933 research outputs found
Knockdown of LRP/LR Induces Apoptosis in breast and oesophageal cancer cells.
Cancer is a global burden due to high incidence and mortality rates and is ranked the second most diagnosed disease amongst non-communicable diseases in South Africa. A high expression level of the 37kDa/67kDa laminin receptor (LRP/LR) is one characteristic of cancer cells. This receptor is implicated in the pathogenesis of cancer cells by supporting tumor angiogenesis, metastasis and especially for this study, the evasion of apoptosis. In the current study, the role of LRP/LR on cellular viability of breast MCF-7, MDA-MB 231 and WHCO1 oesophageal cancer cells was investigated. Western blot analysis revealed that total LRP expression levels of MCF-7, MDA-MB 231 and WHCO1 were significantly downregulated by targeting LRP mRNA using siRNA-LAMR1. This knockdown of LRP/LR resulted in a significant decrease of viability in the breast and oesophageal cancer cells as determined by an MTT assay. Transfection of MDA-MB 231 cells with esiRNA-RPSA directed against a different region of the LRP mRNA had similar effects on LRP/LR expression and cell viability compared to siRNA-LAMR1, excluding an off-target effect of siRNALAMR1. This reduction in cellular viability is as a consequence of apoptosis induction as indicated by the exposure of the phosphatidylserine protein on the surface of breast MCF-7, MDA-MB 231 and oesophageal WHCO1 cancer cells, respectively, detected by an Annexin-V/FITC assay as well as nuclear morphological changes observed post-staining with Hoechst. These observations indicate that LRP/LR is crucial for the maintenance of cellular viability of breast and oesophageal cancer cells and recommend siRNA technology targeting LRP expression as a possible novel alternative technique for breast and oesophageal cancer treatment.This work was supported by the National Research Foundation, the Republic of South Africa, the Republic of South Africa.NCS201
The Cognitive Behavioural Processes Questionnaire: A Preliminary Analysis within Student, Mixed Clinical and Community Samples and the Identification of a Core Transdiagnostic Process
Theorists have highlighted the commonalities in cognitive and behavioural processes
across multiple disorders i.e. transdiagnostic approach. We report two studies that
tested the psychometric properties of a new scale to assess these processes. The
Cognitive and Behavioural Processes Questionnaire (CBP-Q) was developed as a 15-
item measure. In Study 1, the CBP-Q was administered to a student (n = 172) sample
with a range of standardised measures of the processes and symptom measures. Study 2
repeated the evaluation in a mixed clinical group (n = 161) and a community control
group (n = 57). An exploratory factor analysis resulted in a 12-item version of the CBPQ,
consisting of a single factor. The measure demonstrated good internal consistency,
test-retest stability and satisfactory convergent and divergent validity in both studies.
Correlations with symptom-based measures showed increased engagement in these
cognitive and behavioural processes to be associated with higher levels of
symptomatology. The scale was elevated in the clinical relative to the community group
and there were no differences in scores between broad diagnostic groupings (anxiety vs.
mood vs. other).
The CBP-Q has good psychometric properties. The findings are consistent with the
transdiagnostic approach and indicate that a single, as yet unspecified factor may
account for the shared variance across cognitive and behavioural maintenance
processes
Detecting Sarcasm in Multimodal Social Platforms
Sarcasm is a peculiar form of sentiment expression, where the surface
sentiment differs from the implied sentiment. The detection of sarcasm in
social media platforms has been applied in the past mainly to textual
utterances where lexical indicators (such as interjections and intensifiers),
linguistic markers, and contextual information (such as user profiles, or past
conversations) were used to detect the sarcastic tone. However, modern social
media platforms allow to create multimodal messages where audiovisual content
is integrated with the text, making the analysis of a mode in isolation
partial. In our work, we first study the relationship between the textual and
visual aspects in multimodal posts from three major social media platforms,
i.e., Instagram, Tumblr and Twitter, and we run a crowdsourcing task to
quantify the extent to which images are perceived as necessary by human
annotators. Moreover, we propose two different computational frameworks to
detect sarcasm that integrate the textual and visual modalities. The first
approach exploits visual semantics trained on an external dataset, and
concatenates the semantics features with state-of-the-art textual features. The
second method adapts a visual neural network initialized with parameters
trained on ImageNet to multimodal sarcastic posts. Results show the positive
effect of combining modalities for the detection of sarcasm across platforms
and methods.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures, final version published in the Proceedings of
ACM Multimedia 201
Development of a Cosmetic Procedure Screening Questionnaire (COPS) for Body Dysmorphic Disorder
Struggling to survive: orphans and community dependent children in Rwanda
