Relationship Between Obesity and Periodontal Status in Vietnamese Patients

This study aims to investigate periodontal status, and the relationship between obesity and periodontal status in patients who first visited the Institute of Traditional Medicine, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. 118 patients aged 18 or older, including 56 obese subjects (BMI≥27.5, mean age: 33.8, males: 11, females: 45) and 62 non-obese subjects (BMI<27.5, mean age: 34.3, males: 4, females: 58) were enrolled for a period of 5 months from February 2014 to June 2014. The information on socio-demographic characteristics and dental habits were collected by questionnaire. Periodontal status (PLI, GI, BOP, PD, CAL) was examined and the anthropometric index was measured. There was significantly higher prevalence of periodontitis (39.3%) in the obese group than the non-obese group (16.4%). Means of GI, BOP, PD, and CAL in obese subjects were significantly higher than those in non-obese subjects. Significantly higher percentages of subjects who had lower education, visited dental offices, scaled and polished their teeth regularly were in the non-obese group than in the obese group. Multiple logistic regression analysis revealed that age (OR=3.10), routine of dental visit (OR=3.34) and obesity (OR=2.79) were risk factors significantly related to periodontitis. Periodontal status in obese subjects was poorer than non-obese subjects. Obesity might be the risk factor for periodontitis in Vietnamese patients

Folding model study of the charge-exchange scattering to the isobaric analog state and implication for the nuclear symmetry energy

The Fermi transition (\Delta L=\Delta S=0 and \Delta T=1) between the nuclear isobaric analog states (IAS), induced by the charge-exchange (p,n) or (3He,t) reaction, can be considered as "elastic" scattering of proton or 3He by the isovector term of the optical potential (OP) that flips the projectile isospin. The accurately measured (p,n) or (3He,t) scattering cross-section to the IAS can be used, therefore, to probe the isospin dependence of the proton or 3He optical potential. Within the folding model, the isovector part of the OP is determined exclusively by the neutron-proton difference in the nuclear densities and the isospin dependence of the effective nucleon-nucleon (NN) interaction. Because the isovector coupling explicitly links the isovector part of the proton or 3He optical potential to the cross section of the charge-exchange (p,n) or (3He,t) scattering to the IAS, the isospin dependence of the effective (in-medium) NN interaction can be well tested in the folding model analysis of these charge-exchange reactions. On the other hand, the same isospin- and density dependent NN interaction can also be used in a Hartree-Fock calculation of asymmetric nuclear matter, to estimate the nuclear matter energy and its asymmetry part (the nuclear symmetry energy). As a result, the fine-tuning of the isospin dependence of the effective NN interaction against the measured (p,n) or (3He,t) cross sections should allow us to make some realistic prediction of the nuclear symmetry energy and its density dependence.Comment: Accepted for publication in European Physical Journal A - "Hadrons and Nuclei

The RNA Polymerase II Core Promoter in Drosophila.

Transcription by RNA polymerase II initiates at the core promoter, which is sometimes referred to as the "gateway to transcription." Here, we describe the properties of the RNA polymerase II core promoter in Drosophila The core promoter is at a strategic position in the expression of genes, as it is the site of convergence of the signals that lead to transcriptional activation. Importantly, core promoters are diverse in terms of their structure and function. They are composed of various combinations of sequence motifs such as the TATA box, initiator (Inr), and downstream core promoter element (DPE). Different types of core promoters are transcribed via distinct mechanisms. Moreover, some transcriptional enhancers exhibit specificity for particular types of core promoters. These findings indicate that the core promoter is a central component of the transcriptional apparatus that regulates gene expression

Feasibility of Integrating Tripterygium wilfordii into Modern Cancer Therapy for Increased Efficacy and Minimal Toxicity

Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the U.S. and millions of novel cancer cases are being diagnosed each year. While chemotherapy and ionizing radiation are effective treatments against these malignant tumors, the adverse effects that accompany such treatments are devastating. In order to find alternative treatment methods with less side effects, we turn to Eastern herbal medicine. Recent scientific research has found that Tripterygium wilfordii, an herbal medicine traditionally used to treat inflammation in China, contains compounds (triptolide and celastrol) that prevent the growth of solid tumors, induce apoptosis, and prevent metastasis of developed tumors. Investigations on these compounds on various cancer cells lines (in vitro and in vivo) have revealed insight into their mechanism, mode of action, and toxicity. In order to circumvent the potentially fatal side effects of triptolide and celastrol, it was proposed that roots of T. wilfordii, from which the compounds are extracted, be used as a treatment for cancer. Methods for testing the efficacy and toxicity of the roots on the different cell lines previously studied are outlined in this paper. If the results from the proposed experiment conflict with expectation, then future studies on combination drugs using triptolide and celastrol with other non-bioactive compounds within the roots should be done to develop new anti-cancer drugs with low toxicity.https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/uresposters/1165/thumbnail.jp

