Antiproliferative and Anti-Invasive Effect of Piceatannol, a Polyphenol Present in Grapes and Wine, against Hepatoma AH109A Cells

Piceatannol is a stilbenoid, a metabolite of resveratrol found in red wine. Piceatannol and sera from rats orally given piceatannol were found to dose-dependently suppress both the proliferation and invasion of AH109A hepatoma cells in culture. Its antiproliferative effect was based on cell cycle arrest at lower concentration (25~50 μM) and on apoptosis induction at higher concentration (100 μM). Piceatannol suppressed reactive oxygen species-potentiated invasive capacity by scavenging the intracellular reactive oxygen species. These results suggest that piceatannol, unlike resveratrol, has a potential to suppress the hepatoma proliferation by inducing cell cycle arrest and apoptosis induction. They also suggest that the antioxidative property of piceatannol, like resveratrol, may be involved in its anti-invasive action. Subsequently, piceatannol was found to suppress the growth of solid tumor and metastasis in hepatoma-bearing rats. Thus, piceatannol may be a useful anticancer natural product

Hypoglycemic effect of resveratrol in type 2 diabetic model db/db mice and its actions in cultured L6 myotubes and RIN-5F pancreatic β-cells

Resveratrol, a phytoalexin present in the skin of grapes and red wine, has been demonstrated to possess a wide range of health promoting activities including anti-diabetic properties. In the present study, we investigated the effect of resveratrol in both type 2 diabetic mice and cell culture systems. In cultured L6 myotubes, we studied the effect of resveratrol on glucose uptake and translocation of glucose transporter 4 to plasma membrane from the aspects of insulin signaling and AMP-activated protein kinase signaling. In cultured RIN-5F cells, we examined whether resveratrol would protect the pancreas-derived β-cells from oxidative stress. Resveratrol significantly suppressed the elevation in the fasting blood glucose level and the serum triglyceride and lipid peroxide levels in db/db mice. Resveratrol stimulated glucose uptake and glucose transporter 4 translocation by activating both insulin signaling and AMP-activated protein kinase signaling. Moreover, resveratrol could protect pancreatic β-cells from advanced glycation end products-induced oxidative stress and apoptosis. From these results, resveratrol is suggested to show anti-diabetic effect by stimulating both insulin-dependent and -independent glucose uptake in muscles and by protecting pancreatic β-cells from advanced glycation end products-induced oxidative stress and apoptosis

Motivações Para a Internacionalização do Ensino Superior: Um Estudo de Casos Múltiplos em um Sistema de Ensino Superior Confessional Internacional

One of the reactions or responses of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) to globalization has been internationalization. There are studies on motivations or rationales that drive public and private HEIs to internationalization. However, little is known about rationales for internationalization among denominational institutions and even less about denominational HEIs that are part of an international higher education system. Thus, a study of multiple cases was conducted, taking six HEIs, located in different regions of the World, maintained by the same denomination and that, together with other HEIs, form an international confessional higher education system, called System Σ. The identified rationales partially confirm the rationales proposed by Knight (2004 and 2008), but specifically denominational rationales were also identified. As for the rationales at the system level, they also resemble denominational rationales. : Una de las reacciones o respuestas de las instituciones de educación superior (IES) a la globalización ha sido la internacionalización. Hay estudios sobre las motivaciones o razones que impulsan IES públicas y privadas para la internacionalización. Sin embargo, poco se sabe acerca de las motivaciones para la internacionalización entre IES confesionales y menos aún sobre las IES confesionales miembros de sistemas de educación superior internacionales. Para ello, se realizó un estudio de casos múltiples de seis IES en diferentes regiones del mundo, mantenidas por la misma denominación religiosa y que, junto con otras IES, forman un sistema de educación superior confesional internacional llamado Sistema Σ. Las motivaciones registradas confirman parcialmente las rationalesofrecidas por Knight (2004 y 2008), pero también fueron identificadas motivaciones específicamente denominacionales. Cuanto a las motivaciones de nivel de sistema también se asemejan a las motivaciones denominacionales. Uma das reações ou respostas das instituições de ensino superior (IES) à globalização tem sido a internacionalização. Há estudos sobre as motivações ou rationales que impulsionam IES públicas e particulares à internacionalização. Porém pouco se sabe sobre as motivações para a internacionalização entre IES confessionais e menos ainda sobre IES confessionais integrantes de sistemas de ensino superior internacionais. Para tanto, foi conduzido um estudo de casos múltiplos de seis IES, localizadas em diferentes regiões do mundo, mantidas por uma mesma  denominação religiosa e que, juntamente com outras IES, compõem um sistema de ensino superior confessional internacional, denominado de  Sistema Σ. As motivações identificadas confirmam parcialmente as rationales propostas por Knight (2004 e 2008), porém também foram identificadas motivações especificamente denominacionais. Quanto às motivações em nível de sistema, também se assemelham às motivações denominacionais

Anti-invasive activity of α-tocopherol against hepatoma cells in culture via protein kinase C inhibition

Effects of α-, β-, γ- and δ-tocopherols on the proliferation and invasion of AH109A hepatoma cells and their modes of action were investigated. Four tocopherols inhibited the invasion as well as the proliferation of AH109A cells. Their inhibitory effects were more prominent on the invasion than on the proliferation. At 1 µM, α-tocopherol showed most potent anti-invasive activity without any influence on the proliferation. We have previously demonstrated that reactive oxygen species increase the invasion of AH109A cells. α-Tocopherol suppressed the reactive oxygen species-induced invasion but failed to suppress the reactive oxygen species-induced rises in intracellular peroxide level. GF 109203X, a protein kinase C inhibitor, decreased the invasive activity of AH109A cells. In contrast, phorbol-12-myristate-13-acetate, a protein kinase C activator, increased the invasive capacity of AH109A cells. α-Tocopherol suppressed the phorbol-12-myristate-13-acetate-induced increase in the invasion, and canceled the phorbol-12-myristate-13-acetate-induced rises in protein kinase C activity and phosphorylation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase. These results suggest that tocopherols, especially α-tocopherol, possess inhibitory effect more strongly on the invasion of AH109A cells than on the proliferation. They also suggest that the anti-invasive activity of α-tocopherol is raised through suppression of PKC/ERK signaling

Benchmarking Actor-Critic Deep Reinforcement Learning Algorithms for Robotics Control with Action Constraints

This study presents a benchmark for evaluating action-constrained reinforcement learning (RL) algorithms. In action-constrained RL, each action taken by the learning system must comply with certain constraints. These constraints are crucial for ensuring the feasibility and safety of actions in real-world systems. We evaluate existing algorithms and their novel variants across multiple robotics control environments, encompassing multiple action constraint types. Our evaluation provides the first in-depth perspective of the field, revealing surprising insights, including the effectiveness of a straightforward baseline approach. The benchmark problems and associated code utilized in our experiments are made available online at github.com/omron-sinicx/action-constrained-RL-benchmark for further research and development.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figures, submitted to Robotics and Automation Letter

The development of transversal competence of health service managers

In their pedagogical projects, health management courses focus on multidisciplinarity, interdisciplinarity, comprehensiveness and transversality, whose main merit is to question health issues from different theoretical perspectives. Analyzing these issues under many perspectives does not necessarily mean the development of transversal competences. The development and application of these competences suppose going beyond integrating curricular contents and theory/practice. They depend on how the knowledge will be articulated to changes at organizational, sectorial and institutional levels and on the coevolution between these competences and changes. It is understood that health services manager role is effectively transversal when he/she: (i) acts at organizational boundaries, fostering interaction between organizations and other actors in the system; (ii) provides (and receives) feedback to (and from) these actors; and (iii) these feedbacks help decision makers to undertake organizational changes to respond to the environment and shape it.Em seus projetos pedagógicos, os cursos de gestão de saúde privilegiam a multidisciplinaridade, interdisciplinaridade, integralidade e transversalidade, cujo principal mérito é problematizar as questões da saúde sob diferentes perspectivas teóricas. Analisar as questões da área da saúde a partir de diversos prismas não implica necessariamente no desenvolvimento de competências transversais. O desenvolvimento e a aplicação dessas competências pressupõem ir além da integração entre conteúdos curriculares e entre teoria e prática. Dependem de como os conhecimentos serão articulados às mudanças nos níveis organizacional, setorial e institucional e da coevolução entre essas competências e essas mudanças. Entende-se que a atuação do gestor de serviços de saúde é efetivamente transversal quando: (i) atua nas fronteiras organizacionais, fomentando a interação entre as organizações e outros atores do sistema; (ii) provê (e recebe) feedbacks para esses (desses) atores; e (iii) esses feedbacks auxiliam os tomadores de decisão a empreender mudanças organizacionais, de modo a responder ao ambiente e a moldá-lo

The role of interpersonal networks in the internationalization of higher education institutions

A literatura sobre internacionalização de IES negligencia dois aspectos desse processo: as diferenças dos processos de internacionalização na graduação e na pós-graduação e o papel das redes de relacionamentos dos docentes no processo de internacionalização. O propósito deste artigo é discutir o papel dessas redes de relacionamentos no processo de internacionalização da pós-graduação. Para tanto, realizou-se um estudo comparativo de casos de duas universidades confessionais brasileiras (PUC-RS e PUC-SP). Os resultados mostram que, em ambos os casos, as políticas de internacionalização são formuladas para as IES como um todo, não contemplando as especificidades da graduação e da pós-graduação, e que as redes de relacionamento dos docentes podem ter um papel relevante no processo de internacionalização de IES, sobretudo no nível da pós-graduação

