High level expression of apoptosis inhibitor in hepatoma cell line expressing Hepatitis B virus

The serious result of hepatitis B (HBV) virus infection is development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, the reason of development of HCC in HBV infected patients is still unclear. Recently, the suppression of cell apoptosis is found to relate with the development of cell carcinogenesis, therefore, the expression of apoptosis inhibitor in the virus related cancer line such as hepatoma cell line HepG2.215 was investigated. There are at least six Human apoptosis inhibitors (IAP) have been identified now. They are cIAP1, cIAP2, XIAP, NAPI, survivin and pIAP. Using gene-assay technology, we have recently compared the expression of IAPs in the HepG2.215 cells that persistently expresses Hepatitis B virus by integrated HBV genome with its parent cell line HepG2. The results suggest that there was obviously increase of cIAP2 and cIAP1 in the HepG2.215 cells versus HepG2 cells. Those observations imply a possibility of long time HBV infection could induce the over-expressing apoptosis inhibitors, furthermore, causing the liver cancer. The high expression of cIAP1 and cIAP2 in HBV expressing cells was confirmed by RT-PCR and Northern blot analysis. However, we did not find the change of NIAP and suvivin in HepG2.215 cells. In contrast, the expression of XIAP was down in the HepG2.215 cells comparing with HepG2 cells. How HBV triggers the over-expression of apoptosis inhibitor is unclear. Transient transfection of HepG2 cells with the plasmids expressing different HBV proteins such as S, M, L, X and core proteins did not give a decisive conclusion. Further study is going on now.     

Muscular fatigue during repeated isokinetic shoulder forward flexions in young females

Summary Peak torque, work, mean power and electromyographic (EMG) activity were recorded for each of 150 repeated isokinetic maximal shoulder flexions (45°–90°) in 23 healthy females. From the EMG signals of trapezius, deltoid, infraspinatus and biceps brachii the mean power frequency and the signal amplitude were determined in real time. The mechanical output showed a steep decrease during the first 40 contractions, followed by a plateau maintained until the end. In all muscles, except the biceps brachii, significant decreases in mean power frequency occurred during the first 40 contractions, showing a tendency to stabilize around the same absolute frequency value. Signal amplitude increased in the trapezius, the deltoid and the infraspinatus, but was constant in the biceps brachii. For some individuals rather high EMG activity was recorded in the muscles during the time the arm was supposed to be passively extended to the starting position, and this was found to be associated with lower strength and endurance levels. Longitudinal analyses showed that the mean power frequencies correlated better than the signal amplitudes with the three mechanical variables. The results suggest that the initial steep decrease in mechanical performance and mean power frequency is caused by fatiguing of type 2 motor units.     

The Bioperl toolkit: Perl modules for the life sciences

The Bioperl project is an international open-source collaboration of biologists, bioinformaticians, and computer scientists that has evolved over the past 7 yr into the most comprehensive library of Perl modules available for managing and manipulating life-science information. Bioperl provides an easy-to-use, stable, and consistent programming interface for bioinformatics application programmers. The Bioperl modules have been successfully and repeatedly used to reduce otherwise complex tasks to only a few lines of code. The Bioperl object model has been proven to be flexible enough to support enterprise-level applications such as EnsEMBL, while maintaining an easy learning curve for novice Perl programmers. Bioperl is capable of executing analyses and processing results from programs such as BLAST, ClustalW, or the EMBOSS suite. Interoperation with modules written in Python and Java is supported through the evolving BioCORBA bridge. Bioperl provides access to data stores such as GenBank and SwissProt via a flexible series of sequence input/output modules, and to the emerging common sequence data storage format of the Open Bioinformatics Database Access project. This study describes the overall architecture of the toolkit, the problem domains that it addresses, and gives specific examples of how the toolkit can be used to solve common life-sciences problems. We conclude with a discussion of how the open-source nature of the project has contributed to the development effort.     

