LRG1 modulates epithelial-mesenchymal transition and angiogenesis in colorectal cancer via HIF-1α activation

Abstract

Background

Leucine-rich-alpha-2-glycoprotein 1 (LRG1) has been reported to be involved in several tumors, whether it participates in colorectal cancer (CRC) progression remains unclear. Here, we investigated the biological function and underlying molecular mechanisms of LRG1 in CRC.

Methods

The mRNA and protein levels of LRG1 were assessed in CRC tissues through RT-PCR and immunohistochemistry, respectively. HCT116 and SW480 cells were treated with LRG1 siRNA, control siRNA, or recombinant LRG1. Transwell invasion assays and wound healing assays were performed to evaluate the invasion and migration of CRC cells. Epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) markers of E-cadherin, VDR, N-cadherin, α-SMA, Vimentin and Twist1 were detected by RT-PCR and western blot. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used to measure the secretion level of VEGF-A. Conditioned medium from CRC cells was collected for endothelial cell migration, tube formation and aortic ring sprouting assays.

Results

LRG1 was overexpressed in CRC tissues and associated with cancer aggressiveness. LRG1 was further found to induce the EMT process, as well as CRC cell migration and invasion capacity. In addition, LRG1 promoted VEGF-A expression in CRC cells and contributed to tumor angiogenesis. Furthermore, HIF-1α could be induced by LRG1 in a concentration- and time-dependent manner, which was responsible for LRG1-induced VEGF-A expression and EMT.

Conclusions

The present study suggests that LRG1 plays a crucial role in the progression of CRC by regulating HIF-1α expression, thereby may be a promising therapeutic target of CRC.

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Ex Vivo Expansion of Circulating Lung Tumor Cells Based on a One-Step Microfluidics-Based Immunomagnetic Isolation

Analyst, 2016, Accepted Manuscript
DOI: 10.1039/C5AN02554K, Communication

Zhihua Wang, Wenjun Wu, Zhuo Wang, Ying Tang, Yuliang Deng, Ling Xu, Jianhui Tian, Qihui Shi
We describe a one-step microfludics-based immunomagnetic isolation method to isolate CTCs directly from whole blood of lung adenocarcinoma patients. This method avoids harsh sample preparation and enrichment steps, and therefore...
The content of this RSS Feed (c) The Royal Society of Chemistry

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Integrated concept blending with vector space models

Publication date: Available online 8 February 2016
Source:Computer Speech & Language
Author(s): Hiram Calvo, Oscar Méndez, Marco A. Moreno-Armendáriz
Traditional concept retrieval is based on usual word definition dictionaries with simple performance: they just map words to their definitions. This approach is mostly helpful for readers and language students, but writers sometimes need to find a word that encompasses a set of ideas that they have in mind. For this task, inverse dictionaries are ready to help; however, in some cases a sought word does not correspond to a single definition but to a composite meaning of several concepts. A language producer then tends to require a concept search that starts with a group of words or a series of related terms, looking for a target word. This paper aims to assist on this task by presenting a new approach for concept blending through the development of a search-by-concept method based on vector space representation using semantic analysis and statistical natural language processing techniques. Words are represented as numeric vectors based on different semantic similarity measures and probabilistic measures; the semantic properties of a word are captured in the vector elements determined by a given linguistic context. Three different sources are used as context for word vector construction: WordNet, a distributional thesaurus, and the Latent Dirichlet Allocation algorithm; each source is used for building a different Semantic Vector Space.The concept-blender input is then conformed by a set of n-nouns. All input members are read and substituted by their corresponding vectors. Then, a semantic space analysis including a filtering and ranking process is carried out to deploy a list of target words. A test set of 50 concepts was created in order to evaluate the system's performance. A group of 30 evaluators found our integrated concept blending model to provide better results for finding an adequate word for the provided set of concepts.



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Clinical impact of circulating microRNAs as blood-based marker in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia

Abstract

Aberrant microRNA (miRNA) expression participates in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). This study aimed to investigate the expression of miRNA-100, miRNA-196a, and miRNA-146a among childhood ALL and study their correlation with other hematological parameters and different phenotypes. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PMNCs) were obtained from 85 childhood ALL and 25 healthy children for the detection of miRNA expression using quantitative real-time PCR. Significant higher median levels were reported for ALL compared to control children. The diagnostic efficacy for miRNA-146a was superior as both sensitivity and specificity were absolute. A significant correlation was observed between higher expression of miRNA-100 and lower platelet and lymphocyte counts; high expression of miRNA-146a showed significant correlation with low total leukocyte count (TLC) and lymphocyte counts. Significant relation was reported between studied miRNAs and different phenotyping. miRNA-100, miRNA-196a, and miRNA-146a have significant role in childhood ALL leukemogenesis, and they may be useful as biological diagnostic molecular markers.

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Differential expression of PDGFRB and EGFR in microvascular proliferation in glioblastoma

Abstract

Glioblastoma (GBM) is the highly malignant glioma and exhibits microvascular proliferation. PCR mRNA arrays and immunohistochemical stains on tissue microarray demonstrated that the expression level of PDGFRB in GBM microvascular proliferation was significantly higher than that in GBM tumor cells while the expression level of EGFR was lower in microvascular proliferation than in GBM tumor cells. PDGFRB protein was selectively expressed in pericytes in GBM microvascular proliferation. By analyzing The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) datasets for GBM, it was found that genomic DNA alterations were the main reason for the high expression of EGFR in GBM tumor cells. Our miRNA microarray data showed that microRNAs (miRNAs) (miR-193b-3p, miR-518b, miR-520f-3p, and miR-506-5p) targeting PDGFRB were downregulated in microvascular proliferation, which might be the most likely reason for the high expression of PDGFRB in GBM microvascular proliferation. The increase of several miRNAs (miR-133b, miR-30b-3p, miR-145-5p, and miR-146a-5p) targeting EGFR in GBM microvascular proliferation was one of the reasons for the lack of expression of EGFR in GBM microvascular proliferation. These findings implicated that miRNAs, such as miR-506, miR-133b, miR-145, and miR-146a, that target PDGFRB or EGFR, might be potential therapeutic agents for GBM. A new generation of targeted therapeutic agents against both EGFR and PDGFRB might be developed in the future.

