Looking at Accountability 40 Years after Darling

An examination of the ramifications of the Darling decision

Welcome to Thyroid Research

Welcome to the first issue of Thyroid Research, a new journal published by BioMed Central, which aims at providing a platform for both researchers and clinicians to discuss a broad spectrum of thyroidology and related issues. These include physiological mechanisms of thyroid hormone action, secretory regulations, immunological and genetic aspects and, finally, news and information on state-of-the-art diagnostic equipment and treatment protocols for more effective management of thyroid disorders

Human cancers over express genes that are specific to a variety of normal human tissues

We have analyzed gene expression data from 3 different kinds of samples: normal human tissues, human cancer cell lines and leukemic cells from lymphoid and myeloid leukemia pediatric patients. We have searched for genes that are over expressed in human cancer and also show specific patterns of tissue-dependent expression in normal tissues. Using the expression data of the normal tissues we identified 4346 genes with a high variability of expression, and clustered these genes according to their relative expression level. Of 91 stable clusters obtained, 24 clusters included genes preferentially expressed either only in hematopoietic tissues or in hematopoietic and 1-2 other tissues; 28 clusters included genes preferentially expressed in various non-hematopoietic tissues such as neuronal, testis, liver, kidney, muscle, lung, pancreas and placenta. Analysis of the expression levels of these 2 groups of genes in the human cancer cell lines and leukemias, identified genes that were highly expressed in cancer cells but not in their normal counterparts, and were thus over expressed in the cancers. The different cancer cell lines and leukemias varied in the number and identity of these over expressed genes. The results indicate that many genes that are over expressed in human cancer cells are specific to a variety of normal tissues, including normal tissues other than those from which the cancer originated. It is suggested that this general property of cancer cells plays a major role in determining the behavior of the cancers, including their metastatic potential.Comment: To appear in PNA

Low-Temperature Behaviour of Charge Transfer Excitons in Narrow-Bandgap Polymer-Based Bulk Heterojunctions

Photoluminescence studies of the charge transfer exciton emission from a narrow-bandgap polymer-based bulk heterojunction are reported. The quantum yield of this emission is as high as 0.03%. Low temperature measurements reveal that while the dynamics of the singlet exciton is slower at low temperature, the dynamics of the charge transfer exciton emission is temperature independent. This behavior rules out any diffusion process of the charge transfer excitons and energy transfer from these interfacial states toward lower lying states. Photoluminescence measurements performed on the device under bias show a reduction (but not the total suppression) of the charge transfer exciton recombination. Finally, based on the low temperature results the role of the charge transfer excitons and the possible pathways to populate them are identified

Gene signature of the post-Chernobyl papillary thyroid cancer

Purpose: Following the nuclear accidents in Chernobyl and later in Fukushima, the nuclear community has been faced with important issues concerning how to search for and diagnose biological consequences of low-dose internal radiation contamination. Although after the Chernobyl accident an increase in childhood papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) was observed, it is still not clear whether the molecular biology of PTCs associated with low-dose radiation exposure differs from that of sporadic PTC. Methods: We investigated tissue samples from 65 children/young adults with PTC using DNA microarray (Affymetrix, Human Genome U133 2.0 Plus) with the aim of identifying molecular differences between radiation-induced (exposed to Chernobyl radiation, ECR) and sporadic PTC. All participants were resident in the same region so that confounding factors related to genetics or environment were minimized. Results: There were small but significant differences in the gene expression profiles between ECR and non-ECR PTC (global test, p < 0.01), with 300 differently expressed probe sets (p < 0.001) corresponding to 239 genes. Multifactorial analysis of variance showed that besides radiation exposure history, the BRAF mutation exhibited independent effects on the PTC expression profile; the histological subset and patient age at diagnosis had negligible effects. Ten genes (PPME1, HDAC11, SOCS7, CIC, THRA, ERBB2, PPP1R9A, HDGF, RAD51AP1, and CDK1) from the 19 investigated with quantitative RT-PCR were confirmed as being associated with radiation exposure in an independent, validation set of samples. Conclusion: Significant, but subtle, differences in gene expression in the post-Chernobyl PTC are associated with previous low-dose radiation exposure

Bis(hydrogen l-glutamato)palladium(II)

In the title compound, [Pd(C5H8NO4)2], the Pd(II) atom is coordinated by two O atoms and two N atoms of two N,O-chelating hydrogen l-glutatmate ligands in a square–planar geometry with the N and O atoms in a mutually trans arrangement. The complex units are embedded in a network of N—H⋯O and O—H⋯O hydrogen-bonding inter­actions that stabilize the three-dimensional crystal structure. The strongest hydrogen bonds are formed between the γ-COOH untis of adjacent glutamate ligands, leading to dimers of the type R 2 2(8) with O⋯O separations of 2.640 (6) Å

Definitive treatment of Graves’ disease in children and adolescents.

Graves’ disease (GD) is the most common cause of pediatric hyperthyroidism. In children and adolescents the clinical GD course is different from this seen in adults, due to low remission rate and high prevalence of adverse events related to treatment with antithyroid drugs (ATDs). The majority of patients in this group require definitive therapy. As in adults, there are two treatment options – thyroid ablation with radioactive iodine (RAI) or surgery with preferred procedure of total thyroidectomy (TT). The choice of definitive therapy depends on many important factors such as children‘s age, effectiveness of the first- line ATD treatment, presence of ATDs side effects, presence of large goiter or thyroid nodules and concomitant diseases. The following paper provides the current guidelines on GD management in children and compares the efficacy of both definitive treatment methods as well as the acute and long-term complication rates, which must be taken into account to choose the optimal therapeutic option