Meta-analysis of the association of Trp64Arg polymorphism of beta 3-adrenergic receptor gene with body mass index

A possible pathogenic polymorphism in the beta 3-adrenergic receptor gene (Trp64Arg) has been reported to be associated with increased body weight, clinical features of insulin resistance, and early development of type 2 diabetes mellitus in several populations. However, such findings have not been consistent among studies, making the hypothesis that this genetic marker is associated with clinical features controversial. To assess the effect of the genotypes on body mass index (BMI), we performed a meta-analysis of the data from the literature using an extension of ANOVA for continuous measures. In a total of 48 subgroups containing subjects with (n = 2447) and without (n = 6789) the Trp64Arg variant, the summary weighted mean difference in BMI was 0.30 (95% confidence interval, 0.13-0.47) kg/m2, indicating that variant carriers exhibited higher BMI (on the average, 0.30 kg/m2 higher) than normal homozygous subjects. In this case, there was no significant evidence against homogeneity of the effect (P = 0.36). This is the first meta-analysis assessing quantitative phenotypes in relation to a genetic polymorphism, and the results support the hypothesis that the Trp64Arg polymorphism is associated with BMI across diverse population groups, suggesting that the beta 3-adrenergic receptor gene locus plays a role in genetic predisposition to increased body weight in a universal manner.     

Bone matrix proteins

Seminomas account for 50% of testicular germ-cell tumors, and more than 90% of these are classic seminomas. When patients with a histologically pure testicular seminoma show an elevated level of serum á-fetoprotein (AFP), it is generally assumed that an undetected focus of yolk sac tumor (YST) is present and the patient is managed with a treatment regimen for non-seminomatous tumor. We studied 10 cases of histologically pure seminoma with elevated levels of serum AFP in an attempt to identify any distinctive clinical, histopathologic, or immunohistochemical features. The patients ranged in age from 27 to 48 years (mean, 31 years). Eight patients had primary tumors of the testis, and two presented with supraclavicular and ileal tumors. The clinical stage at presentation varied: four tumors were stage I, four were stage II, and two were stage III. Serum levels of AFP were elevated in all patients at ranges of 10.4 to 16 ng/ml (mean, 12.0 ng/ml). In all patients, the primary tumors and metastases when present exhibited classic seminoma histology without other germ-cell components. The tumor cells expressed keratin in seven cases. The pattern of keratin immunoreactivity ranged from focal staining in five cases to moderate staining in two cases. All cases were negative for AFP, and the nine cases in which staining for CD30 (Ki-1) was performed were also negative. All four patients with stage I tumors underwent the conventional therapy for pure seminoma, i.e., orchiectomy and subsequent radiation therapy. Five patients received treatment for non-seminomatous tumors, i.e., chemotherapy after orchiectomy. Extensive work-up failed to detect the primary tumor in one patient, and he was treated for a non-seminomatous tumor, undergoing chemotherapy and irradiation. All patients are alive and well, and none has developed evidence of YST at a mean follow-up of 6 years (range, 6 months to 10 years). However, one patient who presented with an ileal metastasis recently developed a second primary extragonadal mediastinal mixed germ-cell tumor with YST and embryonal carcinoma components and an elevated serum level of AFP (27,000 ng/ml) after a 10-year disease-free follow-up. This study strongly suggests that minor elevations (相似文献   

Parallel-wire meander line deflection circuit for electron beams

A broadband parallel-wire meander line deflection circuit has been devised. It has relatively flat deflection characteristics in the range 4?17.5 GHz. A dispersion equation for this circuit is derived by considering the phase delay at the bend of the wire, which can estimate the experimental results fairly well.     

