1,806 research outputs found
69: Acute Complications of Perineal Interstitial Brachytherapy (ISBT) Implants in Gynecological Cancer Patients: Prospective Analysis of Organ Injury and Infection
77: A Pratical Metric to Guide Patients Selection for Breathhold Radiation Therapy (BH-RT) in Left-Sided Breast Cancer
NPARSEC : NTT Parallaxes of Southern Extremely Cool objects. Goals, targets, procedures and first results
The discovery and subsequent detailed study of T dwarfs have provided many surprises and pushed the physics and modelling of cool atmospheres in unpredicted directions. Distance is a critical parameter for studies of these objects to determine intrinsic luminosities, test binarity and measure their motion in the Galaxy. We describe a new observational programme to determine distances across the full range of T-dwarf subtypes using the New Technology Telescope (NTT)/SOFI telescope/instrument combination. We present preliminary results for ten objects, five of which represent new distances.Peer reviewe
PEPCK-M recoups tumor cell anabolic potential in a PKC-Îś-dependent manner
Background: Mitochondrial phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (PEPCK-M; PCK2) is expressed in all cancer types
examined and in neuroprogenitor cells. The gene is upregulated by amino acid limitation and ER-stress in an ATF4-
dependent manner, and its activity modulates the PEP/Ca2+ signaling axis, providing clear arguments for a
functional relationship with metabolic adaptations for cell survival. Despite its potential relevance to cancer
metabolism, the mechanisms responsible for its pro-survival activity have not been completely elucidated.
Methods: [U-13C]glutamine and [U-13C]glucose labeling of glycolytic and TCA cycle intermediates and their
anabolic end-products was evaluated quantitatively using LC/MS and GC/MS in conditions of abundant glucose
and glucose limitation in loss-of-function (shRNA) and gain-of-function (lentiviral constitutive overexpression) HeLa
cervix carcinoma cell models. Cell viability was assessed in conjunction with various glucose concentrations and in
xenografts in vivo.
Results: PEPCK-M levels linearly correlated with [U-13C]glutamine label abundance in most glycolytic and TCA cycle
intermediate pools under nutritional stress. In particular, serine, glycine, and proline metabolism, and the anabolic
potential of the cell, were sensitive to PEPCK-M activity. Therefore, cell viability defects could be rescued by
supplementing with an excess of those amino acids. PEPCK-M silenced or inhibited cells in the presence of
abundant glucose showed limited growth secondary to TCA cycle blockade and increased ROS.
In limiting glucose conditions, downregulation of PKC-Îś tumor suppressor has been shown to enhance survival.
Consistently, HeLa cells also sustained a survival advantage when PKC-Îś tumor suppressor was downregulated using
shRNA, but this advantage was abolished in the absence of PEPCK-M, as its inhibition restores cell growth to
control levels. The relationship between these two pathways is also highlighted by the anti-correlation observed
between PEPCK-M and PKC-Îś protein levels in all clones tested, suggesting co-regulation in the absence of glucose.
Finally, PEPCK-M loss negatively impacted on anchorage-independent colony formation and xenograft growth
in vivo.
Conclusions: All in all, our data suggest that PEPCK-M might participate in the mechanisms to regulate proteostasis
in the anabolic and stalling phases of tumor growth. We provide molecular clues into the clinical relevance of
PEPCK-M as a mechanism of evasion of cancer cells in conditions of nutrient stress
VVV High proper motion stars I. The catalogue of bright Ks stars
The final, definitive version of this paper has been published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 464(1): 1247-1258, January 2017, DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stw2357, first published on line September 16, 2016, published by Oxford University Press on behalf of MNRAS.Knowledge of the stellar content near the Sun is important for a broad range of topics ranging from the search for planets to the study of Milky Way structure. The most powerful method for identifying potentially nearby stars is proper motion (PM) surveys. All old optical surveys avoid, or are at least substantially incomplete, near the Galactic plane. The depth and breadth of the "Vista Variables in Via Lactea" (VVV) near-IR survey significantly improves this situation. Taking advantage of the VVV survey database, we have measured PMs in the densest regions of the MW bulge and southern plane in order to complete the census of nearby objects. We have developed a custom PM pipeline based on VVV catalogues from the Cambridge Astronomy Survey Unit (CASU), by comparing the first epoch of JHKs with the multi-epoch Ks-bands acquired later. Taking advantage of the large time baseline between the 2MASS and the VVV observations, we also obtained 2MASS-VVV PMs. We present a near-IR proper motion catalogue for the whole area of the VVV survey, which includes 3003 moving stellar sources. All of these have been visually inspected and are real PM objects. Our catalogue is in very good agreement with the proper motion data supplied in IR catalogues outside the densest zone of the MW. The majority of the PM objects in our catalogue are nearby M-dwarfs, as expected. This new database allow us to identify 57 common proper motion binary candidates, among which are two new systems within ~30pc of the Sun.Peer reviewe
Pck1 Gene Silencing in the Liver Improves Glycemia Control, Insulin Sensitivity, and Dyslipidemia in db/db Mice
OBJECTIVEâCytosolic phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (PEPCK-C; encoded by Pck1) catalyzes the first committed step in gluconeogenesis. Extensive evidence demonstrates a direct correlation between PEPCK-C activity and glycemia control. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate the metabolic impact and their underlying mechanisms of knocking down hepatic PEPCK-C in a type 2 diabetic model
Height and timing of growth spurt during puberty in young people living with vertically acquired HIV in Europe and Thailand.
OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to describe growth during puberty in young people with vertically acquired HIV. DESIGN: Pooled data from 12 paediatric HIV cohorts in Europe and Thailand. METHODS: One thousand and ninety-four children initiating a nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor or boosted protease inhibitor based regimen aged 1-10 years were included. Super Imposition by Translation And Rotation (SITAR) models described growth from age 8 years using three parameters (average height, timing and shape of the growth spurt), dependent on age and height-for-age z-score (HAZ) (WHO references) at antiretroviral therapy (ART) initiation. Multivariate regression explored characteristics associated with these three parameters. RESULTS: At ART initiation, median age and HAZ was 6.4 [interquartile range (IQR): 2.8, 9.0] years and -1.2 (IQR: -2.3 to -0.2), respectively. Median follow-up was 9.1 (IQR: 6.9, 11.4) years. In girls, older age and lower HAZ at ART initiation were independently associated with a growth spurt which occurred 0.41 (95% confidence interval 0.20-0.62) years later in children starting ART age 6 to 10 years compared with 1 to 2 years and 1.50 (1.21-1.78) years later in those starting with HAZ less than -3 compared with HAZ at least -1. Later growth spurts in girls resulted in continued height growth into later adolescence. In boys starting ART with HAZ less than -1, growth spurts were later in children starting ART in the oldest age group, but for HAZ at least -1, there was no association with age. Girls and boys who initiated ART with HAZ at least -1 maintained a similar height to the WHO reference mean. CONCLUSION: Stunting at ART initiation was associated with later growth spurts in girls. Children with HAZ at least -1 at ART initiation grew in height at the level expected in HIV negative children of a comparable age
Standalone vertex ďŹnding in the ATLAS muon spectrometer
A dedicated reconstruction algorithm to find decay vertices in the ATLAS muon spectrometer is presented. The algorithm searches the region just upstream of or inside the muon spectrometer volume for multi-particle vertices that originate from the decay of particles with long decay paths. The performance of the algorithm is evaluated using both a sample of simulated Higgs boson events, in which the Higgs boson decays to long-lived neutral particles that in turn decay to bbar b final states, and pp collision data at âs = 7 TeV collected with the ATLAS detector at the LHC during 2011
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