bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
CD133: a potential indicator for differentiation and prognosis of human cholangiocarcinoma
Authors: Fan Linni , He Furong , Liu Hongxiang , Zhu Jin , Liu Yixiong , Yin Zhiyong , Wang Lu , Guo Ying , Wang Zhe , Yan Qingguo , Huang Gaosheng 
Published: July 2011

Abstract

Background
CD133 is known to be a cancer stem cell (CSC) marker. However, recent studies have revealed that CD133 is not restricted to CSC but to be expressed not only in human normal tissues but also in some cancers and could serve as a prognostic factor for the patients. Nevertheless, the expression of CD133 in human cholangiocarcinoma (CC) is rare and our study is to detect the expression and explore the potential functions of CD133 in human CC.

Methods
Fifty-nine cases, comprised of 5 normal liver tissues and 54 consecutive CC specimens (21 well-differentiated, 12 moderately-differentiated and 21 poorly-differentiated), were included in the study. Immunohistochemical stainning with CD133 protein was carried out, and statistical analyses were performed.

Results
CD133 was found to express in all 5 normal livers and 40 out of 54 (74%) CC tissues with different subcellular localization. In the well, moderately and poorly differentiated cases, the numbers of CD133 positive cases were 19 (19 of 21, 90%), 10 (10 of 12, 83%) and 11 (11 of 21, 52%) respectively. Further statistical analyses indicated that the expression and different subcellular localization of CD133 were significantly correlated with the differentiation status of tumors (P = 0.004, P = 0.009). Among 23 patients followed up for survival, the median survival was 4 months for fourteen CD133 negative patients but 14 months for nine CD133 positive ones. In univariate survival analysis, CD133 negative expression correlated with poor prognosis while CD133 positive expression predicted a favorable outcome of CC patients (P = 0.001).

Conclusions
Our study demonstrates that CD133 expression correlates with the differentiation of CC and indicates that CD133 is a potential indicator for differentiation and prognosis of human CC.
5-allyl-7-gen-difluoromethoxychrysin enhances TRAIL-induced apoptosis in human lung carcinoma A549 cells
Authors: Xie Zhao-Hui , Quan Mei-Fang , Liu Fei , Cao Jian-Guo , Zhang Jian-Song 
Published: July 2011

Abstract

Background
5-allyl-7-gen-difluoromethoxychrysin (AFMC) is a novel synthetic analogue of chrysin that has been reported to inhibit proliferation in various cancer cell lines. Tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) is a promising anti-cancer agent.

Methods
The cytotoxicity of A549 and WI-38 cells were determined using colorimetry. Apoptosis was detected by flow cytometry (FCM) after propidium iodide (PI) fluorescence staining and agarose gel electrophoresis. Caspase activities were evaluated using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).The expressions of DR4 and DR5 were analyzed using FCM and western blot.

Results
Subtoxic concentrations of AFMC sensitize human non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) A549 cells to TRAIL-mediated apoptosis. Combined treatment of A549 cells with AFMC and TRAIL significantly activated caspase-3, -8 and -9. The caspase-3 inhibitor zDEVD-fmk and the caspase-8 inhibitor zIETD-fmk blocked the apoptosis of A549 cells induced by co-treatment with AFMC and TRAIL. In addition, we found that treatment of A549 cells with AFMC significantly induced the expression of death receptor 5 (DR5). AFMC-mediated sensitization of A549 cells to TRAIL was efficiently reduced by administration of a blocking antibody or small interfering RNAs against DR5. AFMC also caused increase of the Sub-G1 cells by TRAIL treatment and increased the expression levels of DR5 in other NSCLC H460 and H157 cell lines. In contrast, AFMC-mediated induction of DR5 expression was not observed in human embryo lung WI-38 cells, and AFMC did not sensitize WI-38 cells to TRAIL-induced apoptosis.

Conclusions
AFMC synergistically enhances TRAIL-mediated apoptosis in NSCLC cells through up-regulating DR5 expression.
Emotional impact of screening: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Authors: Collins Ruth E , Lopez Laureen M , Marteau Theresa M 
Published: July 2011

Abstract

Background
There is a widely held expectation that screening for disease has adverse emotional impacts. The aim of the current review is to estimate the short (< 4 weeks) and longer term (> 4 weeks) emotional impact of such screening.