Radical-scavenging Activity of Estrogen and Estrogen-like Compounds Using the Induction Period Method

The radical-scavenging activity of estrogens (estrone, 2-hydroxyestradiol), estrogen-like compounds (diethylstilbestrol, DES; bisphenol A, BPA) and the monophenolic compound 2,6-di-t-butyl-4-methoxyphenol (BMP) was investigated using the method of measuring the induction period for polymerization of methyl methacrylate (MMA) initiated by thermal decomposition of 2,2′-azobisisobutyronitrile (AIBN) and benzoyl peroxide (BPO) at 70°C using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The stoichiometric factor (n, number of free radicals trapped by one mole of antioxidant moiety) for the AIBN system declined in the order BMP (2.0), 2-hydroxyestradiol (2.0)> DES (1.3) > BPA (1.2) > estrone (0.9), whereas that for the BPO system declined in the order BMP (2.0) >DES (1.9), BPA (1.9) > estrone (1.3) > 2-hydroxyestradiol (0.7). The inhibition rate constant (k_inh × 10⁻³ M⁻¹s⁻¹) for the AIBN system declined in the order estrone (2.2) > BPA (2.0) > DES (1.9) > 2-hydroxyestradiol (1.2) > BMP (1.1), whereas that for the BPO system declined in the order 2-hydroxyestradiol (3.2) > estrone (1.4) > DES (1.2) > BPA (1.0) > BMP (0.9). The radical-scavenging activity for bioactive compounds such as estrogens should be evaluated using these two methods (the n and k_inh) to elucidate the mechanism of a particular reaction. The great difference of the n and k_inh for estrogens between the AIBN and BPO system suggested that their oxidation process is complex.     

Lateral Displacement of an AFM Tip Observed by In-Situ TEM/AFM Combined Microscopy: The Effect of the Friction in AFM

When the lateral displacement of an AFM tip due to friction is comparable to or larger than the scan size, for example during atomic-scale friction measurement, the interpretation of the friction image is different from the situation where the scan size is much larger than the lateral displacement of the tip and the image is a simple direct mapping of the friction value. This is because, due to the lateral displacement of the tip, the tip is not at the position where the scan indicates, as can be clearly observed by an in-situ TEM/AFM combined microscopy and atomic-scale friction analysis. This lateral displacement of the tip at the nanometer scale affects the shape of the force-distance curve. We discuss the effect of the tip lateral displacement in AFM data and its normal load dependence.     

Reconstruction method of local density fluctuation for heavy ion beam probe measurements

Heavy ion beam probe (HIBP) is an excellent diagnostic to measure the density and potential fluctuations simultaneously in magnetically confined plasmas. However, it has been well known that the density fluctuation measured with the HIBP is not local but contains the fluctuations along the beam orbits. In this article, a method is proposed to evaluate local density fluctuation in the HIBP measurements by removing the well-known path integral effects. The reconstructed density fluctuation amplitude and power spectrum are shown, for example, by applying the proposed method on the density fluctuation measurement data obtained in a toroidal helical plasma, Compact Helical System.     

Thermoelectric properties of porous SiC/C composites

We developed a porous SiC/C composite by oxidizing a SiC/C composite made from a mixed powder of wood charcoal and SiO₂ (32–45 μm) by pulse current sintering at 1600 and 1800 °C under a N₂ atmosphere. The microstructures of the porous SiC/C composites with oxidation and the SiC/C composites without oxidation were analyzed by Raman spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Raman spectra revealed the disappearance of excess carbon and the presence of β-SiC. The porous microstructure was monitored by SEM observation as a function of the heat treatment temperature. The thermoelectric properties of porous SiC/C composites with oxidation and SiC/C composites without oxidation were investigated by measuring the Seebeck coefficient, the electrical conductivity and thermal conductivity. The Seebeck coefficient of all samples revealed n-type conduction, and the absolute value of the Seebeck coefficient for the porous SiC/C samples with oxidation was much larger than that for the SiC/C samples without oxidation. For the electrical conductivity the reverse is true. Only the thermal conductivity of the SiC/C sample heated to 1800 °C without oxidation was high initially and stayed rather high. In general, the thermoelectric properties improved at higher measurement temperatures indicating their suitability for high-temperature thermoelectric conversion. A maximum figure of merit of 2.01×10⁻⁵ K⁻¹ was obtained at 700 °C in porous SiC/C samples sintered at 1800 °C with oxidation.