Despite significant progress in the prevention, screening, diagnosis, prognosis, and therapy of breast cancer (BC), it remains a highly prevalent and life-threatening disease affecting millions worldwide. Molecular subtyping of BC is crucial for predictive and prognostic purposes due to the diverse clinical behaviors observed across various types. The molecular heterogeneity of BC poses uncertainties in its impact on diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis study presents the Construction and Demolition Waste Object Detection Dataset (CODD), a benchmark dataset specifically curated for the training of object detection models and the full-scale implementation of automated sorting of Construction and Demolition Waste (CDW). The CODD encompasses a comprehensive range of CDW scenarios, capturing a diverse array of debris and waste materials frequently encountered in real-world construction and demolition sites. A noteworthy feature of the presented study is the ongoing collaborative nature of the dataset, which invites contributions from the scientific community, ensuring its perpetual improvement and adaptability to emerging research and practical requirements.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFReconciling top-down and bottom-up country-level greenhouse gas emission estimates remains a key challenge in the MRV (Monitoring, Reporting, Verification) paradigm. Here we propose to independently quantify cumulative emissions from a significant number of methane (CH) emitters at national level and derive robust constraints for the national inventory. Methane emissions in Cyprus, an insular country, stem primarily from waste and agricultural activities.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCentral to the development of a successful waste sorting robot lies an accurate and fast object detection system. This study assesses the performance of the most representative deep-learning models for the real-time localisation and classification of Construction and Demolition Waste (CDW). For the investigation, both single-stage (SSD, YOLO) and two-stage (Faster-RCNN) detector architectures coupled with various backbone feature extractors (ResNet, MobileNetV2, efficientDet) were considered.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFollicular thyroid carcinoma (FTC) is the second most common cancer of the thyroid gland, accounting for up to 20% of all primary malignant tumors in iodine-replete areas. The diagnostic work-up, staging, risk stratification, management, and follow-up strategies in patients who have FTC are modeled after those of papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC), even though FTC is more aggressive. FTC has a greater propensity for haematogenous metastasis than PTC.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFProstate cancer (PCa) is a leading cause of mortality in men of African origin. While men of African descent in high-income countries (HICs) demonstrate poor prognosis compared to their European counterparts, African men on the African continent, particularly Southern Africa have shown even higher PCa mortality rates. Extrinsic factors such as the socioeconomic status, education level, income level, geographic location and race contribute to PCa patient outcome.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground And Objectives: is associated with a broad spectrum of predominantly neurologic disorders, which continues to expand beyond the initially defined phenotypes of alternating hemiplegia of childhood, rapid-onset dystonia parkinsonism, and cerebellar ataxia, areflexia, pes cavus, optic atrophy, sensorineural hearing loss syndrome. This phenotypic variability makes it challenging to assess the pathogenicity of an variant found in an undiagnosed patient. We describe the phenotypic features of individuals carrying a pathogenic/likely pathogenic variant and perform a literature review of all variants published thus far in association with human neurologic disease.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCervical cancer (CC) is the primary cause of female cancer fatalities in low-middle-income countries (LMICs). Persistent infections from the human papillomavirus (HPV) can result in cervical cancer. However, numerous different factors influence the development and progression of cervical cancer.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAbout 15% of all human cancers have a viral etiology. Although progress has been made, understanding the viral oncogenesis and associated molecular mechanisms remain complex. The discovery of cellular miRNAs has led to major breakthroughs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPrecision oncology can be defined as molecular profiling of tumors to identify targetable alterations. Emerging research reports the high mortality rates associated with type II endometrial cancer in black women and with prostate cancer in men of African ancestry. The lack of adequate genetic reference information from the African genome is one of the major obstacles in exploring the benefits of precision oncology in the African context.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOligodendrocytes (OLs) are critical for myelination and are implicated in several brain disorders. Directed differentiation of human-induced OLs (iOLs) from pluripotent stem cells can be achieved by forced expression of different combinations of the transcription factors SOX10 (S), OLIG2 (O), and NKX6.2 (N).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Relative oxidation of different metabolic substrates in the heart varies both physiologically and pathologically, in order to meet metabolic demands under different circumstances. C labelled substrates have become a key tool for studying substrate use-yet an accurate model is required to analyse the complex data produced as these substrates become incorporated into the Krebs cycle.
Objectives: We aimed to generate a network model for the quantitative analysis of Krebs cycle intermediate isotopologue distributions measured by mass spectrometry, to determine the C labelled proportion of acetyl-CoA entering the Krebs cycle.
Background: Routine vascular surgery operations involve stitching of disconnected human arteries with themselves or with artificial grafts (arterial anastomosis). This study aims to extend current knowledge and provide better-substantiated understanding of the mechanics of end-to-end anastomosis through the development of an analytical model governing the dynamic behavior of the anastomotic region of two initially separated arteries.
Methods: The formulation accounts for the arterial axial-circumferential deformation coupling and suture-artery interaction.
