Jet-fluid string formation and decay in high-energy heavy-ion collisions

We propose a new hadronization mechanism, jet-fluid string (JFS) formation and decay, to understand observables in intermediate to high-$p_{T}$ regions comprehensively. In the JFS model, hard partons produced in jet lose their energy in traversing the QGP fluid, which is described by fully three-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations. When a jet parton escapes from the QGP fluid, it picks up a partner parton from a fluid and forms a color singlet string, then it decays to hadrons. We find that high-$p_T$ $v_2$ values in JFS are about two times larger than in the independent fragmentation model.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures; Proceeding for poster sessions at Quark Matter 2006, Shanghai, China, 14-20 November 2006; to appear in Int. J. of Mod. Phys.

Search for a Ridge Structure Origin with Shower Broadening and Jet Quenching

We investigate the role of jet and shower parton broadening by the strong colour field in the $\Delta\eta$-$\Delta\phi$ correlation of high $p_T$ particles. When anisotropic momentum broadening ($\Delta p_z > \Delta p_T$) is given to jet and shower partons in the initial stage, a ridge-like structure is found to appear in the two hadron correlation. The ratio of the peak to the pedestal yield is overestimated.Comment: Talk given at 20th Int. Conf. on Ultra-Relativistic Nucleus-Nucleus Collisions, Jaipur, India, Feb.4-10, 200

Compound basis arising from the basic A1(1)A^{(1)}_{1}-module

A new basis for the polynomial ring of infinitely many variables is constructed which consists of products of Schur functions and Q-functions. The transition matrix from the natural Schur function basis is investigated.Comment: 12 page

Quest for a potent antimalarial drug lead: synthesis and evaluation of 6,7-dimethoxyquinazoline-2,4-diamines

Quinazolines have long been known to exert varied pharmacologic activities that make them suitable for use in treating hypertension, viral infections, tumors, and malaria. Since 2014, we have synthesized approximately 150 different 6,7-dimethoxyquinazoline-2,4-diamines and evaluated their antimalarial activity via structure-activity relationship studies. Here, we summarize the results and report the discovery of 6,7-dimethoxy-N(4)-(1-phenylethyl)-2-(pyrrolidin-1-yl)quinazolin-4-amine (20, SSJ-717), which exhibits high antimalarial activity as a promising antimalarial drug lead

Pattern of mRNA expression of β-defensins in basal cell carcinoma

BACKGROUND: Although the human β-defensins hBDs today seem to have diverse functional activities in innate antimicrobial immunity, a few reports also indicated an altered expression of these antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) in tissues of cancers such as oral squamous cell carcinoma. The present work was aimed on the study of hBD gene expression in basal cell carcinoma (BCC) which is the most common cancer in humans. METHODS: Twenty-two non-ulcerated BCCs (12 nodular type, 10 superficial type) have been analysed for the presence of hBD (1–3) mRNA by quantitative real-time RT-PCR. As controls, non-lesional skin specimens of BCC patients as well as samples of healthy subjects were assessed by RT-PCR. RESULTS: hBD-1 levels in healthy controls and non-lesional skin of BCC patients were significantly (P < 0.05) higher than the levels observed in tumour tissue. Moreover, BCCs showed significantly (P < 0.05) increased mRNA expression of hBD-2 as compared to controls. There was no significant (P > 0.05) difference between lesional mRNA levels for hBD-3 and those levels observed in controls. The mRNA expression of hBDs (1–3) found in nodular and superficial BCCs did not significantly (P > 0.05) differ. CONCLUSION: The gene expression patterns of hBD-1 and hBD-2 are for the first time shown to be significantly altered in non-ulcerated BCCs as compared to intra-individual and inter-individual controls, respectively. The present findings may indicate that beside the antimicrobial activity of AMPs, hBDs may also play a role in the pathogenesis of BCC. However, functional and immunohistological studies investigating hBDs in patients with BCC are needed to confirm our data

Sphingosine Kinase-1 Is Required for Toll Mediated β-Defensin 2 Induction in Human Oral Keratinocytes

Host defense against invading pathogens is triggered by various receptors including toll-like receptors (TLRs). Activation of TLRs is a pivotal step in the initiation of innate, inflammatory, and antimicrobial defense mechanisms. Human beta-defensin 2 (HBD-2) is a cationic antimicrobial peptide secreted upon gram-negative bacterial perturbation in many cells. Stimulation of various TLRs has been shown to induce HBD-2 in oral keratinocytes, yet the underlying cellular mechanisms of this induction are poorly understood.Here we demonstrate that HBD-2 induction is mediated by the Sphingosine kinase-1 (Sphk-1) and augmented by the inhibition of Glycogen Synthase Kinase-3beta (GSK-3beta) via the Phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) dependent pathway. HBD-2 secretion was dose dependently inhibited by a pharmacological inhibitor of Sphk-1. Interestingly, inhibition of GSK-3beta by SB 216763 or by RNA interference, augmented HBD-2 induction. Overexpression of Sphk-1 with concomitant inhibition of GSK-3beta enhanced the induction of beta-defensin-2 in oral keratinocytes. Ectopic expression of constitutively active GSK-3beta (S9A) abrogated HBD-2 whereas kinase inactive GSK-3beta (R85A) induced higher amounts of HBD-2.These data implicate Sphk-1 in HBD-2 regulation in oral keratinocytes which also involves the activation of PI3K, AKT, GSK-3beta and ERK 1/2. Thus we reveal the intricate relationship and pathways of toll-signaling molecules regulating HBD-2 which may have therapeutic potential

