Investigation of concentration of economic power. Hearings before the Temporary National Economic Committee, Congress of the United States, Seventy-fifth Congress, third session[--Seventy-sixth Congress, third session] pursuant to Public resolution no. 113 (Seventy-fifth Congress) authorizing and directing a select committee to make a full and complete study and investigation with respect to the concentration of economic power in, and financial control over, production of goods and services ...

1939.--pt.30. Technology and concentration of economic power. Apr.8-12, 15-19, 22-26, 1940.--31. Investments, profits, and rates of return for selected industries.

Investigation of concentration of economic power. Temporary National Economic Committee. Final report of the executive secretary to the Temporary National Economic Committee on the concentration of economic power in the United States pursuant to Public Resolution no. 113 (Seventy-fifth Congress) authorizing and directing a select committee to make a full and complete study and investigation with respect to the concentration of economic power in, and financial control over, production and distribution of goods and services ...

By Dewey Anderson, executive secretary.

Normal HPRT coding region in a male with gout due to HPRT deficiency (Brief Communication)

A deficiency of the enzyme hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase (HPRT; EC 2.4.2.8) is associated with a spectrum of disease that ranges from gouty arthritis (OMIM 300323) to the more severe Lesch-Nyhan syndrome (OMIM 300322). To date, all cases of HPRT deficiency have shown a mutation within the HPRT cDNA. In the present study of an individual with gout due to HPRT deficiency, we found a normal HPRT cDNA sequence. This is the first study to provide an example of HPRT deficiency which appears to be due to a defect in the regulation of the gene. © 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Anti-tumour effects of antibodies targeting the extracellular cysteine-rich region of the receptor tyrosine kinase EphB4

EphB4 is a membrane-bound receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) commonly over-produced by many epithelial cancers but with low to no expression in most normal adult tissues. EphB4 over-production promotes ligand-independent signaling pathways that increase cancer cell viability and stimulate migration and invasion. Several studies have shown that normal ligand-dependent signaling is tumour suppressive and therefore novel therapeutics which block the tumour promoting ligand-independent signaling and/or stimulate tumour suppressive ligand-dependent signaling will find application in the treatment of cancer. An EphB4-specific polyclonal antibody, targeting a region of 200 amino acids in the extracellular portion of EphB4, showed potent in vitro anti-cancer effects measured by an increase in apoptosis and a decrease in anchorage independent growth. Peptide exclusion was used to identify the epitope targeted by this antibody within the cysteine-rich region of the EphB4 protein, a sequence defined as a potential ligand interacting interface. Addition of antibody to cancer cells resulted in phosphorylation and subsequent degradation of the EphB4 protein, suggesting a mechanism that is ligand mimetic and tumour suppressive. A monoclonal antibody which specifically targets this identified extracellular epitope of EphB4 significantly reduced breast cancer xenograft growth in vivo confirming that EphB4 is a useful target for ligand-mimicking antibody-based anti-cancer therapies.

Kallikrein-related peptidase 4 induces tumour microenvironment alterations that support tumour growth

Kallikrein-related peptidase 4 (KLK4) is a protease with elevated production in prostate cancer versus benign tissue. KLK4 expression is associated with prostate cancer risk, and its activity favours tumour progression through increasing cell motility and growth. Importantly, over-production of KLK4 in prostate glandular cells precedes tumour formation, positioning the enzyme to play a role in early remodelling of the tumour microenvironment, a process essential for tumour growth. We sought to identify the proteins and downstream signalling pathways targeted by KLK4 activity, to define its role in tumour microenvironment remodelling and evaluate the efficacy of KLK4 inhibition as a cancer therapy.

