Autophagy gene activity may act as a key factor for sensitivity of tumor cells to oncolytic vesicular stomatitis virus

Background: Beclin1 is an important, primary molecule for autophagy. Objectives: It is suggested that the control of the autophagy path increases the sensitivity of tumor cells to VSV. Materials and Methods: In this study, the degree of Beclin1 gene expression in two cell lines, HeLa and A549, has been examined and the percentage of living cells subsequent infection with virus has been evaluated by MTT assay method. Results: The results showed that the degree of Beclin1 gene expression in HeLa cells in comparison with A549 cells has reduced, and the sensitivity of these cells to vesicular stomatits virus (VSV) oncolysis is more than A549. Conclusions: It seems that by using some methods for reducing autophagy, it is possible to make tumor cells more sensitive to virotherapy and even other treatments. © 2016, Iranian Journal of Cancer Prevention

A Background of Khatam Art

Most of the people of the world are interested in wooden objects because of the various reasons including natural and beautiful color and design. These objects are created and rearranged in various ways in each country. Khatam wood art is one of the wooden arts that, in spite of its beauty and unique features, due to the geographical limitations of production and the complexity of the construction process, it is unknown for most of the world’s people and even for researchers of the history of arts and handicrafts field so far. This art is covered by gluing the inlaid strips. Strips of Khatam are created by wrapping together the glued long and thin wooden, metal or bone rods and then cut them. In a kind of this art, which is famous with the name of "square khatam" in Iran and "tarsia a toppo" or "end-grain mosaic marquetry" in Europe, instead of charter, wooden plates are glued together and after creating incision for several times are putting on each other and cutting then are converted to the beautiful decorative tapes. Another way of art creation is also seen in Europe which is known to the "miniature parquetry" and somewhat is similar to "six khatam" in Iran. The production of these elegant constructions which is famous to the "Tessellated mosaic marquetry" in Europe refers to the after 16th century, namely four centuries after the first construction signs of the Khatam in Iran. On the other hand, about the similarity of Khatam to the inlay or marquetry art, it should be noted that there are fundamental differences between the type of material and method of construction in each of the mentioned arts with the Khatam. Therefore, according to the properties of Khatam, Khatam cannot misnamed with "inlay" or "marquetry" and it is suggested to add Khatam as a type of handicraft into the English language dictionary in order to introduce this art properly

The Impact of Client Motivational Language on the Therapeutic Alliance in Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy

Building on past research demonstrating a link between client motivation and the alliance, this study examined whether motivational interviewing (MI) can alter the impact of motivation on the alliance. Using data from a recent trial of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) for 85 individuals with generalized anxiety disorder, this study tested whether observed motivational language against change (counter-change talk; CCT) and in support of change (change talk; CT) in session 1 affects alliance quality over time and whether this relationship varies between two treatments: MI integrated with CBT (MI-CBT) or CBT alone. CCT, but not CT, predicted lower client alliance ratings at the early, middle, and late stages of therapy. At the late stage only, treatment group moderated this relationship such that CCT was associated with poorer alliances for CBT alone, relative to MI-CBT. Thus, without strategies for managing ambivalence (such as in MI), ambivalence can predict subsequent alliance problems

A research about the effect of traditional arts in environment on national identity protection (Case study: Drawing room)

Inattention to different aspects of human needs will have undesirable effects on person and society. Attention to these needs and presenting a solution for answering it help achieving a desirable society and country. One of these matters is presence of national identity in house architecture especially internal designing of drawing room which has various furniture and decoration. This is the question: What is the role of traditional arts on drawing room identification? For answering this question we used library-based and qualitative research methods and case study. As attention to national identity is necessary for consistency of a country, its presence at home and family is important as well. Drawing room in Iranian traditional houses, because of importance of guest, has been one of the most beautiful parts of house. In Qajar era, before tendency toward west, these rooms had completely Iranian identity using various traditional arts. Comparing drawing room of this era with its contemporary Europe showed although they had definite identity, architecture of drawing room and even decoration of two places are different because of cultural difference; but lack of identity of drawing rooms in comparison with current Iranian drawing rooms is worth mentioning. If those who are in charge of country in their actions and people in their thoughts pay attention to national identity in environment, they will help a lot to protection of national unity and independence of country

