Analysis of MYH Tyr165Cys and Gly382Asp variants in childhood leukemias

[No abstract available

Coagulation factor V gene mutation increases the risk of venous thrombosis in Behcet's disease

We investigated the prevalence of the coagulation factor V gene G1691A mutation in 64 patients with Behcet's disease (BD) and in 107 apparently healthy individuals. The mutation was present in the heterozygous state in 37.5% of the patients with a history of deep vein thrombosis (12/32) and in 9.4% of the patients without any thrombotic event (3/32). Eleven healthy individuals were also heterozygous for the mutation (10.3%). The prevalence of the mutation in BD patients with and without thrombosis was significantly different (P = 0.0079). We conclude that the factor V gene mutation may play a major role in the development of venous thrombosis in BD

SET-NUP214 fusion in acute myeloid leukemia- and T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia-derived cell lines

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p><it>SET-NUP214 </it>fusion resulting from a recurrent cryptic deletion, del(9)(q34.11q34.13) has recently been described in T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) and in one case of acute myeloid leukemia (AML). The fusion protein appears to promote elevated expression of <it>HOXA </it>cluster genes in T-ALL and may contribute to the pathogenesis of the disease. We screened a panel of ALL and AML cell lines for <it>SET-NUP214 </it>expression to find model systems that might help to elucidate the cellular function of this fusion gene.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Of 141 human leukemia/lymphoma cell lines tested, only the T-ALL cell line LOUCY and the AML cell line MEGAL expressed the <it>SET(TAF-</it>Iβ)-<it>NUP214 </it>fusion gene transcript. RT-PCR analysis specifically recognizing the alternative first exons of the two <it>TAF-</it>I isoforms revealed that the cell lines also expressed <it>TAF-</it>Iα-<it>NUP214 </it>mRNA. Results of fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) and array-based copy number analysis were both consistent with del(9)(q34.11q34.13) as described. Quantitative genomic PCR also confirmed loss of genomic material between <it>SET </it>and <it>NUP214 </it>in both cell lines. Genomic sequencing localized the breakpoints of the <it>SET </it>gene to regions downstream of the stop codon and to <it>NUP214 </it>intron 17/18 in both LOUCY and MEGAL cells. Both cell lines expressed the 140 kDa SET-NUP214 fusion protein.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Cell lines LOUCY and MEGAL express the recently described <it>SET-NUP214 </it>fusion gene. Of special note is that the formation of the <it>SET </it>exon 7/<it>NUP214 </it>exon 18 gene transcript requires alternative splicing as the <it>SET </it>breakpoint is located downstream of the stop codon in exon 8. The cell lines are promising model systems for <it>SET-NUP214 </it>studies and should facilitate investigating cellular functions of the the SET-NUP214 protein.</p

Search for New Physics with Jets and Missing Transverse Momentum in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

A search for new physics is presented based on an event signature of at least three jets accompanied by large missing transverse momentum, using a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 36 inverse picobarns collected in proton--proton collisions at sqrt(s)=7 TeV with the CMS detector at the LHC. No excess of events is observed above the expected standard model backgrounds, which are all estimated from the data. Exclusion limits are presented for the constrained minimal supersymmetric extension of the standard model. Cross section limits are also presented using simplified models with new particles decaying to an undetected particle and one or two jets

Effect of Carnitine and herbal mixture extract on obesity induced by high fat diet in rats

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Obesity-associated type 2 diabetes is rapidly increasing throughout the world. It is generally recognized that natural products with a long history of safety can modulate obesity.</p> <p>Aim</p> <p>To investigate the development of obesity in response to a high fat diet (HFD) and to estimate the effect of L-carnitine and an Egyptian Herbal mixture formulation (HMF) (consisting of T. chebula, Senae, rhubarb, black cumin, aniseed, fennel and licorice) on bodyweight, food intake, lipid profiles, renal, hepatic, cardiac function markers, lipid Peroxidation, and the glucose and insulin levels in blood and liver tissue in rats.</p> <p>Method</p> <p>White male albino rats weighing 80-90 gm, 60 days old. 10 rats were fed a normal basal diet (Cr), 30 rats fed a high-fat diet (HFD) for 14 weeks during the entire study. Rats of the HFD group were equally divided into 3 subgroups each one include 10 rats. The first group received HFD with no supplement (HFD), the 2^ndgroup HFD+L-carnitine and the third group received HFD+HMF. Carnitine and HMF were administered at 10^thweek (start time for treatments) for 4 weeks.</p> <p>Body weight, lipid profile & renal function (urea, uric acid creatinine) ALT & AST activities, cardiac markers, (LDH, C.K-NAC and MB) the oxidative stress marker reduced glutathione (GSH), and Malondialdehyde (MDA) catalase activity, in addition to glucose, insulin, and insulin resistance in serum & tissues were analyzed.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Data showed that feeding HFD diet significantly increased final body weight, triglycerides (TG), total cholesterol, & LDL concentration compared with controls, while significantly decreasing HDL; meanwhile treatment with L-carnitine, or HMF significantly normalized the lipid profile.</p> <p>Serum ALT, urea, uric acid, creatinine, LDH, CK-NAC, CK-MB were significantly higher in the high fat group compared with normal controls; and administration of L-carnitine or herbal extract significantly lessened the effect of the HFD. Hyperglycemia, hyperinsulinemia, and high insulin resistance (IR) significantly increased in HFD in comparison with the control group. The treatment with L-carnitine or HMF improved the condition. HFD elevated hepatic MDA and lipid peroxidation associated with reduction in hepatic GSH and catalase activity; whereas administration of L-carnitine or herbal extract significantly ameliorated these hepatic alterations.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>HFD induced obesity associated with a disturbed lipid profile, defective antioxidant stability, and high values of IR parameters; this may have implications for the progress of obesity related problems. Treatment with L-carnitine, or HMF extract improved obesity and its associated metabolic problems in different degrees. Also HMF has antioxidant, hypolipidaemic insulin sensitizing effects. Moreover HMF might be a safe combination on the organs whose functions were examined, as a way to surmount the obesity state; and it has a distinct anti-obesity effect.</p

Identification and characterization of antibacterial compound(s) of cockroaches (Periplaneta americana)

Infectious diseases remain a significant threat to human health, contributing to more than 17 million deaths, annually. With the worsening trends of drug resistance, there is a need for newer and more powerful antimicrobial agents. We hypothesized that animals living in polluted environments are potential source of antimicrobials. Under polluted milieus, organisms such as cockroaches encounter different types of microbes, including superbugs. Such creatures survive the onslaught of superbugs and are able to ward off disease by producing antimicrobial substances. Here, we characterized antibacterial properties in extracts of various body organs of cockroaches (Periplaneta americana) and showed potent antibacterial activity in crude brain extract against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and neuropathogenic E. coli K1. The size-exclusion spin columns revealed that the active compound(s) are less than 10 kDa in molecular mass. Using cytotoxicity assays, it was observed that pre-treatment of bacteria with lysates inhibited bacteria-mediated host cell cytotoxicity. Using spectra obtained with LC-MS on Agilent 1290 infinity liquid chromatograph, coupled with an Agilent 6460 triple quadruple mass spectrometer, tissues lysates were analyzed. Among hundreds of compounds, only a few homologous compounds were identified that contained isoquinoline group, chromene derivatives, thiazine groups, imidazoles, pyrrole containing analogs, sulfonamides, furanones, flavanones, and known to possess broad-spectrum antimicrobial properties, and possess anti-inflammatory, anti-tumour, and analgesic properties. Further identification, characterization and functional studies using individual compounds can act as a breakthrough in developing novel therapeutics against various pathogens including superbugs

