730 research outputs found
First XMM-Newton study of two Narrow-Line Seyfert 1 galaxies discovered in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
The Early Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) contains 150
Narrow-Line Seyfert 1 (NLS1) galaxies, most of them previously unknown. We
present here the study of the X-ray emission from two of these active galaxies
(SDSS J030639.57+000343.2 and SDSS J141519.50-003021.6), based upon XMM-Newton
observations. The spectral and timing characteristics of the two sources are
presented and compared against the typical properties of known NLS1 galaxies.
We found that these two NLS1 are within the dispersion range of the typical
values of this class of AGN, although with some interesting features that
deserve further studies.Comment: 5 pages, 8 figures. Accepted for publication on A&A Main Journa
Blood ties: ABO is a trans-species polymorphism in primates
The ABO histo-blood group, the critical determinant of transfusion
incompatibility, was the first genetic polymorphism discovered in humans.
Remarkably, ABO antigens are also polymorphic in many other primates, with the
same two amino acid changes responsible for A and B specificity in all species
sequenced to date. Whether this recurrence of A and B antigens is the result of
an ancient polymorphism maintained across species or due to numerous, more
recent instances of convergent evolution has been debated for decades, with a
current consensus in support of convergent evolution. We show instead that
genetic variation data in humans and gibbons as well as in Old World Monkeys
are inconsistent with a model of convergent evolution and support the
hypothesis of an ancient, multi-allelic polymorphism of which some alleles are
shared by descent among species. These results demonstrate that the ABO
polymorphism is a trans-species polymorphism among distantly related species
and has remained under balancing selection for tens of millions of years, to
date, the only such example in Hominoids and Old World Monkeys outside of the
Major Histocompatibility Complex.Comment: 45 pages, 4 Figures, 4 Supplementary Figures, 5 Supplementary Table
The uptake of soluble and nanoparticulate imaging isotope in model liver tumours after intra-venous and intra-arterial administration
Delivery of chemotherapeutic drugs to tumours by reformulation as nanoparticles has often been proposed as a means of facilitating increased selective uptake, exploiting the increased permeability of the tumour vasculature. However realisation of this improvement in drug delivery in cancer patients has met with limited success. We have compared tumour uptake of soluble Tc99m-pertechnetate and a colloid of nanoparticles with a Tc99m core, using both intra-venous and intra-arterial routes of administration in a rabbit liver VX2 tumour model. The radiolabelled nanoparticles were tested both in untreated and cationised form. The results from this tumour model in an internal organ show a marked advantage in intra-arterial administration over the intra-venous route, even for the soluble isotope. Tumour accumulation of nanoparticles from arterial administration was augmented by cationisation of the nanoparticle surface with histone proteins, which consistently facilitated selective accumulation within microvessels at the periphery of tumours.Sources of support for this research: Sirtex Medical Ltd, Sydney
Australia
The Prevalence of Natural Health Product Use in Patients with Acute Cardiovascular Disease
Background: Natural health products (NHP) use may have implications with respect to adverse effects, drug interactions and adherence yet the prevalence of NHP use by patients with acute cardiovascular disease and the best method to ascertain this information is unknown. Objective: To identify the best method to ascertain information on NHP, and the prevalence of use in a population with acute cardiovascular disease. Methods: Structured interviews were conducted with a convenience sample of consecutive patients admitted with acute cardiovascular disease to the University of Alberta Hospital during January 2009. NHP use was explored using structured and open-ended questions based on Health Canada’s definition of NHP. The medical record was reviewed, and documentation of NHP use by physicians, nurses, and pharmacists, compared against the gold-standard structured interview. Results: 88 patients were interviewed (mean age 62 years, standard deviation [SD 14]; 80 % male; 41 % admitted for acute coronary syndromes). Common co-morbidities included hypertension (59%), diabetes (26%) and renal impairment (19%). NHP use was common (78 % of patients) and 75 % of NHP users reported daily use. The category of NHP most commonly used was vitamins and minerals (73%) followed by herbal products (20%), traditional medicines including Chines
Plasma Metabolomics Identifies Lipid and Amino Acid Markers of Weight Loss in Patients with Upper Gastrointestinal Cancer
