Comparison and performance of two cosmogenic nuclide sample preparation procedures of in situ produced 10Be and 26Al

Cosmogenic radionuclide 10Be and 26Al targets (BeO and Al2O3) for AMS analysis are produced by a growing number of geochemical laboratories, employing different sample processing methods for the extraction of Be and Al from environmental materials. The reliability of this geochronological tool depends on data reproducibility independent from the preparation steps and the AMS measurements. Our results demonstrate that 10Be and 26Al concentrations of targets processed following different, commonly used protocols and measured at two AMS facilities lead to consistent results. However, insoluble fluoride precipitates, if formed during processing, can cause decreased 26Al results, while 10Be concentrations are unaffected.

Could Polyphenols Really Be a Good Radioprotective Strategy?

Currently, radiotherapy is one of the most effective strategies to treat cancer. However, deleterious toxicity against normal cells indicate for the need to selectively protect them. Reactive oxygen and nitrogen species reinforce ionizing radiation cytotoxicity, and compounds able to scavenge these species or enhance antioxidant enzymes (e.g., superoxide dismutase, catalase, and glutathione peroxidase) should be properly investigated. Antioxidant plant-derived compounds, such as phenols and polyphenols, could represent a valuable alternative to synthetic compounds to be used as radio-protective agents. In fact, their dose-dependent antioxidant/pro-oxidant efficacy could provide a high degree of protection to normal tissues, with little or no protection to tumor cells. The present review provides an update of the current scientific knowledge of polyphenols in pure forms or in plant extracts with good evidence concerning their possible radiomodulating action. Indeed, with few exceptions, to date, the fragmentary data available mostly derive from in vitro studies, which do not find comfort in preclinical and/or clinical studies. On the contrary, when preclinical studies are reported, especially regarding the bioactivity of a plant extract, its chemical composition is not taken into account, avoiding any standardization and compromising data reproducibility.

Immunophenotyping Pattern in Childhood Acute Leukemia in the Adam Malik Hospital Medan

Leukemia is the most common malignancy at the age of under 15 years, with a ratio of 1 to 3 cancer cases in children.Immunophenotyping will improve accuracy and easily provide data reproducibility. To determine the immunophenotypingpattern in patients with acute leukemia in the Pediatric Center at the Adam Malik General Hospital, Medan. This research wasa cross-sectional study in children suffering from acute leukemia in the Pediatric Unit Adam Malik General Hospital, Medanbased on CBC, peripheral smear, bone marrow morphology, and flow cytometry immunophenotyping. Samples wereevaluated for blast morphologic and immunophenotyping was carried out. Results of morphologic observation andimmunophenotyping were compared. From 20 samples using the monoclonal antibody with flow cytometryimmunophenotyping, concordance with morphology is good (κ = 0.886). After classification, the percentage of acuteleukemia was 45% B-ALL, 35% AML, and 20% T-ALL. One of 10 samples morphologically classified as ALL but reported asAML. Immunophenotyping has been shown to increase diagnostic accuracy and assist in establishing lines in blast cells,which was initially merely based on morphological features.

Minimal information for Chemosensitivity assays (MICHA): A next-generation pipeline to enable the FAIRification of drug screening experiments

ABSTRACTChemosensitivity assays are commonly used for preclinical drug discovery and clinical trial optimization. However, data from independent assays are often discordant, largely attributed to uncharacterized variation in the experimental materials and protocols. Spurred by the annotation of minimum information (MI) for ensuring data reproducibility, we report here the launching of MICHA (Minimal Information for Chemosensitivity Assays), accessed via https://micha-protocol.org. Distinguished from existing MI efforts that are often lack of support from data integration tools, MICHA can automatically extract publicly available information to facilitate the assay annotation including: 1) compounds, 2) samples, 3) reagents, and 4) data processing methods. For example, MICHA provides an integrative web server and database to obtain compound annotation including chemical structures, targets and disease indications. In addition, the annotation of cell line samples, assay protocols and literature references can be greatly eased by retrieving manually curated catalogues. Once the annotation is complete, MICHA can export a report that conforms to the FAIR principle (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable) of drug screening studies. To consolidate the utility of MICHA, we provide FAIRified protocols from several major cancer drug screening studies, as well as recently conducted COVID-19 studies. With the integrative webserver and database, we envisage a wider adoption of the MICHA strategy to foster a community-driven effort to improve the open access of drug sensitivity assays.

Data Reproducibility and Effectiveness of Bronchodilators for Improving Physical Activity in COPD Patients

Increasing physical activity (PA) in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is an important issue, however, the effect of bronchodilators on PA is still controversial. The indicators of PA, as measured by an accelerometer, can easily fluctuate based on several factors, which might cause inconsistent results. In this review, we listed the indicators of PA and the factors influencing the reproducibility of indicators of PA, and reviewed reports in which the effects of bronchodilators on PA were evaluated by an accelerometer. Then, we investigated the association between the processing of influencing factors and the effectiveness of bronchodilators for improving the PA of COPD patients. Fifteen reports were extracted using the PubMed database. In all seven reports in which adjustment was performed for at least two of four influencing factors (non-wear time, data from days with special behavior, environmental factors, and number of valid days required to obtain reproducible data), bronchodilators showed beneficial effects on PA. No adjustment was made for any of these factors in any of the four bronchodilator-ineffective reports. This suggests that the processing of influencing factors to secure reproducibility might affect the results regarding the effectiveness of bronchodilators for improving PA in COPD patients.