Early Recognition of Fibrodysplasia Ossificans Progressiva-Important For the Clinician

Fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva is a rare disorder of heterotopic ossification. Procedures like biopsy and surgery are known to be aggravating factors in promoting heterotopic ossification Clues to clinical diagnosis may therefore be a great advantage to treating orthopedician. Valgus deformity of great toe is an important diagnostic clue for treating physicians and thus aids in preventing the clinicians from subjecting the patients to unnecessary invasive and traumatic procedures. Hence clinical clues to early diagnosis are important in establishing the correct diagnosis and directing future management.  Keywords: fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva; valgus deformity of greater toe. | PubMe

Endogenous, very small embryonic-like stem cells: Critical review, therapeutic potential and a look ahead

© The Author 2016. BACKGROUND: Both pluripotent very small embryonic-like stem cells (VSELs) and induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells were reported in 2006. In 2012, a Nobel Prize was awarded for iPS technology whereas even today the very existence of VSELs is not well accepted. The underlying reason is that VSELs exist in low numbers, remain dormant under homeostatic conditions, are very small in size and do not pellet down at 250-280g. The VSELs maintain life-long tissue homeostasis, serve as a backup pool for adult stem cells and are mobilized under stress conditions. An imbalance in VSELs function (uncontrolled proliferation) may result in cancer. SEARCH METHODS: The electronic database \u27Medline/Pubmed\u27 was systematically searched with the subject heading term \u27very small embryonic-like stem cells\u27. OBJECTIVE AND RATIONALE: The most primitive stem cells that undergo asymmetric cell divisions to self-renew and give rise to progenitors still remain elusive in the hematopoietic system and testes, while the presence of stem cells in ovary is still being debated. We propose to review the available literature on VSELs, the methods of their isolation and characterization, their ontogeny, how they compare with embryonic stem (ES) cells, primordial germ cells (PGCs) and iPS cells, and their role in maintaining tissue homeostasis. The review includes a look ahead on how VSELs will result in paradigm shifts in basic reproductive biology. OUTCOMES: Adult tissue-specific stem cells including hematopoietic, spermatogonial, ovarian and mesenchymal stem cells have good proliferation potential and are indeed committed progenitors (with cytoplasmic OCT-4), which arise by asymmetric cell divisions of pluripotent VSELs (with nuclear OCT-4). VSELs are the most primitive stem cells and postulated to be an overlapping population with the PGCs. Rather than migrating only to the gonads, PGCs migrate and survive in various adult body organs throughout life as VSELs. VSELs express both pluripotent and PGC-specific markers and are epigenetically and developmentally more mature compared with ES cells obtained from the inner cell mass of a blastocyst-stage embryo. As a result, VSELs readily differentiate into three embryonic germ layers and spontaneously give rise to both sperm and oocytes in vitro. Like PGCs, VSELs do not divide readily in culture, nor produce teratoma or integrate in the developing embryo. But this property of being relatively quiescent allows endogenous VSELs to survive various kinds of toxic insults. VSELs that survive oncotherapy can be targeted to induce endogenous regeneration of non-functional gonads. Transplanting healthy niche (mesenchymal) cells have resulted in improved gonadal function and live births. WIDER IMPLICATIONS: Being quiescent, VSELs possibly do not accumulate genomic (nuclear or mitochondrial) mutations and thus may be ideal endogenous, pluripotent stem cell candidates for regenerative and reproductive medicine. The presence of VSELs in adult gonads and the fact that they survive oncotherapy may obviate the need to bank gonadal tissue for fertility preservation prior to oncotherapy. VSELs and their ability to undergo spermatogenesis/neo-oogenesis in the presence of a healthy niche will help identify newer strategies toward fertility restoration in cancer survivors, delaying menopause and also enabling aged mothers to have better quality eggs

Mean platelet volume as short-term follow-up biomarker in children with celiac disease

Objective: To assess the mean platelet volume (MPV) as a short-term follow-up biomarker in celiac disease (CD) and to compare it with anti-tissue transglutaminase antibody (TTGA) assay in Indian children. Material and Methods: Newly diagnosed 35 children aged <12 years who were positive for TTGA and further confirmed by intestinal biopsy with histological Grade 2 and 3 based on modified Marsh Classification were enrolled. TTGA, MPV, and clinical parameters were assessed at enrollment and after 3 months of gluten free diet (GFD). Results: Short stature (94.3%) and diarrhea (80%) were the most common presenting features. 33 (94.3%) children were found to have anemia. MPV reduced significantly from 9.28±1.88 fl to 8.55±1.10 fl after 3 months of GFD, (p<0.001). The mean TTG level reduced from 166.80±59.23 U/ml to 86.45±39.67 U/ml (p<0.001) after 3 months of GFD. Conclusion: MPV is one of the biomarkers that can be used to monitor dietary transgressions in CD in short term

Design and Fabrication of Multi-finger Field Plate for Enhancement of AlGaN/GaN HEMT Breakdown Voltage

