Anticancer Activities of Meroterpenoids Isolated from the Brown Alga Cystoseira usneoides against the Human Colon Cancer Cells HT-29

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most common types of cancers and a leading cause of cancer death worldwide. The current treatment for CRC mainly involves surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy. However, due to the side effects and the emergence of drug resistance, the search for new anticancer agents, pharmacologically safe and effective, is needed. In the present study, we have investigated the anticancer effects of eight algal meroterpenoids (AMTs, 1-8) isolated from the brown seaweed Cystoseira usneoides and their underlying mechanisms of action using HT-29, a highly metastatic human colon cancer cell line. All the tested meroterpenoids inhibited the growth of HT-29 malignant cells and were less toxic towards non-cancer colon cells, with the AMTs 1 and 5 exhibiting selectivity indexes of 5.26 and 5.23, respectively. Treatment of HT-29 cells with the AMTs 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 7 induced cell cycle arrest in G2/M phase and, in some instances, apoptosis (compounds 2, 3, and 5). Compounds 1-8 also exhibited significant inhibitory effects on the migration and/or invasion of colon cancer cells. Mechanistic analysis demonstrated that the AMTs 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, and 8 reduced phosphorylation levels of extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) and the AMTs 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, and 8 decreased phosphorylation of c-JUN N-terminal kinase (JNK). Moreover, the AMTs 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, and 8 inhibited phosphorylation levels of protein kinase B (AKT) in colon carcinoma cells. These results provide new insights into the mechanisms and functions of the meroterpenoids of C. usneoides, which exhibit an anticancer effect on HT-29 colon cancer cells by inducing cell cycle arrest and apoptosis via the downregulation of ERK/JNK/AKT signaling pathways

El Drama sacramental en el "Códice de Autos Viejos".

Sin resume

Modified AES Cipher Round and Key Schedule

In this paper, Advanced Encryption Standard was modified to address the lowdiffusion rate at the early rounds by adding additional primitive operationssuch as exclusive OR and modulo arithmetic in the cipher round. Furthermore,byte substitution and round constant addition were appended to the keyschedule algorithm. The modified AES was tested against the standard AESby means of avalanche effect and frequency test to measure the diffusion andconfusion characteristics respectively. The results of the avalanche effectevaluation show that there was an average increase in diffusion of 61.98% inround 1, 14.79% in round 2 and 13.87% in round 3. Consequently, the resultsof the frequency test demonstrated an improvement in the randomness of theciphertext since the average difference between the number of ones to zeros isreduced from 11.6 to 6.4 along with better-computed p-values. The resultsclearly show that the modified AES has improved diffusion and confusionproperties and the ciphertext can still be successfully decrypted and recoverback the original plaintext

Las garantías mobiliarias en el derecho civil de Cataluña

En la tesis se analizan las garantías mobiliarias reguladas por el Derecho civil de Cataluña, es decir, los derechos reales de prenda posesoria y de retención sobre bienes muebles regulados en la Ley del Parlamento de Cataluña 19/2002, de 5 de julio, de derechos reales de garantía. El estudio de la Ley se plantea desde una doble perspectiva doctrinal, civil y mercantil, atendiendo a las obras que se han juzgado de interés a partir de la codificación, así como del análisis de las decisiones jurisprudenciales y de la Dirección General de los Registros y del Notariado. Se destacan las novedades más significativas en esta materia con relación a lo dispuesto en el Código civil, como pueden ser la prenda de máximo, la prenda de cosas fungibles, la naturaleza real del derecho de retención, la posibilidad de sustitución, el orden de preferencia y prelación que corresponde a ambas garantías o la realización de la cosa gravada por el procedimiento de venta directa.En la tesis s'analitzen les garanties mobiliàries regulades en el Dret civil de Catalunya, es a dir, el dret real de penyora possessòria i el dret de retenció sobre béns de naturalesa moble, tal i com es troba regulat a la Llei del Parlament de Catalunya 19/2002, de 5 de juliol, de drets reals de garantia. L'estudi de la Llei es planteja des d'una doble perspectiva doctrinal, la civil i la mercantil, atenent a les obres que s'han jutjat de màxim interès a partir de la codificació, així com de l'anàlisi de les decisions jurisprudencials de la Direcció General dels Registres i del Notariat. Es destaquen les novetats més significatives en aquesta matèria, tot comparant-les amb allò que es disposa en el Codi civil. D'entre aquestes novetats destaquen la que es refereix a la penyora de màxim, la penyora de coses fungibles, la naturalesa real del dret de retenció, la possibilitat de substitució, l'ordre de preferència y de prelació que correspon a ambdues garanties o la realització del valor de la cosa gravada per la garantia a través del procediment de venda directa específicament regulat a la Llei.The subject of this thesis is the pledge ant the right of retention regulated by the Catalan Civil Law in the Act 19/2002, about security real rights. The study is considered from a double doctrinal perspective, civil and mercantile, taking care of the works that have been judged of interest since the codification period, as well as the analysis of the decisions of the Court and the decisions of the General Directorate for Registries and Public Notaries. The most significant new features in this area are been analysed and compared with the similar institutions regulated in the Spanish Civil Code. The subjects as the pledge of fungible things, the real nature of the retention right, the substitution possibility, the order of preference and the direct sale procedure regulated in the Act to both guarantee

Genetic Basis of Tetracycline Resistance in Bifidobacterium animalis subsp lactis

All strains of Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis described to date show medium level resistance to tetracycline. Screening of 26 strains from a variety of sources revealed the presence of tet(W) in all isolates. A transposase gene upstream of tet(W) was found in all strains, and both genes were cotranscribed in strain IPLAIC4. Mutants with increased tetracycline resistance as well as tetracycline-sensitive mutants of IPLAIC4 were isolated and genetically characterized. The native tet(W) gene was able to restore the resistance phenotype to a mutant with an alteration in tet(W) by functional complementation, indicating that tet(W) is necessary and sufficient for the tetracycline resistance seen in B. animalis subsp. lactis

Bilevel Parameter Learning for Higher-Order Total Variation Regularisation Models.

We consider a bilevel optimisation approach for parameter learning in higher-order total variation image reconstruction models. Apart from the least squares cost functional, naturally used in bilevel learning, we propose and analyse an alternative cost based on a Huber-regularised TV seminorm. Differentiability properties of the solution operator are verified and a first-order optimality system is derived. Based on the adjoint information, a combined quasi-Newton/semismooth Newton algorithm is proposed for the numerical solution of the bilevel problems. Numerical experiments are carried out to show the suitability of our approach and the improved performance of the new cost functional. Thanks to the bilevel optimisation framework, also a detailed comparison between TGV 2 and ICTV is carried out, showing the advantages and shortcomings of both regularisers, depending on the structure of the processed images and their noise level.King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) (Grant ID: KUKI1-007-43), Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (Grant IDs: Nr. EP/J009539/1 “Sparse & Higher-order Image Restoration” and Nr. EP/M00483X/1 “Efficient computational tools for inverse imaging problems”), Escuela Politécnica Nacional de Quito (Grant ID: PIS 12-14, MATHAmSud project SOCDE “Sparse Optimal Control of Differential Equations”), Leverhulme Trust (project on “Breaking the non-convexity barrier”), SENESCYT (Ecuadorian Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Technology and Innovation) (Prometeo Fellowship)This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10851-016-0662-