Purpose and criteria for blood smear scan, blood smear examination, and blood smear review.

A microscopic examination of an appropriately prepared and well-stained blood smear by a knowledgeable laboratory professional is necessary and clinically useful in a number of circumstances and for a variety of reasons. In this article, an attempt is made to delineate the purpose and criteria for blood smear examination in a variety of circumstances that are encountered in everyday laboratory hematology practice. A blood smear scan serves to at least (a) verify the flagged automated hematology results and (b) determine if a manual differential leukocyte count needs to be performed. Blood smear examination/manual differential leukocyte count with complete blood count (CBC) provides the complete hematologic picture of the case, at least from the morphologic standpoint. Blood smear review with or without interpretation serves to ensure that no clinically significant finding is missed, besides providing diagnosis or diagnostic clue(s), particularly if and when interpreted by a physician

Fractionated irradiation induced radio-resistant esophageal cancer EC109 cells seem to be more sensitive to chemotherapeutic drugs

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Chemo-radiotherapy, a combination of chemotherapy and radiotherapy, is the most frequent treatment for patients with esophageal cancer. In the process of radiotherapy, the radiosensitive cancer will become a radio-resistant one.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In order to detect the chemotherapeutic drug sensitivity in radio-resistant cancer cells and improve the therapy efficiency, we firstly established a radio-resistant esophageal cancer cell model (referred to as EC109/R) from the human esophageal squamous cell carcinoma cell line EC109 through fractionated irradiation using X-rays. The radio-sensitivity of EC109/R cells was measured by clonogenic assay. To detect the drug sensitivity for EC109/R compared to its parent cells, we employed MTT method to screen the effectiveness of five different drugs commonly used in clinical therapy. The ratio of apoptosis was examined by flow cytometry.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>EC109/R cells were more sensitive to 5-fluorouracil, doxorubicin, paclitaxel and etoposide, but tolerant to cisplatin compared to its original cells.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our study implies that fractionated irradiation induced radio-resistant esophageal cancer cell is more sensitive to certain kind of chemotherapeutic drugs. It provides evidence for choosing the sequence of radiotherapy and chemotherapy in esophageal cancer.</p

Papel de la bahía de Jiaozhou como una fuente/depósito de CO2 durante un ciclo estacional

The seasonal evolution of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) and CO2 air-sea fluxes in the Jiaozhou Bay was investigated by means of a data set from four cruises covering a seasonal cycle during 2003 and 2004. The results revealed that DIC had no obvious seasonal variation, with an average concentration of 2035 µmol kg-1 C in surface water. However, the sea surface partial pressure of CO2 changed with the season. pCO2 was 695 µatm in July and 317 µatm in February. Using the gas exchange coefficient calculated with Wanninkhof’s model, it was concluded that the Jiaozhou Bay was a source of atmospheric CO2 in spring, summer, and autumn, whereas it was a sink in winter. The Jiaozhou Bay released 2.60 x 1011 mmol C to the atmosphere in spring, 6.18 x 1011 mmol C in summer, and 3.01 x 1011 mmol C in autumn, whereas it absorbed 5.32 x 1010 mmol C from the atmosphere in winter. A total of 1.13 x 1012 mmol C was released to the atmosphere over one year. The behaviour as a carbon source/sink obviously varied in the different regions of the Jiaozhou Bay. In February, the inner bay was a carbon sink, while the bay mouth and the outer bay were carbon sources. In June and July, the inner and outer bay were carbon sources, but the strength was different, increasing from the inner to the outer bay. In November, the inner bay was a carbon source, but the bay mouth was a carbon sink. The outer bay was a weaker CO2 source. These changes are controlled by many factors, the most important being temperature and phytoplankton. Water temperature in particular was the main factor controlling the carbon dioxide system and the behaviour of the Jiaozhou Bay as a carbon source/sink. The Jiaozhou Bay is a carbon dioxide source when the water temperature is higher than 6.6°C. Otherwise, it is a carbon sink. Phytoplankton is another controlling factor that may play an important role in behaviour as a carbon source or sink in regions where the source or sink nature is weaker.La evolución estacional del carbono inorgánico disuelto (DIC) y el intercambio de flujos de CO2 aire-mar en la bahía de Jiaozhou han sido investigados a partir de datos obtenidos en 4 campañas oceanográficas que cubren un ciclo estacional entre 2003 y 2004. Los resultados muestran que el DIC no presenta una clara variación estacional con una concentración promedio de 2035 μmol kg-1 C en el agua de superficie. No obstante la presión parcial de CO2 en el agua superficial cambiaba con la estación. La PCO2 era de 695 μatm en Julio y 317 μatm en febrero. Utilizando el coeficiente de intercambio de gases calculado con el modelo de Wanninkhof concluíamos que la bahía de Jiaozhou era una fuente de CO2 a la atmósfera en primavera, verano y otoño, mientras que era un depósito de CO2 en invierno. La bahía proporcionaba 2.60 × 1011 mmol C a la atmósfera en primavera, 6.18 × 1011 mmol C en verano, y 3.01 × 1011 mmol C in otoño, mientras absorbia 5.32 × 1010 mmol C desde la atmósfera en invierno. Un total de 1.13 × 1012 mmol C eran liberados a la atmósfera durante un año. El comportamiento como fuente/depósito de carbono, obviamente era diferente en las distintas regiones de la bahía de Jiaozhou. En Febrero, la parte interior de la bahía era un depósito para el carbono, mientras que la desembocadura y la parte exterior actuaba como fuente de carbono. En Junio y Julio, las partes interna y externa de la bahía eran fuentes de carbono, pero la intensidad era diferente, incrementando desde la parte interior a la exterior de la bahía. En Noviembre, la parte interior de la bahía era fuente de carbono, pero la desembocadura de la bahía se comportaba como depósito de carbono. El exterior de la bahía era una fuente poco importante de CO2. Estos cambios están controlados por muchos factores, siendo los mas importantes la temperatura y el fitoplancton. Especialmente, la temperatura del agua era el factor principal en el control del dióxido de carbono en el sistema y del comportamiento de la bahía de Jiaozhou como fuente/depósito de carbono. La bahía de Jiaozhou es una fuente de dióxido de carbono cuando la temperatura del agua es mas alta que 6.6ºC. Si no es así es un depósito de carbono. El fitoplancton es el otro factor de control que puede jugar un papel importante en el comportamiento como fuente o depósito de carbono en regiones donde el carácter de fuente o depósito es debil.

