Assessment of Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR) expression in human meningioma

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Purpose</p> <p>This study explores whether meningioma expresses epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and determines if there is a correlation between the WHO grade of this tumor and the degree of EGFR expression.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Following institutional review board approval, 113 meningioma specimens from 89 patients were chosen. Of these, 85 were used for final analysis. After a blinded review, immunohistochemical stains for EGFR were performed. Staining intensity (SI) was scored on a scale 0-3 (from no staining to strong staining). Staining percentage of immunoreactive cells (SP) was scored 1-5 (from the least to the maximum percent of the specimen staining). Immunohistochemical score (IHS) was calculated as the product of SI and SP.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Eighty-five samples of meningioma were classified in accordance with World Health Organization (WHO) criteria: benign 57/85 (67%), atypical 23/85 (27%), and malignant 5/85 (6%). The majority of samples demonstrated a moderate SI for EGFR. IHS for EGFR demonstrated a significant association between SI and histopathologic subtype. Also, there was a correlation between the SP and histopathologic subtype (p = 0.029). A significant association was determined when the benign and the atypical samples were compared to the malignant with respect to the SP (p = 0.009). While there was a range of the IHS for the benign and the atypical histologic subtypes, malignant tumors exhibited the lowest score and were statistically different from the benign and the atypical specimens (p < 0.001).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>To our knowledge, this represents the largest series of meningioma samples analyzed for EGFR expression reported in the literature. EGFR expression is greatest in benign meningiomas and may serve a potential target for therapeutic intervention with selective EGFR inhibitors.</p

Partial Dealcoholization of Red Wines by Membrane Contactor Technique: Effect on Sensory Characteristics and Volatile Composition

Recently, the European Union regulation has fixed the maximum permitted dealcoholization level at 2 %; however in some cases, higher dealcoholization levels could be necessary. It is assumed that higher levels of dealcoholization could negatively affect the organoleptic quality of wine, but little data on this item is available. In the present study, two red wines (cv. Aglianico) with different initial alcohol contents (15.37 and 13.28 % v/v), were partially dealcoholized at three levels (-2, -3, -5 % v/v), by a polypropylene hollow fibre membrane contactor apparatus. In order to evaluate if dealcoholized wines differed from the untreated ones, triangle sensory tests were performed. Both -2 % wines were not perceived as different from the standard wines, while both -5 % wines were different. Sensory profiles and overall quality ranking were obtained by a selected and trained panel. Dealcoholization caused a modification of the sensory profiles, and the greatest differences were found after a dealcoholization of 5 % v/v. The most decreased olfactory notes were those of "Red fruits", "Cherry" and "Spicy", which is very important for the sensory quality of red wine. Concerning taste, both -5 % dealcoholized wines were more astringent than the correspondent untreated ones. Slighter differences were found for the other degrees of dealcoholization. The analysis of the volatile compounds, both free and glycoconjugated was performed by solid-phase extraction and gas chromatography mass spectrography analysis. While the composition of the glycoconjugated volatile fraction was almost not affected, many free compounds were decreased, most of all esters and alcohols, with an increasing amounts as the level of dealcoholization raised

Sniffer bees as a reliable tool for Andrographis paniculata detection

Honey bees of Apis mellifera could be trained to be highly reliable sniffers for the detection of Andrographis paniculata using the classical Pavlovian conditioning training method with high success rate, > 80% based on the proboscis extension reflex as a positive response to the presence of the herb. The success rate of sniffer bees was found to be in a temperature dependent manner, but not significantly affected by the heating duration (5–110 min). The variance of 7.7% success rate was observed for the heating temperature ranged 50–120 °C with the highest success rate (92.7%) at 100 °C. This could be due to the content of signature compounds released from the heated herbal samples. Three signature compounds such as dihydroactinidiolide, apiol and 6,10,14-trimethyl-2-pentadecanone were proposed to be the volatile marker of the herb since their concentrations changed in accordance with the temperature profile and success rate of sniffer bees. The volatile compounds were extracted by divinylbenzene and carboxen coated polydimethylsiloxane fiber in the headspace of solid phase micro-extraction before analyzed by GC–MS for identification. Almost 50% success rate could be achieved using the minimum amount of 20 mg herbal samples. High selectivity of the sniffer bees has also been proven by no response to another morphologically similar herb, Clinacanthus nutans which was also heat-treated in the similar manner. The sniffer bees also showed to exhibit 80% success rate to detect A. paniculata mixed with 50% C. nutans as interference in a mixture