171 research outputs found
Influence of zeatin and gibberellin on adenosine-3',5' -cyclic monophosphate levels of Impatiens leaves
The content of adenosine-3',5'-cydic monophosphate (cAMP) in leaves of Impatiens sultani Hook was measured by a protein-binding assay. A preceding administration of the natural cytokinin zeatin causes a diminution of the cAMP level. Administration of gibberellin (GA 3) does not bring about any variations. There is no indication that cAMP is acting as a secondary messenger of either phytohormone. Theophylline does not increase the content of cAMP found in the leaves
Comparison of two models for bridge-assisted charge transfer
Based on the reduced density matrix method, we compare two different
approaches to calculate the dynamics of the electron transfer in systems with
donor, bridge, and acceptor. In the first approach a vibrational substructure
is taken into account for each electronic state and the corresponding states
are displaced along a common reaction coordinate. In the second approach it is
assumed that vibrational relaxation is much faster than the electron transfer
and therefore the states are modeled by electronic levels only. In both
approaches the system is coupled to a bath of harmonic oscillators but the way
of relaxation is quite different. The theory is applied to the electron
transfer in with free-base porphyrin () being the donor, zinc porphyrin () being the bridge and
quinone () the acceptor. The parameters are chosen as similar as
possible for both approaches and the quality of the agreement is discussed.Comment: 12 pages including 4 figures, 1 table, 26 references. For more info
see http://eee.tu-chemnitz.de/~kili
Perspective taking eliminates differences in co-representation of out-group membersâ actions
Coordinated action relies on shared representations between interaction partners: people co-represent actions of others in order to respond appropriately. However, little is known about the social factors that influence shared representations. We investigated whether actions performed by in-group and out-group members are represented differently, and if so, what role perspective-taking plays in this process. White participants performed a joint Simon task with an animated image of a hand with either white or black skin tone. Results of study I demonstrated that actions performed by in-group members were co-represented while actions of out-group members were not. In study II, it was found that participants co-represented actions of out-group members when they had read about an out-group member and to take his perspective prior to the actual experiment. Possible explanations for these findings are discussed
Differential nasal swab cytology represents a valuable tool for therapy monitoring but not prediction of therapy response in chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps treated with Dupilumab
Introduction: Chronic Rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps (CRSwNP) is a common
chronic disease with a high impact on patientsâ quality of life. If conservative and
surgical guideline treatment cannot sufficiently control disease burden,
biologicals can be considered as a comparably new treatment option that has
revolutionized CRSwNP therapy since the first approval of Dupilumab in 2019.
With the aim to select patients who benefit from this new treatment and to find a
marker for therapy monitoring, we investigated the cellular composition of nasal
mucous membranes and inflammatory cells of patients suffering from CRSwNP
and undergoing Dupilumab therapy using non-invasive nasal swab cytology.
Methods: Twenty CRSwNP patients with the indication for Dupilumab therapy
have been included in this prospective clinical study. In total, five study visits were
conducted with ambulatory nasal differential cytology using nasal swabs starting
with the beginning of therapy and followed by visits every 3 months for 12
months. First, these cytology samples were stained with the May-GrunwaldGiemsa method (MGG) and the percentage of ciliated cells, mucinous cells,
eosinophil cells, neutrophil cells, and lymphocytes was analyzed. Secondly, an
immunocytochemical (ICC) ECP-staining was performed to detect eosinophil
granulocytes. Additionally, during each study visit the nasal polyp score, SNOT20
questionnaire, olfactometry, the total IgE concentration in peripheral blood as
well as the eosinophil cell count in peripheral blood were recorded. The change
of parameters was evaluated over one year and the correlation between clinical
effectiveness and nasal differential cytology was analyzed.
Results: In both MGG (p<0.0001) and ICC analysis (p<0.001) a significant
decrease of eosinophils was seen under Dupilumab treatment. When patients
were divided into a Eo-low- (<21%) and Eo-high- (â„21%) group according to the
percentage eosinophils in nasal swab catology in the first study visit, the Eo-highgroup showed a greater change of eosinophils over time (D17.82) compared to
the Eo-low-group (D10.67) but, however, no better response to therapy. The
polyp score, SNOT20 questionnaire, and total IgE concentration in peripheral
blood showed a significant decrease during the observation period (p<0.0001).
Discussion: Nasal swab cytology as an easy-to-apply diagnostic method allows
detection and quantification of the different cell populations within the nasal
mucosa at a given time. The nasal differential cytology showed a significant
decrease of eosinophils during Dupilumab therapy and can therefore be used as
non-invasvive method for monitoring therapy success of this cost intensive
therapy and potentially can allow an optimized individual therapy planning and
management for CRSwNP patients. Since the validity of initial nasal swab
eosinophil cell count as a predictive biomarker for therapy response was
limited in our study, additional studies including larger number of participants
will be necessary to further evaluate the potential benefits for clinical practice of
this new diagnostic method
Podoplanin expression in lymph node metastases of head and neck cancer and cancer of unknown primary patients
Introduction: Head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCCs) are cancers with generally poor prognosis.
Outcomes have not improved in decades, with more than half of the patients presenting with lymph node metastases
at the time of diagnosis. A unique subtype of HNSCC, cancer of unknown primary of the head and neck (HNCUP) is
associated with a poor outcome. Increased expression of the D2-40 gene (podoplanin) has been described for several
human malignancies and has been associated with increased metastatic potential of cancer cells.
