Rheo-processing of an alloy specifically designed for semi-solid metal processing on the Al-Mg-Si system

Semi-solid metal (SSM) processing is a promising technology for forming alloys and composites to near-net shaped products. Alloys currently used for SSM processing are mainly conventional aluminium cast alloys. This is an obstacle to the realisation of full potential of SSM processing, since these alloys were originally designed for liquid state processing and not for semi-solid state processing. Therefore, there is a significant need for designing new alloys specifically for semi-solid state processing to fulfil its potential. In this study, thermodynamic calculations have been carried out to design alloys based on the Al-Mg-Si system for SSM processing via the ‘Rheo-route’. The suitability of a selected alloy composition has been assessed in terms of the criteria considered by the thermodynamic design process, mechanical properties and heat treatability. The newly designed alloy showed good processability with rheo-processing in terms of good control of solid fraction during processing and a reasonably large processing window. The mechanical property variation was very small and the alloy showed good potential for age hardening by T5 temper heat treatment after rheo-processing

Fuzzy personalized wireless information agents

2002-2003 > Academic research: refereed > Refereed conference paperVersion of RecordPublishe

Desensitization of T lymphocyte function by CXCR3 ligands in human hepatocellular carcinoma

Aim: Despite the presence of lymphocyte infiltration, human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is typically a rapidly progressive disease. The mechanism of regulation of lymphocyte migration is poorly understood. In this study, we investigated various factors regulating T cell migration in HCC patients. We examined serum CXC chemokine levels in HCC patients and demonstrated the production of CXC chemokines by HCC cell lines. We determined the effect of both HCC patient serum and tumor cell conditioned supernatant upon lymphocyte expression of chemokine receptor CXCR3 as well as lymphocyte migration. Lastly, we examined the chemotactic responses of lymphocytes derived from HCC patients. Methods: The serum chemokines IP-10 (CXCL10) and Mig (CXCL9) levels were measured by cytometric bead array (CBA) and the tumor tissue IP-10 concentration was measured by ELISA. The surface expression of CXCR3 on lymphocytes was determined by flow cytometry. The migratory function of lymphocytes to the corresponding chemokines was assessed using an in vitro chemotactic assay. Phosphorylation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) was determined by Western blot analysis. Results: Increased levels of IP-10 and Mig were detected in HCC patient serum and culture supernatants of HCC cell lines. The IP-10 concentration in the tumor was significantly higher than that in the non-involved adjacent liver tissues. HCC cell lines secreted functional chemokines that induced a CXCR3-specific chemotactic response of lymphocytes. Furthermore, tumor-cell-derived chemokines induced initial rapid phosphorylation of lymphocyte ERK followed by later inhibition of ERK phosphorylation. The culture of normal lymphocytes with HCC cell line supernatants or medium containing serum from HCC patients resulted in a significant reduction in the proportion of lymphocytes exhibiting surface expression of CXCR3. The reduction in T cell expression of CXCR3 resulted in reduced migration toward the ligand IP-10, and both CD4 + and CD8 + T cells from HCC patients exhibited diminished chemotactic responses to IP-10 in vitro compared to T cells from healthy control subjects. Conclusion: This study demonstrates functional desensitization of the chemokine receptor CXCR3 in lymphocytes from HCC patients by CXCR3 ligands secreted by tumor cells. This may cause lymphocyte dysfunction and subsequently impaired immune defense against the tumor. © 2005 The WJG Press and Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.published_or_final_versio

Polymorphisms of CR1, CLU and PICALM confer susceptibility of Alzheimer's disease in a southern Chinese population

In this case-controlled study, we tested susceptible genetic variants for Alzheimer's disease (AD) in CR1, CLU and PICALM from genome-wide association studies (GWAS) in a southern Chinese population. Eight hundred twelve participants consisting of 462 late-onset Alzheimer's disease (LOAD) patients and 350 nondemented control subjects were recruited. We found by multivariate logistic regression analysis, that single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in CR1 (rs6656401 adjusted allelic p = 0.035; adjusted genotypic p = 0.043) and CLU (rs2279590 adjusted allelic p = 0.035; adjusted genotypic p = 0.006; rs11136000 adjusted allelic p = 0.038; adjusted genotypic p = 0.009) were significantly different between LOAD patients and nondemented controls. For PICALM, LOAD association was found only in the APOE ε4 (-) subgroup (rs3851179 adjusted allelic p = 0.028; adjusted genotypic p = 0.013). Our findings showed evidence of CR1, CLU, and PICALM and LOAD susceptibility in an independent southern Chinese population, which provides additional evidence for LOAD association apart from prior genome-wide association studies in Caucasian populations. © 2012 Elsevier Inc.postprin

Structural Characterization of Minor Ampullate Spidroin Domains and Their Distinct Roles in Fibroin Solubility and Fiber Formation

10.1371/journal.pone.0056142PLoS ONE82

Expression of CDX2 and Hepatocyte Antigen in Benign and Malignant Lesions of Gallbladder and Its Correlation with Histopathologic Type and Clinical Outcome