微生物法生成辅酶Q10的研究

本文根据我们实验室建立的发酵产物中辅酶Q10定性定量检测方法，筛选得到一株可以代谢产生较多辅酶Q10的野生菌株放射形土壤杆菌(Agrobacterium radiobacter No.50)。 为了提高放射形土壤杆菌的辅酶Q10的产量，本实验利用液体培养研究了单因素对菌株辅酶Q10产量的影响，并用正交法确定了最佳液态发酵条件。最佳发酵培养基是：葡萄糖20g,蔗糖40g, 硫酸铵10g,玉米浆30g, 酵母膏3g，K2HPO4 3g,MgSO4.7H2O 1g，蒸馏水1000mL,pH 7.0-7.2。最佳发酵条件是：转接斜面菌种到种子培养基, 转速220r/min、温度28。C培养24h后，转入发酵培养基(250mL三角拼装液量为50mL，pH 7.0), 接种量为10％，转速220r/min、温度28。C，培养120h。在此条件下，菌体湿重约为50g/L，辅酶Q10含量约为20mg/L。 本文以放射形土壤杆菌为出发菌株进行诱变育种，以期获得辅酶Q10高产菌。根据微生物育种原理、参照辅酶Q10的代谢调控机制，以野生型放射形土壤杆菌(Agrobacterium radiobacter No.50)为出发菌株，采用紫外线和亚硝基胍复合诱变技术，依次筛选得到菌体提取物M抗性菌ARM－7、烟草提取物T抗性菌株ARMT-26、Vk3抗性菌株ARMTV-25、链霉素抗性菌株ARMTVS-32，菌株ARMTVS-32产量达到了36.8mg/L，与原始出发菌株相比，产量提高了77％。 研究了茄尼醇、对羟基苯甲酸、橘子皮提取物D、胡萝卜提取物E、烟草提取物对ARMTVS-32合成辅酶Q10的影响，结果表明这些物质对菌体合成辅酶Q10有一定促进作用，添加0.2g/L茄尼醇时，辅酶Q10含量提高了17%，达到了40.7mg/L；添加1.2g/L橘子皮提取物D时，辅酶Q10含量提高了13.8%，达到了39.6mg/L；添加0.5g/L胡萝卜提取物E时，辅酶Q10含量提高了25.3% ，达到了43.6mg/L；添加8g/L烟草提取物时，辅酶Q10含量提高了12.6%，达到了39.2mg/L。 Production of Coenzyme- Q10 (CoQ10) by fermentation is considered as a process with broad prospects.Quantitative Analysis of CoQ10 in the culture of microbe by TLC—UV spectrophotometry was developed, by using this method we got the strain Agrobacterium radiobacter,which was isolated from forest soil of southwest of China. The effect of the single factor on CoQ10-production ability of the strain was examined by liquid cultured, and its best optimum cultivation conditions were established by orthogonal method. The results showed that the optimum fermentation conditions were as following: carbon sources glucose 20g/L,sucrose 40g/L; nitrongen sources (NH4)2SO4 10g/L,maize liquid 30g/L;yeast extract 3g; K2HPO4 3g/L,MgSO4.7H2O 1g/L; initial pH was 7 and volume of medium(medium volume vs flask volume) was 50mL/500mL, incubating for 120h on a rotary shaker at 220 rpm and 28℃.Under these conditions, the biomass and CoQ10 concentration reached 50g/L and 20mg/L respectively. According to the biosynthesis mechanism of CoQ10 and breeding theory, CoQ10 over-production strains were screened by UV--NTG. mutation using Agrobacterium radiobacter No.50 as parent strain. A microbe-juice resistant mutant ARMTVS-32, which also could resist tobacco-juice, VK3 and streptomycin, was screened out from an agar plate. The CoQ10 content of ARMTVS-32 reached 36.8mg/L, which was 77% higher than the initial strain. In addition, We discussed the effects of some organic substrates on the synthesis of CoQ10 in ARMTVS-32. The results showed that solanesol, orange juice D, carrot juice E and tobacco juice could promote the CoQ10 accumulation in the cells. The CoQ10 content of ARMTVS-32 reached 40.7mg/L when added 0.2g/L solanesol,it reached 39.6mg/L when added 1.2g/L orange juice D，it reached 43.6mg/L when added 0.5g/L carrot juice E. it reached 39.2mg/L when added 8g/L tobacco juice.

Perturbation of Cytokinin and Ethylene-signalling Pathways Explain the Strong Rooting Phenotype Exhibited by Arabidopsis Expressing the Schizosaccharomyces Pombe mitotic inducer, cdc25.

