Exciting new advances in oral cancer diagnosis: avenues to early detection

The prognosis for patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma remains poor in spite of advances in therapy of many other malignancies. Early diagnosis and treatment remains the key to improved patient survival. Because the scalpel biopsy for diagnosis is invasive and has potential morbidity, it is reserved for evaluating highly suspicious lesions and not for the majority of oral lesions which are clinically not suspicious. Furthermore, scalpel biopsy has significant interobserver and intraobserver variability in the histologic diagnosis of dysplasia. There is an urgent need to devise critical diagnostic tools for early detection of oral dysplasia and malignancy that are practical, noninvasive and can be easily performed in an out-patient set-up. Diagnostic tests for early detection include brush biopsy, toluidine blue staining, autofluorescence, salivary proteomics, DNA analysis, biomarkers and spectroscopy. This state of the art review critically examines these tests and assesses their value in identifying oral squamous cell carcinoma and its precursor lesions

Vesiclepedia: A compendium for extracellular vesicles with continuous community annotation

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are membraneous vesicles released by a variety of cells into their microenvironment. Recent studies have elucidated the role of EVs in intercellular communication, pathogenesis, drug, vaccine and gene-vector delivery, and as possible reservoirs of biomarkers. These findings have generated immense interest, along with an exponential increase in molecular data pertaining to EVs. Here, we describe Vesiclepedia, a manually curated compendium of molecular data (lipid, RNA, and protein) identified in different classes of EVs from more than 300 independent studies published over the past several years. Even though databases are indispensable resources for the scientific community, recent studies have shown that more than 50% of the databases are not regularly updated. In addition, more than 20% of the database links are inactive. To prevent such database and link decay, we have initiated a continuous community annotation project with the active involvement of EV researchers. The EV research community can set a gold standard in data sharing with Vesiclepedia, which could evolve as a primary resource for the field

Кераміка «terra sigillata» з с. Зимне на Волині

Стаття присвячена публікації чотирьох керамічних посудин типу «terra sigillata», знайдених на дні р. Луги у с. Зимне Володимир-Волинського району Волинської області. Попередній аналіз цих знахідок дозволяє віднести їх до Понтійського центру виробництва такого посуду. Вірогідним шляхом потрапляння цієї колекції на Волинь була готська експансія у Північне Причорномор’я

Enhanced dielectric properties and suppressed leakage current density of PVDF composites flexible film through small loading of submicron Ba0.7Sr0.3TiO3 crystallites

Ba0.7Sr0.3TiO3 (BST) crystallites prepared by sol-gel technique are incorporated into poly(vinylidene fluoride) PVDF matrix by solution casting technique. Cuboid shape of crystallite has been confirmed by high resolution transmission electron microscopy. PVDF composite films exhibit high dielectric constant and very low leakage current density. The dielectric constant similar to 22 (at 1 kHz) has been obtained for composites containing 11 vol% of BST crystallite; which is similar to 3 times higher than the dielectric constant of the pure PVDF (similar to 7.9). Moreover, the leakage current density with same loading of BST crystallite increased only by one order (i.e. 10(-7)Amp/cm(2) for pure PVDF to 10(-6)Amp/cm(2)). The observed value of leakage current density is very small as compared to earlier reports. The dielectric loss was found to be 0.02-0.03 at 1 kHz, which is also very small. The improved dielectric behavior is attributed to the improved interface between PVDF and BST crystallite and, the suppressed leakage current density might be arising due to smaller conducting pathways at interface

INDIACo m-2009 Co mputing For Nation Development

ABSTRAC

Membrane fluidity and lipid composition of fluconazole resistant and susceptible strains of Candida albicans isolated from diabetic patients Fluidez e composição lipídica da membrana de cepas de Candida albicans resistentes e sensíveis ao fluconazol, isoladas de pacientes diabéticos

Ten clinical isolates of Candida albicans, five strains belonging to each of fluconazole resistant and susceptible groups isolated from diabetic patients, were studied for the membrane fluidity and lipid composition. Compared to fluconazole susceptible strains, fluconazole resistant ones exhibited enhanced membrane fluidity as measured by fluorescence polarization technique. The increased membrane fluidity was reflected in the decreased p-values exhibited by the resistant strains. On the other hand, susceptible isolates contained higher amount of ergosterol, almost twice as compared to resistant isolates which might have contributed to their lower membrane fluidity. However, no significant alteration was observed in the phospholipid and fatty acid composition of these isolates. Labeling experiments with fluorescamine dye revealed that the percentage of the exposed aminophospholipid, phosphatidylethanolamine was highest in the resistant strains as compared to the susceptible strains, indicating a possible overexpression of CDR1 and CDR2 genes in resistant strains. The results presented here suggest that the changes in the ergosterol content and overexpression of ABC transporter genes CDR1 and CDR2 could contributeto fluconazole resistance in C. albicans isolated from diabetic patients.<br>Dez isolados clínicos, sendo cinco resistentes e cinco sensíveis ao fluconazol, obtidos de pacientes diabéticos, foram estudados quanto à fluidez e composição química da membrana. Quando comparados aos isolados sensíveis ao fluconazol, os isolados resistentes apresentaram fluidez de membrana aumentada, conforme mensurado pela técnica de polarização fluorescente. A fluidez de membrana aumentada refletiu-se pelos valores mais baixos de p. Por outro lado, os isolados sensíveis continham quantidades mais elevadas de ergosterol, quase o dobro dos isolados resistentes, o que pode ter contribuído para a fluidez de membrana mais baixa. Entretanto, não se observou alteração significativa na composição fosfolipídica e de ácidos graxos nesses isolados. Experimentos de marcação com corante fluorescamina indicaram que a porcentagem de aminofosfolípides e fosfatidiletanolamina expostos foi mais elevada nos isolados resistentes do que nos sensíveis, indicando uma possível superexpressão dos genes CDR1 e CDR2 nos isolados resistentes. Os resultados aqui apresentados sugerem que alterações no teor de ergosterol e superexpressão dos genes ABC transportadores CDR1 e CDR2 podem contribuir na resistência ao fluconazol em isolados de C. albicans de pacientes diabéticos