DART: Dependable VLSI Test Architecture and Its Implementation

Although many electronic safety-related systems require very high reliability, it is becoming harder and harder to achieve it because of delay-related failures, which are caused by decreased noise margin. This paper describes a technology named DART and its implementation. The DART repeatedly measures the maximum delay of a circuit and the amount of degradation in field, in consequence, confirms the marginality of the circuit. The system employing the DART will be informed the significant reduction of delay margin in advance of a failure and be able to repair it at an appropriate time. The DART also equips a technique to improve the test coverage using the rotating test and a technique to consider the test environment such as temperature or voltage using novel ring-oscillator-based monitors. The authors applied the proposed technology to an industrial design and confirmed its effectiveness and availability with reasonable resources.2012 IEEE International Test Conference, 5-8 November 2012, Anaheim, CA, US

The influence of cultural values on the behavior of executives in international assignments

Este trabalho, de natureza exploratória, foi realizado com base em alguns estudos de experiências (Selltiz et alii, 1974) com executivos expatriados. O objetivo era estudar as diferenças de valores culturais e suas influências sobre o comportamento de executivos trabalhando em designações internacionais. Hampden-Turner e Trompenaars (1983, 2000) reconhecem que a internacionalização dos negócios requer melhor conhecimento dos padrões culturais e que a diversidade cultural presente nestas organizações fornece uma vasta oportunidade de aprendizado. Por outro lado, apresenta-se como um desafio, pois tais diferenças culturais afetam a administração e os negócios internacionais em virtude das potenciais situações de conflito. Neste trabalho, o termo diversidade cultural refere-se à diversidade racial, ou seja, a um sistema social com presença de distinção étnica ou racial (Cox, 1994; McLeod, Lobel e Cox, 1996). A bibliografia pesquisada sobre administração de conflitos interculturais tem revelado a importância de considerar a diversidade cultural como uma possibilidade de abertura de novas oportunidades, conscientização das diferenças nos comportamentos decorrentes de percepções, necessidades e diferentes valores envolvidos nas interações humanas. Os fatores que influenciam os comportamentos de executivos devem ser compreendidos pelos administradores no sentido de uma melhor efetividade da organização. Como é claramente impossível entender todos os fatores que influenciam o comportamento, focalizamos neste estudo as diferenças nos sistemas de valores das culturas pesquisadas e sua influência no comportamento de executivos em designações internacionais. É importante que as diferenças culturais não sejam removidas, mas usadas no sentido de clarificar o entendimento das partes que interagem, considerando idéias e possibilidades ainda não pensadas e verificando os melhores aspectos de cada parte no sentido da construção e melhoria da relação. Observamos que num ambiente de negócios internacional a competência intercultural baseia-se na capacidade do executivo valorizar, respeitar e desenvolver o aprendizado do pensamento helicoidal, ou seja, a capacidade de pensar em círculos virtuosos, percebendo e pensando em ambas as direções. Integrar posições opostas para se atingir a reconciliação de valores conflitantes provoca um círculo virtuoso de aprendizagem dinâmica (Hampden-Turner, 2000).This exploratory study was based on the experience of a number of expatriate executives. (Selltiz et alii, 1974). Its aim was to study the differences in cultural values and their influence on the behavior of executives working abroad. Hampden-Turner e Trompenaars (1983, 2000) recognize that the internationalization of business requires a better knowledge of cultural patterns and that the cultural diversity present in these organizations presents enormous opportunities for learning. It is also a considerable challenge as such cultural differences affect international administration and business because of potential conflicts. In this study, the term \"cultural diversity\" refers to racial diversity, a social system with the presence of ethnic and racial difference (Cox, 1994; McLeod, Lobel e Cox, 1996). The bibliography which has been studied on the administration of intercultural conflicts has shown the importance of considering cultural diversity as a chance to provide new opportunities and for an improvement in the awareness of differences in behavior which result from the varied perceptions, needs and differences in human interaction. The factors which influence the behavior of executives should be understood by administrators in order to make the company more effective. As it is clearly not possible to understand all the factors which influence behavior, this study focuses on differences in the values of the cultures which have been investigated and their influence on the behavior of executives working abroad. It is important that cultural differences should not disappear but should be used to clarify the understanding of those who interect, helping them to consider ideas and possibilities which they havent yet come across and discovering which elements of the different participants can be used to build and improve a relationship. We can that in international business intercultural competence is based on the ability of the executive to value, respect and develop learning of helicoidal thinking, in other words, the ability to think in virtuous circles, looking and thinking in both directions. The integration of opposite positions in order to reconcile values will result in a virtuous circle of dynamic learning (Hampden-Turner, 2000)