Anatomic characterisation of the parietal branches arising from the internal iliac artery in the foetal pig (Sus scrofa domestica)

Background: It is critical for surgeons to have a full understanding of the complex courses and ramifications of the human internal iliac artery and its parietal branches. Although numerous anatomical studies have been performed, not all variations at this site are currently understood. Therefore, we characterised these blood vessels in foetal pigs to provide additional insight from a comparative anatomical perspective. Materials and methods: Eighteen half-pelvis specimens from foetal pigs were dissected and examined on macroscopic scale. Results: Among our findings, we identified the internal iliac artery as a descending branch of the abdominal aorta. A very thick umbilical artery arose from the internal iliac artery. The superior gluteal, inferior gluteal, and internal pudendal arteries formed the common arterial trunk. Although the superior gluteal artery emerged from the common trunk from inside the pelvis, the inferior gluteal and internal pudendal arteries bifurcated at deep layer within the gluteus muscles after leaving pelvic cavity. We were unable to detect an typical obturator artery emerging from the internal iliac artery. A branch supplying the hip adductors was identified as arising from the inferior epigastric artery which itself was derived from the distal end of the external iliac artery. Conclusions: We identified the anatomic characteristics of the internal iliac artery and its parietal branches in the foetal pig. Our findings provide new insight into the comparative anatomy of the internal iliac artery and will promote understanding of related morphogenetic processes

The Polarization of a QED Plasma in a Strong Magnetic Field

In this paper we study the polarization tensor of photons in a QED plasma in the presence of a magnetic field. We do it both at vanishing and at finite temperature. We use two different methods to compute the polarization tensor components $\Pi^{\mu\nu}$ within the one-loop approximation. The first starts from the effective Lagrangian of the system and relates $\Pi^{\mu\nu}$ to the thermodynamic quantities. The second makes use of the electron propagator in an external magnetic field. In this second approach we use an imaginary time formalism. These methods give consistent results in the first non-vanishing order in the photon 4-momentum. Beyond this limit the first method is not applicable and the introduction of the second can not be avoided. We give some physical interpretations of our results.Comment: Latex, 20 pages, two figures included. Figs. postcript files are tarred, compressed and uuencoded. Accepted for publication on Phys. Rev. D. Only some refs. have been updated and corrected in this revised versio

Endoscopy in the Diagnosis of Small Intestinal Tumors

The importance of endoscopy in the diagnosis of small intestinal tumors was evaluated in 15 patients with small intestinal tumors treated in our hospital. Two tumors were benign, and 13 were malignant (carcinoma in 5 patients, malignant lymphoma in 5 and leiomyosarcoma in 3). The presence of lesions could be determined by X-rays before surgery, but definitive diagnoses were difficult. When preoperative endoscopy of the small intestine was possible accurate preoperative diagnoses could be made based on the endoscopic findings and biopsies taken under direct vision. Endoscopy is therefore very important for the diagnosis of small intestinal tumors. It is necessary to develop small intestinal endoscopes that are easier to insert

Thermal Fluctuations of Induced Fermion Number

We analyze the phemomenon of induced fermion number at finite temperature. At finite temperature, the induced fermion number $$ is a thermal expectation value, and we compute the finite temperature fluctuations, $(\Delta N)^2=-^2$. While the zero temperature induced fermion number is topological and is a sharp observable, the finite temperature induced fermion number is generically nontopological, and is not a sharp observable. The fluctuations are due to the mixing of states inherent in any finite temperature expectation value. We analyze in detail two different cases in 1+1 dimensional field theory: fermions in a kink background, and fermions in a chiral sigma model background. At zero temperature the induced fermion numbers for these two cases are very similar, but at finite temperature they are very different. The sigma model case is generic and the induced fermion number is nontopological, but the kink case is special and the fermion number is topological, even at finite temperature. There is a simple physical interpretation of all these results in terms of the spectrum of the fermions in the relevant background, and many of the results generalize to higher dimensional models.Comment: 17 pgs, 9 figs, RevTex

Accelerator and Reactor Neutrino Oscillation Experiments in a Simple Three-Generation Framework

We present a new approach to the analysis of neutrino oscillation experiments, in the one mass-scale limit of the three-generation scheme. In this framework we reanalyze and recombine the most constraining accelerator and reactor data, in order to draw precise bounds in the new parameter space. We consider our graphical representations as particularly suited to show the interplay among the different oscillation channels. Within the same framework, the discovery potential of future short and long baseline experiments is also investigated, in the light of both the recent signal from the LSND experiment and the atmospheric neutrino anomaly.Comment: uuencoded compressed tar file. Figures (13) available by ftp to ftp://eku.sns.ias.edu/pub/lisi/ (192.16.204.30). Submitted to Physical Review

Comparison of 3-Dimensional and 1-Dimensional Schemes in the calculation of Atmospheric Neutrinos

A 3-dimensional calculation of atmospheric neutrinos flux is presented, and the results are compared with those of a 1-dimensional one. In this study, interaction and propagation of particles is treated in a 3-dimensional way including the curvature of charged particles due to the geomagnetic field, which is assumed to be a dipole field. The purpose of this paper is limited to the comparison of calculation schemes. The updated flux value with new interaction model and primary flux model will be reported in a separate paper. Except for nearly horizontal directions, the flux is very similar to the result of 1 dimensional calculations. However, for near-horizontal directions an enhancement of the neutrino flux is seen even at energies as high as 1 GeV. The production height of neutrinos is lower than the prediction by 1-dimensional calculation for near-horizontal directions, and is a little higher for near-vertical directions. However, the difference is not evident except for near-horizontal directions.Comment: 22 pages, 15figure

