Surgical salvage after radiation for laryngeal cancer

From January, 1962, through December, 1973, 1,084 patients with cancer of the intrinsic larynx were treated at the Mayo Clinic. Of the 1,084 patients, 136 were retreated after radiation therapy failed to cure their cancer (105 glottic, 30 supraglottic, and one subglottic cancers). Recurrence of glottic cancer was generally recognized later than recurrences in the supraglottic area; likewise, glottic cancers were more advanced at recurrence than supraglottic growths. When feasible, conservation surgery was carried out on both glottic and supraglottic growths. Unfortunately, many growths were too advanced for conservation surgery by the time recurrence was recognized. The concept of "radiate-and-watch" for early glottic and supraglottic cancers is designed to save larynges. The concept is not supported by this study.     

Alzheimer paired helical filaments (PHFs) studied by high-resolution TEM: what can vertical Pt-C replication tell us about the organization of the pronase-digested PHF core?

Untreated paired helical filaments (PHFs) and pronase-digested PHF-core filaments were stereoscopically imaged with a freeze-drying vertical platinum-carbon replication preparation method for TEM. The untreated PHF have an average wide region (W) = 22.8 +/- 2.4 nm, a narrow region (T) = 10.6 +/- 1.7 nm, and a helical turn period (L) = 78.6 +/- 13.4. The surfaces of the untreated PHF's fuzzy coat appears disorganized. The widths of the pronase-treated PHF-core filaments were significantly reduced (W(d) = 14.8 +/- 1.2 nm, T(d) = 5.7 +/- 1.0 nm, and L(d) = 75.4 +/- 17 nm). The surfaces of the untreated PHF contained approximately 1.1 nm strands, the same size as tau monomer ( approximately 1.0 nm). The pronase-digested PHF cores mostly contained approximately 1.6 +/- 0.3 nm strands although strand diameters ranged from 0.6-2.5 nm. The strands sometimes appear to be wrapped around the filament axis; less often, they appear to be roughly parallel to the PHF axis, and otherwise appear to be randomly oriented. Images of pronase-digested PHF core images are discussed in relation to the core's biochemical composition, its proposed beta structure, and structural subunit models. Images of the untreated and the pronase-digested PHF support a helical ribbon morphology.     

Investigation of the Electrochemical Stop Etching of Silicon Upon the Fabrication of Cantilevers

Semiconductors - Anisotropic etching in potassium hydroxide (KOH) solution with electrochemical stop is commonly used in the formation of thin silicon membranes of sensitive elements in various...     

The role of biodegradation in limiting the accumulation of petroleum hydrocarbons in raingarden soils

Previous studies have indicated that raingardens are effective at removing petroleum hydrocarbons from stormwater. There are concerns, however, that petroleum hydrocarbons could accumulate in raingarden soil, potentially resulting in liability for the site owner. In this work, 75 soil samples were collected from 58 raingardens and 4 upland (i.e., control) sites in the Minneapolis, Minnesota area, representing a range of raingarden ages and catchment land uses. Total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) concentrations in the samples were quantified, as were 16S rRNA genes for Bacteria and two functional genes that encode for enzymes used in the degradation of petroleum hydrocarbons. TPH levels in all of the raingarden soil samples were low (<3 μg/kg) and not significantly different from one another. The TPH concentration in raingarden soil samples was, however, significantly greater (p ≤ 0.002) than TPH levels in upland sites. In addition, the number of copies of Bacteria 16S rRNA genes and functional genes were greater in the raingardens planted with deeply-rooted natives and cultivars than in raingardens containing simply turf grass or mulch (p < 0.036), suggesting that planted raingardens may be better able to assimilate TPH inputs. The ability of microorganisms present in the soil samples to degrade a representative petroleum hydrocarbon (naphthalene) was also investigated in batch experiments. A sub-set of the field sites was selected for re-sampling, and all soil samples tested (n = 8) were able to mineralize naphthalene. In these experiments the initial mineralization rate correlated with the number of copies of Bacteria 16S rRNA genes present.     

Upregulation of Cathepsin X in Glioblastoma: Interplay with γ-Enolase and the Effects of Selective Cathepsin X Inhibitors

Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most common and deadly primary brain tumor in adults. Understanding GBM pathobiology and discovering novel therapeutic targets are critical to finding efficient treatments. Upregulation of the lysosomal cysteine carboxypeptidase cathepsin X has been linked to immune dysfunction and neurodegenerative diseases, but its role in cancer and particularly in GBM progression in patients is unknown. In this study, cathepsin X expression and activity were found to be upregulated in human GBM tissues compared to low-grade gliomas and nontumor brain tissues. Cathepsin X was localized in GBM cells as well as in tumor-associated macrophages and microglia. Subsequently, potent irreversible (AMS36) and reversible (Z7) selective cathepsin X inhibitors were tested in vitro. Selective cathepsin X inhibitors decreased the viability of patient-derived GBM cells as well as macrophages and microglia that were cultured in conditioned media of GBM cells. We next examined the expression pattern of neuron-specific enzyme γ-enolase, which is the target of cathepsin X. We found that there was a correlation between high proteolytic activity of cathepsin X and C-terminal cleavage of γ-enolase and that cathepsin X and γ-enolase were colocalized in GBM tissues, preferentially in GBM-associated macrophages and microglia. Taken together, our results on patient-derived material suggest that cathepsin X is involved in GBM progression and is a potential target for therapeutic approaches against GBM.     

Characterization of activated sludge exocellular polymers using several cation-associated extraction methods

Evaluation of prior research and preliminary investigations in our laboratory led to the development of an extraction strategy that can be used to target different cations in activated sludge floc and extract their associated extracellular polymeric substances (EPS). The methods we used were the cation exchange resin (CER) procedure, base extraction, and sulfide addition to extract EPS linked with divalent cations, Al, and Fe, respectively. A comparison of sludge cations before and after CER extraction revealed that most of Ca(2+) and Mg(2+) were removed while Fe and Al remained intact, suggesting that this method is highly selective for Ca(2+) and Mg(2+)-bound EPS. The correlation between sludge Fe and sulfide-extracted EPS was indicative of selectivity of this method for Fe-bound EPS. The base extraction was less specific than the other methods but it was the method releasing the largest amount of Al into the extract, indicating that the method extracted Al-bound EPS. Concomitantly, the composition of extracted EPS and the amino acid composition differed for the three methods, indicating that EPS associated with different metals were not the same. The change in EPS following anaerobic and aerobic digestion was also characterized by the three extraction methods. CER-extracted EPS were reduced after aerobic digestion while they changed little by anaerobic digestion. On the other hand, anaerobic digestion was associated with the decrease in sulfide-extracted EPS. These results suggest that different types of cation-EPS binding mechanisms exist in activated sludge and that each cation-associated EPS fraction imparts unique digestion characteristics to activated sludge.     

An assessment of pasteurization treatment of water, media, and milk with respect to Bacillus spores

This study evaluated the ability of spore-forming Bacillus spp. to resist milk pasteurization conditions from 72 to 150 degrees C. Spores from the avirulent surrogate Sterne strain of Bacillus anthracis, as well as a representative strain of a common milk contaminant that is also a pathogen, Bacillus cereus ATCC 9818, were heated at test temperatures for up to 90 min in dH2O, brain heart infusion broth, or skim milk. In skim milk, characteristic log reductions (log CFU per milliliter) for B. anthracis spores were 0.45 after 90 min at 72 degrees C, 0.39 after 90 min at 78 degrees C, 8.10 after 60 min at 100 degrees C, 7.74 after 2 min at 130 degrees C, and 7.43 after 0.5 min at 150 degrees C. Likewise, log reductions (log CFU per milliliter) for viable spores of B. cereus ATCC 9818 in skim milk were 0.39 after 90 min at 72 degrees C, 0.21 after 60 min at 78 degrees C, 7.62 after 60 min at 100 degrees C, 7.37 after 2 min at 130 degrees C, and 7.53 after 0.5 min at 150 degrees C. No significant differences (P < 0.05) in thermal resistance were observed for comparisons of spores heated in dH2O or brain heart infusion broth compared with results observed in skim milk for either strain tested. However, spores from both strains were highly resistant (P < 0.05) to the pasteurization temperatures tested. As such, pasteurization alone would not ensure complete inactivation of these spore-forming pathogens in dH2O, synthetic media, or skim milk.     

Subharmonic synchronous and hybrid mode-locking of a monolithic DBR laser operating at millimeter-wave frequencies

A detailed comparison of subharmonic synchronous and subharmonic hybrid mode-locking of a monolithic distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) laser operating at 33 GHz is presented. Optical injection at the 20th subharmonic frequency (1.65 GHz) has produced a locking range of 10 MHz with negligible amplitude modulation. In comparison, electrical injection at the 4th subharmonic frequency (5.83 GHz) has shown higher levels of amplitude modulation and a narrower locking range (4 MHz). While subharmonic hybrid mode-locking remains a simple and cost effective solution for the generation of low timing jitter high-repetition rate optical pulse trains, subharmonic synchronous mode-locking shows superior performance with regard to reduced amplitude modulation and larger locking range.     

Learning-Based Vertebra Detection and Iterative Normalized-Cut Segmentation for Spinal MRI

Automatic extraction of vertebra regions from a spinal magnetic resonance (MR) image is normally required as the first step to an intelligent spinal MR image diagnosis system. In this work, we develop a fully automatic vertebra detection and segmentation system, which consists of three stages; namely, AdaBoost-based vertebra detection, detection refinement via robust curve fitting, and vertebra segmentation by an iterative normalized cut algorithm. In order to produce an efficient and effective vertebra detector, a statistical learning approach based on an improved AdaBoost algorithm is proposed. A robust estimation procedure is applied on the detected vertebra locations to fit a spine curve, thus refining the above vertebra detection results. This refinement process involves removing the false detections and recovering the miss-detected vertebrae. Finally, an iterative normalized-cut segmentation algorithm is proposed to segment the precise vertebra regions from the detected vertebra locations. In our implementation, the proposed AdaBoost-based detector is trained from 22 spinal MR volume images. The experimental results show that the proposed vertebra detection and segmentation system can achieve nearly 98% vertebra detection rate and 96% segmentation accuracy on a variety of testing spinal MR images. Our experiments also show the vertebra detection and segmentation accuracies by using the proposed algorithm are superior to those of the previous representative methods. The proposed vertebra detection and segmentation system is proved to be robust and accurate so that it can be used for advanced research and application on spinal MR images.