Positive correlational shift between crevicular antimicrobial peptide LL-37, pain and periodontal status following non-surgical periodontal therapy. A pilot study.

Background: Periodontitis has a high prevalence and uncertain recurrence. Unlike the pro-inflammatory cytokine profile, little is known about the anti-inflammatory cytokine and antimicrobial peptide overview following treatment. The present study aimed to evaluate if any of the antimicrobial peptide LL-37, interleukin (IL) 4, 10 and 6 together with the volume of gingival crevicular fluid (GCF) and total protein concentration in GCF could be used as correlative biomarkers for the severity in periodontitis as well as prognostic factors in the management of the disease.

Locating Functionalized Gold Nanoparticles Using Electrical Impedance Tomography.

Objective: An imaging device to locate functionalised nanoparticles, whereby therapeutic agents are transported from the site of administration specifically to diseased tissues, remains a challenge for pharmaceutical research. Here, we show a new method based on electrical impedance tomography (EIT) to provide images of the location of gold nanoparticles (GNPs) and the excitation of GNPs with radio frequencies (RF) to change impedance permitting an estimation of their location in cell models Methods: We have created an imaging system using quantum cluster GNPs as contrast agent, activated with RF fields to heat the functionalized GNPs, which causes a change in impedance in the surrounding region. This change is then identified with EIT.

Exploiting the efficacy of Tyro3 and folate receptors to enhance the delivery of gold nanoparticles into colorectal cancer cells .

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the fourth most common cancer in the world. Due to its asymptomatic nature, CRC is diagnosed at an advanced stage where the survival rate is <5%. Besides, CRC treatment using chemotherapy, radiotherapy and surgery often causes undesirable side-effects.

Optimisation of Folate-Mediated Liposomal Encapsulated Arsenic Trioxide for Treating HPV-Positive Cervical Cancer Cells In Vitro.

High-risk human papilloma virus (HPV) infection is directly associated with cervical cancer development. Arsenic trioxide (ATO), despite inducing apoptosis in HPV-infected cervical cancer cells in vitro, has been compromised by toxicity and poor pharmacokinetics in clinical trials. Therefore, to improve ATO's therapeutic profile for HPV-related cancers, this study aims to explore the effects of length of ligand spacers of folate-targeted liposomes on the efficiency of ATO delivery to HPV-infected cells.

Effective Delivery of Arsenic Trioxide to HPV-Positive Cervical Cancer Cells Using Optimised Liposomes: A Size and Charge Study.

Despite the success of arsenic trioxide (ATO) in treating haematological malignancies, its potential to treat solid tumours has not been fully exploited, owing to its dose-limiting toxicity and poor pharmacokinetics. In order to overcome this hurdle, liposomal encapsulation of the drug with different surface charges (neutral, negative, and positive) and sizes (100, 200 and 400 nm) were synthesised and tested on human papilloma virus (HPV)-positive HeLa and HPV-negative HT-3 cervical cancer cell lines. Two epithelial cell lines-human keratinocytes (HK) and human colon cells (CRL-1790)-were used as controls.

Modeling and validating three dimensional human normal cervix and cervical cancer tissues in vitro.

The use of three dimensional in vitro systems in cancer research is a promising path for developing effective anticancer therapies. The aim of this study was to engineer a functional 3-Din vitro model of normal and cancerous cervical tissue.Normal epithelial and immortalized cervical epithelial carcinoma cell lines were used to construct 3-D artificial normal cervical and cervical cancerous tissues.

Recent advances in arsenic trioxide encapsulated nanoparticles as drug delivery agents to solid cancers.

Since arsenic trioxide was first approved as the front line therapy for acute promyelocytic leukemia 25 years ago, its anti-cancer properties for various malignancies have been under intense investigation. However, the clinical successes of arsenic trioxide in treating hematological cancers have not been translated to solid cancers. This is due to arsenic's rapid clearance by the body's immune system before reaching the tumor site.

Phytochemical Modulation of Apoptosis and Autophagy: Strategies to Overcome Chemoresistance in Leukemic Stem Cells in the Bone Marrow Microenvironment.

Advances in scientific research and targeted treatment regimes have improved survival rates for many cancers over the past few decades. However, for some types of leukemia, including acute lymphoblastic and acute myeloid leukemia, mortality rates have continued to rise, with chemoresistance in leukemic stem cells (LSCs) being a major contributing factor. Most cancer drug therapies act by inducing apoptosis in dividing cells but are ineffective in targeting quiescent LSCs.

