Green Synthesis of Magnetite Nanoparticles (via Thermal Decomposition Method) with Controllable Size and Shape

Magnetite (Fe3O4) nanoparticles with controllable size and shape were synthesized by the thermal decomposition method. In contrast to previously reported thermal decomposition methods, our synthesis method had utilized a much cheaper and less toxic iron precursor, iron acetylacetonate (Fe(acac)3), and environmentally benign and non-toxic polyethylene oxide (PEO) was being used as the solvent and surfactant simultaneously. Fe3O4 nanoparticles of controllable size and shape were prepared by manipulating the synthesis parameters such as precursor concentrations, reaction durations and surfactants

Effects of resistance and functional-skills training on habitual activity and constipation among older adults living in long-term care facilities: a randomized controlled trial

BACKGROUND: Large-scale RCTs comparing different types of exercise training in institutionalised older people are scarce, especially regarding effects on habitual physical activity and constipation. This study investigated the effects of different training protocols on habitual physical activity and constipation of older adults living in long-term care facilities. METHODS: A randomized controlled trial with 157 participants, aged 64 to 94 years, who were randomly assigned to 1) resistance training; 2) all-round functional-skills training; 3) both; or 4) an 'educational' control condition. Habitual physical activity was assessed with a physical activity questionnaire and accelerometers. Constipation was assessed by a questionnaire. Measurements were performed at baseline and after six months of training. RESULTS: At baseline the median time spent sitting was 8.2 hr/d, the median time spent on activity of at least moderate intensity was 32 min/d. At baseline, about 22% of the subjects were diagnosed with constipation and 23% were taking laxatives. There were no between-group differences for changes in habitual physical activity or constipation over 6-months. CONCLUSION: Six months of moderate intensity exercise training neither enhances habitual physical activity nor affects complaints of constipation among older people living in long-term care facilities

Increased entropy of signal transduction in the cancer metastasis phenotype

Studies into the statistical properties of biological networks have led to important biological insights, such as the presence of hubs and hierarchical modularity. There is also a growing interest in studying the statistical properties of networks in the context of cancer genomics. However, relatively little is known as to what network features differ between the cancer and normal cell physiologies, or between different cancer cell phenotypes. Based on the observation that frequent genomic alterations underlie a more aggressive cancer phenotype, we asked if such an effect could be detectable as an increase in the randomness of local gene expression patterns. Using a breast cancer gene expression data set and a model network of protein interactions we derive constrained weighted networks defined by a stochastic information flux matrix reflecting expression correlations between interacting proteins. Based on this stochastic matrix we propose and compute an entropy measure that quantifies the degree of randomness in the local pattern of information flux around single genes. By comparing the local entropies in the non-metastatic versus metastatic breast cancer networks, we here show that breast cancers that metastasize are characterised by a small yet significant increase in the degree of randomness of local expression patterns. We validate this result in three additional breast cancer expression data sets and demonstrate that local entropy better characterises the metastatic phenotype than other non-entropy based measures. We show that increases in entropy can be used to identify genes and signalling pathways implicated in breast cancer metastasis. Further exploration of such integrated cancer expression and protein interaction networks will therefore be a fruitful endeavour.Comment: 5 figures, 2 Supplementary Figures and Table

Challenges in managing a patient with central post stroke pain

Objective: This is a case illustration of the challenges in managing a patient with central post stroke pain secondary to right thalamic bleed. We describe in detail the events of this case management and the challenges that we had encountered. Method: We report a case of a 68-yearold lady who had right thalamic bleed secondary to hypertensive crisis in 2015 and was further complicated with central post stroke pain over the hemiparetic side. In our report, we describe in detail the challenges in managing the patient to improve her function to achieve a better quality of life. Conclusion: This article illustrates the importance of a multidisciplinary approach and knowledge of various methods in managing a patient with central post stroke pain

The breast cancer somatic 'muta-ome': tackling the complexity

Acquired somatic mutations are responsible for approximately 90% of breast tumours. However, only one somatic aberration, amplification of the HER2 locus, is currently used to define a clinical subtype, one that accounts for approximately 10% to 15% of breast tumours. In recent years, a number of mutational profiling studies have attempted to further identify clinically relevant mutations. While these studies have confirmed the oncogenic or tumour suppressor role of many known suspects, they have exposed complexity as a main feature of the breast cancer mutational landscape (the 'muta-ome'). The two defining features of this complexity are (a) a surprising richness of low-frequency mutants contrasting with the relative rarity of high-frequency events and (b) the relatively large number of somatic genomic aberrations (approximately 20 to 50) driving an average tumour. Structural features of this complex landscape have begun to emerge from follow-up studies that have tackled the complexity by integrating the spectrum of genomic mutations with a variety of complementary biological knowledge databases. Among these structural features are the growing links between somatic gene disruptions and those conferring breast cancer risk, mutually exclusive coexistence and synergistic mutational patterns, and a clearly non-random distribution of mutations implicating specific molecular pathways in breast tumour initiation and progression. Recognising that a shift from a gene-centric to a pathway-centric approach is necessary, we envisage that further progress in identifying clinically relevant genomic aberration patterns and associated breast cancer subtypes will require not only multi-dimensional integrative analyses that combine mutational and functional profiles, but also larger profiling studies that use second- and third-generation sequencing technologies in order to fill out the important gaps in the current mutational landscape

