The Potential Use of Mushrooms β-Glucans in the Food Industry

Many edible mushrooms are considered as “functional” foods having immunomodulatory and anticancer properties. The ability of mushrooms to exert biological effects and modulate immune functions is due to the presence of bioactive compounds with most important the polysaccharides β-glucans. B-glucans are found in bacteria, fungi and plants and act on several immune cell receptors resulting in both innate and adaptive response. The incorporation of β-glucans in various foods and animal feed has the potential of creating novel “functional” food products, with many health benefits to human and animal nutrition

Effective optical identification of type "0-IIb" early gastric cancer with narrow band imaging magnification endoscopy, successfully treated by endoscopic submucosal dissection

Background Endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) is currently considered the minimal invasive endoscopic treatment for early gastric cancer. Most superficial gastric neoplastic lesions are depressed type ”0-IIc” (70-80%), while totally flat, classified as type ”0-IIb” early gastric cancer, is rarely reported (0.4%). The aim of the present study was to assess the efficacy of narrow band imaging (NBI) magnification endoscopy in identifying type “0-IIb” early gastric cancer and ESD treatment with curative intention.Methods Twelve of 615 (2%) patients (10 males, median 72 years), treated by ESD at our center, were diagnosed as type “0-IIb” gastric cancer. Ten had exclusively type “0-IIb”, while two had combined types “0-IIb+IIc” and “0-IIa+IIb” gastric cancer. Initial diagnosis was made during screening gastroscopy, while NBI magnification endoscopy combined with indigo-carmine chromoendoscopy were also used.Results White light endoscopy showed only superficial redness. One patient with signet-ring carcinoma showed whitish appearance. Indigo-carmine chromoendoscopy showed better visualization, while NBI magnification endoscopy revealed abnormal mucosal microsurface and microvascular findings which enabled border marking. ESD with curative intention was completed without complications. Histological examination showed complete (R0) resection, in 10 patients (83%). One patient with positive margins received additional surgery (8%). Mean procedure time was 149 (range 60-190) min. One to six years post-ESD all patients remain alive.Conclusions ESD is considered a safe and effective curative treatment for type “0-IIb” gastric cancer, resulting in long-term disease-free survival. NBI magnification endoscopy is effective for accurate optical identification and border marking of type “0-IIb” early gastric cancer

Suppression of humoral immune response to hepatitis B surface antigen vaccine in BALB/c mice by 1-methyl-tryptophan co-administration

  Background and the purpose of the study:Indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO) suppresses adaptive immune response. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of the IDO inhibitor namely 1-methyl-DL-tryptophan (DL-1-MT) on antibody production after vaccination with hepatitis B surface (HBs) antigen. Methods:Four groups of BALB/c mice were immunized with a HBs antigen vaccine. In the first group the vaccine had no DL-1-MT, whereas in the other three groups the vaccine contained 1 mg , 10 mg and 20 mg DL-1-MT. Blood samples were collected 5 weeks post-vaccination and anti-HBs antibodies in the serum were measured by ELISA. Results:Compared to the three groups of mice that were immunized with the vaccines containing DL-1-MT, serum anti-HBs level was much higher in the mice that were immunized with the vaccine with out DL-1-MT. Conclusions:Inhibition of IDO at the time of vaccination decreased humoral immune response to HBs antigen vaccine. The idea that IDO activity is simply immunosuppressive may need to be re-evaluated

Distribution of surficial sediments in the Southern Evoikos and Petalioi Gulfs, Greece

A series of 123 surficial sediment samples from the Southern Evoikos and Petalioi Gulfs was studied for grain-size properties, carbonate content and mineralogical composition. Distribution of the sediments revealed two sedimentary provinces. The first concerns the Southern Evoikos Gulf, characterised by silty sediments with relatively low carbonate content. Quartz, feldspars, micas, clay and carbonate minerals are the major mineralogical components of the sediments. These sediments are the result of the Asopos River supply during Holocene and they contribute to the formation of smooth bottom morphology. The second province concerns the Petalioi Gulf (Northern and Southern), where the surficial sediments are mainly sandy and characterised by very high carbonate content. Their mineralogical composition reflects the lithology of the drainage basin. Since the modern terrigenous solid supply is limited, these sediments are not considered as products of recent sedimentation, but older deposits (relict sands). Their presence at such depths is justified by sea-level fluctuations and their preservation is due to the low sedimentation rate in the Petalioi Gulf, in combination with the strong hydrodynamic status of the area

User Rofde Identification in Future Mobile Telecommunications Systems

Nevertheless, researchers are working for the specification of the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), which will be a third-generation system for mobile telecommunications. The UMTS [3] will provide a wide range of telecommunication services to a very large number of Mobile Users (MUS). Services highly comparable to those offered by fixed networks will be available via various Mobile Terminals (MTs). The UMTS will be a multi-operator system and will consist of a range of sub-networks, providing userswith access to different environments, according to the entitlement of the subscriptionswith which they are associated. As a user moves between sub-networks during a call, handover functions from one environment to another may take place [4]. Each of these environments has different technical and economic constraints and will require different solutions. In addition, the UMTS radio access point must be able to connect to or cooperate with fixed networks and be capable of operating as a stand-alone network for operation in non-B-ISDN environments, although itsintegrationwithB-ISDNisanobjectivefor UMTS. Other critical aspects of UMTS are the techniques used to store and manipulate the large amount of information involved, and the intelligence needed in order to control calls and cope with user and terminal mobility. In order to make use of a service, a UMTS user will be able to register on an MT for this particular service [5]. Since user registrations will be performed on a per service basis, a user may be registered on more than one MT for different services. Moreover, some types of UMTS terminals will support multiple user registrations,' but only one of the registered users will be allowed to make use of the terminal at a time. The UMTS will also support Universal Personal Telecommunications (UPT), which means that UPT users will be able to register onto (one or more) UMTS terminals in order to make and accept calls. The ability of a user to roam into the various UMTS environments and make use of the resources and services via different terminals will be checked every time this user enters an environment and/or uses resources and services. This means that an information entity must exist for every user so as to be retrieved every time such achecking is required. This user-related information entity is called the UMTS User Profile (UUP). The UUP is stored in the UMTS Distributed Data Base (UMTS DDB) and can be accessed from every point in the network.2 Management operations on a particular user profile can b e performed only by authorized UMTS operators and possibly by the subscriber concemedorbyauser authorizedbythissubscriber. A U U P includes user authentication information, service access information, access domain information, user charging and accounting information, etc. This article discusses the UMTS user profile identification issues. The authors introduce first the concept of user profile and the UMTS entities related to it. Then, the user profile is described and its management requirements are discussed followed by the description of two scenarios proposed for the user profile identification. Finally, the authors give a comparison of the two scenarios and their concluding remarks. The study of the impact of the proposed scenarios upon UMTS operators, subscribers, users, and mobile terminals is beyond the authors' intent for the scope of this article. Entities Related to the UMTS User Profile efore introducing the UMTS User Profile, we B attempt to identify a number of UMTS entities related to this concept