A patient-derived explant (PDE) model of hormone-dependent cancer.

Breast and prostate cancer research to date has largely been predicated on the use of cell lines in vitro or in vivo. These limitations have led to the development of more clinically relevant models, such as organoids or murine xenografts that utilize patient-derived material; however, issues related to low take rate, long duration of establishment, and the associated costs constrain use of these models. This study demonstrates that ex vivo culture of freshly resected breast and prostate tumor specimens obtained from surgery, termed patient-derived explants (PDEs), provides a high-throughput and cost-effective model that retains the native tissue architecture, microenvironment, cell viability, and key oncogenic drivers. The PDE model provides a unique approach for direct evaluation of drug responses on an individual patient's tumor, which is amenable to analysis using contemporary genomic technologies. The ability to rapidly evaluate drug efficacy in patient-derived material has high potential to facilitate implementation of personalized medicine approaches.Cancer Research UK and ERC

An efficient character segmentation based on VNP algorithm

Abstract: Character segmentation is an important preprocessing stage in image processing applications such as OCR, License Plate Recognition, electronic processing of checks in banks, form processing and, label and barcode recognition. It is essential to have an efficient character segmentation technique because it affects the performance of all the processes that follow and hence, the overall system accuracy. Vertical projection profile is the most common segmentation technique. However, the segmentation results are not always correct in cases where pixels of adjacent characters fall on the same scan line and a minimum threshold is not observed in the histogram to segment the respective adjacent characters. In this study, a character segmentation technique based on Visited Neighbor Pixel (VNP) Algorithm is proposed, which is an improvement to the vertical projection profile technique. VNP Algorithm performs segmentation based on the connectedness of the pixels on the scan line with that of the previously visited pixels. Therefore, a clear line of separation is found even when the threshold between two adjacent characters is not minimal. The segmentation results of the traditional vertical projection profile and the proposed method are compared with respect to a few selected fonts and the latter, with an average accuracy of approximately 94%, has shown encouraging results

A REVIEW OF ADVANCED NANOTECHNOLOGIES AND DRUG DELIVERY SYSTEMS OF SALINOMYCIN AND THEIR ROLE IN TRIPLE-NEGATIVE BREAST CANCER

Cancer cells spread to other tissues and organs when they divide incorrectly. Breast cancer (BC) is the main cause of cancer-related mortality globally. Some recent studies on cancer stem cells (CSCs), drug resistance, tumor recurrence and metastasis, and the significance of CD44+in targeted treatment for breast cancer are covered. Breast cancer stem cells (BCSCs) and bulk BC cells must be eliminated for the disease to be eliminated. Researchers have shown that Streptomyces Albus-derived monocarboxylic polyether antibiotic salinomycin kills human cancer stem cells (CSCs) and prevents the spread and growth of breast cancer cells. Several drug and apoptosis resistance mechanisms may also trigger apoptosis in breast cancer cells when salinomycin is used in combination with the treatment. Apoptosis-resistant cancer cells and cancer stem cells are both susceptible to the anticancer drug salinomycin. Salinomycin may be able to inhibit CSCs, as well as the source and structure modification of salinomycin analog exhibit potent anticancer activity, the effect of salinomycin on chemotherapeutic-resistant CSCs, and the various mechanisms by which salinomycin inhibits cancer stem cells in this study. Method and delivery technique for salinomycin Nano formulation in triple-negative breast cancer and also contains pharmacokinetics and toxicity of salinomycin. Salinomycin-based drug delivery system is the subject of the patent information. Tumor genesis, development, and invasion are all aided by salinomycin. It's possible to boost the effectiveness of cancer therapy by focusing on cancer stem cells (CSCs)

A Comparison in Patient Comfort Using Conventional Syringe and Needleless Jet Anesthesia Technique in Periodontal Surgery—A Split-Mouth Randomized Clinical Trial

Background and Objectives: Periodontal surgery requires local anesthetic coverage to alleviate patient discomfort. Needles and injections can engender feelings of fear and anxiety in individuals. This study aimed to assess the level of comfort and anxiety in patients during the administration of local anesthesia using needleless jet anesthesia (JA) when compared to a conventional syringe (CS) in periodontal surgery. Method and Materials: 60 sites were designated for injection in a split-mouth design in 30 subjects who required periodontal surgery. Local anesthesia was administered in two appointments scheduled one week apart using either a JA system or a CS. The Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), Verbal Rating Scale (VRS), and Beck’s anxiety inventory were used to report the pain and anxiety levels while injecting local anesthesia. Statistical analysis of the results was performed using the Shapiro–Wilks test and Paired t-test. Results: Patients reported greater comfort with JA. The VAS and VRS values were statistically significant—(p = 0.003) and (p = 0.001), respectively. Patients showed fear and were nervous about receiving a local anesthetic using a CS. A few subjects experienced lingering pain with the CS, whereas greater comfort and no lingering soreness were reported post-operatively at the site of JA administration. Conclusions: This study provides the first comprehensive assessment of using JA for periodontal surgical procedures. Lower pain scores were consistently observed with the use of jet injectors. Patients were at ease and reported lesser anxiety and greater comfort with jet injectors, making it ideally suited for providing local anesthesia in periodontal surgery

