Antiproliferative effect of the Red Sea cone snail, Conus geographus

Purpose: To investigate the antiproliferative effect of the Red Sea cone snail, Conus geographus, against 4 MCF-7 (breast), MDA-MB-231 (epithelial human breast), HepG2 (hepatocellular) and SKOV-3 (ovarian) cancer cell lines. Methods: Extraction of Red Sea cone snail sample with a mixture of CH2Cl2 and CH3OH (1:1, v/v) yielded 0.55 g of a green viscous material. The cytotoxic effects of the organic extract against the cancer cell lines were determined using cell proliferation (MTT) assay, and the half-maximal concentration (IC50) values measured. The effect of the crude extract on the cell cycle of the HepG-2 was determined by flow cytometry. Results: The extract produced significant inhibitory effects against SKOV-3, MDA-MB-231, MCF-7 and HepG2, with IC50 values of 22.7 ± 2.2, 68.7 ± 6.2, 47 ± 4.2 and 19 ± 2.1 μg/mL, respectively. Cell cycle analysis revealed that the extract enhanced accumulation of HepG2 cells in the Go/G1 phase, at a level of 23.4 and 24.1 % at IC50 (19 μg/mL) and ½ IC50 (9.5 μg/mL), respectively, when compared to the untreated cells. Conclusion: These results indicate that C. geographus extract exhibits potent cytotoxic effect against HepG2 cells via a mechanism involving G0/G1 cell cycle arrest. Thus, C. geographus is a potential source of a new anti-cancer agent. Keywords: Conus geographus, Marine invertebrate, HepG2, Antiproliferatio

Effects of Poly Vinyl Acetate on Characteristics of Expansive Soil

Soil stabilization using polymer materials has become of great potential in recent years. In this regard, an attempt is made to investigate and understand the influence of Poly Vinyl Acetate (PVA) on the engineering properties of expansive soil. A series of treated soil specimens were prepared and tested at four different percentages of PVA (0%, 1.5%, 3.75%, and 5% by weight of dry soil). These treated specimens were subjected to laboratory testing for measuring Atterberg's limits, free swell, compaction characteristics, and unconfined compression strength properties. It was found that PVA had significant influence on the properties of treated soil. An increase in PVA content resulted in an increment of unconfined compressive strength of the soil. Addition of 3.75% of PVA increased the unconfined compressive strength value almost 6 times the value of the virgin soil. On the other hand, an increase in PVA content led to a reduction of free swell and plasticity index. The soil plasticity and free swell indices values were reduced from 62% to 0% and from 190% to 50% respectively by addition of 5% PVA. It can be concluded that an increasing trend for soil strength and decreasing in swelling with addition of PVA, suggesting its potential applications in stabilization of expansive soils

On the Security of Millimeter Wave Vehicular Communication Systems using Random Antenna Subsets

Millimeter wave (mmWave) vehicular communica tion systems have the potential to improve traffic efficiency and safety. Lack of secure communication links, however, may lead to a formidable set of abuses and attacks. To secure communication links, a physical layer precoding technique for mmWave vehicular communication systems is proposed in this paper. The proposed technique exploits the large dimensional antenna arrays available at mmWave systems to produce direction dependent transmission. This results in coherent transmission to the legitimate receiver and artificial noise that jams eavesdroppers with sensitive receivers. Theoretical and numerical results demonstrate the validity and effectiveness of the proposed technique and show that the proposed technique provides high secrecy throughput when compared to conventional array and switched array transmission techniques

The Degree of Including Concepts of Sustainable Development in the Social and National Studies Course for Intermediate School Third Level Students in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

The study aimed to analyze the content of the course of studies and social and national for third level in intermediate school in Saudi Arabia in the light of sustainable development concepts. To achieve the objectives of the study, the researcher used descriptive content analysis-based and adopted the theme and the idea as unit of analysis and the concepts of sustainable development as a group for analysis. The list consisted of 20 units of sustainable development concepts administred on the content of social and national course in the third level in intermediate school. One of the most important results of the study is that the social sustainable development concept came first and had percentage of 45.1%, sustainable economic development concept came in second 34.2%, and environmental sustainable development concept came third with a percentage of 20.1%. The researcher recommends that the sustainable development concepts which included in the book of social and national studies in the third level in intermediate school in Saudi Arabia in these three fields (economic, social, and environmental) should be equally distributed