Quantification of microenvironmental metabolites in murine cancers reveals determinants of tumor nutrient availability

Cancer cell metabolism is heavily influenced by microenvironmental factors, including nutrient availability. Therefore, knowledge of microenvironmental nutrient levels is essential to understand tumor metabolism. To measure the extracellular nutrient levels available to tumors, we utilized quantitative metabolomics methods to measure the absolute concentrations of >118 metabolites in plasma and tumor interstitial fluid, the extracellular fluid that perfuses tumors. Comparison of nutrient levels in tumor interstitial fluid and plasma revealed that the nutrients available to tumors differ from those present in circulation. Further, by comparing interstitial fluid nutrient levels between autochthonous and transplant models of murine pancreatic and lung adenocarcinoma, we found that tumor type, anatomical location and animal diet affect local nutrient availability. These data provide a comprehensive characterization of the nutrients present in the tumor microenvironment of widely used models of lung and pancreatic cancer and identify factors that influence metabolite levels in tumors

Quantification and classification of microstructures in ternary eutectic alloys using 2-point spatial correlations and principal component analyses

Eutectic solidification gives rise to a number of distinct microstructure patterns that might include lamella, rods and labyrinths in binary alloys. However, as the number of phases and components increases, the number of possible patterns that might be obtained during bulk solidification also become larger. While the morphological attributes of binary eutectic solidification have been fairly well understood, the same is not true for ternary and higher multicomponent alloys. In this paper, we study and quantify microstructures in ternary alloys as a function of two essential parameters, namely, the volume fraction of the solid phases and the surface energies of the interfaces (in particular the solid-liquid interfaces). For the selected ensemble of microstructures, quantification and classification were carried out using a recently developed data-driven (objective) approach based on principal component analyses of 2-point correlations. It is demonstrated that the method is capable of analyzing and quantifying the similarity/difference measures between the elements of the selected ensemble of microstructure

Characterization of Cu on Zirconium Oxynitride Catalysts for Methanol Steam Reforming

Cu containing catalysts have been shown to be sufficiently active and selective for methanol steam reforming. Cu on ZrO2 exhibits an improved activity and selectivity compared to a commercial Cu/ZnO/Al2O3 catalyst. Modifying the cation lattice of the ZrO2 support by incorporation of metals may vary the properties of these catalysts. Conversely, in this contribution we report on modifying the anion lattice of ZrO2 by incorporation of nitrogen. The bulk structure of the resulting Cu/Zr(ON) catalysts was characterized and studied in situ under MSR conditions by XRD and XAS. Cu/Zr(ON) catalysts are active and selective for the steam reforming of methanol. Both preparation method of the copper phase and nitrogen incorporation into the anion lattice of ZrO2 exhibit a pronounced effect on the structure activity correlations