Temporal resolution of cell death signaling events induced by cold atmospheric plasma and electroporation in human cancer cells

Cancer treatment resistance and their invasive and expensive nature is propelling research towards developing alternate approaches to eradicate cancer in patients. Non-thermal, i.e., cold atmospheric plasma (CAP) and electroporation (EP) applied to the surface of cancerous tissue are new methods that are minimally invasive, safe, and selective. These approaches, both independently and synergistically, have been shown to deplete cancer cell populations, but the signaling mechanisms of death and their timelines of action are still widely unknown. To better understand the timeframe of signaling events occurring upon treatment, human cancer cell lines were treated with CAP, EP, and combined CAP with EP. The stages and incidence of apoptosis were tracked through time via flow cytometry while the activation/inactivation of the penultimate apoptotic signaling complex was examined through real-time fluorescent imaging. These treatments represent a promising new therapy in the global fight against cancer

Cytomegalovirus infection of the upper gastrointestinal tract following liver transplantation—incidence, location, and severity in cyclosporine- and FK506-treated patients

One hundred and forty randomly selected liver transplant recipients were studied before and after primary orthotopic liver transplantation for the presence or absence of CMV enteritis. Following OLTx, 65 patients were treated with cyclosporine A and 75 were treated with FK506. The two groups were similar with regard to the incidence, location, and outcome of their upper gastrointestinal CMV infection. Prior to OLTx, only one patient had evidence of enteric CMV infection. The incidence of CMV enteritis post-OLTx was 27.7% in the CsA-treated group and 20% in the FK-treated group. During the first posttransplant month, no patient in the FK-treated group developed CMV enteritis, compared with 11.5% of the patients who were treated with CsA (P<0.05). Gastric CMV was found in over 80% of those positive for any organ in either group. In addition to CMV infection of the upper gastrointestinal tract, clinically evident CMV disease involved more nonenteric organs in the CsA-treated group than in the FK-treated group. In the CsA-treated group, CMV-negative patients had a statistically higher 1-year survival rate (100%) than CMV-positive patients (77.8%) (P<0.05). In the FK-treated group, no difference in survival was observed between CMV-positive or CMV-negative cases at 1 year. Of the patients on CsA, 20% received OKT3 for persistent rejection, as compared with 13% in the FK-treated group. The patients receiving both CsA and OKT3 had a higher rate of upper gastrointestinal CMV infection than did FK-treated patients who also received OKT3 therapy (38.5% versus 20%, respectively). Based upon these data, it can be concluded that (1) patients receiving FK have a lower incidence of enteric CMV infection; (2) following OLTx, upper gastrointestinal CMV infection presents later in FK-treated patients; (3) the stomach is the most frequently involved organ in the UGIT; (4) FK-treated liver recipients have less severe enteric CMV infection than do CsA-treated patients; (5) enteric CMV is not a major cause of mortality in liver trans lant recipients; and (6) in patients receiving FK, those who require OKT3 therapy do not appear to be at a greater risk for the development of CMV enteritis than those who do not. © 1992 by Williams & Wilkins

Structural Evolution of Tungsten Surface Exposed to Sequential Low-Energy Helium Ion Irradiation and Transient Heat Loading

Structural damage due to high flux particle irradiation can result in significant changes to the thermal strength of the plasma facing component surface (PFC) during off-normal events in a tokamak. Low-energy He+ ion irradiation of tungsten (W), which is currently the leading candidate material for future PFCs, can result in the development of a fiber form nanostructure, known as “fuzz”. In the current study, mirror-finished W foils were exposed to 100 eV He+ ion irradiation at a fluence of 2.6 × 1024 ions m−2 and a temperature of 1200 K. Then, samples were exposed to two different types of pulsed heat loading meant to replicate type-I edge-localized mode (ELM) heating at varying energy densities and base temperatures. Millisecond (ms) laser exposure done at 1200 K revealed a reduction in fuzz density with increasing energy density due to the conglomeration and local melting of W fibers. At higher energy densities (∼ 1.5 MJ m−2), RT exposures resulted in surface cracking, while 1200 K exposures resulted in surface roughening, demonstrating the role of base temperature on the crack formation in W. Electron beam heating presented similar trends in surface morphology evolution; a higher penetration depth led to reduced melt motion and plasticity. In situ mass loss measurements obtained via a quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) found an exponential increase in particle emission for RT exposures, while the prevalence of melting from 1200 K exposures yielded no observable trend

Analysis of Chemical and Microbial Change During Storage of Overripe Tempeh Powder as Seasoning Material

Tempeh and other soy-derived products are historically and currently some of the most important foods in the Asian region where diets remain predominantly plant-based. Overripe tempeh (tempe semangit) is a term used for over-fermented tempeh with pungent odor and darkening appearance commonly used in Javanese cuisine. Unique taste and odor of overripe tempeh lead to the exploration of its potencies as condiment, which may add the nutritional, safety and economic values of tempeh. In this research, overripe tempeh is made into powder for better appearance and availability. Oven drying at 60oC and freeze drying were applied to the overripe tempeh until it reached moisture content below 5%, followed by subsequent crushing into powder using electric grinding machine. As seasoning material, the tempeh powder and overripe tempeh powder were then analyzed for their stability. Observations in chemical and microbial changes during storage were also applied to selected product during storage. Parameters observed during the research are: moisture content, protein content, acid content, total microbial count and total coliform. Oven dried overripe tempeh (S60) has higher moisture content but lower in acid content, total microbial count and total coliform compared to freeze dried overripe tempeh (SFD)

Synthesis of New Coumarin Derivatives Used as Nitrification Inhibitors to Mitigation of Nitrous Oxide Emission from Agricultural Soil.

