1,033 research outputs found
Detection of p73 antibodies in patients with various types of cancer: immunological characterization
p53 antibodies have been found in the sera of patients with various types of cancer. The presence of these antibodies is generally associated with p53 accumulation in the tumour that is believed to trigger this humoral response. The recent discovery of 2 new members of the p53 family, p73 and p63, led us to study the specificity of this immune response towards the 3 proteins. Serum samples from 148 patients with various types of cancer were tested for antibodies against p73 and p63 using immunoprecipitation. 72 patients were previously shown to have p53 antibodies whereas 76 were negative. The control group consisted of 50 blood donors. p73 were detected in 22/148 (14.9%) of the cancer patients (11/72 in the group with p53-antibodies and 11/76 in the negative group). Only two sera from the control (4%) were positive. p63 antibodies were detected in only 4/148 (2.7%) of the cancer patients. Epitope mappings were performed and demonstrate that p73 antibodies are directed toward the central region of the p73 protein whereas p53 antibodies react predominantly toward the amino- and the carboxy-terminus of p53. Our results indicate that there is a specific immune response toward the p73 protein in cancer patients, a finding supported by an increasing number of publications describing p73 accumulation in tumoral cells. © 2001 Cancer Research Campaign http://www.bjcancer.co
Applications of a novel biodetection system to saliva using protein fingerprints with data processing
A fundamental method has been developed focusing on a facile and rapid examination of periodontal disease. Periodontal disease is an oral disease thought to affect 80% of adults, and early detection with treatment is desirable for the improvement of the quality of life. Unfortunately conventional methods are not consistent as the disease is caused by a number of bacteria and detection relies on the skills of the dentist. Thus an objective detection system is required. We have performed an experiment on saliva using a novel biodetection system, designated PepTenChipÂź. A disease model for saliva was prepared using a specimen from a healthy subject and a mixture of hemoglobin (f-Hb) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), which is used as a periodontal disease marker protein with healthy saliva. PepTenChipÂź is a peptide microarray in which fluorescent labelled structured peptides are immobilized on a novel amorphous carbon substrate. Since the peptides used as capture molecules are fluorescently labelled, labeling of analytes is not necessary. The fluorescence intensity change before and after application of analytes are detected rather than the ON/OFF detection common to conventional microarrays using a set of antigen-antibody. The fluorescence intensity value changes according to the concentration of captured protein allowing the generation of protein fingerprint (PFP) and dendrograms. The present method does not rely on a "one to one" interaction, unlike conventional biodetection, and advantages can be envisaged in the case of an undefined or unknown cause of disease. The statistical analyses, such as multivariate analyses, allow classification of the type of proteins added in saliva as mimetics of disease. PepTenChipÂź system is useful and convenient for examination of periodontal disease in health care
Descendants of the first stars: the distinct chemical signature of second generation stars
Extremely metal-poor (EMP) stars in the Milky Way (MW) allow us to infer the
properties of their progenitors by comparing their chemical composition to the
metal yields of the first supernovae. This method is most powerful when applied
to mono-enriched stars, i.e. stars that formed from gas that was enriched by
only one previous supernova. We present a novel diagnostic to identify this
subclass of EMP stars. We model the first generations of star formation
semi-analytically, based on dark matter halo merger trees that yield MW-like
halos at the present day. Radiative and chemical feedback are included
self-consistently and we trace all elements up to zinc. Mono-enriched stars
account for only of second generation stars in our fiducial model
and we provide an analytical formula for this probability. We also present a
novel analytical diagnostic to identify mono-enriched stars, based on the metal
yields of the first supernovae. This new diagnostic allows us to derive our
main results independently from the specific assumptions made regarding Pop III
star formation, and we apply it to a set of observed EMP stars to demonstrate
its strengths and limitations. Our results may provide selection criteria for
current and future surveys and therefore contribute to a deeper understanding
of EMP stars and their progenitors.Comment: 18 pages, 20 figures, published in MNRA
Thermal Diffusion of a Two Layer System
In this paper thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity of a two layer
system is examined from the theoretical point of view. We use the one
dimensional heat diffusion equation with the appropriate solution in each layer
and boundary conditions at the interfaces to calculate the heat transport in
this bounded system. We also consider the heat flux at the surface of the samle
as boundary condition instead of using a fixed tempertaure. From this, we
obtain an expression for the efective thermal diffusivity of the composite
sample in terms of the thermal diffusivity of its constituent materials
whithout any approximations.Comment: 16 pages, 1 figure, RevTeX v. 3.0 macro packag
The type IIb SN 2008ax: spectral and light curve evolution
We present spectroscopy and photometry of the He-rich supernova (SN) 2008ax.
The early-time spectra show prominent P-Cygni H lines, which decrease with time
and disappear completely about two months after the explosion. In the same
period He I lines become the most prominent spectral features. SN 2008ax
displays the ordinary spectral evolution of a type IIb supernova. A stringent
pre-discovery limit constrains the time of the shock breakout of SN 2008ax to
within only a few hours. Its light curve, which peaks in the B band about 20
days after the explosion, strongly resembles that of other He-rich
core-collapse supernovae. The observed evolution of SN 2008ax is consistent
with the explosion of a young Wolf-Rayet (of WNL type) star, which had retained
a thin, low-mass shell of its original H envelope. The overall characteristics
of SN 2008ax are reminiscent of those of SN 1993J, except for a likely smaller
H mass. This may account for the findings that the progenitor of SN 2008ax was
a WNL star and not a K supergiant as in the case of SN 1993J, that a prominent
early-time peak is missing in the light curve of SN 2008ax, and that Halpha is
observed at higher velocities in SN 2008ax than in SN 1993J.Comment: 10 pages, including 8 figures and 4 tables. Accepted for publication
in MNRA
An algorithm for the nonlinear optical susceptibilities of dipolar molecules, and an application to third harmonic generation
Can Admission and Fasting Glucose Reliably Identify Undiagnosed Diabetes in Patients With Acute Coronary Syndrome?
