The Role of Exosomes in Cancer Progression

Early detection, characterization and monitoring of cancer are possible by using extracellular vesicles (EVs) isolated from non-invasively obtained liquid biopsy samples. They play a role in intercellular communication contributing to cell growth, differentiation and survival, thereby affecting the formation of tumor microenvironments and causing metastases. EVs were discovered more than seventy years ago. They have been tested recently as tools of drug delivery to treat cancer. Here we give a brief review on extracellular vesicles, exosomes, microvesicles and apoptotic bodies. Exosomes play an important role by carrying extracellular nucleic acids (DNA, RNA) in cell-to-cell communication causing tumor and metastasis development. We discuss the role of extracellular vesicles in the pathogenesis of cancer and their practical application in the early diagnosis, follow up, and next-generation treatment of cancer patients.     

Phenylalanine Ammonia‐Lyase‐Catalyzed Deamination of an Acyclic Amino Acid: Enzyme Mechanistic Studies Aided by a Novel Microreactor Filled with Magnetic Nanoparticles

Phenylalanine ammonia‐lyase (PAL), found in many organisms, catalyzes the deamination of l ‐phenylalanine (Phe) to (E)‐cinnamate by the aid of its MIO prosthetic group. By using PAL immobilized on magnetic nanoparticles and fixed in a microfluidic reactor with an in‐line UV detector, we demonstrated that PAL can catalyze ammonia elimination from the acyclic propargylglycine (PG) to yield (E)‐pent‐2‐ene‐4‐ynoate. This highlights new opportunities to extend MIO enzymes towards acyclic substrates. As PG is acyclic, its deamination cannot involve a Friedel–Crafts‐type attack at an aromatic ring. The reversibility of the PAL reaction, demonstrated by the ammonia addition to (E)‐pent‐2‐ene‐4‐ynoate yielding enantiopure l ‐PG, contradicts the proposed highly exothermic single‐step mechanism. Computations with the QM/MM models of the N‐MIO intermediates from l ‐PG and l ‐Phe in PAL show similar arrangements within the active site, thus supporting a mechanism via the N‐MIO intermediate.     

Identification of the photocrosslinking sites in troponin-I with 4-maleimidobenzophenone labelled mutant troponin-Cs having single cysteines at positions 158 and 21

Our previous studies have shown that 4-maleimidobenzophenone (BP-Mal) attached to troponin-C (TnC) mutants with single cysteines at positions 12, 57, 89 and 98 forms crosslinks to troponin-I (TnI), and the identified crosslinking regions indicate an antiparallel course of the two interacting polypeptide chains, in agreement with other studies using fragments of TnC and TnI. In this work we extended the mapping of the TnC-TnI interface by analysing photocrosslinking between TnI and BP-Mal labelled TnC mutants with single Cys residues at positions 21 (TnC21) and 158 (TnC158). We determined the sites of these photocrosslinks in TnI by progressive proteolysis of the crosslinked product, followed by N-terminal sequencing and mass spectrophotometric analyses. The results show that whereas TnC158 forms a specific crosslink with Met-21, TnC21 forms multiple crosslinks in the range of residues 96 to 134 of TnI. The results are discussed in light of the antiparallel model of the TnI-TnC complex and a structural model derived from low-angle X-ray and neutron scattering studies.     

Seismic rating of existing buildings

As part of the US-Japan co-operative research programme, this report presented at the 1985 UJNR Panel Conference reviews two workshops, the first held at Tsukuba in 1983 and the second at Berkeley, California in 1984. The highlights of those workshops are discussed here, and some conclusions drawn.     

Resolution correction in EELS

Correction for inelastically scattered electrons is important in determining intensities in elastic peak electron spectroscopy (EPES), e.g. for obtaining information on inelastic mean free paths in the material, relevant parameters in quantitative applications of electron spectroscopy. The spectral shape of electron energy loss spectra depends more strongly on the spectrometer function in the elastic peak region, than in the continuous energy part. Therefore the resolution correction of the EELS spectra results in a considerable change of the spectral shape. The importance and the role of this correction is demonstrated in the case of REELS of Ni sample comparing the shapes of EELS spectra measured at different energy resolutions using different type spectrometers : (1) home-made HSA (ESA 31). Debrecen ; (2) home-made HSA (Clermont Ferrand) ; (3) CMA MAC2 by CAMECA-RIBER and a HSA (Lyon) ; (4) CMA OPC105 type by RIBER (Budapest).     

Guest Editorial: Advances in Research of Wireless Personal Area Networking and Bluetooth Enabled Networks

Mobile Networks and Applications -     

Influence of cooking on benzo(a)pyrene content in smoked sausages

The changes in benzo(a)pyrene (BaP) content of smoked sausages were monitored during 1 h cooking. During this time, the BaP content decreased from 4·80 to 1·87 μg/kg. The maximum drop in BaP content was reached in the first 20 min of cooking. Two factors affected the course of BaP changes, viz. water-holding capacity and the fat content. After excluding these factors, there was a high correlation coefficient of 0·996 between time of cooking and BaP content, which confirmed an inverse relationship between the decrease in BaP content and time of cooking.

The BaP decrease was directly proportional to the decrease of fat content during cooking, when the relatively high BaP content of 7·71 μg/kg was found in the cooked-out fat.