Inhibition of cell growth and invasion by epidermal growth factor-targeted phagemid particles carrying siRNA against focal adhesion kinase in the presence of hydroxycamptothecin

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Previous studies demonstrated the EGF-targeted phagemid particles carrying siRNA against Akt could be expressed efficiently in the presence of hydroxycamptothecin (HCPT). However, no significant cell growth inhibition was obtained. This study was to further investigate whether the EGF-targeted phagemid particles carrying siRNA would be a promising tool for anti-cancer siRNA delivery.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We found that pSi4.1-siFAK phagemid particles could significantly inhibit the expression of focal adhesion kinase in the HCPT-treated cells. Moreover, we also observed that the particles could potently suppress cell growth and cell invasion.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>These results indicated that EGF-targeted phagemid particles might be a promising tool for anti-cancer siRNA delivery in the presence of HCPT.</p

Pulsed electromagnetic field-transmission cable coupling model considering insulation layer

ObjectiveThe Baum-Liu-Tesche (BLT) equation is an important calculation method for field-transmission cable coupling which is widely used in the domain of electromagnetic coupling quantitative analysis. The classical BLT equation ignores the distortion effects of the cable's insulation layer on the incident field, leading to large errors in coupling calculation under specific incident and polarization directions. MethodIn response to this issue, a frequency domain modified BLT method is introduced into the time domain to study the calculation method of the load voltage and current response in a single cable excited by a high altitude electromagnetic pulse (HEMP). The correctness of the model is then verified through a comparison with a full wave algorithm (finite integer technique). On this foundation, the characteristics of the cable structure (height, diameter, insulation parameters, etc.) and incident field (incident direction, polarization direction, etc.) applicable to the modified method are analyzed. ResultsUnder HEMP excitation, based on the full wave simulation results, the prediction error of the classical BLT model can be more than doubled, while the accuracy of the BLT model with the insulation layer coefficient is significantly improved. ConclusionThis study verifies the accuracy of the modified BLT model in analyzing the field-transmission cable coupling problem in the time domain, and puts forward the applicability criterion of the modified BLT model which helps to clarify the coupling mechanism between HEMP and actual complex cables

Comparison of survival, acute toxicities, and dose-volume parameters between intensity-modulated radiotherapy with or without internal target volume delineation method and three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy in cervical cancer patients:A retrospective and propensity score-matched analysis

BACKGROUND: To evaluate whether the use of the internal target volume (ITV) delineation method improves the performance of intensity‐modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) and three‐dimensional conformal radiotherapy (3DCRT) in terms of survival, acute toxicities, and dose–volume parameters. METHODS: A total number of 477 cervical cancer patients who received concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) from January 2012 to December 2016 were retrospectively analyzed. They were divided into four groups: the non‐ITV (N‐ITV) + IMRT, ITV + IMRT, N‐ITV + 3DCRT, and ITV + 3DCRT groups, with 76, 41, 327, and 33 patients, respectively. Survival analysis was performed with the Kaplan–Meier and the log‐rank tests, and acute toxicity analysis was performed with the chi‐squared test and the binary logistic regression test. Using the propensity score matching (PSM) method, 92 patients were matched among the four groups, and their dose–volume parameters were assessed with the Kruskal–Wallis method. RESULTS: The median follow‐up time was 49 months (1–119) for overall survival (OS). The 5‐year OS rate was 66.4%. The ITV delineation method was an independent prognostic factor for OS (HR [95% CI]: 0.52 [0.27, 0.98], p = 0.044) and progression‐free survival (PFS) (HR [95% CI]: 0.59 [0.36, 0.99], p = 0.045). The ITV + IMRT group had the lowest incidence rate (22%) and the N‐ITV + IMRT group had the highest incidence rate of grade ≥3 hematological toxicity (HT) (46.1%) among the four groups. The pelvic bone marrow relative V10, V20, and V30 in the N‐ITV + IMRT group was higher than those in the ITV + IMRT and N‐ITV + 3DCRT groups (p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The use of ITV for IMRT treatment planning was associated with improved overall survival and progression‐free survival, with lower HT rate

Sharing tableware reduces waste generation, emissions and water consumption in China’s takeaway packaging waste dilemma

