Pelvic skeletal metastasis of hepatocellular carcinoma with sarcomatous change: a case report

Sarcomatoid hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a very rare histologic variant of HCC. The characteristic of skeletal metastatic sarcomatoid hepatocellular carcinoma has never been reported. We reported a patient with sarcomatoid hepatocellular carcinoma pelvic metastasis who presented with huge pelvic metastasis that had relatively small osteolytic lesion centrally located accompanied by huge bipeduncular invasive expansile lesions into surrounding soft tissue. The lesion showed almost non-isotope uptake in 99mTc-methylene diphosphonate bone scintigraphy study. He underwent radiotherapy and tumor excision but the tumor rapidly recurred. In addition, serum α-fetoprotein level was never elevated beyond normal limit (< 20 ng/mL) through the whole course of treatment. We considered sarcomatoid hepatocellular carcinoma bone metastasis a highly aggressive lesion with unusual metastatic pattern. Surgical treatment with adequate safe margin in such a huge tumor with hypervascularity and extensive invasion in the pelvis was difficult; and radiotherapy maybe refractory regarding the sarcomatous nature. Therefore, debulking operation with local symptoms control may provide a better quality of life. And the clinical course suggests sarcomatoid hepatocellular carcinoma is derived from the transition of an ordinary hepatocellular carcinoma

Characterization of the Nanoporous Template Using Anodic Alumina Method

Porous anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) is deposited on a 5 cm × 5 cm tin-doped indium oxide (ITO)/glass substrate, and the AAO/ITO/glass structure thus formed is used to reduce the amount of unreacted Al inside the AAO template, thereby reducing the transmittance of the AAO/glass structure. The enhancement of transmittance is achieved by modulating the diameter of the pores and varying the applied bias. The proposed AAO can be used at a high applied bias (up to 120 V) to improve the uniformity of the current density. Following pore-widening treatment and posttreatment annealing, the morphologies and transmittance of the AAO/ITO/glass structure were also investigated

Fluorescence detection of single nucleotide polymorphisms using a universal molecular beacon

We present a simple and novel assay—employing a universal molecular beacon (MB) in the presence of Hg2+—for the detection of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) based on Hg2+–DNA complexes inducing a conformational change in the MB. The MB (T7-MB) contains a 19-mer loop and a stem of a pair of seven thymidine (T) bases, a carboxyfluorescein (FAM) unit at the 5′-end, and a 4-([4-(dimethylamino)phenyl]azo)benzoic acid (DABCYL) unit at the 3′-end. Upon formation of Hg2+–T7-MB complexes through T–Hg2+–T bonding, the conformation of T7-MB changes from a random coil to a folded structure, leading to a decreased distance between the FAM and DABCYL units and, hence, increased efficiency of fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) between the FAM and DABCYL units, resulting in decreased fluorescence intensity of the MB. In the presence of complementary DNA, double-stranded DNA complexes form (instead of the Hg2+–T7-MB complexes), with FRET between the FAM and DABCYL units occurring to a lesser extent than in the folded structure. Under the optimal conditions (20 nM T7-MB, 20 mM NaCl, 1.0 μM Hg2+, 5.0 mM phosphate buffer solution, pH 7.4), the linear plot of the fluorescence intensity against the concentration of perfectly matched DNA was linear over the range 2–30 nM (R2 = 0.991), with a limit of detection of 0.5 nM at a signal-to-noise ratio of 3. This new probe provides higher selectivity toward DNA than that exhibited by conventional MBs

Manipulation Therapy Relieved Pain More Rapidly Than Acupuncture among Lateral Epicondylalgia (Tennis Elbow) Patients: A Randomized Controlled Trial with 8-Week Follow-Up

Radial bone adjustment manipulation treatment may be effective to reduce pain rapidly in lateral epicondylalgia patients and the pathological tension in the biceps brachii muscle is highly concerned. To prove this hypothesis, we conducted a randomized controlled trial and included 35 patients with lateral epicondylalgia for more than 2 months. Either manipulation treatment (n=16) or acupuncture (n=19) was given to these patients for 2 weeks and all patients’ symptoms were followed up for 8 weeks after treatment. Both groups demonstrated changes in pain VAS score, grip strength, and DASH questionnaire. Lateral epicondylalgia patients who received manipulation treatment felt pain relief sooner than those who had acupuncture treatments during the first few treatments. However, both acupuncture and manipulation are effective, while the difference has no significance at the 8-week follow-up. The trial was registered with Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN81308551 on 5 February 2016

IMECE2002-33382 SCREAM FOR MULTI-LEVEL MOVABLE STRUCTURES BY INDUCTIVELY COUPLED PLASMA PROCESS

ABSTRACT A novel fabrication process to etch, to passivate, and to release single-crystal silicon structures totally in just only one process by inductively coupled plasma reactive ion etching (ICP-RIE) has been presented in this paper. Several kinds of movable actuators such as relay, comb-drive, and capacitance with thickness of 30 m have been fabricated successfully to demonstrate this fabrication process. Here, experimental investigations about fabrication parameters to get well profile and suspension structures are performed in a STS ICP-RIE system

Energy replacement using glucose does not increase postprandial lipemia after moderate intensity exercise

Aerobic exercise can decrease postprandial triglyceride (TG) concentrations but the relationship between exercise-induced energy deficits and postprandial lipemia is still unclear. The aim of the present study was to examine the effect of a single bout of aerobic exercise, with and without energy replacement, on postprandial lipemia and on peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) mRNA expression of very low density lipoprotein (VLDL) and low density lipoprotein (LDL) receptors and 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA reductase (HMGCR)

A CMOS-Compatible Poly-Si Nanowire Device with Hybrid Sensor/Memory Characteristics for System-on-Chip Applications

This paper reports a versatile nano-sensor technology using “top-down” poly-silicon nanowire field-effect transistors (FETs) in the conventional Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS)-compatible semiconductor process. The nanowire manufacturing technique reduced nanowire width scaling to 50 nm without use of extra lithography equipment, and exhibited superior device uniformity. These n type polysilicon nanowire FETs have positive pH sensitivity (100 mV/pH) and sensitive deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) detection ability (100 pM) at normal system operation voltages. Specially designed oxide-nitride-oxide buried oxide nanowire realizes an electrically Vth-adjustable sensor to compensate device variation. These nanowire FETs also enable non-volatile memory application for a large and steady Vth adjustment window (>2 V Programming/Erasing window). The CMOS-compatible manufacturing technique of polysilicon nanowire FETs offers a possible solution for commercial System-on-Chip biosensor application, which enables portable physiology monitoring and in situ recording