Arsenite-Induced Alterations of DNA Photodamage Repair and Apoptosis After Solar-Simulation UVR in Mouse Keratinocytes in Vitro

Our laboratory has shown that arsenite markedly increased the cancer rate caused by solar-simulation ultraviolet radiation (UVR) in the hairless mouse skin model. In the present study, we investigated how arsenite affected DNA photodamage repair and apoptosis after solar-simulation UVR in the mouse keratinocyte cell line 291.03C. The keratinocytes were treated with different concentrations of sodium arsenite (0.0, 2.5, 5.0 μM) for 24 hr and then were immediately irradiated with a single dose of 0.30 kJ/m(2) UVR. At 24 hr after UVR, DNA photoproducts [cyclobutane pyrimidine dimers (CPDs) and 6–4 photoproducts (6-4PPs)] and apoptosis were measured using the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and the two-color TUNEL (terminal deoxynucleotide transferase dUTP nick end labeling) assay, respectively. The results showed that arsenite reduced the repair rate of 6-4PPs by about a factor of 2 at 5.0 μM and had no effect at 2.5 μM. UVR-induced apoptosis at 24 hr was decreased by 22.64% at 2.5 μM arsenite and by 61.90% at 5.0 μM arsenite. Arsenite decreased the UVR-induced caspase-3/7 activity in parallel with the inhibition of apoptosis. Colony survival assays of the 291.03C cells demonstrate a median lethal concentration (LC(50)) of arsenite of 0.9 μM and a median lethal dose (LD(50)) of UVR of 0.05 kJ/m(2). If the present results are applicable in vivo, inhibition of UVR-induced apoptosis may contribute to arsenite’s enhancement of UVR-induced skin carcinogenesis

Structural and dielectric properties of epitaxial SrTiO₃films grown directly on GaAs substrates by laser molecular beam epitaxy

Author name used in this publication: Z. P. WuAuthor name used in this publication: K. H. Wong2008-2009 > Academic research: refereed > Publication in refereed journalVersion of RecordPublishe

Enabling Thin and Flexible Solid-State Composite Electrolytes by the Scalable Solution Process

All solid-state batteries (ASSBs) have the potential to deliver higher energy densities, wider operating temperature range, and improved safety compared with today's liquid-electrolyte-based batteries. However, of the various solid-state electrolyte (SSE) classes - polymers, sulfides, or oxides - none alone can deliver the combined properties of ionic conductivity, mechanical, and chemical stability needed to address scalability and commercialization challenges. While promising strategies to overcome these include the use of polymer/oxide or sulfide composites, there is still a lack of fundamental understanding between different SSE-polymer-solvent systems and its selection criteria. Here, we isolate various SSE-polymer-solvent systems and study their molecular level interactions by combining various characterization tools. With these findings, we introduce a suitable Li7P3S11SSE-SEBS polymer-xylene solvent combination that significantly reduces SSE thickness (∼50 μm). The SSE-polymer composite displays high room temperature conductivity (0.7 mS cm-1) and good stability with lithium metal by plating and stripping over 2000 h at 1.1 mAh cm-2. This study suggests the importance of understanding fundamental SSE-polymer-solvent interactions and provides a design strategy for scalable production of ASSBs

N(HI) and jet power/emission in AGNs

Neutral hydrogen (HI) 21 cm absorption has been detected against more and more powerful radio jets. In this work, based on the Guppta et al. 2006a sample, we present our preliminary study of the correlations between the HI column density N(HI) and the jet power, N(HI) versus the low frequency luminosity at 408MHz, and N(HI) versus the radio luminosity at 1400MHz.Comment: 3 pages, 1 figures, Multiwavelength Variability of Blazars Guangzhou, China, Sept. 22-24, 2010; will be published by JA

Performance modelling and analysis of software defined networking

Software Defined Networking (SDN) is an emerging architecture for the next-generation Internet, providing unprecedented network programmability to handle the explosive growth of Big Data driven by the popularisation of smart mobile devices and the pervasiveness of content-rich multimedia applications. In order to quantitatively investigate the performance characteristics of SDN networks, several research efforts from both simulation experiments and analytical modelling have been reported in the current literature. Among those studies, analytical modelling has demonstrated its superiority in terms of cost-effectiveness in the evaluation of large-scale networks. However, for analytical tractability and simplification, existing analytical models are derived based on the unrealistic assumptions that the network traffic follows the Poisson process which is suitable to model non-bursty text data and the data plane of SDN is modelled by one simplified Single Server Single Queue (SSSQ) system. Recent measurement studies have shown that, due to the features of heavy volume and high velocity, the multimedia big data generated by real-world multimedia applications reveals the bursty and correlated nature in the network transmission. With the aim of the capturing such features of realistic traffic patterns and obtaining a comprehensive and deeper understanding of the performance behaviour of SDN networks, this paper presents a new analytical model to investigate the performance of SDN in the presence of the bursty and correlated arrivals modelled by Markov Modulated Poisson Process (MMPP). The Quality-of-Service performance metrics in terms of the average latency and average network throughput of the SDN networks are derived based on the developed analytical model. To consider realistic multi-queue system of forwarding elements, a Priority-Queue (PQ) system is adopted to model SDN data plane. To address the challenging problem of obtaining the key performance metrics, e.g., queue length distribution of PQ system with a given service capacity, a versatile methodology extending the Empty Buffer Approximation (EBA) method is proposed to facilitate the decomposition of such a PQ system to two SSSQ systems. The validity of the proposed model is demonstrated through extensive simulation experiments. To illustrate its application, the developed model is then utilised to study the strategy of the network configuration and resource allocation in SDN networksThis work is supported by the EU FP7 “QUICK” Project (Grant NO. PIRSES-GA-2013-612652) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant NO. 61303241)

Comparison of musculoskeletal strength and body composition of Hong Kong Chinese rugby players, dragon boat paddlers and controls

published_or_final_versio

Magnetoresistance in La- and Ca-doped YBa2Cu3O7–δ

We studied the microstructures, electronic, and magnetic properties on La-doped and La- and Ca-codoped YBa2Cu3O7−δ (YBCO). The superconducting transition temperature remains unchanged up to 10% for La-doped YBCO. The competition between electrons and holons was assumed according to the variation of Tc0 in La and Ca codopings in YBCO. The magnetoresistance (MR) effect is about 8%, which is observed obviously near the critical temperature and is independent of the content of La in La-doped YBCO. MR increases up to about 40% with the incorporation of Ca in La-doped YBCO. We present here possible explanations for the magnetoresistance effect in polycrystalline samples based on the microstructure and the increase of oxygen vacancies at grain-boundary interface. © 2006 American Institute of Physicspublished_or_final_versio

Breath-hold FSE for accurate imaging of myocardial and hepatic R2

Session 21: Hepatic Storage Disease - Oral presentationMRI provides a means to non-invasively assess tissue iron concentration by exploiting the paramagnetic effects of iron on T2 or T2*. The most widely used method is T2* imaging is sensitive to non-iron related magnetic field (B0) inhomogeneities, which can confound T2* measurements within the whole heart and liver. An alternative method is T2 imaging, but they are generally performed during free breathing with respiratory gating due to their low data acquisition efficiency. The purpose of this study was to develop a breath-hold fast spin echo (FSE) sequence for fast and accurate imaging of myocardial and hepatic T2.published_or_final_versionThe 17th Scientific Meeting & Exhibition of the International Society of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM), Honolulu, HI., 18-24 April 2009. In Proceedings of ISMRM 17th Scientific Meeting & Exhibition, 2009, p. 20