Association between vitamin d deficiencies in sarcoidosis with disease activity, course of disease and stages of lung involvements

Background: Despite negative association between 25-hydroxy vitamin D and incidence of many chronic respiratory diseases, this feature was not well studied in sarcoidosis. Current study investigated the association between 25-hydroxy vitamin D deficiency with sarcoidosis chronicity, disease activity, extra-pulmonary skin manifestations, urine calcium level and pulmonary function status in Iranian sarcoidosis patients. Results of this study along with future studies, will supply more effective programs for sarcoidosis treatment. Methods: Eighty sarcoidosis patients in two groups of insufficient serum level and sufficient serum level of 25-hydroxy vitamin D were studied. Course of sarcoidosis was defined as acute and chronic sarcoidosis. Pulmonary function test (PFT) was assessed by spirometry. Skin involvements were defined as biopsy proven skin sarcoidosis. 24-hour urine calcium level was used to specify the disease activity. Stages of lung involvements were obtained by CT-scan and chest X-ray. The statistical analyses were evaluated using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences. Results: A significant negative correlation was obtained between vitamin D deficiency in sarcoidosis patients and disease chronic course and stages two to four of lung involvements. Considering other parameters of the disease and vitamin D deficiency, no significant correlation was detected. Conclusions: In conclusion, results of the current study implies in the role of vitamin 25(OH)D deficiencies in predicting the course of chronic sarcoidosis. Furthermore, it was concluded that vitamin 25(OH)D deficiency can direct pulmonary sarcoidosis toward stage 2–4 of lung involvements

Cisplatin Induces Up-Regulation of KAI1, a Metastasis Suppressor Gene, in MCF-7 Breast Cancer Cell Line

Purpose: To investigate the effect of cisplatin on cell toxicity and metastasis through modulation of KAI1 gene expression.Methods: MCF-7cells were incubated with different concentrations of cisplatin for 24 h. RNA was extracted by trizol and cDNA synthesized. KAI1 and TBP were chosen as target and internal control genes, respectively. Specific primers were designed by primer express software, v.3.0. KAI1/TBP and gene expression ratio was calculated using the formula, 2 -ΔΔCt.Results: Cisplatin exerted a dose-dependent inhibitory effect on the viability of highly metastatic MCF-7 cells. KAI1/TBP gene expression ratios were 1.97 ± 0.19 (p < 0.05), 2.96 ± 0.55 (p < 0.05), 9.06 ± 0.27 (p < 0.001) and 12.38 ± 0.88 (p < 0.01) in 10, 20, 50 and 100 μM concentrations of cisplatin. Conclusion: These findings indicate that cisplatin can inhibit metastasis by up-regulating KAI1 gene in MCF-7cells.Keywords: Cisplatin; KAI1; Metastasis; Breast Cancer; Real-time PCR

First measurement of coherent ρ0 photoproduction in ultra-peripheral Xe–Xe collisions at √sNN = 5.44 TeV

The first measurement of the coherent photoproduction of ρ0 vector mesons in ultra-peripheral Xe–Xe collisions at sNN=5.44 TeV is presented. This result, together with previous HERA γp data and γ–Pb measurements from ALICE, describes the atomic number (A) dependence of this process, which is particularly sensitive to nuclear shadowing effects and to the approach to the black-disc limit of QCD at a semi-hard scale. The cross section of the Xe+Xe→ρ0+Xe+Xe process, measured at midrapidity through the decay channel ρ0→π+π−, is found to be dσ/dy=131.5±5.6(stat.)−16.9+17.5(syst.) mb. The ratio of the continuum to resonant contributions for the production of pion pairs is also measured. In addition, the fraction of events accompanied by electromagnetic dissociation of either one or both colliding nuclei is reported. The dependence on A of cross section for the coherent ρ0 photoproduction at a centre-of-mass energy per nucleon of the γA system of WγA,n=65 GeV is found to be consistent with a power-law behaviour σ(γA→ρ0A)∝Aα with a slope α=0.96±0.02(syst.). This slope signals important shadowing effects, but it is still far from the behaviour expected in the black-disc limit.publishedVersio

