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Aim of this study was to investigate frequency, incidence and risk factors of liver cysts in the general population in a longitudinal survey. Cyst frequency was investigated in 607 adult volunteers (288 women, 319 men, mean age 55 years) using strong T2-weighted magnetic resonance imaging. Risk factors were investigated for occurrence, frequency and size of cystic lesions at baseline. Incidence and physiological growing of the lesions were observed in a 5-years follow-up. At baseline, 431 volunteers had 1,479 cysts (71.0%). The mean number of cysts per person was 3.4 ± 9.0. The mean size of cysts was 13.1 ± 11.7 mm. Women had a higher number of cysts than men (p = 0.026). Older and male volunteers demonstrated a higher cyst frequency (p = 0.002 and p = 0.025). Per one-year increase in age the chance for a liver cyst increased by 2%. Four-hundred seventeen volunteers had cysts in the follow-up, in 24.6% new lesions had occurred. Lesion size significantly increased in follow-up (p < 0.001). Age and male sex were associated with the occurrence of at least one liver cyst. Women had a higher average number of cysts. Cystic lesion progression is a physiological phenomenon in the long-term follow-up. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper investigates and compares the fire reaction of cyanate ester/epoxy polymer blend-based natural/synthetic hybrid composites. Different stacking sequences of carbon or basalt fibres along with flax fabrics were compressed, moulded and subjected to an incident heat flux of 50 kW m−2 for reaction-to-fire parameter's identification using cone calorimetry. Considerable reductions in heat release rate, total heat release and CO2 produced were obtained for cyanate ester/epoxy-based composites compared with an epoxy-based benchmark. On the other hand, the fire growth index improved considerably with the increase in synthetic layers, approx. 70% and 103% for the composite architectures embedding CF reinforcements, 63% and 99% for the BF, respectively. The synthetic fibre content and type did not change significantly time-to-ignition values, but significant differences were recorded at the peak of heat released rate while switching from a resin system to another. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sunitinib is a novel, oral, multi-targeted tyrosine kinase inhibitor with antiproliferative effects against cancer cells and antiangiogenic properties. Sunitinib was recently approved for the first-line treatment of patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC) and for the treatment of patients with gastrointestinal stromal tumours (GIST) after disease progression or intolerance to imatinib therapy. The main purpose of this benefit-risk assessment is to review data on sunitinib efficacy along with its toxicity in patients with GIST and RCC. Sunitinib demonstrates a high level of efficacy with acceptable tolerability using either the 50 mg daily oral dosing for 4 weeks every 6 weeks or a continuous daily administration schedule at a lower dose. Hypertension and asthenia appear to be the most common adverse effects with sunitinib. Diarrhoea, anorexia, disgeusia, stomatitis and skin toxicity are other clinically relevant toxicities. Fatigue may, at least in part, be related to the development of hypothyroidism during sunitinib therapy. Skin toxicity consists of bullous lesion in the soles and palms that may require treatment discontinuation for a few days and/or dose reduction. Thyroid hormone levels should be monitored during treatment with sunitinib, with the occurrence of clinical signs of hypothyroidism needing treatment with levothyroxine sodium. Hypertension usually requires standard antihypertensive therapy and treatment discontinuation is less frequently necessary. Mild neutropenia and thrombocytopenia usually require no intervention. A decrease in left ventricular ejection fraction is a rare but potentially life-threatening complication. Although usually well tolerated, sunitinib needs to be administered cautiously with medical follow-up in patients with cancer to prevent, avoid and treat adverse effects in order to improve patient compliance. Its established antitumor activity requires attempting to maintain the highest tolerable dose in individual patients. Current oral formulations allow physicians to modulate dosages (between 25 and 50 mg/day) and/or schedules (4 weeks on, 2 weeks off or continuous administration) to optimize the benefit-risk profile of sunitinib in individual patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We discuss an experimental investigation of Raman scattering spectroscopy in the vicinity of a simulated reacting liquid fuel spray. Spray flames are known to produce interference from droplet elastic scattering, laser-induced fluorescence, and laser-induced incandescence of soot. The goal in this work is to evaluate various experimental approaches to this challenging problem. We evaluate Raman scattering from both 532 and 355 nm beams (second and third harmonics of Nd : YAG), at various polarization orientations and over various lifetimes. We discuss tradeoffs between the various approaches and identify operating regimes in which such Raman measurements are possible. Perhaps the most compelling finding of this work is that the third harmonic of Nd : YAG holds more promise for measurement in high-pressure, combusting spray environments than has been previously thought. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The current infrastructure of the communication has to be expanded rapidly due to the dramatic increase of data, that is transferred via the internet. The optical network technology is the most suitable technology for this demand. Not only glass fibres are required, but also a broad range of optical components like splitters, switches and multiplexers, which are usually produced in silica technology. Polymeric materials are becoming more and more interesting for these applications, since they e.g. promise lower power consumption and lower production costs than their silica based pendants. Polycyanurate ester resins are a relatively new class of high-performance polymers with outstanding properties, for example high thermal stability, low optical loss, low dielectric constant, good adhesion and amazing mechanical properties. This paper focuses on the optical loss of such materials at 1550 nm, in the optimisation for use in integrated optics and for the production of embedded waveguides. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effect of halothane anaesthesia on catecholamine secretion from the adrenal medulla was investigated in cats which had received pentobarbital (30 mg/kg) as a basal anaesthetic agent. The concentrations of adrenaline and noradrenaline in the blood of the adrenolumbar vein were measured spectrofluorometrically. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]