, an edible mushroom, is known to have anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory, and anti-diabetes effects. However, the underlying anti-cancer mechanism of
is unknown. To determine the molecular mechanism of ...the anti-cancer effects of
, various methods were used including fluorescence-activated cell sorting, Western blotting, migration, and crystal violet assays.
ethanol extract (FFE) decreased cell viability in six cancer cell lines (MDA-MB-231, MCF-7, A549, H460, DU145, and PC-3). FFE decreased the migration of MDA-MB-231 cells without causing cell toxicity. Furthermore, FFE attenuated the expression of matrix metalloproteinase-9 and phosphorylation of Akt as well as increased E-cadherin in MDA-MB-231 cells. FFE arrested the S and G2/M populations by inhibiting the expression of cell cycle regulatory proteins such as cyclin-dependent kinase 2, cyclin A/E, and S-phase kinase-associated protein 2. FFE increased the sub-G1 population and expression of cleaved caspase-9, -3, and cleaved poly adenosine diphosphate (ADP-ribose) polymerase at 72 h and suppressed B-cell lymphoma 2. Interestingly, FFE and AKT inhibitors showed similar effects in MDA-MB-231 cells. Additionally, FFE contained betulin which inhibited p-AKT in MDA-MB-231 cells. Our findings demonstrate that FFE inhibits cell motility and growth and induces apoptosis by inhibiting the phsphoinositide 3- kinase /AKT pathway and caspase activation.
The unified model (Version: UM10.4) wind gust prediction system using rose nesting suite at 300 m resolution over the Incheon international airport (IIA) is carried out, and the prediction results of ...multiple domain nesting with input initial and lateral boundary conditions from the Korea meteorological administration (KMA) operational global data assimilation and prediction system (GDAPS) are compared with the operational local data assimilation and prediction system and the observed automated weather stations (AWS) dataset. The 300 m nested prediction system over the IIA is built from the 17 km GDAPS output in KMA; it is downscaled with a multiple nesting domains to 300 m resolution from the GDAPS, here after called as IIA-300 m. The model results are validated against the AWS to see the accuracy of the IIA-300 m model’s skill in predicting the wind gust over the IIA. The nesting suite is run with the default ancillary files created by the central ancillary program 9.0 (CAP 9.0) as well as modified ancillary files created by modifying the land points over IIA region using an ancillary editor. The UM model wind prediction is done with both ancillary files to see the improvements achieved by adding additional land points over the IIA domain. Further the vegetation fraction from the international geosphere-biosphere program (IGBP) data classified as 9 tiles in the ancillary file is replaced by the environmental-geographic information system (E-GIS) data to see the effect on the UM model’s wind gust predictions. The prediction of two wind gust events on 30-August-2016 and 02-October-2016 reveals only modest improvements in the prediction with respect to AWS observations, even after the modification of ancillaries with land points over the IIA domain, and only minor improvements are noted for the vegetation fraction replacement from IGBP to E-GIS vegetation dataset over the Incheon International Airport and exhibited only a marginal wind speed decrease due to warming up of the land part, particularly on the peripheries of the IIA-domain.
Numerical analyses using the PFC2D are conducted to study the relative changes of particle crushing and the shear behavior of granular materials according to the quantified particle shapes. A total ...of seven particle shapes are standardized and quantified. Three different particle models, including a circular particle model, a non-crushing particle model, and a crushing particle model, are developed and analyzed. The results show that shear strength is mobilized in size order: 3 ball>6 ball_T>2 ball>6 ball_R>4 ball>9 ball>1 ball model, corresponding to triangle>rectangle>square>circle shape in both the non-crushing particle model and the crushing particle model. Within the same shape but with a different number of sub-particles, it is found that an increase in the number of sub-particles within a particle coincides with smaller shear strength per model. The non-crushing particle model shows the increase of porosity not only in the shear band, but also in other layers. However, in the case of the crushing particle model, the increase of porosity is mainly focused within the shear band. It is found that with a larger circularity and convexity, that is, as a particle becomes more circular in shape, the shear strength decreases, regardless of particle crushing. It can be concluded that the standardized particle shape model suggested in this research has broader applications for future studies.
Honokiol (HK), a novel plant-derived natural product, is a physiologically activated compound with polyphenolic structure, and has been identified to function as an anticancer agent. It has been ...widely used in several diseases as a traditional medicine for a long time. We investigated whether HK could show anticancer effects on two oral squamous cell lines (OSCCs), HN-22 and HSC-4. We demonstrated that HK-treated cells showed dramatic reduction in cell growth and apoptotic cell morphologies. Intriguingly, the transcription factor specificity protein 1 (Sp1) was significantly inhibited by HK in a dose-dependent manner. Furthermore, we checked changes in cell cycle regulatory proteins and anti-apoptotic proteins at the molecular level, which are known as Sp1 target genes. The important key regulators in the cell cycle such as p27 and p21 were up-regulated by HK-mediated down-regulation of Sp1, whereas anti-apoptotic proteins including Mcl-1 and survivin were decreased, resulting in caspase-dependent apoptosis. Taken together, results from this study suggest that HK could modulate Sp1 transactivation and induce apoptotic cell death through the regulation of cell cycle and suppression of anti-apoptotic proteins. In addition, HK may be used in cancer prevention and therapies to improve the clinical outcome as an anticancer drug.
