487 research outputs found
Down-Regulation of Tumor-Associated NADH Oxidase, tNOX (ENOX2), Enhances Capsaicin-Induced Inhibition of Gastric Cancer Cell Growth
Gastric cancer is a common human malignancy and a major contributor to cancer-related deaths worldwide. Unfortunately, the prognosis of most gastric cancer patients is poor because they are generally diagnosed at a late stage after the cancer has already metastasized. Most current research, therefore, emphasizes selective targeting of cancer cells by apoptosis-inducing agents. One such therapeutic agent is capsaicin, a component of chili peppers that has been shown to possess anti-growth activity against various cancer cell lines. Here, we examined the effect of capsaicin on SNU-1 and TMC-1 gastric cancer cells and found differing outcomes between the two cell lines. Our results show that capsaicin induced significant cytotoxicity with increases in oxidative stress, PARP cleavage, and apoptosis in sensitive SNU-1 cells. In contrast, TMC-1 cells were much less sensitive to capsaicin, exhibiting low cytotoxicity and very little apoptosis in response to capsaicin treatment. Capsaicin-induced apoptosis in SNU-1 cells was associated with down-regulation of tumor-associated NADH oxidase (tNOX) mRNA and protein. On the contrary, tNOX expression was scarcely affected by capsaicin in TMC-1 cells. We further showed that tNOX-knockdown sensitized TMC-1 cells to capsaicin-induced apoptosis and G1 phase accumulation, and led to decreased cell growth, demonstrating that tNOX is essential for cancer cell growth. Collectively, these results indicate that capsaicin induces divergent effects of the growth of gastric cancer cells that parallel its effects on tNOX expression, and demonstrate that forced tNOX down-regulation restored capsaicin-induced growth inhibition in TMC-1 cells
Droplet entrainment within the evaporator to the suitable volume-filling ratio of a vertical two-phase closed thermosyphon
The present study on vertical two-phase closed thermosyphon (TPCT) is aimed to determine the suitable volume-filling ratio, as a function of geometries, heat flux and vapor temperature, in order to avoid the potential local dryout in the evaporator section and hence to maximize the performance. In the study, the droplet entrainment, which is caused by the internal counter flow during the nucleate boiling within the falling liquid film in the evaporator section, is introduced to improve the existing TPCT model, so a comprehensive model with considering all three heat transfer regimes in the evaporator is further established. The suggested lower and upper limits of volume-filling ratio (CFR and EFR) are then determined by utilizing the criterias for local dryout, flooding limit and boiling limit. Furthermore, the effects of geometries, heat flux and vapor temperature on the range of volume-filling ratio are analyzed in details, a simplified correlation of CFR is then proposed based on the numerical modeling results. Particularly, the predictions of the distribution of falling film thickness and onset of flooding are validated with the published experimental data and other numerical simulation results. It is also found that the droplet entrainment significantly influences the thickness and distribution of the falling film. Increasing vapor temperature and inner diameter and decreasing the evaporator length significantly enlarge the volume-filling ratio range (between CFR and EFR), operation envelope (corresponding to boiling limit and flooding limit) of TPCT. Increasing the condenser length increases the volume-filling ratio range and operation envelope to a small extent. The influence mechanisms of the optimum filling ratio by the heat flux and geometries are complicated; however, a correlation of CFR can be obtained in a good agreement with the numerical modeling results within 30% deviation for the whole limited scope
Lean Breed Landrace Pigs Harbor Fecal Methanogens at Higher Diversity and Density than Obese Breed Erhualian Pigs
