Activity

Thus, Shh-Yap1 signaling appears to play an integral role in the proliferation of ductular reaction cells in CCl4 -induced liver injury. This study should improve our understanding of the mechanism of CCl4 -induced liver injury and ductular reactions and provide support for future investigations on liver disease therapy.Transgressive segregation and heterosis are the reasons that plant breeding works. Molecular explanations for both phenomena have been suggested and play a contributing role. However, it is often overlooked by molecular genetic researchers that transgressive segregation and heterosis are most simply explained by dispersion of favorable alleles. Therefore, advances in molecular biology will deliver the most impact on plant breeding when integrated with sources of heritable trait variation – and this will be best achieved within a quantitative genetics framework. An example of the power of quantitative approaches is the implementation of genomic selection, which has recently revolutionized animal breeding. check details Genomic selection is now being applied to both hybrid and inbred crops and is likely to be the major source of improvement in plant breeding practice over the next decade. Breeders’ ability to efficiently apply genomic selection methodologies is due to recent technology advances in genotyping and sequencing. Furthermore, targeted integration of additional molecular data (such as gene expression, gene copy number and methylation status) into genomic prediction models may increase their performance. In this review, we discuss and contextualize a suite of established quantitative genetics themes relating to hybrid vigour, transgressive segregation and their central relevance to plant breeding, with the aim of informing crop researchers outside of the quantitative genetics discipline of their relevance and importance to crop improvement. Better understanding between molecular and quantitative disciplines will increase the potential for further improvements in plant breeding methodologies and so help underpin future food security.

The aim of this clinical trial is to evaluate the effectiveness of topical oral vitamin D gel in prevention of radiation induced oral mucositis.

A three-armed randomized controlled clinical trial on forty-five head and neck cancer patients was conducted. First group conventional treatment. Second group Topical oral vitamin D gel. Third group topical oral vitamin D gel plus the conventional treatment. All the patients were examined clinically three and six weeks after the start of radiotherapy for pain and WHO mucositis score.

After 6 weeks of radiotherapy, (33.5%) the patients in control group developed high-grade severity of oral mucositis while the patients in the two-test groups “vitamin D group & combined therapy group” remained with low-grade severity or with complete remission. Mean Pain scores showed a significant decrease in the combined therapy group and to a close degree in vitamin D group rather than the control group.

Topical oral vitamin D gel has a beneficial effect in lowering oral mucositis development and in reducing pain sensation during the radiation period especially when combined with conventional therapeutic agents.

Topical oral vitamin D gel has a beneficial effect in lowering oral mucositis development and in reducing pain sensation during the radiation period especially when combined with conventional therapeutic agents.

Quantitative muscle MRI is a robust tool to monitor intramuscular fatty replacement and disease activity in patients with neuromuscular disorders (NMDs).

To implement a 3D sequence for quantifying simultaneously fat fraction (FF) and water T

(T

) in the skeletal muscle, evaluate regular undersampling in the partition-encoding direction, and compare it to a recently proposed 2D MR fingerprinting sequence with water and fat separation (MRF T

-FF).

Prospective.

Seventeen-vial phantom at different FF and T

, 11 healthy volunteers, and 6 subjects with different NMDs.

3T/3D MRF T

-FF, 2D MRF T

-FF, STEAM MRS ASSESSMENT FF and T

measured with the 2D and 3D sequences were compared in the phantom and in vivo at different undersampling factors (US). Data were acquired in healthy subjects before and after plantar dorsiflexions and at rest in patients.

Linear correlations, Bland-Altman analysis, two-way repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA), Student’s t-test.

Up to a US factor of 3, the undersampled acquisitions were in good agreement with the fully sampled sequence (R

 ≥ 0.98, T

bias ≤10 msec, FF bias ≤4 × 10

) both in phantom and in vivo. The 2D and 3D MRF T

-FF sequences provided comparable T

and FF values (R

 ≥ 0.95, absolute T

bias ≤35 msec, and absolute FF bias ≤0.003). The plantar dorsiflexion induced a significant increase of T

in the tibialis anterior and extensor digitorum (relative increase of +10.8 ± 1.7% and + 7.7 ± 1.4%, respectively, P < 0.05), that was accompanied by a significant reduction of FF in the tibialis anterior (relative decrease of -16.3 ± 4.0%, P < 0.05). Some subjects with NMDs presented increased and heterogeneous T

and FF values throughout the leg.

Quantitative 3D T

and FF maps covering the entire leg were obtained within acquisition times compatible with clinical research (4 minutes 20 seconds) and a 1 × 1 × 5 mm

spatial resolution.

2 TECHNICAL EFFICACY Stage 2.

2 TECHNICAL EFFICACY Stage 2.

To investigate the impact of respiratory motion in the treatment margins for lung SBRT frameless treatments and to validate our treatment margins using 4D CBCT data analysis.

Two hundred and twenty nine fractions with early stage NSCLC were retrospectively analyzed. All patients were treated in frameless and free breathing conditions. The treatment margins were calculated according to van Herk equation in Mid-Ventilation. For each fraction, three 4D CBCT scans, pre- and postcorrection, and posttreatment, were acquired to assess target baseline shift, target localization accuracy and intra-fraction motion errors. A bootstrap analysis was performed to assess the minimum number of patients required to define treatment margins.

The retrospectively calculated target-baseline shift, target localization accuracy and intra-fraction motion errors agreed with the literature. The best tailored margins to our cohort of patients were retrospectively computed and resulted in agreement with already published data. The bootstrap analysis showed that fifteen patients were enough to assess treatment margins.