OBJECTIVEâOur objectives were to determine the prevalence of previously undiagnosed abnormal glucose tolerance, i.e., diabetes and impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) in patients with acute coronary syndrome and to assess the utility of admission and fasting glucose in identifying diabetes in these patients
B meson leptonic decay constant with quenched lattice NRQCD
We present a lattice NRQCD study of the B meson decay constant in the
quenched approximation with emphasis given to the scaling behavior. The NRQCD
action and the heavy-light axial current we use include all terms of order 1/M
and the perturbative and corrections. Using
simulations at three value of couplings =5.7, 5.9 and 6.1 on lattices of
size and , we find no significant
dependence in if the correction is included in the
axial current. We obtain MeV, MeV and , with the
first error being statistical, the second systematic, and the third due to
uncertainty of strange quark mass, while quenching errors being not included.Comment: 31 pages, 24 eps figure
Coxiella burnetii Phagocytosis Is Regulated by GTPases of the Rho Family and the RhoA Effectors mDia1 and ROCK
The GTPases belonging to the Rho family control the actin cytoskeleton rearrangements needed for particle internalization during phagocytosis. ROCK and mDia1 are downstream effectors of RhoA, a GTPase involved in that process. Coxiella burnetii, the etiologic agent of Q fever, is internalized by the hostÂŽs cells in an actin-dependent manner. Nevertheless, the molecular mechanism involved in this process has been poorly characterized. This work analyzes the role of different GTPases of the Rho family and some downstream effectors in the internalization of C. burnetii by phagocytic and non-phagocytic cells. The internalization of C. burnetii into HeLa and RAW cells was significantly inhibited when the cells were treated with Clostridium difficile Toxin B which irreversibly inactivates members of the Rho family. In addition, the internalization was reduced in HeLa cells that overexpressed the dominant negative mutants of RhoA, Rac1 or Cdc42 or that were knocked down for the Rho GTPases. The pharmacological inhibition or the knocking down of ROCK diminished bacterium internalization. Moreover, C. burnetii was less efficiently internalized in HeLa cells overexpressing mDia1-N1, a dominant negative mutant of mDia1, while the overexpression of the constitutively active mutant mDia1-ÎN3 increased bacteria uptake. Interestingly, when HeLa and RAW cells were infected, RhoA, Rac1 and mDia1 were recruited to membrane cell fractions. Our results suggest that the GTPases of the Rho family play an important role in C. burnetii phagocytosis in both HeLa and RAW cells. Additionally, we present evidence that ROCK and mDia1, which are downstream effectors of RhoA, are involved in that processFil: Salinas Ojeda, Romina Paola. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas. Centro CientĂfico TecnolĂłgico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto de HistologĂa y EmbriologĂa de Mendoza Dr. Mario H. Burgos. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Facultad de Cienicas MĂ©dicas. Instituto de HistologĂa y EmbriologĂa de Mendoza Dr. Mario H. Burgos; ArgentinaFil: Ortiz Flores, Rodolfo Matias. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas. Centro CientĂfico TecnolĂłgico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto de HistologĂa y EmbriologĂa de Mendoza Dr. Mario H. Burgos. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Facultad de Cienicas MĂ©dicas. Instituto de HistologĂa y EmbriologĂa de Mendoza Dr. Mario H. Burgos; ArgentinaFil: Distel, JesĂșs SebastiĂĄn. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas. Centro CientĂfico TecnolĂłgico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto de HistologĂa y EmbriologĂa de Mendoza Dr. Mario H. Burgos. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Facultad de Cienicas MĂ©dicas. Instituto de HistologĂa y EmbriologĂa de Mendoza Dr. Mario H. Burgos; ArgentinaFil: Aguilera, Milton Osmar. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas. Centro CientĂfico TecnolĂłgico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto de HistologĂa y EmbriologĂa de Mendoza Dr. Mario H. Burgos. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Facultad de Cienicas MĂ©dicas. Instituto de HistologĂa y EmbriologĂa de Mendoza Dr. Mario H. Burgos; ArgentinaFil: Colombo, Maria Isabel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas. Centro CientĂfico TecnolĂłgico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto de HistologĂa y EmbriologĂa de Mendoza Dr. Mario H. Burgos. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Facultad de Cienicas MĂ©dicas. Instituto de HistologĂa y EmbriologĂa de Mendoza Dr. Mario H. Burgos; ArgentinaFil: Beron, Walter. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas. Centro CientĂfico TecnolĂłgico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto de HistologĂa y EmbriologĂa de Mendoza Dr. Mario H. Burgos. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Facultad de Cienicas MĂ©dicas. Instituto de HistologĂa y EmbriologĂa de Mendoza Dr. Mario H. Burgos; Argentin
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