On the Nesterov-Todd Direction in Semidefinite Programming

On the Nesterov-Todd Direction in Semidefinite Programmin

Smooth-muscle-associated contractile protein in renal mesenchymal tumour cells and in transformed cells from DMN-injected rats.

Cryostat sections and established in vitro cultures of dimethylnitrosamine(DMN)-induced renal mesenchymal tumours and monolayer cultures of transformed kidney cells derived from rats treated with a carcinogenic dose of DMN were examined by indirect immunofluorescence with human serum containing smooth muscle antibody. Eight mesenchymal tumours examined showed filamentous cytoplasmic staining of spindle cells infiltrating between renal tubules, whilst in normal kidneys interstitial cells were only weakly positive. In established in vitro cultures from 6 mesenchymal tumours, different patterns of staining were observed in morphologically different cell forms, ranging from fine filamentous staining in giant cells to diffuse cytoplasmic fluorescence in small bipolar cells, and cell outline staining in polygonal cells. In addition filamentous staining of microvillous projections and nucleolar staining were observed in some tumour cells. Monolayer cultures of transformed kidney cells showed strong staining of coarse, randomly-orientated cytoplasmic filaments, whilst fibroblasts cultured from normal rat kidney demonstrated an ordered array of fine, parallel filaments. Specificity of the immunofluorescent staining reaction was established by failure to obtain staining with normal serum, with smooth muscle antibody serum neutralized by homogenates of smooth muscle or extracts containing actin derived from smooth muscle. These results indicate that there is an apparent increase of actin-like contractile microfilaments in transformed cells and in renal mesenchymal tumours. The cytoplasmic contracile microfilaments in these cells may play a role in tumour cell mobility and invasion

Role of Interleukin 17 in arthritis chronicity through survival of synoviocytes via regulation of synoviolin expression

Background: The use of TNF inhibitors has been a major progress in the treatment of chronic inflammation. However, not all patients respond. In addition, response will be often lost when treatment is stopped. These clinical aspects indicate that other cytokines might be involved and we focus here on the role of IL-17. In addition, the chronic nature of joint inflammation may contribute to reduced response and enhanced chronicity. Therefore we studied the capacity of IL-17 to regulate synoviolin, an E3 ubiquitin ligase implicated in synovial hyperplasia in human rheumatoid arthritis (RA) FLS and in chronic reactivated streptococcal cell wall (SCW)-induced arthritis.<p></p> Methodology/Principal Findings: Chronic reactivated SCW-induced arthritis was examined in IL-17R deficient and wild-type mice. Synoviolin expression was analysed by real-time RT-PCR, Western Blot or immunostaining in RA FLS and tissue, and p53 assessed by Western Blot. Apoptosis was detected by annexin V/propidium iodide staining, SS DNA apoptosis ELISA kit or TUNEL staining and proliferation by PCNA staining. IL-17 receptor A (IL-17RA), IL-17 receptor C (IL-17-RC) or synoviolin inhibition were achieved by small interfering RNA (siRNA) or neutralizing antibodies. IL-17 induced sustained synoviolin expression in RA FLS. Sodium nitroprusside (SNP)-induced RA FLS apoptosis was associated with reduced synoviolin expression and was rescued by IL-17 treatment with a corresponding increase in synoviolin expression. IL-17RC or IL-17RA RNA interference increased SNP-induced apoptosis, and decreased IL-17-induced synoviolin. IL-17 rescued RA FLS from apoptosis induced by synoviolin knockdown. IL-17 and TNF had additive effects on synoviolin expression and protection against apoptosis induced by synoviolin knowndown. In IL-17R deficient mice, a decrease in arthritis severity was characterized by increased synovial apoptosis, reduced proliferation and a marked reduction in synoviolin expression. A distinct absence of synoviolin expressing germinal centres in IL-17R deficient mice contrasted with synoviolin positive B cells and Th17 cells in synovial germinal centre-like structures.<p></p> Conclusion/Significance: IL-17 induction of synoviolin may contribute at least in part to RA chronicity by prolonging the survival of RA FLS and immune cells in germinal centre reactions. These results extend the role of IL-17 to synovial hyperplasia.<p></p&gt

p53 expression in squamous dysplasia associated with carcinoma of the oesophagus: evidence for field carcinogenesis

Squamous epithelial dysplasia is often observed multifocally in the cancerous oesophagus and is presumably considered to be a pre-cancerous lesion. A mutation of the p53 tumour suppressor gene is commonly identified in oesophageal cancer and dysplasia. p53 mutations can be anticipated immunohistochemically. In order to confirm the biological and clinical significance of p53 expressions in oesophageal field carcinogenesis, immunostaining for p53 in cancerous and multifocal precancerous lesions from resected human oesophagus was systematically investigated, while paying special attention to the contiguity of these lesions. Lesions expressing p53 were detected in 46.5% (20 of 43 lesions) of the invasive carcinoma, and in 51.0% (46 of 90 lesions) of the carcinoma in situ, and in 51.4% (92 of 179 lesions) of the dysplasia. Next, the p53 expression in dysplasia was compared with that in carcinoma for the same case. 37 of 39 (94.8%) dysplasias contiguous to p53-positive carcinomas also expressed p53 (P < 0.0001). On the other hand, the isolated dysplasias without contiguity to p53-positive carcinomas, only expressed p53 protein in 44.0% (11 of 25 lesions). No significant correlations were found between the p53 staining and either the clinicopathological features or prognosis. Discordant p53 alterations, such as those seen in cancerous and isolated precancerous lesions, may thus demonstrate further evidence for a multicentric or field carcinogenesis of the human oesophagus. © 2000 Cancer Research Campaig

