DNA waves and water

Some bacterial and viral DNA sequences have been found to induce low frequency electromagnetic waves in high aqueous dilutions. This phenomenon appears to be triggered by the ambient electromagnetic background of very low frequency. We discuss this phenomenon in the framework of quantum field theory. A scheme able to account for the observations is proposed. The reported phenomenon could allow to develop highly sensitive detection systems for chronic bacterial and viral infections.Comment: Invited talk at the DICE2010 Conference, Castiglioncello, Italy September 201

Bleaching melanin in formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded melanoma specimens using visible light : a pilot study

In fluorescence microscopy, light radiation can be used to bleach fluorescent molecules in formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded (FFPE) samples, in order to increase the ratio between signal of interest and background autofluorescence. We tested if the same principle can be exploited in bright field microscopy to bleach pigmented melanoma FFPE sections together with cell morphology maintenance. After dewaxing and rehydration, serial FFPE sections of a feline diffuse iris melanoma, a canine dermal melanoma, a gray horse dermal melanoma and a swine cutaneous melanoma were irradiated with visible light for 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 days, prior to Hematoxylin and Eosin staining. Complete bleaching was obtained after 1-day treatment in feline and swine melanomas, while 2 and 3 days were required in canine and equine neoplasms, respectively. In all treated samples, cell morphology was maintained. Photo-induced bleaching combined with immunohistochemistry was tested after a 3-day photo-treatment using five different markers. According to the literature, in all samples neoplastic cells stained positive for vimentin, S100 and PNL2, while negative for FVIII and pancytokeratin. In conclusion, visible light can be effectively exploited to bleach pigmented melanoma FFPE sections prior to perform routine histochemical and immunohistochemical stains

Mandibular osteosarcoma in a goat

Introduction-A few large surveys on tumour prevalence in goats indicate that tumours in general are quite common in this species. Reviews of neoplastic diseases in goats indicate a prevalence ranging from 0,8 to 11%. However, osteogenic tumours arising from facial bones in goats are rare. Regarding oral localization only a few mesenchymal tumours have been described arising from the gengiva. Case presentation-A 4-year old, female crossbred goat was referred with a history of dysorexia and a slow growing painful mass on the face. On physical examination the animal showed poor body condition and the left side of the face was deformed by a voluminous mass which, at the inspection of the oral cavity, displaced the maxillary teeth. Differential diagnoses included os-teomyelitis and benign (osteoma, chondroma, ossifying and non ossifying fibroma, odontogenic tumours) as well as malignant (osteosarcoma, chondrosarcoma) mesenchymal tumours arising from either the connective tissue and bone. The goat was euthanized because of the extension of the lesion and a complete necropsy was performed. Grossly, the face was deformed by the presence of a hard mass arising from the branch of the left mandible. Histologically the oral mass was composed of heterogeneous proliferation of malignant osteoblasts intermigled with brightly eosinophilic strands or island of osteoid matrix. Neoplastic cells, interpreted as malignant osteoblasts, were characterized by plump to round or spindle-shape morphology, with moderate basophilic cytoplasm and an eccentrically located voluminous nucleus containing a large prominent nucleolus. Mitotic figures were found and were either bipolar and atypical. At necropsy no metastases were found and the final diagnosis was non-metastasizing mandibular osteoblastic osteosarcoma. Conclusion-In conclusion, regardless the type of tumour, the goat was euthanized because of the extension and the severity of the lesion. Necropsy and histological examination were necessary to correctly classify the tumour as a non-metastasizing mandibular osteosarcoma

