Surgical Treatment of Benign Spinal Cord Tumors

Benign spinal cord tumors (SCTs) are uncommon neoplasms that can arise within or adjacent to the spinal cord. Depending on their anatomical location, benign SCTs can be categorized as intramedullary, intradural-extramedullary, and extradural. The three most common benign SCTs are meningioma, nerve sheath tumors, and ependymoma. Both meningioma and nerve sheath tumors develop in the intradural-extramedullary compartment, while ependymoma occurs in the intramedullary space. Spinal meningiomas derive from arachnoidal cells and most commonly occur within the thoracic segment of the spine. Nerve sheath tumors, including schwannomas and neurofibromas, are closely associated with spinal nerves. Half of the spinal cord ependymomas arise in the lumbosacral segment or the filum terminale. Surgical treatment of large or symptomatic benign SCTs concentrates on total or subtotal resection of the tumors, which should be cautiously individualized based on the tumor location and histopathology. A curable complete resection should be achieved if possible while preserving the nervous function of the spinal cord and minimizing potential complications. Thoracic spinal roots may be sacrificed to acquire a total resection, yet cervical and lumbar nerve roots should be preserved prudently. Due to the vulnerable and complex anatomic nature of the spinal cord, maximal resection of the tumors can be achieved with the aid of appropriate intraoperative neural monitoring and meanwhile preserve nervous function

Immunotherapy for Glioblastomas

Glioblastoma (GBM), a WHO grade IV brain tumor, is an aggressive tumor with poor prognosis; even with current standard care of triple therapy, consisting of surgical resection, chemo and radiation therapy, the patients’ median survival time is only approximately 15 months. Recent practice shows that immunotherapy made some progress in some other solid tumors, like melanoma or non-small cell lung cancer. This chapter is going to review some advances in immunotherapy for GBM

Development and Validation of a Liquid Chromatography-Tandem Mass Spectrometry Method for the Determination of Temozolomide in Mouse Brain Tissue

Temozolomide is a Food and Drug Administration-approved anticancer drug that has poor drug delivery via oral or intravenous routes. A potential strategy to combat this problem is investigating alternative routes of administration, requiring quantitation of the drug in the brain tissues by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. However, current methods used to extract the drug from brain tissues resulted in poor recovery and substantial matrix effects. Herein, we reported a new two-step extraction method that involves the use of Proteinase K to lyse tumor tissues to efficiently release the drug, followed by ethanol protein precipitation. The extracts were then separated on a C18 column and analyzed in positive electrospray ionization, a multiple reaction monitoring mode of the triple quadrupole. We found this new method led to a recovery of 82% with negligible matrix effects. The method has been validated in accordance with Food and Drug Administration guidance for linearity, specificity, selectivity, accuracy, precision, carry-over, stability, and lower limit of quantitation. In conclusion, we have developed and validated a liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry method with a novel sample preparation method that was able to efficiently extract temozolomide from mouse brain tissue with high recovery

Molecular Diagnostics and Pathology of Major Brain Tumors

Tumors of central nervous system (CNS) account for a small portion of tumors of human body, which include tumors occurring in the parenchyma of brain and spinal cord as well as their coverings. The following chapter covers some new development in some major brain tumors in both pediatric and adult populations, as well as some uncommon but diagnostic and management challenging tumors

Greenhouse gas emissions from U.S. crude oil pipeline accidents:1968 to 2020

Abstract Crude oil pipelines are considered as the lifelines of energy industry. However, accidents of the pipelines can lead to severe public health and environmental concerns, in which greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, primarily methane, are frequently overlooked. While previous studies examined fugitive emissions in normal operation of crude oil pipelines, emissions resulting from accidents were typically managed separately and were therefore not included in the emission account of oil systems. To bridge this knowledge gap, we employed a bottom-up approach to conducted the first-ever inventory of GHG emissions resulting from crude oil pipeline accidents in the United States at the state level from 1968 to 2020, and leveraged Monte Carlo simulation to estimate the associated uncertainties. Our results reveal that GHG emissions from accidents in gathering pipelines (~720,000 tCO2e) exceed those from transmission pipelines (~290,000 tCO2e), although significantly more accidents have occurred in transmission pipelines (6883 cases) than gathering pipelines (773 cases). Texas accounted for over 40% of total accident-related GHG emissions nationwide. Our study contributes to enhanced accuracy of the GHG account associated with crude oil transport and implementing the data-driven climate mitigation strategies

Management of Refractory/Aggressive Pituitary Adenomas Review of Current Treatment Options

Tumors of central nervous system (CNS) account for a small portion of tumors of human body, which includes tumors occurring in the parenchyma of brain and spinal cord as well as their coverings. This chapter covers some new development in some major brain tumors in both pediatric and adult populations, as well as some uncommon but diagnostic and management challenging tumors

Amplitude Analysis of the Decays η′→π+π−π0\eta^\prime \rightarrow \pi^+\pi^-\pi^0 and η′→π0π0π0\eta^\prime \rightarrow \pi^0\pi^0\pi^0

