This article provides a mini review of the current state of infrared neural stimulation (INS), and new experimental results concerning INS damage thresholds. INS promises to be an attractive alternative for neural interfaces. With this method, one can attain spatially selective neural stimulation that is not possible with electrical stimulation. ...

P3HT:Ag2S hybrid solar cells with broad absorption from UV to NIR band were directly fabricated on ITO glass by using a room temperature, low energy consumption, and low-cost soft-chemical strategy. The resulting Ag2S nanosheet arrays facilitate the construction of perfect percolation structure with organic P3HT to form ordered bulk heterojunctions ...

Study Type - Diagnosis (validating cohort) Level of Evidence 1b What's known on the subject? and What does the study add? The European Randomized study of Screening for Prostate Cancer (ERSPC) showed a reduction in prostate cancer mortality of 21% for PSA-based screening at a median follow-up of 11 years. In ...

β-Glucosidases (3.2.1.21) can be found in all domains of living organisms, where they play essential roles in the removal of terminal glucosyl residues from non-reducing ends of saccharides and glycosides. Two active site amino acid residues, a nucleophile and a proton donor, play key roles in the hydrolytic mechanism. Besides ...

Based on selective pore-opening in the presence of protease, we have developed a novel signal amplification assay for multiple proteases detection and their inhibition using protein-capped mesoporous scaffolding as the substrate.

Transcriptional coactivator with PDZ-binding motif (TAZ) physically interacts with a variety of transcription factors and modulates their activities involved in cell proliferation and mesenchymal stem cell differentiation. TAZ is highly expressed in the kidney, and a deficiency of this protein results in multiple renal cysts and urinary concentration defects; however, ...

In the present study, the two grafting techniques: grafting-from - by activators regenerated by electron transfer atom transfer radical polymerization (ARGET ATRP) - and grafting-to - by copper(I)-catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition (CuAAC) - were systematically compared, employing cellulose as substrate. In order to obtain a meaningful comparison, it is crucial that ...

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: It is hypothesized that locomotion is achieved by means of rhythm generating networks (central pattern generators) and muscle activation generating networks. This modular organization can be partly identified from the analysis of the muscular activity by means of factorization algorithms. The activity of rhythm generating networks is described ...

Telomerase activation through induction of telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) contributes to malignant transformation by stabilizing telomeres. Clinical studies demonstrate that higher hTERT expression is associated with cancer progression and poor outcomes, but the underlying mechanism is unclear. Because epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and cancer stem cells (CSCs) are key factors in ...

Whereas the beneficial effects of intermittent treatment with parathyroid hormone (PTH) (intact PTH 1-84 or fragment PTH 1-34, teriparatide) on vertebral strength is well documented, treatment may not be equally effective in the peripheral skeleton. We used high resolution peripheral quantitative computed tomography (HR-pQCT) to detail effects on compartmental geometry, ...

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Most fishes possess two paralogs for myostatin, a muscle growth inhibitor, while salmonids are presumed to have four: mstn1a, mstn1b, mstn2a and mstn2b, a pseudogene. The mechanisms responsible for preserving these duplicates as well as the depth of mstn2b nonfunctionalization within the family remain unknown. We therefore characterized ...

Early life experience is associated with long-term effects on behavior and epigenetic programming of the NR3C1 (GLUCOCORTICOID RECEPTOR) gene in the hippocampus of both rats and humans. However, it is unlikely that such effects completely capture the evolutionarily conserved epigenetic mechanisms of early adaptation to environment. Here we present DNA ...

Early life adversity has known impacts on adult health and behavior, yet little is known about the gene-environment interactions (GEIs) that underlie these consequences. We used the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster to show that chronic early nutritional adversity interacts with rover and sitter allelic variants of foraging (for) to affect ...

Preeclampsia is characterized by hypertension and de novo proteinuria after 20 weeks of pregnancy. It is the leading cause of perinatal morbidity and mortality in the developed world, and to date, the only means of treating the disease is by inducing delivery. Many studies have shown the benefits of exercise ...

It has been described that the breakdown of β-sheets in PrP (Sc) by denaturation results in loss of infectivity and PK-sensitivity, suggesting a relationship between the structure and PK-resistance. It is also known that an important fraction of total PrP (Sc) is PK-sensitive and can be isolated by the method ...

Endometrial stromal sarcoma is an uncommon tumor representing 0.2% of all uterine neoplasm and 15% to 26% of uterine sarcomas. Endometrial stromal sarcoma has a gross appearance as single nodule, multiple masses, or a poorly demarcated lesion with occasional cystic degeneration; rarely, it shows a cystic multilocular feature. We report ...

BACKGROUND: Bleeding during endoscopic sinus surgery (ESS) can hinder surgical progress and may be associated with increased complications. Tranexamic acid is an antifibrinolytic that is known to reduce operative bleeding. The current study was designed to assess the effect of adjunctive intravenous tranexamic acid on intraoperative bleeding and the quality ...