Colloidal toxic trace metals in urban riverine and estuarine waters of Yantai City, southern coast of North Yellow Sea

The environmental characteristics of colloidal toxic trace metals Cd, Cu and Pb in riverine and estuarine waters collected from two urban rivers of Yantai City in eastern China, the Guangdang and Xin'an Rivers, were investigated using a modified centrifugal ultrafiltration (CUF) method in conjunction with acid extraction and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. The target metals in dissolved pool were divided into four CUF fractions, i.e. <1 kDa, 1-3 kDa, 3-10 kDa and 10 kDa-0.2 mu m, and the results showed that colloidal Cd, Cu and Pb were dominated by 1-10 kDa (1-3 and 3-10 kDa), 1-3 kDa and 10 kDa-0.2 lm fractions, respectively. The coagulation/flocculation of low-molecular-weight (1-10 kDa) colloidal Cd and Cu in the estuaries was obvious and strong, while the enrichment of dissolved Pb in the 10 kDa-0.2 lm fraction may be mainly related to its biogeochemical interactions with Fe-oxides, which is easy to occur in macromolecular colloids. In addition, the actual molecular weight cutoffs (MWCOs) of the three used CUF units with nominal MWCOs of 1, 3 and 10 kDa were determined to be 4.9, 8.5 and 33.9 kDa, respectively, indicating that membrane calibration is essential for explaining the actual fraction of dissolved trace metals and verifying the integrity of ultrafiltration membrane. Overall, the results in this study provide a further understanding of the heterogeneity in biogeochemical features, migration and fate of toxic trace metals in aquatic ecosystems, especially that of the river-sea mixing zone. (C) 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Optimizing ADMM and Over-Relaxed ADMM Parameters for Linear Quadratic Problems

The Alternating Direction Method of Multipliers (ADMM) has gained significant attention across a broad spectrum of machine learning applications. Incorporating the over-relaxation technique shows potential for enhancing the convergence rate of ADMM. However, determining optimal algorithmic parameters, including both the associated penalty and relaxation parameters, often relies on empirical approaches tailored to specific problem domains and contextual scenarios. Incorrect parameter selection can significantly hinder ADMM's convergence rate. To address this challenge, in this paper we first propose a general approach to optimize the value of penalty parameter, followed by a novel closed-form formula to compute the optimal relaxation parameter in the context of linear quadratic problems (LQPs). We then experimentally validate our parameter selection methods through random instantiations and diverse imaging applications, encompassing diffeomorphic image registration, image deblurring, and MRI reconstruction