NEW RECORD OF GIANT DEVIL RAY (CHONDRICHTHYES: MYLIOBATIDAE) FROM ORAN BAY (WESTERN MEDITERRANEAN SEA)

The present paper reports a new record of Giant devil ray Mobula mobular (Bonnaterre, 1788) from western Algerian waters that is encountered for the first time in that coast since its first description in 1901 and last observation in late 80’s. This elasmobranch is categorized as endangered on the IUCN Red List (Endangered A2d ver 3.1) and is likely to be the rarest of the nine species of Mobula genus. Occasionally it is captured in Mediterranean Sea by purse seines, bottom and pelagic trawls, pelagic nets, bottom longlines, drifters and harpoons. The specimen stranded in “la Madrague Beach” in Western Algerian coasts. Its disc length was measuring 108.96 cm and disc width was 226.02 cm. This Myliobatidae is rarely seen with daily landed fish at Oran fishery. Up to date no explicit reason can be given for the strand of M. mobular but ghost fishing and important maritime traffic stay the most plausible cause of this incident

Different Approaches of Synchronization in Chaotic-Coupled QD Lasers

The investigation of synchronization phenomena on measured theoretical data such as time series has recently become an increasing focus of interest. In this chapter, the synchronized states (including steady state, periodic or chaotic) in coupled quantum dot lasers (dimensionless rate equations) are considered with both bidirectional and unidirectional synchronization. Different approaches for measuring synchronization have been proposed that rely on certain characteristic features of the dynamical system under investigation. Results show that the measure to be applied to a certain task can be chosen according to information in test applications, although certain dynamical features of a system under investigation (e.g., bifurcation and amplitude correlation) may render certain measures more suitable than others

Human gait recognition using preprocessing and classification techniques

Biometric recognition systems have been attracted numerous researchers since they attempt to overcome the problems and factors weakening these systems including problems of obtaining images indeed not appearing the resolution or the object completely. In this work, the object movement reliance was considered to distinguish the human through his/her gait. Some losing features probably weaken the system’s capability in recognizing the people, hence, we propose using all data recorded by the Kinect sensor with no employing the feature extraction methods based on the literature. In these studies, coordinates of 20 points are recorded for each person in various genders and ages, walking with various directions and speeds, creating 8404 constraints. Moreover, pre-processing methods are utilized to measure its influences on the system efficiency through testing on six types of classifiers. Within the proposed approach, a noteworthy recognition rate was obtained reaching 91% without examining the descriptors

Hypoxia-induced down-regulation of microRNA-449a/b impairs control over targeted SERPINE1 (PAI-1) mRNA - a mechanism involved in SERPINE1 (PAI-1) overexpression

After publication of our article [1], we realized the need for posting a correction note in order to prevent i) overinterpretation of some results by the readers and ii) concerns about potentially unintended misguidance by the authors

Risk Factors and Prognosis in T-Cell Posttransplantation Lymphoproliferative Diseases: Reevaluation of 163 Cases

Background. Posttransplantation lymphoproliferative diseases (PTLD) are mainly Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-associated disorders of B-cell origin. Due to the rarity of monomorphic T-cell PTLD (T-PTLD), knowledge about pathogenesis, risk factors, therapy, and prognosis relies predominantly on case reports and small series. Therefore, we aimed to provide an overview and a retrospective analysis of this rare PTLD subtype. Methods. We analyzed all available articles on T-PTLD in the PubMed database as well as in our own databases (Institute of Pathology/Department of Paediatric Haematology and Oncology, Hannover Medical School) from 1988 to 2010. Reevaluated parameters were gender, age, transplanted organ, immunosuppressant regimen, time between transplantation and T-PTLD manifestation, T-PTLD subtype, virus positivity, localization, therapy, and follow-up. Results. A total of 163 cases were evaluated. We found that hematopoietic stem cell transplantation was associated with early-onset T-PTLD, whereas late onset occurred after immunosuppression with steroids and azathioprine without administration of calcineurin inhibitors. The major independent favorable prognostic factors were T-PTLD of the large granular lymphocytic leukemia subtype, young age, and a combination of radiotherapy/radiochemotherapy and reduced immunosuppression, whereas the hepatosplenic T-cell lymphoma subtype and cases with involvement of bone marrow, the central nervous system, or graft had an adverse prognosis. Conclusion. T-PTLD is a heterogeneous group of different aberrant T-cell proliferations and represents a significant complication following transplantation, showing a uniformly poor prognosis

"Hypoxia-induced down-regulation of microRNA-449a/b impairs control over targeted SERPINE1 (PAI-1) mRNA - a mechanism involved in SERPINE1 (PAI-1) overexpression"

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In damaged organs tissue repair and replacement of cells by connective tissue provokes a response of fibroblasts to cellular stress factors such as hypoxia.</p> <p>MicroRNAs (miRNA) are small non-coding RNA molecules which bind to their mRNA targets which eventually lead to repression of translation. Whether the response of fibroblasts to stress factors also involves the miRNA system is largely unknown.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>By miRNA profiling we identified down-regulation of miRNA-449a/b expression in hypoxic fibroblasts. Specific miRNA inhibitors and mimics showed direct evidence for targeting the serine protease inhibitor (serpin) protein (SERPINE1; plasminogen activator inhibitor-1, PAI-1) by miRNA-449a/b leading to SERPINE1 mRNA and protein up- and down-regulation, respectively. SERPINE1 expression <it>in vivo </it>could be located predominantly in areas of fibrosis and remodeling.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our study offers serious lines of evidence for a novel hypoxia-dependent mechanism involving hypoxia-induced decrease of clustered miRNA-449a/b, hypoxia-induced amplification of concomitant increase of targeted SERPINE1 (PAI-1) and its overexpression in tissues showing a hypoxic environment.</p

Tumour angiogenesis in Epstein-Barr virus-associated post-transplant smooth muscle tumours

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-associated post-transplant smooth muscle tumours (PTSMT), are rare complications following organ/stem cell transplantation. Despite the mainly benign behaviour of PTSMT, alternative therapies are needed for those patients with progressive tumours. In tumours not approachable by surgery or reduction of immunosuppression, the angiogenic microenvironment might be a potential target of therapy, an approach that is well utilised in other soft tissue neoplasms. In a previous study, we evaluated the expression of EBV-related genes and the microRNA profile in PTSMT, but so far the characteristics of angiogenesis in PTSMT are not known. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the expression pattern of angiogenesis-related genes in PTSMT, in order to identify potential target molecules for anti-angiogenic therapy. PTSMT (n = 5 tumours) were compared with uterine leiomyomas (n = 7). Analyses included real-time PCR of 45 angiogenesis-associated genes, immunohistochemistry (CD31, prostaglandin endoperoxide synthase 1/PTGS1) and assessment of tumour vascularisation by conventional histopathology. PTSMT showed similar or fewer vessels than leiomyomas. Of the genes under investigation, 23 were down-deregulated (pro-angiogenic and some anti-angiogenic factors) and five were up-regulated (e.g. PTGS1 which is expressed at very low levels in leiomyomas but moderately higher levels in PTSMT). In summary, no particular target molecule could be identified, because tumour angiogenesis in PTSMT is characterised by low levels of major pro-angiogenic factors and there is no prominent increase in tumour vascularisation. EBV can induce angiogenesis via its viral late membrane protein 1 (LMP1) but PTSMT frequently do not express LMP1, which could be an explanation why, despite EBV infection, PTSMT show no exaggerated tumour angiogenesis