The valence shell excitations of argon were investigated by an angle-resolved fast-electron energy-loss spectrometer at an incident electron energy of 2500 eV, and the transition multipolarities for the excitations of 3p → 3d, 4d, 5s, and 5p were elucidated with the help of the calculated intermediate coupling coefficients using the COWAN code. The generalized oscillator strengths for the excitations to 3p 5 ͑3d ,3dЈ͒, 3p 5 ͑5p ,5pЈ͒, and 3p 5 ͑5s ,4d͒ were measured, and the profiles of these generalized oscillator strength were analyzed. Furthermore, although the present experimental positions of the maxima for the electric-monopole and electricquadrupole excitations in 3p → 5p are in agreement with the theoretical calculations ͓Amusia et al., Phys. Rev. A 67, 022703 ͑2003͔͒, the generalized oscillator strength profiles show obvious differences. In addition, the experimental generalized oscillator strength ratios for the electric-octupole transitions in 3p → 3d are different from the theoretical prediction calculated by the COWAN code.

Cyclin B2 (CCNB2), a member of the cyclin protein family, has been found to be up-regulated in human cancers. To evaluate the potential use of circulating CCNB2 in serum in cancer surveillance, we examined relative expression levels of serum circulating CCNB2 mRNA in 103 cancer patients, 19 normal controls, and 40 benign disease patients using real-time quantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction. We found that the relative expression level of circulating CCNB2 mRNA in cancer patients was significantly higher (p<0.0001) than that in normal controls and benign diseases group. Circulating CCNB2 mRNA level was significantly (p<0.001) correlated with cancer stage and metastasis status. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis showed an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.87 and 0.83 (p<0.05) in identifying cancer patients' metastasis status in lung and digestive tract cancer, respectively. Moreover, we observed that expression levels of circulating CCNB2 mRNA in cancer patients significantly decreased (p=0.0084) after their therapeutic treatments. These data suggest that detection of serum circulating CCNB2 mRNA may have potential clinical applications in screening and monitoring of metastasis and therapeutic treatments.

Screening of natural products with anti-tumor activity as telomerase inhibitor is a new subject in the field of tumor therapy. Using telomerase PCR ELISA, telomere DNA hybridization and flow cytometry analysis, the effects of verbascoside, a phenylpropanoid glucoside extracted from Pedicularis striata Pall, on telomerase activity, telomere length and cell cycle of human gastric carcinoma cells MKN45 was examined in vitro. After being treated with a 50 % inhibition concentration of verbascoside (17.8 microg/ml), telomerase activity in the cells was significantly inhibited but not in the cellular supernatant, the average telomere length became remarkably short, and the sub-G0 /G1 peak and G2/M arrest were also displayed when compared to the control cells. These results suggest that verbascoside mediated-cell differentiation and apoptosis may be affected by telomere-telomerase-cell cycle dependent modulation. Thus, the antitumor mechanism of verbascoside is demonstrated once more by its inhibiting effect on telomerase activity in tumor cells, and the telomerase assay may provide a valuable screening method for antitumor activity of natural products.

No abstract

Enteropathy-associated T-cell lymphoma (EATL) is a rare gastrointestinal non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, originating from intraepithelial T-lymphocyte, which is specifically associated with celiac disease. EATL most commonly presents in the sixth and seventh decades of life. We report a unique case of type I EATL in the colon with liver metastasis, which was presented with nonspecific radiological findings and at a very young age (29 years old) compared with previously published data. We suggest that EATL should be regarded as part of differential diagnosis in any patient presenting with abdominal pain, diarrhea, weight loss, and malabsorption because delay in treatment can result in an irreversible clinical outcome.