Inflammatory biomarkers and its value in predicting survival and outcome among patients with spontaneous intracerebral haemorrhage

Background Spontaneous IntraCerebral Hemorrhage (SICH) has emerged as one of the most devastating forms of stroke in recent decades. This disease is noted to carry a 30 day mortality rate of approximately 45%. An increasing number of studies have implicated a complex immune-mediated and inflammation mediated cascade of responses in the pathophysiology of SICH and the resultant neurologic outcome. Several clinical studies have demonstrated an association between inflammatory markers and outcome in patients with SICH. However, the exact relationship between serum biomarkers and functional outcomes amongst survivors has not been clearly elucidated . This study aims at providing a promising perspective and to evaluate the changes in peripheral leukocyte count (WBC count) and C-Reactive Protein (CRP) level in patients with SICH and to correlate these findings with survival and functional outcome, thus to to support and substantiate existing evidences. Methodology A prospective, descriptive and correlational study was conducted in Hospital Umum Sarawak (HUS) over the span of 2 years ( April 2013 till April 2015) . Patients with supratentorial intracerebral bleed secondary to uncontrolled hypertension, aged between 30-75 years were recruited in this study . Data pertaining to the demography ( age, gender, BP, GCS score, and co-morbidities) , clinical and radiological parameters ( site of lesion and the volume of the clot ) were collected on admission. Blood samples were taken to measure peripheral WBC count and CRP level on admission and at 72 hours of admission. Mortality and functional outcomes were determined at 6 months post ictus. Patients were recruited following fulfillment of exclusion and inclusion criteria and all obtained data was analyzed with Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) for Windows version 21.0. Results A total of 60 patients were recruited in this study. We found about 16 patients were less than or equal to 50 years old (26.7%) and 44 patients belong to the older age group of above 50 years (73.3%). Majority of patients presented with GCS score of 9/15 to 11/15 with a total of 13 patients (21.7%) in each group of 9/15, 10/15 and 11/15. The least number of patients encountered belonged to the GCS score of 14/15 – a total of 5 patients (8.3%). GCS score on admission was noted to be significantly related to 6 month functional outcome or Glasgow Outcome Scale (GOS) and overall mortality or survival (p0.05). WBC count and CRP level on admission and at 72 hours of admission noted to have relationship with overall 6 months GOS or functionality and also with overall survival (p<0.05). Total number of patients belonging to the better Glasgow Outcome Score (GOS) group (GOS 4-5) was found to comprise 20 patients (33.3%) and about 27 patients (45%) belonged to the poor GOS group (GOS 2-3) . About 13 patients (21.7%) succumbed to the disease (GOS 1). Conclusion We could conclude that via this study, it was evident that in patients with SICH, the main determinants or predictors of functional outcome at 6 months and overall survival were noted to be GCS score on admission, clot size, WBC count and CRP levels on admission and at 72 hours of admission

Graphene-on-Sapphire and Graphene-on-Glass: Raman Spectroscopy Study

The room-temperature Raman signatures from graphene layers on sapphire and glass substrates were compared with those from graphene on GaAs substrate and on the standard Si/SiO2 substrate, which served as a reference. It was found that while G peak of graphene on Si/SiO2 and GaAs is positioned at 1580 cm-1 it is down-shifted by ~5 cm-1 for graphene-on-sapphire (GOS) and, in many cases, splits into doublets for graphene-on-glass (GOG) with the central frequency around 1580 cm-1. The obtained results are important for graphene characterization and its proposed graphene applications in electronic devices.Comment: Accepted for publication in Applied Physics Letters, 9 pages, 3 figure

Report of the 14th Genomic Standards Consortium Meeting, Oxford, UK, September 17-21, 2012

© The Author(s), 2014. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Standards in Genomic Sciences 9 (2014): 1236-1250, doi:10.4056/sigs.4319681.This report summarizes the proceedings of the 14th workshop of the Genomic Standards Consortium (GSC) held at the University of Oxford in September 2012. The workshop’s primary goal was to work towards the launch of the Genomic Observatories (GOs) Network under the GSC. For the first time, it brought together potential GOs sites, GSC members, and a range of interested partner organizations. It thus represented the first meeting of the GOs Network (GOs1). Key outcomes include the formation of a core group of “champions” ready to take the GOs Network forward, as well as the formation of working groups. The workshop also served as the first meeting of a wide range of participants in the Ocean Sampling Day (OSD) initiative, a first GOs action. Three projects with complementary interests – COST Action ES1103, MG4U and Micro B3 – organized joint sessions at the workshop. A two-day GSC Hackathon followed the main three days of meetings.This work was supported in part by the US Na-tional Science Foundation through the research coordination network award RCN4GSC, DBI-0840989 and in part by a grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, and travel grants of COST Action ES1103. The stakeholder session was supported by the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7 /2007-2013) under grant agreement no 266055, and the Marine Ge-nomics for Users EU FP7 project (Coordination and support action, call FP7-KBBE-2010-4) grant no. 266055. We thank Eppendorf and Biomatters Ltd. for their sponsorship of the meeting

An evaluation of training in business

Includes bibliographical references

Guidance for government offices and Education Business Link organisations : new structure for delivering education business links : establishing consortia; assessment of proposals; and criteria for awarding development funding

"1. This paper sets out guidance for Government Offices (GOs) on their role in: supporting the formation of new education business link consortia; assessing initial proposals; allocating development funding; and approving Initial Development Plans. This guidance is also for use by Education Business Link organisations(EBLOs) who wish to take part in the new consortium arrangements. 2. This guidance has taken account of the responses to our recent consultation exercise1, though certain issues, for example funding levels for April 2001 and beyond, are outside the scope of this paper. Further information on funding levels for 2001 and the LSC mechanisms through which EBL activity will be supported will become known during the course of this year" - page 2

