Gene Expression Profiling of Biological Pathway Alterations by Radiation Exposure

[[abstract]]Though damage caused by radiation has been the focus of rigorous research, the mechanisms through which radiation exerts harmful effects on cells are complex and not well-understood. In particular, the influence of low dose radiation exposure on the regulation of genes and pathways remains unclear. In an attempt to investigate the molecular alterations induced by varying doses of radiation, a genome-wide expression analysis was conducted. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells were collected from five participants and each sample was subjected to 0.5 Gy, 1 Gy, 2.5 Gy, and 5 Gy of cobalt 60 radiation, followed by array-based expression profiling. Gene set enrichment analysis indicated that the immune system and cancer development pathways appeared to be the major affected targets by radiation exposure. Therefore, 1 Gy radioactive exposure seemed to be a critical threshold dosage. In fact, after 1 Gy radiation exposure, expression levels of several genes including FADD, TNFRSF10B, TNFRSF8, TNFRSF10A, TNFSF10, TNFSF8, CASP1, and CASP4 that are associated with carcinogenesis and metabolic disorders showed significant alterations. Our results suggest that exposure to low-dose radiation may elicit changes in metabolic and immune pathways, potentially increasing the risk of immune dysfunctions and metabolic disorders.[[notice]]補正完畢[[incitationindex]]SCI[[incitationindex]]EI[[booktype]]電子

Indigenous Case of Disseminated Histoplasmosis, Taiwan

We report the first indigenous case of disseminated histoplasmosis in Taiwan diagnosed by histopathology of bone marrow, microbiologic morphology, and PCR assay of the isolated fungus. This case suggests that histoplasmosis should be 1 of the differential diagnoses of opportunistic infections in immunocompromised patients in Taiwan

Dietary patterns, dietary biomarkers, and kidney disease in patients with type 2 diabetes: a repeated-measure study in Taiwan

Western dietary patterns have been linked with kidney disease. This study investigated the association between Chinese dietary patterns and kidney disease in a Taiwanese population with type 2 diabetes and evaluated dietary fatty acid patterns, a kidney-related dietary biomarker.We recruited 838 patients with type 2 diabetes and used their dietary and renal data obtained from three repeated measures in 2008, 2009 and 2010. Diet was assessed using food-frequency questionnaires, and factor analysis was performed to identify dietary patterns. Albuminuria was defined by having an albumin-to-creatinine ratio >=30 mg/g and kidney dysfunction by estimated glomerular filtration rat

Time separation as a hidden variable to the Copenhagen school of quantum mechanics

The Bohr radius is a space-like separation between the proton and electron in the hydrogen atom. According to the Copenhagen school of quantum mechanics, the proton is sitting in the absolute Lorentz frame. If this hydrogen atom is observed from a different Lorentz frame, there is a time-like separation linearly mixed with the Bohr radius. Indeed, the time-separation is one of the essential variables in high-energy hadronic physics where the hadron is a bound state of the quarks, while thoroughly hidden in the present form of quantum mechanics. It will be concluded that this variable is hidden in Feynman's rest of the universe. It is noted first that Feynman's Lorentz-invariant differential equation for the bound-state quarks has a set of solutions which describe all essential features of hadronic physics. These solutions explicitly depend on the time separation between the quarks. This set also forms the mathematical basis for two-mode squeezed states in quantum optics, where both photons are observable, but one of them can be treated a variable hidden in the rest of the universe. The physics of this two-mode state can then be translated into the time-separation variable in the quark model. As in the case of the un-observed photon, the hidden time-separation variable manifests itself as an increase in entropy and uncertainty.Comment: LaTex 10 pages with 5 figure. Invited paper presented at the Conference on Advances in Quantum Theory (Vaxjo, Sweden, June 2010), to be published in one of the AIP Conference Proceedings serie

Blockchain-Based Medical Record Management with Biofeedback Information

Blockchain is a new emerging technology of distributed databases, which guarantees the integrity, security and incorruptibility of data by means of the cryptography. Such features are suitable for secure and reliable data storage. This chapter investigates the blockchain-based architecture with applications to medical health record or biofeedback information management. This framework employs the smart contract to establish a medical record management system to ensure the privacy of patients. Moreover, the blockchain technique accelerates the medical record or information exchange such that the cost of human resource is significant reduced. All patients can manage their individual medical records and information easily in the different hospitals and clinics. They also have the privilege to deal with and authorize personal medical records in the proposed management framework

Inhibitory Effect of Anoectochilus formosanus Extract on Hyperglycemia-Related PD-L1 Expression and Cancer Proliferation

Traditional herb medicine, golden thread (Anoectochilus formosanus Hayata) has been used to treat various diseases. Hyperglycemia induces generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and enhancement of oxidative stress which are risk factors for cancer progression and metastasis. In this study, we evaluated hypoglycemic effect of A. formosanus extracts (AFEs) in an inducible hyperglycemia animal model and its capacity of free-radical scavenging to establish hyperglycemia-related carcinogenesis. AFE reduced blood glucose in hyperglycemic mice while there was no change in control group. The incremental area under blood glucose response curve was decreased significantly in hyperglycemic mice treated with AFE in a dose-dependent manner. AFE and metformin at the same administrated dose of 50 mg/kg showed similar effect on intraperitoneal glucose tolerance test in hyperglycemic mice. Free-radical scavenger capacity of AFE was concentration dependent and 200 μg/ml of AFE was able to reduce more than 41% of the free radical. Treatment of cancer cells with AFE inhibited constitutive PD-L1 expression and its protein accumulation. It also induced expression of pro-apoptotic genes but inhibited proliferative and metastatic genes. In addition, it induced anti-proliferation in cancer cells. The results suggested that AFE not only reduced blood glucose concentration as metformin but also showed its potential use in cancer immune chemoprevention/therapy via hypoglycemic effect, ROS scavenging and PD-L1 suppression

Search for pair-produced long-lived neutral particles decaying to jets in the ATLAS hadronic calorimeter in ppcollisions at √s=8TeV

The ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN is used to search for the decay of a scalar boson to a pair of long-lived particles, neutral under the Standard Model gauge group, in 20.3fb−1of data collected in proton–proton collisions at √s=8TeV. This search is sensitive to long-lived particles that decay to Standard Model particles producing jets at the outer edge of the ATLAS electromagnetic calorimeter or inside the hadronic calorimeter. No significant excess of events is observed. Limits are reported on the product of the scalar boson production cross section times branching ratio into long-lived neutral particles as a function of the proper lifetime of the particles. Limits are reported for boson masses from 100 GeVto 900 GeV, and a long-lived neutral particle mass from 10 GeVto 150 GeV