Cancer Cell Response to Anthracyclines Effects: Mysteries of the Hidden Proteins Associated with These Drugs

A comprehensive proteome map of T-lymphoblastic leukemia cells and its alterations after daunorubicin, doxorubicin and mitoxantrone treatments was monitored and evaluated either by paired comparison with relevant untreated control and using multivariate classification of treated and untreated samples. With the main focus on early time intervals when the influence of apoptosis is minimized, we found significantly different levels of proteins, which corresponded to 1%–2% of the total amount of protein spots detected. According to Gene Ontology classification of biological processes, the highest representation of identified proteins for all three drugs belong to metabolic processes of proteins and nucleic acids and cellular processes, mainly cytoskeleton organisation and ubiquitin-proteasome pathway. Importantly, we observed significant proportion of changes in proteins involved in the generation of precursor metabolites and energy typical for daunorubicin, transport proteins participating in response to doxorubicin and a group of proteins of immune system characterising response to mitoxantrone. Both a paired comparison and the multivariate evaluation of quantitative data revealed daunorubicin as a distinct member of the group of anthracycline/anthracenedione drugs. A combination of identified drug specific protein changes, which may help to explain anti-cancer activity, together with the benefit of blocking activation of adaptive cancer pathways, presents important approaches to improving treatment outcomes in cancer.     

A new method for in situ measurement of parameters and degradation processes in modern nanoscale programmable devices

This paper presents a new method and results from measurement of internal parameters of programmable nanoscale circuits, namely Xilinx FPGA devices and especially Zynq SoC devices designed on 28 nm TSMC’s technology and older 45 nm Spartan 6 device as well as Xilinx Virtex product lines. The method utilizes a new undersampling approach for frequency measurement and an easy way of processing BRAM data streams. The proposed flexible circuits have been used in various measurements of timing parameters and delays in FPGAs, including measurements or detection of the aging issues. The paper presents results of measurements under various core voltage values as performed on selected Xilinx FPGA platforms, including key results about limited usability of the latest 28 nm devices under accelerated conditions and possibility of studying or mitigating aging effects in FPGAs. The paper presents rare results of experiments, real measurements and data available from current as well as previous technology nodes and it attempts to uncover new facts and areas of the latest high-end technologies, including the area of aging and degradation processes in general. The new methodology, presented approach and results can also be used in various dependable systems, including selected aerospace, medical, automotive or transportation ones. It is also directly and easily applicable to modern processor and multicore systems.     

Measuring a spectral bandpass of a fibre-optic spectrometer using time-domain and spectral-domain two-beam interference

Abstract

Spectral bandpasses of a miniature spectrometer with three read fibres of different core diameters are obtained using the visibility functions for both spatial and spectral fringes resolved in the interference of two light beams from a laser diode operated below the threshold. From a width of the central peak of the visibility function for the spatial interference fringes measured in the Michelson interferometer configuration with a broadband detector, the source spectral width is evaluated. From widths of the visibility functions for the spectral interference fringes measured in the Michelson interferometer configuration by the spectrometer with the different read fibres, the overall spectral bandpasses are evaluated. Subtracting the effect of the source spectral width, the spectral bandpasses of the fibre-optic spectrometer are determined. These are compared with the directly measured bandpasses using the delta-function spectrum of the same laser diode operated far above the threshold.     

Influence of Pulsed Electric Field Protocols on the Reversible Permeabilization of Rucola Leaves

Reversible electropermeabilization of plant tissues with heterogeneous structure represents a technological challenge as the response of the different structures within the same specimen to the application of electric field may differ due to different cell sizes, extracellular space configurations, and electrical properties. The influence of five different pulsed electric field protocols with different pulse polarity, number of pulses (25, 50, 75, 100, 250, and 500), and intervals between pulses (no intervals and 1- and 2-ms intervals) on the reversible permeabilization of rucola (Eruca sativa) leaves was investigated. The electric field intensity was 600 V/cm. Electrical resistance of the bulk tissue was measured before and after electroporation, and propidium iodide was used to analyze the electroporation at the surface of the leaf. Leaf viability was assessed from survival in storage, and cell viability was investigated with fluorescein diacetate. Results indicate that the viability of the leaves could not be predicted by measurements of electrical resistance or permeabilization levels of the leaf surface. Higher survival rate was demonstrated when applying bipolar pulses compared with monopolar pulses, but the latter proved to be more effective than bipolar pulses for permeabilizing the surface of the leaves. Longer intervals between bipolar pulses resulted in increased viability preservation, while the number of electroporated cells on the leaf surface was comparable for all tested protocols.     

Comparison of Isolated Indentation and Grid Indentation Methods for HVOF Sprayed Cermets

This paper compares the results of two approaches of instrumented indentation for characterization of mechanical properties of HVOF coatings. Three types of HVOF sprayed coatings (Cr₃C₂-NiCr, WC-Co, (Ti, Mo)(C,N)-NiCo) were investigated by the means of isolated nanoindentation and grid indentation methods. The results of the isolated indentation revealed hardness and elastic modulus of the individual phases in very good agreement with the corresponding bulk material. The grid indentation method, based on statistical evaluation of a large number of indentations, was influenced by the carbide-matrix interface, which gave rise to a third peak apart from the two peaks corresponding to the carbides and metallic matrix. As a consequence, the bimodal Gaussian fit was insufficient and a trimodal fit had to be used. The results extracted from low load grid nanoindentations were quite close to the results of isolated indentations whereas higher load grid nanoindentation revealed overall properties of the coating.     

Compositional characteristics and experimental burning of selected Lower Palaeozoic limestones from the Prague Basin (Barrandian area,Czech Republic) suitable for the production of natural hydraulic lime

Bulletin of Engineering Geology and the Environment - Laboratory-scale experimental burning of three facial types of Devonian limestones from the Barrandian area (Czech Republic) revealed their...     

Full theory of speckle displacement and decorrelation in the image field by wave and geometrical descriptions and its application in mechanics

Abstract

The paper describes the possibility of using the speckle pattern decorrelation for determination of small deformation tensor components of an elementary object surface area in an optical image field. The relationship between the small-deformation tensor and the speckle field displacement is analysed in detail. The studied problem is presented from the approximation viewpoint of both wave and geometrical optics.     

Optimization of processing parameters of medium density fiberboard using response surface methodology for multiwalled carbon nanotubes as a nanofiller

In the present work, medium density fiberboard (MDF) panels were produced using multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) reinforced urea formaldehyde resin. Response surface methodology was employed to optimize the relationship between the three variables, viz. pressing time, percentage of UF resin and percentage of MWCNT, used in the fabrication of MDF, and the influence of variables on the internal bonding (IB) and modulus of rupture (MOR) was studied. The optimum conditions based on the IB strength were determined as 8.18 % of UF resin, pressing time of 232 s, and MWCNT of 3.5 %. Similarly, the optimized conditions for MOR are also reported in this paper.     

Recurrent concepts in data streams classification

This work addresses the problem of mining data streams generated in dynamic environments where the distribution underlying the observations may change over time. We present a system that monitors the evolution of the learning process. The system is able to self-diagnose degradations of this process, using change detection mechanisms, and self-repair the decision models. The system uses meta-learning techniques that characterize the domain of applicability of previously learned models. The meta-learner can detect recurrence of contexts, using unlabeled examples, and take pro-active actions by activating previously learned models. The experimental evaluation on three text mining problems demonstrates the main advantages of the proposed system: it provides information about the recurrence of concepts and rapidly adapts decision models when drift occurs.