Current Status of Trace Metal Pollution in Soils Affected by Industrial Activities

There is a growing public concern over the potential accumulation of heavy metals in soil, owing to rapid industrial development. In an effort to describe the status of the pollutions of soil by industrial activities, relevant data sets reported by many studies were surveyed and reviewed. The results of our analysis indicate that soils were polluted most significantly by metals such as lead, zinc, copper, and cadmium. If the dominant species are evaluated by the highest mean concentration observed for different industry types, the results were grouped into Pb, Zn, Ni, Cu, Fe, and As in smelting and metal production industries, Mn and Cd in the textile industry, and Cr in the leather industry. In most cases, metal levels in the studied areas were found to exceed the common regulation guideline levels enforced by many countries. The geoaccumulation index (Igeo), calculated to estimate the enrichment of metal concentrations in soil, showed that the level of metal pollution in most surveyed areas is significant, especially for Pb and Cd. It is thus important to keep systematic and continuous monitoring of heavy metals and their derivatives to manage and suppress such pollution

Chloride Channel ClC-2 is a Key Factor in the Development of DSS-induced Murine Colitis:

Previously, we have shown that the chloride channel ClC-2 modulates intestinal tight junction (TJ) barrier function. The aim of the present study was to investigate the role of ClC-2 in epithelial barrier function and recovery in the event of epithelial injury

Prognostic significance of bcl-2 expression in stage III breast cancer patients who had received doxorubicin and cyclophosphamide followed by paclitaxel as adjuvant chemotherapy

BACKGROUND: Bcl-2 is positively regulated by hormonal receptor pathways in breast cancer. A study was conducted to assess the prognostic significances of clinico-pathologic variables and of ER, PR, p53, c-erbB2, bcl-2, or Ki-67 as markers of relapse in breast cancer patients who had received the identical adjuvant therapy at a single institution. METHODS: A cohort of 151 curatively resected stage III breast cancer patients (M:F = 3:148, median age 46 years) who had 4 or more positive lymph nodes and received doxorubicin and cyclophosphamide followed by paclitaxel (AC/T) as adjuvant chemotherapy was analyzed for clinico-pathologic characteristics including disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS). Patients with positive ER and/or PR expression received 5 years of tamoxifen following AC/T. The protein expressions of biomarkers were assessed immunohistochemically. RESULTS: The median follow-up duration was 36 months, and 37 patients (24.5%) experienced a recurrence. Univariate analyses indicated that the tumor size (P = 0.038) and the number of involved lymph nodes (P < 0.001) significantly affected the recurrences. However, the type of surgery, the histology, histologic grade, the presence of endolymphatic emboli, and a close resection margin did not. Moreover, ER positivity (P = 0.013), bcl-2 positivity (P = 0.002) and low p53 expression (P = 0.032) were found to be significantly associated with a prolonged DFS. Furthermore, multivariate analysis identified 10 or more involved lymph nodes (HR 7.366; P < 0.001), negative bcl-2 expression (HR 2.895; P = 0.030), and c-erbB2 over-expression (HR 3.535; P = 0.001) as independent indicators of poorer DFS. In addition, bcl-2 expression was found to be significantly correlated with the expressions of ER and PR, and inversely correlated with the expressions of p53, c-erbB2 and Ki-67. Patients with bcl-2 expression had a significantly longer DFS than those without, even in the ER (+) subgroup. Moreover, OS was significantly affected by ER, bcl-2 and c-erbB2. CONCLUSION: Bcl-2 is an independent prognostic factor of DFS in curatively resected stage III breast cancer patients and appears to be a useful prognostic factor in combination with c-erbB2 and the number of involved lymph nodes

Prognostic impact of clinicopathologic parameters in stage II/III breast cancer treated with neoadjuvant docetaxel and doxorubicin chemotherapy: paradoxical features of the triple negative breast cancer

