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Melanoma-associated antigen A2 (MAGE-A2) is a member of the cancer-testis antigen family differentially overexpressed in a variety of malignancies and is associated with tumor development. However, clinical significance and prognostic value of MAGE-A2 in different histological subtypes of testicular germ cell tumors (TGCTs) have not been explored. Here, we aimed to investigate the clinical significance and prognostic impact of MAGE-A2 expression in TGCTs compared to benign tumors as well as adjacent normal tissues and then between seminomas and non-seminomas groups using immunohistochemistry on tissue microarrays. The results indicated a statistically significant difference between overexpression of MAGE-A2 and histological subtypes of TGCTs. A statistically significant association was found between a high level of nuclear expression of MAGE-A2 protein and advanced pT stage (P = 0.022), vascular invasion (P = 0.037), as well as involvement of rete testis (P = 0.022) in embryonal carcinomas. Increased nuclear expression of MAGE-A2 was observed to be associated with more aggressive behaviors and tumor progression rather than cytoplasmic expression in these cases. Further, high level nuclear expression of MAGE-A2 had shorter disease-specific survival (DSS) or progression-free survival (PFS) compared to patients with moderate and low expression of MAGE-A2, however, without a statistically significant association. Our results confirm that increased nuclear expression of MAGE-A2 has a clinical significance in embryonal carcinomas and is associated with progression of disease. Moreover, MAGE-A2 may act as a potential predictive biomarker for the prognosis in embryonal carcinomas if follow-up period becomes longer. Further investigations for the biological function of MAGE-A2 are required in future studies.

Background: Oncogenic role of doublecortin-like kinase 1 (DCLK1) as a putative cancer stem cell (CSC) marker has been clarified in colorectal cancer (CRC). Isoform-specific function of DCLK1 has highlighted key role of the DCLK1-S (short isoform) in tumor maintenance, progression, and invasion. Considering the lack of commercial anti-DCLK1-S antibody suitable for immunohistochemical (IHC) application, this study was conducted to produce and validate an anti-DCLK1-S polyclonal antibody in order to specifically evaluate expression pattern and clinical significance of short isoform of DCLK1 in colorectal cancer tissues.Methods: Rabbit immunization was performed against a synthetic peptide corresponding to the published six specific amino acid sequences of DCLK1-S, and production of antibody was evaluated by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). After IHC assessment of the purified anti-DCLK1-S polyclonal antibody, it was used to undertake a definitive study for determining prognostic significance of DCLK1-S expression in a well-defined tissue microarray (TMA) series including 348 CRC and 51 adjacent normal tissues with a follow-up period of 108 months. Results: Positive immunoreactivity of DCLK1-S was found in 84.2% of CRC samples. Cytoplasmic expression was the main localization of DCLK1-S compared to nuclear and membranous area of tumor cells. Expression of DCLK1-S in CRC samples was significantly higher compared to adjacent normal samples (P Conclusions: Our findings strongly supported that DCLK1-S isoform may play a crucial role in invasion, tumor aggressive behavior, and worsened DSS of the patients with CRC. Importantly, high cytoplasmic expression of DCLK1-S compared to moderate expression could be considered as an independent prognostic factor influencing DSS. Taken together, DCLK1-S can be a candidate as a promising prognostic and targeted-therapeutic indicator for effective treatment of CRC.

