Are Cell Death Proteins/Antigens Found on Interdigital Cells Dying During Limb Development Expressed in a Simple Organism Such As Tetrahymena?

Numerous studies have been published that describe the genes and proteins that control cell death in various biological systems including normal embryonic development and in disease such as cancer. We describe attempts to look at a possible conserved cell death antigen in the simple organism Tetrahymena, using a unique monoclonal antibody that recognizes only dying cells in the chick limb. The main impetus for the research is to answer the question; does the cell death process have key proteins that exist in the dying process that can be modulated prior to the completion of the cell death process? Using various stimuli to induce cell death in tetrahymena thermophila including staurosporine, hypoxia and other know cell death modulators, we describe the preliminary methods used to verify that cells across two species may express conserved cell death proteins at certain times during the death process. The goal is to demonstrate that normal interdigit cell death is an ideal system for isolating programmed cell death antigens and provides a way to identify common mediators/markers in other model systems such as tetrahymena thermophila

A Pharmacogenomic and Protein Analysis of Human Lacrimal Fluid in Varying Age Groups

Proteins are large biological molecules located within all cells. They are considered the basic functional components of cells that allow them to operate appropriately. Genes consist of both DNA and RNA, and are the cellular components that code for the proteins. A biomarker is any cellular component that is an indication of a biological state. Therefore, genetic and protein biomarkers are specific genes and proteins, respectively, present in cells that indicate a specific biological state of a cell. Identification of proteins and genetic biomarkers in relative quantities has been found to reflect various disease states and age groups in humans. Comparisons of possible techniques for collecting lacrimal fluids from human subjects which could potentially be utilized in the design of the study

Protein Analysis of Human Lacrimal Fluid in Varying Age Groups

Purpose: The objective of this research project was to identify proteins secreted from human lacrimal fluids onto the extra-ocular surface of the eye that could be later used to predict eye health, disease, and age-related changes. The identification of specific lacrimal proteins in relative quantities and patterns in younger versus older patients may reflect both ocular and extra-ocular disease states. Methods: This observational study collected samples of lacrimal fluid from 20 subjects between the ages of 18 and 25 years and 20 subjects over the age of 50 years with the use of Schirmer strips. The protein composition of these lacrimal fluid samples was then analyzed to determine specific proteins that evidenced unique patterns among the subject populations. Results: The protein concentrations between the two age groups (n = 40) was significantly higher in the younger patient group (1408.3 ug/mL versus 1152.5 ug/mL, p = 0.03). No consistent qualitative differences in the protein bands were observed between the two different patient age groups. However, excising and analyzing the outlying protein bands revealed unique proteins within the older patient group (aldehyde dehydrogenase and serotransferrin precursor). Preliminary attempts were made to determine the presence of proteins in lacrimal fluid that may originate from cells lining the ducts and blood vessels associated with the ocular environment. Conclusion: These preliminary results in age related differences in eye lacrimal fluid will contribute to future research endeavors in order to determine which specific proteins were increased or decreased quantitatively in the younger population, if any, and what role they might have in eye health, disease, and age-related changes

Efficacy and safety of oral semaglutide in patients with type 2 diabetes and moderate renal impairment (PIONEER 5): a placebo-controlled, randomised, phase 3a trial

Background: Oral semaglutide is the first oral glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist for glycaemic control in patients with type 2 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes is commonly associated with renal impairment, restricting treatment options. We aimed to investigate the efficacy and safety of oral semaglutide in patients with type 2 diabetes and moderate renal impairment. Methods: This randomised, double-blind, phase 3a trial was undertaken at 88 sites in eight countries. Patients aged 18 years and older, with type 2 diabetes, an estimated glomerular filtration rate of 30–59 mL/min per 1·73 m2, and who had been receiving a stable dose of metformin or sulfonylurea, or both, or basal insulin with or without metformin for the past 90 days were eligible. Participants were randomly assigned (1:1) by use of an interactive web-response system, with stratification by glucose-lowering medication and renal function, to receive oral semaglutide (dose escalated to 14 mg once daily) or matching placebo for 26 weeks, in addition to background medication. Participants and site staff were masked to assignment. Two efficacy-related estimands were defined: treatment policy (regardless of treatment discontinuation or rescue medication) and trial product (on treatment without rescue medication) in all participants randomly assigned. Endpoints were change from baseline to week 26 in HbA1c (primary endpoint) and bodyweight (confirmatory secondary endpoint), assessed in all participants with sufficient data. Safety was assessed in all participants who received at least one dose of study drug. This trial is registered on ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT02827708, and the European Clinical Trials Registry, number EudraCT 2015-005326-19, and is now complete. Findings: Between Sept 20, 2016, and Sept 29, 2017, of 721 patients screened, 324 were eligible and randomly assigned to oral semaglutide (n=163) or placebo (n=161). Mean age at baseline was 70 years (SD 8), and 168 (52%) of participants were female. 133 (82%) participants in the oral semaglutide group and 141 (88%) in the placebo group completed 26 weeks on treatment. At 26 weeks, oral semaglutide was superior to placebo in decreasing HbA1c (estimated mean change of −1·0 percentage point (SE 0·1; −11 mmol/mol [SE 0·8]) vs −0·2 percentage points (SE 0·1; −2 mmol/mol [SE 0·8]); estimated treatment difference [ETD]: −0·8 percentage points, 95% CI −1·0 to −0·6;

A Bounded Actor-Critic Reinforcement Learning Algorithm Applied to Airline Revenue Management

Reinforcement Learning (RL) is an artificial intelligence technique used to solve Markov and semi-Markov decision processes. Actor critics form a major class of RL algorithms that suffer from a critical deficiency, which is that the values of the so-called actor in these algorithms can become very large causing computer overflow. In practice, hence, one has to artificially constrain these values, via a projection, and at times further use temperature-reduction tuning parameters in the popular Boltzmann action-selection schemes to make the algorithm deliver acceptable results. This artificial bounding and temperature reduction, however, do not allow for full exploration of the state space, which often leads to sub-optimal solutions on large-scale problems. We propose a new actor—critic algorithm in which (i) the actor\u27s values remain bounded without any projection and (ii) no temperature-reduction tuning parameter is needed. The algorithm also represents a significant improvement over a recent version in the literature, where although the values remain bounded they usually become very large in magnitude, necessitating the use of a temperature-reduction parameter. Our new algorithm is tested on an important problem in an area of management science known as airline revenue management, where the state-space is very large. The algorithm delivers encouraging computational behavior, outperforming a well-known industrial heuristic called EMSR-b on industrial data

SPECIES DIVERSITY AND HABITAT COMPLEXITY: DOES VEGETATION ORGANIZE VERTEBRATE COMMUNITIES IN THE GREAT BASIN?

Volume: 46Start Page: 711End Page: 72

The Helena Free Press

Weekly newspaper from Helena, Oklahoma Territory that includes local, territorial, and United States national news along with advertising

The Helena Free Press

Weekly newspaper from Helena, Oklahoma Territory that includes local, territorial, and United States national news along with advertising

The Helena Free Press

Weekly newspaper from Helena, Oklahoma Territory that includes local, territorial, and United States national news along with advertising

The Helena Free Press

Weekly newspaper from Helena, Oklahoma Territory that includes local, territorial, and United States national news along with advertising