34 research outputs found
AN ANALYSIS OF THE CHINESE PRESS REPORTS ON MALAY AND ISLAMIC ISSUES IN SINGAPORE
Master'sMASTER OF ART
Loss of Autophagy Diminishes Pancreatic β Cell Mass and Function with Resultant Hyperglycemia
SummaryAutophagy is a cellular degradation-recycling system for aggregated proteins and damaged organelles. Although dysregulated autophagy is implicated in various diseases including neurodegeneration, its role in pancreatic β cells and glucose homeostasis has not been described. We produced mice with β cell-specific deletion of Atg7 (autophagy-related 7). Atg7 mutant mice showed impaired glucose tolerance and decreased serum insulin level. β cell mass and pancreatic insulin content were reduced because of increased apoptosis and decreased proliferation of β cells. Physiological studies showed reduced basal and glucose-stimulated insulin secretion and impaired glucose-induced cytosolic Ca2+ transients in autophagy-deficient β cells. Morphologic analysis revealed accumulation of ubiquitinated protein aggregates colocalized with p62, which was accompanied by mitochondrial swelling, endoplasmic reticulum distension, and vacuolar changes in β cells. These results suggest that autophagy is necessary to maintain structure, mass and function of pancreatic β cells, and its impairment causes insulin deficiency and hyperglycemia because of abnormal turnover and function of cellular organelles
Occurrence of Highly Conjugative IncX3 Epidemic Plasmid Carrying blaNDM in Enterobacteriaceae Isolates in Geographically Widespread Areas
The emergence of New Delhi metallo-β-lactamase (NDM) in common enterobacterial species is a major concern for healthcare. Early reports have revealed that the spread of NDM involved diverse and heterogeneous plasmids. Recently, the involvement of a rare, IncX3 subtype plasmid has been increasingly recognized. Here, we studied the prevalence of IncX plasmid subtypes in 198 carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae, originating from a territory-wide active surveillance in Hong Kong in 2016. The complete sequences and biological features of the blaNDM-carrying plasmids were investigated. A total of 62 NDM-type, 21 OXA-48 type, 14 IMP-type, 8 KPC-type, 4 IMI-type producers, and 89 non-carbapenemase-producers were tested for presence of IncX subtypes. IncX3 (n = 60) was the most common subtype, followed by IncX4 (n = 6) and IncX1 (n = 2). The prevalence of IncX3 subtype in isolates producing NDM, other carbapenemase types and non-carbapenemase producers were 75.8, 21.3, and 3.4%, respectively (P < 0.001). An IncX3 plasmid (size ∼50 kb) was confirmed to carry blaNDM in 47 isolates of different enterobacterial species. Thirteen IncX3 plasmids originating from six healthcare regions in Hong Kong were completely sequenced. The results showed that the IncX3 plasmids carrying blaNDM share a high degree of sequence identity with a previously reported plasmid, pNDM-HN380 (GenBank accession JX104760), over the backbone and genetic load regions. A blast search further revealed the occurrence of identical or nearly identical IncX3 plasmids carrying blaNDM in other part of China, Korea, Myanmar, India, Oman, Kuwait, Italy, and Canada. Two IncX3 carrying blaNDM were investigated further. Conjugation experiments demonstrated that the IncX3 plasmids could be efficiently transferred to multiple enterobacterial species at frequencies that are comparable or higher than the epidemic IncFII plasmid carrying blaCTX-M (pHK01). In addition, efficient transfer of the NDM plasmids occurred over a range of temperatures. In conclusion, this study demonstrated the important role played by IncX3 in the dissemination of NDM and the occurrence of pNDM-HN380-like plasmids in geographically widespread areas. The high mobility of IncX3 plasmid across different enterobacterial species highlights the ability of this plasmid replicon to be an important vehicle in worldwide dissemination of NDM
Measurement of the Top Pair Production Cross Section in the Dilepton Decay Channel in ppbar Collisions at sqrt s = 1.96 TeV
Submitted to Phys. Rev. DA measurement of the \ttbar production cross section in \ppbar collisions at = 1.96 TeV using events with two leptons, missing transverse energy, and jets is reported. The data were collected with the CDF II Detector. The result in a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity 2.8 fb is: \sigma_{\ttbar} = 6.27 0.73(stat) 0.63(syst) 0.39(lum) pb. for an assumed top mass of 175 GeV/.A measurement of the tt̅ production cross section in pp̅ collisions at √s=1.96 TeV using events with two leptons, missing transverse energy, and jets is reported. The data were collected with the CDF II detector. The result in a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity 2.8 fb-1 is σtt̅ =6.27±0.73(stat)±0.63(syst)±0.39(lum) pb. for an assumed top mass of 175 GeV/c2.Peer reviewe
The taoist way towards togetherness
