407 research outputs found
Hyperuricemic Renal Failure in Nonhematologic Solid Tumors: A Case Report and Review of the Literature
Tumor lysis syndrome (TLS) is an oncologic emergency that is caused by massive tumor cell lysis. It is commonly associated with hematological cancers like leukemia and lymphoma and uncommonly with solid nonhematologic tumors as well. However, spontaneous tumor lysis syndrome (STLS) without any cytotoxic chemotherapy rarely occurs in solid tumors. We describe a case of STLS in a metastatic adenocarcinoma of unknown primary and review the literature of STLS in solid non-hematologic tumors to identify various risk factors for pathogenesis of this entity
The TAOS Project Stellar Variability I. Detection of Low-Amplitude delta Scuti Stars
We analyzed data accumulated during 2005 and 2006 by the Taiwan-American
Occultation Survey (TAOS) in order to detect short-period variable stars
(periods of <~ 1 hour) such as delta Scuti. TAOS is designed for the detection
of stellar occultation by small-size Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs) and is
operating four 50cm telescopes at an effective cadence of 5Hz. The four
telescopes simultaneously monitor the same patch of the sky in order to reduce
false positives. To detect short-period variables, we used the Fast Fourier
Transform algorithm (FFT) inasmuch as the data points in TAOS light-curves are
evenly spaced. Using FFT, we found 41 short-period variables with amplitudes
smaller than a few hundredths of a magnitude and periods of about an hour,
which suggest that they are low-amplitude delta Scuti stars (LADS). The
light-curves of TAOS delta Scuti stars are accessible online at the Time Series
Center website (http://timemachine.iic.harvard.edu)Comment: Accepted for publication in A
A transcriptomic analysis of serial-cultured, tonsil-derived mesenchymal stem cells reveals decreased integrin α3 protein as a potential biomarker of senescent cells
Abstract
Background
Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have been widely used for stem cell therapy, and serial passage of stem cells is often required to obtain sufficient cell numbers for practical applications in regenerative medicine. A long-term serial cell expansion can potentially induce replicative senescence, which leads to a progressive decline in stem cell function and stemness, losing multipotent characteristics. To improve the therapeutic efficiency of stem cell therapy, it would be important to identify specific biomarkers for senescent cells.
Methods
Tonsil-derived mesenchymal stem cells (TMSCs) with 20–25 passages were designated as culture-aged TMSCs, and their mesodermal differentiation potentials as well as markers of senescence and stemness were compared with the control TMSCs passaged up to 8 times at the most (designated as young). A whole-genome analysis was used to identify novel regulatory factors that distinguish between the culture-aged and control TMSCs. The identified markers of replicative senescence were validated using Western blot analyses.
Results
The culture-aged TMSCs showed longer doubling time compared to control TMSCs and had higher expression of senescence-associated (SA)-β-gal staining but lower expression of the stemness protein markers, including Nanog, Oct4, and Sox2 with decreased adipogenic, osteogenic, and chondrogenic differentiation potentials. Microarray analyses identified a total of 18,614 differentially expressed genes between the culture-aged and control TMSCs. The differentially expressed genes were classified into the Gene Ontology categories of cellular component (CC), functional component (FC), and biological process (BP) using KEGG (Kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes) pathway analysis. This analysis revealed that those genes associated with CC and BP showed the most significant difference between the culture-aged and control TMSCs. The genes related to extracellular matrix-receptor interactions were also shown to be significantly different (p < 0.001). We also found that culture-aged TMSCs had decreased expressions of integrin α3 (ITGA3) and phosphorylated AKT protein (p-AKT-Ser473) compared to the control TMSCs.
Conclusions
Our data suggest that activation of ECM-receptor signaling, specifically involved with integrin family-mediated activation of the intracellular cell survival-signaling molecule AKT, can regulate stem cell senescence in TMSCs. Among these identified factors, ITGA3 was found to be a representative biomarker of the senescent TMSCs. Exclusion of the TMSCs with the senescent TMSC markers in this study could potentially increase the therapeutic efficacy of TMSCs in clinical applications
Interaction between Genetic Risk Scores for Reduced Pulmonary Function and Smoking, Asthma and Endotoxin
Rationale Genome-wide association studies (GWASs) have identified numerous loci associated with lower pulmonary function. Pulmonary function is strongly related to smoking and has also been associated with asthma and dust endotoxin. At the individual SNP level, genome-wide analyses of pulmonary function have not identified appreciable evidence for gene by environment interactions. Genetic Risk Scores (GRSs) may enhance power to identify gene–environment interactions, but studies are few. Methods We analysed 2844 individuals of European ancestry with 1000 Genomes imputed GWAS data from a case–control study of adult asthma nested within a US agricultural cohort. Pulmonary function traits were FEV1, FVC and FEV1/FVC. Using data from a recent large meta-analysis of GWAS, we constructed a weighted GRS for each trait by combining the top (p value\u3c5×10−9) genetic variants, after clumping based on distance (±250 kb) and linkage disequilibrium (r2=0.5). We used linear regression, adjusting for relevant covariates, to estimate associations of each trait with its GRS and to assess interactions. Results Each trait was highly significantly associated with its GRS (all three p values\u3c8.9×10−8). The inverse association of the GRS with FEV1/FVC was stronger for current smokers (pinteraction=0.017) or former smokers (pinteraction=0.064) when compared with never smokers and among asthmatics compared with non-asthmatics (pinteraction=0.053). No significant interactions were observed between any GRS and house dust endotoxin. Conclusions Evaluation of interactions using GRSs supports a greater impact of increased genetic susceptibility on reduced pulmonary function in the presence of smoking or asthma
Alkyl Glycosides from the Flowers of Magnolia obovata
Abstract The flowers of Magnolia obovata were extracted with aqueous MeOH and fractionated into EtOAc, n-BuOH, and H 2 O fractination. Three alkyl glycosides were isolated from the EtOAc fraction through repeated silica gel and ODS column chromatography. The structures were identified to be 2-methylbutan-1-ol-β-Dgalacto-pyranoside (1), 2-methylbutan-1-ol-β-D-glucopyranoside (2), and 2-methylpropan-1-ol-β-D-glucopyranoside (3) on the basis of spectroscopic analyses such as fast atom bombardment mass spectrometry, infrared spectroscopy, 1D nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) ( 1 H and 13 C-NMR), and 2D NMR (gCOSY, gHSQC, and gHMBC). These compounds were isolated for the first time from the flower of M. obovata in this study
Measurement Of |V_ub| From Inclusive Charmless Semileptonic B Decays
We present the partial branching fraction for inclusive charmless
semileptonic B decays and the corresponding value of the CKM matrix element
|Vub|, using a multivariate analysis method to access ~90% of the B -> Xu l nu
phase space. This approach dramatically reduces the theoretical uncertainties
from the b-quark mass and non-perturbative QCD compared to all previous
inclusive measurements. The results are based on a sample of 657 million B
-Bbar pairs collected with the Belle detector. We find that Delta BR(B -> Xu l
nu; p^*B_l>1.0 GeV/c=1.963 x (1 +/- 0.088(stat.) +/- 0.081(sys.)) x 10^-3.
Corresponding values of |Vub| are extracted using several theoretical
calculations.Comment: 9 pages, 1 figure, 2 tables. Published in PR
Search for CP violation in the decays and
We have searched for CP violation in the charmed meson decays and using 673 fb of data
collected with the Belle detector at the KEKB asymmetric-energy
collider. No evidence for CP violation is observed. We report the most
sensitive CP asymmetry measurements to date for these decays: , , , and , where the first uncertainties are statistical and
the second are systematic
Search for CP Violation in the Decays
We have searched for CP violation in the decays
where denotes a neutral pseudo-scalar meson which is either a ,
, or using KEKB asymmetric-energy collision data
corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 791 fb collected with the
Belle detector. No evidence of significant CP violation is observed. We report
the most precise CP asymmetry measurement in the decay to date: . We also report the first measurements of
CP asymmetries in the decays and : and , respectively
Dalitz analysis of B --> K pi psi' decays and the Z(4430)+
From a Dalitz plot analysis of B --> K pi psi' decays, we find a signal for
Z(4430)+ --> pi+ psi' with a mass M= (4443(+15-12)(+19-13))MeV/c^2, width
Gamma= (107(+86-43)(+74-56))MeV, product branching fraction BR(B0 --> K-
Z(4430)+) x BR(Z(4430)+ --> pi+ psi')= (3.2(+1.8-0.9)(+5.3-1.6)) x 10^{-5}, and
significance of 6.4sigma that agrees with previous Belle measurements based on
the same data sample. In addition, we determine the branching fraction BR(B^0
--> K*(892)^0 psi')= (5.52(+0.35-0.32)(+0.53-0.58)) x 10^{-4} and the fraction
of K*(892)^0 mesons that are longitudinally polarized f_L=
44.8(+4.0-2.7)(+4.0-5.3)%. These results are obtained from a 605fb^{-1} data
sample that contains 657 million B-anti-B pairs collected near the Upsilon(4S)
resonance with the Belle detector at the KEKB asymmetric energy e+e- collider.Comment: Final version published in PRD(RC
Evidence for a new resonance and search for the Y(4140) in
The process \gamma \gamma \to \phi \jpsi is measured for \phi \jpsi
masses between threshold and 5 GeV/, using a data sample of 825
fb collected with the Belle detector. A narrow peak of
events, with a significance of 3.2 standard deviations
including systematic uncertainty, is observed. The mass and natural width of
the structure (named X(4350)) are measured to be
and
, respectively. The
product of its two-photon decay width and branching fraction to \phi\jpsi is
for , or
for . No
signal for the Y(4140)\to \phi \jpsi structure reported by the CDF
Collaboration in B\to K^+ \phi \jpsi decays is observed, and limits of
\Gamma_{\gamma \gamma}(Y(4140)) \BR(Y(4140)\to\phi \jpsi)<41 \hbox{eV} for
or for are determined at the 90% C.L. This
disfavors the scenario in which the Y(4140) is a molecule.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures, publication in Phys. Rev. Lett. 104, 112004, 201
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