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Clear-cut Differences (clear-cut + difference)
Selected AbstractsExpression profiling of Wilms tumors reveals new candidate genes for different clinical parametersINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CANCER, Issue 8 2006B. Zirn Abstract Wilms tumor is the most frequent renal neoplasm in children, but our understanding of its genetic basis is still limited. We performed cDNA microarray experiments using 63 primary Wilms tumors with the aim of detecting new candidate genes associated with malignancy grade and tumor progression. All tumors had received preoperative chemotherapy as mandated by the SIOP protocol, which sets this study apart from related approaches in the Unites States that are based on untreated samples. The stratification of expression data according to clinical criteria allowed a rather clear distinction between different subsets of Wilms tumors. Clear-cut differences in expression patterns were discovered between relapse-free as opposed to relapsed tumors and tumors with intermediate risk as opposed to high risk histology. Several differentially expressed genes, e.g.TRIM22, CENPF, MYCN, CTGF, RARRES3 and EZH2, were associated with Wilms tumor progression. For a subset of differentially expressed genes, microarray data were confirmed by real-time RT-PCR on the original set of tumors. Interestingly, we found the retinoic acid pathway to be deregulated at different levels in advanced tumors suggesting that treatment of these tumors with retinoic acid may represent a promising novel therapeutic approach. © 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Functional and proteomic analysis of serum and cerebrospinal fluid derived from patients with traumatic brain injury: a pilot studyANZ JOURNAL OF SURGERY, Issue 7-8 2010Dieter Cadosch Abstract Background:, An enhanced fracture healing response has been reported in patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI). This has been attributed to circulating humoral factors that are thought to be proteins produced and released by the injured brain. However, these factors remain unknown. The aim of this study was to identify osteogenic factors in serum and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from TBI patients. This was carried out using in vitro proliferation assays with the human foetal osteoblastic 1.19 cell line (hFOB) combined with a novel proteomic approach. Methods:, Serum was collected from brain-injured (n = 12) and non-brain-injured (n = 9) patients with a comorbid femur shaft fracture. Similarly, CSF was obtained from TBI (n = 7) and non-TBI (n = 9) patients. The osteoinductive potential of these samples was determined by measuring the in vitro proliferation rate of hFOB cells. Highly osteogenic serum and CSF samples of TBI patients were chosen for protein analysis and were compared to those of non-brain-injured patients. A new hFOB cell-based method was used to enrich the proteins in these samples, which had a functional affinity for these osteoprogenitor cells. These enriched protein fractions were mapped using two-dimensional gel electrophoresis and protein imaging methods displaying serum and CSF proteins of brain-injured and control subjects that had an affinity for human osteoprogenitor cells. Results:, Serum and CSF derived from brain-injured patients demonstrated a greater osteoinductive potential (P < 0.05) than their non-brain-injured counterparts. Clear-cut differences in the pattern of proteins in two-dimensional gels were detected between TBI and control patients. Fourteen proteins were exclusively present in the serum of TBI patients, while other proteins were either up- or downregulated in samples collected from TBI patients (P < 0.05). Conclusion:, Osteoinductive factors are present in the serum and CSF of brain-injured patients. These may include one or more of those proteins identified as having an affinity for osteoprogenitor cells that are either exclusively present or up- or downregulated in the serum and CSF of brain-injured patients. [source] Review: Studies of ferric heme proteins with highly anisotropic/highly axial low spin (S = 1/2) electron paramagnetic resonance signals with bis-Histidine and histidine-methionine axial iron coordination,BIOPOLYMERS, Issue 12 2009Giorgio Zoppellaro Abstract Six-coordinated heme groups are involved in a large variety of electron transfer reactions because of their ability to exist in both the ferrous (Fe2+) and ferric (Fe3+) state without any large differences in structure. Our studies on hemes coordinated by two histidines (bis-His) and hemes coordinated by histidine and methionine (His-Met) will be reviewed. In both of these coordination environments, the heme core can exhibit ferric low spin (electron paramagnetic resonance EPR) signals with large gmax values (also called Type I, highly anisotropic