Axion-like-particle search with high-intensity lasers

We study ALP-photon-conversion within strong inhomogeneous electromagnetic fields as provided by contemporary high-intensity laser systems. We observe that probe photons traversing the focal spot of a superposition of Gaussian beams of a single high-intensity laser at fundamental and frequency-doubled mode can experience a frequency shift due to their intermittent propagation as axion-like-particles. This process is strongly peaked for resonant masses on the order of the involved laser frequencies. Purely laser-based experiments in optical setups are sensitive to ALPs in the $\mathrm{eV}$ mass range and can thus complement ALP searches at dipole magnets.Comment: 25 pages, 2 figure

A practical approach for outdoors distributed target localization in wireless sensor networks

Wireless sensor networks are posed as the new communication paradigm where the use of small, low-complexity, and low-power devices is preferred over costly centralized systems. The spectra of potential applications of sensor networks is very wide, ranging from monitoring, surveillance, and localization, among others. Localization is a key application in sensor networks and the use of simple, efficient, and distributed algorithms is of paramount practical importance. Combining convex optimization tools with consensus algorithms we propose a distributed localization algorithm for scenarios where received signal strength indicator readings are used. We approach the localization problem by formulating an alternative problem that uses distance estimates locally computed at each node. The formulated problem is solved by a relaxed version using semidefinite relaxation technique. Conditions under which the relaxed problem yields to the same solution as the original problem are given and a distributed consensusbased implementation of the algorithm is proposed based on an augmented Lagrangian approach and primaldual decomposition methods. Although suboptimal, the proposed approach is very suitable for its implementation in real sensor networks, i.e., it is scalable, robust against node failures and requires only local communication among neighboring nodes. Simulation results show that running an additional local search around the found solution can yield performance close to the maximum likelihood estimate

Identification of Prophages in Bacterial Genomes by Dinucleotide Relative Abundance Difference

BACKGROUND: Prophages are integrated viral forms in bacterial genomes that have been found to contribute to interstrain genetic variability. Many virulence-associated genes are reported to be prophage encoded. Present computational methods to detect prophages are either by identifying possible essential proteins such as integrases or by an extension of this technique, which involves identifying a region containing proteins similar to those occurring in prophages. These methods suffer due to the problem of low sequence similarity at the protein level, which suggests that a nucleotide based approach could be useful. METHODOLOGY: Earlier dinucleotide relative abundance (DRA) have been used to identify regions, which deviate from the neighborhood areas, in genomes. We have used the difference in the dinucleotide relative abundance (DRAD) between the bacterial and prophage DNA to aid location of DNA stretches that could be of prophage origin in bacterial genomes. Prophage sequences which deviate from bacterial regions in their dinucleotide frequencies are detected by scanning bacterial genome sequences. The method was validated using a subset of genomes with prophage data from literature reports. A web interface for prophage scan based on this method is available at http://bicmku.in:8082/prophagedb/dra.html. Two hundred bacterial genomes which do not have annotated prophages have been scanned for prophage regions using this method. CONCLUSIONS: The relative dinucleotide distribution difference helps detect prophage regions in genome sequences. The usefulness of this method is seen in the identification of 461 highly probable loci pertaining to prophages which have not been annotated so earlier. This work emphasizes the need to extend the efforts to detect and annotate prophage elements in genome sequences

Analysis of Bovine Viral Diarrhea Viruses-infected monocytes: identification of cytopathic and non-cytopathic biotype differences

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Bovine Viral Diarrhea Virus (BVDV) infection is widespread in cattle worldwide, causing important economic losses. Pathogenesis of the disease caused by BVDV is complex, as each BVDV strain has two biotypes: non-cytopathic (ncp) and cytopathic (cp). BVDV can cause a persistent latent infection and immune suppression if animals are infected with an ncp biotype during early gestation, followed by a subsequent infection of the cp biotype. The molecular mechanisms that underscore the complex disease etiology leading to immune suppression in cattle caused by BVDV are not well understood.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Using proteomics, we evaluated the effect of cp and ncp BVDV infection of bovine monocytes to determine their role in viral immune suppression and uncontrolled inflammation. Proteins were isolated by differential detergent fractionation and identified by 2D-LC ESI MS/MS. We identified 137 and 228 significantly altered bovine proteins due to ncp and cp BVDV infection, respectively. Functional analysis of these proteins using the Gene Ontology (GO) showed multiple under- and over- represented GO functions in molecular function, biological process and cellular component between the two BVDV biotypes. Analysis of the top immunological pathways affected by BVDV infection revealed that pathways representing macropinocytosis signalling, virus entry via endocytic pathway, integrin signalling and primary immunodeficiency signalling were identified only in ncp BVDV-infected monocytes. In contrast, pathways like actin cytoskeleton signalling, RhoA signalling, clathrin-mediated endocytosis signalling and interferon signalling were identified only in cp BDVD-infected cells. Of the six common pathways involved in cp and ncp BVDV infection, acute phase response signalling was the most significant for both BVDV biotypes. Although, most shared altered host proteins between both BVDV biotypes showed the same type of change, integrin alpha 2b (ITGA2B) and integrin beta 3 (ITGB3) were down- regulated by ncp BVDV and up- regulated by cp BVDV infection.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This study shows that, as we expected, there are significant functional differences in the host proteins that respond to cp or ncp BVDV infection. The combined use of GO and systems biology network modelling facilitated a better understanding of host-pathogen interactions.</p

