Evaluation of neutrophil HDL-C ratio — a new inflammation marker in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease

Introduction: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a global disease estimated to affect one-third of the world’s population. NAFLD is the hepatic manifestation of metabolic syndrome. In recent years, formulations have been made using haematological laboratory parameters, and it has been reported to be associated with inflammation and fibrosis in the liver. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the neutrophil to high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol (HDL-C) ratio (NHR) in patients diagnosed with NAFLD by ultrasonographic imaging for the first time in the literature. Material and methods: The study was carried out by recruiting men and women between the ages of 18 and 65 years who applied to the check-up outpatient clinic of our hospital. Ultrasonography was used as the diagnostic method for hepatosteatosis in all cases. Venous blood samples were taken from the patients for haematological and biochemical measurements. Results: The study population consisted of 155 patients, 115 of whom were fatty liver patients and 40 were controls. NHR was determined as 99.6 ± 56.8 in those with grade 1 fatty liver, 114.98 ± 39.2 in those with grade 2, 122.9 ± 51.1 in those with grade 3, and 86.17 ± 35.2 in the control group. In the analysis, NHR was statistically significantly higher in grade 2 and 3 fatty liver patients compared with the control group (p = 0.03 and 0.01, respectively). However, there was no statistical difference between grade 1 fatty liver patients and the control group (p = 0.53). Conclusions: We found higher NHR in patients with NAFLD. NHR is a cheap and easy to access parameter. An elevated NHR with FIB-4 in patients with NAFLD may be a marker of liver inflammation or fibrosis

The clinical, cytogenetics and molecular characterization of inverted duplication/deletion of chromosome 8p in a boy with mental and motor retardation: Genotype-phenotype correlation in a case report

Background: Rearrangements that occur mainly through the non-allelic homologous recombination (NAHR) during maternal meiosis in short arms of chromosome 8 is relatively associated with various clinical spectrum.Aim: The objective of this study was to report cytogenetics and molecular characterization of a mental and motor retarded boy with short arm of chromosome 8 rearrangements [invdupdel(8p)] in this current case report. Subjects and methods: We report an 11-year-old boy with scoliosis, intellectual disability, mental-motor retardation and characteristic facial features. Agenesis of corpus callosum was detected with brain Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) analysis. Derivative chromosome 8 structure was identified after conventional cytogenetics – karyotype analysis, Multiplex Ligation-Dependent Probe Amplification (MLPA) and Microarray-based Comparative Genomic Hybridization (aCGH) techniques. Genotype-phenotype correlation in the current proband case will be discussed.Results: Case was diagnosed as 46, XY, der (8), del (8) (p23.1) invdup (8) (p11.1-p23.1) by using advanced comparable techniques. Subtelomeric MLPA analysis showed deletion of FBXO25 gene which is located at 8p23.3 locus and FISH with subtelomeric probes for 8p shows also only deleted region. The microarray- CGH profilling showed 7,9 mb deletion for 8p23.1 and 31 mb duplication for 8p11.1 locuses.Conclusion: Results from the current case emphasized that the cases with clinical manifestations of such disorders extremely need to be examined by combined comparable genetics techniques such as; karyotyping, FISH, MLPA and chromosomal microarray for the accurate phenotype – genotype correlation.Keywords: Chromosomal rearrangement, Corpus callosum, Invdupdel(8p)Array-CGH, MLP

Preparation of Silicon-Antimony based Anode Materials for Lithium-Ion Batteries

I n this study, SixSb immiscible composite blend as anode materials have been synthesized using micron-sized silicone and antimony particles in different compositions through chemical reduction-mechanical alloying method CR-MA . The obtained microstructures have been investigated by X-ray diffraction XRD and Scanning Electron Microscopy SEM with Energy Dispersive X-Ray analysis EDX . Spectroscopic characterizations of the composite materials showed that a traditional intermetallic compound could not be achieved. However a novel immiscible composite blend system have been developed. One of the newly prepared composite materials, Si0.65Sb, exhibits an initial capacity of 790 mAh g-1 and a good cyclic stability compared to the pure silicone. The battery performance results of the micron-sized Si0.65Sb blend system have been compared with the commercially used graphite and the nano-sized Si/Sb alloy systems. The cycling stability of the micron-sized Si0.65Sb blend system showed an improvement compared to nano-sized Si/Sb alloy systems. Moreover its specific capacity is slightly higher than the commercial graphite anode material. These results portray the importance of micron sized Si/Sb system in large-scale applications due to its low cost

Atomoxetine treatment may decrease striatal dopaminergic transporter availability after 8 weeks: pilot SPECT report of three cases

Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder is one of the most common neurodevelopmental disorders. The pathophysiology is thought to involve noradrenaline and dopamine. The role of dopamine transporter (DAT) was evaluated in imaging studies using mostly dopamine reuptake inhibitors. Atomoxetine is a selective noradrenaline reuptake inhibitor. Here we report the results of a pilot study conducted to evaluate changes in striatal DAT after 8 weeks of atomoxetine treatment. Our results suggest that 8 weeks of atomoxetine treatment may change striatal DAT bioavailability as measured via SPECT but that change was not correlated with genotype or clinical improvement

Bifosfonat Kullanımına Bağlı Olarak Maksillada Kemik Nekrozu Oluşumu: Bir Olgu Sunumu

