728 research outputs found
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Expert-based development of a standard in CO2 sequestration monitoring technology
Bureau of Economic Geolog
Inhibition of endothelial cell functions and of angiogenesis by the metastasis inhibitor NAMI-A
NAMI-A is a ruthenium-based compound with selective anti-metastasis activity in experimental models of solid tumours. We studied whether this activity was dependent on anti-angiogenic ability of NAMI-A. We thus investigated its in vitro effects on endothelial cell functions necessary for angiogenesis to develop, as well as its in vivo effects in the chick embryo chorioallantoic membrane model. Endothelial cell proliferation, chemotaxis, and secretion of the matrix-degrading enzyme metalloproteinase-2 were inhibited by NAMI-A in a dose-dependent manner, and without morphologic signs of cell apoptosis or necrosis. Lastly, NAMI-A displayed a dose-dependent in vivo anti-angiogenic activity in the chorioallantoic membrane model. These data suggest that the anti-angiogenic activity of NAMI-A can contribute to its anti-metastatic efficacy in mice bearing malignant solid tumours
Lysozyme-induced transcriptional regulation of tnf-\u3b1 pathway genes in cells of the monocyte lineage
Lysozyme is one of the most important anti-bacterial effectors in the innate immune system of animals. Besides its direct antibacterial enzymatic activity, lysozyme displays other biological properties, pointing toward a significant anti-inflammatory effect, many aspects of which are still elusive. Here we investigate the perturbation of gene expression profiles induced by lysozyme in a monocyte cell line in vitro considering a perspective as broad as the whole transcriptome profiling. The results of the RNA-seq experiment show that lysozyme induces transcriptional modulation of the TNF-\u3b1/IL-1\u3b2 pathway genes in U937 monocytes. The analysis of transcriptomic profiles with IPA\uae identified a simple but robust molecular network of genes, in which the regulation trends are fully consistent with the anti-inflammatory activity of lysozyme. This study provides the first evidence in support of the anti-inflammatory action of lysozyme on the basis of transcriptomic regulation data resulting from the broad perspective of a whole-transcriptome profiling. Such important effects can be achieved with the supplementation of relatively low concentrations of lysozyme, for a short time of exposure. These new insights allow the potential of lysozyme in pharmacological applications to be better exploited
A Unified Theoretical Description of the Thermodynamical Properties of Spin Crossover with Magnetic Interactions
After the discovery of the phenomena of light-induced excited spin state
trapping (LIESST), the functional properties of metal complexes have been
studied intensively. Among them, cooperative phenomena involving low spin-high
spin (spin-crossover) transition and magnetic ordering have attracted
interests, and it has become necessary to formulate a unified description of
both phenomena. In this work, we propose a model in which they can be treated
simultaneously by extending the Wajnflasz-Pick model including a magnetic
interaction. We found that this new model is equivalent to
Blume-Emery-Griffiths (BEG) Hamiltonian with degenerate levels. This model
provides a unified description of the thermodynamic properties associated with
various types of systems, such as spin-crossover (SC) solids and Prussian blue
analogues (PBA). Here, the high spin fraction and the magnetization are the
order parameters describing the cooperative phenomena of the model. We present
several typical temperature dependences of the order parameters and we
determine the phase diagram of the system using the mean-field theory and Monte
Carlo simulations. We found that the magnetic interaction drives the SC
transition leading to re-entrant magnetic and first-order SC transitions.Comment: 30pages, 11figure
A contribution to studies of the ruderal vegetation of Southern Srem, Serbia
Floristic research investigating the presence and phytocoenological differentiation of ruderal vegetation, and how it is conditioned structurally and anthropogenically, was undertaken over a period of several years (2007-10) in the south Srem region. The ruderal flora of the research area comprised 249 plants categorized into 63 families, of which the most frequent were: Asteraceae (36), Poaceae (29), Fabaceae (18), Lamiaceae (15), Polygonaceae (15), Brassicaceae (11) and Rosaceae (11). Three ruderal communities are analyzed in this work: Asclepietum syriacae Kojić et al., 2004, as well as Chenopodio-Ambrosietum artemisiifoliae ass. nova and Amorpho-Typhaetum ass. nova, which are described for the first time. It was established that the level of moisture at the habitat, anthropogenic factors, and the immediate proximity to cultivated areas had the most pronounced effect on the differentiation of the researched vegetation.Projekat ministarstva br. 17301
Central nervous system metastases from castration-resistant prostate cancer in the docetaxel era.
Central nervous system (brain or leptomeningeal) metastases (BLm) are considered rare in castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) patients. Now that docetaxel has become the reference drug for first-line treatment of CRPC, patients whose disease is not controlled by hormonal manipulations may live much longer than before and have higher risk of developing BLm. We retrospectively reviewed the records of all patients with CRPC attending our centres from 2002 to 2010, and identified all of those who were diagnosed as having BLm and received (or were considered to have been eligible to receive) docetaxel-based treatment. We identified 31 cases of BLm (22 brain metastases and 9 leptomeningeal metastases) with an incidence of 3.3%. BLm-free survival was 43.5 months, and survival after BLm discovery was 4 months. With six patients surviving for more than 1 year after developing BLm, the projected 1-year BL-S rate was 25.8%. The findings of our study may be relevant in clinical practice as they indicate that incidence of BLm in CRPC patients in the docetaxel era seems to be higher than in historical reports, meaning that special attention should be paid to the appearance of neurological symptoms in long-term CRPC survivors because they may be related to BLm
In-beam fast-timing measurements in 103,105,107Cd
Fast-timing measurements were performed recently in the region of the
medium-mass 103,105,107Cd isotopes, produced in fusion evaporation reactions.
Emitted gamma-rays were detected by eight HPGe and five LaBr3:Ce detectors
working in coincidence. Results on new and re-evaluated half-lives are
discussed within a systematic of transition rates. The states in
103,105,107Cd are interpreted as arising from a single-particle excitation. The
half-life analysis of the states in 103,105,107Cd shows no change in
the single-particle transition strength as a function of the neutron number
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