Preventive effects of Spirulina platensis on skeletal muscle damage under exercise-induced oxidative stress

The effects of spirulina supplementation on preventing skeletal muscle damage on untrained human beings were examined. Sixteen students volunteered to take Spirulina platensis in addition to their normal diet for 3-weeks. Blood samples were taken after finishing the Bruce incremental treadmill exercise before and after treatment. The results showed that plasma concentrations of malondialdehyde (MDA) were significantly decreased after supplementation with spirulina (P < 0.05). The activity of blood superoxide dismutase (SOD) was significantly raised after supplementation with spirulina or soy protein (P < 0.05). Both of the blood glutathione peroxidaes (GP (x) ) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) levels were significantly different between spirulina and soy protein supplementation by an ANCOVA analysis (P < 0.05). In addition, the lactate (LA) concentration was higher and the time to exhaustion (TE) was significantly extended in the spirulina trail (P < 0.05). These results suggest that ingestion of S. platensis showed preventive effect of the skeletal muscle damage and that probably led to postponement of the time of exhaustion during the all-out exercise

A review of Monte Carlo simulations of polymers with PERM

In this review, we describe applications of the pruned-enriched Rosenbluth method (PERM), a sequential Monte Carlo algorithm with resampling, to various problems in polymer physics. PERM produces samples according to any given prescribed weight distribution, by growing configurations step by step with controlled bias, and correcting "bad" configurations by "population control". The latter is implemented, in contrast to other population based algorithms like e.g. genetic algorithms, by depth-first recursion which avoids storing all members of the population at the same time in computer memory. The problems we discuss all concern single polymers (with one exception), but under various conditions: Homopolymers in good solvents and at the $\Theta$ point, semi-stiff polymers, polymers in confining geometries, stretched polymers undergoing a forced globule-linear transition, star polymers, bottle brushes, lattice animals as a model for randomly branched polymers, DNA melting, and finally -- as the only system at low temperatures, lattice heteropolymers as simple models for protein folding. PERM is for some of these problems the method of choice, but it can also fail. We discuss how to recognize when a result is reliable, and we discuss also some types of bias that can be crucial in guiding the growth into the right directions.Comment: 29 pages, 26 figures, to be published in J. Stat. Phys. (2011

Association between concomitant use of hydrochlorothiazide and adverse chemotherapy-related events among older women with breast cancer treated with cyclophosphamide

Background: The pharmacy reference database, Micromedex, lists concomitant hydrochlorothiazide and cyclophosphamide use as a potential, major drug-drug interaction (DDI), although only one small, single-center study supports this claim. Our objective was to estimate associations between this potential DDI and two adverse chemotherapy-related events, neutropenia-related hospitalizations and treatment regimen discontinuation, among a cohort of women with breast cancer initiating adjuvant chemotherapy containing cyclophosphamide. Methods: Using linked Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program (SEER)-Medicare data, we included women 66 years and older with breast cancer diagnosis between 2007 and 2011, who initiated a regimen containing cyclophosphamide. Risk ratios (RR) and 95% confidence intervals for adverse outcomes comparing women exposed versus unexposed to the potential DDI were assessed using modified multivariable Poisson regression adjusting for potential confounders. Results: In total, 27% of women receiving cyclophosphamide treatment were exposed to concomitant hydrochlorothiazide, of which 11% experienced a neutropenia-related hospitalization and 21% discontinued their chemotherapy regimen prior to completion. Adjusted risks of both adverse events were similar between those exposed and unexposed to the potential DDI [neutropenia-related hospitalization: adjusted RR (aRR) = 0.92 (0.70-1.21); treatment discontinuation: aRR = 1.00 (0.96-1.05)]. Conclusions: Our results do not support an association between concomitant hydrochlorothiazide use and two clinically relevant adverse chemotherapy-related events. Impact: Our results support reassessing and potentially lowering severity of this potential interaction in drug reference databases

Magnetic Order in YBa2_2Cu3_3O6+x_{6+x} Superconductors

Polarized and unpolarized neutron diffraction has been used to search for magnetic order in YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{6+x}$ superconductors. Most of the measurements were made on a high quality crystal of YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{6.6}$. It is shown that this crystal has highly ordered ortho-II chain order, and a sharp superconducting transition. Inelastic scattering measurements display a very clean spin-gap and pseudogap with any intensity at 10 meV being 50 times smaller than the resonance intensity. The crystal shows a complicated magnetic order that appears to have three components. A magnetic phase is found at high temperatures that seems to stem from an impurity with a moment that is in the $a$-$b$ plane, but disordered on the crystal lattice. A second ordering occurs near the pseudogap temperature that has a shorter correlation length than the high temperature phase and a moment direction that is at least partly along the c-axis of the crystal. Its moment direction, temperature dependence, and Bragg intensities suggest that it may stem from orbital ordering of the $d$-density wave (DDW) type. An additional intensity increase occurs below the superconducting transition. The magnetic intensity in these phases does not change noticeably in a 7 Tesla magnetic field aligned approximately along the c-axis. Searches for magnetic order in YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{7}$ show no signal while a small magnetic intensity is found in YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{6.45}$ that is consistent with c-axis directed magnetic order. The results are contrasted with other recent neutron measurements.Comment: 11 pages with 10 figure

