An unusual developmental anomaly of duplicated portal vein

Background: Portal vein (PV) duplication is a rare developmental anomaly but has an important role in the diagnosis and management of disease for radiologists and surgeons. Materials and methods: A new variant of PV duplication with vein fenestration leading to choledochal stenosis and dilatation and thrombus was identified by computed tomography angiography (CTA) on a 59-year-old woman with a history of gallstones. Results: A second PV originated from the superior mesenteric vein (SMV), split into two branches that encircling the common bile duct to form a vein fenestration, leading to choledochal stenosis and dilatation, with thrombus formation at the confluence. Conclusions: This case report adds to the existing body of knowledge about the variation of the PV system. We present an embryological perspective for the case, which suggests the possibility of similar occurrences

Gas geochemistry of the hot springs gas in Fujian province, SE China: insight into the deep faults and seismic activity

Fujian province is located at the forefront of the South China continental margin, situated on the edge of the Circum-Pacific seismic belt, and it is one of the regions with the most active neotectonic and geothermal activities in Chinese mainland. To explore the geochemical signals of hot spring gases to tectonic activity and earthquakes, a collection of geothermal gas samples was collected from 29 locations in Fujian from January 2021 to December 2022 (many of which were multiply collected at several sites quarterly). The gas samples were tested for their gas composition, helium, neon, carbon isotopes, radon contents, and gas flow rates. The results show that the dominant component of the hot spring outgassing is N2, and the increase in CO2 content is often associated with the increasing 13C. The variation range of the helium isotope ratio (3He/4He) in the hot spring gases is between 0.06 and 2.20Ra, and Rc/Ra varies between 0.06 and 1.58, with peak values occurring at the intersections of deep faults. Radon contents range from 18 to 2000 Bq/L. Calculations revealed that the maximum proportion of mantle-derived helium is 30.2%, and the mantle-derived heat contribution ranges from 37.6% to 63.4%. These data indicate a significant mantle degassing process in Fujian, with a high degree of mantle-crust connectivity, and mantle-derived heat as the main source of geothermal activity in the area. Comparative analysis with regional seismic activity indicates that areas with relatively strong upwelling of deep fluids are the main regions of regional seismic activity, and seismic intensity is positively correlated with mantle-derived heat flow. Thus, deep thermal fluid actives are closely genetically correlated to regional seismic activity. Additionally, the correlation analysis with the Taiwan ML6.0 earthquake suggests that high 3He/4He, δ13CCO2 values of hot spring gas and gas flow velocity in Nancheng Hot Spring (QZ6) indicate significant short-term and imminent anomaly indications preceding ML6.0 earthquakes in the Taiwan region

DHA dietary intervention caused different hippocampal lipid and protein profile in ApoE-/- and C57BL/6J mice

Background: Changes in protein and lipid levels may occur in the Alzheimer’s disease brain, and DHA can have beneficial effects on it. To investigate the impact of DHA dietary intervention on brain protein and lipid profile in ApoE-/- mice and C57 mice. Method: Three-month-old ApoE-/- mice and C57 mice were randomly divided into two groups respectively, and fed with control diet and DHA-fortified diet for five months. Cortical TC, HDL-C and LDL-C levels and cholesterol metabolism-related protein expression were measured by ELISA or immunohistochemistry methods. Hippocampus were collected for proteomic and lipidomics analysis by LC-MS/MS and differential proteins and lipid metabolites were screened and further analyzed by GO functional annotation and KEGG pathway enrichment analysis. Results: DHA intervention decreased cortical TC level in both C57 and ApoE-/- mice (P < 0.05), but caused different change of cortical HDL-C, LDL-C level and LDL-C/HDL-C ratio in C57 and ApoE-/- mice (P < 0.05). Discrepant cortical and hippocampal LDLR, ABCG1, Lox1 and SORT1 protein expression was found between C57 and ApoE-/- mice (P < 0.05), and DHA treatment caused different changes of these proteins in C57 and ApoE-/- mice (P < 0.05). Differential hippocampal proteins and lipids profile were found in C57 and ApoE-/- mice before and after DHA treatment, which were mainly involved in vesicular transport and phospholipid metabolic pathways. Conclusion: ApoE genetic defect caused abnormal cholesterol metabolism, and affected protein and lipid profile, as well as discrepant response of hippocampal protein and lipids profile in the brain of mice given DHA fortified diet intervention

