Directional responses following recombinant cytokine stimulation of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) RTS-11 macrophage cells as revealed by transcriptome profiling

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Detection of curved lines with B-COSFIRE filters: A case study on crack delineation

The detection of curvilinear structures is an important step for various computer vision applications, ranging from medical image analysis for segmentation of blood vessels, to remote sensing for the identification of roads and rivers, and to biometrics and robotics, among others. %The visual system of the brain has remarkable abilities to detect curvilinear structures in noisy images. This is a nontrivial task especially for the detection of thin or incomplete curvilinear structures surrounded with noise. We propose a general purpose curvilinear structure detector that uses the brain-inspired trainable B-COSFIRE filters. It consists of four main steps, namely nonlinear filtering with B-COSFIRE, thinning with non-maximum suppression, hysteresis thresholding and morphological closing. We demonstrate its effectiveness on a data set of noisy images with cracked pavements, where we achieve state-of-the-art results (F-measure=0.865). The proposed method can be employed in any computer vision methodology that requires the delineation of curvilinear and elongated structures.Comment: Accepted at Computer Analysis of Images and Patterns (CAIP) 201

Lumbar spinal stenosis: an update on the epidemiology, diagnosis and treatment

Lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS) is a common spinal disorder in the older population, and the clinical syndrome consisting of pain in the buttock or lower extremity, with or without low back pain and corresponding imaging findings of narrowing of spaces around neural and vascular elements in the lumbar spine. The diagnosis depends on history, symptoms, physical examination, radiographies. Varieties of non-operative and operative options are available for LSS patients. In this article, an update on the epidemiology, diagnosis and treatment of LSS was reviewed.published_or_final_versio

Promotion of breast cancer by β-Hexachlorocyclohexane in MCF10AT1 cells and MMTV-neu mice

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Exposure to β-Hexachlorocyclohexane (β-HCH), a contaminant of the hexachlorohexane pesticide lindane, has been implicated as a risk factor in the development of breast cancers in epidemiological studies. Previous studies in our laboratory have demonstrated the ability of β-HCH to elicit its actions via a ligand-independent activation of the estrogen receptor through increased c-Neu (= erbB₂or HER-2) expression and kinase activation in both the BG-1 and MCF-7 cell lines. In addition, long term exposure (33 passages) to β-HCH was shown to promote the selection of MCF-7 cells which exhibit a more metastatic phenotype.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In this current study, we decided to investigate the long-term effects of β-HCH in both the MCF10AT1 cell line which was derived from a normal epithelial cell line by stably transfecting a mutated c-Ha-ras and a MMTV-Neu mouse model for mammary cancer <it>in vivo</it>. MCF10AT1 cells were exposed for 20 passages with β-HCH, 4-OH-Tamoxifen (Tam), or 17-β-estradiol (E₂) after which cells were analyzed for proliferation rates and mRNA expression by RT-PCR. In our <it>in vivo </it>studies, MMTV-Neu mice were injected with β-HCH and observed for tumor formation over a 70 week period.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>β-HCH and Tam selected MCF10AT1 cells demonstrated increased mRNA expression of MMP-13 (collagenase-3) a marker of increased invasiveness. β-HCH treatment was also seen to increase the expression in a number of proto-oncogenes (c-Neu, Cyclin D1, p27), cell status markers (Met-1, CK19), and the inflammatory marker NFκB. Previous studies, have demonstrated the role of these markers as evidence of malignant transformations, and further illustrate the ability of β-HCH to be carcinogenic. To demonstrate β-HCH's tumorigenic properties in an <it>in vivo </it>system, we used an MMTV-Neu mouse model.</p> <p>MMTV-Neu is a c-Neu overexpressing strain which has been shown to spontaneously develop mammary tumors at later stages of aging. In this experiment, β-HCH exposure was shown to both accelerate the appearance (~8 weeks for median tumor-free period) and incidence (~25% increase at the end of the test period) of tumors when compared to control mice receiving only the corn-oil vehicle.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Based upon these results, it was concluded that β-HCH does act as a breast cancer promoter which exerts its tumorigenic activity via increased c-Neu expression.</p

Factors associated with failed treatment : an analysis of 121,744 women embarking on their first IVF cycles

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

The RN/CFT Correspondence Revisited

We reconsidered the quantum gravity description of the near horizon extremal Reissner-Nordstr{\o}m black hole in the viewpoint of the AdS$_2$/CFT$_1$ correspondence. We found that, for pure electric case, the right moving central charge of dual 1D CFT is $6 Q^2$ which is different from the previous result $6 Q^3$ of left moving sector obtained by warped AdS$_3$/CFT$_2$ description. We discussed the discrepancy in these two approaches and examined novel properties of our result.Comment: revtex4, 16 pages, sign mistakes corrected, references include

Holographic Duals of Near-extremal Reissner-Nordstrom Black Holes

We consider the $\mathrm{AdS}_3/\mathrm{CFT}_2$ description of Reissner-Nordstr{\o}m black holes by studying their uplifted counterparts in five dimensions. Assuming a natural size of the extra dimension, the near horizon geometries for the extremal limit are exactly $\mathrm{AdS}_3 \times \mathrm{S}^2$. We compute the scattering amplitude of a scalar field, with a mode near threshold of frequency and extra dimensional momentum, by a near extremal uplifted black hole. The absorption cross section agrees with the two point function of the CFT dual to the scalar field.Comment: reference added, improper statements corrected, 17 pages, no figure

Broadening of Plasmonic Resonance Due to Electron Collisions with Nanoparticle Boundary: а Quantum Mechanical Consideration

We present a quantum mechanical approach to calculate broadening of plasmonic resonances in metallic nanostructures due to collisions of electrons with the surface of the structure. The approach is applicable if the characteristic size of the structure is much larger than the de Broglie electron wavelength in the metal. The approach can be used in studies of plasmonic properties of both single nanoparticles and arrays of nanoparticles.Comment: 9 page

Expression and DNA methylation of TNF, IFNG and FOXP3 in colorectal cancer and their prognostic significance.

BACKGROUND: Colorectal cancer (CRC) progression is associated with suppression of host cell-mediated immunity and local immune escape mechanisms. Our aim was to assess the immune function in terms of expression of TNF, IFNG and FOXP3 in CRC. METHODS: Sixty patients with CRC and 15 matched controls were recruited. TaqMan quantitative PCR and methylation-specific PCR was performed for expression and DNA methylation analysis of TNF, IFNG and FOXP3. Survival analysis was performed over a median follow-up of 48 months. RESULTS: TNF was suppressed in tumour and IFNG was suppressed in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of patients with CRC. Tumours showed enhanced expression of FOXP3 and was significantly higher when tumour size was >38 mm (median tumour size; P=0.006, Mann-Whitney U-test). Peripheral blood mononuclear cell IFNG was suppressed in recurrent CRC (P=0.01). Methylated TNFpromoter (P=0.003) and TNFexon1 (P=0.001) were associated with significant suppression of TNF in tumours. Methylated FOXP3cpg was associated with significant suppression of FOXP3 in both PBMC (P=0.018) and tumours (P=0.010). Reduced PBMC FOXP3 expression was associated with significantly worse overall survival (HR=8.319, P=0.019). CONCLUSIONS: We have detected changes in the expression of immunomodulatory genes that could act as biomarkers for prognosis and future immunotherapeutic strategies