Mechanism of leptin expression in breast cancer cells: role of hypoxia-inducible factor-1alpha.

We reported previously that the obesity hormone leptin is overexpressed in breast cancer biopsies. Here, we investigated molecular mechanisms involved in this process, focusing on conditions that are associated with obesity, that is, hyperinsulinemia and induction of hypoxia. By using quantitative real-time PCR, immunofluorescent detection of proteins and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays, we found that treatment of MCF-7 breast cancer cells with high doses of insulin or the hypoxia-mimetic agent CoCl2, or culturing the cells under hypoxic conditions significantly increased the expression of leptin mRNA and protein. Notably, the greatest leptin mRNA and protein expression were observed under combined hyperinsulinemia and hypoxia or hypoxia-mimetic treatments. Luciferase reporter assays suggested that increased leptin synthesis could be related to the activation of the leptin gene promoter. DNA affinity precipitation and chromatin immunoprecipitation experiments revealed that insulin, CoCl2 and/or hypoxia treatments augmented nuclear accumulation of hypoxia-inducible factor-1a (HIF-1a) and increased its interaction with several upstream leptin regulatory sequences, especially with the proximal promoter containing four hypoxia-response elements and three GC-rich regions. By using reverse chromatin precipitation, we determined that loading of HIF-1a on the proximal leptin promoter concurred with the recruitment of p300, the major HIF coactivator, suggesting that the HIF/p300 complex is involved in leptin transcription. The importance of HIF-1a in insulin- and CoCl2-activated leptin mRNA and protein expression was confirmed using RNA interferenc

Intercomparison of the northern hemisphere winter mid-latitude atmospheric variability of the IPCC models

We compare, for the overlapping time frame 1962-2000, the estimate of the northern hemisphere (NH) mid-latitude winter atmospheric variability within the XX century simulations of 17 global climate models (GCMs) included in the IPCC-4AR with the NCEP and ECMWF reanalyses. We compute the Hayashi spectra of the 500hPa geopotential height fields and introduce an integral measure of the variability observed in the NH on different spectral sub-domains. Only two high-resolution GCMs have a good agreement with reanalyses. Large biases, in most cases larger than 20%, are found between the wave climatologies of most GCMs and the reanalyses, with a relative span of around 50%. The travelling baroclinic waves are usually overestimated, while the planetary waves are usually underestimated, in agreement with previous studies performed on global weather forecasting models. When comparing the results of various versions of similar GCMs, it is clear that in some cases the vertical resolution of the atmosphere and, somewhat unexpectedly, of the adopted ocean model seem to be critical in determining the agreement with the reanalyses. The GCMs ensemble is biased with respect to the reanalyses but is comparable to the best 5 GCMs. This study suggests serious caveats with respect to the ability of most of the presently available GCMs in representing the statistics of the global scale atmospheric dynamics of the present climate and, a fortiori, in the perspective of modelling climate change.Comment: 39 pages, 8 figures, 2 table

