Double primary malignancies associated with colon cancer in patients with situs inversus totalis: two case reports

Situs inversus totalis (SIT) is not itself a premalignant condition, however, rare synchronous or metachronous multiple primary malignancies have been reported. Herein we present a case of synchronous transverse and sigmoid colon cancers and a case of metachronous rectosigmoid colon and gastric cancers in patients with SIT

Two NAD-linked redox shuttles maintain the peroxisomal redox balance in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, peroxisomes are the sole site of fatty acid β-oxidation. During this process, NAD(+) is reduced to NADH. When cells are grown on oleate medium, peroxisomal NADH is reoxidised to NAD(+) by malate dehydrogenase (Mdh3p) and reduction equivalents are transferred to the cytosol by the malate/oxaloacetate shuttle. The ultimate step in lysine biosynthesis, the NAD(+)-dependent dehydrogenation of saccharopine to lysine, is another NAD(+)-dependent reaction performed inside peroxisomes. We have found that in glucose grown cells, both the malate/oxaloacetate shuttle and a glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase 1(Gpd1p)-dependent shuttle are able to maintain the intraperoxisomal redox balance. Single mutants in MDH3 or GPD1 grow on lysine-deficient medium, but an mdh3/gpd1Δ double mutant accumulates saccharopine and displays lysine bradytrophy. Lysine biosynthesis is restored when saccharopine dehydrogenase is mislocalised to the cytosol in mdh3/gpd1Δ cells. We conclude that the availability of intraperoxisomal NAD(+) required for saccharopine dehydrogenase activity can be sustained by both shuttles. The extent to which each of these shuttles contributes to the intraperoxisomal redox balance may depend on the growth medium. We propose that the presence of multiple peroxisomal redox shuttles allows eukaryotic cells to maintain the peroxisomal redox status under different metabolic conditions

Compact groups with a dense free abelian subgroup

The compact groups having a dense infinite cyclic subgroup (known as monothetic compact groups) have been studied by many authors for their relevance and nice applications. In this paper we describe in full details the compact groups $K$ with a dense free abelian subgroup $F$ and we describe the minimum rank $r_t(K)$ of such a subgroup $F$ of $K$. Surprisingly, it is either finite or coincides with the density character $d(K)$ of $K$.

Conjugation of Functionalized SPIONs with Transferrin for Targeting and Imaging Brain Glial Tumors in Rat Model

Currently, effective and specific diagnostic imaging of brain glioma is a major challenge. Nanomedicine plays an essential role by delivering the contrast agent in a targeted manner to specific tumor cells, leading to improvement in accurate diagnosis by good visualization and specific demonstration of tumor cells. This study investigated the preparation and characterization of a targeted MR contrast agent, transferrin-conjugated superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (Tf-SPIONs), for brain glioma detection. MR imaging showed the obvious contrast change of brain glioma before and after administration of Tf-SPIONs in C6 glioma rat model in vivo on T2 weighted imaging. Significant contrast enhancement of brain glioma could still be clearly seen even 48 h post injection, due to the retention of Tf-SPIONs in cytoplasm of tumor cells which was proved by Prussian blue staining. Thus, these results suggest that Tf-SPIONs could be a potential targeting MR contrast agent for the brain glioma

Uterine papillary serous and clear cell carcinomas predict for poorer survival compared to grade 3 endometrioid corpus cancers

To compare the survival of women with uterine papillary serous carcinoma (UPSC) and clear cell carcinoma (CC) to those with grade 3 endometrioid uterine carcinoma (G3EC). Demographic, pathologic, treatment, and survival information were obtained from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program from 1988 to 2001. Data were analysed using Kaplan–Meier and Cox proportional hazards regression methods. Of 4180 women, 1473 had UPSC, 391 had CC, and 2316 had G3EC cancers. Uterine papillary serous carcinoma and CC patients were older (median age: 70 years and 68 vs 66 years, respectively; P<0.0001) and more likely to be black compared to G3EC (15 and 12% vs 7%; P<0.0001). A higher proportion of UPSC and CC patients had stage III–IV disease compared to G3EC patients (52 and 36% vs 29%; P<0.0001). Uterine papillary serous carcinoma, CC and G3EC patients represent 10, 3, and 15% of endometrial cancers but account for 39, 8, and 27% of cancer deaths, respectively. The 5-year disease-specific survivals for women with UPSC, CC and G3EC were 55, 68, and 77%, respectively (P<0.0001). The survival differences between UPSC, CC and G3EC persist after controlling for stage I–II (74, 82, and 86%; P<0.0001) and stage III–IV disease (33, 40, and 54; P<0.0001). On multivariate analysis, more favourable histology (G3EC), younger age, and earlier stage were independent predictors of improved survival. Women with UPSC and CC of the uterus have a significantly poorer prognosis compared to those with G3EC. These findings should be considered in the counselling, treating and designing of future trials for these high-risk patients

Overexpression of DNA Polymerase Zeta Reduces the Mitochondrial Mutability Caused by Pathological Mutations in DNA Polymerase Gamma in Yeast

In yeast, DNA polymerase zeta (Rev3 and Rev7) and Rev1, involved in the error-prone translesion synthesis during replication of nuclear DNA, localize also in mitochondria. We show that overexpression of Rev3 reduced the mtDNA extended mutability caused by a subclass of pathological mutations in Mip1, the yeast mitochondrial DNA polymerase orthologous to human Pol gamma. This beneficial effect was synergistic with the effect achieved by increasing the dNTPs pools. Since overexpression of Rev3 is detrimental for nuclear DNA mutability, we constructed a mutant Rev3 isoform unable to migrate into the nucleus: its overexpression reduced mtDNA mutability without increasing the nuclear one

Self-similarity of contact line depinning from textured surfaces

The mobility of drops on surfaces is important in many biological and industrial processes, but the phenomena governing their adhesion, which is dictated by the morphology of the three-phase contact line, remain unclear. Here we describe a technique for measuring the dynamic behaviour of the three-phase contact line at micron length scales using environmental scanning electron microscopy. We examine a superhydrophobic surface on which a drop’s adhesion is governed by capillary bridges at the receding contact line. We measure the microscale receding contact angle of each bridge and show that the Gibbs criterion is satisfied at the microscale. We reveal a hitherto unknown self-similar depinning mechanism that shows how some hierarchical textures such as lotus leaves lead to reduced pinning, and counter-intuitively, how some lead to increased pinning. We develop a model to predict adhesion force and experimentally verify the model’s broad applicability on both synthetic and natural textured surfaces.National Science Foundation (U.S.) (CAREER Award 0952564)DuPont MIT AllianceNational Science Foundation (U.S.). Graduate Research Fellowship ProgramNational Science Foundation (U.S.) (Award ECS-0335765

Ptc6 is required for proper rapamycin-induced down-regulation of the genes coding for ribosomal and rRNA processing proteins in S. cerevisiae

Ptc6 is one of the seven components (Ptc1-Ptc7) of the protein phosphatase 2C family in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. In contrast to other type 2C phosphatases, the cellular role of this isoform is poorly understood. We present here a comprehensive characterization of this gene product. Cells lacking Ptc6 are sensitive to zinc ions, and somewhat tolerant to cell-wall damaging agents and to Li+. Ptc6 mutants are sensitive to rapamycin, albeit to lesser extent than ptc1 cells. This phenotype is not rescued by overexpression of PTC1 and mutation of ptc6 does not reproduce the characteristic geneti