Identification of hypoxanthine as a urine marker for non-Hodgkin lymphoma by low-mass-ion profiling

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) is a hematologic malignancy for which good diagnostic markers are lacking. Despite continued improvement in our understanding of NHL, efforts to identify diagnostic markers have yielded dismal results. Here, we translated low-mass-ion information in urine samples from patients with NHL into a diagnostic marker.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>To minimize experimental error, we tested variable parameters before MALDI-TOF analysis of low-mass ions in urine. Urine from 30 controls and 30 NHL patients was analyzed as a training set for NHL prediction. All individual peak areas were normalized to total area up to 1000 m/z. The training set analysis was repeated four times. Low-mass peaks that were not affected by changes in experimental conditions were collected using MarkerView™ software. Human Metabolome Database (HMDB) searches and ESI LC-MS/MS analyses were used to identify low-mass ions that exhibited differential patterns in control and NHL urines. Identified low-mass ions were validated in a blinded fashion in 95 controls and 66 NHL urines to determine their ability to discriminate NHL patients from controls.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The 30 highest-ranking low-mass-ion peaks were selected from the 60-urine training set, and three low-mass-ion peaks with high intensity were selected for identification. Of these, a 137.08-m/z ion showed lower mass-peak intensity in urines of NHL patients, a result that was validated in a 161-urine blind validation set (95 controls and 66 NHL urines). The 130.08-m/z ion was identified from HMDB searches and ESI LC-MS/MS analyses as hypoxanthine (HX). The HX concentration in urines of NHL patients was significantly decreased (P < 0.001) and was correlated with the mass-peak area of the 137.08-m/z ion. At an HX concentration cutoff of 17.4 μM, sensitivity and specificity were 79.2% and 78.4%, respectively.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The present study represents a good example of low-mass-ion profiling in the setting of disease screening using urine. This technique can be a powerful non-invasive diagnostic tool with high sensitivity and specificity for NHL screening. Furthermore, HX identified in the study may be a useful single urine marker for NHL screening.</p

Bioclimatic Architecture and Urban Morphology. Studies on Intermediate Urban Open Spaces

This paper deals with the interactions between biophysical and microclimatic factors on the one hand with, on the other, the urban morphology of intermediate urban open spaces, the relationship between environmental and bioclimatic thermal comfort, and the implementation of innovative materials and the use of greenery, aimed at the users’ well-being. In particular, the thermal comfort of the open spaces of the consolidated fabrics of the city of Rome is studied, by carrying out simulations of cooling strategies relating to two scenarios applied to Piazza Bainsizza. The first scenario involves the use of cool materials for roofs, cladding surfaces, and pavement, while the second scenario, in addition to the cool materials employed in the first scenario, also includes the use of greenery and permeable green surfaces. The research was performed using summer and winter microclimatic simulations of the CFD (ENVI-met v. 3.1) type, in order to determine the dierent influences of the materials with cold colors, trees, and vegetated surfaces on the thermal comfort of the urban morphology itself. Meanwhile, the comfort assessment was determined through the physiological equivalent temperature (PET) calculated with the RayMan program. The first scenario, with the use of cool materials, improves summer conditions and reduces the urban heat island eect but does not eliminate thermal discomfort due to the lack of shaded surfaces and vegetation. The second scenario, where material renovations is matched with vegetation improvements, has a slightly bad eect on winter conditions but drastically ameliorates the summer situation, both for direct users and, thanks to the strong reduction of the urban heat island eect, to urban inhabitants as a whole

Sharing Space: The Presence of Other Bodies Extends the Space Judged as Near

Background: As social animals we share the space with other people. It is known that perceived extension of the peripersonal space (the reaching space) is affected by the implicit representation of our own and other's action potentialities. Our issue concerns whether the co-presence of a body in the scene influences our extrapersonal space (beyond reaching distance) categorization. Methodology/Principal Findings: We investigated, through 3D virtual scenes of a realistic environment, whether egocentric spatial categorization can be influenced by the presence of another human body (Exp. 1) and whether the effect is due to her action potentialities or simply to her human-like morphology (Exp. 2). Subjects were asked to judge the location ("Near" or "Far") of a target object located at different distances from their egocentric perspective. In Exp. 1, the judgment was given either in presence of a virtual avatar (Self-with-Other), or a non-corporeal object (Self-with-Object) or nothing (Self). In Exp. 2, the Self condition was replaced by a Self-with-Dummy condition, in which an inanimate body (a wooden dummy) was present. Mean Judgment Transition Thresholds (JTTs) were calculated for each subject in each experimental condition. Self-with-Other condition induced a significant extension of the space judged as "Near" as compared to both the Selfwith- Object condition and the Self condition. Such extension was observed also in Exp. 2 in the Self-with-Dummy condition. Results suggest that the presence of others impacts on our perception of extrapersonal space. This effect holds also when the other is a human-like wooden dummy, suggesting that structural and morphological shapes resembling human bodies are sufficient conditions for the effect to occur. Conclusions: The observed extension of the portion of space judged as near could represent a wider portion of "accessible" space, thus an advantage in the struggle to survive in presence of other potential competing individuals

Observation of an Excited Bc+ State

Using pp collision data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 8.5 fb-1 recorded by the LHCb experiment at center-of-mass energies of s=7, 8, and 13 TeV, the observation of an excited Bc+ state in the Bc+π+π- invariant-mass spectrum is reported. The observed peak has a mass of 6841.2±0.6(stat)±0.1(syst)±0.8(Bc+) MeV/c2, where the last uncertainty is due to the limited knowledge of the Bc+ mass. It is consistent with expectations of the Bc∗(2S31)+ state reconstructed without the low-energy photon from the Bc∗(1S31)+→Bc+γ decay following Bc∗(2S31)+→Bc∗(1S31)+π+π-. A second state is seen with a global (local) statistical significance of 2.2σ (3.2σ) and a mass of 6872.1±1.3(stat)±0.1(syst)±0.8(Bc+) MeV/c2, and is consistent with the Bc(2S10)+ state. These mass measurements are the most precise to date