Methods: In order to examine the role of podoplanin in lymph node metastasis of HNSCC generally and HNCUP specifically, we evaluated the prognostic impact of podoplanin expression in HNSCC- (n=68) and HNCUP-associated lymph
node metastases (n =30). The expression of podoplanin was analyzed by immunohistochemical staining of lymph node
tissue samples and correlated with clinical and histopathological data.
Results: We found a non-significant tendency towards a higher podoplanin expression in HNCUP compared to HNSCC
lymph node metastases and a significant correlation between a high podoplanin expression and advanced node-stage classification. Podoplanin expression had no significant impact on overall survival for both groups and did not correlate with
human papillomavirus tumor status.
Conclusion: Taken together, our results suggest that upregulation of podoplanin may be associated with a stimulation of
lymphatic metastasis in head and neck cancer
Cytology-based Cancer Surgery of the Head and Neck (CyCaS-HN): a prospective, randomized, controlled clinical trial
Purpose Liquid-based cytology (LBC) is routinely used in gynecology but is rarely applied in head and neck oncology
though many suspicious lesions are easily accessible. While several studies have evaluated the potential use of LBC for early
detection and molecular characterization of head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCCs), no study investigated its
potential role in surgical management and therapy planning so far.
Methods Twenty-fve patients with cT1-2 squamous cell carcinomas of the oral cavity and oropharynx were prospectively
enrolled in this study and were randomized to two treatment arms: in the control arm, a diagnostic panendoscopy with incisional biopsy was followed by a second operation with transoral tumor resection±neck dissection and tracheostomy. In the
intervention arm, patients underwent LBC diagnostics and in case of a positive result received one single operation with
panendoscopy and incisional biopsy for confrmation of LBC result by rapid section histology followed by transoral tumor
resection±neck dissection and tracheostomy in the same session.
Results Time between clinical diagnosis and defnitive surgical treatment was signifcantly shorter in the intervention group
compared with the control group (p<0.0001). Additionally, time of hospitalization (p<0.0001) and cumulative operation
time (p=0.062) were shorter in the intervention group. No signifcant diferences in overall, progression-free, and diseasespecifc survival were observed.
Conclusion Cytology-based cancer surgery is a promising therapeutic strategy that can potentially be considered for a
well-defned group of early-stage HNSCC patients and help to avoid repetitive general anesthesia, shorten the diagnosis-totreatment interval and spare operation as well as hospitalization time
The Basel-Gasfabrik research project: Addressing complex topics by an integrative approach
The late La TĂšne period site of Basel-Gasfabrik has been under investigation for more than a century. During that time, the unfortified settlement with its two cemeteries has yielded huge amounts of everyday and exceptional objects and features. Beginning in the mid-1970s, samples were systematically collected for scientific analyses during ongoing excavations, thus producing ideal preconditions for interdisciplinary research. In 2011-2014, the international research project âApproaching the living via the dead: human remains from the Late La TĂšne site Basel-Gasfabrik and their cultural-historical interpretationsâ addressed the multifarious ways in which the Iron Age community handled their deceased. The intense collaboration involved researchers from the ArchĂ€ologische Bodenforschung Basel-Stadt and the universities of Basel (CH), Mainz and Freiburg i.Br. (D) and spanned eight disciplines: archaeology, archeoanthropology, archaeobotany, archaeozoology, geoarchaeology, biogeochemistry, molecular genetics and statistics. Research topics and theoretical frameworks were developed jointly as well as procedures to combine the disciplinary results in multistage processes in order to generate integrative syntheses of novel insights. The challenges and specific research potentials of the integrative approach may serve as a positive example for future interdisciplinary research project
Lead-DBS v3.0: Mapping Deep Brain Stimulation Effects to Local Anatomy and Global Networks.
Following its introduction in 2014 and with support of a broad international community, the open-source toolbox Lead-DBS has evolved into a comprehensive neuroimaging platform dedicated to localizing, reconstructing, and visualizing electrodes implanted in the human brain, in the context of deep brain stimulation (DBS) and epilepsy monitoring. Expanding clinical indications for DBS, increasing availability of related research tools, and a growing community of clinician-scientist researchers, however, have led to an ongoing need to maintain, update, and standardize the codebase of Lead-DBS. Major development efforts of the platform in recent years have now yielded an end-to-end solution for DBS-based neuroimaging analysis allowing comprehensive image preprocessing, lead localization, stimulation volume modeling, and statistical analysis within a single tool. The aim of the present manuscript is to introduce fundamental additions to the Lead-DBS pipeline including a deformation warpfield editor and novel algorithms for electrode localization. Furthermore, we introduce a total of three comprehensive tools to map DBS effects to local, tract- and brain network-levels. These updates are demonstrated using a single patient example (for subject-level analysis), as well as a retrospective cohort of 51 Parkinson's disease patients who underwent DBS of the subthalamic nucleus (for group-level analysis). Their applicability is further demonstrated by comparing the various methodological choices and the amount of explained variance in clinical outcomes across analysis streams. Finally, based on an increasing need to standardize folder and file naming specifications across research groups in neuroscience, we introduce the brain imaging data structure (BIDS) derivative standard for Lead-DBS. Thus, this multi-institutional collaborative effort represents an important stage in the evolution of a comprehensive, open-source pipeline for DBS imaging and connectomics
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