Clinicopathological and prognostic significance of HER-2/neu and VEGF expression in colon carcinomas

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>HER-2/neu and VEGF expression is correlated with disease behaviors in various cancers. However, evidence for their expression in colon cancer is rather contradictory both for the protein expression status and prognostic value. HER-2/neu is found to participate in VEGF regulation, and has known correlation with VEGF expression in some tumors. In this study, we investigated HER-2/neu and VEGF expression in Chinese colon patients and explored whether there was any correlation between their expression patterns.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>HER-2/neu and VEGF were investigated immunohistochemically using tumor samples obtained from 317 colon cancer patients with all tumor stages. Correlation of the degree of staining with clinicopathological parameters and survival was investigated.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Positive expression rates of HER-2/neu and VEGF in colon cancer were 15.5% and 55.5% respectively. HER-2/neu expression was significantly correlated with tumor size and distant metastases (<it>P </it>< 0.05), but was not an independent prognostic marker of survival <it>(P > 0.05)</it>. Expression of VEGF was significantly correlated with tumor size, tumor stage, lymph node metastases, and distant metastases (<it>P </it>< 0.05). The 5-year survival rate in patients with negative and positive VEGF expression was 70.2% and 61.9% respectively; the difference was not statistically significant <it>(P = 0.146)</it>. No correlation between HER-2/neu and VEGF expression was detected (<it>P = </it>0.151).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>HER-2/neu and VEGF are not important prognostic markers of colon cancer. The present results do not support any association between HER2/neu and VEGF expression in this setting.</p

Improving pulse crops as a source of protein, starch and micronutrients

Pulse crops have been known for a long time to have beneficial nutritional profiles for human diets but have been neglected in terms of cultivation, consumption and scientific research in many parts of the world. Broad dietary shifts will be required if anthropogenic climate change is to be mitigated in the future, and pulse crops should be an important component of this change by providing an environmentally sustainable source of protein, resistant starch and micronutrients. Further enhancement of the nutritional composition of pulse crops could benefit human health, helping to alleviate micronutrient deficiencies and reduce risk of chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes. This paper reviews current knowledge regarding the nutritional content of pea (Pisum sativum L.) and faba bean (Vicia faba L.), two major UK pulse crops, and discusses the potential for their genetic improvement

The effects of learning styles and gender on the academic performance of interior architecture students

The study focuses on design education using 'Index of Learning Style' (ILS) and explores the effects of learning styles and gender on the performance scores of design students. The ILS is designed to assess preferences on four scales of a learning style model formulated by Felder and Silverman (1988). The findings indicated that the usual methods of interior architecture education address a well-balanced class position in active/reflective and sensing/intuitive scales, a moderate to strong preference in visual scale and a weak preference in global scale. Furthermore, in the two-way analysis significant effects were obtained between the individual interactions of active/reflective scale with the other three scales when the academic performance score was the dependent variable. © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Focus on architectural design process through learning styles

Learning as an interactive process is an important issue in architectural design education. This study aims to focus on architectural design process through learning styles that are 'accommodating', 'diverging', 'assimilating' and 'converging' as stated in the Experiential Learning Theory of Kolb. A research was conducted to evaluate the effects of learning style preferences on the performance of design students in a design process. It was found that there were statistically significant differences between the performance scores of students having diverse learning styles at various stages of design process. Also, it was found that performance scores of all students having different learning styles had increased at the end of the design process where the progress of assimilating learners were the highest and accommodating learners the lowest. © 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved

Glucan type exopolysaccharide (EPS) shows prebiotic effect and reduces syneresis in chocolate pudding

Exopolysaccharides (EPS) of lactic acid bacteria are important biopolymers that can improve the physicochemical properties of food products and act as prebiotics. In this study the physicochemical role and the prebiotic effects of a glucan type EPS with (?1-3) and (?1-6) linkages were assessed in chocolate pudding containing Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG as a probiotic strain. The functions of EPS were determined by developing three different formulations: control, probiotic (Lactobacillus GG) and symbiotic pudding (Lactobacillus GG + EPS) samples. The pH and acidity of the symbiotic pudding sample were higher than the probiotic and the control samples during the 28-day of storage period. Similarly, an important level of increment in Lactobacillus GG levels in symbiotic sample was observed compared to the probiotic sample suggesting the prebiotic role of the ?-glucan. Importantly, the syneresis in symbiotic pudding sample reduced significantly compared to other pudding samples which is related with the physicochemical role of glucan type EPS. This study reveals the prebiotic and physicochemical roles of ?-glucan type EPS in a chocolate pudding model. © 2018, Association of Food Scientists & Technologists (India)

Identification of Lactic Acid Bacteria from Spontaneous Rye Sourdough and Determination of Their Functional Characteristics

This study aimed to identify Lactic Acid Bacteria (LAB) present in rye and rye bran sourdoughs that were prepared spontaneously and determine their functional characteristics. Genotypic characterization of the isolates revealed the presence of 15 distinct LAB strains belonging to 6 different species; Leuconostoc citreum, Lactobacillus plantarum, Lactobacillus graminis, Lactococcus lactis subsp. cremoris, Weissella confusa, and Weissella cibaria in rye sourdoughs. PCR screening of eps genes required for exopolysaccharide (EPS) production revealed that all strains possessed at least one gene required for EPS production and all strains produced homopolymeric EPS comprised of glucose or fructose two Lactobacillus plantarum strains produced both glucan and fructan type EPS. Antifungal activity of these strains was tested against Aspergillus niger and Penicillium chrysogenum identified in this study and several patterns were observed. The phytase activity of these strains was also determined and all strains showed phytase activity with varying degrees. © 2018, © 2018 Taylor & Francis

Combined simulation-optimization of a coastal aquifer by using Genetic Algorithm

Excessive pumping in coastal aquifers results in seawater intrusion where optimal and efficient planning is essential. In this study, numerical solution of single potential solution by Strack (1976) is combined with Genetic Algorithm (GA) to optimize the maximum benefit in a coastal aquifer. Injection wells are added as an artificial recharge to prevent seawater intrusion. The objective is to optimize both pumping rates and locations of injection wells. The model is applied to a previous work by Mantoglou (2003). Two different methods are utilized. First locations and discharge values are optimized, simultaneously. Then, a three-step GA method is introduced where discharge rates and locations are optimized, in an iterative manner