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Prognostic factors in locally advanced breast cancer treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy differ from those of early breast cancer. The purpose of this study was to identify the clinical significance of potential predictive and prognostic factors in breast cancer patients treated by neoadjuvant chemotherapy.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A total of 145 stage II and III breast cancer patients received neoadjuvant docetaxel/doxorubicin chemotherapy were enrolled in this study. We examined the clinical and biological factors (ER, PR, p53, c-erbB2, bcl-2, and Ki-67) by immunohistochemistry. We analyzed clinical outcome and their correlation with clinicopathologic parameters.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Among the clinicopathologic parameters investigated, none of the marker was correlated with response rate (RR) except triple negative phenotype. Patients with triple negative phenotype showed higher RR (83.0% in triple negative <it>vs</it>. 62.2% in non-triple negative, <it>p </it>= 0.012) and pathologic complete RR (17.0% in triple negative <it>vs</it>. 3.1% in non-triple negative, <it>p </it>= 0.005). However, relapse free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS) were significantly shorter in triple negative breast cancer patients (<it>p </it>< 0.001, <it>p </it>= 0.021, respectively). Low histologic grade, positive hormone receptors, positive bcl-2 and low level of Ki-67 were associated with prolonged RFS. In addition, positive ER and positive bcl-2 were associated with prolonged OS. In our homogeneous patient population, initial clinical stage reflects RFS and OS more precisely than pathologic stage. In multivariate analysis, initial clinical stage was the only significant independent prognostic factor to impact on OS (hazard ratio 3.597, <it>p </it>= 0.044).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Several molecular markers provided useful predictive and prognostic information in stage II and III breast cancer patients treated with neoadjuvant docetaxel/doxorubicin chemotherapy. Triple negative phenotype was associated with shorter survival, even though it was associated with a higher response rate to neoadjuvant chemotherapy.</p

Donor-Acceptor Random versus Alternating Copolymers for Efficient Polymer Solar Cells: Importance of Optimal Composition in Random Copolymers

The backbone composition of conjugated copolymers is of great importance in determining the conjugated structure and intermolecular assembly and in manipulating their optical, electrochemical, and electronic properties. However, limited attention has been directed at controlling the backbone composition of donor acceptor (D-A) type low bandgap polymers. Herein, we developed a series of D-A random copolymers (P(BDTT-r-DPP)) composed of different compositions of electron-rich (D) thienyl-substituted benzo[1,2-b:4,5-b&apos;]dithiophene (BDTT) and electron-deficient (A) pyrrolo[3,4-c]pyrrole-1,4-dione (DPP). The optical and electrical properties of D-A random copolymers could be controlled by tuning the ratios of BDTT to DPP (4:1, 2:1, 1:1, 1:2, and 1:4) in the polymer backbone; an increase in BDTT resulted in increased absorption in the range of 400-600 nm and a lower-lying highest occupied molecular orbital energy level, while a higher proportion of DPP induced stronger absorption in the range of 700-900 nm. The P(BDTT-r-DPP) copolymer with a D:A ratio of 2:1 produced the highest power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 5.63% in the polymer solar cells (PSCs), which outperformed the D-A alternating copolymer, P(BDTT-alt-DPP) (1:1)-based PSCs (PCE = 5.03%), because of the improved light absorption and open-circuit voltage. Thus, we highlight the importance of developing random copolymers with controlled D:A compositions for optimizing their optoelectronic properties and performances of PSCs. Also, we compared the polymer packing structure and the electrical properties between the P(BDTT-r-DPP) and P(BDTT-alt-DPP) copolymers and developed a quantitative understanding of the effect of the D:A monomer sequence on the structural, electrical, and photovoltaic properties of the D-A copolymers

Constitutive analysis on the superplastic deformation of warm-rolled 6013 Al alloy

A study has been made on the superplastic deformation behavior of warm-rolled 6013 Al alloy. A series of load relaxation tests have been carried out on a warm-rolled 6013 Al alloy. They are well interpreted by grain boundary sliding (GBS) and grain matrix plastic deformation (GMD) using the internal variable theory of structural superplasticity. Uniaxial tensile testing shows a maximum elongation of 370% achieved at 560 ??C under the initial strain rate of 1 ?? 10-4 s-1. These conditions of maximum elongation are consistent with the load relaxation results.close191