Stable periodic waves in coupled Kuramoto-Sivashinsky - Korteweg-de Vries equations

Periodic waves are investigated in a system composed of a Kuramoto-Sivashinsky - Korteweg-de Vries (KS-KdV) equation, which is linearly coupled to an extra linear dissipative equation. The model describes, e.g., a two-layer liquid film flowing down an inclined plane. It has been recently shown that the system supports stable solitary pulses. We demonstrate that a perturbation analysis, based on the balance equation for the field momentum, predicts the existence of stable cnoidal waves (CnWs) in the same system. It is found that the mean value U of the wave field u in the main subsystem, but not the mean value of the extra field, affects the stability of the periodic waves. Three different areas can be distinguished inside the stability region in the parameter plane (L,U), where L is the wave's period. In these areas, stable are, respectively, CnWs with positive velocity, constant solutions, and CnWs with negative velocity. Multistability, i.e., the coexistence of several attractors, including the waves with several maxima per period, appears at large value of L. The analytical predictions are completely confirmed by direct simulations. Stable waves are also found numerically in the limit of vanishing dispersion, when the KS-KdV equation goes over into the KS one.Comment: a latex text file and 16 eps files with figures. Journal of the Physical Society of Japan, in pres

Stabilized Kuramoto-Sivashinsky system

A model consisting of a mixed Kuramoto - Sivashinsky - KdV equation, linearly coupled to an extra linear dissipative equation, is proposed. The model applies to the description of surface waves on multilayered liquid films. The extra equation makes its possible to stabilize the zero solution in the model, opening way to the existence of stable solitary pulses (SPs). Treating the dissipation and instability-generating gain in the model as small perturbations, we demonstrate that balance between them selects two steady-state solitons from their continuous family existing in the absence of the dissipation and gain. The may be stable, provided that the zero solution is stable. The prediction is completely confirmed by direct simulations. If the integration domain is not very large, some pulses are stable even when the zero background is unstable. Stable bound states of two and three pulses are found too. The work was supported, in a part, by a joint grant from the Israeli Minsitry of Science and Technology and Japan Society for Promotion of Science.Comment: A text file in the latex format and 20 eps files with figures. Physical Review E, in pres

Magnetic local time dependence of geomagnetic disturbances contributing to the AU and AL indices

The Auroral Electrojet (AE) indices, which are composed of four indices (AU, AL, AE, and AO), are calculated from the geomagnetic field data obtained at 12 geomagnetic observatories that are located in geomagnetic latitude (GMLAT) of 61.7°-70°. The indices have been widely used to study magnetic activity in the auroral zone. In the present study, we examine magnetic local time (MLT) dependence of geomagnetic field variations contributing to the AU and AL indices. We use 1-min geomagnetic field data obtained in 2003. It is found that both AU and AL indices have two ranges of MLT (AU: 15:00-22:00MLT, ~06:00 MLT; and AL: ~02:00 MLT, 09:00-12:00 MLT) contributing to the index during quiet periods and one MLT range (AU: 15:00-20:00MLT, and AL: 00:00-06:00 MLT) during disturbed periods. These results are interpreted in terms of various ionospheric current systems, such as, Sqp, Sq, and DP2

Transcriptomes from German shepherd dogs reveal differences in immune activity between atopic dermatitis affected and control skin

Canine atopic dermatitis (CAD) is an inflammatory and pruritic allergic skin disease with both genetic and environmental risk factors described. We performed mRNA sequencing of non-lesional axillary skin biopsies from nine German shepherd dogs. Obtained RNA sequences were mapped to the dog genome (CanFam3.1) and a high-quality skin transcriptome was generated with 23,510 expressed gene transcripts. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were defined by comparing three controls to five treated CAD cases. Using a leave-one-out analysis, we identified seven DEGs: five known to encode proteins with functions related to an activated immune system (CD209, CLEC4G, LOC102156842 (lipopolysaccharide-binding protein-like), LOC480601 (regakine-1-like), LOC479668 (haptoglobin-like)), one (OBP) encoding an odorant-binding protein potentially connected to rhinitis, and the last (LOC607095) encoding a novel long non-coding RNA. Furthermore, high mRNA expression of inflammatory genes was found in axillary skin from an untreated mild CAD case compared with healthy skin. In conclusion, we define genes with different expression patterns in CAD case skin helping us understand post-treatment atopic skin. Further studies in larger sample sets are warranted to confirm and to transfer these results into clinical practice

SeSAW: balancing sequence and structural information in protein functional mapping

Motivation: Functional similarity between proteins is evident at both the sequence and structure levels. SeSAW is a web-based program for identifying functionally or evolutionarily conserved motifs in protein structures by locating sequence and structural similarities, and quantifying these at the level of individual residues. Results can be visualized in 2D, as annotated alignments, or in 3D, as structural superpositions. An example is given for both an experimentally determined query structure and a homology model