Loss and gain of chromosomes 1, 18, and Y in prostate cancer

Nuclear suspensions of 42 prostate carcinoma specimens obtained at surgery were used to investigate loss and gain of chromosomes 1, 18, and Y by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) with centromere-specific probes. The outcome of FISH analysis was correlated with clinical parameters and the relationship between DNA-FCM (ploidy at cellular level) and FISH (ploidy of individual chromosomes) was assessed. Significant loss of chromosomes 1 and 18 was infrequent (respectively, three and five cases), but 53% of the tested specimens showed loss of Y. Loss was not correlated with DNA ploidy. Significant gain occurred in 36% (chromosome 1), 63% (chromosome 18), and 28% (Y) of the specimens. Gain of chromosome 18 was shown in DNA diploid (7/14) and aneuploid tumors (18/26), while gain of chromosomes 1 and Y was nearly restricted to DNA aneuploid specimens. Significant unbalance between these chromosomes occurred in 11 cases. Most cases which had significant gain of chromosome 1 or 18 showed trisomic as well as tetrasomic cells. Simultaneous loss of some and gain of other investigated chromosomes is suggestive of clonal heterogeneity and/or multiclonality. This was observed in eight tumors. Correlation between DNA-FCM and FISH was best for the Y chromosome. DNA-FCM showed more aberrant histograms with increasing stage and grade of tumors. The presence of numerical aberrations of the investigated chromosomes however, seemed independent of clinical grade or stage

Automated extraction of potential migraine biomarkers using a semantic graph

Problem Biomedical literature and databases contain important clues for the identification of potential disease biomarkers. However, searching these enormous knowledge reservoirs and integrating findings across heterogeneous sources is costly and difficult. Here we demonstrate how semantically integrated knowledge, extracted from biomedical literature and structured databases, can be used to automatically identify potential migraine biomarkers. Method We used a knowledge graph containing more than 3.5 million biomedical concepts and 68.4 million relationships. Biochemical compound concepts were filtered and ranked by their potential as biomarkers based on their connections to a subgraph of migraine-related concepts. The ranked results were evaluated against the results of a systematic literature review that was performed manually by migraine researchers. Weight points were assigned to these reference compounds to indicate their relative importance. Results Ranked results automatically generated by the knowledge graph were highly consistent with results from the manual literature review. Out of 222 reference compounds, 163 (73%) ranked in the top 2000, with 547 out of the 644 (85%) weight points assigned to the reference compounds. For reference compounds that were not in the top of the list, an extensive error analysis has been performed. When evaluating the overall performance, we obtained a ROC-AUC of 0.974. Discussion Semantic knowledge graphs composed of information integrated from multiple and varying sources can assist researchers in identifying potential disease biomarkers

Treatment effect of oil-based contrast is related to experienced pain at HSG : a post-hoc analysis of the randomised H2Oil study

The H2Oil study was an investigator-initiated study that was funded by our own academic institutions (AMC and VUmc) of the Amsterdam UMC. The funders had no role in study design, collection, analysis and interpretation of the data.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Effects of sleep deprivation on neural functioning: an integrative review

Sleep deprivation has a broad variety of effects on human performance and neural functioning that manifest themselves at different levels of description. On a macroscopic level, sleep deprivation mainly affects executive functions, especially in novel tasks. Macroscopic and mesoscopic effects of sleep deprivation on brain activity include reduced cortical responsiveness to incoming stimuli, reflecting reduced attention. On a microscopic level, sleep deprivation is associated with increased levels of adenosine, a neuromodulator that has a general inhibitory effect on neural activity. The inhibition of cholinergic nuclei appears particularly relevant, as the associated decrease in cortical acetylcholine seems to cause effects of sleep deprivation on macroscopic brain activity. In general, however, the relationships between the neural effects of sleep deprivation across observation scales are poorly understood and uncovering these relationships should be a primary target in future research

Perspectives from intellectual property law

This chapter focuses on intellectual property rights in data from an EU perspective. Datasets can have great potential value for those who have access to these datasets. However, access is often restricted by those who have effective control over such datasets. Intellectual property law provides them with potential tools to restrict the access and use by third parties of these datasets. When and how this can be restricted by who depends on the specific legal regime. In this chapter, these issues will be addressed by focusing on copyright, the sui generis database right and trade secret right. The legal definitions of these rights will be explored, as well as their limitations and exceptions relevant in the context of third-party use of the right holder’s dataset and software. Finally, the chapter will look into examples of alternative sources, such as data portability and public sector information, and their promise and limitations as a complementary source or substitute

