The Vitascope in Canada

THE VITACOPE COMES TO TORONTO The following is an excerpt from Chapter III of Magic Moments: First 20 Years of Moving Pictures in Toronto (1894-1914). The machinery for the Vitascope [Fig. 1] arrived by express today, the first exhibition in Canada of this latest marvel [but not the first exhibition of projected moving pictures in Canada (1)] of Edison's will be given at [Ottawa's] West End Park on Monday night." (2) The sole right for exhibiting the Vitascope in Canada was secured by the Holland brothers (3) [Fig. 2], of Ottawa, as agents for Raff and Gammon, the American Vitascope promoters. The scheme devised for marketing called for the selling of franchises of Thomas Armat's Vitascope (not Edison's, since Armat had allowed Raff and Gammon to use the Edison label strictly for commercial expediency). For an initial advance payment, an agent [read here, the..

Caveolin-1 is a modulator of clonogenicity in renal cell carcinoma

Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) represents a group of aggressive tumours of the kidney. These tumours have a high propensity for metastasis and are extremely treatment refractive after disease relapse. Therefore, the identification of new therapeutic targets is of great importance. One such potential target for therapy are cancer stem cells (CSCs). CSCs are populations of cells imbued with a stem cell-like phenotype capable of driving tumour formation, metastasis and chemoresistance. As such, reliable methods for the identification of CSC populations and defining targets important to their functionality, in hopes of developing more potent therapeutics is of great importance. Previous work has found CAV1 to play a significant role in the malignant progression of RCC and also in the maintenance of adult stem cell populations. As such, this work aimed to understand if common markers of CSC phenotype in combination with CAV1 can act indicators of poor prognostic outcome in clinically confined RCC. Furthermore, this work sought to identify CSC populations from RCC cell lines using a panel of surface markers common to embryonic, mesenchymal and cancer stem cells. Then, understand if CAV1 is responsible for driving the CSC phenotype in these CSC populations by regulating one of the major characteristics of CSC biology, self-renewal. Co-expression of CD44 and CAV1 in RCC tumours indicated greatly reduced disease free survival in clinically confined RCC. Additionally, CD44/CAV1 was found to be the most significant covariate in predicting disease recurrence. In vitro analysis, using a panel of CSC related markers, was unable of identifying a putative CSC population. However, CAV1 expression in the VHL positive CAKI-1 cell line was important for the maintenance of clonogenicity. Incubation of CAV1 deficient CAKI-1 cells under hypoxic conditions was able to restore lost clonogenicity. Further iv work revealed that CAV1 maintains clonogenicity in CAKI-1 through activation of STAT3 and -catenin. This suggests an important role for CAV1 in the maintenance of clonogenicity through STAT3 activation in VHL competent RCC

Caveolin-1 is a modulator of clonogenicity in renal cell carcinoma

Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) represents a group of aggressive tumours of the kidney. These tumours have a high propensity for metastasis and are extremely treatment refractive after disease relapse. Therefore, the identification of new therapeutic targets is of great importance. One such potential target for therapy are cancer stem cells (CSCs). CSCs are populations of cells imbued with a stem cell-like phenotype capable of driving tumour formation, metastasis and chemoresistance. As such, reliable methods for the identification of CSC populations and defining targets important to their functionality, in hopes of developing more potent therapeutics is of great importance. Previous work has found CAV1 to play a significant role in the malignant progression of RCC and also in the maintenance of adult stem cell populations. As such, this work aimed to understand if common markers of CSC phenotype in combination with CAV1 can act indicators of poor prognostic outcome in clinically confined RCC. Furthermore, this work sought to identify CSC populations from RCC cell lines using a panel of surface markers common to embryonic, mesenchymal and cancer stem cells. Then, understand if CAV1 is responsible for driving the CSC phenotype in these CSC populations by regulating one of the major characteristics of CSC biology, self-renewal. Co-expression of CD44 and CAV1 in RCC tumours indicated greatly reduced disease free survival in clinically confined RCC. Additionally, CD44/CAV1 was found to be the most significant covariate in predicting disease recurrence. In vitro analysis, using a panel of CSC related markers, was unable of identifying a putative CSC population. However, CAV1 expression in the VHL positive CAKI-1 cell line was important for the maintenance of clonogenicity. Incubation of CAV1 deficient CAKI-1 cells under hypoxic conditions was able to restore lost clonogenicity. Further iv work revealed that CAV1 maintains clonogenicity in CAKI-1 through activation of STAT3 and -catenin. This suggests an important role for CAV1 in the maintenance of clonogenicity through STAT3 activation in VHL competent RCC

