Short SULF1/SULF2 splice variants predominate in mammary tumours with a potential to facilitate receptor tyrosine kinase-mediated cell signalling

The relative roles of SULF1 and SULF2 enzymes in tumour growth are controversial, but short SULF1/SULF2 splice variants predominate in human mammary tumours despite their non-detectable levels in normal mammary tissue. Compared with the normal, the level of receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) activity was markedly increased in triple-positive mammary tumours during later stages of tumour progression showing increased p-EGFR, p-FGFR1 and p-cMet activity in triple-positive but not in triple-negative tumours. The abundance of catalytically inactive short SULF1/SULF2 variants permits high levels of HS sulphation and thus growth driving RTK cell signalling in primary mammary tumours. Also observed in this study, however, was increased N-sulphation detected by antibody 10E4 indicating that not only 6-O sulphation but also N-sulphation may contribute to increased RTK cell signalling in mammary tumours. The levels of such increases in not only SULF1/SULF2 but also in pEGFR, pFGFR1, p-cMet and Smad1/5/8 signalling were further enhanced following lymph node metastasis. The over-expression of Sulf1 and Sulf2 variants in mammary tumour-derived MDA-MB231 and MCF7 cell lines by transfection further confirms Sulf1-/Sulf2-mediated differential modulation of growth. The short variants of both Sulf1 and Sulf2 promoted FGF2-induced MDA-MB231 and MCF7 in vitro growth while full-length Sulf1 inhibited growth supporting in vivo mammary tumour cell signalling patterns of growth. Since a number of mammary tumours become drug resistant to hormonal therapy, Sulf1/Sulf2 inhibition could be an alternative therapeutic approach to target such tumours by down-regulating RTK-mediated cell signalling

Scattering of electromagnetic waves in metamaterial superlattices

The authors study experimentally both transmission and reflection of microwave radiation from metamaterialsuperlattices created by layers of periodically arranged wires and split-ring resonators. The authors measure the dependence of the metamaterial resonance on the spatial period of the superlattice and demonstrate resonance broadening and splitting for the binary metamaterial structures.The authors acknowledge support from the Australian Research Council and thank Ekmel Ozbay for providing additional details of the experimental results published earlier by his group

Button batteries in the oesophagus: A surgical emergency

We describe two cases of missed battery ingestion that led to extensive morbidity, requiring surgical management that would not have been necessary had the batteries been removed timeously

Using Prior Knowledge and Student Engagement to Understand Student Performance in an Undergraduate Learning-to-Learn Course

This study examined prior knowledge and student engagement in student performance. Log data were used to explore the distribution of final grades (i.e., weak, good, excellent final grades) occurring in an elective under-graduate course. Previous research has established behavioral and agentic engagement factors contribute to academic achievement (Reeve, 2013). Hierarchical logistic regression using both prior knowledge and log data from the course revealed: (a) the weak-grades group demonstrated less behavioral engagement than the good-grades group, (b) the good-grades group demonstrated less agentic engagement than the excellent-grades group, and (c) models composed of both prior knowledge and engagement measures were more accurate than models composed of only engagement measures. Findings demonstrate students performing at different grade-levels may experience different challenges in their course engagement. This study informs our own instructional strategies and interventions to increase student success in the course and provides recommendations for other instructors to support student success

Waste Not, Want Not: Analyzing the Economic and Environmental Viability of Waste-to-Energy (WTE) Technology for Site-Specific Optimization of Renewable Energy Options

Waste-to-energy (WTE) technology burns municipal solid waste (MSW) in an environmentally safe combustion system to generate electricity, provide district heat, and reduce the need for landfill disposal. While this technology has gained acceptance in Europe, it has yet to be commonly recognized as an option in the United States. Section 1 of this report provides an overview of WTE as a renewable energy technology and describes a high-level model developed to assess the feasibility of WTE at a site. Section 2 reviews results from previous life cycle assessment (LCA) studies of WTE, and then uses an LCA inventory tool to perform a screening-level analysis of cost, net energy production, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and conventional air pollution impacts of WTE for residual MSW in Boulder, Colorado. Section 3 of this report describes the federal regulations that govern the permitting, monitoring, and operating practices of MSW combustors and provides emissions limits for WTE projects

Button batteries in the oesophagus: A surgical emergency

We describe two cases of missed battery ingestion that led to extensive morbidity, requiring surgical management that would not have been necessary had the batteries been removed timeously

Implications of a food system approach for policy agenda-setting design

A call to governments to enact a strategy for a sustainable food system is high on the global agenda. A sustainable food system presupposes a need to go beyond a view of the food system as linear and narrow, to comprehend the food system as dynamic and interlinked, which involves understanding social, economic and ecological outcomes and feedbacks of the system. As such, it should be accompanied by strategic, collaborative, transparent, inclusive, and reflexive agenda-setting process. The concepts of, directionality relating to an agreed vision for a future sustainable food system, and, reflexivity which describes the capacity for critical deliberation and responsiveness, are particularly important. Based on those concepts, this paper proposes an evaluative framework to assess tools and instruments applied during the agenda-setting stage. We apply the evaluative framework to recent food policy processes in Finland and Sweden, revealing that their agenda-setting design cannot be assessed as fully addressing both directionality and reflexivity, thus possibly falling short of the policy design needed for enable more transformative policy approaches

Assessment of source contributions to seasonal vegetative exposure to ozone in the U.S.

W126 is a cumulative ozone exposure index based on sigmoidally weighted daytime ozone concentrations used to evaluate the impacts of ozone on vegetation. We quantify W126 in the U.S. in the absence of North American anthropogenic emissions (North American background or “NAB”) using three regional or global chemical transport models for May–July 2010. All models overestimate W126 in the eastern U.S. due to a persistent bias in daytime ozone, while the models are relatively unbiased in California and the Intermountain West. Substantial difference in the magnitude and spatial and temporal variability of the estimates of W126 NAB between models supports the need for a multimodel approach. While the average NAB contribution to daytime ozone in the Intermountain West is 64–78%, the average W126 NAB is only 9–27% of current levels, owing to the weight given to high O3 concentrations in W126. Based on a three-model mean, NAB explains ~30% of the daily variability in the W126 daily index in the Intermountain West. Adjoint sensitivity analysis shows that nationwide W126 is influenced most by NOx emissions from anthropogenic (58% of the total sensitivity) and natural (25%) sources followed by nonmethane volatile organic compounds (10%) and CO (7%). Most of the influence of anthropogenic NOx comes from the U.S. (80%), followed by Canada (9%), Mexico (4%), and China (3%). Thus, long-range transport of pollution has a relatively small impact on W126 in the U.S., and domestic emissions control should be effective for reducing W126 levels