Measurement of the Branching Fraction for B->eta' K and Search for B->eta'pi+

We report measurements for two-body charmless B decays with an eta' meson in the final state. Using 11.1X10^6 BBbar pairs collected with the Belle detector, we find BF(B^+ ->eta'K^+)=(79^+12_-11 +-9)x10^-6 and BF(B^0 -> eta'K^0)=(55^+19_-16 +-8)x10^-6, where the first and second errors are statistical and systematic, respectively. No signal is observed in the mode B^+ -> eta' pi^+, and we set a 90% confidence level upper limit of BF(B^+-> eta'pi^+) eta'K^+- decays is investigated and a limit at 90% confidence level of -0.20<Acp<0.32 is obtained.Comment: Submitted to Physics Letters

Observation of Cabibbo-suppressed and W-exchange Lambda_c^+ baryon decays

We present measurements of the Cabibbo-suppressed decays Lambda_c^+ --> Lambda0 K+ and Lambda_c^+ --> Sigma0 K+ (both first observations), Lambda_c^+ --> Sigma+ K+ pi- (seen with large statistics for the first time), Lambda_c^+ --> p K+ K- and Lambda_c^+ --> p phi (measured with improved accuracy). Improved branching ratio measurements for the decays Lambda_c^+ --> Sigma+ K+ K- and Lambda_c^+ --> Sigma+ phi, which are attributed to W-exchange diagrams, are shown. We also present the first evidence for Lambda_c^+ --> Xi(1690)^0 K+ and set an upper limit on the non-resonant decay Lambda_c^+ --> Sigma+ K+ K-. This analysis was performed using 32.6 fb^{-1} of data collected by the Belle detector at the asymmetric e+ e- collider KEKB.Comment: Submitted to Phys. Lett. B. v2: A small correction to the Authorlist was made. An earlier version of this analysis was released as BELLE-CONF-0130, hep-ex/010800

Measurement of the inclusive semileptonic branching fraction of B mesons and |Vcb|

We present a measurement of the electron spectrum from inclusive semileptonic {\it B} decay, using 5.1 fb$^{-1}$ of $\Upsilon(4S)$ data collected with the Belle detector. A high-momentum lepton tag was used to separate the semileptonic {\it B} decay electrons from secondary decay electrons. We obtained the branching fraction, ${\cal B}(B\to X e^+ \nu) = (10.90 \pm 0.12 \pm 0.49)$, with minimal model dependence. From this measurement, we derive a value for the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix element $|V_{cb}| = 0.0408 \pm 0.0010 {\rm (exp)} \pm 0.0025{\rm (th)}$.Comment: 16 pages, 3 figures, 3 table

Determination of |Vcb| using the semileptonic decay \bar{B}^0 --> D^{*+}e^-\bar{\nu}

We present a measurement of the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa (CKM) matrix element |Vcb| using a 10.2 fb^{-1} data sample recorded at the \Upsilon(4S) resonance with the Belle detector at the KEKB asymmetric e^+e^- storage ring. By extrapolating the differential decay width of the \bar{B}^0 --> D^{*+}e^-\bar{\nu} decay to the kinematic limit at which the D^{*+} is at rest with respect to the \bar{B}^0, we extract the product of |Vcb| with the normalization of the decay form factor F(1), |Vcb |F(1)= (3.54+/-0.19+/-0.18)x10^{-2}, where the first error is statistical and the second is systematic. A value of |Vcb| = (3.88+/-0.21+/-0.20+/-0.19)x10^{-2} is obtained using a theoretical calculation of F(1), where the third error is due to the theoretical uncertainty in the value of F(1). The branching fraction B(\bar{B}^0 --> D^{*+}e^-\bar{\nu}) is measured to be (4.59+/-0.23+/-0.40)x10^{-2}.Comment: 20 pages, 6 figures, elsart.cls, submitted to PL

A Measurement of the Branching Fraction for the Inclusive B --> X(s) gamma Decays with the Belle Detector

We have measured the branching fraction of the inclusive radiative B meson decay B --> X(s) gamma to be Br(B->X(s)gamma)=(3.36 +/- 0.53(stat) +/- 0.42(sys) +0.50-0.54(th)) x 10^{-4}. The result is based on a sample of 6.07 x 10^6 BBbar events collected at the Upsilon(4S) resonance with the Belle detector at the KEKB asymmetric e^+e^- storage ring.Comment: 14 pages, 6 Postsript figures, uses elsart.cl

Identification of alpha-enolase as an autoantigen in lung cancer: Its overexpression is associated with clinical outcomes

Purpose: Although existence of humoral immunity has been previously shown in malignant pleural effusions, only a limited number of immunogenic tumor-associated antigens (TAA) have been identified and associated with lung cancer. In this study, we intended to identify more TAAs in pleural effusion-derived tumor cells. Experimental Design: Using morphologically normal lung tissues as a control lysate in Western blotting analyses, 54 tumor samples were screened with autologous effusion antibodies. Biochemical purification and mass spectrometric identification of TAAs were done using established effusion tumor cell lines as antigen sources. We identified a p48 antigen as of-enolase (ENO1). Semiquantitative immunohistochemistry was used to evaluate expression status of ENO1 in the tissue samples of 80 patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and then correlated with clinical variables. Results: Using ENO1-specifc antiserum, up-regulation of ENO1 expression in effusion tumor cells from 11 of 17 patients was clearly observed compared with human normal lung primary epithelial and non-cancer-associated effusion cells. Immunohistochemical studies consistently showed high level of ENO1 expression in all the tumors we have examined thus far. Log-rank and Cox's analyses of ENO1 expression status revealed that its expression level in primary tumors was a key factor contributing to overall- and progression-free survivals of patients (P < 0.05). The same result was also obtained in the early stage of NSCLC patients, showing that tumors expressing relatively higher ENO1 level were tightly correlated with poorer survival outcomes. Conclusions: Our data strongly support a prognostic role of ENO1 in determining tumor malignancy of patients with NSCLC