943 research outputs found
Prokineticin 2 Is a Target Gene of Proneural Basic Helix-Loop-Helix Factors for Olfactory Bulb Neurogenesis
Prokineticin 2, a cysteine-rich secreted protein, regulates diverse biological functions including the neurogenesis of olfactory bulb. Here we show that the PK2 gene is a functional target gene of proneural basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) factors. Neurogenin 1 and MASH1 activate PK2 transcription by binding to E-box motifs on the PK2 promoter with the same set of E-boxes critical for another pair of bHLH factors, CLOCK and BMAL1, in the regulation of circadian clock. Our results establish PK2 as a common functional target gene for different bHLH transcriptional factors in mediating their respective functions
High expression FUT1 and B3GALT5 is an independent predictor of postoperative recurrence and survival in hepatocellular carcinoma.
Cancer may arise from dedifferentiation of mature cells or maturation-arrested stem cells. Previously we reported that definitive endoderm from which liver was derived, expressed Globo H, SSEA-3 and SSEA-4. In this study, we examined the expression of their biosynthetic enzymes, FUT1, FUT2, B3GALT5 and ST3GAL2, in 135 hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) tissues by qRT-PCR. High expression of either FUT1 or B3GALT5 was significantly associated with advanced stages and poor outcome. Kaplan Meier survival analysis showed significantly shorter relapse-free survival (RFS) for those with high expression of either FUT1 or B3GALT5 (P = 0.024 and 0.001, respectively) and shorter overall survival (OS) for those with high expression of B3GALT5 (P = 0.017). Combination of FUT1 and B3GALT5 revealed that high expression of both genes had poorer RFS and OS than the others (P < 0.001). Moreover, multivariable Cox regression analysis identified the combination of B3GALT5 and FUT1 as an independent predictor for RFS (HR: 2.370, 95% CI: 1.505-3.731, P < 0.001) and OS (HR: 2.153, 95% CI: 1.188-3.902, P = 0.012) in HCC. In addition, the presence of Globo H, SSEA-3 and SSEA-4 in some HCC tissues and their absence in normal liver was established by immunohistochemistry staining and mass spectrometric analysis
Electronic structure of Fe1.04(Te0.66Se0.34)
We report the electronic structure of the iron-chalcogenide superconductor,
Fe1.04(Te0.66Se0.34), obtained with high resolution angle-resolved
photoemission spectroscopy and density functional calculations. In
photoemission measurements, various photon energies and polarizations are
exploited to study the Fermi surface topology and symmetry properties of the
bands. The measured band structure and their symmetry characters qualitatively
agree with our density function theory calculations of Fe(Te0.66Se0.34),
although the band structure is renormalized by about a factor of three. We find
that the electronic structures of this iron-chalcogenides and the
iron-pnictides have many aspects in common, however, significant differences
exist near the Gamma-point. For Fe1.04(Te0.66Se0.34), there are clearly
separated three bands with distinct even or odd symmetry that cross the Fermi
energy (EF) near the zone center, which contribute to three hole-like Fermi
surfaces. Especially, both experiments and calculations show a hole-like
elliptical Fermi surface at the zone center. Moreover, no sign of spin density
wave was observed in the electronic structure and susceptibility measurements
of this compound.Comment: 7 pages, 9 figures. submitted to PRB on November 15, 2009, and
accepted on January 6, 201
Experimentally obtaining the Likeness of Two Unknown Quantum States on an NMR Quantum Information Processor
Recently quantum states discrimination has been frequently studied. In this
paper we study them from the other way round, the likeness of two quantum
states. The fidelity is used to describe the likeness of two quantum states.