Nitrous oxide (N2O) is one of the major greenhouse gases "GHG” the main source of N2O emission is synthetic mineral nitrogen fertilizers. The conversion values according to the global warming potential for N2O are 298 times as CO2 per molecule. The main objective of this work is to mitigate GHG emission from N2O by create synthesis new nitrification inhibitors.  Coumarine derivatives were synthesized (1-4), and prove the structures by spectral data, the compounds (1) and (4) were applied as nitrification inhibitors to mitigation of nitrous oxide. The results indicated that, the presence of each of the two tested inhibitors (1, 4) reduced the N2O emission from urea-treated soils by 72% and 49%, respectively, in inhibiting nitrification during the 28-day incubation period. Key words: Nitrous oxide emissions, Mitigation, Agricultural soil, Nitrification, Coumarin derivatives

Novel Cu(I)-5-nitropyridine-2-thiol Cluster with NIR Emission: Structural and Photophysical Characterization

A novel Cu(I) cluster compound has been synthesized by reacting CuI with the 2,2′-dithiobis(5-nitropyridine) ligand under solvothermal conditions. During the reaction, the original ligand breaks into the 5-nitropyridine-2-thiolate moiety, which acts as the coordinating ligand with both N- and S-sites, leading to a distorted octahedral Cu6S6 cluster. The structure has been determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction and FT-IR analysis, and the photophysical properties have been determined in the solid state by means of steady-state and time-resolved optical techniques. The cluster presents a near-infrared emission showing an unusual temperature dependence: when passing from 77 to 298 K, a blue-shift of the emission band is observed, associated with a decrease in its intensity. Time-dependent-density functional theory calculations suggest that the observed behavior can be ascribed to a complex interplay of excited states, basically in the triplet manifold

Is rejection a diffuse or localized process in small-bowel transplantation?

Utilization of endoscopy to both visualize and selectively biopsy an intestinal allograft has become the standard for early recognition and treatment of intestinal allograft rejection. Despite the widespread acceptance of the need for selective mucosal biopsies, it has not been shown that the histological features of intestinal allograft rejection are either localized or occur as part of a more diffuse phenomenon within a tubular allograft. To resolve these issues, 88 ileoscopies were performed in 12 small-bowel allograft recipients and mucosal biopsy samples were obtained at 5, 10, and 15 cm, respectively, from the ileal stoma. Each mucosal biopsy was labeled, processed, and evaluated individually for the presence and severity of any evidence for allograft rejection. The data obtained suggest that intestinal allograft rejection is a diffuse process, and biopsies obtained randomly from an ileal graft are likely to demonstrate evidence of allograft rejection when such is present. © 1994 Springer-Verlag New York Inc

The tumor-educated-macrophage increase of malignancy of human pancreatic cancer is prevented by zoledronic acid.

We previously defined macrophages harvested from the peritoneal cavity of nude mice with subcutaneous human pancreatic tumors as "tumor-educated-macrophages" (Edu) and macrophages harvested from mice without tumors as "naïve-macrophages" (Naïve), and demonstrated that Edu-macrophages promoted tumor growth and metastasis. In this study, Edu- and Naïve-macrophages were compared for their ability to enhance pancreatic cancer malignancy at the cellular level in vitro and in vivo. The inhibitory efficacy of Zoledronic acid (ZA) on Edu-macrophage-enhanced metastasis was also determined. XPA1 human pancreatic cancer cells in Gelfoam co-cultured with Edu-macrophages proliferated to a greater extent compared to XPA1 cells cultured with Naïve-macrophages (P = 0.014). XPA1 cells exposed to conditioned medium harvested from Edu culture significantly increased proliferation (P = 0.016) and had more migration stimulation capability (P&lt;0.001) compared to cultured cancer cells treated with the conditioned medium from Naïve. The mitotic index of the XPA1 cells, expressing GFP in the nucleus and RFP in the cytoplasm, significantly increased in vivo in the presence of Edu- compared to Naïve-macrophages (P = 0.001). Zoledronic acid (ZA) killed both Edu and Naïve in vitro. Edu promoted tumor growth and metastasis in an orthotopic mouse model of the XPA1 human pancreatic cancer cell line. ZA reduced primary tumor growth (P = 0.006) and prevented metastasis (P = 0.025) promoted by Edu-macrophages. These results indicate that ZA inhibits enhanced primary tumor growth and metastasis of human pancreatic cancer induced by Edu-macrophages

Design and Synthesis of Novel NSAIDs Class Acting as Anticancer Agents

Several effective anticancer therapeutic drugs containing coumarin nucleus. Thus, some coumarin derivatives 3-2