Precessing jet nozzle connecting to a spinning black hole in M87.

The nearby radio galaxy M87 offers a unique opportunity to explore the connections between the central supermassive black hole and relativistic jets. Previous studies of the inner region of M87 revealed a wide opening angle for the jet originating near the black hole1-4. The Event Horizon Telescope resolved the central radio source and found an asymmetric ring structure consistent with expectations from general relativity5. With a baseline of 17 years of observations, there was a shift in the jet's transverse position, possibly arising from an 8- to 10-year quasi-periodicity3. However, the origin of this sideways shift remains unclear. Here we report an analysis of radio observations over 22 years that suggests a period of about 11 years for the variation in the position angle of the jet. We infer that we are seeing a spinning black hole that induces the Lense-Thirring precession of a misaligned accretion disk. Similar jet precession may commonly occur in other active galactic nuclei but has been challenging to detect owing to the small magnitude and long period of the variation.

Von Hippel-Lindau regulates interleukin-32ß stability in ovarian cancer cells.

Hypoxia-induced interleukin-32ß (IL-32ß) shifts the metabolic program to the enhanced glycolytic pathway. In the present study, the underlying mechanism by which hypoxia-induced IL-32ß stability is regulated was investigated in ovarian cancer cells. IL-32ß expression increased under hypoxic conditions in ovarian cancer cells as it did in breast cancer cells. The amount of IL-32ß was regulated by post-translational control rather than by transcriptional activation. Under normoxic conditions, IL-32ß was continuously eliminated through ubiquitin-dependent degradation by the von-Hippel Lindau (VHL) E3 ligase complex. Oxygen deficiency or reactive oxygen species (ROS) disrupted the interaction between IL-32ß and VHL, leading to the accumulation of the cytokine. The fact that IL-32ß is regulated by the energy-consuming ubiquitination system implies that it plays an important role in oxidative stress. We found that IL-32ß reduced protein kinase Cδ (PKCδ)-induced apoptosis under oxidative stress. This implies that the hypoxia- and ROS-stabilized IL-32ß contributes to sustain survival against PKCδ-induced apoptosis.

Heavy water labeling method for measuring the effect of genistein on mammary gland carcinogenesis.

Heavy water labeling method was applied to measure the effect of genistein on mammary gland carcinogenesis by incoporating (2)H from (2)H(2)O into the deoxyribose (dR) moiety of purine deoxyribonucleotides in dividing cells. In the present study, we followed the study design of Lamartiniere group to evaluate the efficacy of (2)H(2)O labeling on the measurement of mammary gland carconogenesis. Female Sprague-Dawley rats were fed estrogen-free AIN-93G diet starting 1 week before breeding and continuing through pregnancy and lactation. Female pups were assigned to the following groups on postnatal day 16 and fed AIN-93G diet: vehicle (dimethylsulfoxide) (DMSO), genistein, and estradiol benzoate (EB). On postnatal days 16, 18, and 20, female pups were injected subcutaneously with 500 mug genistein/g body wt, 500 ng EB/g body wt, or an equivalent volume of the vehicle. At day 50 postpartum, half of each group were gavaged with 60 mg dimethylbenz[a]anthracene (DMBA) in perila oil. After 1 week of DMBA treatment, all animals were labeled with (2)H(2)O by administration of 4% (2)H(2)O in drinking water after single intraperitonial bolus injection with 99.9% (2)H(2)O until sacrifice on postnatal day 81. The time-dependent weight gains were observed in all groups throughout the experimental period. The enrichment of body (2)H(2)O was attained at 1.84-2.47% through oral administration of (2)H(2)O. Mammary epithelial cell proliferation was measured by enrichment (EM1) of dA from rats. DMBA-treated groups showed higher fractional synthesis than DMBA non-treated groups. The group exposed only to genistein showed significantly lower EM1 (1.46 +/- 0.87%) than those of control groups, i.e., the DMBA non-treated group (2.28 +/- 0.29%) and the DMBA-treated group (2.32 +/- 0.28%). Bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) immunostaining of mammary tissue revealed that genistein reduced proliferation of the mammary epithelial, and the number of cells stained positive for BrdU both in DMBA-treated groups and DMBA non-treated groups. H&E staining of mammary epithelium also showed that the exposure to genistein decreased proliferation of the mammary epithelium. The epithelium in the rats treated with DMBA showed mostly multiple cell layers, in contrast to the mostly double layer shown in the DMBA non-treated rats. The exposure to genistein in the prepubertal period inhibited mammary epithelial cell proliferation. In conclusion, the (2)H(2)O labeling results were in good agreement with the results of BrdU incorporation and histomorphometry, which demonstrates that (2)H(2)O labeling can be used as a tool to measure carcinogenesis.