Colby News

Tony Blair to Speak at Commencement Science Building Gets Go-Ahead Spike Lee Does the Colby Thing Historian Leonard Awarded Lincoln Prize Presidential Preview Show by Mike Daisey Creates Nationwide Controversy President Adams as Art Curator Chen Wins Peace Grant--Again Qin Awarded Watson Fellowship Roots in Slavery Tell Bigger Story TwitterFEED A (Real) Virtual Community Corrado Tapped as Expert on Super PACs

September 2011: Introducing Dacus Docs News!

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Hollows of a science of consciousness?

I consider Nixon’s essay a well thought discussion of the possibility of a genuine science of consciousness. Most of the sections are worth discussing, but to find the main message it may be necessary to read between the lines. The good news is that he does not present true impossibilities for this science, but his discussion leads to the (sound) conclusion that it would have to account for many unconscious factors that make us creative and human.

MMP-7 and TIMP-1, news targets in predicting poor wound healing in apical periodontitis

Introduction: Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and the tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinases (TIMPs) are strongly associated with tissue destruction because of inflammation. In this study, we investigated the expression of MMPs and TIMPs messenger RNA and protein levels in apical periodontitis lesions. Methods: Tissue samples from patients presenting clinical signs of chronic apical abscess (CAA) or asymptomatic apical periodontitis (AAP) were collected postoperatively and used for gene expression analysis of MMP-2, -3, -7, -9, -14, -16, and -25; TIMP-1; and TIMP-2 in real-time polymerase chain reaction. Immunohistochemistry was also performed to detect the expression of MMP-7 and TIMP-1 proteins. Lastly, U-937 cells were induced to terminal differentiation into macrophages, infected with purified Escherichia coli lipopolysaccharide, and assessed for the expression of MMP-7 and TIMP-1 using immunocytochemistry and confocal microscopy. Results: Significantly higher messenger RNA levels were found for all genes in AAP and CAA samples when compared with healthy control samples (P < .001). AAP cases exhibited significantly higher TIMP-1 when compared with CAA cases, whereas CAA cases showed higher MMP-2, MMP-7, and MMP-9 messenger RNA levels (P < .05). We also detected positive the expression of MMP-7 and TIMP-1 proteins in the tissue samples. The expression of both MMP-7 and TIMP-1 were increased in lipopolysaccharide-stimulated cells compared with nonstimulated cells and appear to colocalize in the Golgi apparatus. Conclusions: MMPs appear to have an influential role in CAA cases in which ongoing tissue destruction is observed. TIMPs are preferentially associated with AAP, perhaps as a subsequent defense mechanism against excessive destruction. Taken together, our findings implicate MMP and TIMP molecules in the dynamics of inflammatory periapical lesion development