Role of 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron-emission tomography/computed tomography in restaging of adrenocortical carcinoma

Background: The objective was to retrospectively evaluate the contribution of  fluorodeoxyglucose [18F] positron emission tomography/computed tomography (18FDG-PET/CT) to the re-staging of adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC). Materials and methods: A total of 16 patients (10 males and 6 females), who underwent adrenalectomy due to adrenocortical carcinoma and 18FDG-PET/CT scan to re-stage the tumor between July 2007 and April 2013, were included in the present study. The mean age was 53.37 ± 13.91 years (min: 30, max: 74) The patients were required to fast for six hours prior to scanning, and whole-body PET scanning from the skull base to the upper thighs was performed approximately 1 h after the intravenous injection of 555 MBq of F-18 FDG. Whole body CT scanning was performed in the cranio-caudal direction. FDG-PET images were reconstructed using CT data for attenuation correction. Suspicious recurrent or metastatic lesions were confirmed by histopathology or clinical follow-up. Results: Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and accuracy of 18FDG-PET/CT were 100%, 83.3%, 90.9%, 83.3%, and 93.7%, respectively. Conclusion: 18FDG-PET/CT detects local recurrence and/or distant metastases with high accuracy in the re-staging of operated adrenocortical carcinoma. It is considered that the procedure could play an important role in treatment decision after the operation and post-operative follow-up and could influence the entire decision-making process

Some Useful Collective Properties of Bessel, Marcum Q-Functions and Laguerre Polynomials

Special functions have been used widely in many problems of applied sciences. However, there are considerable numbers of problems in which exact solutions could not be achieved because of undefined sums or integrals involving special functions. These handicaps force researchers to seek new properties of special functions. Many problems that could not be solved so far would be solved by means of these efforts. Therefore in this article, we derived some useful properties and interrelations of each others of Bessel functions, Marcum Q-functions and Laguerre polynomials

A bilateral and symmetrical variation of the anterior belly of the digastric muscle.

We observed a bilateral and symmetrical variation of the anterior belly of the digastric muscle during the dissection of a 35-year-old female cadaver. The accessory muscle bundles were arranged in a cross. These bundles were found superficial to the mylohyoid muscle and deep in the platysma. Such a variation from perfect symmetry has not been previously reported. To avoid misinterpretation of radiological tests, it is important to be aware of bilateral and symmetrical variations of the anterior belly of the digastric muscle when examining the floor of the mouth and the submental region.</p

Bovine Viral Diarrhea Virus Infection in Cattle - Antioxidant Status and Some Biochemical Parameters

Background: Bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) infections in cattle result in significant economic losses due to reproductive performance deficiencies caused by gastrointestinal, respiratory system infections, and transplacental infections. BVDV is one of the most important and widespread pathogens in cattle worldwide, including Turkey. Methods such as virus neutralization, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), reverse transcriptase and polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) are used for the detection of the disease. The diagnosis of the disease in its subclinical form is challenging due to the lengthy and costly procedures involved. Investigating oxidative stress parameters in ruminants with various diseases contributes significantly to diagnosis and prognosis. This study aimed to investigate some oxidative stress and biochemical parameters in cattle infected with BVDV. Materials, Methods &amp; Results: In the study, blood samples were collected from 80 Simmental breed cows aged between approximately 4 and 8 years to determine the presence of BVDV antibodies using the ELISA method. Based on the results obtained, study groups were organized. The study included a group of 10 animals with positive antibody levels as the infected group, and a group of 10 animals with negative antibody levels as the healthy group. Blood samples were taken from the animals, and serum separation was ensured. In the obtained serum samples, levels of vitamin E, vitamin A, β-Carotene, catalase, GSH-Px, and MDA were determined using spectrophotometric methods. In addition, serum total protein, albumin, alkaline phosphatase (ALP), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), glucose, low-density lipoprotein (LDL), high-density lipoprotein (HDL), calcium (Ca), and phosphorus (P) were measured using commercial test kits and an autoanalyzer. In the study, it was observed that the differences in serum MDA, vitamin E, vitamin A, β-carotene, and catalase levels were statistically significant between the healthy and BVDV-infected groups (P &lt; 0.001). The activity of GSH-Px was also found to be statistically different between the groups (P &lt; 0.01). Among the biochemical parameters, HDL, LDL, and AST levels were found to be statistically significant between the healthy and BVDV-infected groups (P &lt; 0.001). Additionally, ALP and glucose levels were found to be statistically significant (P &lt; 0.01). However, although there were differences in the levels of total protein, albumin, Ca, and P between the groups, these results were not statistically significant.Discussion: Although the diagnosis of the disease was partially made based on clinical observations in BVDV infections, the ELISA method was used for accurate diagnosis. Furthermore, it was found that there was a significant difference in MDA concentration between the healthy and infected groups, indicating oxidative damage caused by the virus. Similarly,significant differences in vitamin E, vitamin A, β-carotene, GSH-Px, and catalase levels were observed between the groups, indicating a decrease in antioxidant values due to the infection. In addition, differences in ALP, AST, glucose, LDL, and HDL levels were found between the groups. This difference is thought to be related to the effects of the disease agent on the liver and systemically. This study demonstrates that, in addition to the viral pathogen, antioxidant and biochemical values are important criteria in the detection of the disease. Keywords: antioxidant, bovine, BVDV, MDA, serum biochemistry

