A bimodal porous evaporator is developed for efficient, stable, and salt-rejecting desalination of seawater and high-concentration brines.

Prostate cancer almost exclusively metastasizes to skeletal sites, indicating that the bone provides a favorable microenvironment for its localization and progression. A natural yet understudied factor in bone that could facilitate tumor localization is elevated extracellular calcium (

Monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 (CCL2) is a recently identified prominent regulator of prostate cancer growth and metastasis. The purpose of this study was to investigate the mechanistic role of CCL2 in prostate cancer growth in bone. The present study found that CCL2 was up-regulated in osteoblasts (3-fold by PC-3 and 2-fold by VCaP conditioned medium) and endothelial cells (2-fold by PC-3 and VCaP conditioned medium). Parathyroid hormone-related protein (PTHrP) treatment of osteoblastic cells up-regulated CCL2 and was blocked by a PTHrP antagonist, suggesting that prostate cancer-derived PTHrP plays an important role in elevation of osteoblast-derived CCL2. CCL2 indirectly increased blood vessel formation in endothelial cells through vascular endothelial growth factor-A, which was up-regulated 2-fold with administration of CCL2 in prostate cancer cells. In vivo, anti-CCL2 treatment suppressed tumor growth in bone. The decreased tumor burden was associated with decreased bone resorption (serum TRAP5b levels were decreased by 50-60% in anti-CCL2-treated animals from VCaP or PC-3 cell osseous lesions) and microvessel density was decreased by 70% in anti-CCL2-treated animals with bone lesions from VCaP cells. These data suggest that a destructive cascade is driven by tumor cell-derived, PTHrP-mediated induction of CCL2, which facilitates tumor growth via enhanced osteoclastic and endothelial cell activity in bone marrow. Taken together, CCL2 mediates the interaction between tumor-derived factors and host-derived chemokines acting in cooperation to promote skeletal metastasis. [Cancer Res 2009;69(4):1685-92]

Purpose To assess the determinants of technical failure of magnetic resonance (MR) elastography of the liver in a large single-center study. Materials and Methods This retrospective study was approved by the institutional review board. Seven hundred eighty-one MR elastography examinations performed in 691 consecutive patients (mean age, 58 years; male patients, 434 [62.8%]) in a single center between June 2013 and August 2014 were retrospectively evaluated. MR elastography was performed at 3.0 T (n = 443) or 1.5 T (n = 338) by using a gradient-recalled-echo pulse sequence. MR elastography and anatomic image analysis were performed by two observers. Additional observers measured liver T2* and fat fraction. Technical failure was defined as no pixel value with a confidence index higher than 95% and/or no apparent shear waves imaged. Logistic regression analysis was performed to assess potential predictive factors of technical failure of MR elastography. Results The technical failure rate of MR elastography at 1.5 T was 3.5% (12 of 338), while it was higher, 15.3% (68 of 443), at 3.0 T. On the basis of univariate analysis, body mass index, liver iron deposition, massive ascites, use of 3.0 T, presence of cirrhosis, and alcoholic liver disease were all significantly associated with failure of MR elastography (P < .004); but on the basis of multivariable analysis, only body mass index, liver iron deposition, massive ascites, and use of 3.0 T were significantly associated with failure of MR elastography (P < .004). Conclusion The technical failure rate of MR elastography with a gradient-recalled-echo pulse sequence was low at 1.5 T but substantially higher at 3.0 T. Massive ascites, iron deposition, and high body mass index were additional independent factors associated with failure of MR elastography of the liver with a two-dimensional gradient-recalled-echo pulse sequence. RSNA, 2017.