Breast cancer metastasis involves lymphatic dissemination in addition to hematogenous spreading. Although stromal lymphatic vessels (LVs) serve as initial metastatic routes, roles of organ-residing ...LVs are underinvestigated. Here we show that lymphatic endothelial cells (LECs), a component of LVs within pre-metastatic niches, are conditioned by triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) cells to accelerate metastasis. LECs within the lungs and lymph nodes, conditioned by tumour-secreted factors, express CCL5 that is not expressed either in normal LECs or in cancer cells, and direct tumour dissemination into these tissues. Moreover, tumour-conditioned LECs promote angiogenesis in these organs, allowing tumour extravasation and colonization. Mechanistically, tumour cell-secreted IL6 causes Stat3 phosphorylation in LECs. This pStat3 induces HIF-1α and VEGF, and a pStat3-pc-Jun-pATF-2 ternary complex induces CCL5 expression in LECs. This study demonstrates anti-metastatic activities of multiple repurposed drugs, blocking a self-reinforcing paracrine loop between breast cancer cells and LECs.
The Afterglow and Kilonova of the Short GRB 160821B Troja, E.; Castro-Tirado, A. J.; Gonzalez, J Becerra ...
Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society,
08/2019, Letnik:
489, Številka:
2
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
GRB 160821B is a short duration gamma-ray burst (GRB) detected and localized by the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory in the outskirts of a spiral galaxy at z = 0.1613, at a projected physical offset of ...16 kpc from the galaxy’s center. We present X-ray, optical/nIR, and radio observations of its counterpart and model them with two distinct components of emission: a standard afterglow, arising from the interaction of the relativistic jet with the surrounding medium, and a kilonova, powered by the radioactive decay of the sub-relativistic ejecta. Broadband modelling of the afterglow data reveals a weak reverse shock propagating backward into the jet, and a likely jet-break at 3.5 d. This is consistent with a structured jet seen slightly off-axis (θview ∼ θcore) while expanding into a low-density medium (n ≈ 10−3 cm−3). Analysis of the kilonova properties suggests a rapid evolution towards red colours, similar toAT2017gfo, and a low-nIR luminosity, possibly due to the presence of a long-lived neutron star. The global properties of the environment, the inferred low mass (Mej <~ 0.006 Msun) and velocities (vej >~ 0.05c) of lanthanide-rich ejecta are consistent with a binary neutron star merger progenitor.
Carbon quantum dots (CQDs) have drawn a lot of attention in recent years for imaging applications due to their luminescence properties in the visible range. There has been a strong thrust in ...achieving CQDs with enhanced luminescence efficiency. We report nearly three times increase in the total photoluminescence emission of CQD films by depositing them on TiO2 nanotube (NT) substrates, instead of glass. The net increase in PL arose from higher CQD core emission and the appearance of a strong surface state emission. High-resolution X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) was employed to analyze the composition of the CQD surfaces, which confirmed more carboxyl groups on the surface of CQD in the CQD:NT composite. The band alignment of the composite, determined from XPS measurements, favoured carrier transfer from TiO2 NT to CQD. The TiO2 NT, having better surface coverage and wide absorption spectrum, had high absorption cross-section. The efficient transfer of the carriers from NT to CQD is found to be the dominant phenomenon leading to a significant increase in the PL emission intensity.
Display omitted
► Secretion of factors in tumor cells varied considerably in magnitude and kinetics. ► Secretion of TGF-α, Flt-3L, PDGF-BB was cell line-specific. ► Correlation between factor level in conditioned ...medium and survival of tumor cells. ► Lower cytokine increase in tumor cells medium after fractionated than acute dose. ► Highest cytokine secretion in irradiated A549 cells and decreased bystander survival.
