Search results for "Ability"

Molecular docking-based design and development of a highly selective probe substrate for UDP-glucuronosyltransferase 1A10

2018

Intestinal and hepatic glucuronidation by the UDP-glucuronosyltransferases (UGTs) greatly affect the bioavailability of phenolic compounds. UGT1A10 catalyzes glucuronidation reactions in the intestine, but not in the liver. Here, our aim was to develop selective, fluorescent substrates to easily elucidate UGT1A10 function. To this end, homology models were constructed and used to design new substrates, and subsequently, six novel C3-substituted (4-fluorophenyl, 4-hydroxyphenyl, 4-methoxyphenyl, 4-(dimethylamino)phenyl, 4-methylphenyl, or triazole) 7-hydroxycoumarin derivatives were synthesized from inexpensive starting materials. All tested compounds could be glucuronidated to nonfluorescen…

The shared frameshift mutation landscape of microsatellite-unstable cancers suggests immunoediting during tumor evolution

2020

The immune system can recognize and attack cancer cells, especially those with a high load of mutation-induced neoantigens. Such neoantigens are abundant in DNA mismatch repair (MMR)-deficient, microsatellite-unstable (MSI) cancers. MMR deficiency leads to insertion/deletion (indel) mutations at coding microsatellites (cMS) and to neoantigen-inducing translational frameshifts. Here, we develop a tool to quantify frameshift mutations in MSI colorectal and endometrial cancer. Our results show that frameshift mutation frequency is negatively correlated to the predicted immunogenicity of the resulting peptides, suggesting counterselection of cell clones with highly immunogenic frameshift peptid…

2018

Evoked potentials (EPs) are well established in clinical practice for diagnosis and prognosis in multiple sclerosis (MS). However, their value is limited to the assessment of their respective functional systems. Here, we used transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) coupled with electroencephalography (TMS-EEG) to investigate cortical excitability and spatiotemporal dynamics of TMS-evoked neural activity in MS patients. Thirteen patients with early relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS) with a median Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) of 1.0 (range 0-2.5) and 16 age- and gender-matched healthy controls received single-pulse TMS of left and right primary motor cortex (L-M1 and R-M1), respectively…

Evaluation of permeability applicability based on continuum mechanics law in fluid flow through graphene membrane

2019

AbstractGraphene is expected to be used in separation applications such as desalination. However, it is difficult to predict the flow phenomena at the nanoscale using the conventional continuum law. Particularly at a Knudsen number (Kn) of >0.1, which is applied in filtration, it has been reported that not even slip boundary conditions can be applied. In this study, to identify the parameters that affect the applicability of the continuum law, we conducted a fluid permeation simulation using graphene. The deviation of the permeability from that of the continuum model was calculated by changing the channel width, fluid temperature, and fluid type. The result showed that the channel width …

‘Green’ Wine through a Responsible and Efficient Production: A Case Study of a Sustainable Sicilian Wine Producer

2016

Abstract Sustainability is progressively gaining importance in the winegrowing sector. Implementing this concept implies environmental soundness, social equity and economic feasibility. A proliferation of initiatives to develop the sustainable production of wine started officially in Italy since the year 2010. The objective of this paper is to illustrate the reshaping of Sicilian winegrowing according to the ‘Triple bottom line’ approach to sustainability. By analyzing the case-study of the Tasca d’Almerita firm, pilot farm of various national projects in wine-sustainability, we found that adopting sustainable operative, organizational and competitive strategies has lead to a well-managed a…

Anthropometric Assessment of Nepali Children Institutionalized in Orphanages

2020

Nepal is among the world&rsquo

Melanoma-Nevus Discrimination Based on Image Statistics in Few Spectral Channels

2016

The purpose of this paper is to offer a method for discrimination of cutaneous melanoma from benign nevus, founded on analysis of skin lesion image. At the core of method is calculation of mean and standard deviation of pixel optical density values for a few narrow spectral bands. Calculated values are compared with discriminating thresholds derived from a set of images of benign nevi and melanomas with known diagnosis. Classification is done applying weighted majority rule to results of thresholding. Verification against the available multispectral images of 32 melanomas and 94 benign nevi has shown that the method using three spectral bands provided zero false negative and four false posi…

In vivo effect of N-ethylmaleimide (NEM) on the measurement of nitrate in plasma

2016

Bioavailability of nitric oxide in the body may be estimated by measuring the concentration of nitrate in plasma. However, it has not been reported whether sequestering of aminothiols in plasma affects the concentration of nitrate in the samples.N-ethylmaleimide (NEM) sequesters aminothiols in plasma therefore we tested the in vivo effect of NEM on the concentration nitrate in plasma.Blood samples were collected from 56 healthy subjects in EDTA vials, EDTA vials containing PBS (pH7.4) and EDTA vials containing NEM dissolved in PBS. Nonparametric statistical tests were used to study the effect of NEM on the concentration of nitrate in plasma measured by the Griess reagent assay and by an HPL…

Large Blooms of Bacillales (Firmicutes) Underlie the Response to Wetting of Cyanobacterial Biocrusts at Various Stages of Maturity.

2018

ABSTRACT Biological soil crusts (biocrusts) account for a substantial portion of primary production in dryland ecosystems. They successionally mature to deliver a suite of ecosystem services, such as carbon sequestration, water retention and nutrient cycling, and climate regulation. Biocrust assemblages are extremely well adapted to survive desiccation and to rapidly take advantage of the periodic precipitation events typical of arid ecosystems. Here we focus on the wetting response of incipient cyanobacterial crusts as they mature from “light” to “dark.” We sampled a cyanobacterial biocrust chronosequence before (dry) and temporally following a controlled wetting event and used high-throug…

<p>Nab-paclitaxel in pretreated metastatic breast cancer: evaluation of activity, safety, and quality of life</p>

2019

Objective Metastatic breast cancer (MBC) is an incurable disease; the treatment of this disease prolongs survival, improving the quality of life (QoL) with a balance between efficacy and toxicity of the treatment. In recent years, treatment with nab-paclitaxel has improved the already known antitumor activity of conventional paclitaxel, in terms of increased efficacy and better tolerability. The aim of this study was to evaluate nab-paclitaxel in Italian patients with MBC. Methods We conducted a retrospective analysis of 90 patients with histologically confirmed diagnosis of MBC. To evaluate the efficacy of nab-paclitaxel, overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS), and overall …