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Editorial Materia

Invariant integration on orthosymplectic and unitary supergroups

The orthosymplectic supergroup OSp(m|2n) and unitary supergroup U(p|q) are studied following a new approach that starts from Harish-Chandra pairs and links the sheaf-theoretical supermanifold approach of Berezin and others with the differential geometry approach of Rogers and others. The matrix elements of the fundamental representation of the Lie supergroup G are expressed in terms of functions on the product supermanifold G_0 x R^{0|N}, with G_0 the underlying Lie group and N the odd dimension of G. This product supermanifold is isomorphic to the supermanifold of G. This leads to a new expression for the standard generators of the corresponding Lie superalgebra g as invariant derivations on G. Using these results a new and transparent formula for the invariant integrals on OSp(m|2n) and U(p|q) is obtained

Organized crime and preventive justice

By comparison with the prevention of terrorism, the prevention of acts of organizedcrime might be thought easier to conceptualize precisely and less controversial to legislate against and police. This impression is correct up to a point, because it is possible to arrive at some general characteristics of organized crime, and because legislation against it is not obviously bedevilled by the risk of violating civil or political rights, as in the case of terrorism. But there is a significant residue of legal, moral and political difficulty: legislation against organized crime is hard to make effective; the harm of organized crime is not uniform, and so some preventive legislation seems too sweeping and potentially unjust. More fundamentally, the scale and rewards of organized crime are often dependent on mass public participation in markets for proscribed goods, which may point to a hidden public consensus in favour of some of what is criminalized. Preventive policing and legislation in both areas, then, are less easily justified than first appears

Absence of annexin I expression in B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphomas and cell lines

BACKGROUND: Annexin I, one of the 20 members of the annexin family of calcium and phospholipid-binding proteins, has been implicated in diverse biological processes including signal transduction, mediation of apoptosis and immunosuppression. Previous studies have shown increased annexin I expression in pancreatic and breast cancers, while it is absent in prostate and esophageal cancers. RESULTS: Data presented here show that annexin I mRNA and protein are undetectable in 10 out of 12 B-cell lymphoma cell lines examined. Southern blot analysis indicates that the annexin I gene is intact in B-cell lymphoma cell lines. Aberrant methylation was examined as a cause for lack of annexin I expression by treating cells 5-Aza-2-deoxycytidine. Reexpression of annexin I was observed after prolonged treatment with the demethylating agent indicating methylation may be one of the mechanisms of annexin I silencing. Treatment of Raji and OMA-BL-1 cells with lipopolysaccharide, an inflammation inducer, and with hydrogen peroxide, a promoter of oxidative stress, also failed to induce annexin I expression. Annexin I expression was examined in primary lymphoma tissues by immunohistochemistry and presence of annexin I in a subset of normal B-cells and absence of annexin I expression in the lymphoma tissues were observed. These results show that annexin I is expressed in normal B-cells, and its expression is lost in all primary B-cell lymphomas and 10 of 12 B-cell lymphoma cell lines. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that, similar to prostate and esophageal cancers, annexin I may be an endogenous suppressor of cancer development, and loss of annexin I may contribute to B-cell lymphoma development

Tissue microarray analysis reveals a tight correlation between protein expression pattern and progression of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma

BACKGROUND: The development of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) progresses a multistage process, collectively known as precursor lesions, also called dysplasia (DYS) and carcinoma in situ (CIS), subsequent invasive lesions and final metastasis. In this study, we are interested in investigating the expression of a variety of functional classes of proteins in ESCC and its precursor lesions and characterizing the correlation of these proteins with ESCC malignant progression. METHODS: Fas, FADD, caspase 8, CDC25B, fascin, CK14, CK4, annexin I, laminin-5γ2 and SPARC were analyzed using immunohistochemistry on tissue microarray containing 205 ESCC and 173 adjacent precursor lesions as well as corresponding normal mucosa. To confirm the immunohistochemical results, three proteins, fascin, CK14 and laminin-5γ2, which were overexpressed in ESCC on tissue microarray, were detected in 12 ESCC cell lines by Western blot assay. RESULTS: In ESCC and its precursor lesions, FADD, CDC25B, fascin, CK14, laminin-5γ2 and SPARC were overexpressed, while Fas, caspase 8, CK4 and annexin I were underexpressed. The abnormalities of these proteins could be classified into different groups in relation to the stages of ESCC development. They were "early" corresponding to mild and moderate DYS with overexpression of fascin, FADD and CDC25B and underexpression of Fas, caspase 8, CK4 and annexin I, "intermediate" to severe DYS and CIS with overexpression of FADD and CK14, and "late" to invasive lesions (ESCC) and to advanced pTNM stage ESCC lesions with overexpression of CK14, laminin-5γ2 and SPARC. CONCLUSION: Analyzing the protein expression patterns of Fas, FADD, caspase 8, CDC25B, fascin, CK14, CK4, annexin I, laminin-5γ2 and SPARC would be valuable to develop rational strategies for early detection of lesions at risk in advance as well as for prevention and treatment of ESCC

Protein Co-Expression Analysis as a Strategy to Complement a Standard Quantitative Proteomics Approach:Case of a Glioblastoma Multiforme Study

Although correlation network studies from co-expression analysis are increasingly popular, they are rarely applied to proteomics datasets. Protein co-expression analysis provides a complementary view of underlying trends, which can be overlooked by conventional data analysis. The core of the present study is based on Weighted Gene Co-expression Network Analysis applied to a glioblastoma multiforme proteomic dataset. Using this method, we have identified three main modules which are associated with three different membrane associated groups; mitochondrial, endoplasmic reticulum, and a vesicle fraction. The three networks based on protein co-expression were assessed against a publicly available database (STRING) and show a statistically significant overlap. Each of the three main modules were de-clustered into smaller networks using different strategies based on the identification of highly connected networks, hierarchical clustering and enrichment of Gene Ontology functional terms. Most of the highly connected proteins found in the endoplasmic reticulum module were associated with redox activity while a core of the unfolded protein response was identified in addition to proteins involved in oxidative stress pathways. The proteins composing the electron transfer chain were found differently affected with proteins from mitochondrial Complex I being more down-regulated than proteins from Complex III. Finally, the two pyruvate kinases isoforms show major differences in their co-expressed protein networks suggesting roles in different cellular locations