Development of a Human Lung Cancer Cytochrome C-GFP Reporter Cell Line to Study Anti-cancer Drug Responses in Apoptosis Pathways

Currently chemotherapy and radiotherapy are the most popular methods for cancer treatments after surgery, but lack of specificity and are thus toxic to the healthy human cells. Studies have shown that targeted therapies have been linked to activation of apoptosis signal pathways (cascade of caspases) in cancer cells including intrinsic and extrinsic pathways. One of the major pathways leading to caspase activation involves the release of cytochrome-c from mitochondria. However, in some tumor cells this pathway is inactivated due to the mutation of mitochondria membrane stabilizing proteins (e.g. Bcl-2, Bcl-xL). Therefore, the overall objective of this proposal was to understand the mechanism and the kinetic of cytochrome-c release from the mitochondria, so novel and improved molecular target therapies can be developed against cancers. For this purpose, we have successfully constructed a cytochrome C-GFP reporter cell line using human lung cancer cells. The result from western blot confirmed the presence of the intact cytochrome C-GFP fusion protein in the reporter cell line. We investigated the release kinetics of cytochrome C-GFP in response to three different apoptosis-inducing reagents; TRAIL, Staurosporine, and Tarceva. The result from this study illustrated that the dynamic release of cytochrome C-GFP is dependent on the cell types and doses. We have also developed a system to investigate the anti-cancer drugs response in a sequence of time interval, Microfluidic Duration Device. The microfluidic duration device with the reporter cell line can be further used for preclinical study in the development of combination agents for target therapy

Occupational choice of return migrants in Moldova

This paper analyzes the occupational choice of return migrants. Using the survey data on different aspects of migration in Moldova, we find that those who stayed illegally in the host country tend to go into wage employment on return to the home country. We also show that relatively better educated migrants tend not to be in formal employment (i.e., appear not to participate in the labor market), whereas those with relatively lower skills or who obtained a worse-than-expected outcome in the host country are more likely to be wage employed in the home country on return. We offer an economic analysis of these paradoxical results

Oscillator strength measurements of the 5s6s 1S0→5snp 1P1 Rydberg transitions of strontium

We report the experimentally determined oscillator strengths for the 5s6s 1S0→5snp 1P1 Rydberg transitions of strontium using two-step excitation in conjunction with a thermionic diode ion detector. The absolute photoionization cross section from the 5s6s 1S0 excited state has been determined by adjusting the polarization vector of the ionizing laser beam parallel, perpendicular, and at the magic angle with respect to that of the exciting dye laser. The measured absolute value of the photoionization cross section 0.9±0.2 Mb at the 5s threshold is used to extract the f values of the 5s6s 1S0→5snp 1P1 (26≤n≤73) Rydberg transitions. The oscillator strength in the discrete region merges smoothly to the oscillator strength density at the ionization threshold

Chemometrics and Spectroscopic Analyses of Peganum harmala Plant’s Seeds by Laser‐Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy

In the present work, the rapid identification of elements and their relative chemical com‐ position in various Peganum harmala seed samples were investigated using a calibration‐free laser‐ induced breakdown spectroscopy technique (CF‐LIBS). A pulsed Nd:YAG laser‐source with a 5 ns pulse‐duration, and 10 Hz pulse repetition rates providing 400 and 200 mJ energy at 1064 and 532 nm wavelength, respectively, was focused on the Peganum harmala seed samples for ablation. A LIBS 2000+ spectrometer within the wavelength range (200 to 720 nm), emission‐spectra were recorded. The measured spectra of the Peganum harmala sample gives spectral lines of Carbon (C), Magnesium (Mg), Lithium (Li), Sodium (Na), Calcium (Ca), Silicon (Si), Iron (Fe), Strontium (Sr), Copper (Cu), Potassium (K), and Lead (Pb). A CF‐LIBS technique has been employed for the compositional study of the elements exist in the Peganum harmala seed samples. The measured results demonstrate that C, Mg, and Ca are found to be major elements in the Peganum harmala seed samples with composi‐ tions of ~36.64%, ~24.09%, and ~19.03%, respectively. Along with the major elements, the elements including Li, Na, Si, K, Fe, and Sr were identified as minor elements with compositions of ~2.87%, ~2.33%, ~3.72%, ~7.17%, ~2.83%, and ~1.14%, respectively. Besides Cu (~8.07 μg/g), and Pb (~1.10 μg/g) elements were observed as trace elements exist in the Peganum harmala seed samples. Further‐ more, the electron number density including the plasma excitation‐temperature were calculated using the stark‐broadening line profile method and the Saha–Boltzmann plot method, respectively. The plasma parameters versus laser‐irradiance and the distance from the sample were further in‐ vestigated. Moreover, a principal component analysis (PCA) method was also utilized to the spec‐ tral data obtained by using LIBS to discriminate various seed samples with four classes, namely, α, β, γ, and Δ. Three principal‐components (PCs) calculated from eigenvalues of score matrix de‐ scribed 87.6%, 4.6%, and 2.5% of total variance for PC1, PC2, and PC3, respectively. The LIBS spec‐ tral data variance covered by the initial 3 PCS was found as ~94.7% of total variance. The PCA results have successfully demonstrated the different classes of the Peganum harmala seed samples based on the different doping compositional ratios of the Zn element. This study confirmed the feasibility and ability of LIBS and PCA for the rapid analysis of Peganum harmala seed samples. Finally, the results achieved using CF‐LIBS were incorporated with those obtained from the XRF and EDX an‐ alytical techniques

