An increasing number of cancer patients receive outpatient chemotherapy as an alternative to inpatient chemotherapy. The aim of this study was to investigate whether quality of life (QOL) during ...outpatient chemotherapy was better than QOL prior to hospital discharge, and to explore possible related factors prior to hospital discharge that affected the QOL of lung cancer patients who received outpatient chemotherapy. Lung cancer inpatients who were scheduled for outpatient chemotherapy were assessed two times (prior to hospital discharge and during outpatient chemotherapy) using the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Lung and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. A total of 40 patients completed all assessments, both prior to hospital discharge and during outpatient chemotherapy. In the present study, QOL during outpatient chemotherapy was not significantly different when compared with the QOL prior to hospital discharge, and predictors prior to hospital discharge for a better QOL of patients during outpatient chemotherapy included better social, emotional and physical well-being. These results suggest that medical staff, in particular those involved in outpatient chemotherapy, need to recognize social and emotional as well as physical well-being prior to hospital discharge, regardless of cancer-related factors and the personal characteristics of the patients.
We report the case of a 28-year-old woman who presented simultaneously with superior sagittal sinus thrombosis and thyroid crisis, and was subsequently found to have protein C deficiency. February 3, ...2003, she admitted complaining of abdominal pain. The diagnosis of appendicitis was made, and she was operated on under lumbar anaesthesia. Day 7, she developed acute headache and distal weakness of the left lower limb. On examination she was alert, with a temperature of 38 degrees C, a sinus tachycardia of 124/min and blood pressure 164/84 mmHg. Neurological examination revealed neck stiffness and left hemiparesis, predominantly in her lower limb. Gadlinium-enhanced brain MRI revealed extensive superior sagittal sinus thrombosis. CT scan demonstrated infarction in the right frontal cortex, and subarachnoid hemorrhage adjacent to the right cerebellar tentorium. The patient was treated with a free radical scavenger edarabon, and glycerin. No anticoagulant therapy was instituted. Over the next 24 hours, her condition worsened. She became comatose, as well as developing a generalized tonic-clonic seizure. Day 12, laboratory examinations revealed an undetectable TSH-level CTSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) <0.005 mcIU/ml), with a level of free thyroxin 7.77 ng/dl (0.9-1.7), free triiodothyronin 29.6 pg/ml (2.3-4.3), and positive anti-TSH receptor antibodies determined subsequently. Coagulation factor VIII activity was 155% (normal range 60-150). Protein C deficiency (antigen 59%, activity 49%) was also present, suggesting a congenital type I heterozygous deficiency. A diagnosis of thyroid crisis on the basis of Graves' disease was made. The patient remained comatose and died on Day 16, with renal failure. The patient had protein C deficiency, a well-established risk factor for cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT). However, additional risk factors are required in most cases to precipitate CVT. In our case, this trigger was most likely thyroid crisis, suggesting that thyrotoxicosis, probably through hypercoagulability, may be a predisposing factor for the development of CVT.
From low-iron cultures of Acinetobacter haemolyticus ATCC 17906, a new hydroxamate siderophore was purified by XAD-7 adsorption followed by preparative thin layer chromatography. The siderophore, ...named acinetoferrin, released citric acid, 1,3-diaminopropane and (E)-2-octenoic acid upon hydrolysis with HCl, reductive hydrolysis with HI and oxidation with periodate, respectively. Structure elucidation by a combination of NMR spectroscopy and positive fast atom bombardment mass spectrometry revealed that acinetoferrin is a derivative of citric acid, both of its terminal carboxyl groups being symmetrically amide-linked with the 1-amino-3-(N-hydroxy-N-2-octenylamino)propane residues. The (E)-2-octenoic acid is novel as a component of the siderophores.
Cell migration is essential for many physiological and pathological processes, including embryonic development, wound healing, immune response and cancer metastasis.
