Lung tumors are the leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide and paclitaxel has proven to be useful for patients with lung cancer, however, acquired resistance is a major problem. To overcome this ...problem, one promising option is the use of Constitutive Androstane Receptor (CAR) ligands in combination with chemotherapeutics against cancer cells. Therefore, we wish to elucidate the effects of CAR ligands on the antineoplastic efficacy of paclitaxel in lung cancer cells.
Our results from cell viability assays exposing CAR agonist or inverse-agonist to mouse and human lung cancer cells modulated the antineoplastic effect of paclitaxel. The CAR agonists increased the effect of Paclitaxel in 6 of 7 lung cancer cell lines, whereas the inverse-agonist had no effect on paclitaxel cytotoxicity. Interestingly, the mCAR agonist TCPOBOP enhanced the expression of two tumor suppressor genes, namely WT1 and MGMT, which were additively enhanced in cells treated with CAR agonist in combination with paclitaxel. Also, in silico analysis showed that both paclitaxel and CAR agonist TCPOBOP docked into the mCAR structure but not the inverse agonist androstenol. Paclitaxel per se increases the expression of CAR in cancer cells. At last, we analyzed the expression of CAR in two public independent studies from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) of Non Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC). CAR is expressed in variable levels in NSCLC samples and no association with overall survival was noted.
Taken together, our results demonstrated that CAR agonists modulate the antineoplastic efficacy of paclitaxel in mouse and human cancer cell lines. This effect was probably related by the enhanced expression of two tumor suppressor genes, viz. WT1 and MGMT. Most of NSCLC cases present CAR gene expression turning it possible to speculate the use of CAR modulation by ligands along with Paclitaxel in NSCLC therapy.
A one-pot iodine-catalyzed multicomponent reaction has been developed for the selective preparation of 5-amino-4-(arylselanyl)-1H-pyrazoles from a diverse array of benzoylacetonitriles, ...arylhydrazines and diaryl diselenides. The reactions were conducted in MeCN as solvent at reflux temperature under air. The methodology presents a large functional group tolerance to electron-deficient, electron-rich, and bulky substituents and gave the expected products in good to excellent yields. The synthesized 1,3-diphenyl-4-(phenylselanyl)-1H-pyrazol-5-amine was submitted to an oxidative dehydrogenative coupling to produce a diazo compound confirmed by X-ray analysis.
Purpose
This study aims to unveil within the current academic literature the principal directions in the ethnic entrepreneurship and small business marketing research context.
...Design/methodology/approach
An automated literature analysis procedure was undertaken, attempting to cover all literature published on the subject since 1962. A total of 188 articles were analysed using text mining and topic modelling.
Findings
The results show a lack of framing of ethnic entrepreneurship literature outside the narrower scope of migration. Some core themes were found (e.g. network, diversity) around which several other themes orbit, including both related issues to the ethnic factor (e.g. barriers and minorities) and managerial issues (e.g. marketing and production).
Originality/value
Ethnic minority business and small business marketing research has seen a growing number of publications. However, a careful review of existing work is missing.
The hemibiotrophic fungus Moniliophthora perniciosa is the causal agent of Witches' broom, a disease of Theobroma cacao. The pathogen life cycle ends with the production of basidiocarps in dead ...tissues of the infected host. This structure generates millions of basidiospores that reinfect young tissues of the same or other plants. A deeper understanding of the mechanisms underlying the sexual phase of this fungus may help develop chemical, biological or genetic strategies to control the disease.
Mycelium was morphologically analyzed prior to emergence of basidiomata by stereomicroscopy, light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. The morphological changes in the mycelium before fructification show a pattern similar to other members of the order Agaricales. Changes and appearance of hyphae forming a surface layer by fusion were correlated with primordia emergence. The stages of hyphal nodules, aggregation, initial primordium and differentiated primordium were detected. The morphological analysis also allowed conclusions on morphogenetic aspects. To analyze the genes involved in basidiomata development, the expression of some selected EST genes from a non-normalized cDNA library, representative of the fruiting stage of M. perniciosa, was evaluated. A macroarray analysis was performed with 192 selected clones and hybridized with two distinct RNA pools extracted from mycelium in different phases of basidiomata formation. This analysis showed two groups of up and down-regulated genes in primordial phases of mycelia. Hydrophobin coding, glucose transporter, Rho-GEF, Rheb, extensin precursor and cytochrome p450 monooxygenase genes were grouped among the up-regulated. In the down-regulated group relevant genes clustered coding calmodulin, lanosterol 14 alpha demethylase and PIM1. In addition, 12 genes with more detailed expression profiles were analyzed by RT-qPCR. One aegerolysin gene had a peak of expression in mycelium with primordia and a second in basidiomata, confirming their distinctiveness. The number of transcripts of the gene for plerototolysin B increased in reddish-pink mycelium and indicated an activation of the initial basidiomata production even at this culturing stage. Expression of the glucose transporter gene increased in mycelium after the stress, coinciding with a decrease of adenylate cyclase gene transcription. This indicated that nutrient uptake can be an important signal to trigger fruiting in this fungus.
