Risk stratification of gallbladder polyps (1-2 cm) for surgical intervention with 18F-FDG PET/CT.

UNLABELLED: We assessed the value of (18)F-FDG uptake in the gallbladder polyp (GP) in risk stratification for surgical intervention and the optimal cutoff level of the parameters derived from GP (18)F-FDG uptake for differentiating malignant from benign etiologies in a select, homogeneous group of patients with 1- to 2-cm GPs. METHODS: Fifty patients with 1- to 2-cm GPs incidentally found on the CT portion of PET/CT were retrospectively analyzed. All patients had histologic diagnoses. GP (18)F-FDG activity was visually scored positive (≥liver) or negative (

Multilayered Pt/Ru nanorods with controllable bimetallic sites as methanol oxidation catalysts.

A physical synthesis of multilayered Pt/Ru nanorods with controllable bimetallic sites as methanol oxidation catalysts is reported for the first time. The novel nanorods were synthesized via the oblique angle deposition method, deposited prior to the formation of each individual noble metal layer, in a sequential fashion. It has been shown that the oblique angle deposition controls the morphology and electrochemical properties of the resultant nanostructures. Sequentially the multilayered nanorods comprising Pt and Ru segments exhibited superior electrocatalytic activity when compared to equivalent monometallic Pt nanorods with respect to methanol electrooxidation reaction in an acidic medium. Moreover, it has been established that the electrochemical process takes place at the Pt/Ru nanorods followed the bifunctional mechanism. The relative rates of reaction, recorded using chronoamperometry, show a linear relationship between the long-time current density and the number of Pt/Ru interfaces. Interestingly, the best catalyst for methanol oxidation was found to the surface of bimetallic Pt/Ru nanorods produced by the heat treatments via the so-called electronic effect. This reflects the fact that the ensemble effects of combined bifunctional and electronic effects via second elements could be expected in methanol oxidation reactions. Electrocatalytic activities correlate well with bimetallic pair sites and electronic properties analyzed by X-ray photoemission spectroscopy and X-ray absorption near-edge structure.

Quantitative analysis of phosphopeptides in search of the disease biomarker from the hepatocellular carcinoma specimen.

Reversible phosphorylation of proteins is the most common PTM in cell-signaling pathways. Despite this, high-throughput methods for the systematic detection, identification, and quantification of phosphorylated peptides have yet to be developed. In this paper, we describe the establishment of an efficient online titaniuim dioxide (TiO2)-based 3-D LC (strong cationic exchange/TiO2/C18)-MS(3)-linear ion trap system, which provides fully automatic and highly efficient identification of phosphorylation sites in complex peptide mixtures. Using this system, low-abundance phosphopeptides were isolated from cell lines, plasma, and tissue of healthy and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients. Furthermore, the phosphorylation sites were identified and the differences in phosphorylation levels between healthy and HCC patient specimens were quantified by labeling the phosphopeptides with isotopic analogs of amino acids (stable isotope labeling with amino acids in cell culture for HepG2 cells) or water (H(2) (18)O for tissues and plasma). Two examples of potential HCC phospho-biomarkers including plectin-1(phopho-Ser-4253) and alpha-HS-glycoprotein (phospho-Ser 138 and 312) were identified by this analysis. Our results suggest that this comprehensive TiO2-based online-3-D LC-MS(3)-linear ion trap system with high-throughput potential will be useful for the global profiling and quantification of the phosphoproteome and the identification of disease biomarkers.