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Overexpression of SphK1 enhances cell proliferation and invasion in triple-negative breast cancer via the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway

Abstract

Sphingosine kinase 1 (SphK1) expression is elevated in various cancers and is associated with shorter survival times for patients. However, the molecular mechanism of SphK1 up-regulation in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) remains unclear. In this study, we assayed the expression level of SphK1 in TNBC tissues by qRT-PCR and immunohistochemistry. The level of S1P was quantified by ELISA in the serum of TNBC patients. Our results found that the levels of SphK1 and S1P were significantly increased in TNBC patients compared with normal control. Furthermore, knockdown of SphK1 with siRNA decreased TNBC cell proliferation and inhibited cell migration/invasion. These data suggest that SphK1 has an important role in TNBC and presents an attractive therapeutic target for the treatment for TNBC.

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Pyruvate dehydrogenase B promoted the growth and migration of the nasopharyngeal carcinoma cells

Abstract

Metabolism alteration is one of the hallmarks of cancer cells. Although several studies have demonstrated that glycolysis played important roles in the progression of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC), the functions of specific metabolism-associated genes remain largely unknown. In this study, it was found that Pyruvate dehydrogenase B (PDHB), which catalyzed the conversion of pyruvate to Acetyl-CoA, was downregulated in NPC cells. Forced expression of PDHB in NPC cells inhibited cell growth and migration, while knocking down the expression of PDHB promoted the growth, migration, and tumorigenesis of NPC cells. Mechanism study showed that PDHB inhibited ERK signaling and cell growth driven by RasV12. Collectively, our study demonstrated the suppressive roles of PDHB in the progression of NPC, and restoring the function of PDHB might be a promising strategy for NPC therapy.

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Using TALEs to turn off any gene in E. coli

UW-Madison researchers engineered TALEs to transcriptionally repress any gene in E. coli. The results, published in Nature Chemical Biology, offer a new way to fine-tune bacterial physiology. Although TALEs have long been used for gene editing or transcriptional activation, this is one of the fi...

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The Th17/Treg Immune Imbalance in Ulcerative Colitis Disease in a Chinese Han Population

Objective. To investigate the Th17/Treg immune balance in the ulcerative colitis (UC) patients in a Chinese Han population. Methods. Ninety UC patients and 30 healthy subjects were enrolled. The serum IL-17 and TGF-β1 levels of these participants were measured with ELISA; the percentage of Th17 and Treg cells in peripheral blood was determined with flow cytometry. Results. In UC patients, the levels of IL-17 and Th17 were significantly higher compared with healthy subjects; the percentage of Th17 and IL-17 level in moderate and severe subgroup was significantly higher than in mild subgroup; a positive correlation existed between these two indexes and clinical activity index and endoscopic evaluation. TGF-β1 level and Treg cells in UC patients were lower than healthy subjects. TGF-β1 level in moderate and severe subgroup was lower than in mild subgroup. There was a negative linear correlation between Treg cells and clinical activity index, endoscopic evaluation. A positive correlation was detected between Treg cells and TGF-β1 level. Conclusions. Th17/Treg immune imbalance might play a crucial role in the development of UC. To induce the production of Treg cells and TGF-β1, inhibit the level of Th17 and IL-17, and thus recover the Th17/Treg immune balance might imply new therapeutic targets in UC management.

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Acinetobacter baumannii Infection and IL-17 Mediated Immunity

Acinetobacter baumannii is a significant cause of severe hospital-acquired infections with a recent rise in multidrug-resistant infections involving traumatic wounds of military personnel. The interleukin-17 (IL-17) pathway is essential for neutrophil recruitment in response to a variety of pathogens, while the control of A. baumannii infection is known to be dependent on neutrophils. This suggests that IL-17 may play an important role in A. baumannii infection; however, this has yet to be studied. Here, we summarize the recent advances in understanding the host-pathogen interaction of A. baumannii and propose a potential role of the IL-17 pathway in generating a protective immune response.

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Van twijgje tot tak: een geschiedenis van de groene criminologie

Met dit artikel beogen we een overzicht te geven van het studiegebied van de groene criminologie. Deze relatief jonge discipline ontstond twee decennia geleden op een moment dat milieu nagenoeg niet op de criminologische agenda stond. Niettegenstaande de toenemende maatschappelijke relevantie van milieuproblemen is milieuschade en –criminaliteit vandaag nog steeds geen hoofdthema binnen de criminologie. Er is niettemin een rijkdom aan onderzoek dat de relevantie van milieucriminaliteit als onderzoeksthema aantoont. In dit artikel doen we een poging om diverse studies binnen de groene criminologie thematisch te bespreken. We geven daarbij ook een overzicht van de studies die binnen het Nederlands taalgebied zijn gevoerd. We willen de lezer inzicht verschaffen in de kernthema's van dit studiegebied en de relevantie van dit onderzoek voor de toekomst van de criminologie aantonen.

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The mid-infrared instrument for the James Webb space telescope, III: MIRIM, the MIRI imager

In this article, we describe the Mid-Infrared Imager Module (MIRIM), which provides broadband imaging in the 5-27 mu m wavelength range for the James Webb Space Telescope. The imager has a 0 ''.11 pixel scale and a total unobstructed view of 74 '' x 113 '' The remainder of its nominal 113 '' x 113 '' field is occupied by the coronagraphs and the low-resolution spectrometer. We present the instrument optical and mechanical design. We show that the test data, as measured during the test campaigns undertaken at CEA-Saclay, at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, and at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, indicate that the instrument complies with its design requirements and goals. We also discuss the operational requirements (multiple dithers and exposures) needed for optimal scientific utilization of the MIRIM.

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The mid-infrared instrument for the James Webb space telescope, X: operations and data reduction

We describe the operations concept and data reduction plan for the Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) for the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). The overall JWST operations concept is to use observation templates (OTs) to provide a straightforward and intuitive way for users to specify observations. MIRI has four OTs that correspond to the four observing modes: (1) imaging, (2) coronagraphy, (3) low-resolution spectroscopy, and (4) medium-resolution spectroscopy. We outline the user choices and expansion of these choices into detailed instrument operations. The data reduction plans for MIRI are split into three stages, where the specificity of the reduction steps to the observation type increases with stage. The reduction starts with integration ramps: stage 1 yields uncalibrated slope images; stage 2 calibrates the slope images; and then stage 3 combines multiple calibrated slope images into high-level data products (e.g., mosaics, spectral cubes, and extracted source information). Finally, we give examples of the data and data products that will be derived from each of the four different OTs.

