University of Hamburg

About: University of Hamburg is a education organization based out in Hamburg, Germany. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Laser. The organization has 45564 authors who have published 89286 publications receiving 2850161 citations. The organization is also known as: Hamburg University.

Molecular characterization and spatial distribution of SAP97, a novel presynaptic protein homologous to SAP90 and the Drosophila discs-large tumor suppressor protein

Abstract: Synapses are highly specialized sites of cell-cell contact involved in signal transfer. The molecular mechanisms modulating the assembly and stability of synapses are unknown. We previously reported the identification of a 90 kDa synapse-associated protein, SAP90, that is localized at the presynaptic termini of inhibitory GABAergic synapses. SAP90 is a mosaic protein composed of three 90 amino acid residue repeats, an SH3 domain and a region homologous to guanylate kinases. SAP90 shares domain specific homology with a family of proteins involved in the assembly and possibly stability of sites of cell contact. These include the product of the lethal(1) discs-large-1 (dlgA) tumor suppressor gene and the zonula occludens proteins ZO-1, ZO-2. The further characterization of cDNA clones encoding components of synaptic junctions has lead to the identification of a 97 kDa protein, called SAP97, that exhibits a strong overall sequence similarity to SAP90. The present study was undertaken to determine the spatial distribution of SAP97, and to reveal further clues to the possible roles of these proteins in synapses. Light and immunoelectron microscopic analysis of the rat hippocampal formation revealed that SAP97 is localized in the presynaptic nerve termini of excitatory synapses. In other brain regions, SAP97 is found in and along bundles of unmyelinated axons. SAP97 is not restricted to the CNS, but is also present at the basal lateral membrane between a variety of epithelial cells. In cultured T84 cells, it is restricted to the cytoplasmic surface of the plasma membranes between adjacent cells, but not at the edges of cells lacking cell-cell contact suggesting a role for SAP97 in cell adhesion. These data suggest that members of the SAP90/SAP97 subfamily may be involved in the site specific assembly, stability or functions of membrane specialization at sites of cell-cell contact.

“Many miles to go …”: a systematic review of the implementation of patient decision support interventions into routine clinical practice

Abstract: Two decades of research has established the positive effect of using patient-targeted decision support interventions: patients gain knowledge, greater understanding of probabilities and increased confidence in decisions. Yet, despite their efficacy, the effectiveness of these decision support interventions in routine practice has yet to be established; widespread adoption has not occurred. The aim of this review was to search for and analyze the findings of published peer-reviewed studies that investigated the success levels of strategies or methods where attempts were made to implement patient-targeted decision support interventions into routine clinical settings. An electronic search strategy was devised and adapted for the following databases: ASSIA, CINAHL, Embase, HMIC, Medline, Medline-in-process, OpenSIGLE, PsycINFO, Scopus, Social Services Abstracts, and the Web of Science. In addition, we used snowballing techniques. Studies were included after dual independent assessment. After assessment, 5322 abstracts yielded 51 articles for consideration. After examining full-texts, 17 studies were included and subjected to data extraction. The approach used in all studies was one where clinicians and their staff used a referral model, asking eligible patients to use decision support. The results point to significant challenges to the implementation of patient decision support using this model, including indifference on the part of health care professionals. This indifference stemmed from a reported lack of confidence in the content of decision support interventions and concern about disruption to established workflows, ultimately contributing to organizational inertia regarding their adoption. It seems too early to make firm recommendations about how best to implement patient decision support into routine practice because approaches that use a ‘referral model’ consistently report difficulties. We sense that the underlying issues that militate against the use of patient decision support and, more generally, limit the adoption of shared decision making, are under-investigated and under-specified. Future reports from implementation studies could be improved by following guidelines, for example the SQUIRE proposals, and by adopting methods that would be able to go beyond the ‘barriers’ and ‘facilitators’ approach to understand more about the nature of professional and organizational resistance to these tools. The lack of incentives that reward the use of these interventions needs to be considered as a significant impediment.

The biology of circulating tumor cells

Abstract: Metastasis is a biologically complex process consisting of numerous stochastic events which may tremendously differ across various cancer types. Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are cells that are shed from primary tumors and metastatic deposits into the blood stream. CTCs bear a tremendous potential to improve our understanding of steps involved in the metastatic cascade, starting from intravasation of tumor cells into the circulation until the formation of clinically detectable metastasis. These efforts were propelled by novel high-resolution approaches to dissect the genomes and transcriptomes of CTCs. Furthermore, capturing of viable CTCs has paved the way for innovative culturing technologies to study fundamental characteristics of CTCs such as invasiveness, their kinetics and responses to selection barriers, such as given therapies. Hence the study of CTCs is not only instrumental as a basic research tool, but also allows the serial monitoring of tumor genotypes and may therefore provide predictive and prognostic biomarkers for clinicians. Here, we review how CTCs have contributed to significant insights into the metastatic process and how they may be utilized in clinical practice.

Constraints on the spin-parity and anomalous HVV couplings of the Higgs boson in proton collisions at 7 and 8 TeV

Abstract: The study of the spin-parity and tensor structure of the interactions of the recently discovered Higgs boson is performed using the H to ZZ, Z gamma*, gamma* gamma* to 4 l, H to WW to l nu l nu, and H to gamma gamma decay modes. The full dataset recorded by the CMS experiment during the LHC Run 1 is used, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of up to 5.1 inverse femtobarns at a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV and up to 19.7 inverse femtobarns at 8 TeV. A wide range of spin-two models is excluded at a 99% confidence level or higher, or at a 99.87% confidence level for the minimal gravity-like couplings, regardless of whether assumptions are made on the production mechanism. Any mixed-parity spin-one state is excluded in the ZZ and WW modes at a greater than 99.999% confidence level. Under the hypothesis that the resonance is a spin-zero boson, the tensor structure of the interactions of the Higgs boson with two vector bosons ZZ, Z gamma, gamma gamma, and WW is investigated and limits on eleven anomalous contributions are set. Tighter constraints on anomalous HVV interactions are obtained by combining the HZZ and HWW measurements. All observations are consistent with the expectations for the standard model Higgs boson with the quantum numbers J[PC]=0[++].