Mitochondrial Ion Channels in Cancer Transformation

Cancer transformation involves reprograming of mitochondrial function to avert cell death mechanisms, monopolize energy metabolism, accelerate mitotic proliferation, and promote metastasis. Mitochondrial ion channels have emerged as promising therapeutic targets because of their connection to metabolic and apoptotic functions. This mini review discusses how mitochondrial channels may be associated with cancer transformation and expands on the possible involvement of mitochondrial protein import complexes in pathophysiological process

The Effect of Surface Treatment on Nickel Leaching from Nitinol

Nitinol is widely used as a biomaterial for implantable medical devices but can be susceptible to nickel leaching. Our research was aimed at determining nickel leaching from surface treated Nitinol samples, treated as follows: mechanical polishing (untreated), oxidation, and nitriding+oxidation (5 different nitriding temperatures). Five specimens from each category were immersed in 40 mL PBS solution and incubated at 37°C over 91 days. Nickel concentration readings were taken at regular intervals. After 91 days, the average nickel concentration in the PBS solution was (a) 0.223 mg/L, SD 0.017, untreated, (b) 7.68 mg/L, SD 6.405, 1000°C nitriding+oxidation, and (c) 3.914 mg/L, SD 1.78, oxidation-only. The concentration readings had large standard deviations implying differences in surface characteristics after treatment. The increased nickel leaching from treated samples was thought to be due to atomic diffusion and exposure of the nickel-rich sublayers to PBS after oxide layer delamination. These sublayers formed after formation of thick (\u3e1 µm) TiO2 layers during oxidation

Scale Optimization of Milkguard Biosensor for Detecting E. coli in Human Breast Milk

Milkguard is an alginate-based biosensor developed to detect E. coli in human breast milk via the metabolism of X-gal (5-Bromo-4-Chloro-3-Indolyl β-D-Galactopyranoside) by β-galactosidase. In order to deconvolute metabolic reproducibility from scaling laws, the commercial enzyme β-galactosidase was used to mimic the biological function of the bacterial lac operon. Downscaling was explored as an optimization of the biosensor design based on numerical solutions to Fickian-based diffusion models. The characterization of large capsules (d ≅ 3 mm) and atomized microcapsules (d ≅ 300 ± 60 μm) yielded size-specific Michaelis-Menten constants. Small capsules (Km = 3.6 x 10-4 M; Vmax ’’ = 1.2 x 10-3) produced a significantly faster response time versus large capsules when loaded at a substrate concentration of 5 mg/mL (p = 7.7x 10-3 at = 0.01) and 2.5 mg/mL (p = 1.5 x 10-4 at \u3c 0.001). Comparisons of effectiveness factors between small (η = 0.58) and large (η = 0.43) capsules indicates a lesser degree of diffusion limitations in small capsules. Large bootstrapping errors produced by nonlinear regression of Michaelis-Menten models for the capsules suggests that additional mechanisms to diffusion are involved in producing sensor response. A new sensor mechanism combining Fickian diffusion and experimental results is proposed and modeled numerically

Effect of Ignatzshineria indica (Gammaproteobacteria: Xanthomonadales) on rate of decomposition in mice

Microbes have a major role from the onset of and throughout decomposition. Studies show that a decomposing body supports a necrobiome (Pechal et al., 2013), a term coined to mean a community of living things associated with decomposition of remains, specifically with reference to microorganisms. The objective of the current study is to show how Ignatzschineria indica, a fly associated, and selected bacteria associated with a decomposing human body affect decomposition under controlled (laboratory) conditions. The work presented here is a laboratory experiment carried out at Sam Houston State University, Huntsville, Texas. To assess the effect of Ignatzschineria indica bacteria on decomposition, 3 batches of 90 mice were subjected to 9 different bacterial treatments involving 4 bacteria; A [Ignatzschineria indica], B [Escherichia coli], C [Bacillus licheniformis], D [Salmonella enterica], and combinations of Ignatzchineria indica and other bacteria in the following manner BA, CA, DA, PC [positive control] and NC [negative control]. 270 mice were observed throughout their decomposition process. Results from this experiment showed that the initial bacteria composition in dead mice does not affect the rate of decomposition under laboratory controlled conditions of temperature and moisture, with the exclusion of vertebrate and invertebrate scavengers. Adding Ignatzchineria indica to dead mice specimens under laboratory controlled conditions does not significantly affect the rate of decomposition but instead affects the pathway of decomposition. This was evident from the different intensities of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that were collected and assayed from the different samples. The same experiment shows that at any given time the ambient temperature is significantly different from the subjects’ temperatures during decomposition. Our findings lead us to conclude that the addition of Ignatzschineria indica bacteria to decomposing mice does not significantly alter the rate of decomposition. It does alter the chemical pathways of decomposition as evidenced by variant VOCs composition

PENGARUH FEE BASED INCOME DAN INTELLECTUAL CAPITAL TERHADAP PROFITABILITAS PADA INDUSTRI PERBANKAN DI BURSA EFEK INDONESIA

This study aims to identify and analyze the effects of fee based income and intellectual capital(value added capital employed, value added human capital and structural capital value added) on profitability at banking industries in Indonesia Stock Exchange. This study employs 16 samples out of 33 banking industries which have been selected using purposive sampling method. Analysis method used in this study is multiple linier regression. The results shows that: (1) fee based income, value added capital employed, value added human capital, structural capital value added simultaneously perform significant effects on profitability at banking industries in Indonesia Stock Exchange, (2) fee based income performs positive but not significant effect on profitability at banking  industries  in  Indonesia  Stock  Exchange,  (3)  value  added  capital  employed  performs positive and significant effect on profitability at banking industries in Indonesia Stock Exchange, (4) value added human capital performs positive and significant effect on profitability at banking industries in Indonesia Stock Exchange, (5) structural capital value added performs negative and not significant effect on profitability at banking industries in Indonesia Stock Exchange

Modifying the size of nanopores of alginate microcapsules

Alginate hydrogels provide desirable biocompatibility and material properties for various biomedical applications, but are limited by the polymer\u27s natural pore size. With the rise of nanotechnology, the desired crosslinked pore size range of 30 nm to 100 nm has not yet been achieved. This project aimed to develop a method to increase the pore size of alginate-based hydrogels in a reproducible manner without compromising their structural integrity. Experimental methods included altering alginate composition using carboxymethyl cellulose or gelatin and inducing conformational changes via Mach-1TM mechanical compression. Fluorescence microscopy was used to visualize the diffusion of FITC-dextran weight markers and fluorescent polystyrene nanoparticles into the microcapsules (d = 300 μm) and macrocapsules (d = 3 mm) for all experimental conditions. Based on pilot experiments, altered alginate composition did not significantly increase the pore size of alginate capsules for the modeled diffusivity range D = 1 x 10-14 m2/s to D = 1 x 10-15 m2/s. Mechanical compressions did not significantly affect the porosity or diffusivity of alginate macrocapsules (p \u3e 0.05) under all conditions for Young’s moduli ranging from E = 76 kPa to E = 200 kPa. Based on image analysis results, it could be hypothesized that molecular weight cutoff cutoff may be increased to 500 kDa following 10 successive compressions. Additional work to optimize fluorescent microscopy methods and pore size manipulation methods is required for expanded use of alginate capsules with emerging nanotechnologies