Friedrichsenbay1882

This chapter details the molecular bases and biological relevance of this regulation of bone mass accrual by leptin.The tendency of edifenphos (EDF) species toward boron carbide nanotube (BC3NT) was investigated through density functional theory (DFT) calculations with perfect and defected forms. It was found that perfect BC3NT tube is not capable to adsorb the EDF molecules appropriately. Introducing defects in BC3NT lattice resulted in a noticeable enhancement of interaction with EDF providing the adsorption energy of - 25.66 kcal/mol. It was predicted that the conductivity of complex formed of single vacancy BC3NT tube, SV-BC3NT, and EDF complexes is enhanced by 91.37 times compared with BC3NT tube with no defects. As the solvent dielectric constant increases, a significant change in adsorption energy was reported while slighter variation was observed at dielectric constant values lower than 15. Similar to electric conductivity, the magnetic properties of BC3NT are remarkably enhanced after single vacancy defect and EDF adsorption leads to a highly significant change in magnetic property compared with perfect BC3NT. Graphical abstract.Highly sensitive non-contact mode temperature sensing is substantial for studying fundamental chemical reactions, biological processes, and applications in medical diagnostics. Nanoscale-based thermometers are guaranteeing non-invasive probes for sensitive and precise temperature sensing with subcellular resolution. Fluorescence-based temperature sensors have shown great capacity since they operate as "non-contact" mode and offer the dual functions of cellular imaging and sensing the temperature at the molecular level. Advancements in nanomaterials and nanotechnology have led to the development of novel sensors, such as nanothermometers (novel temperature-sensing materials with a high spatial resolution at the nanoscale). Such nanothermometers have been developed using different platforms such as fluorescent proteins, organic compounds, metal nanoparticles, rare-earth-doped nanoparticles, and semiconductor quantum dots. Carbon dots (CDs) have attracted interest in many research fields because of outstanding properties such as strong fluorescence, photobleaching resistance, chemical stability, low-cost precursors, low toxicity, and biocompatibility. Recent reports showed the thermal-sensing behavior of some CDs that make them an alternative to other nanomaterials-based thermometers. This kind of luminescent-based thermometer is promising for nanocavity temperature sensing and thermal mapping to grasp a better understanding of biological processes. With CDs still in its early stages as nanoscale-based material for thermal sensing, in this review, we provide a comprehensive understanding of this novel nanothermometer, methods of functionalization to enhance thermal sensitivity and resolution, and mechanism of the thermal sensing behavior.Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) is an uncommon aggressive cutaneous neuroendocrine tumor with high mortality. The purpose of this study is to describe the clinical correlates of MCC and identify changing trends over time using a retrospective chart review of 113 cases in a single tertiary center pathology database from 1997 to 2015. MCC occurred mostly in the elderly (median age 77 years), more often in males (n = 60, 53%), was most commonly located on the head and neck region (n = 63, 56%), and most commonly presented on the left side of the body (n = 59, 52%). Overall, there was an increase in MCC diagnoses per year from 1997 to 2015, with 2.3 times more cases diagnosed in the last 3 years of the study period than in the first 3 years. Furthermore, cases diagnosed after 2008 were more likely to occur in younger patients, less than or equal to 77 years of age (OR 2.32, 95% CI 1.08, 4.97, p = 0.04). The median age of diagnosis among females was 76 years and among males was 74 years. There was no change in the overall age of diagnosis among men and a decrease in age of diagnosis among females during the study. There was an overall increase in the MCC cases diagnosed among women, and a slight increase in the proportion of females affected by MCC throughout the course of the study. This retrospective case series elucidates MCC epidemiologic characteristics and describes how incidence, sex, and age at diagnosis have changed over the course of the study.

Purpose of this retrospective data analysis was to depict the effects of astructured off-season conditioning program with breast cancer survivors competing in dragon boat paddling.

In this study 10 breast cancer survivors (mean age 52.0 ± 5.4years) who had finished the primary cancer treatment and who were paddlers of the Vienna Pink Dragon self-help group underwent astructured 10-week exercise program as part of their routine supportive treatment. Upper extremity strength, endurance capacity, shoulder flexibility, quality of life and work ability were assessed at baseline and after completion of the exercise program.

Out of 10 patients 8 completed more than 80% of the exercise sessions. Amultivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) of the pooled exercise effects showed avery large effect size (Η

 = 0.982); however, the change from baseline to follow-up was non-significant (p = 0.363). In the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life of Cancer Patients Questionnaire (EORTC QLQ-C30) the exercise program led to asignificant improvement of body image (p = 0.02) and less arm symptoms in the affected arm (p = 0.04).

Astructured and well-planned exercise intervention program can have alarge effect on the physical performance of pretrained breast cancer survivors. Moreover, it can increase the body image and decrease the arm symptoms in this population.

A structured and well-planned exercise intervention program can have a large effect on the physical performance of pretrained breast cancer survivors. Moreover, it can increase the body image and decrease the arm symptoms in this population.