(±)-Gossypol induces apoptosis and autophagy in head and neck carcinoma cell lines and inhibits the growth of transplanted salivary gland cancer cells in BALB/c mice

Racemic Gossypol [(±)-GOS], composed of both (-)-GOS and (+)-GOS, is a small BH3-mimetic polyphenol derived from cotton seeds. (±)-GOS has been employed and well tolerated by cancer patients. Head and neck carcinoma (HNC) represents one of the most fatal cancers worldwide, and a significant proportion of HNC expresses high levels of antiapoptotic Bcl-2 proteins. In this study, we demonstrate that (±)-GOS inhibits cell proliferation and induces apoptosis and autophagy of human pharynx, tongue, and salivary gland cancer cell lines and of mouse salivary gland cancer cells (SALTO). (±)-GOS was able to: (a) decrease the ErbB2 protein expression; (b) inhibit the phosphorylation of ERK1/2 and AKT; (c) stimulate p38 and JNK1/2 protein phosphorylation. (±)-GOS administration was safe in BALB/c mice and it reduced the growth of transplanted SALTO cells in vivo and prolonged mice median survival. Our results suggest the potential role of (±)-GOS as an antitumor agent in HNC patients

Galacto-oligosaccharides formation during manufacture of different varieties of yogurt. Stability through storage

Galacto-oligosaccharides (GOS) have interest in the food industry due to their recognized functional properties. In this work, we studied the effect of a commercial β-galactosidase enzyme from Kluyveromyces lactis (YNL-2, GODO) and Lactobacillus acidophilus La-5, on GOS formation during the manufacture and storage of drinkable and stirred yogurts. In a preliminary step, GOS synthesis and lactose hydrolysis by β-galactosidase was evaluated at different initial lactose concentrations and doses of enzyme. The GOS formation was favored with increasing of lactose concentration and enzyme doses, while the hydrolysis dominated at lower level of lactose. In turn, the presence of GOS was already evident at 45min of fermentation in yogurts with addition of β-galactosidase. Mean concentrations were 0.36 and 0.62g/100g for fresh drinkable and stirred yogurts, respectively. No changes in the GOS levels were observed through storage, indicating that they were stable in the products. The probiotic bacteria added were not able to produce GOS. The diminution of lactose was significant in yogurts with β-galactosidase; contents of residual lactose were around 1.3g/100g. We obtained different varieties of reduced-lactose yogurts enriched in galacto-oligosaccharides. The presence of probiotic and prebiotic would increase the functional properties of yogurts.Fil: Vénica, Claudia Inés. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe. Instituto de Lactología Industrial. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de Ingeniería Química. Instituto de Lactología Industrial; ArgentinaFil: Bergamini, Carina Viviana. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe. Instituto de Lactología Industrial. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de Ingeniería Química. Instituto de Lactología Industrial; ArgentinaFil: Rebechi, Silvina Roxana. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe. Instituto de Lactología Industrial. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de Ingeniería Química. Instituto de Lactología Industrial; ArgentinaFil: Perotti, Maria Cristina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe. Instituto de Lactología Industrial. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de Ingeniería Química. Instituto de Lactología Industrial; Argentin

Regulation of sonic hedgehog-GLI1 downstream target genes PTCH1, Cyclin D2, Plakoglobin, PAX6 and NKX2.2 and their epigenetic status in medulloblastoma and astrocytoma

Abstract Background The Sonic hedgehog (Shh) signaling pathway is critical for cell growth and differentiation. Impairment of this pathway can result in both birth defects and cancer. Despite its importance in cancer development, the Shh pathway has not been thoroughly investigated in tumorigenesis of brain tumors. In this study, we sought to understand the regulatory roles of GLI1, the immediate downstream activator of the Shh signaling pathway on its downstream target genes PTCH1, Cyclin D2, Plakoglobin, NKX2.2 and PAX6 in medulloblastoma and astrocytic tumors. Methods We silenced GLI1 expression in medulloblastoma and astrocytic cell lines by transfection of siRNA against GLI1. Subsequently, we performed RT-PCR and quantitative real time RT-PCR (qRT-PCR) to assay the expression of downstream target genes PTCH1, Cyclin D2, Plakoglobin, NKX2.2 and PAX6. We also attempted to correlate the pattern of expression of GLI1 and its regulated genes in 14 cell lines and 41 primary medulloblastoma and astrocytoma tumor samples. We also assessed the methylation status of the Cyclin D2 and PTCH1 promoters in these 14 cell lines and 58 primary tumor samples. Results Silencing expression of GLI1 resulted up-regulation of all target genes in the medulloblastoma cell line, while only PTCH1 was up-regulated in astrocytoma. We also observed methylation of the cyclin D2 promoter in a significant number of astrocytoma cell lines (63%) and primary astrocytoma tumor samples (32%), but not at all in any medulloblastoma samples. PTCH1 promoter methylation was less frequently observed than Cyclin D2 promoter methylation in astrocytomas, and not at all in medulloblastomas. Conclusions Our results demonstrate different regulatory mechanisms of Shh-GLI1 signaling. These differences vary according to the downstream target gene affected, the origin of the tissue, as well as epigenetic regulation of some of these genes.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/78313/1/1471-2407-10-614.xmlhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/78313/2/1471-2407-10-614.pdfPeer Reviewe