Floating Bridge

Very largefloating structures (VLFS) have attracted the attention of architects, city planners and because they provide an exciting environmentally friendly solution for land creation from sea has opposed to the traditional land reclamation method . The application of VLFS as a floating piers , floating hotels ,floating fuel storage facilities, floating stadia ,floating bridges, floating airports, and even floating cities have trigged extensive research studies in the past two decades. The VLFS technology has developed considerably and there are many innovative methods proposed to minimize the hydro elastic motion, improve the mooring system and structural integrity of the VLFS. Large-scale floating structures are one solution to satisfy the demand for space by utilizing the ocean

Autophagy induced by valproic acid is associated with oxidative stress in glioma cell lines

Autophagy represents an alternative tumor-suppressing mechanism that overcomes the dramatic resistance of malignant gliomas to radiotherapy and proapoptotic-related chemotherapy. This study reports that valproic acid (VPA), a widely used anti-epilepsy drug, induces autophagy in glioma cells. Autophagy, crucial for VPA-induced cell death, is independent of apoptosis, even though apoptotic machinery is proficient. Oxidative stress induced by VPA occurs upstream of autophagy. Oxidative stress also activates the extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 (ERK1/2) pathway, whereas blocking this pathway inhibits autophagy and induces apoptosis. VPA-induced autophagy cannot be alleviated by inositol, suggesting a mechanism different from that for lithium. Moreover, VPA potentiates autophagic cell death, but not apoptosis, when combined with other autophagy inducers such as rapamycin, Ly294002, and temozolomide in glioma cells both in vitro and in vivo, which may warrant further investigation toward possible clinical application in patients with malignant gliomas

Regioselective Approach to Phosphatidylinositol 3,5-Bisphosphates: Syntheses of the Native Phospholipid and Biotinylated Short-Chain Derivative

A selective bis-silylation of 1D-O-TBDPS-myo-inositol leads to a 1,3,5-trisubstituted inositol, which can be advanced to the headgroup of phosphatidylinositol-3,5-bisphosphate [PI(3,5)P(2)]. A mild, regioselective method for construction of the diacylglycerol moiety containing differing fatty acid chains, including the naturally occurring lipids, was developed. Their union in the synthesis of the cell-signaling molecule PI(3,5)P(2) containing the RP-I-stearoyl and sn-2-arachidonoyl groups is described. The methodology was also used to generate dioctanoyl-PI(3,5)P(2) and a previously unreported biotin-PI(3,5)P(2) conjugate, which was coupled to neutravidin beads and used to pull down PI(3.5)P(2)-binding proteins from the cytosolic extract of adrenal neurosecretory cells. We report the specific pull-down of the PI(3,5)P(2)-binding protein svp1p, a known PI(3,5)P(2) effector involved in membrane t To flic