Ferritin nanovehicle for targeted delivery of cytochrome C to cancer cells

In this work, we have exploited the unique properties of a chimeric archaeal-human ferritin to encapsulate, deliver and release cytochrome c and induce apoptosis in a myeloid leukemia cell line. The chimeric protein combines the versatility in 24-meric assembly and cargo incorporation capability of Archaeglobus fulgidus ferritin with specific binding of human H ferritin to CD71, the “heavy duty” carrier responsible for transferrin-iron uptake. Delivery of ferritin-encapsulated cytochrome C to the Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia (APL) NB4 cell line, highly resistant to transfection by conventional methods, was successfully achieved in vitro. The effective liberation of cytochrome C within the cytosolic environment, demonstrated by double fluorescent labelling, induced apoptosis in the cancer cells

Generation of half-space sound fields with application to personal sound systems

A method is presented for generating a sound field that is significantly attenuated over half of the reproduction region, which has application to the generation of two independent sound fields for two listeners. The half-space sound field is produced by attenuating the negative or positive modes in the cylindrical or spherical expansion of a plane wave or point source sound field. It is shown that this is equivalent to adding to the original sound field, in quadrature, a second field which is the Hilbert transform of the original field. The resulting analytic field has a small magnitude in one half of the plane. Methods are presented for controlling the attenuation in the unwanted half-space. Finally, a simulation is presented showing the generation of a wideband pulse that propagates across half of the area within a circular array of sources

Radiogenomics in clear cell renal cell carcinoma: correlations between advanced CT imaging (texture analysis) and microRNAs expression

Purpose: A relevant challenge for the improvement of clear cell renal cell carcinoma management could derive from the identification of novel molecular biomarkers that could greatly improve the diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment choice of these neoplasms. In this study, we investigate whether quantitative parameters obtained from computed tomography texture analysis may correlate with the expression of selected oncogenic microRNAs. Methods: In a retrospective single-center study, multiphasic computed tomography examination (with arterial, portal, and urographic phases) was performed on 20 patients with clear cell renal cell carcinoma and computed tomography texture analysis parameters such as entropy, kurtosis, skewness, mean, and standard deviation of pixel distribution were measured using multiple filter settings. These quantitative data were correlated with the expression of selected microRNAs (miR-21-5p, miR-210-3p, miR-185-5p, miR-221-3p, miR-145-5p). Both the evaluations (microRNAs and computed tomography texture analysis) were performed on matched tumor and normal corticomedullar tissues of the same patients cohort. Results: In this pilot study, we evidenced that computed tomography texture analysis has robust parameters (eg, entropy, mean, standard deviation) to distinguish normal from pathological tissues. Moreover, a higher coefficient of determination between entropy and miR-21-5p expression was evidenced in tumor versus normal tissue. Interestingly, entropy and miR-21-5p show promising correlation in clear cell renal cell carcinoma opening to a radiogenomic strategy to improve clear cell renal cell carcinoma management. Conclusion: In this pilot study, a promising correlation between microRNAs and computed tomography texture analysis has been found in clear cell renal cell carcinoma. A clear cell renal cell carcinoma can benefit from noninvasive evaluation of texture parameters in adjunction to biopsy results. In particular, a promising correlation between entropy and miR-21-5p was found

Doxorubicin and other anthracyclines in cancers: activity, chemoresistance and its overcoming

Anthracyclines have been important and effective treatments against a number of cancers since their discovery. However, their use in therapy has been complicated by severe side effects and toxicity that occur during or after treatment, including cardiotoxicity. The mode of action of anthracyclines is complex, with several mechanisms proposed. It is possible that their high toxicity is due to the large set of processes involved in anthracycline action. The development of resistance is a major barrier to successful treatment when using anthracyclines. This resistance is based on a series of mechanisms that have been studied and addressed in recent years. This work provides an overview of the anthracyclines used in cancer therapy. It discusses their mechanisms of activity, toxicity, and chemoresistance, as well as the approaches used to improve their activity, decrease their toxicity, and overcome resistance

A coherent triggered search for single spin compact binary coalescences in gravitational wave data

In this paper we present a method for conducting a coherent search for single spin compact binary coalescences in gravitational wave data and compare this search to the existing coincidence method for single spin searches. We propose a method to characterize the regions of the parameter space where the single spin search, both coincident and coherent, will increase detection efficiency over the existing non-precessing search. We also show example results of the coherent search on a stretch of data from LIGO's fourth science run but note that a set of signal based vetoes will be needed before this search can be run to try to make detections.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figure

MicroRNAs and Hematopoietic Differentiation

n/

Early stage of CVD graphene synthesis on Ge(001) substrate

In this work we shed light on the early stage of the chemical vapor deposition of graphene on Ge(001) surfaces. By a combined use of microRaman and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopies, and scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy, we were able to individuate a carbon precursor phase to graphene nucleation which coexists with small graphene domains. This precursor phase is made of C aggregates with different size, shape and local ordering which are not fully sp2 hybridized. In some atomic size regions these aggregates show a linear arrangement of atoms as well as the first signature of the hexagonal structure of graphene. The carbon precursor phase evolves in graphene domains through an ordering process, associated to a re-arrangement of the Ge surface morphology. This surface structuring represents the embryo stage of the hills-and-valleys faceting featured by the Ge(001) surface for longer deposition times, when the graphene domains coalesce to form a single layer graphene film

Classical dynamics and stability of collapsing thick shells of matter

We study the collapse towards the gravitational radius of a macroscopic spherical thick shell surrounding an inner massive core. This overall electrically neutral macroshell is composed by many nested delta-like massive microshells which can bear non-zero electric charge, and a possibly non-zero cosmological constant is also included. The dynamics of the shells is described by means of Israel's (Lanczos) junction conditions for singular hypersurfaces and, adopting a Hartree (mean field) approach, an effective Hamiltonian for the motion of each microshell is derived which allows to check the stability of the matter composing the macroshell. We end by briefly commenting on the quantum effects which may arise from the extension of our classical treatment to the semiclassical level.Comment: 16 pages in IOP style, 8 figures, accepted for publication in Class. Quantum Gra