Microarray Analysis of Late Response to Boron Toxicity in Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) Leaves

DNA microarrays, being high-density and high-throughput, allow quantitative analyses of thousands of genes and their expression patterns in parallel. In this study, Barley1 GereChip was used to investigate transcriptome changes associated with boron (B) toxicity in a sensitive barley cultivar (Hordeum vulgare L. cv. Hamidye). Eight-day-old aseptically grown seedlings were subjected to 5 or 10 mM boric acid (B(OH)(3)) treatments for 5 days and expression profiles were determined with DNA microarrays using total RNA from leaf tissues. Among the 22,840 transcripts - each represented with a probe set on the GeneChip - 19,424 probe sets showed intensity values greater than 20(th) percentile in at least one of the hybridizations. Compared to control (10 mu M B(OH)(3)), 5 mM B(OH)(3) treatment resulted in differential expression of 168 genes at least by twofold. Moreover, 10 mM B(OH)(3) treatment resulted in at least twofold induction or reduction in expression of 312 transcripts. Among these genes, 37 and 61 exhibited significantly (P <0.05) altered levels of expression under 5 and 10 mM B(OH)(3) treatments, respectively. Differentially expressed genes were characterized using expression-based clustering and HarvEST:Barley. Investigations of expression profiles revealed that B toxicity results in global changes in the barley transcriptome and networks of signaling or molecular responses. A noticeable feature of response to 8 was that it is highly interconnected with responses to various environmental stresses. Additionally, induction of jasmonic acid related genes was found to be an important late response to B toxicity. Determination of responsive genes will shed light on successive studies aiming to elucidate molecular mechanism of B toxicity or tolerance. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on global expression analysis of barley seedlings under B toxicity

Investigating the role of anticipatory reward and habit strength in obsessive-compulsive disorder

Aims: To determine the rates and associated illness characteristics of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) patients who describe their symptoms as either rewarding or habitual. Methods: Seventy-three treatment-seeking OCD patients had their dominant compulsive behavior assessed with a structured interview (the Temporal Impulsive-Compulsive Scale–Revised) to track the progression of rewarding (ie, gain in positive affect), aversive (ie, decrease in negative affect), and neutral (or non-affective) states and a self-report scale (the Self-Report Habit Index) to evaluate their habitual features. Additional measures included structured diagnostic interviews for axis I and II disorders, measures of OCD symptoms severity, and a battery of instruments to comprehensively assess relevant aspects of sensitivity to reward and fear. Results: Almost half (49%) of our OCD patients (particularly washers) endorsed that they anticipated obtaining a reward (ie, positive affect) from the enactment of their dominant compulsive behavior. Washers stood out in that their positive affects during and after compulsive behaviors were highly (and positively) correlated with duration of illness. In contrast, habit strength did not differ between washers, checkers, and arrangers, although it also correlated with duration of illness among checkers. Furthermore, the severity of OCD and comorbidity with impulse control disorders predicted up to 35% of the variance in the habit strength of OCD behaviors. Conclusion: Compulsive washing may be more clearly characterized by problems in reward processing. In contrast, duration of checking, severity of OCD, and comorbidity with impulse control disorders shape compulsive behaviors by imparting them with habitual tendencies

Primary testicular lymphoma: a single centre experience

Aim: Primary testicular lymphoma (PTL) is an uncommon and aggressive form of extranodal non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL). We aimed to analyse the clinicopathological characteristics and outcomes of our PTL cases. Materials and Methods: A review was made of the medical records of 339 NHL patients who were treated in the Medical Oncology Department between January 2005 and December 2013. Results: 8 PTL patients were identified from the 339 NHL patients. The average age of the patients was 67.7 ± 7.9 years (range 53–79 years). The mean follow-up time was 24.8 months (range 7–98 months). Inguinal orchiectomy was performed as a diagnostic and initial therapy and all the patients underwent 4–6 cycles of chemoimmunotherapy consisting of cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine and prednisone plus rituximab. 4 of 8 patients received intrathecal prophylactic chemotherapy and 6 of 8 patients continued contralateral testis irradiation. Relapse occured in only 1 patient in central nervous system after 6 months who had not received intrathecal prophylaxis. No contralateral testis relapse was observed. Conclusions: Primary testicular NHL is an uncommon entity and we evaluated 8 patients; with one relapse in central nervous system and no relapse in the contralateral testis. Key Words: primary testicular lymphoma, contralateral scrotal irradiation, intratechal chemotherapy