Background The crucial oncogenic role of cancer stem cells (CSCs) in tumor maintenance, progression, drug resistance, and relapse has been clarified in different cancers, particularly in colorectal cancer (CRC). The current study was conducted to evaluate the co-expression pattern and clinical significance of epithelial cell adhesion molecules (EpCAM) and activated leukocyte cell adhesion (CD166 or ALCAM) in CRC patients. Methods This study was carried out on 458 paraffin-embedded CRC specimens by immunohistochemistry on tissue microarray (TMA) slides. Results Elevated expression of EpCAM and CD166 was observed in 61.5% (246/427) and 40.5% (164/405) of CRC cases. Our analysis showed a significant positive association of EpCAM expression with tumor size (P = 0.02), tumor stage (P = 0.007), tumor differentiate (P = 0.005), vascular (P = 0.01), neural (P = 0.01), and lymph node (P = 0.001) invasion. There were no significant differences between CD166 expression and clinicopathological parameters. Moreover, the combined analysis demonstrated a reciprocal significant correlation between EpCAM and CD166 expression (P = 0.02). Interestingly, there was a significant positive correlation between EpCAM/CD166 phenotypes expression and tumor stage (P = 0.03), tumor differentiation (P = 0.05), neural, and lymph node invasion (P =0.01). Conclusions The significant correlation of EpCAM and CD166 expression and their association with tumor progression and aggressive behavior is the reason for the suggestion of these two CSC markers as promising targets to promote novel effective targeted-therapy strategies for cancer treatment in the present study.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was first discovered in December 2019 in China and has rapidly spread worldwide. Clinical characteristics, laboratory findings, and their association with the outcome of patients with COVID-19 can be decisive in management and early diagnosis. Data were obtained retrospectively from medical records of 397 hospitalized COVID-19 patients between February and May 2020 in Imam Reza hospital, northeast of Iran. Clinical and laboratory features were evaluated among survivors and non-survivors. The correlation between variables and duration of hospitalization and admission to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) was determined. Male sex, age, hospitalization duration, and admission to ICU were significantly related to mortality rate. Headache was a more common feature in patients who survived (p = 0.017). It was also related to a shorter stay in the hospital (p = 0.032) as opposed to patients who experienced chest pain (p = 0.033). Decreased levels of consciousness and dyspnea were statistically more frequent in non-survivors (p = 0.003 and p = 0.011, respectively). Baseline white blood cell count (WBC), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), and C-reactive protein (CRP) were significantly higher in non-survivors (p < 0.001). Patients with higher WBC and CRP levels were more likely to be admitted to ICU (p = 0.009 and p = 0.001, respectively). Evaluating clinical and laboratory features can help clinicians find ways for risk stratifying patients and even make predictive tools. Chest pain, decreased level of consciousness, dyspnea, and increased CRP and WBC levels seem to be the most potent predictors of severe prognosis.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was first discovered in December 2019 in China and has rapidly spread worldwide. Clinical characteristics, laboratory findings, and their association with the outcome of patients with COVID-19 can be decisive in management and early diagnosis. Data were obtained retrospectively from medical records of 397 hospitalized COVID-19 patients between February and May 2020 in Imam Reza Hospital, northeast Iran. Clinical and laboratory features were evaluated among survivors and nonsurvivors. The correlation between variables and duration of hospitalization and admission to the intensive care unit (ICU) was determined. Male sex, age, hospitalization duration, and admission to ICU were significantly related to mortality rate. Headache was a more common feature in patients who survived ( p = 0.017 ). It was also related to a shorter stay in the hospital ( p = 0.032 ) as opposed to patients who experienced chest pain ( p = 0.033 ). Decreased levels of consciousness and dyspnea were statistically more frequent in nonsurvivors ( p = 0.003 and p = 0.011 , respectively). Baseline white blood cell (WBC) count, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), and C-reactive protein (CRP) were significantly higher in nonsurvivors ( p < 0.001 ). Patients with higher WBC and CRP levels were more likely to be admitted to ICU ( p = 0.009 and p = 0.001 , respectively). Evaluating clinical and laboratory features can help clinicians find ways for risk stratifying patients and even make predictive tools. Chest pain, decreased level of consciousness, dyspnea, and increased CRP and WBC levels seem to be the most potent predictors of severe prognosis.