China has a rapidly growing online food delivery and takeaway market, serving 406 million customers with 10.0 billion orders and generating 323kilotonnes of tableware and packaging waste in 2018. Here we use a top-down approach with city-level takeaway order data to explore the packaging waste and life-cycle environmental impacts of the takeaway industry in China. The ten most wasteful cities, with just 7% of the population, in terms of per capita waste generation, were responsible for 30% of the country's takeaway waste, 27-34% of the country's pollutant emissions and 30% of the country's water consumption. We defined one paper substitution and two sharing tableware scenarios to simulate the environmental mitigation potentials. The results of the scenario simulations show that sharing tableware could reduce waste generation by up to 92%, and environmental emissions and water consumption by more than two-thirds. Such a mechanism provides a potential solution to address the food packaging waste dilemma and a new strategy for promoting sustainable and zero-waste lifestyles. The online food delivery and takeaway market is growing in China, serving 406 million customers with 10.0 billion orders in 2018. Here, data from an online food delivery platform, life-cycle environmental impacts of packaging and tableware waste generated across 353 cities in China, and scenarios for paper alternatives and tableware sharing are presented

Excellent Performance of Fe78Si9B13 Metallic Glass for Activating Peroxymonosulfate in Degradation of Naphthol Green B

The functional application of metallic glasses in the catalytic field has widely attracted research attention due to its unique atomic structure compared to crystalline materials. It has been reported that metallic glasses can effectively activate H2O2 and persulfate, yet the activation of peroxymonosulfate by metallic glasses is not studied well. In this work, the metallic glass with atomic composition of Fe78Si9B13 was applied for investigating the peroxymonosulfate (PMS) activation on degradation of naphthol green B (NGB) dye. The change of surface morphology indicated the important role of oxide films during the dye degradation. The effects and first-order kinetics model of various reaction parameters were evaluated systematically, including PMS concentration, catalyst dosage, irradiation intensity, and dye concentration. The results showed that about 98% of the dye removal rate could be achieved only within 10 min under rational conditions. The reaction kinetics k of 0.1339 min−1 without ribbons was sharply improved to 0.3140 min−1 by adding 0.5 g/L ribbons, indicating the superior activation ability of Fe78Si9B13 metallic glass. The recycling experiment revealed that the Fe78Si9B13 ribbons exhibited the excellent surface stability and catalytic reusability for activating PMS even after reused for 10th run

Is tea consumption associated with the serum uric acid level, hyperuricemia or the risk of gout? A systematic review and meta-analysis

The methodological quality of cross-sectional studies in accordance with the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS). Table S2. The methodological quality of cohort studies in accordance with the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS). Table S3. The methodological quality of case–control studies in accordance with the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS). (DOCX 19 kb

A Comprehensive Analysis of Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Data: III. Energy-Dependent T90 Distributions of GBM GRBs and Instrumental Selection Effect on Duration Classification

The durations (T90) of 315 GRBs detected with Fermi/GBM (8-1000 keV) by 2011 September are calculated using the Bayesian Block method. We compare the T90 distributions between this sample and those derived from previous/current GRB missions. We show that the T90 distribution of this GRB sample is bimodal, with a statistical significance level being comparable to those derived from the BeppoSAX/GRBM sample and the Swift/BAT sample, but lower than that derived from the CGRO/BATSE sample. The short-to-long GRB number ratio is also much lower than that derived from the BATSE sample, i.e., 1:6.5 vs 1:3. We measure T90 in several bands, i.e., 8-15, 15-25, 25-50, 50-100, 100-350, and 350-1000 keV, to investigate the energy-dependence effect of the bimodal T90 distribution. It is found that the bimodal feature is well observed in the 50-100 and 100-350 keV bands, but is only marginally acceptable in the 25-50 keV and 350-1000 keV bands. The hypothesis of the bimodality is confidently rejected in the 8-15 and 15-25 keV bands. The T90 distributions in these bands are roughly consistent with those observed by missions with similar energy bands. The parameter T90 as a function of energy follows \bar T90 \propto E^{-0.20\pm 0.02} for long GRBs. Considering the erratic X-ray and optical flares, the duration of a burst would be even much longer for most GRBs. Our results, together with the observed extended emission of some short GRBs, indicate that the central engine activity time scale would be much longer than T90} for both long and short GRBs and the observed bimodal T90 distribution may be due to an instrumental selection effect.Comment: 29 pages, 2 tables, 9 figures, accepted for publication in Ap