Evaluation of the potential therapeutic effects of curcumin and lycopene in adult malignant brain tumour cells in vitro

Glioblastoma multiforme are the most challenging of cancers to treat and even with recent advances in therapeutic approaches, the prognosis following diagnosis remains poor. Novel therapeutic approaches able to target such tumours without resulting in significant toxicity are needed. Micronutrients have been shown to exert potential therapeutic effects in cell culture and animal models which include anti-cancer activity and other functional properties such as anti-microbial and anti-oxidative effects. The aim of this research was to investigate the anticancer properties of curcumin (77% pure, derived from the ground rhizome of turmeric) and LycoRed powder (containing 10% lycopene from tomato extract) on four primary brain tumour-biopsy derived cell cultures (glioblastoma multiforme malignant cells) using a normal brain cell line as control (CC2565; passage 10 and above). The morphological appearance of the normal brain cell line and glioblastoma cell cultures was compared under phase contrast microscopy. The cytotoxicity of curcumin and Lycored was determined using a DRAQ 7 cell viability assay. Expression of antigens linked to invasive, angiogenic and apoptotic potential was studied using immunocytochemistry and flow cytometry. Induction of apoptosis was investigated using flow cytometry via Annexin-V staining. Anti-invasive and anti-angiogenic potentials were studied using a FluoroBlok invasion and angiogenesis assay (co-culture method) in vitro, respectively. Brain tumour-biopsy derived cell cultures incubated for 24h with increasing concentrations of curcumin showed significant decreased in cell viability (IC75,50,25 values 14.2 to 19.5μg/ml). LycoRed was not found to affect the cell viability of tumour cells ad no IC values could be established; only curcumin was therefore investigated in subsequent assays (using IC75 concentration). Neither curcumin nor LycoRed showed toxicity to normal brain cells. No significant induction of apoptosis by curcumin was observed in the primary brain tumour cells studied. However, three of the primary brain tumour cell cultures investigated were high in invasive capacity and curcumin treatment at IC75 concentration reduced the percentage of invasion after only 24 hours of incubation. In addition, curcumin was found to have antiangiogenic properties in vitro. In the normal brain cell culture, each parameter (number of nodes, junctions and branches) was maintained when treated with increasing concentrations of curcumin (0 to 40μg/ml). When all glioblastoma cell cultures and normal brain cells showed strong positivity for GFAP confirming that they are astrocytic in origin, expression of other antigens studied (Beta-1-integrin, CD44, VEGF, MMP-14, NG2, GD3) varied between the primary brain tumour cell cultures. This suggests that the invasive or angiogenic capacity of the gliobalstoma cell cultures investigated may not be attributable to one common factor as has been reported before, but perhaps an integration of many factors with overlapping functions. In conclusion, the results indicate that curcumin may have anti cancer properties through inhibition of invasion and angiogenesis in these malignant glioblastomas. Further studies are necessary to establish whether LycoRed possesses therapeutic potential

Impact of Credit Risk in Farm Planning in the Chiang Mai Valley, Thailand: A Multiperiod Risk-Programming Analysis of Credit Reserves

Theoretical model indicates that credit risk affects farmers 'debt use and, thus, firm organization. An empirical model is set up to test the hypothesis from the theoretical model. The purpose of this study is to examine how credit availability to individual farmers, as evaluated by their lenders, responds to changes in past levels of farm income. Effects of resulting credit risks on optimal farm portfolios, including credit reserves,are then evaluated with different degree of risk aversion coefficients. The data used in this study were obtained from both primary and secondary sources. The historical data series of farmers' in come and supply of credit were elicited from individual borrower record keeping and approved loan request form. Five lenders and 259 borrowers were selected as the sample of the study. Farmers were classified in to the following six groups : severe loss, moderate loss, average conditions, moderate gain, and favourable gain, based on their farm income experienced by the farmer in the preceding year. Thus, the likelihoods associated with the gain and loss conditions are derived with farm income risk parameters used in this study. Results of two-way analysis of variance, where farm income risk were treated as treatments and lenders were treated blocks, indicated that (i) credit appears to be linearly related to past farm income, at the five percent level of significance, (ii) capital credit has a higher variability than operating credit, and (iii) capital credit is more sensitive to change in past farm income than operating credit. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that farmers' credit is positively correlated with changes in level of farm income, although the correlation appears stronger for capital credit than for operating credit. That is, risks associated with credit availability for capital purchases appears to add more to farmers' total portfolio risk than does credit for operating

Effect of Prophylactic Pastes on Surface Roughness and Gloss of Esthetic Dental Restorative Materials

Objective: To evaluate the average surface roughness (Ra) and gloss (GU) of four different commonly used ceramics, four resin composites and human enamel after application of four different types of prophylactic pastes. Material and methods: A total of two hundred and forty specimens, composed of four types of ceramics and four types of resin composites were prepared to test the hypothesis. Twenty specimens were assigned to the first two ceramic groups: Lithium disilicate (LiSi2), and Feldspathic ceramic (FP). The third ceramic group, Zirconia (Zi) included one-hundred and twenty specimens divided into two groups of sixty specimens each (IPS e.max ZirCAD MT A2, and MT Multi A2). All ceramic specimens were sectioned into 2 mm thick slices (12x14mm) and each material was sintered and glazed according to the manufacturer’s instructions. For the LiSi2 and FP ceramics, a spray glaze was used, while for the Zi group, three glaze techniques were used as follows: spray glaze, paste/liquid glaze, and stain followed by paste/liquid glaze. All samples were finished and polished gradually down to 1,200 grit size and ultrasonically cleaned and dried twice (before and after glazing). A total of eighty specimens of four types of resin composites were prepared to test the hypothesis. The first three groups (n=20): Nano-hybrid (NH), Nano-fill (NF), and Supra- nanofill (SN) were cured under Mylar strips using a broad-spectrum LED curing light into disk shape specimens (2x14mm diameter). The fourth group, microhybrid (MH) included a total of twenty millable resin composite Tetric CAD, which were prepared by sectioning the CAD/CAM block into 2-mm-thick slices (12x14 mm). All specimens were then finished and polished gradually down to 1,200-grit size and ultrasonically cleaned and dried. Four intact human teeth were served as a control group. Baseline surface gloss was measured with a glossmeter from 3 spots on each specimen. Additionally, baseline surface roughness (Ra) was measured with a profilometer from 3 spots on each specimen. Five specimens from each group were randomly assigned to one of the four groups of the following prophylactic polishing pastes: Proxyt coarse (PC) and Proxyt fine (PF), Nupro coarse (NC) and Nupro fine (NF). Results: Nupro coarse had the highest reduction of surface gloss and increase in surface roughness in most of the materials with statistical significance (p \u3c0.05) compared to the other prophylactic pastes. Proxyt Fine had the least effect on gloss and roughness on all materials with statistical significance (p\u3c0.05) compared to the other prophylactic pastes groups

Predicting the Required Demand Flow to A Customer

Yearly District Cooling Company (DCC) needs to upgrade the plants to meet customer requirements. Moreover, this project will help the company to find when the demand load of flow will reach above the plant\u27s installed capacity and how much increase is expected. So, the dataset was provided by the company for previous years. By applying ML and Arima, KNN, and SVM algorithms, it was found that the best result was the KNN algorithm with an accuracy of 94%, and the maximum flow load will be reached in summer of upcoming years. Hence, the company needs to take further action to upgrade the plant accordingly, either add a new chiller, modify the pumps, or any other suitable action

Qatar Rail – Doha Metro

About Qatar Rail: *Following its establishment in 2011, Qatar Rail is leading one of the largest rail projects in the world to meet the demands of Qatar’s growing population. *The company is responsible for the design, construction, commissioning, operation and maintenance of the entire network and systems. *The state-of-the-art railway network will consist of: *Doha Metro, a rapid transit system connecting communities within Doha and its suburbs *Lusail Tram, a service for convenient travel within the new city of Lusail *Long Distance Rail, which will link Qatar to the region

