3-Bromopyruvate as a potent anticancer therapy in honor and memory of the late Professor André Goffeau

3-Bromopyruvate (3BP ) is a small, highly reactive molecule formed by bromination of pyruvate. In the year 2000, the antitumor properties of 3BP were discovered. Studies using animal models proved its high efficacy for anticancer therapy with no apparent side effects. This was also found to be the case in a limited number of cancer patients treated with 3BP . Due to the “Warburg effect,” most tumor cells exhibit metabolic changes, for example, increased glucose consumption and lactic acid production resulting from mitochondrial-bound overexpressed hexokinase 2. Such alterations promote cell migration, immortality via inhibition of apoptosis, and less dependence on the availability of oxygen. Significantly, these attributes also make cancer cells more sensitive to agents, such as 3BP that inhibits energy production pathways without harming normal cells. This selectivity of 3BP is mainly due to overexpressed monocarboxylate transporters in cancer cells. Furthermore, 3BP is not a substrate for any pumps belonging to the ATP-binding cassette superfamily, which confers resistance to a variety of drugs. Also, 3BP has the capacity to induce multiple forms of cell death, by, for example, ATP depletion resulting from inactivation of both glycolytic and mitochondrial energy production pathways. In addition to its anticancer property, 3BP also exhibits antimicrobial activity. Various species of microorganisms are characterized by different susceptibility to 3BP inhibition. Among tested strains, the most sensitive was found to be the pathogenic yeast-like fungus Cryptococcus neoformans. Significantly, studies carried out in our laboratories have shown that 3BP exhibits a remarkable capacity to eradicate cancer cells, fungi, and algae.     

Heat Transfer Phenomena of Power Law Fluids in Double‐Pass Heat Exchangers with Isoflux Conditions

A new design of conjugated heat transfer in double‐pass parallel‐plate laminar countercurrent operations of power law fluids under wall isoflux was investigated experimentally and theoretically. The analytical solutions were obtained with a superposition model by introducing an eigenfunction expansion in terms of a power series for the homogeneous part and an asymptotic solution for the inhomogeneous part. The influence of the power law index on the average Nusselt numbers with the various design and operating parameters is also delineated. The theoretical predictions of the experimental results are represented graphically. The heat transfer performance was considerably improved when compared with a single‐pass parallel‐plate heat exchanger (without inserting a solid separator sheet). Suitable adjustments of the solid separator sheet position can effectively enhance the heat transfer efficiencies for such a recycling double‐pass device, as compared with the efficiencies of single‐ and double‐pass devices.     

Stochastic Landau–Lifshitz–Gilbert equation with anisotropy energy driven by pure jump noise

In this work we study a stochastic three-dimensional Landau–Lifshitz–Gilbert equation with non-zero anisotropy energy, which is drive by pure jump noise. We show existence of weak martingale solutions taking values in a two-dimensional sphere ${\mathbb{S}}^2$. The construction of the solution is based on the classical Faedo–Galerkin approximation, the compactness method and the Jakubowski version of the Skorokhod Theorem for nonmetric spaces.     

A Comparative Study of the Quality of Strawberry Purée Preserved by Continuous Microwave Heating and Conventional Thermal Pasteurization During Long-Term Cold Storage

This study was aimed at monitoring changes in the quality of strawberry purée preserved by continuous microwave heating (MV) at 90 and 120 °C for 10 s and conventional thermal pasteurization (CTP) at 90 °C for 15 min during cold storage (6 °C), and determining its shelf-life. The shelf-life of MV and CTP-preserved products established on the basis of microbiological changes was more than 52 weeks (<1 log cfu of yeasts, moulds, and total microbial count per gram). During this time, 43 and 34 % of polyphenols, 89 and 58 % of anthocyanins, as well as 57 and 52 % of antioxidant capacity decrease were noted, for MV and CTP-preserved samples respectively; vitamin C was completely degraded. Color changes were more visible for MV (ΔE?=?10.82) compared with the CTP-preserved sample (ΔE?=?5.14). The kinetic rate of degradation of nutrients was higher for MV- compared to CTP-preserved purée. The recommended cold shelf-life for the MV-preserved purée was estimated at 100 days, during which time it was of a superior quality compared with CTP-preserved purée.     

