Immunohistochemical assessment of mitochondrial superoxide dismutase (MnSOD) in colorectal premalignant and malignant lesions

Introduction: It is generally accepted that mitochondria are a primary source of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS). Under physiological circumstances they are permanently formed as by-products of aerobic metabolism in the mitochondria. To counter the harmful effect of ROS, cells possess an antioxidant defence system to detoxify ROS and avert them from accumulation at high concentrations. Mitochondria-located manganese superoxide dismutase (MnSOD, SOD2) successfully converts superoxide to the less reactive hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). To the best of our knowledge, there are no available data regarding immunohistochemical expression of MnSOD in colorectal neoplastic tissues. Aim: To investigate the immunohistochemical expression status of MnSOD in colorectal premalignant and malignant lesions. Material and methods: This study was performed on resected specimens obtained from 126 patients who had undergone surgical resection for primary sporadic colorectal cancer, and from 114 patients who had undergone colonoscopy at the Municipal Hospital in Jaworzno (Poland). Paraffin-embedded, 4-mu m-thick tissue sections were stained for rabbit polyclonal anti SOD2 antibody obtained from GeneTex (clone TF9-10-H10 from America Diagnostica). Results: Results of our study demonstrated that the development of colorectal cancer is connected with increased expression of MnSOD both in adenoma and adenocarcinoma stages. Samples of adenocarcinoma with G(2) and G(3) grade showed significantly higher levels of immunohistochemical expression of this antioxidant enzyme. Moreover, patients with the presence of lymphovascular invasion and higher degree of regional lymph node status have been also characterised by higher levels of MnSOD expression. The samples of adenoma have been characterised by higher levels of MnSOD expression in comparison to normal mucosa as well. Interestingly, there was no significant correlation between expression and histological type of adenoma. Conclusions: Development of colorectal cancer is connected with increased expression of MnSOD both in adenoma and adenocarcinoma stages. Keyword

