Longitudinal changes in prostate volume in a community-based cohort study of middle-aged and elderly men in rural China.

BACKGROUND: Prostate volume (PV) and its change rate are important for the progression of prostate disease, but studies on their estimates are inconsistent. OBJECTIVES: To investigate whether age, prostate-specific antigen (PSA), and other specific characteristics are associated with PV and its change rate. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A community-based cohort study was conducted in a rural area of China among male residents aged 40-80 years. PV was estimated at baseline and at 4 years of follow-up by trans-abdominal ultrasound. Annual PV change rate (PVCR) was calculated as change in volume divided by time interval. Baseline characteristics, including age, serum PSA, and hormones, were evaluated. And their relationships with PV or PVCR were assessed with Pearson correlation and multivariate linear regression analyses. RESULTS: Totally, 462 participants completed the follow-up with baseline PV (PV0 ) of 15.6 ± 5.5 ml. PV0 was highly correlated with age and PSA in pairwise correlations (Pearson r = 0.35 and 0.34, respectively, p < 0.01). Multivariate linear regression showed similar associations that PV0 tended to increase with age and PSA. The average PVCR was 0.7 ± 1.8 ml/year. In pairwise correlations, PVCR was inversely correlated with PV0 and positively correlated with PSA, while it was not significantly related to baseline age. Linear regression of PVCR on age and PSA in groups classified by PV0 quartile showed that age was not a significant estimator of PVCR, whereas PSA was. In each PV0 group, PVCR tended to increase with PSA. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: PV was positively associated with age and PSA, and it tended to grow faster in men with smaller baseline PV and higher PSA. PSA can be a valuable parameter for estimating both the size and the growth speed of prostate. Although age is associated with prostate enlargement, it does not appear to be related to the longitudinal change rate of PV.

Diagnostic and prognostic implications of serum miR-101 in osteosarcoma.

Blood-circulating microRNAs (miRNAs) have been reported to be used as potential biomarkers in various cancers. MiR-101 has been found to act as a tumor suppressor in many tumor types, but little is known for osteosarcoma. The purpose of this study was to investigate miR-101 expression in osteosarcoma patients and assess its correlation with clinical features and prognosis. Serum samples from 152 osteosarcoma patients and 70 healthy controls were detected using quantitative reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). The data showed that miR-101 expression levels were remarkably underexpressed in serum samples from osteosarcoma patients compared to controls, and the post-treatment serum miR-101 expression was significantly higher than that in the pre-treatment expression. Low serum miR-101 expression was positively associated with advanced clinical stage and distant metastasis. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis showed that serum miR-101 could serve as a useful marker for osteosarcoma diagnosis, with a high sensitivity and specificity. Moreover, patients with high miR-101 expression had longer overall survival and recurrence free survival than those with low miR-101 expression. In addition, both univariate and multivariate analyses showed that serum miR-101 downregulation was associated with shorter overall survival and recurrence free survival. Our present results implicated serum miR-101 might be a useful biomarker for the clinical diagnosis and prognosis of osteosarcoma.

A toll-like receptor 3 homologue that is up-regulated by poly I:C and DNA virus in turbot Scophthalmus maximus.

In this study, the gene and promoter sequences of turbot Scophthalmus maximus (Sm) toll-like receptor 3 (Tlr3) were cloned and its mRNA tissue distribution and gene expression in response to polyinosinic:polycytidylic acid (poly I:C) and turbot reddish body iridovirus (TRBIV) challenges were studied in vivo. The smtlr3 gene spans over 4·4 kb with a structure of five exons-four introns and encodes a peptide of 916 amino acids. The putative protein shares the highest sequence identity of 52·8-78·5% with fish Tlr3 and contains a signal peptide sequence, 13 leucine-rich repeat (LRR) motifs, a transmembrane region and a toll/interleukin-1 receptor (TIR) domain. Phylogenetic analysis grouped it with other teleost Tlr3s. A number of transcription factor binding sites were identified in the 1538 bp 5' flanking region of smtlr3, including interferon-stimulated response element (ISRE) and those for interferon regulatory factors (IRF) and signal transducer and activator of transcriptions (STATs) smtlr3 transcripts were expressed ubiquitously with higher levels in the head kidney, heart and digestion organs. They were up-regulated by both poly I:C and TRBIV in immune and non-immune organs, but most strongly in the head kidney. Finally, the smtlr3 exhibited a two-wave induced expression during a five day time course when exposure of S. maximus to poly I:C. These findings provide insights into the role of SmTlr3 in antiviral response.

Critical off-target effects of the widely used Rac1 inhibitors NSC23766 and EHT1864 in mouse platelets.

