Low-density Lipoprotein Cholesterol And Radiotherapy-induced Carotid Atherosclerosis In Subjects With Head And Neck Cancer

Background: Radiotherapy (RT) is a risk factor for accelerated carotid artery atherosclerotic disease in subjects with head and neck cancer. However, the risk factors of RT-induced carotid artery remodeling are not established. This study aimed to investigate the effects of RT on carotid and popliteal arteries in subjects with head and neck cancer and to evaluate the relationship between baseline clinical and laboratory features and the progression of RT-induced atherosclerosis.Findings: Eleven men (age = 57.9 ± 6.2years) with head and neck cancer who underwent cervical bilateral irradiation were prospectively examined by clinical and laboratory analysis and by carotid and popliteal ultrasound before and after treatment (mean interval between the end of RT and the post-RT assessment = 181 ± 47 days). No studied subject used hypocholesterolemic medications. Significant increases in carotid intima-media thickness (IMT) (0.95 ± 0.08 vs. 0.87 ± 0.05 mm; p 3.0.CO;2-X, 626923Pereira Lima, M.N., Biolo, A., Foppa, M., da Rosa, P.R., Rohde, L.E., Clausell, N., A prospective, comparative study on the early effects of local and remote radiation therapy on carotid intima-media thickness and vascular cellular adhesion molecule-1 in patients with head and neck and prostate tumors (2011) Radiother Oncol, 101, pp. 449-453. , 10.1016/j.radonc.2010.03.026, 20435360Kalábová, H., Melichar, B., Ungermann, L., Doležal, J., Krčmová, L., Kašparová, M., Plíšek, J., Solichová, D., Intima-media thickness, myocardial perfusion and laboratory risk factors of atherosclerosis in patients with breast cancer treated with anthracycline-based chemotherapy (2011) Med Oncol, 28, pp. 1281-1287. , 10.1007/s12032-010-9593-1, 20567943Muzaffar, K., Collins, S.L., Labropoulos, N., Baker, W.H., A prospective study of the effects of irradiation on the carotid artery (2000) Laryngoscope, 110, pp. 1811-1814. , 10.1097/00005537-200011000-00007, 11081590Faruolo, M., Fiorentino, A., Gallucci, G., Lapadula, L., Fusco, V., Intimal-medial thickness and carotid arteries lumen in irradiated patients for head and neck cancer: preliminary data of an observational study (2013) Clin Transl Oncol, 15, pp. 861-864. , 10.1007/s12094-013-1023-3, 23463595Ferreira-Sae, M.C., Cipolli, J.A., Cornélio, M.E., Matos-Souza, J.R., Fernandes, M.N., Schreiber, R., Costa, F.O., Nadruz, W., Sodium intake is associated with carotid artery structure alterations and plasma matrix metalloproteinase-9 upregulation in hypertensive adults (2011) J Nutr, 141, pp. 877-882. , 10.3945/jn.110.135921, 21430243Gemignani, T., Azevedo, R.C., Higa, C.M., Coelho, O.R., Matos-Souza, J.R., Nadruz, W., Increased popliteal circumferential wall tension induced by orthostatic body posture is associated with local atherosclerotic plaques (2012) Atherosclerosis, 224, pp. 118-122. , 10.1016/j.atherosclerosis.2012.06.069, 2281862

Extrinsic Curvature and the Einstein Constraints

The Einstein initial-value equations in the extrinsic curvature (Hamiltonian) representation and conformal thin sandwich (Lagrangian) representation are brought into complete conformity by the use of a decomposition of symmetric tensors which involves a weight function. In stationary spacetimes, there is a natural choice of the weight function such that the transverse traceless part of the extrinsic curvature (or canonical momentum) vanishes.Comment: 8 pages, no figures; added new section; significant polishing of tex

Bichromatic Local Oscillator for Detection of Two-Mode Squeezed States of Light

We present a new technique for the detection of two-mode squeezed states of light that allows for a simple characterization of these quantum states. The usual detection scheme, based on heterodyne measurements, requires the use of a local oscillator with a frequency equal to the mean of the frequencies of the two modes of the squeezed field. As a result, unless the two modes are close in frequency, a high-frequency shot-noise-limited detection system is needed. We propose the use of a bichromatic field as the local oscillator in the heterodyne measurements. By the proper selection of the frequencies of the bichromatic field, it is possible to arbitrarily select the frequency around which the squeezing information is located, thus making it possible to use a low-bandwidth detection system and to move away from any excess noise present in the system.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figure

Improved methods for detection of β-galactosidase (lacZ) activity in hard tissue

The ß-galactosidase gene (lacZ) of Escherichia coli is widely used as a reporter gene. The expression of lacZ can be detected by enzyme-based histochemical staining using chromogenic substrates such as 5-bromo-4-chloro-3-indolyl-ß-D: -galactoside (X-gal). Because the enzymatic activity of lacZ is vulnerable to high temperatures and acid treatment for demineralization, detection of lacZ on paraffinized sections is difficult, especially for hard tissues, which require demineralization before sectioning in paraffin. To circumvent this problem, whole-mount X-gal staining before sectioning is performed. However, detection of lacZ activity in the center of larger portions of hard whole adult tissues is challenging. In this study, focusing on fixation procedures, we determined the conditions conducive to improved detection of lacZ activity in deeper areas of whole tissues. We used an annexin a5 (Anxa5)-lacZ reporter mouse model in which the Anxa5 expression in hard tissue is indicated by lacZ activity. We found that lacZ activity could be detected throughout the periodontal ligament of adult mice when fixed in 100% acetone, whereas it was not detected in the periodontal ligament around the root apex fixed in glutaraldehyde and paraformaldehyde. This staining could not be detected in wild-type mice. Acetone maintains the lacZ activity within 48 h of fixation at both 4°C and at room temperature. In conclusion, acetone is the optimal fixative to improve permeability for staining of lacZ activity in large volumes of adult hard tissues

