Down-regulation of F-actin and paxillin by N-(3-(1Htetrazol- 1-yl)phenyl) isonicotinamide derivative inhibits proliferation of prostate cancer cells

Purpose: To investigate the effect of N-(3-(1H-tetrazol-1-yl)phenyl) isonicotinamide derivative (TPIN) on prostate cancer cells, and the mechanism involved.Methods: The cytotoxicity of TPIN in DU145 and PC3 cells was determined using Cell Counting Kit-8, while apoptosis induction was assayed by flow cytometry using Annexin V-fluorescein isothiocyanate dye. Changes in expressions of F-actin, RAC-α and paxillin were determined by western blot assay.Results: Cell proliferation was effectively inhibited by TPIN in the concentration range of 0.75-15 μM. The values of half-minimum inhibitory concentration (IC50) of TPIN for DU145 and PC3 cells at 48 h were 5.6 and 10.2 μM, respectively (p < 0.05). Treatment with 5.6 μM TPIN increased apoptosis to 59.64 % in DU145 cells, and 54.21% in PC3 cells. Cleaved caspase-3 and caspase-9 levels were increased by TPIN treatment in both cell lines (p < 0.05). Moreover, the levels of F-actin and paxillin were significantly downregulated by TPIN treatment in DU145 and PC3 cells (p < 0.05). In TPIN-treated DU145 and PC3 cells, cofilin-1expression was up-regulated, relative to control cells.Conclusion: TPIN exhibits cytotoxic effect on prostate cancer cells via activation of apoptosis. It elevates cofilin-1 and the expressions of targets F-actin and paxillin in prostate cancer cells. Thus, TPIN is a potential chemotherapeutic agent for prostate cancer. However, further investigations, including clinical trials are required to authenticate these findings. Keywords: Prostate cancer, F-actin, Paxillin, Apoptosis, Caspase

Changes and prognosis of coupling between heart and brain in ischemic stroke rats

Objective To study the changes of heart-brain coupling indexes after cerebral ischemia in a rat model of middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) and the relationship with prognosis in the early stage. Methods Twenty male SD rats(7~8 weeks old, body weight 290±25 g) were randomly divided into 2 groups (n=10): the cerebral ischemia group (MCAO group) and the control group (Sham group). Lead Ⅱ electrocardiography (ECG) and dual-channel electroencephalogram (EEG) were recorded at the baseline and 0~4 h after the surgery. Neurofunctional recovery was evaluated by neurological deficit score(NDS) via a series of behavior tests every 24 h and survival time was recorded. The heart rate variability (HRV) indicators were extracted by the collected ECG signals, including RR interval (RRI), low frequency (LF), high frequency (HF) and LF/HF ratio. The power spectrum of δ, θ, α and β waves were calculated from EEG signal. The heart-brain network was constructed based on the indicators mentioned, and the transfer entropy algorithm was used to quantify the coupling strength applied to the prognosis for survival which was analyzed and compared by the area under curve (AUC) among nodes of different networks. Results There was a bidirectional interaction between the brain and the heart, and the strength of two-way coupling increased after ischemia. There was obviously increased coupling between HRV LF and EEG δ wave. Transfer entropy (AUC=0.717, P=0.010) was superior to the HRV (AUC=0.571, P=0.404) and EEG power spectrum (AUC=0.583, P=0.329) in prognostication. Conclusion The low-frequency coupling between heart and brain enhanced after cerebral ischemia, and the coupling index of heart and brain can improve the prognostic performance

Microstructure evolution and tensile strength of Al/Cu inertia friction welded joint

To save production costs and reduce the weight of structures, it is one of the common ways to replace copper (Cu) with aluminum (Al) in some industries such as the refrigeration industry. The high-quality welding of Al to Cu determines the application of the Al/Cu hybrid structure. The inertia friction welding process was used to weld Al pipe to Cu pipe and the Taguchi experiment method was used to study the effects of inertia friction welding parameters on the mechanical properties of the welded joints, and the results show that the initial speed has the greatest influence on the tensile strength of welded joints. Meanwhile, the analyses of the microstructures of the joint show that Al–Cu IMCs formed at the friction interface to realize the metallurgical bonding of the welded joints. The formation sequence of Al–Cu IMCs in the friction welding process is Al2Cu, Al4Cu9, and AlCu. Whereas the type and thickness of IMCs are closely related to the tensile strength of the joints. When the welded joint forms Al2Cu and Al4Cu9, the interfacial misfit between the IMCs layer and base materials is minimized and the tensile strength of the joint is optimized

Performance analysis of different pixel-wise processing methods for depth imaging with single photon detection data

We establish a long-range single photon counting three-dimensional (3D) imaging system based on cage optical structure. Five different pixel-wise processing methods for time-of-flight (TOF) photon counting data are compared with data collected by our 3D imaging system for ranges 40-700 m and a suitable representation model for photon counting data is proposed for pixel-wise processing. Experimental results show that these methods exploit the instrumental response function (IRF), yielding a high-quality 3D image. When the signal photon counts are greater than 13 per pixel, the resulting mean absolute error (MAE) values of the IRF-based methods are better than results from the non-IRF-based methods. Regarding IRF-based methods, the union of subspace (UOS) model-based approach and cross correlation are more suitable than the Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) method in the condition of a small number of return signal photons. These results offer valuable information to promote the implementation of photon counting 3D imaging in real applications

