Novel supermultiplets of SU(2,2|4) and the AdS_5/CFT_4 duality

We continue our study of the unitary supermultiplets of the N=8, d=5 anti-de Sitter (AdS_5) superalgebra SU(2,2|4), which is also the N=4 extended conformal superalgebra in d=4. We show explicitly how to go from the compact SU(2)XSU(2)XU(1) basis to the non-compact SL(2,C)XD basis of the positive energy unitary representations of the conformal group SU(2,2) in d=4. The doubleton representations of the AdS_5 group SU(2,2), which do not have a smooth Poincare limit in d=5, are shown to represent fields with vanishing masses in four dimensional Minkowski space. The unique CPT self-conjugate irreducible doubleton supermultiplet of SU(2,2|4)is simply the N=4 Yang-Mills supermultiplet in d=4. We study some novel short non-doubleton supermultiplets of SU(2,2|4) that have spin range 2 and that do not appear in the Kaluza-Klein spectrum of type IIB supergravity or in tensor products of the N=4 Yang-Mills supermultiplet with itself. These novel supermultiplets can be obtained from tensoring chiral doubleton supermultiplets, some of which we expect to be related to the massless limits of 1/4 BPS states. Hence, these novel supermultiplets may be relevant to the solitonic sector of IIB superstring and/or (p,q) superstrings over AdS_5 X S^5.Comment: Minor modifications to clarify the role of central charge and the outer automorphism group U(1)_Y in the representation theory of SU(2,2|4); typos corrected; 28 pages; Late

4D Doubleton Conformal Theories, CPT and IIB String on AdS_5 X S^5

We study the unitary supermultiplets of the N=8, d=5 anti-de Sitter (AdS) superalgebra SU(2,2|4) which is the symmetry algebra of the IIB string theory on AdS_5 X S^5. We give a complete classification of the doubleton supermultiplets of SU(2,2|4) which do not have a Poincare limit and correspond to d=4 conformal field theories (CFT) living on the boundary of AdS_5. The CPT self-conjugate irreducible doubleton supermultiplet corresponds to d=4, N = 4 super Yang-Mills theory. The other irreducible doubleton supermultiplets come in CPT conjugate pairs. The maximum spin range of the general doubleton supermultiplets is 2. In particular, there exists a CPT conjugate pair of doubleton supermultiplets corresponding to the fields of N=4 conformal supergravity in d=4 which can be coupled to N=4 super Yang-Mills theory in d=4. We also study the "massless" supermultiplets of SU(2,2|4) which can be obtained by tensoring two doubleton supermultiplets. The CPT self-conjugate "massless" supermultiplet is the N=8 graviton supermultiplet in AdS_5. The other "massless" supermultiplets generally come in conjugate pairs and can have maximum spin range of 4. We discuss the implications of our results for the conjectured CFT/AdS dualities.Comment: An erratum attached at the end to correct an incorrect statement in section 7; 34 pages, Latex fil

Increased Coronary Artery Disease Severity in Black Women Undergoing Coronary Bypass Surgery

Race and sex disparities are believed to play an important role in heart disease. The purpose of this study was to examine the association between race, sex, and number of diseased vessels at the time of coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG), and subsequent postoperative outcomes. The 13,774 patients undergoing first-time, isolated CABG between 1992 and 2011 were included. Trend in the number of diseased vessels between black and white patients, stratified by sex, were analyzed using a Cochran-Armitage trend test. Models were adjusted for age, procedural status (elective vs. nonelective), and payor type (private vs. nonprivate insurance). Black female CABG patients presented with an increasingly greater number of diseased vessels than white female CABG patients (adjusted P(trend) = 0.0021). A similar trend was not observed between black and white male CABG patients (adjusted P(trend) = 0.18). Black female CABG patients were also more likely to have longer intensive care unit and hospital lengths of stay than other race-sex groups.Our findings suggest that black female CABG patients have more advanced coronary artery disease than white female CABG patients. Further research is needed to determine the benefit of targeted preventive care and preoperative workup for this high-risk group

