CNN-LSTM vs. LSTM-CNN to Predict Power Flow Direction: A Case Study of the High-Voltage Subnet of Northeast Germany.

The massive installation of renewable energy sources together with energy storage in the power grid can lead to fluctuating energy consumption when there is a bi-directional power flow due to the surplus of electricity generation. To ensure the security and reliability of the power grid, high-quality bi-directional power flow prediction is required. However, predicting bi-directional power flow remains a challenge due to the ever-changing characteristics of power flow and the influence of weather on renewable power generation. To overcome these challenges, we present two of the most popular hybrid deep learning (HDL) models based on a combination of a convolutional neural network (CNN) and long-term memory (LSTM) to predict the power flow in the investigated network cluster. In our approach, the models CNN-LSTM and LSTM-CNN were trained with two different datasets in terms of size and included parameters. The aim was to see whether the size of the dataset and the additional weather data can affect the performance of the proposed model to predict power flow. The result shows that both proposed models can achieve a small error under certain conditions. While the size and parameters of the dataset can affect the training time and accuracy of the HDL model.

Radical surgical treatment of neuroendocrine tumors of the appendix in children - a Polish multicenter study.

INTRODUCTION: The aim of the study was to examine management of pediatric appendiceal neuroendocrine tumors (ANETs) in Poland. METHODS: Records of 27 patients with ANET diagnosed incidentally after appendectomy in the last decade. RESULTS: Well-differentiated NET G1/G2 was diagnosed in 25 and well-differentiated neuroendocrine carcinoma G3 in 2 patients. Extended surgery was performed primarily in one instance and secondarily in 10 patients (right hemicolectomy in 9, ileocecal resection in 1) without adjuvant chemotherapy. Follow-up range was 1-121 months. Recurrence after secondary surgery was observed in 1 (3.7%) patient. CONCLUSIONS: Applying ENETS guidelines resulted in 100% overall survival of patients with NET.

Intramyocardial plasmid-encoding human vascular endothelial growth factor A165/basic fibroblast growth factor therapy using percutaneous transcatheter approach in patients with refractory coronary artery disease (VIF-CAD).

BACKGROUND: VIF-CAD randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind trial was an attempt to induce therapeutic angiogenesis by percutaneous intramyocardial transfer of bicistronic (vascular endothelial growth factor/fibroblast growth factor [VEGF/FGF]) plasmid (pVIF) in patients with refractory heart ischemia. Myocardial perfusion, clinical symptoms, exercise tolerance, left ventricular function, and safety were assessed. METHODS: Fifty-two patients with refractory coronary artery disease were randomized to receive VEGF/FGF plasmid (n = 33) or placebo plasmid (n = 19) into myocardial region showing stress-induced perfusion defects. Repeat stress and rest technetium Tc 99m sestamibi single-photon emission computed tomography at 5 months was the primary efficacy measure. Secondary assessment included Canadian Cardiovascular Society class and exercise tolerance at 5 and 12 months. RESULTS: Rest- and stress-induced perfusion defects did not differ between groups. Canadian Cardiovascular Society functional class improved after 5 (P = .0210) and 12 months (P = .0607) in the treatment group. The exercise tolerance of treated patients improved: total exercise time increased marginally (P = .0541); maximum workload (P = .0419) and total test distance (P = .0473) increased significantly, compared to placebo. CONCLUSION: Bicistronic VEGF/FGF plasmid therapy did not improve myocardial perfusion measured by single-photon emission computed tomography. However, treated patients experienced improvement with respect to exercise tolerance and clinical symptoms. Intramyocardial VEGF/FGF bicistronic plasmid transfer seemed safe throughout the follow-up period of 1 year.

[Adeno-associated viruses (AAV)]. / Wirusy zwiazane z adenowirusami (AAV).