Search for three-jet resonances in pp Collisions at √s=7 TeV

This article is published Open Access at sciencedirect.com. It is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 3.0.-- et al.Results are reported from a search for the production of three-jet resonances in pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy √s=7  TeV. The study uses the data sample collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC in 2011, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 5.0fb -1. Events with high jet multiplicity and a large scalar sum of jet transverse momenta are analyzed for the presence of resonances in the three-jet invariant mass spectrum. No evidence for a narrow resonance is found in the data, and limits are set on the cross section for gluino pair production in an R-parity-violating supersymmetry model, for gluino masses greater than 280 GeV. Assuming a branching fraction for gluino decay into three jets of 100%, gluino masses below 460 GeV are excluded at 95% confidence level. These results significantly extend the range of previous limits. © 2012 CERN.European Commission; Federal Ministry of Science, Research and Economy (Austria); ); Agency for Innovation by Science and Technology (Belgium); Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (Brasil); Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (Brasil); Fundação Carlos Chagas Filho de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro; Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo; Ministry of Science and Technology of the People's Republic of China; National Natural Science Foundation of China; Colciencias (Colombia); Ministry of Science, Education and Sports of the Republic of Croatia; Research Promotion Foundation (Cyprus); Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (France); Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (Deutschland); Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft; General Secretariat of Research and Technology (Greece); Helsinki Institute of Physics; National Office for Research and Technology (Hungary); Institute for Research in Fundamental Sciences (Iran); Science Foundation Ireland; Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (Italia); Compagnia di San Paolo (Italia); National Research Foundation of Korea; Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados del Instituto Politécnico Nacional (México); Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (México); Secretaría de Educación Pública (México); Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí; Ministry of Science and Innovation (New Zealand); Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission; National Science Center (Poland); Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (Portugal); Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (Russia); Russian Foundation for Basic Research; Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development (Serbia); Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (España); Swiss National Science Foundation.Peer Reviewe

Nietzsches gelijk: Waarom wijsheid achteraf onbillijk is

A search is performed for a massive new vector-like quark T, with charge 2/3, that is pair produced together with its antiparticle in proton-proton collisions. The data were collected by the CMS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider in 2012 at sqrt(s) = 8 TeV and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 19.5 inverse femtobarns. The T quark is assumed to decay into three different final states, bW, tZ, and tH. The search is carried out using events with at least one isolated lepton. No deviations from standard model expectations are observed, and lower limits are set on the T quark mass at 95% confidence level. The lower limit lies between 687 and 782 GeV for all possible values of the branching fractions into the three different final states assuming strong production. These limits are the most stringent constraints to date on the existence of such a quark

Observation of long-range, near-side angular correlations in proton-proton collisions at the LHC

This is the pre-print version of the Published Article, which can be accessed from the link below - Copyright @ 2010 Springer VerlagResults on two-particle angular correlations for charged particles emitted in proton-proton collisions at center-of-mass energies of 0.9, 2.36, and 7 TeV are presented, using data collected with the CMS detector over a broad range of pseudorapidity (eta) and azimuthal angle (phi). Short-range correlations in Delta(eta), which are studied in minimum bias events, are characterized using a simple "independent cluster" parametrization in order to quantify their strength (cluster size) and their extent in eta (cluster decay width). Long-range azimuthal correlations are studied differentially as a function of charged particle multiplicity and particle transverse momentum using a 980 inverse nb data set at 7 TeV. In high multiplicity events, a pronounced structure emerges in the two-dimensional correlation function for particle pairs with intermediate transverse momentum of 1-3 GeV/c, 2.0< |Delta(eta)| <4.8 and Delta(phi) near 0. This is the first observation of such a long-range, near-side feature in two-particle correlation functions in pp or p p-bar collisions

Measurement of the differential cross section for isolated prompt photon production in pp collisions at 7 TeV

A measurement of the differential cross section for the inclusive production of isolated prompt photons in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV is presented. The data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 36 pb(-1) recorded by the CMS detector at the LHC. The measurement covers the pseudorapidity range vertical bar eta vertical bar < 2.5 and the transverse energy range 25 < E-T < 400 GeV, corresponding to the kinematic region 0.007 < x(T) < 0.114. Photon candidates are identified with two complementary methods, one based on photon conversions in the silicon tracker and the other on isolated energy deposits in the electromagnetic calorimeter. The measured cross section is presented as a function of E-T in four pseudorapidity regions. The next-to-leading-order perturbative QCD calculations are consistent with the measured cross section