PURPOSE: Prospero homeobox 1 (PROX1) has been shown to function as a tumor suppressor in various types of cancer. However, it promotes colon cancer progression. The aim of this study is to clarify the underlying mechanism by which PROX1 regulates tumorigenicity of colon cancer. Experimental design: Association of PROX1 and ...

Paraquat is one of the most widely used herbicides worldwide. It produces a Parkinson's disease (PD) model in rodents through redox cycling and oxidative stress (OS) and is associated with PD risk in humans. Glutathione transferases provide cellular protection against OS and could potentially modulate paraquat toxicity. We investigated PD ...

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Robust, extensible and distributed databases integrating clinical, imaging and molecular datarepresent a substantial challenge for modern neuroscience. It is even more difficult to provideextensible software environments able to effectively target the rapidly changing data requirementsand structures of research experiments. There is an increasing request from the neurosciencecommunity for ...

Thymoquinone (2-isopropyl-5-methyl-1,4-benzoquinone) is a herbal-derived drug with potential chemopreventive and chemotherapeutic activity. However, thymoquinone suffers from high hydrophobicity causing poor solubility which limits its bioavailability and high lipophilicity causing poor formulation characteristics. Liposomes are versatile drug carriers that can be used to solve problems of drug solubility, instability, and bio-distribution. ...

Oxidative stress in the brain is implicated in increased sympathetic drive, inflammatory status, and vascular dysfunctions, associated with development and establishment of hypertension. However, little is known about the mechanism of this impaired brain-vascular communication. Here, we tested the hypothesis that increased oxidative stress in the brain cardioregulatory areas, such ...

The nuclear export of the preribosomal 60S (pre-60S) subunit is coordinated with late steps in ribosome assembly. Here, we show that Bud20, a conserved C(2)H(2)-type zinc finger protein, is an unrecognized shuttling factor required for the efficient export of pre-60S subunits. Bud20 associates with late pre-60S particles in the nucleoplasm ...

Patients with learning disabilities are not always involved in decision-making about their medications. This may mean that some patients are unfairly denied of their autonomy. We carried out an audit of current practice concerning consent to treatment in patients with learning disabilities against best practice guidelines. Data were collected via ...

Taurine is one of the most abundant amino acids in the retina, throughout the CNS, and in heart and muscle cells. In keeping with its broad tissue distribution, taurine serves as a modulator of numerous basic processes, such as enzyme activity, cell development, myocardial function, and cytoprotection. Despite this multitude ...

AIMS: Assess the safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics (PK), pharmacodynamics (PD) and immunogenicity of CNTO 5825 following single-dose IV and subcutaneous (SC) administration in healthy and healthy atopic subjects. METHODS: Sixty-four subjects received a single dose of placebo or CNTO 5825 (0.1, 0.3, 1.0, 3.0, or 10 mg/kg IV in a dose-escalating ...

The global protein thiol pool has been reported to play a major role in the defence against oxidative stress as a redox buffer similar to glutathione. The present study uses a novel method to visualize cellular changes of the global protein thiol pool in response to induced oxidative stress. Unexpectedly, ...

Socioeconomic status (SES) is the single most potent determinant of health within human populations, from infancy through old age. Although the social stratification of health is nearly universal, there is persistent uncertainty regarding the dimensions of SES that effect such inequalities and thus little clarity about the principles of intervention ...

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Recently, network meta-analysis of survival data with a multidimensional treatment effect was introduced. With these models the hazard ratio is not assumed to be constant over time, thereby reducing the possibility of violating transitivity in indirect comparisons. However, bias is still present if there are systematic differences in ...

The microtubule-associated protein targeting protein for Xenopus kinesin-like protein 2 (TPX2) plays a key role in spindle assembly and is required for mitosis in human cells. In interphase, TPX2 is actively imported into the nucleus to prevent its premature activity in microtubule organization. To date, no function has been assigned ...

Risk of hypertension in mother and offspring after preeclampsia is greater if preeclampsia develops early in pregnancy. We investigated whether those who develop early onset disease have unique adverse blood pressure characteristics. One hundred forty women were studied 6 to 13 years either after a pregnancy complicated by preeclampsia (45 ...

Aft1p is an iron-responsive transcriptional activator that plays a central role in the regulation of iron metabolism in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Aft1p is regulated by accelerated nuclear export in the presence of iron, mediated by Msn5p. However, the transcriptional activity of Aft1p is suppressed under iron-replete conditions in the Δmsn5 strain, ...

Pulmonary inflammation may contribute to lung cancer etiology. The authors conducted a broad evaluation of the association of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in innate immunity and inflammation pathways with lung cancer risk and conducted comparisons with a lung cancer genome-wide association study (GWAS). In total, 378 patients with lung cancer ...

BACKGROUND: An increasing proportion of people are living with multiple health conditions, or 'multimorbidity'. Measures of multimorbidity are useful in studies of interventions in primary care to take account of confounding due to differences in case-mix. OBJECTIVES: Assess the predictive validity of commonly used measures of multimorbidity in relation to ...

The uniporter TAT1 (Slc16a10) mediates the facilitated diffusion of aromatic amino acids across basolateral membranes of kidney, small intestine and liver epithelial cells and across the plasma membrane of non-epithelial cells like skeletal myocytes. Its role for body amino acid homeostasis was now investigated using newly generated TAT1 (Slc16a10) defective ...

