Hepatocyte growth factor/scatter factor stimulates chemotaxis and growth of malignant mesothelioma cells through c-met receptor

AIMS: To assess the ability of clinical characteristics, admission ECG and continuous ST segment monitoring in determining long-term prognosis in unstable angina. METHODS: Two hundred and twelve patients with unstable angina (mean age 59 years), presenting within 24 h of an acute episode of angina were recruited at three hospitals and treated with standardized medical therapy. All patients kept chest pain charts and underwent ST segment monitoring for 48 h. The occurrence of death, myocardial infarction, and need for revascularization was assessed over a median follow-up of 2.6 years. RESULTS: The risk of death of myocardial infarction was greatest in the first 6-8 weeks after admission. Admission ECG ST depression and the presence of transient ischaemia predicted increased risk of subsequent death or myocardial infarction, whereas a normal ECG predicted a good prognosis. In 14 patients, ST segment monitoring provided the only evidence of recurrent ischaemia, and 72% of this group suffered an adverse event. Transient ischaemia and a history of hypertension were the most powerful independent predictors of death or myocardial infarction. CONCLUSIONS: Adverse events in unstable angina occur early after admission and can be predicted by clinical and ECG characteristics, and by the presence of transient ischaemia during ST segment monitoring. Risk stratification by these simple assessments can identify patients with unstable angina at high risk.     

Molecular modeling of modified peptides, potent inhibitors of the xWNT8 and hWNT8 proteins

Signaling pathways of Wnt-proteins and Fzd-receptors play important role in processes of growth and development of stem cells and in many types of cancers. The binding of the Wnt-proteins and Fzd-receptors is a complicated process, in which 19 Wnt-proteins and 10 Fzd-receptors are involved. Such a large number of combinations of Wnt-Fzd pairs leads to many different influences of Fzd-Wnt-complexes on the development and differentiation of stem cells. The molecular models of xWnt8, hWnt8, mFzd8, hFzd8-proteins and their complexes were constructed and studied in the present work. The amino acids of the binding sites of proteins which participate in these complexes formation and the protein-protein interactions were studied. The pharmacophoric model of the binding site on the xWnt8 and hWnt8-proteins was constructed. In this work we suggested the peptidomimetic ligands, which can be used for the inhibition of the xWnt8-mFzd8 and hWnt8-hFzd8 proteins formation. The de novo design method of Allegrow software was used for the predictions of most prospective functional groups of the peptidomimetic ligands. These ligands can be used as inhibitors of xWnt8-mFzd8 and hWnt8-hFzd8 complex formation and also can be used for drug design by other methods.     

Loss aware post-training quantization

Machine Learning - Neural network quantization enables the deployment of large models on resource-constrained devices. Current post-training quantization methods fall short in terms of accuracy for...     

Does youth psychotherapy improve academically related outcomes? A meta-analysis.

To better understand the impact of psychotherapy on youth academic performance, the authors located and examined 83 studies of youth psychotherapy that contained 102 treatment comparisons. Results revealed a d = 0.46 overall effect size, with a d = 0.50 effect size for mental health outcomes, and a d = 0.38 effect size for academically related outcomes. Academically related outcomes were further categorized into teacher-rated classroom behavior (d = 0.26), academic achievement (d = 0.36), environmentally related outcomes (d = 0.26), and self-reported academically related outcomes (d = 0.59). Each of these effect sizes differed significantly from zero, and the 4 academically related categories were homogeneous. Participant racial and ethnic diversity and age were explored as moderators. The results point to psychotherapy benefiting student academics, regardless of age. Ethnically diverse participant groups in the studies fared better academically than did nondiverse groups. Implications discussed include counseling psychologists maintaining a holistic view of youth and of working more closely with educators. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Imaging the sialome during zebrafish development with copper-free click chemistry

The sialome comprises sialylated glycoproteins and glycolipids that play essential roles in cell-cell communication. Using azide-modified molecular precursors of sialic acids and copper-free click chemistry, we visualized the spatiotemporal dynamics of the sialome in live zebrafish embryos.     

Increased expression of mRNA for the long form of the leptin receptor in the hypothalamus is associated with leptin hypersensitivity and fasting

BACKGROUND: Graft coronary artery disease (CAD) is an increasingly important problem during long-term survival after heart transplantation, but the importance of cellular rejection, in particular late after transplantation, remains undetermined. METHODS and RESULTS: We analyzed 492 coronary angiographies (967+/-705 days after transplantation; range, 49 days to 9.4 years) and 5201 endomyocardial biopsies (518+/-648 days after transplantation) from 156 patients (age, 47+/-11 years). Patients with angiographically detectable graft CAD had significantly more episodes of rejection requiring augmentation of immunosuppressive therapy (i.e., International Society of Heart and Lung Transplantation score > or = 3A) than those without graft CAD during the first (3.7+/-2.6 vs. 2.2+/-2.0, P<0.001) as well as subsequent years after transplantation (1.2+/-1.9 vs. 0.4+/-0.9, P<0.01). Multivariate logistic regression analysis including established risk factors for CAD, ischemic time, gender and age of donors and recipients, number of mismatches, cytomegalovirus infection, and drug therapy showed that the number of rejections during the first [odds ratio (OR)=1.39, P<0.005] as well as subsequent years (OR=1.49, P<0.05), previous cytomegalovirus infection (OR=3.21, P<0.05), donor age >40 years (OR=2.97, P<0.05), and current or former smoker status (OR=2.76, P<0.05) were independent predictors of graft CAD. In patients without angiographically detectable graft CAD 1 year after transplantation, the number of rejections after the first year was even more strongly related to graft coronary artery disease than in the total patient population, underlining the importance of late cellular rejection (OR=1.74, P<0.005). CONCLUSION: Rejection requiring augmentation of immunosuppression early and late after transplantation is an independent risk factor for the development of angiographically detectable graft CAD. Hence, the search for and treatment of moderate or severe rejection seems to be prudent even late after transplantation.