Plant Homeo Domain Finger Protein 8 Regulates Mesodermal and Cardiac Differentiation of Embryonic Stem Cells Through Mediating the Histone Demethylation of pmaip1

published_or_final_versio

Incidental Thyroid Carcinoma by FDG-PET/CT: A Study of Clinicopathological Characteristics

BACKGROUND: The rising incidence of incidental thyroid carcinoma (ITC) detected during fluoro-2-deoxy-D: -glucose (FDG)-positron emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT) scanning poses a challenge to clinicians. The present study aims to critically evaluate the clinicopathological characteristics of ITC detected by FDG-PET/CT. METHODS: Among the 557 patients managed at our institution, 40 (7.2%) patients were identified as having ITC. Of these, 22 patients had their tumor detected by FDG-PET/CT (PET group) and 11 by ultrasonography (USG group). Additional bedside ultrasonography +/- fine-needle aspiration (FNA) was done in all patients at their clinic visit. The clinicopathological characteristics were compared between the PET and USG groups. RESULTS: The PET group had significantly more patients with history of nonthyroidal malignancy (P < 0.001). Papillary carcinoma was the most common histological type in both groups. Despite having similar histological and prognostic features including tumor size, tumor multifocality, capsular invasion, extrathyroidal extension, and lymph node metastases, tumor bilaterality (or presence of contralateral tumor focus) was significantly more frequent in the PET than the USG group (P = 0.04). The tumors were also more advanced by the tumor-node-metastasis (TNM) staging system in the PET group (P = 0.021). None of the contralateral tumor foci were evident preoperatively. One patient in the USG group developed metastatic thyroid carcinoma in neck lymph nodes 28 months after thyroid resection. CONCLUSION: ITC by FDG-PET/CT had higher incidence of tumor bilaterality than those detected by ultrasonography. Total thyroidectomy should be considered for ITC detected by FDG-PET/CT even for tumor size <10 mm.published_or_final_versionSpringer Open Choice, 31 May 201

Mouse Middle Ear Ion Homeostasis Channels and Intercellular Junctions

The middle ear contains homeostatic mechanisms that control the movement of ions and fluids similar to those present in the inner ear, and are altered during inflammation.The normal middle ear cavity is fluid-free and air-filled to allow for effective sound transmission. Within the inner ear, the regulation of fluid and ion movement is essential for normal auditory and vestibular function. The same ion and fluid channels active in the inner ear may have similar roles with fluid regulation in the middle ear.Middle and inner ears from BALB/c mice were processed for immunohistochemistry of 10 specific ion homeostasis factors to determine if similar transport and barrier mechanisms are present in the tympanic cavity. Examination also was made of BALB/c mice middle ears after transtympanic injection with heat-killed Haemophilus influenza to determine if these channels are impacted by inflammation.The most prominent ion channels in the middle ear included aquaporins 1, 4 and 5, claudin 3, ENaC and Na(+),K(+)-ATPase. Moderate staining was found for GJB2, KCNJ10 and KCNQ1. The inflamed middle ear epithelium showed increased staining due to expected cellular hypertrophy. Localization of ion channels was preserved within the inflamed middle ear epithelium.The middle ear epithelium is a dynamic environment with intrinsic mechanisms for the control of ion and water transport to keep the middle ear clear of fluids. Compromise of these processes during middle ear disease may underlie the accumulation of effusions and suggests they may be a therapeutic target for effusion control

Improved Constraints on Sterile Neutrino Mixing from Disappearance Searches in the MINOS, MINOS+, Daya Bay, and Bugey-3 Experiments.

Searches for electron antineutrino, muon neutrino, and muon antineutrino disappearance driven by sterile neutrino mixing have been carried out by the Daya Bay and MINOS+ collaborations. This Letter presents the combined results of these searches, along with exclusion results from the Bugey-3 reactor experiment, framed in a minimally extended four-neutrino scenario. Significantly improved constraints on the θ_{μe} mixing angle are derived that constitute the most constraining limits to date over five orders of magnitude in the mass-squared splitting Δm_{41}^{2}, excluding the 90%&nbsp;C.L. sterile-neutrino parameter space allowed by the LSND and MiniBooNE observations at 90%&nbsp;CL_{s} for Δm_{41}^{2}&lt;13  eV^{2}. Furthermore, the LSND and MiniBooNE 99%&nbsp;C.L. allowed regions are excluded at 99% CL_{s} for Δm_{41}^{2}&lt;1.6 eV^{2}

