Genome-Wide Investigation of Multifocal and Unifocal Prostate Cancer—Are They Genetically Different?

Prostate cancer is widely observed to be biologically heterogeneous. Its heterogeneity is manifested histologically as multifocal prostate cancer, which is observed more frequently than unifocal prostate cancer. The clinical and prognostic significance of either focal cancer type is not fully established. To investigate prostate cancer heterogeneity, the genetic profiles of multifocal and unifocal prostate cancers were compared. Here, we report observations deduced from tumor-tumor comparison of copy number alteration data of both focal categories. Forty-one fresh frozen prostate cancer foci from 14 multifocal prostate cancers and eight unifocal prostate cancers were subjected to copy number variation analysis with the Affymetrix SNP 6.0 microarray tool. With the investigated cases, tumors obtained from a single prostate exhibited different genetic profiles of variable degrees. Further comparison identified no distinct genetic pattern or signatures specific to multifocal or unifocal prostate cancer. Our findings suggest that samples obtained from multiple sites of a single unifocal prostate cancer show as much genetic heterogeneity and variability as separate tumors obtained from a single multifocal prostate cancer.     

The interplay between governmental communications and fellow citizens’ reactions via twitter: Experimental results of a theoretical crisis in the Netherlands

This study aimed to gain insight into the interplay between citizens’ reactions on Twitter and governmental communications as well as their effects on self‐reliant behaviour and trust. Two experimental studies were conducted. In Study 1, participants first received other citizens’ reactions followed by the government's communications about how to act. Participants received supporting, opposing, mixed, or no reactions from other citizens. In Study 2, participants first received the government's communications with either certain or uncertain crisis information, followed by the different citizens’ reactions. The results showed that citizens’ reactions via Twitter are not necessarily detrimental to the effectiveness of governmental communications regarding self‐reliant behaviour. In addition, our findings suggest being careful with providing uncertain governmental communications during a crisis.     

The Interplay between Drivers of Erythropoiesis and Iron Homeostasis in Rare Hereditary Anemias: Tipping the Balance

Rare hereditary anemias (RHA) represent a group of disorders characterized by either impaired production of erythrocytes or decreased survival (i.e., hemolysis). In RHA, the regulation of iron metabolism and erythropoiesis is often disturbed, leading to iron overload or worsening of chronic anemia due to unavailability of iron for erythropoiesis. Whereas iron overload generally is a well-recognized complication in patients requiring regular blood transfusions, it is also a significant problem in a large proportion of patients with RHA that are not transfusion dependent. This indicates that RHA share disease-specific defects in erythroid development that are linked to intrinsic defects in iron metabolism. In this review, we discuss the key regulators involved in the interplay between iron and erythropoiesis and their importance in the spectrum of RHA.     

Using non-verbal cues to (automatically) assess children’s performance difficulties with arithmetic problems

Intelligent tutoring systems often make use of students’ answers to adapt instruction or feedback on a task. In this paper, we explore the alternative possibility of adapting a system based on the perceived affective and cognitive state of a student. A system can potentially better adapt to the needs of each individual student by using non-verbal behavior. We used a new experimental paradigm inspired by ‘brain training’ software to collect primary school children’s answers to easy and difficult arithmetic problems and made audiovisual recordings of their answers. Adult observers rated these films on perceived difficulty level. Results showed that adults were able to correctly interpret children’s perceived level of difficulty, especially if they saw their face (compared to hearing their voice). They paid attention to features such as ‘looking away’, and ‘frowning’. Then we checked whether we could also automatically predict if the posed problem was either easy or difficult based on the first second of their response. This ‘thin-slice analysis’ could correctly predict the difficulty level in 71% of all cases. When trained on sufficiently many recordings, Adaptive Tutoring Systems should be able to detect children’s state and adapt the difficulty level of their learning materials accordingly.     

How students structure and relate argumentative knowledge when learning together with diagrams

When students learn together by discussing a topic, they sometimes are asked to construct an argumentative diagram. An argumentative diagram consists of boxes with arguments and arrows that relate these boxes. Constructing argumentative diagrams can be especially useful for structuring and relating argumentative knowledge. However, students do not always seem to use a diagram’s structure and relations to their benefit. To focus on structure and relations, 46 secondary school students were asked to either label the boxes in a diagram with argumentative labels such as ‘argument in favor’ and ‘rebuttal’, or to label the arrows with more causal labels such as ‘but’, and ‘because’. The students discussed two topics in dyads using a computer environment with chat and diagram. Then a post-test was given to assess their opinion and arguments. We found no difference between conditions in the extent to which students broadened and deepened their discussion. However, students who labeled the arrows contrasted subtopics more. The students who contrasted subtopics more showed better results on the post-test. Instruction and diagram design can thus influence students’ discussion, although the general results also show us that students need more instruction and reflection to optimally benefit from argumentative diagrams.     