Then we presented a scheme to obtain the fidelity of two unknown qubits
directly from the integral area of the spectra of the assistant qubit(spin) on
an NMR Quantum Information Processor. Finally we demonstrated the scheme on a
three-qubit quantum information processor. The experimental data are consistent
with the theoretical expectation with an average error of 0.05, which confirms
the scheme.Comment: 3 pages, 4 figure
Biomarkers to assess right heart pressures in recipients of a heart transplant: a proof-of-concept study
Background: This proof-of-concept study investigated the feasibility of using biomarkers to monitor right heart pressures (RHP) in heart transplanted (HTx) patients.
Methods: In 298 patients, we measured 7.6 years post-HTx mean pressures in the right atrium (mRAP) and pulmonary artery (mPAP) and capillaries (mPCWP) along with plasma high-sensitivity troponin T (hsTnT), a marker of cardiomyocyte injury, and the multidimensional urinary classifiers HF1 and HF2, mainly consisting of dysregulated collagen fragments.
Results: In multivariable models, mRAP and mPAP increased with hsTnT (per 1-SD, +0.91 and +1.26 mm Hg; P < 0.0001) and with HF2 (+0.42 and +0.62 mm Hg; P ≤ 0.035), but not with HF1. mPCWP increased with hsTnT (+1.16 mm Hg; P < 0.0001), but not with HF1 or HF2. The adjusted odds ratios for having elevated RHP (mRAP, mPAP or mPCWP ≥10, ≥24, ≥17 mm Hg, respectively) were 1.99 for hsTnT and 1.56 for HF2 (P ≤ 0.005). In detecting elevated RHPs, areas under the curve were similar for hsTnT and HF2 (0.63 vs 0.65; P = 0.66). Adding hsTnT continuous or per threshold or HF2 continuous to a basic model including all covariables did not increase diagnostic accuracy (P ≥ 0.11), whereas adding HF2 per optimized threshold increased both the integrated discrimination (+1.92%; P = 0.023) and net reclassification (+30.3%; P = 0.010) improvement.
Conclusions: Correlating RHPs with noninvasive biomarkers in HTx patients is feasible. However, further refinement and validation of such biomarkers is required before their clinical application can be considered
On the Ground State of Two Flavor Color Superconductor
The diquark condensate susceptibility in neutral color superconductor at
moderate baryon density is calculated in the frame of two flavor
Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model. When color chemical potential is introduced to keep
charge neutrality, the diquark condensate susceptibility is negative in the
directions without diquark condensate in color space, which may be regarded as
a signal of the instability of the conventional ground state with only diquark
condensate in the color 3 direction.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure
Midkine mediates intercellular crosstalk between drug-resistant and drug sensitive neuroblastoma cells in vitro and in vivo
Resistance to cytotoxic agents has long been known to be a major limitation in the treatment of human cancers. Although many mechanisms of drug resistance have been identified, chemotherapies targeting known mechanisms have failed to lead to effective reversal of drug resistance, suggesting that alternative mechanisms remain undiscovered. Previous work identified midkine (MK) as a novel putative survival molecule responsible for cytoprotective signaling between drug-resistant and drug-sensitive neuroblastoma, osteosarcoma and breast carcinoma cells in vitro. In the present study, we provide further in vitro and in vivo studies supporting the role of MK in neuroblastoma cytoprotection. MK overexpressing wild type neuroblastoma cells exhibit a cytoprotective effect on wild type cells when grown in a co-culture system, similar to that seen with doxorubicin resistant cells. siRNA knockdown of MK expression in doxorubicin resistant neuroblastoma and osteosarcoma cells ameliorates this protective effect. Overexpression of MK in wild type neuroblastoma cells leads to acquired drug resistance to doxorubicin and to the related drug etoposide. Mouse studies injecting various ratios of doxorubicin resistant or MK transfected cells with GFP transfected wild type cells confirm this cytoprotective effect in vivo. These findings provide additional evidence for the existence of intercellular cytoprotective signals mediated by MK which contribute to chemotherapy resistance in neuroblastoma
Calibrationless Reconstruction of Uniformly-Undersampled Multi-Channel MR Data with Deep Learning Estimated ESPIRiT Maps
