Local models for dynamic processes in image sequences

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The role of lipid-associated sialic acid (LSA) and prostate specific antigen (PSA) in the follow-up of prostatic cancer

According to the most recent US cancer statistics, prostatic cancer almost equals lung cancer as the most frequent cause of death from cancer in men. The search for diagnostic methods as well as control examinations have therefore gained great importance. The present study reveals that--in addition to rectal touch, sonography and biopsy of the prostate--the determination of both PSA as organ-specific marker and lipid-associated sialic acid (LSA) as a general tumor marker, is well suited for follow-up and monitoring treatment. With regard to the follow-up, the combined determination of PSA and LSA in serum of patients with prostatic cancer achieves a higher sensitivity as compared to PSA alone (increase of 30-40%). LSA is a good indicator for the presence of metastases. Therefore, the determination of LSA should become an integral part of treatment monitoring and detection of metastatic disease in patients with prostatic cancer

Lesquerella growth and selenium uptake affected by saline irrigation water composition

Abstract A greenhouse study was conducted to determine the effects of waters differing in salt composition on growth and selenium (Se) accumulation by lesquerella (Lesquerella fendleri Gray S. Wats.). Plants were established by direct seeding into sand cultures and irrigated with solutions containing either (a) Cl − as the dominant anion or (b) a mixture of salts of SO 4 2 − and Cl − . Four treatments of each salinity type were imposed. Electrical conductivities of the irrigation waters were 1.7, 4, 8, and 13 dS m − 1 . Two months after salinization, Se (l mg l − 1 , 12.7 mM) was added to all solutions as Na 2 SeO 4 . Shoot growth was significantly reduced by increasing Cl-salinity. Regardless of salinity type, concentrations of Ca 2 + , Mg 2 + , Cl − , total-S, and Se were higher in the leaves than the stems, whereas K + and Na + were higher in the stem. Leaf-Se concentrations were not significantly affected by Cl-based irrigation waters, averaging 503 mg Se kg − 1 dry wt across salinity levels, whereas leaf-Se decreased consistently and significantly from 218 to 13 mg kg − 1 as mixed salt salinity increased. The dramatic reduction in Se was attributed to SO 4 2 − :SeO 4 2 − competition during plant uptake. The strong Se-accumulating ability of lesquerella suggests that the crop should be further evaluated as a potentially valuable phytoremediator of Se-contaminated soils and waters of low to moderate salinity in areas where the dominant anion in the substrate is Cl − . Published by Elsevier Science B.V

Cycloartane- And Lanostane-Type Triterpenoids from the Resin of Parthenium argentatum AZ-2, a Byproduct of Guayule Rubber Production

A total of 12 new cycloartane- and lanostane-type triterpenoids including 16-deoxyargentatin A (1), 16-deoxyisoargentatin A (2), 7-oxoisoargentatin A (3), 24-epi-argentatin H (4), 24-O-p-anisoylargentatin C (5), 24-O-trans-cinnamoylargentatin C (6), 16-dehydroargentatin C (7), 16,17(20)-didehydroargentatin C (8), isoargentatin C (9), isoargentatin H (10), 3-epi-quisquagenin (11), and isoquisquagenin (12) together with 10 known triterpenoids (13-22) were isolated from the resin of Parthenium argentatum AZ-2 obtained as a byproduct of Bridgestone guayule rubber production. The structures of new triterpenoids 1-12 and argentatin H (13), which has previously been characterized as its diacetate (23), were elucidated by extensive analysis of their spectroscopic data and chemical conversions, and the known compounds 14-22 were identified by comparison of their spectroscopic data with those reported. Of these, 13, 14, and 18 exhibited weak cytotoxic activity for several cancer cell lines. © 2021 American Chemical Society. All rights reserved.Open access journalThis item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]

Dynamic interfaces in an organic thin film

Low-dimensional boundaries between phases and domains in organic thin films are important in charge transport and recombination. Here, fluctuations of interfacial boundaries in an organic thin film, acridine-9-carboxylic acid on Ag(111), have been visualized in real time and measured quantitatively using scanning tunneling microscopy. The boundaries fluctuate via molecular exchange with exchange time constants of 10–30 ms at room temperature, with length-mode fluctuations that should yield characteristic f−1/2 signatures for frequencies less than ≈100 Hz. Although acridine-9-carboxylic acid has highly anisotropic intermolecular interactions, it forms islands that are compact in shape with crystallographically distinct boundaries that have essentially identical thermodynamic and kinetic properties. The physical basis of the modified symmetry is shown to arise from significantly different substrate interactions induced by alternating orientations of successive molecules in the condensed phase. Incorporating this additional set of interactions in a lattice–gas model leads to effective multicomponent behavior, as in the Blume–Emery–Griffiths model, and can straightforwardly reproduce the experimentally observed isotropic behavior. The general multicomponent description allows the domain shapes and boundary fluctuations to be tuned from isotropic to highly anisotropic in terms of the balance between intermolecular interactions and molecule–substrate interactions

Outbreak investigation for toxigenic Corynebacterium diphtheriae wound infections in refugees from Northeast Africa and Syria in Switzerland and Germany by whole genome sequencing

Toxigenic Corynebacterium diphtheriae is an important and potentially fatal threat to patients and public health. During the current dramatic influx of refugees into Europe, our objective was to use whole genome sequencing for the characterization of a suspected outbreak of C. diphtheriae wound infections among refugees. After conventional culture, we identified C. diphtheriae using matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF) and investigated toxigenicity by PCR. Whole genome sequencing was performed on a MiSeq Illumina with >70×coverage, 2×250 bp read length, and mapping against a reference genome. Twenty cases of cutaneous C. diphtheriae in refugees from East African countries and Syria identified between April and August 2015 were included. Patients presented with wound infections shortly after arrival in Switzerland and Germany. Toxin production was detected in 9/20 (45%) isolates. Whole genome sequencing-based typing revealed relatedness between isolates using neighbour-joining algorithms. We detected three separate clusters among epidemiologically related refugees. Although the isolates within a cluster showed strong relatedness, isolates differed by >50 nucleotide polymorphisms. Toxigenic C. diphtheriae associated wound infections are currently observed more frequently in Europe, due to refugees travelling under poor hygienic conditions. Close genetic relatedness of C. diphtheriae isolates from 20 refugees with wound infections indicates likely transmission between patients. However, the diversity within each cluster and phylogenetic time-tree analysis suggest that transmissions happened several months ago, most likely outside Europe. Whole genome sequencing offers the potential to describe outbreaks at very high resolution and is a helpful tool in infection tracking and identification of transmission routes