The Role of Microbiota in the Immunopathogenesis of Endometrial Cancer

The female reproductive tract hosts a specific microbiome, which plays a crucial role in sustaining equilibrium and good health. In the majority of reproductive women, the microbiota (all bacteria, viruses, fungi, and other single-celled organisms within the human body) of the vaginal and cervical microenvironment are dominated by Lactobacillus species, which benefit the host through symbiotic relationships, in comparison to the uterus, fallopian tubes, and ovaries, which may contain a low-biomass microbiome with a diverse mixture of microorganisms. Although disruption to the balance of the microbiota develops, the altered immune and metabolic signaling may cause an impact on diseases such as cancer. These pathophysiological modifications in the gut–uterus axis may spark gynecological cancers. New information displays that gynecological and gastrointestinal tract dysbiosis (disruption of the microbiota homeostasis) can play an active role in the advancement and metastasis of gynecological neoplasms, such as cervical, endometrial, and ovarian cancers. Understanding the relationship between microbiota and endometrial cancer is critical for prognosis, diagnosis, prevention, and the development of innovative treatments. Identifying a specific microbiome may become an effective method for characterization of the specific microbiota involved in endometrial carcinogenesis. The aim of this study was to summarize the current state of knowledge that describes the correlation of microbiota with endometrial cancer with regard to the formation of immunological pathologies.     

Targeting Energy Metabolism in Cancer Treatment

Cancer is the second most common cause of death worldwide after cardiovascular diseases. The development of molecular and biochemical techniques has expanded the knowledge of changes occurring in specific metabolic pathways of cancer cells. Increased aerobic glycolysis, the promotion of anaplerotic responses, and especially the dependence of cells on glutamine and fatty acid metabolism have become subjects of study. Despite many cancer treatment strategies, many patients with neoplastic diseases cannot be completely cured due to the development of resistance in cancer cells to currently used therapeutic approaches. It is now becoming a priority to develop new treatment strategies that are highly effective and have few side effects. In this review, we present the current knowledge of the enzymes involved in the different steps of glycolysis, the Krebs cycle, and the pentose phosphate pathway, and possible targeted therapies. The review also focuses on presenting the differences between cancer cells and normal cells in terms of metabolic phenotype. Knowledge of cancer cell metabolism is constantly evolving, and further research is needed to develop new strategies for anti-cancer therapies.     

UV Differentially Induces Oxidative Stress,DNA Damage and Apoptosis in BCR-ABL1-Positive Cells Sensitive and Resistant to Imatinib

Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) cells express the active BCR-ABL1 protein, which has been targeted by imatinib in CML therapy, but resistance to this drug is an emerging problem. BCR-ABL1 induces endogenous oxidative stress promoting genomic instability and imatinib resistance. In the present work, we investigated the extent of oxidative stress, DNA damage, apoptosis and expression of apoptosis-related genes in BCR-ABL1 cells sensitive and resistant to imatinib. The resistance resulted either from the Y253H mutation in the BCR-ABL1 gene or incubation in increasing concentrations of imatinib (AR). UV irradiation at a dose rate of 0.12 J/(m²·s) induced more DNA damage detected by the T4 pyrimidine dimers glycosylase and hOGG1, recognizing oxidative modifications to DNA bases in imatinib-resistant than -sensitive cells. The resistant cells displayed also higher susceptibility to UV-induced apoptosis. These cells had lower native mitochondrial membrane potential than imatinib-sensitive cells, but UV-irradiation reversed that relationship. We observed a significant lowering of the expression of the succinate dehydrogenase (SDHB) gene, encoding a component of the complex II of the mitochondrial respiratory chain, which is involved in apoptosis sensing. Although detailed mechanism of imatinib resistance in AR cells in unknown, we detected the presence of the Y253H mutation in a fraction of these cells. In conclusion, imatinib-resistant cells may display a different extent of genome instability than their imatinib-sensitive counterparts, which may follow their different reactions to both endogenous and exogenous DNA-damaging factors, including DNA repair and apoptosis.     

Interactions between Nanoclay,CTAB and Linear/Star Shaped Polymers

The influence of star-shaped (PAA-SS) and linear polyacrylic acid (PAA) with different molecular weights (high—PAA-HMW and low—PAA-LMW) on the structure of the adsorption layer, adsorption amount, electrokinetic and stabilizing properties of the PAA/CTAB/nanoclay suspensions was studied. The properties of the systems containing one of these polymers, the cationic surfactant—hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) and the surface-modified nanoclay (N-SM) were analyzed using the following techniques: BET, CHN, FT-IR, ED-XRF, XRD, HRTEM, UV-Vis, tensiometry and zeta potential measurements. It was proved that PAA could be used as an effective stabilizer of N-SM. Moreover, the addition of CTAB caused a significant increase in the stability of the systems but decreased the adsorption of PAA on the N-SM surface and changed the structure of the adsorption layers. The largest stability was observed in the PAA-HMW/CTAB system. The PAA polymers and PAA/CTAB complexes adsorbed, especially on the clay surface, influenced the primary distribution of the layered sheets but kept the same basal d-spacing. The adsorption of PAA and the PAA/CTAB complexes took place mainly at the plate edges and on the contact space between the sheets. The obtained results will be used for the preparation of the PAA/CTAB/nanoclay composite for water purification.     

