Role of serum glypican-3 in the diagnosis and differentiation of small hepatocellular carcinoma from hepatitis-C virus cirrhosis

Background: Serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) has insufficient sensitivity and specificityfor detection of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Recently, glypican-3 (GLP-3) was suggested as a new biomarker for the detection HCC.Objectives: To determine the role of serum GLP-3 levels in the early diagnosis and differentiation of small (3 cm or less in diameter) HCC from liver cirrhosis. Also, to correlate GLP-3 levels to clinico- laboratory data.Methods: The study included sixty patients; 30 of them with hepatitis C virus (HCV) cirrhosis, and 30 patients with proved HCC. In addition, 20 healthy subjects were included as a control group. Clinical and radiological features (abdominal ultrasonography and/or abdominal triphasic computed tomography) were recorded. Liver function tests, complete blood cell count, and serum AFP were measured. Serum GLP-3 values were determined by an ELISA technique.Results: Serum levels of GLP-3 were significantly elevated in patients with HCC compared with HCV cirrhosis group (p< 0.001). Also, these levels were significantly elevated in these two patients’ groups versus controls (p<0.001). Also, serum GLP-3 levels with cut-off value of P240 ug/L, had a higher sensitivity (100%) and same specificity (93.3%), than AFP with cut-off value of P200 ng/ ml, for detection of HCC. Moreover, GLP-3 levels showed a higher sensitivity than AFP (50% vs.41.7%), for detection of small HCC. The combined use of both markers (i.e. when either one of the two markers positive) improved the specificity to 88.9%. Regarding unicentric HCC, GLP-3 at cut-off value of 6580 ug/L had better specificity than AFP at cut-off value of 6765 ng/ml (57.1% vs. 42.9%). The combined use of both markers improved the sensitivity and specificity to 82.6% and 71.4%, respectively. Conclusion: Serum GLP-3 levels are higher in HCC versus HCV cirrhosis, which can differentiate HCC from liver cirrhosis. Also, serum GLP-3 is highly sensitive and specific for detecting HCC. Moreover, GLP-3 is more sensitive than AFP for the detection of small HCC. Furthermore, a combination of both serum markers yielded an improved specificity and both sensitivity and specificity for the diagnosis of small and unicentric HCC, respectively.Keywords: Serum tumor marker Alpha-fetoprotein Early hepatocellular carcinoma Diagnosis

Self-managed cells and their federation

Future e-Health systems will consist of low-power, on-body wireless sensors attached to mobile users that interact with a ubiquitous computing environment. This kind of system needs to be able to configure itself with little or no user input; more importantly, it is required to adapt autonomously to changes such as user movement, device failure, the addition or loss of services, and proximity to other such systems. This extended abstract describes the basic architecture of a Self-Managed Cell (SMC) to address these requirements, and discusses various forms of federation between/among SMCs. This structure is motivated by a typical e-Health scenario

Prevalence of methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase C677T and A1298C polymorphisms in Egyptian patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a major public health problem around the world. The C677T and A1298C polymorphisms of the methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) gene have been reported to be associated with T2DM and its complications. This study is a casecontrolstudy which was performed to clarify the association between polymorphisms in these two genes and T2DM among Egyptians. Study population (n=120) consists of 60 Egyptian diabetic patients and 60 healthy controls. The MTHFR C677T and A1298C polymorphisms were genotyped by polymerase chain reaction, followed by enzymatic digestion with HinfI and MboII enzymes, respectively. C677T and A1298C genetic polymorphisms conveyed an increase in T2DM risk (OR =3.5, 95% CI= 1.1–11.6, p= 0.032 and OR= 2.2, 95% CI =0.7–6.9, p= 0.004 respectively). Additionally, no significant associations between lipid/glucose metabolic indexes with MTHFR genotypes among diabetic patients were observed. Combined MTHFR gene polymorphisms revealed higher T2DM risk in homozygous and heterozygous forms compared to single gene polymorphism with pronounced risk in C677T/CT-A1298C/CC combined form (OR= 6.56, 95% CI= 0.76–56.2, p 0.041). In conclusion, our data suggest that MTHFR C677T and A1298C polymorphisms are risk factor for T2DM in Egyptian patients. Also, the two gene polymorphisms may act synergistically to increase the risk of diabetes. Furthermore, it should be noted that the size of the studied population was relatively small and therefore, largescale prospective studies are needed to confirm these findings

Genetic variations in accessions of Lathyrus sativus L.