Background Skin cancer is the most common cancer worldwide and commonly classified into malignant melanoma (MM) and Nonmelanoma skin cancers (NMSCs), which mainly include basal cell carcinoma (BCC) and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). The extent to which Long Interspersed Element-1 (LINE-1, L1) ORF1p is expressed in cutaneous malignancies remains to be evaluated. This study aimed to assess LINE-1 ORF1p immunoreactivity in various skin cancer subtypes. Method The expression level of LINE-1 ORF1p was evaluated in 95 skin cancer specimens comprising 36 (37.9%) BCC, 28 (29.5%) SCC, and 31 (32.6%) melanoma using the tissue microarray (TMA) technique. Then the association between expression of LINE-1 encoded protein and clinicopathological parameters was analyzed. Results We showed that LINE-1 ORF1p expression level was substantially higher in BCC and SCC patients compared with melanoma samples (p p = 0.004). In SCC samples, a lower level of LINE-1 ORF1p expression was associated with age younger than the mean (p = 0.041). At the same time, no significant correlation was found between LINE-1 ORF1p expression and other clinicopathological parameters (all p > 0.05). Conclusions According to our observation, LINE-1 ORF1p immunoreactivity in various skin tumor subtypes extends previous studies of LINE-1 expression in different cancers. LINE-1ORF1p overexpression in NMSCs compared with MM can be considered with caution as a tumor-specific antigen for NMSCs.

An optimal base station (BS) location depends on the traffic (user) distribution, propagation pathloss and many system parameters, which renders its analytical study difficult so that numerical algorithms are widely used instead. In this paper, the problem is studied ana¬lytically. First, it is formulated as a convex optimization problem to minimize the total BS transmit power subject to quality-of-service (QoS) constraints, which also account for fairness among users. Due to its convex nature, Karush-Kuhn-Tucker (KKT) conditions are used to characterize a globally-optimum location as a convex combination of user locations, where convex weights depend on user parameters, pathloss exponent and overall geometry of the problem. Based on this characterization, a number of closed-form solutions are obtained. In particular, the optimum BS location is the mean of user locations in the case of free-space propagation and identical user parameters. If the user set is symmetric (as defined in the paper), the optimal BS location is independent of pathloss exponent, which is not the case in general. The analytical results show the impact of propagation conditions as well as system and user parameters on optimal BS location and can be used to develop design guidelines.

Objectification theory provides an explanatory conceptual framework for describing women’s lived experiences. By using a social psychological approach, the present study focuses on the mediating role of contingent self-esteem within the objectification framework. Participants were 178 female college-students who took part in a paper-and-pencil survey. We explored the possibility that contingent self-esteem can mediate the relationship between body surveillance and body shame with self-sexualizing behavior and self-esteem. Based on the results, we suggest that self-objectification brings about contingent self-esteem. This mental state can explain changes in self-esteem in turn. We propose that contingent self-esteem can play an essential role in the context of objectification theory.

Muteh is a major Iranian gold mine that is located in Delijan, within in the Sanandaj-Sirjan metallogenic zone. Previously, the gold mineralization in Muteh was interpreted to be formed in Precambrian. However, recent geological models propose younger age, i.e., late Eocene, for the gold mineralization, therefore, the geologic units of age and older than late Eocene can be considered as targets for gold exploration. The objective of this paper is to investigate Muteh type gold mineralization potential in the area with respect to the new geological models. Statistical analysis of 644 stream sediment samples was used to determine anomalous concentrations Au and elemental correlations of Au geochemical pathfinders. Using the factor analysis, an eight-factor model was established for the stream sediment geochemical data explaining 74.76% of the total variance. Factor 4 was found to be representative of Al-Ca-Na-K-P, which defines the lithological variation in the data. Factor 6 represents the variation of Pb-Ag-Sb-Ba-Tl, which is related to the hydrothermal mineralization. The factor 7 includes Au-S-Mo and is representative of regional geochemical patterns of gold. The correlation of Au with S and Mo signifies the inclusions of Au in pyrite minerals of Muteh mine. Factor 7 specifies three exploration targets. Moreover, the fourth prospective area representing significant geochemical signatures for gold mineralization was not detected in factor analysis. The results show that data reduction techniques, such as factor analysis, have great potential for geochemical applications; however, it is essential to perform careful analysis in addition to using these techniques. Factor analysis highlights the regional geochemical patterns and may slight the smaller subsystems.

