Ketogenic diet reduces oxidative stress in obese females in Port Harcourt, Nigeria

Background: Sub-Saharan Africa is not insusceptible to the obesity epidemic, regardless of the continued problem of undernutrition. Increases in the rates of overweight and obesity are being identified in Sub-Saharan Africa, especially among women and people dwelling in urban populations. This study, therefore, is aimed at evaluating the effects of ketogenic diet on markers of oxidative stress (reduced glutathione (GSH), catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and malondialdehyde (MDA)) in obese female subjects on eight weeks ketogenic diet.Methods: A total of forty (40) participants, 10 overweight (25.0–29.9 kg/m2) and 30 obese (≥30 kg/m2) female subjects, were recruited and investigated via informed consent and approval obtained. The sera of the participants were collected by standard, sterile with a minimal invasive procedure for reduced glutathione, catalase, superoxide dismutase, malondialdehyde at weeks 0, 4, and 8 of ingestion of low carbohydrate ketogenic diet (LCKD).Results: There was a statistically significant increase in mean superoxide dismutase levels of participants at the 4th and 8th week after the introduction of low carbohydrate ketogenic diet (LCKD). There were also statistically insignificant changes in catalase and malondialdehyde levels in the participants between the baseline (week 0) and 4th and 8th weeks. Mean reduced glutathione was statistically significant at week 4 when compared with the baseline.Conclusions: Ketogenic diet reduces oxidative stress as evidenced by increased reduced glutathione and superoxide dismutase

The Impact of Macroeconomic Variables on Non-Oil Exports Performance in Nigeria, 1986-2010

This study investigated the impact of macroeconomic variables on the performance of the Nigerian economy from 1986-2010. In carrying out the study we employed the ordinary least square (OLS) and co-integration test analysis based on the Engle Grenger (1987) co-integration analysis, in order to establish a long run relationship among the variables employed in this study. The study was guided by four research objectives and hypotheses. Given the influences other variables have on the performance of the Nigerian economy, we discriminately incorporated non-oil export, agricultural sector, manufacturing sub-sector and gross domestic product as the dependent variables while exchange rate, interest rate, government capital expenditure and government recurrent expenditure were the independent variables. The result of our analysis indicates that exchange rate, government capital expenditure and government recurrent expenditure are positively related to non-oil export, agricultural sector, manufacturing sub-sector and gross domestic product, while interest rate is negatively related to non-oil export, agricultural sector, manufacturing sub-sector and gross domestic product. The four formulated null hypotheses were rejected while the alternative hypotheses were accepted. Based on the findings of this study, we therefore recommended that investment should be increased in the areas of non-oil exports, agricultural sector and manufacturing sub sector because our result shows that they are related to the macroeconomic variables used except interest rate. Though government capital and recurrent expenditures, maintained positive relationship with non-oil exports, agricultural sector, manufacturing sub-sector and gross domestic product but had made very, almost insignificant impact on them, therefore government should increase the budget allocation of capital and recurrent expenditures and continue to force down interest rate in order to attract potential investors. Government should increase lending to agricultural sector and manufacturing sub-sector and also place less emphasis on oil sector so as to concentrate more on other aspects of the real sector of the economy. This is because increase in real sector investment, reduction in interest rate, increase budgetary allocation to government capital and recurrent expenditures are ways of improving the performance of the Nigerian economy. Keywords: Non-Oil Export, Exchange Rate, Interest Rate, Gross Domestic Product Government Capital and Recurrent Expenditure

Multicompartmental Particles for Combined Imaging and siRNA Delivery

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/92432/1/3850_ftp.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/92432/2/adma_201200372_sm_suppl.pd

Biospecimen reporting for improved study quality (BRISQ)

Human biospecimens are subjected to collection, processing, and storage that can significantly alter their molecular composition and consistency. These biospecimen preanalytical factors, in turn, influence experimental outcomes and the ability to reproduce scientific results. Currently, the extent and type of information specific to the biospecimen preanalytical conditions reported in scientific publications and regulatory submissions varies widely. To improve the quality of research that uses human tissues, it is crucial that information on the handling of biospecimens be reported in a thorough, accurate, and standardized manner. The Biospecimen Reporting for Improved Study Quality (BRISQ) recommendations outlined herein are intended to apply to any study in which human biospecimens are used. The purpose of reporting these details is to supply others, from researchers to regulators, with more consistent and standardized information to better evaluate, interpret, compare, and reproduce the experimental results. The BRISQ guidelines are proposed as an important and timely resource tool to strengthen communication and publications on biospecimen-related research and to help reassure patient contributors and the advocacy community that their contributions are valued and respected. Cancer (Cancer Cytopathol) 2011. Published 2011 by the American Cancer Society.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/83764/1/20147_ftp.pd

An Integrated TCGA Pan-Cancer Clinical Data Resource to Drive High-Quality Survival Outcome Analytics

For a decade, The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) program collected clinicopathologic annotation data along with multi-platform molecular profiles of more than 11,000 human tumors across 33 different cancer types. TCGA clinical data contain key features representing the democratized nature of the data collection process. To ensure proper use of this large clinical dataset associated with genomic features, we developed a standardized dataset named the TCGA Pan-Cancer Clinical Data Resource (TCGA-CDR), which includes four major clinical outcome endpoints. In addition to detailing major challenges and statistical limitations encountered during the effort of integrating the acquired clinical data, we present a summary that includes endpoint usage recommendations for each cancer type. These TCGA-CDR findings appear to be consistent with cancer genomics studies independent of the TCGA effort and provide opportunities for investigating cancer biology using clinical correlates at an unprecedented scale. Analysis of clinicopathologic annotations for over 11,000 cancer patients in the TCGA program leads to the generation of TCGA Clinical Data Resource, which provides recommendations of clinical outcome endpoint usage for 33 cancer types