Cytokines are known to play pivotal roles in cancer initiation, progression and pathogenesis. Accumulating evidences suggest differences in basal and stress-induced cytokine profiles of cancers with diverse origin. However, a comprehensive investigation characterising the cytokine profile of various tumor types after acute and fractionated doses of gamma-irradiation, and its effect on survival of bystander cells is not well known in literature. In the present study, we have evaluated the cytokine secretion profile of human tumor cell lines (HT1080, U373MG, HT29, A549 and MCF-7) either before (basal) or after acute (2, 6Gy) and fractionated doses (3×2Gy) of gamma-irradiation in culture medium obtained from these cells by multiplex bead array/ELISA. Moreover, clonogenic assays were performed to evaluate the effect of conditioned medium (CM) on the survival and growth of respective cells. Based on the screening of 28 analytes, our results showed that the basal profiles of these cell lines varied considerably in terms of the number and magnitude of secreted factors, which was minimum in MCF-7. Interestingly, TNF-α, IL-1β, PDGF-AA, TGF-β1, fractalkine, IL-8, VEGF and GCSF were found in CM of all the cell lines. However, secretion of certain cytokines was cell line-specific. Moreover, CM caused increase in clonogenic survival of respective tumor cells (in the order HT1080>U373MG>HT29>A549>MCF-7), which was correlated with the levels of IL-1β, IL-6, IL-8, GMCSF and VEGF in their CM. After irradiation, the levels of most of the cytokines increased markedly in a dose dependent manner. The fold change in cytokine levels was lower in irradiated conditioned medium (ICM) of tumor cells collected after fractionated than respective acute dose, except in MCF-7. Interestingly, amongst these cell lines, the radiation-induced fold increase in cytokine levels was maximum in ICM of A549 cells. Moreover, bystander A549 cells treated with respective ICM showed dose dependent decrease in clonogenic survival. In conclusion, present study revealed the similarities and subtle differences in basal and radiation-induced cytokine profile of different tumor cell lines, and its influence on growth and survival of respective bystander cells. These findings may add a new dimension to our current understanding about role of cytokines in cancer biology.
Soluble factors in tumour microenvironment play a major role in modulating the metastatic potential of cancer cells. Herein, we investigated the effect of autocrine cytokines and growth factors in ...the form of self-conditioned medium (CM) on A549 lung carcinoma cells. We demonstrated that CM induced morphological and molecular changes associated with epithelial–mesenchymal transition viz change in shape from cuboidal to spindle, actin cytoskeleton remodelling, upregulation of vimentin and downregulation of E-cadherin etc. These changes were accompanied with enhanced motility, invasion, anchorage-independent growth and anoikis-resistance. Amongst the different factors of CM, IL-8 and VEGF were found to play a major role in the CM-induced motility and invasion. In the intracellular signalling cascade, CM triggered phosphorylation of JNK and p38 which was associated with the CM-enhanced invasiveness. In CM-treated cells, activated p38 and JNK further activated ATF-2 (Activating Transcription Factor-2) and knock-down of ATF-2 abrogated the CM-induced invasiveness, suggesting the signal transduction along the p38/JNK-ATF-2 axis. Furthermore, neutralising IL-8 and VEGF in CM, significantly abrogated CM-induced phosphorylation of ATF-2. Conversely, exogenous addition of these individual cytokines in plain medium, increased the activation of ATF-2 and invasiveness marginally. However, when added in combination these cytokines (IL-8 and VEGF) resulted in drastic increase in ATF-2 phosphorylation and subsequent invasiveness suggesting their synergetic interplay in the observed phenomenon. Taken together, our results identify IL-8/VEGF induced JNK/p38-ATF-2 as a novel pro-invasive pathway, which may be explored as potential therapeutic target to circumvent the invasiveness of lung malignancies.
•Conditioned medium (CM) enhanced EMT, motility and invasiveness in A549 cells.•JNK and p38 activated by CM are responsible for invasiveness in A549 cells.•CM activated ATF-2 via JNK/p38 signalling pathway.•Silencing ATF-2 results in abrogation of CM-induced motility and invasiveness.•Autocrine IL-8 & VEGF synergistically activate ATF-2 mediated invasiveness.
Demineralization of low grade coal – A review Meshram, Pratima; Purohit, B.K.; Sinha, M.K. ...
Renewable & sustainable energy reviews,
January 2015, 2015-01-00, 20150101, Letnik:
41
Journal Article
Recenzirano
World over large reserves of low grade coals are available. The use of low-grade coal in various industries like power plants, metallurgical plants, cement units, etc. creates environmental pollution ...because of generation of large amount of solid and gaseous pollutants. Therefore, it is of paramount importance to clean the coal before its utilization. A number of upgrading technologies are being followed to produce clean coal. The current paper reviews demineralization/desulfurization of coals containing high ash and/or sulfur by physical, microwave, bio- and chemical beneficiation methods. Physical beneficiation of coal is not very effective in separation of the finely dispersed minerals, whereas microwave processing requires lesser time but is not favoured energetically. Bio-processing is mainly used for the desulfurization of high sulfur coal, although it is usually slow and requires long incubation period. Chemical beneficiation uses expensive reagents and leads to the generation of large amount of wastewater which is to be purified before discharge. Thus, a combined approach consisting of physical beneficiation followed by chemical cleaning of coal appears to have a potential for significant reduction of ash with less investment while generating less amount of wastewater.