Role of Pelvic Lymph Node Dissection in Prostate Cancer Treatment

Pelvic lymph node dissection (PLND) is the most accurate and reliable staging procedure for detecting lymph node invasion (LNI) in prostate cancer. Recently, [11C]-choline positron emission tomography imaging and magnetic resonance imaging with lymphotropic superpara-magnetic nanoparticles have shown potential for detecting LNI but are still under investigation. The risk of LNI in low-risk groups could be underestimated by use of the current nomograms, which rely on data collected from patients who underwent only limited PLND. Extended PLND (ePLND) shows higher lymph node yield, which leads to the removal of more positive nodes and fewer missed positive nodes. It may be possible to refrain from performing PLND on low-risk patients with a prostate-specific antigen value <10 ng/ml and a biopsy Gleason score ≤6, but the risk of biopsy-related understaging should be kept in mind. Theoretically, meticulous ePLND may also impact prostate cancer survival by clearing low-volume diseases and occult micrometastasis even in pN0. The therapeutic role of PLND in prostate cancer patients is still an open question, especially in individuals with low-risk disease. Patients with intermediate- to high-risk disease are more likely to benefit from ePLND

Acute Idiopathic Hemorrhagic Pericarditis with Cardiac Tamponade as the Initial Presentation of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome

This paper presents a case of cardiac tamponade with idiopathic hemorrhagic pericarditis as the initial symptom of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. A 29-year-old male came to the emergency room with a sudden onset of dizziness. Upon arrival, he was hypotensive although not tachycardic, and his jugular venous pressure was not elevated. His chest X-rays revealed a mild cardiomegaly. Transthoracic echocardiography revealed a large amount of pericardial effusion with a diastolic collapse of the right ventricle, a dilated inferior vena cava with little change in respiration, and exaggerated respiratory variation of mitral inflow velocities, representing echocardiographic evidence of cardiac tamponade. After pericardiocentesis, his blood pressure improved to 110/70 mmHg without inotropics support. Serial 12-lead electrocardiograms during hospitalization revealed upwardly concave diffuse ST-segment elevation followed by a T-wave inversion suggestive of acute pericarditis. Pericardial fluid cytology and cultures for bacteria, mycobacteria, adenovirus, and fungus were all negative. HIV enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was positive and confirmed by Western blot. The CD4 cell count was 168/mm3. Finally, the diagnosis of cardiac tamponade due to HIV-associated hemorrhagic pericarditis was made. It was concluded that HIV infection should be considered in the diagnosis of unexplained pericardial effusion or cardiac tamponade in Korea

Characterization of prostate cancer using T2 mapping at 3T: A multi-scanner study

AbstractRationale and objectivesTo assess the prostate T2 value as a predictor of malignancy on two different 3T scanners.Patients and methodsEighty-three pre-prostatectomy multiparametric MRIs were retrospectively evaluated [67 obtained on a General Electric MRI (scanner 1) and 16 on a Philips MRI (scanner 2)]. After correlation with prostatectomy specimens, readers measured the T2 value of regions-of-interest categorized as “cancers”, “false positive lesions”, or “normal tissue”.ResultsOn scanner 1, in PZ, cancers had significantly lower T2 values than false positive lesions (P=0.02) and normal tissue (P=2×10−9). Gleason≥6 cancers had similar T2 values than false positive lesions and significantly higher T2 values than Gleason≥7 cancers (P=0.009). T2 values corresponding to a 25% and 75% risk of Gleason≥7 malignancy were respectively 132ms (95% CI: 129–135ms) and 77ms (95% CI: 74–81ms). In TZ, cancers had significantly lower T2 values than normal tissue (P=0.008), but not than false positive findings. Mean T2 values measured on scanner 2 were not significantly different than those measured on scanner 1 for all tissue classes.ConclusionAll tested tissue classes had similar mean T2 values on both scanners. In PZ, the T2 value was a significant predictor of Gleason≥7 cancers