Improved electrical characteristics of CoSi2 usingHF-vapor pretreatment

We have developed a simple process to form epitaxial CoSi₂ for shallow junctions. Prior to metal deposition, the patterned wafers were treated with HF-vapor passivation. As observed by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), this HF treatment drastically improves the native oxide-induced surface roughness. The epitaxial behavior was confirmed by cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Decreased sheet resistance and leakage current, and improved thermal stability are displayed by the HF treated samples, which is consistent with STM and TEM results     

The Effects of Copper Oxides on the Curing Behaviors of Bismaleimide Triazine Prepreg

The effect of copper oxides on the curing behaviors of the bismaleimide triazine (BT) prepreg is studied with infrared spectroscopy (IR), attenuated total reflection infrared spectroscopy (ATR), and X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The result of IR analyses indicates that there is a concentration distribution present in the prepreg surface layer and the outer surface layer contains less cyanate, imide, and epoxide but more triazine groups than the inner layer. From ATR, it is concluded that the cuprous oxide attracts more cyanate ester resins but less bismaleimide resins from the prepreg to its surface than the cupric oxide. The copper surface affects the curing extent of the BT resin in contact and the cupric oxide has a more pronounced effect than the cuprous oxide, and this surface effect can extend to at least two microns deep into the BT prepreg from the contacted interface. The XPS results confirm that the BT/CuO interface contains more thermally stable and polar functional groups than the BT/Cu₂O interface, and both two copper oxides attract only a small amount of brominated epoxy resin onto their surfaces. These results are attributed to the difference in preferential adsorptions and catalytic curing effects of two copper oxides on the BT prepreg in contact.

The intensity changes of IR bands obtained from BT prepreg during cure.     

Antimicrobial and Cytotoxic Properties of Bisquaternary Ammonium Bromides of Different Spacer Length

A group of cationic gemini surfactants (bisquaternary ammonium bromides) with different spacer chain lengths (8–6–8, 8–7–8, 8–8–8, 8–9–8) was investigated, paying special attention to antimicrobial and the cytotoxic properties as well as their antimicrobial activity during long‐term storage. It was shown that the compounds investigated exhibit excellent antimicrobial activity against Gram‐positive bacteria (Staphylococcus aureus) and Gram‐negative bacteria (Pseudomonas aeruginosa) as well as antifungal properties (Candida albicans). The gemini surfactants tested had the differential level of cytotoxicity against normal lymphocytes. It was shown that the spacer chain length plays an important role in antibacterial activity and influences the cytotoxicity. The gemini surfactants with shorter spacer chain length, that had higher critical micelle concentration, showed generally weaker antibacterial properties, but on the other hand, these exhibited lower level of cytotoxicity. Furthermore, the aqueous solution of gemini surfactants exhibited the same antimicrobial activity even after 3 months.     

MOLECULAR GEOMETRY,CYP1A GENE INDUCTION AND CLASTOGENIC ACTIVITY OF CYCLOPENTA[c]PHENANTHRENE IN RAINBOW TROUT

Cyclopenta[c]phenanthrene (CP[c]Ph) is a PAH member that shows similarities to bay-and fjord region possessing PAHs. On the basis of X-ray measurements it was found that the molecule of this hydrocarbon is planar. In this case, intramolecular strains caused by repulsion between protons in the pseudo fjord-region are balanced by both the shortening of some bonds which acquire more double bond character, and by the enlargement of exocyclic angles within the pseudo fjord-region. The activity of CP[c]Ph was investigated in vivo in rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss. The CYP1A mRNA levels following 48h-treatment with CP[c]Ph or benzo[a]pyrene (B[a]P; positive control) were determined and compared with incidences of clastogenic changes observed in the peripheral blood erythrocytes. We have found that the ability to induce CYP1A by these PAH compounds is positively correlated with the incidences of clastogenic changes in rainbow trout erythrocytes.