Subpopulations of prostate cancer (PCa) cells expressing putative stem cell markers possess the ability to promote tumor growth, maintenance, and progression. This study aimed to evaluate the expression patterns and clinical significance of putative stem cell marker aldehyde dehydrogenase 1 A1 (ALDH1A1) in prostate tumor tissues. ALDH1A1 expression was examined in a well-defined series of prostate tissues, including 105 (68%) samples of PCa, 21 (13%) samples of high-grade prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia, and 31 (19%) samples of benign prostate hyperplasia, which were embedded in tissue microarray blocks. The correlation of ALDH1A1 expression with clinicopathologic parameters was also assessed. There was a significant difference between the expression level of ALDH1A1 in PCa compared with the high-grade prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia and benign prostate hyperplasia samples (P

Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are the main players of prostate tumorigenesis thus; characterization of CSCs can pave the way for understanding the early detection, drug resistance, metastasis and relapse. The current study was conducted to evaluate the expression level and clinical significance of the potential CSC markers CD44 and CD133 in a series of prostate tissues. One hundred and forty eight prostate tissues composed of prostate cancer (PCa), high-grade prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia (HGPIN), and benign prostate hyperplasia (BPH) were immunostained for the putative CSC markers CD44 and CD133. Subsequently, the correlation between the expression of these markers and the clinicopathological variables was examined. A higher level of CD44 expression was observed in 42% of PCa, 57% of HGPIN, and 42% BPH tissues. In the case of CD133 expression PCa, HGPIN, and BPH samples demonstrated high immunoreactivity in 46%, 43%, and 42% of cells, respectively. Statistical analysis showed an inverse significant correlation between CD44 expression with Gleason score of PCa (P = 0.02), while no significant correlation was observed between CD133 expression and clinicopathological parameters. A significant reciprocal correlation was observed between the expression of two putative CSC markers CD44 and CD133 in PCa specimens while not indicating clinical significance. Further clinical investigation is required to consider these markers as targets of new therapeutic strategies for PCa.

Doublecortin-like kinase 1 (DCLK1) has been characterized as a novel potential cancer stem cell (CSC) marker in several types of cancer. It is considered as one of the most specific markers for distinguishing colorectal CSCs from normal stem cells. Yet, there are limited reports on the role of DCLK1 as a putative CSC marker in bladder cancer. Using immunohistochemistry, DCLK1 expression was examined in a well-defined tissue microarray series of 472 bladder cancer tissues. The association between DCLK1 protein expression and clinicopathological features, as well as survival outcomes, was assessed. Our findings showed strong, moderate, and weak DCLK1 expression in 123 (26.1%), 230 (48.7%), and 119 (25.2%) of the bladder cancer specimens, respectively. Higher expression of DCLK1 was significantly associated with increase in histological grade (P ≤ .001), pT stage (P = .014), lamina propria (P = .006), and lamina propria/muscularis (L/M) involvement (P = .014). On multivariate analysis, pT stage (P .001), histological grade (P = .021), and lamina propria involvement (P = .001) were independent prognostic factors in DCLK1 expression. Moreover, the expression of DCLK1 was found to be an independent marker of poor prognosis for disease- specific survival (DSS) (P = .048) in bladder carcinomas. Our observations showed that DCLK1 expression was associated with more aggressive tumor behavior, more advanced disease, and poorer DSS in patients with bladder carcinomas. However, any potential clinical applications of DCLK1 as a novel target molecule in bladder cancer patients would require further investigations.

Using drone base stations (drone-BSs) in wireless networks has started attracting attention. Drone-BSs can assist the ground BSs in both capacity and coverage enhancement. One of the important problems about integrating drone-BSs to cellular networks is the management of their placement to satisfy the dynamic system requirements. In this paper, we propose a method to find the positions of drone-BSs in an area with different user densities using a heuristic algorithm. The goal is to find the minimum number of drone-BSs and their 3D placement so that all the users are served. Our simulation results show that the proposed approach can satisfy the quality-of-service requirements of the network.