Asthma is a chronic inflammatory condition characterised by a variable degree of airflow limitation. Exacerbations during the course of asthma often occur due to environmental factors or infectious, mostly viral, aetiology. The present study reports the case of a 61-yr-old male with severe asthma hospitalised due to increasing respiratory distress.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOsteoarthritis Cartilage
November 2008
Objective: Dialysis-related amyloidosis (DRA) is a severe complication of maintenance hemodialysis (HD). Given the predominant deposition of beta(2)-microglobulin (beta2m) fibrils on articular cartilage in early DRA, we investigated the significance of beta2m and its relationship to distinct cartilage biomarkers in early DRA diagnosis in HD patients. Furthermore, we assessed the effects of beta2m on articular chondrocytes in vitro.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSolid-state (23)Na and (31)P magic-angle spinning nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and X-ray crystallography have been used to study the structures of the chain metaphosphates NaCa(PO(3))(3) and NaSr(PO(3))(3). The compounds are isostructural and crystallise in space group P(-1) with the following parameters: NaCa(PO(3))(3), a = 6.711 A, b = 6.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: We evaluated cerebrovascular events (CVE) after kidney transplantation (KTx) and sought to identify pre-transplant predictors of transient ischaemic attacks (TIA) and strokes post-transplantation.
Methods: A total of 1617 consecutive kidney and 16 kidney-pancreas recipients transplanted between 1995 and 2005 were analysed in this retrospective single-centre study. Risk factors for CVE, e.
Until now, it remains unclear whether the addition of manual daytime exchanges or increasing the nightly dialysate flow is the best strategy to optimize automated peritoneal dialysis (APD) treatment. In this open-label randomized controlled crossover trial, 18 patients with high-average (HA) or low-average (LA) peritoneal transport rates sequentially underwent two different APD regimens for 7 days each, with an intermittent washout period of 7 days. 'Manual exchange' treatment was a conventional APD with low nightly dialysate flow and one manual daytime exchange.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection increases morbidity and mortality in renal transplant recipients (RTR). Lamivudine has shown promising results in patients with chronic hepatitis B, but experience with its use in RTR is limited.
Methods: In a prospective, open labeled, uncontrolled trial, 19 HBsAg(+) RTR were treated with lamivudine for 12 months.
Over the last few years, the armamentarium of immunosuppressants has been enriched by a variety of new drugs, that have helped to further reduce the incidence of acute rejection episodes after kidney transplantation. Nevertheless the search for new compounds drugs continues, until tolerance, the ultimate goal of transplantation medicine can be achieved. Meanwhile we should appreciate that neither all drugs nor all patients are equal and tailor the immunosuppression to the patients' needs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Acute myocardial infarction is believed to be caused by rupture of an unstable coronary-artery plaque that appears as a single lesion on angiography. However, plaque instability might be caused by pathophysiologic processes, such as inflammation, that exert adverse effects throughout the coronary vasculature and that therefore result in multiple unstable lesions.
Methods: To document the presence of multiple unstable plaques in patients with acute myocardial infarction and determine their influence on outcome, we analyzed angiograms from 253 patients for complex coronary plaques characterized by thrombus, ulceration, plaque irregularity, and impaired flow.
Despite the availability of various lipid lowering drugs, the treatment of hyperlipidemia, one of the most important risk factors for morbidity and mortality after organ transplantation, remains a therapeutic challenge. We investigated the safety and efficacy of a new HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor, atorvastatin, in renal transplant patients whose serum lipids were insufficiently controlled by diet and treatment with other lipid lowering drugs. Twenty-four patients (14 males/10 females; mean age 51.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDuring and after transplantation the kidney experiences a variety of insults that result in functional impairment and structural damage. These changes are mediated or influenced by hormones, cytokines, enzymes and growth factors, which are excreted by endothelial, graft parenchymal as well as by graft infiltrating cells. This review evaluates the pathophysiological role of vasoactive substances (for example, the vasoconstrictors angiotensin II and endothelin, as well as vasodilators such as nitric oxide, adrenomedullin and atrial natriuretic peptide) in kidney transplantation and summarizes recent reports that indicate that targeting vasoactive substances may represent effective therapeutic strategies for the achievement of long-term allograft survival.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF1. 5'-Hydroxycotinine-N-oxide, 5-(3-pyridyl-N-oxide)-5-hydroxy-1-methyl-pyrrolidone-2, was identified as a new in vivo metabolite of nicotine. 2.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUnlabelled: Prostatic transurethral thermotherapy was evaluated clinically using the Prostcare microwave system of the Bruker Company, which uses a microwave radiometer to measure and control intraprostatic temperature.
Objectives: The aim of our study was to evaluate the immediate histological lesions induced in the prostatic tissue depending on the temperatures delivered to the prostate; the histological changes when adenectomy is carried out after thermotherapy, and the endoscopic appearance of the prostatic fossa 48 h, and 1, 2, 3 and 6 months after thermotherapy.
Methods: Our study was divided into three stages: in the first stage, we conducted thermotherapy in 10 patients in whom suprapubic adenectomy was indicated.