Anesthetics and Long Term Cancer Outcomes : May Epigenetics Be the Key for Pancreatic Cancer?

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Analysis of navigation pattern in the sport of rowing

The effect of weather and environmental conditions on sports has been extensively studied over the last few years (Pezzoli et al., 2010). Based upon the studies of Lobozewicz (1981) and of Kay and Vamplew (2002), Pezzoli and Cristofori (2008) have studied the impact of some specific environmental parameters over different sports using a particular impact index divided into five classes. This analysis clearly shows that most of the outdoor sport activities are strongly influenced by the variation of meteorological parameters. However the impact of meteorological conditions on outdoor sport activities has not yet been extensively studied. The aim of this research is to show that an accurate assessment of wind and wave parameters enables decisive improvements in both training and race strategy planning. Furthermore this analysis provide a very innovative working method for the applied sport research. The work has been based on in-situ measurements of both environmental and performance parameters (wind direction, wind velocity, boat speed and stroke rate) made over different classes and in different race conditions during the 2009 FISA World Championship (Poznan, Poland). In particular a detailed environmental analysis was performed by measuring the wind direction, the wind speed and by evaluating the significant wave height and the wave peak period for each class during the semi-final phase and the final phase. It should be noted that, since wind is a key parameter affecting not only the boat speed but also the race strategy, the assessment of the wind velocity and of the wind direction has been made in connection with the boat movement. The comparison between coupled wind-wave data, boat speed and stroke rate evidently demonstrates that only crews that managed the adaption to changing in the environmental conditions from semi-final to final phase of the race, were able to get better results. References Kay, J., & Vamplew, W. (2002) Weather beaten: sport in the British climate. London: Ed. Mainstream Publishing. Lobozewicz, T. (1981) Meteorology in sport. Frankfurt: Ed. Sportverlag. Pezzoli, A,, Moncalero, M., Boscolo, A., Cristofori, E., Giacometto, F., Gastaldi, S., & Vercelli, G. (2010) The meteo-hydrological analysis and the sport performance: which are the connections? The case of the XXI Winter Olympic Games, Vancouver 2010, Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness, 50: 19-20. Pezzoli, A., & Cristofori, E. (2008) Analisi, previsioni e misure meteorologiche applicate agli sport equestri, in: 10th Congress "New findings in equine practices, Druento: Centro Internazionale del Cavallo Ed., p.38-4

Prediction of Warner-Bratzler shear force, intramuscular fat, drip-loss and cook-loss in beef via Raman spectroscopy and chemometrics

Rapid prediction of beef quality remains a challenge for meat processors. This study evaluated the potential of Raman spectroscopy followed by chemometrics for prediction of Warner-Bratzler shear force (WBSF), intramuscular fat (IMF), ultimate pH, drip-loss and cook-loss. PLS regression models were developed based on spectra recorded on frozen-thawed day 2 longissimus thoracis et lumborum muscle and validated using test sets randomly selected 3 times. With the exception of ultimate pH, models presented notable performance in calibration (R2 ranging from 0.5 to 0.9; low RMSEC) and, despite variability in the results, promising predictive ability: WBSF (RMSEP ranging from 4.6 to 9 N), IMF (RMSEP ranging from 0.9 to 1.1%), drip-loss (RMSEP ranging from 1 to 1.3%) and cook-loss (RMSEP ranging from 1.5 to 2.9%). Furthermore, the loading values indicated that the physicochemical variation of the meat influenced the models. Overall, results indicated that Raman spectroscopy is a promising technique for routine quality assessments of IMF and drip-loss, which, with further development and improvement of its accuracy could become a reliable tool for the beef industry

Integrative analysis of hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer: The contribution of allele-specific expression and other assays to diagnostic algorithms

The identification of germline variants predisposing to hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer (HNPCC) is crucial for clinical management of carriers, but several probands remain negative for such variants or bear variants of uncertain significance (VUS). Here we describe the results of integrative molecular analyses in 132 HNPCC patients providing evidences for improved genetic testing of HNPCC with traditional or next generation methods. Patients were screened for: germline allele-specific expression (ASE), nucleotide variants, rearrangements and promoter methylation of mismatch repair (MMR) genes; germline EPCAM rearrangements; tumor microsatellite instability (MSI) and immunohistochemical (IHC) MMR protein expression. Probands negative for pathogenic variants of MMR genes were screened for germline APC and MUTYH sequence variants. Most germline defects identified were sequence variants and rearrangements of MMR genes. Remarkably, altered germline ASE of MMR genes was detected in 8/22 (36.5%) probands analyzed, including 3 cases negative at other screenings. Moreover, ASE provided evidence for the pathogenic role and guided the characterization of a VUS shared by 2 additional probands. No germline MMR gene promoter methylation was observed and only one EPCAM rearrangement was detected. In several cases, tumor IHC and MSI diverged from germline screening results. Notably, APC or biallelic MUTYH germline defects were identified in 2/19 probands negative for pathogenic variants of MMR genes. Our results show that ASE complements gDNA-based analyses in the identification of MMR defects and in the characterization of VUS affecting gene expression, increasing the number of germline alterations detected. An appreciable fraction of probands negative for MMR gene variants harbors APC or MUTYH variants. These results indicate that germline ASE analysis and screening for APC and MUTYH defects should be included in HNPCC diagnostic algorithms

