Fluorescence (FISH) and chromogenic (CISH) in situ hybridisation in prostate carcinoma cell lines: comparison and use of virtual microscopy

Chromogenic in situ hybridisation (CISH) has become an attractive alternative to fluorescence in situ hybridisation (FISH) due to its permanent stain which is more familiar to pathologists and because it can be viewed using light microscopy, The aim of the present study is to examine reproducibility in the assessment of abnormal chromosome number by CISH in comparison to FISH. Using three prostate cell lines - PNTIA (derived from normal epithelium), LNCAP and DU145 (derived from prostatic carcinoma), chromosomes 7 and 8 were counted in 40 nuclei in FISH preparations (x100 oil immersion) and 100 nuclei in CISH preparations (x40) by two independent observers. The CISH slides were examined using standard fight microscopy and virtual microscopy. Reproducibitity was examined using paired Student's t-test (P

Hyperacetylation in prostate cancer induces cell cycle aberrations, chromatin reorganization and altered gene expression profiles.

Histone acetylation is a fundamental mechanism in the regulation of local chromatin conformation and gene expression. Research has focused on the impact of altered epigenetic environments on the expression of specific genes and their pathways. However, changes in histone acetylation also have a global impact on the cell. In this study we used digital texture analysis to assess global chromatin patterns following treatment with trichostatin A (TSA) and have observed significant alterations in the condensation and distribution of higher-order chromatin, which were associated with altered gene expression profiles in both immortalised normal PNT1A prostate cell line and androgen-dependent prostate cancer cell line LNCaP. Furthermore, the extent of TSA-induced disruption was both cell cycle and cell line dependent. This was illustrated by the identification of sub-populations of prostate cancer cells expressing high levels of H3K9 acetylation in the G2/M phase of the cell cycle that were absent in normal cell populations. In addition, the analysis of enriched populations of G1 cells showed a global decondensation of chromatin exclusively in normal cells.

Evaluation of Five Interleukin Genes for Association with End-Stage Renal Disease in White Europeans

Background: Genetic variation within interleukin genes has been reported to be associated with end-stage renal disease (ESRD). These findings have not been consistently replicated. No study has yet reported the comprehensive investigation of IL1A, IL1B, IL1RN, IL6 and IL10 genes. Methods: 664 kidney transplant recipients (cases) and 577 kidney donors (controls) were genotyped to establish if common variants in interleukin genes are associated with ESRD. Single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) genotype data for each gene were downloaded for a northern and western European population from the International HapMap Project. Haploview was used to visualize linkage disequilibrium and select tag SNPs. Thirty SNPs were genotyped using MassARRAY (R) iPLEX Gold technology and data were analyzed using the chi(2) test for trend. Independent replication was conducted in 1,269 individuals with similar phenotypic characteristics. Results: Investigating all common variants in IL1A, IL1B, IL1RN, IL6 and IL10 genes revealed a statistically significant association (rs452204 p(empirical) = 0.02) with one IL1RN variant and ESRD. This IL1RN SNP tags three other variants, none of which have previously been reported to be associated with renal disease. Independent replication in a separate transplant population of comparable size did not confirm the original observation. Conclusions: Common variants in these five candidate interleukin genes are not major risk factors for ESRD in white Europeans. Copyright (C) 2010 S. Karger AG, Basel

The Cambridge Companion to Vaughan Williams

An icon of British national identity and one of the most widely performed twentieth-century composers, Ralph Vaughan Williams has been as much misunderstood as revered; his international impact, and enduring influence on areas as diverse as church music, film scores, and popular music, has been insufficiently appreciated. This volume brings together a team of leading scholars, examining all areas of the composer’s output from new perspectives, and re-evaluating the cultural politics of his lifelong advocacy for the music-making of ordinary people. Surveys of major genres are complemented by chapters exploring such topics as the composer’s relationship with the BBC, and his studies with Ravel; uniquely, the book also includes specially commissioned interviews with major living composers Peter Maxwell Davies, Piers Hellawell, Nicola Lefanu, and Anthony Payne.

Evolution of linearly polarized electromagnetic pulses in laser plasmas

An analytical and numerical investigation is presented of the behavior of a linearly polarized electromagnetic pulse as it propagates through a plasma. Considering a weakly relativistic regime, the system of one-dimensional fluid-Maxwell equations is reduced to a generalized nonlinear Schrodinger type equation, which is solved numerically using a split step Fourier method. The spatio-temporal evolution of an electromagnetic pulse is investigated. The evolution of the envelope amplitude of density harmonics is also studied. An electromagnetic pulse propagating through the plasma tends to broaden due to dispersion, while the nonlinear frequency shift is observed to slow down the pulse at a speed lower than the group velocity. Such nonlinear effects are more important for higher density plasmas. The pulse broadening factor is calculated numerically, and is shown to be related to the background plasma density. In particular, the broadening effect appears to be stronger for dense plasmas. The relation to existing results on electromagnetic pulses in laser plasmas is discussed. (c) 2008 American Institute of Physics.

Higher-order effects and ultrashort solitons in left-handed metamaterials

Starting from Maxwell's equations, we use the reductive perturbation method to derive a second-order and a third-order nonlinear Schrodinger equation, describing ultrashort solitons in nonlinear left-handed metamaterials. We find necessary conditions and derive exact bright and dark soliton solutions of these equations for the electric and magnetic field envelopes.

Arbitrary amplitude ion-acoustic solitary excitations in the presence of excess superthermal electrons

Velocity distribution functions with an excess of superthermal particles are commonly observed in space plasmas, and are effectively modeled by a kappa distribution. They are also found in some laboratory experiments. In this paper we obtain existence conditions for and some characteristics of ion-acoustic solitary waves in a plasma composed of cold ions and kappa-distributed electrons, where kappa>3/2 represents the spectral index. As is the case for the usual Maxwell-Boltzmann electrons, only positive potential solitons are found, and, as expected, in the limit of large kappa one recovers the usual range of possible soliton Mach numbers, viz., 1 < M < 1.58. For lower values of kappa, modeling the presence of a greater superthermal component, the range of accessible Mach numbers is reduced. It is found that the amplitude of the largest possible solitons that may be generated in a given plasma (corresponding to the highest allowed Mach number for the given plasma composition) falls off with decreasing kappa, i.e., an increasing superthermal component. On the other hand, at fixed Mach number, both soliton amplitude and profile steepness increase as kappa is decreased. These changes are seen to be important particularly for kappa < 4, i.e., when the electrons have a "hard" spectrum.

Electromagnetic envelope solitons in magnetized plasma

A multiple scales technique is employed to solve the fluid-Maxwell equations describing a weakly nonlinear circularly polarized electromagnetic pulse in magnetized plasma. A nonlinear Schrodinger-type (NLS) equation is shown to govern the amplitude of the vector potential. The conditions for modulational instability and for the existence of various types of localized envelope modes are investigated in terms of relevant parameters. Right-hand circularly polarized (RCP) waves are shown to be modulationally unstable regardless of the value of the ambient magnetic field and propagate as bright-type solitons. The same is true for left-hand circularly polarized (LCP) waves in a weakly to moderately magnetized plasma. In other parameter regions, LCP waves are stable in strongly magnetized plasmas and may propagate as dark-type solitons (electric field holes). The evolution of envelope solitons is analyzed numerically, and it is shown that solitons propagate in magnetized plasma without any essential change in amplitude and shape. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.