Easy-to-Use InDel Markers for Genetic Mapping between Col-0 and Ler-0 Accessions of Arabidopsis thaliana

Map-based gene cloning has played a key role in many genetic studies using the model plant,Arabidopsis thaliana. In the post-next generation sequencing era, identification of point mutations and their corresponding genes is increasingly becoming a powerful and important approach to define plant gene function. To perform initial mapping experiments efficiently on Arabidopsis mutants, enrichment of easy-to-use and reliable polymorphic DNA markers would be desirable. We present here a list of InDel polymorphic markers between Col-0 and Ler-0 accessions that can be detected in standard agarose gel electrophoresis

Gefitinib, an epidermal growth factor receptor blockade agent, shows additional or synergistic effects on the radiosensitivity of esophageal cancer cells in vitro.

Human esophageal cancers have been shown to express high levels of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and a relationship between high EGFR expression and local advance, the number of lymph node metastases, life expectancy, and sensitivity to chemo-radiotherapy has been demonstrated. We examined the use of gefitinib, an orally active EGFR-selective tyrosine kinase inhibitor, as a new strategy for treatment of esophageal carcinoma. The effects of gefitinib were evaluated in monotherapy and in combination with radiotherapy in human esophageal carcinoma cell lines. Gefitinib produced a dose-dependent inhibition of cellular proliferation in all of the 8 esophageal carcinoma cell lines examined, with IC50 values ranging from 5.7 microM to 36.9 microM. In combination, gefitinib and radiotherapy showed a synergistic effect in 2 human esophageal carcinoma cell lines and an additive effect in 5 cell lines. Western blotting demonstrated that gefitinib blocked activation of the EGFR-extracellular signal-regulated kinase (Erk) pathway and the EGFR-phosphoinositide-3 kinase (PI3K)-Akt pathway after irradiation. These results suggest that further evaluation of EGFR blockade as a treatment for esophageal cancer should be performed, and that radiotherapy combined with EGFR blockade may enhance the response of esophageal carcinoma to therapy.</p

Anodal Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Induces High Gamma-Band Activity in the Left Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex During a Working Memory Task: A Double-Blind, Randomized, Crossover Study

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) has been shown to have mixed effects on working memory (WM) capacity in healthy individuals. Different stimulation paradigms may account for these discrepancies, with certain features being favored. To determine the effect in the context of anodal tDCS, we investigated whether anodal tDCS induced cortical oscillatory changes during a WM task. Specifically, we tested whether anodal offline tDCS over the left prefrontal cortex (PFC) enhances WM capacity by modulating the oscillatory activity in the left dorsolateral PFC (DLPFC) using magnetoencephalography (MEG). This study employed a double-blind, randomized, crossover design, in which 24 healthy right-handed participants conducted MEG recordings during a 3-back task after administration of 2 mA tDCS or sham stimulation as a placebo. Our results showed that the effect of tDCS did not appear in the behavioral indices—WM accuracy (d′) or reaction time (RT). From the results of the time-frequency analysis, significant event-related synchronization (ERS) in the high-gamma band (82–84 Hz) of the left DLPFC was found under the tDCS condition; however, ERS was not correlated with WM capacity. Furthermore, we calculated the modulation index (MI), which indicates the strength of phase-amplitude coupling (PAC). tDCS significantly decreased MI of the left DLPFC, representing the theta-gamma PAC during the n-back task using color names as verbal stimuli. Our results suggest that although tDCS increased the gamma-band oscillation indicating greater neural activity in the left DLPFC, it did not lead to an improvement of WM capacity; this may be due to the inability of gamma-band oscillation to couple with the task-induced theta wave. WM capacity might not increase unless theta-gamma PAC is not enhanced by tDCS

Soft Magnetic Properties of Electrodeposited Fe-Ni Films Prepared in Citric Acid Based Bath

Electrodeposited Fe-Ni films are widely used in device applications. However, there is a growing awareness of the toxicity of the plating bath containing boric acid. In order to avoid boric acid in the deposition process, we have employed a citric acid based bath for electrodeposition of Fe-Ni films and investigated the effect of the acid content in the bath on the structural and magnetic properties of the deposited films. It is found that the Fe content of the film depends largely on the acid concentration and low coercivity values of less than 30 A/m are realized when the Fe content of the film is around 22 at.%. This magnetic softness is attainable in a wide film thickness range between 20 and 120 μm. Our process exhibits a relatively high cathode efficiency of above 55%. Furthermore, a high deposition rate of 170 μm is obtained without sacrificing the magnetic softness of the film by increasing the current density during the deposition. From these results, we conclude that the citric acid based bath is an environmentally friendlier plating bath ideal for mass-production of magnetically soft Fe-Ni films

Bevacizumab terminates homeobox B9-induced tumor proliferation by silencing microenvironmental communication

Background: Homeobox B9 (HOXB9), a transcriptional factor, regulates developmental processes and tumor progression and has recently been recognized as one of important transcriptional factors related to angiogenesis. This study aimed to investigate the role of HOXB9 in tumorigenesis and angiogenesis. Methods: We examined the expression of HOXB9 in colorectal cancer using qPCR and in situ hybridization. We also examined the effect of HOXB9 overexpression in colorectal cancer using a proliferation assay, ELISA, a multiplex assay, and xenograft models. The clinical significance of HOXB9 was statistically evaluated in resected specimens. Results: HOXB9 was expressed in colorectal cancer specimens. HOXB9 induced angiogenesis and tumor proliferation in vitro, which resulted in high tumorigenicity in vivo and poor overall survival. Bevacizumab, an anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) antibody, remarkably suppressed tumor proliferation by inhibiting angiogenesis in HOXB9-overexpressing xenografts, and it improved overall survival and provided prolonged progression-free survival in HOXB9-overexpressing patients. A comprehensive multiplex assay of the supernatant of cancer cells co-cultured with human vascular endothelial cells and fibroblasts indicated significantly higher interleukin-6 (IL6) levels than those in the supernatant of monocultured cells. HOXB9 overexpression in clinical specimens was significantly correlated with increased IL6 expression. An IL6-neutralizing antibody inhibited VEGF secretion and tumor proliferation in the co-culture system. Conclusions: HOXB9 promotes the secretion of angiogenic factors, including VEGF, to induce tumor proliferation through microenvironmental production of cytokines including IL6 signaling. Moreover, silencing of VEGF or IL6 terminates cytokine release in tumor microenvironment. Thus, HOXB9 and IL6 may be potential biomarkers for bevacizumab treatment

