Prostate cancer is the most common urologic malignancy involving multiple factors. There is evidence that suggests that detoxification enzymes and growth factors may play a role in the formation of ...prostate cancer. Our aim was to investigate whether polymorphisms of glutathione S-transferase M1 (GST M1), insulin-like growth factor-2 (IGF-2), and epidermal growth factor (EGFR) genes could be used as genetic markers for risk of prostate cancer. In this study, we compared the frequency of the polymorphisms of GST M1, IGF-2, and EGFR genes among 96 patients with prostate cancer and 121 healthy male volunteers from the same geographic area (age, older than 60 years). There was significant difference in the GST M1 genotype between the prostate cancer group and the control group (
P = 0.042). The GST M1 null genotype was significantly higher in the cancer group (59.4%) than in the control group (45.5%). However, our study did not reveal a significant association between prostate cancer and the distribution of the IGF-2 or EGFR genotypes. This study suggests that the GST M1 gene, but not the IGF-2 or the EGFR genes, may be a risk factor of developing prostate cancer in Taiwan.
Epidemiological studies showed that hypercholesterolemia is associated with higher left ventricular mass. Endothelin signaling is activated in hyperlipidemic animals and may contribute to progressive ...ventricular hypertrophy. Simvastatin has been shown to inhibit endothelin-1. However, the behavior of simvastatin on ventricular hypertrophy in hyperlipidemic animals is not well understood. In this study, we evaluated the hemodynamic, biochemical, and morphological responses to simvastatin in cholesterol-fed (1%) rabbits. The left ventricular weight increased 8 wk after cholesterol feeding compared with that in normocholesterolemic rabbits. Simvastatin at a clinical therapeutic dose (1.2 mg x kg-1 x day-1) significantly decreased left ventricular weight by 14% and left ventricular myocyte sizes by 14% as isolated by enzymatic dissociation. Hypercholesterolemia upregulated ventricular preproendothelin-1 mRNA as assessed by real-time quantitative RT-PCR and elevated production of cardiac endothelin-1 concentration. The increased endothelin-1 responses can be inhibited after simvastatin administration. Left ventricular mass indexed by body weight positively correlated with tissue endothelin-1 levels (P = 0.0003). In Langendorff-perfused rabbit hearts, hyperlipidemia led to significant QT prolongation compared with normocholesterolemia, which can be reversed by administering simvastatin. In contrast, simvastatin-induced beneficial effects were reversed by the addition of mevalonate. The addition of bosentan, a nonspecific endothelin receptor blocker, improved the response in hypercholesterolemic rabbits and did not have additional beneficial effects in simvastatin-treated rabbits. The results of the present study suggest that the antihypertropic and electrocardiographic effects of simvastatin at a clinical therapeutic dose are mediated through inhibition of tissue endothelin-1 expression, which is linked to mevalonate metabolism, and result in an amelioration of cardiomyocyte hypertrophy development by an atherogenic diet. PUBLICATION ABSTRACT
The thermal characteristics of power modules have a great impact on the performance of the inverter system in electric vehicles. The poor thermal characteristics of power modules will reduce the ...efficiency, power density, and reliability of the EV inverter. This paper studied the thermal characteristics of power modules under different power and thermal conditions and their influence on system performance in the EV inverter. The thermal resistances of Si IGBT and SiC power modules were measured by electrical method. The results showed the thermal resistance will be variated under several different input currents, cooling water flow rates, and inlet water temperatures. The thermal resistances of Si IGBT and SiC power modules were compared and discussed. We studied the structure-function to analyze thermal resistance in different material layers of the power module to find the heat transfer bottleneck in the Si IGBT and SiC power modules. Finally, by using the electro-thermal RC model coupled with the power loss model, the thermal effects on the inverter system were studied.
Estrogen has an antioxidant potential which may contribute to its cardioprotective effect. We sought to determine whether estrogen administration can affect coronary vasomotor tone in patients after ...angioplasty by reducing 8-
iso-prostaglandin (PG) F
2α concentrations, a bioactive product of lipid peroxidation.