Methods
Studies selected for inclusion were (a) randomised controlled trials in which (b) participants in one arm underwent screening and received test results, and those in a control arm did not, and (c) emotional outcomes were assessed in both arms. MEDLINE via PubMed (1950 to present), EMBASE (1980 to present), PsycINFO (1985 to present) using OVID SP, and CINAHL (1982 to present) via EBSCO were searched, using strategies developed with keywords and medical subject headings. Data were extracted on emotional outcomes, type of screening test and test results.

Results
Of the 12 studies that met the inclusion criteria, six involved screening for cancer, two for diabetes, and one each for abdominal aortic aneurysms, peptic ulcer, coronary heart disease and osteoporosis. Five studies reported data on anxiety, four on depression, two on general distress and eight on quality of life assessed between one week and 13 years after screening (median = 1.3 years).
Meta-analyses revealed no significant impact of screening on longer term anxiety (pooled SMD 0.01, 95% CI -0.10, 0.11), depression (pooled SMD -0.04, 95% CI -.12, 0.20), or quality of life subscales (mental and self-assessed health pooled SMDs, respectively: 0.03; -0.01, (95% CI -.02, 0.04; 0.00, 95% CI -.04, 0.03).

Conclusion
Screening does not appear to have adverse emotional impacts in the longer term (> 4 weeks). Too few studies assessed outcomes before four weeks to comment on the shorter term emotional impact of screening.
Empathy in senior year and first year medical students: a cross-sectional study
Authors: Magalhães Eunice , Salgueira Ana P , Costa Patrício , Costa Manuel J 
Published: July 2011

Abstract

Background
The importance of fostering the development of empathy in undergraduate students is continuously emphasized in international recommendations for medical education. Paradoxically, some studies in the North-American context using self-reported measures have found that empathy declines during undergraduate medical training. Empathy is also known to be gender dependent- (highest for female medical students) and related to specialty preference - (higher in patient-oriented than technology-oriented specialties). This factor has not been studied in Portuguese medical schools.

Methods
This is a cross-sectional study of undergraduate medical students on self-rated measures of empathy collected at entrance and at the conclusion of the medical degree, and on the association of empathy measures with gender and specialty preferences in one medical school in Portugal. Empathy was assessed using the Portuguese adaptation of the Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy-students version (JSPE-spv) among three cohorts of undergraduate medical students in the first (N = 356) and last (N = 120) year. The construct validity of JSPE-spv was cross-validated with Principal Component Analysis and Confirmatory Factor Analysis. Reliability was assessed using Cronbach' Alpha. Global JSPE-spv score differences were examined by year of medical school, gender and specialty preferences (people-oriented vs technology-oriented specialties).

Results
The empathy scores of students in the final year were higher as compared to first year students (F (1,387) = 19.33, p < .001, ɳ2
p = 0.48; π = 0.99). Female students had higher empathy scores than male students (F (1,387) = 8.82, p < .01, ɳ 2
p = 0.23; π = 0.84). Significant differences in empathy were not found between the students who prefer people-oriented specialties compared to those who favor the technology-oriented specialties (F (1,387) = 2.44, p = .12, ɳ 2
p = 0.06; π = 0.06).

Conclusions
This cross-sectional study in one medical school in Portugal showed that the empathy measures of senior year students were higher than the scores of freshmen. A longitudinal cohort study is needed to test variations in students' empathy measures throughout medical school.
Predicting disease risks from highly imbalanced data using random forest
Authors: Khalilia Mohammed , Chakraborty Sounak , Popescu Mihail 
Published: July 2011

Abstract

Background
We present a method utilizing Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP) dataset for predicting disease risk of individuals based on their medical diagnosis history. The presented methodology may be incorporated in a variety of applications such as risk management, tailored health communication and decision support systems in healthcare.

Methods
We employed the National Inpatient Sample (NIS) data, which is publicly available through Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP), to train random forest classifiers for disease prediction. Since the HCUP data is highly imbalanced, we employed an ensemble learning approach based on repeated random sub-sampling. This technique divides the training data into multiple sub-samples, while ensuring that each sub-sample is fully balanced. We compared the performance of support vector machine (SVM), bagging, boosting and RF to predict the risk of eight chronic diseases.

Results
We predicted eight disease categories. Overall, the RF ensemble learning method outperformed SVM, bagging and boosting in terms of the area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve (AUC). In addition, RF has the advantage of computing the importance of each variable in the classification process.

