The chemopreventive polyphenol Curcumin prevents hematogenous breast cancer metastases in immunodeficient mice

Dissemination of metastatic cells probably occurs long before diagnosis of the primary tumor. Metastasis during early phases of carcinogenesis in high risk patients is therefore a potential prevention target. The plant polyphenol Curcumin has been proposed for dietary prevention of cancer. We therefore examined its effects on the human breast cancer cell line MDA-MB-231 in vitro and in a mouse metastasis model. Curcumin strongly induces apoptosis in MDA- MB- 231 cells in correlation with reduced activation of the survival pathway NF kappa B, as a consequence of diminished I kappa B and p65 phosphorylation. Curcumin also reduces the expression of major matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) due to reduced NF kappa B activity and transcriptional downregulation of AP-1. NF kappa B/p65 silencing is sufficient to downregulate c-jun and MMP expression. Reduced NF kappa B/AP-1 activity and MMP expression lead to diminished invasion through a reconstituted basement membrane and to a significantly lower number of lung metastases in immunodeficient mice after intercardiac injection of 231 cells (p=0.0035). 68% of Curcumin treated but only 17% of untreated animals showed no or very few lung metastases, most likely as a consequence of down-regulation of NF kappa B/AP-1 dependent MMP expression and direct apoptotic effects on circulating tumor cells but not on established metastases. Dietary chemoprevention of metastases appears therefore feasible. Copyright (c) 2007 S. Karger AG, Basel

CIXL2: A Crossover Operator for Evolutionary Algorithms Based on Population Features

In this paper we propose a crossover operator for evolutionary algorithms with real values that is based on the statistical theory of population distributions. The operator is based on the theoretical distribution of the values of the genes of the best individuals in the population. The proposed operator takes into account the localization and dispersion features of the best individuals of the population with the objective that these features would be inherited by the offspring. Our aim is the optimization of the balance between exploration and exploitation in the search process. In order to test the efficiency and robustness of this crossover, we have used a set of functions to be optimized with regard to different criteria, such as, multimodality, separability, regularity and epistasis. With this set of functions we can extract conclusions in function of the problem at hand. We analyze the results using ANOVA and multiple comparison statistical tests. As an example of how our crossover can be used to solve artificial intelligence problems, we have applied the proposed model to the problem of obtaining the weight of each network in a ensemble of neural networks. The results obtained are above the performance of standard methods

Re veri e fasulli zar. Intesa ed antagonismo polacco moscovita nella historia di moscovia dell'abate pistoiese Alessandro Cilli

Review question/objectives: The objective of this review is to synthesize the evidence of registered nurses’ and midwives’ experiences of videoconferencing in clinical and professional practice. For the purpose of this review, professional practice is defined as activities including education and training, maintaining competencies, networking and peer support. Clinical practice includes any activities directly related to patient/client care. The primary questions to be answered are: What are the the perceptions and experiences of nurses and midwives in relation to the appropriateness and meaningfulness of videoconferencing; how do they perceive its use in professional and clinical practice? A secondary question to be addressed in this review is: What are nurse and midwife accounts of the factors that influence the use of videoconferencing in professional and clinical practice? Center conducting the review: Centre for Evidence-based Healthy Ageing – an Affiliate Center of the Joanna Briggs Institute; Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Queensland

Use of FTIR in the obtention of resins and peptides synthesis in solid phase

Despite the increase in peptide chain aggregation, which decreases the rate of coupling reactions, the synthesis and use of very highly substituted resins still remains as a controversial point in the SPPS, due to its clear economical advantages (lesser solvent consumption and higher amount of peptide per synthesis). In order to better investigate the synthesis and the use of very highly substituted resins, the FTIR, NMR and EPR were compared. By FTIR techniques it was possible to follow all the steps of resin synthesis and the factors affecting the aggregation of the chains inside the peptidil-BHAR and MBHAR.Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)Universidade Estadual Paulista Instituto de Química Departamento de Bioquímica e Tecnologia QuímicaUniversidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP) Departamento de BiofísicaUNIFESP, Depto. de BiofísicaSciEL

The Role of Boards in Reviewing Information Technology Governance (ITG) as Part of Organizational Control Environment Assessments

