Reexamining the Lyman-Birge-Hopfield band of N2

Motivated by fundamental molecular physics and by atmospheric and planetary sciences, the valence excitations of N2 gas have seen several decades of intensive study, especially by electron-energy-loss spectroscopy (EELS). It was consequently surprising when a comparison of nonresonant inelastic x-ray scattering (NIXS) and nonresonant EELS found strong evidence for violations of the first Born approximation for EELS when leaving the dipole scattering limit. Here we reassess the relative strengths of the constituent resonances of the lowest-energy excitations of N2, encompassed by the so-called Lyman-Birge-Hopfield (LBH) band, expanding on the prior, qualitative interpretation of the NIXS results for N2 by both quantifying the generalized oscillator strength of the lowest-energy excitations and also presenting a time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) calculation of the q dependence of the entire low-energy electronic excitation spectrum. At high q, we find that the LBH band has an unexpectedly large contribution from the octupolar w 1Δu resonance exactly in the regime where theory and EELS experiment for the presumed-dominant a 1Πg resonance have previously had substantial disagreement, and also where the EELS results must now be expected to show violations of the Born approximation. After correcting for this contamination, the a 1Πg generalized oscillator strength from the NIXS results is in good agreement with prior theory. The NIXS spectra, over their entire q range, also find satisfactory agreement with the TDDFT calculations for both bound and continuum excitations.This work was supported by the US Department of Energy, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada, the Australian Research Council, the Research Funds of the University of Helsinki, and the Academy of Finland (Contract No. 1127462, Centers of Excellence Program 2006-2011, and National Graduate School in Materials Physics). A.R. acknowledges support by MICINN (FIS2010-21282-C02-01),ACI-promociona (ACI2009-1036), Grupos Consolidados UPV/EHU del Gobierno Vasco (IT-319- 07), and the European Community through e-I3 ETSF project (Contract No. 211956).Peer Reviewe

Inversed linear dichroism in F <em>K</em>-edge NEXAFS spectra of fluorinated planar aromatic molecules

et al.The symmetry and energy distribution of unoccupied molecular orbitals is addressed in this work by means of NEXAFS and density functional theory calculations for planar, fluorinated organic semiconductors (perfluorinated copper phthalocyanines and perfluoropentacene). We demonstrate how molecular orbitals with significant density of states on the fluorine atoms show different symmetry from those mainly located on C and N atoms. As a result, the angle-dependent linear dichroism in NEXAFS F K-edge spectra is inversed with respect to that in the C and N K-edges. In addition, the significant overlap in energy of π * and σ * orbitals throughout the F K-edge spectrum hampers its use for analysis of molecular orientations from angle-dependent NEXAFS measurements. © 2012 American Physical Society.J.E.O. and A.R. acknowledge funding from the Spanish MEC through Grants No. FIS2011-65702-C02-01, No. MAT2010-21156-C03-01, and No. PIB2010US-00652, and from the Basque Government through Grants No. IT-257-07 and No. IT-319-07. A.R. additionally acknowledges that financial support was provided by ACI-Promociona Grant No. ACI2009-1036 and the European Research Council Advanced Grant DYNamo (ERC-2010-AdG, Proposal No. 267374). A.S. acknowledges the support of the Research Funds of the University of Helsinki and the Academy of Finland through Contract No. 1127462, Centers of Excellence Program, and the National Graduate School in Materials Physics. J.M.G.L. acknowledges support from The Lundbeck Foundation’s Center for Atomic-Scale Materials Design and the Danish Center for Scientific Computing.Peer Reviewe

The Magnitude of Androgen Receptor Positivity in Breast Cancer Is Critical for Reliable Prediction of Disease Outcome

Purpose: Consensus is lacking regarding the androgen receptor (AR) as a prognostic marker in breast cancer. The objectives of this study were to comprehensively review the literature on AR prognostication and determine optimal criteria for AR as an independent predictor of breast cancer survival. Experimental Design: AR positivity was assessed by immunostaining in two clinically validated primary breast cancer cohorts [training cohort, n = 219; validation cohort, n = 418; 77% and 79% estrogen receptor alpha (ERα) positive, respectively]. The optimal AR cut-point was determined by ROC analysis in the training cohort and applied to both cohorts. Results: AR was an independent prognostic marker of breast cancer outcome in 22 of 46 (48%) previous studies that performed multivariate analyses. Most studies used cut-points of 1% or 10% nuclear positivity. Herein, neither 1% nor 10% cut-points were robustly prognostic. ROC analysis revealed that a higher AR cut-point (78% positivity) provided optimal sensitivity and specificity to predict breast cancer survival in the training (HR, 0.41; P = 0.015) and validation (HR, 0.50; P = 0.014) cohorts. Tenfold cross-validation confirmed the robustness of this AR cut-point. Patients with ERα-positive tumors and AR positivity ≥78% had the best survival in both cohorts (P 0.87) had the best outcomes (P < 0.0001). Conclusions: This study defines an optimal AR cut-point to reliably predict breast cancer survival. Testing this cut-point in prospective cohorts is warranted for implementation of AR as a prognostic factor in the clinical management of breast cancer

Versican but not decorin accumulation is related to malignancy in mammographically detected high density and malignant-appearing microcalcifications in non-palpable breast carcinomas

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Mammographic density (MD) and malignant-appearing microcalcifications (MAMCs) represent the earliest mammographic findings of non-palpable breast carcinomas. Matrix proteoglycans versican and decorin are frequently over-expressed in various malignancies and are differently involved in the progression of cancer. In the present study, we have evaluated the expression of versican and decorin in non-palpable breast carcinomas and their association with high risk mammographic findings and tumor characteristics.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Three hundred and ten patients with non-palpable suspicious breast lesions, detected during screening mammography, were studied. Histological examination was carried out and the expression of decorin, versican, estrogen receptor α (ERα), progesterone receptor (PR) and c-erbB2 (HER-2/neu) was assessed by immunohistochemistry.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Histological examination showed 83 out of 310 (26.8%) carcinomas of various subtypes. Immunohistochemistry was carried out in 62/83 carcinomas. Decorin was accumulated in breast tissues with MD and MAMCs independently of the presence of malignancy. In contrast, versican was significantly increased only in carcinomas with MAMCs (median ± SE: 42.0 ± 9.1) and MD (22.5 ± 10.1) as compared to normal breast tissue with MAMCs (14.0 ± 5.8), MD (11.0 ± 4.4) and normal breast tissue without mammographic findings (10.0 ± 2.0). Elevated levels of versican were correlated with higher tumor grade and invasiveness in carcinomas with MD and MAMCs, whereas increased amounts of decorin were associated with <it>in situ </it>carcinomas in MAMCs. Stromal deposition of both proteoglycans was related to higher expression of ERα and PR in tumor cells only in MAMCs.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The specific accumulation of versican in breast tissue with high MD and MAMCs only in the presence of malignant transformation and its association with the aggressiveness of the tumor suggests its possible use as molecular marker in non-palpable breast carcinomas.</p

Predicting sulfotyrosine sites using the random forest algorithm with significantly improved prediction accuracy

addresses: School of Biosciences, University of Exeter, Exeter EX4 5DE, UK. [email protected]: PMCID: PMC2777180types: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't© 2009 Yang; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.Tyrosine sulfation is one of the most important posttranslational modifications. Due to its relevance to various disease developments, tyrosine sulfation has become the target for drug design. In order to facilitate efficient drug design, accurate prediction of sulfotyrosine sites is desirable. A predictor published seven years ago has been very successful with claimed prediction accuracy of 98%. However, it has a particularly low sensitivity when predicting sulfotyrosine sites in some newly sequenced proteins

Ammattikasvattajien käsityksiä vanhemmuudesta

Tutkimukseni kohdistuu ammattikasvattajien käsityksiin vanhemmuudesta. Yhteiskuntamme tarvitsee vastuunsa kantavia vanhempia. Julkisuudessa keskustellaan kuitenkin paljon vanhemmuuden vaativuudesta ja sen puutteesta, joten tutkimus kohdistuu tähän tarpeeseen. Lisäksi se pyrkii avaamaan vanhemmuuden ja kasvatusyhteistyön suhdetta sekä opettajan vaikutusta perheeseen. Vanhemmuus on monitieteinen ja moniulotteinen käsite. Tutkimuksen teoreettinen viitekehys avaa vanhemmuuden määritelmiä, aikaisempaa tutkimusta vanhemmuudesta, kasvatusyhteistyötä ja kasvatuksen työnjakoa kodin ja koulun välillä. Tutkimuksen metodologisena lähestymistapana on fenomenografia, joka tutkii ja kuvaa ihmisten käsityksiä, minkä vuoksi se sopii hyvin tutkimukseen. Aineisto on kerätty viiden teemahaastattelun avulla ja haastateltaviksi on valikoitunut erilaisen työhistorian ja taustan omaavia opettajia. Tutkimus etsii vastausta siihen, mitä erilaisia käsityksiä ammattikasvattajilla on vanhemmuudesta ja mitä käsityksiä heillä on siitä, miten vanhemmuus näkyy koulun arjessa. Aineisto on analysoitu käyttäen fenomenografista analyysimenetelmää. Tutkimuksesta selviää, että ammattikasvattajien käsitykset vanhemmuudesta jakaantuvat neljään kuvauskategoriaan: 1) vanhemman tehtävät, 2) kasvatusyhteistyö, 3) vanhemmuus koulun arjessa ja 4) nykypäivän vanhemmuus. Tutkimuksen ammattikasvattajien käsitysten mukaan vanhemmuus on vastuullisuutta lapsen hyvinvoinnista, yhdessäoloa ja vuorovaikutusta. Ammattikasvattajien käsitysten mukaan vanhemmuus on myös kasvatusyhteistyötä, jota ammattikasvattajat kuvaavat yhteydenpidon, kasvatuskumppanuuden ja ongelmien kohtaamisen kautta. Ammattikasvattajien käsitysten mukaan vanhemmuus näkyy koulun arjessa lasten käyttäytymisen, opetustilanteiden ja vuorovaikutuksen kautta. Nykypäivän vanhemmuudesta tutkimuksen haastateltavat nostavat esiin vastuulliset vanhemmat ja haasteet. Tutkimus välittää positiivisen kuvan vanhemmista ja vanhemmuudesta toisin kuin yhteiskunnassamme vallalla oleva keskustelu ja se antaa eväitä opettajan työhön ja vanhempien kohtaamiseen

