Implementing sentinel lymph node biopsy programs in developing countries: challenges and opportunities

Background  

Sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) is the accepted standard of care in early-stage breast cancer and cutaneous melanoma. This technology is accurate for nodal staging and determining the prognosis of these patients. There are several randomized controlled trials confirming the accuracy of this technique and confirming its role in reducing morbidity and improving quality of life. It is also gaining increased acceptance in the management of other solid tumors. Despite the established benefits of SLNB as a minimally invasive approach for nodal staging, the procedure is still underutilized in many developing countries.     

Automated Classification of Liver Disorders using Ultrasound Images

This paper presents a novel approach for detection of Fatty liver disease (FLD) and Heterogeneous liver using textural analysis of liver ultrasound images. The proposed system is able to automatically assign a representative region of interest (ROI) in a liver ultrasound which is subsequently used for diagnosis. This ROI is analyzed using Wavelet Packet Transform (WPT) and a number of statistical features are obtained. A multi-class linear support vector machine (SVM) is then used for classification. The proposed system gives an overall accuracy of ~95% which clearly illustrates the efficacy of the system.     

Trypsin inhibitory potential and microbial transformation of rutin isolated from Citrus sinensis

This study was designed to determine the trypsin inhibitory potential of rutin (1) and its biotransformed metabolite, quercetin (2). Rutin (1) was purified from the methanolic extract of Citrus sinensis and biotransformed in the culture of Streptomyces griseus, which yielded quercetin (2) as the major product. Both 1 and 2 showed significant trypsin inhibitory potential with IC₅₀ = 0.016 ± 0.002 and 0.019 ± 0.003 mM, respectively. Kinetic studies were carried out using GraFit 7.0 software. Lineweaver–Burk and Dixon plots and their secondary replots indicated that these compounds are non-competitive inhibitors. The K _i values of 1 and 2 were found to be 17.5 ± 0.7 and 3.1 ± 0.5 μM, respectively.     

Antioxidant potential of phenolic extracts of Mimusops elengi

Objective

To evaluate the antioxidant potential of the phenolic extracts of Mimusops elengi (M. elengi) L. (Sapotaceae).

Methods

The extract of stem bark and seeds of M. elengi were prepared in methanol and acetone:water (7:3). The acetone: water was further partitioned with ethyl acetate and n-butanol. Antioxidant activity of the extracts and partitioned fractions of M. elengi was evaluated in terms of radical scavenging potential (DPPH), inhibition of lipid peroxidation [ferric thiocyanate (FTC)], and total antioxidant activity (phosphomolybdate method). Total phenolics content were calculated using Folin-Ciocalteu reagent.

Results

The stem bark extract partitioned with ethyl acetate exhibited highest amount of total phenols (98.0 mg GAE/g dry weight), among all other extracts, with 92.0% DPPH radical scavenging activity at concentration of 0.5 mg/mL, while methanol extract (stem bark) had maximum inhibition of lipid peroxidation (62.0%) and total antioxidant activity (771.0 mg/g GAE/g). A positive correlation occurred between total phenols and radical scavenging activity (R² = 0.922 9) and total antioxidant activity (R² = 0.945 1).

Conclusions

Our study suggested that antioxidant activity of stembark extract of M. elengi is due the presence of phenolic compounds. Furthermore, the bark extract is a valuable source of natural antioxidants.     

Imaging cadavers: cold FLAIR and noninvasive brain thermometry using CSF diffusion.

There is increasing interest in imaging cadavers for noninvasive autopsies for research purposes. However, the temperature is well below that of in vivo imaging, and a variety of interesting 'cold brain' effects are observed. At lower temperatures conventional FLAIR sequences no longer produce dark cerebrospinal fluid (CSF); T(1) is reduced from about 4.0 sec in vivo to 1.7 sec at 1 degrees C. The diffusion coefficient (DC) of CSF is much reduced (from 3.1 10(-9) m(2)s(-1) in vivo to 1.1 at 1 degrees C). DC values therefore provide a noninvasive thermometer to measure brain core temperature to within 1.0 degrees C. In three cadavers DC values were 1.1-1.5 10(-9) m(2)s(-1), indicating brain core temperatures of 1-10 degrees C, consistent with external thermocouple measurements. An improved inversion time (TI(0)) can then be found for FLAIR. At 10 degrees C this Cold FLAIR sequence (TI(0) = 1.5 sec) gave black CSF. Expressions for CSF DC and T(1) as a function of temperature were produced. A measurement of CSF DC could be converted directly to temperature and the required TI(0) found. In vitro values of CSF DC were about 1% lower than that of water. Thus, FLAIR imaging can be optimized for cadaveric brains at low and unknown temperatures, thereby improving value for autopsy purposes and facilitating comparisons with in vivo imaging.     

Triterpenoid saponins from Bongardia chrysogonum

Two new triterpenoid saponins, 3-O-[beta-D-glucopyranosyl-(1-->4)-beta-D-glucopyranosyl-(1-->4)-alph a-L-arabinopyranosyl]-hederagenin (1) and 3-O-[beta-D-glucopyranosyl-(1-->4)-beta-D-glucopyranosyl-(1-->4)-alph a-L-arabinopyranosyl]-hederagenin 28-O-[beta-L-glucopyranosyl-(1-->6)-beta-L-glucopyranosyl] ester (2), together with five known saponins, were isolated from an ethanolic extract of the tubers of Bongardia chrysogonum. The structures of 1 and 2 were determined on the basis of spectroscopic studies.