Hydroxygenkwanin Increases the Sensitivity of Liver Cancer Cells to Chemotherapy by Inhibiting DNA Damage Response in Mouse Xenograft Models

Molecules involved in DNA damage response (DDR) are often overexpressed in cancer cells, resulting in poor responses to chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Although treatment efficacy can be improved with the concomitant use of DNA repair inhibitors, the accompanying side effects can compromise the quality of life of patients. Therefore, in this study, we identified a natural compound that could inhibit DDR, using the single-strand annealing yeast-cell analysis system, and explored its mechanisms of action and potential as a chemotherapy adjuvant in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cell lines using comet assay, flow cytometry, Western blotting, immunofluorescence staining, and functional analyses. We developed a mouse model to verify the in vitro findings. We found that hydroxygenkwanin (HGK) inhibited the expression of RAD51 and progression of homologous recombination, thereby suppressing the ability of the HCC cell lines to repair DNA damage and enhancing their sensitivity to doxorubicin. HGK inhibited the phosphorylation of DNA damage checkpoint proteins, leading to apoptosis in the HCC cell lines. In the mouse xenograft model, HGK enhanced the sensitivity of liver cancer cells to doxorubicin without any physiological toxicity. Thus, HGK can inhibit DDR in liver cancer cells and mouse models, making it suitable for use as a chemotherapy adjuvant.     

Polypropylene composites. II: Structure-property relationships in two- and three-component polypropylene composites

Two- and three-component polypropylene (PP) blends and composites were prepared to study their structure/property relationships. Butadiene-styrene (BDS) copolymers of low compatibility formed large particles of poor adhesion in PP resulting in inferior mechanical properties. Better miscibility of ethylene-propylene-diene (EPDM) elastomer results in more finely dispersed particles and the experimental results indicate a transition to an interpenetrating network (IPN)– like structure with increasing elastomer content. Effective impact modification can be achieved only with EPDM elastomers of sufficient miscibility. Mutual wettability and adhesion of the components determine the structure and properties in PP/elastomer/filler systems. Modification of PP by acrylic acid grafting promotes PP/filler adhesion which, in turn, results in the separate dispersion of the components. In an unmodified PP matrix, a significant amount of the filler is encapsulated by the elastomer. At low filler content, better low temperature impact strength is achieved in the case of separately dispersed components, while encapsulation is more advantageous at high filling grades.     

Interblock memory for turbo coding

We investigate a binary code, which is implemented by serially concatenating a multiplexer, a multilevel delay processor, and a signal mapper to a binary turbo encoder. To achieve improved convergence behavior, we modify the binary code by passing only a fraction of the bits in the turbo code through the multilevel delay processor and the signal mapper. Two decoding methods are discussed and their performances are evaluated.     

Modulation of cytochrome P-450-dependent monooxygenases, glutathione and glutathione S-transferase in rat liver by geniposide from Gardenia jasminoides

Geniposide is an iridoid glycoside extracted from the fruits of Gardenia jasminoides, which are used as a food colorant and as a traditional Chinese medicine for treatment of hepatic and inflammatory diseases. The effects of geniposide and G. jasminoides fruit crude extract on liver cytochrome P-450 (P-450)-dependent monooxygenases, glutathione and glutathione S-transferase were investigated using rats treated orally with the iridoid glycoside (0.1 g/kg body weight/day) or the fruit crude extract (2 g/kg/day) for 4 days. The treatments decreased serum urea nitrogen level but increased liver to body weight ratio, total hepatic glutathione content and hepatic cytosolic glutathione S-transferase activity. Treatments with geniposide and G. jasminoides decreased P-450 content, benzo[a]pyrene hydroxylation, 7-ethoxycoumarin O-deethylation, and erythromycin N-demethylation activities in liver microsomes without affecting aniline hydroxylation activity. The natural products had no effect on glutathione content and monooxygenase activities in kidney microsomes. Immunoblotting analyses of liver microsomal proteins using mouse monoclonal antibody 2-13-1 to rat P4503A1/2 revealed that geniposide and G. jasminoides crude extract decreased the intensity of a P4503A-immunorelated protein. Protein blots probed with mouse monoclonal antibody 1-12-3 to rat P4501A1 and rabbit polyclonal antibody against human P4502E1 showed that both treatments had little or no effect on P4501A and 2E proteins. The present findings demonstrate that geniposide from G. jasminoides has the ability to inhibit a P4503A monooxygenase and increase glutathione content in rat liver.     

Complex time series from a modulated semiconductor laser: itsdeterminism exploration

A singular value decomposition (SVD) eigenvalue spectrum is employed to explore the deterministic nature of the complex time series from a modulated semiconductor laser. With this method, the signature of chaos can be quickly identified and the noise contamination ratio can also be estimated. Relations between the supplied modulation of laser diode and the noise level are illustrated. The connection between relative intensity noise and the noise floor in the SVD spectrum has also been clarified     

Hybrid Soft Computing Approach for Mining of Complex Construction Databases

The paper presents a hybrid soft computing system for mining of complex construction databases. The proposed approach hybridizes soft computing techniques, such as fuzzy logic, artificial neural networks (ANNs), and messy genetic algorithms (mGAs), to form a novel computational method for mining of human understandable knowledge from historical databases. The hybridization combines the merits of explicit knowledge representation of fuzzy logic decision-making systems, learning abilities of ANNs, and global search of mGAs. A hybrid soft computing system (HSCS) is developed for mining complex databases in construction with three characteristics: scarcity, incompleteness, and uncertainty. Real-world construction data repositories are selected to test the capabilities of the proposed HSCS for data-mining under the above-mentioned complex conditions. The testing results show the promising potential of the proposed HSCS for mining of complex databases in construction.     

Influence of Lubricant on the Nucleate Boiling Heat Transfer Performance of Refrigerant—A Review

This review provides an overview of the lubricant on the heat transfer performance pertaining to nucleate boiling. It appears that the effect of individual parameter on the heat transfer coefficient may be different from study to study. This is associated with the complex nature of lubricant and some compound effects accompanying the heat transport process. Some important effects such as oil concentration, heat flux, geometric configuration, saturation temperature, thermodynamic and transport properties, miscibility, foaming, and additional surface active agent are reported and discussed. In general, the heat transfer coefficient is impaired provided the oil concentration is sufficient high (e.g., >7%), and this is applicable to smooth and structured tubes. But normally structured tubes tend to suffer more from lubricant, yet this is especially conspicuous when the size of the reentrant channel is small. On the other hand, foaming and partial miscibility seem to benefit the heat transfer coefficient.     

Proximate composition, total phenolic content, and antioxidant activity of seagrape (Caulerpa lentillifera)

The proximate composition of seagrape (Caulerpa lentillifera) from culture ponds in Penghu, Taiwan was analyzed. The phenolic content and the antioxidant activities including the 1,1-diphenyl-2-picryl-hydrazil (DPPH) radical scavenging activity, ferric ion-reducing activity, hydrogen peroxide scavenging activity, and ferrous ion chelating (FIC) activity of the ethanolic extracts of dry seagrape samples using 2 drying methods of freeze drying and thermal drying were compared with the ethanolic extract of Oolong tea as a reference. The contents (dry weight basis) of carbohydrate, crude protein, crude lipid, crude fiber, and ash of seagrape obtained from culture ponds in Taiwan were 64.00%, 9.26%, 1.57%, 2.97%, and 22.20%, respectively. The total phenolic content (1.30 mg gallic acid equivalent [GAE]/g dry weight) of the ethanolic extract of thermally dried seagrape was significantly lower (P < 0.05) than that (2.04 mg GAE/g dry weight) of freeze-dried seagrape, and both were significantly lower than that (13.58 mg GAE/g dry weight) of Oolong tea. At the same phenolic content, the antioxidant activities of freeze-dried seagrape were significantly higher (P < 0.05) than those of thermally dried seagrape. Compared with Oolong tea, seagrape, irrespective of drying method used, generally had strong hydrogen peroxide scavenging activity; but it was weak in DPPH radical scavenging activity, ferric ion-reducing activity, and FIC activity. The antioxidant activity of seagrape and Oolong tea was significantly influenced by their phenolic contents. PRACTICAL APPLICATION: The proximate composition, total phenolic content, and antioxidant activity of seagrape (Caulerpa lentillifera) in Taiwan were determined in this research to indicate nutritionally of this edible seaweed to human health, and compared these results to previous studies.     

Closed management and percutaneous fixation of unstable proximal humerus fractures

BACKGROUND: In dealing with displaced proximal humerus fractures, there is still much controversy in treatment modalities. The latest investigations emphasize the concept of minimal exposure and rigid fixation. METHODS: The technique of closed reduction and percutaneous fixation with cannulated screws and k-pins was performed on 19 patients with two- and three-part proximal humerus fractures. The outcomes were evaluated with a mean follow-up of 21 months. RESULTS: All except one case had a solid union of the fracture. Sixteen of 19 patients (84%) acquired good or excellent results according to Neer's classification. No further collapse or avascular necrosis was found. CONCLUSION: The method of closed reduction and percutaneous fixation, although technically demanding, yields satisfactory results in displaced proximal humerus fracture. Cannulated screws provided rigid fixation that was the underlying tenet for early functional retrieval.