University of California, Davis

About: University of California, Davis is a education organization based out in Davis, California, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Gene. The organization has 78770 authors who have published 180033 publications receiving 8064158 citations. The organization is also known as: UC Davis & UCD.

Updated Analysis of SWOG-Directed Intergroup Study 0116: A Phase III Trial of Adjuvant Radiochemotherapy Versus Observation After Curative Gastric Cancer Resection

Abstract: Purpose Surgical resection of gastric cancer has produced suboptimal survival despite multiple randomized trials that used postoperative chemotherapy or more aggressive surgical procedures. We performed a randomized phase III trial of postoperative radiochemotherapy in those at moderate risk of locoregional failure (LRF) following surgery. We originally reported results with 4-year median follow-up. This update, with a more than 10-year median follow-up, presents data on failure patterns and second malignancies and explores selected subset analyses. Patients and Methods In all, 559 patients with primaries ≥ T3 and/or node-positive gastric cancer were randomly assigned to observation versus radiochemotherapy after R0 resection. Fluorouracil and leucovorin were administered before, during, and after radiotherapy. Radiotherapy was given to all LRF sites to a dose of 45 Gy. Results Overall survival (OS) and relapse-free survival (RFS) data demonstrate continued strong benefit from postoperative radiochemother...

Exposure to predation generates personality in threespined sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus).

Abstract: A perplexing new question that has emerged from the recent surge of interest in behavioural syndromes or animal personalities is – why do individual animals behave consistently when behavioural flexibility is advantageous? If individuals have a tendency to be generally aggressive, then a relatively aggressive individual might be overly aggressive towards offspring, mates or even predators. Despite these costs, studies in several taxa have shown that individuals that are more aggressive are also relatively bold. However, the behavioural correlation is not universal; even within a species, population comparisons have shown that boldness and aggressiveness are correlated in populations of sticklebacks that are under strong predation pressure, but not in low predation populations. Here, we provide the first demonstration that an environmental factor can induce a correlation between boldness and aggressiveness. Boldness under predation risk and aggressiveness towards a conspecific were measured before and after sticklebacks were exposed to predation by trout, which predated half the sticklebacks. Exposure to predation generated the boldness–aggressiveness behavioural correlation. The behavioural correlation was produced by both selection by predators and behavioural plasticity. These results support the hypothesis that certain correlations between behaviours might be adaptive in some environments.

An infrared spectroscopic study of the interactions of carbohydrates with dried proteins.

Abstract: Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy was used to characterize the interaction of stabilizing carbohydrates with dried proteins. Freeze-drying of trehalose, lactose, and myo-inositol with lysozyme resulted in substantial alterations of the infrared spectra of the dried carbohydrates. In the fingerprint region (900-1500 cm-1), there were large shifts in the frequencies of bands, a decrease in absorbance, and a loss of band splitting. These effects mimic those of water on hydrated trehalose. Bands assigned to hydroxyl stretching modes (around 3350 cm-1) were decreased in intensity and shifted to higher frequencies in the presence of the protein. In complementary experiments, it was found that dehydration-induced shifts in the positions of amide I and amide II bands for lysozyme could be partially and fully reversed, respectively, when the protein was freeze-dried in the presence of either trehalose or lactose. In addition, the carboxylate band, which was not detectable in the protein dried without the sugar, was apparent when these sugars were present. myo-Inositol was less effective at shifting the amide bands, and the carboxylate band was not detected in the presence of this carbohydrate. Also tested was the concentration dependency of the carbohydrates' influence on the position of the amide II band for dried lysozyme. The results showed that the ability of a given concentration of a carbohydrate to shift this band back toward the position noted with the hydrated protein coincided, at least in the extreme cases, with the capacity of that same level of carbohydrate to preserve the activity of rabbit skeletal muscle phosphofructokinase during freeze-drying.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Guidelines for the use of flow cytometry and cell sorting in immunological studies (second edition)

Abstract: These guidelines are a consensus work of a considerable number of members of the immunology and flow cytometry community. They provide the theory and key practical aspects of flow cytometry enabling immunologists to avoid the common errors that often undermine immunological data. Notably, there are comprehensive sections of all major immune cell types with helpful Tables detailing phenotypes in murine and human cells. The latest flow cytometry techniques and applications are also described, featuring examples of the data that can be generated and, importantly, how the data can be analysed. Furthermore, there are sections detailing tips, tricks and pitfalls to avoid, all written and peer-reviewed by leading experts in the field, making this an essential research companion.

Water stress, growth, and osmotic adjustment

Abstract: Many plant processes are affected by mild water stress, with cell growth probably the most sensitive. Except for turgor-mediated processes, the physicochemical basis for the transduction of small changes in water status into alterations in metabolism remains obscure. Turgor pressure is assigned a critical role in cell growth: the physical force needed to sustain enlargement. Simple physical models relating growth to turgor are conceptually useful in examining effects of water stress but can be misleading because metabolic and regulatory responses may be marked and vary temporally. Osmotic adjustment has long been known as a means by which higher plants adapt to salinity, with much of the cell osmotica being ionic and accumulated from the medium. Though not generally recognized, osmotic adjustment also appears to be an important mechanism for adaptation to water-limiting conditions, even in mesophytic plants. In this case much of the osmotica might possibly be internally generated. Recent field data on seasonal and diurnal adjustment and vertical water-potential gradients in plant canopies are discussed relative to growth and water-potential components.