DCE-MRI and parametric imaging in monitoring response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy in breast carcinoma : a preliminary report

Purpose: Neoadjuvant chemotherapy is recommended in patients with locally advanced breast cancer. Dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI) enables evaluation of the tumour neovasculature that occurs prior to any volume change, which helps identify early treatment failures and allows prompt implementation of second-line therapy. Material and methods: We conducted a prospective study in 14 patients with histopathologically proven breast cancer. DCE-MRI data were acquired using multisection, T1-weighted, 3D vibe sequences with fat suppression before, during, and after IV bolus injection (0.1 mmol/kg body weight, Gadoversetamide, Optimark). Post-processing of dynamic contrast perfusion data was done with the vendor's Tissue 4D software to generate various dynamic contrast parameters, i.e. Ktrans, Kep, Ve, initial area under the time signal curve (IAUC), apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC), and enhancement curve. Patients underwent MRI examinations at baseline, and then after two cycles, and finally at completion of chemotherapy. Results: Based on Sataloff criteria for pathological responses, four patients out of 14 were responders, and 10 were non-responders. At the 2nd MRI examination, IAUC was significantly smaller in responders than in non-responders (p = 0.023). When the results of the first and second MRI examinations were compared, Kep decreased from baseline to the second MRI (p = 0.03) in non-responders and in responders (p = 0.04). This change was statistically significant in both groups. The ADC values increased significantly in responders from baseline to the third MRI (p = 0.012). Conclusions: In our study, IAUC and ADC were the only parameters that reliably differentiated responders from non-responders after two and three cycles of chemotherapy

Electroencephalogram Signalling diagnosis using Softcomputing

The two most frightening things for the researchers in clinical signal processing and computer aided diagnosis are noise and relativity of human judgment. The researchers made effort to overcome these two challenges by using various soft computing approaches. In this article the present benefits of these approaches in the accomplishment of the analysis of electroencephalogram (EEG) is acknowledge. There is also the presentation of the significance of several trend and prospects of further softcomputing methods that can produce better results in signal processing of EEG. Medical experts apply the different softcomputing techniques for disease diagnoses and decision making systems performed on brain actions and modeling of neural impulses of the human encephalon

Pulmonary Mucormycosis with Diabetes Mellitus: A Case Report

Mucormycosis is an uncommon but life threatening fungal infection that generally occurs mostly in immunocompromised patients. Patients do not respond to the antibiotics and so the condition may prove to be fatal if not timely detected. In this report, we summarize a case of pulmonary mucormycosis in a patient with diabetes mellitus who was cured using Amphotericin B

Improved Kerogen Models for Determining Thermal Maturity and Hydrocarbon Potential of Shale

Kerogen is the insoluble component of organic-rich shales that controls the type and amount of hydrocarbons generated in conventional and unconventional reservoirs. Significant progress has recently been made in developing structural models of kerogen. However, there is still a large gap in understanding the evolution of the molecular components of kerogen with thermal maturation and their hydrocarbon (HC) generative potential. Here, we determine the variations in different molecular fragments of kerogen from a Marcellus Shale maturity series (with VRo ranging from 0.8 to 3) using quantitative 13C MultiCP/MAS NMR and MultiCP NMR/DD (dipolar dephasing). These molecular variations provide insight into the (1) evolution of the molecular structure of kerogen with increasing thermal maturity and, (2) the primary molecular contributors to HC generation. Our results also indicate that old model equations based on structural parameters of kerogen underestimate the thermal maturity and overestimate the HC generation potential of Marcellus Shale samples. This could primarily be due to the fact that the kerogen samples used to reconstruct old models were mostly derived from immature shales (VRo \u3c1) acquired from different basins with varying depositional environments. We utilized the kerogen molecular parameters determined from the Marcellus maturity series samples to develop improved models for determining thermal maturity and HC potential of Marcellus Shale. The models generated in this study could also potentially be applied to other shales of similar maturity range and paleo-depositional environments

AddDel Model for the Evolution of Social Networks

In the past decade we have seen that researchers have focused on the study of networks which are complex, dynamic and hierarchical structured. With the evolution, the network become more dense and dense, hence we say that the network shows a dynamic nature. Researchers have spot that the evolution process for Social or Complex network is not an arbitrary process rather there subsist some fundamental reasons behind their evolution process. For this particular reason we have designed the network as an undirected graph where vertex represents a member in the network and edges represents the relation among them. We create a model in which the edges appear as well disappear based on some parameters. In this work we consider deletion of edges apart from the addition. The deletion strategies consider the newly made links and the existing links. In this paper we present a model and also discuss whether this model predicts real social networks. Keywords: Social Networks, Score, Factors, Graph, Communities, Gephi, Networkx. DOI: 10.7176/CEIS/11-1-01 Publication date: January 31st 2020

MOLECULAR DOCKING STUDY OF SIX PYRIMIDINE DERIVATIVES AS EGFR (EPIDERMAL GROWTH FACTOR RECEPTOR) AND CA IX (CARBONIC ANHYDRASE IX) INHIBITOR

Objective: The present study was carried out to discover whether these pyrimidine derivatives have the potential to be used as epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and carbonic anhydrase (CA) IX inhibitors through structure-based in silico study. Methods: Docking was performed on 6 pyrimidine analogs; cetuximab and curcumin were taken as reference drug. The structure of the target protein retrieved from the RCSB Protein databank and the protein-ligand docking was performed using Pyrx AutoDock wizard with MGL tools 1.5.6 by using Lamarckian algorithm. Results: All the compounds have shown lower binding energy and inhibition constant (Ki) value than reference drug cetuximab and curcumin. Out of the 6 inhibitors analyzed vkh has shown minimum binding energy against the target protein EGFR and CA IX respectively. Smaller Ki value shows stronger interaction. The scoring value of the interaction of vkh i. e-10.74 and-9.93 Kcal/mol and Ki 13.17ɳM and 53.04ɳM against the target protein EGFR and CA IX respectively while the reference drug cetuximab has shown binding energy-6.09 Kcal/mol with Ki value 34.44 µM and curcumin has shown binding energy-6.02 kcal/mol with Ki value 38.60 µM. Conclusion: It can be concluded that the molecule vkh could have potential to be used as an EGFR inhibitor and CA IX inhibitor

Neglected case of Imperforated Hymen presenting as Massive Hematocolpos with Large Protruding Introital Mass and Acute Urinary Retention

The clinical presentation of imperforate hymen varies significantly from patient to patient depending on the age at diagnosis, but in most cases, the diagnosis is missed in early childhood and therefore, the diagnosis is made after puberty when the patient presents with hematocolpos, hematometra or both. When this happens, the patient may present with unlikely symptoms like urinary retention or bowel obstruction or both. Rarely, a neglected case can even present with multiple complications like acute urinary retention and large protruding introital mass with multiple ulcerations, as happened in our case. Here we discuss case of a 15 years old girl with imperforate hymen and presented with history of lower abdominal pain and distension associated with acute urinary retention. She was treated by hymenectomy and improved dramatically and was discharged on the 6th day post operatively. This case report is presented to address the clinicians regarding the possibility of imperforate hymen with hematocolpos as a differential diagnosis in adolescent girls, particularly those who have not started having their menses in their teens and present with acute urinary retention, so that their external genitalia are carefully examined to exclude the possibility of imperforate hymen as a cause of acute urinary retention due to the hematocolpos

Bilateral common iliac vein stent migration

Venous stent migration to the heart is considered to be a rare complication of a common procedure. Therefore, many physicians do not include this complication in their differential diagnosis. We explain why this complication is likely more common than currently thought and why it should be considered as a potential diagnosis. This case describes migration of bilateral iliac vein stents into the right ventricular outflow tract and right interlobar pulmonary artery. We provide multiple imaging modalities demonstrating the migrated stents. We believe radiologists should be cognizant of this complication and consider it as a potential diagnosis. Hopefully, this will create a greater awareness of this life-threatening complication of venous stent placement