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The construction of refugees as (non-) citizens in migration policies of Belgium between 2011 and 2014

One of the reasons why international migration is so central to the politics of many European countries is the challenges it sets to citizenship. It uncovers the mechanisms of exclusion and the production of inequalities inherent to this modern conception of citizenship. At the same time, national governments seem to hold on to an exclusive form of citizenship and are adopting even more restrictive policies towards refugees with differential legal statuses as a response to the increasing numbers of asylum seekers. According to empirical research these restrictive measures are accompanied by a discourse that portrays migration as a threat to the security of the nation-state and the welfare state. These discourses on migrants are considered to have an influence on the perception, attitudes and behavior of people, both migrants and non-migrants. As such, it might be interesting to empirically investigate how refugees and their citizenship is constructed in the migration policies of national governments. Especially, as citizenship can be perceived as central instrument in the hands of the nation-state to govern migrants. We assume that the way refugees and their political agency are discursively constructed in policy plays an important role in how it is received and acted upon by refugees. We will study the asylum and migration policy of the Belgium government between 2011 and 2014. Belgium is an interesting case as it is one of the few countries in Europe where asylum requests have decreased instead of increased for the past four years. In order to understand how refugees are constructed as (non-)citizens we conducted a discourse analysis of the migration policy documents of the Belgian government between 2011 and 2014. Our analysis suggest that migrants are depoliticized by (1) framing migration as an issue of good management, (2) categorizing migrants as threat and (3) categorizing migrants as victims.

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Star formation rates from young-star counts and the structure of the ISM across the NGC 346/N66 complex in the SMC

The rate at which interstellar gas is converted into stars, and its dependence on environment, is one of the pillars on which our understanding of the visible Universe is build. We present a comparison of the surface density of young stars (Sigma(star)) and dust surface density (Sigma(dust)) across NGC 346 (N66) in 115 independent pixels of 6 x 6 pc(2). We find a correlation between Sigma(star) and Sigma(dust) with a considerable scatter. A power-law fit to the data yields a steep relation with an exponent of 2.6 +/- 0.2. We convert Sigma(dust) to gas surface density (Sigma(gas)) and Sigma(star) to star formation rate (SFR) surface densities (Sigma(SFR)), using simple assumptions for the gas-to-dust mass ratio and the duration of star formation. The derived total SFR (4 +/- 1x10(-3) M-circle dot yr(-1)) is consistent with SFR estimated from the Ha emission integrated over the Ha nebula. On small scales the Sigma(SFR) derived using H alpha systematically underestimates the count-based Sigma(SFR), by up to a factor of 10. This is due to ionizing photons escaping the area, where the stars are counted. We find that individual 36 pc(2) pixels fall systematically above integrated disc galaxies in the Schmidt-Kennicutt diagram by on average a factor of similar to 7. The NGC 346 average SFR over a larger area (90 pc radius) lies closer to the relation but remains high by a factor of similar to 3. The fraction of the total mass (gas plus young stars) locked in young stars is systematically high (similar to 10 per cent) within the central 15 pc and systematically lower outside (2 per cent), which we interpret as variations in star formation efficiency. The inner 15 pc is dominated by young stars belonging to a centrally condensed cluster, while the outer parts are dominated by a dispersed population. Therefore, the observed trend could reflect a change of star formation efficiency between clustered and non-clustered star formation.

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De constructie van vluchtelingen als (niet-) burgers in het Belgisch asiel- en migratiebeleid

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The mid-infrared instrument for the James Webb space telescope, I: introduction

MIRI (the Mid-Infrared Instrument for the James Webb Space Telescope [JWST]) operates from 5 to 28: 5 mu m and combines over this range: (1) unprecedented sensitivity levels; (2) subarcsecond angular resolution; (3) freedom from atmospheric interference; (4) the inherent stability of observing in space; and (5) a suite of versatile capabilities including imaging, low- and medium-resolution spectroscopy (with an integral field unit), and coronagraphy. We illustrate the potential uses of this unique combination of capabilities with various science examples: (1) imaging exoplanets; (2) transit and eclipse spectroscopy of exoplanets; (3) probing the first stages of star and planet formation, including identifying bioactive molecules; (4) determining star formation rates and mass growth as galaxies are assembled; and (5) characterizing the youngest massive galaxies.

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The construction of refugees as (non-) citizens in migration policies of Belgium between 2011 and 2014

One of the reasons why international migration is so central to the politics of many European countries is the challenges it sets to citizenship. At the same time, national governments seem to hold on to an exclusive form of citizenship and are adopting even more restrictive policies towards refugees with differential legal statuses as a response to the increasing numbers of asylum seekers. According to empirical research these restrictive measures are accompanied by a discourse that portrays migration as a threat to the security of the nation-state and the welfare state. These discourses on migrants are considered to have an influence on the perception, attitudes and behavior of people, both migrants and non-migrants. However, research into the construction of the citizenship of refugees in migration policies has much less been done. As such, it might be interesting to empirically investigate how refugees and their citizenship is constructed in the migration policies of national governments. Especially, as citizenship can be perceived as central instrument in the hands of the nation-state to govern migrants. We will study the asylum and migration policy of the Belgium government between 2011 and 2014. Belgium is an interesting case as it is one of the few countries in Europe where asylum requests have decreased instead of increased between 2011 and 2014. In order to understand how the citizenship of refugees is constructed, we conducted a framing and category analysis of the migration policy documents of the Belgian government between 2011 and 2014. Our analysis suggest that migrants are depoliticized by (1) framing migration as an issue of good management, (2) categorizing migrants as a threat and (3) categorizing migrants as victims.

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Mass models of disc galaxies from the DiskMass Survey in modified Newtonian dynamics

This article explores the agreement between the predictions of modified Newtonian dynamics (MOND) and the rotation curves and stellar velocity dispersion profiles measured by the DiskMass Survey (DMS). A bulge-disk decomposition was made for each of the thirty published galaxies, and a MOND Poisson solver was used to simultaneously compute, from the baryonic mass distributions, model rotation curves and vertical velocity dispersion profiles, which were compared to the measured values. The two main free parameters, the stellar disk's mass-to-light ratio (M/L) and its exponential scaleheight (h(z)), were estimated by Markov Chain Monte Carlo modelling. The average best-fitting K-band stellar mass-to-light ratio was M/L a parts per thousand integral 0.55 +/- A 0.15. However, to match the DMS data, the vertical scaleheights would have to be in the range h(z) = 200-400 pc which is a factor of 2 lower than those derived from observations of edge-on galaxies with a similar scalelength. The reason is that modified gravity versions of MOND characteristically require a larger M/L to fit the rotation curve in the absence of dark matter and therefore predict a stronger vertical gravitational field than Newtonian models. It was found that changing the MOND acceleration parameter, the shape of the velocity dispersion ellipsoid, the adopted vertical distribution of stars, as well as the galaxy inclination, within any realistic range, all had little impact on these results.

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Does the stellar disc flattening depend on the galaxy type?

We analyse the dependence of the stellar disc flatness on the galaxy morphological type using 2D decomposition of galaxies from the reliable subsample of the Edge-on Galaxies in SDSS catalogue. Combining these data with the retrieved models of the edge-on galaxies from the Two Micron All Sky Survey and the Spitzer Survey of Stellar Structure in Galaxies catalogue, we make the following conclusions. (1) The disc relative thickness z(0)/h in the near-and mid-infrared passbands correlates weakly with morphological type and does not correlate with the bulge-to-total luminosity ratio B/T in all studied bands. (2) Applying a 1D photometric profile analysis overestimates the disc thickness in galaxies with large bulges making an illusion of the relationship between the disc flattening and the ratio B/T. (3) In our sample, the early-type disc galaxies (S0/a) have both flat and 'puffed' discs. The early spirals and intermediate-type galaxies have a large scatter of the disc flatness, which can be caused by the presence of a bar: barred galaxies have thicker stellar discs, on average. On the other hand, the late-type spirals are mostly thin galaxies, whereas irregular galaxies have puffed stellar discs.

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ISA-gebruikers kunnen niet meer zonder: Gentse demoproject wijst op grote aanvaarding van ISA

Dit tweede artikel in de reeks die de resultaten van het Gentse ISA-project bespreekt. behandelt de aanvaarding van het systeem door de testbestuurders. Vóór, tijdens en na de testperiode werden zij daarover bevraagd. Het onderzoek hanteerde vier indicaties om na te gaan in hoeverre ISA aanvaard wordt. Allereerst werd er aan de proefpersonen gevraagd of zij ISA beschouwen als een middel tot het verminderen van verkeerson-gevallen en of zij vinden dat !SA de verkeersveiligheid verhoogt. Ten tweede werd hun gevraagd of zij het systeem nuttig vinden en er tevreden over zijn. Als derde indicatie gold het vrijwillig gebruik van het systeem: stelden de bestuurders ISA in werking buiten de actieve zone? Ten slotte werd aan de bestuurders gevraagd of en in welke omstandigheden ze het systeem wensten te behouden. Uit de bevraging blijkt een hoge aanvaarding van het ISA-systeem. Bovendien blijkt die acceptatie ook heel tastbaar uit het feit dat driekwart van de privé-bestuurders ervoor koos om het systeem na de test in de wagen te behouden.

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ISA heeft positieve invloed op perceptie snelheidsgedrag: grondhoudingen over snelheid van testrijders in Gentse ISA-project

Half januari 2004 eindigde een proefproject met ISA waarbij in Gent 62 bestuurders 16 maanden lang met het actieve gaspedaal in de auto rondreden. Dit eerste artikel uit een reeks van vier waarin de resultaten van het project worden toegelicht, analyseert de houding van de testrijders ten aanzien van snelheid. Naar die houding werd op drie verschillende tijdstippen gepolst aan de hand van enquêtes. De enquête werd ook gespiegeld aan een draagvlakonderzoek uit 2001 bij 2.500 Belgen. De algemene conclusie van dit deel van het Gentse ISA-onderzoek luidt dat ISA niet als een storende factor ervaren wordt, die de meningen over de gevaren van snelheid sterk wijzigt.

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Optimalisatie van de verkeersongevallenstatistieken

Het project OPTIMA of "Optimalisatie van de verkeersongevallen-statistieken" waarvan de Federale Programmatorische Overheidsdienst Wetenschapsbeleid opdrachtgever is, past binnen een strategie om het beleid de noodzakelijke middelen aan te reiken om een verkeersveiligheidsbeleid op te bouwen. Een verkeersveiligheidsbeleid vertrekt van een betrouwbare en minstens representatieve weergave van de onveiligheid. De ongevallengegevens zijn daarbij een essentieel element om beleidsbeslissingen ten aanzien van de verkeersveiligheid te sturen. Het beschikken over betrouwbaar en representatief statistisch materiaal is in deze zin de basis waarop elk verkeersveiligheids-beleid moet gestoeld worden. Het doel van het project is het verkrijgen van vollediger en meer representatieve verkeersongevallencijfers door het linken van een ziekenhuisregistratie en de bestaande politieregistratie en door het vergelijken van ziekenhuisgegevens en beschikbare politie-gegevens.

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ISA geeft het goede voorbeeld in Gent: maatschappelijke voorbeeldfuncties in Gentse ISA-project

Dit artikel is het derde in de reeks over het ISA-project in Gent, dat in januari van ditjaar werd afgerond. Het geeft een antwoord op de vraag waarom er in dit project doelbewust bestuurders met een maatschappelijke voorbeeldfunctie betrokken werden Vooreerst zorgden zij met hun bekendheid voor heel wat media-aandacht, die op haar beurt het project bekendmaakte bij een breed publiek. Daarnaast konden zij tijdens demonstratieritten zelf achter het stuur van een ISA-wagen plaatsnemen en zo lijfelijk kennismaken met de techniek. Enkele decision makers lieten ISA zelfs in hun eigen wagen inbouwen en reden er een heel jaar mee rond Op die manier gaven zij niet alleen het goede voorbeeld aan de gewone burger en vergootten ze het draagvlak Ze konden ook met kennis van zaken over ISA spreken met hun collega's en zo het pad effenen voor een consensus in het beleid inzake intelligente snelheidsbegrenzers.

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Zone 30 veel meer dan een snelheidsbeperking: naar 30 km/uur als algemene regel in alle verblijfsgebieden

Dit artikel opent met een beschrijving van de maatschappelijke en juridische betekenis die achter zone 30 schuilgaat Daarna wordt de evolutie van deze snelheidsbeperking geschetst: van de eerste campagnes onder minister De Croo, het eerste koninklijk besluit onderminister Dehaene en de aanpassingen onder staatssecretaris Peeters, tot de initiatieven van minister Durant en de 'revolu-tionaire' ideeën van minister Anciaux. Vervolgens wordt een rits argumenten opgesomd dle ervoor pleiten in de bebouwde kom zone 30 als regel in te voeren en hogere snelheden als uitzon-dering. Afsluitend worden enkele bedenkingen voor het toekom-stige zone 30-beleid geformuleerd.

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Telematica van toen, nu en straks: projecten voor meer verkeersveiligheid

Na tien jaar Verkeersspecialist worden de ontwikkelingen inzake veiligheldsverhogende telematica in voertuigen onder de loep genomen. In 2000· voerde het CDO een onderzoek uit naar telematica en verkeersveiligheld.- Uit een bevragen van de administraties "bleek een enorme lacune aan knowhow. Ook andere bevindingen van de studie gaven geen al te positief beeld van het gevoerde telematica beleid. · De aanbeveling om een Werkgroep telematica op te zetten leverde wel een resolutie op maar die blijft voorlopig dode letter. Toch niet kommer en kwel. Er lopen verschillende projecten in Vlaanderen:· denk maar aan het ISA-:-demonstratieproject in Gent waar het halfopen Systeem getest wordt, en het project van het Vlaams Gewest in samenwerking met Acunia en D'leteren, dat 100 wagens met een communicatieplatform uitrustte. Het Ver-keerscentrum Vlaanderen werkt niet alleen mee aan dit Acunia-project het heeft eveneens een belangrijke taak in het verder uit-bouwen van DRIP's (Dynamische Route Informatie Panelen) en de mededelingen die erop weergegeven worden. Zeker ook het vermelden waard is de Telernatics Cluster, een vzw die het gebruik van intelligente telematicatoepassingen wil bevorderen: Intussen zftten ook heel wat andere landen niet stil:-Neder!and, Denemarken, Zweden, Groot-Brittannië, Frankrijk, Australië, Spanje, Hongarije, overal zijn !SA-projecten aan de gahg of zullen ze binnenkort worden opgestart. De toekomst van ISA ziet er dan ook positief uit. Alleen kan men zich afvragen waarom het beleid zo lang wacht om ISA te ondersteunen.

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ISA in een hogere versnelling: beleids- en implementatieacties voor het veiligheidsverhogend systeem

Het Zweedse ISA-project toont aan dat ISA de verkeersveiligheid verhoogt; uit berekeningen blijkt dat het aantal verkeerseg-wonden ontegensprekelijk daalt. Bovendien blijkt uit bevraging van testrijders dat zij het systeem aanvaarden. Vóór het gecom-mercialiseerd kan worden. moeten wel nog enkele aanpassingen gebeuren. Op het lTS-Congres in Chicago formuleerden de Zweden op basis van de testresultaten enkele beleidsaan-bevelingen, vooral voor de implementatie van ISA. Bij die implementatie vervullen de autoconstructeurs een cruciale rol. Hun afwijzende houding tegenover ISA van enkele jaren geleden wijzigt stilaan in een voorzichtige reserve. ISA wordt dus steeds meer aanvaard. In bepaalde modellen en merken worden nu al standaard snelheidsregelaars ingebouwd, die weliswaar nog ver af staan van ISA maar ook de chauffeur ondersteunen op het vlak van snelheid. Vertegenwoordigers van Volvo en Renault verklaarden op het congres dat zij ISA actief willen steunen. Of uiteindelijk het open. halfopen of gesloten ISA-systeem de bovenhand haalt, hangt af van de beleidskeuzes van de overheid

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Opteren voor OPTIMA, betrouwbaar registratiesysteem voor verkeersslachtoffers

Dat de statistieken van verkeersslachtoffers niet overeenstemmen met de werkelijkheid, was al langer geweten. De registratie van ongevallen door de politie, als enige bron van verkeersongevallen-statistieken, is onvoldoende. Vaak registreert de politie de slacht-offers zelfs niet. Toch is een juiste registratie heel belangrijk voor de verkeersveiligheidsmaatregelen die het beleid vooropstelt. Die problematiek stelt zich ook in andere landen zoals Nederland, Groot-Brittannië en Zweden. Een oplossing zou zijn om de politieregistratie van verkeersslachtoffers te koppelen aan de hospitalisatieregistratie. Op die manier krijgen we een betrouw-baar en volledig beeld van de verkeersonveiligheid. Daarvoor is een betrouwbaar registratiesysteem nodig. Het Centrum voor Duurzame Ontwikkeling en het Belgisch Instituut Voor Verkeersveiligheid starten het demonstratieproject OPTIMA op om een beter systeem op te bouwen. In één ziekenhuis worden de gewonden geregistreerd en vergeleken met de gegevens van de politie. In Zweden wordt het systeem STRADA toegepast voor 40 % van de Zweedse bevolking. Dat systeem werd intussen ook al voorgesteld aan andere Europese landen waaronder België. Als al deze landen het STRADA-systeem zouden implementeren, dan kan een standaard voor de Europese ongevallenregistratie worden uitgebouwd.

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Een nieuwe weg of een nieuw denken? Bond Beter Leefmilieu stelt huidige mobiliteit systeem in vraag

Op de persconferentie van de BBL "Geen nieuwe betonwegen. nieuwe denk wegen" werd het huidige mobiliteitsbeleid in vraag gesteld. Nieuwe wegen bouwen om een aantal problemen op te lossen, is niet rationeel. Nieuwe wegen of 'missing links' zorgen immers voor nieuw autoverkeer en nieuwe verplaatsingen. Politici zouden volgens de BBL beter werken aan de opbouw van een nieuw mobiliteitsbeleid in plaats van dure studies te laten uitvoeren. Uit het Mobiliteitsplan Vlaanderen blijkt dat bij de confrontatie van de theorie met de praktijk de klassieke oplossingen altijd opnieuw opduiken. Duurzame mobiliteit houdt vijf kernbegrippen in waar-mee men rekening moet houden: verkeersveiligheid, verkeersleef-baarheid. natuur en milieu, bereikbaarheid en toegankelijkheid. Op de persconferentie werden drie voorbeelden gegeven ter illustratie van deze stelling. In dit artikel bekijkt de auteur de N41 en de N42 in Oost-Vlaanderen. Voor beide wegen bestaat het gevaar dat ze alternatieve routes zullen worden. Het advies van deskundigen werd in deze dossiers niet gevolgd en men heeft geen gebruik gemaakt van de Strate-gische MER. Tussen de duurzame beleidsscenario's en de toetsing op het terrein (Business As Usual) schuilt nog een enorme beleidskloof.

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Grootschalig demoproject in Zweden, Verslag va ISA-onderzoek in vier Zweedse steden

Onlangs werd in Zweden een grootschalig ISA-demonstratiepro-ject afgesloten. Na vroegere kleine projecten die ervaring en kennis verschaften in technische mogelijkheden en onderzoeks-vragen, wilden de onderzoekers meer aspecten meer gevarieerd lesten. Een groter project zou vragen kunnen beantwoorden over de effecten van ISA op wegveiligheid. leefmilieu, toegankelijkheid en transportkosten. Bovendien zou het meer inzicht verschaffen in de mogelijkheden om ISA op grotere schaal te implementeren. Tijdens het driejarig onderzoek werden in vier steden ongeveer 5000 voertuigen ge-test, uitgerust met drie verschillende ISA-systemen: 'waarschuwend ISA. informatief ISA' en het intelligent gas-pedaal'. Elke stad bepaalde zijn eigen doelstellingen en onderzoeksvragen. Her onderzoek werd gevoerd met behulp van metingen, observaties. inrerviews. enquêtes en datalogging Het project bewijst dat/SA de experimentele fase omgroeid is en dat het automatisch aanpassen van de snelheid technisch mogelijk is.

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Dissolved radon and uranium in groundwater in a potential coal seam gas development region (Richmond River Catchment, Australia)

Publication date: April 2016
Source:Journal of Environmental Radioactivity, Volume 154
Author(s): Marnie L. Atkins, Isaac R. Santos, Anita Perkins, Damien T. Maher
The extraction of unconventional gas resources such as shale and coal seam gas (CSG) is rapidly expanding globally and often prevents the opportunity for comprehensive baseline groundwater investigations prior to drilling. Unconventional gas extraction often targets geological layers with high naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORM) and extraction practices may possibly mobilise radionuclides into regional and local drinking water resources. Here, we establish baseline groundwater radon and uranium levels in shallow aquifers overlying a potential CSG target formation in the Richmond River Catchment, Australia. A total of 91 groundwater samples from six different geological units showed highly variable radon activities (0.14–20.33 Bq/L) and uranium levels (0.001–2.77 μg/L) which were well below the Australian Drinking Water Guideline values (radon; 100 Bq/L and uranium; 17 μg/L). Therefore, from a radon and uranium perspective, the regional groundwater does not pose health risks to consumers. Uranium could not explain the distribution of radon in groundwater. Relatively high radon activities (7.88 ± 0.83 Bq/L) in the fractured Lismore Basalt aquifer coincided with very low uranium concentrations (0.04 ± 0.02 μg/L). In the Quaternary Sediments aquifers, a positive correlation between U and HCO3⁻ (r² = 0.49, p < 0.01) implied the uranium was present as uranyl-carbonate complexes. Since NORM are often enriched in target geological formations containing unconventional gas, establishing radon and uranium concentrations in overlying aquifers comprises an important component of baseline groundwater investigations.



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Analysis of spectra from portable handheld gamma-ray spectrometry for terrain comparative assessment

Publication date: April 2016
Source:Journal of Environmental Radioactivity, Volume 154
Author(s): Flávio Dias, Marco Lima, Jorge Sanjurjo-Sánchez, Carlos Alves
Geological characteristics can have impacts on societal development by, e.g., geotechnical issues and radiological hazard levels. Due to urban sprawl, there is an increasing need for detailed geological assessment. In this work are analysed data from portable handheld gamma-ray spectra (K, eU and eTh) obtained in granitic and Silurian metaclastic outcrops as well as in an profile, roughly N–S, on soil covered terrains transecting a mapped contact between these rock types (the profile's northern extremity is at locations mapped as granite). Estimations from gamma-ray spectra were studied by univariate and multivariate analyses. K, eU and eTh values were higher on granite in relation to Silurian metaclastic rocks. The northern extremity of the profile showed clearly higher contents of eTh and this contrast was supported by univariate statistical tools (normality plot and Wilk–Shapiro test; boxplots). A ternary plot with the contribution of the elements to gamma-ray absorbed dose showed the separation of granite from Silurian metaclastic rocks with the former being nearer the eTh vertex. The points in the northern extremity of the profile are nearer the eTh vertex than the other points on the profile. These visual suggestions were supported by hierarchical cluster analysis, which was able to differentiate between granite and metaclastic outcrops and separate portions of the profile located on different terrains. Portable gamma-ray spectrometry showed, hence, the potential to distinguish granite and metaclastic terrains at a scale useful for engineering works. These results can also be useful for a first comparative zoning of radiological hazards (which are higher for granite).

Graphical abstract

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Concentrations of iodine isotopes (129I and 127I) and their isotopic ratios in aerosol samples from Northern Germany

Publication date: April 2016
Source:Journal of Environmental Radioactivity, Volume 154
Author(s): A. Daraoui, B. Riebe, C. Walther, H. Wershofen, C. Schlosser, C. Vockenhuber, H.-A. Synal
New data about ¹²⁹I, ¹²⁷I concentrations and their isotopic ratios in aerosol samples from the trace survey station of the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) in Braunschweig, Northern Germany, are presented and discussed in this paper. The investigated samples were collected on a weekly basis during the years 2011 to 2013. Iodine was extracted from aerosol filters using a strong basic solution and was separated from the matrix elements with chloroform and was analysed by accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) for ¹²⁹I and by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) for ¹²⁷I. The concentrations of ¹²⁷I and ¹²⁹I in aerosol filters ranged from 0.31 to 3.71 ng m⁻³ and from 0.06 to 0.75 fg m⁻³, respectively. The results of ¹²⁹I/¹²⁷I isotopic ratios were in the order 10⁻⁸ to 10⁻⁷. The ¹²⁹I originated directly from gaseous emissions and indirectly from liquid emissions (via sea spray) from the reprocessing plants in Sellafield and La Hague. In comparison with the results of ¹³¹I after the Fukushima accident, no contribution of ¹²⁹I from this accident was detectable in Central Europe due to the high background originating from the ¹²⁹I releases of the European reprocessing plants. ¹²⁹I atmospheric activity concentrations were compared with those of an anthropogenic radionuclide (⁸⁵Kr). We did not find any correlation between ¹²⁹I and ⁸⁵Kr, both having nuclear reprocessing plant as the main source.



