The Homeobox Protein CEH-23 Mediates Prolonged Longevity in Response to Impaired Mitochondrial Electron Transport Chain in C. elegans

Recent findings indicate that perturbations of the mitochondrial electron transport chain (METC) can cause extended longevity in evolutionarily diverse organisms. To uncover the molecular basis of how altered METC increases lifespan in C. elegans, we performed an RNAi screen and revealed that three predicted transcription factors are specifically required for the extended longevity of mitochondrial mutants. In particular, we demonstrated that the nuclear homeobox protein CEH-23 uniquely mediates the longevity but not the slow development, reduced brood size, or resistance to oxidative stress associated with mitochondrial mutations. Furthermore, we showed that ceh-23 expression levels are responsive to altered METC, and enforced overexpression of ceh-23 is sufficient to extend lifespan in wild-type background. Our data point to mitochondria-to-nucleus communications to be key for longevity determination and highlight CEH-23 as a novel longevity factor capable of responding to mitochondrial perturbations. These findings provide a new paradigm for how mitochondria impact aging and age-dependent diseases

Observation of the B+→D∗−K+π+B^+ \to D^{*-}K^+\pi^+ decay

A search for the $B^{0}\to K^{+}K^{-}$ decay is performed using $pp$-collision data collected by LHCb. The data set corresponds to integrated luminosities of 1 and 2 fb$^{-1}$ at center-of-mass energies of 7 and 8 TeV, respectively. This decay is observed for the first time, with a significance of more than five standard deviations. The analysis also results in an improved measurement of the branching fraction for the $B_s^0\to \pi^+\pi^-$ decay. The measured branching fractions are $BR(B^0\to K^+K^-) = (7.80 \pm 1.27 \pm 0.81 \pm 0.21) \times 10^{-8}$ and $BR(B_s^0\to\pi^+\pi^-) = (6.91 \pm 0.54 \pm 0.63 \pm 0.19 \pm 0.40) \times 10^{-7}$. The first uncertainty is statistical, the second is systematic, the third is due to the uncertainty on the $B^0\to K^+\pi^-$ branching fraction used as a normalization. For the $B_s^0$ mode, the fourth accounts for the uncertainty on the ratio of the probabilities for $b$ quarks to hadronize into $B_s^0$ and $B^0$ mesons.Comment: All figures and tables, along with any supplementary material and additional information, are available at https://lhcbproject.web.cern.ch/lhcbproject/Publications/LHCbProjectPublic/LHCb-PAPER-2016-036.htm

Laparoscopic radical nephroureterectomy with only three trocars. Results of a prospective single centre study

INTRODUCTION: Radical nephroureterectomy (RNU) with full bladder cuff excision is the gold standard for treatment of non-metastatic upper tract urothelial cancer (UTUC). We describe our technique of laparoscopic nephroureterectomy (LNU) with bladder cuff excision technique with modified port placement, reporting our long-term follow-up outcomes. METHODS: Patients affected by UTUC were prospectively enrolled and undergone to LNU. Perioperative outcomes, oncological data at 6, 12, 24 and 36 months after surgery, and all the surgical complications according to Clavien-Dindo classification were evaluated in all subjects. RESULTS: A total of 50 patients with UTUC underwent LNU, using this new technique without patient and port repositioning. The mean operative time was 168 minutes, estimated blood loss was 75 mL, mean length of hospital stay was 3 days. There were no intraoperative complications while four late complications occurred (two grade IIIb and two grade II according to Clavien-Dindo classification, incisional hernias and fever, respectively). Postoperative pathology was T1 in 12 patients, T2 in 17 patients, and T3 in 21 patients. Tumor grade was low in 12 patients and high in 38 patients. CONCLUSIONS: In our study the described LNU technique was related to a significant reduction in terms of operative time and length of hospital stay, with a faster patients' recovery and no peri and postoperative complications. The long-term oncological outcomes were similar to data reported in literature