In Situ Representation of Soil/Sediment Conductivity Using Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy

The electrical conductivity (EC) of soil is generally measured after soil extraction, so this method cannot represent the in situ EC of soil (e.g., EC of soils with different moisture contents) and therefore lacks comparability in some cases. Using a resistance measurement apparatus converted from a configuration of soil microbial fuel cell, the in situ soil EC was evaluated according to the Ohmic resistance (Rs) measured using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. The EC of soils with moisture content from 9.1% to 37.5% was calculated according to Rs. A significant positive correlation (R2 = 0.896, p &lt; 0.01) between the soil EC and the moisture content was observed, which demonstrated the feasibility of the approach. This new method can not only represent the actual soil EC, but also does not need any pretreatment. Thus it may be used widely in the measurement of the EC for soils and sediments

Real-time earthquake magnitude estimation via a deep learning network based on waveform and text mixed modal

Abstract Rapid and accurate earthquake magnitude estimations are essential for earthquake early warning (EEW) systems. The distance information between the seismometers and the earthquake hypocenter can be important to the magnitude estimation. We designed a deep-learning, multiple-seismometer-based magnitude estimation method using three heterogeneous multimodalities: three-component acceleration seismograms, differential P-arrivals, and differential seismometer locations, with a specific transformer architecture to introduce the implicit distance information. Using a data-augmentation strategy, we trained and selected the model using 5365 and 728 earthquakes. To evaluate the magnitude estimation performance, we use the root mean square error (RMSE), mean absolute error (MAE), and standard deviation error (ϭ) between the catalog and the predicted magnitude using the 2051 earthquakes. The model could achieve RMSE, MAE, and ϭ less than 0.38, 0.29, and 0.38 when the passing time of the earliest P-arrival is 3 s and stabilize to the final values of 0.20, 0.15, and 0.20 after 14 s. The comparison between the proposed model and model ii, which is retrained without the specific architecture, indicates that the architecture contributes to the magnitude estimation. The P-arrivals picking error testing indicates the model could provide robust magnitude estimation on EEW with an absolute error of less than 0.2 s. Graphical Abstrac

Primitive neuroectodermal tumor of the pericardium: a case report and literature review

Abstract Background The primitive neuroectodermal tumors (PNETs) are a family of highly malignant tumors with a multidirectional differential potential. The tumors are characterized by aggressive small round tumor cells that originate from the spinal cord of the central and sympathetic nervous systems. Cases involving the pericardium are extremely rare. Herein, we present a case of peripheral primitive neuroectodermal tumor (pPNET) that originated in the pericardium. Case presentation A 23-year-old woman presented with cough and progressive dyspnea for 1 month, followed by eyelid and facial edema for 10 days, without any apparent cause. Significantly elevated tumor markers were detected in her blood. A cardiac ultrasound revealed a 74 mm × 61 mm spherical mass that was attached to the left pericardium, as well as massive pericardial effusion. Positron emission tomography-CT (PET-CT) showed focal hypermetabolism in the left pericardium. Via histopathology and immunohistochemistry, the spherical mass was identified as PNETS. The patient was successfully treated with a combination of surgical resection via thoracotomy and postoperative chemotherapy, and she was disease-free for 7 years at follow-up. Unfortunately, at 7 years after the treatment, the patient’s pPNET recurred. Positron emission tomography-MRI (PET-MRI) and 64-slice coronary CTA revealed that the aorta and multiple coronary arteries were involved. Subsequently, the patient refused a heart transplant and voluntarily left the hospital. Conclusions This paper reports on a rare and recurrent case of PNET in the parietal pericardium. With respect to the different biologic characteristics and prognoses of pPNETs (compared to other known pericardium tumors), it is essential to consider this entity as a differential diagnosis in pericardium tumors

TACE combined with portal particle implantation in a case of stage IIIa primary hepatocellular carcinoma treated with sequential anlotinib