In vitro experiments demonstrated that stimulation of Toll‐like receptor 9 (TLR‐9) by synthetic TLR‐9 ligands induces the invasion of TLR‐9‐expressing prostate cancer cells through matrix metalloproteinase 13 (MMP‐13). However, the clinical value of TLR‐9 and MMP‐13 co‐expression in the pathophysiology of the prostate is unknown. In the study, we evaluated the expression levels and clinical significance of the TLR‐9 and MMP‐13 in a series of prostate tissues. One hundred and eighty prostate tissues including prostate cancer (PCa) (n = 137), high‐grade prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia (HPIN) (n = 18) and benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) (n = 25) were immunostained for the TLR‐9 and MMP‐13 markers. Subsequently, the correlation between the TLR‐9 and MMP‐13 staining scores and clinicopathological parameters was obtained. Higher expressions of TLR‐9 and MMP‐13 were found in PCa and high‐grade prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia compared to benign prostatic hyperplasia tissues. Among PCa samples, a positive relationship was revealed between the MMP‐13 expression and Gleason score (P

A new analytical reflectance distribution model for rough surfaces is presented. The model is based on geometrical optics and assumes that the rough surface consist of small, mirror-like facets. Predicted reflectance distribution function depends on incident angle, surface's roughness, and reflection coefficient, i.e. a function of wavelength. The effect of multiple scattering is included in the analysis. The model also takes into account the influence of shadowing and masking effects. The angular distributions of reflectance predicted by the analysis successfully predict the off-specular maxima in the reflection distribution which emerge as the incidence angle increases.

This paper considers an aerial base station (aerial-BS) assisted terrestrial network where user mobility is taken into account. User movement changes the network dynamically which may result in performance loss. To avoid this loss, guarantee a minimum quality-of-service (QoS) and possibly increase the QoS, we add an aerial-BS to the network. For a fair comparison between the conventional terrestrial network and the aerial-BS assisted one, we keep the total number of BSs identical in both networks. Obtaining the best performance in such networks highly depends on the optimal placement of the aerial-BS. To this end, an algorithm which can rely on general and realistic assumptions and can decide where to go based on the past experiences is required. The proposed approach for this goal is based on a discounted reward reinforcement learning which is known as Q-learning. Simulation results show this method provides an effective placement strategy which increases the QoS of wireless networks when it is needed and promises to find the optimum position of the aerial-BS in discrete environments., 6 pages, 7 figures, Accepted in IEEE Wireless Communications and Networking Conference (WCNC 2018)

BACKGROUND Gastric carcinoma is the third most common malignancy and is one of the main causes of cancer deaths worldwide. Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are a subpopulation of tumour cells capable of self-renewal and differentiation, likely responsible for the initiation, recurrence, metastasis and chemo/radio-resistance. OBJECTIVE This study was conducted to evaluate the expression patterns and clinicopathologic significance of putative CSC markers, Lgr5 and DCLK1, in gastric carcinoma. METHOD The expression levels of Lgr5 and DCLK1 were examined in a well-defined series of gastric carcinoma tissues, including 75 (80%) from intestinal and 19 (20%) from diffuse subtypes, using tissue microarray (TMA). In addition, the correlation of the expression of these markers with clinicopathological factors was explored. RESULTS Higher expressions of Lgr5 and DCLK1 were mainly detected in intestinal subtypes of gastric carcinomas compared to diffuse subtypes (P= 0.005 and P= 0.050, respectively). We also found a higher expression of Lgr5 and DCLK1 more frequently in well-differentiated gastric carcinoma cases (P< 0.001 and P= 0.007). The combined analysis demonstrated that the co-expression of Lgr5 and DCLK1 (Lgr5High/DCLK1High) was more common in intestinal subtypes (P= 0.025) and well-differentiated gastric carcinoma samples (P< 0.001). Interestingly, there was a significant correlation between Lgr5High/DCLK1High phenotype and early-stage gastric carcinoma specimens (P= 0.045). CONCLUSION Our findings indicated that the Lgr5High/DCLK1High expression pattern may be considered as a signature phenotype for intestinal subtypes of gastric carcinoma.

