Inhibitory effect on ovarian cancer ALDH+ stem-like cells by Disulfiram and Copper treatment through ALDH and ROS modulation

BACKGROUND: Disulfiram (DSF) is a drug used for treatment of alcoholism that has also displayed promising anti-cancer activity. It unfolds its effects by inhibiting the enzyme activity of aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) isoforms. METHODS: MTT assay, spheroid formation, clonogenicity assay, qRT-PCR, and ALDH enzyme activity analysis were performed using ovarian cancer cell lines IGROV1, SKOV3 and SKOV3IP1. Cell cycle analyses and measurement of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) were carried out by flow cytometry. ALDH+ and ALDH- cells were isolated by FACS sorting. RESULTS: ALDH activity was inhibited in ovarian cancer stem cells (the proportion of ALDH+ cells was reduced from 21.7% to 0.391%, 8.4% to 0%, 6.88% to 0.05% in cell lines IGROV1, SKOV3, and SKOV3IP1, respectively). DSF with or without the cofactor copper (Cu2+) exhibited cytotoxicity dose- and time-dependent and enhanced cisplatin-induced apoptosis. DSF + Cu2+ increased intracellular ROS levels triggering apoptosis of ovarian cancer stem cells (CSC). Significantly more colony and spheroid formation was observed in ALDH+ compared with ALDH- cells (P < 0.01). Moreover, ALDH+ cells were more resistant to cisplatin treatment compared with ALDH-cells (P < 0.05) and also exhibited a lower basal level of ROS. However, no significant difference in ROS accumulation nor in cellular viability was observed in ALDH + cells in comparison to ALDH- cells after pre-treatment with DSF (0.08 μM). CONCLUSION: Our findings provide evidence that DSF might be employed as a novel adjuvant chemotherapeutic agent in combination with cisplatin for treatment of ovarian cancer

Domain Wall Brane in Eddington Inspired Born-Infeld Gravity

Recently, inspired by Eddington's theory, an alternative gravity called Eddington-inspired Born-Infeld gravity was proposed by Ba$\tilde{\text{n}}$ados and Ferreira. It is equivalent to Einstein's general relativity in vacuum, but deviates from it when matter is included. Interestingly, it seems that the cosmological singularities are prevented in this theory. Based on the new theory, we investigate a thick brane model with a scalar field presenting in the five-dimensional background. A domain wall solution is obtained, and further, we find that at low energy the four-dimensional Einstein gravity is recovered on the brane. Moreover, the stability of gravitational perturbations is ensured in this model.Comment: 16 pages, 2 figures, improved versio

Quantum size effects in a one-dimensional semimetal

We study theoretically the quantum size effects in a one-dimensional semimetal by a Boltzmann transport equation. We derive analytic expressions for the electrical conductivity, Hall coefficient, magnetoresistance, and the thermoelectric power in a nanowire. The transport coefficients of semimetal oscillate as the size of the sample shrinks. Below a certain size the semimetal evolves into a semiconductor. The semimetal-semiconductor transition is discussed quantitatively. The results should make a theoretical ground for better understanding of transport phenomena in low-dimensional semimetals. They can also provide useful information while studying low-dimensional semiconductors in general.Comment: 5 pages in PDF; LaTeX sourc

Coalescence and Anti-Coalescence Interference of Two-Photon Wavepacket in a Beam Splitter

We study a general theory on the interference of two-photon wavepacket in a beam splitter (BS). We find that the perfect coalescence interference requires a symmetric spectrum of two-photon wavepacket which can be entangled or un-entangled. Furthermore, we introduce a two-photon wavepacket with anti-symmetric spectrum, which is related with photon entanglement and shows a perfect anti-coalescence effect. The theory present uniform and complete explanation to two-photon interference.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figure

Memory-based immigrants for ant colony optimization in changing environments

Copyright @ 2011 SpringerAnt colony optimization (ACO) algorithms have proved that they can adapt to dynamic optimization problems (DOPs) when they are enhanced to maintain diversity. DOPs are important due to their similarities to many real-world applications. Several approaches have been integrated with ACO to improve their performance in DOPs, where memory-based approaches and immigrants schemes have shown good results on different variations of the dynamic travelling salesman problem (DTSP). In this paper, we consider a novel variation of DTSP where traffic jams occur in a cyclic pattern. This means that old environments will re-appear in the future. A hybrid method that combines memory and immigrants schemes is proposed into ACO to address this kind of DTSPs. The memory-based approach is useful to directly move the population to promising areas in the new environment by using solutions stored in the memory. The immigrants scheme is useful to maintain the diversity within the population. The experimental results based on different test cases of the DTSP show that the memory based immigrants scheme enhances the performance of ACO in cyclic dynamic environments.This work was supported by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) of UK under Grant EP/E060722/2

