Iscador Qu inhibits doxorubicin-induced senescence of MCF7 cells

Chemotherapy in patients with inoperable or advanced breast cancer inevitably results in low-dose exposure of tumor-cell subset and senescence. Metabolically active senescent cells secrete multiple tumor promoting factors making their elimination a therapeutic priority. Viscum album is one of the most widely used alternative anti-cancer medicines facilitating chemotherapy tolerance of breast cancer patients. The aim of this study was to model and investigate how Viscum album extracts execute additive anti-tumor activity with low-dose Dox using ER + MCF7 breast cancer cells. We report that cotreatment of MCF7 with Viscum album and Dox abrogates G2/M cycle arrest replacing senescence with intrinsic apoptotic program. Mechanistically, this switch was associated with down-regulation of p21, p53/p73 as well as Erk1/2 and p38 activation. Our findings, therefore, identify a novel mechanistic axis of additive antitumor activity of Viscum album and low dose-Dox. In conclusion, ER + breast cancer patients may benefit from addition of Viscum album to low-dose Dox chemotherapy due to suppression of cancer cell senescence and induction of apoptosis

Electrophoretic deposition and thermal treatment of boehmite coatings on titanium

An aqueous boehmite sol was prepared by the peptization of Al(OH)3. The electrophoretic deposition of boehmite coatings on titanium from the aqueous sol was performed at a constant voltage (from 1.0 to 10 V) and for a constant deposition time (from 10 to 30 min). Increasing the applied voltage and deposition time increased the mass of the boehmite coating. It was shown that boehmite coatings of maximum thickness, low porosity and good adhesion can be formed at lower deposition voltages and longer deposition times. The boehmite powder, obtained by drying the prepared aqueous sol, and the boehmite coatings were thermally treated at 1000 °C and 1300 °C with a holding period of 1 h at the maximum temperature. X-Ray diffraction analysis of the thermally treated samples confirmed the existence of g-Al2O3 and a-Al2O3 phases, respectively, while scanning electron microscopy revealed the graininess of the structure of the a-Al2O3 coatings treated at 1300 °C, indicating a significantly lower sintering temperature of the boehmite coating obtained by electrophoretic deposition

Design and Modelling of 3D Printed Capacitive Displacement Sensor

The aim of the work is the realization and modelling of a simple capacitive displacement sensor with the use of 3D printing technology and polylactic acid (PLA) material. The sensor consists of three 3D printed PLA parts: Two electrodes with cavities and a spacer. The silver paste is not printed but micromolded by filling it into the cavities of printed PLA electrodes via a syringe. The capacitance of the fabricated sensor versus applied displacement is measured and compared with calculated capacitance of simple sensor model. A simple model of a sensor capacitor is not capable of describing the behavior of this type of sensor. Therefore, more complex model of sensor capacitor is given better fit to measured results. Additionally, the hysteresis of the fabricated sensor is tested

Aspect of oscillatory along-shelf flow in the vicinity of an isolated submarine canyon

Research Presented at the International Symposium on Shallow Flows, Delft, Netherlands, 2003International audienceSelected results are presented from a closely coupled laboratory-numerical model study of theoscillatory flow of a linearly stratified fluid in the vicinity of an isolated submarine canyon. It is shown that theboundary condition applied along the model floor in the numerical experiments is critically important in havingthe numerical model simulate the laboratory experiments. Furthermore, it is shown that enhanced viscosities,which assure the numerical stability, must be applied with care because they may change the flow fields. Ascaling argument is advanced which predicts the strength of the time-mean flow generated by the backgroundcurrent.The sensitivity of the flow field to changes in some of the system parameters is discussed. Finally, someinitial results for flows generated in the presence of boundary turbulence are also discussed