The Characteristics of Phytoremediation of Soil and Leachate Polluted by Landfills

Current landfill regulations provide for the responsible management of solid waste and a safer alternative to the outdated practices of open or illegal dumping. Aside from imparting aesthetic value, natural or planted vegetation on landfill sites has an important role in erosion control and removal of contaminants, and may also be used in leaching treatment. The use of leachate for the irrigation of landfill vegetation reduces its harmful effects, and the reuse of water aids in water conservation. The aim of this study was to search for ways to use leachate water from solid waste landfill sites for irrigation of plant species that normally grow in the wild. The study focuses on the plant species Alcea rosea (hollyhock), Cynodon dactylon (Bermuda grass) and Melilotus officinalis (yellow melilot). Over the 2-year study period, plants were irrigated with tap and leachate water under drought conditions. Wild plant diversity was identified, and the landfill was rehabilitated with various plant species. After the experiment, populations of Escherichia coli, total coliforms and fecal coliform bacteria in soil samples were analyzed. We observed that the use of leachate water for cultivation of different kinds of plants affected the density of total and fecal coliforms in the soil

Functional investigation of ESR1 fusions identified in endocrine therapy refractory estrogen receptor positive breast cancer

Metastatic estrogen receptor (ER)-positive breast cancer is an incurable disease that remains a clinical challenge and a public health burden. Over 40,000 women die each year from breast cancer and over 90% of these are due to metastatic disease. Although there has been great success with anti-endocrine treatment, most patients with metastatic disease develop resistance during the course of therapy. Loss of ER or missense mutations in the ligand-binding domain (LBD) of ER are reported as causal mechanisms of resistance. Recently, our laboratory showed that ESR1 fusions involving loss of LBD, play a role in lack of response to therapy. Only limited knowledge exists on the actual frequency and functional role of ESR1 fusions. Hence, I aimed to expand the search for further ESR1 fusions in advanced breast cancer disease and to characterize the functional role of ESR1 fusions (ESR1-DAB2, ESR1-GYG1 and ESR1-SOX9) our lab published earlier along with the ESR1-LPP fusion found in a PDX-model. Screening of RNA-seq data of primary-metastatic paired breast tumors (n=45) in University of Pittsburgh cohort and metastatic BrCa (n=91) in the MET500 cohort revealed a total of five ESR1 fusions sharing identical breakpoint with ESR1-YAP1 fusion. ESR1-GYG1 was the only ESR1 fusion identified in the Pitt-cohort. For functional assessment, the ESR1 fusions were transiently and stably transfected into cell lines. The immunofluorescence staining confirmed the predominant nuclear localization of the ESR1 fusions, while ESR1-LPP and ESR1-GYG1 fusions additionally displayed cytoplasmic localization. ER activity assays via luciferase assay and qRT-PCR demonstrated estrogen-independent constitutive activity of ESR1 fusions that is unresponsive to anti-endocrine treatment. While ESR1-DAB2 and ESR1-SOX9 fusions induced the transcription of estrogen-responsive genes, only ESR1-SOX9 demonstrated statistically significant estrogen-independent proliferation in stable expressing T47D cells. Overall, active ESR1 fusions may have a critical role in developing anti-endocrine resistance and promoting tumor progression. Since ESR1 fusions with loss of LBD are recurrent in therapy-refractory ER-positive breast cancer, further comprehensive studies are needed (1) to determine their true frequency, (2) to understand their mechanism of action and (3) to determine their value as prognostic and therapeutic biomarkers

USE OF DIETARY SUPPLEMENTS FOR WEIGHT LOSS IN OBESE PATIENTS IN ZONGULDAK, TURKEY

Background: Obesity is a prevalent and worldwide health problem . The most common weight loss method preferred by obese individuals is dietary supplements. This study was performed in order to determine the dietary supplements used by obese individuals for weight loss and to examine the barriers to informing health personnel on supplement use. Materials and Methods: This descriptive study was performed in the Endocrinology and Diabetes Polyclinic at the Endocrinology and Metabolic Diseases Department of the Health Application and Research Center of the Bulent Ecevit University. The sample consisted of 151 patients randomly selected from among the 755 people using the simple randomization method. Results: In the study, 33.6% of the obese individuals were found to use dietary supplements for weight loss. Women, people with no chronic diseases, people who exercised regularly, and people who underwent regular health check-ups were found to prefer dietary supplements at a greater rate (

DEVELOPMENT OF A THREE DIMENSIONAL GEOMETRIC THINKING TEST FOR EARLY GRADERS

This study aimed to develop a three-dimensional geometric thinking test to determine the geometric thinking of early graders in the paper-pencil environment. First, we determined the components of three-dimensional geometric thinking and prepared questions for each component. Then, we conducted the pilot studies of the test at three stages in six state schools located in the city of Ankara in Turkey. The first draft test consisting of 54 items was administered to 384 students; the second draft test consisting of 53 items was administered to 120 students and the third draft test consisting of 45 items was administered to 268 students. In order to establish the content validity of the test, prior to all the administrations, it was subsumed to the review of 13 experts and by considering the content validity rates, the items to be included in the test were determined. As the items in the test are scored as correct/false (1/0), KR-20 reliability coefficient was used in the calculation of the reliability of the test. In the last administration, KR-20 reliability coefficient was found to be 0.87; thus, it was concluded that the test is reliable

A Computational Statistics Approach to Evaluate Blood Biomarkers for Breast Cancer Risk Stratification

Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer mortality among women. Mammography and tumor biopsy followed by histopathological analysis are the current methods to diagnose breast cancer. Mammography does not detect all breast tumor subtypes, especially those that arise in younger women or women with dense breast tissue, and are more aggressive. There is an urgent need to find circulating prognostic molecules and liquid biopsy methods for breast cancer diagnosis and reducing the mortality rate. In this study, we systematically evaluated metabolites and proteins in blood to develop a pipeline to identify potential circulating biomarkers for breast cancer risk. Our aim is to identify a group of molecules to be used in the design of portable and low-cost biomarker detection devices. We obtained plasma samples from women who are cancer free (healthy) and women who were cancer free at the time of blood collection but developed breast cancer later (susceptible). We extracted potential prognostic biomarkers for breast cancer risk from plasma metabolomics and proteomics data using statistical and discriminative power analyses. We pre-processed the data to ensure the quality of subsequent analyses, and used two main feature selection methods to determine the importance of each molecule. After further feature elimination based on pairwise dependencies, we measured the performance of logistic regression classifier on the remaining molecules and compared their biological relevance. We identified six signatures that predicted breast cancer risk with different specificity and selectivity. The best performing signature had 13 factors. We validated the difference in level of one of the biomarkers, SCF/KITLG, in plasma from healthy and susceptible individuals. These biomarkers will be used to develop low-cost liquid biopsy methods toward early identification of breast cancer risk and hence decreased mortality. Our findings provide the knowledge basis needed to proceed in this direction

Free Fatty Acids Rewire Cancer Metabolism in Obesity-Associated Breast Cancer via Estrogen Receptor and mTOR Signaling

Obesity is a risk factor for postmenopausal estrogen receptor alpha (ERα)-positive (ER+) breast cancer. Molecular mechanisms underlying factors from plasma that contribute to this risk and how these mechanisms affect ERα signaling have yet to be elucidated. To identify such mechanisms, we performed whole metabolite and protein profiling in plasma samples from women at high risk for breast cancer, which led us to focus on factors that were differentially present in plasma of obese versus nonobese postmenopausal women. These studies, combined with in vitro assays, identified free fatty acids (FFA) as circulating plasma factors that correlated with increased proliferation and aggressiveness in ER+ breast cancer cells. FFAs activated both the ERα and mTOR pathways and rewired metabolism in breast cancer cells. Pathway preferential estrogen-1 (PaPE-1), which targets ERα and mTOR signaling, was able to block changes induced by FFA and was more effective in the presence of FFA. Collectively, these data suggest a role for obesity-associated gene and metabolic rewiring in providing new targetable vulnerabilities for ER+ breast cancer in postmenopausal women. Furthermore, they provide a basis for preclinical and clinical trials where the impact of agents that target ERα and mTOR signaling cross-talk would be tested to prevent ER+ breast cancers in obese postmenopausal women

Discontinuation of RAAS Inhibition in Children with Advanced CKD

Background and objectives Although renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system inhibition (RAASi) is a cornerstone in the treatment of children with CKD, it is sometimes discontinued when kidney function declines. We studied the reasons of RAASi discontinuation and associations between RAASi discontinuation and important risk markers of CKD progression and on eGFR decline in the Cardiovascular Comorbidity in Children with CKD study. Design, setting, participants,& measurements In this study, 69 children with CKD(67% male, mean age 13.7 years, mean eGFR 27 ml/min per 1.73m(2)) who discontinued RAASi during prospective follow-up were included. Initial change in BP, albuminuria, and potassium after discontinuation were assessed (median time 6 months). Rate of eGFR decline (eGFR slope) during a median of 1.9 years before and 1.2 years after discontinuation were estimated using linear mixed effects modeling. Results Physician-reported reasons for RAASi discontinuation were increase in serum creatinine, hyperkalemia, and symptomatic hypotension. After discontinuation of RAASi, BP and albuminuria increased, whereas potassium decreased. eGFR declined more rapidly after discontinuation of RAASi (23.9 ml/min per 1.73m2 per year; 95% confidence interval, 25.1 to 22.6) compared with the slope during RAASi treatment (21.5 ml/min per 1.73 m(2) per year; 95% confidence interval, 22.4 to 20.6; P=0.005). In contrast, no change in eGFR slope was observed in a matched control cohort of patients in whom RAASi was continued. Conclusions Discontinuation of RAASi in children with CKD is associated with an acceleration of kidney function decline, even in advanced CKD

Differential cross section measurements for the production of a W boson in association with jets in proton–proton collisions at √s = 7 TeV

Measurements are reported of differential cross sections for the production of a W boson, which decays into a muon and a neutrino, in association with jets, as a function of several variables, including the transverse momenta (pT) and pseudorapidities of the four leading jets, the scalar sum of jet transverse momenta (HT), and the difference in azimuthal angle between the directions of each jet and the muon. The data sample of pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV was collected with the CMS detector at the LHC and corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 5.0 fb[superscript −1]. The measured cross sections are compared to predictions from Monte Carlo generators, MadGraph + pythia and sherpa, and to next-to-leading-order calculations from BlackHat + sherpa. The differential cross sections are found to be in agreement with the predictions, apart from the pT distributions of the leading jets at high pT values, the distributions of the HT at high-HT and low jet multiplicity, and the distribution of the difference in azimuthal angle between the leading jet and the muon at low values.United States. Dept. of EnergyNational Science Foundation (U.S.)Alfred P. Sloan Foundatio