Background Entry into mitosis is regulated by cyclin dependent kinases that in turn are phosphoregulated. In most eukaryotes, phosphoregulation is through WEE1 kinase and CDC25 phosphatase. In higher plants a homologous CDC25 gene is unconfirmed and hence the mitotic inducer Schizosaccharomyces pombe (Sp) cdc25 has been used as a tool in transgenic plants to probe cell cycle function. Expression of Spcdc25 in tobacco BY-2 cells accelerates entry into mitosis and depletes cytokinins; in whole plants it stimulates lateral root production. Here we show, for the first time, that alterations to cytokinin and ethylene signaling explain the rooting phenotype elicited by Spcdc25 expression in Arabidopsis. Results Expressing Spcdc25 in Arabidopsis results in increased formation of lateral and adventitious roots, a reduction of primary root width and more isodiametric cells in the root apical meristem (RAM) compared with wild type. Furthermore it stimulates root morphogenesis from hypocotyls when cultured on two way grids of increasing auxin and cytokinin concentrations. Microarray analysis of seedling roots expressing Spcdc25 reveals that expression of 167 genes is changed by > 2-fold. As well as genes related to stress responses and defence, these include 19 genes related to transcriptional regulation and signaling. Amongst these was the up-regulation of genes associated with ethylene synthesis and signaling. Seedlings expressing Spcdc25 produced 2-fold more ethylene than WT and exhibited a significant reduction in hypocotyl length both in darkness or when exposed to 10 ppm ethylene. Furthermore in Spcdc25 expressing plants, the cytokinin receptor AHK3 was down-regulated, and endogenous levels of iPA were reduced whereas endogeous IAA concentrations in the roots increased. Conclusions We suggest that the reduction in root width and change to a more isodiametric cell phenotype in the RAM in Spcdc25 expressing plants is a response to ethylene over-production. The increased rooting phenotype in Spcdc25 expressing plants is due to an increase in the ratio of endogenous auxin to cytokinin that is known to stimulate an increased rate of lateral root production. Overall, our data reveal important cross talk between cell division and plant growth regulators leading to developmental changes.

The Search for New Resonances in Strong Symmetry Breaking Scenarios with the ATLAS Detector

Utilisant les plus récentes données recueillies par le détecteur ATLAS lors de collisions pp à 7 et 8 TeV au LHC, cette thèse établira des contraintes sévères sur une multitude de modèles allant au-delà du modèle standard (MS) de la physique des particules. Plus particulièrement, deux types de particules hypothétiques, existant dans divers modèles théoriques et qui ne sont pas présentes dans le MS, seront étudiés et sondés. Le premier type étudié sera les quarks-vectoriels (QV) produits lors de collisions pp par l’entremise de couplages électrofaibles avec les quarks légers u et d. On recherchera ces QV lorsqu’ils se désintègrent en un boson W ou Z, et un quark léger. Des arguments théoriques établissent que sous certaines conditions raisonnables la production simple dominerait la production en paires des QV. La topologie particulière des évènements en production simple des QV permettra alors la mise en oeuvre de techniques d’optimisation efficaces pour leur extraction des bruits de fond électrofaibles. Le deuxième type de particules recherché sera celles qui se désintègrent en WZ lorsque ces bosons de jauges W, et Z se désintègrent leptoniquement. Les états finaux détectés par ATLAS seront par conséquent des évènements ayant trois leptons et de l’énergie transverse manquante. La distribution de la masse invariante de ces objets sera alors examinée pour déterminer la présence ou non de nouvelles résonances qui se manifesterait par un excès localisé. Malgré le fait qu’à première vue ces deux nouveaux types de particules n’ont que très peu en commun, ils ont en réalité tous deux un lien étroit avec la brisure de symétrie électrofaible. Dans plusieurs modèles théoriques, l’existence hypothétique des QV est proposé pour annuler les contributions du quark top aux corrections radiatives de la masse du Higgs du MS. Parallèlement, d’autres modèles prédisent quant à eux des résonances en WZ tout en suggérant que le Higgs est une particule composite, chambardant ainsi tout le sector Higgs du MS. Ainsi, les deux analyses présentées dans cette thèse ont un lien fondamental avec la nature même du Higgs, élargissant par le fait même nos connaissances sur l’origine de la masse intrinsèque des particules. En fin de compte, les deux analyses n’ont pas observé d’excès significatif dans leurs régions de signal respectives, ce qui permet d’établir des limites sur la section efficace de production en fonction de la masse des résonances.

Use of novel biomarkers (Homocysteine, vitamin B6, B9 and B12) on the assessing the progression of cardiovascular disease

