Neurotrophin receptors expression and JNK pathway activation in human astrocytomas

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Neurotrophins are growth factors that regulate cell growth, differentiation and apoptosis in the nervous system. Their diverse actions are mediated through two different transmembrane – receptor signaling systems: Trk receptor tyrosine kinases (TrkA, TrkB, TrkC) and p75^NTRneurotrophin receptor. Trk receptors promote cell survival and differentiation while p75^NTRinduces, in most cases, the activity of JNK-p53-Bax apoptosis pathway or suppresses intracellular survival signaling cascades. Robust Trk activation blocks p75^NTR-induced apoptosis by suppressing the JNK-p53-Bax pathway. The aim of this exploratory study was to investigate the expression levels of neurotrophin receptors, Trks and p75^NTR, and the activation of JNK pathway in human astrocytomas and in adjacent non-neoplastic brain tissue.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded serial sections from 33 supratentorial astrocytomas (5 diffuse fibrillary astrocytomas, WHO grade II; 6 anaplastic astrocytomas, WHO grade III; 22 glioblastomas multiforme, WHO grade IV) were immunostained following microwave pretreatment. Polyclonal antibodies against TrkA, TrkB, TrkC and monoclonal antibodies against p75^NTRand phosphorylated forms of JNK (pJNK) and c-Jun (pc-Jun) were used. The labeling index (LI), defined as the percentage of positive (labeled) cells out of the total number of tumor cells counted, was determined.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Moderate to strong, granular cytoplasmic immunoreactivity for TrkA, TrkB and TrkC receptors was detected in greater than or equal to 10% of tumor cells in the majority of tumors independently of grade; on the contrary, p75^NTRreceptor expression was found in a small percentage of tumor cells (~1%) in some tumors. The endothelium of tumor capillaries showed conspicuous immunoreactivity for TrkB receptor. Trk immunoreactivity seemed to be localized in some neurons and astrocytes in non-neoplastic tissue. Phosphorylated forms of JNK (pJNK) and c-Jun (pc-Jun) were significantly co-expressed in a tumor grade-dependent manner (p < 0.05). Interestingly, a statistically significant (p < 0.05) reverse relationship between Trk receptors LIs and pc-Jun/pJNK LIs was noted in some glioblastomas multiforme.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>In the context of astrocytomas, Trk receptors (TrkA, TrkB, TrkC) expression may promote tumor growth independently of grade. Furthermore, activation of JNK pathway may contribute to progression towards malignancy. Considering the fact that regional tumor heterogeneity may be a limiting factor for immunohistochemical studies, the significance of the reverse relationship between Trk receptors and pc-Jun/pJNK LIs with respect to biological behavior of human astrocytomas requires further evaluation.</p

Sociolinguistic Features for Author Gender Identification: From Qualitative Evidence to Quantitative Analysis

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Journal of Quantitative Linguistics on 7 October 2016, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/09296174.2016.1226430. The Accepted Manuscript is under embargo. Embargo end date: 7 April 2018.Theoretical and empirical studies prove the strong relationship between social factors and the individual linguistic attitudes. Different social categories, such as gender, age, education, profession and social status, are strongly related with the linguistic diversity of people’s everyday spoken and written interaction. In this paper, sociolinguistic studies addressed to gender differentiation are overviewed in order to identify how various linguistic characteristics differ between women and men. Thereafter, it is examined if and how these qualitative features can become quantitative metrics for the task of gender identification from texts on web blogs. The evaluation results showed that the “syntactic complexity”, the “tag questions”, the “period length”, the “adjectives” and the “vocabulary richness” characteristics seem to be significantly distinctive with respect to the author’s gender.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

Towards disappearing user interfaces for ubiquitous computing: human enhancement from sixth sense to super senses

The enhancement of human senses electronically is possible when pervasive computers interact unnoticeably with humans in Ubiquitous Computing. The design of computer user interfaces towards “disappearing” forces the interaction with humans using a content rather than a menu driven approach, thus the emerging requirement for huge number of non-technical users interfacing intuitively with billions of computers in the Internet of Things is met. Learning to use particular applications in Ubiquitous Computing is either too slow or sometimes impossible so the design of user interfaces must be naturally enough to facilitate intuitive human behaviours. Although humans from different racial, cultural and ethnic backgrounds own the same physiological sensory system, the perception to the same stimuli outside the human bodies can be different. A novel taxonomy for Disappearing User Interfaces (DUIs) to stimulate human senses and to capture human responses is proposed. Furthermore, applications of DUIs are reviewed. DUIs with sensor and data fusion to simulate the Sixth Sense is explored. Enhancement of human senses through DUIs and Context Awareness is discussed as the groundwork enabling smarter wearable devices for interfacing with human emotional memories

Defining and classifying in classroom discourse: Some evidence from Greek pre-school education

