Amyloidogenic Properties of Peptides Derived from the VHL Tumor Suppressor Protein

The von Hippel-Lindau tumor suppressor protein (pVHL) is involved in maintaining cellular oxygen homeostasis through the regulated degradation of HIF-α. The intrinsically disordered nature of pVHL makes it prone to aggregation that impairs its function, and this is further aggravated in mutant versions of the protein, thus promoting tumor development. By using in silico analysis, we predicted six peptide fragments from pVHL to be amyloidogenic. This was verified for two of the peptides by biophysical approaches, which demonstrated self-assembly and formation of β-sheet-rich aggregates, which, under transmission electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, and X-ray diffraction, displayed typical fibrillar amyloid characteristics. These motifs may serve as proxies for exploring the nature of pVHL aggregation.     

Effects of Silicon on Growth,Yield and Fruit Quality of Cantaloupe under Drought Stress

Silicon - Silicon (Si) plays an important role in mitigating adverse effects of various biotic and abiotic stresses including drought. Polyhouse experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of...     

Radiation-Induced Senescence Reprograms Secretory and Metabolic Pathways in Colon Cancer HCT-116 Cells

Understanding the global metabolic changes during the senescence of tumor cells can have implications for developing effective anti-cancer treatment strategies. Ionizing radiation (IR) was used to induce senescence in a human colon cancer cell line HCT-116 to examine secretome and metabolome profiles. Control proliferating and senescent cancer cells (SCC) exhibited distinct morphological differences and expression of senescent markers. Enhanced secretion of pro-inflammatory chemokines and IL-1, anti-inflammatory IL-27, and TGF-β1 was observed in SCC. Significantly reduced levels of VEGF-A indicated anti-angiogenic activities of SCC. Elevated levels of tissue inhibitors of matrix metalloproteinases from SCC support the maintenance of the extracellular matrix. Adenylate and guanylate energy charge levels and redox components NAD and NADP and glutathione were maintained at near optimal levels indicating the viability of SCC. Significant accumulation of pyruvate, lactate, and suppression of the TCA cycle in SCC indicated aerobic glycolysis as the predominant energy source for SCC. Levels of several key amino acids decreased significantly, suggesting augmented utilization for protein synthesis and for use as intermediates for energy metabolism in SCC. These observations may provide a better understanding of cellular senescence basic mechanisms in tumor tissues and provide opportunities to improve cancer treatment.     

Preparation of ceria-zeolite catalysts by different techniques and its effect on selective catalytic reduction of NO with NH3 at high space velocities

Topics in Catalysis - Several zeolite-based catalysts containing Ce3+ and/or CeO2 were prepared by a variety of catalyst preparation techniques like ion exchange, solid-state ion exchange,...     

Antioxidant efficacy of amino acids in methyl linoleate at different relative humidities

Antioxidant efficacy of the amino acids methionine, tryptophan, aspartic acid, serine, alanine and arginine in methyl linoleate were compared to a methyl linoleate control at 2,50 or 79% relative humidity (RH) at 37°C. Antioxidant efficacy varied with RH and the individual amino acids. Arginine had the highest antioxidant efficacy at all RH values compared to the control. The efficacy of alanine was equal to that of arginine at RHs of 50 and 79% but was lower at 2% RH. The presence of aliphatic, alkaline amino, hydroxyl or thiol groups in the side chain of the amino acids increased the antioxidant efficacy at high RHs.     

Pressure drop for single and two‐phase flow of non‐newtonian liquids in helical coils

New experimental results on pressure loss for the single and two‐phase gas‐liquid flow with non‐Newtonian liquids in helical coils are reported. For a constant value of the curvature ratio, the value of the helix angle of the coils is varied from 2.56° to 9.37°. For single phase flow, the effect of helix angle on pressure loss is found to be negligible in laminar flow regime but pressure loss increases with the increasing value of helix angle in turbulent flow conditions. On the other hand, for the two‐phase flow, the well‐known Lockhart‐Martinelli method correlates the present results for all values of helix angle (2.56‐9.37°) satisfactorily under turbulent/laminar and turbulent/turbulent conditions over the following ranges of variables as: 0.57 ≤ n′ ≤ 1; Re′ < 4000; Re_l < 4000; Re_g < 8000; 8 ≤ x ≤ 1000 and 0.2 ≤ De′ ≤ 1000.     

Gas-liquid mass transfer in three-phase fluidized beds with viscous pseudoplastic liquids

Liquid phase volumetric mass transfer coefficients for oxygen were determined in three-phase fluidized beds of 8 mm glass spheres fluidized by a cocurrent flow of air and pseudoplastic polysaccharide solutions (carboxymethyl cellulose, xanthan). A semi-theoretical relation for the effective shear rate was suggested. The mass transfer coefficients could be correlated, together with literature data for particle diameters of 3 mm and 5 mm in other liquids, using the terminal velocity as the particle-specific property.     

Blend membranes of chitosan and poly(vinyl alcohol) in pervaporation dehydration of isopropanol and tetrahydrofuran

Blend membranes of a natural polymer, chitosan, with a synthetic polymer, poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA), were prepared by solution casting and crosslinked with a urea formaldehyde/sulfuric acid (UFS) mixture. Chitosan was used as the base component in the blend system, whereas PVA concentration was varied from 20 to 60 wt %. Blend compatibility was studied by differential scanning calorimetry, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy was used to study membrane crosslinking. Membranes were tested for pervaporation dehydration of isopropanol and tetrahydrofuran (THF) at 30°C in close proximity to their azeotropic compositions. Membrane performance was assessed by calculating flux and selectivity. Swelling experiments performed in water + organic mixtures at 30°C were used to explain the pervaporation results. The blend membrane containing 20 wt % PVA when tested for 5 and 10 wt % water–containing THF and isopropanol feeds exhibited selectivity of 4203 and 17,991, respectively. Flux increased with increasing concentration of water in the feed. Selectivity was highest for the 20 wt % PVA‐containing blend membrane. The results of this study are unique in the sense that the crosslinking agent used—the UFS mixture—was novel. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 103: 1918–1926, 2007     

二元液体混合物扩散系数的理论计算

许多化工过程涉及扩散控制的质量传递,扩散系数的获取对过程工程的精确量化具有重要意义.今提出了基于局部组成的扩散系数模型,以估算Maxwell-Stefan扩散系数随浓度的变化.仅通过无限稀释下的扩散系数,以及溶液的Wilson或NRTL参数,能够预测二元混合物的扩散系数.与文献发表的实验数据比较,对15种二元组分溶液的计算结果平均误差是6.35%.结果显示,这种模型优于目前常用的Darken模型.