Consideration of the critical heat flux (CHF) requires difficult compromises between economy and safety in many types of thermal systems, including nuclear power plants. Much research has been ...directed towards enhancing the CHF, and many recent studies have revealed that the significant CHF enhancement in nanofluids is due to surface deposition of nanoparticles. The surface deposition of nanoparticles influenced various surface characteristics. This fact indicated that the surface wettability is a key parameter for CHF enhancement and so is the surface morphology. In this study, surface wettability of zircaloy-4 used as cladding material of fuel rods in nuclear power plants was modified using surface treatment technique (i.e. anodization). Pool boiling experiments of distilled water on the prepared surfaces was conducted at atmospheric and saturated conditions to examine effects of the surface modification on CHF. The experimental results showed that CHF of zircaloy-4 can be significantly enhanced by the improvement in surface wettability using the surface modification, but only the wettability effect cannot explain the CHF increase on the treated zircaloy-4 surfaces completely. It was found that below a critical value of contact angle (10°), micro/nanostructures created by the surface treatment increased spreadability of liquid on the surface, which could lead to further increase in CHF even beyond the prediction caused only by the wettability improvement. These micro/nanostructures with multiscale on heated surface induced more significant CHF enhancement than it based on the wettability effect, due to liquid spreadability.
Critical heat flux (CHF) has necessitated inconvenient compromises between economy and safety in most industries related to thermal systems. Recent development of nanotechnology has enabled synthesis ...of nano-sized particles and development of new heat transfer fluids with suspended nano-sized particles, i.e., nanofluids. When nanofluids were used in boiling heat transfer cooling, anomalous increase of CHF was reported. Subsequently, nanoparticle deposition on the boiling surface was revealed to contribute to CHF enhancement. Research on surface characteristics determined that three major characteristics affect CHF: wettability, liquid spreadability and multi-scale geometry. We fabricated artificially modified surfaces with arrays of octagonal micro-posts, or ZnO nanorods, or both, and measured their performance in enhancing CHF. The presence of three major characteristics enhanced CHF most.
Recently, there has been intensive research on the use of nanotechnology to improve the wettability of solid surfaces. It is well-known that nanostructures can improve the wettability of a surface, ...and this is a very important safety consideration in regard to the occurrence of boiling crises during two-phase heat transfer, especially in the operation of nuclear power plant systems. Accordingly, there is considerable interest in wetting phenomena on nanostructures in the field of nuclear heat transfer. Much of the latest research on liquid absorption on a surface with nanostructures indicates that liquid spreading is generated by capillary wicking. However, there has been comparatively little research on how capillary forces affect liquid spreading on a surface with nanotubes. In this paper, we present a visualization of liquid spreading on a zircaloy surface with nanotubes, and establish a simple quantitative method for measuring the amount of water absorbed by the nanotubes. We successfully describe liquid spreading on a two-dimensional surface via one-dimensional analysis. As a result, we are able to postulate a relationship between liquid spreading and capillary wicking in the nanotubes.
Enhancements of nucleate boiling critical heat flux (CHF) using nanofluids in a pool boiling are well-known. Considering importance of flow boiling heat transfer in various practical applications, an ...experimental study on CHF enhancements of nanofluids under convective flow conditions was performed. A rectangular flow channel with 10-mm width and 5-mm height was used. A 10
mm-diameter disk-type copper surface, heated by conduction heat transfer, was placed at the bottom surface of the flow channel as a test heater. Aqueous nanofluids with alumina nanoparticles at the concentration of 0.01% by volume were investigated. The experimental results showed that the nanofluid flow boiling CHF was distinctly enhanced under the forced convective flow conditions compared to that in pure water. Subsequent to the boiling experiments, the heater surfaces were examined with scanning electron microscope and by measuring contact angle. The surface characterization results suggested that the flow boiling CHF enhancement in nanofluids is mostly caused by the nanoparticles deposition of the heater surface during vigorous boiling of nanofluids and the subsequent wettability enhancements.
To exploit the favorable mechanical and electrical properties of graphene in practical applications, control over the dimensionality and geometry of assembled graphene structures is required. Here, ...we report the use of boiling with reduced graphene oxide (RGO) colloidal dispersion to form self-assembled three-dimensional (3D) RGO structures. The morphology of the resulting self-assembled RGO structures could be controlled by varying the heat flux during boiling. A large heat flux resulted in continuous bubble nucleation at the surface, and consequently, the interference exhibited aggregates of RGO flakes around the bubble nucleation site due to repetitive expansion and contraction of the bubble triple line. As the water evaporated, self-assembled foam-like graphene (SFG) was formed. As the heat flux increased, more vigorous agitation occurred at the interface, which led to smaller pores in the structures. With a low heat flux, the less vigorous bubble interference dynamics led to interactions between the RGO flakes, and consequently, self-assembled bump-like graphene (SBG) structures were formed, which were not porous. The self-assembled RGO 3D structures exhibited favorable mechanical and electrical properties compared with conventional 3D self-assembled graphene- or carbon-based structures. Such controllable 3D RGO structures with good mechanical and electrical properties have potential applications.
We report a study of B→(J/ψγ)K and B→(ψ'γ)K decay modes using 772×10⁶ B ̅B events collected at the Υ(4S) resonance with the Belle detector at the KEKB energy-asymmetric e(+)e(-) collider. We observe ...X(3872)→J/ψγ and report the first evidence for χ(c2)→J/ψγ in B→(X_{c ̅cγ)K decays, while in a search for X(3872)→ψ'γ no significant signal is found. We measure the branching fractions, B(B(±)→X(3872)K(±))B(X(3872)→J/ψγ)=(1.78(-0.44)(+0.48)±0.12)×10(-6), B(B(±)→χ(c2)K(±))=(1.11(-0.34)(+0.36)±0.09)×10(-5), B(B(±)→X(3872)K(±))B(X(3872)→ψ'γ)<3.45×10⁶ (upper limit at 90% C.L.), and also provide upper limits for other searches.
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