The study was designed to prospectively investigate 30 consecutive patients scheduled for elective coronary angioplasty. Patients were randomized into two groups according to whether they did not (group 1,
n=15) or did have (group 2,
n=15) intracoronary (i.c.) treatment with estrogen prior to coronary angioplasty.
There were no significant differences of collateral circulation assessed by intracoronary Doppler flow velocity during balloon inflations between the study groups. The diameters of the coronary artery at the dilated and distal segments were significantly reduced 15 min after dilation compared with those immediately after dilation in group 1 (both
P<0.0001). The vasoconstriction was significantly blunted in group 2. The 8-
iso-PGF
2α levels in plasma from the coronary sinus rose significantly from 194±45 to 390±97 pg/ml (
P<0.0001, 95% confidence intervals=142–249 pg/ml) 15 min after angioplasty in group 1, which was attenuated after administering estrogen. Significant correlation was found between the changes of coronary vasomotion of the dilated segment and 8-
iso-PGF
2α levels in group 1
(r=0.73,
P=0.002).
8-
iso-PGF
2α is released into the coronary circulation during angioplasty, and this vasoactive substance may contribute to the occurrence of vasoconstriction. Estrogen administration attenuated vasoconstriction by reducing the 8-
iso-PGF
2α levels. This finding may provide a new strategy to treat coronary vasoconstriction after angioplasty.
This study proposes the design of conductive bridge random access memory (CBRAM) using an indium electrode, which diffuses into hafnium oxide. The device is found to exhibit good operating ...characteristics, maintaining a large operation window, low set and reset voltages, and advantageous operation speed, thereby reducing operating power consumption. Electrical experiments, transmission electron microscopy, and energy‐dispersive spectroscopy confirm that the device exhibits the characteristics of a CBRAM device. In addition, due to the large operation window of this In electrode device, a combination of two of these CBRAM can act as a complementary resistive switching (CRS) device with a large memory window.
This paper presents a wireless power transmission system which is consisted of a full-bridge converter, two resonance circuits and a diode rectifier to obtain the desired output voltage. The focused ...topology is based on SP compensation circuit, where S denoted the primary coil is connected in series with the compensation capacitor, and P denoted the secondary coil is connected in parallel with the compensation capacitor. In this research, the phase-shift based pulse width modulation (PWM) control and frequency modulation control are used to contrast the differences between these two methods. Both schemes include voltage loop and current loop control, so as to get the required performances. Finally, a prototype of DC 200V/48V system with 500W rating and 15cm distance between two coils is set to verify the feasibility of the control idea.
This paper presents the planning framework for integration of renewable energy resources and hybrid energy storage system with interaction of electrification and heat water in a household microgrid. ...Considering the requirements of energy-saving and system planning, the proposed algorithm combines historical weather datasets, control strategy for different energy flows and scenarios into an optimization framework to deal with uncertainty. The optimization technique for long-term planning achieves near-optimal device size of renewable energy resource, battery bank and air conditioner with heat pump water heater. Some promising tariff and heat-water behavioral demand scenarios are conducted to demonstrate the economic profits of the proposed framework.
The electrochemical behavior of anodically deposited Mn oxide in N-butyl-N-methylpyrrolidiniumadicyanamide (BMPaDCA) ionic liquid (IL) at various temperatures (30a80 degree C) is investigated. Cyclic ...voltammetry (CV) is used to evaluate the electrochemical performance of the Mn oxide. Surface morphology of the deposited oxide after charging/discharging is examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The experimental data show that the Mn oxide electrode exhibits good pseudo-capacitance performance even at 80 degree C. In the ionic liquid studied, the specific capacitance increases with increasing BMPaDCA IL temperature. A specific capacitance of 93 F g-1 in a potential window of 3 V is obtained at 80 degree C, which is about 50% higher than that obtained at 30 degree C. The experimental results also show that the capacitance-retained ratio of the oxide electrode increases with increasing temperature at a high potential sweep rate. Furthermore, the capacitance decline about 40% after 500 repeated charging/discharging cycles in BMPaDCA IL at 80 degree C is observed, which is better than that measured in an aqueous electrolyte.
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