Chalcones Enhance TRAIL-Induced Apoptosis in Prostate Cancer Cells

Chalcones exhibit chemopreventive and antitumor effects. Tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) is a naturally occurring anticancer agent that induces apoptosis in cancer cells and is not toxic to normal cells. We examined the cytotoxic and apoptotic effect of five chalcones in combination with TRAIL on prostate cancer cells. The cytotoxicity was evaluated by the MTT and LDH assays. The apoptosis was determined using flow cytometry with annexin V-FITC. Our study showed that all five tested chalcones: chalcone, licochalcone-A, isobavachalcone, xanthohumol, butein markedly augmented TRAIL-mediated apoptosis and cytotoxicity in prostate cancer cells and confirmed the significant role of chalcones in chemoprevention of prostate cancer

The prognostic impact of TERT promoter mutations in glioblastomas is modified by the rs2853669 single nucleotide polymorphism

Human hotspot TERT promoter (TERTp) mutations have been reported in a wide range of tumours. Several studies have shown that TERTp mutations are associated with clinicopathological features; in some instances, TERTp mutations were considered as biomarkers of poor prognosis. The rs2853669 SNP, located in the TERT promoter region, was reported to modulate the increased TERT expression levels induced by the recurrent somatic mutations. In this study we aimed to determine the frequency and prognostic value of TERTp mutations and TERT rs2853669 SNP in 504 gliomas from Portuguese and Brazilian patients. TERTp mutations were detected in 47.8% of gliomas (216/452). Glioblastomas (GBM) exhibited the highest frequency of TERTp mutations (66.9%); in this glioma subtype, we found a significant association between TERTp mutations and poor prognosis, regardless of the population. Moreover, in a multivariate analysis, TERTp mutations were the only independent prognostic factor. Our data also showed that the poor prognosis conferred by TERTp mutations was restricted to GBM patients carrying the rs2853669 A allele and not in those carrying the G allele. In conclusion, the presence of TERTp mutations was associated with worse prognosis in GBM patients, although such association depended on the status of the rs2853669 SNP. The status of the rs2853669 SNP should be taken in consideration when assessing the prognostic value of TERTp mutations in GBM patients. TERTp mutations and the rs2853669 SNP can be used in the future as biomarkers of glioma prognosis. What's new? Cancer cells avoid senescence in part by reactivating telomerase (TERT), a ribonucleoprotein that replenishes shortening telomeres. Here, the authors discover a positive association between TERT promoter mutations and unfavorable prognosis in glioblastoma patients from Portuguese and Brazilian origin. This association was only observed in patients with a specific allelic background (AA) in a TERT polymorphism (rs2853669) recently linked to enhanced TERT mRNA levels. The authors recommend considering the allelic status of rs2853669 when assessing the prognostic value of TERT promoter mutations in glioblastoma patients.Portuguese Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia and Fundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional (FEDER) and COMPETE – Programa Operacional Factores de Competitividade (POFC); Grant number: PTDC/SAU-ONC/115513/2009; Grant sponsor: Brazilian FAPESP; Grant number: 2012/19590–0; Grant sponsor: Programa Operacional Regional do Norte (ON.2 – O Novo Norte), under Quadro de Referência Estrategico Nacional (QREN) through Fundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional (FEDER); Grant number: Microenvironment, Metabolism and Cancer; Grant sponsor: Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia; Grant number: SFRH/BD/81940/2011; Grant sponsor: Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia; Grant number: Program Ciência 2007; Grant sponsor: Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia; Grant number: Program Ciência 2008; Grant sponsor: Brazilian FAPESP; Grant number: 2013/25787-3; Grant sponsor: NORTE2020; Grant number: NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000029Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologiainfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio