Methyl jasmonate and cis jasmone induce apoptosis in Pc-3 and LncaP prostate cancer lines

Methyl jasmonate (MJ) and cis jasmone (CJ), lipid-derived plant stress hormones, were studied for their effects against both hormone dependent (LNCaP) and hormone independent (PC3) human prostate cancer cell lines. Both 2 mM MJ or CJ inhibited the growth of the cell lines. An alamar blue assay was used to determine IC50 values for MJ and CJ in both cell lines at 24 hrs, 48 hrs and 72 hrs. At 24 hrs the MJ IC50 values were 2.25 and 2.05 while the CJ values were 3.00 and 1.25 in the PC3 and LNCaP lines respectively. Cell cycle analysis revealed that MJ and CJ induced apoptosis in both cell lines as well as activated caspase-3. An in vitro assay showed that MJ and CJ did not significantly inhibit either 5-lipoxygenase or 15-lipoxygenase. 5-HETE was able to stimulate cell growth in the presence or absence of MJ in both the cell lines

Quality analysis of the aggregate imaging system (AIMS)

Coarse and fine aggregates form the skeleton of any type of pavement and influence the performance of the pavement structure. Characterization of the physical characteristics (shape, angularity, and texture) of coarse and fine aggregates is the first step towards the development of valid specifications for these characteristics. Current test methods used in practice have several limitations in quantifying the shape and texture properties. An imaging based test method ??Aggregate Imaging System (AIMS)?? has been recently developed and shown to be capable of directly measuring the characteristics of coarse and fine aggregates. In this thesis, the quality of AIMS measurements is evaluated through the analysis of repeatability, reproducibility, and sensitivity. The analysis results are also compared to the results from other available test methods. AIMS provides the distribution of shape characteristics in an aggregate sample. Statistical analysis is conducted in order to determine the distribution function that best describes the distribution of shape characteristics. The parameters of the distribution function can be related to the performance of pavement layers. A new method based on the ??Categorical Units?? isdeveloped to test differences between aggregate samples in terms of shape characteristics. It is demonstrated that this method is capable of quantifying the differences between aggregates and can be used to capture the influence of change in aggregate source or production techniques on aggregate characteristics

Structural Determination of the 5\u27 Untranslated Regions of IRE-containing mRNAs

The expression of ferritin and amyloid precursor protein (APP) is post-transcriptionally regulated by iron-regulating proteins via binding to a stem-loop structure known as an iron-responsive element in the 5’-untranslated region (5’UTR) of ferritin and APP mRNAs. In this study, we used atomic force microscopy (AFM) to visualize the conformation of the 5’UTRs of ferritin heavy chain (Ferritin-H), ferritin light chain (Ferritin-L), and APP mRNA transcripts from human and mouse, and determined the secondary RNA structures using selective 2’-hydroxyl acylation analyzed by primer extension (SHAPE). The AFM imaging did not provide high resolution structural information about these RNAs, whereas the SHAPE procedure successfully interrogated the secondary RNA structures at single nucleotide resolution. To our knowledge, this is the first time that the secondary structures of the entire 5’UTRs of these RNA molecules have been experimentally mapped. This study paves the way for the further investigation of RNA-ligand interactions in these RNA molecules

Myocardial Infarction due to Endocarditis

We present a case of a 43-year-old man who sustained a myocardial infarction due to infective endocarditis

Optimal power flow with distributed energy sources using whale optimization algorithm

Renewable energy generation is increasingly attractive since it is non-polluting and viable. Recently, the technical and economic performance of power system networks has been enhanced by integrating renewable energy sources (RES). This work focuses on the size of solar and wind production by replacing the thermal generation to decrease cost and losses on a big electrical power system. The Weibull and Lognormal probability density functions are used to calculate the deliverable power of wind and solar energy, to be integrated into the power system. Due to the uncertain and intermittent conditions of these sources, their integration complicates the optimal power flow problem. This paper proposes an optimal power flow (OPF) using the whale optimization algorithm (WOA), to solve for the stochastic wind and solar power integrated power system. In this paper, the ideal capacity of RES along with thermal generators has been determined by considering total generation cost as an objective function. The proposed methodology is tested on the IEEE-30 system to ensure its usefulness. Obtained results show the effectiveness of WOA when compared with other algorithms like non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm (NSGA-II), grey wolf optimization (GWO) and particle swarm optimization-GWO (PSO-GWO)