Based on a sample of $1.31 \times 10^9$ $J/\psi$ events collected with the BESIII detector, an amplitude analysis of the isospin-violating decays $\eta^\prime \rightarrow \pi^+\pi^-\pi^0$ and $\eta^\prime \rightarrow \pi^0\pi^0\pi^0$ is performed. A significant $P$-wave contribution from $\eta^\prime \rightarrow \rho^{\pm} \pi^{\mp}$ is observed for the first time in $\eta^\prime \rightarrow \pi^+\pi^-\pi^0$. The branching fraction is determined to be ${\mathcal B}(\eta^\prime \rightarrow \rho^{\pm}\pi^{\mp})=(7.44\pm0.60\pm1.26\pm1.84)\times 10^{-4}$, where the first uncertainty is statistical, the second systematic, and the third model dependent. In addition to the nonresonant $S$-wave component, there is a significant $\sigma$ meson component. The branching fractions of the combined $S$-wave components are determined to be ${\mathcal B}(\eta^\prime \rightarrow \pi^+\pi^-\pi^0)_S=(37.63\pm0.77\pm2.22\pm4.48)\times 10^{-4}$ and ${\mathcal B}(\eta^\prime \rightarrow \pi^0\pi^0\pi^0)=(35.22\pm0.82\pm2.54)\times 10^{-4}$, respectively. The latter one is consistent with previous BESIII measurements.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figure

First Plant Cell Atlas symposium report

The Plant Cell Atlas (PCA) community hosted a virtual symposium on December 9 and 10, 2021 on single cell and spatial omics technologies. The conference gathered almost 500 academic, industry, and government leaders to identify the needs and directions of the PCA community and to explore how establishing a data synthesis center would address these needs and accelerate progress. This report details the presentations and discussions focused on the possibility of a data synthesis center for a PCA and the expected impacts of such a center on advancing science and technology globally. Community discussions focused on topics such as data analysis tools and annotation standards; computational expertise and cyber-infrastructure; modes of community organization and engagement; methods for ensuring a broad reach in the PCA community; recruitment, training, and nurturing of new talent; and the overall impact of the PCA initiative. These targeted discussions facilitated dialogue among the participants to gauge whether PCA might be a vehicle for formulating a data synthesis center. The conversations also explored how online tools can be leveraged to help broaden the reach of the PCA (i.e., online contests, virtual networking, and social media stakeholder engagement) and decrease costs of conducting research (e.g., virtual REU opportunities). Major recommendations for the future of the PCA included establishing standards, creating dashboards for easy and intuitive access to data, and engaging with a broad community of stakeholders. The discussions also identified the following as being essential to the PCA’s success: identifying homologous cell-type markers and their biocuration, publishing datasets and computational pipelines, utilizing online tools for communication (such as Slack), and user-friendly data visualization and data sharing. In conclusion, the development of a data synthesis center will help the PCA community achieve these goals by providing a centralized repository for existing and new data, a platform for sharing tools, and new analytical approaches through collaborative, multidisciplinary efforts. A data synthesis center will help the PCA reach milestones, such as community-supported data evaluation metrics, accelerating plant research necessary for human and environmental health

Identification of Rothia Bacteria as Gluten-Degrading Natural Colonizers of the Upper Gastro-Intestinal Tract

Gluten proteins, prominent constituents of barley, wheat and rye, cause celiac disease in genetically predisposed subjects. Gluten is notoriously difficult to digest by mammalian proteolytic enzymes and the protease-resistant domains contain multiple immunogenic epitopes. The aim of this study was to identify novel sources of gluten-digesting microbial enzymes from the upper gastro-intestinal tract with the potential to neutralize gluten epitopes.Oral microorganisms with gluten-degrading capacity were obtained by a selective plating strategy using gluten agar. Microbial speciations were carried out by 16S rDNA gene sequencing. Enzyme activities were assessed using gliadin-derived enzymatic substrates, gliadins in solution, gliadin zymography, and 33-mer α-gliadin and 26-mer γ-gliadin immunogenic peptides. Fragments of the gliadin peptides were separated by RP-HPLC and structurally characterized by mass spectrometry. Strains with high activity towards gluten were typed as Rothia mucilaginosa and Rothia aeria. Gliadins (250 µg/ml) added to Rothia cell suspensions (OD(620) 1.2) were degraded by 50% after ∼30 min of incubation. Importantly, the 33-mer and 26-mer immunogenic peptides were also cleaved, primarily C-terminal to Xaa-Pro-Gln (XPQ) and Xaa-Pro-Tyr (XPY). The major gliadin-degrading enzymes produced by the Rothia strains were ∼70-75 kDa in size, and the enzyme expressed by Rothia aeria was active over a wide pH range (pH 3-10).While the human digestive enzyme system lacks the capacity to cleave immunogenic gluten, such activities are naturally present in the oral microbial enzyme repertoire. The identified bacteria may be exploited for physiologic degradation of harmful gluten peptides

Single hadron response measurement and calorimeter jet energy scale uncertainty with the ATLAS detector at the LHC

The uncertainty on the calorimeter energy response to jets of particles is derived for the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). First, the calorimeter response to single isolated charged hadrons is measured and compared to the Monte Carlo simulation using proton-proton collisions at centre-of-mass energies of sqrt(s) = 900 GeV and 7 TeV collected during 2009 and 2010. Then, using the decay of K_s and Lambda particles, the calorimeter response to specific types of particles (positively and negatively charged pions, protons, and anti-protons) is measured and compared to the Monte Carlo predictions. Finally, the jet energy scale uncertainty is determined by propagating the response uncertainty for single charged and neutral particles to jets. The response uncertainty is 2-5% for central isolated hadrons and 1-3% for the final calorimeter jet energy scale.Comment: 24 pages plus author list (36 pages total), 23 figures, 1 table, submitted to European Physical Journal