Taoists in Singapore have adapted their practice and outreach to stay relevant to the younger population. This is also to contribute to the resilience of the multi-racial society where social harmony and cohesion are key components for the nation’s progress and success.Published versio
Mining the Gastric Cancer Secretome: Identification of GRN as a Potential Diagnostic Marker for Early Gastric Cancer
Gastric cancer is the second leading cause of cancer
deaths worldwide,
and currently, there are no clinically relevant biomarkers for gastric
cancer diagnosis or prognosis. In this study, we applied a 2D-LC-MS/MS
based approach, in combination with iTRAQ labeling, to study the secretomes
of the gastric cancer cell lines AGS and MKN7. By performing a comparative
analysis between the conditioned media and the whole cell lysates,
our workflow allowed us to differentiate the <i>bona fide</i> secreted proteins from the intracellular contaminants within the
conditioned media. Ninety proteins were found to have higher abundance
in the conditioned media as compared to the whole cell lysates of
AGS and MKN7 cells. Using a signal peptide and nonclassical secretion
prediction tool and an online exosome database, we demonstrated that
up to 92.2% of these 90 proteins can be exported out of the cells
by classical or nonclassical secretory pathways. We then performed
quantitative comparisons of the secretomes between AGS and MKN7, identifying
43 differentially expressed secreted proteins. Among them, GRN was
found to be frequently expressed in gastric tumor tissues, but not
in normal gastric epithelia by immunohistochemistry. Sandwich ELISA
assay also showed elevation of serum GRN levels in gastric cancer
patients, particularly those with early gastric cancer. Receiver operating
characteristic (ROC) curves analysis confirmed that serum GRN can
provide diagnostic discriminations for gastric cancer patient
Mining the Gastric Cancer Secretome: Identification of GRN as a Potential Diagnostic Marker for Early Gastric Cancer
Gastric cancer is the second leading cause of cancer
deaths worldwide,
and currently, there are no clinically relevant biomarkers for gastric
cancer diagnosis or prognosis. In this study, we applied a 2D-LC-MS/MS
based approach, in combination with iTRAQ labeling, to study the secretomes
of the gastric cancer cell lines AGS and MKN7. By performing a comparative
analysis between the conditioned media and the whole cell lysates,
our workflow allowed us to differentiate the <i>bona fide</i> secreted proteins from the intracellular contaminants within the
conditioned media. Ninety proteins were found to have higher abundance
in the conditioned media as compared to the whole cell lysates of
AGS and MKN7 cells. Using a signal peptide and nonclassical secretion
prediction tool and an online exosome database, we demonstrated that
up to 92.2% of these 90 proteins can be exported out of the cells
by classical or nonclassical secretory pathways. We then performed
quantitative comparisons of the secretomes between AGS and MKN7, identifying
43 differentially expressed secreted proteins. Among them, GRN was
found to be frequently expressed in gastric tumor tissues, but not
in normal gastric epithelia by immunohistochemistry. Sandwich ELISA
assay also showed elevation of serum GRN levels in gastric cancer
patients, particularly those with early gastric cancer. Receiver operating
characteristic (ROC) curves analysis confirmed that serum GRN can
provide diagnostic discriminations for gastric cancer patient
Mining the Gastric Cancer Secretome: Identification of GRN as a Potential Diagnostic Marker for Early Gastric Cancer
Gastric cancer is the second leading cause of cancer
deaths worldwide,
and currently, there are no clinically relevant biomarkers for gastric
cancer diagnosis or prognosis. In this study, we applied a 2D-LC-MS/MS
based approach, in combination with iTRAQ labeling, to study the secretomes
of the gastric cancer cell lines AGS and MKN7. By performing a comparative
analysis between the conditioned media and the whole cell lysates,
our workflow allowed us to differentiate the <i>bona fide</i> secreted proteins from the intracellular contaminants within the
conditioned media. Ninety proteins were found to have higher abundance
in the conditioned media as compared to the whole cell lysates of
AGS and MKN7 cells. Using a signal peptide and nonclassical secretion
prediction tool and an online exosome database, we demonstrated that
up to 92.2% of these 90 proteins can be exported out of the cells
by classical or nonclassical secretory pathways. We then performed
quantitative comparisons of the secretomes between AGS and MKN7, identifying
43 differentially expressed secreted proteins. Among them, GRN was
found to be frequently expressed in gastric tumor tissues, but not
in normal gastric epithelia by immunohistochemistry. Sandwich ELISA
assay also showed elevation of serum GRN levels in gastric cancer
patients, particularly those with early gastric cancer. Receiver operating
characteristic (ROC) curves analysis confirmed that serum GRN can
provide diagnostic discriminations for gastric cancer patient