4,4′-Trimethyl­enedipiperidiniumbenzene-1,4-dicarboxyl­ate

The hydro­thermal reaction of benzene-1,4-dicarboxylic acid and 4,4′-trimethyl­ene dipiperidine leads to the formation of the title compound, C13H28N2 2+·C8H4O4 2−. The anion is located on a center of inversion whereas the cation is positioned on a twofold rotation axis. In the crystal structure, the anions and cations are linked by N—H⋯O and N—H⋯(O,O) hydrogen bonds

Individualized Storyline-based News Topic Retrospection

It takes a great effort for common news readers to track events promptly, and not to mention that they can retrospect them precisely after it occurred for a long time period. Although topic detection and tracking techniques have been developed to promptly identify and keep track of similar events in a topic and monitor their progress, the cognitive load remains for a reader to digest these reports. A storyline-based summarization may facilitate readers to recall occurred events in a topic by extracting informative sentences of news reports to compose a concise summary with essential episodes. This paper proposes SToRe (Story-line based Topic Retrospection), that identifies events from news reports and composes a storyline summary to portray the event evolution in a topic. It consists of three main functions: event identification, main storyline construction and storyline-based summarization. The main storyline guides the extraction of representative sentences from news articles to summarize occurred events. This study demonstrates that different topic term sets result in different storylines, and in turn, different summaries. This adaptation is useful for users to review occurred news topics in different storylines

Apoptotic Sphingolipid Ceramide in Cancer Therapy

Apoptosis, also called programmed cell death, is physiologically and pathologically involved in cellular homeostasis. Escape of apoptotic signaling is a critical strategy commonly used for cancer tumorigenesis. Ceramide, a derivative of sphingolipid breakdown products, acts as second messenger for multiple extracellular stimuli including growth factors, chemical agents, and environmental stresses, such as hypoxia, and heat stress as well as irradiation. Also, ceramide acts as tumor-suppressor lipid because a variety of stress stimuli cause apoptosis by increasing intracellular ceramide to initiate apoptotic signaling. Defects on ceramide generation and sphingolipid metabolism are developed for cancer cell survival and cancer therapy resistance. Alternatively, targeting ceramide metabolism to correct these defects might provide opportunities to overcome cancer therapy resistance

The influence of expertise and experimental paradigms on the visual behavior of tennis athletes in returning a serve

To return a serve, one must pick up information from the server’s kinematics and anticipate the ball trajectory. Although the perceptual requirements are important, the literature diverges in terms of the differences between experts and novices as well as the importance of the experimental paradigm (in-situ vs. video-based) for the results. This study aimed to address both concerns. We compared experts’ (n=7, 20.6±1.1 years of age) and novices’ (n=7, 20.0±0.4 years of age) visual pattern when returning a serve (Experiment 1) and the influence of the experimental paradigm in experts (Experiment 2). Experts fixated more and longer the upper body and ball, while novices showed a more distributed pattern and with longer fixations outside of the server’s body. Also, the pattern was different when comparing in-situ and laboratory settings, differing mainly in fixation frequency. The influence of expertise was observed in qualitative (relative) and quantitative (absolute) measures of visual behavior with the setting having an important influence. Thus, studies should be as close to the actual situation if trying to understand experts’ behavior

CAPIH: A Web interface for comparative analyses and visualization of host-HIV protein-protein interactions

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The Human Immunodeficiency Virus type one (HIV-1) is the major causing pathogen of the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). A large number of HIV-1-related studies are based on three non-human model animals: chimpanzee, rhesus macaque, and mouse. However, the differences in host-HIV-1 interactions between human and these model organisms have remained unexplored.</p> <p>Description</p> <p>Here we present CAPIH (Comparative Analysis of Protein Interactions for HIV-1), the first web-based interface to provide comparative information between human and the three model organisms in the context of host-HIV-1 protein interactions. CAPIH identifies genetic changes that occur in HIV-1-interacting host proteins. In a total of 1,370 orthologous protein sets, CAPIH identifies ~86,000 amino acid substitutions, ~21,000 insertions/deletions, and ~33,000 potential post-translational modifications that occur only in one of the four compared species. CAPIH also provides an interactive interface to display the host-HIV-1 protein interaction networks, the presence/absence of orthologous proteins in the model organisms in the networks, the genetic changes that occur in the protein nodes, and the functional domains and potential protein interaction hot sites that may be affected by the genetic changes. The CAPIH interface is freely accessible at <url>http://bioinfo-dbb.nhri.org.tw/capih</url>.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>CAPIH exemplifies that large divergences exist in disease-associated proteins between human and the model animals. Since all of the newly developed medications must be tested in model animals before entering clinical trials, it is advisable that comparative analyses be performed to ensure proper translations of animal-based studies. In the case of AIDS, the host-HIV-1 protein interactions apparently have differed to a great extent among the compared species. An integrated protein network comparison among the four species will probably shed new lights on AIDS studies.</p

Role of T Cells in Type 2 Diabetic Nephropathy

Type 2 diabetic nephropathy (DN) is the most common cause of end-stage renal disease and is increasingly considered as an inflammatory disease characterized by leukocyte infiltration at every stage of renal involvement. Inflammation and activation of the immune system are closely involved in the pathogenesis of diabetes and its microvascular complications. Macrophage has been well recognized to play an important role in type 2 DN, leukocyte infiltration, and participated in process of DN, as was proposed recently. Th1, Th2, Th17, T reg, and cytotoxic T cells are involved in the development and progression of DN. The purpose of this review is to assemble current information concerning the role of T cells in the development and progression of type 2 DN. Specific emphasis is placed on the potential interaction and contribution of the T cells to renal damage. The therapeutic strategies involving T cells in the treatment of type 2 DN are also reviewed. Improving knowledge of the recognition of T cells as significant pathogenic mediators in DN reinforces the possibility of new potential therapeutic targets translated into future clinical treatments

Factors Predicting Emotional Cue-Responding Behaviors of Nurses in Taiwan: An Observational Study

Objective Responding to emotional cues is an essential element of therapeutic communication. The purpose of this study is to examine nurses' competence of responding to emotional cues (CRE) and related factors while interacting with standardized patients with cancer. Methods This is an exploratory and predictive correlational study. A convenience sample of registered nurses who have passed the probationary period in southern Taiwan was recruited to participate in 15-minute videotaped interviews with standardized patients. The Medical Interview Aural Rating Scale was used to describe standardized patients' emotional cues and to measure nurses' CRE. The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory was used to evaluate nurses' anxiety level before the conversation. We used descriptive statistics to describe the data and stepwise regression to examine the predictors of nurses' CRE. Results A total of 110 nurses participated in the study. Regardless of the emotional cue level, participants predominately responded to cues with inappropriate distancing strategies. Prior formal communication training, practice unit, length of nursing practice, and educational level together explain 36.3% variances of the nurses' CRE. Conclusions This study is the first to explore factors related to Taiwanese nurses' CRE. Compared to nurses in other countries, Taiwanese nurses tended to respond to patients' emotional cues with more inappropriate strategies. We also identified significant predictors of CRE that show the importance of communication training. Future research and education programs are needed to enhance nurses' CRE and to advocate for emotion-focused communication