Conclusions
In combining repeated random sub-sampling with RF, we were able to overcome the class imbalance problem and achieve promising results. Using the national HCUP data set, we predicted eight disease categories with an average AUC of 88.79%.
Morphology engineering - Osmolality and its effect on Aspergillus niger morphology and productivity
Authors: Wucherpfennig Thomas , Hestler Timo , Krull Rainer 
Published: July 2011

AbstractBackgroundThe filamentous fungusAspergillus nigeris a widely used strain in a broad range of industrial processes from food to pharmaceutical industry. One of the most intriguing and often uncontrollable characteristics of this filamentous organism is its complex morphology, ranging from dense spherical pellets to viscous mycelia depending on culture conditions. Optimal productivity correlates strongly with a specific morphological form, thus making high demands on process control.ResultsIn about 50 2L stirred tank cultivations the influence of osmolality onA.nigermorphology and productivity was investigated. The specific productivity of fructofuranosidase producing strainA. nigerSKAn 1015 could be increased notably from 0.5 to 9 U mg-1h-1around eighteen fold, by increasing the culture broth osmolality by addition of sodium chloride. The specific productivity of glucoamylase producing strainA. nigerAB1.13, could be elevated using the same procedure. An optimal producing osmolality was shown to exist well over the standard osmolality at about 3.2 osmol kg-1depending on the strain. Fungal morphology of all cultivations was examined by microscope and characterized by digital image analysis. Particle shape parameters were combined to a dimensionless Morphology number, which enabled a comprehensive characterization of fungal morphology correlating closely with productivity. A novel method for determination of germination time in submerged cultivations by laser diffraction, introduced in this study, revealed a decelerated germination process with increasing osmolality.ConclusionsThrough the introduction of the versatile Morphology number, this study provides the means for a desirable characterization of fungal morphology and demonstrates its relation to productivity. Furthermore, osmolality as a fairly new parameter in process engineering is introduced and found to affect fungal morphology and productivity. Osmolality might provide an auspicious and reliable approach to increase the productivity in industrial processes. Because of the predictable behavior fungal morphology showed in dependence of osmolality, a customization of morphology for process needs seems feasible.
Retinoid production using metabolically engineered Escherichia coli with a two-phase culture system
Authors: Jang Hui-Jeong , Yoon Sang-Hwal , Ryu Hee-Kyung , Kim Jung-Hun , Wang Chong-Long , Kim Jae-Yean , Oh Deok-Kun , Kim Seon-Won 
Published: July 2011

Abstract

Background
Retinoids are lipophilic isoprenoids composed of a cyclic group and a linear chain with a hydrophilic end group. These compounds include retinol, retinal, retinoic acid, retinyl esters, and various derivatives of these structures. Retinoids are used as cosmetic agents and effective pharmaceuticals for skin diseases. Retinal, an immediate precursor of retinoids, is derived by β-carotene 15,15'-mono(di)oxygenase (BCM(D)O) from β-carotene, which is synthesized from the isoprenoid building blocks isopentenyl diphosphate (IPP) and dimethylallyl diphosphate (DMAPP). Retinoids are chemically unstable and biologically degraded via retinoic acid. Although extensive studies have been performed on the microbial production of carotenoids, retinoid production using microbial metabolic engineering has not been reported. Here, we report retinoid production using engineered Escherichia coli that express exogenous BCM(D)O and the mevalonate (MVA) pathway for the building blocks synthesis in combination with a two-phase culture system using a dodecane overlay.

Results
Among the BCM(D)O tested in E. coli, the synthetic retinoid synthesis protein (SR), based on bacteriorhodopsin-related protein-like homolog (Blh) of the uncultured marine bacteria 66A03, showed the highest β-carotene cleavage activity with no residual intracellular β-carotene. By introducing the exogenous MVA pathway, 8.7 mg/L of retinal was produced, which is 4-fold higher production than that of augmenting the MEP pathway (dxs overexpression). There was a large gap between retinal production and β-carotene consumption using the exogenous MVA pathway; therefore, the retinal derivatives were analyzed. The derivatives, except for retinoic acid, that formed were identified, and the levels of retinal, retinol, and retinyl acetate were measured. Amounts as high as 95 mg/L retinoids were obtained from engineered E. coli DH5α harboring the synthetic SR gene and the exogenous MVA pathway in addition to dxs overexpression, which were cultured at 29°C for 72 hours with 2YT medium containing 2.0% (w/v) glycerol as the main carbon source. However, a significant level of intracellular degradation of the retinoids was also observed in the culture. To prevent degradation of the intracellular retinoids through in situ extraction from the cells, a two-phase culture system with dodecane was used. The highest level of retinoid production (136 mg/L) was obtained after 72 hours with 5 mL of dodecane overlaid on a 5 mL culture.

