Fictionalism, Constructive Empiricism, and the Semantics of Mathematical Language

Fictionalism, Constructive Empiricism, and the Semantics of Mathematical Languag

Water absorption and maintenance of nanofiber cellulose production by Gluconacetobacter rhaeticus TL-2C

Physiochemical properties of bacterial cellulose producing by Gluconacetobacter rhaeticus TL-2C was investigated for confirming its possibility as wound care dressing material. Scanning electron micrograph showed that the diameter of bacterial cellulose fiber was 40 to 50 nm. Solid state 13C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) data showed that the bacterial cellulose had amorphous peak of C-4 and C-6 and the crystallinity index of bacterial cellulose was 75.4. Water absorption ability of bacterial cellulose was 19-fold higher than α-cellulose. Bacterial cellulose had 2-fold higher water maintenance ability than α-cellulose.Key words: Bacterial cellulose, Gluconacetobacter rhaeticus, nanofiber, water absorption

Biomarkers in Bladder Cancer: Present Status and Perspectives

Bladder cancers are a mixture of heterogeneous cell populations, and numerous factors are likely to be involved in dictating their recurrence, progression and the patient’s survival. For any candidate prognostic marker to have considerable clinical relevance, it must add some predictive capacity beyond that offered by conventional clinical and pathologic parameters. Here, the current situation in bladder cancer research with respect to identification of suitable prognostic markers is reviewed. A number of individual molecular markers that might predict bladder cancer recurrence and progression have been identified but many are not sufficiently sensitive or specific for the whole spectrum of bladder cancer diseases seen in routine clinical practice. These limitations have led to interest in other molecular parameters that could enable more accurate prognosis for bladder cancer patients. Of particular interest is the epigenetic silencing of tumor suppressor genes. Since the methylation of these genes can correlate with a poor prognosis, the methylation profile may represent a new bio-marker that indicates the risk of transitional cell carcinoma development. In addition, bladder cancer research is likely to be revolutionized by high-throughput molecular technologies, which allow rapid and global gene expression analysis of thousands of tumor samples. Initial studies employing these technologies have considerably expanded our ability to classify bladder cancers with respect to their survivability. Future microarray analyses are likely to reveal particular gene expression signatures that predict the likelihood of bladder cancer progression and recurrence, as well as patient’s survival and responsiveness to different anti-cancer therapies, with great specificity and sensitivity

Isolation of p-hydroxycinnamaldehyde as an antibacterial substance from the saw fly, Acantholyda parki S.

AbstractWe purified an antibacterial substance from larvae of the saw fly, Acantholyda parki S., and identified its molecular structure as p-hydroxycinnamaldehyde. We then synthesized it by reduction of p-hydroxycinnamic acid. The antibacterial activity of the synthetic p-hydroxycinnamaldehyde was equal to that of the authentic substance. This molecule was found to have a broad antibacterial spectrum against not only Gram-negative, but also Gram-positive bacteria. Furthermore, it showed antifungal activity against Candida albicans. We suggest that this substance may play a role in the defense system of this insect. This is the first report of p-hydroxycinnamaldehyde of animal origin

Erratum: Dirichlet Forms and Dirichlet Operators for Infinite Particle Systems: Essential Self-adjointness

We reprove the essential self-adjointness of the Dirichlet operators of Dirchlet forms for infinite particle systems with superstable and sub-exponentially decreasing interactions.Comment: This is an erratum to the work appeared in J. Math. Phys. 39(12), 6509-6536 (1998