Purpose: To develop a truly calibrationless reconstruction method that
derives ESPIRiT maps from uniformly-undersampled multi-channel MR data by deep
learning. Methods: ESPIRiT, one commonly used parallel imaging reconstruction
technique, forms the images from undersampled MR k-space data using ESPIRiT
maps that effectively represents coil sensitivity information. Accurate ESPIRiT
map estimation requires quality coil sensitivity calibration or autocalibration
data. We present a U-Net based deep learning model to estimate the
multi-channel ESPIRiT maps directly from uniformly-undersampled multi-channel
multi-slice MR data. The model is trained using fully-sampled multi-slice axial
brain datasets from the same MR receiving coil system. To utilize subject-coil
geometric parameters available for each dataset, the training imposes a hybrid
loss on ESPIRiT maps at the original locations as well as their corresponding
locations within the standard reference multi-slice axial stack. The
performance of the approach was evaluated using publicly available T1-weighed
brain and cardiac data. Results: The proposed model robustly predicted
multi-channel ESPIRiT maps from uniformly-undersampled k-space data. They were
highly comparable to the reference ESPIRiT maps directly computed from 24
consecutive central k-space lines. Further, they led to excellent ESPIRiT
reconstruction performance even at high acceleration, exhibiting a similar
level of errors and artifacts to that by using reference ESPIRiT maps.
Conclusion: A new deep learning approach is developed to estimate ESPIRiT maps
directly from uniformly-undersampled MR data. It presents a general strategy
for calibrationless parallel imaging reconstruction through learning from coil
and protocol specific data
High Stability Positron Beam Generation Based on Ultra-intense Laser
Relativistic positron beams were generated by laser wakefield electrons bombarding on solid target. Very stable positron beams were generated in our experiments. The total yield of positrons is about 4.4 x 10(8)/shot. The energy spectra of positrons and electrons obey quasi-Maxwell distribution. Compared with the direct method, the indirect method produces positrons (38.5 MeV) and electrons (50.5 MeV) with much higher slope temperature
Circulating biomarkers predicting longitudinal changes in left ventricular structure and function in a general population
Background
Serial imaging studies in the general population remain important to evaluate the usefulness of pathophysiologically relevant biomarkers in predicting progression of left ventricular (LV) remodeling and dysfunction. Here, we assessed in a general population whether these circulating biomarkers at baseline predict longitudinal changes in LV structure and function.
Methods and Results
In 592 participants (mean age, 50.8 years; 51.4% women; 40.5% hypertensive), we derived echocardiographic indexes reflecting LV structure and function at baseline and after 4.7 years. At baseline, we measured alkaline phosphatase, markers of collagen turnover (procollagen type I, C‐terminal telopeptide, matrix metalloproteinase‐1) and high‐sensitivity cardiac troponin T. We regressed longitudinal changes in LV indexes on baseline biomarker levels and reported standardized effect sizes as a fraction of the standard deviation of LV change. After full adjustment, a decline in LV longitudinal strain (−14.2%) and increase in E/e′ ratio over time (+18.9%; P≤0.019) was associated with higher alkaline phosphatase activity at baseline. Furthermore, longitudinal strain decreased with higher levels of collagen I production and degradation at baseline (procollagen type I, −14.2%; C‐terminal telopeptide, −16.4%; P≤0.029). An increase in E/e′ ratio over time was borderline associated with lower matrix metalloproteinase‐1 (+9.8%) and lower matrix metalloproteinase‐1/tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase‐1 ratio (+11.9%; P≤0.041). Higher high‐sensitivity cardiac troponin T levels at baseline correlated significantly with an increase in relative wall thickness (+23.1%) and LV mass index (+18.3%) during follow‐up (P≤0.035).
Conclusions
We identified a set of biomarkers predicting adverse changes in LV structure and function over time. Circulating biomarkers reflecting LV stiffness, injury, and collagen composition might improve the identification of subjects at risk for subclinical cardiac maladaptation
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