Phthalate esters are endocrine disrupters or mutagens. They are widely used as plasticizers and can be usually found in environmental samples, such as food, soil and polluted air. However, it is difficult to directly determine phthalate esters owing to their relatively low concentration and complex matrices. Therefore, preconcentration and separation have become increasingly important. In recen...

The microscopic kinetics of ubiquitous solid-solid phase transitions remain poorly understood. Here, by using single-particle-resolution video microscopy of colloidal films of diameter-tunable microspheres, we show that transitions between square and triangular lattices occur via a two-step diffusive nucleation pathway involving liquid nuclei. The nucleation pathway is favoured over the direct ...

OBJECTIVE To investigated the clinicopathologic features of familial papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) compared to sporadic PTC. METHODS Between January 2008 and August 2014, 20 patients who underwent surgery at Liaoning Cancer Hospital and Institute were diagnosed with familial PTC. We compared the clinicopathologic characteristics between familial PTC and sporadic PTC. RESULTS The prevale...

Automation of wet chemical analytical procedures, particularly titration, photometry and chromatography, have wide application in industrial laboratories. Very often some sample pretreatment must be carried out to transfer the sample into a suitable state for the measurement or chromatographic process. In industrial analysis, samples are very often solids which must be reduced in size and disso...

Papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) is the most common type of thyroid malignancy and includes several histological variants. Patients suffering from PTC usually have a good outcome. However, a group of PTC patients still encounter high rates of recurrence and mortality. The BRAFV600E mutation is the most common genetic alteration identified in PTC, ranging from 29 to 83%, with the average rate a...

Introduction. SERPINE2 and secretory leukocyte protease inhibitor (SLPI) are proteins with anticoagulant properties which could promote solid tumor growth. However, their role in the pathogenesis of thyroid cancer has not been determined. Materials and Methods. The aim of this study was to assess serum SERPINE2 and SLPI concentrations in a group of 36 patients with papillary thyroid cancer (PTC...

The hobnail variant of papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) is a rare, aggressive variant in which > 30% of the tumor cells have hobnail features. The clinical behavior and pathologic characteristics of these tumors are still unclear due to the rarity of the entity. The present study aimed to investigate cytologic, clinical, pathological, and molecular features of the hobnail variant from our data...

The aim of the present study was to investigate the prevalence of the BRAF V600E mutation in papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) and to determine the correlation between this mutation and indicators of poor prognosis and outcome in patients with PTC. The BRAF V600E mutation status was analyzed in 187 tumor samples using the multiplex allele-specific PCR method. Univariate and multivariate analyse...

OBJECTIVES To evaluate BD MGITTM TBc® technique for identifying the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex using isolates obtained in liquid and solid media. METHODS A descriptive study was conducted in which 117 isolates were analyzed by the immune-chromatography technique obtained from solid and liquid cultures to identify the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex. The kappa coefficient was calcul...

Unlike liquids, for crystalline solids the surface tension is known to be different from the surface energy. However, the same cannot be said conclusively for amorphous materials like soft cross-linked elastomers. To resolve this issue we have introduced here a direct method for measuring solid-liquid interfacial tension by using the curved surface of a solid. In essence, we have used the inner...