A large number of evidences correlate elevated levels of homocysteine (Hcys) with a higher cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) risk, especially, atherosclerosis. Similarly, abnormal low levels of the vitamins B6, B9 and B12 are associated to an instability in the methionine cycle with an over production of Hcys. Thus, biomedical sciences are looking forward for a cheaper, faster, precise and accurate analytical methodology to quantify these compounds in a suitable format for the clinical environment. Therefore the objective of this study was the development of a simple, inexpensive and appropriate methodology to use at the clinical level. To achieve this goal, a procedure integrating a digitally controlled (eVol®) microextraction by packed sorbent (MEPS) and an ultra performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) coupled to a photodiode array detector (PDA) was developed to identify and quantify Hcys vitamins B6, B9 and B12. Although different conditions were assayed, we were not able to combine Hcys with the vitamins in the same analytical procedure, and so we proceeded to the optimization of two methods differing only in the composition of the gradient of the mobile phase and the injected volume. It was found that MEPS did not bring any benefit to the quantification of the Hcys in the plasma. Therefore, we developed and validate an alternative method that uses the direct injection of treated plasma (reduced and precipitated). This same method was evaluated in terms of selectivity, linearity, limit of detection (LOD), limit of quantification (LOQ), matrix effect and precision (intra-and inter-day) and applied to the determination of Hcys in a group composed by patients presenting augmented CVD risk. Good results in terms of selectivity and linearity (R2> 0.9968) were obtained, being the values of LOD and LOQ 0.007 and 0.21 mol / L, respectively. The intra-day precision (1.23-3.32%), inter-day precision (5.43-6.99%) and the recovery rate (82.5 to 93.1%) of this method were satisfactory. The matrix effect (>120%) was, however, higher than we were waiting for. Using this methodology it was possible to determine the amount of Hcys in real plasma samples from individuals presenting augmented CVD risk. Regarding the methodology developed for vitamins, despite the optimization of the extraction technique and the chromatographic conditions, it was found that the levels usually present in plasma are far below the sensitivity we obtained. Therefore, further optimizations of the methodology developed are needed. As conclusion, part of the objectives of this study was achieved with the development of a quick, simple and cheaper method for the quantification of Hcys.

Fluxo lácteo em búfalas (Bubalus bubalis): aspectos ambientais e genéticos

Pós-graduação em Zootecnia - FCAV

Relação entre acurácia na repetição de palavras e conhecimento lexical em crianças

There is in the literature a divergent description between lexical knowledge and word production accuracy. The aims of this study were: (a) to investigate the influence (effect) of the word lexical knowledge over production accuracy; (b) in case there is, to characterize acoustically this interference. Eight children (5-6 years old) with typical development language participated of this study. The methodological procedure consisted of: (a) survey of the children lexical knowledge concerning to IAFAC’s words; (b) recordings of the IAFAC’s words; (c) identifi cation and characterization of the linguistic cues, by acoustic analysis, in the IAFAC’s word production in function of the different knowledge degrees. Our results suggest a negative correlation (r=-0,13, p=0,000) between lexical knowledge and presence of the linguistics cues in word’s production. However, the linguistics cues refer to hesitative cues instead of phonological errors. Implications of these results for clinical practicing are discussed.

Elevated micronucleus frequency in patients with type 2 diabetes, dyslipidemia and periodontitis

The over-production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) can cause oxidative damage to a large number of molecules, including DNA, and has been associated with the pathogenesis of several disorders, such as diabetes mellitus (DM), dyslipidemia and periodontitis (PD). We hypothesise that the presence of these diseases could proportionally increase the DNA damage. The aim of this study was to assess the micronucleus frequency (MNF), as a biomarker for DNA damage, in individuals with type 2 DM, dyslipidemia and PD. One hundred and fifty patients were divided into five groups based upon diabetic, dyslipidemic and periodontal status (Group 1 - poor controlled DM with dyslipidemia and PD; Group 2 - well-controlled DM with dyslipidemia and PD; Group 3 - without DM with dyslipidemia and PD; Group 4 - without DM, without dyslipidemia and with PD; and Group 5 - without DM, dyslipidemia and PD). Blood analyses were carried out for fasting plasma glucose, HbA1c and lipid profile. Periodontal examinations were performed, and venous blood was collected and processed for micronucleus (MN) assay. The frequency of micronuclei was evaluated by cell culture cytokinesis-block MN assay. The general characteristics of each group were described by the mean and standard deviation and the data were submitted to the Mann-Whitney, Kruskal-Wallis, Multiple Logistic Regression and Spearman tests. The Groups 1, 2 and 3 were similarly dyslipidemic presenting increased levels of total cholesterol, low density lipoprotein cholesterol and triglycerides. Periodontal tissue destruction and local inflammation were significantly more severe in diabetics, particularly in Group 1. Frequency of bi-nucleated cells with MN and MNF, as well as nucleoplasmic bridges, were significantly higher for poor controlled diabetics with dyslipidemia and PD in comparison with those systemically healthy, even after adjusting for age, and considering Bonferroni's correction. Elevated frequency of micronuclei was found in patients affected by type 2 diabetes, dyslipidemia and PD. This result suggests that these three pathologies occurring simultaneously promote an additional role to produce DNA impairment. In addition, the micronuclei assay was useful as a biomarker for DNA damage in individuals with chronic degenerative diseases.

Situação Espacial de Franquias na América do Sul: morfologia e centralidade urbanas em cidades médias da Argentina, Brasil e Chile

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Vila Sésamo: o contexto político e educacional das duas edições audiovisuais educativas brasileiras

Pós-graduação em Televisão Digital: Informação e Conhecimento - FAAC