Effect of maternal administration of betamethasone on peripheral arterial development in fetal rabbit lungs

Objectives: Glucocorticoids promote lung maturation and reduce the incidence of respiratory distress syndrome in premature newborns. We hypothesized that betamethasone (BM), which is known to induce thinning of the alveolar walls, would also thin the arterial media and adventitia of intra-parenchymatic vessels in developing rabbit lungs. Study Design: 112 fetuses from 21 time-mated, pregnant, giant white rabbits received maternal injections of BM at either 0.05 or 0.1 mg/kg/day on days 25-26 of gestational age. Controls received either saline (10 does, 56 fetuses) or no injection (10 does, 59 fetuses). Fetuses were harvested from day 27 onwards until term (day 31). 44 additional fetuses (8 does) were harvested between days 23 and 26. Endpoints were wet lung-to-body weight ratio, vascular morphometric indices and immunohistochemistry staining for α-smooth muscle actin, Flk-1, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS). ANOVA (Tukey's test) and independent t test (p < 0.05) were used for comparison between BM and saline groups. Results: Maternal BM injected on days 25-26 to pregnant rabbits induced a significant decrease in fetal body and lung weight and the lung-to-body weight ratio in the preterm pups shortly after injection. BM led to a dose-dependent thinning of the arterial media and adventitia (pulmonary arteries with an external diameter (ED) of <100 μm), to an increase in the percentage of non-muscularized peripheral vessels (ED <60 μm), in eNOS and VEGF immunoreactivity of the endothelial and smooth muscle cells in the pulmonary vessels and to an increase in Flk-1-positive pulmonary epithelial cell density. Conclusions: Maternal administration of BM caused thinning of the arterial wall of pulmonary vessels (ED <100 μm) and a decrease in muscularization in peripheral vessels (ED <60 μm). This coincided with increased expression of Flk-1 in the endothelium and smooth muscle cells of the pulmonary arteries. All the effects studied were dose-dependent. Copyrigh

Grading systems in head and neck dysplasia: their prognostic value, weaknesses and utility

Contains fulltext : 80594.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Grading of dysplasia, including head and neck lesions, continues to be a hotly debated subject. It is subjective and lacks intra- and inter-observer reproducibility due to the insufficiency of validated morphological criteria and the biological nature of dysplasia. Moreover, due to the absence of a consensus, several systems are currently employed. OBJECTIVES: The aims of this review are to:1) Highlight the significance of dysplasia and the importance of a valid method for assessing precursor lesions of the head and neck.2) Review the different histopathological classification systems for grading intraepithelial lesions of the head and neck.3) Discuss and review quality requirements for these grading systems. CONCLUSION: Regarding the different classification systems, data concerning the WHO classification system are the most available in current literature. There is no simple relationship or overlapping between the classification systems. Further studies should be done to see whether other systems have advantages above the current WHO system and to discover indications that could lead to an universal classification system for intraepithelial lesions of the head and neck

Low-penetrance alleles predisposing to sporadic colorectal cancers: a French case-controlled genetic association study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Sporadic colorectal cancers (CRC) are multifactorial diseases resulting from the combined effects of numerous genetic, environmental and behavioral risk factors. Genetic association studies have suggested low-penetrance alleles of extremely varied genes to be involved in susceptibility to CRC in Caucasian populations.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Through a large genetic association study based on 1023 patients with sporadic CRC and 1121 controls, we tested a panel of these low-penetrance alleles to find out whether they could determine "genotypic profiles" at risk for CRC among individuals of the French population. We examined 52 polymorphisms of 35 genes – drawn from inflammation, xenobiotic detoxification, one-carbon, insulin signaling, and DNA repair pathways – for their possible contribution to colorectal carcinogenesis. The risk of cancer associated with these polymorphisms was assessed by calculation of odds ratios (OR) using multivariate analyses and logistic regression.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Whereas all these polymorphisms had previously been found to be associated with CRC risk, especially in Caucasian populations, we were able to replicate the association for only five of them. Three SNPs were shown to increase CRC risk: <it>PTGS1 </it>c.639C>A (p.Gly213Gly), <it>IL8 </it>c.-352T>A, and <it>MTHFR </it>c.1286A>C (p.Ala429Glu). On the contrary, two other SNPs, <it>PLA2G2A </it>c.435+230C>T and <it>PPARG </it>c.1431C>T (p.His477His), were associated with a decrease in CRC risk. Further analyses highlighted genotypic combinations having a greater predisposing effect on CRC (OR 1.97, 95%CI 1.31–2.97, p = 0.0009) than the allelic variants that were examined separately.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The identification of CRC-predisposing combinations, composed of alleles <it>PTGS1 </it>c.639A, <it>PLA2G2A </it>c.435+230C, <it>PPARG </it>c.1431C, <it>IL8 </it>c.-352A, and <it>MTHFR </it>c.1286C, highlights the importance of inflammatory processes in susceptibility to sporadic CRC, as well as a possible crosstalk between inflammation and one-carbon pathways.</p

