BEX2 has a functional interplay with c-Jun/JNK and p65/RelA in breast cancer.

RIGHTS : This article is licensed under the BioMed Central licence at http://www.biomedcentral.com/about/license which is similar to the 'Creative Commons Attribution Licence'. In brief you may : copy, distribute, and display the work; make derivative works; or make commercial use of the work - under the following conditions: the original author must be given credit; for any reuse or distribution, it must be made clear to others what the license terms of this work are.BACKGROUND: We have previously demonstrated that BEX2 is differentially expressed in breast tumors and has a significant role in promoting cell survival and growth in breast cancer cells. BEX2 expression protects breast cancer cells against mitochondrial apoptosis and G1 cell cycle arrest. In this study we investigated the transcriptional regulation of BEX2 and feedback mechanisms mediating the cellular function of this gene in breast cancer. RESULTS: We found a marked induction of BEX2 promoter by c-Jun and p65/RelA using luciferase reporter assays in MCF-7 cells. Furthermore, we confirmed the binding of c-Jun and p65/RelA to the BEX2 promoter using a chromatin immunoprecipitation assay. Importantly, transfections of c-Jun or p65/RelA in MCF-7 cells markedly increased the expression of BEX2 protein. Overall, these results demonstrate that BEX2 is a target gene for c-Jun and p65/RelA in breast cancer. These findings were further supported by the presence of a strong correlation between BEX2 and c-Jun expression levels in primary breast tumors. Next we demonstrated that BEX2 has a feedback mechanism with c-Jun and p65/RelA in breast cancer. In this process BEX2 expression is required for the normal phosphorylation of p65 and IkappaB alpha, and the activation of p65. Moreover, it is necessary for the phosphorylation of c-Jun and JNK kinase activity in breast cancer cells. Furthermore, using c-Jun stable lines we showed that BEX2 expression is required for c-Jun mediated induction of cyclin D1 and cell proliferation. Importantly, BEX2 down-regulation resulted in a significant increase in PP2A activity in c-Jun stable lines providing a possible underlying mechanism for the regulatory effects of BEX2 on c-Jun and JNK. CONCLUSIONS: This study shows that BEX2 has a functional interplay with c-Jun and p65/RelA in breast cancer. In this process BEX2 is a target gene for c-Jun and p65/RelA and in turn regulates the phosphorylation/activity of these proteins. These suggest that BEX2 is involved in a novel feedback mechanism with significant implications for the biology of breast cancer

Hydrogen sorption properties of magnesium-based thin films

Magnesium hydride is a promising material for hydrogen storage. However, the thermodynamic stability of the hydride coupled with slow reaction kinetics means that it is currently infeasible for application as mobile hydrogen storage media. Thin films of magnesium have been investigated to ascertain the influence of stress on the effects of the sorption thermodynamics and kinetics. It was found that: • The intrinsic stress state can be heavily influenced by deposition conditions. • The influence of the underlying microstructure heavily influences hydrogen sorption mechanics. A model has been proposed which shows regimes dominated by porosity, elastic and plastic contributions and their likely effects on sorption thermodynamics. • Stress analysis using different film thicknesses has been used to model the diffusion behaviour within the films, demonstrating how differential rates and directionality of absorption also affect both kinetic and thermodynamic properties of the films. • A novel approach to tailor thin film stress using flexible substrates was used to investigate and tune thermodynamics. The use of an opto-mechanical hydrogen sensor based on this system design. • Y/Mg multilayer systems were investigated for the first time. The characterisation of these shows that hcp/fcc yttrium occurs at different layer thicknesses, altering the lattice spacings at coherent interfaces with Mg

History Of Botanical Collectors At Grandfather Mountain, NC During The 19th Century And An Analysis Of The Flora Of The Boone Fork Headwaters Within Grandfather Mountain State Park, NC