Reward-related attentional capture is associated with severity of addictive and obsessive-compulsive behaviors

A cue that signals reward can capture attention and elicit approach behaviors in people and animals. The current study examined whether attentional capture by reward-related cues is associated with severity of addiction-related and obsessive-compulsive behaviors. Participants were recruited via Mechanical Turk and included 143 adults [mean age 34 years (SD = 8.5), 43% female] who had endorsed at least one addiction-related or obsessive-compulsive behavior in the past month. All assessment components were delivered via the internet, and included questionnaires to assess severity of compulsivity-related problems across addiction-related and obsessive-compulsive behaviors, as well as a visual search task to measure reward-related attentional capture. Reward-related attentional capture was associated with severity of compulsivity, transdiagnostically. These findings have implications for understanding the mechanisms that underlie compulsive behaviors and suggest that reward-related attentional capture is a promising transdiagnostic cognitive risk marker for compulsivity

Single dose regorafenib-induced hypertensive crisis

Gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) are uncommon tumors of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. Regorafenib is a new multikinase inhibitor and is approved for the treatment of GISTs in patients who develop resistance to imatinib and sunitinib. The most common drug-related adverse events with regorafenib are hypertension, hand-foot skin reactions, and diarrhea. Grade IV hypertensive side effect has never been reported after a single dose. In this report, we present a case of Grade IV hypertensive side effect (hypertensive crisis and seizure) after a single dose of regorafenib. A 54-year-old male normotensive GIST patient was admitted to the emergency department with seizure and encephalopathy after the first dosage of regorafenib. His blood pressure was 240/140 mmHg upon admission. After intensive treatment with nitrate and nitroprusside, his blood pressure returned to normal levels in five days. Regorafenib was discontinued, and he did not experience hypertension again. This paper reports the first case of Grade IV hypertension after the first dosage of regorafenib. We can suggest that hypertension is an idiosyncratic side effect unrelated to the dosage. Key Words: hypertension, regorafenib, gastrointestinal stromal tumor

High body-mass index is not associated with worse clinicopathological characteristics in predominantly obese breast cancer patients

Background: Breast cancer (BC) is the most common cancer among women. A high body-mass index (BMI) is related to increased incidence of BC with poorer prognosis. Aim: The aim of the study was to evaluate the association in patients with BC between BMI at the time of diagnosis and biological characteristics, according to the menopausal status. Materials and Methods: This retrospective study comprised a total of 318 women with BC. Clinicopathological differences between normal, overweight and obese patients according to menopausal status were evaluated. Results: Premenopausal women had a significantly lower BMI than postmenopausal patients (28.7 vs. 31.5, respectively; p = 0.00001). No statistically significant association was determined between BMI and clinicopathological characteristics in either the premenopausal or the postmenopausal group (all p values are > 0.05). Conclusions: There are many conflicting results in literature on this relationship. The results of this study showed that a high BMI is not associated with worse clinicopathological cha­racteristics in a predominantly obese population. In current medical oncology practice, BC should be evaluated on an individual patient basis and the impact of obesity on BC prognosis seems to be difficult to estimate especially in an obese population. Key Words: breast cancer, body-mass index, prognosis

Movement of a secondary immiscible liquid in a suspension using a non-invasive technique