LFM-Pro: a tool for detecting significant local structural sites in proteins

Motivation: The rapidly growing protein structure repositories have opened up new opportunities for discovery and analysis of functional and evolutionary relationships among proteins. Detecting conserved structural sites that are unique to a protein family is of great value in identification of functionally important atoms and residues. Currently available methods are computationally expensive and fail to detect biologically significant local features

A New Formulation For The Fundamental Period Of Reinforced Concrete Planar Shear Walls

The reinforced concrete shear wall system has become a popular structural component for lateral resistance in buildings and base shear of these structures has a vital effect on the earthquake induced lateral forces. The fundamental period of structures is used in most building codes to determine the lateral forces. However, accurate computation of period is not an easy task at the design stage. The main objective of this study is to evaluate the empirical easy-to-use equation for the calculation of fundamental periods of concrete planar shear walls. Genetic programming has been used to generate the proposed formula. Finite element analysis, were carried out for various shear walls having a variety of height and length and the results were used to develop the proposed formula. The outcomes of formula are compared with the results from equations in the seismic codes and finite element analysis. The comparison results indicate good agreement with finite element analysis and show better performance than codes

Evaluation of the relationship between the topographical anatomy in the axillary region of the brachial plexus and the body mass index

WOS: 000439345200023PubMed ID: 28871408To investigate the topographic anatomy of the median, musculocutaneous, radial and ulnar nerves with respect to the axillary artery and to seek whether these configurations are associated with baseline descriptive data including age, gender, and body-mass index. This cross-sectional trial was carried out on 199 patients (85 women, 114 men; average age: 46.78 +/- 15.45 years) in the department of anaesthesiology and reanimation of a tertiary care center. Topographic anatomy of the median, musculocutaneous, radial and ulnar nerves was assessed with ultrasonography. Localization of these nerves with respect to the axillary artery was marked on the map demonstrating 16 zones around the axillary artery. Frequencies of localizations of every nerve in these zones were recorded, and the correlation of these locations with descriptive data including age, gender and BMI was investigated. There was no difference between women and men for the distribution of the median (p = 0.74), ulnar (p = 0.35) and radial (p = 0.64) nerves. However, the musculocutaneous nerve was more commonly located in Zone A13 in men compared to women (p = 0.02). The localization of the median (p = 0.85), ulnar (p = 0.27) and radial (p = 0.88) nerves did not differ remarkably between patients with BMI < 25 kg/m(2) and patients with BMI 25 kg/m(2). Notably, the musculocutaneous nerve was more often determined in Zone A10 in cases with BMI 25 kg/m(2) (p = 0.001). Our results imply that the alignment of the musculocutaneous nerve may vary in men and overweight people. This fact must be considered by the anaesthetist before planning the axillary block of brachial plexus. All these informations may enlighten the planning stages of the brachial plexus blockade

Effects of rosmarinic acid on cognitive and biochemical alterations in ovariectomized rats treated with D-galactose

Introduction. Animal models designed to mimic certain features of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) can help us to in­crease our understanding of the underlying mechanisms of disease. Previous studies have revealed that long-term D-galactose injection combined with ovariectomy results in pathophysiologic alterations associated with AD. Thus, the aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of rosmarinic acid (RA) administration on pathological changes associated with ovariectomy and D-galactose injection, which serve as a two-insult model for AD. Material and methods. One hundred female Wistar rats were divided into five equal groups: control (C), Sham (Sh), rosmarinic acid treated (R), ovariectomized rats treated with D-galactose (OD), ovariectomized rats treated with D-galactose and rosmarinic acid (ODR) groups. D-galactose (80 mg/kg/day) was administered by i.p. injection and RA (50 mg/kg/day) was given via gavage for 60 days. Open field and Y-maze tests were used to assess locomotor activity and short-term spatial memory, respectively. Biochemical and histopathological analyses of the brain tissue were performed. Results. Open field testing showed that the locomotor activity and exploratory behavior of rats were prominent­ly impaired in the OD group as compared to the other studied groups. Similarly, Y-maze test results revealed a decrease of short-term spatial memory in the OD rats. A concomitant treatment with RA significantly restored altered locomotor activity and cognitive functions in the ODR group. Lipid peroxidation levels, cyclooxygen­ase-2 expression and prostaglandin E2 levels in the brain tissue were higher in the OD group and RA treatment inhibited these changes. AD-like histopathological alterations and amyloid b peptide (Ab) depositions were observed in the OD group. Normal cell structure and lower Ab depositions were observed in the ODR group compared with the OD group. Conclusions. RA could have the potential to prevent some psychological and biochemical alterations of brain tissue found in a rat model of AD probably by attenuating lipid peroxidation and inflammatory response

Effects of trapidil after crush injury in peripheral nerve.

In this study, we evaluated the effects of trapidil on crush injury by monitoring nitric oxide, malondialdehyde and transforming growth factor-Beta2 levels and by transmission electron microscopy in the rat sciatic nerve. The sciatic nerve was compressed for 20 sec by using a jewelers forceps. Trapidil treatment groups were administrated a single dose of trapidil (8 mg/kg) intraperitoneally just after the injury. The crush and crush + trapidil treatment groups were evaluated on the 2nd, 7th, 15th, 30th and 45th days of the post-crush period. On the 7th and 15th days, damage in thin and thick myelinated axons, endoneural edema and mitochondrial swelling were less severe in the trapidil group histopathologically. These findings supported the idea that trapidil prevented cell damage and edema at the injury site. Day/group interaction with regard to serum nitric oxide, malondialdehyde and transforming growth factor-Beta2 levels did not show significant changes.</p