The Southern Appalachian Mountains have been an active region of botanical exploration for over 250 years. From the middle of the 19th century, botanists have noted Grandfather Mountain’s unique vegetation and its similarity to the flora of the North Appalachian Mountains. The intent of this study was to identify the important botanists visiting Grandfather Mountain during the 19th century. Four collectors were selected for this analysis. These four scientists who played an important role in the history of taxonomic and botanical work on Grandfather Mountain, Asa Gray, Rev. Moses Ashley Curtis, John K. Small and Amos A. Heller, contributed to our knowledge of Grandfather Mountain and its unique flora. The second portion of my thesis work focused on the vascular flora, natural communities, and a preliminary list of epipetric mosses collected from dry boulders and rock outcrops within the Boone Fork headwaters of Grandfather Mountain State Park. Surveys revealed 262 vascular plant species, 19 epipetric mosses, and 18 distinct natural communities. Twenty-four vascular plant species found during field surveys were state listed or federally listed and three taxa represent new county records. The vascular flora was represented by 76 plant families, ten comprising 48% of the species within the BFH

Who Is Responsible for Nurse Wellbeing in a Crisis? A Single Centre Perspective

BACKGROUND: Leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic often manifested as a command-and-control style of leadership which had detrimental emotional impacts on staff, particularly the nursing workforce. Leadership can have detrimental effects on staff wellbeing, or it can greatly boost their ability to handle a crisis. We sought to explore the interrelationship between leadership and nurses’ wellbeing in an inner-city university hospital during the initial wave of the pandemic. METHODS: We conducted secondary analyses of interview data collected during a hospital-wide evaluation of barriers and facilitators to changes implemented to support the surge of COVID-19 related admissions during wave one. Data were collected through semi-structured video interviews during May–July 2020. Interviews were analysed using Framework analysis. RESULTS: Thirty-one nurses participated, including matrons (n = 7), sisters (n = 8), and specialist nursing roles (n = 16). Three overarching themes were identified: the impact on nurses, personal factors, and organisational factors. The impact on nurses manifested as distress and fatigue. Coping and help-seeking behaviours were found to be the two personal factors which underpinned nurses’ wellbeing. The organisational factors that impacted nurses’ wellbeing included decision-making, duty, and teamwork. CONCLUSIONS: The wellbeing of the workforce is pivotal to the health service, and it is mutually beneficial for patients, staff, and leaders. Addressing how beliefs and misconceptions around wellbeing are communicated and accessing psychological support are key priorities to supporting nurses during pandemics

Measuring the Faraday effect in olive oil using permanent magnets and Malus' law

We present a simple permanent magnet set-up that can be used to measure the Faraday effect in gases, liquids and solids. By fitting the transmission curve as a function of polarizer angle (Malus' law) we average over short-term fluctuations in the laser power and can extract phase shifts as small as ± 50 μrads. We have focused on measuring the Faraday effect in olive oil and find a Verdet coefficient of V = 192 ± 1 deg T-1 m-1 at approximately 20 °C for a wavelength of 659.2 nm. We show that the Verdet coefficient can be fit with a Drude-like dispersion law A / (λ2 - λ0 2) with coefficients A = 7.9 ± 0.2 × 107 deg T-1 m-1 nm2 and λ0 = 142 ± 13 nm

Virtual Field Reconnaissance to enable multi-site collaboration in geoscience fieldwork in Chile

The unique challenges of geological mapping in remote terrains can make cross- organisation collaboration challenging. Cooperation between the British and Chilean Geological Surveys and the Chilean national mining company used the BGS digital Mapping Workflow and virtual field reconnaissance software (GeoVisionary) to undertake geological mapping in a complex area of Andean Geology. The international team undertook a pre-field evaluation using GeoVisionary to integrate massive volumes of data and interpret high resolution satellite imagery, terrain models and existing geological information to capture, manipulate and understand geological features and re-interpret existing maps. This digital interpretation was then taken into the field and A field verified using the BGS digital data capture system (SIGMA.mobile)., t This allowed the production of final geological linework interpretation and creation of a geological map. This presentation describes the digital mapping workflow used in Chile and highlights the key advantages of increased efficiency and communication to colleagues, stakeholders and funding bodies