Genomic homogeneity in fibrolamellar carcinomas

Background-Fibrolamellar carcinoma (FLC) is a variant of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) with distinctive clinical and histological features. To date there have been few studies on the genotypic aspects of FLC and no previous attempts have been made to use the arbitrarily primed-polymerase chain reaction (AF-FCR) technique to detect genetic alterations in this disease.Aim-The aim of this study was to assess the degree of genomic heterogeneity of FEC using the AP-PCR technique. Methods-A fetal of 50 tissue samples of primary and metastatic FLCs from seven patients were microdissected. AP-PCR amplification of each genomic DNA sample was carried out using two arbitrary primers.Results-DNA fingerprints of the primary FLCs and all their metastatic lesions (both synchronous and metachronous disease) were identical in an individual patient. The fingerprints were different between tumours of different patients. No evidence of intratumour heterogeneity was observed.Conclusions-Such genomic homogeneity in FLCs may explain their indolent growth. The absence of clonal evolution, which is present in other tumours (particularly HCCs), may explain the distinct behaviour in this tumour. The tumorigenic pathway and degree of somatic genomic changes in this disease may be less complex than in HCC

Broadband dielectric response of glycerol and propylene carbonate: a comparison

Dielectric data on glycerol and propylene carbonate covering 18 decades of frequency are presented and compared to each other. Both materials exhibit qualitatively similar behavior except for marked differences in the high-frequency region just below the boson peak. The results on both materials are consistent with the mode coupling theory of the glass transition.Comment: 8 pages including 4 figure

On Free Quotients of Complete Intersection Calabi-Yau Manifolds

In order to find novel examples of non-simply connected Calabi-Yau threefolds, free quotients of complete intersections in products of projective spaces are classified by means of a computer search. More precisely, all automorphisms of the product of projective spaces that descend to a free action on the Calabi-Yau manifold are identified.Comment: 39 pages, 3 tables, LaTe

Rice endosperm is cost-effective for the production of recombinant griffithsin with potent activity against HIV

Protein microbicides containing neutralizing antibodies and antiviral lectins may help to reduce the rate of infection with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) if it is possible to manufacture the components in large quantities at a cost affordable in HIV‐endemic regions such as sub‐Saharan Africa. We expressed the antiviral lectin griffithsin (GRFT), which shows potent neutralizing activity against HIV, in the endosperm of transgenic rice plants (Oryza sativa), to determine whether rice can be used to produce inexpensive GRFT as a microbicide ingredient. The yield of (OS)GRFT in the best‐performing plants was 223 μg/g dry seed weight. We also established a one‐step purification protocol, achieving a recovery of 74% and a purity of 80%, which potentially could be developed into a larger‐scale process to facilitate inexpensive downstream processing. (OS)GRFT bound to HIV glycans with similar efficiency to GRFT produced in Escherichia coli. Whole‐cell assays using purified (OS)GRFT and infectivity assays using crude extracts of transgenic rice endosperm confirmed that both crude and pure (OS)GRFT showed potent activity against HIV and the crude extracts were not toxic towards human cell lines, suggesting they could be administered as a microbicide with only minimal processing. A freedom‐to‐operate analysis confirmed that GRFT produced in rice is suitable for commercial development, and an economic evaluation suggested that 1.8 kg/ha of pure GRFT could be produced from rice seeds. Our data therefore indicate that rice could be developed as an inexpensive production platform for GRFT as a microbicide component

A major T cell antigen of Mycobacterium leprae is a 10-kD heat-shock cognate protein.

Several mycobacterial antigens, identified by monoclonal antibodies and patient sera, have been found to be homologous to stress or heat-shock proteins (hsp) defined in Escherichia coli and yeast. A major antigen recognized by most Mycobacterium leprae-reactive human T cell lines and cell wall-reactive T cell clones is a 10-kD protein that has now been cloned and sequenced. The predicted amino acid sequence of this protein is 44% homologous to the hsp 10 (GroES) of E. coli. The purified native and recombinant 10-kD protein was found to be a stronger stimulator of peripheral blood T cell proliferation than other native and recombinant M. leprae proteins tested. The degree of reactivity paralleled the response to intact M. leprae throughout the spectrum of leprosy. Limiting-dilution analysis of peripheral blood lymphocytes from a patient contact and a tuberculoid patient indicated that approximately one third of M. leprae-reactive T cell precursors responded to the 10-kD antigen. T cell lines derived from lepromin skin tests were strongly responsive to the 10-kD protein. T cell clones reactive to both the purified native and recombinant 10-kD antigens recognized M. leprae-specific epitopes as well as epitopes crossreactive with the cognate antigen of M. tuberculosis. Further, the purified hsp 10 elicited strong delayed-type hypersensitivity reactions in guinea pigs sensitized to M. leprae. The strong T cell responses against the M. leprae 10-kD protein suggest a role for this heat-shock cognate protein in the protective/resistant responses to infection

BTS guideline for oxygen use in adults in healthcare and emergency settings

The full Guideline for oxygen use in adults in healthcare and emergency settings, published in Thorax1 provides an update to the 2008 BTS Emergency oxygen guideline.2 The following is a summary of the recommendations and good practice points. The sections noted to within this summary refer to the full guideline sections

Link Invariants of Finite Type and Perturbation Theory

The Vassiliev-Gusarov link invariants of finite type are known to be closely related to perturbation theory for Chern-Simons theory. In order to clarify the perturbative nature of such link invariants, we introduce an algebra V_infinity containing elements g_i satisfying the usual braid group relations and elements a_i satisfying g_i - g_i^{-1} = epsilon a_i, where epsilon is a formal variable that may be regarded as measuring the failure of g_i^2 to equal 1. Topologically, the elements a_i signify crossings. We show that a large class of link invariants of finite type are in one-to-one correspondence with homogeneous Markov traces on V_infinity. We sketch a possible application of link invariants of finite type to a manifestly diffeomorphism-invariant perturbation theory for quantum gravity in the loop representation.Comment: 11 page

Two-Particle Correlations in Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collisions

Two-particle momentum correlations between pairs of identical particles produced in relativistic heavy-ion reactions can be analyzed to extract the space-time structure of the collision fireball. We review recent progress in the application of this method, based on newly developed theoretical tools and new high-quality data from heavy-ion collision experiments. Implications for our understanding of the collision dynamics and for the search for the quark-gluon plasma are discussed.Comment: 44 pages, LaTeX, 11 Figures, uses special style files (included), prepared for Ann. Rev. Nucl. Part. Sci. 49 (1999). Error in Chapt. 1 corrected and a few references adde