Pope Leo IX: A reforming pope?

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Joint Effects of Febrile Acute Infection and an Interferon-γ Polymorphism on Breast Cancer Risk

BACKGROUND: There is an inverse relationship between febrile infection and the risk of malignancies. Interferon gamma (IFN-γ) plays an important role in fever induction and its expression increases with incubation at fever-range temperatures. Therefore, the genetic polymorphism of IFN-γ may modify the association of febrile infection with breast cancer risk. METHODOLOGY AND PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Information on potential breast cancer risk factors, history of fever during the last 10 years, and blood specimens were collected from 839 incident breast cancer cases and 863 age-matched controls between October 2008 and June 2010 in Guangzhou, China. IFN-γ (rs2069705) was genotyped using a matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry platform. Odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated using multivariate logistic regression. We found that women who had experienced ≥1 fever per year had a decreased risk of breast cancer [ORs and 95% CI: 0.77 (0.61-0.99)] compared to those with less than one fever a year. This association only occurred in women with CT/TT genotypes [0.54 (0.37-0.77)] but not in those with the CC genotype [1.09 (0.77-1.55)]. The association of IFN-γ rs2069705 with the risk of breast cancer was not significant among all participants, while the CT/TT genotypes were significantly related to an elevated risk of breast cancer [1.32 (1.03-1.70)] among the women with <1 fever per year and to a reduced risk of breast cancer [0.63 (0.40-0.99)] among women with ≥1 fever per year compared to the CC genotype. A marked interaction between fever frequencies and the IFN-γ genotypes was observed (P for multiplicative and additive interactions were 0.005 and 0.058, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings indicate a possible link between febrile acute infection and a decreased risk of breast cancer, and this association was modified by IFN-γ rs2069705

Fluorofluorophores: Fluorescent Fluorous Chemical Tools Spanning the Visible Spectrum

“Fluoro” refers to both fluorescent and fluorinated compounds. Despite the shared prefix, there are very few fluorescent molecules that are soluble in perfluorinated solvents. This paucity is surprising, given that optical microscopy is a ubiquitous technique throughout the physical sciences and the orthogonality of fluorous materials is a commonly exploited strategy in synthetic chemistry, materials science, and chemical biology. We have addressed this shortage by synthesizing a panel of “fluorofluorophores,” fluorescent molecules containing high weight percent fluorine with optical properties spanning the visible spectrum. We demonstrate the utility of these fluorofluorophores by preparing fluorescent perfluorocarbon nanoemulsions.National Science Foundation (U.S.) (ECCS-0939514

Visualization of shapes of molecular anions

A recently formulated strict definition of the boundary surface of molecular anions has been employed for the visualization of some simple systems. The examples included are CN-, N3-, NO3-, ClO4-, ClO3-, and BrO3- ions. A discussion on the anisotropy of electrostatic interaction of these anions is also presented

Low interleukin-10 production is associated with higher disability and MRI lesion load in secondary progressive multiple sclerosis.

Item does not contain fulltextAbnormalities in T-cell-derived cytokine production are a well-known phenomenon in multiple sclerosis (MS). An association between disability and the production of interferon gamma has been demonstrated recently. The present study investigated associations between disability, cytokine production in stimulated blood lymphocytes and magnetic resonance imaging data in 37 patients with the secondary progressive course in the stable phase of the disease. Patients with high interleukin-10 (IL-10) production had significantly lower disability scores (p=0.009) and lower T2 lesion load (p=0.03). Interleukin-10 might not only play a role in the pathological process of multiple sclerosis but has an impact on disease outcome as well