G12 signaling through c-jun nh 2-terminal kinase promotes breast cancer cell invasion

10.1371/journal.pone.0026085PLoS ONE611

Relationship between Antibody Susceptibility and Lipopolysaccharide O-Antigen Characteristics of Invasive and Gastrointestinal Nontyphoidal Salmonellae Isolates from Kenya

Background: Nontyphoidal Salmonellae (NTS) cause a large burden of invasive and gastrointestinal disease among young children in sub-Saharan Africa. No vaccine is currently available. Previous reports indicate the importance of the O-antigen of Salmonella lipopolysaccharide for virulence and resistance to antibody-mediated killing. We hypothesised that isolates with more O-antigen have increased resistance to antibody-mediated killing and are more likely to be invasive than gastrointestinal. Methodology/Principal findings: We studied 192 NTS isolates (114 Typhimurium, 78 Enteritidis) from blood and stools, mostly from paediatric admissions in Kenya 2000-2011. Isolates were tested for susceptibility to antibody-mediated killing, using whole adult serum. O-antigen structural characteristics, including O-acetylation and glucosylation, were investigated. Overall, isolates were susceptible to antibody-mediated killing, but S. Enteritidis were less susceptible and expressed more O-antigen than Typhimurium (p\u3c0.0001 for both comparisons). For S. Typhimurium, but not Enteritidis, O-antigen expression correlated with reduced sensitivity to killing (r = 0.29, 95% CI = 0.10-0.45, p = 0.002). Both serovars expressed O-antigen populations ranging 21-33 kDa average molecular weight. O-antigen from most Typhimurium were O-acetylated on rhamnose and abequose residues, while Enteritidis O-antigen had low or no O-acetylation. Both Typhimurium and Enteritidis O-antigen were approximately 20%-50% glucosylated. Amount of S. Typhimurium O-antigen and O-antigen glucosylation level were inversely related. There was no clear association between clinical presentation and antibody susceptibility, O-antigen level or other O-antigen features. Conclusion/Significance: Kenyan S. Typhimurium and Enteritidis clinical isolates are susceptible to antibody-mediated killing, with degree of susceptibility varying with level of O-antigen for S. Typhimurium. This supports the development of an antibody-inducing vaccine against NTS for Africa. No clear differences were found in the phenotype of isolates from blood and stool, suggesting that the same isolates can cause invasive disease and gastroenteritis. Genome studies are required to understand whether invasive and gastrointestinal isolates differ at the genotypic level

Terabit indoor laser-based wireless communications : LiFi 2.0 for 6G

This paper provides a summary of available technologies required for implementing indoor laser-based wireless networks capable of achieving aggregate data-rates of terabits per second as widely accepted as a sixth generation (6G) key performance indicator. The main focus of this paper is on the technologies supporting the near infrared region of the optical spectrum. The main challenges in the design of the transmitter and receiver systems and communication/networking schemes are identified and new insights are provided. This paper also covers the previous and recent standards as well as industrial applications for optical wireless communications (OWC) and LiFi

OLIG2 is differentially expressed in pediatric astrocytic and in ependymal neoplasms.

The bHLH transcription factor, OLIG2, is universally expressed in adult human gliomas and, as a major factor in the development of oligodendrocytes, is expressed at the highest levels in low-grade oligodendroglial tumors. In addition, it is functionally required for the formation of high-grade astrocytomas in a genetically relevant murine model. The pediatric gliomas have genomic profiles that are different from the corresponding adult tumors and accordingly, the expression of OLIG2 in non-oligodendroglial pediatric gliomas is not well documented within specific tumor types. In the current study, the pattern of OLIG2 expression in a spectrum of 90 non-oligodendroglial pediatric gliomas varied from very low levels in the ependymomas (cellular and tanycytic) to high levels in pilocytic astrocytoma, and in the diffuse-type astrocytic tumors (WHO grades II-IV). With dual-labeling, glioblastoma had the highest percentage of OLIG2 expressing cells that were also Ki-67 positive (mean = 16.3%) whereas pilocytic astrocytoma WHO grade I and astrocytoma WHO grade II had the lowest (0.9 and 1%, respectively); most of the Ki-67 positive cells in the diffuse-type astrocytomas (WHO grade II-III) were also OLIG2 positive (92-94%). In contrast to the various types of pediatric astrocytic tumors, all ependymomas WHO grade II, regardless of site of origin, showed at most minimal OLIG2 expression, suggesting that OLIG2 function in pediatric gliomas is cell lineage dependent

“They forget what they came for”: Uganda's army in Sudan

Uganda's army, the Uganda People's Defence Force (UPDF), has been operating on Sudanese territory since the late 1990s. From 2002 to 2006, a bilateral agreement between the governments in Khartoum and Kampala gave the Ugandan soldiers permission to conduct military operations in Southern Sudan to eliminate the Ugandan rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). Instead of conducting a successful operation against Uganda's most persistent rebels - who had withdrawn into Sudanese territory and acted as a proxy force in Sudan's civil war - the UPDF conducted a campaign of abuse against Sudanese civilians. Drawing on extensive fieldwork conducted over several years, this article documents local experiences of a foreign army's involvement in the brutal Sudanese civil war. It outlines why continued operations of the UPDF outside their borders recreate the same problem they purport to be fighting: abuses of civilians. Since 2008, US military support for the UPDF mission against the LRA has called into question the viability of continued militarisation through an army that has committed widely documented human rights abuses. The foreign military has not brought peace to the region. Instead, it has made a peaceful environment less likely for residents of South Sudan