Recent studies have shown that both CDX2 and Hepatocyte antigen (Hep) are detected in different types of cancer and associated with clinical prognosis. However, fever studies have examined gallbladder cancer specimens, and little is known about the clinicopathological significance of both CDX2 and Hep expression in gallbladder adenocarcinomas. In present study, we examined the expression frequencies of CDX2 and Hepatocyte antigen (Hep), and explored their clinicopathologic significances in gallbladder adenocarcinoma. Immunohistochemistry was used to detect and compare the frequencies of CDX2 and Hep expression in 108 samples of gallbladder adenocarcinoma, 46 peri-tumor tissues and 35 chronic cholecystitis. The expression frequencies for CDX2 and Hep were 49/108 (45.4%) and 45/108 (41.7%) in gallbladder carcinoma; 13/46 (28.3%) and 11/46 (23.9) in peri-tumor tissues; 5/35 (14.3%) and 2/35 (5.7%) in chronic cholecystitis. The positive staining of CDX2 or Hep in gallbladder adenocarcinoma was significantly higher than that in peritumoral tissues (both, P < 0.05), and chronic cholecystits (both, P < 0.01). The expression of CDX2 or Hep was negatively correlated to grade of differentiation, tumor size and lymph node metastasis (P < 0.01 or P < 0.05). Elevated expression frequency of CDX2 or Hep was associated with increased overall survival (P = 0.003 or P = 0.002). Multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that CDX2 (P = 0.014) or Hep (P = 0.026) expression was an independent prognostic predictor in gallbladder adenocarcinoma. CDX2 and Hep might function as important biological markers in the development and prognosis of gallbladder adenocarcinoma

Genetic Dissection of Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor Signaling during Luteinizing Hormone-Induced Oocyte Maturation

Recent evidence that luteinizing hormone (LH) stimulation of ovulatory follicles causes transactivation of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) has provided insights into the mechanisms of ovulation. However, the complete array of signals that promote oocyte reentry into the meiotic cell cycle in the follicle are still incompletely understood. To elucidate the signaling downstream of EGFR involved in oocyte maturation, we have investigated the LH responses in granulosa cells with targeted ablation of EGFR. Oocyte maturation and ovulation is disrupted when EGFR expression is progressively reduced. In granulosa cells from mice with either global or granulosa cell-specific disruption of EGFR signaling, LH-induced phosphorylation of MAPK3/1, p38MAPK, and connexin-43 is impaired. Although the LH-induced decrease in cGMP is EGFR-dependent in wild type follicles, LH still induces a decrease in cGMP in Egfrdelta/f Cyp19-Cre follicles. Thus compensatory mechanisms appear activated in the mutant. Spatial propagation of the LH signal in the follicle also is dependent on the EGF network, and likely is important for the control of signaling to the oocyte. Thus, multiple signals and redundant pathways contribute to regulating oocyte reentry into the cell cycle

TESTLoc: protein subcellular localization prediction from EST data

Abstract Background The eukaryotic cell has an intricate architecture with compartments and substructures dedicated to particular biological processes. Knowing the subcellular location of proteins not only indicates how bio-processes are organized in different cellular compartments, but also contributes to unravelling the function of individual proteins. Computational localization prediction is possible based on sequence information alone, and has been successfully applied to proteins from virtually all subcellular compartments and all domains of life. However, we realized that current prediction tools do not perform well on partial protein sequences such as those inferred from Expressed Sequence Tag (EST) data, limiting the exploitation of the large and taxonomically most comprehensive body of sequence information from eukaryotes. Results We developed a new predictor, TESTLoc, suited for subcellular localization prediction of proteins based on their partial sequence conceptually translated from ESTs (EST-peptides). Support Vector Machine (SVM) is used as computational method and EST-peptides are represented by different features such as amino acid composition and physicochemical properties. When TESTLoc was applied to the most challenging test case (plant data), it yielded high accuracy (~85%). Conclusions TESTLoc is a localization prediction tool tailored for EST data. It provides a variety of models for the users to choose from, and is available for download at http://megasun.bch.umontreal.ca/~shenyq/TESTLoc/TESTLoc.html</p

Adrenal adenomatoid tumor in a patient with human immunodeficiency virus

We present the clinical course of a patient with human immunodeficiency virus and an adrenal adenomatoid tumor (AAT). We describe the clinical course and laboratory, radiographic, and microscopic findings of a patient with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and an adenomatoid tumor of the right adrenal gland. A review of the literature was also done via electronic searches through PubMed for articles from 1965 to 2008 that contained the following search terms, adenomatoid tumor limited to the English language only. A 22 year-old African-American male with HIV was incidentally found to have a hypermetabolic right adrenal mass. The patient underwent laparoscopic adrenalectomy and the mass had morphological and immunohistochemical features that were consistent with an AAT. A review of the medical literature reveals that almost all cases of AAT were in male patients (96%) with a mean age of 41±11 years (range=22–64) with no significant difference in laterality (right side=46%, left side=50%, unknown=4%). AAT have an average size of 4.2±3.5 cm (range=0.5–14.3 cm). Pre-operative imaging studies do not appear to be able to reliably distinguish AAT from other types of adrenocortical tumors. For reasons that require further research, AAT typically occur in male patients and may be associated with immunosuppression. AAT can be safely removed laparoscopically with no evidence of long-term recurrence even with tumor extension beyond the adrenal capsule