Amaç: Bifosfonatlar, metastatik kemik kanserlerin önlenmesinde ve osteopörözün tedavisinde kullanılmaktadır. İntravenöz (i.v) bifosfonat (pamidronat, zoledronat) tedavisine bağlı olarak çene kemiklerinde osteonekroz gelişmektedir. Bu vaka raporu ile kliniğimize başvuran hastanın tedavisi sunulmuştur. Vaka Raporu: Kliniğimize başvuran 51 yaşındaki kadın hastada, uzun süreli intravenöz bifosfonat kullanımına bağlı sol maksilla molar bölgesinde asemptomatik osteonekroz görülmüştür. Hastaya gerekli debridman, sekestrasyon ve hiperbarik oksijen tedavisi uygulanmıştır. Hasta belirli aralıklarla takip edilmektedir. Sonuç: Bifosfonat kullanımına bağlı oluşan osteonekroz, i.v. bifosfonat kullanımının artmasına bağlı olarak daha sık görülmektedir. Bu nedenle bifosfonat tedavisi görecek olan hastaların oluşabilecek komplikasyonların engellenmesi amacıyla, tedavi öncesinde diş hekimine yönlendirilip, tüm dental tedavilerinin yapılması önerilmektedir

The Ability to Generate Senescent Progeny as a Mechanism Underlying Breast Cancer Cell Heterogeneity

Background Breast cancer is a remarkably heterogeneous disease. Luminal, basal-like, "normal-like", and ERBB2+ subgroups were identified and were shown to have different prognoses. The mechanisms underlying this heterogeneity are poorly understood. In our study, we explored the role of cellular differentiation and senescence as a potential cause of heterogeneity. Methodology/Principal Findings A panel of breast cancer cell lines, isogenic clones, and breast tumors were used. Based on their ability to generate senescent progeny under low-density clonogenic conditions, we classified breast cancer cell lines as senescent cell progenitor (SCP) and immortal cell progenitor (ICP) subtypes. All SCP cell lines expressed estrogen receptor (ER). Loss of ER expression combined with the accumulation of p21Cip1 correlated with senescence in these cell lines. p21Cip1 knockdown, estrogen-mediated ER activation or ectopic ER overexpression protected cells against senescence. In contrast, tamoxifen triggered a robust senescence response. As ER expression has been linked to luminal differentiation, we compared the differentiation status of SCP and ICP cell lines using stem/progenitor, luminal, and myoepithelial markers. The SCP cells produced CD24+ or ER+ luminal-like and ASMA+ myoepithelial-like progeny, in addition to CD44+ stem/progenitor-like cells. In contrast, ICP cell lines acted as differentiation-defective stem/progenitor cells. Some ICP cell lines generated only CD44+/CD24-/ER-/ASMA- progenitor/stem-like cells, and others also produced CD24+/ER- luminal-like, but not ASMA+ myoepithelial-like cells. Furthermore, gene expression profiles clustered SCP cell lines with luminal A and "normal-like" tumors, and ICP cell lines with luminal B and basal-like tumors. The ICP cells displayed higher tumorigenicity in immunodeficient mice. Conclusions/Significance Luminal A and "normal-like" breast cancer cell lines were able to generate luminal-like and myoepithelial-like progeny undergoing senescence arrest. In contrast, luminal B/basal-like cell lines acted as stem/progenitor cells with defective differentiation capacities. Our findings suggest that the malignancy of breast tumors is directly correlated with stem/progenitor phenotypes and poor differentiation potential. © 2010 Mumcuoglu et al

Performance of CMS muon reconstruction in pp collision events at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

The performance of muon reconstruction, identification, and triggering in CMS has been studied using 40 inverse picobarns of data collected in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV at the LHC in 2010. A few benchmark sets of selection criteria covering a wide range of physics analysis needs have been examined. For all considered selections, the efficiency to reconstruct and identify a muon with a transverse momentum pT larger than a few GeV is above 95% over the whole region of pseudorapidity covered by the CMS muon system, abs(eta) < 2.4, while the probability to misidentify a hadron as a muon is well below 1%. The efficiency to trigger on single muons with pT above a few GeV is higher than 90% over the full eta range, and typically substantially better. The overall momentum scale is measured to a precision of 0.2% with muons from Z decays. The transverse momentum resolution varies from 1% to 6% depending on pseudorapidity for muons with pT below 100 GeV and, using cosmic rays, it is shown to be better than 10% in the central region up to pT = 1 TeV. Observed distributions of all quantities are well reproduced by the Monte Carlo simulation.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO

Performance of CMS muon reconstruction in pp collision events at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

The performance of muon reconstruction, identification, and triggering in CMS has been studied using 40 inverse picobarns of data collected in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV at the LHC in 2010. A few benchmark sets of selection criteria covering a wide range of physics analysis needs have been examined. For all considered selections, the efficiency to reconstruct and identify a muon with a transverse momentum pT larger than a few GeV is above 95% over the whole region of pseudorapidity covered by the CMS muon system, abs(eta) < 2.4, while the probability to misidentify a hadron as a muon is well below 1%. The efficiency to trigger on single muons with pT above a few GeV is higher than 90% over the full eta range, and typically substantially better. The overall momentum scale is measured to a precision of 0.2% with muons from Z decays. The transverse momentum resolution varies from 1% to 6% depending on pseudorapidity for muons with pT below 100 GeV and, using cosmic rays, it is shown to be better than 10% in the central region up to pT = 1 TeV. Observed distributions of all quantities are well reproduced by the Monte Carlo simulation.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO