YBX1 Modulates Drug Resistance in Liver Cancer

According to the Texas Cancer Registry, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the sixth most common cause of cancer death. In 2015, Texas had the country\u27s highest incidence rate and the fourth highest mortality rate. Texas Hispanics (87% of Mexican origin) showed the highest incidence and mortality rates compared to the overall US Hispanic population, with individuals of Mexican origin having the highest rates. The Rio Grande Valley, which is predominantly Mexican, is extremely affected by this fact, which exacerbates the need to address this issue within our community. A major challenge in improving patient therapy in liver cancer is Sorafenib resistance. Sorafenib is a tumor-suppressing drug that is used as a first-line treatment for late-stage liver cancer and is especially prescribed to patients presenting relapse and recurrence of HCC. In addition, we have identified a transcription factor, YB1, which is a common element in poorer patient outcomes across breast, colon, liver, and other types of cancer. We are proposing that YB1 plays an important role in the development of Sorafenib resistance in liver cancer. Our models to study the mechanism of the development of Sorafenib resistance are HCC cell lines from the American Type Culture Collection, enhanced with overexpression of YBX1. We analyzed the Sorafenib IC50 by performing molecular assays to validate the upregulation of drug resistance by YBX1 in HCC. Additionally, we will show that overexpression of YBX1 increases cell viability, thus cancer progression, in the presence of Sorafenib, as well as overexpression of YBX1 in the Sorafenib resistant cell lines

A framework for temporal and spatial rockfall early warning using micro-seismic monitoring

Rockfall risk is usually characterized by a high frequency of occurrence, difficulty in prediction (given high velocity, lack of noticeable forerunners, abrupt collapse, and complex mechanism), and a relatively high potential vulnerability, especially against people and communication routes. Considering that larger rockfalls and rockslides are generally anticipated by an increased occurrence of events, in this study, a framework based on microseismic monitoring is introduced for a temporal and spatial rockfall early warning. This approach is realized through the detection, classification, and localization of all the rockfalls recorded during a 6-month-long microseismic monitoring performed in a limestone quarry in central Italy. Then, in order to provide a temporal warning, an observable quantity of accumulated energy, associated to the rockfall rolling and bouncing and function of the number and volume of events in a certain time window, has been defined. This concept is based on the material failure method developed by Fukuzono-Voight. As soon as the first predicted time of failure and relative warning time are declared, all the rockfalls occurred in a previous time window can be located in a topographic map to find the rockfall susceptible area and thus to complement the warning with spatial information. This methodology has been successfully validated in an ex post analysis performed in the aforementioned quarry, where a large rockfall was forecasted with a lead time of 3 min. This framework provides a novel way for rockfall spatiotemporal early warning, and it could be helpful for activating traffic lights and closing mountain roads or other transportation lines using the knowledge of the time and location of a failure. Since this approach is not based on the detection of the triggering events (like for early warnings based on rainfall thresholds), it can be used also for earthquake-induced failures

Joint detection and classification of rockfalls in a microseismic monitoring network

A rockfall (RF) is a ubiquitous geohazard that is difficult to monitor or predict and poses a significant risk for people and transportation in several hilly and mountainous environments. The seismic signal generated by RF carries abundant physical and mechanical information. Thus, signals can be used by researchers to reconstruct the event location, onset time, volume and trajectory, and develop an efficient early warning system. Therefore, the precise automatic detection and classification of RF events are important objectives for scientists, especially in seismic monitoring arrays. An algorithm called DESTRO (DEtection and STorage of ROckfalls) aimed at combining seismic event automatic detection and classification was implemented ad hoc within the MATLAB environment. In event detection, the STA/LTA (short-time-average through long-time-average) method combined with other parameters, such as the minimum duration of an RF and the minimum interval time between two continuous seismic events is used. Furthermore, nine significant features based on the frequency, amplitude, seismic waveform, duration and multiple station attributes are newly proposed to classify seismic events in a RF environment. In particular, a three-step classification method is proposed for the discrimination of five different source types: RFs, earthquakes (EQs), tremors, multispike events (MSs) and subordinate MS events. Each component (vertical, east–west and north–south) at each station within the monitoring network is analysed, and a three-step classification is performed. At a given time, the event series detected from each component are integrated and reclassified component by component and station by station into a final event-type series as an output result. By this algorithm, a case study of the seven-month-long seismic monitoring of a former quarry in Central Italy was investigated by means of four triaxial velocimeters with continuous acquisition at a sampling rate of 200 Hz. During this monitoring period, a human-induced RF simulation was performed, releasing 95 blocks (in which 90 blocks validated) of different sizes from the benches of the quarry. Consequently, 64.9 per cent of EQs within 100 km were confirmed in a one-month monitoring period, 88 blocks in the RF simulation were classified correctly as RF events and 2 blocks were classified as MSs given their small energy. Finally, an ad hoc section of the algorithm was designed specifically for RF classification combined with EQ recognition. The algorithm could be applied in slope seismic monitoring to monitor the dynamic states of rock masses, as well as in slope instability forecasting and risk evaluation in EQ-prone areas

Analysis of the influence of the GPS errors occurred while collecting electrode coordinates on the electrical resistivity of tumuli

In archaeological applications the accurate reconstruction of buried structures is mandatory. Electrical resistivity tomography is widely used for this purpose. Nevertheless, resistivity errors could be generated by wrong placement of electrodes. Papers in the literature do not discuss the influence of errors connected with the electrode position location (GPS-error). In this paper the first results of a Monte Carlo simulation analysis of data acquired on a tumulus are presented. The main research questions were: (i) if it is correct to ignore the GPS-error collect, and (ii) if a minimum threshold, that significantly affect the inversion, exists. Results, obtained considering planimetric GPS-errors of about one third of the fixed electrode distances, show that the GPS-errors affect resistivity, but the generated errors/anomalies: (a) are lower than that obtained without considering the topography, and (b) are significant from a numerical point of view, but do not affect the interpretation, being compatible with the soil resistivity ranges

Evaluation of Fenton and modified Fenton oxidation coupled with membrane distillation for produced water treatment: Benefits, challenges, and effluent toxicity

Membrane distillation is a promising technology to desalinate hypersaline produced waters. However, the organic content can foul and wet the membrane, while some fractions may pass into the distillate and impair its quality. In this study, the applicability of the traditional Fenton process was investigated and preliminarily optimized as a pre-treatment of a synthetic hypersaline produced water for the following step of membrane distillation. The Fenton process was also compared to a modified Fenton system, whereby safe iron ligands, i.e., ethylenediamine-N,N′-disuccinate and citrate, were used to overcome practical limitations of the traditional reaction. The oxidation pre-treatments achieved up to 55% removal of the dissolved organic carbon and almost complete degradation of the low molecular weight toxic organic contaminants. The pre-treatment steps did not improve the productivity of the membrane distillation process, but they allowed for obtaining a final effluent with significantly higher quality in terms of organic content and reduced Vibrio fischeri inhibition, with half maximal effective concentration (EC50) values up to 25 times those measured for the raw produced water. The addition of iron ligands during the oxidation step simplified the process, but resulted in an effluent of slightly lower quality in terms of toxicity compared to the use of traditional Fenton