Deciphering the Finger Prints of Brain Cancer Glioblastoma Multiforme from Four Different Patients by Using Near Infrared Raman Spectroscopy

To explore the effectiveness of Raman spectra to diagnose brain cancer glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), we investigated the Raman spectra of single cell from four different GBM cell lines developed from four different patients and analyzed the spectra. The Raman spectra of brain cancer (GBM) cells were similar in all these cell lines. The results indicate that Raman spectra can offer the experimental basis for the cancer diagnosis and treatment

Adolescent Victim Types Across the Popularity Status Hierarchy: Differences in Internalizing Symptoms

Previous studies have called attention to the fact that popular youth are not immune to peer victimization, suggesting there is heterogeneity in the popularity of victims. Yet, no study to date has determined whether victims with different levels of popularity status can be identified using person-oriented analysis. Such analysis is critically needed to confirm the existence of popular victims. Further, there remains a paucity of research on internalizing indices of such popular victims, especially compared to other victim and non-victim groups. To address this gap in the research literature, the current study used latent profile analysis to identify subgroups of victims based on victimization (self- and peer-report) and popularity (peer-report). This study sought to verify the existence of popular victims and to compare victim subgroups on loneliness and self-esteem. Participants were 804 Dutch adolescents (50.2% boys, M-age = 13.65 years, ranging from 11.29 to 16.75 years). The results revealed six subgroups, including a group of popular self-identified victims. Popular self-identified victims were generally less lonely than other victims, but had higher loneliness and lower self-esteem than non-victims. Implications are discussed for understanding the victimization experiences of high-status youth

A chemical survey of exoplanets with ARIEL

Thousands of exoplanets have now been discovered with a huge range of masses, sizes and orbits: from rocky Earth-like planets to large gas giants grazing the surface of their host star. However, the essential nature of these exoplanets remains largely mysterious: there is no known, discernible pattern linking the presence, size, or orbital parameters of a planet to the nature of its parent star. We have little idea whether the chemistry of a planet is linked to its formation environment, or whether the type of host star drives the physics and chemistry of the planet’s birth, and evolution. ARIEL was conceived to observe a large number (~1000) of transiting planets for statistical understanding, including gas giants, Neptunes, super-Earths and Earth-size planets around a range of host star types using transit spectroscopy in the 1.25–7.8 μm spectral range and multiple narrow-band photometry in the optical. ARIEL will focus on warm and hot planets to take advantage of their well-mixed atmospheres which should show minimal condensation and sequestration of high-Z materials compared to their colder Solar System siblings. Said warm and hot atmospheres are expected to be more representative of the planetary bulk composition. Observations of these warm/hot exoplanets, and in particular of their elemental composition (especially C, O, N, S, Si), will allow the understanding of the early stages of planetary and atmospheric formation during the nebular phase and the following few million years. ARIEL will thus provide a representative picture of the chemical nature of the exoplanets and relate this directly to the type and chemical environment of the host star. ARIEL is designed as a dedicated survey mission for combined-light spectroscopy, capable of observing a large and well-defined planet sample within its 4-year mission lifetime. Transit, eclipse and phase-curve spectroscopy methods, whereby the signal from the star and planet are differentiated using knowledge of the planetary ephemerides, allow us to measure atmospheric signals from the planet at levels of 10–100 part per million (ppm) relative to the star and, given the bright nature of targets, also allows more sophisticated techniques, such as eclipse mapping, to give a deeper insight into the nature of the atmosphere. These types of observations require a stable payload and satellite platform with broad, instantaneous wavelength coverage to detect many molecular species, probe the thermal structure, identify clouds and monitor the stellar activity. The wavelength range proposed covers all the expected major atmospheric gases from e.g. H2O, CO2, CH4 NH3, HCN, H2S through to the more exotic metallic compounds, such as TiO, VO, and condensed species. Simulations of ARIEL performance in conducting exoplanet surveys have been performed – using conservative estimates of mission performance and a full model of all significant noise sources in the measurement – using a list of potential ARIEL targets that incorporates the latest available exoplanet statistics. The conclusion at the end of the Phase A study, is that ARIEL – in line with the stated mission objectives – will be able to observe about 1000 exoplanets depending on the details of the adopted survey strategy, thus confirming the feasibility of the main science objectives.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio

Pharmacogenetic allele nomenclature: International workgroup recommendations for test result reporting

