Komunikasi Ritual Suroan pada Masyarakat Suku Jawa di Kota Bengkulu

Traditional rituals wrapped in religious nuances are quite diverse in Indonesia. One of the traditional rituals that is still preserved today is the suroan ritual. The suroan ritual is a memorial to the annual agenda in welcoming the Islamic newyear. Suroan in the Javanese calendar coincides with the calendar of the Islamic Hijri newyear falling in the month of Muharram. The suroan ritual carried out by the Javanese pzeople is still preserved. Like suroan in Bengkulu, Javanese people who have moved for decades from Java to Bengkulu, they still carry out this Suroan warning with complete symbols. The symbols used in the Suroan ritual have profound meanings. The meaning contained in these symbols becomes one of the cultural propaganda communication movements wrapped in religious nuances. The meanings contained include: 1). Takir Plontang, is interpreted as a form of solidarity, interrelation with one another among Muslims to maintain harmony, peace and blessings in life. 2). Sodo, symbolizes the bond of the two sentences of shahada which gives peace and blessings in Islam. 3). Janur Kuning, the philosopher that the yellow palm signifies the existence of light, an illumination for Muslims. The local community feels a strong Islamic ukhuwah, looking after each other, protecting and protecting one another. This research provides an explanation to the public that traditional rituals have meaning that is full of important lessons in life. So that people should continue to preserve traditional rituals as they shoul

Development and validation of a TaqMan Array for cancer mutation analysis

Introduction: Optimal cancer treatment with targeted agents requires rapid, comprehensive and accurate molecular assays to analyse actionable oncogenic mutations across multiple tumour types. Materials and Methods: We describe a PCR panel based on the 384 well TaqMan Array® (Thermo Fisher Scientific). This allows measurement of common RAS (NRAS and KRAS), EGFR and BRAF mutations in a single assay (the REB Array), analysing 44 mutations in 7 samples per plate. This retrospective study includes 96 patients with NSCLC (n = 42), colorectal cancer (n = 26), and melanoma (n = 28) with previous mutational analysis. Samples with discrepant results were sequenced to confirm the result. Results: The REB achieved 93% concordance with the Therascreen EGFR assay (Qiagen), 95% concordance with the KRAS castPCR assay (Thermo Fisher), and 100% concordance with the cobas BRAF assay (Roche). There were 2 true discrepancies, most likely a result of sample quality or differences in sensitivity between the assays that depend on set thresholds to determine the presence of mutations. Analysis of the performance of the REB Array gave an overall sensitivity of 92%, with a positive predictive value of 100% and negative predictive value of 84.24%. Conclusion: The REB array is comparable to competing PCR methods with the additional advantages of a broader range of mutations, simplified manual handling, and reduced overall cost per sample

Membrane proteins and proteomics: Love is possible, but so difficult

Despite decades of extensive research, the large-scale analysis of membrane proteins remains a difficult task. This is due to the fact that membrane proteins require a carefully balanced hydrophilic and lipophilic environment, which optimum varies with different proteins, while most protein chemistry methods work mainly, if not only, in water-based media. Taking this review [Santoni, Molloy and Rabilloud, Membrane proteins and proteomics: un amour impossible? Electrophoresis 2000, 21, 1054-1070] as a pivotal paper, the current paper analyzes how the field of membrane proteomics exacerbated the trend in proteomics, i.e. developing alternate methods to the historical two-dimensional electrophoresis, and thus putting more and more pressure on the mass spectrometry side. However, in the case of membrane proteins, the incentive in doing so is due to the poor solubility of membrane proteins. This review also shows that in some situations, where this solubility problem is less acute, two-dimensional electrophoresis remains a method of choice. Last but not least, this review also critically examines the alternate approaches that have been used for the proteomic analysis of membrane proteins

Fully denaturing two-dimensional electrophoresis of membrane proteins: a critical update

The quality and ease of proteomics analysis depends on the performance of the analytical tools used, and thus of the performances of the protein separation tools used to deconvolute complex protein samples. Among protein samples, membrane proteins are one of the most difficult sample classes, because of their hydrophobicity and embedment in the lipid bilayers. This review deals with the recent progresses and advances made in the separation of membrane proteins by 2-DE separating only denatured proteins. Traditional 2-D methods, i.e., methods using IEF in the first dimension are compared to methods using only zone electrophoresis in both dimensions, i.e., electrophoresis in the presence of cationic or anionic detergents. The overall performances and fields of application of both types of method is critically examined, as are future prospects for this field

Comparative Proteomics of Inner Membrane Fraction from Carbapenem-Resistant Acinetobacter baumannii with a Reference Strain