Recurrent respiratory infections between immunity and atopy

Recurrent respiratory infections (RRIs) are frequent in children and are characterized by more than 6 airway infections in 1 year or more than 1 upper airway infection per month in the period between September and April or more than 3 lower airway infections in 1 year. Often pediatric RRIs are related to predisposing factors, such as reduced airway size, poor tussive reflex, and immaturity of the immune system. RRIs due to immature immune system are a transient condition, with spontaneous resolution in the school age. However, some RRIs are expression of more complex diseases. Red flags are the onset of symptoms in the first year of life, the involvement of other systems, unusual pathogens, slowing of growth, severe infections of the lower airways, and recurrence of the infection site. To help the pediatrician in the RRI differential diagnosis, we have created a roadmap based on scientific literature data and clinical practice that identifies 6 macro areas: immunodeficiencies, simple minimal genetic immunodeficiency, atopy, obesity, nutritional deficiencies, autoinflammatory diseases, and complex diseases

Immunohistochemical Expression of FXR1 in Canine Normal Tissues and Melanomas

Fragile X mental retardation-related protein 1 (FXR1) is a cytoplasmic RNA-binding protein highly conserved among vertebrates. It has been studied for its role in muscle development, inflammation, and tumorigenesis, being related, for example, to metastasizing behavior in human and canine uveal melanoma. Anti-FXR1 antibodies have never been validated in the canine species. To investigate FXR1 expression in canine melanocytic tumors, the present study tested two commercially available polyclonal anti-human FXR1 antibodies, raised in goat and rabbit, respectively. The cross-reactivity of the anti-FXR1 antibodies was assessed by Western blot analysis, and the protein was localized by IHC in a set of normal canine tissues and in canine melanocytic tumors (10 uveal and 10 oral). Western blot results demonstrated that the antibody raised in rabbit specifically recognized the canine FXR1, while the antibody raised in goat did not cross-react with this canine protein. FXR1 protein was immunodetected using rabbit anti-FXR1 antibody, in canine normal tissues with different levels of intensity and distribution. It was also detected in 10/10 uveal and 9/10 oral melanocytic tumors. The present study validated for the first time the use of anti-FXR1 antibody in dogs and highlighted different FXR1 protein expression in canine melanocytic tumors, the significance of which is undergoing further investigations

Widespread extrahepatic expression of acute-phase proteins in healthy chicken (Gallus gallus) tissues

Acute phase proteins (APP) are plasma proteins that can modify their expression in response to inflammation caused by tissue injury, infections, immunological disorders or stress. Although APP are produced mainly in liver, extrahepatic production has also been described. As a prerequisite to get insight the expression of APP in chicken during diseases, this study investigated the presence of five APP, including alpha1-acid glycoprotein (AGP), Serum Amyloid A (SAA), PIT54, C-Reactive protein (CRP) and Ovotransferrin (OVT) in twenty tissues collected from healthy chicken (Gallus gallus) by quantitative Real Time PCR and immunohistochemistry. As expected, APP gene abundance was higher in liver compared with other tissues. The mRNA coding for CRP, OVT and SAA was detected in all analyzed tissues with a higher expression in gastrointestinal tract, respiratory and lymphatic samples. SAA expression was particularly high in cecal tonsil, lung, spleen and Meckel's diverticulum, whereas OVT in lung, bursa of Fabricius and pancreas. AGP and PIT54 mRNA expression were detected in all tissues but at negligible levels. Immunohistochemical expression of AGP and OVT was variably detected in different organs, being identified in endothelium of every tissue. Positive cells were present in the epithelium of the mucosal layer of gastrointestinal tract and kidney. Lung and central nervous system stained for both proteins. No positive staining was detected in lymphoid tissues and muscle. These results suggest that most tissues can express different amount of APP even in healthy conditions and are therefore capable to mount a local acute phase reaction

On the perspectives of testing the Dvali-Gabadadze-Porrati gravity model with the outer planets of the Solar System