Design, testing, and clinical studies of a handheld polarized light camera

Polarized light imaging has been used to detect the borders of skin cancer and facilitate assessment of cancer boundaries. A design for an inexpensive handheld polarized camera is presented and clinical images acquired with this prototype are shown. The camera is built with two universal serial bus (USB) color video cameras, a polarizing beamsplitter cube, and a 4x objective lens. Illumination is provided by three white LEDs and a sheet polarizer. Horizontal and vertical linearly polarized reflected images are processed at 7 frames/s and a resulting polarized image is displayed on screen. We compare the performances of cheap USB camera and a 16-bit electronically cooled camera. Dark noise and image repeatability are compared. In both cases, the 16-bit camera outperforms the USB cameras. Despite these limitations, the results obtained with this USB prototype are very satisfactory. Examples of polarized images of lesions taken prior to surgery are presented.     

Effects of DFMO-induced polyamine depletion on human tumor cell sensitivity to antineoplastic DNA-crosslinking drugs

Summary We investigated the effect of pretreatment with difluoromethylornithine (DFMO), an ornithine decarboxylase inhibitor, on the cytocidal responses of four human adenocarcinoma cell lines to two alkylating and crosslinking agents: chlorambucil and N,N,N-triethylenethio-phosphoramide (thiotepa). The cell lines studied included HuTu-80 (duodenum), HT-29 (colon), ME-180 (cervix), and A-427 (lung). A 48- to 72-h pretreatment with DFMO reduced intracellular putrescine and spermidine contents to <10% and <1% of control levels. This treatment also caused a 30%–70% decline in spermine content. Survival of control and DFMO-pretreated cells after treatment with chlorambucil or thiotepa was measured by a plating efficiency assy. For three of the four lines studied, the DFMO-induced partial polyamine depletion significantly protected cells from the lethal effects of chlorambucil. In ME-180 cultures alone, DFMO pretreatment did not alter the cytocidal efficacy of chlorambucil. Addition of exogenous putrescine to cultures of HuTu-80, HT-29, or A-427 24 h after DFMO addition but 24 h before treatment with chlorambucil reversed the polyamine depletion and its protective effects on chlorambucil-induced cell kill. In contrast to the above observations, DFMO and partial polyamine depletion had no effect on cell survival after thiotepa treatment for any of the cell lines investigated.Abbreviations BCNU 1,3-bis (2-chloroethyl)-1-nitrosourea - CENU chloroethylnitrosourea - cis-Pt (II) cis-diamminedichloroplatinum (II) - DFMO difluoromethylornithine - ODC ornithine decarboxylase - PU putrescine - SD spermidine - SP spermine thiotepa - N,N,N triethylenethiophosphoramide This investigation was supported in part by PHS grant no. CA-32758 awarded by the National Cancer Institute, DHHS; by grant no. 82-6 from the American Cancer Society, Ill. Div., Inc.; and by a Biomedical Research Support Grant to Northwestern University Medical School from the US PHS, NIH (RR-05370)     

Rapid,Full-Scale Change to Virtual PCIT During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Implementation and Clinical Implications

Health agencies call for the immediate mobilization of existing interventions in response to numerous child and family mental health concerns that have arisen as result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Answering this call, this pilot study describes the rapid, full-scale change from a primarily clinic-based Parent–Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) model to a virtual service model (i.e., I-PCIT) in an academic and community-based program in Miami, Florida. First, we describe the virtual service training model our program developed and its implementation with 17 therapists (M_Age?=?32.35, 88.2% female, 47.1% Hispanic) to enable our clinic to shift from providing virtual services to a small portion of the families served (29.1%) to all of the families served. Second, we examine the effect of I-PCIT on child and caregiver outcomes during the 2-month stay-at-home period between March 16, 2020, and May 16, 2020, in 86 families (M_ChildAge?=?4.75, 71% Hispanic). Due to the rapid nature of the current study, all active participants were transferred to virtual services, and therefore there was no comparison or control group, and outcomes represent the most recently available scores and not treatment completion. Results reveal that I-PCIT reduced child externalizing and internalizing problems and caregiver stress, and increased parenting skills and child compliance with medium to large effects even in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Finally, the study examined components of our virtual service training model associated with the greatest improvements in child and caregiver outcomes. Preliminary findings revealed that locally and collaboratively developed strategies (e.g., online communities of practice, training videos and guides) had the strongest association with child and caregiver outcomes. Implications for virtual service delivery, implementation, and practice in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic are discussed.