Recombinant adeno-associated virus derived vectors (rAAV) a thought to be a most promising candidates for gene therapy applications. Their nonpathogenic nature as well as the encouraging capability to infect both proliferating and non proliferating cells are advantages for gene therapy applications. Here, we summarize the potential mechanisms responsible for AAV maintenance and site-specific integration to human genome. The role of Rep proteins, inverted terminal repeats and p5 promotor sequences for chromosomal incorporation of AAV are discussed. Making the site-specific integrative recombinant AAV vectors for gene therapy seems to be closely dependent on the development of viral vectorology.

[Analysis of treatment results of boys referred to outpatient paediatric surgery centre with recognition of phimosis]. / Analiza i ocena wyników leczenia chlopców kierowanych do poradni chirurgii dzieciecej z powodu trudnosci w odprowadzeniu napletka.

UNLABELLED: The problem with prepuce retraction is caused not only by its narrowing, called phimosis, but also frequently by the inner prepuce adhesion to glans. The spontaneous prepuce retraction is received in 80% cases of boys up to the age of two, whereas in remaining cases, after the age of two it is necessary to take up the medical treatment. The purpose of the research was to estimate the effectiveness of conservative therapy using steroid ointments which was undertaken in boys referred to Outpatient Paediatric Surgery Centre with recognition of phimosis. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Cases of 315 boys referred to Outpatient Paediatric Surgery Centre due to phimosis were analyzed between April 2004 and May 2007. At the first appointment the boys were divided into 3 main groups: I--children with foreskin adhesion without visible stenosis (near 20%), who had the prepuce adhesion released in a local anaesthetic with Emla cream; II--children with narrowed foreskin (phimosis) who were treated with the use of conservative therapy by means of topical steroids (about 70%); III--children with stenosed prepuce (phimosis) developed to a large extent, who were immediately qualified to a surgery therapy without trying the conservative therapy (near 10%). RESULTS: Among all patients about 1/5 needed the prepuce adhesion releasing with the use of Emla ointment only. High efficiency of conservative treatment with topical steroids was revealed both in primary and acquired phimosis. Reduction of the therapy time of children treated with topical steroids because of primary phimosis in relation to those treated surgically was taken into account. CONCLUSION: Conservative treatment of phimosis is highly effective and safe method which may also be an initial stage to operative treatment or to cure scarring after surgical treatment as well.

Variant t(2;11)(p11.2;q13) without IGK involvement in a case of mantle cell lymphoma.

Mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) is characterized by the t(11;14)(q13;q32) translocation, which leads to overexpression of the cyclin D1 (CCND1) gene. This translocation is observed in almost all cases of MCL. In this alteration, the involvement of immunoglobulin heavy chain (IGH) locus plays a key role in the activation of the CCND1 oncogene. Translocations affecting IGH loci are mostly prevalent in B-cell lymphomas, but variant translocations involving immunoglobulin kappa (IGK) or lambda (IGL) light chain loci have been observed in a minority of B-lymphoid malignancies. Variant translocations have been reported in only a few cases of MCL, however. This report presents a case of MCL with a variant t(2;11)(p11.2;q13), rearrangement of the CCND1 gene, and overexpression of cyclin D1. To characterize this rearrangement, specific noncommercial probes were used. This set of probes comprises IGK and REL flanking probes and 12 bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) probes covering the region to be investigated. The results indicated that this alteration has not affected the IGK locus, and the breakpoint was within a 260-kb region located approximately 1 Mb telomerically to the IGK gene. It is probable that the KV3J gene localized in this region could deregulate the expression of cyclin D1.

Unusual cyclin D1 positive marginal zone lymphoma of mediastinum.