The distinctive gastric fluid proteome in gastric cancer reveals a multi-biomarker diagnostic profile

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Overall gastric cancer survival remains poor mainly because there are no reliable methods for identifying highly curable early stage disease. Multi-protein profiling of gastric fluids, obtained from the anatomic site of pathology, could reveal diagnostic proteomic fingerprints.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Protein profiles were generated from gastric fluid samples of 19 gastric cancer and 36 benign gastritides patients undergoing elective, clinically-indicated gastroscopy using surface-enhanced laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry on multiple ProteinChip arrays. Proteomic features were compared by significance analysis of microarray algorithm and two-way hierarchical clustering. A second blinded sample set (24 gastric cancers and 29 clinically benign gastritides) was used for validation.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>By significance analysyis of microarray, 60 proteomic features were up-regulated and 46 were down-regulated in gastric cancer samples (<it>p </it>< 0.01). Multimarker clustering showed two distinctive proteomic profiles independent of age and ethnicity. Eighteen of 19 cancer samples clustered together (sensitivity 95%) while 27/36 of non-cancer samples clustered in a second group. Nine non-cancer samples that clustered with cancer samples included 5 pre-malignant lesions (1 adenomatous polyp and 4 intestinal metaplasia). Validation using a second sample set showed the sensitivity and specificity to be 88% and 93%, respectively. Positive predictive value of the combined data was 0.80. Selected peptide sequencing identified pepsinogen C and pepsin A activation peptide as significantly down-regulated and alpha-defensin as significantly up-regulated.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This simple and reproducible multimarker proteomic assay could supplement clinical gastroscopic evaluation of symptomatic patients to enhance diagnostic accuracy for gastric cancer and pre-malignant lesions.</p

Discerning natural and anthropogenic organic matter inputs to salt marsh sediments of Ria Formosa lagoon (South Portugal)

Sedimentary organic matter (OM) origin and molecular composition provide useful information to understand carbon cycling in coastal wetlands. Core sediments from threors' Contributionse transects along Ria Formosa lagoon intertidal zone were analysed using analytical pyrolysis (Py-GC/MS) to determine composition, distribution and origin of sedimentary OM. The distribution of alkyl compounds (alkanes, alkanoic acids and alkan-2-ones), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), lignin-derived methoxyphenols, linear alkylbenzenes (LABs), steranes and hopanes indicated OM inputs to the intertidal environment from natural-autochthonous and allochthonous-as well as anthropogenic. Several n-alkane geochemical indices used to assess the distribution of main OM sources (terrestrial and marine) in the sediments indicate that algal and aquatic macrophyte derived OM inputs dominated over terrigenous plant sources. The lignin-derived methoxyphenol assemblage, dominated by vinylguaiacol and vinylsyringol derivatives in all sediments, points to large OM contribution from higher plants. The spatial distributions of PAHs (polyaromatic hydrocarbons) showed that most pollution sources were mixed sources including both pyrogenic and petrogenic. Low carbon preference indexes (CPI > 1) for n-alkanes, the presence of UCM (unresolved complex mixture) and the distribution of hopanes (C-29-C-36) and steranes (C-27-C-29) suggested localized petroleum-derived hydrocarbon inputs to the core sediments. Series of LABs were found in most sediment samples also pointing to domestic sewage anthropogenic contributions to the sediment OM.EU Erasmus Mundus Joint Doctorate fellowship (FUECA, University of Cadiz, Spain)EUEuropean Commission [FP7-ENV-2011, 282845, FP7-534 ENV-2012, 308392]MINECO project INTERCARBON [CGL2016-78937-R]info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Salivary Markers for Oral Cancer Detection

Oral cancer refers to all malignancies that arise in the oral cavity, lips and pharynx, with 90% of all oral cancers being oral squamous cell carcinoma. Despite the recent treatment advances, oral cancer is reported as having one of the highest mortality ratios amongst other malignancies and this can much be attributed to the late diagnosis of the disease. Saliva has long been tested as a valuable tool for drug monitoring and the diagnosis systemic diseases among which oral cancer. The new emerging technologies in molecular biology have enabled the discovery of new molecular markers (DNA, RNA and protein markers) for oral cancer diagnosis and surveillance which are discussed in the current review