Imaging of primary malignant tumors in non-cirrhotic liver.

Primary hepatic malignancies in non-cirrhotic liver include a wide spectrum of tumors, which are classified based on their cells of origin. Hepatocellular carcinoma is the most common primary malignant tumor, followed by intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma. Beside these tumors, other primary malignancies in the non-cirrhotic liver are quite rare. Accurate diagnosis is often difficult with imaging alone and biopsy with further histopathological analysis is often necessary. However, many of these tumors exhibit suggestive or characteristic imaging features due to their different cellular components, allowing radiologists to suggest the correct diagnosis. Thus, the aim of this article is to provide an overview of imaging presentation of primary malignant liver tumors that develop in the non-cirrhotic liver, including potential differential diagnoses. Such knowledge is essential as it may contribute to accurate radiological diagnosis and improved patient outcome.

Recent advancements on the phase field approach to brittle fracture for heterogeneous materials and structures.

Recent advancements on the variational approach to fracture for the prediction of complex crack patterns in heterogeneous materials and composite structures is herein proposed, as a result of the frontier research activities undertaken in the FP7 ERC Starting Grant project CA2PVM which focuses on the development of computational methods for the durability and the reliability assessment of photovoltaic laminates. From the methodological viewpoint, the phase field approach to describe the propagation of brittle fracture in the bulk has been coupled for the very first time with the cohesive zone model to depict interface crack growth events, for 2D isotropic and anisotropic constitutive laws, and also for 3D finite elasticity. After a summary of the key aspects underlying the theoretical formulation and the finite element implementation using a monolithic fully implicit solution scheme, an overview of the main technological applications involving layered shells, interface mechanical problems and polycrystalline materials is provided. The examples are selected to show the capability of the proposed approach to investigate complex phenomena such as crack deflection vs. crack penetration at an interface, intergranular vs. transgranular crack growth in polycrystals, and interlayer vs. translayer failure in laminates.

Development of an expressed sequence tag (EST) resource for wheat (Triticum aestivum L.): EST generation, unigene analysis, probe selection and bioinformatics for a 16,000-locus bin-delineated map.

This report describes the rationale, approaches, organization, and resource development leading to a large-scale deletion bin map of the hexaploid (2n = 6x = 42) wheat genome (Triticum aestivum L.). Accompanying reports in this issue detail results from chromosome bin-mapping of expressed sequence tags (ESTs) representing genes onto the seven homoeologous chromosome groups and a global analysis of the entire mapped wheat EST data set. Among the resources developed were the first extensive public wheat EST collection (113,220 ESTs). Described are protocols for sequencing, sequence processing, EST nomenclature, and the assembly of ESTs into contigs. These contigs plus singletons (unassembled ESTs) were used for selection of distinct sequence motif unigenes. Selected ESTs were rearrayed, validated by 5' and 3' sequencing, and amplified for probing a series of wheat aneuploid and deletion stocks. Images and data for all Southern hybridizations were deposited in databases and were used by the coordinators for each of the seven homoeologous chromosome groups to validate the mapping results. Results from this project have established the foundation for future developments in wheat genomics.

The effects of dietary verbascoside on blood and liver oxidative stress status induced by a high n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids diet in piglets.

Twenty-four weaned female Hypor piglets (10.9 ± 0.1 kg mean BW) were used to evaluate the antioxidant effect of a natural extract, titrated in verbascoside, on blood and liver oxidative status in relation to a high intake of n-6 PUFA, inducing oxidative stress. Piglets were assigned to 1 of 3 experimental groups; the first group was fed a diet with 9% sunflower oil (T1) and the second received the sunflower oil diet supplemented with 5 mg of verbascoside/kg feed from Verbenaceae extract (Lippia spp.; T2). The third group was fed a control diet (CTR), in which an isoenergetic replacement of oil by starch was done. Blood samples were collected at the beginning and the end of the trial (30 d). At the end of the trial, the animals were slaughtered and the liver specimens were collected. Oxidative stress markers, including total antiradical activity, superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GPX), and catalase (CAT) activities, were determined in blood samples. Alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), and γ-glutamyl transferase (GGT) plasma levels were also evaluated. Immunohistochemistry and western blot analyses were performed in liver to evaluate heat shock protein (Hsp) 70, Hsp90, and Kupffer and Ito cell activation. Liver activities of SOD, GPX, and CAT were also determined. Total antiradical activity in blood and red blood cells were affected (P < 0.01) by dietary treatments. The n-6 PUFA supplementation at a high dosage for 30 d induced oxidative stress, decreasing total antiradical activity in blood and red blood cells (CTR vs. T1 + T2; P < 0.01) and plasma CAT activity (CTR vs. T1 + T2; P = 0.088) and increasing ALT value (CTR vs. T1 + T2; P < 0.01). Also, in liver, the CAT and GPX activities tended to be lower in pigs fed n-6 PUFA diets than pigs fed a control diet (CTR vs. T1 + T2; = 0.090 and = 0.085, respectively). The liver samples presented a normal architecture and no Ito and Kupffer cell activations were observed. In liver, the SOD activity tended to be lower in the T1 group (P = 0.064) than in the CTR and T2 groups. Moreover, the level of Hsp70 was higher (P < 0.01) in the T1 group than the CTR and T2 groups. These data suggest that the dose of dietary verbascoside partially restores the antioxidant status of the liver without affecting the systemic responses to oxidative stress induced by a high-fat diet.

Mapping Ds insertions in barley using a sequence-based approach.

A transposon tagging system, based upon maize Ac/Ds elements, was developed in barley (Hordeum vulgaresubsp. vulgare). The long-term objective of this project is to identify a set of lines with Ds insertions dispersed throughout the genome as a comprehensive tool for gene discovery and reverse genetics. AcTPase and Ds-bar elements were introduced into immature embryos of Golden Promise by biolistic transformation. Subsequent transposition and segregation of Ds away from AcTPase and the original site of integration resulted in new lines, each containing a stabilized Ds element in a new location. The sequence of the genomic DNA flanking the Ds elements was obtained by inverse PCR and TAIL-PCR. Using a sequence-based mapping strategy, we determined the genome locations of the Ds insertions in 19 independent lines using primarily restriction digest-based assays of PCR-amplified single nucleotide polymorphisms and PCR-based assays of insertions or deletions. The principal strategy was to identify and map sequence polymorphisms in the regions corresponding to the flanking DNA using the Oregon Wolfe Barley mapping population. The mapping results obtained by the sequence-based approach were confirmed by RFLP analyses in four of the lines. In addition, cloned DNA sequences corresponding to the flanking DNA were used to assign map locations to Morex-derived genomic BAC library inserts, thus integrating genetic and physical maps of barley. BLAST search results indicate that the majority of the transposed Ds elements are found within predicted or known coding sequences. Transposon tagging in barley using Ac/Ds thus promises to provide a useful tool for studies on the functional genomics of the Triticeae.