Sialoblastoma- long-term follow-up and remission for a rare salivary malignancy

Sialoblastoma is a rare salivary neoplasm which presents either congenitally or during early infancy. It was originally considered a benign neoplasm, however a number of reported cases have documented locoregional recurrence and distant metastases. Currently, there is no consensus on the appropriate treatment for this neoplasm. We report on long term follow-up of a patient with metastatic sialoblastoma, and a brief discussion of the possible treatment modalities currently being considered

Serum procalcitonin and CRP levels in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease: a case control study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Both C reactive protein (CRP) and procalcitonin (PCT) are well known acute phase reactant proteins. CRP was reported to increase in metabolic syndrome and type-2 diabetes. Similarly altered level of serum PCT was found in chronic liver diseases and cirrhosis. The liver is considered the main source of CRP and a source of PCT, however, the serum PCT and CRP levels in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) were not compared previously. Therefore we aimed to study the diagnostic and discriminative role of serum PCT and CRP in NAFLD.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Fifty NAFLD cases and 50 healthy controls were included to the study. Liver function tests were measured, body mass index was calculated, and insulin resistance was determined by using a homeostasis model assessment (HOMA-IR). Ultrasound evaluation was performed for each subject. Serum CRP was measured with nephalometric method. Serum PCT was measured with Kryptor based system.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Serum PCT levels were similar in steatohepatitis (n 20) and simple steatosis (n 27) patients, and were not different than the control group (0.06 ± 0.01, 0.04 ± 0.01 versus 0.06 ± 0.01 ng/ml respectively). Serum CRP levels were significantly higher in simple steatosis, and steatohepatitis groups compared to healthy controls (7.5 ± 1.6 and 5.2 ± 2.5 versus 2.9 ± 0.5 mg/dl respectively p < 0.01). CRP could not differentiate steatohepatitis from simple steatosis. Beside, three patients with focal fatty liver disease had normal serum CRP levels.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Serum PCT was within normal ranges in patients with simple steatosis or steatohepatitis and has no diagnostic value. Serum CRP level was increased in NAFLD compared to controls. CRP can be used as an additional marker for diagnosis of NAFLD but it has no value in discrimination of steatohepatitis from simple steatosis.</p

Proton-Coupled Oxygen Reduction at Liquid-Liquid Interfaces Catalyzed by Cobalt Porphine

Cobalt porphine (CoP) dissolved in the organic phase of a biphasic system is used to catalyze O2 reduction by an electron donor, ferrocene (Fc). Using voltammetry at the interface between two immiscible electrolyte solutions (ITIES), it is possible to drive this catalytic reduction at the interface as a function of the applied potential difference, where aqueous protons and organic electron donors combine to reduce O2. The current signal observed corresponds to a proton-coupled electron transfer (PCET) reaction, as no current and no reaction can be observed in the absence of either the aqueous acid, CoP, Fc, or O2

The Increase in Balloon Size to Over 15 mm Does Not Affect the Development of Pancreatitis After Endoscopic Papillary Large Balloon Dilatation for Bile Duct Stone Removal

BACKGROUND: Endoscopic papillary large balloon dilatation (EPLBD) after endoscopic sphincterotomy (EST) has recently become widely used for common bile duct (CBD) stone removal, but many clinicians remain concerned about post-procedural pancreatitis with increasing the balloon size to over 15 mm. AIMS: We aimed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of EPLBD with a relatively large balloon (15-20 mm) after EST and to evaluate the factors related to post-EPLBD pancreatitis. METHODS: A retrospective review was undertaken of the endoscopic database of 101 patients with CBD stones who underwent EPLBD using a larger balloon size of over 15 mm (15-20 mm). Clinical parameters, endoscopic data, and outcomes were analyzed. RESULTS: The mean age of the subjects was 69 years. All patients had a dilated CBD of over 11 mm (mean = 22.6 mm). The mean size of balloon used in EPLBD was 17.1 ± 1.9 mm (range 15-20 mm). Mechanical lithotripsy was required in seven patients (6.9%). The rate of complete stone removal in the first session was 92.1%. Post-procedural pancreatitis developed in five cases (5.4%), but none were graded as severe. The smaller dilatation of the CBD, longer cannulation time, and longer time for stone removal were associated with post-procedural pancreatitis, but larger size of balloon did not affect the development of post-EPLBD pancreatitis. CONCLUSIONS: EPLBD with a large balloon of over 15 mm with EST is an effective and safe procedure with a very low probability of severe post-procedural pancreatitis. Post-EPLBD pancreatitis was not associated with larger balloon size, but was associated with longer procedure time and smaller dilatation of the CBD.ope