The multidimensional braneworld gravity model by Dvali, Gabadadze and Porrati was primarily put forth to explain the observed acceleration of the expansion of the Universe without resorting to dark energy. One of the most intriguing features of such a model is that it also predicts small effects on the orbital motion of test particles which could be tested in such a way that local measurements at Solar System scales would allow to get information on the global properties of the Universe. Lue and Starkman derived a secular extra-perihelion \omega precession of 5\times 10^-4 arcseconds per century, while Iorio showed that the mean longitude \lambda is affected by a secular precession of about 10^-3 arcseconds per century. Such effects depend only on the eccentricities e of the orbits via second-order terms: they are, instead, independent of their semimajor axes a. Up to now, the observational efforts focused on the dynamics of the inner planets of the Solar System whose orbits are the best known via radar ranging. Since the competing Newtonian and Einsteinian effects like the precessions due to the solar quadrupole mass moment J2, the gravitoelectric and gravitomagnetic part of the equations of motion reduce with increasing distances, it would be possible to argue that an analysis of the orbital dynamics of the outer planets of the Solar System, with particular emphasis on Saturn because of the ongoing Cassini mission with its precision ranging instrumentation, could be helpful in evidencing the predicted new features of motion. In this note we investigate this possibility in view of the latest results in the planetary ephemeris field. Unfortunately, the current level of accuracy rules out this appealing possibility and it appears unlikely that Cassini and GAIA will ameliorate the situation.Comment: LaTex, 22 pages, 2 tables, 10 figures, 27 references. Reference [17] added, reference [26] updated, caption of figures changed, small change in section 1.

Is Strong Gravitational Radiation predicted by TeV-Gravity?

In TeV-gravity models the gravitational coupling to particles with energies E\sim m_{Pl} \sim 10 TeV is not suppressed by powers of ultra-small ratio E/M_{Pl} with M_{Pl} \sim 10^{19} GeV. Therefore one could imagine strong synchrotron radiation of gravitons by the accelerating particles to become the most pronounced manifestation of TeV-gravity at LHC. However, this turns out to be not true: considerable damping continues to exist, only the place of E/M_{Pl} it taken by a power of a ratio \theta\omega/E, where the typical frequency \omega of emitted radiation, while increased by a number of \gamma-factors, can not reach E/\vartheta unless particles are accelerated by nearly critical fields. Moreover, for currently available magnetic fields B \sim 10 Tesla, multi-dimensionality does not enhance gravitational radiation at all even if TeV-gravity is correct.Comment: 7 pages, LaTe

Loop-Effects in Pseudo-Supersymmetry

We analyze the transmission of supersymmetry breaking in brane-world models of pseudo-supersymmetry. In these models two branes preserve different halves of the bulk supersymmetry. Thus supersymmetry is broken although each sector of the model is supersymmetric when considered separately. The world-volume theory on one brane feels the breakdown of supersymmetry only through two-loop interactions involving a coupling to fields from the other brane. In a 5D toy model with bulk vectors, we compute the diagrams that contribute to scalar masses on one brane and find that the masses are proportional to the compactification scale up to logarithmic corrections, m^2 ~ (2 pi R)^{-2}(ln(2 pi R ms)-1.1), where ms is an ultraviolet cutoff. Thus, for large compactification radii, where this result is valid, the brane scalars acquire a positive mass squared. We also compute the three-loop diagrams relevant to the Casimir energy between the two branes and find E ~ (2 pi R)^{-4}((ln(2 pi R ms)-1.7)^2+0.2). For large radii, this yields a repulsive Casimir force.Comment: Latex, 30 pages, 6 figures, v2: minor corrections, comments on susy algebra and x^5 covariant derivative adde

Large extra dimension effects in Higgs boson production at linear colliders and Higgs factories

In the framework of quantum gravity propagating in large extra dimensions, the effects of virtual Kaluza-Klein graviton and graviscalar interference with Higgs boson production amplitudes are computed at linear colliders and Higgs factories. The interference of the almost-continuous spectrum of the KK gravitons with the standard model resonant amplitude is finite and predictable in terms of the fundamental D-dimensional Plank scale M_D and the number of extra dimensions \delta. We find that, for M_D ~ 1 TeV and \delta=2, effects of the order of a few percent could be detected for heavy Higgs bosons (m_H>500 GeV) in Higgs production both via WW fusion in e^+e^- colliders and at \mu^+\mu^- Higgs-boson factories.Comment: 16 pages, 2 figures ; a few comments and references added ; version to appear in JHE