Effect of Scopoletin on Apoptosis and Cell Cycle Arrest in Human Prostate Cancer Cells In vitro

Purpose: To investigate the anticancer activity of scopoletin against human prostate cancer.Methods: The anticancer activity of scopoletin was evaluated by 3-(4, 5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2, 5- diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MMT) assay. Flow cytometry using propidium iodide and annexin V-FITC was employed to study apoptosis and cell cycle analysis. Hoechst 33258 staining was used to assess the effect of scopoletin on cell morphology and apoptotic body formation in human prostate carcinoma (LNCaP) cells via Florescence microscopy and finally Western blotting was used to evaluate the effect of scopoletin on cyclin D1 and cyclin B1 expressions.Results: Scopoletin induced a dose-dependent growth inhibition in LNCaP prostate cancer cells. It induced G2/M phase growth arrest and led to an increase in the sub-G0/G1 cell population after treatment with increasing doses compared to control cells, scopoletin treatment resulted in cell shrinkage along with membrane blebbing which are characteristic features of cell apoptosis. Approximately 15.45, 32.6 and 21.71 % of the cells underwent early apoptosis after treatment with 40, 80 and 100 μM of scopoletin respectively. Cyclin D expression diminished in a concentration-dependent manner when LNCaP cells were treated with different concentrations of scopoletin.Conclusion: These results reveal that scopoletin may be used as a natural chemotherapeutic agent against prostate cancer.Keywords: Prostate cancer, Apoptosis, Cell cycle analysis, Scopoletin, Flow cytometry, Fluorescence microscop

Reverse osmosis pretreatment method for toxicity assessment of domestic wastewater using Vibrio qinghaiensis sp.-Q67

Luminescent bacterial test is a fast and sensitive method for acute toxicity assessment of water and wastewater. In this study, an improved toxicity testing method was developed using the freshwater luminescent bacteria Vibrio qinghaiensis sp.-Q67 that involved pretreatment of water samples with reverse osmosis (RO) to eliminate the interferences caused by nutrients in concentrated samples and to improve the reliability and sensitivity of the analysis. Because water samples contain low concentrations of several target toxic substances, rapid acute toxicity testing method that is commonly employed does not achieve enough sensitivity. The proposed RO pretreatment could effectively enrich organic and inorganic substances in water samples to enable a more effective and sensitive toxicity evaluation. The kinetic characteristics of toxicity of raw sewage and secondary effluent were evaluated based on the relative luminescence unit (RLU) curves and time-concentration-effect surfaces. It was observed that when the exposure time was prolonged to 8-h or longer, the bacteria reached the logarithmic growth stage. Hence, the stimulating effects of the coexisting ions (such as Na+, K+, NO3-) in the concentrated samples could be well eliminated. A 10-h exposure time in proposed Q67 test was found to quantitatively evaluate the toxicity of the organic and inorganic pollutants in the RO-concentrated samples. © 2013 Elsevier Inc

A quantitative link between microplastic instability and macroscopic deformation behaviors in metallic glasses

2009-2010 > Academic research: refereed > Publication in refereed journalVersion of RecordPublishe

A quantitative link between microplastic instability and macroscopic deformation behaviors in metallic glasses

Based on mechanical instability of individual shear transformation zones (STZs), a quantitative link between the microplastic instability and macroscopic deformation behavior of metallic glasses was proposed. Our analysis confirms that macroscopic metallic glasses comprise a statistical distribution of STZ embryos with distributed values of activation energy, and the microplastic instability of all the individual STZs dictates the macroscopic deformation behavior of amorphous solids. The statistical model presented in this paper can successfully reproduce the macroscopic stress-strain curves determined experimentally and readily be used to predict strain-rate effects on the macroscopic responses with the availability of the material parameters at a certain strain rate, which offer new insights into understanding the actual deformation mechanism in amorphous solids. © 2009 American Institute of Physics.published_or_final_versio

Robust Delay-Dependent Load Frequency Control of Wind Power System Based on a Novel Reconstructed Model

IEEE This article presents a novel reconstructed model for the delayed load frequency control (LFC) schemes considering wind power, which aims to improve the computational efficiency for PID controllers while retaining their dynamic performance. Via fully exploiting system states influenced by time delays directly, this novel reconstructed method is proposed with a controller isolated. Hence, when the PID controllers are unknown, the stability criterion based on this model can resolve controller gains with less time consumed. For given PID gains, this model can be employed to establish criteria for stability analysis, which can realize the tradeoff between the calculation accuracy and efficiency. The case study is first based on a two-area traditional LFC system to validate the merits of a novel reconstructed model, including accurately estimating the influence of time delay on system frequency stability with increased computational capability. Then, under traditional and deregulated environments, case studies are carried out on the two-area and three-area schemes, respectively. Through the novel reconstructed model, the efficiency of obtaining controller parameters is highly improved while their robustness against the random wind power, tie-line power changes, inertial reductions, and time delays remains almost unchanged

On the origin of surface ozone and reactive nitrogen observed at a remote mountain site in the northeastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, western China

Author name used in this publication: Wang, T.Author name used in this publication: Ding, A.Version of RecordPublishe

Theoretical Investigations into Self-Organized Ordered Metallic Semi-Clusters Arrays on Metallic Substrate

