Tissue microarray analysis of eIF4E and its downstream effector proteins in human breast cancer

Correction to Kleiner HE, Krishnan P, Tubbs J, Smith M, Meschonat C, Shi R, Lowery-Nordberg M, Adegboyega P, Unger M, Cardelli J et al: Tissue microarray analysis of eIF4E and its downstream effector proteins in human breast cancer. J Exp Clin Cancer Res 2009, 28:5

Ultrasonic characterization of ultrasound contrast agents

The main constituent of an ultrasound contrast agent (UCA) is gas-filled microbubbles. An average UCA contains billions per ml. These microbubbles are excellent ultrasound scatterers due to their high compressibility. In an ultrasound field they act as resonant systems, resulting in harmonic energy in the backscattered ultrasound signal, such as energy at the subharmonic, ultraharmonic and higher harmonic frequencies. This harmonic energy is exploited for contrast enhanced imaging to discriminate the contrast agent from surrounding tissue. The amount of harmonic energy that the contrast agent bubbles generate depends on the bubble characteristics in combination with the ultrasound field applied. This paper summarizes different strategies to characterize the UCAs. These strategies can be divided into acoustic and optical methods, which focus on the linear or nonlinear responses of the contrast agent bubbles. In addition, the characteristics of individual bubbles can be determined or the bubbles can be examined when they are part of a population. Recently, especially optical methods have proven their value to study individual bubbles. This paper concludes by showing some examples of optically observed typical behavior of contrast bubbles in ultrasound fields

Metabolomic Profiling Reveals Mitochondrial-Derived Lipid Biomarkers That Drive Obesity-Associated Inflammation

Obesity has reached epidemic proportions worldwide. Several animal models of obesity exist, but studies are lacking that compare traditional lard-based high fat diets (HFD) to “Cafeteria diets" (CAF) consisting of nutrient poor human junk food. Our previous work demonstrated the rapid and severe obesogenic and inflammatory consequences of CAF compared to HFD including rapid weight gain, markers of Metabolic Syndrome, multi-tissue lipid accumulation, and dramatic inflammation. To identify potential mediators of CAF-induced obesity and Metabolic Syndrome, we used metabolomic analysis to profile serum, muscle, and white adipose from rats fed CAF, HFD, or standard control diets. Principle component analysis identified elevations in clusters of fatty acids and acylcarnitines. These increases in metabolites were associated with systemic mitochondrial dysfunction that paralleled weight gain, physiologic measures of Metabolic Syndrome, and tissue inflammation in CAF-fed rats. Spearman pairwise correlations between metabolites, physiologic, and histologic findings revealed strong correlations between elevated markers of inflammation in CAF-fed animals, measured as crown like structures in adipose, and specifically the pro-inflammatory saturated fatty acids and oxidation intermediates laurate and lauroyl carnitine. Treatment of bone marrow-derived macrophages with lauroyl carnitine polarized macrophages towards the M1 pro-inflammatory phenotype through downregulation of AMPK and secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines. Results presented herein demonstrate that compared to a traditional HFD model, the CAF diet provides a robust model for diet-induced human obesity, which models Metabolic Syndrome-related mitochondrial dysfunction in serum, muscle, and adipose, along with pro-inflammatory metabolite alterations. These data also suggest that modifying the availability or metabolism of saturated fatty acids may limit the inflammation associated with obesity leading to Metabolic Syndrome

Practical recipes for the model order reduction, dynamical simulation, and compressive sampling of large-scale open quantum systems

This article presents numerical recipes for simulating high-temperature and non-equilibrium quantum spin systems that are continuously measured and controlled. The notion of a spin system is broadly conceived, in order to encompass macroscopic test masses as the limiting case of large-j spins. The simulation technique has three stages: first the deliberate introduction of noise into the simulation, then the conversion of that noise into an equivalent continuous measurement and control process, and finally, projection of the trajectory onto a state-space manifold having reduced dimensionality and possessing a Kahler potential of multi-linear form. The resulting simulation formalism is used to construct a positive P-representation for the thermal density matrix. Single-spin detection by magnetic resonance force microscopy (MRFM) is simulated, and the data statistics are shown to be those of a random telegraph signal with additive white noise. Larger-scale spin-dust models are simulated, having no spatial symmetry and no spatial ordering; the high-fidelity projection of numerically computed quantum trajectories onto low-dimensionality Kahler state-space manifolds is demonstrated. The reconstruction of quantum trajectories from sparse random projections is demonstrated, the onset of Donoho-Stodden breakdown at the Candes-Tao sparsity limit is observed, a deterministic construction for sampling matrices is given, and methods for quantum state optimization by Dantzig selection are given.Comment: 104 pages, 13 figures, 2 table

Formação profissional e conceitos de moral e ética em estudantes de psicologia

This article depicts the influence of academic environment on the concepts of morality and ethics in Psychology students. It is assumed that this environment should provide opportunities for students to realize their professional demands reflection. In order to ascertain whether the concepts of morality and ethics in the work of a psychologist vary and how students perceive the opportunities for taking responsibility and reflection directed along the course, students from the first and last years of psychology were asked to respond two questionnaires: an evaluation of the academic environment and another on the concepts of morals and ethics. The instruments were analyzed separately and then crossed. Some results: students do not realize many opportunities for meeting responsibility and reflection addressed during training and concepts of morality and ethics presented by the students are bound to the rules and code of ethics.Este artigo trata da influência do ambiente acadêmico nos conceitos de moral e ética em alunos de psicologia. Esse ambiente deve proporcionar oportunidades para que o aluno perceba que sua atuação profissional demanda reflexão. Com o objetivo de verificar se os conceitos de moral e ética, na atuação do psicólogo, variam e como os alunos concebem as oportunidades de assunção de responsabilidade e de reflexão dirigida ao longo do curso, foram convidados estudantes de primeiro e último anos de psicologia a responder a dois questionários: um de avaliação do ambiente acadêmico e outro sobre conceitos de moral e ética. Os instrumentos foram analisados separadamente e de modo cruzado. Alguns resultados foram: os alunos não percebem muitas oportunidades de assunção de responsabilidade e reflexão dirigida, durante a formação, e os conceitos de moral e ética apresentados pelos alunos são, indistintamente, ligados a regras e ao código de ética.Este artículo trata de la influencia del ambiente académico sobre los conceptos de moral y ética en alumnos de psicología. Este ambiente debe proporcionar oportunidades para que el alumno se dé cuenta que su actuación profesional demanda reflexión. Para verificar si los conceptos de moral y ética en la actuación del psicólogo varían y como los alumnos conciben las oportunidades de asunción de responsabilidad y de reflexión dirigida a lo largo del curso, estudiantes de primero y último año de psicología responderán dos cuestionarios: uno de evaluación del ambiente académico y otro en relación a los conceptos de moral y ética. Los instrumentos fueron analizados por separado y de forma cruzada. Algunos resultados: los alumnos no perciben muchas oportunidades de asunción de responsabilidad y reflexión dirigida durante lo curso y los conceptos de moral y ética presentados por los alumnos son indistintamente ligados a reglas y al código de ética.Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP