Repurposing Albendazole: new potential as a chemotherapeutic agent with preferential activity against HPV-negative head and neck squamous cell cancer.

Albendazole is an anti-helminthic drug that has been shown to exhibit anti-cancer properties, however its activity in head and neck squamous cell cancer (HNSCC) was unknown. Using a series of in vitro assays, we assessed the ability of albendazole to inhibit proliferation in 20 HNSCC cell lines across a range of albendazole doses (1 nM-10 μM). Cell lines that responded to treatment were further examined for cell death, inhibition of migration and cell cycle arrest. Thirteen of fourteen human papillomavirus-negative HNSCC cell lines responded to albendazole, with an average IC50 of 152 nM. In contrast, only 3 of 6 human papillomavirus-positive HNSCC cell lines responded. Albendazole treatment resulted in apoptosis, inhibition of cell migration, cell cycle arrest in the G2/M phase and altered tubulin distribution. Normal control cells were not measurably affected by any dose tested. This study indicates that albendazole acts to inhibit the proliferation of human papillomavirus-negative HNSCC cell lines and thus warrants further study as a potential chemotherapeutic agent for patients suffering from head and neck cancer

Probing the low-luminosity GRB population with new generation satellite detectors

We compare the detection rates and redshift distributions of low-luminosity (LL) GRBs localized by Swift with those expected to be observed by the new generation satellite detectors on GLAST (now Fermi) and, in future, EXIST. Although the GLAST burst telescope will be less sensitive than Swift's in the 15--150 keV band, its large field-of-view implies that it will double Swift's detection rate of LL bursts. We show that Swift, GLAST and EXIST should detect about 1, 2 & 30 LL GRBs, respectively, over a 5-year operational period. The burst telescope on EXIST should detect LL GRBs at a rate of more than an order of magnitude greater than that of Swift's BAT. We show that the detection horizon for LL GRBs will be extended from $z \simeq 0.4$ for Swift to $z \simeq 1.1$ in the EXIST era. Also, the contribution of LL bursts to the observed GRB redshift distribution will contribute to an identifiable feature in the distribution at $z \simeq 1$.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, accepted by MNRA

A comparative study of MEA and DEA for post-combustion CO2 capture with different process configurations

This paper presented a comparative study of monoethanolamine (MEA) and diethanolamine (DEA) for post-combustion CO2 capture (PCC) process with different process configurations to study the interaction effect between solvent and process. The steady state process model of the conventional MEA-based PCC process was developed in Pro/II® and was validated with the experimental data. Then ten different process configurations were simulated for both MEA and DEA. Their performances in energy consumption were compared in terms of reboiler duty and total equivalent work. The results show that DEA generally has better thermal performances than MEA for all these ten process configurations. Seven process configurations provide 0.38%–4.61% total energy saving compared with the conventional PCC process for MEA, and other two configurations are not favourable. For DEA, except one configuration, other process configurations have 0.27%–4.50% total energy saving. This work also analyzed the sensitivities of three key parameters (amine concentration, stripper pressure and lean solvent loading) in conventional process and five process modifications to show optimization strategy

WNT signaling regulates self-renewal and differentiation of prostate cancer cells with stem cell characteristics

Prostate cancer cells with stem cell characteristics were identified in human prostate cancer cell lines by their ability to form from single cells self-renewing prostaspheres in non-adherent cultures. Prostaspheres exhibited heterogeneous expression of proliferation, differentiation and stem cell-associated makers CD44, ABCG2 and CD133. Treatment with WNT inhibitors reduced both prostasphere size and self-renewal. In contrast, addition of Wnt3a caused increased prostasphere size and self-renewal, which was associated with a significant increase in nuclear Β-catenin, keratin 18, CD133 and CD44 expression. As a high proportion of LNCaP and C4-2B cancer cells express androgen receptor we determined the effect of the androgen receptor antagonist bicalutamide. Androgen receptor inhibition reduced prostasphere size and expression of PSA, but did not inhibit prostasphere formation. These effects are consistent with the androgen-independent self-renewal of cells with stem cell characteristics and the androgen-dependent proliferation of transit amplifying cells. As the canonical WNT signaling effector Β-catenin can also associate with the androgen receptor, we propose a model for tumour propagation involving a balance between WNT and androgen receptor activity. That would affect the self-renewal of a cancer cell with stem cell characteristics and drive transit amplifying cell proliferation and differentiation. In conclusion, we provide evidence that WNT activity regulates the self-renewal of prostate cancer cells with stem cell characteristics independently of androgen receptor activity. Inhibition of WNT signaling therefore has the potential to reduce the self-renewal of prostate cancer cells with stem cell characteristics and improve the therapeutic outcome.Peer reviewe