Few cases of patients with Cheng’s type III portal vein tumor thrombus (PVTT) have been reported to achieve radical cure without recurrence over time. In this study, we reported on a 55-year-old male patient with a diagnosis of stage IIIa China liver cancer staging (CNLC), PVTT Cheng’s type III, mild cirrhosis, and chronic viral hepatitis B. TACE combined with radioactive iodine-125 ( 125 I) particle implantation was applied to achieve radical treatment with sequential oral anlotinib hydrochloride capsules. This case might serve as a reference for the treatment of this disease

Expression profiling reveals transcriptional regulation by Fbxw7/mTOR pathway in radiation-induced mouse thymic lymphomas

The tumor suppressor gene FBXW7 is deleted and mutated in many different types of human cancers. FBXW7 primarily exerts its tumor suppressor activity by ubiquitinating different oncoproteins including mTOR. Here we used gene transcript profiling to gain a deeper understanding of the role of FBXW7 in tumor development and to determine the influence of mTOR inhibition by rapamycin on tumor transcriptome and biological functions. In comparison to tumors from p53 single heterozygous (p53+/−) mice, we find that radiation-induced thymic lymphomas from Fbxw7/p53 double heterozygous (Fbxw7+/−p53+/−) mice show significant deregulation of cholesterol metabolic processes independent of rapamycin treatment, while cell cycle related genes were upregulated in tumors from placebo treated Fbxw7+/−p53+/− mice, but not in tumors from rapamycin treated Fbxw7+/−p53+/− mice. On the other hand, tumors from rapamycin treated Fbxw7+/−p53+/− mice were enriched for genes involved in the integrated stress response, an adaptive mechanism to survive in stressful environments. Finally, we demonstrated that the Fbxw7 gene signatures identified in mouse tumors significantly overlap with FBXW7 co-expressed genes in human cancers. Importantly these common FBXW7 gene signatures between mouse and human are predictive for disease-free survival in human colon, breast and lung adenocarcinoma cancer patients. These results provide novel insights into the role of FBXW7 in tumor development and have identified a number of potential targets for therapeutic intervention

Combined effects of seawater acidification and high temperature on hemocyte parameters in the thick shell mussel Mytilus coruscus

In this work, flow cytometry was used to examine the immune responses of hemocytes in the thick shell mussel Mytilus coruscus exposed to six combinations of pH (7.3, 7.7, and 8.1) and temperature (25 °C and 30 °C) for 14 days. Temperature showed significant effects on all immune parameters throughout the experiment. Generally, the total hemocyte count (THC), phagocytosis (Pha), esterase (Est), and lysosomal content (Lyso) significantly decreased at high temperature. By contrast, the hemocyte mortality (Hm) and reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels increased at high temperature. Moreover, pH significantly influenced all the immune parameters, but its effects are not as strong as those of temperature; only Hm, Est, and THC were negatively affected by pH throughout the experiment. After 7 days, low pH resulted in decreased Lyso and increased Hm and ROS levels. Significant interactions between temperature and pH in most measured parameters from 7 days suggested that long-term combined stress, i.e., low pH and high temperature, would cause more severe effects on mussel health than an individual stressor in the field

Temporal mTOR inhibition protects Fbxw7-deficient mice from radiation-induced tumor development.

FBXW7 acts as a tumor suppressor in numerous types of human cancers through ubiquitination of different oncoproteins including mTOR. However, how the mutation/loss of Fbxw7 results in tumor development remains largely unknown. Here we report that downregulation of mTOR by radiation is Fbxw7-dependent, and short-term mTOR inhibition by rapamycin after exposure to radiation significantly postpones tumor development in Fbxw7/p53 double heterozygous (Fbxw7+/-p53+/-) mice but not in p53 single heterozygous (p53+/-) mice. Tumor latency of rapamycin treated Fbxw7+/-p53+/- mice is remarkably similar to those of p53+/- mice while placebo treatedFbxw7+/-p53+/- mice develop tumor significantly earlier than placebo treated p53+/- mice. Furthermore, we surprisingly find that, although temporal treatment of rapamycin is given at a young age, the inhibition of mTOR activity sustainably remains in tumors. These results indicate that inhibition of mTOR signaling pathway suppresses the contribution of Fbxw7 loss toward tumor development