This manuscript provides nomenclature recommendations developed by an international workgroup to increase transparency and standardization of pharmacogenetic (PGx) result reporting. Presently, sequence variants identified by PGx tests are described using different nomenclature systems. In addition, PGx analysis may detect different sets of variants for each gene, which can affect interpretation of results. This practice has caused confusion and may thereby impede the adoption of clinical PGx testing. Standardization is critical to move PGx forward

The Ontogenetic Osteohistology of Tenontosaurus tilletti

Tenontosaurus tilletti is an ornithopod dinosaur known from the Early Cretaceous (Aptian-Albian) Cloverly and Antlers formations of the Western United States. It is represented by a large number of specimens spanning a number of ontogenetic stages, and these specimens have been collected across a wide geographic range (from central Montana to southern Oklahoma). Here I describe the long bone histology of T. tilletti and discuss histological variation at the individual, ontogenetic and geographic levels. The ontogenetic pattern of bone histology in T. tilletti is similar to that of other dinosaurs, reflecting extremely rapid growth early in life, and sustained rapid growth through sub-adult ontogeny. But unlike other iguanodontians, this dinosaur shows an extended multi-year period of slow growth as skeletal maturity approached. Evidence of termination of growth (e.g., an external fundamental system) is observed in only the largest individuals, although other histological signals in only slightly smaller specimens suggest a substantial slowing of growth later in life. Histological differences in the amount of remodeling and the number of lines of arrested growth varied among elements within individuals, but bone histology was conservative across sampled individuals of the species, despite known paleoenvironmental differences between the Antlers and Cloverly formations. The bone histology of T. tilletti indicates a much slower growth trajectory than observed for other iguanodontians (e.g., hadrosaurids), suggesting that those taxa reached much larger sizes than Tenontosaurus in a shorter time

The APPLe Study: A Randomized, Community-Based, Placebo-Controlled Trial of Azithromycin for the Prevention of Preterm Birth, with Meta-Analysis

In a randomized trial in Malawi of azithromycin versus placebo in over 2,000 pregnant women, Jim Neilson and colleagues show no benefit of azithromycin for a number of outcomes including preterm birth and prenatal death

Whole genome sequence and manual annotation of Clostridium autoethanogenum, an industrially relevant bacterium

Clostridium autoethanogenum is an acetogenic bacterium capable of producing high value commodity chemicals and biofuels from the C1 gases present in synthesis gas. This common industrial waste gas can act as the sole energy and carbon source for the bacterium that converts the low value gaseous components into cellular building blocks and industrially relevant products via the action of the reductive acetyl-CoA (Wood-Ljungdahl) pathway. Current research efforts are focused on the enhancement and extension of product formation in this organism via synthetic biology approaches. However, crucial to metabolic modelling and directed pathway engineering is a reliable and comprehensively annotated genome sequence

CCL2-driven inflammation increases mammary gland stromal density and cancer susceptibility in a transgenic mouse model.

Abstract Background Macrophages play diverse roles in mammary gland development and breast cancer. CC-chemokine ligand 2 (CCL2) is an inflammatory cytokine that recruits macrophages to sites of injury. Although CCL2 has been detected in human and mouse mammary epithelium, its role in regulating mammary gland development and cancer risk has not been explored. Methods Transgenic mice were generated wherein CCL2 is driven by the mammary epithelial cell-specific mouse mammary tumour virus 206 (MMTV) promoter. Estrous cycles were tracked in adult transgenic and non-transgenic FVB mice, and mammary glands collected at the four different stages of the cycle. Dissected mammary glands were assessed for cyclical morphological changes, proliferation and apoptosis of epithelium, macrophage abundance and collagen deposition, and mRNA encoding matrix remodelling enzymes. Another cohort of control and transgenic mice received carcinogen 7,12-Dimethylbenz(a)anthracene (DMBA) and tumour development was monitored weekly. CCL2 protein was also quantified in paired samples of human breast tissue with high and low mammographic density. Results Overexpression of CCL2 in the mammary epithelium resulted in an increased number of macrophages, increased density of stroma and collagen and elevated mRNA encoding matrix remodelling enzymes lysyl oxidase (LOX) and tissue inhibitor of matrix metalloproteinases (TIMP)3 compared to non-transgenic controls. Transgenic mice also exhibited increased susceptibility to development of DMBA-induced mammary tumours. In a paired sample cohort of human breast tissue, abundance of epithelial-cell-associated CCL2 was higher in breast tissue of high mammographic density compared to tissue of low mammographic density. Conclusions Constitutive expression of CCL2 by the mouse mammary epithelium induces a state of low level chronic inflammation that increases stromal density and elevates cancer risk. We propose that CCL2-driven inflammation contributes to the increased risk of breast cancer observed in women with high mammographic density