Peranan Hukum dalam Perlindungan dan Pengelolaan Lingkungan Hidup

Penulisan ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui peranan hukum dalam rangka memberikan perlindungan dan pengelolaan lingkungan yang baik sehingga lingkungan hidup dapat dinikmati oleh generasi berikutnya di masa yang akan datang. Metode penulisan yang digunakan dalam tulisan ini adalah metode tinjauan literatur (library research). Dari pembahasan dapat disimpulkan bahwa untuk mewujudkan tujuan pengelolaan lingkungan melalui pencegahan dan penanggulangan pencemaran, maka diperlukan suatu strategi pendekatan hukum yang tepat dalam penyelesaian kasus lingkungan dengan memanfaatkan secara optimal keberadaan UU Nomor 32 Tahun 2009 tentang Lingkungan Hidup. Sebagai pendukung terlaksananya aturan tersebut adalah harus dilibatkan aparatur pemerintah yang memahami secara benar pelaksanaan dan penegakan hukum lingkungan sebagai hukum fungsional. Keberaadan hukum lingkungan memiliki peran penting dalam rangka menanggulangi berbagai kerusakan lingkungan yang terjadi selama ini. Tidak cukup dengan aturan hukum, penegak hukum lingkungan juga bagian yang tidak bisa dipisahkan dalam rangka memberikan perlindungan dan pengelolaan lingkungan

Modernity Aspirations: The Struggle of Qatari Male Public High School Students to Become Successful Academically

The small Gulf nation of Qatar, despite its vast oil and gas wealth, suffers from a lack of human capital, particularly with respect to deficits in academic outcomes. Despite extensive investment in education, Qataris, and in particular Qatari boys, are still underperforming relative to international standards and relative to its wealth. In this dissertation I explored political, economic, and sociological approaches to investigate factors contributing to the underperformance of male Qatari students. Specifically, I have examined how male Qatari high school students internalize social values and economic and political policies as “signals” that inform and are reflected in their attitudes towards education and learning. I have hypothesized that Qatari male students who perceive the economic entitlement signals, and who perceive wasta (social status) as a venue of success, and who lack civic engagement, will do worse academically. My research focused on Qatari males attending public high schools in Qatar, which are operated by the Ministry of Education, and examined their performance on national standardized tests. To investigate my research question, I conducted a quantitative study using an original survey instrument. The target population included a representative sample of Qatari high school students who were in grades 10, 11, and 12 in the public schools in Qatar. My analysis of the data found mixed results in which economic signals appear to be strongly associated with male academic performance. Furthermore, Qatari high school boys’ perceptions of the value of wasta was correlated with their achievement on test scores. Surprisingly, Qatari high school boys’ perceptions of civic engagement did not appear to associate with Qatari males’ academic underperformance

A Time in Research A Comparison Study between Two Studies before and during Covid-19 Pandemic in Physical Education Policies and Practices

This paper is a comparison paper between two papers in the same topic physical education policies and practices in Qatar, repeated measures and time series (Trochim,2023) the first paper was on the 2016 and the second paper is in 2022 during the Covid pandemic. In this paper will observe the difference between School type : Time providedIndoor play environment teacher practices Education and professional development Policy The investigation showed the old study: Physical Education Policies and Practices in Qatari Preschools: A Cross-Cultural Study 2016, the results shows a significant effect of school type (In favor of international schools) on: time provided,indoor play environment, and policy The new study 2022, Observing Preschool Physical Education Practices and Policies Under the COVID-19 Pandemic the results shows there is a significant effect of school type (In favor of international schools) on: EducationProfessional development,Indoor play environment The old study (2016) There are no statistically significant effects of school type on: teacher practices and education professional development The new study (2022) There are no statistically significant effects of school type on: Time providedTeacher practices Policies noted Keywords:Time in Research, Repeated Measures, Comparison Study, Physical Education, Preschool Curriculum DOI: 10.7176/JEP/14-7-01 Publication date:March 31st 2023