Comparative study of salicylic acid contents in young wheat and rice plants and their anticancer activities in HepG2 and Caco-2 cells.

Some recent results reported that aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid) had a positive effect on the treatment of certain types of cancer. However, the results cannot be generalized and it is not always clear whether it is a direct anticancer effect or a general health effect. Since plants produce different amounts of salicylic acid, we have sought a relationship between the salicylic acid content of some plant extracts and their anticancer activity.

["Does happiness help healing?" Immune response of hospitalized children may change during visits of the Smiling Hospital Foundation's Artists].

Unlabelled: Psychoneuroimmunologic studies on positive emotions are few, and their clinical relevance is limited.

Aims: This "SHoRT" (Smiling Hospital Research Team) study evaluates the effects that Smiling Hospital artists have on hospitalized children.

Methods: Blood samples were taken in a non-painful way through branules in an accredited Infectology Ward, 30 minutes before and 1 hour after a visit of tale tellers, puppeteers and handicraft artists.

Biological microbeads for flow-cytometric immunoassays, enzyme titrations, and quantitative PCR.

Background: Introduction of microbeads into flow-cytometry has created a new scenario, making quantitative measurement of molecules dispersed in a homogeneous phase, with an extremely wide realm of already realized and potential applications possible. Development of this field has lead to specialized instrumentation and microbead arrays, dedicated to certain applications.

Methods: Formaldehyde-fixed yeast and bacterial cells were conjugated with avidin and applied as microbeads, to establish a simple, convenient, flexible, and inexpensive flow-cytometric platform for various immunological and biochemical assays.