A glucosinolate-rich extract of Japanese Daikon perturbs carcinogen-metabolizing enzyme systems in rat, being a potent inducer of hepatic glutathione S-transferase.

Purpose: Glucosinolates/isothiocyanates are an established class of naturally occurring chemopreventive agents, a principal mechanism of action being to limit the generation of genotoxic metabolites of chemical carcinogens, as a result of modulation of cytochrome P450 and phase II detoxification enzymes. The objective of this study was to assess whether a glucosinolate-rich extract from Daikon sprouts, containing glucroraphasatin and glucoraphenin, is a potential chemopreventive agent by modulating such enzymes in the liver and lung of rats. Methods: Rats were exposed to the glucosinolate-rich Daikon extract through the diet, at three dose levels, for 14 days, so that the low dose simulates dietary intake. Results: At the low dose only, a modest increase was noted in the hepatic dealkylations of methoxy-, ethoxy-, pentoxyresorufin and benzyloxyquinoline that was accompanied by elevated expression of CYP1 and CYP3A2 apoprotein levels. In lung, only a modest increase in the dealkylation of pentoxyresorufin was observed. At higher doses, in both tissues, these increases were abolished. At the same low dietary dose, the Daikon extract elevated markedly glutathione S-transferase activity paralleled by rises in GSTα, GSTμ and GSTπ protein expression. An increase was also noted in quinone reductase activity and expression. Finally, glucuronosyl transferase and epoxide hydrolase activities and expression were also up-regulated, but necessitated higher doses. Conclusion: Considering the ability of Daikon glucosinolates to effectively enhance detoxification enzymes, in particular glutathione S-transferase, it may be inferred that consumption of this vegetable may possess significant chemopreventive activity and warrants further evaluation through epidemiology and studies in animal models of cancer

Stark Effect Control of the Scattering Properties of Plasmonic Nanogaps Containing an Organic Semiconductor

The development of actively tunable plas-monic nanostructures enables real-time reconfigurable and on demand enhancement of optical signals. This is an essential requirement for a wide range of applications such as sensing and nanophotonic devices, for which electrically driven tunability is required. By modifying the transition energies of a material via the application of an electric field, the Stark effect offers a reliable and practical approach to achieve such tunability. In this work, we report on the use of the Stark effect to control the scattering response of a plasmonic nanogap formed between a silver nanoparticle and an extended silver film separated by a thin layer of the organic semiconductor PQT-12. The plasmonic response of such nano-scattering sources follows the quadratic stark shift. Additionally, our approach allows to experimentally determine the polarizability of the semiconductor material embedded in the nanogap region, offering a new approach to probe the excitonic properties of extremely thin semi-conducting materials such as 2D materials under applied external electric field with nanoscale resolution

Tissue engineering: state of the art in oral rehabilitation

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/74998/1/j.1365-2842.2009.01939.x.pd

Untitled Illustration, (Issue 28, p. 56)

Untitled Illustration by Dwayne Pagnotto, (Issue 28, p. 56)https://dc.swosu.edu/mc_art/1123/thumbnail.jp

The administration of innovation: One high school\u27s story

This study describes how the reform-minded educational leaders of one suburban high school brought about the successful implementation of a radically innovative reform program and then watched as its most innovative and novel elements were abandoned before its second full year of implementation. This historical, single case study of a suburban high school utilized two interpretive frameworks to make sense of the history of the reform and the experiences of those charged with leading it. The researcher investigated the role that administrators played in implementing reforms designed to promote a self-renewing innovative academic program as well as the relationship between those who provided leadership for educational innovation and the events that grew out of the effort to implement those innovations. The study explored not only how the reform-minded administrators of this high school approached their leadership role in the implementation of this radical reform, but also what type of interpretive framework might best explain their experiences as well as the nature of the reform itself. Most members of the reform implementing administrative team (including the researcher), along with representatives from the faculty served as the main informants. In addition, artifacts from major events in the reform process, personal notes from participants, routine documents from the school years and notes from the researcher/participant observer and two outside evaluation teams served as data sources. Data from the informants was collected during the summer and fall of 2003, six years after the reform initiative was terminated. The Spring Term, an innovative and radical part of the multifaceted reform program designed to allow students to focus all academic energy on a single, all-day, interdisciplinary or experiential course of study and a part of the reform program that was discontinued by the school after two years, provided a focus for this case study. Interpretation of the related phenomena was a continuous, recursive and productive process continually redefining the study\u27s theoretical and empirical positions

The administration of innovation: One high school\u27s story

This study describes how the reform-minded educational leaders of one suburban high school brought about the successful implementation of a radically innovative reform program and then watched as its most innovative and novel elements were abandoned before its second full year of implementation. This historical, single case study of a suburban high school utilized two interpretive frameworks to make sense of the history of the reform and the experiences of those charged with leading it. The researcher investigated the role that administrators played in implementing reforms designed to promote a self-renewing innovative academic program as well as the relationship between those who provided leadership for educational innovation and the events that grew out of the effort to implement those innovations. The study explored not only how the reform-minded administrators of this high school approached their leadership role in the implementation of this radical reform, but also what type of interpretive framework might best explain their experiences as well as the nature of the reform itself. Most members of the reform implementing administrative team (including the researcher), along with representatives from the faculty served as the main informants. In addition, artifacts from major events in the reform process, personal notes from participants, routine documents from the school years and notes from the researcher/participant observer and two outside evaluation teams served as data sources. Data from the informants was collected during the summer and fall of 2003, six years after the reform initiative was terminated. The Spring Term, an innovative and radical part of the multifaceted reform program designed to allow students to focus all academic energy on a single, all-day, interdisciplinary or experiential course of study and a part of the reform program that was discontinued by the school after two years, provided a focus for this case study. Interpretation of the related phenomena was a continuous, recursive and productive process continually redefining the study\u27s theoretical and empirical positions