Prediction of Warner-Bratzler shear force, intramuscular fat, drip-loss and cook-loss in beef via Raman spectroscopy and chemometrics

peer-reviewedRapid prediction of beef quality remains a challenge for meat processors. This study evaluated the potential of Raman spectroscopy followed by chemometrics for prediction of Warner-Bratzler shear force (WBSF), intramuscular fat (IMF), ultimate pH, drip-loss and cook-loss. PLS regression models were developed based on spectra recorded on frozen-thawed day 2 longissimus thoracis et lumborum muscle and validated using test sets randomly selected 3 times. With the exception of ultimate pH, models presented notable performance in calibration (R2 ranging from 0.5 to 0.9; low RMSEC) and, despite variability in the results, promising predictive ability: WBSF (RMSEP ranging from 4.6 to 9 N), IMF (RMSEP ranging from 0.9 to 1.1%), drip-loss (RMSEP ranging from 1 to 1.3%) and cook-loss (RMSEP ranging from 1.5 to 2.9%). Furthermore, the loading values indicated that the physicochemical variation of the meat influenced the models. Overall, results indicated that Raman spectroscopy is a promising technique for routine quality assessments of IMF and drip-loss, which, with further development and improvement of its accuracy could become a reliable tool for the beef industry.Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Irelan

Tgf-β1 transcriptionally promotes 90K expression: possible implications for cancer progression.

The 90K protein, also known as Mac-2 BP or LGALS3BP, can activate the immune response in part by increasing major histocompatibility (MHC) class I levels. In studies on a non-immune cell model, the rat FRTL-5 cell line, we observed that transforming growth factor (TGF)-β1, like γ-interferon (IFN), increased 90K levels, despite its immunosuppressive functions and the ability to decrease MHC class I. To explain this paradoxical result, we investigated the mechanisms involved in the TGF-β1 regulation of 90K expression with the aim to demonstrate that TGF-β1 utilizes different molecular pathways to regulate the two genes. We found that TGF-β1 was able to increase the binding of Upstream Stimulatory Factors, USF1 and USF2, to an E-box element, CANNTG, at -1926 to -1921 bp, upstream of the interferon response element (IRE) in the 90K promoter. Thyrotropin (TSH) suppressed constitutive and γ-IFN-induced 90K expression by decreasing USF binding to the E-box. TGF-β1 was able to overcome TSH suppression at the transcriptional level by increasing USF binding to the E-box. We suggest that the ability of TGF-β1 to increase 90K did not result in an increase in MHC class I because of a separate suppressive action of TGF-β1 directly on the MHC class I gene. We propose that the increased levels of 90K may play a role, rather than in immune response, in the context of the TGF-β1-induced changing of the cellular microenvironment that predisposes to cell motility and cancer progression. Consistently, analyzing the publicly available cancer patient data sets cBioPortal, we found that 90K expression directly correlated with TGF-β1 and USFs and that high levels of 90K were significantly associated with increased mortality in patients affected by different types of cancer

Transitions at CpG Dinucleotides, Geographic Clustering of TP53 Mutations and Food Availability Patterns in Colorectal Cancer

Colorectal cancer is mainly attributed to diet, but the role exerted by foods remains unclear because involved factors are extremely complex. Geography substantially impacts on foods. Correlations between international variation in colorectal cancer-associated mutation patterns and food availabilities could highlight the influence of foods on colorectal mutagenesis. mutations from 12 countries/geographic areas. For food availabilities, we relied on data extracted from the Food Balance Sheets of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Dendrograms for mutation sites, mutation types and food patterns were constructed through Ward's hierarchical clustering algorithm and their stability was assessed evaluating silhouette values. Feature selection used entropy-based measures for similarity between clusterings, combined with principal component analysis by exhaustive and heuristic approaches. hotspots. Pearson's correlation scores, computed between the principal components of the datamatrices for mutation types, food availability and mutation sites, demonstrated statistically significant correlations between transitions at CpGs and both mutation sites and availabilities of meat, milk, sweeteners and animal fats, the energy-dense foods at the basis of “Western” diets. This is best explainable by differential exposure to nitrosative DNA damage due to foods that promote metabolic stress and chronic inflammation