In this paper, the movement of a secondary immiscible liquid when added to a suspension of hydrophilic particles in a continuous hydrophobic phase is investigated. This was achieved through an approach using high speed camera and X-ray computer tomography. These non-invasive approaches allowed the secondary liquid displacement within the suspension to be monitored on the surface level and within the suspension through a time lapse of scans. The addition of a small amount of secondary liquid to suspensions, can lead to a transition from a fluid-like to paste-like structure. The kinetics taking place and responsible for this, during both short and long term storage were investigated to better understand the mechanisms taking place. Water was added as the secondary immiscible liquid to suspensions composed of sucrose (icing sugar) and sunflower oil. Different volumes of secondary liquid were added to the suspensions. The rate of movement as well as the spreading of the secondary liquid into the suspension was calculated from the scans taken. The surface area to volume ratio was proposed as a reason for the spreading of the liquid for the smaller volume droplet being greater in comparison to the larger volume droplet

Proanthocyanidin to prevent formation of the reexpansion pulmonary edema

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>We aimed to investigate the preventive effect of Proanthocyanidine (PC) in the prevention of RPE formation.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Subjects were divided into four groups each containing 10 rats. In the Control Group (CG): RPE wasn't performed. Then subjects were followed up for three days and they were sacrificed after the follow up period. Samplings were made from tissues for measurement of biochemical and histopathologic parameters. In the Second Group (PCG): The same protocol as CG was applied, except the administration of PC to the subjects. In the third RPE Group (RPEG): Again the same protocol as CG was applied, but as a difference, RPE was performed. In the Treatment Group (TG): The same protocol as RPEG was applied except the administration of PC to the subjects.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In RPEG group, the most important histopathological finding was severe pulmonary edema with alveolar damage and acute inflammatory cells. These findings were less in the TG group. RPE caused increased MDA levels, and decreased GPx, SOD and CAT activity significantly in lung tissue.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>PC decreased MDA levels. Oxidative stress plays an important role in pathophysiology of RPE and PC treatment was shown to be useful to prevent formation of RPE.</p

ES&T Guest Comment: Celebrating Bidleman’s 1988 “Atmospheric Processes”

Since its 1988 appearance in ES&T, Terry F. Bidleman’s article, “Atmospheric processes: wet and dry deposition of organic compounds are controlled by their vapor-particle partitioning”, has had a notable impact on the field of contaminant science. The paper has been cited in over 600 journal articles published by authors from every continent. Far from fading into obscurity, the paper’s influence has been remarkably consistent. Citations over the last year match the annual average attained since publication

Health-related quality of life in patients with β-thalassemia: Data from the phase 3 BELIEVE trial of luspatercept

BACKGROUND: Patients with transfusion-dependent (TD) β-thalassemia require long-term red blood cell transfusions (RBCTs) that lead to iron overload, impacting health-related quality of life (HRQoL). METHODS: The impact of luspatercept, a first-in-class erythroid maturation agent, versus placebo on HRQoL of patients with TD β-thalassemia was evaluated in the phase 3 BELIEVE trial. HRQoL was assessed at baseline and every 12 weeks using the 36-item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) and Transfusion-dependent Quality of Life questionnaire (TranQol). Mean change in HRQoL was evaluated from baseline to week 48 for patients receiving luspatercept + best supportive care (BSC) and placebo + BSC and between luspatercept responders and non-responders. RESULTS: Through week 48, for both groups, mean scores on SF-36 and TranQol domains were stable over time and did not have a clinically meaningful change. At week 48, more patients who achieved clinical response (≥50% reduction in RBCT burden over 24 weeks) in the luspatercept + BSC group had improvement in SF-36 Physical Function compared with placebo + BSC (27.1% vs. 11.5%; p = .019). CONCLUSIONS: Luspatercept + BSC reduced transfusion burden while maintaining patients' HRQoL. HRQoL domain improvements from baseline through 48 weeks were also enhanced for luspatercept responders