First clinical experience with real-time portal imaging-based breath-hold monitoring in tangential breast radiotherapy.

Background And Purpose: Real-time treatment monitoring with the electronic portal imaging device (EPID) can conceptually provide a more accurate assessment of the quality of deep inspiration breath-hold (DIBH) and patient movement during tangential breast radiotherapy (RT). A system was developed to measure two geometrical parameters, the lung depth (LD) and the irradiated width (named here skin distance, SD), along three user-selected lines in MV EPID images of breast tangents. The purpose of this study was to test the system during tangential breast RT with DIBH.

A system for real-time monitoring of breath-hold via assessment of internal anatomy in tangential breast radiotherapy.

The deep inspiration breath-hold (DIBH) technique assists in sparing the heart, lungs, and liver during breast radiotherapy (RT). The quality of DIBH is currently assessed via surrogates which correlate to varying degrees with the patient's internal anatomy. Since modern linacs are equipped with an electronic portal imaging device (EPID), images of the irradiated anatomy streamed from EPIDs and analyzed in real time could significantly improve assessment of the quality of DIBH.

Platelet extracellular vesicles induce a pro-inflammatory smooth muscle cell phenotype.

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are mediators of cell communication during health and disease, and abundantly released by platelets upon activation or during ageing. Platelet EVs exert modulatory effects on immune and vascular cells. Platelet EVs may modulate the function of vascular smooth muscle cells (SMC).

Multilayer Capsules of Bovine Serum Albumin and Tannic Acid for Controlled Release by Enzymatic Degradation.

With the purpose to replace expensive and significantly cytotoxic positively charged polypeptides in biodegradable capsules formed via Layer-by-Layer (LbL) assembly, multilayers of bovine serum albumin (BSA) and tannic acid (TA) are obtained and employed for encapsulation and release of model drugs with different solubility in water: hydrophilic-tetramethylrhodamine-isothiocyanate-labeled BSA (TRITC-BSA) and hydrophobic 3,4,9,10-tetra-(hectoxy-carbonyl)-perylene (THCP). Hydrogen bonding is proposed to be predominant within thus formed BSA/TA films. The TRITC-BSA-loaded capsules comprising 6 bilayers of the protein and polyphenol are benchmarked against the shells composed of dextran sulfate (DS) and poly-l-arginine (PARG) on degradability by two proteolytic enzymes with different cleavage site specificity (i.

[Annexin-5 as a biochemical marker of early vascular disorders under chronic disease of kidneys].

The study evaluated the significance of annexin-5 as a biochemical marker of atherosclerosis in patients with chronic disease of kidneys. The sample consisted of 46 patients with chronic disease of kidneys without clinical symptoms of atherosclerosis. The indicators of lipidogram, intima-media complex of carotid artery reactivity of vessels of microcirculatory channel and concentration of annexin-5 are determined.

Aging- and activation-induced platelet microparticles suppress apoptosis in monocytic cells and differentially signal to proinflammatory mediator release.

Background: Platelet microparticles (PM) are the most abundant cell-derived microparticles in the blood, and accumulate in thrombo-inflammatory diseases. Platelets produce PM upon aging via an apoptosis-like process and by activation with strong agonists. We previously showed that long-term treatment of monocytic cells with apoptosis-induced PM (PMap) promotes their differentiation into resident macrophages.

Avidin adsorption on silicone elastomer: effects of stretching and polyelectrolyte coatings.

Zeta potential and avidin adsorption of silicone elastomer (SE) and SE coated with polyethyleneimine (PEI) and heparin is studied under controlled hydrodynamic conditions. Zeta potential (ζ) of SE depends on the duration of contact with buffer (0.02M MOPS-KCl, pH 7.

[Endothelial dysfunction and apoptosis at early stage of chronic kidney disease].

Aim: To study changes in apoptosis and endothelial function in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) stage I-IIIb (CKDsI-IIIb).

Material And Methods: A complex of biochemical, enzyme immunoassay and device investigations was used to examine 128 patients with CKDsI-IIIb.

Results: In CKD stage I reduction of endothelium-dependent vasodilation (EDV) was detected in 34% patients, in stage II -- in 52 %, in stage IIIa -- y 52 %, in stage IIIb - in 70%.

A novel microfluidics-based method for probing weak protein-protein interactions.

We report the use of a novel microfluidics-based method to detect weak protein-protein interactions between membrane proteins. The tight junction protein, claudin-2, synthesised in vitro using a cell-free expression system in the presence of polymer vesicles as membrane scaffolds, was used as a model membrane protein. Individual claudin-2 molecules interact weakly, although the cumulative effect of these interactions is significant.

Contribution of platelet CX(3)CR1 to platelet-monocyte complex formation and vascular recruitment during hyperlipidemia.

Objective: The chemokine receptor CX(3)CR1 is an inflammatory mediator in vascular diseases. On platelets, its ligation with fractalkine (CX(3)CL1) induces platelet activation followed by leukocyte recruitment to activated endothelium. Here, we evaluated the expression and role of platelet-CX(3)CR1 during hyperlipidemia and vascular injury.

Microparticles from apoptotic platelets promote resident macrophage differentiation.

Platelets shed microparticles not only upon activation, but also upon ageing by an apoptosis-like process (apoptosis-induced platelet microparticles, PM(ap)). While the activation-induced microparticles have widely been studied, not much is known about the (patho)physiological consequences of PM(ap) formation. Flow cytometry and scanning electron microscopy demonstrated that PM(ap) display activated integrins and interact to form microparticle aggregates.

Platelets and platelet-derived microparticles in vascular inflammatory disease.

Atherosclerosis with ensuing atherothrombosis is an inflammatory disease of the large arteries with high mortality and morbidity. Interactions between blood cells and the arterial vessel wall are considered to determine the progression of atherosclerotic plaques and the thrombotic complications. There is increasing evidence for important roles of activated platelets and platelet-derived microparticles in this disease process by contact with leukocytes, endothelial cells and smooth muscle cells.

The BAD project: data mining, database and prediction of protein adsorption on surfaces.

Protein adsorption at solid-liquid interfaces is critical to many applications, including biomaterials, protein microarrays and lab-on-a-chip devices. Despite this general interest, and a large amount of research in the last half a century, protein adsorption cannot be predicted with an engineering level, design-orientated accuracy. Here we describe a Biomolecular Adsorption Database (BAD), freely available online, which archives the published protein adsorption data.

Fate of prions in soil: adsorption kinetics of recombinant unglycosylated ovine prion protein onto mica in laminar flow conditions and subsequent desorption.

Prions can be disseminated in soils. Their interaction with soil minerals is a key factor for the assessment of risks associated with the transport of their infectivity. We did not examine here the infectivity itself but the adsorption kinetics of an ovine recombinant prion protein (ovine PrPrec), as a noninfectious model protein, on muscovite mica, a phyllosilicate with surface properties analogous to soil clays, in conditions of laminar flow through a channel.

Streaming potential in cylindrical pores of poly(ethylene terephthalate) track-etched membranes: variation of apparent zeta potential with pore radius.

Streaming potential variation with pressure measured through poly(ethylene terephthalate) track-etched membranes of different pore sizes led to the determination of an apparent interfacial potential zetaa in the presence of 10-2 M KCl. The variation of zetaa with the pore radius r0 is interpreted by (i) the electric double layer overlap effect and (ii) the presence of a conductive gel layer. We propose a method which integrates both effects by assuming a simple model for the conductive gel at the pore wall.

[The properties of natural silk fibers: deformation study and NMR data].

Natural silk (Bombyx mori) fibers with low humidity (0.07 g H2O/g dried silk) after temperature influence were studied for mechanical longitudinal deformation. On the basis of the stress-strain curves, some estimates of tensile properties for silk fibers were obtained.

Adsorption of alpha-chymotrypsin onto mica in laminar flow conditions. Adsorption kinetic constant as a function of tris buffer concentration at pH 8.6.

We examined the adsorption kinetics of alpha-chymotrypsin (pH 8.6, 10(-2) to 0.5 M Tris buffer) on muscovite mica in conditions of laminar flow through a slit.

Kinetics of adsorption, desorption, and exchange of alpha-chymotrypsin and lysozyme on poly(ethyleneterephthalate) tracked film and track-etched membrane.

Adsorption kinetics of (125)I-radiolabeled alpha-chymotrypsin at pH 8.6 was studied in a laminar regime between two walls of poly(ethyleneterephthalate) tracked films and membranes. Adsorption kinetics in the presence of solution (10 microg/mL), desorption by rinsing with buffer, and the following exchange of proteins by flowing unlabeled solution were measured.

[Principles of the structuro-functional organization of the hemomicrocirculatory bed of the intramural nervous plexuses of organs of the gastrointestinal tract of mammals].

The work deals with one of the least elaborated aspects on the system of microcirculation and is performed, taking into account the functions of histo-hematic and intertissue barriers. For this certain new original investigation methods have been developed, adequate to the problems discussed. The module principle of organization with a distinct functional specialization of the ganglionar and truncal vascular micromodules has been stated.