The expansion of arid and semi-arid areas and consequently water scarcity are affected by climate change. This can influence on availability and quality of water while demands on food and water are increasing. As pressure on freshwater is increasing, utilization of saline water in a sustainable approach is inevitable. Therefore, bioremediation using salt tolerant plants that is consistent with sustainable development objectives might be an alternative and effective approach. In this study, saline wastewater from a local desalination treatment plant was utilized to irrigate four halophyte plants, including Aloevera , Tamarix aphylla , Rosmarinus officinalis and Matricaria chamomilla. A field experiment was designed and conducted in Zarrindasht, south of Iran in years 2012-2013 accordingly. Two irrigation treatments consisting of freshwater with salinity of 2.04 dS.m -1 and desalination wastewater with salinity of 5.77dSm -1 were applied. The experiment was designed as a split plot in the form of randomized complete block design (RCB) with three replications. The results of variance analysis, ANOVA, on salt concentration in Aloevera showed that there was no significant difference between the effects of two irrigation water qualities except for Na. In Rosmarinus officinalis, only the ratio of K/Na showed a significant difference. None of the examined salt elements showed a significant difference in Tamarix aphylla irrigated with both water qualities. In Matricaria chamomilla, only Mg and K/Na ratio showed a significant difference (Duncan 5%) . As a result , no significant difference was observed in salt absorption by the examined plants in treatments which were irrigated by desalination wastewater and freshwater. This could be a good result that encourages the use of similar wastewater to save freshwater in a sustainable system.

Background: Amplification and overexpression of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2 / neu) oncogene has considerable prognostic value in breast and gastric cancers. This study aimed to evaluate the frequency, overexpression pattern, clinical significance, and concordance between the results for protein expression and gene amplification of HER-2/neu in gastric and gastro-esophageal junction carcinomas. Materials and Methods: In this study, 101 gastric tissue samples which were included in tissue microarray were immunohistochemically examined for overexpression of HER2/neu. Chromogenic in situ hybridization (CISH) was used for HER-2/neu amplification. The correlation of HER2/neu amplification with clinicopathological parameters was also assessed. In addition, concordance between CISH and IHC was detected. Results: This study demonstrated a significant difference in the overexpression of HER2/neu in gastric tumors. The overexpression of HER2/neu was significantly higher in intestinal type, poorly differentiated grade, large size (5 cm≤) and positive nodal involvement tumors (p-value=0.041, 0.015, 0.038 and 0.071, respectively). Also, amplification of HER2/neu according to CISH test, had a significant positive correlation with tumor size and tumor type (p-value=0.018 and 0.058, respectively).Concordance between CISH and IHC was 76.9% in 101 evaluable samples. Conclusions: IHC/CISH differences were attributed to basolateral membranous immunoreactivity of glandular cells resulting in incomplete membranous reactivity and/or a higher rate of tumor heterogeneity in gastric cancers compared to breast cancers. Therefore, this can be a potential marker for targeted therapy of malignant gastric tumors.

Background: The EMSY gene encodes a BRCA2-binding partner protein that represses the DNA repair function of BRCA2 in non-hereditary breast cancer. Although amplification of EMSY gene has been proposed to have prognostic value in breast cancer, no data have been available concerning EMSY tissue expression patterns and its associations with clinicopathological features. Materials and Methods: In the current study, we examined the expression and localization pattern of EMSY protein by immunohistochemistry and assessed its prognostic value in a well-characterized series of 116 unselected breast carcinomas with a mean follow up of 47 months using tissue microarray technique. Results: Immunohistochemical expression of EMSY protein was detected in 76% of primary breast tumors, localized in nuclear (18%), cytoplasmic (35%) or both cytoplasmic and nuclear sites (23%). Univariate analysis revealed a significant positive association between EMSY expression and lymph node metastasis (p value=0.045) and larger tumor size (p value=0.027), as well as a non-significant relation with increased risk of recurrence (p value=0.088), whereas no association with patients’ survival (log rank test, p value=0.482), tumor grade or type was observed. Conclusions: Herein, we demonstrated for the first time the immunostaining pattern of EMSY protein in breast tumors. Our data imply that EMSY protein may have impact on clinicipathological parameters and could be considered as a potential target for breast cancer treatment.

