Gastric Cancer: Advances in Carcinogenesis Research and New Therapeutic Strategies

Gastric cancer’s bad incidence, prognosis, cellular and molecular heterogeneity amongst others make this disease a major health issue worldwide. Understanding this affliction is a priority for proper patients’ management and for the development of efficient therapeutical strategies. This review gives an overview of major scientific advances, made during the past 5-years, to improve the comprehension of gastric adenocarcinoma. A focus was made on the different actors of gastric carcinogenesis, including, Helicobacter pylori cancer stem cells, tumour microenvironment and microbiota. New and recent potential biomarkers were assessed as well as emerging therapeutical strategies involving cancer stem cells targeting as well as immunotherapy. Finally, recent experimental models to study this highly complex disease were discussed, highlighting the importance of gastric cancer understanding in the hard-fought struggle against cancer relapse, metastasis and bad prognosis.     

Different metabolic and absorption patterns of betaine in response to dietary intake of whole-wheat grain, wheat aleurone or rye aleurone in catheterized pigs

In the present study, a novel method of measuring the uptake of nutrients by 1H NMR spectroscopy was performed to determine dietary effects. Six pigs catheterized in the portal vein and mesenteric artery were fed breads made from whole-wheat grain (WWG), wheat aleurone flour (WAF; 19?% aleurone of bread) or rye aleurone flour (RAF; 15?% aleurone of bread) in a repeated 3?×?3 crossover design. Three meals were provided daily (at 0, 5 and 10?h), and each period comprised of 1?week. Portal and arterial blood samples were collected at fasting (?30?min) on day 4–7, and on day 7, pooled blood samples were collected at 0–2.5, 2.5–5, 5–7.5 and 7.5–10?h after first (0?h) daily meal. Using the arterial-venous difference and ANOVA–simultaneous component analysis, plasma betaine was found to accumulate during the experimental period. On day 7, plasma betaine concentrations was 20–40?% higher than when feeding the WAF diet compared with RAF and WWG (P?=?0.001), whereas the content of betaine in the WAF diet was about twice as high. The arterial-venous difference showed a tendency (P?=?0.078) for the diet–time interaction of betaine absorption in the absorption phases but there was no diet effect (P?=?0.31), which indicates a steady-state absorption has been reached on day 7. Furthermore, high plasma betaine levels correlated with low plasma creatine of endogenous origin. In conclusion, the explorative method revealed that the plasma concentration and absorption of betaine were differentially modified by the diets.     

Integrative Analysis of Metabolomic,Proteomic and Genomic Data to Reveal Functional Pathways and Candidate Genes for Drip Loss in Pigs

The aim of this study was to integrate multi omics data to characterize underlying functional pathways and candidate genes for drip loss in pigs. The consideration of different omics levels allows elucidating the black box of phenotype expression. Metabolite and protein profiling was applied in Musculus longissimus dorsi samples of 97 Duroc × Pietrain pigs. In total, 126 and 35 annotated metabolites and proteins were quantified, respectively. In addition, all animals were genotyped with the porcine 60 k Illumina beadchip. An enrichment analysis resulted in 10 pathways, amongst others, sphingolipid metabolism and glycolysis/gluconeogenesis, with significant influence on drip loss. Drip loss and 22 metabolic components were analyzed as intermediate phenotypes within a genome-wide association study (GWAS). We detected significantly associated genetic markers and candidate genes for drip loss and for most of the metabolic components. On chromosome 18, a region with promising candidate genes was identified based on SNPs associated with drip loss, the protein “phosphoglycerate mutase 2” and the metabolite glycine. We hypothesize that association studies based on intermediate phenotypes are able to provide comprehensive insights in the genetic variation of genes directly involved in the metabolism of performance traits. In this way, the analyses contribute to identify reliable candidate genes.     

