Detection of c-Ki- ras point mutation from pancreatic juice

Summary Cytological diagnosis of pancreatic carcinoma sometimes poses difficulties in distinguishing malignant from benign cells. Recent molecular study of pancreatic carcinoma has revealed a very high incidence of a point mutation of the c-Ki-ras oncogene at codon 12 in this neoplasm. To take advantage of this technique for the diagnosis of pancreatic carcinoma, we attempted to amplify the c-Ki-ras gene from endoscopically obtained pancreatic juice by isolation of DNA and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) coupled with restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP). PCR was possible in approx 70% of the cases. A point mutation was nonradioisotopically detected in 4 of 6 pancreatic carcinomas and in one intraductal papillary neoplasm, whereas no mutation was detected in other cases. Thus, this method was thought to be useful for the diagnosis of pancreatic carcinoma.     

The effect of GB21 acupressure on pain intensity in the first stage of labor in primiparous women: A randomized controlled trial

IntroductionLabor pain is one of the most intensive pains experienced by women; it results in physical, emotional, and physiological changes in women’s body. The present study aimed to examine the effect of GB21 acupressure on labor pain.DesignIn this randomized clinical trial, 174 primiparous women in their first stage of labor were selected and assigned to three groups: GB21 acupressure group (n = 58), sham group (n = 58), and control group (n = 58).InterventionsThe acupressure and sham groups received routine labor care and acupressure in three different phases of cervical dilations to 3−5 cm, 6−7 cm, and 8−10 cm. The control group received routine care in labor.Main outcome measuresPain severity was measured using a pain scale ruler in three cervical dilations before and after intervention. The collected data were analyzed using the ANOVA, Kruskal–Wallis, paired-t test and Mann–Whitney tests.ResultsPain reduction was significantly higher in GB21 groups compared with sham and control groups (P = 0.001). No statistically significant difference was observed between the three groups in terms of delivery outcomes.ConclusionsIn this study, GB21 acupressure was effective in pain relief during labor, hence recommended as a practical, effective, inexpensive, and accessible method for labor pain management.     

Preparation and phase transition behaviors of temperature-responsive 3-butoxy-2-hydroxypropyl hydroxyethyl celluloses

2-Hydroxy-3-butoxypropyl hydroxyethyl celluloses (HBPEC), which are thermoresponsive polymers, are prepared by grafting butyl glycidyl ether onto hydroxyethyl cellulose. The effects of several factors on the cloud point (Tc) of the HBPEC are also investigated. The Tc of HBPEC can be tuned to a ranging from 17.0 to 43.0 °C by changing the molar substitution of hydrophobic groups. Increasing the concentration of HBPEC leads to a faster phase transition as well as a corresponding linear decrease in the Tc. A series of salts with common anions or cations are used to investigate the effects of specific anions or cations on the Tc of HBPEC aqueous solutions. It is discovered that the Tc of HBPEC is largely influenced by the variation of cation identity and concentration. Plotting Tc as a function of cation activity shows that the Tc can be classified by charge density.     

A field-programmable gate array based system for high frame rate laser Doppler blood flow imaging

This paper presents a general embedded processing system implemented in a field-programmable gate array providing high frame rate and high accuracy for a laser Doppler blood flow imaging system. The proposed system can achieve a basic frame rate of flow images at 1 frame/second for 256×256 images with 1024 fast Fourier transform (FFT) points used in the processing algorithm. Mixed fixed-floating point calculations are utilized to achieve high accuracy but with a reasonable resource usage. The implementation has a root mean square deviation of the relative difference in flow values below 0.1% when compared with a double-precision floating point implementation. The system can contain from one or more processing units to obtain the required frame rate and accuracy. The performance of the system is significantly higher than other methods reported to date. Furthermore, a dedicated field-programmable gate array (FPGA) board has been designed to test the proposed processing system. The board is linked with a laser line scanning system, which uses a 64×1 photodetector array. Test results with various operating parameters show that the performance of the new system is better, in terms of noise and imaging speed, than has been previously achieved.     

Masthead,Volume 73, Issue 1

This review provides a summary statement of recommended implementations of arterial spin labeling (ASL) for clinical applications. It is a consensus of the ISMRM Perfusion Study Group and the European ASL in Dementia consortium, both of whom met to reach this consensus in October 2012 in Amsterdam. Although ASL continues to undergo rapid technical development, we believe that current ASL methods are robust and ready to provide useful clinical information, and that a consensus statement on recommended implementations will help the clinical community to adopt a standardized approach. In this review, we describe the major considerations and trade‐offs in implementing an ASL protocol and provide specific recommendations for a standard approach. Our conclusion is that as an optimal default implementation, we recommend pseudo‐continuous labeling, background suppression, a segmented three‐dimensional readout without vascular crushing gradients, and calculation and presentation of both label/control difference images and cerebral blood flow in absolute units using a simplified model. Magn Reson Med 73:102–116, 2015. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.