Caveolin-1 in renal cell carcinoma promotes tumour cell invasion, and in co-operation with pERK predicts metastases in patients with clinically confined disease

Background: Up to 40% of patients initially diagnosed with clinically-confined renal cell carcinoma (RCC) and who undergo curative surgery will nevertheless relapse with metastatic disease (mRCC) associated with poor long term survival. The discovery of novel prognostic/predictive biomarkers and drug targets is needed and in this context the aim of the current study was to investigate a putative caveolin-1/ERK signalling axis in clinically confined RCC, and to examine in a panel of RCC cell lines the effects of caveolin-1 (Cav-1) on pathological processes (invasion and growth) and select signalling pathways. Methods: Using immunohistochemistry we assessed the expression of both Cav-1 and phosphorylated-ERK (pERK) in 176 patients with clinically confined RCC, their correlation with histological parameters and their impact upon disease-free survival. Using a panel of RCC cell lines we explored the functional effects of Cav-1 knockdown upon cell growth, cell invasion and VEGF-A secretion, as well Cav-1 regulation by cognate cell signalling pathways. Results: We found a significant correlation (P = 0.03) between Cav-1 and pERK in a cohort of patients with clinically confined disease which represented a prognostic biomarker combination (HR = 4.2) that effectively stratified patients into low, intermediate and high risk groups with respect to relapse, even if the patients’ tumours displayed low grade and/or low stage disease. In RCC cell lines Cav-1 knockdown unequivocally reduced cell invasive capacity while also displaying both pro-and anti-proliferative effects; targeted knockdown of Cav-1 also partially suppressed VEGF-A secretion in VHL-negative RCC cells. The actions of Cav-1 in the RCC cell lines appeared independent of both ERK and AKT/mTOR signalling pathways. Conclusion: The combined expression of Cav-1 and pERK serves as an independent biomarker signature with potential merit in RCC surveillance strategies able to predict those patients with clinically confined disease who will eventually relapse. In a panel of in-vitro RCC cells Cav-1 promotes cell invasion with variable effects on cell growth and VEGF-A secretion. Cav-1 has potential as a therapeutic target for the prevention and treatment of mRCC

Using transfer learning from prior reference knowledge to improve the clustering of single-cell RNA-Seq data.

Funder: Technische Universität Berlin (TU Berlin); doi: https://doi.org/10.13039/501100006764Funder: - German Federal Ministry for Education and Research through the Berlin Big Data Centre (01IS14013A), the Berlin Center for Machine Learning (01IS18037I) and the TraMeExCo project (01IS18056A). Partial funding by DFG is acknowledged (EXC 2046/1, project-ID: 390685689) - Institute for Information & Communications Technology Planning & Evaluation (IITP) grant funded by the Korea government (MSIT) (No.2017-0-01779)Funder: GlaxoSmithKline (GlaxoSmithKline plc.); doi: https://doi.org/10.13039/100004330Funder: Pfizer (Pfizer Inc.); doi: https://doi.org/10.13039/100004319In many research areas scientists are interested in clustering objects within small datasets while making use of prior knowledge from large reference datasets. We propose a method to apply the machine learning concept of transfer learning to unsupervised clustering problems and show its effectiveness in the field of single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-Seq). The goal of scRNA-Seq experiments is often the definition and cataloguing of cell types from the transcriptional output of individual cells. To improve the clustering of small disease- or tissue-specific datasets, for which the identification of rare cell types is often problematic, we propose a transfer learning method to utilize large and well-annotated reference datasets, such as those produced by the Human Cell Atlas. Our approach modifies the dataset of interest while incorporating key information from the larger reference dataset via Non-negative Matrix Factorization (NMF). The modified dataset is subsequently provided to a clustering algorithm. We empirically evaluate the benefits of our approach on simulated scRNA-Seq data as well as on publicly available datasets. Finally, we present results for the analysis of a recently published small dataset and find improved clustering when transferring knowledge from a large reference dataset. Implementations of the method are available at https://github.com/nicococo/scRNA

