Morphologic and Molecular Features of Hepatocellular Adenoma with Gadoxetic Acid-enhanced MR Imaging

Purpose To evaluate the diagnostic performance of imaging features of gadoxetic acid-enhanced magnetic resonance (MR) imaging to differentiate among hepatocellular adenoma (HCA) subtypes by using the histopathologic results of the new immunophenotype and genotype classification and to correlate the enhancement pattern on the hepatobiliary phase (HBP) with the degrees of expression of organic anion transporting polypeptide (OATP1B1/3), multidrug resistance-associated protein 2 (MRP) (MRP2), and MRP 3 (MRP3) transporters. Materials and Methods This retrospective study was approved by the institutional review board, and the requirement for informed consent waived. MR imaging findings of 29 patients with 43 HCAs were assessed by two radiologists independently then compared with the histopathologic analysis as the standard of reference. Receiver operating characteristic curves and Spearman rank correlation coefficient were used to test the diagnostic performance of gadoxetic acid-enhanced MR imaging features, which included the retention or washout at HBP and degree of transporter expression. Interreader agreement was assessed by using the κ statistic with 95% confidence interval. Results The area under the curve for the diagnosis of inflammatory HCA was 0.79 (95% confidence interval: 0.64, 0.90); for the steatotic type, it was 0.90 (95% confidence interval: 0.77, 0.97); and for the β-catenin type, it was 0.87 (95% confidence interval: 0.74, 0.95). There were no imaging features that showed a significant statistical correlation for the diagnosis of unclassified HCAs. On immunohistochemical staining, OATP1B1/3 expression was the main determinant for the retention, whereas MRP3 was the key determinant for washout of gadoxetic acid at HBP (P < .001). MRP2 appeared to have no role. Conclusion Gadoxetic acid-enhanced MR imaging features may suggest the subtype of HCA. The degree of OATP1B1/3 and MRP3 expression correlated statistically with gadoxetic acid retention and washout, respectively, in the HBP. (©) RSNA, 2015 Online supplemental material is available for this article

Fitorremediação de solo contaminado com o herbicida picloram por plantas de capim pé-de-galinha gigante (Eleusine coracana) cultivadas sob diferentes lâminas de água no solo.

O objetivo desse trabalho foi avaliar a influência de diferentes lâminas de água no solo sobre a fitorremediação de solo contaminado com o herbicida picloram por plantas de capim-pé-de-galinha-gigante (Eleusine coracana). Como substrato para o crescimento das plantas, utilizou-se amostras de solo classificado como Latossolo Vermelho distroférrico. A quantidade de água evaporada média foi determinada através de dois evaporímetros. Após 48 horas da aplicação do herbicida foi realizada a semeadura da espécie vegetal fitorremediadora Eleusine coracana - capim-pé-de-galinha-gigante. Dez dias após a emergência das plantas realizou-se um desbaste, deixando-se 14 plantas por vaso. Uma vez ao dia, todos os vasos recebiam reposição de água, considerando a quantidade de água evaporada. A semeadura da soja (cultivar Monsoy 6101), espécie bioindicadora da presença do picloram, foi efetuada distribuindo-se 10 sementes por vaso de cada espécie. Após a emergência das plantas de soja, procedeu-se um desbaste deixandose três plantas por vaso. A irrigação foi uniformizada em todos os tratamentos com todos os vasos recebendo mesma lâmina de irrigação duas vezes ao dia. A soja se mostrou extremamente sensível à presença do picloram no solo. Constatou-se que a maior umidade do solo auxilia na remediação de solos contaminados com o herbicida picloram, utilizando-se para esse processo plantas de E. coracana. No entanto, essa melhoria da fitorremediação apenas é significativa quando a contaminação do solo com o herbicida não é elevada (até 80 g ha-1)

Abstraktion und Vereinheitlichung der Sensor-Anbindung für mobile Roboter

Abweichender Titel laut Übersetzung der Verfasserin/des VerfassersZsfassung in dt. Sprache. - Literaturverz. S. I - XIn der Vergangenheit wurde bei der Entwicklung von mobilen Robotern oft wenig Wert auf Modularisierung und Wiederverwendbarkeit gelegt, obwohl es schon im Laufe eines einzigen Projektes oft wünschenswert wäre, Sensoren einfach hinzuzufügen oder zu tauschen, ohne, dass dies besondere Auswirkungen auf andere Module nach sich zieht. Zur Datenakquirierung werden oft heterogene Systeme mit einer Vielzahl unterschiedlicher Busse verwendet, was Änderungen und Erweiterungen erschwert: Kommerziell verfügbare Sensorplatinen sind oft nur mit einem Bus kompatibel, haben teilweise nur eine beschränkte Adressierbarkeit und können deshalb nicht einfach untereinander getauscht werden. Außerdem müssen die Zugriffe in zeitlich korrekter Abfolge durchgeführt werden und Prioritäten beachtet werden. Diese Diplomarbeit soll Möglichkeiten aufzeigen, wie die Kommunikation mit und die Einbindung von Sensoren (und Aktuatoren) in mobilen Robotersystemen (etwa in Forschung und Lehre) vereinfacht werden können. Ein Überblick über häufig verwendete Sensortypen bildet gemeinsam mit den in der Literatur gefundenen Lösungen die Basis, um aus den existierenden Feldbussen einen zu wählen, der als Backbone-Bus in Robotern verwendet werden kann. Ein Protokoll zur Steuerung und zum Transfer von Daten für eingebettete System wird definiert und ein Proof-of-Concept basierend auf USB implementiert. Um Einflüsse durch etwaige Latenzen und Jitter abzuschwächen, wird eine global synchronisierte Zeitbasis aufgebaut, um Messinformationen schon an der Quelle mit Zeitstempeln zu versehen. Eine Benutzfreundliche Integration des entwickelten Prototyps mit Robot Operating System (ROS) in einer Beispiel-Anwendung beweist seine Praxistauglichkeit.In the past, the development of mobile robots did not attach great importance to modular design or reusability although it is often desirable even within a single project to be able to add or replace sensors without too many consequences for other modules. Heterogeneous systems with several different busses are used to acquire sensor data which makes changes a lot harder. Also, commercial sensor modules frequently work with one bus only, support a limited number of addresses and are incompatible with hardware from other vendors. This thesis investigates how communication with and integration of sensors in mobile robots for research and teaching can be improved. A review of common sensor types and related work in the field of sensor access provide the foundation to choose an existing field bus to be used as a single backbone bus for a communication network in robots. A control and data transfer protocol for embedded systems is defined and implemented on top of USB. To compensate for any bus latency and jitter, a globally synchronized time base is established to correlate timestamps with all sensor values already at the source of measurement. A developer-friendly integration of the system into an example application in Robot Operating System (ROS) shows its usefulness to speed up development.7

Effect of abrupt and frequent changes in forage quality on digestibility and performance of crossbred cattle offered Napier grass (Pennisetum purpureum) and barley straw

Seasonal variation in feed supply, is recognised as an important constraint to animal production in the tropics. However, day to day fluctuations in quantity and quality of feed are also common in stall-fed animals on smallholder dairy farms. Opportunistic use of feeds available in small amounts, such as residues from food crops, weeds and purchased fodder is common. In addition, amounts of cut green fodder may be reduced or absent on some days. Ruminant animals require time to adapt to a given feed and it might be expected that frequent and abrupt changes of this type might have a negative effect on feed utilisation and animal performance. The objective of the experiment was to determine wheather the way in which two fodders, with significantly different DM, CP and fibre contents, were offered, would influence digestibility and liveweight gain in cross-bred cattle