Vibrationally Induced Two-Level Systems in Single-Molecule Junctions

Single-molecule junctions are found to show anomalous spikes in dI/dV spectra. The position in energy of the spikes are related to local vibration mode energies. A model of vibrationally induced two-level systems reproduces the data very well. This mechanism is expected to be quite general for single-molecule junctions. It acts as an intrinsic amplification mechanism for local vibration mode features and may be exploited as a new spectroscopic tool.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Spatiotemporal profile of peri-saccadic contrast sensitivity

Sensitivity to luminance contrast is reduced just before and during saccades (saccadic suppression), whereas sensitivity to color contrast is unimpaired peri-saccadically and enhanced post-saccadically. The exact spatiotemporal map of these perceptual effects is as yet unknown. Here, we measured detection thresholds for briefly flashed Gaussian blobs modulated in either luminance or chromatic contrast, displayed at a range of eccentricities. Sensitivity to luminance contrast was reduced peri-saccadically by a scaling factor, which was almost constant across retinal space. Saccadic suppression followed a similar time course across all tested eccentricities and was maximal shortly after the saccade onset. Sensitivity to chromatic contrast was enhanced post-saccadically at all tested locations. The enhancement was not specifically linked to the execution of saccades, as it was also observed following a displacement of retinal images comparable to that caused by a saccade. We conclude that luminance and chromatic contrast sensitivities are subject to distinct modulations at the time of saccades, resulting from independent neural processes

Identifying prognostic factors for clinical outcomes and costs in four high-volume surgical treatments using routinely collected hospital data

Identifying prognostic factors (PFs) is often costly and labor-intensive. Routinely collected hospital data provide opportunities to identify clinically relevant PFs and construct accurate prognostic models without additional data-collection costs. This multicenter (66 hospitals) study reports on associations various patient-level variables have with outcomes and costs. Outcomes were in-hospital mortality, intensive care unit (ICU) admission, length of stay, 30-day readmission, 30-day reintervention and in-hospital costs. Candidate PFs were age, sex, Elixhauser Comorbidity Score, prior hospitalizations, prior days spent in hospital, and socio-economic status. Included patients dealt with either colorectal carcinoma (CRC, n = 10,254), urinary bladder carcinoma (UBC, n = 17,385), acute percutaneous coronary intervention (aPCI, n = 25,818), or total knee arthroplasty (TKA, n = 39,214). Prior hospitalization significantly increased readmission risk in all treatments (OR between 2.15 and 25.50), whereas prior days spent in hospital decreased this risk (OR between 0.55 and 0.95). In CRC patients, women had lower risk of in-hospital mortality (OR 0.64), ICU admittance (OR 0.68) and 30-day reintervention (OR 0.70). Prior hospitalization was the strongest PF for higher costs across all treatments (31–64% costs increase/hospitalization). Prognostic model performance (c-statistic) ranged 0.67–0.92, with Brier scores below 0.08. R-squared ranged from 0.06–0.19 for LoS and 0.19–0.38 for costs. Identified PFs should be considered as building blocks for treatment-specific prognostic models and information for monitoring patients after surgery. Researchers and clinicians might benefit from gaining a better insight into the drivers behind (costs) prognosis

Proteomic profiling of cisplatin-resistant and cisplatin-sensitive germ cell tumour cell lines using quantitative mass spectrometry