Data-constrained Magnetohydrodynamic Simulation of an Intermediate Solar Filament Eruption

Solar eruptive activities could occur in weak magnetic field environments and over large spatial scales, especially relevant to eruptions involving intermediate or quiescent solar filaments. To handle the large scales, we implement and apply a flux rope embedding method using regularized Biot-Savart laws in the spherical coordinate system. Combined with a potential field source surface model and a magneto-frictional method, a nonlinear force-free field comprising a flux rope embedded in a potential field is constructed. Using the combined nonlinear force-free field as the initial condition, we then perform a zero-$\beta$ data-constrained magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulation for an M8.7 flare at 03:38 UT on 2012 January 23. The MHD model reproduces the eruption process, flare ribbon evolution (represented by the quasi-separatrix layer evolution) and kinematics of the flux rope. This approach could potentially model global-scale eruptions from weak field regions.Comment: 23 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publicaiton in Ap

Magnetic Helicity Estimations in Models and Observations of the Solar Magnetic Field. Part III: Twist Number Method

We study the writhe, twist and magnetic helicity of different magnetic flux ropes, based on models of the solar coronal magnetic field structure. These include an analytical force-free Titov--D\'emoulin equilibrium solution, non force-free magnetohydrodynamic simulations, and nonlinear force-free magnetic field models. The geometrical boundary of the magnetic flux rope is determined by the quasi-separatrix layer and the bottom surface, and the axis curve of the flux rope is determined by its overall orientation. The twist is computed by the Berger--Prior formula that is suitable for arbitrary geometry and both force-free and non-force-free models. The magnetic helicity is estimated by the twist multiplied by the square of the axial magnetic flux. We compare the obtained values with those derived by a finite volume helicity estimation method. We find that the magnetic helicity obtained with the twist method agrees with the helicity carried by the purely current-carrying part of the field within uncertainties for most test cases. It is also found that the current-carrying part of the model field is relatively significant at the very location of the magnetic flux rope. This qualitatively explains the agreement between the magnetic helicity computed by the twist method and the helicity contributed purely by the current-carrying magnetic field.Comment: To be published in Ap

A phased array antenna employing reconfigurable defected microstrip structure (RDMS)

© 2015 IEEE. In this paper, a compact phase-shifting unit based on reconfigurable defected microstrip structure (RDMS) is used to provide controllable phase shift for a 1×4 phased array antenna. The RDMS is made by etching two slots on the microstrip line and loading with PIN diodes. By controlling the working states of the employed PIN diodes, the RDMS is able to provide phase shift. A 1×4 phased array antenna is built employing optimized RDMS. The tested results show that the antenna can work in the frequency band from 5.1-5.4 GHz, and switch its beam to -15°, 0°, and 15° in the H-plane with the average gain of 10 dBi. Compared to our previous work, significantly size reduction of 55% is achieved with similar performance

The variation of relative magnetic helicity around major flares

We have investigated the variation of magnetic helicity over a span of several days around the times of 11 X-class flares which occurred in seven active regions (NOAA 9672, 10030, 10314, 10486, 10564, 10696, and 10720) using the magnetograms taken by the Michelson Doppler Imager (MDI) on board the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO). As a major result we found that each of these major flares was preceded by a significant helicity accumulation over a long period (0.5 to a few days). Another finding is that the helicity accumulates at a nearly constant rate and then becomes nearly constant before the flares. This led us to distinguish the helicity variation into two phases: a phase of monotonically increasing helicity and the following phase of relatively constant helicity. As expected, the amount of helicity accumulated shows a modest correlation with time-integrated soft X-ray flux during flares. However, the average helicity change rate in the first phase shows even stronger correlation with the time-integrated soft X-ray flux. We discuss the physical implications of this result and the possibility that this characteristic helicity variation pattern can be used as an early warning sign for solar eruptions