Subscribing to Systemic Functional Linguistics approach, this paper examines aspects of decontextualised language, such as classification and definitions, in Greek pre-school instructional contexts. Following the assumption that such decontextualised uses are considered critical to the transition from commonsense to educational knowledge, we attempt a lexicogrammatical analysis of taxonomic meanings occurring in these educational settings. The analysis of instances of classroom discourse in terms of identifying and attributive clauses has shown that classification and definitions, conceived as critical for educational knowledge development, seem to be a reiterated pattern by which teachers recontextualise commonsense meanings into educational knowledge. Different lexicogrammatical realisations of categorisation and definitions with respect to their meaning potentiality are discussed, and evidence of variation in lexicogrammatical choices regarding the continuum from common to uncommon experience is also illustrated. Another point worth mentioning is that social/abstract entities tend to be categorised and/or defined through saying verbs, while physical/ concrete entities through being verbs. This variation appears to be a tendency in reproducing the paradigmatic distinction between physical and social science which characterises actual school discourse from very early school age. © 2008 Taylor &amp; Francis

Metalanguage instruction within an adult literacy program: Lexicogrammar as source for socially meaningful choices

Lexicogrammar as a system for socially situated meaning-making (Systemic Functional Linguistics) and literacy pedagogy were the framework for metalanguage instruction, in close relation with the organization and the social objectives of different everyday texts, within the adult literacy program &quot;Learning for Action&quot; (Adult Education Centers, IDEKE). Our proposal consisted of literacy activities, within which socially situated texts and their social objective -realized through their lexicogrammar as well as through complementary semiotic systems - allow for critical language awareness and the consequent students&apos; (linguistic) action. More particularly, we provide examples from our material, where lexicogrammatical realizations of field and tenor parameters (according to SFL) are used to &quot;unlock the text&quot; (metalanguage instruction), in order the students to comprehend how different lexicogrammatical choices are related to the purpose, the topic, the participants as well as the way in which language resources meet social objectives and therefore are ideologically loaded. In this paper, our main claim is that the approach about language and literacy proposed in this particular program contributes to the development of the &quot;design of meanings&quot; as examples of metalanguage instruction in our data illustrate. © Common Ground, Marianna Kondyli, Christina Lykou

Cerebral laterality for the generation of silent and written language in male and female right- and left- handers: A functional transcranial doppler ultrasound study

Background: The cerebral lateralization of language has attracted great research interest. Nevertheless, the bulk of the work focuses on language production and comprehension; research on cerebral lateralization during writing is limited. Material/ Methods: The present study assessed cerebral lateralization in 60 participants (mean age = 26.65 years, SD = 6.05, range = 20-44), 30 right-handers (14 men) and 30 left-handers (16 men), during written language production by means of functional transcranial Doppler ultrasonography (fTCD) for the first time. Results: Findings show that left-hemispheric lateralization is observed during silent word production, for both left- and right-handers. However, during written word production, the degree of typical (left) hemispheric lateralization was significantly increased for right-handers, while left-handers presented atypical (right) hemispheric lateralization. Importantly, the difference between silent and written word generation was significantly higher in left- compared to right-handers. No main effect of sex or interactions with sex were observed. Conclusions: Findings suggest that a wider network of right-hemispheric areas is used during writing in left-handers. Thus, the known differen - ces in cerebral lateralization between right- and left-handers are stron ger during written language production. However, the rela - tive contribution of language and motor areas needs to be further elucidated. © 2017, Agencja Wydawnicza Medsportpress. All rights reserved

The Psychopathology of Parents of Children and Adolescents with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

Objective: Our purpose was to determine the rates of psychopathology in parents of children and adolescents with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and compare these with that found in parents of children with learning disorders of reading and written expression. Method: Thirty-one children with OCD, aged 8-15 years, and their parents (n = 62), aged 43-48 years, were studied and compared to 30 children with learning disorders, aged 7-16 years, and their parents (n = 58), aged 40-46 years. In order to investigate the parental psychopathology, the Symptom Checklist-90-R (SCL-90-R), the State and Trait Anxiety Inventory and the Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale were administered. The psychopathology of children was examined through the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for school-aged children and other instruments. Results: Both fathers and mothers of the probands differed from the controls in a variety of symptoms (i.e. anxiety, depression, obsessions, etc.). Both parents had increased severity of OC symptomatology in comparison to the controls. In addition, the probands' fathers had severe OC symptomatology at a higher percentage than the mothers and respective controls. Conclusion: The elevated scores of the parents of children with OCD in some SCL-90-R subscales can be perceived as an index of heightened psychopathology. More fathers in the OCD group, compared to mothers and controls, were found to have OC symptoms in the SCL-90-R and increased severity of OC symptoms on the Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale. The last finding requires further study. Parental psychopathology in children with OCD needs to be addressed clinically. Copyright (C) 2010 S. Karger AG, Base