Ground truth annotation of traffic video data

This paper presents a software application to generate ground-truth data on video files from traffic surveillance cameras used for Intelligent Transportation Systems (IT systems). The computer vision system to be evaluated counts the number of vehicles that cross a line per time unit intensity-, the average speed and the occupancy. The main goal of the visual interface presented in this paper is to be easy to use without the requirement of any specific hardware. It is based on a standard laptop or desktop computer and a Jog shuttle wheel. The setup is efficient and comfortable because one hand of the annotating person is almost all the time on the space key of the keyboard while the other hand is on the jog shuttle wheel. The mean time required to annotate a video file ranges from 1 to 5 times its duration (per lane) depending on the content. Compared to general purpose annotation tool a time factor gain of about 7 times is achieved.This work was funded by the Spanish Government project MARTA under the CENIT program and CICYT contract TEC2009-09146.Mossi García, JM.; Albiol Colomer, AJ.; Albiol Colomer, A.; Oliver Moll, J. (2014). Ground truth annotation of traffic video data. Multimedia Tools and Applications. 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11042-013-1396-xS114Albiol A et al (2011) Detection of parked vehicles using spatiotemporal maps. IEEE Trans Intell Transport Syst 12(4):1277–1291Blunsden SJ, Fisher R (2010) The BEHAVE video dataset: ground truthed video for multi-person behavior classification. Annal British Mach Vis Assoc 4:1–12Bradski G, Kaehler A (2008) Learning OpenCV: Computer vision with the OpenCV library. O'Reilly Media, IncorporatedBrooke J. SUS: a “quick and dirty” usability scale. Usability evaluation in industry. Taylor and FrancisBrostow GJ et al (2009) Semantic object classes in video: a high-definition ground truth database. Pattern Recognit Lett 30(2):88–97Buch N et al (2011) A review of computer vision techniques for the analysis of urban traffic. IEEE Trans Intell Transp Syst 12(3):920–939D’Orazio T et al. (2009) A semi-automatic system for ground truth generation of soccer video sequences. Advanced Video and Signal Based Surveillance, 2009. AVSS’09. Sixth IEEE International Conference on (Sep. 2009), 559–564Dollar P et al (2012) Pedestrian detection: an evaluation of the state of the art. IEEE Trans Pattern Anal Mach Intell 34(4):743–761Faro A et al (2011) Adaptive background modeling integrated with luminosity sensors and occlusion processing for reliable vehicle detection. IEEE Trans Intell Transport Syst 12(4):1398–1412Giro-i-Nieto X et al (2010) GAT: a graphical annotation tool for semantic regions. Multimed Tool Appl 46(2–3):155–174i-LIDS. Image Library for Intelligent Detection Systems: www.ilids.co.uk . Home Office Scientific Development Branch, United Kingdom. Last Accessed February 2013Kasturi R et al (2009) Framework for performance evaluation of face, text, and vehicle detection and tracking in video: data, metrics, and protocol. IEEE Trans Pattern Anal Mach Intell 31(2):319–336Laganière R (2011) OpenCV 2 computer vision application programming cookbook. Packt Pub LimitedLorist MM et al (2000) Mental fatigue and task control: planning and preparation. Psychophysiology 37(5):614–625Russell B et al (2008) LabelMe: a database and web-based tool for image annotation. Int J Comput Vis 77(1):157–173Serrano M, Gracía J, Patricio M, Molina J (2010). Interactive video annotation tool. Distributed Computing and Artificial Intelligence, 325–332Traffic City Cameras. Ajuntament de València, Spain. http://camaras.valencia.es . Last Accessed February 2013TREC video retrieval evaluation. http://www-nlpir.nist.gov/projects/trecvid/Vezzani R, Cucchiara R (2010) Video Surveillance Online Repository (ViSOR): an integrated framework. Multimed Tool Appl 50(2):359–380ViPER: the video performance evaluation resource: http://viper-toolkit.sourceforge.net/Volkmer T et al. (2005) A web-based system for collaborative annotation of large image and video collections: an evaluation and user study. Proceedings of the 13th annual ACM international conference on Multimedia (New York, NY, USA, 2005), 892–901Zhang HB, Li SA, Chen SY, Su SZ, Duh DJ, Li SZ (2012) Adaptive photograph retrieval method. Multimedia Tools and Applications, Published online September 2012.Zou Y et al (2011) Traffic incident classification at intersections based on image sequences by HMM/SVM classifiers. Multimed Tool Appl 52(1):133–14

Engaging Undergraduates in Science Research: Not Just About Faculty Willingness.

Despite the many benefits of involving undergraduates in research and the growing number of undergraduate research programs, few scholars have investigated the factors that affect faculty members' decisions to involve undergraduates in their research projects. We investigated the individual factors and institutional contexts that predict faculty members' likelihood of engaging undergraduates in their research project(s). Using data from the Higher Education Research Institute's 2007-2008 Faculty Survey, we employ hierarchical generalized linear modeling to analyze data from 4,832 science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) faculty across 194 institutions to examine how organizational citizenship behavior theory and social exchange theory relate to mentoring students in research. Key findings show that faculty who work in the life sciences and those who receive government funding for their research are more likely to involve undergraduates in their research project(s). In addition, faculty at liberal arts or historically Black colleges are significantly more likely to involve undergraduate students in research. Implications for advancing undergraduate research opportunities are discussed

