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Immunohistochemical detection of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) is an aid in determining the prostatic origin of metastatic cells. However, small amounts of PSA have also been found in non-prostatic tissues and tumors, for example in some breast carcinomas, by highly sensitive immunofluorometric methods, but also by immunohistochemistry. Our aim was to evaluate the prevalence and prognostic value of histologically confirmed PSA immunoreactivity in breast carcinoma. Sections of formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded samples from 171 breast carcinomas were immunostained for PSA. The staining results were compared with the mitotic activity, tumor size, histological grade, steroid receptors and follow-up data. For analysis the material was divided into subgroups according to the patients' age (pre- and postmenopausal). PSA was found by immunohistochemistry in 54 (32%) breast carcinomas. In survival analysis of the whole patient material PSA positivity did not show prognostic value. Among premenopausal patients concomitant estrogen receptor and PSA-negativity proved to be associated with high risk of breast cancer death (RR 6.2), also after adjustment for tumor size, histological grade, and axillary lymph node status. Among postmenopausal patients PSA positivity was associated with progesterone receptor positivity and high differentiation but not with age, nodal status, or mitotic activity. PSA can be detected by immunohistochemistry in a considerable number of breast carcinomas. PSA immunoreactivity alone does not seem to have any value as general prognosticator of breast carcinoma patients. However, concomitant absence of PSA and estrogen receptors was an indicator of unfavourable prognosis among premenopausal patients.

Wood biomass is an abundant renewable source of materials, but due to the accelerating depletion of natural resources, it is important to explore new ways to use it in a more sustainable manner. Modern technologies enable the recovery and valorization of the main components of wood—namely, cellulose, lignin, and hemicelluloses—contributing to sustainability. However, the method of isolation and resulting structure and purity of lignocellulosic materials determine their functionality and applicability. This review discusses the properties of all three main wood-based compounds that can stabilize emulsions, a class of industrial dispersions that are widely used in life science applications and chemicals. Due to the multi-billion-dollar annual market for hydrocolloids, the food, pharmaceutical, cosmetic, coating, and paint industries are actively seeking new sustainable emulsion stabilizers that fulfill the demanding requirements regarding safety and functionality. Wood-derived stabilizers facilitate various mechanisms involved in emulsion stabilization: (1) development of amphiphilic structures that decrease interfacial tension, (2) stabilization of interfaces by particles according to the Pickering theory, and (3) increase in the viscosity of emulsions' continuous phase. This review presents pathways for treating cellulose, lignin, and hemicelluloses to achieve efficient stabilization and provides suggestions for their broad use in emulsions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research investigates the impact of different levels of sharing information on inventory replenishment of enterprises in three-stage distribution supply chains of the divergent type. This paper has two objectives: (1) to investigate the effects of different levels of information sharing on operating cost, inventory level and backlog level of retailers, distributors, manufacturer and the entire supply chain; and (2) to study which level of information sharing is most beneficial or optimal to each type of enterprise. The entire supply chain under various supply chain scenarios characterized by several parameters including demand variance, lead times, capacity and order batch size is investigated. The impact of sharing information is evaluated in terms of several performance indicators through a multi-agent-based simulation model. The results of the experimental simulation show that no single level of information sharing dominates the others from the perspective of individual enterprises. Some insights are provided for managers who want to implement information sharing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A well-known Swiss watch brand, active in the top-end luxury market, is facing a complex inventory deployment problem where watches of different models (more than 100 different models) must be dispatched first to wholesalers to finally reach the shops where consumers come in. Along the way, different perturbations are expected at three levels (production plan, demand, and dispatching), and accurate reactions must be taken to fit to these uncertainties. Solution methods are proposed to solve realistic instances. Results show the relevance of the methods and the robustness of the solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we consider a variety of models for dealing with demand uncertainty for a joint dynamic pricing and inventory control problem in a make-to-stock manufacturing system. We consider a multi-product capacitated, dynamic setting, where demand depends linearly on the price. Our goal is to address demand uncertainty using various robust and stochastic optimization approaches. For each of these approaches, we first introduce closed-loop formulations (adjustable robust and dynamic programming), where decisions for a given time period are made at the beginning of the time period, and uncertainty unfolds as time evolves. We then describe models in an open-loop setting, where decisions for the entire time horizon must be made at time zero. We conclude that the affine adjustable robust approach performs well (when compared to the other approaches such as dynamic programming, stochastic programming and robust open loop approaches) in terms of realized profits and protection against constraint violation while at the same time it is computationally tractable. Furthermore, we compare the complexity of these models and discuss some insights on a numerical example. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Immunohistochemical detection of prostate specific antigen (PSA) is widely used to identify metastatic prostatic adenocarcinoma. However, PSA may not be expressed in some poorly differentiated prostatic carcinomas and its immunoreactivity has been found in some non-prostatic tissues. P501s (prostein) is a prostate-specific marker that is expressed in the cytoplasm of benign and malignant prostatic glandular cells. It has not been detected in any other normal or malignant tissues. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the expression of P501s in metastatic prostatic adenocarcinoma and compare its expression with PSA. Methods: Immunohistochemical stains with anti-P501s antibodies were performed on 5-micron sections of tissue microarray (TMA) specimens. The TMA is constructed with normal donor prostates (NDP), prostatic adenocarcinoma (PRCA), non-neoplastic prostatic tissues adjacent to malignant glands (NAT), benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), high-grade prostatic neoplasia (PIN), metastatic adenocarcinoma to lymph nodes (MLN), metastatic adenocarcinoma to other sites (MC), and samples of benign testis, colon, adrenal and kidney. The two groups of metastatic lesions were also subjected to stains with antibodies to PSA. A composite score (ranging from 0 to 3) was assigned to score intensity of staining. Results: Granular staining pattern of p501s was seen in all benign glands (score = 1.77 - 2.1) and malignant acini (score = 1.52) at the apical aspect of cytoplasm, predominantly adjacent to the nuclei. No staining was observed in controls including testis, colon, adrenal and kidney. The MLN group received a score of 1.0, with 10% of cases negative for p501s. The MC cases had a score of 0.64, with 16.7% of case showing loss of p501s expression. Although the metastatic lesions demonstrated similar rate of negative expression with PSA antibody, only 2 MC cases (3.3%) showed simultaneous negative stains for both P501S and PSA. Conclusion: P501s is an organ specific marker for benign and malignant prostatic epithelial cells. Its characteristic cytoplasmic stain pattern provides an additional valuable immunomarker for detection of metastatic prostatic malignancy, even though the intensity of its expression is reduced, as in the case with PSA. Simultaneous stains with P501S and PSA will greatly improve the detection rate and identify a significant majority of the metastases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The robustness of space-time coding techniques for wireless channels that exhibit both temporal and spatial correlation is investigated. A general space-time covariance model is developed and employed to evaluate the exact pairwise error probability for space-time block codes. The expressions developed for the pairwise error probability are used in conjunction with the union bound to determine an upper bound for the probability of a block error. The block error probability is evaluated for several space-time codes and for wireless channels that exhibit varying degrees of spatial and temporal correlation. Numerical results are presented for a two-dimensional Gaussian scatterer model which has been shown to be consistent with recent field measurements of wireless channels. The results demonstrate that the best-case wireless channel is uncorrelated in both space and time. Correlation between transmission paths, due to insufficient spacing of the transmit antennas or scatterers located in close proximity to the mobile, can result in a significant performance degradation. The conditions that result in uncorrelated transmission paths are quantified in terms of the effective scattering radius and the spacing of the transmit and receive antennas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Varma M & Jasani B (2005) Histopathology 47, 1–16 Diagnostic utility of immunohistochemistry in morphologically difficult prostate cancer: review of current literature Immunohistochemistry is widely used to distinguish prostate cancer from benign mimics and to establish the prostatic origin of poorly differentiated carcinoma. We critically review the recent advances in prostate cancer immunohistochemistry, including the introduction of newer basal cell markers such as p63 and the discovery of the overexpression of α-methylacyl coenzyme A racemase (AMACR) in prostate cancer. The description of newer urothelial markers to aid the distinction of prostate cancer from urothelial carcinoma is also presented together with refinements in the quality control of PSA and PSAP immunostaining. Although AMACR is a useful immunohistochemical marker for prostate cancer, it