Experimental Evidence For Self-Similar Structures In The Aggregation Of Porphyrins In Aqueous Solutions

We have studied the aggregation of the porphyrin t-H₂Pagg in aqueous solution by light scattering. The intensity profile of the elastically scattered light, studied in the exchanged wave-vector range 0.2 ≤ q ≤ 31.4 μ m⁻¹, indicates that the aggregation produces large monodisperse clusters having a fractal structure, and is driven by diffusion-limited aggregation kinetics. Additional measurements performed at different q values confirm such a picture giving a hydrodynamic radius R(H) consistent with the radius of gyration R(g) measured by elastic scattering. This is explained taking into account the q² dependence observed in the mean decay rate of the intensity-intensity correlation function and the effect on this latter dynamical quantity of anisotropies in the cluster structure

Fungi Associated with Decay in Treated Southern Pine Utility Poles in the Eastern United States

Approximately 1,320 fungi were isolated and studied from 246 creosote- or pentachlorophenol-treated southern pine poles in service in the eastern United States. The fungi identified were Basidiomycete decayers, soft rotters, and microfungi. White rot fungi predominated in the 262 Basidiomycete decayers isolated from 180 poles. The major Basidiomycetes isolated by radial position from poles of varying service ages appeared to develop initially in the outer treated zones and were often associated with seasoning checks. Some decay origins, however, appeared to be cases of preinvasion and escapes of preservative treatment. Five species of soft rot fungi comprised nearly 85% of 211 isolates obtained from 131 poles. They were isolated primarily from creosote-treated poles in outer treated zones at the groundline. Dissection analysis of 92 poles indicated that six developmental decay patterns and certain fungi were associated commonly with a pattern. The pole mycoflora isolated was relatively uniform in distribution in the eastern United States. The soft rotters and white rot group of Basidiomycete decayers appear to be a more important component of the treated southern pine pole mycoflora than has been recognized previously

Expression and Function of Neurotrophins and Their Receptors in Cultured Human Keratinocytes

Whereas nerve growth factor has been extensively studied in human keratinocytes, little is known on the role of other members of the neurotrophin family. We investigated the expression and function of neurotrophins and neurotrophin receptors in cultured human keratinocytes. We demonstrated by reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction that keratinocytes synthesize neurotrophin-3, brain-derived neurotrophic factor, and neurotrophin-4/5. These cells also express tyrosinase kinase A and C, the nerve growth factor and neuro-trophin-3 high-affinity receptors, respectively. On the other hand, only the truncated extracellular isoform of tyrosinase kinase B, the high-affinity brain-derived neurotrophic factor and neurotrophin-4/5 receptor, is detected in keratinocytes. Moreover, neurotrophin-3, brain-derived neurotrophic factor, and neurotrophin-4/5 proteins are secreted by human keratinocytes at low levels. Keratinocyte stem cells synthesize the highest amounts of nerve growth factor, while they secrete higher levels of nerve growth factor as compared with transit amplifying cells. Neurotrophin-3 stimulates keratinocyte proliferation, where brain-derived neurotrophic factor or neurotrophin-4/5 does not exert any effect on keratinocyte proliferation. Addition of neurotrophin-3 slightly upregulates the secretion of nerve growth factor, whereas nerve growth factor strongly augments neurotrophin-3 release. Ultraviolet B irradiation downregulates nerve growth factor, whereas it augments neurotrophin-3 and neurotrophin-4/5 protein levels. Ultraviolet A irradiation increases the level of neurotrophin-3, whereas it does not exert any effect on the other neurotrophins. Finally, neurotrophins other than nerve growth factor fail to protect human keratinocytes from ultraviolet B-induced apoptosis. This work delineates a functional neurotrophin network, which may contribute to epidermal homeostasis

Luciferase expression allows bioluminescence imaging but imposes limitations on the orthotopic mouse (4T1) model of breast cancer

Funding Information: Experiments on the 4T1 and 4Tluc2D6 mouse models of breast cancer were supported by the Russian Scientific Foundation, grant 14-14-00882. MRI measurements were carried out on ClinScan 7T located at Center for Collective Usage (CKP) “Medical nanobiotechologies”, located in Russian National Research Medical University. Experiments on the optimization of protocols for DNA immunization were supported by the Russian Scientific Foundation grant 15-15-30039. Optimization of tumor challenge after DNA immunization was supported by the Russian Fund for Basic Research grant 17-04-00583. Participants were trained in the immunization and tumor challenge experiments in the frame of the European Union Twinning project VACTRAIN, grant agreement #692293, and Swedish Institute PI project 19806/2016. Maria Isaguliants and Stefan Petkov were supported by VACTRAIN, and Maria Isaguliants, also by BALTINFECT, grant agreement #316275. Athina Kilpeläinen was supported by the individual study grant of the Swedish Institute #19061/2014. Patrik Hort is gratefully acknowledged for the language editing. Natalia Belikova is gratefully acknowledged for help with the quantification of protein expression based on the exponential calibration curves. Publisher Copyright: © 2017 Nature Publishing Group. All rights reserved.Implantation of reporter-labeled tumor cells in an immunocompetent host involves a risk of their immune elimination. We have studied this effect in a mouse model of breast cancer after the orthotopic implantation of mammary gland adenocarcinoma 4T1 cells genetically labelled with luciferase (Luc). Mice were implanted with 4T1 cells and two derivative Luc-expressing clones 4T1luc2 and 4T1luc2D6 exhibiting equal in vitro growth rates. In vivo, the daughter 4T1luc2 clone exhibited nearly the same, and 4T1luc2D6, a lower growth rate than the parental cells. The metastatic potential of 4T1 variants was assessed by magnetic resonance, bioluminescent imaging, micro-computed tomography, and densitometry which detected 100-μm metastases in multiple organs and bones at the early stage of their development. After 3-4 weeks, 4T1 generated 11.4 ? 2.1, 4T1luc2D6, 4.5 ? 0.6; and 4T1luc2, 〈1 metastases per mouse, locations restricted to lungs and regional lymph nodes. Mice bearing Luc-expressing tumors developed IFN-? Response to the dominant CTL epitope of Luc. Induced by intradermal DNA-immunization, such response protected mice from the establishment of 4T1luc2-tumors. Our data show that natural or induced cellular response against the reporter restricts growth and metastatic activity of the reporter-labelled tumor cells. Such cells represent a powerful instrument for improving immunization technique for cancer vaccine applications.publishersversionPeer reviewe

An Answer Set Programming Based Framework for High-Utility Pattern Mining Extended with Facets and Advanced Utility Functions

In the context of pattern mining, the utility of a pattern can be described as a preference ordering over a choice set; it can be actually assessed from very different perspectives and at different abstraction levels. However, while the topic of High-Utility Pattern Mining (HUPM) has been widely studied, the basic assumption is that each item in a knowledge base is associated with one, static utility. In this paper we introduce, among others, the notion of facets for items, which allows to cope with this limitation and, moreover, we show how a more structured representation of available information, coupled with facets defined also for higher abstraction levels, paves the way to new opportunities for HUPM. In particular, the proposed framework allows to introduce some new advanced classes of utility functions in the detection process, whose relevance is also experimentally evaluated. A real use case on paper reviews is exploited to analyze the potentiality of the proposed framework in knowledge creation and discovery. Given the wide variety of analytical scenarios that can be envisioned in this new setting, we take full advantage of the capabilities of Answer Set Programming and its extensions for a fast encoding and testing of the framework