BACKGROUND: Coronary heart disease (CHD) mortality rates are higher among women, particularly black, than men. Women's mortality rates may reflect difficulty in recognizing CHD prodromal symptoms (PS) but reliable screening instruments for women are scarce. The McSweeney Acute and Prodromal Myocardial Infarction Symptom Survey (MAPMISS) captures women's PS presentation, but ...

Leptin signaling is required for normal bone homeostasis, however, loss of leptin results in differing effects on cortical and cancellous bone, as well as altered responses between the axial and appendicular regions. Local β-adrenergic actions are responsible for the greater cancellous bone volume in leptin-deficient (ob/ob) mice, however, the mechanism ...

Thymidylate kinase (TMK) is an essential enzyme in bacterial DNA synthesis. The deoxythymidine monophosphate (dTMP) substrate binding pocket was targeted in a rational-design, structure-supported effort yielding a unique series of antibacterial agents showing a novel, induced-fit binding mode. Lead optimization, aided by x-ray crystallography, led to picomolar inhibitors of both ...

The 40-fold increase in childhood megakaryocyte-erythroid and B-cell leukemia in Down syndrome implicates trisomy 21 (T21) in perturbing fetal hematopoiesis. Here, we show that compared with primary disomic controls, primary T21 fetal liver (FL) hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) and megakaryocyte-erythroid progenitors are markedly increased, whereas granulocyte-macrophage progenitors are reduced. Commensurately, ...

The coexistence of skin-limited Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH) and Rosai-Dorfman disease (RDD) is an exceptional finding. The association of lymphomas and histiocytosis is also infrequent. We report the case of a 68-year-old man which presented an exceptional association of cutaneous LCH and RDD and splenic marginal zone lymphoma. He was ...

The control of nanocrystal structures at will is still a challenge despite the recent progress of colloidal synthetic procedures. It is a common knowledge that even small modifications of the reaction parameters during synthesis can alter the characteristics of the resulting nano-objects. In this work we report an unexpected factor ...

Tropical trees often display long-distance pollen dispersal, even in highly fragmented landscapes. Understanding how patterns of spatial isolation influence pollen dispersal and interact with background patterns of fine-scale spatial genetic structure (FSGS) is critical for evaluating the genetic consequences of habitat fragmentation. In the endangered tropical timber tree Dysoxylum malabaricum ...

OBJECTIVES:To evaluate and characterize the Global Trigger Tool's (GTT's) utility in a pediatric population; to measure the rate of harm at our institution and compare it with previously established trigger tools and benchmark rates; and to describe the distribution of harm of the detected events.METHODS:Per the GTT methodology, 240 random ...

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Rutin is a polyphenolic natural flavonoid which possesses antioxidant and anticancer activity. In the present study the hepatoprotective effect of rutin was evaluated against carbon tetrachloride (CCl4)-induced liver injuries in rats.Methods and materials24 Sprague--Dawley male rats were equally divided into 4 groups for the assessment of hepatoprotective potential ...

The branched chain aminotransferase enzymes (BCAT) serve as nitrogen donors for the production of 30% of de novo glutamate synthesis in rat brain. Despite the importance of this major metabolite and excitatory neurotransmitter, the distribution of BCAT proteins in the human brain (hBCAT) remains unreported. We have studied this and ...

BACKGROUND Overall declines in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) mortality may mask patterns for subgroups, and prior studies of disparities in mortality have used area-level vs individual-level socioeconomic status measures. The aim of this study was to examine temporal trends in HIV mortality by sex, race/ethnicity, and individual level of education ...

The biological relationships among self-renewal, tumorigenicity and lineage differentiation of human osteosarcoma-initiating cells (OSIC) remain elusive, making it difficult to identify and distinguish OSIC from osteosarcoma-forming cells (OSFC) for developing OSIC-targeted therapies. Using a new inverse-lineage tracking strategy coupled with serial human-to-mouse xenotransplantation, we identified a subpopulation of osteosarcoma cells ...

We report the first synthesis of a tetrafluorinated 4,7-bis(3,4-difluorothiophen-2-yl)-2,1,3-benzothiadiazole monomer and its polymerisation with dithieno[3,2-b:2',3'-d]germole by Stille coupling to afford a low band gap polymer with a high ionisation potential. Direct comparison to the non-fluorinated analogue demonstrates that fluorination results in an increase in ionisation potential with no change in ...

Double post-natal stress model (brief maternal separation plus sham injection daily applied from birth to weaning) induces metabolic alterations similar to type-2 diabetes in young-adult male mice. We verify whether: 1) the stress also induces brain metabolic-functional alterations connected to diabetes; 2) different alterations are modulated selectively by two stress-damaged ...

We conducted a qualitative study to examine users' perceptions of a web-based screening and referral system for young adults with health-related social problems. The first 50 patients who used the system also took part in semi-structured interviews. There were 20 patients aged 15-17 years and 30 aged 18-25 years. Completing ...