Association between steroid hormone receptors and PSA gene expression in breast cancer cell lines

The prostate specific antigen (PSA) gene is a member of the human kallikrein gene family and is known that to be tightly regulated by androgens in the male prostate The presence of PSA is stronglyassociated with presence of steroid hormone receptors. The aim of this research was to show differential expression and association between steroid hormone receptors and PSA gene expression in breast cancer cell lines. The cell lines investigated were steroid receptor-negative breast carcinoma cell lines BT-20 and HBT-100 and the steroid hormone receptor-positive breast carcinoma cell lines BT- 474, ZR-75-1, MDA-MB-453 and MFM-233. Others include BG-1 (ovarian), MFE-296 (endometrium), HBT-161 (ovarian), HBT-173 (ovarian), A-427 (lung), SK-MES-1(lung), NCI-H460(lung),MIA PaCa (pancreas), and Colo320 (Colon) cell lines. All cell lines were cultured as confluent and then harvested. Stimulationtest was carried out using steroid compound. The concentration of estrogen receptor (ER) and progesterone receptor (PR) in all tumor cell lines were measured with the abbot enzyme immunoassay kit. Among cell lines tested, only steroid receptor positive cells were able to produce PSA at the protein and the mRNA level in response to stimulatory effects of steroid hormones. Our data suggest that the expression of the PSA gene in different cancer cell lines may depends on the presence of steroidhormone receptors

New hybrid CPU-GPU solver for CFD-DEM simulation of fluidized bed

Modeling is an alternative to experiment to explore more in multiphase flows. Various modeling approaches have been developed and used from 1D models in the macro-scale to multidimensional models in the micro scale. Well-known modeling approaches for fluidization systems are TFM and CFD-DEM, both have found many practical applications in fluidization systems. The TFM considers both fluid and particulate phase as interpenetrating continua. In contrast, the CFD-DEM considers the fluid as a continuous fluid in the meso-scale (cell-scale) and the solid as discrete particles in the micro-scale. The translational and rotational motions of individual particles are described by applying Newton’s and Euler’s second laws of motion, respectively. Since the first introduction of CFD-DEM technique by Tsuji et al. (1) and Hoomans et al. (2), different aspects of this modeling approach have been being enhanced and developed. Nowadays, this modeling approach has found many applications in different engineering fields specially fluidization (3). One of the main limitations of this modeling approach is its high computational demand which makes the parallelization necessary in order to model larger systems with more details. A CFD-DEM code comprises of three computational parts: CFD, DEM and coupling. The CFD part can be efficiently parallelized using space decomposition method on the distributed-memory platform like MPI, while the DEM part, due to its low granularity, is better to be parallelized using loop-level parallelization on the shared-memory platform like CUDA. We used a combination of both platforms to speed-up the CFD-DEM code. Figure 1 shows the data transfer between different parts of the code and the platforms that are used for their implementation. As it can be seen, the CFD and coupling parts are parallelized using MPI and executed on multiple CPUs and the DEM part is parallelized using CUDA and executed on a GPU. To solve the Navier-Stokes equations, we used the open-source CFD package, OpenFOAM®, while the code for coupling and DEM calculations were developed internally. The main goal of this programing style was to benefit from the maximum computational power of CPU and GPU in a single PC equipped with a CUDA-capable GPU. This code was successfully utilized for a fluidization system containing 100,000 spherical particles with the mean size of 2200 micrometers and density of 1500 kg/m3. Particles were placed in a cylinder with inner diameter of 0.14 m and height of 1 m. Number of fluid cells in the simulation was 7,400. The superficial gas velocity was 2 m/s. The code was executed on one CPU core of an Intel® core™-i7 processor (3.6 GHz) and an NVIDIA GeForce® GTX 660 Ti GPU. The simulation was continued for 1 second and the execution time was about 1.5 hr. Snapshots of this simulation are shown in Figure 2. These snapshots show the contour of gas velocity field and particles which are colored based on their velocity. This code is in its very first stages of developments and needs optimizations in both coupling and DEM parts to gain more execution speed. Please click Additional Files below to see the full abstract

Plasma Leptin, hTERT Gene Expression, and Anthropometric Measures in Obese and Non-Obese Women with Breast Cancer

Introduction Expression of human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) occurs in most cancers but its relation with obesity is unclear. This study explores the association between leptin levels and anthropometric indices with hTERT mRNA levels in breast cancer patients of different obesity grades. Materials and methods In this case-control study, 65 breast cancer patients participated. Expression of tissues hTERT mRNA was carried out by real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction. Leptin concentrations were measured by enzyme-linked immunoassay. Results Twelve patients (18.46%) were hTERT negative and 53(81.54%) were positive. hTERT mRNA levels were associated with BMI but not with waist circumference (WC) (r = 0.219, P = 0.22) and waist to hip ratio (WHR) (r = 0.212, P = 0.237). Leptin level and hTERT mRNA levels (r = 0.484, P = 0.008) were correlated as well as BMI and hTERT expression. Conclusions This study has shown a correlation between leptin levels and hTERT expression. These findings may clarify the role of leptin in breast carcinogenesis, and hence obesity could be responsible for increased incidences in breast cancer as well as its progression via enhanced production of leptin

The study of reproductive behavior and growth of Caspian Sea Amphipod: (Pontogammarus maeoticus)