Quality of life and home enteral tube feeding: a French prospective study in patients with head and neck or oesophageal cancer

A prospective study was conducted to evaluate the impact of home enteral tube feeding on quality of life in 39 consecutive patients treated for head and neck or oesophageal cancer at the Centre François Baclesse in Caen, France. Patients were taken as their own controls. Quality of life was evaluated using the EORTC QLQ-C30 core questionnaire, and the EORTC H&N35 and OES24 specific questionnaires. The feeding technique tolerance was evaluated using a questionnaire specifically developed for this study. Two evaluations were made, the first a week after hospital discharge (n = 39) and the second 3 weeks later (n = 30). Overall, the global health status/quality of life scale score slightly improved; among symptoms, scale scores that significantly improved (P< 0.05) concerned constipation, coughing, social functioning and body image/sexuality. The physical feeding technique tolerance was acceptable while the technique was psychologically less tolerated with two-thirds of the patients longing to have the tube removed. Onethird of the patients was also uncomfortable about their body image. Home enteral tube feeding was responsible for not visiting family or close relations in 15% of patients, and not going out in public in 23%. We conclude that home enteral tube feeding is a physically well accepted technique although a substantial proportion of patients may experience psychosocial distress. © 2000 Cancer Research Campaig

Predicting ADL disability in community-dwelling elderly people using physical frailty indicators: a systematic review

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Disability in Activities of Daily Living (ADL) is an adverse outcome of frailty that places a burden on frail elderly people, care providers and the care system. Knowing which physical frailty indicators predict ADL disability is useful in identifying elderly people who might benefit from an intervention that prevents disability or increases functioning in daily life. The objective of this study was to systematically review the literature on the predictive value of physical frailty indicators on ADL disability in community-dwelling elderly people.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A systematic search was performed in 3 databases (PubMed, CINAHL, EMBASE) from January 1975 until April 2010. Prospective, longitudinal studies that assessed the predictive value of individual physical frailty indicators on ADL disability in community-dwelling elderly people aged 65 years and older were eligible for inclusion. Articles were reviewed by two independent reviewers who also assessed the quality of the included studies.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>After initial screening of 3081 titles, 360 abstracts were scrutinized, leaving 64 full text articles for final review. Eventually, 28 studies were included in the review. The methodological quality of these studies was rated by both reviewers on a scale from 0 to 27. All included studies were of high quality with a mean quality score of 22.5 (SD 1.6). Findings indicated that individual physical frailty indicators, such as weight loss, gait speed, grip strength, physical activity, balance, and lower extremity function are predictors of future ADL disability in community-dwelling elderly people.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This review shows that physical frailty indicators can predict ADL disability in community-dwelling elderly people. Slow gait speed and low physical activity/exercise seem to be the most powerful predictors followed by weight loss, lower extremity function, balance, muscle strength, and other indicators. These findings should be interpreted with caution because the data of the different studies could not be pooled due to large variations in operationalization of the indicators and ADL disability across the included studies. Nevertheless, our study suggests that monitoring physical frailty indicators in community-dwelling elderly people might be useful to identify elderly people who could benefit from disability prevention programs.</p

Lipophilic aroylhydrazone chelator HNTMB and its multiple effects on ovarian cancer cells

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Metal chelators have gained much attention as potential anti-cancer agents. However, the effects of chelators are often linked solely to their capacity to bind iron while the potential complexation of other trace metals has not been fully investigated. In present study, we evaluated the effects of various lipophilic aroylhydrazone chelators (AHC), including novel compound HNTMB, on various ovarian cancer cell lines (SKOV-3, OVCAR-3, NUTU-19).</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Cell viability was analyzed via MTS cytotoxicity assays and NCI60 cancer cell growth screens. Apoptotic events were monitored via Western Blot analysis, fluorescence microscopy and TUNEL assay. FACS analysis was carried out to study Cell Cycle regulation and detection of intracellular Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS)</p> <p>Results</p> <p>HNTMB displayed high cytotoxicity (IC50 200-400 nM) compared to previously developed AHC (oVtBBH, HNtBBH, StBBH/206, HNTh2H/315, HNI/311; IC50 0.8-6 μM) or cancer drug Deferoxamine, a hexadentate iron-chelator (IC50 12-25 μM). In a NCI60 cancer cell line screen HNTMB exhibited growth inhibitory effects with remarkable differences in specificity depending on the cell line studied (GI50 10 nM-2.4 μM). In SKOV-3 ovarian cancer cells HNTMB treatment led to chromatin fragmentation and activation of the extrinsic and intrinsic pathways of apoptosis with specific down-regulation of Bcl-2. HNTMB caused delayed cell cycle progression of SKOV-3 through G2/M phase arrest. HNTMB can chelate iron and copper of different oxidation states. Complexation with copper lead to high cytotoxicity via generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) while treatment with iron complexes of the drug caused neither cytotoxicity nor increased ROS levels.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The present report suggests that both, non-complexed HNTMB as a chelator of intracellular trace-metals as well as a cytotoxic HNTMB/copper complex may be developed as potential therapeutic drugs in the treatment of ovarian and other solid tumors.</p