Joint QTL Linkage Mapping for Multiple-Cross Mating Design Sharing One Common Parent

BACKGROUND: Nested association mapping (NAM) is a novel genetic mating design that combines the advantages of linkage analysis and association mapping. This design provides opportunities to study the inheritance of complex traits, but also requires more advanced statistical methods. In this paper, we present the detailed algorithm of a QTL linkage mapping method suitable for genetic populations derived from NAM designs. This method is called joint inclusive composite interval mapping (JICIM). Simulations were designed on the detected QTL in a maize NAM population and an Arabidopsis NAM population so as to evaluate the efficiency of the NAM design and the JICIM method. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Fifty-two QTL were identified in the maize population, explaining 89% of the phenotypic variance of days to silking, and nine QTL were identified in the Arabidopsis population, explaining 83% of the phenotypic variance of flowering time. Simulations indicated that the detection power of these identified QTL was consistently high, especially for large-effect QTL. For rare QTL having significant effects in only one family, the power of correct detection within the 5 cM support interval was around 80% for 1-day effect QTL in the maize population, and for 3-day effect QTL in the Arabidopsis population. For smaller-effect QTL, the power diminished, e.g., it was around 50% for maize QTL with an effect of 0.5 day. When QTL were linked at a distance of 5 cM, the likelihood of mapping them as two distinct QTL was about 70% in the maize population. When the linkage distance was 1 cM, they were more likely mapped as one single QTL at an intermediary position. CONCLUSIONS: Because it takes advantage of the large genetic variation among parental lines and the large population size, NAM is a powerful multiple-cross design for complex trait dissection. JICIM is an efficient and specialty method for the joint QTL linkage mapping of genetic populations derived from the NAM design

Heterosis Is Prevalent for Multiple Traits in Diverse Maize Germplasm

BACKGROUND: Heterosis describes the superior phenotypes observed in hybrids relative to their inbred parents. Maize is a model system for studying heterosis due to the high levels of yield heterosis and commercial use of hybrids. METHODS: The inbred lines from an association mapping panel were crossed to a common inbred line, B73, to generate nearly 300 hybrid genotypes. Heterosis was evaluated for seventeen phenotypic traits in multiple environments. The majority of hybrids exhibit better-parent heterosis in most of the hybrids measured. Correlations between the levels of heterosis for different traits were generally weak, suggesting that the genetic basis of heterosis is trait-dependent. CONCLUSIONS: The ability to predict heterosis levels using inbred phenotype or genetic distance between the parents varied for the different traits. For some traits it is possible to explain a significant proportion of the heterosis variation using linear modeling while other traits are more difficult to predict

Comparison and evaluation of experimental mediastinitis models: precolonized foreign body implants and bacterial suspension inoculation seems promising

BACKGROUND: Post-sternotomy mediastinitis (PSM) is a devastating surgical complication affecting 1–3% of patients that undergo cardiac surgery. Staphylococcus aureus is one of the most commonly encountered bacterial pathogen cultured from mediastinal samples obtained from patients with PSM. A component of the membrane of the gram positive bacteria, lipoteichoic acid, stimulates the blood monocytes and macrophages to secrete cytokines, radicals and nitrogen species leading to oxido-inflammatory damage. This seems to be responsible for the high mortality rate in PSM. For the evaluation of the pathogenesis of infection or for the investigation of alternative treatment models in infection, no standard model of mediastinitis seems to be available. In this study, we evaluated four mediastinitis models in rats. METHODS: The rats were divided into four groups to form different infection models. Group A: A suspension of 1 × 10(7 )colony-forming units Staphylococcus aureus in 0,5 mL was inoculated from the right second intercostal space into the mediastinum. Group B: A hole was created in the right second intercostal space and a piece of stainless-steel implant with a length of 0.5 cm was inserted into the mediastinum and a suspension of 1 × 10(7 )cfu bacteria in 0,5 mL was administered via the tail vein. Group C: Precolonized stainless-steel implant was inserted into the mediastinum. Group D: Precolonized stainless-steel implant was inserted into the mediastinum and the bacteria suspension was also injected into the mediastinum. On the 10(th )day, rats were sacrificed and the extension of infection in the mediastenae was evaluated by quantitative cultures. Myeloperoxidase activity (MPO) and malondialdehyde (MDA) levels were determined in the sera to evaluate the neutrophil activation and assess the inflammatory oxidation. RESULTS: The degree of infection in group C and D were 83.3% and 100% respectively (P < 0.001). MDA levels were significantly higher in these two groups than the others (P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Infected implants and high bacterial concentration administration were the two important components that played a significant role in the outcome of a successful infection in mediastinum in a rat model