Temperature Modulation of Electric Fields in Biological Matter

Pulsed electric fields (PEF) have become an important minimally invasive surgical technology for various applications including genetic engineering, electrochemotherapy and tissue ablation. This study explores the hypothesis that temperature dependent electrical parameters of tissue can be used to modulate the outcome of PEF protocols, providing a new means for controlling and optimizing this minimally invasive surgical procedure. This study investigates two different applications of cooling temperatures applied during PEF. The first case utilizes an electrode which simultaneously delivers pulsed electric fields and cooling temperatures. The subsequent results demonstrate that changes in electrical properties due to temperature produced by this configuration can substantially magnify and confine the electric fields in the cooled regions while almost eliminating electric fields in surrounding regions. This method can be used to increase precision in the PEF procedure, and eliminate muscle contractions and damage to adjacent tissues. The second configuration considered introduces a third probe that is not electrically active and only applies cooling boundary conditions. This second study demonstrates that in this probe configuration the temperature induced changes in electrical properties of tissue substantially reduce the electric fields in the cooled regions. This novel treatment can potentially be used to protect sensitive tissues from the effect of the PEF. Perhaps the most important conclusion of this investigation is that temperature is a powerful and accessible mechanism to modulate and control electric fields in biological tissues and can therefore be used to optimize and control PEF treatments

Pan-Cancer Analysis of lncRNA Regulation Supports Their Targeting of Cancer Genes in Each Tumor Context

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are commonly dys-regulated in tumors, but only a handful are known toplay pathophysiological roles in cancer. We inferredlncRNAs that dysregulate cancer pathways, onco-genes, and tumor suppressors (cancer genes) bymodeling their effects on the activity of transcriptionfactors, RNA-binding proteins, and microRNAs in5,185 TCGA tumors and 1,019 ENCODE assays.Our predictions included hundreds of candidateonco- and tumor-suppressor lncRNAs (cancerlncRNAs) whose somatic alterations account for thedysregulation of dozens of cancer genes and path-ways in each of 14 tumor contexts. To demonstrateproof of concept, we showed that perturbations tar-geting OIP5-AS1 (an inferred tumor suppressor) andTUG1 and WT1-AS (inferred onco-lncRNAs) dysre-gulated cancer genes and altered proliferation ofbreast and gynecologic cancer cells. Our analysis in-dicates that, although most lncRNAs are dysregu-lated in a tumor-specific manner, some, includingOIP5-AS1, TUG1, NEAT1, MEG3, and TSIX, synergis-tically dysregulate cancer pathways in multiple tumorcontexts

Pan-cancer Alterations of the MYC Oncogene and Its Proximal Network across the Cancer Genome Atlas

Although theMYConcogene has been implicated incancer, a systematic assessment of alterations ofMYC, related transcription factors, and co-regulatoryproteins, forming the proximal MYC network (PMN),across human cancers is lacking. Using computa-tional approaches, we define genomic and proteo-mic features associated with MYC and the PMNacross the 33 cancers of The Cancer Genome Atlas.Pan-cancer, 28% of all samples had at least one ofthe MYC paralogs amplified. In contrast, the MYCantagonists MGA and MNT were the most frequentlymutated or deleted members, proposing a roleas tumor suppressors.MYCalterations were mutu-ally exclusive withPIK3CA,PTEN,APC,orBRAFalterations, suggesting that MYC is a distinct onco-genic driver. Expression analysis revealed MYC-associated pathways in tumor subtypes, such asimmune response and growth factor signaling; chro-matin, translation, and DNA replication/repair wereconserved pan-cancer. This analysis reveals insightsinto MYC biology and is a reference for biomarkersand therapeutics for cancers with alterations ofMYC or the PMN

Genomic, Pathway Network, and Immunologic Features Distinguishing Squamous Carcinomas

This integrated, multiplatform PanCancer Atlas study co-mapped and identified distinguishing molecular features of squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs) from five sites associated with smokin

Spatial Organization and Molecular Correlation of Tumor-Infiltrating Lymphocytes Using Deep Learning on Pathology Images

Beyond sample curation and basic pathologic characterization, the digitized H&E-stained images of TCGA samples remain underutilized. To highlight this resource, we present mappings of tumorinfiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) based on H&E images from 13 TCGA tumor types. These TIL maps are derived through computational staining using a convolutional neural network trained to classify patches of images. Affinity propagation revealed local spatial structure in TIL patterns and correlation with overall survival. TIL map structural patterns were grouped using standard histopathological parameters. These patterns are enriched in particular T cell subpopulations derived from molecular measures. TIL densities and spatial structure were differentially enriched among tumor types, immune subtypes, and tumor molecular subtypes, implying that spatial infiltrate state could reflect particular tumor cell aberration states. Obtaining spatial lymphocytic patterns linked to the rich genomic characterization of TCGA samples demonstrates one use for the TCGA image archives with insights into the tumor-immune microenvironment