Conclusions
In this study, we successfully produced 136 mg/L retinoids, which were composed of 67 mg/L retinal, 54 mg/L retinol, and 15 mg/L retinyl acetate, using a two-phase culture system with dodecane, which produced 68-fold more retinoids than the initial level of production (2.2 mg/L). Our results demonstrate the potential use of E. coli as a promising microbial cell factory for retinoid production.
A nucleoside anticancer drug, 1-(3-C-ethynyl-β-D-ribo-pentofuranosyl)cytosine (TAS106), sensitizes cells to radiation by suppressing BRCA2 expression
Authors: Meike Shunsuke , Yamamori Tohru , Yasui Hironobu , Eitaki Masato , Matsuda Akira , Morimatsu Masami , Fukushima Masakazu , Yamasaki Yasundo , Inanami Osamu 
Published: July 2011

Abstract

Background
A novel anticancer drug 1-(3-C-ethynyl-β-D-ribo-pentofuranosyl)cytosine (ECyd, TAS106) has been shown to radiosensitize tumor cells and to improve the therapeutic efficiency of X-irradiation. However, the effect of TAS106 on cellular DNA repair capacity has not been elucidated. Our aim in this study was to examine whether TAS106 modified the repair capacity of DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) in tumor cells.

Methods
Various cultured cell lines treated with TAS106 were irradiated and then survival fraction was examined by the clonogenic survival assays. Repair of sublethal damage (SLD), which indicates DSBs repair capacity, was measured as an increase of surviving cells after split dose irradiation with an interval of incubation. To assess the effect of TAS106 on the DSBs repair activity, the time courses of γ-H2AX and 53BP1 foci formation were examined by using immunocytochemistry. The expression of DNA-repair-related proteins was also examined by Western blot analysis and semi-quantitative RT-PCR analysis.

Results
In clonogenic survival assays, pretreatment of TAS106 showed radiosensitizing effects in various cell lines. TAS106 inhibited SLD repair and delayed the disappearance of γ-H2AX and 53BP1 foci, suggesting that DSB repair occurred in A549 cells. Western blot analysis demonstrated that TAS106 down-regulated the expression of BRCA2 and Rad51, which are known as keys among DNA repair proteins in the homologous recombination (HR) pathway. Although a significant radiosensitizing effect of TAS106 was observed in the parental V79 cells, pretreatment with TAS106 did not induce any radiosensitizing effects in BRCA2-deficient V-C8 cells.

Conclusions
Our results indicate that TAS106 induces the down-regulation of BRCA2 and the subsequent abrogation of the HR pathway, leading to a radiosensitizing effect. Therefore, this study suggests that inhibition of the HR pathway may be useful to improve the therapeutic efficiency of radiotherapy for solid tumors.
Evaluation of safety margins of Chenopodium albumseed decoction: 14-day subacute toxicity and microbicidal activity studies
Authors: Kumar Shrabanti , Biswas Shampa , Banerjee Sukdeb , Mondal Nirup B 
Published: July 2011

Abstract

Background
Sperm immobilizing activity and plausible mechanism of action of Chenopodium album seed decoction (CAD) have been elucidated in our earlier studies. The present study has been carried out to explore the safety standards of CAD along with microbicidal properties as prerequisite for its use as a topically applicable vaginal contraceptive.

Methods
The safety standards of CAD were assessed by a) Hemolytic index determination using rabbit erythrocytes, to set the doses of the other experiments, b) Dermal irritancy test using refined version of Draize scoring system on rabbits, c) Possible effect on local tissues and reproductive performance in female rats after fourteen daily single dose application, d) PCNA staining- to evaluate the effect of CAD on vaginal tissue proliferation, e) TUNEL assay- to examine its ability to induce in situ apoptosis in the vaginal tissue sections of the treated animals, and f) Microbicidal activity- to explore the effect of CAD on the growth of Lactobacillus acidophilus and Candida albicans.

Results

In vitro irritation studies on rabbit erythrocytes revealed the hemolytic index of CAD to be 8.2 mg/ml. The dermal irritation test showed it to be a non-irritant even at higher doses. Intra vaginal application of CAD in rat vagina for 14 consecutive days caused slight reversible inflammation on vaginal epithelial cells at doses as high as 82 mg/ml. However, at this dose level it neither had any adverse effect on vaginal tissue proliferation nor did it cause in situ apoptosis as evident from PCNA staining and TUNEL assay. Fertility and fecundity were restored 4-15 days after withdrawal of CAD application. At dose level 10 times that of its spermicidal MEC (minimum effective concentration), CAD did not block the growth of Lactobacillus, although the size of individual colony was marginally reduced. However, growth of the pathogenic fungus Candida albicans was completely inhibited with 20 mg/ml of CAD.

