664 research outputs found
Prioritising Genes with an Artificial Neural Network Comprising Medical Documents to Accelerate Positional Cloning in Biological Research
Immunization with thyroglobulin induces Graves'-like disease in mice
We immunized AKR/N mice with bovine thyroglobulin (Tg) once every 2 weeks and monitored their time-dependent changes in 125I uptake activity in the thyroid glands. After 3 months, anti-Tg antibody was positive in all sera from the immunized mice. Serum free tri-iodothyronine (T3) and free thyroxine (T4) levels in the immunized mice (n=6) were significantly higher than those in the saline injected (control) mice (n=6). Neck counts as well as scintigraphy of the thyroid glands revealed that iodide uptake activity of the immunized mice was not suppressed, but was instead higher than that of the control mice. Two of the six immunized mice showed extremely high iodide uptake activity. The thyroid glands of these two mice were diffusely enlarged and the height of the epithelial cells was also increased. In addition, two mice with high iodide uptake activity produced a high titer of thyroid-stimulating antibody. Additional experiments showed that 4 out of 11 AKR/N mice and 3 out of 10 C57BL6 mice immunized with Tg had high serum free T3/free T4 levels, high 125I uptake activity of the thyroid, and positive thyroid-stimulating antibody activity. Diffuse goiter, thyrotoxicosis, high iodide uptake activity, and positive thyroid-stimulating antibody are the characteristics of Graves' disease. Thus, these mice exhibit the symptoms of Graves' disease. These results suggest that immunization with Tg induces Graves'-like disease in mice and that our methods will provide a new animal model of Graves' disease
Is a high muon of the event observed at HERA a signature of the stop?
We investigate the event with high transverse momenta
observed at HERA (H1) and show that this event could be interpreted as a
signature of the single production of the scalar top quark in a supersymmetric
model with -parity breaking interactions. The event topology of the H1 event
is rather characteristic and in fact it can be simulated by our specific
scenario if we reasonably choose our model parameters to be ({\romannumeral 1})
TeV [TeV] for
[] and ({\romannumeral 2})
GeV, GeV
GeV and
.Comment: 8 pages, LaTeX, 4 figures (included in a separate .uu file
Synergistic Effect of Geranylgeranyltransferase Inhibitor, GGTI, and Docetaxel on the Growth of Prostate Cancer Cells
Most advanced prostate cancers progress to castration resistant
prostate cancer (CRPC) after a few years of androgen deprivation
therapy and the prognosis of patients with CRPC is poor. Although
docetaxel and cabazitaxel can prolong the survival of patients
with CRPC, inevitable progression appears following those
treatments. It is urgently required to identify better or
alternative therapeutic strategies. The purpose of this study was
to confirm the anti-cancer activity of zoledronic acid (Zol) and
determine whether inhibition of geranylgeranylation in the
mevalonate pathway could be a molecular target of prostate cancer
treatment. We examined the growth inhibitory effect of Zol in
prostate cancer cells (LNCaP, PC3, DU145) and investigated a role
of geranylgeranylation in the anticancer activity of Zol. We,
then, evaluated the growth inhibitory effect of
geranylgeranyltransferase inhibitor (GGTI), and analyzed the
synergy of GGTI and docetaxel by combination index and
isobolographic analysis. Zol inhibited the growth of all prostate
cancer cell lines tested in a dose-dependent manner through
inhibition of geranylgeranylation. GGTI also inhibited the
prostate cancer cell growth and the growth inhibitory effect was
augmented by a combination with docetaxel. Synergism between GGTI
and docetaxel was observed across a broad range of concentrations.
In conclusion, our results demonstrated that GGTI can inhibit the
growth of prostate cancer cells and has synergistic effect with
docetaxel, suggesting its potential role in prostate cancer
treatment
Single scalar top production with polarized beams in ep collisions at HERA
From the point of view of the R-parity breaking supersymmetric model, we
propose a scalar top (stop) search with longitudinally polarized electron (e-)
and positron(e+) beams which will soon be available at the upgraded HERA. Fully
polarized e- or e+ beams could produce the stop two times as much as
unpolarized beams, while they increase background events due to the process of
the standard model by about 30% in comparison with unpolarized ones. We show
that right-handed e+ beams at HERA is efficient to produce the stop in the
model. With 1 fb**(-1) of integrated luminosity we estimate reach in the
coupling constant lambda'(131) for masses of the stop in the range 160-400 GeV.
We can set a 95% confidence-level exclusion limit for lambda'(131) > 0.01-0.05
in the stop mass range of 240-280 GeV if no singal of the stop is observed. We
also point out that y(=Q**2/sx) distributions of e+ coming from the stop shows
the different behavior from those of the standard model.Comment: 12 pages, 6 eps figure
Possible Excess in Charged Current Events with High-Q^2 at HERA from Stop and Sbottom Production
We investigate a production process e^+p \to \st X \to \sb W^+ X at HERA,
where we consider a decay mode \sb \to \bar{\nu}_e d of the sbottom in the
framework of an R-parity breaking supersymmetric standard model. Both processes
of the stop production e^+ d \to \st and the sbottom decay \sb \to
\bar{\nu}_e d are originated from an R-parity breaking superpotential
. One of signatures of the
process should be a large missing transverse momentum plus multijet events
corresponding to hadronic decays of the . It is shown that the signal could
appear as an event excess in the charged current (CC) processes with the high at HERA. We compare expected event distributions with
the CC data recently reported by the H1 and ZEUS groups at HERA. Methods for
extracting the signal from the standard CC processes are also discussed.Comment: 13 pages, LaTeX, 3 figure
ÂżSe acumula capital social en Asia Oriental con el uso de las redes sociales? Inferencia causal estadĂstica con datos del Asian Barometer Survey
Early experimental studies showed negative results regarding the potential of Internet use to enhance social capital. Since then, a significant number of studies have reported positive effects. However, the findings are still inconclusive due to the diversity of Internet use, conceptual ambiguity of social capital, lack of cross-cultural studies, and methodological limitations regarding causal inference. In this paper, we use data from the Asian Barometer Survey and statistical c ausal inference to examine whether using social media to connect with other people increases s ocial capital in four East Asian countries and territories. The effects of social media use on participation in voluntary associations and general trust were mixed at best, with no clear and consistent positive effects. In contrast, social media use fairly consistently increased network size in our data. The implications of these findings are discussed. KeywoRdsGeneral Trust; Internet use; Nearest Neighbor Matching; Network Size; Voluntary Associations
Results of a Screening Program for Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia Type 2A: A Clinical Study of a Japanese Family
A Japanese family of 87 members in five generations with multiple endocrine neoplasia type 2A (MEN 2A) is described regarding the utility of screening tests for early detection of medullary thyroid carcinoma and the potential for DNA diagnosis of MEN 2A gene carriers. The screening programs for family members in this series include measurements of plasma calcitonin concentrations after intravenous injection of pentagastrin (0.5 Îźg/kg/5 sec) and 24-hour urinary excretion of catecholamines. While 18 MEN 2A patients had been previously diagnosed, these screening programs revealed five additional patients with MEN 2A (aged 16, 19, 35, 37, and 57). Prediction of MEN 2A gene carriers by DNA analysis has been attempted but is not yet possible in this family
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