CDSimple™ T3 Chemiluminescent ELISA Kit

Purpose: To determine the potential role of bioptic inflammation (Irani score) in predicting adverse pathology (AP) at radical prostatectomy (RP) in patients with low-grade (ISUP Gleason Group [ISUP GG] 1 and 2) prostate cancer (CaP). Methods: After institutional review board-approval, we identified patients who underwent prostate biopsy, had bioptic Irani score assessment, were diagnosed with low-grade CaP (ISUP GG 1-2, prostate-specific antigen [PSA] <20 ng/ml), and underwent RP. The impact of standard clinicopathological variables and bioptic Irani Score (G = grade and A = aggressiveness) on AP at RP, defined as stage >= T3 and/or ISUP GG >= 3, was assessed by univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis. Results: A total of 282 patients were eligible for this study. AP at RP occurred in 37 of 214 (17.3%) patients with ISUP GG 1, and 26 of 68 (38.2%) with ISUP GG 2. At univariate analysis, serum PSA, PSA density, bioptic ISUP GG, number of positive cores, total percentage of core involvement and Irani G score emerged as significant risk factors of AP. At multivariate analysis, however, only PSA density, bioptic ISUP GG, total percentage of core, and Irani G score kept statistical significance. The area under the curve for the resulting model was 0.75. Conclusions: This is the first study demonstrating that low-grade inflammation is associated with a significantly increased risk of AP at RP. These findings would support the concept of prostatic inflammation being inversely correlated with presence and aggressiveness of CaP. Further studies are needed to externally validate the role of this readily available parameter in the decision-making process of patients with low-grade CaP. (C) 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A scale-free phase-field model for martensitic phase transformations (PTs) at finite strains is developed as an essential generalization of small-strain models in Levitas et al. (2004) and Idesman et al. (2005). The theory includes finite elastic and transformational strains and rotations as well as anisotropic and different elastic properties of phases. The gradient energy term is excluded, and the model is applicable for any scale greater than 100 nm. The model tracks finite-width interfaces between austenite and the mixture of martensitic variants only; volume fractions of martensitic variants are the internal variables rather than order parameters. The concept of the effective threshold for the driving force is introduced, which can be either positive (e.g., due to interface friction) or negative (e.g., due to defects and stress concentrators promoting PTs). To reproduce PT conditions obtained from experiments or atomistic simulations under general stress tensor, the effective threshold depends on the stress tensor components. Material parameters are calibrated for marten-sitic PT between single crystalline cubic Si I and tetragonal Si II phases, which has large transformation strains (epsilon(t1) = 0.1753; epsilon(t2) = 0.1753; epsilon(t3) = -0.447). Finite element algorithms and numerical procedures are implemented in the code deal.II. Multiple 3D problems are solved to study the effect of mesh size, holding time during quasi-static loading, and strain rate on the multivariant microstructure evolution in Si I -> Si II PT under uniaxial and hydrostatic loadings. The solution exhibits significant lattice rotations both in Si I and Si II, reproducing the appearance of diffuse grain boundaries in Si I and Si II and transforming them in polycrystals, which corresponds to known experiments. While finer mesh can produce a more detailed microstructure, the solution becomes practically mesh-independent after the mesh size is 80 times smaller than the sample size. When approaching the stationary solution, rough mesh leads to convergence to the correct microstructure faster than the fine mesh, because it neglects fine details in the microstructure. In some regions, reverse PT occurs at continuous compression, despite large transformation hysteresis. For most stationary interfaces, local thermodynamic equilibrium conditions (thermodynamic driving force for the interface motion equal to the effective threshold) are satisfied. (c) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.