We report a case of 43-yr-old Caucasian female with an unusual, cyclin D1 positive marginal zone lymphoma (MZL) of mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) type of the mediastinum. To date, only about 30 cases of this entity have been published. They occur mainly in Asian females with a history of coexisting autoimmune disease. To our knowledge, this is the first case of mediastinal MZL with cyclin D1 expression. In the span of 6 yr this patient's tumor recurred three times, was surgically treated, and initially diagnosed as paraganglioma. The diagnosis was based on histopathological examination only. Our final diagnosis of MZL was made by combined evaluation of histopathology (HP), immunohistochemistry (IH), flow cytometry (FCM), fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), and molecular biology studies. We found a positive cyclin D1 reaction by IH and cyclin D1 mRNA (CCND1) overexpression by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Very high cyclin D1 to beta-actin mRNA ratio in this case was comparable with the ratio, characteristic for mantle cell lymphoma (MCL). However, there was no translocation t(11;14) found by FISH and an immunophenotype by IH and FCM was consistent with MZL ruling out MCL diagnosis. In addition, our case differs from other, previously reported thymic MZL lymphoma cases by no autoimmune disease association, Caucasian origin, and the absence of the plasmacytic differentiation on both HP/IH.

Vascular endothelial growth factor and soluble FLT-1 receptor interactions and biological implications.

Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), binding to an appropriate receptor like FLT, is the main mitogen for endothelial cells and a strong inducer of angiogenesis. A soluble form of VEGF receptor, sFLT-1, specifically binds VEGF and inhibits its activity. The following expression plasmids were used in the experiments: pVEGF plasmid encoding VEGF165, pFGF-2 encoding FGF-2 and psFLT-1 plasmid encoding the soluble form of VEGF receptor, sFLT-1. The interaction between VEGF and sFLT-1 was evaluated using a migration test and ERK1/2 activity utilizing mouse sarcoma cells (L-1). Implication of the VEGF/sFLT-1 action was also visualized using in vivo angiogenesis assay. The conditioned medium (CM) from L-1 phVEGF-165 transfectants stimulated L-1 cell migration more than medium from non-transfected L-1 cells. Media collected from phVEGF-165 transfectants or original L-1 cells only slightly stimulated the migration of cells transfected with psFLT-1. The L-1 cells also showed intensive phospho-ERK1/2 activity when treated with the CM from VEGF transfectants. In vivo tests showed that sFLT-1 effectively suppressed VEGF-mediated angiogenesis without affecting FGF-2-driven angiogenesis. To summarize, this study documented that sFLT-1 released from transfected cells might inhibit cell functions induced by VEGF, but not by FGF. The results obtained from in vivo angiogenesis tests also confirm the antiangiogenic potency of cloned sFLT-1, which can be useful for planning cancer experimental therapy studies.

"Bystander effect" induced by photodynamically or heat-injured ovarian carcinoma cells (OVP10) in vitro.

BACKGROUND: The propagation of injury ("bystander effect") from directly damaged cells to other cells has been observed in cancer therapies. Some experiments suggested that this phenomenon was also detected in photodynamic therapy (PDT). The present study was undertaken to evaluate the bystander response in cells co-cultured with PDT- or heat-injured cells. MATERIAL/METHODS: Human ovary cancer cells (OVP10) were co-cultivated with PDT- and heat-damaged cells under various conditions. Fluorescence and light microscopy, shear test, clonogenic assays, and RT-PCR were used to estimate the vital functions of intact cells. RESULTS: In the shear test, the addition of damaged cells to a monolayer of uninjured OVP10 cells resulted in a significant cell detachment of up to 87% for PDT-treated cells and 74% for heat-treated cells. Cells that were co-cultured with their PDT-injured counterparts in a proportion of 50% showed progressive decreases in density by 7% and 38% (significant) after 24 and 48 h, respectively. In co-culture with heat-damaged cells, the density decreased significantly by 21% and 28% after 24 and 48 h. "Bystander" growth arrest is attributed to a significant decrease in mitotic activity at 24 h and a lower expression of the focal adhesion kinase gene (FAK). Neither PDT- nor heat-damaged cells induced changes in mRNA expressions for GADD45, P21(WAF/cip1), C-JUN, C-FOS, and BAX in the bystander cells. CONCLUSIONS: Bystander response may modulate the growth and adhesion of cells co-cultured with their PDT- and heat-injured counterparts in vitro.