Inka2
transcripts are observed in ...migrating cells during embryonic development, suggesting the involvement of inka2 in cell migration. However, its precise role remains unclear. Here, we found that inka2 controlled focal adhesion dynamics and cell migration, likely by regulating protein phosphatase-2A (PP2A) function. A scratch assay revealed that inka2 shRNA-transfected NIH3T3 cells showed rapid wound closure, indicating an inhibitory effect by inka2 on cell migration. Live-cell imaging of NIH3T3 cells expressing EGFP-paxillin using total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy revealed that inka2 knockdown increased the turnover rate of focal adhesions. Given that PP2A, which consists of catalytic (C), regulatory (B) and scaffolding (A) subunits, is known to regulate focal adhesions, we examined the inka2-PP2A interaction. Immunoprecipitation revealed an association between inka2 and the PP2A C subunit. Binding of Inka2 to the C subunit prevented the association between the A and C subunits, suggesting that inka2 can inhibit PP2A function. Furthermore, both inka2 expression and PP2A inhibition decreased focal adhesion kinase-paxillin interaction, resulting in reduced formation of focal adhesions. We assessed the effect of pharmacological PP2A inhibition on the inka2 knockdown-induced increase in cell migration speed and found that treatment with a PP2A inhibitor negated the accelerated migration of inka2 knockdown cells. These results suggest that inka2 knockdown exerts its effects through PP2A-dependent regulation of focal adhesions. Our findings contribute to a better understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying cell migration.
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EMUNI, FIS, FZAB, GEOZS, GIS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, MFDPS, NLZOH, NUK, OBVAL, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, SBMB, SBNM, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VKSCE, ZAGLJ
Summary
Fruit set in angiosperms marks the transition from flowering to fruit production and a commitment to seed dispersal. Studies with Solanum lycopersicum (tomato) fruit have shown that ...pollination and subsequent fertilization induce the biosynthesis of several hormones, including auxin and gibberellins (GAs), which stimulate fruit set. Circumstantial evidence suggests that the gaseous hormone ethylene may also influence fruit set, but this has yet to be substantiated with molecular or mechanistic data. Here, we examined fruit set at the biochemical and genetic levels, using hormone and inhibitor treatments, and mutants that affect auxin or ethylene signaling. The expression of system–1 ethylene biosynthetic genes and the production of ethylene decreased during pollination‐dependent fruit set in wild‐type tomato and during pollination‐independent fruit set in the auxin hypersensitive mutant iaa9–3. Blocking ethylene perception in emasculated flowers, using either the ethylene‐insensitive Sletr1–1 mutation or 1–methylcyclopropene (1–MCP), resulted in elongated parthenocarpic fruit and increased cell expansion, whereas simultaneous treatment with the GA biosynthesis inhibitor paclobutrazol (PAC) inhibited parthenocarpy. Additionally, the application of the ethylene precursor 1–aminocyclopropane‐1‐carboxylic acid (ACC) to pollinated ovaries reduced fruit set. Furthermore, Sletr1–1 parthenocarpic fruits did not exhibit increased auxin accumulation, but rather had elevated levels of bioactive GAs, most likely reflecting an increase in transcripts encoding the GA‐biosynthetic enzyme SlGA20ox3, as well as a reduction in the levels of transcripts encoding the GA‐inactivating enzymes SlGA2ox4 and SlGA2ox5. Taken together, our results suggest that ethylene plays a role in tomato fruit set by suppressing GA metabolism.
Significance Statement
The phytohormones gibberellin, auxin, and cytokinin play key roles in the regulation of tomato fruit set, whereas the function of ethylene in fruit development is generally considered in the context of late development and ripening. The results of this study suggest a new paradigm for hormone action in early tomato fruit development, wherein ethylene suppresses fruit set through modification of gibberellin metabolism.
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
In contrast to a second dose of the SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccine, a third dose elicits potent neutralizing activity against the Omicron variant. To address the underlying mechanism for this differential ...antibody response, we examined spike receptor-binding domain (RBD)-specific memory B cells in vaccinated individuals. Frequency of Omicron-reactive memory B cells increased ∼9 mo after the second vaccine dose. These memory B cells show an altered distribution of epitopes from pre-second memory B cells, presumably due to an antibody feedback mechanism. This hypothesis was tested using mouse models, showing that an addition or a depletion of RBD-induced serum antibodies results in a concomitant increase or decrease, respectively, of Omicron-reactive germinal center (GC) and memory B cells. Our data suggest that pre-generated antibodies modulate the selection of GC and subsequent memory B cells after the second vaccine dose, accumulating more Omicron-reactive memory B cells over time, which contributes to the generation of Omicron-neutralizing antibodies elicited by the third vaccine dose.
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