BB flavour tagging using charm decays at the LHCb experiment

An algorithm is described for tagging the flavour content at production of neutral $B$ mesons in the LHCb experiment. The algorithm exploits the correlation of the flavour of a $B$ meson with the charge of a reconstructed secondary charm hadron from the decay of the other $b$ hadron produced in the proton-proton collision. Charm hadron candidates are identified in a number of fully or partially reconstructed Cabibbo-favoured decay modes. The algorithm is calibrated on the self-tagged decay modes $B^+ \to J/\psi \, K^+$ and $B^0 \to J/\psi \, K^{*0}$ using $3.0\mathrm{\,fb}^{-1}$ of data collected by the LHCb experiment at $pp$ centre-of-mass energies of $7\mathrm{\,TeV}$ and $8\mathrm{\,TeV}$. Its tagging power on these samples of $B \to J/\psi \, X$ decays is $(0.30 \pm 0.01 \pm 0.01) \%$.Comment: All figures and tables, along with any supplementary material and additional information, are available at http://lhcbproject.web.cern.ch/lhcbproject/Publications/LHCbProjectPublic/LHCb-PAPER-2015-027.htm

Search for the rare decays B0→J/ψγB^{0}\to J/\psi \gamma and Bs0→J/ψγB^{0}_{s} \to J/\psi \gamma

A search for the rare decay of a $B^{0}$ or $B^{0}_{s}$ meson into the final state $J/\psi\gamma$ is performed, using data collected by the LHCb experiment in $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=7$ and $8$ TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3 fb$^{-1}$. The observed number of signal candidates is consistent with a background-only hypothesis. Branching fraction values larger than $1.7\times 10^{-6}$ for the $B^{0}\to J/\psi\gamma$ decay mode are excluded at 90% confidence level. For the $B^{0}_{s}\to J/\psi\gamma$ decay mode, branching fraction values larger than $7.4\times 10^{-6}$ are excluded at 90% confidence level, this is the first branching fraction limit for this decay.Comment: All figures and tables, along with any supplementary material and additional information, are available at https://lhcbproject.web.cern.ch/lhcbproject/Publications/LHCbProjectPublic/LHCb-PAPER-2015-044.htm

A model-independent confirmation of the Z(4430)−Z(4430)^- state

The decay $B^0\to \psi(2S) K^+\pi^-$ is analyzed using $\rm 3~fb^{-1}$ of $pp$ collision data collected with the LHCb detector. A model-independent description of the $\psi(2S) \pi$ mass spectrum is obtained, using as input the $K\pi$ mass spectrum and angular distribution derived directly from data, without requiring a theoretical description of resonance shapes or their interference. The hypothesis that the $\psi(2S)\pi$ mass spectrum can be described in terms of $K\pi$ reflections alone is rejected with more than 8$\sigma$ significance. This provides confirmation, in a model-independent way, of the need for an additional resonant component in the mass region of the $Z(4430)^-$ exotic state.Comment: All figures and tables, along with any supplementary material and additional information, are available at https://lhcbproject.web.cern.ch/lhcbproject/Publications/LHCbProjectPublic/LHCb-PAPER-2015-038.htm

A study of CPCP violation in B∓→Dh∓B^\mp \rightarrow Dh^\mp (h=K,πh=K,\pi) with the modes D→K∓π±π0D \rightarrow K^\mp \pi^\pm \pi^0, D→π+π−π0D \rightarrow \pi^+\pi^-\pi^0 and D→K+K−π0D \rightarrow K^+K^-\pi^0

An analysis of the decays of $B^\mp \rightarrow D K^\mp$ and $B^\mp \rightarrow D \pi^\mp$ is presented in which the $D$ meson is reconstructed in the three-body final states $K^\mp \pi^\pm \pi^0$, $\pi^+ \pi^- \pi^0$ and $K^+ K^- \pi^0$. Using data from LHCb corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3.0 fb$^{-1}$ of $pp$ collisions, measurements of several $CP$ observables are performed. First observations are obtained of the suppressed ADS decay $B^\mp \rightarrow [\pi^\mp K^\pm \pi^0]_D \pi^\mp$ and the quasi-GLW decay $B^\mp \rightarrow [K^+ K^- \pi^0]_D \pi^\mp$. The results are interpreted in the context of the unitarity triangle angle $\gamma$ and related parameters