Comparison of transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt with covered stent and balloon-occluded retrograde transvenous obliteration in managing isolated gastric varices

OBJECTIVE: Although a transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS) is commonly placed to manage isolated gastric varices, balloon-occluded retrograde transvenous obliteration (BRTO) has also been used. We compare the long-term outcomes from these procedures based on our institutional experience. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We conducted a retrospective review of patients with isolated gastric varices who underwent either TIPS with a covered stent or BRTO between January 2000 and July 2013. We identified 52 consecutive patients, 27 who had received TIPS with a covered stent and 25 who had received BRTO. We compared procedural complications, re-bleeding rates, and clinical outcomes between the two groups. RESULTS: There were no significant differences in procedural complications between patients who underwent TIPS (7%) and those who underwent BRTO (12%) (p = 0.57). There were also no statistically significant differences in re-bleeding rates from gastric varices between the two groups (TIPS, 7% [2/27]; BRTO, 8% [2/25]; p = 0.94) or in developing new ascites following either procedure (TIPS, 4%; BRTO, 4%; p = 0.96); significantly more patients who underwent TIPS developed hepatic encephalopathy (22%) than did those who underwent BRTO (0%, p = 0.01). There was no statistically significant difference in mean survival between the two groups (TIPS, 30 months; BRTO, 24 months; p = 0.16); median survival for the patients who received TIPS was 16.6 months, and for those who underwent BRTO, it was 26.6 months. CONCLUSION: BRTO is an effective method of treating isolated gastric varices with similar outcomes and complication rates to those of TIPS with a covered stent but with a lower rate of hepatic encephalopathy

Expropriation process complexity and the influence to the real estate valuation

Bakalaureusetöö Geodeesia, maakorralduse ja kinnisvara planeerimise õppekavalKinnisasja sundvõõrandamisi on ka varasemalt uuritud, kuid põhjalikke järeldusi protsessi keerukuse üle ning mõju kinnisasja hindamisele pole väga selgelt välja toodud. Bakalaureusetöö eesmärgiks on välja selgitada kas ning kuidas on omavahel seotud kinnisasja sundvõõrandamine ning kinnisasja hindamine. Kas arvamus, et kinnisasja sundvõõrandamise protsess on keeruline ning mahukas vastab tõele ning miks on kinnisvara hindamine sundvõõrandamise protsessis väga tähtis ja mis teeb selle eriliseks? Töös on analüüsitud kahte erinevat kohtukaasust, mis on seotud sundvõõrandamisega. Esimene neist käsitleb suuremas mahus sundvõõranditasu ning teine kohtukaasus selgitab rohkem sundvõõrandamise keerukust. Ühtlasi on töös toodud ka erinevad aspektid miks on kinnisasja sundvõõrandamine keerukas ning aeganõudev. Töö järelduste tegemise käigus selgus, et kinnisvara hindamisel on sundvõõrandamisel väga suur osakaal ning väga mitmed tülid käivad ümber sundvõõranditasu, mida on väga keeruline määrata. Kinnisasja sundvõõrandamise protsess on liialt aeganõudev ja nüansirohke ning kinnisasja sundvõõrandamise seadust tuleks lihtsustada. Tänu sellele, et kinnisasja sundvõõrandamist ei soovita rakendada ning seda teostatakse üpris vähe, pole sellel protseduuril võimalik kuigi palju areneda. Sellest tulenevalt toimub vähene areng suhteliselt kinnises ringis ning sundvõõrandamise protseduur jääb ka tulevikus problemaatiliseks.Immovable expropriation has been studied before, but thorough conclusions about the process complexity and the influence of immovable property valuation have not been very well demonstrated. The aim of this Bachelor’s thesis is to find out if and how are immovable expropriation and real estate valuation connected to each other. Is the opinion that the property expropriation process is complicated and capacious true and why is the valuation of real estate in expropriation process very important and what makes it special. In thesis research part, two different court cases which are related to expropriation have been analysed. The first case is more about expropriation payment and the second case explains more about expropriation complexity. Additionally, different aspects why the real estate expropriation is complex and time-consuming process have been demonstrated. In the conclusion part, it was realised that real estate valuation has quite a big proportion in the expropriation process. Many problems occur while assessing the expropriation payment. It was also noted that the expropriation process is too long-term and the Expropriation Act needs to be made easier. Due to the reason that the government does not want to utilise expropriation and executes this process on as few occasions as they can, this process has few ways to develop. The above mentioned reasons are why the development of this process happens in a relatively closed cycle and expropriation will continue to be problematical in the future