Acinetobacter baumannii has been identified by the Infectious Diseases Society of America as one of the six pathogens that cause majority of hospital infections. Increased resistance of A. baumannii even to the latest generation of β-lactams like carbapenem is an immediate threat to mankind. As inner-membrane fraction plays a significant role in survival of A. baumannii, we investigated the inner-membrane fraction proteome of carbapenem-resistant strain of A. baumannii using Differential In-Gel Electrophoresis (DIGE) followed by DeCyder, Progenesis and LC-MS/MS analysis. We identified 19 over-expressed and 4 down-regulated proteins (fold change>2, p<0.05) in resistant strain as compared to reference strain. Some of the upregulated proteins in resistant strain and their association with carbapenem resistance in A. baumannii are: i) β-lactamases, AmpC and OXA-51: cleave and inactivate carbapenem ii) metabolic enzymes, ATP synthase, malate dehydrogenase and 2-oxoglutarate dehydrogenase: help in increased energy production for the survival and iii) elongation factor Tu and ribosomal proteins: help in the overall protein production. Further, entry of carbapenem perhaps is limited by controlled production of OmpW and low levels of surface antigen help to evade host defence mechanism in developing resistance in A. baumannii. Present results support a model for the importance of proteins of inner-membrane fraction and their synergistic effect in the mediation of resistance of A. baumannii to carbapenem

Novel algorithmic approach predicts tumor mutation load and correlates with immunotherapy clinical outcomes using a defined gene mutation set

BACKGROUND: While clinical outcomes following immunotherapy have shown an association with tumor mutation load using whole exome sequencing (WES), its clinical applicability is currently limited by cost and bioinformatics requirements. METHODS: We developed a method to accurately derive the predicted total mutation load (PTML) within individual tumors from a small set of genes that can be used in clinical next generation sequencing (NGS) panels. PTML was derived from the actual total mutation load (ATML) of 575 distinct melanoma and lung cancer samples and validated using independent melanoma (n = 312) and lung cancer (n = 217) cohorts. The correlation of PTML status with clinical outcome, following distinct immunotherapies, was assessed using the Kaplan–Meier method. RESULTS: PTML (derived from 170 genes) was highly correlated with ATML in cutaneous melanoma and lung adenocarcinoma validation cohorts (R(2) = 0.73 and R(2) = 0.82, respectively). PTML was strongly associated with clinical outcome to ipilimumab (anti-CTLA-4, three cohorts) and adoptive T-cell therapy (1 cohort) clinical outcome in melanoma. Clinical benefit from pembrolizumab (anti-PD-1) in lung cancer was also shown to significantly correlate with PTML status (log rank P value < 0.05 in all cohorts). CONCLUSIONS: The approach of using small NGS gene panels, already applied to guide employment of targeted therapies, may have utility in the personalized use of immunotherapy in cancer. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12916-016-0705-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

Beyond BRAFV600: Clinical Mutation Panel Testing by Next-Generation Sequencing in Advanced Melanoma

The management of melanoma has evolved owing to improved understanding of its molecular drivers. To augment the current understanding of the prevalence, patterns, and associations of mutations in this disease, the results of clinical testing of 699 advanced melanoma patients using a pan-cancer next-generation sequencing (NGS) panel of hotspot regions in 46 genes were reviewed. Mutations were identified in 43 of the 46 genes on the panel. The most common mutations were BRAFV600 (36%), NRAS (21%), TP53 (16%), BRAFNon-V600 (6%), and KIT (4%). Approximately one-third of melanomas had >1 mutation detected, and the number of mutations per tumor was associated with melanoma subtype. Concurrent TP53 mutations were the most frequent events in tumors with BRAFV600and NRAS mutations. Melanomas with BRAFNon-V600mutations frequently harbored concurrent NRAS mutations (18%), which were rare in tumors with BRAFV600 mutations (1.6%). The prevalence of BRAFV600 and KIT mutations were significantly associated with melanoma subtypes, and BRAFV600 and TP53 mutations were significantly associated with cutaneous primary tumor location. Multiple potential therapeutic targets were identified in metastatic unknown primary and cutaneous melanomas that lacked BRAFV600and NRAS mutations. These results enrich our understanding of the patterns and clinical associations of oncogenic mutations in melanoma

The tuberculosis necrotizing toxin kills macrophages by hydrolyzing NAD.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) induces necrosis of infected cells to evade immune responses. Recently, we found that Mtb uses the protein CpnT to kill human macrophages by secreting its C-terminal domain, named tuberculosis necrotizing toxin (TNT), which induces necrosis by an unknown mechanism. Here we show that TNT gains access to the cytosol of Mtb-infected macrophages, where it hydrolyzes the essential coenzyme NAD(+). Expression or injection of a noncatalytic TNT mutant showed no cytotoxicity in macrophages or in zebrafish zygotes, respectively, thus demonstrating that the NAD(+) glycohydrolase activity is required for TNT-induced cell death. To prevent self-poisoning, Mtb produces an immunity factor for TNT (IFT) that binds TNT and inhibits its activity. The crystal structure of the TNT-IFT complex revealed a new NAD(+) glycohydrolase fold of TNT, the founding member of a toxin family widespread in pathogenic microorganisms

Maintaining Integrity Under Stress:Envelope Stress Response Regulation of Pathogenesis in Gram-Negative Bacteria

The Gram-negative bacterial envelope is an essential interface between the intracellular and harsh extracellular environment. Envelope stress responses (ESRs) are crucial to the maintenance of this barrier and function to detect and respond to perturbations in the envelope, caused by environmental stresses. Pathogenic bacteria are exposed to an array of challenging and stressful conditions during their lifecycle and, in particular, during infection of a host. As such, maintenance of envelope homeostasis is essential to their ability to successfully cause infection. This review will discuss our current understanding of the σE- and Cpx-regulated ESRs, with a specific focus on their role in the virulence of a number of model pathogens