Protein and lipid MALDI profiles classify breast cancers according to the intrinsic subtype

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) mass spectrometry (MS) has been demonstrated to be useful for molecular profiling of common solid tumors. Using recently developed MALDI matrices for lipid profiling, we evaluated whether direct tissue MALDI MS analysis on proteins and lipids may classify human breast cancer samples according to the intrinsic subtype.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Thirty-four pairs of frozen, resected breast cancer and adjacent normal tissue samples were analyzed using histology-directed, MALDI MS analysis. Sinapinic acid and 2,5-dihydroxybenzoic acid/α-cyano-4-hydroxycinnamic acid were manually deposited on areas of each tissue section enriched in epithelial cells to identify lipid profiles, and mass spectra were acquired using a MALDI-time of flight instrument.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Protein and lipid profiles distinguish cancer from adjacent normal tissue samples with the median prediction accuracy of 94.1%. Luminal, HER2+, and triple-negative tumors demonstrated different protein and lipid profiles, as evidenced by permutation <it>P </it>values less than 0.01 for 0.632+ bootstrap cross-validated misclassification rates with all classifiers tested. Discriminatory proteins and lipids were useful for classifying tumors according to the intrinsic subtype with median prediction accuracies of 80.0-81.3% in random test sets.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Protein and lipid profiles accurately distinguish tumor from adjacent normal tissue and classify breast cancers according to the intrinsic subtype.</p

Open-label study comparing the efficacy and tolerability of aripiprazole and haloperidol in the treatment of pediatric tic disorders

Due to its unique pharmacodynamic properties of dopamine partial agonist activity, and its association with few and mild side effects, aripiprazole is a candidate atypical antipsychotic for patients with tic disorders. This open-label study compared the efficacy and tolerability of aripiprazole with haloperidol, a typical antipsychotic widely used to treat patients with tic disorders. Forty-eight children and adolescents with tic disorders were recruited from the outpatient clinic at South Korea and treated with aripiprazole (initial dose, 5.0 mg/d; maximum dose 20 mg/d) or haloperidol (initial dose, 0.75 mg/d; maximum dose, 4.5 mg/d) for 8 weeks. Treatment efficacy was measured using the yale global tic severity scale (YGTSS), and tolerability was measured using the extrapyramidal symptom rating scale (ESRS) and an adverse effects checklist. Total tic scores as measured by the YGTSS decreased over time in both groups (p < 0.001) without any significant differences between groups. ESRS scores were significantly higher in the haloperidol group during the 4 weeks after commencement of medication (p < 0.05). These results indicate that aripiprazole may be a promising drug in the treatment of children and adolescents with tic disorders. Further controlled studies are needed to determine the efficacy and tolerability of aripiprazole in these patients

Micromechanical analysis of aligned and randomly oriented whisker-/ short fiber-reinforced composites

This paper presents a micromechanical approach for predicting the elastic and multi-level damage response of aligned and randomly oriented whisker-/ short fiber-reinforced composites. Based on a combination of Eshelby's micromechanics and the evolutionary imperfect interface approach, the effective elastic moduli of the composites are derived explicitly. The modified Eshelby's tensor for spheroidal inclusions with slightly weakened interface [Qu (1993b)] is extended in the present study to model whiskers or short fibers having mild or severe imperfect interfaces. Aligned and random orientations of spheroidal reinforcements are considered. A multi-level damage model in accordance with the Weibull's probabilistic function is then incorporated into the micromechanical framework to describe the sequential, progressive imperfect interfaces in the composites. Numerical examples corresponding to uniaxial tensile loadings are solved to illustrate the potential of the proposed micromechanical framework for predicting the elastic and multi-level damage response of the composites. Furthermore, comparisons between the present predictions and experimental data in the literature are made to further highlight the capability of the proposed micromechanical framework

Quantum Electrodynamics Actions in Supercritical Fields

In the in-out formalism, we advance a new method to represent the gamma function for quantum electrodynamics (QED) actions in supercritical fields, which is complementary to the proper-time integral representation in Phys. Rev. D 78, 105013 (2008) and Phys. Rev. D 84, 065004 (2011). The new method directly yields the QED action in terms of the Hurwitz zeta function in a constant magnetic field and the complex QED action in a constant electric field. The complex action exactly gives the vacuum polarization and the vacuum persistence and thereby the pair-production rate in the electric field. The QED actions exhibit electromagnetic duality c 2019 The Korean Physical Societ