Amphipods collected from the southern coasts of Caspian Sea (Jefrood beach) were transferred to laboratory along with sediment from the same area. Samples were maintained in controlled laboratory condition at temperature of 2510oC, salinity of 9± 0.5 ppt and a 12 hrs. light - dark regime. The average period spent in precopula stage was about 2.6±0.91 days and embryonic development took about 8.5 ±1.05 days. The fecundity was estimated as the number of fertilized eggs existing in brood pouch of each female (14.125). First precopula was observed after about 40 days of birth. To study the effect of feed composition on growth, Gammarus of similar size were fed by composite food of (fish-potato), (fish-bread) , (fish-leaf), (leaf-potato), (leaf-bread) and (breadpotato). At the end of 6th week the head of all specimens were measured. The result of statistical analysis showed significant difference between the treatments (p0.05). The combination of potato-bread was found to be the most suitable food for Gammarus

The Possible Impact of Obesity on Androgen, Progesterone and Estrogen Receptors (ERα and ERβ) Gene Expression in Breast Cancer Patients

Background Obesity has been associated with increased mortality from hormone dependant cancers such as breast cancer which is the most prevalent cancer in women. The link between obesity and breast cancer can be attributed to excess estrogen produced through aromatization in adipose tissue. The role of steroid hormone receptors in breast cancer development is well studied but how obesity can affect the expression pattern of steroid hormones in patients with different grades of breast cancer was the aim of this study. Methods In this case-control study, 70 women with breast cancer participated with different grades of obesity (36 none obese, BMI < 25 kg/m 2 and 34 obese, BMI ≥ 25 kg/m 2 ). The mean age of participants was 44.53 ± 1.79 yr (21–70 yr). The serum level of estrogen, progesterone and androgen determined by ELISA. Following quantitative expression of steroid hormone receptors mRNA in tumor tissues evaluated by Real-time PCR. Patients with previous history of radiotherapy or chemotherapy were excluded. SPSS 16 was used for data analysis and P < 0.05 considered statistically significant. Results The difference in ERα, ERβ and PR mRNA level between normal and obese patients was significant ( P < 0.001). In addition, the expression of AR mRNA was found to be higher than other steroid receptors. There was no significant relation between ERβ gene expression in two groups ( P = 0.68). We observed a significant relationship between ERα and AR mRNA with tumor stage and tumor grade, respectively ( P = 0.023, P = 0.015). Conclusion According to the obtained results, it is speculated that obesity could paly a significant role in estrogen receptors gene expression and also could affect progression and proliferation of breast cancer cells

The nature of the relationship between teacher and learner in comprehensive e-learning process with an emphasis on ideas of Deleuze

Background and Objectives: The aim of this research is study the nature of the relationship between teacher and learner in comprehensive e-learning process with an emphasis on ideas of Deleuze. With the expansion of e-learning, one of the important aspects of change in education is in the field of teaching and learning, including the relation between the teacher and the learner. In the analysis and evaluation of the nature of the relation and its role in human cognition, one of the post structuralist emerging paradigms is Deleuze's rhizomatic epistemology. In the area of Deleuze's ideas and electronic learning based on connectivism theory, separate researches have been done. However, what distinguishes this study from other studies is the assessment of the important fact that whether the new area which Deleuze names rhizomatic and by which means challenges the traditional relationships between the teacher and the learner in the tree system and deterritorializes can support the new atmosphere of electronic learning. Do these two accompany each other? MethodS:The methodology of this study is philosophical analysis and deduction, which were used to answer the research question (What is the nature of the relation between the teacher and the learner in the process of e-learning?). The method of data collection is desk-documentation study. Based on concept analysis, valid understanding of the concept and a clear explanation of its relationship with other concepts was achieved. Moreover, based on deductive approach, the implications of the nature of the relation between the teacher and the learner according to Deleuze's ideas in the process of teaching - learning in e-learning was assessed. Then, these were analyzed philosophically. In other words, Deleuze's rhizomatic epistemological concepts and the related elements on the one hand and the concepts of electronic learning based on connectivism theory on the other hand were analyzed, interpreted and clarified. In the end, the proportion of relation in e-learning to Deleuze's rhizomatic relation was evaluated.  Findings: First, basic factors in rhizomatic epistemology of Deleuze were investigated. Based on the findings of this study, the essentialistic of the relationship between the teacher and the learner, according to Deleuze’s opinions, is rhizomatic. This means that it has features such as Interconnection and heterogeneity, pluralism, immigration, mapping, and non-indicative dissociation of rhizome, suggesting nonlinear, horizontal and non-hierarchical, fluid and fragile, decentralizing, spontaneous and molecular, dense and multiplexed, flexible and permeable relationships. Second, the nature of relationship in virtual learning process was illuminated according to the principles of communication theory, which is the new theory of learning in the age of information and communication technology, communication in E-learning is a systemic and network communication that has nonlinear relationships among system components and network.According to this theory, E-learning is the process of network components communicating with each other. At the end, the nature of relationship virtual Learning in relation with, the nature of rhizomatic epistemology of Deleuze was examined Therefore, the orientation of communication in E-learning is in line with Deleuze's rhizomatic relationship. Conclusion: Based on connectivism theory, electronic education is the very process of network elements connecting with each other. Thus, the direction of e-learning is aligned with Deleuze's rhizomatic relation. Thus, Deleuze's rhizomatic relationships with regard to the capabilities it holds, promises the ideal relationship between the teacher and the learner in the E-learning era and can serve as a model to address some of the challenges of the traditional educational system.   ===================================================================================== COPYRIGHTS  ©2020 The author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, as long as the original authors and source are cited. No permission is required from the authors or the publishers.  ====================================================================================