Biological effects of fulvestrant on estrogen receptor positive human breast cancer: Short, medium and long-term effects based on sequential biopsies.

We report the first study of the biological effect of fulvestrant on ER positive clinical breast cancer using sequential biopsies through to progression. Thirty-two locally/systemically advanced breast cancers treated with first-line fulvestrant (250 mg/month) were biopsied at therapy initiation, 6 weeks, 6 months and progression and immunohistochemically-analyzed for Ki67, ER, EGFR and HER2 expression/signaling activity. This series showed good fulvestrant responses (duration of response [DoR] = 25.8 months; clinical benefit = 81%). Ki67 fell (p < 0.001) in 79% of tumours by 6 months and lower Ki67 at all preprogression time-points predicted for longer DoR. ER and PR significantly decreased in all tumours by 6 months (p < 0.001), with some declines in ER (serine 118) phosphorylation and Bcl-2 (p = 0.007). There were modest HER2 increases (p = 0.034, 29% tumours) and loss of any detectable EGFR phosphorylation (p = 0.024, 50% tumours) and MAP kinase (ERK1/2) phosphorylation (p = 0.019, 65% tumours) by 6 months. While ER remained low, there was some recovery of Ki67, Bcl-2 and (weakly) EGFR/MAPK activity in 45–67% patients at progression. Fulvestrant's anti-proliferative impact is related to DoR, but while commonly downregulating ER and indicators of its signaling and depleting EGFR/MAPK signaling in some patients, additional elements must determine response duration. Residual ER at fulvestrant relapse explains reported sensitivity to further endocrine therapies. Occasional modest treatment-induced HER2 and weakly detectable EGFR/HER2/MAPK signaling at relapse suggests targeting of such activity might have value alongside fulvestrant in some patients. However, unknown pathways must drive relapse in most. Ki67 has biomarker potential to predict fulvestrant outcome and as a quantitative measure of response

Predicting active site residue annotations in the Pfam database

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Approximately 5% of Pfam families are enzymatic, but only a small fraction of the sequences within these families (<0.5%) have had the residues responsible for catalysis determined. To increase the active site annotations in the Pfam database, we have developed a strict set of rules, chosen to reduce the rate of false positives, which enable the transfer of experimentally determined active site residue data to other sequences within the same Pfam family.</p> <p>Description</p> <p>We have created a large database of predicted active site residues. On comparing our active site predictions to those found in UniProtKB, Catalytic Site Atlas, PROSITE and <it>MEROPS </it>we find that we make many novel predictions. On investigating the small subset of predictions made by these databases that are not predicted by us, we found these sequences did not meet our strict criteria for prediction. We assessed the sensitivity and specificity of our methodology and estimate that only 3% of our predicted sequences are false positives.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>We have predicted 606110 active site residues, of which 94% are not found in UniProtKB, and have increased the active site annotations in Pfam by more than 200 fold. Although implemented for Pfam, the tool we have developed for transferring the data can be applied to any alignment with associated experimental active site data and is available for download. Our active site predictions are re-calculated at each Pfam release to ensure they are comprehensive and up to date. They provide one of the largest available databases of active site annotation.</p

The prospectivity of a potential shale gas play: An example from the southern Pennine Basin (central England, UK)

During the Serpukhovian (late Mississippian) Stage, the Pennine Basin, now underlying much of northern England, consisted of a series of interlinked sub-basins that developed in response to the crustal extension north of the Hercynic orogenic zone. For the current study, mudstone samples of the Morridge Formation from two sub-basins located in the south-eastern part of the Pennine Basin were collected from the Carsington Dam Reconstruction C3 Borehole (Widmerpool Gulf sub-basin) and the Karenight 1 Borehole (Edale Gulf sub-basin). Detailed palynological analyses indicate that aside from the dominant (often 90% or more) heterogeneous amorphous organic matter (AOM), variable abundances of homogeneous AOM and phytoclasts are present. To complement the palynological dataset, a suite of geochemical and mineralogical techniques were applied to evaluate the prospectivity of these potentially important source rocks. Changes in the carbon isotope composition of the bulk organic fraction (δ13COM) suggest that the lower part (Biozone E2a) of Carsington DR C3 is markedly more influenced by terrigenous kerogen than the upper part of the core (Biozones E2a3–E2b1). The Karenight 1 core yielded more marine kerogen in the lower part (Marine Bands E1–E2b) than the upper part (Marine Band E2b). Present day Rock-Eval™ Total Organic Carbon (TOC) surpasses 2% in most samples from both cores, a proportion suggested by Jarvie (2012) that defines prospective shale gas reservoirs. However, when the pyrolysable component that reflects the generative kerogen fraction is considered, very few samples reach this threshold. The kerogen typing permits for the first time the calculation of an original hydrogen index (HIo) and original total organic carbon (TOCo) for Carboniferous mudstones of the Pennine Basin. The most prospective part of Carsington DR C3 (marine bands E2b1–E2a3) has an average TOCo of 3.2% and an average HIo of 465 mg/g TOCo. The most prospective part of Karenight 1 (242.80–251.89 m) is characterized by an average TOCo of 9.3% and an average HIo of 504 mg/g TOCo. Lastly, X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis confirms that the siliceous to argillaceous mudstones contain a highly variable carbonate content. The palynological, geochemical and mineralogical proxies combined indicate that marine sediments were continuously being deposited throughout the sampled intervals and were punctuated by episodic turbiditic events. The terrestrial material, originating from the Wales-Brabant High to the south of the Pennine Basin, was principally deposited in the Widmerpool Gulf, with much less terrigenous organic matter reaching the Edale Gulf. As a consequence, the prospective intervals are relatively thin, decimetre-to meter-scale, and further high resolution characterization of these intervals is required to understand variability in prospectivitiy over these limited intervals

Advancing Drug Innovation for Neglected Diseases—Criteria for Lead Progression

The current drug R&D pipeline for most neglected diseases remains weak, and unlikely to support registration of novel drug classes that meet desired target product profiles in the short term. This calls for sustained investment as well as greater emphasis in the risky upstream drug discovery. Access to technologies, resources, and strong management as well as clear compound progression criteria are factors in the successful implementation of any collaborative drug discovery effort. We discuss how some of these factors have impacted drug discovery for tropical diseases within the past four decades, and highlight new opportunities and challenges through the virtual North–South drug discovery network as well as the rationale for greater participation of institutions in developing countries in product innovation. A set of criteria designed to facilitate compound progression from screening hits to drug candidate selection is presented to guide ongoing efforts

Managers' career development recognition in Taiwanese companies

[[abstract]]The purpose of this research is to investigate how the interplay between organizational and individual career development (ICD) recognition may have impact on affective commitment. The theoretical framework was proposed according to the social cognitive career theory. Data were collected from 285 benchmark companies' managers in Taiwan using a questionnaire. The paper used structural equation modeling and the results showed that when organizations and individuals share responsibility for the careers of managers and have a good succession planning, the managers are likely to have more successful careers in this global economy. The paper shows the mediating role that succession planning may play in linking cognition of organizational career scripts and ICD to affective commitment. It is original and makes a unique contribution because it combines the individualistic and organizational perspectives concerning the career development with regard to senior managers.[[notice]]補正完