Pediatric hepatocellular carcinoma

Pediatric hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the second common malignant liver tumor in children after hepato-blastoma. It differs from the adult HCC in the etiological predisposition, biological behavior and lower frequency of cirrhosis. Perinatally acquired hepatitis-B virus, hepa-torenal tyrosinemia, progressive familial intrahepatic cho-lestasis, glycogen storage disease, Alagille's syndrome and congenital portosystemic shunts are important predis-posing factors. Majority of children (87%) are older than 5 years of age. Following mass immunization against hepatitis-B, there has been a drastic fall in the incidence of new cases of pediatric HCC in the Asia-Pacific region. Management is targeted on complete surgical removal either by resection or liver transplantation. There is a trend towards improving survival of children transplanted for HCC beyond Milan criteria. Chemotherapeutic regi-mens do not offer good results but may be helpful for down-staging of advanced HCC. Surveillance of children with chronic liver diseases with ultrasound and alpha-fetoprotein may be helpful in timely detection, intervention and overall improvement in outcome of HCC.

In-situ condition monitoring of reinforced concrete structures

Performance of concrete structures is significantly influenced and governed by its durability and resistance to environmental or exposure conditions, apart from its physical strength. It can be monitored, evaluated and predicted through modeling of physical deterioration mechanisms, performance characteristics and parameters and condition monitoring of in situ concrete structures. One such study has been conducted using Non-destructive testing equipment in the city of Bhopal and around located in India. Some selected parameters influencing durability of reinforced concrete （RC） structures such as concrete cover, carbonation depth, chloride concentration, half cell potential and compressive strength have been measured, for establishing correlation among various parameters and age of structures. Effects of concrete cover and compressive strength over the variation of chloride content with time are also investigated.

Evaluating effect of chloride attack and concrete cover on the probability of corrosion

Corrosion of reinforced concrete(RC)structures is one of the significant causes of deterioration of reinforced concrete(RC)structures.Chlorination is a major process governing the initiation and advancement of the injurious corrosion of steel bars.Now,several researches on the chlorination of concrete structures have been ongoing around the world.Present article reviews several recently performed chlorination studies,and from results of a field survey evaluates the effect of chloride content on the probability of corrosion and the influence of concrete compressive strength on the chloride content and penetration,also evaluates the effect of concrete cover over the chloride content of the RC structures at rebar depth and on the probability of corrosion.