Framework functionalization of periodic mesoporous organosilica with 1,2-bis[3-(triethoxysilylpropyl)ureido] cyclohexane function via basic co-condensation self-assembly

The synthesized bis silylated long alkyl chain containing organosilicate precursor, 1,2-bis(3-(triethoxysilylpropyl)ureido)cyclohexane (BSPUCh) has been used as co-precursor with 1,2-bis (triethoxysilyl)ethane (BTSE) for the preparation of functional periodic mesoporous organosilicas (PMOs) via surfactant-mediated basic co-condensation self-assembly method. The various characterization techniques such as X-ray diffraction patterns (XRD), transmission electron microscope (TEM), N2 adsorption-desorption isotherms (BET), FT-IR, and 13C and 29Si CPMAS NMR spectroscopies were used to characterize the resulting structure of functionalized PMO mesostructures. Results obtained from XRD, TEM, and BET analysis clearly showed that the structural and pore arrangement of the functionalized PMOs were found to be dependent on the used concentration of BSPUCh. The functional PMOs showed well ordered mesophases when BSPUCh concentration was < or = 9 wt% in the initial mixtures, whereas higher concentration of the BSPUCh always produced disordered hierarchical mesostructures with bimodal pore size distributions. The incorporation of BSPUCh also reduces the surface area, pore volume, pore size, and pore wall thickness of the functionalized nanostructures, indicating that the BSPUCh is incorporated in the pore channels of the PMOs. The solid-state 13C and 29Si NMR spectra showed that the BSPUCh organosilicate with non-hydrolyzable bridging ligands propylureidocyclohexane has been successfully covalently linked in the framework of the resulting functional PMOs.

Fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) technology for monitoring biological foaming in activated sludge: full scale plant verification

Fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) technology was evaluated as a monitoring tool for quantification of Gordonia amarae in activated sludge systems. The fatty acid, 19:1 alcohol, which was identified as a unique fatty acid in G. amarae was not only confirmed to be present in foaming plant samples, but the quantity of the signature peak correlated closely with the degree of foaming. Foaming potential experiment provided a range of critical foaming levels that corresponded to G. amarae population. This range of critical Gordonia levels was correlated to the threshold signature FAME amount. Six full-scale wastewater treatment plants were selected based on a survey to participate in our full-scale study to evaluate the potential application of the FAME technique as the Gordonia monitoring tool. Greater amounts of signature FAME were extracted from the mixed liquor samples obtained from treatment plants experiencing Gordonia foaming problems. The amounts of signature FAME correlated well with the conventional filamentous counting technique. These results demonstrated that the relative abundance of the signature FAMEs can be used to quantitatively monitor the abundance of foam-causing microorganism in activated sludge.

Retrospective multicenter study of a clinicopathologic analysis of pseudomyxoma peritonei associated with ovarian tumors (KGOG 3005)

The purpose of this study is to assess clinicopathologic features of pseudomyxoma peritonei (PMP) that has ovarian pathology and its relationship with the prognosis. From 1995 to 2004, the clinical records and follow-up data of 35 patients with PMP, which had primarily originated from the ovary, were collected from 11 institutes of gynecologic oncology in Korea and retrospectively analyzed. All patients had ovarian lesion histologically confirmed with PMP. The mean age at diagnosis was 53.7 years (range: 16-82 years). There were 25 (71.4%) patients with disseminated peritoneal adenomucinosis, 5 (14.3%) with peritoneal mucinous carcinomatosis with intermediate group, and 5 (14.3%) with peritoneal mucinous carcinomatosis. The clinical stages at diagnosis were IA in 2 patients, IIIB in 4, IIIC in 23, IV in 1, and unknown in 5. In preoperative tumor markers, the positive rates were 72% (CA125), 47.4% (CA19-9), and 84.6% (CEA). Thirty-four patients underwent surgical staging or cytoreduction, and then 27 patients (77%) received adjuvant chemotherapy that was given to patients in a nonuniform fashion. The 5-year survival for 35 patients was 87%. Survival rate was significantly lower in patients >50 years of age (P = 0.002). Our data showed that age of the patient is the only significant prognostic factor in PMP that has ovarian lesion.