Mixed linear model approach adapted for genome-wide association studies.

5 5 t e c h n i c a l r e p o r t s Mixed linear model (MLM) methods have proven useful in controlling for population structure and relatedness within genome-wide association studies. However, MLM-based methods can be computationally challenging for large datasets. We report a compression approach, called &apos;compressed MLM&apos;, that decreases the effective sample size of such datasets by clustering individuals into groups. We also present a complementary approach, &apos;population parameters previously determined&apos; (P3D), that eliminates the need to re-compute variance components. We applied these two methods both independently and combined in selected genetic association datasets from human, dog and maize. The joint implementation of these two methods markedly reduced computing time and either maintained or improved statistical power. We used simulations to demonstrate the usefulness in controlling for substructure in genetic association datasets for a range of species and genetic architectures. We have made these methods available within an implementation of the software program TASSEL. Although genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have the potential to pinpoint genetic polymorphisms underlying human diseases and agriculturally important traits, false discoveries are a major concern 1 and can be partially attributed to spurious associations caused by population structure and unequal relatedness among individuals in a given cohort. Population stratification was initially addressed using general linear model (GLM)-based methods such as structured association 2 , genomic control 3 and family-based tests of association 4 . The introduction of MLM approaches has more recently been demonstrated as an improved method to simultaneously account for population structure and unequal relatedness among individuals 5 . In the MLM-based methods, population structure 2,6 is fit as a fixed effect, whereas kinship among individuals is incorporated as the variance-covariance structure of the random effect for the individuals. Regardless of the applied statistical method, GWAS require large sample sizes to achieve sufficient statistical power 7 , especially in order to detect the small effect polymorphisms that underlie most complex traits 8 . For the MLM approach, datasets with these large sample sizes create a heavy computational burden because the computing time for solving a MLM increases with the cube of the number of individuals fit as a random effect. The earliest effort to reduce the size of the random effect in an MLM can be traced back to the sire model approach used in animal breeding 9-12 , which replaces an individual&apos;s genetic effect with that of its sire. Consequently, the sire-model approach requires pedigrees, which are not always available, and which in particular are often not available in plant studies. Even with available pedigrees, the use of a marker-based kinship is preferred because of its higher accurac

CGIAR modeling approaches for resource-constrained scenarios: I. Accelerating crop breeding for a changing climate.

Crop improvement efforts aiming at increasing crop production (quantity, quality) and adapting to climate change have been subject of active research over the past years. But, the question remains 'to what extent can breeding gains be achieved under a changing climate, at a pace sufficient to usefully contribute to climate adaptation, mitigation and food security?'. Here, we address this question by critically reviewing how model-based approaches can be used to assist breeding activities, with particular focus on all CGIAR (formerly the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research but now known simply as CGIAR) breeding programs. Crop modeling can underpin breeding efforts in many different ways, including assessing genotypic adaptability and stability, characterizing and identifying target breeding environments, identifying tradeoffs among traits for such environments, and making predictions of the likely breeding value of the genotypes. Crop modeling science within the CGIAR has contributed to all of these. However, much progress remains to be done if modeling is to effectively contribute to more targeted and impactful breeding programs under changing climates. In a period in which CGIAR breeding programs are undergoing a major modernization process, crop modelers will need to be part of crop improvement teams, with a common understanding of breeding pipelines and model capabilities and limitations, and common data standards and protocols, to ensure they follow and deliver according to clearly defined breeding products. This will, in turn, enable more rapid and better-targeted crop modeling activities, thus directly contributing to accelerated and more impactful breeding efforts.Online Version of Record before inclusion in an issue