Photoexcitation and photoionization from the 2p53p[5/2]2,3 levels in neon

We present measurements of the excitation spectra from the 2p53p [5/2]3,2 levels in neon using two-step laser excitation and ionization in conjunction with an optogalvanic detection in dc and rf discharge cells. The 2p53p [5/2]3,2 intermediate levels have been approached via the collisionally populated 2p53s [3/2]2 metastable level. The Rydberg series 2p5(2P3/2)nd [7/2]4 (12 ⩽ n ⩽ 44), 2p5(2P3/2)ns [3/2]2 (13 ⩽ n ⩽ 35) and the parity forbidden transitions 2p5(2P3/2)np [5/2]3 (13 ⩽ n ⩽ 19) have been observed from the 2p53p [5/2]3 level, whereas the 2p5(2P3/2)nd [7/2]3 (12 ⩽ n ⩽ 44), 2p5(2P3/2)ns [3/2]2 (13 ⩽ n ⩽ 35), and 2p5(2P1/2)nd′ [5/2]3 (9 ⩽ n ⩽ 12) Rydberg series have been observed from the 2p53p[5/2]2 level in accordance with the ΔJ = ΔK = ± 1 selection rules. The photoionization cross sections from the 2p53p [5/2]3 intermediate level have been measured at eight ionizing laser wavelengths (399, 395, 390, 385, 380, 370, 364, and 355 nm) and that from the 2p53p [5/2]2 level at 401.8 nm. These measurements are in excellent agreement with the experimental values reported in the literature, while the experimental data lie much below the theoretically calculated photoionization cross sections curve

Remittances, Labour Supply and Activity of Household Members Left-Behind

This paper analyses the role of remittances on labour supply and activity of household members left behind, by explicitly distinguishing between different types of self employment. Contrary to the existing evidence, we find no ‘dependency’ effect of remittances. Our results show that remittances received by households in Tajikistan decrease the probability of wage employment and increase that of small-scale self employment activities of men staying behind, without affecting the number of job specific hours worked. Any positive effect on economic development would be, however, limited, as self-employment is in rather small-scale activities that do not generate a regular income stream

Eastern partnership migrants in Germany: outcomes, potentials and challenges

Despite the ongoing dialogue on facilitating mobility between the European Union and the Eastern Partnership (EaP) countries, very little is known about the magnitude and characteristics of migration from these countries. We find that EaP migrants experience worse labor market outcomes than other migrant groups, but current and potential migrants hold qualifications in those areas were skill shortages are expected. Therefore, the monitoring and supervision of EaP integration will be consequential in order to understand how much of the current brain waste is driven by poor assessment of foreign qualifications, and to unleash the potential of migration for the German economy

Migration outflows and optimal migration policy: rules versus discretion

We study the effects of more open borders on return migration and show that migrants are more likely to return to the origin country when migration rules are softened, because this implies that they could more easily re-migrate if return migration is unsuccessful. As a result, softening migration rules leads to lower net inflows than is generally acknowledged. We show that if government follows rules to shape the optimal migration policy, it will choose more open “borders” than were its behaviour to be discretionary. However, this requires an appropriate commitment technology. We show that electoral accountability may be a solution to the commitment problem. As a matter of fact, observed softer immigration rules in western countries suggest the effectiveness of such a mechanism.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio