The effects of FR167653 in extended liver resection with ischemia in dogs

PURPOSE: We assess the neovascularity of clinically localized prostate cancer by immunohistochemistry using the monoclonal antibody CD34 in an attempt to identify associations between angiogenesis and disease progression following radical prostatectomy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Microvascularity was evaluated using the CD34 monoclonal antibody in archival paraffin embedded radical prostatectomy specimens from 149 patients followed from 3 to 10 years (mean 6.6). Vessels were quantified by counting a minimum of 2 selected microscopic fields (200x, 0.754 mm.2) from each tumor, area of prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia and prostatic hyperplasia, and given a numerical value representing the microvessel density count. RESULTS: Mean microvessel density count did not vary significantly with age or race. There was a significant association between the count and nuclear grade, Gleason sum and pathological stage. Cox survival analysis shows that microvessel density is significantly related to time to recurrence when considered as a continuous variable (p=0.03) as well as dichotomous variable (p=0.007) (microvessel density count less than 90 and 90 or greater). The 5-year recurrence-free survival was significantly higher for patients with a count less than 90 (71%) than for those with a count 90 or greater (51%) (p=0.006). The 5-year recurrence-free survival was also significantly different when microvessel density was used as a continuous variable (p=0.02). Controlling for stage, Gleason sum, race and nuclear grade, microvessel density remained significant in predicting recurrence (p=0.03) but when pretreatment prostate specific antigen was included in the model the count was no longer significant. The microvessel density count in the tumor area significantly increased with increasing Gleason sum and nuclear grade but it did not increase significantly in the adjacent benign prostate or areas of prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia in the same specimen. CONCLUSIONS: Microvascularity or neovascularity as measured by the CD34 antigen may be a prognostic marker of recurrence for prostate cancer patients after radical prostatectomy but more study in prostate specific antigen era patients with sufficient followup is needed.     

Different change in lipoprotein(a) levels from lipid levels of other lipoproteins with improved glycemic control in patients with NIDDM

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate change both in lipoprotein(a) [Lp(a)] and lipid levels in other lipoproteins in non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) after short-term improvement of glycemic control. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: We compared Lp(a) levels in 210 NIDDM patients with those in 46 control subjects and evaluated the relationship between glycemic control and Lp(a) levels in diabetic patients. In addition, changes in Lp(a) levels and lipid levels were assessed after the improvement of glycemic control in 54 poorly controlled NIDDM patients. RESULTS: In NIDDM, Lp(a) levels in all patients, 62 patients with HbA1c < 6.0%, and 75 patients with HbA1c between 6.0 and 8.0%, were significantly higher than those in control subjects (19.1 [1.7-106.6], 19.2 [6.0-106.6], and 20.3 [2.7-75.3] vs. 15.4 [2.0-61.7] mg/dl, median [range], P < 0.05). Lp(a) levels in 73 patients with HbA1c of > or = 8.0% (18.7 [1.7-58.8] mg/dl) were not significantly different from those in control subjects. After glycemic control, lipid levels in plasma and in other lipoproteins fell significantly, but Lp(a) did not change (from 18.3 [1.7-58.8] to 18.4 [6.6-95.3] mg/dl). Changes in lipid levels, including Lp(a), did not correlate with those in fasting plasma glucose or HbA1c. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that elevated Lp(a) levels do not reflect poor glycemic control and that Lp(a) levels are independent of lipid levels in other lipoproteins after improved glycemic control in NIDDM.     

An elevation of stem cell factor in patients with hyperthyroid Graves'' disease

The dose of cells expressing the surface antigen CD34 (CD34+) has been shown to be a reliable predictor of the time to engraftment following transplantation of PBPC to support high-dose chemotherapy. However, evaluation of rare cells is complicated by a number of factors, including the variability in operator and technical procedures. Recently, Becton Dickinson Immunocytometry Systems introduced a new CD34+ cell analysis system, the ProCOUNT cell enumeration kit, which automates the analysis of CD34+ cells and minimizes the variabilities of this procedure. We have evaluated the ProCOUNT system in comparison to a standard CD34 cell analysis (based on the Milan approach) using leukapheresis products from patients and normal donors mobilized with chemotherapy plus recombinant human G-CSF (rhG-CSF) or with rhG-CSF alone. In addition, we compared these analyses using CD34+ cell-selected mobilized leukapheresis products with purities of 75% or greater. The standard CD34 cell analysis methodology quantitated the frequency of cells identified as CD45+, low side scatter, and CD34+. A high correlation coefficient was obtained between the ProCOUNT methodology and the standard CD34 cell analysis methodology for cells obtained from leukapheresis products mobilized with chemotherapy plus rhG-CSF (r = 0.98), rhG-CSF alone (r = 0.96), and CD34+-selected mobilized leukapheresis products (r = 0.83). A comparison was also made between technicians using both analysis methods. Whereas the correlation coefficient between two technicians using the standard methodology was r = 0.77, the correlation coefficient was much higher when using ProCOUNT (r = 0.99). These data demonstrate that the use of ProCOUNT is associated with less variability between data analyzed by different operators. Also, ProCOUNT is consistent with existing CD34+ cellular analysis methodologies. An additional advantage is the ability to determine the absolute concentration of CD34+ cells, thereby allowing calculation of total CD34+ cell numbers without using WBC counts, which also have inherent errors. The ProCOUNT system provides an automated analysis procedure that minimizes the variables in CD34+ cell analysis and may be useful for standardization of methodology between laboratories.     