Cachexia is a multifactorial wasting syndrome associated with high morbidity and mortality in patients with cancer. Diagnosis can be difficult and, in the clinical situation, usually relies upon reported weight loss. The 'omics' technologies allow us the opportunity to study the end points of many biological processes. Among these, blood-based metabolomics is a promising method to investigate the pathophysiology of human cancer cachexia and identify candidate biomarkers. In this study, we performed liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (LC/MS)-based metabolomics to investigate the metabolic profile of cancer-associated weight loss. Non-selected patients undergoing surgery with curative intent for upper gastrointestinal cancer were recruited. Fasting plasma samples were taken at induction of anaesthesia. LC/MS analysis showed that 6 metabolites were highly discriminative of weight loss. Specifically, a combination profile of LysoPC 18.2, L-Proline, Hexadecanoic acid, Octadecanoic acid, Phenylalanine and LysoPC 16:1 showed close correlation for eight weight-losing samples (≥5% weight loss) and nine weight-stable samples (<5%weight loss) between predicted and actual weight change (r = 0.976, p = 0.0014). Overall, 40 metabolites were associated with ≥5% weight loss. This study provides biological validation of the consensus definition of cancer cachexia (Fearon et al.) and provides feasible candidate markers for further investigation in early diagnosis and the assessment of therapeutic intervention
Precision Measurement of the Mass Difference
We have measured the vector-pseudoscalar mass splitting , significantly more precise than the previous
world average. We minimize the systematic errors by also measuring the
vector-pseudoscalar mass difference using the radiative
decay , obtaining
. This is
then combined with our previous high-precision measurement of
, which used the decay . We also
measure the mass difference MeV, using the
decay modes of the and mesons.Comment: 18 pages uuencoded compressed postscript (process with uudecode then
gunzip). hardcopies with figures can be obtained by sending mail to:
[email protected]
Production and Decay of D_1(2420)^0 and D_2^*(2460)^0
We have investigated and final states and
observed the two established charmed mesons, the with mass
MeV/c and width MeV/c and
the with mass MeV/c and width
MeV/c. Properties of these final states, including
their decay angular distributions and spin-parity assignments, have been
studied. We identify these two mesons as the doublet predicted
by HQET. We also obtain constraints on {\footnotesize } as a function of the cosine of the relative phase of the two
amplitudes in the decay.Comment: 15 pages in REVTEX format. hardcopies with figures can be obtained by
sending mail to: [email protected]
Observation of a New Charmed Strange Meson
Using the CLEO-II detector, we have obtained evidence for a new meson
decaying to . Its mass is
{}~MeV/ and its width is ~MeV/. Although we do not
establish its spin and parity, the new meson is consistent with predictions for
an , , charmed strange state.Comment: 9 pages uuencoded compressed postscript (process with uudecode then
gunzip). hardcopies with figures can be obtained by sending mail to:
[email protected]
Exome Sequencing Reveals Comprehensive Genomic Alterations across Eight Cancer Cell Lines
It is well established that genomic alterations play an essential role in oncogenesis, disease progression, and response of tumors to therapeutic intervention. The advances of next-generation sequencing technologies (NGS) provide unprecedented capabilities to scan genomes for changes such as mutations, deletions, and alterations of chromosomal copy number. However, the cost of full-genome sequencing still prevents the routine application of NGS in many areas. Capturing and sequencing the coding exons of genes (the “exome”) can be a cost-effective approach for identifying changes that result in alteration of protein sequences. We applied an exome-sequencing technology (Roche Nimblegen capture paired with 454 sequencing) to identify sequence variation and mutations in eight commonly used cancer cell lines from a variety of tissue origins (A2780, A549, Colo205, GTL16, NCI-H661, MDA-MB468, PC3, and RD). We showed that this technology can accurately identify sequence variation, providing ∼95% concordance with Affymetrix SNP Array 6.0 performed on the same cell lines. Furthermore, we detected 19 of the 21 mutations reported in Sanger COSMIC database for these cell lines. We identified an average of 2,779 potential novel sequence variations/mutations per cell line, of which 1,904 were non-synonymous. Many non-synonymous changes were identified in kinases and known cancer-related genes. In addition we confirmed that the read-depth of exome sequence data can be used to estimate high-level gene amplifications and identify homologous deletions. In summary, we demonstrate that exome sequencing can be a reliable and cost-effective way for identifying alterations in cancer genomes, and we have generated a comprehensive catalogue of genomic alterations in coding regions of eight cancer cell lines. These findings could provide important insights into cancer pathways and mechanisms of resistance to anti-cancer therapies
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