Revisión sistemática de la literatura sobre los metabolitos generados por la levadura Candida guilliermondii

Microbiólogo (a) Agrícola y Veterinario (a)Pregrad

Exploring microbial diversity across a Southern Ontario landfill

Sanitary landfills are highly engineered environments that receive a heterogeneous mixture of organic waste, metals, and plastics. Global waste production continues to grow every year and waste management is an increasing environmental and financial concern for municipalities. Over the last 50 years, many municipalities have improved recycling efforts and hazardous waste disposal to limit inputs to landfills; however, landfills still contain and receive a number of hard to degrade and/or dangerous materials, including heavy metals and volatile compounds. Conventional landfills are designed to entomb municipal solid waste and prevent its degradation by microorganisms. Despite this engineering goal, waste degradation in landfills via aerobic and anaerobic decomposition by microorganisms actively reshapes the municipal solid waste over time and must be accounted for in landfill design. Our depth of knowledge on the diversity of landfill microorganisms and how this microbial diversity changes across and between landfills is limited. Much of the current research into landfill microbial diversity has investigated specific groups with known functions, such as cellulose degraders, methanotrophs, and methanogens. Recently, research groups have taken a community-based approach to studying landfill microbes, relating community composition to environmental and chemical parameters. Many of these previous studies rely solely on 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing for taxonomic identification, which limits functional predictions to what is already known about related groups. Understanding landfill microbial communities and their functions is important for informing waste management practices, and has the potential to reveal novel degradation metabolisms that can be used in waste remediation. This research combines 16S rRNA gene amplicon and metagenomic sequencing to examine the taxonomic and functional diversity of a Southern Ontario landfill and to relate this microbial diversity with site geochemistry. Eight samples were collected from a municipal landfill in 2016 via filtration of the liquid from three leachate wells, two temporal samples of a leachate-collecting cistern (one size-filtered in two fractions), and two groundwater wells from the adjacent aquifer. The DNA for all eight samples underwent 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Joint Genome Institute. In parallel, total community DNA was extracted and then shotgun sequenced by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Joint Genome Institute for six samples, generating assembled and annotated metagenomes. Maximum likelihood phylogenies were inferred from the metagenome-derived 16S rRNA genes and a concatenated alignment of 16 syntenic ribosomal proteins co-located on single scaffolds. Based on a comparison between taxonomy derived from the two phylogenies, high quality metagenome assembled genomes (MAGs), and the 16S rRNA gene amplicon data, 22 bacterial and 2 archaeal phyla were present at >1% relative abundance within at least one landfill sample. The Patescibacteria, Bacteroidota, Firmicutes, and Proteobacteria had the highest relative abundances, whereas most other phyla were present at low abundance, with some fluctuations among sites. Below the phylum level, very few microorganisms were identified across multiple sites, with only 37 of 2989 populations (represented by 16S rRNA exact sequence variants) present in two or more sites. This indicates that, although phylum-level signatures are conserved, individual landfill populations vary widely both spatially and temporally. Three leachate and two groundwater sites had partial or complete volatile and non-volatile compound concentration data, allowing for limited correlation of geochemical conditions and contaminant concentrations to microbial diversity patterns across the landfill. Significant differences in geochemistry exist across the sites, with calcium, iron, magnesium, boron, meta and para xylenes, ortho xylenes, and ethylbenzene concentrations contributing most strongly to site differences. The genera Sulfurovum, Proteiniphilum, and Ferritrophicum are relatively abundant in the amplicon data, and have predicted roles in nutrient and contaminant cycling in the landfill related to benzene, proteins, and iron. Access to more sites with complete geochemistry data is required to allow direct connections to be drawn between microbial populations and site geochemistry. A phylogenetic and metabolic analysis was conducted examining the Tenericutes and Erysipelotrichia, which are related radiations dominated by parasitic and host-associated organisms. Landfill metagenomes allowed reconstruction of 12 Tenericute MAGs distributed within four orders, as well as five MAGs within the order RFN20 that are sister to the Erysipelotrichales. The landfill Tenericutes exhibited small genome sizes below 2 Mb, which is expected for this group, and encode a range of biosynthetic capabilities. Genome features suggest potential lifestyles: free-living, commensal, or parasitic, with the potentially parasitic bacteria showing a greater loss of amino acid pathways. The RFN20 MAGs’ genome sizes are below 3 Mb, closer to the Tenericute than the Erysipelotrichia reference genomes. One RFN20 MAG showed similar metabolic capacities to Dielma fastidious, an Erysipelotrichia species, whereas the other RFN20 MAGs are predicted to be metabolically more similar to the Tenericutes. The reconstruction and analysis of these Tenericute and RFN20 genomes expands our current knowledge of these abundant groups’ potential lifestyles in the landfill, and expands genomic representation of these understudied orders