Cytocompatibility of Medical Biomaterials Containing Nickel by Osteoblasts: a Systematic Literature Review

The present review is based on a survey of 21 studies on the cytocompatibility of medical biomaterials containing nickel, as assessed by cell culture of human and animal osteoblasts or osteoblast-like cells. Among the biomaterials evaluated were stainless steel, NiTi alloys, pure Ni, Ti, and other pure metals. The materials were either commercially available, prepared by the authors, or implanted by various techniques to generate a protective layer of oxides, nitrides, acetylides. The observation that the layers significantly reduced the initial release of metal ions and increased cytocompatibility was confirmed in cell culture experiments. Physical and chemical characterization of the materials was performed. This included, e.g., surface characterization (roughness, wettability, corrosion behavior, quantity of released ions, microhardness, and characterization of passivation layer). Cytocompatibility tests of the materials were conducted in the cultures of human or animal osteoblasts and osteoblast-like cells. The following assays were carried out: cell proliferation and viability test, adhesion test, morphology (by fluorescent microscopy or SEM). Also phenotypic and genotypic markers were investigated. In the majority of works, it was found that the most cytocompatible materials were stainless steel and NiTi alloy. Pure Ni was rendered and less cytocompatible. All the papers confirmed that the consequence of the formation of protective layers was in significant increase of cytocompatibility of the materials. This indicates the possible further modifications of the manufacturing process (formation of the passivation layer)

Determination of the number of wounded nucleons in Pb+Pb collisions at 158 A GeV/c

The charged particle multiplicity distributions measured by two experiments, WA97 and NA57, in Pb+Pb collisions at 158 A GeV/c have been analyzed in the framework of the wounded nucleon model (WNM). We obtain a good description of the data within the centrality range of our samples. This allows us to make use of the measured multiplicities to estimate the number of wounded nucleons of the collision

Shared polygenic risk and causal inferences in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

Objective To identify shared polygenic risk and causal associations in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Methods Linkage disequilibrium score regression and Mendelian randomization were applied in a large-scale, data-driven manner to explore genetic correlations and causal relationships between >700 phenotypic traits and ALS. Exposures consisted of publicly available genome-wide association studies (GWASes) summary statistics from MR Base and LD-hub. The outcome data came from the recently published ALS GWAS involving 20,806 cases and 59,804 controls. Multivariate analyses, genetic risk profiling, and Bayesian colocalization analyses were also performed. Results We have shown, by linkage disequilibrium score regression, that ALS shares polygenic risk genetic factors with a number of traits and conditions, including positive correlations with smoking status and moderate levels of physical activity, and negative correlations with higher cognitive performance, higher educational attainment, and light levels of physical activity. Using Mendelian randomization, we found evidence that hyperlipidemia is a causal risk factor for ALS and localized putative functional signals within loci of interest. Interpretation Here, we have developed a public resource () which we hope will become a valuable tool for the ALS community, and that will be expanded and updated as new data become available. Shared polygenic risk exists between ALS and educational attainment, physical activity, smoking, and tenseness/restlessness. We also found evidence that elevated low-desnity lipoprotein cholesterol is a causal risk factor for ALS. Future randomized controlled trials should be considered as a proof of causality. Ann Neurol 2019;85:470-481Peer reviewe

An overview of burst, buckling, durability and corrosion analysis of lightweight FRP composite pipes and their applicability

© 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.The main aim of this review article was to address the performance of filament wound fibre reinforced polymer (FRP) composite pipes and their critical properties, such as burst, buckling, durability and corrosion. The importance of process parameters concerning merits and demerits of the manufacturing methods was discussed for the better-quality performance. Burst analysis revealed that the winding angle of ±55° was observed to be optimum with minimum failure mechanisms, such as matrix cracking, whitening, leakage and fracture. The reduction of buckling effect was reported in case of lower hoop stress value in the hoop to axial stress ratio against axial, compression and torsion. A significant improvement in energy absorption was observed in the hybrid composite pipes with the effect of thermal treatment. However, the varying winding angle in FRP pipe fabrication was reported as an influencing factor affecting all the aforementioned properties. Almost 90% of the reviewed studies was done using E-glass/epoxy materials for the composite pipe production. By overcoming associated limitations, such as replacing synthetic materials, designing new material combinations and cost-benefit analysis, the production cost of the lightweight FRP composite pipes can be decreased for the real-time applications.Peer reviewe

Measurement of associated charm production induced by 400 GeV/c protons

An important input for the interpretation of the measurements of the SHiP ex- periment is a good knowledge of the differential charm production cross section, including cascade production. This is a proposal to measure the associated charm production cross section, employing the SPS 400 GeV/c proton beam and a replica of the first two interaction lengths of the SHiP target. The detection of the produc- tion and decay of charmed hadron in the target will be performed through nuclear emulsion films, employed in an Emulsion Cloud Chamber target structure. In order to measure charge and momentum of decay daughters, we intend to build a mag- netic spectrometer using silicon pixel, scintillating fibre and drift tube detectors. A muon tagger will be built using RPCs. An optimization run is scheduled in 2018, while the full measurement will be performed after the second LHC Long Shutdown