Computational Insights into Bio-relevant Sulfur Chemistry

Sulfur-containing molecules are chemically and functionally versatile compounds, exemplified by their diverse roles from enzymatic processes to organic synthesis and drug design. With the goal of gaining detailed and deeper insights into the chemistry of such species, multi-scale computational modeling techniques we have applied in this work. Chapter 1 provides a brief summary of the importance of sulfur, its functionality, and reactivity in biological systems including catalytic environments such as enzymes. In Chapter 2, an overview of the key features of the common and contemporary computational approaches is explained briefly. In Chapter 3, systematic benchmark studies are performed to determine reliable and accurate structures as well as thermochemical data for a series of bio-relevant polysulfur/ selenium-containing compounds. Of the variety of DFT functionals and Pople basis sets examined, the ωB97XD/6-311G(2d,p) level of theory is found to generally give the most accurate and reliable results. Furthermore, S—S bond lengths are more sensitive to the choice of basis set than those containing Se. Comparison of the proton affinities and gas-phase basicities of thiols and their corresponding persulfide derivatives indicates that extending the sulfur chain decreases their values, suggesting that polysulfur species exist as deprotonated species in biological systems. In Chapter 4, the roles of solvent choice on the possible mechanisms of formation of sulfonamides via the reaction of SO2 and N-tosyl hydrazone using DFT-based methods in combination with implicit and hybrid implicit/explicit solvation models is examined. The results indicate that solvent-solute interactions can play critical roles in such reactions. Of the solvents considered, DMSO and piperidine are found to be the most effective (i.e., actively involved) facilitating sulfonamide bond formation. Applying DFT and conventional ab initio methods, Chapter 5 examines the formation of SO2-containing molecules including sulfones, sulfonamides, and sulfamides via the radical-based reaction of SO2 with a systematic series of xiamycin-inspired aromatic C- and N-centered radicals. A preference for C–S(O2) vs. N–S(O2) bond formation is observed with formation of sulfones being thermodynamically preferred to sulfamides. Also, of the DFT functionals used, the M06-2X functional was shown to be most reliable for providing optimized geometries and relative energies of the SO2-containing species examined. In Chapter 6, the formation of a range of possible HNO-derived post-translational modifications of cysteinyl and cysteinyl persulfide was examined using DFT-based methods. It is shown that the formation of the initial -X-NHOH (X=S, S-S) containing intermediate is independent of the residues position in the peptide while their subsequent reaction and final PTM formed is dependent on the residues position. More specifically, reaction of HNO with N-terminus or internal residues leads to formation of disulfide or sulfonamide (e.g., Cys-SS-Cys or Cys-S(O)-NH2) via rearrangement and nucleophilic substitutions, respectively. Meanwhile, Cys-X-NH2 derived from C-terminus peptide leads to Cys-X-OH formation through the intermediacy of a 5- or 6-membered cyclic intermediates in cystenyl and cystenyl persulfide, respectively. In Chapter 7 we examine the active site, substrate binding, and catalytic mechanism of the bacterial Ni(II)-dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP) lyase (DddK) enzyme. The findings show that two active site tyrosyls (Tyr64 and 122) play significant roles in substrate binding, with Tyr64 also acting as a Lewis base to initiate the β-concerted elimination reaction to form the dimethyl sulfide product. In Chapter 8 we examine, using a multi-scale computational approach, a possible disulfidesulfenylamide shuttling mechanism in the active site of DAH7PS enzyme. The results imply the key role of the metal ion (Mn(II)) and acidic environment in the potential interconversion between these conformations. Our findings infer that the preference of the cyclic sulfenylamide conformation to disulfide in the enzyme active site switches to the preference of disulfide to cyclic sulfenylamide conformation in the absence of metal ions and/or providing an acidic environment

A mud design to improve water-based drilling in clay rich formation

This research was initiated to design a water based mud that can keep its functionality in deep intervals or shaly formations where conventional additives lose their functionality. In this study a WBM designed using two green surfactants that not only provide good rheology and filtration control under normal drilling conditions, but also prevents shale swelling in complex geological formations

Abused Women Who Kill: Juror Perspectives on Self-Defense Theories

In self-defense cases of battered women who kill their abusive husbands, defendants have used Battered Woman Syndrome (BWS) expert testimony to help justify their acts of self-defense. However, past research demonstrates that BWS is ineffective in persuading jurors because it pathologizes the defendant rather than rationalizing her behavior. Additionally, BWS highlights passive (i.e., stereotypical) features of a battered woman, and such testimony may not apply to a defendant with active (i.e., atypical) features of a battered women. The current study hypothesized that another type of expert testimony, Social-Agency Framework (SAF), will persuade jurors to render more lenient verdicts, and that the defendant’s passive or active response history will affect verdict decisions. Additionally, a meditational model predicted that the effect of mock jurors’ gender on verdict decisions will be mediated by their attitudes toward battered women. In a 3(expert testimony: BWS vs. SAF vs. control) x 2(response history: passive vs. active) x 2(gender: male vs. female) model, jury-eligible participants (expected N = 510) recruited from the website mTurk answered a survey measuring their attitudes toward battered women, read a mock trial transcript, and rendered a verdict. The results indicated non-significant findings for the effects of expert testimony and response history on verdict outcomes. A full mediation was found, indicating that gender acted as a proxy for jurors’ attitudes, influencing their verdict decisions. This study has strong legal implications that highlight the prevailing effect of attitudes and how those attitudes may override the effects of expert testimony and defendant response history

A Background of Khatam Art

Most of the people of the world are interested in wooden objects because of the various reasons including natural and beautiful color and design. These objects are created and rearranged in various ways in each country. Khatam wood art is one of the wooden arts that, in spite of its beauty and unique features, due to the geographical limitations of production and the complexity of the construction process, it is unknown for most of the world’s people and even for researchers of the history of arts and handicrafts field so far. This art is covered by gluing the inlaid strips. Strips of Khatam are created by wrapping together the glued long and thin wooden, metal or bone rods and then cut them. In a kind of this art, which is famous with the name of "square khatam" in Iran and "tarsia a toppo" or "end-grain mosaic marquetry" in Europe, instead of charter, wooden plates are glued together and after creating incision for several times are putting on each other and cutting then are converted to the beautiful decorative tapes. Another way of art creation is also seen in Europe which is known to the "miniature parquetry" and somewhat is similar to "six khatam" in Iran. The production of these elegant constructions which is famous to the "Tessellated mosaic marquetry" in Europe refers to the after 16th century, namely four centuries after the first construction signs of the Khatam in Iran. On the other hand, about the similarity of Khatam to the inlay or marquetry art, it should be noted that there are fundamental differences between the type of material and method of construction in each of the mentioned arts with the Khatam. Therefore, according to the properties of Khatam, Khatam cannot misnamed with "inlay" or "marquetry" and it is suggested to add Khatam as a type of handicraft into the English language dictionary in order to introduce this art properly

Mining Maps, Making Meaning: An Interview with Kasia Ozga

In the following interview with Kasia Ozga, the Polish-French-American contemporary artist focuses on her Mapping Aluminum series from 2013-2014, metal relief sculptures that throw light on environmental issues arising from bauxite mining and aluminum processing and smelting. Ozga illuminates how she came to focus on the material aluminum, the context in which she developed the project and selected the mapped sites (the Saint Lawrence River in Massena, NY, the Simandou Mountain Range in Guinea, and Ajka Vezprém County, Hungary), and how borders, cartography and maps figure in her larger body of work

The Moderating Role of Agreeableness and Conscientiousness on the Relationships Between Burnout and Withdrawal Behaviors

It has been shown that employees who experience burnout are more likely to engage in withdrawal behaviors, which are behaviors that harm the morale of employees and the bottom line of an organization. There has been some research on the moderating effect of situational variables (e.g., leadership style) on the relationship between burnout and withdrawal behaviors, but there is a lack of research on how personal characteristics may play a role in such relationships. The purpose of this study was to examine the moderating role of agreeableness and conscientiousness on the relationship between burnout and three withdrawal behaviors: lateness, absenteeism, and turnover intentions. A total of 159 individuals participated in an online survey. Results showed that the two personality traits did not play a moderating role in these relationships. However, conscientiousness was negatively related to burnout, lateness, and absenteeism, and burnout was positively related to lateness and turnover intentions. Based on these results, it is suggested that organizations should hire conscientious individuals and/or develop conscientiousness in employees because they may be more resistant to burnout, lateness, and absenteeism. Additionally, organizations may find it beneficial to invest in multi-pronged wellness initiatives that address underlying cultural issues paired with education and incentives to help employees cope with burnout and thus help reduce the rates of withdrawal behaviors due to burnout