Background: The complexity of the Rwandan situation, charges service providers with the responsibility to engage in reflective practice in order to constantly improve the design of programs and their potential to have a meaningful and sustainable impact at the community level. Therefore, in 1999, the Government of Rwanda, in conjunction with UNICEF, decided that is was necessary to conduct an in-depth analysis into the situation of orphans in the country. The rationale behind this decision was driven by the desire to explore the real situation of orphans and, in particular, the nature of their relationship to the communities in which they live. It is widely accepted that the vulnerability of orphans is likely to increase as a result of the impact of the HIV/AIDS pandemic on the Rwandan population. Purpose / Objective: The in-depth analysis into the situation of orphans was designed to explore the social biography of orphans within the wider context of a society balancing peace and reconciliation with the debilitating effects of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. The assessment was concerned with providing information on how this situation could be improved through policy developments, improved co-ordination and the empowerment of local communities. The objectives for the research are as follows: To identify existing and potential forms of community support for orphans; To assess the contemporary definition of 'orphans' in Rwanda (It has been suggested that community perceptions of orphanhood are not static and that a diverse range of children are often referred to as orphans.); To establish and analyze the links between the continuing vulnerability of orphans and the HIV/AIDS pandemic; To outline the policy framework and guidelines for intervention programs in Rwanda and to evaluate these in relation to the existing body of knowledge on the situation of orphans; To evaluate the needs of professionals working with orphans and on HIV/AIDS-related programs; To gather indicators on the nature and scale of the problems facing orphans and, in particular, on community awareness of HIV/AIDS issues -- modes of transmission, methods of prevention, etc.; To reflect upon the types of program responses that have been implemented since 1994 and to provide a summary of the collective experiences of Government and NGOs; To explore the role of the community in supporting orphans. An essential objective of this study will be to assess the role of the community in providing direct and indirect support to orphans. It is also important to assess the attitudes or opinions that manifest themselves as barriers to the improvement of services to orphans
Optimization of a plant regeneration and genetic transformation protocol for Eucalyptus clonal genotypes
Loss and dispersion of superficial white matter in Alzheimer's disease: a diffusion MRI study
Pathological cerebral white matter changes in Alzheimer’s disease have been shown using diffusion tensor imaging. Superficial white matter changes are relatively understudied despite their importance in cortico-cortical connections. Measuring superficial white matter degeneration using diffusion tensor imaging is challenging due to its complex organizational structure and proximity to the cortex. To overcome this, we investigated diffusion MRI changes in young-onset Alzheimer’s disease using standard diffusion tensor imaging and Neurite Orientation Dispersion and Density Imaging to distinguish between disease-related changes that are degenerative (e.g. loss of myelinated fibres) and organizational (e.g. increased fibre dispersion). Twenty-nine young-onset Alzheimer’s disease patients and 22 healthy controls had both single-shell and multi-shell diffusion MRI. We calculated fractional anisotropy, mean diffusivity, neurite density index, orientation dispersion index and tissue fraction (1-free water fraction). Diffusion metrics were sampled in 15 a priori regions of interest at four points along the cortical profile: cortical grey matter, grey/white boundary, superficial white matter (1 mm below grey/white boundary) and superficial/deeper white matter (2 mm below grey/white boundary). To estimate cross-sectional group differences, we used average marginal effects from linear mixed effect models of participants’ diffusion metrics along the cortical profile. The superficial white matter of young-onset Alzheimer’s disease individuals had lower neurite density index compared to controls in five regions (superior and inferior parietal, precuneus, entorhinal and parahippocampus) (all P < 0.05), and higher orientation dispersion index in three regions (fusiform, entorhinal and parahippocampus) (all P < 0.05). Young-onset Alzheimer’s disease individuals had lower fractional anisotropy in the entorhinal and parahippocampus regions (both P < 0.05) and higher fractional anisotropy within the postcentral region (P < 0.05). Mean diffusivity was higher in the young-onset Alzheimer’s disease group in the parahippocampal region (P < 0.05) and lower in the postcentral, precentral and superior temporal regions (all P < 0.05). In the overlying grey matter, disease-related changes were largely consistent with superficial white matter findings when using neurite density index and fractional anisotropy, but appeared at odds with orientation dispersion and mean diffusivity. Tissue fraction was significantly lower across all grey matter regions in young-onset Alzheimer’s disease individuals (all P < 0.001) but group differences reduced in magnitude and coverage when moving towards the superficial white matter. These results show that microstructural changes occur within superficial white matter and along the cortical profile in individuals with young-onset Alzheimer’s disease. Lower neurite density and higher orientation dispersion suggests underlying fibres undergo neurodegeneration and organizational changes, two effects previously indiscernible using standard diffusion tensor metrics in superficial white matter
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