has significant limitations. These limitations are discussed and the need for interpreting AMACR immunoreactivity in the appropriate morphological context and in conjunction with basal call markers is emphasized. We also describe the utility of an immunohistochemical panel composed of PSA, PSAP and high molecular weight cytokeratin for distinguishing poorly differentiated prostate cancer from high-grade urothelial carcinoma. A morphological differential diagnosis based selection of immunohistochemical markers is highlighted as a novel approach in the diagnosis of prostate cancer in routine surgical pathology practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The presence of immunoreactive prostate-specific antigen (IR-PSA) has been reported in breast cancers and has been suggested to confer a positive prognosis. However, recent large, well-controlled studies have found no significant prognostic value when IR-PSA positivity is examined as an independent variable, even when ultrasensitive immunofluorometric techniques are utilized. The present study, using indirect immunohistochemistry on 75 formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded breast cancers shows PSA immunoreactivity in only seven of 75 cases (9%), suggesting that PSA positivity in breast carcinoma is not useful as a prognostic or tumor marker with hospital-based methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study assessed plasma IgG in patients with metastatic recurrent breast cancer (mrBC) that is reactive to various T-cell epitope peptides of prostate-related antigens (PRAs), such as prostate-specific antigen, prostate-specific membrane antigen and prostate acid phosphatase. Patients were treated with personalized peptide vaccines (PPVs) which were selected and administered from a panel of candidate peptides based on human leukocyte antigen-types and prevaccination IgG levels to each peptide. The peptide panel consisted of 27 cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-epitope peptides derived from tumor-associated antigens, not including PRA. PRA peptides and peptide panels were retrospectively analyzed in 77 PPV-treated patients. The results revealed that PRA reactive IgG levels were increased after vaccination in 31 of the 97 patients included in the present study. Although there was no significant association between anti-PRA peptide levels and progression-free survival (PFS) or overall survival, anti-PRA peptide levels were significantly associated with PFS (P=0.009) in estrogen-receptor positive (ER+) patients with cancer. The results suggested that plasma anti-PRA IgG levels may be a useful prognostic marker for monitoring PPVs, particularly for ER+ patients with mrBC (trial registration no. from the UMIN Clinical Trials Registry, UMIN000001844). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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A two-level inventory system with one warehouse and N retailers is considered. Leadtimes (transportation times) are constant, and the retailers face different compound Poisson demand processes. All facilities apply continuous review echelon stock (R, Q) policies with different reorder points and batch quantities. We provide a simple method for exact evaluation of holding and shortage costs., 1. Introduction We consider an inventory system with one central warehouse and N retailers. The retailers face different stationary and independent compound Poisson demand processes and replenish their stock from [...]

* Context.--"Undifferentiated tumor" refers to a heterogeneous group of neoplasms with little or no evidence of differentiation on routine light microscopic morphology. Objective.--To identify the true identity of undifferentiated tumors by immunohistochemical analysis. Data Sources.--Review of the pertinent literature and the authors' experience. Conclusions.--For treatment and prognostic evaluation, it is crucial to delineate whether an undifferentiated neoplasm is epithelial, mesenchymal, melanocytic, or hematopoietic in nature. Application of a screening panel to demonstrate the expression of markers of major lineages is fundamental for determination of the broad category of neoplasia. Because poorly differentiated carcinomas and in particular sarcomatoid carcinomas are known to be heterogeneous in their antigen expression, several epithelial markers in combination may be required to establish the carcinomatous nature of tumor. A diagnostic misinterpretation as a consequence of occasional aberrant or unexpected antigen expression is best avoided by using a broad panel that includes both antibodies that are anticipated to be positive and those that are expected to be negative. In this treatise, the immunohistochemical dissection of undifferentiated tumors on the basis of their morphologic features is outlined, supplemented with algorithmic immunohistochemical analysis for each morphologic category of small round cell tumors, carcinomatous tumors, sarcomatous (or sarcoma-like) tumors, and tumors with histologically overlapping features, including hematolymphoid malignancies, melanoma, and sarcomas with epithelioid appearance. The utility of several organ- or tissue-specific markers in the context of undifferentiated tumors is reviewed., The term undifferentiated tumor has been used in reference to a heterogeneous group of tumors with little or no evidence of differentiation. Some may link this terminology to morphologically undifferentiated [...]