Genome expression analysis by suppression subtractive hybridization identified overexpression of Humanin, a target gene in gastric cancer chemoresistance

Background: In cancer cells, apoptosis is an important mechanism that influences the outcome of chemotherapy and the development of chemoresistance. To find the genes involved in chemoresistance and the development of gastric cancer, we used the suppression subtractive hybridization method to identify the genes that are overexpressed in gastric cancer tissues compared to normal gastric tissues. Results: In the suppression subtractive hybridization library we constructed, the most highly overexpressed genes were humanin isoforms. Humanin is a recently identified endogenous peptide that has anti-apoptotic activity and has been selected for further study due to its potential role in the chemoresistance of gastric cancer. Upregulation of humanin isoforms was also observed in clinical samples by using quantitative real-time PCR. Among the studied isoforms, humanin isoform 3, with an expression level of 4.166 ± 1.44 fold, was the most overexpressed isoform in GC. Conclusions: The overexpression of humanin in gastric cancer suggests a role for chemoresistance and provides new insight into the biology of gastric cancer. We propose that humanin isoforms are novel targets for combating chemoresistance in gastric cancer. © 2014 Mottaghi-Dastjerdi et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd

Identification of novel genes involved in gastric carcinogenesis by suppression subtractive hybridization

Gastric cancer (GC) is one of the most common and life-threatening types of malignancies. Identification of the differentially expressed genes in GC is one of the best approaches for establishing new diagnostic and therapeutic targets. Furthermore, these investigations could advance our knowledge about molecular biology and the carcinogenesis of this cancer. To screen for the overexpressed genes in gastric adenocarcinoma, we performed suppression subtractive hybridization (SSH) on gastric adenocarcinoma tissue and the corresponding normal gastric tissue, and eight genes were found to be overexpressed in the tumor compared with those of the normal tissue. The genes were ribosomal protein L18A, RNase H2 subunit B, SEC13, eukaryotic translation initiation factor 4A1, tetraspanin 8, cytochrome c oxidase subunit 2, NADH dehydrogenase subunit 4, and mitochondrially encoded ATP synthase 6. The common functions among the identified genes include involvement in protein synthesis, involvement in genomic stability maintenance, metastasis, metabolic improvement, cell signaling pathways, and chemoresistance. Our results provide new insights into the molecular biology of GC and drug discovery: each of the identified genes could be further investigated as targets for prognosis evaluation, diagnosis, treatment, evaluation of the response to new anticancer drugs, and determination of the molecular pathogenesis of GC. © The Author(s) 2014

Veronica persica Poir. extract - antibacterial, antifungal and scolicidal activities, and inhibitory potential on acetylcholinesterase, tyrosinase, lipoxygenase and xanthine oxidase

Veronica persica (Persian speedwell) is a flowering plant local to Eurasia. In this study, several analyses were done to discover the antimicrobial and scolicidal activities and acetyl cholinesterase (AChE), tyrosinase (TYR), lipoxygenase (LOX), and xanthine oxidase (XO) inhibitory activities of V. persica extract. The results presented that B. subtilis was the most susceptible to the extract (MIC = 40.3 \u3bcg/mL), while P. aeruginosa was the most resistant strain (MIC = 250.9 \u3bcg/mL) among all bacteria evaluated. The extracts demonstrated significant activity versus E. granulosus (P < 0.5) with dose-dependent inhibitions of the protoscolices. The analyzed plant extract exhibited a high AChE and TYR inhibitory activity 55.3% and 52.7% (at the highest utilized dose - 3 mg/mL), respectively. The extract also showed high anti-inflammatory activities in analyses tested. Our research proposed that extract of this plant could be promising to the human health, markedly in the infectious, neurodegenerative and inflammatory disorders

Topological Measure Locating the Effective Crossover between Segregation and Integration in a Modular Network

We introduce an easily computable topological measure which locates the effective crossover between segregation and integration in a modular network. Segregation corresponds to the degree of network modularity, while integration is expressed in terms of the algebraic connectivity of an associated hyper-graph. The rigorous treatment of the simplified case of cliques of equal size that are gradually rewired until they become completely merged, allows us to show that this topological crossover can be made to coincide with a dynamical crossover from cluster to global synchronization of a system of coupled phase oscillators. The dynamical crossover is signaled by a peak in the product of the measures of intra-cluster and global synchronization, which we propose as a dynamical measure of complexity. This quantity is much easier to compute than the entropy (of the average frequencies of the oscillators), and displays a behavior which closely mimics that of the dynamical complexity index based on the latter. The proposed toplogical measure simultaneously provides information on the dynamical behavior, sheds light on the interplay between modularity vs total integration and shows how this affects the capability of the network to perform both local and distributed dynamical tasks