Birds and conservation significance of the Namib Desert's least known coastal wetlands: Baia and Ilha dos Tigres, Angola

The Ilha dos Tigres of Angola is the only sandy island off the coast of the 2 000km-long Namib Desert and it remains the least known coastal wetland on a desert coast rich in shorebirds. Two surveys of the Baia dos Tigres region in 1999 and 2001 indicated a rich wetland bird diversity consisting of 25 species, with a total of 11 000 birds, at a density of 33 birds km–1 of beach. We established breeding by three species of seabirds — two cormorants and the great white pelican Pelecanus onocrotalus — and confirmed northward range extensions for two of these species. The region supports seven regionally threatened Red Data birds. Several threatened marine turtles occur at the nearby Cunene River mouth, and given the possibility that turtles and other Red Data birds may breed at Ilha dos Tigres, it is recommended that it should become an integral part of the Iona National Park on the adjacent mainland.Keywords: coastal wetland, Iona National Park, marine turtles, Namib Desert, seabirds, shorebirdsAfrican Journal of Marine Science 2006, 28(3&4): 713–71

The proteoglycan versican: an important regulator of cell locomotion in development and disease

One of the major keys to understanding tissue reorganization during embryological development and pathophysiology will be to decipher the mechanisms that regulate cell locomotion. This review focuses on what is known about versican, a large extracellular proteoglycan intimately involved in cellular relocation and tissue reorganization during normal processes and pathological states, including cancer metastasis. A member of the lectican family, versican plays diverse roles in cell adhesion, proliferation, migration and angiogenesis. These wide ranging functions have been attributed to the N-(G1) and C-(G3) terminal globular domains and the central glycosaminoglycan-binding region of versican, which collectively interact with a large number of extracellular matrix and cell surface structural components. Consequently, the diverse roles of versican may depend on the level of specific isoforms and/or levels of G1 and G3 domains which can be generated as a result of processing by specific proteases. Little is known about versican catabolism and whether its proteolytic fragments have altered biological activity compared to the intact molecule in physiological and disease processes. Studies over the last ten years have confirmed a significant role for versican in regulating cell locomotion in normal development and disease.Carmela Ricciardelli, Andrew Sakko, Miranda Ween, Darryl Russell and David Horsfal

Versican accumulation in human prostatic fibroblast cultures is enhanced by prostate cancer cell-derived transforming growth factor beta1

© 2000 American Association for Cancer ResearchWe have previously demonstrated that peritumoral stromal matrix derived from prostate cancer patients who relapse after radical surgery contains elevated levels of versican. The purpose of this study was to determine whether prostate cancer cells control stromal cell secretion of versican. Serum-free conditioned medium from three prostate adenocarcinoma cell lines, LNCaP, PC3, and DU145, was added to cultures of fibroblasts established from prostatic tissue of patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia, and the medium was harvested at 24, 48, and 72 h. Immunoblotting with an antiversican core protein antibody revealed that prostatic fibroblast medium harvested at 72 h contained increased levels of versican after treatment with either LNCaP-, PC3- or DU145-conditioned medium (2.5-, 4.5-, and 5-fold, respectively) compared with control cultures. This increase in versican in the culture medium was not observed after coincubation with transforming growth factor ß1-neutralizing antisera. The results of this study suggest that prostate tumor cells induce host stromal cells to secrete increased versican levels via a paracrine mechanism mediated by transforming growth factor ß1.Andrew J. Sakko, Carmela Ricciardelli, Keiko Mayne, Wayne D. Tilley, Richard G. LeBaron, and David J. Horsfal