Mcfarlandkent7472

Carbon fiber significantly enhances the mechanical, thermal and electrical properties of rubber composites, which are widely used in aerospace, military, national defense and other cutting-edge fields. The preparation of a high-performance carbon fiber rubber composite has been a research hotspot, because the surface of carbon fiber is smooth, reactive inert and has a poor adhesion with rubber. In this paper, a high-performance rubber composite is prepared by mixing dopamine-modified staple carbon fiber with natural latex, and the mechanisms of modified carbon fiber-reinforced natural latex composite are explored. The experimental results show that the surface-modified staple carbon fiber forms uniform and widely covered polydopamine coatings, which significantly improve the interface adhesion between the carbon fiber and the rubber matrix. Meanwhile, when the concentration of dopamine is 1.5 g/L and the staple carbon fiber is modified for 6h, the carbon fiber rubber composite shows excellent conductivity, thermal conductivity, and dynamic mechanical properties, and its tensile strength is 10.6% higher than that of the unmodified sample.There has been much effort to exploit fluorescence techniques in the detection of nucleic acids. Canonical nucleic acids are essentially nonfluorescent; however, the modification of the nucleobase has proved to be a fruitful way to engender fluorescence. Much of the chemistry used to prepare modified nucleobases relies on expensive transition metal catalysts. In this work, we describe the synthesis of biaryl quinazolinone-uracil nucleobase analogs prepared by the condensation of anthranilamide derivatives and 5-formyluracil using inexpensive copper salts. A selection of modified nucleobases were prepared, and the effect of methoxy- or nitro- group substitution on the photophysical properties was examined. Both the dihydroquinazolinone and quinazolinone modified uracils have much larger molar absorptivity (~4-8×) than natural uracil and produce modest blue fluorescence. The quinazolinone-modified uracils display higher quantum yields than the corresponding dihydroquinazolinones and also show temperature and viscosity dependent emission consistent with molecular rotor behavior. Peptide nucleic acid (PNA) monomers possessing quinazolinone modified uracils were prepared and incorporated into oligomers. In the sequence context examined, the nitro-substituted, methoxy-substituted and unmodified quinazolinone inserts resulted in a stabilization (∆Tm = +4.0/insert; +2.0/insert; +1.0/insert, respectively) relative to control PNA sequence upon hybridization to complementary DNA. All three derivatives responded to hybridization by the "turn-on" of fluorescence intensity by ca. 3-to-4 fold and may find use as probes for complementary DNA sequences.Oxidative stress plays an important role in the pathogenesis of several different neurodegenerative diseases (NDDs), such as Alzheimer's disease (AD), Parkinson's disease (PD), Huntington's disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and multiple sclerosis (MS) [...].Children rarely understand the full extent of the persuasive purpose of advertising on their eating behaviours. Addressing the obesogenic environments in which children live, through a quantification of outdoor advertising, is essential in informing policy changes and enforcing stricter regulations. This research explores the proportion of bus stop advertisements promoting non-core food and beverages within walking distance (500 m) from schools in Auckland, New Zealand while using Google Street View. Information was collected on school type, decile, address, Walk Score®, and Transit Score for all 573 schools in the Auckland region. Ground-truthing was conducted on 10% of schools and showed an alignment of 87.8%. The majority of advertisements on bus shelters were for non-food items or services (n = 541, 64.3%). Of the advertisements that were for food and/or beverages, the majority were for non-core foods (n = 108, 50.2%). There was no statistically significant difference between the variables core and non-core food and beverages and School decile (tertiles), Walk Score (quintiles), and Transit Score (quintiles). 12.8% of all bus stop advertisements in this study promoted non-core dietary options; highlighting an opportunity for implementing stricter regulations and policies preventing advertising unhealthy food and drink to children in New Zealand.Platinum-based chemotherapy remains a mainstay treatment for the management of advanced non-small cell lung cancer. A key cellular factor that contributes to sensitivity to platinums is the 5'-3' structure-specific endonuclease excision repair cross-complementation group 1 (ERCC1)/ xeroderma pigmentosum group F (XPF). ERCC1/XPF is critical for the repair of platinum-induced DNA damage and has been the subject of intense research efforts to identify small molecule inhibitors of its nuclease activity for the purpose of enhancing patient response to platinum-based chemotherapy. As an alternative to small molecule inhibitors, small interfering RNA (siRNA) has often been described to be more efficient in interrupting protein-protein interactions. The goal of this study was therefore to determine whether biocompatible nanoparticles consisting of an amphiphilic triblock copolymer (polyethylenimine-polycaprolactone-polyethylene glycol (PEI-PCL-PEG)) and carrying siRNA targeted to ERCC1 and XPF made by microfluidic assembly are capable of efficient gene silencing and able to sensitize lung cancer cells to cisplatin. First, we show that our PEI-PCL-PEG micelleplexes carrying ERCC1 and XPF siRNA efficiently knocked down ERCC1/XPF protein expression to the same extent as the standard siRNA transfection reagent, Lipofectamine. Second, we show that our siRNA-carrying nanoparticles enhanced platinum sensitivity in a p53 wildtype model of non-small cell lung cancer in vitro. Our results suggest that nanoparticle-mediated targeting of ERCC1/XPF is feasible and could represent a novel therapeutic strategy for targeting ERCC1/XPF in vivo.Brown algae are a novel resource of biogenic molecules, however few studies have been conducted in the Mediterranean to assess the cytotoxic mechanisms of algal-derived compounds. This study focuses on the antineoplastic activity of extracts from non-investigated algae of the Lebanese coast, Colpomenia sinuosa. see more Extracts' antineoplastic activities were evaluated by MTT and trypan blue on different tumorigenic cells. Results indicated that the most potent extract was obtained by soxhlet using dichloromethanemethanol solvent (DM soxhlet) against HCT-116. Wound healing assay confirmed that this extract decreased the migration potential of HCT-116 cells with minimal effects on non-tumorigenic cells. It also induced an increase in the subG1 population as determined by flow cytometry. Western blot analysis demonstrated that apoptosis in treated HCT-116 cells was induced via upregulation of p21 protein and downregulation of the anti-apoptotic Bcl 2, which led to caspases activation. The latter, catalyzes the degradation of PARP-1, and thus suppresses cancer proliferation.