Novel Method for Differentiating Histological Types of Gastric Adenocarcinoma by Using Confocal Raman Microspectroscopy

[[abstract]]Gastric adenocarcinoma, a single heterogeneous disease with multiple epidemiological and histopathological characteristics, accounts for approximately 10% of cancers worldwide. It is categorized into four histological types: papillary adenocarcinoma (PAC), tubular adenocarcinoma (TAC), mucinous adenocarcinoma (MAC), and signet ring cell adenocarcinoma (SRC). Effective differentiation of the four types of adenocarcinoma will greatly improve the treatment of gastric adenocarcinoma to increase its five-year survival rate. We reported here the differentiation of the four histological types of gastric adenocarcinoma from the molecularly structural viewpoint of confocal Raman microspectroscopy. In total, 79 patients underwent laparoscopic or open radical gastrectomy during 2008–2011: 21 for signet ring cell carcinoma, 21 for tubular adenocarcinoma, 14 for papillary adenocarcinoma, 6 for mucinous carcinoma, and 17 for normal gastric mucosas obtained from patients underwent operation for other benign lesions. Clinical data were retrospectively reviewed from medical charts, and Raman data were processed and analyzed by using principal component analysis (PCA) and linear discriminant analysis (LDA). Two-dimensional plots of PCA and LDA clearly demonstrated that the four histological types of gastric adenocarcinoma could be differentiated, and confocal Raman microspectroscopy provides potentially a rapid and effective method for differentiating SRC and MAC from TAC or PAC[[notice]]補正完

A(c)(+) Production and Baryon-to-Meson Ratios in pp and p-Pb Collisions at root S-NN=5.02 TeV at the LHC

The prompt production of the charm baryon \u39bc+ and the \u39bc+/D0 production ratios were measured at midrapidity with the ALICE detector in pp and p-Pb collisions at sNN=5.02 TeV. These new measurements show a clear decrease of the \u39bc+/D0 ratio with increasing transverse momentum (pT) in both collision systems in the range 2<12 GeV/c, exhibiting similarities with the light-flavor baryon-to-meson ratios p/\u3c0 and \u39b/KS0. At low pT, predictions that include additional color-reconnection mechanisms beyond the leading-color approximation, assume the existence of additional higher-mass charm-baryon states, or include hadronization via coalescence can describe the data, while predictions driven by charm-quark fragmentation processes measured in e+e- and e-p collisions significantly underestimate the data. The results presented in this Letter provide significant evidence that the established assumption of universality (colliding-system independence) of parton-to-hadron fragmentation is not sufficient to describe charm-baryon production in hadronic collisions at LHC energies

A(c)(+) Production and Baryon-to-Meson Ratios in pp and p-Pb Collisions at root S-NN=5.02 TeV at the LHC

The prompt production of the charm baryon Λ_{c}^{+} and the Λ_{c}^{+}/D^{0} production ratios were measured at midrapidity with the ALICE detector in pp and p-Pb collisions at sqrt[s_{NN}]=5.02  TeV. These new measurements show a clear decrease of the Λ_{c}^{+}/D^{0} ratio with increasing transverse momentum (p_{T}) in both collision systems in the range 2<p_{T}<12  GeV/c, exhibiting similarities with the light-flavor baryon-to-meson ratios p/π and Λ/K_{S}^{0}. At low p_{T}, predictions that include additional color-reconnection mechanisms beyond the leading-color approximation, assume the existence of additional higher-mass charm-baryon states, or include hadronization via coalescence can describe the data, while predictions driven by charm-quark fragmentation processes measured in e^{+}e^{-} and e^{-}p collisions significantly underestimate the data. The results presented in this Letter provide significant evidence that the established assumption of universality (colliding-system independence) of parton-to-hadron fragmentation is not sufficient to describe charm-baryon production in hadronic collisions at LHC energies