The design and fabrication of gate/source connected multi-finger field plate structures using TCAD ATLAS simulation software is presented. The designed field plate structures are fabricated on indigenous AlGaN/GaN HEMT devices. AlGaN/GaN HEMT devices with field plate structures exhibit about three times improvement in breakdown voltage of device and are in close agreement with the simulation results. Integration of field plates in device have resulted in higher VDS (drain to source voltage) operation and improvement in output power of AlGaN/GaN HEMT devices. Incorporation of field plates also decrease the reverse leakage current of HEMT devices

4-Bromo­benzoic acid–6-(4-bromo­phen­yl)-3-methyl-1,2,4-triazolo[3,4-b][1,3,4]thia­diazole (1/1)

In the title 1:1 co-crystal, C10H7BrN4S·C7H5BrO2, the triazolothia­diazole system is approximately planar [with a maximum deviation of 0.030 (4) Å] and forms a dihedral angle of 8.6 (1)° with the bromo­phenyl ring. In the carb­oxy­lic acid mol­ecule, the carboxyl group is rotated by 6.4 (3)° out of the benzene ring plane. The crystal structure features O—H⋯N and C—H⋯O hydrogen bonds, π–π stacking inter­actions [centroid–centroid distances = 3.713 (2), 3.670 (2) and 3.859 (3) Å] and short S⋯N [2.883 (4) Å] contacts

Optimasi Portofolio Resiko Menggunakan Model Markowitz MVO Dikaitkan dengan Keterbatasan Manusia dalam Memprediksi Masa Depan dalam Perspektif Al-Qur`an

Risk portfolio on modern finance has become increasingly technical, requiring the use of sophisticated mathematical tools in both research and practice. Since companies cannot insure themselves completely against risk, as human incompetence in predicting the future precisely that written in Al-Quran surah Luqman verse 34, they have to manage it to yield an optimal portfolio. The objective here is to minimize the variance among all portfolios, or alternatively, to maximize expected return among all portfolios that has at least a certain expected return. Furthermore, this study focuses on optimizing risk portfolio so called Markowitz MVO (Mean-Variance Optimization). Some theoretical frameworks for analysis are arithmetic mean, geometric mean, variance, covariance, linear programming, and quadratic programming. Moreover, finding a minimum variance portfolio produces a convex quadratic programming, that is minimizing the objective function ðð¥with constraintsð ð 𥠥 ðandð´ð¥ = ð. The outcome of this research is the solution of optimal risk portofolio in some investments that could be finished smoothly using MATLAB R2007b software together with its graphic analysis

Search for heavy resonances decaying to two Higgs bosons in final states containing four b quarks

A search is presented for narrow heavy resonances X decaying into pairs of Higgs bosons (H) in proton-proton collisions collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC at root s = 8 TeV. The data correspond to an integrated luminosity of 19.7 fb(-1). The search considers HH resonances with masses between 1 and 3 TeV, having final states of two b quark pairs. Each Higgs boson is produced with large momentum, and the hadronization products of the pair of b quarks can usually be reconstructed as single large jets. The background from multijet and t (t) over bar events is significantly reduced by applying requirements related to the flavor of the jet, its mass, and its substructure. The signal would be identified as a peak on top of the dijet invariant mass spectrum of the remaining background events. No evidence is observed for such a signal. Upper limits obtained at 95 confidence level for the product of the production cross section and branching fraction sigma(gg -> X) B(X -> HH -> b (b) over barb (b) over bar) range from 10 to 1.5 fb for the mass of X from 1.15 to 2.0 TeV, significantly extending previous searches. For a warped extra dimension theory with amass scale Lambda(R) = 1 TeV, the data exclude radion scalar masses between 1.15 and 1.55 TeV

Search for supersymmetry in events with one lepton and multiple jets in proton-proton collisions at root s=13 TeV

Peer reviewe

Measurement of the top quark forward-backward production asymmetry and the anomalous chromoelectric and chromomagnetic moments in pp collisions at √s = 13 TeV

Abstract The parton-level top quark (t) forward-backward asymmetry and the anomalous chromoelectric (d̂ t) and chromomagnetic (μ̂ t) moments have been measured using LHC pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, collected in the CMS detector in a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 35.9 fb−1. The linearized variable AFB(1) is used to approximate the asymmetry. Candidate t t ¯ events decaying to a muon or electron and jets in final states with low and high Lorentz boosts are selected and reconstructed using a fit of the kinematic distributions of the decay products to those expected for t t ¯ final states. The values found for the parameters are AFB(1)=0.048−0.087+0.095(stat)−0.029+0.020(syst),μ̂t=−0.024−0.009+0.013(stat)−0.011+0.016(syst), and a limit is placed on the magnitude of | d̂ t| < 0.03 at 95% confidence level. [Figure not available: see fulltext.

Measurement of t(t)over-bar normalised multi-differential cross sections in pp collisions at root s=13 TeV, and simultaneous determination of the strong coupling strength, top quark pole mass, and parton distribution functions

Peer reviewe