Gene Expression Profiles are Altered in Human Papillomavirus-16 E6 D25E-Expressing Cell Lines

Previously, we have reported that the human papillomavirus (HPV) type 16 E6 D25E is the most prevalent variant in Korean women at high risk for cervical cancers. Several studies have identified an association between the increased frequency of this variant and the elevated risk of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia and invasive cervical carcinoma. To investigate whether the HPV-16 E6 D25E variant might influence cervical cancer progression, we used an oligonucleotide microarray approach to identify transcriptionally altered gene expression patterns in recombinant wild-type E6 or E6 D25E variant-expressing HPV-negative cancer cells. We found that 211 genes were significantly up- or down-regulated (at least 1.5-fold, p < 0.05). We identified 14 genes, nine down-regulated and five up-regulated upon E6 D25E expression, compared with wild-type E6 expression. These results further emphasize the unique biological activity of the HPV-16 E6 D25E variant

Robustness of multiparty nonlocality to local decoherence

We investigate the robustness of multiparty nonlocality under local decoherence, acting independently and equally on each subsystems. To be specific, we consider an N-qubit GHZ state under depolarization, dephasing, or dissipation channel, and tested the nonlocality by violation of Mermin-Klyshko inequality, which is one of Bell's inequalities for multi-qubit systems. The results show that the robustness of nonlocality increases with the number of qubits, and that the nonlocality of an N-qubit GHZ state with even N is extremely persistent against dephasing.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Neck control after definitive radiochemotherapy without planned neck dissection in node-positive head and neck cancers

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The purpose of this study was to evaluate neck control outcomes after definitive radiochemotherapy without planned neck dissection in node-positive head and neck cancer.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We retrospectively reviewed medical records of fifty patients with node-positive head and neck cancer who received definitive radiochemotherapy. Twelve patients subsequently underwent neck dissection for suspicious recurrent or persistent disease. A median dose of 70 Gy (range 60-70.6) was delivered to involved nodes. Response evaluation was performed at a median of 5 weeks after completion of radiotherapy.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Neck failure was observed in 11 patients and the 3-year regional control (RC) rate was 77.1%. Neck dissection was performed in 10 of the 11 patients; seven of these cases were successfully salvaged, and the ultimate rate of neck control was 92%. The remaining two patients who received neck dissection had negative pathologic results. On univariate analysis, initial nodal size > 2 cm, a less-than-complete response at the primary site, post-radiotherapy nodal size > 1.5 cm, and post-radiotherapy nodal necrosis were associated with RC. On multivariate analysis, less-than-complete primary site response and post-radiotherapy nodal necrosis were identified as independent prognostic factors for RC.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The neck failure rate after definitive radiochemotherapy without planned neck dissection was 22%. Two-thirds of these were successfully salvaged with neck dissection and the ultimate neck control rate was 92%. Our results suggest that planned neck dissection might not be necessary in patients with complete response of primary site, no evidence of residual lesion > 1.5 cm, or no necrotic lymph nodes at the 1-2 months follow-up evaluation after radiotherapy.</p

Intra- and inter-hemispheric effective connectivity in the human somatosensory cortex during pressure stimulation

Background: Slow-adapting type I (SA-I) afferents deliver sensory signals to the somatosensory cortex during low-frequency (or static) mechanical stimulation. It has been reported that the somatosensory projection from SA-I afferents is effective and reliable for object grasping and manipulation. Despite a large number of neuroimaging studies on cortical activation responding to tactile stimuli mediated by SA-I afferents, how sensory information of such tactile stimuli flows over the somatosensory cortex remains poorly understood. In this study, we investigated tactile information processing of pressure stimuli between the primary (SI) and secondary (SII) somatosensory cortices by measuring effective connectivity using dynamic causal modeling (DCM). We applied pressure stimuli for 3 s to the right index fingertip of healthy participants and acquired functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data using a 3T MRI system. Results: DCM analysis revealed intra-hemispheric effective connectivity between the contralateral SI (cSI) and SII (cSII) characterized by both parallel (signal inputs to both cSI and cSII) and serial (signal transmission from cSI to cSII) pathways during pressure stimulation. DCM analysis also revealed inter-hemispheric effective connectivity among cSI, cSII, and the ipsilateral SII (iSII) characterized by serial (from cSI to cSII) and SII-level (from cSII to iSII) pathways during pressure stimulation. Conclusions: Our results support a hierarchical somatosensory network that underlies processing of low-frequency tactile information. The network consists of parallel inputs to both cSI and cSII (intra-hemispheric), followed by serial pathways from cSI to cSII (intra-hemispheric) and from cSII to iSII (inter-hemispheric). Importantly, our results suggest that both serial and parallel processing take place in tactile information processing of static mechanical stimuli as well as highlighting the contribution of callosal transfer to bilateral neuronal interactions in SII.open1

Leukotactin-1/CCL15-induced chemotaxis signaling through CCR1 in HOS cells

AbstractLeukotactin-1 (Lkn-1)/CCL15 is a recently cloned CC-chemokine that binds to the CCR1 and CCR3. Although Lkn-1 has been known to function as a chemoattractant for neutrophils, monocytes and lymphocytes, its cellular mechanism remains unclear. To understand the mechanism of Lkn-1-induced chemotaxis signaling, we examined the chemotactic activities of human osteogenic sarcoma cells expressing CCR1 in response to Lkn-1 using inhibitors of signaling molecules. Inhibitors of Gi/Go protein, phospholipase C (PLC) and protein kinase Cδ (PKCδ) inhibited the chemotactic activity of Lkn-1 indicating that Lkn-1-induced chemotaxis signal is transduced through Gi/Go protein, PLC and PKCδ. The activities of PLC and PKCδ were also enhanced by Lkn-1 stimulation. Chemotactic activity of Lkn-1 was inhibited by the treatment of cycloheximide and actinomycin D suggesting that newly synthesized proteins are needed for chemotaxis. Nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) inhibitor reduced chemotactic activity of Lkn-1. DNA binding activity of NF-κB was also enhanced by Lkn-1 stimulation. These results suggest that Lkn-1 transduces the signal through Gi/Go protein, PLC, PKCδ, NF-κB and newly synthesized proteins for chemotaxis

Primary Pulmonary Plasmacytoma Presenting as Multiple Lung Nodules

Extramedullary plasmacytoma is a plasma cell tumor arising outside the bone marrow and usually occurs as a solitary tumor in the upper respiratory tract, such as the pharynx, paranasal sinuses, nasal cavity, or oral cavity [1]. Other cases develop in the lymph nodes, skin, gastrointestinal tract, genitourinary tract, and other regions. Primary pulmonary plasmacytomas are very rare and usually present as solitary lung nodules or masses [2]. Unusual cases manifest as diffuse pulmonary infiltration [3,4]. We describe here a unique case of primary pulmonary plasmacytoma, which presented as multiple lung nodules during regular screening in a patient with systemic lupus erythematosus

Quantum Message Exchange Based on Entanglement and Bell-State Measurements

We propose a scheme by which two parties can secretely and simultaneously exchange messages. The scheme requires the two parties to share entanglement and both to perform Bell-state measurements. Only two out of the four Bell states are required to be distinguished in the Bell-state measurements, and thus the scheme is experimentally feasible using only linear optical means. Generalizations of the scheme to high-dimensional systems and to multipartite entanglement are considered. We show also that the proposed scheme works even if the two parties do not possess shared reference frames.Comment: To be published in Physics Letters A; supersedes quant-ph/0407138. This version includes a fair amount of new material, including a section discussing the case of no shared reference frame