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Afvalcriminaliteit vanuit drie criminologische perspectieven: implicaties voor preventie en controle

Dit artikel focust op de relatie tussen afval en criminaliteit. We beantwoorden de vraag welke implicaties verschillende criminologische perspectieven en daaruit afgeleide verklaringen hebben voor de aanpak van afval-gerelateerde milieucriminaliteit. De criminogene opportuniteiten van afval als product en sector worden immers door zowel bedrijven als criminele groepen uitgebuit, wat afvalcriminaliteit onderwerp maakt van studies over bedrijfscriminaliteit en georganiseerde criminaliteit. Daarnaast staat dit type milieucriminaliteit ook op de groene criminologische agenda. Vanuit elk van deze drie perspectieven beargumenteren we welke consequenties uitkomsten van onderzoek hebben voor de aanpak van afvalcriminaliteit en of de bestaande handhavingspraktijk aansluit bij deze consequenties.

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STEPS 2: resettlement project: final conference

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Groene criminologie en veiligheidszorg

Criminologie heeft lange tijd de studie van milieucriminaliteit en -regulering genegeerd. Het was Lynch die in 1990 voor het eerst wees op het belang van een kritisch criminologische studie van milieuschade en daarmee was de term "groene criminologie" geboren. Milieucriminaliteit verwijst naar schade veroorzaakt door zowel individuen, als bedrijven én overheden aan ecosystemen, mensen en dieren. Het hoeft daarbij niet steeds te gaan om (reeds) strafbaar gesteld gedrag. De aandacht voor het milieu blijft echter nog beperkt, ondanks de gegroeide aandacht. Daarom stellen we in dit Cahier dit studiegebied centraal. We onderzoeken wat de groene criminaliteit betekent voor de politiewerking. Is de politie in staat om over de eigen landsgrenzen heen samen te werken en internationale vormen van groene criminaliteit het hoofd te bieden? Ook niet-politionele actoren krijgen aandacht in dit Cahier, waarbij gedacht wordt aan inspectiediensten, milieuadministraties, douanediensten en NGO's. Zij zijn voor de politie belangrijke partners in de veiligheidszorg.

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Het legaliteitsbeginsel in het Europese Strafrecht

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H-ATLAS/GAMA: quantifying the morphological evolution of the galaxy population using cosmic calorimetry

Using results from the Herschel Astrophysical Terrahertz Large-Area Survey (H-ATLAS) and the Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA) project, we show that, for galaxy masses above similar or equal to 10(8) M-circle dot, 51 per cent of the stellar mass-density in the local Universe is in earlytype galaxies (ETGs; Sersic n > 2.5) while 89 per cent of the rate of production of stellar mass-density is occurring in late-type galaxies (LTGs; Sersic n < 2.5). From this zero-redshift benchmark, we have used a calorimetric technique to quantify the importance of the morphological transformation of galaxies over the history of the Universe. The extragalactic background radiation contains all the energy generated by nuclear fusion in stars since the big bang. By resolving this background radiation into individual galaxies using the deepest far-infrared survey with the Herschel Space Observatory and a deep near-infrared/optical survey with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), and using measurements of the Sersic index of these galaxies derived from the HST images, we estimate that similar or equal to 83 per cent of the stellar mass-density formed over the history of the Universe occurred in LTGs. The difference between this value and the fraction of the stellar mass-density that is in LTGs today implies there must have been a major transformation of LTGs into ETGs after the formation of most of the stars.

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The star formation history of galaxies: the role of galaxy mass, morphology and environment

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‘Als de mensen het vergeten zijn, moet je hun geweten schoppen’: Interview met Luk Perceval.

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H-ATLAS/GAMA and HeViCS: dusty early-type galaxies in different environments

The Herschel Space Observatory has had a tremendous impact on the study of extragalactic dust. Specifically, early-type galaxies (ETG) have been the focus of several studies. In this paper, we combine results from two Herschel studies - a Virgo cluster study Herschel Virgo Cluster Survey (HeViCS) and a broader, low-redshift Herschel-Astrophysical Terahertz Large Area Survey (H-ATLAS)/Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA) study - and contrast the dust and associated properties for similar mass galaxies. This comparison is motivated by differences in results exhibited between multiple Herschel studies of ETG. A comparison between consistent modified blackbody derived dust mass is carried out, revealing strong differences between the two samples in both dust mass and dust-to-stellar mass ratio. In particular, the HeViCS sample lacks massive ETG with as high a specific dust content as found in H-ATLAS. This is most likely connected with the difference in environment for the two samples. We calculate nearest neighbour environment densities in a consistent way, showing that H-ATLAS ETG occupy sparser regions of the local Universe, whereas HeViCS ETG occupy dense regions. This is also true for ETG that are not Herschel-detected but are in the Virgo and GAMA parent samples. Spectral energy distributions are fit to the panchromatic data. From these, we find that in H-ATLAS the specific star formation rate anticorrelates with stellar mass and reaches values as high as in our Galaxy. On the other hand HeViCS ETG appear to have little star formation. Based on the trends found here, H-ATLAS ETG are thought to have more extended star formation histories and a younger stellar population than HeViCS ETG.

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G2C2, IV: a novel approach to study the radial distributions of multiple populations in Galactic globular clusters

We use the horizontal branch (HB) morphology of 48 Galactic globular clusters (GCs) to study the radial distributions of the different stellar populations known to exist in GCs. Assuming that the (extremely) blue HB stars correspond to stars enriched in helium and light elements, we compare the radial distributions of stars selected according to colour on the HB to trace the distribution of the secondary stellar populations in GCs. Unlike other cases, our data show that the populations are well mixed in 80 per cent of the cases studied. This provides some constraints on the mechanisms proposed to pollute the interstellar medium in young GCs.

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Dust energy balance study of two edge-on spiral galaxies in the Herschel-ATLAS survey

Interstellar dust in galaxies can be traced either through its extinction effects on the star light or through its thermal emission at infrared wavelengths. Recent radiative transfer studies of several nearby edge-on galaxies have found an apparent inconsistency in the dust energy balance: the radiative transfer models that successfully explain the optical extinction underestimate the observed fluxes by an average factor of 3. We investigate the dust energy balance for IC 4225 and NGC 5166, two edge-on spiral galaxies observed by the Herschel Space Observatory in the frame of the H-ATLAS survey. We start from models which were constrained from optical data and extend them to construct the entire spectral energy distribution of our galaxies. These predicted values are subsequently compared to the observed far-infrared fluxes. We find that including a young stellar population in the modelling is necessary as it plays a non-negligible part in the heating of the dust grains. While the modelling approach for both galaxies is nearly identical, we find two very different results. As is often seen in other edge-on spiral galaxies, the far-infrared emission of our radiative transfer model of IC 4225 underestimates the observed fluxes by a factor of about 3. For NGC 5166 on the other hand, we find that both the predicted spectral energy distribution as well as the simulated images match the observations particularly well. We explore possible reasons for this difference and conclude that it is unlikely that one single mechanism is the cause of the dust energy balance problem in spiral galaxies. We discuss the different approaches that can be considered in order to get a conclusive answer on the origin this discrepancy.