Therapeutic Potential of Delivering Arsenic Trioxide into HPV-Infected Cervical Cancer Cells Using Liposomal Nanotechnology.

Arsenic trioxide (ATO) has been used successfully to treat acute promyelocytic leukaemia, and since this discovery, it has also been researched as a possible treatment for other haematological and solid cancers. Even though many positive results have been found in the laboratory, wider clinical use of ATO has been compromised by its toxicity at higher concentrations. The aim of this study was to explore an improved method for delivering ATO using liposomal nanotechnology to evaluate whether this could reduce drug toxicity and improve the efficacy of ATO in treating human papillomavirus (HPV)-associated cancers.

Replication of a whole school ethos-changing intervention: different context, similar effects, additional insights.

Background: Whole school, ethos-changing interventions reduce risk behaviours in middle adolescence, more than curriculum-based approaches. Effects on older ages are not known. We set out to replicate one of these interventions, Australia's Gatehouse Project, in a rural Canadian high school.

Arsenic trioxide induces cervical cancer apoptosis, but specifically targets human papillomavirus-infected cell populations.

Objectives: Human papillomavirus (HPV) is directly associated with the occurrence and development of cervical cancer. Targeting HPV infection has become the priority in treatment and prevention. Some treatment strategies have shown a limited therapeutic potential in suppressing and reversing the oncogenic effects of HPVs, but are compromised by the toxicity, immune suppression and the expense.

Linking early brain and biological development to psychiatry: introduction and symposia review.

Objective: This paper introduces the special issue of the Journal of the Canadian Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry on the theme of how multiple factors in early brain and biological development can influence a variety of outcomes in mental health and addictions in childhood, adolescence and adulthood.

Method: In Part 1, we preview three papers in this issue. In Part 2, we highlight two recent innovative knowledge-transfer symposia featuring the application of the science in early development and addictions.

GLI1 confers profound phenotypic changes upon LNCaP prostate cancer cells that include the acquisition of a hormone independent state.

The GLI (GLI1/GLI2) transcription factors have been implicated in the development and progression of prostate cancer although our understanding of how they actually contribute to the biology of these common tumours is limited. We observed that GLI reporter activity was higher in normal (PNT-2) and tumourigenic (DU145 and PC-3) androgen-independent cells compared to androgen-dependent LNCaP prostate cancer cells and, accordingly, GLI mRNA levels were also elevated. Ectopic expression of GLI1 or the constitutively active ΔNGLI2 mutant induced a distinct cobblestone-like morphology in LNCaP cells that, regarding the former, correlated with increased GLI2 as well as expression of the basal/stem-like markers CD44, β1-integrin, ΔNp63 and BMI1, and decreased expression of the luminal marker AR (androgen receptor).

Axl promotes cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma survival through negative regulation of pro-apoptotic Bcl-2 family members.

Expression of Axl, a receptor tyrosine kinase, is increased in cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). Examination of a series of cutaneous SCC tumors revealed positive phospho-Akt (P-Akt) staining accompanied by weak TUNEL staining in Axl-positive tumors, suggesting an anti-apoptotic role for Axl in SCC survival. The role of Axl in UV-induced apoptosis was investigated in a cutaneous SCC cell line using retroviral short hairpin RNA sequences enabling stable Axl knock-down.

hCG beta expression by cervical squamous carcinoma--in vivo histological association with tumour invasion and apoptosis.

Aims: To investigate the correlation of beta-subunit of human chorionic gonadotrophin (hCG beta) expression by cervical carcinomas with measures of tumour apoptosis.

Methods And Results: Eighty-nine cervical carcinoma patients' samples were subject to hCG beta immunohistochemistry and scored with respect to intensity of immunopositivity and percentage of positive cells. Apoptosis was evaluated by three independent parameters: morphological characteristics [haematoxylin and eosin (H&E)], terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase biotin-dUTP nick end labelling (TUNEL) and poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) immunopositivity.

Reduced E-cadherin expression correlates with disease progression in Paget's disease of the vulva but not Paget's disease of the breast.

The growth and metastasis of many cancers is due in part to loss of cell-cell adhesion. E-cadherin, plakoglobin and beta-catenin are important in cell adhesion. Our aim was to examine the presence of these molecules in Paget's disease of the vulva and Paget's disease of the breast, and to correlate any differences in their expression with the presence of invasive disease or an underlying carcinoma.

GLI1 repression of ERK activity correlates with colony formation and impaired migration in human epidermal keratinocytes.

Basal cell carcinoma (BCC) of the skin is a highly compact, non-metastatic epithelial tumour type that may arise from the aberrant propagation of epidermal or progenitor stem cell (SC) populations. Increased expression of GLI1 is a common feature of BCC and is linked to the induction of epidermal SC markers in immortalized N/Tert-1 keratinocytes. Here, we demonstrate that GLI1 over-expression is linked to additional SC characteristics in N/Tert-1 cells including reduced epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) expression and compact colony formation that is associated with repressed extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) activity.

Granulosa cell survival and proliferation are altered in polycystic ovary syndrome.

Context: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) represents the most common endocrine abnormality in women of reproductive age. The cause of PCOS remains largely unknown, but studies suggest an intrinsic ovarian abnormality.

Objective: The objective of the study was to test our hypothesis that differences in granulosa cell proliferation and apoptosis may underlie abnormalities that affect follicular development.

HPV8 early genes modulate differentiation and cell cycle of primary human adult keratinocytes.

Human papillomaviruses (HPV) have been associated with the development of non-melanoma skin cancer (NMSC) but the molecular mechanisms of the role of the virus in NMSC development are not clearly understood. Abnormal epithelial differentiation seen in malignant transformation of keratinocytes is associated with changes in keratin expression. The purpose of this study was to investigate the phenotype of primary human adult keratinocytes expressing early genes of HPV8 with specific reference to their differentiation and cell cycle profile to determine whether early genes of HPV8 lead to changes that are consistent with transformation.

Longitudinal muscle shows abnormal relaxation responses to nitric oxide and contains altered levels of NOS1 and elastin in uncomplicated diverticular disease.

Objective: Recent evidence challenges the 'low-fibre/high-colonic intraluminal pressure' hypothesis of diverticular disease (DD) and raises the possibility that other mechanisms are involved. Although bowel wall smooth muscle is known to be hypercontractile in DD, the nature of its relaxation is unknown. The present study investigated colonic smooth muscle responses to nitric oxide, as well as the smooth muscle contents of neural nitric oxide and elastin associated with the disease.

Use of social network analysis to map the social relationships of staff and teachers at school.

Understanding the pre-existing social relationships in a setting is vital in health promotion, not only for understanding important people to get 'on side' with an intervention but also for appreciating how the intervention itself might change social structures. Social network analysis is a method for capturing the complexity of social relationships that has not been used widely in health promotion research. We present the results of an application in a high school.

Role for WNT16B in human epidermal keratinocyte proliferation and differentiation.

WNT signalling regulates a variety of cell functions including cell fate, polarity, and differentiation via the canonical or beta-catenin stabilisation pathway and/or the planar cell polarity or non-canonical pathway. We have previously demonstrated that two isoforms (A and B) from the WNT16 locus have differential expression in various adult human tissues. In this study we show that WNT16B but not WNT16A isoform was upregulated in basal cell carcinomas compared with normal skin.

Role of HPV E6 proteins in preventing UVB-induced release of pro-apoptotic factors from the mitochondria.

Apoptotic elimination of UV-damaged cells from the epidermis is an important step in preventing both the emergence and expansion of cells with carcinogenic potential. A pivotal event in apoptosis is the release of apoptogenic factors from the mitochondria, although the mechanisms by which the different proteins are released are not fully understood. Here we demonstrate that UV radiation induced the mitochondrial to nuclear translocation of apoptosis inducing factor (AIF) in normal skin.

Gonadotropins and prostate cancer: revisited.

Luteinizing hormone and follicle-stimulating hormone are called gonadotropins, because they stimulate the gonads - in males the testes and in females the ovaries. They are not necessary for life, but are essential for reproduction. In addition, the association of these hormones with prostate cancer has been the interest of many researchers.

Out of context? Translating evidence from the North Karelia project over place and time.

Within the literature on community-based heart health promotion and chronic disease prevention, the North Karelia project is often viewed as a model program for achieving community-wide reductions in risk factors and mortality associated with cardiovascular disease. In the present study, we examine the tendency to attempt replication of elements of the North Karelia project, without due consideration of the unique population and setting being targeted. We analysed a sample of 64 articles reporting on community-based interventions targeting chronic disease, published between 1990 and 2002.