from the intestinal tract, it is the most common site of metastatic disease in cancers of the large intestine. It is involved in as many as 50-70% of colorectal cancer patients who develop metastatic disease, in approximately half of whom it is the only site of recurrence. While the role of local treatments such as surgery and radiofrequency ablation (RFA) is relatively well defined for colorectal metastases, their indications and benefits are less clear in metastases from other tumor types. However, due to concomitant medical diseases or to poor anatomical location or performance status, few patients with colorectal liver metastases are considered eligible for resection

What intervention is best practice for vestibular schwannomas? A systematic review of controlled studies

Objective: Largely, watchful waiting is the initial policy for patients with small-sized or medium-sized vestibular schwannoma, because of slow growth and relatively minor complaints, that do not improve by an intervention. If intervention (microsurgery, radiosurgery or fractionated radiotherapy) becomes necessary, the choice of intervention appears to be driven by the patient's or clinician's preference rather than by evidence based. This study addresses the existing evidence based on controlled studies of these interventions. Design: A systematic Boolean search was performed focused on controlled intervention studies. The quality of the retrieved studies was assessed based on the Sign-50 criteria on cohort studies. Data sources: Pubmed/Medline, Embase, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials and reference lists. Study selection: Six eligibility criteria included a controlled intervention study on a newly diagnosed solitary, vestibular schwannoma reporting on clinical outcomes. Two prospective and four retrospective observational, controlled studies published before November 2011 were selected. Data analysis: Two reviewers independently assessed the methodological quality of the studies and extracted the outcome data using predefined formats. Results: Neither randomised studies, nor controlled studies on fractionated radiotherapy were retrieved. Six studies compared radiosurgery and microsurgery in a controlled way. All but one were confined to solitary tumours less than 30 mm in diameter and had no earlier interventions. Four studies qualified for trustworthy conclusions. Among all four, radiosurgery showed the best outcomes: there were no direct mortality, no surgical or anaesthesiological complications, but better facial nerve outcome, better preservation of useful hearing and better quality of life. Conclusions: The available evidence indicates radiosurgery to be the best practice for solitary vestibular schwannomas up to 30 mm in cisternal diameter

The LATERAL ORGAN BOUNDARIES Domain gene family in grapevine: Genome-wide characterization and expression analyses during developmental processes and stress responses

LATERAL ORGAN BOUNDARIES (LOB) DOMAIN (LBD) constitute a family of plant-specific transcription factors with key roles in the regulation of plant organ development, pollen development, plant regeneration, pathogen response, and anthocyanin and nitrogen metabolisms. However, the role of LBDs in fruit ripening and in grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.) development and stress responses is poorly documented. By performing a model curation of LBDs in the latest genome annotation 50 genes were identified. Phylogenetic analysis showed that LBD genes can be grouped into two classes mapping on 16 out of the 19 V. vinifera chromosomes. New gene subclasses were identified that have not been characterized in other species. Segmental and tandem duplications contributed significantly to the expansion and evolution of the LBD gene family in grapevine as noticed for other species. The analysis of cis-regulatory elements and transcription factor binding sites in the VviLBD promoter regions suggests the involvement of several hormones in the regulation of LBDs expression. Expression profiling suggest the involvement of LBD transcription factors in grapevine development, berry ripening and stress responses. Altogether this study provides valuable information and robust candidate genes for future functional analysis aiming to clarify mechanisms responsible for the onset of fruit ripening and fruit defense strategies. © 2017 The Author(s)

Effects of aging and soil properties on zinc oxide nanoparticle availability and its ecotoxicological effects to the earthworm Eisenia andrei

To assess the influence of soil properties and ageing on the availability and toxicity of Zn applied as nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) or as Zn2+ ions (ZnCl2), three natural soils were individually spiked with either ZnO NPs or ZnCl2 and incubated for up to 6 months. Available Zn concentrations in soil were measured by pore water extraction (ZnPW), while exposures of earthworms (Eisenia andrei) were performed to study Zn bioavailability. ZnPW was lower when Zn was applied as nanoparticles than as ionic form, and decreased with increasing soil pH. ZnPW for both Zn forms were affected by ageing, but varied among the tested soils, highlighting the influence of soil properties. Internal Zn concentration in the earthworms (ZnE) was highest for the soil with high organic carbon content (5.4%) and basic pH (7.6) spiked with ZnO NPs, but the same soil spiked with ZnCl2 showed the lowest increase in ZnE compared to the control. Survival, weight change, and reproduction of the earthworms were affected by both Zn forms, but differences in toxicity could not be explained by soil properties or ageing. This shows that ZnO NPs and ZnCl2 behave differently in soils depending on soil properties and ageing processes, but differences in earthworm toxicity remain unexplained

Incorporation of chemical and toxicological availability into metal mixture toxicity modeling: State of the art and future perspectives