Effects of acute aerobic exercise on rats serum extracellular vesicles diameter, concentration and small RNAs content

Physical exercise stimulates organs, mainly the skeletal muscle, to release a broad range of molecules, recently dubbed exerkines. Among them, RNAs, such as miRNAs, piRNAs, and tRNAs loaded in extracellular vesicles (EVs) have the potential to play a significant role in the way muscle and other organs communicate to translate exercise into health. Low, moderate and high intensity treadmill protocols were applied to rat groups, aiming to investigate the impact of exercise on serum EVs and their associated small RNA molecules. Transmission electron microscopy, resistive pulse sensing, and western blotting were used to investigate EVs morphology, size distribution, concentration and EVs marker proteins. Small RNA libraries from EVs RNA were sequenced. Exercise did not change EVs size, while increased EVs concentration. Twelve miRNAs were found differentially expressed after exercise: rno-miR-128-3p, 1033p, 330-5p, 148a-3p, 191a-5p, 10b-5p, 93-5p, 25-3p, 142-5p, 3068-3p, 142-3p, and 410-3p. No piRNA was found differentially expressed, and one tRNA, trna8336, was found down-regulated after exercise. The differentially expressed miRNAs were predicted to target genes involved in the MAPK pathway. A single bout of exercise impacts EVs and their small RNA load, reinforcing the need for a more detailed investigation into EVs and their load as mediators of health-promoting exercise

A pipeline to study structural interactions among Spodoptera frugiperda serine proteinases and plant proteinase inhibitors.

We propose here a computational biology pipeline to identify and analyze possible structural determinants that could explain some level of insensitivity by S. frugiperda serine proteinases (SPs) against plant PIs observed in a real time PCR experiment.GA 330

Avoiding or restricting defectors in public goods games?

When creating a public good, strategies or mechanisms are required to handle defectors. We first show mathematically and numerically that prior agreements with posterior compensations provide a strategic solution that leads to substantial levels of cooperation in the context of public goods games, results that are corroborated by available experimental data. Notwithstanding this success, one cannot, as with other approaches, fully exclude the presence of defectors, raising the question of how they can be dealt with to avoid the demise of the common good. We show that both avoiding creation of the common good, whenever full agreement is not reached, and limiting the benefit that disagreeing defectors can acquire, using costly restriction mechanisms, are relevant choices. Nonetheless, restriction mechanisms are found the more favourable, especially in larger group interactions. Given decreasing restriction costs, introducing restraining measures to cope with public goods free-riding issues is the ultimate advantageous solution for all participants, rather than avoiding its creation.SCOPUS: ar.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

The Effect of Transposable Element Insertions on Gene Expression Evolution in Rodents

Background:Many genomes contain a substantial number of transposable elements (TEs), a few of which are known to be involved in regulating gene expression. However, recent observations suggest that TEs may have played a very important role in the evolution of gene expression because many conserved non-genic sequences, some of which are know to be involved in gene regulation, resemble TEs. Results:Here we investigate whether new TE insertions affect gene expression profiles by testing whether gene expression divergence between mouse and rat is correlated to the numbers of new transposable elements inserted near genes. We show that expression divergence is significantly correlated to the number of new LTR and SINE elements, but not to the numbers of LINEs. We also show that expression divergence is not significantly correlated to the numbers of ancestral TEs in most cases, which suggests that the correlations between expression divergence and the numbers of new TEs are causal in nature. We quantify the effect and estimate that TE insertion has accounted for ~20% (95% confidence interval: 12% to 26%) of all expression profile divergence in rodents. Conclusions:We conclude that TE insertions may have had a major impact on the evolution of gene expression levels in rodents

Thermodynamic Properties of the One-Dimensional Extended Quantum Compass Model in the Presence of a Transverse Field

The presence of a quantum critical point can significantly affect the thermodynamic properties of a material at finite temperatures. This is reflected, e.g., in the entropy landscape S(T; c) in the vicinity of a quantum critical point, yielding particularly strong variations for varying the tuning parameter c such as magnetic field. In this work we have studied the thermodynamic properties of the quantum compass model in the presence of a transverse field. The specific heat, entropy and cooling rate under an adiabatic demagnetization process have been calculated. During an adiabatic (de)magnetization process temperature drops in the vicinity of a field-induced zero-temperature quantum phase transitions. However close to field-induced quantum phase transitions we observe a large magnetocaloric effect

Size and frequency of natural forest disturbances and Amazon carbon balance

Forest inventory studies in the Amazon indicate a large terrestrial carbon sink. However, field plots may fail to represent forest mortality processes at landscape-scales of tropical forests. Here we characterize the frequency distribution of disturbance events in natural forests from 0.01 ha to 2,651 ha size throughout Amazonia using a novel combination of forest inventory, airborne lidar and satellite remote sensing data. We find that small-scale mortality events are responsible for aboveground biomass losses of B1.28 Pg C y 1 over the entire Amazon region. We also find that intermediate-scale disturbances account for losses of B0.01 Pg C y 1 , and that the largest-scale disturbances as a result of blow-downs only account for losses of B0.003 Pg C y 1 . Simulation of growth and mortality indicates that even when all carbon losses from intermediate and large-scale disturbances are considered, these are outweighed by the net biomass accumulation by tree growth, supporting the inference of an Amazon carbon sink