ASPM and microcephalin expression in epithelial ovarian cancer correlates with tumour grade and survival

BACKGROUND: The clinico-pathological and molecular heterogeneity of epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) complicates its early diagnosis and successful treatment. Highly aneuploid tumours and the presence of ascitic fluids are hallmarks of EOC. Two microcephalyassociated proteins, abnormal spindle-like microcephaly-associated protein (ASPM) and microcephalin, are involved in mitosis and DNA damage repair. Their expression is deregulated at the RNA level in EOC. Here, ASPM and microcephalin protein expression in primary cultures established from the ascites of patients with EOC was determined and correlated with clinical data to assess their suitability as biomarkers. METHODS: Five established ovarian cancer cell lines, cells derived from two benign ovarian ascites samples and 40 primary cultures of EOC derived from ovarian ascites samples were analysed by protein slot blotting and/or immunofluorescence to determine ASPM and microcephalin protein levels and their cellular localisation. Results were correlated with clinico-pathological data. RESULTS: A statistically significant correlation was identified for ASPM localisation and tumour grade, with high levels of cytoplasmic ASPM correlating with grade 1 tumours. Conversely, cytoplasmic microcephalin was only identified in high-grade tumours. Furthermore, low levels of nuclear microcephalin correlated with reduced patient survival. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that ASPM and microcephalin have the potential to be biomarkers in ovarian cance

The possible role of local air pollution in climate change in West Africa

The climate of West Africa is characterized by a sensitive monsoon system that is associated with marked natural precipitation variability. This region has been and is projected to be subject to substantial global and regional-scale changes including greenhouse-gas-induced warming and sea-level rise, land-use and land-cover change, and substantial biomass burning. We argue that more attention should be paid to rapidly increasing air pollution over the explosively growing cities of West Africa, as experiences from other regions suggest that this can alter regional climate through the influences of aerosols on clouds and radiation, and will also affect human health and food security. We need better observations and models to quantify the magnitude and characteristics of these impacts

Energy Sorghum : An alternative energy crop A Handbook

Increasing world market prices for fossil fuels, driven by limited reserves, growing demand and instability in producing regions, now render renewable fuels economical. Such fuels are also a pathway to reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and mitigating climate change. The transport sector which is almost totally dependent on fossil fuels, particularly for powering personal vehicles and trucks, is the most concerned sector. Biofuels, defined as solid, liquid or gas fuels derived from biomass, are today the only direct substitute for fossil fuels on a significant scale particularly in transport sector. Biofuels are considered environmentally friendly because the CO2 emissions they produce during combustion is balanced by the CO2 absorbed by the plants growth. To be a viable substitute for fossil fuels, an alternative fuel should not only have superior environmental benefits over the fossil fuels it substitutes, be economically competitive with it, and be available in sufficient quantities to make meaningful impact on energy demand, but it should also provide a net energy gain over the energy invested to produce it and have minimal effect on food security... {This handbook was elaborated in the framework of the SWEETFUEL project (grant agreement number 227422), supported by the European Commission

Social times, reproduction and social inequality at work : contrasts and comparative perspectives between countries

Production of INCASI Project H2020-MSCA-RISE-2015 GA 691004If the focus is placed specifically on the problem of work and family, the daily life of people and their use of time are a main problem. This time is expressed in both freely available time, which is related to activities, and time of the productive and reproductive sphere. This chapter considers work in a broad sense and takes into account the sexual division of labour. Specifically, this chapter will explore transformations in time use and social inequality in unpaid work. For this purpose, a comparative analysis of time-use surveys will be used, analysing the time spent, and the time dedicated to household chores in Chile, Argentina, Uruguay and Spain. From an analytical viewpoint, the analysis will place social reproduction at the centre of the socio-economic system, showing that the economic crisis has affected women and men differently, and that in both Europe and Latin America the family pattern is being replaced by a dominant family model of a male provider and a double presence of women. The large-scale incorporation of women into the labour market has emphasised the role that women assume in the domestic sphere perpetuating gender segregation in employment and in domestic and care work

Persistence among adult basic education students in pre-GED classes

The first phase of a persistence study used research as a tool to develop advice for practitioners on how to help adults persist in their studies. The study team defined persistence as adults who stay in programs for as long as they can, engage in self-directed study when they must drop out of their programs, and return to programs as soon as the demands of their lives allow. The team read previous studies and related literature, talked with practitioners about how they have tried to help adult students persist longer in their studies, and interviewed 150 pre-General Educational Development program students in New England to gain their insights into the supports and barriers to persistence. The only significant findings were that immigrants, those over the age of 30, and parents of teenage or grown children were more likely to persist. The following aspects of educational experience were associated with persistence: (1) adults who had been involved in previous efforts at basic skills education, self-study, or vocational skill training; and (2) adults who mentioned a specific goal. Analysis identified the following four supports to persistence: management of positive and negative forces that help and hinder persistence; self efficacy; establishment of a goal by the student; and progress towards reaching a goal. Interventions within constraints of existing programs fell into four categories: intake, orientation, instruction, and program activities. (Contain 65 references and survey forms.) (YLB

Substitution reactions on cyclometalated Pt(IV) complexes. Associative tuning by fluoro Ligands and fluorinated substituents

The substitution reactions of sulfide by phosphines on Pt(IV) complexes having a cyclometalated imine ligand, two methyl groups in a cis geometrical arrangement, and a halogen and a sulfide as ligands, [Pt (Me)(2)X(CN)(SR2)], have been studied as a function of temperature, solvent, and electronic and steric characteristics of the phosphines, sulfides, X-1 and CN. In most of these cases, a limiting dissociative mechanism has been found, where the dissociation of the sulfide ligand corresponds to the rate-determining step. The intermediate species formed behaves as a true pentacoordinated Pt(IV) compound in a steady-state concentration only for the systems with SMe2; for the bulkier SEt2 and SBzl(2) leaving ligands the rate constants and activation parameters show an important degree of solvent dependence, which correlates with the ability of the solvent to form hydrogen bonds, The X-ray crystal structure of one of the dibenzyl sulfide complexes has been determined, and the geometrical arrangement of the ligands has been determined by NOE NMR measurements at low temperature. The nature of the solvent, imine, sulfide, and halogen ligands produces differences in the reaction rates, which can be quantified very well by the corresponding AS' values that move from +48 to -90 J K-1 mol(-1). The reaction on [Pt(Me)(2)F(C-5(C) under barF(4)CH (N) under bar CH2Ph) (SME2)] has been found to take place via a mechanism that depends strongly on the bulkiness of the substituting phosphine, While for PCy3 the reaction is dissociative, for smaller entering ligands the first associatively activated substitution mechanisms on organometallic Pt(IV) complexes have been established with values of DeltaH(double dagger) and DeltaS(double dagger) in the 28-44 kJ mol(-1) and -120 to -83 J K-1 mol(-1) ranges. Important intramolecular hydrogen bonding in the starting material can be held responsible for this difference with the remaining systems