Cryopreserved human adipogenic-differentiated pre-adipocytes: a potential new source for adipose tissue regeneration

BACKGROUND

Previously, we have shown that in vitro adipogenic differentiation of pre-adipocytes before implantation can enhance in vivo adipose tissue formation. For large-scale adipose tissue engineering or repeat procedures, cryopreservation of fat grafts has been commonly used in recent years. However, the feasibility of cryopreservation of adipogenic differentiated pre-adipocytes has not been investigated.

METHODS

To examine the impact of cryopreservation on the adipogenic functions of adipogenic-differentiated pre-adipocytes, freeze-thawed adipocytes were compared with fresh differentiated adipocytes in vitro and in vivo. Adipogenic function was assessed by Oil red O staining, ELISA analysis of leptin secretion and RT-PCR of adipogenic-related genes. After transplantation, adipose tissue formation was assessed by histomorphologic and volumetric analysis.

RESULTS

Freeze-thawed adipocytes constantly showed typical adipogenic functions in terms of lipid content, leptin secretion and adipogenic gene expression, as well as good viability. Importantly, implants derived from freeze-thawed adipocytes were successfully developed to adipose tissue and newly formed adipose tissues were similar to those developed from fresh differentiated adipocytes, based on histomorphologic and volumetric analysis. In addition, CD34-positive endothelial cells were detected in implants. These results demonstrate that the specific characters of adipogenic-differentiated pre-adipocytes are successfully conserved after cryopreservation without any significant alteration.

DISCUSSION

Cryopreservation of adipogenic-differentiated pre-adipocytes is a feasible method and extends their clinical use in adipose tissue-engineering applications and transplantation.

Establishing a baseline phase behavior in magnetic resonance imaging to determine normal vs. abnormal iron content in the brain

PURPOSE

To establish a baseline of phase differences between tissues in a number of regions of the human brain as a means of detecting iron abnormalities using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A fully flow-compensated, three-dimensional (3D), high-resolution, gradient-echo (GRE) susceptibility-weighted imaging (SWI) sequence was used to collect magnitude and phase data at 1.5 T. The phase images were high-pass-filtered and processed region by region with hand-drawn areas. The regions evaluated included the motor cortex (MC), putamen (PUT), globus pallidus (GP), caudate nucleus (CN), substantia nigra (SN), and red nucleus (RN). A total of 75 subjects, ranging in age from 55 to 89 years, were analyzed.

RESULTS

The phase was found to have a Gaussian-like distribution with a standard deviation (SD) of 0.046 radians on a pixel-by-pixel basis. Most regions of interest (ROIs) contained at least 100 pixels, giving a standard error of the mean (SEM) of 0.0046 radians or less. In the MC, phase differences were found to be roughly 0.273 radians between CSF and gray matter (GM), and 0.083 radians between CSF and white matter (WM). The difference between CSF and the GP was 0.201 radians, and between CSF and the CN (head) it was 0.213 radians. For CSF and the PUT (the lower outer part) the difference was 0.449 radians, and between CSF and the RN (third slice vascularized region) it was 0.353 radians. Finally, the phase difference between CSF and SN was 0.345 radians.

CONCLUSION

The Gaussian-like distributions in phase make it possible to predict deviations from normal phase behavior for tissues in the brain. Using phase as an iron marker may be useful for studying absorption of iron in diseases such as Parkinson's, Huntington's, neurodegeneration with brain iron accumulation (NBIA), Alzheimer's, and multiple sclerosis (MS), and other iron-related diseases. The phases quoted here will serve as a baseline for future studies that look for changes in iron content.

Glycogen synthase 2 is a novel target gene of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors

Glycogen synthase 2 (Gys-2) is the ratelimiting enzyme in the storage of glycogen in liver and adipose tissue, yet little is known about regulation of Gys-2 transcription. The peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPARs) are transcription factors involved in the regulation of lipid and glucose metabolism and might be hypothesized to govern glycogen synthesis as well. Here, we show that Gys-2 is a direct target gene of PPARalpha, PPARbeta/delta and PPARgamma. Expression of Gys-2 is significantly reduced in adipose tissue of PPARalpha-/-, PPARbeta/delta-/- and PPARgamma+/- mice. Furthermore, synthetic PPARbeta/delta, and gamma agonists markedly up-regulate Gys-2 mRNA and protein expression in mouse 3T3-L1 adipocytes. In liver, PPARalpha deletion leads to decreased glycogen levels in the refed state, which is paralleled by decreased expression of Gys-2 in fasted and refed state. Two putative PPAR response elements (PPREs) were identified in the mouse Gys-2 gene: one in the upstream promoter (DR-1prom) and one in intron 1 (DR-1int). It is shown that DR-1int is the response element for PPARs, while DR-1prom is the response element for Hepatic Nuclear Factor 4 alpha (HNF4alpha). In adipose tissue, which does not express HNF4alpha, DR-1prom is occupied by PPARbeta/delta and PPARgamma, yet binding does not translate into transcriptional activation of Gys-2. Overall, we conclude that mouse Gys-2 is a novel PPAR target gene and that transactivation by PPARs and HNF4alpha is mediated by two distinct response elements.

Ki-67 expression is predictive of prognosis in patients with stage I/II extranodal NK/T-cell lymphoma, nasal type

BACKGROUND

Localized extranodal natural killer (NK)/T-cell lymphoma, nasal type, commonly has a low or low-intermediate risk of the international prognostic index (IPI), so the IPI has shown inconsistency in predicting prognosis. Thus, we analyzed Ki-67 expression and proposed a new prognostic model including Ki-67 expression for stage I/II extranodal NK/T-cell lymphoma.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

We studied Ki-67 expression and its relationship with prognosis in 50 patients with extranodal NK/T-cell lymphoma.

RESULTS

The patients were dichotomized by the median value: low (<65%) versus high Ki-67 (> or =65%). High Ki-67 was associated with a worse overall survival (OS; P = 0.021) and disease-free survival (DFS; P = 0.044). In multivariate analysis, Ki-67 expression and primary site of involvement were found to be an independent prognostic factor for OS and DFS (P < 0.05). Based on these results, we proposed a new clinico-pathological prognostic model with Ki-67 expression and the primary site of involvement. It showed a high degree of correlation with worse OS and DFS (P < 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

Ki-67 expression is predictive of prognosis, and our prognostic model may become a useful tool for predicting prognosis in patients with stage I/II extranodal NK/T-cell lymphoma, nasal type.

BCL6 gene mutations in transitional cell carcinomas

The B-cell lymphoma-6 (BCL6) gene was initially identified at a translocation site observed frequently in diffuse large B-cell lymphomas. In the present study, BCL6 mutations at the 5' non-coding region in 47 cases of transitional call carcinoma (TCC) were analysed using polymerase chain reaction-single-strand conformation polymorphism. The results were compared with data obtained previously by immunohistochemical staining for the BCL6 protein. Overall, BCL6 mutations were observed in 44.7% of cases. Mutation of the 5' non-coding region was not correlated with histological grade of the tumour; however, the better the histological grade, the greater the mutation rate of the E1.12 fragment. The BCL6 mutation occurred independently of over-expression of the protein. The BCL6 gene mutation and the protein expression were detectable in a large proportion of TCCs. BCL6 protein over-expression as well as BCL6 gene mutation of the E1.12 fragment may play an important role in the morphological differentiation of TCC.

Effect of combined treatment of bortezomib and valproic acid on multiple myeloma cells

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Background: Valproic acid (VPA) has an activity of histone deacetylase inhibitor that is known to have in vitro cytotoxic effect on multiple myeloma (MM) cells. It was investigated that VPA could synergize with bortezomib for human MM cell lines. Methods: U266 cell lines were treated with bortezomib 50nM and/or VPA 0.6mM and then MTT assay, cell cycle analysis using FACS, immunoblot analysis, caspase-3 activity assay, and IL-6 ELISA assay were performed. Results: Bortezomib activated caspase-3 and induced G1 cell cycle arrest. In MTT assay, VPA suppressed the U266 cell proliferation with IC50 of 0.6mM and combined treatment of bortezomib and VPA had more inhibitory effect than bortezomib alone. This combination caused further G1 cell cycle arrest, caspase-3 activation, and lowered IL-6 secretion from U266 cells than bortezomib, respectively. In immunoblot analysis, this combination further decreased the expression of cyclin A, cyclin D1, cyclin E, CDK2, CDK4, and CDK6, whereas up-regulated p21 and p27 expression than bortezomib alone. Conclusions: The combined treatment of bortezomib and VPA has a more significant anti-myeloma effect than bortezomib alone.

No significant financial relationships to disclose.