BACKGROUND: Platelet aggregation at sites of vascular injury is essential for normal hemostasis, but may also cause pathologic vessel occlusion. Rho GTPases are molecular switches that regulate essential cellular processes, and they have pivotal functions in the cardiovascular system. Rac1 is an important regulator of platelet cytoskeletal reorganization, and contributes to platelet activation. Rac1 inhibitors are thought to be beneficial in a wide range of therapeutic settings, and have therefore been tested in vivo for a variety of disorders. Two small-molecule inhibitors, NSC23766 and EHT1864, have been characterized in different cell types, demonstrating high specificity for Rac1 and Rac, respectively. OBJECTIVES: To analyze the specificity of NSC23766 and EHT1864. METHODS: Platelet function was assessed in mouse wild-type and Rac1-deficient platelets by the use of flow cytometric analysis of cellular activation and aggregometry. Platelet spreading was analyzed with differential interference contrast microscopy, and activation of effector molecules was analyzed with biochemical approaches. RESULTS: NSC23766 and EHT1864 showed strong and distinct Rac1-independent effects at 100 µm in platelet function tests. Both inhibitors induced Rac1-specific inhibition of platelet spreading, but also markedly impaired agonist-induced activation of Rac1(-/-) platelets. Furthermore, glycoprotein Ib-mediated signaling was dramatically inhibited by NSC23766 in both wild-type and Rac1-deficient platelets. Importantly, these inhibitors directly affected the activation of the Rac1 effectors p21-activated kinase (PAK)1 and PAK2. CONCLUSIONS: Our results reveal critical off-target effects of NSC23766 and EHT1864 at 100 µm in mammalian cells, raising questions about their utility as specific Rac1/Rac inhibitors in biochemical studies at these concentrations and possibly as therapeutic agents.

Chest wall reconstruction in a patient with sternal fibrous dysplasia.

A patient with sternal fibrous dysplasia was treated via subtotal sternectomy using a sandwich titanium micromesh and polypropylene mesh to repair the chest wall defect. Pectoralis muscle flaps were created to cover the prosthesis. The patient had a normal postoperative course with good stability and postoperative cosmesis.

A HUVEC line with a stable expression of the VEGF121 gene to achieve complete endothelialization of blood conduits.

The purpose of this investigation was to establish monoclonal cell lines of HUVEC with the stable expression of the VEGF(121) gene. Such cells are likely to better adhere to the luminal surface of stents or grafts and to promote a complete endothelialization. The eukaryotic expression vector PCD(2)-VEGF(121) was transfected into cell lines of HUVEC mediated by lipofect AMINE. The positive clones were obtained by the screening of G(418). The transcription and expression of the VEGF gene were investigated by RT-PCR and immunocytochemistry, respectively. The experiment of Miles was applied for the assay of the biological activity of the protein of the VEGF produced by the HUVEC lines with transfected PCD(2)-VEGF(121). The growth curve was made for comparison with that of non-transfected HUVEC line cells. The positive clone cells from which transcripted the mRNA of VEGF(121) gene were obtained by RT-PCR. The positive results of the immunocytochemistry were found and the high biological activity of VEGF in the media was detected in the positive clone cells only. The time to achieve the multiplication of the positive clone cells by a factor of 2 was shorter than that of the non-transfected HUVEC line calculated from the growth curve. The HUVEC line of monoclonal cells with the stable expression of VEGF(121) gene has been established successfully and can be employed on the luminal surfaces of foreign blood conduits.

Spin Hall effects for cold atoms in a light-induced gauge potential.

We propose an experimental scheme to observe spin Hall effects with cold atoms in a light-induced gauge potential. Under an appropriate configuration, the cold atoms moving in a spatially varying laser field experience an effective spin-dependent gauge potential. Through numerical simulation, we demonstrate that such a gauge field leads to observable spin Hall currents under realistic conditions. We also discuss the quantum spin Hall state in an optical lattice.

Interrelation of superconducting and antiferromagnetic gaps in high- T(c) compounds: A test case for the SO(5) theory

Recent angle resolved photoemission data, which found evidence for a d-wave-like modulation of the antiferromagnetic gap, suggest an intimate interrelation between the antiferromagnetic insulator and the superconductor with its d-wave gap. It is shown here that a projected SO(5) theory, which explicitly takes the Mott-Hubbard gap into account, correctly describes the observed gap characteristics. Specifically, it accounts for the order of magnitude difference between the antiferromagnetic gap modulation and the superconducting gap and is also consistent with the gap dispersion.

A Unified Theory Based on SO(5) Symmetry of Superconductivity and Antiferromagnetism

The complex phase diagram of high-critical temperature (Tc) superconductors can be deduced from an SO(5) symmetry principle that unifies antiferromagnetism and d-wave superconductivity. The approximate SO(5) symmetry has been derived from the microscopic Hamiltonian, and it becomes exact under renormalization group flow toward a bicritical point. This symmetry enables the construction of a SO(5) quantum nonlinear final sigma model that describes the phase diagram and the effective low-energy dynamics of the system. This model naturally explains the basic phenomenology of the high-Tc superconductors from the insulating to the underdoped and the optimally doped region.