86,542 research outputs found

    Bovine serum amine oxidase and spermine cause apoptosis in cancer cells detected by flow cytometry, real time RT-PCR and proteomic analyses

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    Neuroblastoma (NB) is the most common cancer in infancy and most frequent cause of death from extracranial solid tumors in children. Therefore, besides the current treatments that include chemotherapy, surgery, and radiation, new therapies need to be developed. The in situ formation of cytotoxic polyamine metabolites by bovine serum amino oxidase (BSAO) is a recent approach in cancer therapy. It was demonstrated that BSAO and spermine (SPM) addition to cancer cells induces cell growth inhibition by apoptosis caused by H2O2 and aldehydes, produced by the oxidative reaction. The induction of apoptosis in NB cells was evaluated by flow cytometry after Annexin V-FITC labelling and DNA staining with propidium iodide. The percentages of Annexin V-positive cells matched quite well with that of cells showing hypodiploid sub-G1 peak. An increase in mitochondrial membrane depolarization (MMD) was found in neuroblastoma cells treated with the enzymatic system. We analysed by real time RT-PCR the transcript of some genes involved in the apoptotic process, to determine possible down or up regulation of mRNAs after the treatment of the SJ-N-KP cell line with BSAO and SPM. The experiments were carried out considering the pro-apoptotic genes P53, PUMA and CASPASE-3. After treatment with BSAO and SPM, the SJ-N-KP cells displayed increased mRNA levels for all these pro-apoptotic genes. Interestingly, the pro-apoptotic Sirt-1 inhibitor microRNA miR-34a significantly increases in SJ-N-KP cells treated with BSAO and SPM. These data support the concept that BSAO/SPM treatment induces high levels of apoptosis. Previously we demonstrated that multidrug resistant (MDR) colon adenocarcinoma cells (LoVo DX) are more sensitive than the corresponding wild type cells (LoVo WT) to H2O2 and aldehydes. Transmission electron microscopy observations showed evident mitochondria alterations. The mitochondrial activity was checked by flow cytometry studies, labelling cells with the probe JC1. After treatment with BSAO/SPM the cells showed a marked increase in MMD. In order to have more information on the effect of BSAO/SPM in cancer cells, a proteomics approach was performed using LoVo cells and prostate cancer (LNCaP) cells treated with and without BSAO/SPM. In total 721 unique proteins were identified in LNCaP cells (more than 4700 in LoVo cells) of which 40 were differentially expressed by more than 1.3 folds. The canonical pathways that exhibited the largest differences between BSAO treated and untreated cells in the presence of SPM include mitochondrial dysfunction. We conclude that the mechanism of the cytotoxicity of BSAO/SPM is partly related to mitochondrial dysfunction

    Polyamine metabolites induce apoptosis in cancer cells detected by real time RT-PCR and mass spectroscopy analyses

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    In situ formation of cytotoxic polyamine metabolites by an enzyme-catalyzed reaction is a recent approach in cancer chemotherapy. We demonstrate that multidrug resistant (MDR) colon adenocarcinoma cells (LoVo DX) are more sensitive than the corresponding wild type cells (LoVo WT) to H 2 O 2 and aldehydes, the products of bovine serum amine oxidase (BSAO)-catalyzed oxidation of spermine (SPM). Both cytotoxic metabolites were responsible for the loss of cell viability. Transmission electron microscopy observations showed that BSAO and SPM induced evident mitochondria alterations, more pronounced in LoVo DX than in LoVo WT cells. The mitochondrial activity was checked by flow cytometry studies, labelling cells with the probe JC1, that displayed a basal hyperpolarized status of the mitochondria in LoVo DX cells. After treatment with BSAO and SPM, the cells showed a marked increase in mitochondrial membrane depolarization (MMD), higher in LoVo DX than in LoVo WT cells. An increasing in MMD was also found in neuroblastoma SJ-NKP cell line treated with BSAO and 18 μM SPM concentration. We analysed by real time RT-PCR the transcript of some genes involved in the apoptotic process, to determine possible down or up regulation of mRNAs after the treatment of SJ- NKP cell line with BSAO and SPM. Experiments were carried out considering the pro- apoptotic genes P53, PUMA and CASPASE-3. After treatment with BSAO and SPM, the SJ-NKP cells displayed increased mRNA levels for all these pro-apoptotic genes. Interestingly, the pro-apoptotic Sirt-1 inhibitor microRNA miR-34a significantly increases in SJ-NKP cells treated with BSAO and SPM. These data support the concept that BSAO/SPM treatment induces high levels of apoptosis. In order to have more information on the effect of BSAO and SPM in tumor cells, a proteomics approach was performed using LoVo cells and prostate cancer (LNCaP) cells treated with and without BSAO/SPM. In total 721 unique proteins were identified in LNCaP cells (more than 4700 in LoVo cells) of which 40 were differentially expressed by more than 1.3 folds. The diseases and biofunctions analyses in the heat map show  increase in cell death of tumor cells. The canonical pathways that exhibited the largest differences between BSAO treated and untreated cells in the presence of SPM include both mitochondrial dysfunction and eIF-2 signaling. Therefore, we conclude that the mechanism of the cytotoxicity of BSAO/SPM is partly related to mitochondrial dysfunction

    Retinoic acid modulates stem cell factor secretion by human neuroblastoma cell lines

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    The hemopoietin stem cell factor (SCF) and its receptor c-kit are expressed in some tumoral cells, including neuroblastoma (NB) cells. We have investigated the effect of retinoic acid (RA), one of the most active differentiating agents on human NB cells, on the SCF production by human neuroblastoma cell lines. SCF concentration was determined by immunoenzymatic assay in the supernatants of seven neuroblastoma cell lines. All cell lines except one showed detectable amounts of SCF in the supernatant in basal culture conditions. A progressive increase pattern of the SCF concentration over time, was common to all SCF secreting cell lines, both unstimulated and RA-stimulated. Moreover, after 48 and 72 hours-exposure to RA, SCF concentrations were higher than in the untreated controls (p<0.01). Membrane SCF mRNA isoform was also detected by reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction. These effects demonstrated that RA, besides inducing neuronal differentiation, enhanced SCF production in neuroblastoma cell lines

    Variations on the Author

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    “Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship

    [Newspaper Clipping: Author Claims Evidence of Second JFK Assassin #1]

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    Newspaper article titled "Author Claims Evidence of Second JFK Assassin." The article states that author Richard J. Whalen concluded "that there is circumstantial evidence to support the theory of a second assassin in the shooting of President John F. Kennedy.

    Also By The Same Author: AKTiveAuthor, a Citation Graph Approach to Name Disambiguation

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    The desire for definitive data and the semantic web drive for inference over heterogeneous data sources requires co-reference resolution to be performed on those data. In particular, name disambiguation is required to allow accurate publication lists, citation counts and impact measures to be determined. This paper describes a graph-based approach to author disambiguation on large-scale citation networks. Using self-citation, co-authorship and document source analyses, AKTiveAuthor clusters papers, achieving precision of 0.997 and recall of 0.818 over a test group of eight surname clusters

    John F. Kennedy telegram to Roosevelt

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    Jersey Homesteads (later the Borough of Roosevelt) was established in the 1930s as an agro-industrial cooperative community. It was established specifically for urban Jewish garment workers, many of whom had emigrated from Europe. President John F. Kennedy sent a telegram to the citizens of Roosevelt, New Jersey, apologizing for not being able to attend the memorial dedication in honor of former President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. (Jersey Homesteads became Roosevelt in 1945 in honor of the president.) President Kennedy expressed his gratitude to the people of Roosevelt for constructing the memorial, and commented that it will serve as a constant reminder of Roosevelt's good works

    Logarithmic variance profiles and the corresponding f-1 spectra of temperature fluctuations in turbulent Rayleigh-Bénard convection

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    We report experimental results for the temperature variance 2(z) and the corresponding frequency spectra P(f) in turbulent Rayleigh-Bénard convection (RBC) in a cylindrical sample of aspect ratioT= D/L = 1:00 (D = 1:12 m is the diameter and L = 1:12 m the height). The measurements were conducted in the Rayleigh-number range 1011 < Ra < 1:35 1014 and Pr ' 0:8. For Ra = 1:35x1014, 2(z) could be described well by a logarithmic dependence on the vertical position z in a range of z 1 < z < z 2 with z 1 ' 70 and z 2 = 0:1L. Here L=(2Nu) is the thickness of a thin thermal sublayer adjacent to the horizontal plate where the heat flux (denoted by the Nusselt number Nu) is carried mostly by thermal diffusion. In the log layer, we found that the temperature spectra had a significant frequency range over which P(f) f with close to 1. As Ra decreased, increased so that the log layer became thinner. At Ra = 2:05 1011, z 2 < z 1 and therefore there was no range for a log layer. Correspondingly, the temperature spectrum near the horizontal plate did not have the f1 scaling form either

    Maine author Franklin F. Gould recalls his first glimpse of the outside world

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    Maine author Franklin F. Gould recalls his first glimpse of the outside world as he relates how, as a young farm boy in the late 1800\u27s, he drove his father\u27s horses on an errand to an icebound river
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