Role of MMP-2, MMP-9 and VEGF as serum biomarker in early prognosis of renal cell carcinoma

Introduction: Renal cell carcinoma epitomizes a diversified group of tumors which contributes more than 15,000 deaths annually worldwide. In spite of tremendous efforts to identify prognostic factors apart from grade, histology and tumor size, they are not so obvious yet to fulfill the requirement. In this study, the prognostic role of serum matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2, 9, and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) levels in patients with pre and postoperative renal cell carcinoma are evaluated to use as biomarker.Patients and methods: A total of 100 patients with a diagnosis of renal cell carcinoma included in the study. Additionally, hundred healthy kidney donors enrolled as control, serum MMP-2, MMP-9, and VEGF levels were analyzed in the serum of post and preoperative patients and parallel in control serum samples by ELISA method.Result: Most of the patients with RCC were found to have high concentrations of serum MMP-2, MMP-9, and VEGF. The levels of MMP-2 in the serum of preoperative patients ranged from 627 to 1117 ng/ml (833.90 ± 111.91), postoperative MMP-2 range 302–913 (553.02 ± 150.08), control range 122–384 (228.33 ± 72.52). In MMP-9 pre-operative range 619–1233 (862.32 ± 119.77), post-operative range 124–909 (552.88 ± 151.91) and control range 42–467 (245.44 ± 116.52 and in VEGF preoperative range was 0.792–2.214 (1.35 ± 0.36), postoperative range was 0.315–1.917 (0.81 ± 0.46) and in control it was 0.01–0.39 (0.10 ± 0.09). We observed that preoperative levels of all three markers, were significantly increased if compared with postoperative and control levels (P = 0.001) however, no any significant correlation found when the levels correlated with grade, stage, size, and type for MMP-2 and MMP-9, but VEGF shows some significance in comparison

Forced convection heat transfer in tube banks in cross flow

The forced convection heat transfer characteristics for an incompressible, steady and Newtonian fluid flow over a bundle of circular cylinders has been investigated numerically. The inter-cylinder hydrodynamic interactions have been approximated by employing a simple cell model. The momentum and energy equations have been solved by using a finite difference based numerical solution procedure for a range of physical and kinematic conditions. Furthermore, the role of the type of thermal boundary condition, namely, a constant temperature or a constant heat flux, imposed on the surface of the cylinder has also been elucidated. Extensive results on the temperature fields, and on the variation of the Nusselt number on the surface of a typical cylinder in the assemblage have been obtained for two values of the Prandtl number (corresponding to air and water). The Reynolds number of flow was varied in the range 1-500 and the voidage of the assemblage ranged from 0.4 to 0.99 thereby covering the entire range of interest as encountered in tubular heat exchangers and in fibrous beds. The paper is concluded by presenting extensive comparisons with the limited analytical/numerical and/or experimental results available in the literature for the case of a single cylinder as well as that for tube bundles

Does extended lymph node dissection affect the lymph node density and survival after radical cystectomy?

Background : Diagnostic and therapeutic importance of pelvic lymph node (LN) dissection (PLND) in radical cystectomy (RC) has gained recent attention. A method of pathological analysis of LN affects total number of LN removed, number of LN involved, and LN density. Objective : To compare extended lymphadenectomy to standard lymphadenectomy in terms of LN yield, density, and effect on survival. Materials and Methods : From Jan 2004 - July 2009, 78 patients underwent RC whose complete histopathological report was available for analysis. All were transitional cell carcinoma. From July 2007 onward extended LN dissection was started and LNs were sent in six packets. Twenty-eight patients of standard PLND kept in group I. Group II had 23 patients of standard PLND (LN sent in four packets), and group III had 23 patients of extended PLND (LN sent in six packets). SPSS 15 software used for statistical calculation. Results : Distribution of T-stage among three groups is not statistically significant. Median number of LN harvested were 5 (range, 1-25) in group I, 9 (range, 3-28) in group II, and 16 (range, 1-25) in group III. Although this is significant, we did not find significant difference in number of positive LN harvested. We did not find any patient with skip metastasis to common iliac LN in group 3. Conclusions : Separate package LN evaluation significantly increased the total number of LN harvested without increasing the number of positive LN and survival

Does extended lymph node dissection affect the lymph node density and survival after radical cystectomy?

Background : Diagnostic and therapeutic importance of pelvic lymph node (LN) dissection (PLND) in radical cystectomy (RC) has gained recent attention. A method of pathological analysis of LN affects total number of LN removed, number of LN involved, and LN density. Objective : To compare extended lymphadenectomy to standard lymphadenectomy in terms of LN yield, density, and effect on survival. Materials and Methods : From Jan 2004 - July 2009, 78 patients underwent RC whose complete histopathological report was available for analysis. All were transitional cell carcinoma. From July 2007 onward extended LN dissection was started and LNs were sent in six packets. Twenty-eight patients of standard PLND kept in group I. Group II had 23 patients of standard PLND (LN sent in four packets), and group III had 23 patients of extended PLND (LN sent in six packets). SPSS 15 software used for statistical calculation. Results : Distribution of T-stage among three groups is not statistically significant. Median number of LN harvested were 5 (range, 1-25) in group I, 9 (range, 3-28) in group II, and 16 (range, 1-25) in group III. Although this is significant, we did not find significant difference in number of positive LN harvested. We did not find any patient with skip metastasis to common iliac LN in group 3. Conclusions : Separate package LN evaluation significantly increased the total number of LN harvested without increasing the number of positive LN and survival