High mobility group A2 is a target for miRNA-98 in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma

BACKGROUND: HMGA2 expression has been shown to be associated with enhanced selective chemosensitivity towards the topoisomerase (topo) II inhibitor, doxorubicin, in cancer cells. Although the roles of signaling cascades and proteins as regulatory factors in development, neoplasia and adaptation to the environment are becoming well established, evidence for the involvement of regulatory small RNA molecules, such as microRNAs (miRNAs) as important regulators of both transcriptional and posttranscriptional gene silencing is presently mounting. RESULTS: Here we report that HMGA2 expression in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) cells is regulated in part by miRNA-98 (miR-98). Albeit HMGA2 is associated with enhanced selective chemosensitivity towards topoisomerase (topo) II inhibitor, doxorubicin in HNSCC, the expression of HMGA2 is thwarted by hypoxia. This is accompanied by enhanced expression of miRNA-98 and other miRNAs, which predictably target HMGA2. Moreover, we show that transfection of pre-miR-98™ during normoxia diminishes HMGA2 and potentiates resistance to doxorubicin and cisplatin. These findings implicate the role of a miRNA as a key element in modulating tumors in variable microenvironments. CONCLUSION: These studies validate the observation that HMGA2 plays a prominent role in governing genotoxic responses. However, this may only represent cells growing under normal oxygen tensions. The demonstration that miRNA profiles are altered during hypoxia and repress a genotoxic response indicates that changes in microenvironment in eukaryotes mimic those of lower species and plants, where, for example, abiotic stresses regulate the expression of thousands of genes in plants at both transcriptional and posttranscriptional levels through a number of miRNAs and other small regulatory RNAs

Hypoxia-inducible factor-1α polymorphisms and TSC1/2 mutations are complementary in head and neck cancers

BACKGROUND: Polymorphisms or mutations in hypoxia inducible factor-1 alpha (HIF-1alpha) that increases its activity and stability under normoxia have recently been identified. Likewise, disruption of the TSC1/TSC2 complex through loss of TSC1 or TSC2 has been shown to result in abnormal accumulation of HIF-1α. Here, we investigate the novel polymorphisms in exon 12, that approximate the oxygen-dependent degradation domain of HIF-1alpha in five cell lines and 28 patients with oral squamous carcinomas. Moreover, we assess for the presence of polymorphisms and mutations in TSC1 and TSC2, to ascertain if dysregulation of such might complement HIF-1alpha expression. RESULTS: Denaturing high pressure liquid chromatography (DHPLC) analysis on PCR fragments in exon 12 of HIF-1alpha from 28 patients with OSCC revealed that 6 of 28 patients had mismatched heteroduplex patterns. Genomic DNA was extracted from peripheral blood leukocytes and direct sequencing showed that in 5 of the six cases these changes represented polymorphisms while, one case was a somatic mutation. Analyses of TSC1 and TSC2 revealed heteroduplexes in exons: TSC1 exon 17; TSC2 exons 36,40, and 41. The relative levels of HIF-1alpha were significantly greater for tumors possessing a HIF-1alpha polymorphism or mutation within exon 12, whereas tumors possessing a deletion or polymorphism in TSC1/TSC2 displayed a trend for higher levels of HIF-1alpha. Western blot analyses for HIF-1alpha, TSC1 and TSC2 in five SCC cell lines revealed high levels of HIF-1alpha in SCC cells possessing TSC1 and/or TSC2 mutations. Wild-type TSC2 cells targeted with siRNA to TSC2 exhibited increased levels of HIF-1alpha. Transfection of a HIF-1alpha mutant produced higher levels of HIF-1alpha in TSC1/TSC2 mutant cell lines than in wild type cells. TSC1/TSC2 mutant cell lines administered Rapamycin blocked S6 phorphorylation and diminished the levels of HIF-1alpha to those observed in cell lines with wild type TSC1/TSC2. CONCLUSION: Dysregulation of the TSC1/TSC2 complex by mutation compliments HIF-1α polymorphisms in the expression of HIF-1alpha in SCC of the head and neck, and may provide biomarkers to predict responses to specific therapies and overall disease prognosis