low spin, or highly axial low spin, HALS species) as well as rhombic EPR (Type II) signals. In bis-His coordinated hemes rhombic and HALS envelopes are related to the orientation of the His groups with respect to each other such that (i) parallel His planes results in a rhombic signal and (ii) perpendicular His planes results in a HALS signal. Correlation between the structure of the heme and its ligands for heme with His-Met axial ligation and ligand-field parameters, as derived from a large series of cytochrome c variants, show, however, that for such a combination of axial ligands there is no clear-cut difference between the large gmax and the "small g -anisotropy" cases as a result of the relative Met-His arrangements. Nonetheless, a new linear correlation links the average shift ,,, of the heme methyl groups with the gmax values. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Biopolymers 91: 1064,1082, 2009. This article was originally published online as an accepted preprint. The "Published Online" date corresponds to the preprint version. You can request a copy of the preprint by emailing the Biopolymers editorial office at biopolymers@wiley.com [source] Differential distribution of Rac1 and Rac3 GTPases in the developing mouse brain: implications for a role of Rac3 in Purkinje cell differentiationEUROPEAN JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE, Issue 9 2003Annalisa Bolis Abstract Rac3 is one of the three known Rac GTPases in vertebrates. Rac3 shows high sequence homology to Rac1, and its transcript is specifically expressed in the developing nervous system, where its localization and function are unknown. By using Rac3-specific antibodies, we show that the endogenous Rac3 protein is differentially expressed during mouse brain development, with a peak of expression at times of neuronal maturation and synaptogenesis. Comparison with Rac1 shows clear-cut differences in the overall distribution of the two GTPases in the developing brain, and in their subcellular distribution in regions of the brain where both proteins are expressed. At P7, Rac3 staining is particularly marked in the deep cerebellar nuclei and in the pons, where it shows a discontinuous distribution around the neuronal cell bodies, in contrast with the diffuse staining of Rac1. Rac3 does not evidently co-localize with pre- and post-synaptic markers, nor with GFAP-positive astrocytes, but it clearly co-localizes with actin filaments, and with the terminal portions of calbindin-positive Purkinje cell axons in the deep cerebellar nuclei. Our data implicate Rac3 in neuronal differentiation, and support a specific role of this GTPase in actin-mediated remodelling of Purkinje cell neuritic terminals at time of synaptogenesis. [source] Lectin-binding pattern of primary malignant melanomas and melanocytic neviJOURNAL OF CUTANEOUS PATHOLOGY, Issue 3 2000A. Monastirli A panel of six biotinylated lectins was applied in order to study the composition and distribution of plasma membrane carbohydrate residues in 83 primary cutaneous melanomas (MMs) and in 85 melanocytic nevi (MN) with the avidin-biotin peroxidase technique. No clear-cut differences between MN and MMs were observed with regard to the staining with lectins. In MN and MMs derived from different patients, the lectin-binding pattern was variable and heterogeneous even within the individual nevi or melanomas. It seems reasonable, therefore, to assume that the lectin-binding pattern cannot be regarded as a reliable histochemical marker for the differentiation of MN from MMs. Moreover, because the pattern reveals no statistically significant correlation with the thickness or the depth of invasion of MM, it seems to lack prognostic significance. [source] Real Exchange Rate Behaviour under Fixed and Floating Exchange Rate RegimesTHE MANCHESTER SCHOOL, Issue 2 2002James R. Lothian In this paper we examine the stability of the real exchange rate and the macroeconomic effects of alternative exchange rate regimes, including currency union, on real exchange rate behaviour. We focus on the Irish punt in order to exploit its diversity of experience over different nominal exchange rate regimes. We make both temporal and cross-country comparisons of real exchange rate stability for the Irish punt with sterling, the US dollar and the German mark. We reach two conclusions on the basis of our results. The first is that for Ireland, as for most other countries, purchasing power parity provides a reasonably good description of actual exchange rate behaviour over the long run. Our second principal conclusion concerns regime effects. Currency union appears to matter. The real exchange rates we analyse are unambiguously less variable under currency union than under alternative exchange rate systems. Otherwise, however, we find no clear-cut differences in behaviour across regimes. [source] | ||||||||||