Boron-Containing Non-Flammable Polyurethane Foams

Boron-containing oligoetherol was synthesized from melamine diborate (MDB) with ethylene carbonate. The oligoetherol was then used to obtain polyurethane foams. Additional amount of MDB was also used as additive flame retardant added at the foaming step into foaming composition. Obtained PUFs were non-flammable as demonstrated by vertical and horizontal flaming tests. The products has also high thermal resistance and can be exposed to long term heating at 175°C. Fire properties of the obtained foams were compared with the properties of foams obtained from melamine and propylene carbonate and from MDB and ethylene carbonate.     

Insights on boron impact on structural characteristics in epitaxially grown BGaN

Journal of Materials Science - It is shown that MOCVD growth allows to obtain BGaN epitaxial layers at growth temperature (Tgr) between 840 and 1090 °C. It is found that morphology of...     

Influence of Complexation of Thiosemicarbazone Derivatives with Cu (II) Ions on Their Antitumor Activity against Melanoma Cells

A series of thiosemicarbazone derivatives was prepared and their anti-tumor activity in vitro was tested. The X-ray investigation performed for compounds T2, T3 and T5 confirmed the synthesis pathway and assumed molecular structures of analyzed thiosemicarbazones. The conformational preferences of the thiosemicarbazone system were characterized using theoretical calculations by AM1 method. Selected compounds were converted into complexes of Cu (II) ions. The effect of complexing on anti-tumor activity has been investigated. The copper(II) complexes, with Schiff bases T1, T10, T12, T13, and T16 have been synthesized and characterized by chemical and elemental analysis, FTIR spectroscopy and TGA method. Thermal properties of coordination compounds were studied using TG-DTG techniques under dry air atmosphere. G361, A375, and SK-MEL-28 human melanoma cells and BJ human normal fibroblast cells were treated with tested compounds and their cytotoxicity was evaluated with MTT test. The compounds with the most promising anti-tumour activity were then selected and their cytotoxicity was verified with cell cycle analysis and apoptosis/necrosis detection. Additionally, DNA damages in the form of a basic sites presence and the expression of oxidative stress and DNA damage response genes were evaluated. The obtained results indicate that complexation of thiosemicarbazone derivatives with Cu (II) ions improves their antitumor activity against melanoma cells. The observed cytotoxic effect is associated with DNA damage and G2/M phase of cell cycle arrest as well as disorders of the antioxidant enzymes expression.     

Perovskite Sr(Fe1-xCux)O3-δ materials for chemical looping combustion applications

This paper presents the results of chemical looping combustion (CLC) research. Nowadays, CLC is one of the best prospective combustion technologies, because it enables the production of a concentrated carbon dioxide (CO₂) stream, following water condensation, without any energy penalty for its separation.The objective of this work was to study chemical looping reaction performance with the application of novel perovskite-type oxygen carriers (OCs). Sr(Fe_1-xCu_x)O_3-δ family members were tested for hydrogen combustion for power generation purposes. Sr(Fe_1-xCu_x)O_3-δ, which is a perovskite-type oxide, was prepared using the calcination method, where x = 0, 0.1 and 0.33. Reactivity tests were performed using a thermogravimetric analyser (TGA, Netzsch STA 409 PG Luxx) under isothermal conditions in multiple reduction–oxidation cycles. Both the temperature (600–800 °C) and number of redox cycles (five cycles) effects on the reaction performance of recently developed OC samples were evaluated in the study. TGA data were used for the assessment of the oxygen transport capacity value, redox reaction rates and stability. Sr(Fe_1-xCu_x)O_3-δ showed an excellent stable chemical looping performance. The changing of oxygen content (3.8–4.86 wt%) occurred within approximately 2 min, with the chemical properties of the material maintained during the cycling combustion tests.In addition, new SrFeO_3-δ OCs, doped with copper (Cu) perovskite-type materials, were analysed using multiple methods: X-ray powder diffraction (XRD); scanning electron microscopy (SEM); surface area by Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) method; and melting behaviour study. In terms of physical properties, the new OCs can resist both high CLC process temperatures and mechanical forces, which are essentially useful. The analysis showed that Sr(Fe_1-xCu_x)O_3-δ carriers performed at extremely high melting temperatures (>1280 °C). Results of crushing strength testing showed that developed materials had a pronounced mechanical resistivity with a crushing strength higher than 1 N and will perform well in fluidized beds (4.31–6.23 N).In this paper, it was demonstrated that known mixed oxygen-ionic and electronic conducting membrane materials such as Sr(Fe_1-xCu_x)O_3-δ might also be applied as oxygen carriers. Overall results demonstrated Fe-Cu-based perovskites might be successfully used as OCs in the chemical looping combustion process.