Prime movers : mechanochemistry of mitotic kinesins

Mitotic spindles are self-organizing protein machines that harness teams of multiple force generators to drive chromosome segregation. Kinesins are key members of these force-generating teams. Different kinesins walk directionally along dynamic microtubules, anchor, crosslink, align and sort microtubules into polarized bundles, and influence microtubule dynamics by interacting with microtubule tips. The mechanochemical mechanisms of these kinesins are specialized to enable each type to make a specific contribution to spindle self-organization and chromosome segregation

Neutrophils in cancer: neutral no more

Neutrophils are indispensable antagonists of microbial infection and facilitators of wound healing. In the cancer setting, a newfound appreciation for neutrophils has come into view. The traditionally held belief that neutrophils are inert bystanders is being challenged by the recent literature. Emerging evidence indicates that tumours manipulate neutrophils, sometimes early in their differentiation process, to create diverse phenotypic and functional polarization states able to alter tumour behaviour. In this Review, we discuss the involvement of neutrophils in cancer initiation and progression, and their potential as clinical biomarkers and therapeutic targets

Factors affecting glomerular filtration rate, as measured by iohexol disappearance, in men with or at risk for HIV infection

Objective: Formulae used to estimate glomerular filtration rate (GFR) underestimate higher GFRs and have not been well-studied in HIV-infected (HIV(+)) people; we evaluated the relationships of HIV infection and known or potential risk factors for kidney disease with directly measured GFR and the presence of chronic kidney disease (CKD). Design: Cross-sectional measurement of iohexol-based GFR (iGFR) in HIV(+) men (n = 455) receiving antiretroviral therapy, and HIV-uninfected (HIV(-)) men (n = 258) in the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study. Methods: iGFR was calculated from disappearance of infused iohexol from plasma. Determinants of GFR and the presence of CKD were compared using iGFR and GFR estimated by the CKD-Epi equation (eGFR). Results: Median iGFR was higher among HIV(+) than HIV(-) men (109 vs. 106 ml/min/1.73 m2, respectively, p = .046), and was 7 ml/min higher than median eGFR. Mean iGFR was lower in men who were older, had chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, or had a history of AIDS. Low iGFR (≤90 ml/min/1.73 m2) was associated with these factors and with black race. Other than age, factors associated with low iGFR were not observed with low eGFR. CKD was more common in HIV(+) than HIV(-) men; predictors of CKD were similar using iGFR and eGFR. Conclusions: iGFR was higher than eGFR in this population of HIV-infected and -uninfected men who have sex with men. Presence of CKD was predicted equally well by iGFR and eGFR, but associations of chronic HCV infection and history of clinically-defined AIDS with mildly decreased GFR were seen only with iGFR. © 2014 Margolick et al

Alexithymia in juvenile primary headache sufferers: a pilot study

Starting in the 1990s, there has been accumulating evidence of alexithymic characteristics in adult patients with primary headache. Little research has been conducted, however, on the relationship between alexithymia and primary headache in developmental age. In their research on alexithymia in the formative years, the authors identified one of the most promising prospects for research, as discussed here. The aim of this study was to verify whether there is: (a) a link between tension-type headache and alexithymia in childhood and early adolescence; and (b) a correlation between alexithymia in children/preadolescents and their mothers. This study was based on an experimental group of 32 patients (26 females and 6 males, aged from 8 to 15 years, mean 11.2 ± 2.0) suffering from tension-type headache and 32 control subjects (26 females and 6 males, aged from 8 to 15 years, mean 11.8 ± 1.6). Tension-type headache was diagnosed by applying the International Headache Classification (ICHD-II, 2004). The alexithymic construct was measured using an Italian version of the Alexithymia Questionnaire for Children in the case of the juvenile patients and the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) for their mothers. Higher rates of alexithymia were observed in the children/preadolescents in the experimental group (EG) than in the control group; in the EG there was no significant correlation between the alexithymia rates in the children/preadolescents and in their mothers