Logic, Probability and Action: A Situation Calculus Perspective

The unification of logic and probability is a long-standing concern in AI, and more generally, in the philosophy of science. In essence, logic provides an easy way to specify properties that must hold in every possible world, and probability allows us to further quantify the weight and ratio of the worlds that must satisfy a property. To that end, numerous developments have been undertaken, culminating in proposals such as probabilistic relational models. While this progress has been notable, a general-purpose first-order knowledge representation language to reason about probabilities and dynamics, including in continuous settings, is still to emerge. In this paper, we survey recent results pertaining to the integration of logic, probability and actions in the situation calculus, which is arguably one of the oldest and most well-known formalisms. We then explore reduction theorems and programming interfaces for the language. These results are motivated in the context of cognitive robotics (as envisioned by Reiter and his colleagues) for the sake of concreteness. Overall, the advantage of proving results for such a general language is that it becomes possible to adapt them to any special-purpose fragment, including but not limited to popular probabilistic relational models

Precision Measurement of the Mass of the h_c(1P1) State of Charmonium

A precision measurement of the mass of the h_c(1P1) state of charmonium has been made using a sample of 24.5 million psi(2S) events produced in e+e- annihilation at CESR. The reaction used was psi(2S) -> pi0 h_c, pi0 -> gamma gamma, h_c -> gamma eta_c, and the reaction products were detected in the CLEO-c detector. Data have been analyzed both for the inclusive reaction and for the exclusive reactions in which eta_c decays are reconstructed in fifteen hadronic decay channels. Consistent results are obtained in the two analyses. The averaged results of the present measurements are M(h_c)=3525.28+-0.19 (stat)+-0.12(syst) MeV, and B(psi(2S) -> pi0 h_c)xB(h_c -> gamma eta_c)= (4.19+-0.32+-0.45)x10^-4. Using the 3PJ centroid mass, Delta M_hf(1P)= - M(h_c) = +0.02+-0.19+-0.13 MeV.Comment: 9 pages, available through http://www.lns.cornell.edu/public/CLNS/, submitted to PR

Precision Measurement of B(D+ -> mu+ nu) and the Pseudoscalar Decay Constant fD+

We measure the branching ratio of the purely leptonic decay of the D+ meson with unprecedented precision as B(D+ -> mu+ nu) = (3.82 +/- 0.32 +/- 0.09)x10^(-4), using 818/pb of data taken on the psi(3770) resonance with the CLEO-c detector at the CESR collider. We use this determination to derive a value for the pseudoscalar decay constant fD+, combining with measurements of the D+ lifetime and assuming |Vcd| = |Vus|. We find fD+ = (205.8 +/- 8.5 +/- 2.5) MeV. The decay rate asymmetry [B(D+ -> mu+ nu)-B(D- -> mu- nu)]/[B(D+ -> mu+ nu)+B(D- -> mu- nu)] = 0.08 +/- 0.08, consistent with no CP violation. We also set 90% confidence level upper limits on B(D+ -> tau+ nu) < 1.2x10^(-3) and B(D+ -> e+ nu) < 8.8x10^(-6).Comment: 24 pages, 11 figures and 6 tables, v2 replaced some figure vertical axis scales, v3 corrections from PRD revie

Measurement of the Absolute Branching Fraction of D_s^+ --> tau^+ nu_tau Decay

Using a sample of tagged D_s decays collected near the D^*_s D_s peak production energy in e+e- collisions with the CLEO-c detector, we study the leptonic decay D^+_s to tau^+ nu_tau via the decay channel tau^+ to e^+ nu_e bar{nu}_tau. We measure B(D^+_s to tau^+ nu_tau) = (6.17 +- 0.71 +- 0.34) %, where the first error is statistical and the second systematic. Combining this result with our measurements of D^+_s to mu^+ nu_mu and D^+_s to tau^+ nu_tau (via tau^+ to pi^+ bar{nu}_tau), we determine f_{D_s} = (274 +- 10 +- 5) MeV.Comment: 9 pages, postscript also available through http://www.lns.cornell.edu/public/CLNS/2007/, revise