A rapid sensitive method for determining phospholipid phosphorus involving digestion with magnesium nitrate

A method is described for the rapid determination of phospholipid phosphorus in samples containing less than 0.5 μg phosphorus. Phospholipid phosphorus is first converted to inorganic phosphate by heating a dried lipid extract briefly over a Bunsen flame in the presence of magnesium nitrate, then dissolving the resulting residue in dilute hydrochloric acid at 95 C. The determination of the inorganic phosphate content of the sample then requires only the addition of Triton X-100 and an acidic ammonium molybdate-malachite green reagent. Absorbance is measured at 650 nm after 5 min at room temperature.     

Table Oriented Metrics for Relational Databases

Developing and selecting high quality software applications are fundamental. It is important that the software applications can be evaluated for every relevant quality characteristic using validated metrics. Software engineers have been putting forward hundreds of quality metrics for software programs, disregarding databases. However, software data aspects are important because the size of data and their system nature contribute to many aspects of a systems quality. In this paper, we proposed some internal metrics to measure relational databases which influence its complexity. Considering the main characteristics of a relational table, we can propose the number of attributes (NA) of a table, the depth of the referential tree (DRT) of a table, and the referential degree (RD) of a table. These measures are characterized using measurement theory, particularly the formal framework proposed by Zuse. As many important issues faced by the software engineering community can only be addressed by experimentation, an experiment has been carried out in order to validate these metrics.     

Receptor Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors for the Treatment of Recurrent and Unresectable Bone Sarcomas

Bone sarcomas are a heterogeneous group of rare tumors with a predominance in the young population. Few options of systemic treatment are available once they become unresectable and resistant to conventional chemotherapy. A better knowledge of the key role that tyrosine kinase receptors (VEGFR, RET, MET, AXL, PDGFR, KIT, FGFR, IGF-1R) may play in the pathogenesis of these tumors has led to the development of multi-target inhibitors (TKIs) that are progressively being incorporated into our therapeutic arsenal. Osteosarcoma (OS) is the most frequent primary bone tumor and several TKIs have demonstrated clinical benefit in phase II clinical trials (cabozantinib, regorafenib, apatinib, sorafenib, and lenvatinib). Although the development of TKIs for other primary bone tumors is less advanced, preclinical data and early trials have begun to show their potential benefit in advanced Ewing sarcoma (ES) and rarer bone tumors (chondrosarcoma, chordoma, giant cell tumor of bone, and undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma). Previous reviews have mainly provided information on TKIs for OS and ES. We aim to summarize the existing knowledge regarding the use of TKIs in all bone sarcomas including the most recent studies as well as the potential synergistic effects of their combination with other systemic therapies.     

Combined Genome,Transcriptome and Metabolome Analysis in the Diagnosis of Childhood Cerebellar Ataxia

Ataxia in children is a common clinical sign of numerous neurological disorders consisting of impaired coordination of voluntary muscle movement. Its most common form, cerebellar ataxia, describes a heterogeneous array of neurologic conditions with uncountable causes broadly divided as acquired or genetic. Numerous genetic disorders are associated with chronic progressive ataxia, which complicates clinical management, particularly on the diagnostic stage. Advances in omics technologies enable improvements in clinical practice and research, so we proposed a multi-omics approach to aid in the genetic diagnosis and molecular elucidation of an undiagnosed infantile condition of chronic progressive cerebellar ataxia. Using whole-exome sequencing, RNA-seq, and untargeted metabolomics, we identified three clinically relevant mutations (rs141471029, rs191582628 and rs398124292) and an altered metabolic profile in our patient. Two POLR1C diagnostic variants already classified as pathogenic were found, and a diagnosis of hypomyelinating leukodystrophy was achieved. A mutation on the MMACHC gene, known to be associated with methylmalonic aciduria and homocystinuria cblC type, was also found. Additionally, preliminary metabolome analysis revealed alterations in our patient’s amino acid, fatty acid and carbohydrate metabolism. Our findings provided a definitive genetic diagnosis reinforcing the association between POLR1C mutations and hypomyelinating leukodystrophy and highlighted the relevance of multi-omics approaches to the disease.     

Atherogenic lipoproteins support assembly of the prothrombinase complex and thrombin generation: modulation by oxidation and vitamin E

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to assess whether contractile response of arteries to aqueous component of cigarette smoke extract (CSE) may be modulated in atherosclerotic arteries. METHODS: Thoracic aortas were isolated from control rabbits and from 1.5% cholesterol-fed rabbits, all of which had visible advanced atheromatous surface changes on the aortas. CSE was prepared by bubbling main stream of smoke from one cigarette with filter into 2 ml of phosphate-buffered saline. The thoracic aortic rings were suspended in organ chambers and tested with CSE (0.01-3.0 microliters/ml buffer in the organ chamber) after precontraction with 0.1 mumol/l of phenylephrine (PE). RESULTS: The contractile response to CSE was significantly greater in atherosclerotic aortas than in control aortas (the maximal contraction expressed as % of the precontraction; control aortas 10.8 +/- 2.8%, atherosclerotic aortas 42.6 +/- 4.7%; P < 0.01). The magnitude of the precontractions by PE was not different between control and atherosclerotic aortas. Exogenous addition of superoxide dismutase (SOD) significantly attenuated the CSE-induced contraction in both control and atherosclerotic aortas and pretreatment of aortic rings with diethyldithiocarbamate to deplete of endogenous vascular CuZn-SOD activity potentiated the CSE-induced contraction in control aortas, while it had no significant effect in atherosclerotic aortas. The vascular SOD activity was significantly lower in atherosclerotic aortas than in control aortas ((U/mg protein): control aortas 38.2 +/- 3.3, atherosclerotic aortas 18.5 +/- 2.4; P < 0.01). CONCLUSION: These results indicate that atherosclerotic arteries may be supersensitive to the constrictor effect of superoxide anion derived from CSE. The decrease in endogenous vascular SOD activity may partly contribute to the increased susceptibility to oxidative stress in atherosclerotic arteries.     