In the real world, metals are generally present as mixtures, but evaluating their mixture toxicity is still a daunting challenge. The classic conceptual models of concentration addition (CA) and independent action (IA) have been widely used by simply adding doses and responses to predict mixture effects assuming there is non-interaction. In cases where interactions do occur in a mixture, both CA and IA are no longer applicable for quantifying the toxicity, because interpretation of the observed joint effects is often limited to overall antagonism or synergism. In metal mixtures, interactive effects may occur at various levels, such as the exposure level, the uptake level, and the target level. A comprehensive understanding of the mechanisms of joint toxicity is therefore needed to incorporate the interactive effects of mixture components in predicting mixture toxicity. With this in mind, numerous bioavailability-based methods may be considered, with diverse mechanistic perspectives, such as the biotic ligand model (BLM), the electrostatic toxicity model (ETM), the WHAM-F tox approach, a toxicokinetic-toxicodynamic (TK-TD) and an omics-based approach. This review therefore timely summarizes the representative predictive tools and their underlying mechanisms and highlights the importance of integrating mixture interactions and bioavailability in assessing the toxicity and risks of metal mixtures

Improvement of fatty acid profile and studio of rheological and technological characteristics in breads supplemented with flaxseed, soybean, and wheat bran flours

Functional breads constitute an interesting alternative as vehicle of new essential fatty acids sources. The aim of this study was to improve the fatty acids (FA) profile of bakery products, producing breads with low saturated fatty acid (SFA) content and with high polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) content, through partial substitution of wheat flour by other ingredients (soy flour, flax flour, and wheat bran) and to analyze the effect of this change on the technological, rheological, and sensorial characteristics of breads. Flaxseed flour (FF), soybeans flour (SF), or wheat bran (WB) was used to replace 50, 100, and 150 g kg-1 of wheat flour (WF) in breads. FF or SF produced a decrease in monounsaturated and SFA and an increase of PUFA in these breads. Furthermore, breads replaced with FF presented considerable increase in the content of n3 FA, while, SF or WB contributed to rise of linoleic and oleic FA, respectively. The substitution percentage increase of FF, SF, or WB to formulation produced changes in the colour, rheological, textural, and technological characteristics of breads. This replacement resulted in improved lipid profile, being breads with 50 g kg-1 SF, the better acceptance, baking features, and enhanced fatty acid profile.Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Criotecnología de Alimento

Improvement of fatty acid profile and studio of rheological and technological characteristics in breads supplemented with flaxseed, soybean, and wheat bran flours

Functional breads constitute an interesting alternative as vehicle of new essential fatty acids sources. The aim of this study was to improve the fatty acids (FA) profile of bakery products, producing breads with low saturated fatty acid (SFA) content and with high polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) content, through partial substitution of wheat flour by other ingredients (soy flour, flax flour, and wheat bran) and to analyze the effect of this change on the technological, rheological, and sensorial characteristics of breads. Flaxseed flour (FF), soybeans flour (SF), or wheat bran (WB) was used to replace 50, 100, and 150 g kg-1 of wheat flour (WF) in breads. FF or SF produced a decrease in monounsaturated and SFA and an increase of PUFA in these breads. Furthermore, breads replaced with FF presented considerable increase in the content of n3 FA, while, SF or WB contributed to rise of linoleic and oleic FA, respectively. The substitution percentage increase of FF, SF, or WB to formulation produced changes in the colour, rheological, textural, and technological characteristics of breads. This replacement resulted in improved lipid profile, being breads with 50 g kg-1 SF, the better acceptance, baking features, and enhanced fatty acid profile.Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Criotecnología de Alimento

Gamma-ray binaries

Recent observations have shown that some compact stellar binaries radiate the highest energy light in the universe. The challenge has been to determine the nature of the compact object and whether the very high energy gamma-rays are ultimately powered by pulsar winds or relativistic jets. Multiwavelength observations have shown that one of the three gamma-ray binaries known so far, PSR B1259-63, is a neutron star binary and that the very energetic gamma-rays from this source and from another gamma-ray binary, LS I +61 303, may be produced by the interaction of pulsar winds with the wind from the companion star. At this time it is an open question whether the third gamma-ray binary, LS 5039, is also powered by a pulsar wind or a microquasar jet, where relativistic particles in collimated jets would boost the energy of the wind from the stellar companion to TeV energies.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures. Invited talk to appear in Proceedings of the conference "The Multi-Messenger Approach to High-Energy Gamma-ray Sources", Barcelona, 4-7 July 200

Fatty Acids in the Meat of Buffaloes Supplemented with Fish Oil

The purpose of this study has been to investigate the influence of both a supplementary fish oil diet on conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) and n6 and n3 fatty acids on intramuscular fat in Mediterranean buffalo meat. Twenty animals were randomly divided into two groups and fed with Brachiaria brizantha, 3Kg rice bran, 500 g corn and 500 g sunflower pellets for 60 days. Group I received this diet only while in group II each animal received additional 100 ml fish oil daily. Results indicated a significant decrease of palmitic fatty acid in group II (232.67 mg/g fat) in relation to group I (254.73 mg/g fat). Among unsaturated acids (AGI), the 9c 11t CLA value of group II (21.23 mg/g fat) showed an increase in relation to group I (15.80 mg/g fat), while the linoleic acid content of group II (28,85 mg/g fat) decreased significantly in relation to group I (47,00 mg/g fat). However, the alpha linolenic acid showed no significant difference between the supplemented diet group and the control group (10.31 and 10.70 mg/g fat, respectively). Group II n6/n3 ratio was narrower (2.69:1) than that of group I (4.55:1). Summing up, group II diet, which included fish oil, increased the CLA content in intramuscular fat and decreased the n6 fatty acids, improving the n6/n3 ratio