Hepatic patatin-like phospholipase domain-containing protein 3 sequence,single nucleotide polymorphism presence,protein confirmation,and responsiveness to energy balance in dairy cows

Patatin-like phospholipase domain-containing protein 3 (PNPLA3), commonly known as adiponutrin, is part of a novel subfamily of triglyceride lipase enzymes with potential effects on triglyceride metabolism in adipose and hepatic tissues. The predicted bovine PNPLA3 sequence has been identified, but expression of the gene had not been examined. The objectives of this study were to confirm the predicted bovine PNPLA3 gene sequence, determine expression of the bovine PNPLA3 gene in response to whole-animal energy balance, identify single nucleotide polymorphisms present in dairy cows, and verify the presence of the protein in the liver. Using liver biopsy samples collected from cows at +28 d relative to calving (DRTC), RNA was isolated and used to generate a cDNA template for amplification of the entire predicted coding sequence of PNPLA3 via PCR. To determine if energy balance alters the expression of PNPLA3, RNA was isolated and mRNA expression quantified in liver samples from mid-lactation cows after a 5-d ad libitum period (n = 5) and after a subsequent 5-d 50% feed restriction period (n = 5), and in samples collected from cows at −14, +1, +14, and +28 DRTC (n = 16). The presence of PNPLA3 protein was detected by Western blot in liver protein samples collected at +28 DRTC. Expression of hepatic PNPLA3 was decreased after a period of feed restriction (8.14 vs. 1.08 ± 2.17 arbitrary units, ad libitum vs. fasted). Expression of PNPLA3 mRNA was decreased at +1 and +14 DRTC compared with −14 DRTC (23.35, 7.28, 10.17, and 14.5 ± 4.9 arbitrary units, −14, +1, +14, and +28 DRTC, respectively). The presence of PNPLA3 protein was detected as a 55-kDa band in hepatic protein isolations from liver tissue collected at +28 DRTC. These data confirm the presence and sequence of the bovine hepatic PNPLA3 gene and single nucleotide polymorphisms. Furthermore, these data indicate responsiveness of bovine hepatic PNPLA3 to energy balance.     

Photography in Australia: A select bibliography

Abstract

Olana, the extraordinary private home of American painter Frederic Church, perches high above the Hudson River, with commanding views of the Catskill Mountains and the verdant countryside, approximately 120 miles north of New York City (figure 1). Frederic Edwin Church (1826–1900), the internationally recognized painter of exotic locales and the North American landscape, lived much of his adult life at Olana, and it was here he retreated when arthritis curtailed his passion for world travel. Designed by architect Calvert Vaux in a Persian style, but in large measure created by Church, the house is architecturally eclectic, an exuberant physical manifestation of the artist's interests, beliefS and travels. Olana is also home to Church's personal collections offine art, books and photographs. Church assembled at Olana an art collection of fifty pieces (including old master paintings, art by his friends and contemporaries, as well as work of his own), a library of 1900 volumes (mainly travel, geography, science and religion), and a collection of approximately 5700 photographs. Although not a photographer himself, Church was an active collector of photographs throughout his life. This photograph collection, wellpreserved but only recently catalogued, and exhibited for the first time at the Dahesh Museum of Art, New York, is of compelling interest to historians of art and photography alike.     

Mechanistic investigation and selectivity of the grafting onto C60 of macroradicals prepared by cobalt-mediated radical polymerization

The grafting mechanism of poly(vinyl acetate) macroradicals prepared by cobalt-mediated radical polymerization onto C₆₀ is investigated. The experimental conditions directly impact the nature and stability of the PVAc/C₆₀ adducts. In the presence of residual initiating radicals that can compete with PVAc° macroradicals for addition onto C₆₀, mixtures of PVAc/C₆₀ adducts having between one and eight polymer chains per C₆₀ are formed. PVAc/C₆₀ adducts prepared with low [PVAc]:[C₆₀] ratios may contain weak C₆₀–C₆₀ bonds that further dissociate and account for the instability of the products. The formation of such dimers can be lessened by increasing the temperature from 30 °C to 100 °C. The temperature increase also allows a complete dissociation of the PVAc-Co dormant species into PVAc° macroradicals and an almost quantitative grafting of eight PVAc chains onto C₆₀, leading to well-defined C₆₀(PVAc)₈ octa-adducts. These results might shed new light on the grafting onto C₆₀ of macroradicals prepared by other CRP techniques.     

Improving the Design of Greek Hollow Clay Bricks

The hollow clay brick is the typical building unit that is employed not only over the whole Greece but also in many other Mediterranean countries. Nevertheless, its design is completely empirical. In this study, the design of the hollow clay brick is analyzed by employing a finite element package. To carry out this analysis, the thermal conductivity of the solid clay is measured by the transient hot-wire technique. As a consequence of the analysis, an improvement of 24 % in the design of the hollow clay brick is proposed.