Multiscale approach to predict the effective elastic behavior of nanoparticle-reinforced polymer composites

A multiscale modeling scheme that addresses the influence of the nanoparticle size in nanocomposites consisting of nano-sized spherical particles embedded in a polymer matrix is presented. A micromechanics-based constitutive model for nanoparticle-reinforced polymer composites is derived by incorporating the Eshelby tensor considering the interface effects (Duan et al. 2005a) into the ensemble-volume average method (Ju and Chen 1994). A numerical investigation is carried out to validate the proposed micromechanics-based constitutive model, and a parametric study on the interface moduli is conducted to investigate the effect of interface moduli on the overall behavior of the composites. In addition, molecular dynamics (MD) simulations are performed to determine the mechanical properties of the nanoparticles and polymer. Finally, the overall elastic moduli of the nanoparticle-reinforced polymer composites are estimated using the proposed multiscale approach combining the ensemble-volume average method and the MD simulation. The predictive capability of the proposed multiscale approach has been demonstrated through the multiscale numerical simulations

Synthesis and properties of nem aromatic polyimides - Polymeric materials for light-emitting and liquid-crystal displays

New aromatic diamines containing pi-conjugated heterocyclic rings were synthesized, which emit blue light in the photoluminescence. Using these new monomers, soluble poly(amic acid)s were prepared by the polycondensations with pyromellitamic dianhydride, and thermally converted to the polyimides in films which emit intense blue-light. These polyimides are considered as potential candidate materials for fabricating optoelectronic devices which emit blue light. In addition, new poly(m-phenylene 4,4&apos;-oxydiphthalimide)s containing various side chains were synthesized. For these polyimides, thermal properties were investigated with considering the chain flexibility of polymer backbone as well as the spacer and biphenyl mesogen end group in the side chains. In particular, these polyimides exhibited excellent performance in the rubbing process and the controlling of both the alignment and the pretilt of liquid-crystal (LC) molecules in the LC cell. This might be attributed mainly to a strong interaction between the biphenyl mesogen end group in the side chains and the mesogen unit of LC molecules.X1117sciescopu

Synthesis and characterization of a new blue-light-emitting polyimide

5,5&apos;-Bis(4-aminophenyl)-2,2&apos;-bifuryl (PFDA) with a well-defined conjugation length was synthesized, and its soluble poly(amic acid) was prepared by polycondensation with pyromellitic dianhydride (PMDA). The PMDA-PFDA polyimide films were obtained from the poly(amic acid) solution through a conventional spin-casting, baking, and thermal imidization process. The PFDA monomer exhibits intense blue photoluminescence with a maximum at 442 nm in a high quantum yield of 0.92, whereas its polyimide film also emits intense blue photoluminescence with double peak maxima at 419 and 436 nm. The polyimide is insoluble in common organic solvents and thermally stable up to 370 degrees C. Overall, the PMDA-PFDA polyimide can be considered to be a potential candidate material for fabricating optoelectronic devices that emit blue light

Synthetic hexapeptides increase intracelluar killing of Staphylococcus aureus by human monocytes

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Bioanalytical Application of SERS Immunoassay for Detection of Prostate-Specific Antigen

We demonstrate the possible application of the sandwich type surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SEES) immunoassay using antigen-antibody binding for detection of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) in cancer cells. In this sandwich type of SERS immunoassay, to capture antigens onto the immobilized layer of antibodies on the gold substrate we prepared the monolayer of gold nanoparticles on the A PTMS-derivatized surface of a glass slide by using the SAM technique. This sandwich type of SERS immunoassay in which antigens on the substrate specifically capture antibodies on a Raman reporter (DSNB coated gold nanoparticles with R6G) could successfully detect PSA at low levels. A strong SERS spectrum of Raman reporter was observed only with a substrate in which PSA is present.X111815sciescopuskc

Financial crisis and relative productivity dynamics in Korea: evidence from firm-level data (1992–2003)

Relative TFP, Decomposition of TFP growth, Perpetual Inventory Method, D24, E22, O47,