Antitumor Effects of Vitamin D Analogs on Hamster and Mouse Melanoma Cell Lines in Relation to Melanin Pigmentation

Deregulated melanogenesis is involved in melanomagenesis and melanoma progression and resistance to therapy. Vitamin D analogs have anti-melanoma activity. While the hypercalcaemic effect of the active form of Vitamin D (1,25(OH)₂D₃) limits its therapeutic use, novel Vitamin D analogs with a modified side chain demonstrate low calcaemic activity. We therefore examined the effect of secosteroidal analogs, both classic (1,25(OH)₂D₃ and 25(OH)D₃), and novel relatively non-calcemic ones (20(OH)D₃, calcipotriol, 21(OH)pD, pD and 20(OH)pL), on proliferation, colony formation in monolayer and soft-agar, and mRNA and protein expression by melanoma cells. Murine B16-F10 and hamster Bomirski Ab cell lines were shown to be effective models to study how melanogenesis affects anti-melanoma treatment. Novel Vitamin D analogs with a short side-chain and lumisterol-like 20(OH)pL efficiently inhibited rodent melanoma growth. Moderate pigmentation sensitized rodent melanoma cells towards Vitamin D analogs, and altered expression of key genes involved in Vitamin D signaling, which was opposite to the effect on heavily pigmented cells. Interestingly, melanogenesis inhibited ligand-induced Vitamin D receptor translocation and ligand-induced expression of VDR and CYP24A1 genes. These findings indicate that melanogenesis can affect the anti-melanoma activity of Vitamin D analogs in a complex manner.     

Temperature cycling and its effect on mechanical behaviours of highporosity chalks

Temperature history can have a significant effect on the strength of water-saturated chalk.In this study,hydrostatic stress cycles are applied to understand the mechanical response of chalk samples exposed to temperature cycling between each stress cycle,compared to the samples tested at a constant temperature.The total accumulated strain during a stress cycle and the irreversible strain are reported.Chalk samples from Kansas(USA)and Mons(Belgium),with different degrees of induration(i.e.amount of contact cementation),were used.The samples were saturated with equilibrated water(polar)and nonpolar Isopar H oil to quantify water weakening.All samples tested during 10 stress cycles with varying temperature(i.e.temperature cycled in between each stress cycle)accumulated more strain than those tested at constant temperatures.All the stress cycles were performed at 30℃.The two chalk types behaved similarly when saturated with Isopar H oil,but differently when saturated with water.When saturated with water,the stronger Kansas chalk accumulated more total strain and more irreversible strain within each stress cycle than the weaker Mons chalk.     

Microwave dielectric properties of ultra-low loss Li2MgTi0.7(Mg1/3Nb2/3)0.3O4 ceramics sintered at low temperature by LiF addition

In this work, ultra-low loss Li₂MgTi_0.7(Mg_1/3Nb_2/3)_0.3O₄ ceramics were successfully prepared via the conventional solid-state method. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), thermally stimulated depolarization current (TSDC) and bond energy were used to determine the distinction between intrinsic and extrinsic dielectric loss in (Mg_1/3Nb_2/3)⁴⁺ ions substituted ceramics. The addition of (Mg_1/3Nb_2/3)⁴⁺ ions enhances the bond energy in unit cell without changing the crystal structure of Li₂MgTiO₄, which results in high Q·f value as an intrinsic factor. The extrinsic factors such as porosity and grain size influence the dielectric loss at lower sintering temperature, while the oxygen vacancies play dominant role when the ceramics densified at 1400?°C. The Li₂MgTi_0.7(Mg_1/3Nb_2/3)_0.3O₄ ceramics sintered at 1400?°C can achieve an excellent combination of microwave dielectric properties: ε_r =?16.19, Q·f?=?160,000?GHz and τ_f =??3.14?ppm/°C. In addition, a certain amount of LiF can effectively lower the sintering temperature of the matrix, and the Li₂MgTi_0.7(Mg_1/3Nb_2/3)_0.3O₄-3?wt% LiF ceramics sintered at 1100?°C possess balanced properties with ε_r?=?16.32, Q·f?=?145,384?GHz and τ_f =??16.33?ppm/°C.     

Effect of Supports and Promoters on the Performance of Ni-Based Catalysts in Ethanol Steam Reforming

Ethanol steam reforming (ESR) is one of the potential processes to convert ethanol into valuable products. Hydrogen produced from ESR is considered as green energy for the future and can be an excellent alternative to fossil fuels with the aim of mitigating the greenhouse gas effect. The ESR process has been well studied, using transition metals as catalysts coupled with both acidic and basic oxides as supports. Among various reported transition metals, Ni is an inexpensive material with activity comparable to that of noble metals, showing promising ethanol conversion and hydrogen yields. Additionally, different promoters and supports were utilized to enhance the hydrogen yield and the catalyst stability. This review summarizes and discusses the influences of the supports and promoters of Ni-based catalysts on the ESR process.     

In situ measurements of human cough aerosol hygroscopicity

The airborne dynamics of respiratory droplets, and the transmission routes of pathogens embedded within them, are governed primarily by the diameter of the particles. These particles are composed of the fluid which lines the respiratory tract, and is primarily mucins and salts, which will interact with the atmosphere and evaporate to reach an equilibrium diameter. Measuring organic volume fraction (OVF) of cough aerosol has proved challenging due to large variability and low material volume produced after coughing. Here, the diametric hygroscopic growth factors (GF) of the cough aerosol produced by healthy participants were measured in situ using a rotating aerosol suspension chamber and a humidification tandem differential mobility analyser. Using hygroscopicity models, it was estimated that the average OVF in the evaporated cough aerosol was 0.88 ± 0.07 and the average GF at 90% relative humidity (RH) was 1.31 ± 0.03. To reach equilibrium in dry air the droplets will reduce in diameter by a factor of approximately 2.8 with an evaporation factor of 0.36 ± 0.05. Hysteresis was observed in cough aerosol at RH = ∼35% and RH = ∼65% for efflorescence and deliquescence, respectively, and may depend on the OVF. The same behaviour and GF were observed in nebulized bovine bronchoalveolar lavage fluid.     

Differences between oculomotor and perceptual artifacts for temporally limited head mounted displays

We used perceptual and oculomotor measures to understand the negative impacts of low (phantom array) and high (motion blur) duty cycles with a high‐speed, AR‐likehead‐mounted display prototype. We observed large intersubject variability for the detection of phantom array artifacts but a highly consistent and systematic effect on saccadic eye movement targeting during low duty cycle presentations. This adverse effect on saccade endpoints was also related to an increased error rate in a perceptual discrimination task, showing a direct effect of display duty cycle on the perceptual quality. For high duty cycles, the probability of detecting motion blur increased during head movements, and this effect was elevated at lower refresh rates. We did not find an impact of the temporal display characteristics on compensatory eye movements during head motion (e.g., VOR). Together, our results allow us to quantify the tradeoff of different negative spatiotemporal impacts of user movements and make subsequent recommendations for optimized temporal HMD parameters.