Aberrant activation of Wnt and base excision repair (BER) signaling pathways are implicated in tumor progression and chemotherapy resistance in gastric adenocarcinoma. This study was conducted to clarify the role of E2F6 and RhoA, components of the Wnt signaling pathway, and SMUG1, a component of the BER pathway in gastric adenocarcinoma. Expression levels and clinicopathological significance of three biomarkers, namely E2F6, RhoA, and SMUG1, as potential signaling molecules involved in tumorigenesis and aggressive behavior, were examined using tissue microarray. Our analysis showed a relative increase in the expression of E2F6 in gastric adenocarcinoma with no lymph node metastasis (χ 2, P = 0.04 and OR, P = 0.08), while overexpression of RhoA and SMUG1 was found more often in the diffuse subtype of gastric adenocarcinoma as compared to the intestinal subtype (χ 2, P = 0.05, OR, P = 0.08 and χ 2, P = 0.001, OR, P = 0.009, respectively). Higher expression of RhoA was frequently seen in tumors with vascular invasion (χ 2, P = 0.01 and OR, P = 0.01). In addition, increased expression of SMUG1 was found more often in poorly differentiated tumors (χ 2, P = 0.01 and OR, P = 0.01). The distinct phenotype of E2F6Low/SMUG1High was more common in poorly differentiated tumors (P = 0.04) and with omental involvement (P = 0.01). The RhoAHigh/SMUG1High expression pattern was significantly more often found in diffuse subtype compared to the intestinal subtype (P = 0.001) as well as in poorly differentiated tumors (P = 0.004). The E2F6Low/SMUG1High and RhoAHigh/SMUG1High phenotypes can be considered as aggressive phenotypes of gastric adenocarcinoma. Our findings also demonstrated the synergistic effect of RhoA and SMUG1 in conferring tumor aggressiveness in diffuse subtype of gastric adenocarcinoma.

Based on the cancer stem cell (CSC) concept model, a small population of cells with unique self-renewal properties and malignant potential exists in tumors. Immunohistochemistry was performed to detect the expression of CSC markers, CD133 and CD44, in a series of pediatric tumors. The association between expression of these markers and tumor characteristics was then analyzed. In Wilms tumors (WT), a significant positive correlation was found between expression of CD133 and the National Wilms Tumor Stage (NWTS) (p = 0.047). In neuroblastomas (NB), expression of CD133 was positively correlated with the International Neuroblastoma Staging System (INSS) (p-value = 0.012), indicating that the rate of CD133 positivity increased with the stage of these tumors. CD133, as a putative stem cell marker, is associated with more advanced stages of Wilms and NB tumors; therefore, this molecule can be a potential clinical prognostic marker in children suffering from NB or Wilms tumor.

Methylphenidate (MPH) abuse damages brain cells. The neuroprotective effects of topiramate (TPM) have been reported previously, but its exact mechanism of action still remains unclear. This study investigated the in vivo role of various doses of TPM in the protection of rat amygdala cells against methylphenidate-induced oxidative stress and inflammation. Seventy adult male rats were divided into seven groups. Groups 1 and 2 received normal saline (0.7 ml/rat) and MPH (10 mg/kg), respectively, for 21 days. Groups 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 were concurrently treated with MPH (10 mg/kg) and TPM (10, 30, 50, 70, and 100 mg/kg), respectively, for 21 days. elevated plus maze (EPM) was used to assess motor activity disturbances. In addition, oxidative, antioxidantand inflammatory factors and CREB, Ak1, CAMK4, MAPK3, PKA, BDNF, and c FOS gene levels were measured by RT-PCR, and also, CREB and BDNF protein levels were measured by WB in isolated amygdalae. MPH significantly disturbed motor activity and TPM (70 and 100 mg/kg) neutralized its effects. MPH significantly increased lipid peroxidation, mitochondrial GSSG levels and IL-1β and TNF-α level and CAMK4 gene expression in isolated amygdala cells. In contrast, superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase, and glutathione reductase activities and CREB, BDNF Ak1, MAPK3, PKA, BDNF, and c FOS expression significantly decreased. The various doses of TPM attenuated these effects of MPH. It seems that TPM can be used as a neuroprotective agent and is a good candidate against MPH-induced neurodegeneration.