Sports Associations

Tematem pracy magisterskiej są związki sportowe. Zgodnie z art. 6 ustawy o sporcie co najmniej trzy kluby sportowe mogą utworzyć związek sportowy w formie stowarzyszenia lub związku stowarzyszeń. Głównym założeniem ustawodawcy w powyższej ustawie była zasada „ jeden związek w jednym sporcie". Szczególnym przykładem związku sportowego są polskie związki sportowe. Polskim związkiem sportowym jest związek sportowy o zasięgu ogólnokrajowym, utworzony po uzyskaniu zgody mini¬stra właściwego do spraw kultury fizycznej i sportu. Z powyższej regulacji wynika, że Związkiem jest związek klubów sportowych lub zawodników, który utworzyły kluby sportowe w liczbie, co najmniej trzech, lub za¬wodnicy niezrzeszeni w klubach sportowych w liczbie co naj¬mniej piętnastu. Może on działać w formie stowarzyszenia lub związku stowarzyszeń oraz ma wyłączne prawo do podejmo¬wania decyzji we wszystkich sprawach dotyczących danej dys¬cypliny sportu, niezastrzeżonych w ustawie dla organów admi-nistracji rządowej lub innych podmiotów. Członkami mogą być osoby prawne i fizyczne. Organ stanowiący polskiego związku sportowego powołuje komisję rewizyjną. Komisja kontroluje działalność polskiego związku sporto¬wego we wszystkich dziedzinach jego działalności. Dodatkowo Polski związek sportowy podlega wpisowi do Krajowego Rejestru Sądowego, a nadzór nad jego działalnością sprawuje minister właściwy do spraw kultury fizycznej i sportu. Zakresem kontroli jest obję¬te badanie działalności pod względem zgodności z prawem, a także z postanowieniami sta¬tutów lub regulaminów wewnętrznych.. Ustawodawca określił zamknięty katalog środków nadzoru . Wniosek o wyrażenie zgody na utworzenie polskiego związku sportowego założyciele składają do ministra właściwe¬go do spraw kultury fizycznej i sportu. Wskazać należy, że dany minister, może odmówić zatwierdzenia statutu polskiego związku sportowego lub zmian tegoż statutu, jedynie w przypadku stwierdze¬nia niezgodności jego postanowień z prawem lub ustalenia, że posta¬nowienia statutu nie gwarantują wykonywania ustawowych zadań. W danej dyscyplinie sportu może działać tylko jeden polski związek sportowy, chyba, że minister właściwy do spraw kultu¬ry fizycznej i sportu, na wniosek polskiego związku sportowe¬go, wyrazi zgodę na działanie polskiego związku sportowego w kilku dyscyplinach sportu.Kolejno zająłem się pluralizmem prawnym w systemie sportowym , gdzie można wyodrębnić dwojakiego rodzaju porządki: porządek sportowy, a więc sportu globalne¬go, oraz prawa sportowego opartego na zasadach krajowych. Struktura systemu sportowego nie jest jednopłaszczyznowa i jest oparta na horyzontalnych i wertykalnych relacjach organów publicznych i sportowych. W horyzontalnym układzie pozwala to na wyróżnienie kilku zakresów autonomii organizacji sportowych w zależności od jej zasięgu: lokalnego, regionalnego, krajo¬wego, europejskiego oraz międzynarodowego. Natomiast odnośnie wertykalnych relacji podmiotów jest to typo¬wy układ hierarchiczny, w którym decydującym elementem jest podległość organizacyjna . Następnym tematem była kwestia Trybunału Arbitrażowy do spraw Sportu, który opiera się na Międzynarodowej Radzie Arbitrażu Sportowego. Zadaniami Rady jest ułatwianie rozstrzygania sporów związanych ze sportem poprzez arbitraż i mediację oraz ochrona niezależności Trybunału i uprawnień stron postępowania. Ostatnim zagadnieniem jaki poruszyłem w mojej pracy dyplomowej było zagadnienie odnośnie Międzynarodowego Komitetu Olimpijskiego . Jest to organizacją pozarządową specjalnego typu, realizującą zadania wskazane w statucie noszącym formalną nazwę Karty Olimpijskiej. Dokument ten jest aktem wewnętrznym. Określa dwie najważniejsze kwestie: kształt i charakter Komitetu Olimpijskiego oraz funkcjonowanie całego ruchu olimpijskiego. Komitet jest traktowany jak pełnoprawny uczestnik obrotu międzynarodowego.The topic of this master’s thesis is sports associations. According to Article 6 of sports law, at least three sports teams are allowed to form an associationas either an alliance or a union of associations. The legislator’s main assumption of the above-stated law is the principle of “one associationper sport”. A specific example of a sports associationis the Polish Sports Association. A sports association is a nationwide sports association formed after it has received legal authorization from the appropriate minister of physical fitness and sports. According to the above-stated regulation, it can be concluded that an association is (1) a sports association made up of a minimum of three teams, or (2) a group of at least fifteen athletes not associated with any team.A single sports association could also serve as an association for multiple types of sports, but only after an exception is granted by the appropriate minister of physical fitness and sports. The association is allowed to function in the form of an alliance or a union of associationsand is allowed to make decisions for each sport with which it is associated regardless of its purpose. Members of the association can be the persons governing the association as well as the athletes. The legislative division of the Polish Sports Association appoints anoversight committee. The committee has full control of the associationand all of its functions. Additionally, the sports associationmust be entered into the National Court Register, and its activities are supervised by the minister of physical fitness and sports. The committee functions to ensure the legality of the association’s actions as well as its internal statues and regulations.The allowable actions of the committee are defined by rules and regulations set forth by the legislative division.The formal application for a sports association is submitted to the appropriate minister of physical fitness and sports. It is important to note that the assigned minister may reject an application for the establishment of an association or for a change to its statutes only if it is concluded that the association will not function according to the governing rules or its statutes will not fulfill the association’s mission. Each association is set up for a single sport, unless the minister allows for the association to function for multiple sports following an association’s written request. The next section of this thesis deals with legal pluralism in the context of sports, where, for example, global and national governing bodies oversee the legal activities of a specific sport. The structure of the system is not one-dimensional, but rather incorporates lateral and vertical organizational structures. The lateral structure allows for an automated organization of sports associations with respect to local, regional, national, European or international functionality. On the other hand, the vertical structure allows for a hierarchical approach wherein the driving element is the organization level. The next topic covers the role of an arbitration tribunal regarding sports, which leans on the International Court of Arbitration for Sports. The function of the Court is to resolve disputes related to sports through arbitration and to mediate and protect the objectivity of the tribunal and its actions.The last topic of this master’s thesis is the functionality of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). It is a unique organization because it is an international organization not tied to any country. It functions through the Olympic Charter, which is the organization’s internal document. The charter outlines the two most important aspects of the IOC: the principles and values of the IOC, as well as the functionality of the entire Olympic movement. The Committee is recognized as anautonomous international organization