Atmospheric gamma-ray observation with the BETS detectorfor calibrating atmospheric neutrino flux calculations

We observed atmospheric gamma-rays around 10 GeV at balloon altitudes (15~25 km) and at a mountain (2770 m a.s.l). The observed results were compared with Monte Carlo calculations to find that an interaction model (Lund Fritiof1.6) used in an old neutrino flux calculation was not good enough for describing the observed values. In stead, we found that two other nuclear interaction models, Lund Fritiof7.02 and dpmjet3.03, gave much better agreement with the observations. Our data will serve for examining nuclear interaction models and for deriving a reliable absolute atmospheric neutrino flux in the GeV region.We observed atmospheric gamma-rays around 10 GeV at balloon altitudes (15~25 km) and at a mountain (2770 m a.s.l). The observed results were compared with Monte Carlo calculations to find that an interaction model (Lund Fritiof1.6) used in an old neutrino flux calculation was not good enough for describing the observed values. In stead, we found that two other nuclear interaction models, Lund Fritiof7.02 and dpmjet3.03, gave much better agreement with the observations. Our data will serve for examining nuclear interaction models and for deriving a reliable absolute atmospheric neutrino flux in the GeV region

Quantification of SLIT-ROBO transcripts in hepatocellular carcinoma reveals two groups of genes with coordinate expression

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>SLIT-ROBO families of proteins mediate axon pathfinding and their expression is not solely confined to nervous system. Aberrant expression of <it>SLIT-ROBO </it>genes was repeatedly shown in a wide variety of cancers, yet data about their collective behavior in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is missing. Hence, we quantified <it>SLIT-ROBO </it>transcripts in HCC cell lines, and in normal and tumor tissues from liver.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Expression of <it>SLIT-ROBO </it>family members was quantified by real-time qRT-PCR in 14 HCC cell lines, 8 normal and 35 tumor tissues from the liver. ANOVA and Pearson's correlation analyses were performed in R environment, and different clinicopathological subgroups were pairwise compared in Minitab. Gene expression matrices of cell lines and tissues were analyzed by Mantel's association test.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Genewise hierarchical clustering revealed two subgroups with coordinate expression pattern in both the HCC cell lines and tissues: <it>ROBO1</it>, <it>ROBO2</it>, <it>SLIT1 </it>in one cluster, and <it>ROBO4</it>, <it>SLIT2</it>, <it>SLIT3 </it>in the other, respectively. Moreover, <it>SLIT-ROBO </it>expression predicted <it>AFP</it>-dependent subgrouping of HCC cell lines, but not that of liver tissues. <it>ROBO1 </it>and <it>ROBO2 </it>were significantly up-regulated, whereas <it>SLIT3 </it>was significantly down-regulated in cell lines with high-<it>AFP </it>background. When compared to normal liver tissue, <it>ROBO1 </it>was found to be significantly overexpressed, while <it>ROBO4 </it>was down-regulated in HCC. We also observed that <it>ROBO1 </it>and <it>SLIT2 </it>differentiated histopathological subgroups of liver tissues depending on both tumor staging and differentiation status. However, <it>ROBO4 </it>could discriminate poorly differentiated HCC from other subgroups.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The present study is the first in comprehensive and quantitative evaluation of <it>SLIT-ROBO </it>family gene expression in HCC, and suggests that the expression of <it>SLIT-ROBO </it>genes is regulated in hepatocarcinogenesis. Our results implicate that <it>SLIT-ROBO </it>transcription profile is bi-modular in nature, and that each module shows intrinsic variability. We also provide quantitative evidence for potential use of <it>ROBO1</it>, <it>ROBO4 </it>and <it>SLIT2 </it>for prediction of tumor stage and differentiation status.</p

The degradation of p53 and its major E3 ligase Mdm2 is differentially dependent on the proteasomal ubiquitin receptor S5a.

p53 and its major E3 ligase Mdm2 are both ubiquitinated and targeted to the proteasome for degradation. Despite the importance of this in regulating the p53 pathway, little is known about the mechanisms of proteasomal recognition of ubiquitinated p53 and Mdm2. In this study, we show that knockdown of the proteasomal ubiquitin receptor S5a/PSMD4/Rpn10 inhibits p53 protein degradation and results in the accumulation of ubiquitinated p53. Overexpression of a dominant-negative deletion of S5a lacking its ubiquitin-interacting motifs (UIM)s, but which can be incorporated into the proteasome, also causes the stabilization of p53. Furthermore, small-interferring RNA (siRNA) rescue experiments confirm that the UIMs of S5a are required for the maintenance of low p53 levels. These observations indicate that S5a participates in the recognition of ubiquitinated p53 by the proteasome. In contrast, targeting S5a has no effect on the rate of degradation of Mdm2, indicating that proteasomal recognition of Mdm2 can be mediated by an S5a-independent pathway. S5a knockdown results in an increase in the transcriptional activity of p53. The selective stabilization of p53 and not Mdm2 provides a mechanism for p53 activation. Depletion of S5a causes a p53-dependent decrease in cell proliferation, demonstrating that p53 can have a dominant role in the response to targeting S5a. This study provides evidence for alternative pathways of proteasomal recognition of p53 and Mdm2. Differences in recognition by the proteasome could provide a means to modulate the relative stability of p53 and Mdm2 in response to cellular signals. In addition, they could be exploited for p53-activating therapies. This work shows that the degradation of proteins by the proteasome can be selectively dependent on S5a in human cells, and that this selectivity can extend to an E3 ubiquitin ligase and its substrate