K-ras gene mutations: an unfavorable prognostic marker in stage I lung adenocarcinoma

Activation of K-ras gene by point mutations, a common finding in lung adenocarcinomas, has been suggested to decrease patient survival. We investigated 109 lung adenocarcinomas, mostly small, peripheral, stage I tumours (81/109) for presence of K-ras gene mutations at codons 12 and 13. Mutations were detected by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis analysis of specific sequences amplified by polymerase chain reaction from DNA extracted from archival pathological material. Thirty-three of 109 (30.3%) tumours showed mutations at codon 12 (28/33, 84.8%) or 13 (5/33, 15.2%) of the gene. Mutations and type of nucleotide substitutions were differently distributed among cytological subtypes, being more prevalent among less differentiated (G2 and G3) tumours and among bronchial than bronchiolo-alveolar type adenocarcinomas. Survival analysis showed an adverse effect of K-ras mutation on survival, restricted to stage I tumours. Median survival for 81 stage I patients was 30 months for non-mutated tumours versus 20 months for mutated tumours (p = 0.016). Multivariate analysis showed that age of patient (p = 0.001) and K-ras mutation status (p = 0.04) were the only independent factors influencing survival significantly. These data strengthen the hypothesis that K-ras gene mutations may be useful in identifying a subgroup of patients with poor outcome.     

电线电缆带电燃烧研究进展

分析了当前国内外在电线电缆带电燃烧方面的研究进展,主要关注了在役电缆温升特性、带电电缆故障着火机理和电流变量与燃烧特性的相互影响,分别对应了带电电线电缆起火本质原因、引燃特性及火焰蔓延特性。在电缆温升特性方面,分析了以热路模型或者数值计算模型为基础所建立的各类电缆线芯温度预测模型,并介绍了基于电缆温度预测模型所建立的各类线缆温度监测系统。在带电电缆故障着火机理方面,分析了由于绝缘层表面导电路径、高温导致空气电离及绝缘材料热解而形成的电弧故障引发火灾,以及由于短路、过载和接触不良等导致电缆线芯过热引发火灾的机理,并揭示了不同故障之间的相互诱发关系,分析了多种故障综合作用引发火灾的机理。在带电电缆燃烧特性方面,分析了电场与燃烧的相互影响关系与机理,并揭示了外部引燃条件下,通电电流变量对电缆燃烧特性及蔓延速度的影响规律,分析表明在制定电缆安全的相关标准和规范时,需考虑电缆火灾中持续通电电流的影响。     

The “Roman pot” spectrometer and the vertex detector of experiment UA4 at the CERN SPS collider

We describe the apparatus used in experiment UA4 to study proton-antiproton elastic and inelastic interactions at the CERN SPS Collider. Elastically scattered particles, travelling at very small angles, are observed by detectors placed inside movable sections (“Roman pots”) of the SPS vacuum chamber. The deflection in the field of the machine quadrupoles allow the measurement of the particle momentum. Inelastic interactions are observed by a left-right symmetric system of trigger counter hodoscopes and drift-chamber telescopes. The apparatus reconstructs the interaction vertex and measures the pseudorapidity η of charged particles in the range 2.5 < 6η6 < 5.6.     

Diphenylhydantoin affects glycosaminoglycans and collagen production by human fibroblasts from cleft palate patients

During embryonic development, the proper production of extracellular matrix molecules mediates morphogenetic processes involved in palatogenesis. In the present study, we investigated whether any differences exist in glycosaminoglycan (GAG) and collagen synthesis between palate fibroblasts from infants, with or without cleft palate, in two age ranges. Subsequently, the effects of diphenylhydantoin (PHT), a teratogen known to induce cleft palate in human and mammalian newborns, on extracellular matrix (ECM) production were studied. We found that cleft palate fibroblasts (CPFs) synthesize greater amounts of GAG and collagen than normal fibroblasts (NFs). CPFs produced less cellular hyaluronic acid (HA) and more sulphated GAG. HA was the principal GAG species in the medium, and its percentage was lower in one- to three-year-old CPFs. Cleft palate fibroblasts produced more extracellular chondroitin 4- and 6-sulphate (CS) and dermatan sulphate (DS). Associated with a higher production of sulphated GAG, we observed a higher synthesis of type III and type I collagen with a normal ratio of alpha2(I) to alpha1(I) chains. PHT treatment of NFs reduced collagen and GAG synthesis, with a marked effect on sulphated GAG. The drug changed collagen synthesis, whereas it did not affect GAG production in CPFs whose phenotype may already be impaired. These findings indicate that, in CPFs, modifications in the pattern of ECM components, which are most likely responsible for the anomalous development, persist in infants. In addition, NFs and CPFs with a different phenotype respond differently to PHT treatment.     

Stereospecific analysis of triacylglycerol and phospholipid fractions of four freshwater fish species: Salmo trutta, Ictalurus punctatus, Ictalurus melas and Micropterus salmoides

The fatty acid compositions and the positional distributions of fatty acid in triacylglycerol (TAGs) and phospholipid (PLs) fractions of four cultured freshwater fish species (Salmo trutta, Ictalurus punctatus, Ictalurus melas and Micropterus salmoides) were investigated. As regards the TAGs fraction, the S. trutta (trout) and I. punctatus (channel catfish) species had the highest % content in n3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) and the lowest n6/n3 ratio; this ratio resulted always lower than 1 in all the considered fish species. The PLs fraction of the considered fish was very interesting because of the high percentage of PUFAs, both in phosphatidylcholines and in phosphatidylethanolamines. The fatty acid distribution among the three sn-positions of the glycerol backbone was non-random; generally, both n6 and n3 PUFAs were mainly distributed between sn-2- and sn-3-positions of TAGs while the contents in sn-1-position were generally lower; in PLs fraction these fatty acids preferred the sn-2-position.     

Effect of thymol on microbial diversity in the porcine jejunum

Thirty two weaned pigs (24 d-old) were fed a diet without or with 1% (w/w) thymol. Pigs from each dietary treatment remained unchallenged or were challenged with Salmonella enterica serovar typhimurium. Jejunal content was collected and molecular microbial diversity was investigated using 16S rRNA gene polymerase chain reaction-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (PCR-DGGE). Shannon index analysis showed no differences in diversity but Pearson coefficient analysis showed clear clustering of profiles, which delineated thymol fed and control groups irrespective of Salmonella challenge. Moreover, absence of bands corresponding to Actinobacillus minor (98-99% identity) was observed in thymol groups. A band corresponding to Citrobacter freundii (98% identity) was observed in almost all pigs from thymol groups, and only in 4 samples from pigs fed no thymol in the diet. Supplementation of pig diet with thymol caused clear changes in small intestine microbacterial community. Surprisingly, Salmonella infection caused no major perturbations to the community structure.     

高光谱技术在血迹分类识别中的应用

利用高光谱技术对血迹种类进行无损识别研究。采用小波变换技术对400~950 nm之间的原始光谱进行去噪处理,并对处理后的光谱进行特征波段选择,建立全波段和特征波长下的血迹种类识别模型。结果表明,利用特征波长与支持向量机(SVM)结合建立的血迹种类识别模型的识别准确率及识别时间分别为98%和0.2 s,优于全波段建立的模型。研究表明,采用高光谱技术对血迹种类识别是可行的。