In vitro anti-tumor activity in SGC-7901 human gastric cancer cells treated with dandelion extract

Purpose: To investigate the mechanisms of cytotoxicity of a dandelion extract against human gastric cancer cell line SGC-7901 cells.Methods: The 3-(4,5-dimethyl-2-thiazolyl)-2,5-diphenyl-2-H-tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay, flow cytometry, and transwell assays were used to investigate the effects of a dandelion extract on cell proliferation, levels of apoptosis, and cell migration, respectively. Reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) assessed the effects of a dandelion extract on the expression levels of genes regulating proliferation and apoptosis.Results: Dandelion extract exerted strong cytotoxic effects on the cancer cells. After exposure, apoptotic cells increased and cell migration was reduced. RT-qPCR assay revealed that dandelion extract significantly increased anti-proliferative and pro-apoptotic gene expression, including phosphate and tensin homology deleted on chromosome ten (Pten) and Bcl-2 Associated X protein (Bax) mRNA in the gastric cancer cells. The results also indicate that there was decreased pro-proliferative and antiapoptotic gene expression (i.e., extracellular signal-regulated kinase (Erk), Survivin, and B-cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl2) mRNA).Conclusion: The results suggest that dandelion extract is a potent gastric cancer cell proliferation, survival, and migration inhibitor with potential pharmaceutical applications for the prevention of gastric cancer.Keywords: dandelion extract, gastric cancer, cytotoxic effect, migration inhibitio

Estimation of Agricultural Groundwater Usage by Well Pumping Efficiency and Electric Consumption

Source: ICHE Conference Archive - https://mdi-de.baw.de/icheArchive

Induction of colonic epithelial cell apoptosis by p47-dependent oxidants11Nucleotide sequence data reported are available in GenBank database under accession # AF540955.

AbstractExogenous oxidants appear capable of initiating both proliferative and death signals, but the role of endogenous oxidants in either tumorigenesis or tumor suppression is unclear. We found that expression of the NAD(P)H oxidase adapter p47phox was suppressed in human colon carcinoma specimens relative to adjacent normal colon. Overexpression of p47phox increased apoptosis in colon cancer cell lines independent of p53 and mismatch-repair competency. p47phox was found to interact with the c-Abl adapter Abl interactor-1 (ABI-1), and p47phox coprecipitated with both ABI-1 and c-Abl. Ectopic expression of p47phox in colon cancer cells increased oxidant production with phosphorylation and activation of nuclear c-Abl and consequent apoptosis. Colonic epithelial p47phox may be specifically targeted to a c-Abl-containing complex that serves a physiologic tumor suppressing function

Subcellular targeting of oxidants during endothelial cell migration

Endogenous oxidants participate in endothelial cell migration, suggesting that the enzymatic source of oxidants, like other proteins controlling cell migration, requires precise subcellular localization for spatial confinement of signaling effects. We found that the nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate reduced (NADPH) oxidase adaptor p47phox and its binding partner TRAF4 were sequestered within nascent, focal complexlike structures in the lamellae of motile endothelial cells. TRAF4 directly associated with the focal contact scaffold Hic-5, and the knockdown of either protein, disruption of the complex, or oxidant scavenging blocked cell migration. An active mutant of TRAF4 activated the NADPH oxidase downstream of the Rho GTPases and p21-activated kinase 1 (PAK1) and oxidatively modified the focal contact phosphatase PTP-PEST. The oxidase also functioned upstream of Rac1 activation, suggesting its participation in a positive feedback loop. Active TRAF4 initiated robust membrane ruffling through Rac1, PAK1, and the oxidase, whereas the knockdown of PTP-PEST increased ruffling independent of oxidase activation. Our data suggest that TRAF4 specifies a molecular address within focal complexes that is targeted for oxidative modification during cell migration

DIALGEN: Collaborative Human-LM Generated Dialogues for Improved Understanding of Human-Human Conversations

Applications that could benefit from automatic understanding of human-human conversations often come with challenges associated with private information in real-world data such as call center or clinical conversations. Working with protected data also increases costs of annotation, which limits technology development. To address these challenges, we propose DIALGEN, a human-in-the-loop semi-automated dialogue generation framework. DIALGEN uses a language model (ChatGPT) that can follow schema and style specifications to produce fluent conversational text, generating a complex conversation through iteratively generating subdialogues and using human feedback to correct inconsistencies or redirect the flow. In experiments on structured summarization of agent-client information gathering calls, framed as dialogue state tracking, we show that DIALGEN data enables significant improvement in model performance

Decreased NPC1L1 expression in the liver from Chinese female gallstone patients

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Cholesterol gallstone disease is a very common disease in both industrialized and developing countries. Many studies have found that cholesterol gallstones are more common in women than men. The molecular mechanisms underlying the relationship between female gallstone disease and hepatic sterol transporters are still undergoing definition and have not been evaluated in humans.</p> <p>Aims</p> <p>The aim of this study is to probe for underlying hepatic molecular defects associated with development of gallstones in female.</p> <p>Methods/Results</p> <p>Fifty-seven nonobese, normolipidemic Chinese female gallstone patients (GS) were investigated with 12 age- and body mass index-matched female gallstone-free controls (GSF). The bile from the female GS had higher cholesterol saturation than that from the female GSF. The hepatic NPC1L1 mRNA levels were lower in female GS, correlated with SREBP2 mRNA. NPC1L1 downregulation was confirmed at protein levels. Consistently, immunohistochemistry showed decreased NPC1L1 expression in female GS.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The decreased hepatic NPC1L1 levels in female GS might indicate a downregulated reabsorption of biliary cholesterol in the liver, which, in turn, leads to the cholesterol supersaturation of bile. Our data are consistent with the possibility that hepatic NPC1L1 may be mediated by SREBP2.</p

An exchange-based AIoT platform for fast AI application development

AIoT is the combination of Internet of Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies. While IoT emphasizes more on scalable and efficient communications, AI focuses more on reproducing human capabilities such as recognition and forecasting. An efficient AIoT platform may not be obtained directly from integrating existing IoT and AI serving platforms by considering the AIoT service reproduction and evolution. In this work, we propose an AIoT platform that empowers developers to build sophisticated and scalable applications. Our platform is derived based on exchange-based RabbitMQ broker and Advanced Message Queuing Protocol (AMQP) to facilitate the communications among heterogeneous data sources and AI models. By incorporating an AMQP broker, it supports diverse data exchanges, AI models chaining, and flexible message routing and processing. AI models can be deployed efficiently through containerization with flexible and shared data paths to facilitate computations. Hence, developers can focus on service and application requirements. We also present a case study in smart healthcare to validate our design

Fixel-Based Analysis Effectively Identifies White Matter Tract Degeneration in Huntington’s Disease

Microstructure damage in white matter might be linked to regional and global atrophy in Huntington’s Disease (HD). We hypothesize that degeneration of subcortical regions, including the basal ganglia, is associated with damage of white matter tracts linking these affected regions. We aim to use fixel-based analysis to identify microstructural changes in the white matter tracts. To further assess the associated gray matter damage, diffusion tensor-derived indices were measured from regions of interest located in the basal ganglia. Diffusion weighted images were acquired from 12 patients with HD and 12 healthy unrelated controls using a 3 Tesla scanner. Reductions in fixel-derived metrics occurs in major white matter tracts, noticeably in corpus callosum, internal capsule, and the corticospinal tract, which were closely co-localized with the regions of increased diffusivity in basal ganglia. These changes in diffusion can be attributed to potential axonal degeneration. Fixel-based analysis is effective in studying white matter tractography and fiber changes in HD