ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is an increasing problem worldwide. Determining a prognosis is important for the management of HCC. AIM: We aimed to investigate the impact of interleukin (IL)-29, galectin-3, leptin, fibronectin and protease-activated receptor-1 on the prognosis and diagnosis of patients with HCC. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 60 HCC patients (75% male) and 20 healthy volunteers (70% male) were enrolled in this prospective study. Serum samples were obtained during the first admission before any adjuvant or metastatic treatments were administered. Serum biomarkers were determined using ELISA kits. RESULTS: All patients had cirrhosis, and the Child - Pugh stages were as follows: 61.5% Child - Pugh A, 35.9% Child - Pugh B and 2.6% Child - Pugh C (61.7% hepatitis B virus, 11.7% hepatitis C virus, 6.7% hepatitis B virus + hepatitis C virus, 11.7% alcoholic and 8.3% cryptogenic). Fifty-three percent of the HCC patients died within a median of 7.5 months. The mean serum level of IL-29 in patients with HCC was higher than that in the control group (32.55 pg/ml vs 11.46 pg/ml, p < 0.015). Galectin-3 levels were significantly higher in the HCC group (6.7 ng/ml vs 1.38 ng/ml, p < 0.001). Fibronectin levels were higher in the control group than in the HCC group (260 635 ng/ml vs 257 353 ng/ml). However, the mean protease-activated receptor-1 and leptin levels were similar between the two groups (p > 0.05). The biomarkers were divided into two groups according to their median level. In the log rank analysis, biomarkers had no effect on survival (p > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: IL-29 and galectin-3 levels were significantly higher in HCC patients. Although IL-29 and galectin-3 can be used as diagnostic markers for HCC, they had no prognostic value in HCC patients.
Subject(s)
Biomarkers, Tumor , Carcinoma, Hepatocellular/diagnosis , Liver Neoplasms/diagnosis , Blood Chemical Analysis , Blood Proteins , Carcinoma, Hepatocellular/blood , Carcinoma, Hepatocellular/etiology , Carcinoma, Hepatocellular/mortality , Case-Control Studies , Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay , Female , Galectins/blood , Humans , Interferons/blood , Interleukins/blood , Liquid Biopsy/methods , Liver Neoplasms/blood , Liver Neoplasms/etiology , Liver Neoplasms/mortality , Male , Prognosis , ROC Curve , Survival RateABSTRACT
Intussusception is a rare occurrence in the adult population with most of the cases seen during the childhood period. Compared with the pediatric intussusceptions, there is more often an underlying cause in adults. Lipoma as a lead point for colonic intussusception is rare. Ultrasound may be helpful in the diagnosis, but computed tomography is more reliably used for differential diagnosis. An adult patient with colo-colonic intussusception diganosed with ultrasound and confirmed with computed tomography is presented.
Subject(s)
Cecal Neoplasms/complications , Colonic Diseases/etiology , Intussusception/etiology , Lipoma/complications , Adult , Cecal Neoplasms/diagnostic imaging , Colonic Diseases/diagnostic imaging , Female , Humans , Intussusception/diagnostic imaging , Lipoma/diagnostic imaging , Tomography, X-Ray ComputedABSTRACT
When bone is subjected to fatigue loading, micro-cracks initiate and grow. This reduces the mechanical properties and quantitative relationships between stiffness loss and loading cycles may be derived. We developed the relationships between stiffness loss and loading cycles for whole canine femurs subjected to cyclic fatigue in four-point bending. The fatigue data from experiments followed Weibull statistics. When the stiffness loss is less than 15%, a linear relationship is best-fitted (R2 = 0.96, p < 0.0001) between the stiffness loss and loading cycles. However, when the stiffness loss is greater than 30%, a power law relationship is best-fitted (R2 = 0.97, p < 0.0001) between the stiffness loss and loading cycles. Thus, we conclude that the derived relationships between stiffness loss and loading cycles might be useful for the prediction of bone failure under cyclic bending subjected to an initial strain of 2700 microstrain.
Subject(s)
Femoral Fractures/physiopathology , Femur/physiology , Fractures, Stress/physiopathology , Algorithms , Animals , Dogs , Forecasting , Least-Squares Analysis , Linear Models , Pliability , Probability , Stress, Mechanical , Tensile StrengthABSTRACT
Stress analysis of the human temporomandibular joint (TMJ) consisting of mandibular disc, condyle and fossa-eminence complex during normal sagittal jaw closure was performed using non-linear finite element analysis (FEA). The geometry of the TMJ was obtained from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The tissue proportion was measured from a cadaver TMJ. Contact surfaces were defined to represent the interaction between the mandibular disc and the condyle, and between the mandibular disc and the fossa-eminence complex so that finite sliding was allowed between contact bodies. Stresses in the TMJ components (disc, condyle and fossa-eminence complex), and forces in capsular ligaments were obtained. The results demonstrated that, with the given condylar displacement, the stress in the condyle was dominantly compressive and in the fossa-eminence complex was dominantly tensile. The cancellous bone was shielded by the shell shaped cortical bone from the external loading. The results illustrate the stress distributions in the TMJ during a normal jaw closure.
