ABSTRACT
An alternating magnetic field (AMF)/Ag multi-alloying combined process was applied to the solidification of Cuâ»14Fe alloy to study its effects on the microstructure and properties of the resulting samples. The applied AMF and Ag multi-alloying had positive effects on the refinement of the primary Fe phase and precipitation of Fe solute atoms, respectively. These results indicated that the combined AMF/Ag multi-alloying process was effective to improve the distribution of the primary Fe phase and reduce the Fe content of the Cu matrix, which increased the conductivity of the alloy. The application of the combined AMF/Ag multi-alloying process to the solidification of Cuâ»Fe alloy provided samples with improved comprehensive properties compared with those of samples solidified using a single process (AMF or Ag multi-alloying).
ABSTRACT
The goal of the present study was to evaluate the clinical and diagnostic value of both serum p53-antibodies (Abs) and preoperative fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) for BRAF mutation in patients with papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC). A total of 312 patients, including thyroid adenoma (85) and PTC (227) were enrolled in this study. Two types of enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA), phage-ELISA and p53-ELISA, were used to measure serum p53-Ab levels. Sanger sequencing was used to determine BRAF gene mutation in FNA samples. Phage-ELISA was more efficient than conventional p53-ELISA in measuring serum p53-Abs in PTC patients. BRAF mutation analysis with FNAC significantly improved PTC diagnostic sensitivity from 80.18% to 93.83% (P=0.001) and accuracy from 82.31% to 92.37% (P=0.005). Bothp53-Abs and BRAF mutation were positively associated with lymphatic metastasis and advanced TNM stages. Particularly, serum p53-Abs positively associated with multifocality (P=0.02), while BRAF mutation associated with extrathyoidal extension (P=0.01). Furthermore, PTC patients with both elevated serum p53-Abs and BRAF mutation had a higher prevalence of extrathyoidal extension (P=0.003), lymphnode metastasis (P=0.00), multifocality (P=0.04), and advanced TNM stages (P=0.004). Our results indicate that serum p53-Abs alone might not be a reliable biomarker for PTC diagnosis, but the combined analysis of serum p53-Abs and BRAF mutation in FNAC may be useful for optimizing surgical treatment and prognostic prediction of unfavorable clinicopathologic outcomes.
ABSTRACT
PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic value of FNA-Tg for detecting lymph node metastases in patients with a history of differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC). MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 58 patients with DTC diagnosis and evidence of single or multiple suspicious cervical lymph nodes were assessed. All underwent total or near-total thyroidectomy with (35 cases) or without (23 cases) radioiodine (RAI) ablation, followed by thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) suppression therapy. A total of 68 lymph nodes were examined by ultrasound-guided fine needle aspiration (US-FNA) for both cytological examination and FNA-Tg measurement. Serum Tg and anti-thyroglobulin antibody (TgAb) levels were also measured. Diagnostic performance including sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, positive (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV) of FNAC and FNA-Tg were calculated and compared. The Spearman's rank correlation coefficient was used to estimate the relationship between FNA-Tg and serum TgAb. RESULTS: The FNA-Tg levels were significantly higher with DTC metastatic lymph nodes (median 927.7 ng/mL, interquartile range 602.9 ng/mL) than non-metastatic lymph nodes (median 0.1 ng/mL, interquartile range 0.4 ng/mL) (p<0.01). Considering 1.0 ng/mL as a threshold value for FNA-Tg, the sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, PPV and NPV of FNA-Tg were 95.7%, 95.5%, 95.6%, 97.8% and 91.3%, respectively. The sensitivity and accuracy of the combination of FNAC and FNA-Tg were significantly higher than that of FNAC alone (p<0.05). The diagnostic performance of FNA-Tg was not significantly different between cases with or without RAI ablation, and the serum TgAb levels did not interfere with FNA-Tg measurements. CONCLUSIONS: Measurement of FNA-Tg is useful. The combination of FNAC and FNA-Tg is more sensitive and accurate for detecting lymph node metastases in patients with a history of DTC than FNAC alone. Serum TgAbs appear to be irrelevant for measurement of FNA-Tg.