To evaluate the added value of the hepatobiliary (HPB) phase in gadoxetic acid-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in characterizing newly discovered indeterminate focal liver lesions in non-cirrhotic patients.

One-hundred and twenty-five non-cirrhotic patients (median age, 46 years; range, 20-85 years; 100 females) underwent gadoxetic acid-enhanced MRI, including the 20-min delayed HPB phase, for characterization of newly discovered focal liver lesions. Images were independently evaluated by two blinded, board-certified abdominal radiologists (R1 and R2) who characterized liver lesions without and with assessment of the HPB phase images in two separate readout sessions. Confidence in diagnosis was scored on a scale from 0 to 3. Inter-observer agreement was assessed using Cohen κ statistics. Change in diagnosis and confidence in diagnosis were evaluated by Wilcoxon signed rank test. There was no significant change in diagnosis before and after evaluation of the HPB phase for both readers (p = 1.0 for R1; p = 0.34 for R2). Confidence in diagnosis decreased from average 2.8 ± 0.45 to 2.6 ± 0.59 for R1 and increased from 2.6 ± 0.83 to 2.8 ± 0.46 for R2. Change in confidence was only statistically significant for R1 (p = 0.003) but not significant for R2 (p = 0.49). Inter-reader agreement in diagnosis was good without (k = 0.66) and with (k = 0.75) inclusion of the HPB phase images.

The added information obtained from the HPB phase of gadoxetic acid-enhanced MRI does not change the diagnosis or increase confidence in diagnosis when evaluating new indeterminate focal liver lesions in non-cirrhotic patients.

The added information obtained from the HPB phase of gadoxetic acid-enhanced MRI does not change the diagnosis or increase confidence in diagnosis when evaluating new indeterminate focal liver lesions in non-cirrhotic patients.In temperate climates, as a consequence of warming winters, an increasing number of ectothermic species are remaining active throughout winter months instead of diapausing, rendering them increasingly vulnerable to unpredictable cold events. One species displaying a shift in overwintering strategy is the parasitoid wasp and biological control agent Aphidius avenae. The current study aimed to better understand the consequence of a changing overwintering strategy on the evolutionary potential of an insect population to adapt to the cold stress events, set to increase in frequency, even during milder winters. Using a parental half-sibling breeding design, narrow-sense heritability of the cold tolerance, morphology and longevity of A. avenae was estimated. The heritability of cold tolerance was estimated at 0.07 (CI95% = [0.00; 0.25]) for the Critical Thermal Minima (CTmin) and 0.11 (CI95% = [0.00; 0.34]) for chill coma temperature; estimates much lower than those obtained for morphological traits (tibia length 0.20 (CI95% = [0.03; 0.37]); head width 0.23 (CI95% = [0.09; 0.39]); wing surface area 0.28 (CI95% = [0.11; 0.47])), although comparable with the heritability estimate of 0.12 obtained for longevity (CI95% = [0.00; 0.25]). The heritability estimates obtained thus suggest that A. avenae possesses low adaptive potential against cold stress. If such estimates are indicative of the evolutionary potential of A. avenae cold tolerance, more emphasis may be placed on adaptive phenotypic plasticity at the individual level to persist in a changing climate, with potential implications for the biological control function they provide.Coastal wetlands are the last barriers for pollutants from land to the sea. In this study, a coastal wetland that locates in the lower reach of Haihe River Systems was selected to speculate the removal and retention of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) by analyzing their spatial distributions and the changes of composition. The results showed that the overall removal efficiency of PAHs in water phase was 58.1%. There was an accumulation for sedimentary PAHs, reaching 431 ng/g (181 ng/g in the inlet). The compositions of sedimentary PAHs were also changed, high-molecular-weight PAHs were the main component (70-50%), with a steady decreasing trend and the influence of water flow direction. The risk assessment by mean effect range media quotients (M-ERM-Qs) depicted that there was in low ecological risk, due to the degradation of PAHs in the wetlands. Our results clearly demonstrated the coastal wetlands could effectively retain the PAHs, thus we recommend an active protection strategy for the coast wetlands in Tianjin in the future.In order to assess the environmental impacts caused by flood to the paddy field, 940 semi-volatile organic compounds (SVOCs) were screened in paddy soil samples taken in central Vietnam before and after flooding. Phenformin The concentration of 166 SVOCs in soil samples ranged from 0.031 to 2241 (mean 89.1) µg kg-1 dry wt. Chemicals originating from household sources showed the highest level, followed by chemicals originating from agriculture. Since untreated domestic wastewater used for agricultural irrigation, organic micro-pollutants in domestic wastewater is the main source of pollutants in paddy soil. However, contamination levels of pollutants in paddy soil after flooding were lower than those before flooding, possibly due to the removal of pollutants by floodwater. As a result, pollution characteristic of pollutants at sampling locations were different before flooding while they became similar after flooding due to the dispersion and elution of organic pollutants from soil into floodwaters.