Current areas of needed obstetric anesthesia research include improved obese patient care, the impact of anticoagulation on neuraxial techniques in pregnancy, long-term neurocognitive effects of neonatal exposure to anesthesia and postoperative pain management.”
“Galectin-3 (gal-3) is involved in the metastatic

cascade and interacts with the cancer-associated carbohydrate, Thomsen-Freidenreich (TF) antigen during early stages of metastatic adhesion and tumor formation. Our laboratory previously utilized bacteriophage display to select a peptide, G3-C12, with high specificity and affinity for gal-3 that was able to inhibit cancer cell adhesion. We hypothesized that G3-C12 would inhibit TF/gal-3 and gal-3/gal-3 interactions in vitro and in vivo and would small molecule library screening moderate early steps of the metastatic cascade leading to reduced carcinogensis in vivo. To test BMS-777607 ic50 this, adhesion of multiple breast carcinoma cell lines to purified gal-3 and a TF-mimic was measured in the

presence/absence of G3-C12 resulting in an average reduction of cellular adhesion by 50 and 59 %, respectively. Sensitive optical imaging experiments were utilized to monitor the fate of intravenously injected MDA-MB-231 human breast carcinoma cells expressing luciferase into athymic nude mice in the presence/absence of G3-C12 in vivo. Intravenous administration of G3-C12 reduced lung colonization of MDA-MB-231-luciferase cells within mice by 72 % when compared to saline, whereas, control peptide treatments resulted in no significant reduction Stattic of colonization. Histologic examination of excised lung tissue, at day 70, revealed that mice treated with G3-C12 possessed 4.63 +/- A 3.07 tumors compared to 14.13 +/- A 3.56 tumors within mice treated with saline. Also, within both saline and control peptide treatment groups, 37 % of mouse lungs contained tumor thrombi, compared to 0 % within the G3-C12 treatment group. This study demonstrated that G3-C12 significantly reduced metastatic cell deposition and consequent outgrowth within vasculature of mice.”
“Statistically significant differences in the structure

and function of above-ground grapevine-associated microorganisms from organically and conventionally managed vineyards were found. Aureobasidium pullulans, a copper-detoxifying fungus and biocontrol agent, plays a key role in explaining these differences. The black fungus was strongly enriched in the communities of organically managed plants and yielded a higher indigenous antiphytopathogenic potential.”
“Chalcone synthase (CHS, EC 2.3.1.74) is a key enzyme of the flavonoid/isoflavonoid biosynthesis pathway. Besides being part of the plant developmental program the CHS gene expression is induced in plants under stress conditions such as UV light, bacterial or fungal infection. CHS expression causes accumulation of flavonoid and isoflavonoid phytoalexins and is involved in the salicylic acid defense pathway.