Immunohistochemical Assessment of TNFAIP3/A20 Expression Correlates With Early Tumorigenesis in Breast Cancer

BACKGROUND/AIM: Limited data exist on the expression pattern of TNFAIP3/A20, as assayed by immunohistochemistry (IHC), in breast cancer tissues. This study aimed to assess A20 expression pattern in breast cancer. Materials and Methods: The expression of A20 was analysed using IHC in 50 breast cancer cases retrieved from the Sharjah Breast Cancer Center at the University Hospital Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. Omics survival data were also used to analyse its association with survival in endocrine-treated subgroups. Results: A20 expression in breast cancer tissues was 'tumor-specific', and as compared to normal tissue areas, its expression was associated with both intensity and extent in early grade 1 (p<0.0001) in all molecular subtypes. In addition, using omics survival data from a cohort of 3,520 breast cancer patients, we showed that A20 overexpression associated with lower overall survival rate in the endocrine treated subgroups [hazard ratio (HR)=2.14, 95%CI=1.61-2.82, p<0.0001]. Conclusion: A20 can serve as a biomarker for early diagnosis of breast cancers

Traditional use of medicinal plants by the Jaintia tribes in North Cachar Hills district of Assam, northeast India

The study of ethnobotany relating to any tribe is in itself a very intricate or convoluted process. This paper documents the traditional knowledge of medicinal plants that are in use by the indigenous Jaintia tribes residing in few isolated pockets of northeast India. The present study was done through structured questionnaires in consultations with the tribal practitioners and has resulted in the documentation of 39 medicinal plant species belonging to 27 families and 35 genera. For curing diverse form of ailments, the use of aboveground plant parts was higher (76.59%) than the underground plant parts (23.41%). Of the aboveground plant parts, leaf was used in the majority of cases (23 species), followed by fruit (4). Different underground plant forms such as root, tuber, rhizome, bulb and pseudo-bulb were also found to be in use by the Jaintia tribe as a medicine. Altogether, 30 types of ailments have been reported to be cured by using these 39 medicinal plant species. The study thus underlines the potentials of the ethnobotanical research and the need for the documentation of traditional ecological knowledge pertaining to the medicinal plant utilization for the greater benefit of mankind

Thermally Grown TiO2 and Al2O3 for GaN-Based MOS-HEMTs

We have demonstrated the potential use of thermally grown TiO2 and Al2O3 oxides as gate dielectrics for GaN-based high-electron-mobility-transistors. TiO2 and Al(2)O(3 )are found to provide negative and positive band offsets with AIGaN, respectively. A significant performance improvement on various device characteristics provides evidence for its potential use. The oxides are formed by a combination of predeposition of a thin film and followed by oxidation in pure O-2 environment. The formation and thickness of the oxides are confirmed through the X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and the transmission electron microscopy. The performance improvement for TiO2- and Al2O3-based oxide gates have been identified in terms of a ideality factor and a reduction in the gate leakage current in comparison with that of control devices. This is further augmented by an increase in the n(s) x mu product. The ON/OFF current ratio and turn-on voltage increase by 2-3 orders of magnitude and 0.3-0.6, respectively, for the Schottky diodes. The negative shift on the capacitance-voltage characteristics is also found to be minimal, indicating higher gate coupling with thermally grown oxides

First total synthesis of (+)-epogymnolactam, a novel autophagy inducer

A novel autophagy inducer, (+)-epogymnolactam (1), was first synthesized from cis-4-benzyloxy-2-butene-1-ol (2) in eight steps. A reliable preparation of optically pure epoxy alcohol (+)-3 from monobenzyl derivative (2) was established by a tandem strategy, Sharpless epoxidation/lipase kinetic resolution