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Herschel-ATLAS: the surprising diversity of dust-selected galaxies in the local submillimetre Universe

We present the properties of the first 250 mu m blind sample of nearby galaxies (15 < D < 46 Mpc) containing 42 objects from the Herschel Astrophysical Terahertz Large Area Survey. Herschel's sensitivity probes the faint end of the dust luminosity function for the first time, spanning a range of stellar mass (7.4 < M-star < 11.3 log(10) M-circle dot), star formation activity (-11.8 < SSFR < -8.9 log(10) yr(-1)), gas fraction (3-96 per cent), and colour (0.6 < FUV-K-S < 7.0 mag). The median cold dust temperature is 14.6 K, colder than in the Herschel Reference Survey (18.5 K) and Planck Early Release Compact Source Catalogue (17.7 K). The mean dust-to-stellar mass ratio in our sample is higher than these surveys by factors of 3.7 and 1.8, with a dust mass volume density of (3.7 +/- 0.7) x 10(5) M-circle dot Mpc(-3). Counter-intuitively, we find that the more dust rich a galaxy, the lower its UV attenuation. Over half of our dust-selected sample are very blue in FUV-K-S colour, with irregular and/or highly flocculent morphology; these galaxies account for only 6 per cent of the sample's stellar mass but contain over 35 per cent of the dust mass. They are the most actively star-forming galaxies in the sample, with the highest gas fractions and lowest UV attenuation. They also appear to be in an early stage of converting their gas into stars, providing valuable insights into the chemical evolution of young galaxies.

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Morphological fractions of galaxies in WINGS clusters: revisiting the morphology-density paradigm

We present the morphology-density and morphology-radius relations (T-Sigma and T-R, respectively) obtained from the WIde-field Nearby Galaxy-cluster Survey (WINGS) data base of galaxies in nearby clusters. Aiming to achieve the best statistics, we exploit the whole sample of galaxies brighter than M-V = -19.5 (5504 objects), stacking up the 76 clusters of the WINGS survey altogether. Using this global cluster sample, we find that the T-Sigma relation holds only in the inner cluster regions (R < 1/3 R-200), while the T-R relation keeps almost unchanged over the whole range of local density. A couple of tests and two sets of numerical simulations support the robustness of these results against the effects of the limited cluster area coverage of the WINGS imaging. The above mentioned results hold for all cluster masses (X-ray luminosity and velocity dispersion) and all galaxy stellar masses (M-*). The strength of the T-Sigma relation (where present) increases with increasing M-*, while this effect is not found for the T-R relation. Noticeably, the absence/presence of subclustering determines the presence/absence of the T-Sigma relation outside the inner cluster regions, leading us to the general conclusion that the link between morphology and local density is preserved just in dynamically evolved regions. We hypothesize that some mechanism of morphological broadening/redistribution operates in the intermediate/outer regions of substructured ('non-relaxed') clusters, producing a strong weakening of the T-Sigma relation.

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Requiems in post-apartheid-mineur

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G2C2, III: structural parameters for Galactic globular clusters in SDSS passbands

We use our Galactic Globular Cluster Catalog (G2C2) photometry for 111 Galactic globular clusters (GCs) in g and z, as well as r and i photometry for a subset of 60 GCs and u photometry for 22 GCs, to determine the structural parameters assuming King models. In general, the resulting core radii are in good comparison with the current literature values. However, our half-light radii are slightly lower than the literature. The concentrations (and therefore also the tidal radii) are poorly constrained mostly because of the limited radial extent of our imaging. Therefore, we extensively discuss the effects of a limited field of view on the derived parameters using mosaicked Sloan Digital Sky Survey data, which do not suffer from this restriction. We also illustrate how red giant branch (RGB) stars in cluster cores can stochastically induce artificial peaks in the surface brightness profiles. The issues related to these bright stars are scrutinized based on both our photometry and simulated clusters. We also examine colour gradients and find that the strongest central colour gradients are caused by central RGB stars and thus not representative for the cluster light or colour distribution. We recover the known relation between the half-light radius and the Galactocentric distance in the g band, but find a lower slope for redder filters. We did not find a correlation between the scatter on this relation and other cluster properties. We find tentative evidence for a correlation between the half-light radii and the [Fe/H], with metal-poor GCs being larger than metal-rich GCs. However, we conclude that this trend is caused by the position of the clusters in the Galaxy, with metal-rich clusters being more centrally located.

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CIA-detentie van terroristen op Europese Black Sites

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Detection and Analysis of Wnt Pathway Related lncRNAs Expression Profile in Lung Adenocarcinoma

Abstract

Studies have shown that the expression profile of Wnt signaling pathway is very important in lung adenocarcinoma (LAD) and some lncRNAs can regulate the expression of key molecules of Wnt pathway. However, Wnt pathway related lncRNAs are not systematically analyzed and detected in lung adenocarcinoma. We used a high-throughput microarray to compare the lncRNA expression profiles in LAD and corresponding normal tissue (NT) samples. Several candidate Wnt pathway related lncRNAs were verified by real-time quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis. We found that 232 Wnt pathway related lncRNAs were obviously expressed (≥2-fold change) in lung adenocarcinoma samples and 13 Wnt pathway related lncRNAs were aberrantly expressed in lung adenocarcinoma compared with matched histologically normal lung tissues by qPCR. Among these, RP11-181G12.2 and RP11-89 K21.1 were the most aberrantly expressed lncRNAs. Our study ascertained the expression of Wnt pathway related lncRNAs in lung adenocarcinoma. The results revealed that many Wnt pathway related lncRNAs were differentially expressed in lung adenocarcinoma tissues, suggesting that they may play a key role in tumor development.

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Phytochemicals in the Fight Against Cancer

Abstract

Phytochemicals are chemical compounds from fruits, vegetables, or grains and they have been used to treat various diseases for thousands of years. More than one million people in the United States get cancer each year. Although recent advances in medicine have improved the outcomes for cancer patients, there is still a need for novel approaches in the fight against cancer. One such approach that has shown promise in recent years is the use of phytochemicals alone or as synergistic agents. In this review, we will discuss the use of phytochemicals as therapeutic agents against cancer with an emphasis on apple extract.

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