\ua9 2022, The Author(s). Purpose: Advanced testicular germ cell tumours (GCT) generally have a good prognosis owing to their unique sensitivity towards cisplatin-based chemotherapies. However, cisplatin-resistant GCT have a poor outcome. Further studies are mandatory to better understand resistance mechanisms and develop therapeutic strategies for refractory GCTs. Methods: Protein levels in cisplatin-resistant GCT cell lines of NTERA-2, NCCIT and 2102EP were analyzed by quantitative proteomic mass spectrometry (MS) in combination with stable isotope labelling by amino acids in cell culture (SILAC). Differentially abundant protein markers of acquired cisplatin resistance were validated by Western blotting. Comprehensive bioinformatical annotation using gene set enrichment analyses (GSEA) and STRING interaction analysis were performed to identify commonly affected pathways in cisplatin resistance and the data were compared to the GCT cohort of the ‘The Cancer Genome Atlas’. Results: A total of 4375 proteins were quantified by MS, 144 of which were found to be differentially abundant between isogenic resistant and sensitive cell line pairs (24 proteins for NTERA-2, 60 proteins for NCCIT, 75 proteins for 2102EP). Western blotting confirmed regulation of key resistance-associated proteins (CBS, ANXA1, LDHA, CTH, FDXR). GSEA revealed a statistically significant enrichment of DNA repair-associated proteins in all three resistant cell lines and specific additional processes for individual cell lines. Conclusion: High resolution MS combined with SILAC is a powerful tool and 144 significantly deregulated proteins were found in cisplatin-resistant GCT cell lines. Our study provides the largest proteomic in vitro library for cisplatin resistance in GCT, yet, enabling further studies to develop new treatment options for patients with refractory GCT

Bran, Hypertriglyceridemia and Urate Clearance

Eight subjects having raised triglyceride levels associated with conditions such s diabetes, hyperuricaemia, obesity and hypothyroidism were given 50g of bran per day to determine the effect of increasing dietary fibre on triglyceride and purine metabolism. The study continued for two months. No significant effect was noted on the serum cholesterol or triglyceride level. There was a significant (

The symptom profile of vascular depression

SUMMARY Objectives Vascular depression is regarded as a subtype of depression, especially in--but not limited strictly to--older persons, and characterized by a specific clinical presentation and an association with (cerebro)vascular risk and disease. It is also known that depression is a risk factor in the development of myocardial infarction. The possibility of identifying depressed subjects at risk of a first cardiac event by their clinical presentation in general practice would have significant implications. Methods We studied the baseline depression symptom profiles of subjects in the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam and compared the profile of depressed subjects who had and had not suffered a first cardiac event at a follow-up after eight years. Results We could not confirm the specific symptom profile in depressed subjects who suffered from a first cardiac event at follow-up. Most notably, the presumed specific symptoms of vascular depression, psychomotor retardation, and anhedonia were not significantly associated with the occurrence of a first cardiac event at follow-up. Conclusions In this large community study we failed to identify a difference in the depression symptom profile between incident cardiac and non-cardiac cases

Quantitative proteomics identifies biomarkers to distinguish pulmonary from head and neck squamous cell carcinomas by immunohistochemistry

The differentiation between a pulmonary metastasis and a newly developed squamous cell carcinoma of the lung in patients with prior head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is difficult due to a lack of biomarkers but is crucially important for the prognosis and therapy of the affected patient. By using high-resolution mass spectrometry in combination with stable isotope labelling by amino acids in cell culture, we identified 379 proteins that are differentially expressed in squamous cell carcinomas of the lung and the head and neck. Of those, CAV1, CAV2, LGALS1, LGALS7, CK19, and UGDH were tested by mmunohistochemistry on 194 tissue samples (98 lung and 96 HNSCCs). The combination of CAV1 and LGALS7 was able to distinguish the origin of the squamous cell carcinoma with high accuracy (area under the curve 0.876). This biomarker panel was tested on a cohort of 12 clinically classified lung tumours of unknown origin after HNSCC. Nine of those tumours were immunohistochemically classifiable

On Deformations of n-Lie algebras

The aim of this paper is to review the deformation theory of $n$-Lie algebras. We summarize the 1-parameter formal deformation theory and provide a generalized approach using any unital commutative associative algebra as a deformation base. Moreover, we discuss degenerations and quantization of $n$-Lie algebras.Comment: Proceeding of the conference Dakar's Workshop in honor of Pr Amin Kaidi. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:hep-th/9602016 by other author