Are school meals a viable and sustainable tool to improve the healthiness and sustainability of children´s diet and food consumption? A cross-national comparative perspective

There is little agreement among governments, institutions, scientists and food activists as to how to best tackle the challenging issues of health and sustainability in the food sector. This essay discusses the potential of school meals as a platform to promote healthy and sustainable food behavior. School meal programs are of particular interest for improving public diet because they reach children at a population scale across socio-economic classes and for over a decade of their lives, and because food habits of children are more malleable than those of adults. Current research on the history and health implications of school meal programs is reviewed in a cross-national comparative framework, and arguments explored that speak for the need of a new developmental phase of school meals as an integrative learning platform for healthy and sustainable food behavior. Nutritional, social, practical, educational, economical, political, and cultural perspectives and challenges linked to the implementation of healthy and sustainable school meals are discussed. Finally, the need for long-term interventions and evaluations is highlighted and new research directions are proposed.     

To act or not to act, that’s the problem: Primarily inhibition difficulties in adult ADHD.

Forty-nine carefully diagnosed adults with persistent attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), who had never been medicated for their ADHD, were compared with 49 normal control adults matched for age and gender on a large battery of tests in five domains of executive functioning (inhibition, fluency, planning, working memory, and set shifting) and several other neuropsychological functions to control for nonexecutive test demands. After stringent controls for nonexecutive function demands and IQ, adults with ADHD showed problems in inhibition and set shifting but not in any of the other executive functioning domains tested. We argue that adult ADHD may be mainly a disorder of inhibition. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Myelin Quantification in White Matter Pathology of Progressive Multiple Sclerosis Post-Mortem Brain Samples: A New Approach for Quantifying Remyelination

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a demyelinating and neurodegenerative disease of the central nervous system (CNS). Repair through remyelination can be extensive, but quantification of remyelination remains challenging. To date, no method for standardized digital quantification of remyelination of MS lesions exists. This methodological study aims to present and validate a novel standardized method for myelin quantification in progressive MS brains to study myelin content more precisely. Fifty-five MS lesions in 32 tissue blocks from 14 progressive MS cases and five tissue blocks from 5 non-neurological controls were sampled. MS lesions were selected by macroscopic investigation of WM by standard histopathological methods. Tissue sections were stained for myelin with luxol fast blue (LFB) and histological assessment of de- or remyelination was performed by light microscopy. The myelin quantity was estimated with a novel myelin quantification method (MQM) in ImageJ. Three independent raters applied the MQM and the inter-rater reliability was calculated. We extended the method to diffusely appearing white matter (DAWM) and encephalitis to test potential wider applicability of the method. Inter-rater agreement was excellent (ICC = 0.96) and there was a high reliability with a lower- and upper limit of agreement up to −5.93% to 18.43% variation in myelin quantity. This study builds on the established concepts of histopathological semi-quantitative assessment of myelin and adds a novel, reliable and accurate quantitative measurement tool for the assessment of myelination in human post-mortem samples.     

Compositional Factors that Influence Lipid Peroxidation in Beef Juice and Standard Sausages

In order to identify how different additives influenced lipid peroxidation formation, a sausage only using beef juice as pigment source and a standard beef–pork meat sausage were studied. The effects of different additives, including fish oil, myoglobin, nitrite, clove extract, and calcium sources on oxidation and sensory properties were examined. Both sausage systems were stored in 3 different manners prior to testing: (1) frozen immediately at ?80 °C; (2) chilled stored for 2.5 weeks followed by fluorescent light illumination at 4 °C for another 2 wk; (3) frozen at ?20 °C for 5 mo. The frozen group 3 showed the highest peroxide formation and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) for both sausage systems. Unpolar peroxides dominated in both systems. The clove extract could offset the peroxide formation from myoglobin/beef juice and/or fish oil, but the addition of clove flavor was recognized by the sensory panelists. Calcium addition reduced lipid peroxide formation. Added nitrite and fish oil seemed to interact to stimulate nitroso‐myoglobin formation. Nitrite was identified to interact with clove addition and thereby, relatively speaking, increased TBARS. The 2 sausage systems generally ranked the additives similarly as pro– and antioxidants.