Using the energy minimization calculations based on an interfacial potential and a first-principles total energy method, respectively, we show that (2 × 2)/(3 × 3) Pb/Cu(111) system is a stable structure among all the [(n − 1) × (n − 1)]/(n × n) Pb/Cu(111) (n = 2, 3,…, 12) structures. The electronic structure calculations indicate that self-organized ordered Pb semi-clusters arrays are formed on the first Pb monolayer of (2 × 2)/(3 × 3) Pb/Cu(111), which is due to a strain-release effect induced by the inherent misfits. The Pb semi-clusters structure can generate selective adsorption of atoms of semiconductor materials (e.g., Ge) around the semi-clusters, therefore, can be used as a template for the growth of nanoscale structures with a very short periodic length (7.67 Å)

Synthesis, structure, and magnetism in the ferromagnet La_{3}MnAs_{5}: Well-separated spin chains coupled via itinerant electrons

In this work, we systematically report the synthesis, structure, and magnetism of a compound of filled anti-Mn3Si5 type La3MnAs5. It crystallizes in a hexagonal structure with the space group of P63/mcm (193). The structure consists of face-sharing MnAs6 octahedral chains along the c axis, which are well separated by a large distance of 8.9913 Å, demonstrating a strong one-dimensional (1D) structural character. Physical property measurements indicate that La3MnAs5 is a ferromagnetic metal with TC ∼ 112 K. Due to the short-range intrachain spin coupling, the susceptibility deviates from the Curie-Weiss behavior in a wide temperature window and the magnetic entropy corresponding to the ferromagnetic transition is significantly lower than that expected from the fully saturated state. The magnetic critical behavior studies show that La3MnAs5 can be described by the three-dimensional Heisenberg model. The orbital hybridization between the 1D MnAs6 chain and intermediate La atom near the Fermi level reveals that the itinerant electrons play a key role in transmitting spin interaction among the MnAs6 spin chains. Our results indicate that La3MnAs5 is a rare ferromagnetic metal with well-separated spin chains, which provides a good opportunity to study the mechanism of interchain spin coupling via itinerant electrons

Cyclic dermal BMP signalling regulates stem cell activation during hair regeneration

In the age of stem cell engineering it is critical to understand how stem cell activity is regulated during regeneration. Hairs are mini-organs that undergo cyclic regeneration throughout adult life1, and are an important model for organ regeneration. Hair stem cells located in the follicle bulge2 are regulated by the surrounding microenvironment, or niche3. The activation of such stem cells is cyclic, involving periodic -catenin activity4, 5, 6, 7. In the adult mouse, regeneration occurs in waves in a follicle population, implying coordination among adjacent follicles and the extrafollicular environment. Here we show that unexpected periodic expression of bone morphogenetic protein 2 (Bmp2) and Bmp4 in the dermis regulates this process. This BMP cycle is out of phase with the WNT/-catenin cycle, thus dividing the conventional telogen into new functional phases: one refractory and the other competent for hair regeneration, characterized by high and low BMP signalling, respectively. Overexpression of noggin, a BMP antagonist, in mouse skin resulted in a markedly shortened refractory phase and faster propagation of the regenerative wave. Transplantation of skin from this mutant onto a wild-type host showed that follicles in donor and host can affect their cycling behaviours mutually, with the outcome depending on the equilibrium of BMP activity in the dermis. Administration of BMP4 protein caused the competent region to become refractory. These results show that BMPs may be the long-sought 'chalone' inhibitors of hair growth postulated by classical experiments. Taken together, results presented in this study provide an example of hierarchical regulation of local organ stem cell homeostasis by the inter-organ macroenvironment. The expression of Bmp2 in subcutaneous adipocytes indicates physiological integration between these two thermo-regulatory organs. Our findings have practical importance for studies using mouse skin as a model for carcinogenesis, intra-cutaneous drug delivery and stem cell engineering studies, because they highlight the acute need to differentiate supportive versus inhibitory regions in the host skin

Electronic Origin of High Temperature Superconductivity in Single-Layer FeSe Superconductor

The latest discovery of high temperature superconductivity signature in single-layer FeSe is significant because it is possible to break the superconducting critical temperature ceiling (maximum Tc~55 K) that has been stagnant since the discovery of Fe-based superconductivity in 2008. It also blows the superconductivity community by surprise because such a high Tc is unexpected in FeSe system with the bulk FeSe exhibiting a Tc at only 8 K at ambient pressure which can be enhanced to 38 K under high pressure. The Tc is still unusually high even considering the newly-discovered intercalated FeSe system A_xFe_{2-y}Se_2 (A=K, Cs, Rb and Tl) with a Tc at 32 K at ambient pressure and possible Tc near 48 K under high pressure. Particularly interesting is that such a high temperature superconductivity occurs in a single-layer FeSe system that is considered as a key building block of the Fe-based superconductors. Understanding the origin of high temperature superconductivity in such a strictly two-dimensional FeSe system is crucial to understanding the superconductivity mechanism in Fe-based superconductors in particular, and providing key insights on how to achieve high temperature superconductivity in general. Here we report distinct electronic structure associated with the single-layer FeSe superconductor. Its Fermi surface topology is different from other Fe-based superconductors; it consists only of electron pockets near the zone corner without indication of any Fermi surface around the zone center. Our observation of large and nearly isotropic superconducting gap in this strictly two-dimensional system rules out existence of node in the superconducting gap. These results have provided an unambiguous case that such a unique electronic structure is favorable for realizing high temperature superconductivity