Haplotype Analysis Improved Evidence for Candidate Genes for Intramuscular Fat Percentage from a Genome Wide Association Study of Cattle

In genome wide association studies (GWAS), haplotype analyses of SNP data are neglected in favour of single point analysis of associations. In a recent GWAS, we found that none of the known candidate genes for intramuscular fat (IMF) had been identified. In this study, data from the GWAS for these candidate genes were re-analysed as haplotypes. First, we confirmed that the methodology would find evidence for association between haplotypes in candidate genes of the calpain-calpastatin complex and musculus longissimus lumborum peak force (LLPF), because these genes had been confirmed through single point analysis in the GWAS. Then, for intramuscular fat percent (IMF), we found significant partial haplotype substitution effects for the genes ADIPOQ and CXCR4, as well as suggestive associations to the genes CEBPA, FASN, and CAPN1. Haplotypes for these genes explained 80% more of the phenotypic variance compared to the best single SNP. For some genes the analyses suggested that there was more than one causative mutation in some genes, or confirmed that some causative mutations are limited to particular subgroups of a species. Fitting the SNPs and their interactions simultaneously explained a similar amount of the phenotypic variance compared to haplotype analyses. Haplotype analysis is a neglected part of the suite of tools used to analyse GWAS data, would be a useful method to extract more information from these data sets, and may contribute to reducing the missing heritability problem

Functional analysis of the sporulation-specific SPR6 gene of Saccharomyces cerevisiae

The SPR6 gene of Saccharomyces cerevisiae encodes a moderately abundant RNA that is present at high levels only during sporulation. The gene contains a long open reading frame that could encode a hydrophilic protein approximately 21 kDa in size. This protein is probably produced by the yeast, because the lacZ gene of Escherichia coli is expressed during sporulation when fused to SPR6 in the expected reading frame. SPR6 is inessential for sporulation; mutants that lack SPR6 activity sporulate normally and produce viable ascospores. Nonetheless, the SPR6 gene encodes a function that is relevant to sporulating cells; the wild-type allele can enhance sporulation in strains that are defective for several SPR functions. SPR6 is located on chromosome V, 14.4 centimorgans centromere-distal to MET6 .Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/46973/1/294_2004_Article_BF00318210.pd

Genetic variability of milk fatty acids.

The milk fatty acid (FA) profile is far from the optimal fat composition in regards to human health. The natural sources of variation, such as feeding or genetics, could be used to increase the concentrations of unsaturated fatty acids. The impact of feeding is well described. However, genetic effects on the milk FA composition begin to be extensively studied. This paper summarizes the available information about the genetic variability of FAs. The greatest breed differences in FA composition are observed between Holstein and Jersey milk. Milk fat of the latter breed contains higher concentrations of saturated FAs, especially short-chain FAs. The variation of the delta-9 desaturase activity estimated from specific FA ratios could explain partly these breed differences. The choice of a specific breed seems to be a possibility to improve the nutritional quality of milk fat. Generally, the proportions of FAs in milk are more heritable than the proportions of these same FAs in fat. Heritability estimates range from 0.00 to 0.54. The presence of some single nucleotide polymorphisms could explain partly the observed individual genetic variability. The polymorphisms detected on SCD1 and DGAT1 genes influence the milk FA composition. The SCD1 V allele increases the unsaturation of C16 and C18. The DGAT1 A allele is related to the unsaturation of C18. So, a combination of the molecular and quantitative approaches should be used to develop tools helping farmers in the selection of their animals to improve the nutritional quality of the produced milk fat

Wormlike micelle formation of novel alkyl-tri(ethylene glycol)-glucoside carbohydrate surfactants: Structure–function relationships and rheology

Carbohydrates are appealing non-ionic surfactant head-groups as they are naturally abundant, generally biocompatible and biodegradable, and readily functionalized. Here, seven novel carbohydrate based surfactants (CBS) have been synthesized that contain a tri-ethylene glycol (TEG) linker between a glucose head-group and alkyl tail-group, with linear saturated (C8–18) and unsaturated (C18:1) alkyl chains. The aqueous adsorption and self-assembly of these surfactants was explored using tensiometry and small- and ultra-small-angle neutron scattering (SANS and USANS). With SANS we observed elongation from spherical to cylindrical micelles with increasing alkyl chain length. C16 and C18 chains exhibited pronounced Krafft points, yet formed worm-like micelles as single components upon heating to 43 and 48 °C respectively. The introduction of mono-unsaturation in the form of a C18:1 chain reduced the Krafft point and gave a surfactant that produced worm-like micelles in water without additives at room temperature. We also observed micellar elongation for C12 and C14 chains at 50 °C due to dehydration of the TEG linker. The room temperature worm-like micelles were further characterized using rheo-SANS and rheology, revealing the C18:1 surfactant to exhibit near ideal Maxwell behavior at low concentrations (2.9 wt.%). These results provide insight into structure-function relationships for CBS, and demonstrate a promising molecular candidate for the formation of viscoelastic worm-like micellar solutions. © 2018 Elsevier Inc