Determining Frequent Patterns of Copy Number Alterations in Cancer

Cancer progression is often driven by an accumulation of genetic changes but also accompanied by increasing genomic instability. These processes lead to a complicated landscape of copy number alterations (CNAs) within individual tumors and great diversity across tumor samples. High resolution array-based comparative genomic hybridization (aCGH) is being used to profile CNAs of ever larger tumor collections, and better computational methods for processing these data sets and identifying potential driver CNAs are needed. Typical studies of aCGH data sets take a pipeline approach, starting with segmentation of profiles, calls of gains and losses, and finally determination of frequent CNAs across samples. A drawback of pipelines is that choices at each step may produce different results, and biases are propagated forward. We present a mathematically robust new method that exploits probe-level correlations in aCGH data to discover subsets of samples that display common CNAs. Our algorithm is related to recent work on maximum-margin clustering. It does not require pre-segmentation of the data and also provides grouping of recurrent CNAs into clusters. We tested our approach on a large cohort of glioblastoma aCGH samples from The Cancer Genome Atlas and recovered almost all CNAs reported in the initial study. We also found additional significant CNAs missed by the original analysis but supported by earlier studies, and we identified significant correlations between CNAs

Fe3O4–Au and Fe2O3–Au Hybrid Nanorods: Layer-by-Layer Assembly Synthesis and Their Magnetic and Optical Properties

A layer-by-layer technique has been developed to synthesize FeOOH–Au hybrid nanorods that can be transformed into Fe2O3–Au and Fe3O4–Au hybrid nanorods via controllable annealing process. The homogenous deposition of Au nanoparticles onto the surface of FeOOH nanorods can be attributed to the strong electrostatic attraction between metal ions and polyelectrolyte-modified FeOOH nanorods. The annealing atmosphere controls the phase transformation from FeOOH–Au to Fe3O4–Au and α-Fe2O3–Au. Moreover, the magnetic and optical properties of as-synthesized Fe2O3–Au and Fe3O4–Au hybrid nanorods have been investigated

An integrative multi-dimensional genetic and epigenetic strategy to identify aberrant genes and pathways in cancer

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Genomics has substantially changed our approach to cancer research. Gene expression profiling, for example, has been utilized to delineate subtypes of cancer, and facilitated derivation of predictive and prognostic signatures. The emergence of technologies for the high resolution and genome-wide description of genetic and epigenetic features has enabled the identification of a multitude of causal DNA events in tumors. This has afforded the potential for large scale integration of genome and transcriptome data generated from a variety of technology platforms to acquire a better understanding of cancer.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Here we show how multi-dimensional genomics data analysis would enable the deciphering of mechanisms that disrupt regulatory/signaling cascades and downstream effects. Since not all gene expression changes observed in a tumor are causal to cancer development, we demonstrate an approach based on multiple concerted disruption (MCD) analysis of genes that facilitates the rational deduction of aberrant genes and pathways, which otherwise would be overlooked in single genomic dimension investigations.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Notably, this is the first comprehensive study of breast cancer cells by parallel integrative genome wide analyses of DNA copy number, LOH, and DNA methylation status to interpret changes in gene expression pattern. Our findings demonstrate the power of a multi-dimensional approach to elucidate events which would escape conventional single dimensional analysis and as such, reduce the cohort sample size for cancer gene discovery.</p

Health effects of omega-3,6,9 fatty acids: Perilla frutescens is a good example of plant oils

Perilla frutescens seeds are a good source of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs). The seeds of perilla are small end globular weight about 4 g/1000, contained approximately 35–45% oil. However the leaves are a very poor source of oil, since they contain only 0.2%. In addition, only the seed oil contains the omega 3 fatty acid alpha-linolenic acid (ALA). In comparing to other plant oils, perilla seed oil consistently contains the one of the highest proportion of omega-3 (ALA) fatty acids, at 54–64%. The omega-6 (linoleic acid) component is usually around 14% and omega-9 (Oleic acid) is also present in perilla oil. These polyunsaturated fatty acids are most beneficial to human health and in prevention of different diseases like cardiovascular disorders, cancer, inflammatory, rheumatoid arthritis etc

No relationship between left ventricular radial wall motion and longitudinal velocity and the extent and severity of noncompaction cardiomyopathy

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Noncompaction cardiomyopathy (NCCM) is characterized by a prominent trabecular meshwork and deep intertrabecular recesses. Although systolic dysfunction is common, limited information is available on differences in wall motion of the normal compacted and noncompacted segments. The purpose of this study was to assess radial wall motion and longitudinal wall velocity in patients with NCCM, according to the extent and severity of noncompaction.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The study comprised 29 patients in sinus rhythm (age 41 ± 15 years, 15 men), who fulfilled stringent diagnostic criteria for NCCM and compared to 29 age and gender matched healthy controls. Segmental radial wall motion of all compacted and noncompacted segments was assessed with the standard visual wall motion score index and longitudinal systolic (Sm) wall velocity with tissue Doppler imaging of the mitral annulus. For each LV wall a normalized Sm value was calculated. The extent and severity of NC in each LV segment was assessed both in a qualitative and quantitative manner.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Heart failure was the primary clinical presentation in half of the patients. NCCM patients had a wall motion score index of 1.68 ± 0.43 and a normalized Sm of 82 ± 20%. The total and maximal noncompaction scores were not related to the wall motion score index and the normalized Sm. NCCM patients with and without heart failure had similar total and maximal noncompaction scores.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>In NCCM patient's radial wall motion and longitudinal LV wall velocity is impaired but not related to the extent or severity of noncompaction.</p