Quality analysis of the aggregate imaging system (AIMS)

Coarse and fine aggregates form the skeleton of any type of pavement and influence the performance of the pavement structure. Characterization of the physical characteristics (shape, angularity, and texture) of coarse and fine aggregates is the first step towards the development of valid specifications for these characteristics. Current test methods used in practice have several limitations in quantifying the shape and texture properties. An imaging based test method ??Aggregate Imaging System (AIMS)?? has been recently developed and shown to be capable of directly measuring the characteristics of coarse and fine aggregates. In this thesis, the quality of AIMS measurements is evaluated through the analysis of repeatability, reproducibility, and sensitivity. The analysis results are also compared to the results from other available test methods. AIMS provides the distribution of shape characteristics in an aggregate sample. Statistical analysis is conducted in order to determine the distribution function that best describes the distribution of shape characteristics. The parameters of the distribution function can be related to the performance of pavement layers. A new method based on the ??Categorical Units?? isdeveloped to test differences between aggregate samples in terms of shape characteristics. It is demonstrated that this method is capable of quantifying the differences between aggregates and can be used to capture the influence of change in aggregate source or production techniques on aggregate characteristics

The complex pathophysiology of bone fragility in obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus: therapeutic targets to promote osteogenesis

Fractures associated with Type2 diabetes (T2DM) are major public health concerns in an increasingly obese and aging population. Patients with obesity or T2DM have normal or better than normal bone mineral density but at an increased risk for fractures. Hence it is crucial to understand the pathophysiology and mechanism of how T2DM and obesity result in altered bone physiology leading to increased fracture risk. Although enhanced osteoclast mediated bone resorption has been reported for these patients, the most notable observation among patients with T2DM is the reduction in bone formation from mostly dysfunction in osteoblast differentiation and survival. Studies have shown that obesity and T2DM are associated with increased adipogenesis which is most likely at the expense of reduced osteogenesis and myogenesis considering that adipocytes, osteoblasts, and myoblasts originate from the same progenitor cells. Furthermore, emerging data point to an inter-relationship between bone and metabolic homeostasis suggesting that these physiologic processes could be under the control of common regulatory pathways. Thus, this review aims to explore the complex mechanisms involved in lineage differentiation and their effect on bone pathophysiology in patients with obesity and T2DM along with an examination of potential novel pharmacological targets or a re-evaluation of existing drugs to improve bone homeostasis

Antibiotic versus nonantibiotic products for the treatment of Papillomatous Digital Dermatitis (hairy heel wart) in dairy cattle

A field trial was conducted to compare oxytetracycline to three nonantibiotic therapies using bandage protocols for the treatment of hairy heel warts. Affected feet were bandaged for 4 days with either of the four products. Over a 28-day period following bandage removal, heel warts on 44 cows (11 per treatment group) were evaluated based on size, degree of pain, color, and lesion appearance. No differences were detected among treatments, suggesting that nonantibiotic therapies used in bandage protocols may be as effective as oxytetracycline.; Dairy Day, 2000, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS, 2000

Comparative Study among Different Cryoprobe Configuration for Effective Necrosis of Biological Tissue

The complete necrosis of malignant biological tissue can be achieved, when the optimal parameters (generation of ice ball around the cryoprobe, ablation ratio, cooling power requirement) are known to the cryosurgeon. In this study the optimal parameters(volume of ice ball around the cryoprobe, ablation ratio, cooling power requirements)are predicted and compared to maximize the tissue necrosis. Surgical parameters like lethal zone, frozen zone and ablation ratio are studied for different placements of cryoprobes. The percentage increase in ice ball volume (obtained at the end of freezing cycle, i.e. 10 min considering with and without central cryoprobe configurations) decreases with increase in the number of offset cryoprobe at same opereating conditions. It was observed that with the increase in offset cryoprobes, there was no remarkable growth on ablation ratio at the end of freezing process. However, the less number of offset cryoprobes resulted in effective ablation during the early stage of freezing process.Also, the cooling power requirement increases with increase in the number of offset cryoprobes and also increases with decrease in cryoprobe temperature