Fabrication of Fe-based ribbon with controlled permeability by Joule heating under tensile stress

We prepared an Fe-based ribbon with controlled permeability and low magnetic loss by Continuous Stress-Annealing by Joule Heating (CSA-JH) method. The shortest annealing time necessary for the obtaining of the ribbons with completely developed anisotropy was 1 sec, but in order to obtain the sufficiently crystallized ribbons with small saturation magnetostriction it is required to perform annealing longer than 2 sec. A toroidal core was prepared from a long ribbon with controlled permeability and small saturation magnetostriction, and the magnetic loss and relative permeability of the core were evaluated in the frequency range of 0.1 - 3 MHz. The permeability was kept constant up to 2 MHz, and the magnetic loss is lower than that for other types of core with a similar permeability value. These results suggest that the CSA-JH method is a promising method for realizing an Fe-based core with excellent magnetic properties.Proceedings of the 18th International Symposium on Soft Magnetic Material

High Temperature Magnetic Properties of Fe–Cu–Nb–Si–B Cores With Creep-Induced Anisotropy

Fe-Cu-Nb-Si-B ribbons with creep-induced anisotropy fabricated by continuous stress-annealing were formed into toroidal cores. The temperature dependence of their magnetic loss and relative permeability at Bm = 0.1 T was evaluated in the frequency range of 0.5-1 MHz and temperature range from room temperature to 523 K. We found that the cores can be used up to 523 K without magnetic property deterioration. This suggests that the proposed cores have superior high temperature properties compared with conventional gapped-ferrite cores allowing use at high temperature

Magnetic design for an electrodeless discharged lamp

We proposed an analysis method for plasma in an electrodeless discharged lamp light-emitting by inductively-coupled plasma, and a design of a power coupler was investigated by focusing on the electric power from the exciting coil to the plasma. We found that the power of the plasma was increased and of an Al stage was decreased with moving the core upward. This result suggests that the moving of the core upward is effective to reduce wasted power loss by eddy current and improves the lamp efficiency. In order to verify the result, we changed the position of the power coupler in the commercial lamp. Resultantly, the luminous flux of the lamp was increased by approximately 150 lm (lumen), when the power coupler was moved upward by 25 mm compared with the position of a commercial lamp. Therefore, we can conclude that our proposed method is applicable to the design of the lamp and suitable design is important to obtain high lamp efficiency

A multicenter prospective registry of Borden type I dural arteriovenous fistula: results of a 3-year follow-up study

PURPOSE: Although intracranial dural arteriovenous fistula (DAVF) without retrograde leptomeningeal venous drainage (Borden type I) is reported to have a benign nature, no study has prospectively determined its clinical course. Here, we report a 3-year prospective observational study of Borden type I DAVF. METHODS: From April 2013 to March 2016, consecutive patients with DAVF were screened at 13 study institutions. We collected data on baseline characteristics, clinical symptoms, angiography, and neuroimaging. Patients with Borden type I DAVF received conservative care while palliative intervention was considered when the neurological symptoms were intolerable, and were followed at 6, 12, 24, and 36 months after inclusion. RESULTS: During the study period, 110 patients with intracranial DAVF were screened and 28 patients with Borden type I DAVF were prospectively followed. None of the patients had conversion to higher type of Borden classification or intracranial hemorrhage during follow-up. Five patients showed spontaneous improvement or disappearance of neurological symptoms (5/28, 17.9%), and 5 patients showed a spontaneous decrease or disappearance of shunt flow on imaging during follow-up (5/28, 17.9%). Stenosis or occlusion of the draining sinuses on initial angiography was significantly associated with shunt flow reduction during follow-up (80.0% vs 21.7%, p = 0.02). CONCLUSION: In this 3-year prospective study, patients with Borden type I DAVF showed benign clinical course; none of these patients experienced conversion to higher type of Borden classification or intracranial hemorrhage. The restrictive changes of the draining sinuses at initial diagnosis might be an imaging biomarker for future shunt flow reduction

Magnetic properties of Fe-based toroidal cores prepared by continuous Joule heating under tensile stress.

Fe-based toroidal cores with a permeability value of several hundreds were prepared by the continuous Joule heating method under tensile stress at a high moving velocity of 120 cm/min, corresponding to an effective annealing time of approximately 1.8 s, and their magnetic properties were evaluated. The prepared core showed a constant permeability value up to 2 MHz and a low magnetic loss compared with those for conventional cores with controlled permeability. An investigation of dc-bias properties of the core suggested that the core has constant and good magnetic properties below the dc-bias field of 1 kA/m which is approximately 50% of the anisotropy field. Consequently, the continuous Joule heating under a tensile stress method at high moving velocity enables us to prepare a long annealed ribbon in a short time with simple equipment and improves productivity for the fabrication process of high performance Fe-based toroidal cores with controlled permeability. c2007 American Institute of Physic