IT Governance (ITG) is an important topic as US companies must now monitor ITG under the provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (2002) (Hoffmann, 2003). Trites (2003) indicates that directors are responsible for strategic planning, internal control structures and business risk. The control environment is defined in Australian Auditing Standard AUS 402 to mean "the overall attitude, awareness and actions of management regarding internal control and its importance to the entity". This paper contributes to the knowledge of ITG by forming an integrated ITG Literature (IIL) which links prior research to four key dimensions of ITG. The paper presents a review of literature on ITG performance measurement systems which assess the ability of organizations to achieve these four ITG dimensions. A revised ITG Dimensions Model offered for consideration. The final contribution of the paper is to propose critical issues Boards should consider as part of their assessment of organizational control environments

Evaluation of the Blue-Carba test for rapid detection of carbapenemases in gram-negative Bacilli

The Blue-Carba test (BCT) is a biochemical test for rapid (2 h)detection of carbapenemase production in Gram-negative bacillidirectly from bacterial culture . It is based on the in vitrohydrolysis of imipenem by bacterial colonies (direct inoculationwithout prior lysis), which is detected by changes in pH valuesrevealed by the indicator bromothymol blue (blue to green/yellowor green to yellow). It was reported to be 100% sensitive andspecific for Enterobacteriaceae, Pseudomonasspp., and Acinetobacterspp. harboring carbapenemases . We evaluated a simplifiedprotocol of the BCT against various Gram-negative species, includingcombinations of bacterial species/resistance mechanismsthat were not previously evaluated.Fil: Pasteran, Fernando. Dirección Nacional de Instituto de Investigación. Administración Nacional de Laboratorio e Instituto de Salud “Dr. C. G. Malbrán”; ArgentinaFil: Veliz, Omar. Dirección Nacional de Instituto de Investigación. Administración Nacional de Laboratorio e Instituto de Salud “Dr. C. G. Malbrán”; ArgentinaFil: Ceriana, Paola. Dirección Nacional de Instituto de Investigación. Administración Nacional de Laboratorio e Instituto de Salud “Dr. C. G. Malbrán”; ArgentinaFil: Lucero, María Celeste. Dirección Nacional de Instituto de Investigación. Administración Nacional de Laboratorio e Instituto de Salud “Dr. C. G. Malbrán”; ArgentinaFil: Rapoport, Melina. Dirección Nacional de Instituto de Investigación. Administración Nacional de Laboratorio e Instituto de Salud “Dr. C. G. Malbrán”; ArgentinaFil: Albornoz, Ezequiel Pablo. Dirección Nacional de Instituto de Investigación. Administración Nacional de Laboratorio e Instituto de Salud “Dr. C. G. Malbrán”; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Gómez, Sonia Alejandra. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Dirección Nacional de Instituto de Investigación. Administración Nacional de Laboratorio e Instituto de Salud “Dr. C. G. Malbrán”; ArgentinaFil: Corso, Alejandra. Dirección Nacional de Instituto de Investigación. Administración Nacional de Laboratorio e Instituto de Salud “Dr. C. G. Malbrán”; Argentin

Genome Sequences for Three Strains of Kocuria rosea, Including the Type Strain

Genomes from three strains of Kocuria rosea were sequenced. K. rosea ATCC 186, the type strain, was 3,958,612 bp in length with a total G+C content of 72.70%. When assembled, K. rosea ATCC 516 was 3,862,128 bp with a 72.82% G+C content. K. rosea ATCC 49321 was 4,018,783 bp in size with a 72.49% G+C content

A Comparison of Warm-Up Modalities on Upper Body Force Production Measures

Warm-ups are often initiated before an athletic event in order to prepare the athlete’s body for competition by increasing blood flow to the working muscles. When a warm-up also activates nerve-muscle function, producing a level of high-intensity power even after the muscle contraction occurs, it is known as post-activation potentiation (PAP). Most PAP warm-ups include high-load, low-velocity conditioning contractions whereas a low-load, high-velocity conditioning contraction may be a more user-friendly warm-up. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of PAP after low-load, high-velocity conditioning contractions on subsequent upper body power exercises. Ten recreationally trained males (age: 23.2 yrs; height: 178.1 cm; mass: 88.3 kg; see Table 1) volunteered to participate in three testing sessions, each separated by 24-48 hours. The testing conditions were 10% of 1RM bench press and 20% 1RM bench press. After the conditioning contraction, participant’s performed a plyometric push-up immediately after and then 4- and 8-minutes after the warm-up. The plyometric push-up was performed on a force platform in order to gather the dependent variables: ground reaction force, normalized ground reaction force, and rate of force development. No main effect or interaction was found for any variables (p>.05). Subjects showed no strength improvements after performing the conditioning contractions, and further research must be done in order to validate other research on low-load, high-velocity conditioning contractions