The identification of genes with increased expression in this phase of the life cycle of M. perniciosa opens up new possibilities of controlling fungus spread as well as of genetic studies of biological processes that lead to basidiomycete fruiting. This is the first comparative morphologic study of the early development both in vivo and in vitro of M. perniciosa basidiomata and the first description of genes expressed at this stage of the fungal life cycle.
The solubility of benzoic acid in water−ethanol and water−n-propanol mixtures at temperatures between (303.5 and 333.7) K has been measured by using an apparatus in our laboratory. Experiments were ...carried out employing different concentrations of alcohol. Addition of alcohol in water results in a large increase in acid solubility. Owing to a lack of available literature data, no results comparison could be done for systems containing n-propanol. Furthermore, the predicted results of solubility for the systems studied over a range of temperatures indicated that both modified equations tested can fairly be used to predict solid−liquid equilibrium for alcoholic aqueous solutions at several temperatures.
Solubility of Benzoic Acid in Mixed Solvents Oliveira, Amanda C; Coelho, Márcia G; Pires, Ricardo F ...
Journal of chemical and engineering data,
01/2007, Letnik:
52, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Benzoic acid solubility has been measured in pure water and in the binary mixtures containing different solvents including water, N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF), ethanol, or 1,4-dioxane. The experiments ...were carried out employing the cell used in Oliveira's dissertation. The temperature dependence of the solubility of an acid in two solvents could be evaluated. There was similar influence of the temperature in the solubility of benzoic acid in mixtures of water + DMF and water + 1,4-dioxane. An increase in acid solubility was observed with temperature in all mixtures. Addition of more ethanol in water favors the solubilization of benzoic acid.
In this study, we evaluated the effects of PhKv, a 4584 Da peptide isolated from the spider Phoneutria nigriventer venom, in the isolated rat heart and in isolated ventricular myocytes. Ventricular ...arrhythmias were induced by occlusion of the left anterior descending coronary artery for 15 min followed by 30 min of reperfusion. Administration of native PhKv (240 nM) 1 min before or after reperfusion markedly reduced the duration of arrhythmias. This effect was blocked by atropine, thereby indicating the participation of muscarinic receptors in the antiarrhythmogenic effect of PhKv. Notably, recombinant PhKv (240 nM) was also efficient to attenuate the arrhythmias (3.8 ± 0.9 vs. 8.0 ± 1.2 arbitrary units in control group). Furthermore, PhKv induced a significant reduction in heart rate. This bradycardia was partially blunted by atropine and potentiated by pyridostigmine. To further evaluate the participation of acetylcholine on the PhKv effects, we examined the release of this neurotransmitter from neuromuscular junctions. It was found that Phkv (200 nM) significantly increased the release of acetylcholine in this preparation. Moreover, PhKv (250 nM) did not cause any significant change in action potential or Ca2+ transient parameters in isolated cardiomyocytes. Altogether, these findings show an important acetylcholine-mediated antiarrhythmogenic effect of the spider PhKv toxin in isolated hearts.
The synergistic effect produced by metallic nanoparticles when incorporated into different systems empowers a research field that is growing rapidly. In addition, organometallic materials are at the ...center of intensive research with diverse applications such as light-emitting devices, transistors, solar cells, and sensors. The Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) technique has proven to be suitable to address challenges inherent to organic devices, since the film properties can be tuned at the molecular level. Here we report a strategy to incorporate gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) into the LB film by co-deposition in order to achieve surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) of the zinc(II)-protoporphyrin (IX) dimethyl ester (ZnPPIX-DME). Prior to the LB co-deposition, the properties of the Langmuir monolayer of ZnPPIX-DME at the air-water interface, containing AuNPs in the subphase, are studied through the surface-pressure versus mean molecular area (π-A) isotherms. The ZnPPIX-DME+AuNPs π-A isotherm presented a significant shift to higher molecular area, suggesting an interaction between both ZnPPIX-DME molecules and AuNPs. Those interactions are a key factor allowing the co-deposition of both AuNPs and ZnPPIX-DME molecules onto a solid substrate, thus forming the LB film. SERS of ZnPPIX-DME was successfully attained, ensuring the spatial distribution of the AuNPs. Higher enhancement factors were found at AuNP aggregates, as a result of the intense local electromagnetic field found in the metal nanoparticle aggregates. The main vibrational bands observed in the SERS spectra suggest a physical adsorption of the ZnPPIX-DME onto the surface of AuNPs. The latter is not only in agreement with the interactions pointed out by the π-A isotherms but also suggests that this interaction is kept upon LB film co-deposition.
Solubility data of vitamin C are essential to fields such as medicine, food, and biochemistry. Regarding recent publications, for hydrotropism studies, it is shown that the knowledge of the ...solubility of vitamin C in different solvents is very important. In the present paper, solubility data of vitamin C in water, ethanol, propan-1-ol, water + ethanol, and water + propan-1-ol were measured by a gravimetrical method at (298.15 and 308.15) K at an atmospheric pressure of 0.0920 MPa. The solubility data were correlated against the mass fraction of water. The solubility of vitamin C in water, ethanol, and water + ethanol was high compared to that with propan-1-ol and water + propan-1-ol.
PDF
