138 research outputs found
Could GLUT12 be a Potential Therapeutic Target in Cancer Treatment? A Preliminary Report
Background: Recent studies proposed GLUT12 to be a major glucose transporter involved in the glycolytic metabolism of cancer cells.
Methods: GLUT12 expression was determined by immunohistochemistry in a selection of cancer cell lines and a tumour spheroid model.
Results: GLUT12 expression was high in A549 and RH-36; low in HT29; and absent in NB-EB cancer cell lines. GLUT12 expression was located in the necrotic centre of HT29 spheroids, which is characterised by anaerobic metabolism.
Conclusion: The data supports the involvement of GLUT12 in the glycolytic metabolism of cancer cells and therefore, its potential as a novel therapeutic target for cancer treatment
The association of appendicular lean mass and grip strength with low-density lipoprotein, very low-density lipoprotein, and high-density lipoprotein particle diameter: a Mendelian randomization study of the UK Biobank cohort
Aims Reduced muscle mass and reduced strength are frequently associated with both alterations in blood lipids and poorer cardiometabolic outcomes in epidemiological studies; however, a causal association cannot be determined from such observations. Two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) was applied to assess the association of genetically determined appendicular lean mass (ALM) and handgrip strength (HGS) with serum lipid particle diameter. Methods and results Mendelian randomization was implemented using summary-level data from the largest genome-wide association studies on ALM (n = 450 243), HGS (n = 223 315), and lipoprotein [low-density lipoprotein (LDL), very LDL (VLDL), and high-density lipoprotein (HDL)] particle diameters (n = 115 078). Inverse variance-weighted (IVW) method was used to calculate the causal estimates. Weighted median-based method, MR-Egger, and leave-one-out method were applied as sensitivity analysis. Greater ALM had a statistically significant positive effect on HDL particle diameter (MR-Egger: β = 0.055, SE = 0.031, P = 0.081; IVW: β = 0.068, SE = 0.014, P < 0.001) and a statistically significant negative effect on VLDL particle diameter (MR-Egger: β = â0.114, SE = 0.039, P = 0.003; IVW: β = â0.081, SE = 0.017, P < 0.001). Similarly, greater HGS had a statistically significant positive effect on HDL particle diameter (MR-Egger: β = 0.433, SE = 0.184, P = 0.019; IVW: β = 0.121, SE = 0.052, P = 0.021) and a statistically significant negative effect on VLDL particle diameter (MR-Egger: β = â0.416, SE = 0.163, P = 0.011; IVW: β = â0.122, SE = 0.046, P = 0.009). There was no statistically significant effect of either ALM or HGS on LDL particle diameter. Conclusion There were potentially causal associations between both increasing ALM and HGS and increasing HDL particle size and decreasing VLDL particle size. These causal associations may offer possibilities for interventions aimed at improving cardiovascular disease risk profile
The atypical iron-coordination geometry of cytochrome f remains unchanged upon binding to plastocyanin, as inferred by XAS
The transient complex between cytochrome f and plastocyanin from the cyanobacterium Nostoc sp. PCC 7119 has been analysed by X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy in solution, using both proteins in their oxidized and reduced states. Fe K-edge data mainly shows that the atypical metal coordination geometry of cytochrome f, in which the N-terminal amino acid acts as an axial ligand of the heme group, remains unaltered upon binding to its redox partner, plastocyanin. This fact suggests that cytochrome f provides a stable binding site for plastocyanin and minimizes the reorganization energy required in the transient complex formation, which could facilitate the electron transfer between the two redox partners
Association of serum leptin and ghrelin with depressive symptoms in a Japanese working population: a cross-sectional study
Identification of sixteen novel candidate genes for late onset Parkinsonâs disease
Background
Parkinsonâs disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative movement disorder affecting 1â5% of the general population for which neither effective cure nor early diagnostic tools are available that could tackle the pathology in the early phase. Here we report a multi-stage procedure to identify candidate genes likely involved in the etiopathogenesis of PD.
Methods
The study includes a discovery stage based on the analysis of whole exome data from 26 dominant late onset PD families, a validation analysis performed on 1542 independent PD patients and 706 controls from different cohorts and the assessment of polygenic variants load in the Italian cohort (394 unrelated patients and 203 controls).
Results
Family-based approach identified 28 disrupting variants in 26 candidate genes for PD including PARK2, PINK1, DJ-1(PARK7), LRRK2, HTRA2, FBXO7, EIF4G1, DNAJC6, DNAJC13, SNCAIP, AIMP2, CHMP1A, GIPC1, HMOX2, HSPA8, IMMT, KIF21B, KIF24, MAN2C1, RHOT2, SLC25A39, SPTBN1, TMEM175, TOMM22, TVP23A and ZSCAN21. Sixteen of them have not been associated to PD before, were expressed in mesencephalon and were involved in pathways potentially deregulated in PD. Mutation analysis in independent cohorts disclosed a significant excess of highly deleterious variants in cases (pâ=â0.0001), supporting their role in PD.