Mantle cell lymphoma presenting with paraproteinemia.

Mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) is most frequently diagnosed by the routine histological (HP) and immunohistochemical (IH) examination. Herein we present a case of 47-yr-old female with general lymphadenopathy and leukemic blood picture. She was initially diagnosed with marginal zone lymphoma (MZL). This diagnosis was based not only on the HP/IH examination but also on the presence of IgM paraproteinemia. Flow cytometry (FCM) examination was helpful in making of the final diagnosis of MCL. Fluorescence in situ hybridization and cyclin D1 mRNA detection by RT-PCR additionally confirmed the MCL diagnosis. The IgM paraproteinemia is rare in MCL, although is a common feature of lymphoplasmacytoid lymphomas (LPL) and is considered a major characteristic of Waldenström's macroglobulinemia (WM).

In vivo study of angiogenic plasmid preparations--the bicistronic plasmid as a new type of drug for vascular diseases.

Angiogenic gene therapy is thought to be a new method for the treatment for vascular diseases. Plasmid preparations encoding angiogenic factors like a vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) or a fibroblast growth factor (FGF) effectively stimulate the formation of new vessels. The first clinical trials with novel angiogenic drugs--genetic preparations have already been reported. Nevertheless, gene transfer and expression efficiency still require a lot of experimental work. Here, three different angiogenic preparations were studied. We used monocistronic vectors encoding VEGF165 or FGF-2 and bicistronic construct expressing both of them. The angiogenic potency of the plasmids was evaluated by in vivo angiogenesis tests. We also tested the plasmid DNA maintenance in mouse tissue as well as the transcriptional activity of the angiogenic preparations. We saw that all plasmids effectively stimulate the formation of new vessels in in vivo conditions up to 20 days. The most powerfull angiogenic potency was demonstrated by the bicistronic vector. It was shown that after 3, 13, 21, 31 and 41 days post-transfection the plasmid DNA still persisted in tissue, more or less on the same level but the mRNA transcripts after 13 days slowly decreased. This work confirmed effectiveness of gene therapy, and gave new information about angiogenic plasmid preparations useful for practical applications.

Role of v-Raf and truncated form RAF1 in the induction of vascular endothelial growth factor and vascularization.

In this work we studied the effect of v-raf and different form RAF on up regulation of VEGF gene expression and angiogenesis. In the experiments the truncated forms of RAF1 gene were transfected into the cells of the established human urothelial line HCV-29, otherwise non-angiogenic. The plasmids coding for mitochondrial targeted dominant active or dominant negative RAF1 (DAM, DNM respectively) were deleted with RAS binding domain. DAM has the ability to phosphorylate BAD whereas DNM cannot phosphorylate BAD. DAM RAF1, similarly to v-raf transfected cells, induced up-regulation of VEGF and caused angiogenic phenotype as studied in vivo. DNM RAF1 transfectants induced VEGF independent angiogenesis.

Gene therapy of coronary artery disease with phvegf165--early outcome.

BACKGROUND: Gene therapy is a new, experimental method of treatment in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD). AIM: To determine the safety and efficacy of gene encoding vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF165) administered directly into the myocardium as the single treatment or combined with coronary artery by-pass grafting (CABG). METHODS: VEGF gene transfer was performed in 22 patients (20 male, 2 female, ages from 48 to 73 years old). A 200 micro g of the plasmid encoding VEGF165 was injected into the ischaemic myocardium which could not be surgically revascularised in patients undergoing CABG (n=14), and 400 micro g - in patients without CABG (n=8). The value of ejection fraction (EF), myocardial perfusion, angiogram, ventriculography, and nitroglycerine consumption as well as quality of life were evaluated pre- and postoperatively. RESULTS: The majority of patients had no complications and no fatal outcome was observed. Two patients developed acute myocardial infarction. Left ventricular function values improved and the majority of patients were free from angina 6 months after surgery. Patients reported improved quality of life and a reduction in nitroglycerine usage. A reduction in the ischaemic defects detected by SPECT was also observed. In some patients angiography revealed improved collateral filling. CONCLUSIONS: Direct myocardial administration of genes encoding VEGF165 can be an effective method of treatment in patients with chronic and advanced CAD either as a supplementary treatment or as a single therapy.