In this study, the performance of the stone column encased with conductive jute geotextile in improving the characteristics of soft clay under k0 stress condition was evaluated using a ...custom-designed large-scale consolidation test setup. The electrokinetic-encased stone column (e-ESC) was designed as a cathode, while mild steel rods were chosen as anodes, and by applying a voltage gradient of 0.1 V/mm between the electrodes, electrokinetic processes were initiated. The efficacy of using the e-ESC in improving the performance of soft clay was assessed by comparing the results with an ordinary stone column (OSC) and encased stone column (ESC) reinforced soft clay. The results from the study reveal that the inclusion of stiffer material like OSC and ESC in soft clay has significantly increased undrained shear strength and modulus of subgrade reaction of the composite ground with a reduction in settlement and compression index. Due to the application of the voltage gradient between the electrodes, the rate of consolidation settlement of composite ground has significantly increased when compared to the OSC/ESC case. Further, it was confirmed from the chemical and mineralogical analysis that the pH, chemical composition, mineral phases, and microfabric of soft clay were altered with the voltage gradient.
•Paper highlights performance of stone column encased with conductive jute geotextile in improving soft clay characteristics.•Large-scale consolidation test apparatus was designed to assess the performance of electrokinetic-encased stone column.•Conductive jute geotextile encased stone column was utilised as cathode as well as radial drainage layer.•By maintaining voltage gradient between electrodes, reduction in water content and increase in shear strength was noticed.•Changes in pH, chemical composition, mineral phases, and microfabric of soft clay were observed due to voltage gradient.
► Selective leaching of Au from scrap mobile phone PCBs by two stage electro-generated chlorine and recovery by ion exchange. ► Copper leaching (97%) by 1st stage electro-generated leaching (ORP ...value <350
mV
Ag/AgCl) with a minor gold (5%). ► Gold leaching (93%, ∼67
mg/L) by 2nd leaching (ORP value >1100
mV
Ag/AgCl) in 0.1
mol/L HCl at 25
°C. ► A concentrated gold solution, 6034
mg/L with 99.9% purity was obtained by ion exchange process.
The leaching of gold from the scrap mobile phone PCBs by electro-generated chlorine as an oxidant and its recovery by ion exchange process was investigated. The leaching experiments were carried out by employing separate leaching reactor connected with the anode compartment of a Cl
2 gas generator. The leaching of gold increased with increase in temperature and initial concentration of chlorine, and was favorable even at low concentration of acid, whereas copper leaching increased with increase in concentration of acid and decrease in temperature. In a two-stage leaching process, copper was mostly dissolved (97%) in 165
min at 25
°C during the 1st stage leaching in 2.0
mol/L HCl by electro-generated chlorine at a current density of 714
A/m
2 along with a minor recovery of gold (5%). In the 2nd stage gold was mostly leached out (93% recovery, ∼67
mg/L) from the residue of the 1st stage by the electro-generated chlorine in 0.1
mol/L HCl. Gold recovery from the leach liquor by ion exchange using Amberlite XAD-7HP resin was found to be 95% with the maximum amount of gold adsorbed as 46.03
mg/g resin. A concentrated gold solution, 6034
mg/L with 99.9% purity was obtained in the ion exchange process.
We present the photometric calibration of the Swift Ultraviolet/Optical Telescope (UVOT) which includes: optimum photometric and background apertures, effective area curves, colour transformations, ...conversion factors for count rates to flux and the photometric zero-points (which are accurate to better than 4 per cent) for each of the seven UVOT broad-band filters. The calibration was performed with observations of standard stars and standard star fields that represent a wide range of spectral star types. The calibration results include the position-dependent uniformity, and instrument response over the 1600–8000 Å operational range. Because the UVOT is a photon-counting instrument, we also discuss the effect of coincidence loss on the calibration results. We provide practical guidelines for using the calibration in UVOT data analysis. The results presented here supersede previous calibration results.
PDF