The diversity of fecal methanogens of Erhualian (obese type) and Landrace (lean type) pigs was examined using separate 16S rRNA gene libraries for each breed. A total of 763 clones were analyzed; 381 from the Erhualian library and 382 from the Landrace library were identified belonging to the genus Methanobrevibacter. Others were identified belonging to the genus Methanosphaera. The two libraries showed significant differences in diversity (P <0.05) and composition (P <0.0001). Only two operational taxonomic units (OTUs) were found in both libraries, whereas six OTUs were found only in the Erhualian library and 23 OTUs were found only in the Landrace library. Real-time PCR showed that the abundance of fecal methanogens in Landrace pigs was significantly higher than that in Erhualian pigs (P <0.05). Results showed that the Landrace pig (lean) harbored a greater diversity and higher numbers of methanogen mcrA gene copies than the Erhualian pig (obese). These differences may be related to the fatness or leanness in these two pig breeds. The results provide new leads for further investigations on the fat storage of pigs or even humans
Urban-rural disparity of preventive healthcare utilisation among children under the universal health insurance coverage in Taiwan: a national birth cohort analysis
Objective: In the context of universal health insurance coverage, this study aimed to determine whether urbanerural inequality still exists in preventive health care (PHC) amongst children in Taiwan. Study design: Prospective cohort study. Methods: A total of 184,117 mothers and their children born in 2009 were identified as the study cohort. The number of children born in urban, satellite and rural areas was 40,176, 57,565 and 86,805, respec-tively. All children were followed for 7 years, before which a total of seven times PHC were provided by Taiwan's National Health Insurance (NHI) programme. Ordinal logistic regression models were used to associate urbanisation level with the frequency of PHC utilisation. Stratified analyses were further per-formed in accordance with the children's birth weight and the mothers' birthplace. Results: Children from satellite areas had higher utilisation for the first four scheduled PHC visits. Children living in urban areas received more PHC for the fifth and sixth scheduled visits. Compared with those from rural areas, children in satellite areas exhibited a small but significant increase in odds in PHC utilisation, with a covariate-adjusted odds ratio (aOR) of 1.04 and 95% confidence interval (CI) of 1.02 e1.06. By contrast, no significant difference was observed between rural and urban areas (aOR ¼ 1.01). Further stratified analyses suggest more evident urbanerural difference in PHC utilisation amongst children with low birth weight and foreign-born mothers. Conclusions: Given a universal health insurance coverage and embedded mechanisms in increasing the availability of healthcare resources in Taiwan, a slight urbanerural difference is observed in PHC uti-lisation amongst children. Hence, sociodemographic inequality in utilisation of PHC still exists. This issue should be addressed through policy intervention
Charmless Decays Based on the six-quark Effective Hamiltonian with Strong Phase Effects II
We provide a systematic study of charmless decays (
and denote pseudoscalar and vector mesons, respectively) based on an
approximate six-quark operator effective Hamiltonian from QCD. The calculation
of the relevant hard-scattering kernels is carried out, the resulting
transition form factors are consistent with the results of QCD sum rule
calculations. By taking into account important classes of power corrections
involving "chirally-enhanced" terms and the vertex corrections as well as weak
annihilation contributions with non-trivial strong phase, we present
predictions for the branching ratios and CP asymmetries of decays into
PP, PV and VV final states, and also for the corresponding polarization
observables in VV final states. It is found that the weak annihilation
contributions with non-trivial strong phase have remarkable effects on the
observables in the color-suppressed and penguin-dominated decay modes. In
addition, we discuss the SU(3) flavor symmetry and show that the symmetry
relations are generally respected
Complementarity, quantum erasure and delayed choice with modified Mach-Zehnder interferometers
Often cited dictums in Quantum Mechanics include "observation disturbance
causes loss of interference" and "ignorance is interference". In this paper we
propose and describe a series of experiments with modified Mach-Zehnder
interferometers showing that one has to be careful when applying such dictums.
We are able to show that without interacting in any way with the light quantum
(or quanta) expected to behave "wave-like", interference fringes can be lost by
simply gaining (or having the potential to gain) the which-path knowledge.