Moreover, we demonstrated that the co-inheritance of multiple rare variants (⼠2) in the 26 genes may predict PD occurrence in about 20% of patients, both familial and sporadic cases, with high specificity (>â93%; pâ=â4.4âĂâ10ââ5). Moreover, our data highlight the fact that the genetic landmarks of late onset PD does not systematically differ between sporadic and familial forms, especially in the case of small nuclear families and underline the importance of rare variants in the genetics of sporadic PD.
Furthermore, patients carrying multiple rare variants showed higher risk of manifesting dyskinesia induced by levodopa treatment.
Conclusions
Besides confirming the extreme genetic heterogeneity of PD, these data provide novel insights into the genetic of the disease and may be relevant for its prediction, diagnosis and treatment
Measurement of the Pseudorapidity and Centrality Dependence of the Transverse Energy Density in Pb-Pb Collisions at âsNN=2.76ââTeV
The transverse energy (E-T) in Pb-Pb collisions at 2.76 TeV nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass energy (root s(NN)) has been measured over a broad range of pseudorapidity (eta) and collision centrality by using the CMS detector at the LHC. The transverse energy density per unit pseudorapidity (dE(T)/d eta) increases faster with collision energy than the charged particle multiplicity. This implies that the mean energy per particle is increasing with collision energy. At all pseudorapidities, the transverse energy per participating nucleon increases with the centrality of the collision. The ratio of transverse energy per unit pseudorapidity in peripheral to central collisions varies significantly as the pseudorapidity increases from eta = 0 to vertical bar eta vertical bar = 5.0. For the 5% most central collisions, the energy density per unit volume is estimated to be about 14 GeV/fm(3) at a time of 1 fm/c after the collision. This is about 100 times larger than normal nuclear matter density and a factor of 2.6 times higher than the energy density reported at root s(NN) = 200 GeV at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider
Measurement of the t(t)over-bar production cross section in pp collisions at root s=7 TeV in dilepton final states containing a tau
The top quark pair production cross section is measured in dilepton events with one electron or muon, and one hadronically decaying tau lepton from the decay t (t) over bar -> (l nu(l))((sic)(h)nu((sic)))b (b) over bar, (l = e, mu). The data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 2.0 fb(-1) for the electron channel and 2.2 fb(-1) for the muon channel, collected by the CMS detector at the LHC. This is the first measurement of the t (t) over bar cross section explicitly including tau leptons in proton- proton collisions at root s = 7 TeV. The measured value sigma(t (t) over bar) = 143 +/- 14(stat) +/- 22(syst) +/- 3(lumi) pb is consistent with the standard model predictions
Search for new physics with a monojet and missing transverse energy in pp collisions at âs=7 TeV
This is the pre-print version of the Published Article which can be accessed at the link below.A study of events with missing transverse energy and an energetic jet is performed using pp collision data at a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV. The data were collected by the CMS detector at the LHC, and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 36ââpb-1. An excess of these events over standard model contributions is a signature of new physics such as large extra dimensions and unparticles. The number of observed events is in good agreement with the prediction of the standard model, and significant extension of the current limits on parameters of new physics benchmark models is achieved
Search for supersymmetry in events with b jets and missing transverse momentum at the LHC
A search for supersymmetry is presented using a sample of events with b jets and missing transverse momentum. The search uses a data sample of proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 35 pb(-1), collected with the CMS detector. A total of 0.33(-0.33)(+0.43) (stat.) +/- 0.13 (syst.) events is predicted, using control samples in the data, to arise from standard model processes, and one event is observed in the data. Upper limits are set at the 95% confidence level on the cross sections of benchmark supersymmetric models
Indications of suppression of excited ÎĽ states in Pb-Pb collisions at âsNN = 2.76TeV
This is the pre-print version of the Published Article which can be accessed from the link below.A comparison of the relative yields of ÎĽ resonances in the Îź+Îź- decay channel in Pb-Pb and pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy per nucleon pair of 2.76 TeV is performed with data collected with the CMS detector at the LHC. Using muons of transverse momentum above 4ââGeV/c and pseudorapidity below 2.4, the double ratio of the ÎĽ(2S) and ÎĽ(3S) excited states to the ÎĽ(1S) ground state in Pb-Pb and pp collisions, [ÎĽ(2S+3S)/ÎĽ(1S)]Pb-Pb/[ÎĽ(2S+3S)/ÎĽ(1S)]pp, is found to be 0.31-0.15+0.19(stat)Âą0.03(syst). The probability to obtain the measured value, or lower, if the true double ratio is unity, is calculated to be less than 1%
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