Passive Vibration Control of a Semi-Submersible Floating Offshore Wind Turbine

Floating offshore wind turbines have the potential to commercially convert the vast wind resource in deep-water area. Compared with fixed-bottom wind turbines, motions of the floating foundation complicate vibrations and loads of the wind turbine in offshore environment. To alleviate the responses of the wind turbine, this study investigates the use of fore–aft tuned mass damper (TMD) in nacelle/tower for passive control of a semi-submersible offshore wind turbine. A simplified structural model, considering the degree-of-freedom of platform pitch and surge, tower tilt and TMD translation, is proposed in the light of motion features of semi-submersible platform. After identifying ten unknown parameters, the correctness of the deterministic model is validated by pitch free decay responses. The mass, stiffness and damping of TMD are optimized using both method of exhaustion and genetic algorithm to avoid local minimum. Six optimized TMD devices are evaluated under three kinds of realistic environment conditions. The control effectiveness is assessed by the extreme and fatigue response reduction ratios. It is found that the high stiffness TMDs that directly dissipate the energy of tower oscillation exhibit an overall stable performance. Similar to the spar-type foundation, the TMDs in the nacelle/tower are capable of extending the service life of floating wind turbines

Analysis of Nanobridge Tests

This paper analyzes nanobridge tests with consideration of adhesive contact deformation, which occurs between a probe tip and a tested nanobeam, and deformation of a substrate or template that supports the tested nanobeam. Analytical displacement-load relation, including adhesive contact deformation and substrate deformation, is presented here for small deformation of bending. The analytic results are confirmed by finite element analysis. If adhesive contact deformation and substrate deformation are not considered in the analysis of nanobridge test data, they might lead to lower values of Young's modulus of tested nanobeams

Piezo-actuated zona-drilling improves the fertilisation of ops vitrified mouse oocytes

The present study was designed to investigate fertilisation of open pulled straw (OPS) vitrified mouse oocytes drilled with piezo-micromanipulation method and their subsequent in vitro and in vivo developmental capacity. Ovulated mouse oocytes were vitrified using the OPS method. After warming, the zona pellucida of a group of vitrified-warmed oocytes was drilled by piezo-micro-manipulation. Groups of (a) vitrified, (b) vitrified/drilled and (c) fresh control oocytes were fertilised in vitro . The fertilisation rate of vitrified-warmed oocytes was significantly lower than that of fresh oocytes (45.0 ± 12.6% vs. 85.2 ± 6.8%, P < 0.05), and was significantly improved by zona-drilling (85.4 ± 7.3%). However, blastocyst formation rates of the vitrified and vitrified/drilled groups were significantly lower than those of the fresh controls (65.7 ± 7.0% and 66.4 ± 2.5% vs. 86.6 ± 4.3%, respectively, P < 0.05). The cell number of blastocysts from the vitrified/drilled or the vitrified group was not different from that of the controls. Embryo transfer resulted in pregnancy in all three groups, but the rate of development to term was lower in the vitrified/drilled or vitrified groups than in the controls (16.6 ± 0.7% or 36.0 ± 2.4% vs. 51.3 ± 2.9%, respectively). Our results demonstrated that zona-drilling with piezo-micromanipulation could improve fertilisation in OPS vitrified mouse oocytes but did not increase the overall number of vitrified oocytes developing to term

Lycopene Attenuates Hypoxia-Induced Testicular Injury by Inhibiting PROK2 Expression and Activating PI3K/AKT/mTOR Pathway in a Varicocele Adult Rat

Purpose. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of lycopene on hypoxia-induced testicular injury in rat model and explore the underlying mechanism. Methods. Six-week-old male Wistar rats (n = 36) were randomly divided into three groups (n = 12/group): a normal group (NG, sham control), a varicocele group (VG), and a varicocele treated by lycopene group (VLG). Bilateral renal veins constriction was performed on rats in VG and VLG. Simultaneously, rats in VLG were treated to lycopene by intragastric administration. Four weeks later, sperm was collected for sperm analysis. Testes and epididymides were harvested for morphological change analysis, histologic analysis, ELISA, qRT-PCR, and western blot. Results. Our observations were that lycopene improved the hypoxia-induced testicular injury in vivo. Prokineticin 2(PROK2) and prokineticin receptor 2 (PROKR2) were overexpressed in VG (P < 0.01), and lycopene inhibited the PROK2 expression (P < 0.01). Proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) and sex hormones were increased by lycopene in VLG (P < 0.05). Lycopene restored the quality and activity of sperm by blocking PROK2 expression (P < 0.05). The expression of VEGF was increased, as HIF-1/NF-κB pathway was upregulated in VLG (P < 0.05). Meanwhile, expression of pAKT/AKT in VLG was higher than that in VG (P < 0.05). In addition, lycopene reduced levels of interleukin-1β (IL-1β) and interleukin-2 (IL-2) in VLG (P < 0.05), compared to NG. Conclusions. Lycopene improved the hypoxia-induced testicular injury by inhibiting the expression of PROK2 and decreasing levels of IL-1β and IL-2, which might show us a novel and promising treatment for varicocele testicular injury