An adsorptive transfer technique coupled with brdicka reaction to reveal the importance of metallothionein in chemotherapy with platinum based cytostatics

The drugs based on platinum metals represent one of the oldest, but also one of the most effective groups of chemotherapeutic agents. Thanks to many clinical studies it is known that resistance of tumor cells to drugs is a frequent cause of chemotherapy failure. With regard to platinum based drugs, multidrug resistance can also be connected with increased expression of low-molecular weight protein metallothionein (MT). This study aimed at investigating the interactions of MT with cisplatin or carboplatin, using the adsorptive transfer technique coupled with differential pulse voltammetry Brdicka reaction (AdTS DPV Brdicka reaction), and a comparison of in vitro results with results obtained in vivo. The results obtained from the in vitro study show a strong affinity between platinum based drugs and MT. Further, we analyzed extracts of neuroblastoma cell lines treated with cisplatin or carboplatin. It is clear that neuroblastoma UKF-NB-4 cisplatin-resistant and cisplatin-sensitive cell lines unlikely respond to the presence of the platinum-based cytostatics cisplatin and carboplatin. Finally, we determined the level of MT in samples from rabbits treated with carboplatin and patients with retinoblastoma treated with the same drug.     

冰硬度试验台设计与试验

极地冰层硬度特性对铠装电缆电动机械取心钻具反扭装置设计和使用具有重要意义。针对冰层特殊的物理性质,结合材料硬度测试原理,设计了一套可在模拟极地冰层低温条件下测量冰硬度特性的硬度试验台。该试验台由低温冷柜、硬度测试台和数据采集及控制系统3部分组成,其中,数据采集及控制系统隔离在常温环境中,降低了元器件对环境温度的要求。利用该试验台对硬度压头压入冰层的压力和深度进行数据检测,换算得到相应的硬度值。对设计的试验台进行初步实验表明,该试验台工作状态良好,数据准确,可满足对低温材料硬度特性的检测。     

Physico-chemical properties of ethanol – Compilation of existing data

Physico-chemical properties of ethanol and aqueous solutions of ethanol are important for chemical engineering calculation, modelling and evaluation of processes during ethanol production and its use for food and non-food applications. The majority of these properties are possible to find in handbooks and tables as Yaws (1999): Chemical Properties Handbook; Miller and Yaws (1976): Correlation constants for liquids; Lide (2007–2008): CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics; Hole?ek (2007): Chemical-engineering tables; Critical Data Tables and other literature. Some of them are also accessible online. The goal of this paper is to present the formulas and developed algorithms for calculation of extended properties of ethanol collected from literature. Extended properties include density, vapor pressure, surface tension, viscosity, molar and specific heat capacity, enthalpy of vaporization, thermal conductivity and static relative permittivity (dielectric constant) of ethanol.     

Machine learning in adversarial environments

Whenever machine learning is used to prevent illegal or unsanctioned activity and there is an economic incentive, adversaries will attempt to circumvent the protection provided. Constraints on how adversaries can manipulate training and test data for classifiers used to detect suspicious behavior make problems in this area tractable and interesting. This special issue highlights papers that span many disciplines including email spam detection, computer intrusion detection, and detection of web pages deliberately designed to manipulate the priorities of pages returned by modern search engines. The four papers in this special issue provide a standard taxonomy of the types of attacks that can be expected in an adversarial framework, demonstrate how to design classifiers that are robust to deleted or corrupted features, demonstrate the ability of modern polymorphic engines to rewrite malware so it evades detection by current intrusion detection and antivirus systems, and provide approaches to detect web pages designed to manipulate web page scores returned by search engines. We hope that these papers and this special issue encourages the multidisciplinary cooperation required to address many interesting problems in this relatively new area including predicting the future of the arms races created by adversarial learning, developing effective long-term defensive strategies, and creating algorithms that can process the massive amounts of training and test data available for internet-scale problems.     

New algorithm for a robust user-independent evaluation of beginning instability for the experimental FLC determination

The failure prediction in sheet metal forming is typically realized by evaluating the so called forming limit curves (FLC). The standard experimental method is the Nakajima test, where sometimes also the Marciniak test setup is used. Up to now, the FLC determination was performed with failed specimens and an one-directional intersection line method or by manually analyzing the estimated strains before cracking. Both methods determine the failure by considering the occurrence of cracking and do not consider the possibility of time continuous recording of the Nakajima test. Consequently forming limit curves which have been evaluated in such way are often “laboratory dependent” and deviate for identical materials significantly. This paper presents an algorithm for a fully automatic and time-dependent determination of the beginning plastic instability based on physical effects. The algorithm is based on the evaluation of the strain distribution based on the displacement field which is evaluated by optical measurement and treated as a mesh of a finite element calculation. The critical deformation states are then defined by 2D-consideration of the strain distribution and their time derivates using a numerical evaluation procedure for detecting the beginning of the localization. The effectiveness of the proposed algorithm will be presented for different materials used for the Numisheet’08 Benchmark-1 with Nakajima test.     

Electro-optical characteristics of polymer-dispersed liquid crystal film controlled by ionic-surfactant method

The electro-optical characteristics of a composite film based on a polymer containing dispersed nematic liquid crystal (NLC) doped with an ionic surfactant have been studied. The threshold character of the reorientation of NLC droplets as well as the dependence of the modulation amplitude of light transmission on the electric field strength has been revealed for the effect of ionic modification of surface anchoring. The dynamical parameters of the optical response have been determined.     

The hot rectus abdominis muscle sign

We report a 2.5-year-old child who presented with an acute abdomen caused by the perforation of a sewing pin through her appendix that had started to penetrate the wall of the bladder.     

Behaviour of an optically trapped probe approaching a dielectric interface

Abstract

The way in which reflection of the trapping beam from a dielectric interface influences the distance of the trapped sphere from the beam waist is studied theoretically and experimentally. The reflected wave interferes with the incident wave and they create a standing-wave component in the total axial intensity distribution. This component then modulates the trapping potential and creates several possible equilibrium positions for the trapped sphere. When the beam waist approaches the surface, the potential profile changes, which consequently causes jumps of the trapped probe from its current location to a deeper potential well. We suggested theoretically and proved experimentally that the magnitude of these unwanted jumps between the neighbouring equilibrium positions can be decreased by a suitable size of the sphere.