Eighteen grass pea (Lathyrus sativus L.) accessions (donated from USDA germplasm) collected from different geographical regions were evaluated for variations of seed weight, and seed protein content. Environmental factors may not be most appropriate for explaining variations in seed weight. The presence of small-seeded accessions in Eastern Africa possibly indicate this sub-region as a new center of origin of L. sativus. There were no correlations between protein content and seed weight indicating genetic independence. Multivariate analysis (cluster and factor analysis) based on protein analysis data showed a high genetic variability among the accessions of different geographical regions and a low variability among the accessions of the same region

Effect of width and temperature of a vertical parallel plate channel on the transition of the developing thermal boundary layer

Numerical simulations are performed to study the transition of the development of the thermal boundary layer of air along an isothermal heated plate in a large channel which is bounded by an adiabatic plate. In particular, the aim is to investigate the effects of the channel width (b) on the transition of the flow under various plate temperatures. Three different RANS based turbulent k–ε models namely standard, RNG and Realizable with an enhanced wall function are employed in the simulations. The channel width was varied from 0.04 m to 0.45 m and the numerical results of the maximum values of the flow velocity, turbulent kinetic energy were recorded along the vertical axis to examine the critical distance of the developing flow. The results show that the transition delays when the width is increased from 0.04 m to 0.08 m and particularly, the critical distance at b = 0.08 m reaches its maximum with the Grashof number of 2.8 × 1010. However, the critical distance drops when b is increased further from 0.08 m to 0.45 m, indicating an early transition of the flow. The transition remains unaffected by the adiabatic plate when b is greater than 0.45 m. Comparisons of selected numerical results are made with available experimental data of turbulent flow and a satisfied agreement is received

Analytical modeling for the heat transfer in sheared flows of nanofluids

We developed a model for the enhancement of the heat flux by spherical and elongated nano- particles in sheared laminar flows of nano-fluids. Besides the heat flux carried by the nanoparticles the model accounts for the contribution of their rotation to the heat flux inside and outside the particles. The rotation of the nanoparticles has a twofold effect, it induces a fluid advection around the particle and it strongly influences the statistical distribution of particle orientations. These dynamical effects, which were not included in existing thermal models, are responsible for changing the thermal properties of flowing fluids as compared to quiescent fluids. The proposed model is strongly supported by extensive numerical simulations, demonstrating a potential increase of the heat flux far beyond the Maxwell-Garnet limit for the spherical nanoparticles. The road ahead which should lead towards robust predictive models of heat flux enhancement is discussed.Comment: 14 pages, 10 figures, submitted to PR

Caracterización de aceite de semilla de girasol extraído enzimáticamente así como de los residuos proteínicos

Sunflower seed oil was enzymatically extracted with six different enzymes: cellulase, hemicellulase, animal proteinase, acid proteinase, pectinase and pectinex under the following conditions: substrate concentration in phosphate buffer (0.5M, pH 5) 30%, enzyme concentration 2% (E/S), temperature 50°C and time 3 hours. The obtained oils were analyzed for physicochemical properties and fatty acid profiles. The protein residues were analyzed for amino acid compositions. The results showed that the enzymatic extraction with cellulase or hemicellulase could maintain good oil quality of the extracted oils as their levels of linoleic and oleic acids recorded similar values to those of the control oil extracted with organic solvents. Also the level of iodine value was in the same level of control. On the other hand, the use of proteases in the enzymatic extraction of sunflower seed oil caused some reductions in the levels of the unsaturated fatty acids as well as the iodine value. The pectinases showed a similar trend to that of the proteinase with the least recovery of linoleic acid among the different oils under study. Similarly, the use of cellulases did not change the amino acid composition of the protein residue as compared to the control, in the contrary to the extraction with the proteinases which caused reduction of some amino acids from the protein residues especially lysine, leucine, iso-leucine, alanine, arginine and aspartic. In that respect the use of pectinases behaved similar to cellulases.Aceite de semilla de girasol fue extraído enzimáticamente con seis enzimas diferentes: celulasa, hemicelulasa, proteinasa animal, proteinase acida, pectinasa y pectinex bajo las condiciones siguientes: concentración de sustrato en tampón fosfato (0,5M, pH 5) 30%, concentración enzimática 2% (E/S), temperatura 50°C y tiempo 3 horas. Los aceites obtenidos fueron analizados por sus propiedades fisicoquímicas y perfiles de ácidos grasos. Los residuos proteínicos fueron analizados por sus composiciones en aminoácidos. Los resultados mostraron que la extracción enzimática con celulasa o hemicelulasa podían proporcionar buena calidad en los aceites, ya que sus niveles de ácidos linoleico y oleico registraron valores similares a los del aceite control extraído con disolventes orgánicos. También el valor de índice de iodo fue similar al del control. Por otro lado, el uso de proteasas en la extracción enzimática de aceite de semilla de girasol causó algunas reducciones en los niveles de ácidos grasos insaturados, así como en el índice de iodo. Las pectinasas mostraron una tendencia similar a la de las proteinases con la menor obtención de ácido linoleico entre los diferentes aceites en estudio. Del mismo modo, el uso de celulasas no cambió la composición de aminoácidos del residuo proteínico comparado con el control, por el contrario la extracción con proteinasas causó una disminución de algunos aminoácidos, especialmente lisina, leucina, isoleucina, alanina, arginina y aspártico. A este respecto, el uso de pectinasa se portó de manera análoga al de celulasas