The optimal management of patients with breast cancer (BC) requires the expertise of specialists from different disciplines. This has led to the evolution of multidisciplinary teams (MDTs), allowing ...all key professionals to jointly discuss individual patients and to contribute independently to clinical decisions. Data regarding BC MDTs in different regions and countries are scarce.
The investigators of a large global phase III adjuvant BC trial being conducted by the Breast International Group were invited to respond to a questionnaire about the extent, structure, and function of BC MDTs.
One hundred and fifty-two responses from 39 countries were received, and remarkable differences were noted in different geographic regions. Sixty-five percent of the respondents from eastern Europe, 63% from western Europe, 35% from Asia, and 25% from South America declared that MDT was a mandatory part of BC care in their country. Ninety percent of the respondents from Europe stated their MDTs met weekly, compared with only half of the respondents from Asia.
This survey is perhaps the first large-scale effort to collect information regarding BC MDTs from different parts of the world and provides objective information of frequency, composition, function, and working mechanism of BC MDTs.
Whenever a new device enables our senses to access an uncharted sensible world, our experience needs to be widened to be able to embrace it. Many animals don't recognize themselves in mirrors. Thus, ...mirrors found in ancient Egyptian tombs bear witness to a device that involved a widening of human experience. While by then reflectors were commonly believed to hold the spirit of their beholder, they also provided the motivating force for use of geometry as a logical framework, rather than the form of the outer world. Euclid of Alexandria conceived of geometric constructions and their rules as the connecting link between visual world and hypothetical-deductive reasoning. Yet, he didn't have a clue about receivers. In our view the problem of linking received information in an image format to a mathematical space cannot be solved once and for all, but rather needs to be posed and understood afresh once in a while. All the more so in an information and telecommunication era, when the techniques of acquisition and rendering of visual information have been extended well beyond the domain of optical instruments, and the language of mathematics has advanced to a different level of proficiency.
In this work, the performance of nickel-based anodes in an alkaline membrane electrolysis cell was investigated. In particular, the effect of the presence of a very low quantity of electro-deposited ...cobalt on a porous Ni electrode directly interfaced with a commercial anionic membrane was evaluated. The modified Ni–Co structure was investigated by XRD, SEM, EDS and XPS, and showed different characteristics compared to the starting Ni structure with a surface ratio of Co equal to Ni. The catalytic activity for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) at the electrode/membrane interface increased considerably compared to pure nickel and reached the same level as a Ni/Pt reference electrode. We believe that this methodology, if further optimized, could open a new way to find an effective improved doping of the nickel anode able to work with alkaline membrane electrolysers.
•We proposed a method to realize composite nickel – cobalt anode for alkaline electrolysis.•We characterised and compare anode in a small alkaline membrane electrolyser.•We observed an improve of the electro-catalytic properties of the Ni–Co anode for the OER keep stable during electrolysis.
Both fibroblast growth factor 9 (Fgf9) and Kit Ligand (Kl) signal through tyrosine kinase receptors, yet they exert opposite effects on meiotic differentiation in postnatal spermatogonia, Fgf9 acting ...as a meiosis-inhibiting substance and Kl acting as a promoter of the differentiation process. To understand the molecular mechanisms that might underlie this difference, we tried to dissect the intracellular signaling elicited by these two growth factors. We found that both Fgf9 and Kl stimulate Erk1/2 activation in Kit+ (differentiating) spermatogonia, even though with different time courses, whereas Kl, but not Fgf9, elicits activation of the Pi3k-Akt pathway. Sustained Erk1/2 activity promoted by Fgf9 is required for induction of the autocrine Cripto-Nodal-Smad2/3 signaling loop in these cells. Nodal signaling, in turn, is essential to mediate Fgf9 suppression of the meiotic program, including inhibition of Stra8 and Scp3 expression and induction of the meiotic gatekeeper Nanos2. On the contrary, sustained activation of the Pi3k-Akt pathway is required for the induction of Stra8 expression elicited by Kl and retinoic acid. Moreover, we found that Kl treatment impairs Nodal mRNA expression and Fgf9-mediated Nanos2 induction, reinforcing the antagonistic effect of these two growth factors on the meiotic fate of male germ cells.
Abstract
At the dawn of the research on waveguides the propagation by electrical conduction through transmission lines was compared with the general transmission theory of plane electromagnetic ...waves. After the invention of lasers we wonder whether the impedance concept can allow a seamless shift from the geometric rendering of received electromagnetic signals to the understanding of simple arguments on power transfer. Perhaps, the impedance concept could help noticing the occurrence of radiation-matter interactions and give hints as to how some phenomena could be enhanced by exposing matter to specific non-ionizing radiations.
Melanoma is a dangerous form of skin cancer derived from the malignant transformation of melanocytes. The transcription factor SOX2 is not expressed in melanocytes, however, it has been shown to be ...differentially expressed between benign nevi and malignant melanomas and to be essential for melanoma stem cell maintenance and expansion in vitro and in xenograft models. By using a mouse model in which BRaf
mutation cooperates with Pten loss to induce the development of metastatic melanoma, we investigated if Sox2 is required during the process of melanomagenesis, melanoma growth and metastasis and in the acquisition of resistance to BRAF inhibitors (BRAFi) treatments. We found that deletion of Sox2 specifically in Pten null and BRafV600E-expressing melanocytes did not prevent tumor formation and did not modify the temporal kinetics of melanoma occurrence compared to Sox2 wt mice. In addition, tumor growth was similar between Sox2 wt and Sox2 deleted (del) melanomas. By querying publicly available databases, we did not find statistically significant differences in SOX2 expression levels between benign nevi and melanomas, and analysis on two melanoma patient cohorts confirmed that Sox2 levels did not significantly change between primary and metastatic melanomas. Melanoma cell lines derived from both Sox2 genotypes showed a similar sensitivity to vemurafenib treatment and the same ability to develop vemurafenib resistance in long-term cultures. Development of vemurafenib resistance was not dependent on SOX2 expression also in human melanoma cell lines in vitro. Our findings exclude an oncogenic function for Sox2 during melanoma development and do not support a role for this transcription factor in the acquisition of resistance to BRAFi treatments.
The characterization of the organic components in a complex, multilayered paint structure is fundamental for studying painting techniques and for authentication and restoration purposes. ...Proteinaceous materials, such as animal glue, are of particular importance since they are widely used as binders, adhesives and for gilding. Even though proteins are usually detected by chromatographic and proteomic techniques, immunological methods represent an alternative powerful approach to protein analysis thanks to the high specificity of antigen–antibody reactions. Our previous studies demonstrated that ovalbumin and casein could be localized in paint cross-sections with high sensitivity and good spatial resolution (i.e. within the single painting layers) by using chemiluminescent (CL) immunochemical microscope imaging. In the present research work, we describe for the first time the immunolocalization of collagen (the main protein of animal glue) in paint cross-sections by CL imaging microscopy. Two different analytical protocols have been developed, allowing either the detection of collagen or the simultaneous detection of collagen and ovalbumin in the same paint sample. The assays were used to detect collagen and ovalbumin in cross-sections from model samples and historical paintings (a wall painting dated to 1773–1774 and a painted wood panel of the Renaissance period) in order to achieve information on paint techniques and past restoration interventions.
Figure
Left
Reflected light image of a cross-section of a sample taken from a Renaissance painted wood panel.
Right
Localization of the proteins collagen (from animal glue) and ovalbumin in a painting cross-section assessed by multiplexed chemiluminescence immunochemical imaging (the chemiluminescent signals corresponding to collagen and ovalbumin are displayed in shades of
blue
and
red
, respectively)
Electrochemiluminescence (ECL) is widely used in biosensors and immunoassays thanks to the high sensitivity and specificity of the electrochemically triggered luminescence signal. So far, no ...applications have been reported on the use of ECL as a probe for ultrasensitive low-light microscope imaging. This work reports the development of a new transparent electrochemical cell for ECL imaging suitable for single cell analysis. The system is based on the use of a microscope placed in a dark box equipped with a CCD camera and a potentiostat. Transparent conducting glass coated with fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) has been used, and a three electrode configuration has been designed. The electrochemical cell was optimized using 8 μm diameter polystyrene beads coated with a Ru(bpy)3 2+ complex in order to simulate living cells. The Ru(bpy)3 2+ immobilized on the microbeads can be imaged and quantified at a concentration as low as 1 × 10−19 mol/μm2. Microscope imaging showed that the ECL signal was detected only in correspondence to the beads present on the electrode surface, and the probe could be accurately localized with a spatial resolution of 0.4 μm. The new ECL imaging device can be used in conjunction with other chemiluminescence-based imaging methods for ultrasensitive multiplex imaging on cells and tissues.
As the name implies, Stimulated by Retinoic Acid 8 is an early retinoic acid (RA) responsive gene pivotal for the beginning of meiosis in female and male germ cells. Its expression is strictly ...time-dependent and cell-specific (pre-meiotic germ cells) and likely requires a complex mechanism of regulation. In this study, we demonstrate a direct negative control of SOHLH1 and SOHLH2, 2 germ cell specific bHLH transcription factors, on Stra8 expression. We observed a negative correlation between STRA8 and SOHLH1 expression in prepuberal differentiating mouse KIT(+) spermatogonia and found that SOHLH1 and SOHLH2 were able to directly and cooperatively repress STRA8 expression in cell lines in vitro through binding to its promoter. We also identified 2 canonical E-Box motives in the Stra8 promoter that mediated the negative regulation of SOHLH1 and SOHLH2 on these gene both in the cell lines and KIT(+) spermatogonia. We hypothesize that this novel negative activity of SOHLH1 and SOHLH2 in male cooperates with that of other transcription factors to coordinate spermatogonia differentiation and the RA-induced meiosis and in female ensures STRA8 down-regulation at mid-end stages of meiotic prophase I.
To investigate local neuronal activity changes and functional connectivity during cognitive and sensory stimuli, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) relies mainly on the haemodynamic ...response to brain activation and on measuring small fluctuations in the blood oxygenation levels. Since the basal amount of glucose and oxygen consumptions of the brain are much higher than the activity evoked by cognitive stimuli, the effect of spontaneous cerebral activity must be deduced to evaluate the fMRI responses to given cognitive tasks. We report that in our experiments with water flowing in pipes at an oblique angle with respect to the scan slice a diffuse response can be observed besides other flow artefacts, which can undermine fMRI interpretations. We point out that those artefacts are considered as such because hydrodynamic models disregard the appearance of flow in the images, and more generally the differences between mechanical representations and images.
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