Abstract Sodium fluoride (NaF) has been shown to be cytotoxic and produces inflammatory responses in humans. However, the cellular mechanisms underlying the NaF-induced cytotoxicity in periodontal ...tissues are unclear. This study examined whether or not NaF induces apoptosis in human gingival fibroblasts (HGF), and its underlying mechanisms by monitoring various apoptosis-associated processes. NaF reduced the cell viability of HGF in a dose- and time-dependent manner. NaF increased TUNEL-positive cell and induced apoptosis with concomitant chromatin condensation and DNA fragmentation in HGF. In addition, NaF increased the level of cytochrome c released from the mitochondria into the cytosol, enhanced the caspase-9, -8 and -3 activities, the cleavage of poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP), and up-regulated the voltage-dependent anion channel (VDAC) 1. However, NaF did not affect the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) which is a strong apoptotic inducer. Furthermore, NaF up-regulated the Fas-ligand (Fas-L), a ligand of death receptor. Bcl-2, a member of the anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 family, was down-regulated, whereas the expression of Bax, a member of the pro-apoptotic Bcl-2 family, was unaffected in the NaF-treated HGF. These results suggest that NaF induces apoptosis in HGF through both the mitochondria-mediated pathways regulated by the Bcl-2 family and death receptor-mediated pathway.
Using the data sample of 980 fb^{-1} collected with the Belle detector operating at the KEKB asymmetric-energy e^{+}e^{-} collider, we present the results of an investigation of the Λπ^{+} and ...Λπ^{-} invariant mass distributions looking for substructure in the decay Λ_{c}^{+}→Λπ^{+}π^{+}π^{-}. We find a significant signal in each mass distribution. When interpreted as resonances, we find for the Λπ^{+} (Λπ^{-}) combination a mass of 1434.3±0.6(stat)±0.9(syst) MeV/c^{2} 1438.5±0.9(stat)±2.5(syst) MeV/c^{2}, an intrinsic width of 11.5±2.8(stat)±5.3(syst) MeV/c^{2} 33.0±7.5(stat)±23.6(syst) MeV/c^{2} with a significance of 7.5σ (6.2σ). As these two signals are very close to the Kover ¯N threshold, we also investigate the possibility of a Kover ¯N cusp, and find that we cannot discriminate between these two interpretations due to the limited size of the data sample.
Objectives. To investigate the influence of environmental factors on chronic prostatitis-like symptoms among young men in a community.
Methods. Of 28,841 men aged 20 years dwelling in the community, ...a total of 16,321 men (response rate 56.6%) were included in this study. The National Institutes of Health Chronic Prostatitis Symptom Index was used to identify men with chronic prostatitis-like symptoms. The questionnaire also queried sociodemographic characteristics. The Korean Meteorological Administration provided information on the weather of the community. We determined the risk factors of chronic prostatitis-like symptoms among these environmental factors using univariate and multivariate analyses.
Results. Six percent of the men were identified as having significant prostatitis-like symptoms (perineal and/or ejaculatory pain and a total pain score of 4 or greater). The univariate logistic regression analysis indicated that education level, average duration of sunlight, and average temperature were risk factors for chronic prostatitis-like symptoms. As these variables increased, the scores of chronic prostatitis-like symptoms decreased. In the multivariate model used, the likelihood of chronic prostatitis-like symptoms varied by the final educational level, with middle school and high school graduates having 1.8 and 1.4-fold higher odds, respectively, than men attending college. In the same model, the average duration of sunlight was also an independent risk factor of chronic prostatitis-like symptoms (odds ratio 0.85; 95% confidence interval 0.77 to 0.95;
P = 0.003), but the average temperature lost statistical significance.
Conclusions. Our findings suggest that the community-based prevalence of chronic prostatitis-like symptoms may be high in young men. Higher education and a longer time in sunlight were associated with a decreased likelihood of chronic prostatitis-like symptoms.
We report on highly reliable characteristics of 1-Mb ferroelectric memories based on 0.35-μm CMOS technology ensuring ten-year retention and imprint at 175/spl deg/C, which have been successfully ...developed for the first time. This excellent reliability resulted from newly developed Bi/sub 1-x/La/sub x/ 4 Ti 3 O/sub 12/ (BLT) ferroelectric films with superior reliability performance at high temperatures, and also resulted from robust integration schemes free from ferroelectric degradation due to process impurities such as moisture and hydrogen.
Abstract We present a search for the lepton-flavor-violating decays B s 0 $$ {B}_s^0 $$ → ℓ ∓ τ ± , where ℓ = e, μ, using the full data sample of 121 fb −1 collected at the Υ(5S) resonance with the ...Belle detector at the KEKB asymmetric-energy e + e − collider. We use B s 0 B ¯ s 0 $$ {B}_s^0{\overline{B}}_s^0 $$ events in which one B s 0 $$ {B}_s^0 $$ meson is reconstructed in a semileptonic decay mode and the other in the signal mode. We find no evidence for B s 0 $$ {B}_s^0 $$ → ℓ ∓ τ ± decays and set upper limits on their branching fractions at 90% confidence level as B $$ \mathcal{B} $$ ( B s 0 $$ {B}_s^0 $$ → e ∓ τ ± ) < 14 × 10 −4 and B $$ \mathcal{B} $$ ( B s 0 $$ {B}_s^0 $$ → μ ∓ τ ± ) < 7.3 × 10 −4. Our result represents the first upper limit on the B s 0 $$ {B}_s^0 $$ → e ∓ τ ± decay rate.
Here, we study hadronic transitions between bottomonium states using 496fb-1 data collected at the Υ ( 4S ) resonance with the Belle detector at the KEKB asymmetric energy e+e- collider. We measure B ...( Υ ( 4S ) → π+π- Υ ( 1S ) ) = ( 8.2±0.5 ( stat ) ±0.4 ( syst ) ) ×10-5 , B ( Υ ( 4S ) → π+π- Υ ( 2S ) ) = ( 7.9±1.0 ( stat ) ± 0.4 ( syst ) ) ×10-5 , and B ( Υ ( 4S ) → η Υ ( 1S ) ) = ( 1.70±0.23 ( stat ) ±0.08 ( syst ) ) ×10-4 . We measure the ratio of branching fractions R = B ( Υ ( 4S ) → η Υ ( 1S ) ) / B ( Υ ( 4S ) → π+π- Υ ( 1S ) ) =2.07±0.30 ( stat ) ± 0.11 ( syst ) . We search for the decay Υ ( 1D31,2 ) → η Υ ( 1S ) , but do not find significant evidence for such a transition. We also measure the initial-state radiation production cross sections of the Υ ( 2S,3S ) resonances and we find values compatible with the expected ones. Finally, the analysis of the Υ ( 4S ) → π+π- Υ ( 1S ) events reflects indications for a resonant contribution due to the f0 ( 980 ) meson.
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