Short communication: A method for comparing the tree species composition of Estonian historic manor parks and forests

Saabunud / Received 02.11.2019 ; Aktsepteeritud / Accepted 25.02.2020 ; Avaldatud veebis / Published online 07.03.2020 ; Vastutav autor / Corresponding author: Nele Nutt e-mail: [email protected] following short communication article presents a method for comparing the species composition of Estonian forests and parks, giving an overview of the data that is currently being gathered and underlining how these two datasets can be compared. Even though both forest and park inventories are carried out throughout the country, to this day there have been no comparative studies on how the species composition of parks and forests differ from each other. This stems from the fact that the park and forest inventories are carried out using different methods. Forest inventories classify most of the trees according to their genera, but also differentiate between the species composition of the forest canopy and sub-canopy layers. The park inventories classify all dendrological plants by their species, also measuring several other individual parameters. The main difference being that park inventories do not differentiate between different canopy layers, rather providing species composition charts that include all the dendrological plants growing in the park. In order to compare the two datasets, it is necessary to transfer the data derived from manor park inventories to match that of the Estonian forest inventory. The first step in implementing the method is to divide the inventory data from parks into the forest canopy and sub-canopy layers. The canopy layer of parks was determined to consist of old trees (>100 years). The age of the trees in parks was modelled after growth charts compiled from the data from Estonian forests, which was then extrapolated to reach 120 years. These growth charts were compared to the breast height diameter of park trees, to determine their age. The canopy layer of parks was then analysed to provide an overview of species composition that corresponds to the same level of generalisation as the forest inventories. The results showed that the species composition of old manor parks differs significantly from most Estonian forests with the majority of the trees in parks being broad-leaved. The proposed method is suitable for comparing forests and parks on a generalised level

Redox Reactions of the Pyranopterin System of the Molybdenum Cofactor

This work provides the first extensive study of the redox reactivity of the pyranopterin system that is a component of the catalytic site of all molybdenum and tungsten enzymes possessing molybdopterin. The pyranopterin system possesses certain characteristics typical of tetrahydropterins, such as a reduced pyrazine ring; however, it behaves as a dihydropterin in redox reactions with oxidants. Titrations using ferricyanide and dichloroindophenol (DCIP) prove a 2e(-)/2H(+) stoichiometry for pyranopterin oxidations. Oxidations of pyranopterin by Fe(CN)(6)(3-) or DCIP are slower than tetrahydropterin oxidation under a variety of conditions, but are considerably faster than observed for oxidations of dihydropterin. The rate of pyranopterin oxidation by DCIP was studied in a variety of media. In aqueous buffered solution the pyranopterin oxidation rate has minimal pH dependence, whereas the rate of tetrahydropterin oxidation decreases 100-fold over the pH range 7.4-8.5. Although pyranopterin reacts as a dihydropterin with oxidants, it resists further reduction to a tetrahydropterin. No reduction was achieved by catalytic hydrogenation, even after several days. The reducing ability of the commonly used biological reductants dithionite and methyl viologen radical cation was investigated, but experiments showed no evidence of pyranopterin reduction by any of these reducing agents. This study illustrates the dual personalities of pyranopterin and underscores the unique place that the pyranopterin system holds in the spectrum of pterin redox reactions. The work presented here has important implications for understanding the biosynthesis and reaction chemistry of the pyranopterin cofactor in molybdenum and tungsten enzymes