Triggering of HLA-DR antigens differentially modulates tumor necrosis factor alpha release by B cells at distinct stage of maturation

Triggering of HLA class II antigens by the anti-HLA-DR monoclonal antibody (mAb) L243 significantly (P < 0.05) and differentially enhanced the release of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) by the non-Hodgkin's lymphoma cells Ri-I, Ci-I, and Sc-I, which are at a distinct stage of B-cell differentiation, and by the more mature Burkitt lymphoma cell Raji; in contrast, it did not induce TNF-alpha release by the pre-B leukemia cells Nalm-6 and BV173. TNF-alpha release peaked at 24 h and decreased thereafter, and it was dose dependent and preceded by an increase of TNF-alpha mRNA detectable after 3 h of stimulation with mAb L243. Secreted TNF-alpha mediated the enhancement of nuclear factor kappa B (NF-kappa B) and activator protein-1 (AP-1) binding activity; in fact, the triggering of HLA-DR antigens in the presence of antihuman TNF-alpha-neutralizing antibodies did not upregulate NF-kappa B and AP-1. In contrast, released TNF-alpha was not responsible for the homotypic aggregation of Ri-I, Ci-I, Sc-I, and Raji cells induced by mAb L243, and it did not affect the proliferation of B cells investigated. Altogether, our data demonstrate that: (a) the ability of B cells to release TNF-alpha after triggering of HLA-DR antigens depends on their stage of differentiation; (b) levels of released TNF-alpha seem to correlate with the stage of B-cell maturation but do not correlate with the amounts of cell surface HLA-DR antigens; (c) secreted TNF-alpha regulates the levels of expression of NF-kappa B and AP-1 by an autocrine loop; and (d) intracellular signals mediating TNF-alpha release by B cells are distinct from those regulating homotypic aggregation and proliferation.     

Vacuum stability and residual gas density estimation for the vacuum chamber upgrade of the ATLAS interaction region of the Large Hadron Collider

The CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC) has 54 km of ultra-high vacuum (UHV) beam chambers out of which about 90% are at cryogenic temperature (1.9 K) and the rest at room temperature. During operation, the residual gas density in the beam pipes is dominated by beam induced effect such ion, electron and photon-stimulated gas desorption. Therefore, the computation of gas density profile is of great importance to confirm the vacuum stability, and to estimate the beam lifetime. Moreover, the gas density profiles are essential to determine the machine induced background in the experimental areas, and to define the pressure profile in the cryogenic sectors where there is no vacuum instrumentation available.In this paper, the vacuum stability is studied for a newly proposed upgrade of the vacuum chamber at the ATLAS interaction point, using the vacuum stability code called VASCO. The residual gas density profile along the ATLAS vacuum chambers and the effects of photon and electron flux hitting the vacuum chamber walls are presented and analysed.     

Dietary fibre in white asparagus before and after processing

The changes that occur, especially in the dietary fibre, during processing of white asparagus have been studied. Processing consists of submitting the vegetable to a treatment with hot water (96 °C), for 4 min (blanching) and subsequently immersing it in a sodium chloride solution (brining). Finally, the asparagus is sealed and sterilised at 115–116 °C. The study was performed on the whole asparagus and also, separately, on the apex and stem. As a result of processing there was an increase in the moisture and protein contents and a decrease in those of uronic acids and free sugars, saccharose disappearing entirely. It is concluded that the most important changes taking place in the asparagus fibre fraction during thermal treatments are the slight decrease of lignin and uronic acids, the slight increase in proteins and an important decrease in hemicelluloses.

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Effekt der Verarbeitung auf den Gehalt an Ballaststoffen bei Spargel

Zusammenfassung Vierminütiges Blanchieren bei 96 °C, Einlegen in eine Salzlake und Sterilisieren bei 115–116 °C wurde bei ganzem weißen Spargel sowie getrennt bei Köpfen und Stangen untersucht. Durch den Prozeß steigt der Gehalt an Wasser und Eiweiß, während Uronsäuren und freie Zucker verlorengehen. Auffallend sind die Veränderungen der Ballaststofffraktion, leichten Verlusten bei Lignin und Uronsäuren und einer leichten Zunahme der Proteine steht ein massiver Verlust an Hemicellulosen gegenüber.

     

Adventures in remediation: the making of Echo

Echo is a twenty-minute interactive multi-screen research drama which addresses the question of how we can overcome narcissism in a hypermediated age. This article outlines the search for the appropriate form for the final art work using the concept of remediation to explore how the piece developed for multi-platform distribution and exhibition, as an online screen media drama and as a work for gallery installation. In outlining the process of production, the article explores the poetics of multi-screen immersive gallery drama and split-screen drama, and discusses the new and remediated possibilities for these forms.