Conclusion
The overall result evolved from the study strengthens the candidature of CAD as a safe microbicidal spermicide. It is almost non-irritant to rabbit skin and rat vaginal tissues at doses 10 fold higher than its hemolytic index. The effect of CAD on Lactobacillus culture was not highly encouraging but it prevented the growth of the fungal pathogen Candida albicans at 20 mg/ml of CAD.
Effect of estradiol on proliferation and differentiation of side population stem/progenitor cells from murine endometrium
Authors: Xu Jing , Hu Fei-Fei , Cui Yu-Gui , Luo Jian , Jiang Chun-Yan , Gao Li , Qian Xiao-Qiao , Mao Yun-Dong , Liu Jia-Yin 
Published: July 2011

Abstract

Background
In our previous study, endometrium side population cells (SP cells) were isolated from postpartum murine uterus, and characterized by a heterogeneous population of stem/progenitor cells. In this study, we investigated the effect of estrogen on the proliferation and differentiation of SP cells.

Methods
SP and non-SP cells of postpartum murine endometrium were isolated by DNA dye Hoechst 33342. The expression of estrogen receptor 1 (ESR1) was measured by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), Real-time PCR, Western blot, immunofluorescence and immunohistochemistry. The proliferation and differentiation of SP cells treated with different concentrations [10(-8) M-10(-6) M] of estradiol (E2) and E2+ ICI182780 (Faslodex, inhibitor of ESR1) were measured by 3-(4, 5-dimethylthiazoly1-2)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide(MTT) and clonogenic assays.

Results
(1) SP cells expressed ESR1 at a higher level than non-SP cells. (2) The level of E2 in the serum and the expression of ESR1 in the uterus of postpartum murine changed in the same manner with the ratio of SP cells to total uterus cells at a different postpartum time point. ESR1, as ABCG2 is also predominantly located in the stroma and the glandular epithelium of the uterus. (3) 10(-6) M E2 notably promoted the proliferation of SP cells after treatment for 24 h. This effect could be inhibited by ICI182780. E2 at the concentration of 10(-7) M or 10(-8) M was sent to impair the large cloning efficiency (CE) of SP cells.

Conclusions
The effect of estrogen on the proliferation and differentiation of endometrium SP cells via ESR1 was observed and it was in a concentration dependent fashion. Clearly, more work is needed to understand the in vivo effect of E2 at the physiological concentration on the differentiation of SP cells.
Development of one-step SYBR Green real-time RT-PCR for quantifying bovine viral diarrhea virus type-1 and its comparison with conventional RT-PCR
Authors: Zhang Ni , Liu Zhengwen , Han Qunying , Qiu Jianming , Chen Jinghong , Zhang Guoyu , Li Zhu , Lou Sai , Li Na 
Published: July 2011

Abstract

Background
Bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) is a worldwide pathogen in cattle and acts as a surrogate model for hepatitis C virus (HCV). One-step real-time fluorogenic quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay based on SYBR Green I dye has not been established for BVDV detection. This study aims to develop a quantitative one-step RT-PCR assay to detect BVDV type-1 in cell culture.

Results
One-step quantitative SYBR Green I RT-PCR was developed by amplifying cDNA template from viral RNA and using in vitro transcribed BVDV RNA to establish a standard curve. The assay had a detection limit as low as 100 copies/ml of BVDV RNA, a reaction efficiency of 103.2%, a correlation coefficient (R2) of 0.995, and a maximum intra-assay CV of 2.63%. It was 10-fold more sensitive than conventional RT-PCR and can quantitatively detect BVDV RNA levels from 10-fold serial dilutions of titrated viruses containing a titer from 10-1 to 10-5 TCID50, without non-specific amplification. Melting curve analysis showed no primer-dimers and non-specific products.

Conclusions
The one-step SYBR Green I RT-PCR is specific, sensitive and reproducible for the quantification of BVDV in cell culture. This one-step SYBR Green I RT-PCR strategy may be further optimized as a reliable assay for diagnosing and monitoring BVDV infection in animals. It may also be applied to evaluate candidate agents against HCV using BVDV cell culture model.