Experimental confirmation of universal relations for microring resonators in SOI technology

We present a detailed characterization of a set of microring resonators with bent radii of 1.5 μm, fabricated in silicon-on-insulator technology. Results are in good agreement with the universal relations for coupling between microresonators and dielectric waveguides

Extension of Marcatili’s analytical approach for rectangular silicon optical waveguides

Marcatili's famous approximate analytical description of light propagating through rectangular dielectric waveguides, published in 1969, gives accurate results for low-index-contrast waveguides. However, photonic integrated circuit technology has advanced to high-index-contrast (HIC) waveguides. In this paper, we improve Marcatili's model by adjusting the amplitudes of the components of the electromagnetic fields in his description. We find that Marcatili's eigenvalue equation for the propagation constant is also valid for HIC waveguides. Our improved method shows much better agreement with rigorous numerical simulations, in particular for the case of HIC waveguides. We also derive explicit expressions for the effective group index and the effects of external forces on the propagation constant. Furthermore, with our method the phenomenon of avoided crossing of modes is observed and studied.ImPhys/Imaging PhysicsApplied Science

Spinal near-infrared spectroscopy measurements during and after thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysm repair: a pilot study

Contains fulltext : 153996.pdf (publisher's version ) (Closed access)BACKGROUND: Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) is a noninvasive technique that allows continuous monitoring of regional hemoglobin oxygen saturation (rSo2). We evaluated its application to survey oxygenation of the spinal cord region during open thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysm (TAAA) repair and postoperatively in the intensive care unit (ICU). We also validated its association with motor-evoked potential (MEP) monitoring during the operation. METHODS: The rSo2 curves of 15 patients (8 men; mean age, 64.2 +/- 7.7 years) were measured continuously with NIRS at spinal cord levels of the thoracic vertebrae T3 (optode 1, reference spot) and T12 (optode 2) during open TAAA repair. T12/T3 ratios were calculated. NIRS measurements were continued in the intensive care unit and stopped 24 hours after the operation. MEP monitoring was performed in all patients during the procedure. RESULTS: No clinical signs of spinal cord ischemia were documented in any of the patients. Continuous NIRS measurements were successfully performed in all patients during and after the operation. T12/T3 ratios were significantly lower in the MEP ratios that were less than 50% compared with the MEP ratios that were 50% or higher (p = 0.037). CONCLUSIONS: NIRS is an easily applicable noninvasive tool for continuous surveillance of oxygenation of the spinal cord region during TAAA repair and postoperatively in the intensive care unit. The rSo2 curves provide useful information concerning hemodynamic changes in oxygenation of the spinal cord region and might contribute to early detection of spinal cord ischemia. Further investigation is needed before broad clinical implementation

Function and cytology of the normal and autotransplanted pars distalis of the hypophysis in the toad Bufo bufo (L)

The functional activity of the pars distalis following heterotopic and homoiotopic autotransplantation has been studied in adult toads of both sexes in the spring, about a month after breeding, and in the autumn on toads with mature gonads. Gonadotropic Function. In males, the homoiotopic grafting of the pars distalis maintained about normal spermatogenesis and interstitial cell activity, but ectopic transplants caused a strong reduction of interstitial cell activity, though spermatogenesis was only slightly reduced. In the spring experiment, there was no significant difference in the ovaries of the two graft-bearing groups, which were intermediate between the normal and the hypophysectomized controls. In autumn females, however, the ovaries of 5 of 8 toads with homoiotopic grafts atrophied, as in the hypophysectomized controls. The 3 remaining toads had ovaries of nearly normal size filled with mature eggs, but there were strong indications that in these 3 toads also the mature eggs that were present at the time of operation degenerated immediately after the operation, and was followed by a phase of extensive growth and maturation of small oocytes during the 2 months of the experiment. All females with ectopic grafts had atrophic ovaries at the end of the experiment

Limitations of Direct Regional Spinal Cord Monitoring Using Near-Infrared Spectroscopy: Indirect Paraspinal Collateral Network Surveillance Is the Answer! Reply

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