Shifts in Excitation Energies Induced by Hydrogen Bonding: A Comparison of the Embedding and Supermolecular Time-Dependent Density Functional Theory Calculations with the Equation-of-Motion Coupled-Cluster Results

Shifts in the π → π∗ excitation energy of the cis-7-hydroxyquinoline chromophore induced by hydrogen bonding with small molecules, obtained with the frozen-density embedding theory (FDET), are compared with the results of the high-level equation-of-motion coupled-cluster (EOMCC) calculations with singles, doubles, and noniterative triples, which provide the reference ab initio data, the supermolecular time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) calculations, and the available experimental data. It is demonstrated that the spectral shifts resulting from the FDET calculations employing nonrelaxed environment densities and their EOMCC counterparts are in excellent agreement with one another, whereas the analogous shifts obtained with the supermolecular TDDFT approach do not agree with the EOMCC reference data. Among the discussed issues are the effects of higher-order correlations on the excitation energies and complexation-induced excitation energy shifts resulting from the EOMCC calculations, and the choice of the approximants that represent the nonadditive kinetic energy contributions to the embedding potential of FDET

The Clinical Application of Immunohistochemical Expression of Notch4 Protein in Patients with Colon Adenocarcinoma

The Notch signalling pathway is one of the most conserved and well-characterised pathways involved in cell fate decisions and the development of many diseases, including cancer. Among them, it is worth noting the Notch4 receptor and its clinical application, which may have prognostic value in patients with colon adenocarcinoma. The study was performed on 129 colon adenocarcinomas. Immunohistochemical and fluorescence expression of Notch4 was performed using the Notch4 antibody. The associations between the IHC expression of Notch4 and clinical parameters were analysed using the Chi2 test or Chi2Yatesa test. The Kaplan–Meier analysis and the log-rank test were used to verify the relationship between the intensity of Notch4 expression and the 5-year survival rate of patients. Intracellular localisation of Notch4 was detected by the use of the immunogold labelling method and TEM. 101 (78.29%) samples had strong Notch4 protein expression, and 28 (21.71%) samples were characterised by low expression. The high expression of Notch4 was clearly correlated with the histological grade of the tumour (p p p p p < 0.001)

Apoptosis in Primary Hyperparathyroidism

Primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT) is defined by inappropriate elevation of parathormone, caused by parathyroid hyperplasia, also known as multi-gland disease (MGD), parathyroid adenoma (PA), or parathyroid carcinoma (PC). Although several studies have already been conducted, there is a lack of a definite diagnostic marker, which could unambiguously distinguish MGD from PA or PC. The accurate and prompt diagnosis has the key meaning for effective treatment and follow-up. This review paper presents the role of apoptosis in PHPT. The comparison of the expression of Fas, TRAIL, BCL-2 family members, p53 in MGD, PA, and PC, among others, was described. The expression of described factors varies among proliferative lesions of parathyroid gland; therefore, these could serve as additional markers to assist in the diagnosis

DFT Exchange: Sharing Perspectives on the Workhorse of Quantum Chemistry and Materials Science

In this paper, the history, present status, and future of density-functional theory (DFT) is informally reviewed and discussed by 70 workers in the field, including molecular scientists, materials scientists, method developers and practitioners. The format of the paper is that of a roundtable discussion, in which the participants express and exchange views on DFT in the form of 300 individual contributions, formulated as responses to a preset list of 26 questions. Supported by a bibliography of 776 entries, the paper represents a broad snapshot of DFT, anno 2022