Novel Applications and Future Perspectives of Nanocomposites

As the present chapter of the book is located in the concluding section, it was important to highlight the main applications of composite materials focusing especially on applications, which exploit other peculiarities of the materials besides photocatalysis. This will be done, by introducing those materials and their composites that are most studied, or were found to exhibit interesting behavior. In many of the presented cases, the main structural, morphological, or optical property of the given composite will be discussed to understand its functioning mechanism, and its role in the current scientific approaches. Additionally, this chapter aims to give a perspective regarding the composite-based nanoscience, and points out important research directions for the further developments of composite materials

Imputation and subset-based association analysis across different cancer types identifies multiple independent risk loci in the TERT-CLPTM1L region on chromosome 5p15.33

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have mapped risk alleles for at least 10 distinct cancers to a small region of 63 000 bp on chromosome 5p15.33. This region harbors the TERT and CLPTM1L genes; the former encodes the catalytic subunit of telomerase reverse transcriptase and the latter may play a role in apoptosis. To investigate further the genetic architecture of common susceptibility alleles in this region, we conducted an agnostic subset-based meta-analysis (association analysis based on subsets) across six distinct cancers in 34 248 cases and 45 036 controls. Based on sequential conditional analysis, we identified as many as six independent risk loci marked by common single-nucleotide polymorphisms: five in the TERT gene (Region 1: rs7726159, P = 2.10 × 10(-39); Region 3: rs2853677, P = 3.30 × 10(-36) and PConditional = 2.36 × 10(-8); Region 4: rs2736098, P = 3.87 × 10(-12) and PConditional = 5.19 × 10(-6), Region 5: rs13172201, P = 0.041 and PConditional = 2.04 × 10(-6); and Region 6: rs10069690, P = 7.49 × 10(-15) and PConditional = 5.35 × 10(-7)) and one in the neighboring CLPTM1L gene (Region 2: rs451360; P = 1.90 × 10(-18) and PConditional = 7.06 × 10(-16)). Between three and five cancers mapped to each independent locus with both risk-enhancing and protective effects. Allele-specific effects on DNA methylation were seen for a subset of risk loci, indicating that methylation and subsequent effects on gene expression may contribute to the biology of risk variants on 5p15.33. Our results provide strong support for extensive pleiotropy across this region of 5p15.33, to an extent not previously observed in other cancer susceptibility loci

A selection of Slovenian literary heroes for the preschool period

V vrtcih slovenske literarne junake vse bolj spodrivajo tuji fantazijski junaki, za katere se otroci navdušijo prek risank, revij in video igric. Slovenski junaki so pomemben del naše kulture in so lahko nekakšni spremljevalci v domovinski vzgoji pri najmlajših. To delo naj služi kot promocija slovenskih literarnih junakov pri otrocih vseh starosti, z začetkom v predšolskem obdobju. V delu je opredeljeno merilo izbire likovpredstavljene so njihove zgodbe, posebne lastnosti in upodobitevjunaki so po izvoru opredeljeni kot ljudski ali umetninavedeni so avtorji in zgodovinske okoliščine nastankaraziskane so njihova prepoznavnost in zastopanost v različnih medijih (slikanice, avdio- in video mediji, oglasi) ter dostopnost teh medijev.In preschools, Slovenian literary heroes are being displaced by foreign fantastic heroes that impress children via cartoons, magazines and video games. Slovenian heroes are an important part of our culture and can act as companions of sorts within citizenship education of youngsters. This thesis should serve as a promotion of Slovenian literary heroes for children of all ages, beginning with the preschool period. The thesis defines the selection criterion of charactersit introduces their stories, special characteristics and depictionsit defines heroes by origin as folk or artificialit lists the authors and historical circumstances of productionit investigates their recognisability and representation in various media (picture books, audio- and video media, advertisements) and the accessibility of these media

Imputation and subset-based association analysis across different cancer types identifies multiple independent risk loci in the TERT-CLPTM1L region on chromosome 5p15.33

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have mapped risk alleles for at least 10 distinct cancers to a small region of 63 000 bp on chromosome 5p15.33. This region harbors the TERT and CLPTM1L genes; the former encodes the catalytic subunit of telomerase reverse transcriptase and the latter may play a role in apoptosis. To investigate further the genetic architecture of common susceptibility alleles in this region, we conducted an agnostic subset-based meta-analysis (association analysis based on subsets) across six distinct cancers in 34 248 cases and 45 036 controls. Based on sequential conditional analysis, we identified as many as six independent risk loci marked by common single-nucleotide polymorphisms: five in the TERT gene (Region 1: rs7726159, P = 2.10 x 10(-39); Region 3: rs2853677, P = 3.30 x 10(-36) and P-Conditional = 2.36 x 10(-8); Region 4: rs2736098, P = 3.87 x 10(-12) and P-Conditional = 5.19 x 10(-6), Region 5: rs13172201, P = 0.041 and P-Conditional = 2.04 x 10(-6); and Region 6: rs10069690, P = 7.49 x 10 215 and P-Conditional = 5.35 x 10(-7)) and one in the neighboring CLPTM1L gene(Region 2: rs451360; P = 1.90 x 10(-18) and P-Conditional = 7.06 x 10(-16)). Between three and five cancers mapped to each independent locus with both risk-enhancing and protective effects. Allele-specific effects on DNA methylation were seen for a subset of risk loci, indicating that methylation and subsequent effects on gene expression may contribute to the biology of risk variants on 5p15.33. Our results provide strong support for extensive pleiotropy across this region of 5p15.33, to an extent not previously observed in other cancer susceptibility loci