Cytostatic and cytotoxic effects of alkylglycerols (Ecomer).

BACKGROUND: Shark liver oil, with a standardized concentration of alkylglycerols and their methoxyderivates, has been widely used in Scandinavian countries as complementary medicine in the treatment of different forms of cancer. The aim of our study was to verify the hypothesized antiproliferative effect of alkylglycerols in different human cancer cell lines. MATERIAL/METHODS: The plating efficiency method was used to assay the effect of alkylglycerols on the plating efficiency of human ovarian carcinoma (OVP-10), mammary carcinoma (MCF-7), and prostate cancer (DU-145, PC-3 and PCa-2b) cell lines. Tumor colonies containing more than 20 cells were scored as positive. Flow cytometry was applied to identify necrotic vs. apoptotic mode of cell death. The cells were exposed to Ecomer shark liver oil containing 20% alkylglycerols and 3% methoxyderivates in a dose of 0.1 mg/ml, up to a concentration corresponding to LD-50. Apoptotic and necrotic cells were stained with Anexin V and propidium iodine respectively. RESULTS: The prostate cells from DU-145, PC-3 and PCa-2B showed a dramatic reduction in the colony number even after relatively small doses of 0.5 and 0.1 mg/ml medium. Flow cytomery showed an increased percentage of apoptotic cells of ovarian and prostate carcinoma, while mammary carcinoma cells showed predominantly necrotic cells after exposure to Ecomer. CONCLUSIONS: The alkylglycerols and their methoxyderivates present in Ecomer shark liver oil showed a clear apoptotic/necrotic effect on human prostate and mammary carcinoma cell lines.

Construction of a bicistronic proangiogenic expression vector and its application in experimental angiogenesis in vivo.

Manipulation of angiogenesis in vivo is an example of successful gene therapy strategies. Overexpression of angiogenic genes like VEGF, FGF or PDGF causes new vessel formation and improves the clinical state of patients. Gene therapy is a very promising procedure but requires large amounts of pharmaceutical-grade plasmid DNA. In this regard we have constructed a bicistronic plasmid DNA vector encoding two proangiogenic factors, VEGF165 and FGF-2. The construct (pVIF) contains the internal ribosome entry site (IRES) of the encephalomyocarditis virus (ECMV) which permits both genes to be translated from a single bicistronic mRNA. The IRES sequence allows for a high efficiency of gene expression in vivo. The pVIF vector was characterized in vitro and in vivo. In vivo angiogenesis studies showed that the bicistronic vector encoding two proangiogenic factors induces the formation of new vessels significantly more than pVEGF165 or pFGF-2 alone. In our opinion the combined proangiogenic approach with VEGF165 and FGF-2 is more powerful and efficient than single gene therapy. We also postulate that IRES sequence can serve as a useful device improving efficiency of gene therapy.

The role of focal adhesion kinase in the emigration of cells from confluent cultures.

We studied the effect of the modification of focal adhesion kinase (FAK) on the growth, migration and adhesion of C3H 10T1/2 cells. Cells transfected with plasmid coding for antisense FAK displayed a low level of FAK protein. Interestingly, the transfected cells achieved a higher saturation density at confluence, and displayed reduced adhesion and enhanced emigration from a confluent layer of cells when stimulated with fibronectin. In conclusion, it can be postulated that FAK plays an important role in the mechanism of contact inhibition.