235 research outputs found

    MicroRNA-210 induces apoptosis in colorectal cancer via induction of reactive oxygen

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    Additional file 2: Figure S2. Representative flow cytometric histograms of CRC cell lines 72 h post transfection with pre-miR-210 and a control miRNA, respectively. Cells were stained with by PI staining and subjected to FACS analysis

    Effects of Altering Freshwater Chemistry on Physiological Responses of Rainbow Trout to Silver Exposure

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    The influence of different water Cl- (50–600 μM), Ca2+ (50–1,500 μM), Na+ (50–1,500 μM), or dissolved organic carbon (DOC, 0.31–5 mg/L) levels on silver-induced physiological and biochemical perturbations of rainbow trout were investigated. Fish were acclimated to soft water (50 μM; Cl-, Ca2+, and Na+), then exposed to 3.7 μg/L Ag (as AgNO3) for 6 h, which resulted in a reduction in Na+ influx from the water, an inhibition of gill sodium- and potassium-activated adenosine triphosphatase (Na+/K+-ATPase) activity, and an accumulation of silver on the gills. Increasing the water Cl- or DOC levels ameliorated the silver toxicity. However, increasing water Ca2+ or Na+ concentration did not reduce the silver-induced physiological and biochemical perturbations. The free silver ion (Ag+) concentrations (calculated from MINEQL+, a geochemical speciation computer program) showed a negative correlation with the Na+ influx rates and gill Na+/K+-ATPase activity. However, gill silver levels did not correlate to Ag+ concentrations and no correlation was found between gill silver levels and either Na+ influx rates or gill Na+/K+-ATPase activity. These results support the notion that the [Ag+] concentration is of major importance when assessing silver toxicity in fish, and that this should be taken into account in regulatory strategies for silver in the natural environment

    Holistic approach to dissolution kinetics : linking direction-specific microscopic fluxes, local mass transport effects and global macroscopic rates from gypsum etch pit analysis

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    Dissolution processes at single crystal surfaces often involve the initial formation and expansion of localized, characteristic (faceted) etch-pits at defects, in an otherwise comparatively unreactive surface. Using natural gypsum single crystal as an example, a simple but powerful morphological analysis of these characteristic etch pit features is proposed that allows important questions concerning dissolution kinetics to be addressed. Significantly, quantitative mass transport associated with reactive microscale interfaces in quiescent solution (well known in the field of electrochemistry at ultramicroelectrodes) allows the relative importance of diffusion compared to surface kinetics to be assessed. Furthermore, because such mass transport rates are high, much faster surface kinetics can be determined than with existing dissolution methods. For the case of gypsum, surface processes are found to dominate the kinetics at early stages of the dissolution process (small etch pits) on the cleaved (010) surface. However, the contribution from mass transport becomes more important with time due to the increased area of the reactive zones and associated decrease in mass transport rate. Significantly, spatial heterogeneities in both surface kinetics and mass transport effects are identified, and the morphology of the characteristic etch features reveal direction-dependent dissolution kinetics that can be quantified. Effective dissolution velocities normal to the main basal (010) face are determined, along with velocities for the movement of [001] and [100] oriented steps. Inert electrolyte enhances dissolution velocities in all directions (salting in), but a striking new observation is that the effect is direction-dependent. Studies of common ion effects reveal that Ca2+ has a much greater impact in reducing dissolution rates compared to SO42−. With this approach, the new microscopic observations can be further analysed to obtain macroscopic dissolution rates, which are found to be wholly consistent with previous bulk measurements. The studies are thus important in bridging the gap between microscopic phenomena and macroscopic measurements

    Adaptation of an Evidence-Based Arthritis Program for Breast Cancer Survivors on Aromatase Inhibitor Therapy Who Experience Joint Pain

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    Adding aromatase inhibitors (AIs) to adjuvant treatment of postmenopausal women with hormone-receptor–positive breast cancer significantly reduces cancer recurrence. A common side effect of AIs is noninflammatory joint pain and stiffness (arthralgia) similar to arthritis symptoms. An evidence-based walking program developed by the Arthritis Foundation — Walk With Ease (WWE) — reduces arthritis-related joint symptoms. We hypothesized that WWE may also reduce AI-associated arthralgia. However, the potential for different barriers and facilitators to physical activity for these 2 patient populations suggested a need to adapt WWE before testing it with breast cancer survivors. We conducted qualitative research with 46 breast cancer survivors to explore program modification and inform the development of materials for an adapted program (Walk With Ease-Breast Cancer). Our process parallels the National Cancer Institute’s Research-Tested Intervention Programs (RTIPs) guidelines for adapting evidence-based programs for cancer populations. Findings resulted in a customized 8-page brochure to supplement existing WWE materials

    OpenLB User Guide: Associated with Release 1.6 of the Code

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    OpenLB is an object-oriented implementation of LBM. It is the first implementation of a generic platform for LBM programming, which is shared with the open source community (GPLv2). Since the first release in 2007, the code has been continuously improved and extended which is documented by thirteen releases as well as the corresponding release notes which are available on the OpenLB website (https://www.openlb.net). The OpenLB code is written in C++ and is used by application programmers as well as developers, with the ability to implement custom models OpenLB supports complex data structures that allow simulations in complex geometries and parallel execution using MPI, OpenMP and CUDA on high-performance computers. The source code uses the concepts of interfaces and templates, so that efficient, direct and intuitive implementations of the LBM become possible. The efficiency and scalability has been checked and proved by code reviews. This user manual and a source code documentation by DoxyGen are available on the OpenLB project website

    Study on the effects of nitrilotriproprionic acid and 4,5-dihydroxy-1,3-benzene disulphonate on the fractionation of beryllium in human serum using graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry

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    <p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Occupational exposure to beryllium may cause Chronic Beryllium Disease (CBD), a lung disorder initiated by an electrostatic interaction with the MHC class II human leukocyte antigen (HLA). Molecular studies have found a significant correlation between the electrostatic potential at the HLA-DP surface and disease susceptibility. CBD can therefore be treated by chelation therapy. In this work, we studied the effect of two complexing agents, nitrilotriproprionic acid (NTP) and 4,5-dihydroxy-1,3-benzene disulphonate (Tiron), on the fractionation of beryllium in human serum analysed by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry (GFAAS).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We found the average serum beryllium concentration of fourteen non-exposed individuals to be 0.53 (± 0.14) μg l<sup>-1</sup>, with 21 (± 3)% of the beryllium mass bound to the low molecular weight fraction (LMW), and 79 (± 3)% bound to the high molecular weight fraction (HMW). The addition of Tiron increased the beryllium mass in the HMW fraction, while NTP was not seen to have any influence on the fractionation of beryllium between the two fractions. NTP was, however, shown to complex 94.5% of the Be mass in the LMW fraction. The beryllium GFAAS detection limit, calculated as three times the standard deviation of 10 replicates of the lowest standard (0.05 μg L<sup>-1</sup>), was 6.0 (± 0.2) ng L<sup>-1</sup>.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The concentration of beryllium or its fractionation in human serum was not affected by sex or smoking habit. On average, three quarters of the beryllium in serum were found in the HMW fraction. Of the two ligands tested, only Tiron was effective in mobilising beryllium under physiological conditions, thus increasing the Be content in the HMW fraction.</p
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