Epilepsy Surgery in Children

ObjectiveIn the majority of patients with intractable epilepsy, seizures can be well controlled with appropriate medication. However, current estimates indicate that some of patients with epilepsy are refractory to all forms of medical therapy. The surgical treatment of intractable epilepsy in children has  evolved with advances in technical innovations. These medically intractable patients are candidates for surgical treatment in an attempt to achieve better seizure control. The definitive successful outcome of epilepsy surgery is a seizure-free state without significant neurological impairments.In this article, we will outline the essential elements of presurgical evaluation and describe a variety of therapeutic surgical options, and the related indications, techniques, results and complications of each procedure.

Complexity for megaprojects in the energy sector

Megaprojects are characterised by their large-scale capital costs, long duration and extraordinary levels of technical and process complexity. Empirical data demonstrate that these projects experience alarming rates of failure. One of the main causes of such project failure is the high level of complexity and the absence of effective tools to assess and manage it. This study develops a new project complexity assessment method, which is specifically aimed at megaprojects in the energy sector. The assessment method contains a taxonomy of 51 complexity indicators and their consolidated weights, which are established through a novel Delphi-AHP Group Decision Making method. Numerical Scoring criteria for all indicators are defined on the basis of synthesis of existing knowledge of megaprojects to facilitate the application of the new method. It is reviewed and evaluated by experts and tested through a case study energy megaproject

Overexpression of microRNA-16 declines cellular growth, proliferation and induces apoptosis in human breast cancer cells

MicroRNAs (miRNA) are a large family of small single-stranded RNA molecules found in all multicellular organisms. Early studies have been shown that miRNA are involved in cancer development and progression, and this role can be done by working as an oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes, so manipulation of this molecules can be a promising approach in cancer therapy, and experimental results represented that the modification in breast cancer phenotype is possible by miRNA expression alteration. miR-16, which is located in 13q14 chromosome, plays critical roles as a tumor suppressor by targeting several oncogenes which regulate cell cycle and apoptosis. Hence, in the present study, we investigated whether miR-16 could decline growth and survival of MCF-7 cell line as model of human breast cancer. MCF-7 cell line was infected with lentiviruses containing miR-16 precursor sequence. The effects of ectopic expression of miR-16 on breast cancer phenotype were examined by cell cycle analysis and apoptosis assays. miR-16 cytotoxicity effect was measured by the MTT assay. We showed that the miR-16 overexpression reduces Cyclin D1 and BCL2 at messenger RNA (mRNA) and protein levels in MCF-7 cell line. In addition, this is found that enforced expression of miR-16 decreases cell growth and proliferation and induces apoptosis in MCF-7 cells. In conclusion, our results revealed that upregulation of miR-16 would be a potential approach for breast cancer therapy. © 2015, The Society for In Vitro Biology

Irradiation-induced confinement in a quasi-one-dimensional metal

The anisotropic resistivity of PrBa$_2$Cu$_4$O$_8$ has been measured as a function of electron irradiation fluence. Localization effects are observed for extremely small amounts of disorder corresponding to electron mean-free-paths of order 100 unit cells. Estimates of the localization corrections suggest that this anomalous localization threshold heralds a crossover to a ground state with pronounced one-dimensional character in which conduction electrons become confined to a small cluster of chains.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Foodborne Listeriosis

Abstract: Foodborne listeriosis is a rare and very dangerous disease which is caused by Listeria monocytogenes. This bacterium is found in the nature in very high population, but can cause disease only in certain groups of people. Listeriosis usually happens after consumption of unpasteurized dairy products especially soft and unripe cheeses and ready to eat meat products like hot dog by susceptible people. In general, pregnant women, infants, elderly people and immuno deficient patients are susceptible to this disease. Listeria monocytogenes is able to produce septicemia, meningitis and abortion in human. The important characteristic of this bacterium is its ability to live inside the cells of immune system and by this way, it is able to distribute through body easily. In order to prevent listeriosis, susceptible people should avoid eating unpasteurized dairy products and ready to eat meats. Keywords: Foodborne disease, Listeria infections, Listeria monocytogene