The evolution of immune profiling: will there be a role for nanoparticles?

Immune profiling provides insights into the functioning of the immune system, including the distribution, abundance, and activity of immune cells. This understanding is essential for deciphering how the immune system responds to pathogens, vaccines, tumors, and other stimuli. Analyzing diverse immune cell types facilitates the development of personalized medicine approaches by characterizing individual variations in immune responses.

Multidisciplinary evidence-based tools for improving consistency of care and neonatal nutrition.

Background: Extrauterine growth restriction from inadequate nutrition remains a significant morbidity in very low birth weight infants. Participants in the California Perinatal Quality Care Collaborative Quality Improvement Collaborative, Grow, Babies, Grow! developed or refined tools to improve nutrition and reduce practice variation.

Method: Five Neonatal Intensive Care Units describe the development and implementation of nutrition tools.

Canonical and non-canonical functions of STAT in germline stem cell maintenance.

Background: Maintenance of the Drosophila male germline stem cells (GSCs) requires activation of the Janus kinase/signal transducer and activators of transcription (JAK/STAT) pathway by niche signals. The precise role of JAK/STAT signaling in GSC maintenance, however, remains incompletely understood.

Results: Here, we show that, GSC maintenance requires both canonical and non-canonical JAK/STAT signaling, in which unphosphorylated STAT (uSTAT) maintains heterochromatin stability by binding to heterochromatin protein 1 (HP1).

A colorful approach towards developing new nano-based imaging contrast agents for improved cancer detection.

Providing physicians with new imaging agents to help detect cancer with better sensitivity and specificity has the potential to significantly improve patient outcomes. Development of new imaging agents could offer improved early cancer detection during routine screening or help surgeons identify tumor margins for surgical resection. In this study, we evaluate the optical properties of a colorful class of dyes and pigments that humans routinely encounter.

Hospitalization Rates Related to Coordinated Home Health Care Services With a Community Oncology Practice.

Purpose: Oncology care reimbursement has been shifting from a traditional fee-for-service model to either 1- or 2-sided risk models during the past 5 years. A major expense associated with the total cost of care is hospitalization cost. The study set out to investigate whether the creation of an Advanced Community Care Model (ACCM) of home health care would affect 60-day hospitalization and 30-rehospitalization rates in a community oncology setting.

Appraisals of fear, helplessness, and perceived life-threat during emergent cardiac surgery: relationship to pre-surgical depression, trauma history, and posttraumatic stress.

Depression and posttraumatic stress (PTS) have been linked to medical/psychological outcomes following coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery. This study assessed pre-surgical trauma history, PTS, and depression; and peri-surgical appraisals of fear, helplessness, and perceived life-threat among 110 patients. All CABGs were emergent, rather than elective, surgeries.

Heterochromatin formation promotes longevity and represses ribosomal RNA synthesis.

Organismal aging is influenced by a multitude of intrinsic and extrinsic factors, and heterochromatin loss has been proposed to be one of the causes of aging. However, the role of heterochromatin in animal aging has been controversial. Here we show that heterochromatin formation prolongs lifespan and controls ribosomal RNA synthesis in Drosophila.

STAT is an essential activator of the zygotic genome in the early Drosophila embryo.

In many organisms, transcription of the zygotic genome begins during the maternal-to-zygotic transition (MZT), which is characterized by a dramatic increase in global transcriptional activities and coincides with embryonic stem cell differentiation. In Drosophila, it has been shown that maternal morphogen gradients and ubiquitously distributed general transcription factors may cooperate to upregulate zygotic genes that are essential for pattern formation in the early embryo. Here, we show that Drosophila STAT (STAT92E) functions as a general transcription factor that, together with the transcription factor Zelda, induces transcription of a large number of early-transcribed zygotic genes during the MZT.

Total synthesis of alkaloid (+/-)-G. B. 13 using a Rh(I)-catalyzed ketone hydroarylation and late-stage pyridine reduction.

Total synthesis of the Galbulimima alkaloid G. B. 13 was achieved utilizing a functionalized pyridine moiety as a piperidine surrogate.

Raf activation is regulated by tyrosine 510 phosphorylation in Drosophila.

The proto-oncoprotein Raf is pivotal for mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling, and its aberrant activation has been implicated in multiple human cancers. However, the precise molecular mechanism of Raf activation, especially for B-Raf, remains unresolved. By genetic and biochemical studies, we demonstrate that phosphorylation of tyrosine 510 is essential for activation of Drosophila Raf (Draf), which is an ortholog of mammalian B-Raf.

Drosophila STAT is required for directly maintaining HP1 localization and heterochromatin stability.

STAT (Signal transducer and activator of transcription) is a potent transcription factor and its aberrant activation by phosphorylation is associated with human cancers. We have shown previously that overactivation of JAK, which phosphorylates STAT, disrupts heterochromatin formation globally in Drosophila melanogaster. However, it remains unclear how this effect is mediated and whether STAT is involved.

A structure-based 3D-QSAR study of anthrapyrazole analogues of the anticancer agents losoxantrone and piroxantrone.

A series of 13 anthrapyrazole compounds that are analogues of piroxantrone and losoxantrone were synthesized, and their cell growth inhibitory effects, DNA binding, topoisomerase IIalpha mediated (EC 5.99.1.

Folic acid and the prevention of neural tube defects: A survey of awareness among Latina women of childbearing age residing in southeast Michigan.

Periconceptional intake of folic acid is known to reduce the risk for neural tube defects (NTDs). To inform southeast Michigan Latina women of childbearing age about the benefits of food and supplemental sources of the micronutrient in the prevention of NTDs, Spanish-English bilingual health educators carried out 20 education events in supermarkets and community organizations serving Latina women. One hundred and sixty Latina women ages 19 to 50 years indicated their current folic acid awareness and stated their future intentions regarding folic acid.

Structure-activity studies with cytotoxic anthrapyrazoles.

Anthrapyrazoles have been investigated as cancer chemotherapeutic agents. The mechanism of action of these compounds is thought to involve inhibition of DNA topoisomerase II. A structure-activity study was carried out to determine the in vitro cytotoxic activity of nine novel anthrapyrazoles against human breast carcinoma, head and neck squamous cell carcinoma and leukemia cells, and against Chinese hamster ovary cells.

Development of an anomalous Heck reaction: skeletal rearrangement of divinyl and enyne carbinols.

[reaction: see text] A general set of conditions that achieves the union of aryl halides and divinyl or enyne carbinols to afford tri- or tetrasubstituted olefins in good yields (up to 83%) is described. The mechanism by which this proceeds is believed to involve the intermediacy of a cyclopropanol, followed by a novel skeletal reorganization. The ability to suppress beta-hydride elimination of organopalladium intermediates appears to be critical to the success of these processes.

Prior resistance training and sex influence muscle responses to arm suspension.

Purpose: The magnitude of atrophy and strength loss induced by partial or complete disuse of skeletal muscles varies greatly among individuals. Factors predisposing some individuals to more extreme responses have not been identified. The purpose of this investigation was to determine whether 1) level of activity before disuse or 2) sex differences influence the magnitude of atrophy and changes in muscle strength, endurance, and sense of muscular effort in response to 21 d of arm suspension.

Synthesis of the cyclobutanone core of solanoeclepin A intramolecular allene butenolide photocycloaddition.

The compact tricyclic substructure of solanoeclepin A containing the cyclobutanone ring was prepared by using as the key step a highly regioselective intramolecular [2 + 2]-photocycloaddition reaction between one of the [small pi]-bonds of an allene and the CC double bond of a butenolide.