Repeated temperature modulation epitaxy for p-type doping and light-emitting diode based on ZnO.

Since the successful demonstration of a blue light-emitting diode (LED), potential materials for making short-wavelength LEDs and diode lasers have been attracting increasing interest as the demands for display, illumination and information storage grow. Zinc oxide has substantial advantages including large exciton binding energy, as demonstrated by efficient excitonic lasing on optical excitation. Several groups have postulated the use of p-type ZnO doped with nitrogen, arsenic or phosphorus, and even p-n junctions. However, the choice of dopant and growth technique remains controversial and the reliability of p-type ZnO is still under debate. If ZnO is ever to produce long-lasting and robust devices, the quality of epitaxial layers has to be improved as has been the protocol in other compound semiconductors. Here we report high-quality undoped films with electron mobility exceeding that in the bulk. We have used a new technique to fabricate p-type ZnO reproducibly. Violet electroluminescence from homostructural p-i-n junctions is demonstrated at room-temperature.     

Evaluation of the FREEDOM O2, DC Concentrator, a portable oxygen concentrator capable of operating under car battery power

Many sensitive biomarkers are available for the surveillance of the early health effects of chemicals on humans. This study was conducted to evaluate the usefulness of glycosaminoglycans (GAG) as biomarkers of early kidney effects in exposure to 2-alkoxyethanols and their acetates. GAG were compared with effects on the urinary beta-N-acetylglycosaminidase activity (NAG). According to the results of the present study, the excretion rate of GAG was higher among women than men. On the other hand, the excretion rate of GAG was lower among exposed subjects than among the controls, and the level was decreased at the tested levels of exposure. The NAG activity was higher in most of the exposed groups than in the controls. The data indicated that an appropriate urinary limit value for ethoxyacetic acid was 30 mmol/mol creatinine in postshift samples and that this value corresponded to an 8-hour exposure level of 2 cm3/m3 2-ethoxyethylacetate. Urinary butoxyacetic acid excretion of 60 mmol/mol creatinine corresponded to the inhalation exposure level of 5 cm3/m3 2-butoxyethanol and its acetate in postshift samples.     

Modeling the trajectory of window flames with regard to flow attachment to the adjacent wall

A model for predicting the trajectory of window flame ejected from a fire compartment was formulated incorporating the effect of wall above the opening. Based on the observation in the reduced scale experiments, window flames were divided into the following categories with regard to its trajectory configuration: the flow which ascends almost vertically up after ejection maintaining a certain separation from the wall; and the flow which ascends upward after ejection and gradually approaches to the wall in the downstream. In the model, trajectories of these flows were approximated by cubic polynomials whose coefficients were given as functions of a dimensionless parameter F*. The parameter F* was derived from the conservation equation of momentum which incorporates the effect of pressure gradient across the ascending flows. Critical condition for the occurrence of flow attachment was described as a proportion of the maximum separation from the wall versus the opening width. Trajectories predicted by the proposed model were then compared with the measurement data which indicated reasonable agreements.     

Modeling thermal behaviors of window flame ejected from a fire compartment

A series of reduced-scale experiments were carried out in order to investigate thermal behaviors of window flame, which exposes the upper floors as well as the adjacent buildings to potential risks of fire spread. A stainless pan filled with alcohol was used as the fire source and was placed inside a cubic compartment of 900 mm side. Temperatures and velocities at various points inside and outside of the compartment were measured. The compartment was pressurized during the experiment by mechanically supplying air at several mass inflow rates through an inlet duct set at the bottom part of the compartment. This was for simulating fire conditions under the effect of external wind pressure. On the basis of the experimental observation, line (i.e., two-dimensional) heat source assumption was adopted for developing a model of window flame behavior. A dimensionless parameter Q^′*${Q^{\prime }}^{*}$ was derived from the governing differential equations in order to generalize the measurement results. Expressions for temperature rise along the trajectory ΔT_m and characteristic flame width b_T were developed incorporating the parameter Q^′*${Q^{\prime }}^{*}$.     

A variational method for geometric regularization of vascular segmentation in medical images

In this paper, a level-set-based geometric regularization method is proposed which has the ability to estimate the local orientation of the evolving front and utilize it as shape induced information for anisotropic propagation. We show that preserving anisotropic fronts can improve elongations of the extracted structures, while minimizing the risk of leakage. To that end, for an evolving front using its shape-offset level-set representation, a novel energy functional is defined. It is shown that constrained optimization of this functional results in an anisotropic expansion flow which is usefull for vessel segmentation. We have validated our method using synthetic data sets, 2-D retinal angiogram images and magnetic resonance angiography volumetric data sets. A comparison has been made with two state-of-the-art vessel segmentation methods. Quantitative results, as well as qualitative comparisons of segmentations, indicate that our regularization method is a promising tool to improve the efficiency of both techniques.