Regulation and Mechanistic Functions of Caspase-9 RNA Splicing

Caspase-9 has two splice variants, pro-apoptotic caspase-9a and anti-apoptotic caspase-9b, and dysregulation of caspase-9 splice variant ratio or expression of caspase-9b isoform has been linked to augmentation of the anchorage-independent growth and tumorigenic capacity of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cells. This study focuses on cell signaling pathway(s) regulating the alternative splicing of caspase-9 pre-mRNA and mechanistic roles of caspase-9b in a certain oncogenic/survival pathway. In regards to the former, we have identified hnRNP U as a novel splice-enhancer associated with exon 3 of caspase-9 (C9/E3). Moreover, hnRNP U binds specifically to C9/E3 at an RNA cis-element previously reported as the binding site for the splicing repressor, hnRNP L. Phosphorylated hnRNP L interferes with hnRNP U for binding to C9/E3, and our results demonstrate the importance of the phosphoinositide 3-kinase/AKT pathway in modulating the association of hnRNP U to C9/E3. Overall, a mechanistic model has been revealed where hnRNP U competes with hnRNP L for C9/E3 binding to enhance the inclusion of the four-exon cassette, and this splice-enhancing effect is blocked by the AKT pathway via phosphorylation of hnRNP L. As to the latter aim, it is unknown about the mechanistic roles of caspase-9b besides the inhibitory effect on caspase-9a processing. In this study, caspase-9b has been demonstrated to have a dual function in regulating the survival/oncogenic nuclear factor κB (NF-κB) pathway, which is independent from modulating caspase-9a activation. In particular, caspase-9b has been shown to activate the canonical arm and inhibit the non-canonical arm of the NF-κB pathway by destabilizing NF-κB inhibitor alpha (IκB-α) and NF-κB-inducing kinase (NIK). Importantly, this new role for caspase-9b contributes to the enhanced survival and anchorage-independent growth of NSCLC cells conferred by caspase-9b expression. Further mechanistic studies have demonstrated a direct association of caspase-9b with the cellular inhibitor of apoptosis 1 (cIAP1), a regulatory factor in both arms of the NF-κB network, via its IAP-binding motif. Through this interaction, caspase-9b induces the E3 ligase activity of cIAP1, which regulates NF-κB activation, and promotes the survival, anchorage-independent growth and tumorigenicity of NSCLC cells. Overall, a novel tumorigenic mechanism has been identified, by which alternative mRNA processing regulates the NF-κB signaling independent of external agonist

Power allocation in wireless multi-user relay networks

In this paper, we consider an amplify-and-forward wireless relay system where multiple source nodes communicate with their corresponding destination nodes with the help of relay nodes. Conventionally, each relay equally distributes the available resources to its relayed sources. This approach is clearly sub-optimal since each user experiences dissimilar channel conditions, and thus, demands different amount of allocated resources to meet its quality-of-service (QoS) request. Therefore, this paper presents novel power allocation schemes to i) maximize the minimum signal-to-noise ratio among all users; ii) minimize the maximum transmit power over all sources; iii) maximize the network throughput. Moreover, due to limited power, it may be impossible to satisfy the QoS requirement for every user. Consequently, an admission control algorithm should first be carried out to maximize the number of users possibly served. Then, optimal power allocation is performed. Although the joint optimal admission control and power allocation problem is combinatorially hard, we develop an effective heuristic algorithm with significantly reduced complexity. Even though theoretically sub-optimal, it performs remarkably well. The proposed power allocation problems are formulated using geometric programming (GP), a well-studied class of nonlinear and nonconvex optimization. Since a GP problem is readily transformed into an equivalent convex optimization problem, optimal solution can be obtained efficiently. Numerical results demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed approach

Detection of Spoilage in Canned Pasteurized Milk Using the Radiographic Imaging Technique

After packed into sterilized containers with a closed and rigorous process, pasteurized milk has been ensured for its hygiene and safety factors. However, distortions can occur during storage and transportation, causing the container to open, allowing harmful microorganisms to enter and damage the product. This research proposed a radiographic imaging technique to detect and evaluate the spoilage of canned pasteurized milk. The X-ray images show that the milk cans, which were left open for three days at 300 K, indicated regions with abnormal density with the smallest detectable size from 100 µm or larger. Density heterogeneity would be clearer in the following days and depending on the sample. An algorithm was developed to identify spoilage products automatically with an accuracy of up to 100 % and a speed of 0.0057 s/product. This approach may be suitable for industrial scale to control the quality of dairy products