Erasing this information may revive the interference fringes. Delayed choice
can be added, arriving to an experiment in line with Wheeler's original
proposal. We also show that ignorance is not always synonym with having the
interference fringes. The often-invoked "collapse of the wavefunction" is found
to be a non-necessary ingredient to describe our experiments.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures; to appear in EPJ
Exploring the atmospheric chemistry of nitrous acid (HONO) at a rural site in Southern China
We performed measurements of nitrous acid (HONO) during the PRIDE-PRD2006 campaign in the Pearl River Delta region 60 km north of Guangzhou, China, for 4 weeks in June 2006. HONO was measured by a LOPAP in-situ instrument which was setup in one of the campaign supersites along with a variety of instruments measuring hydroxyl radicals, trace gases, aerosols, and meteorological parameters. Maximum diurnal HONO mixing ratios of 1–5 ppb were observed during the nights. We found that the nighttime build-up of HONO can be attributed to the heterogeneous NO2 to HONO conversion on ground surfaces and the OH + NO reaction. In addition to elevated nighttime mixing ratios, measured noontime values of ≈200 ppt indicate the existence of a daytime source higher than the OH + NO→HONO reaction. Using the simultaneously recorded OH, NO, and HONO photolysis frequency, a daytime additional source strength of HONO (PM) was calculated to be 0.77 ppb h−1 on average. This value compares well to previous measurements in other environments. Our analysis of PM provides evidence that the photolysis of HNO3 adsorbed on ground surfaces contributes to the HONO formation
Evaluation of Neonatal Brain Development Using Acoustic Radiation Force Impulse Imaging (ARFI)
We applied acoustic radiation force impulse imaging (ARFI) for examination of the brains of
41 neonatal infants of different gestational ages. We used a new technical index, Virtual Touch
tissue quantification (VTQ), to evaluate elastic properties of the brain tissues. Different brain
tissues demonstrated different values of this index. The greater the gestational age, the higher
the VTQ value. We conclude that ARFI provides a new quantitative index to evaluate the
level of neonatal brain development and increases the objectivity and reliability of clinical
analysis. The method is noninvasive, safe, simple, convenient, and can be extensively applied
in clinics.Досліджували результати візуалізації впливу силових імпульсів акустичного випромінювання (ARFI), вивчаючи
головний мозок 41 новонародженого з різними термінами гестації. Ми використовували новий технічний індекс
Virtual Touch Quantification (VTQ) для оцінки еластичних
властивостей тканин мозку. У різних тканин мозку значення даного індексу були відмінними. Ми дійшли висновку,
що методика ARFI дозволяє отримати новий кількісний показник для оцінки ступеню розвитку неонатального мозку;
це збільшує об’єктивність та надійність клінічних аналізів.
Метод є неінвазивним, безпечним, простим та зручним і
може знайти широке застосування в клініці
Mitochondrial dysfunction in CA1 hippocampal neurons of the UBE3A deficient mouse model for Angelman syndrome
Angelman syndrome (AS) is a severe neurological disorder caused by a deficiency of ubiquitin protein ligase E3A (UBE3A), but the pathophysiology of the disease remains unknown. We now report that in the brains of AS mice in which the maternal UBE3A allele is mutated (m-) and the paternal allele is potentially inactivated by imprinting (p+) (UBE3A m-p+), the mitochondria are abnormal and exhibit a partial oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) defect. Electron microscopy of the hippocampal region of the UBE3A m-p+ mice (n=6) reveals small, dense mitochondria with altered cristae, relative to wild-type littermates (n=6) and reduced synaptic vesicle density. The specific activity of OXPHOS complex III is reduced in whole brain mitochondria in UBE3A m-p+ (n=5) mice versus wild-type littermates (n=5). Therefore, mitochondrial dysfunction may contribute to the pathophysiology of Angelman syndrome
Physics of Solar Prominences: II - Magnetic Structure and Dynamics
Observations and models of solar prominences are reviewed. We focus on
non-eruptive prominences, and describe recent progress in four areas of
prominence research: (1) magnetic structure deduced from observations and
models, (2) the dynamics of prominence plasmas (formation and flows), (3)
Magneto-hydrodynamic (MHD) waves in prominences and (4) the formation and
large-scale patterns of the filament channels in which prominences are located.
Finally, several outstanding issues in prominence research are discussed, along
with observations and models required to resolve them.Comment: 75 pages, 31 pictures, review pape
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