Baicalein inhibits the proliferative activity of human prostate cancer cell line PC3 by downregulating Ezrin.

We aimed to elucidate the inhibitory effect of Baicalein on proliferative ability in Prostate cancer (PCa) through downregulating Ezrin. Relative level of Ezrin in PCa tissues and adjacent ones was detected. After PC3 cells were induced with 20 or 40 µM Baicalein, changes in viability, cell cycle progression and apoptosis were assessed. Relative levels of CyclinD1, CDK4, P53 and P21 were examined by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). Regulatory effects of Ezrin and Baicalein treatment on PC3 cells were evaluated. Finally, in vivo effects of Ezrin and Baicalein treatment on nude mice bearing PCa were detected. Ezrin was upregulated in PCa tissues relative to adjacent normal ones. Baicalein treatment decreased viability, arrested cell cycle and stimulated apoptosis in PC3 cells. Meanwhile, Baicalein treatment downregulated CyclinD1 and CDK4, while upregulating P53 and P21. Moreover, Ezrin was downregulated in Baicalein-treated PC3 cells. Knockdown of Ezrin synergistically stimulated the effects of Baicalein on cellular phenotypes of PC3 cells. In nude mice bearing PCa, Baicalein treatment decreased tumor volume and tumor weight, which were much more pronounced in those with in vivo knockdown of Ezrin. Baicalein treatment suppresses proliferative ability, arrests cell cycle and stimulates apoptosis in PCa cells through downregulating Ezrin.

Dynamic in situ observation of voltage-driven repeatable magnetization reversal at room temperature.

Purely voltage-driven, repeatable magnetization reversal provides a tantalizing potential for the development of spintronic devices with a minimum amount of power consumption. Substantial progress has been made in this subject especially on magnetic/ferroelectric heterostructures. Here, we report the in situ observation of such phenomenon in a NiFe thin film grown directly on a rhombohedral Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)0.7Ti0.3O3(PMN-PT) ferroelectric crystal. Under a cyclic voltage applied perpendicular to the PMN-PT without a magnetic field, the local magnetization of NiFe can be repetitively reversed through an out-of-plane excursion and then back into the plane. Using phase field simulations we interpret magnetization reversal as a synergistic effect of the metastable ferroelastic switching in the PMN-PT and an electrically rotatable local exchange bias field arising from the heterogeneously distributed NiO clusters at the interface.

Effect of strain on voltage-controlled magnetism in BiFeO3-based heterostructures.

Voltage-modulated magnetism in magnetic/BiFeO3 heterostructures can be driven by a combination of the intrinsic ferroelectric-antiferromagnetic coupling in BiFeO3 and the antiferromagnetic-ferromagnetic exchange interaction across the heterointerface. However, ferroelectric BiFeO3 film is also ferroelastic, thus it is possible to generate voltage-induced strain in BiFeO3 that could be applied onto the magnetic layer across the heterointerface and modulate magnetism through magnetoelastic coupling. Here, we investigated, using phase-field simulations, the role of strain in voltage-controlled magnetism for these BiFeO3-based heterostructures. It is predicted, under certain condition, coexistence of strain and exchange interaction will result in a pure voltage-driven 180° magnetization reversal in BiFeO3-based heterostructures.

A multi-channel stimulator and electrode array providing a rotating current whirlpool for electrical stimulation of wounds.

When electrical stimulation is used on wounds, the electrical current has difficulty penetrating areas where there is necrotic tissue. Further, for an irregularly shaped wound, current distribution is poor in some areas of the wound since conventional two-electrode delivery systems provide the greatest current in a line directly between the electrodes. A new stimulator and electrode system is described which uses three electrodes spaced around a wound to disperse current more evenly. The stimulator senses tissue impedance and then redirects current by altering its Thevenin's output impedance for each electrode; each of the three electrodes becomes the active one in sequence while the remaining are the sink electrodes. Eight subjects were examined to test the stimulator. Electrical stimulation was applied to the skin above the quadriceps muscle at currents of 15 mA in six subjects without wounds and in two subjects with wounds. The relationship between electrode position and current dispersion on the skin was examined with a two-electrode vs. a three-electrode system to set stimulation parameters for the computer. The results showed that the three-electrode system could (1) detect areas of the skin with high impedance; (2) compensate by altering the Thevenin's output impedance at each of the three electrodes to shift current to high impedance areas; (3) provide uniform current across the skin as assessed by skin current and blood flow measurements with a laser Doppler flow imager.

Fuzzy auto-associative neural networks for principal component extraction of noisy data.

In this paper, we propose a fuzzy auto-associative neural network for principal component extraction. The objective function is based on reconstructing the inputs from the corresponding outputs of the auto-associative neural network. Unlike the traditional approaches, the proposed criterion is a fuzzy mean squared error.We prove that the proposed objective function is an appropriate fuzzy formulation of auto-associative neural network for principal component extraction. Simulations are given to show the performances of the proposed neural networks in comparison with the existing method.

Effects of spatial dispersion of acetylcholine release on AV conduction responses to vagal stimulation in dogs.

We determined the effects on atrioventricular (AV) conduction of changing the spatial dispersion of acetylcholine (ACh) release from vagal nerve fibers in anesthetized dogs. We paced the atria at a constant rate and stimulated the vagus nerves with one stimulus burst per cardiac cycle. We varied the spatial heterogeneity of ACh release in the cardiac tissues by changing the stimulus voltage, and we varied the quantity of ACh release from each excited nerve fiber by changing the number of pulses per stimulus burst. We slightly changed the stimulus timing with each heartbeat to scan the entire cardiac cycle. We constructed phase-response curves (PRCs) by plotting the changes in AV conduction time as a function of the timing of vagal stimulation. We found that the amplitude of the PRC varied directly with average AV conduction time (AV), whereas the minimum-to-maximum phase difference of the PRC varied inversely with AV. However, for any given change in AV, the specific characteristics of the PRCs did not depend on whether we varied the number of pulses per burst or the stimulus voltage. Therefore, the phase-dependent characteristics of the dromotropic responses appear to be unaffected by the spatial dispersion of ACh release from the vagal nerve endings. The effects of vagal activity on the AV conduction time are determined by those conducting fibers that are the least restrained by neurally released ACh.

[Effect of vitamin C (V.C) on thermal sensitivity of Lewis tumor].

In this paper, the effect of V.C on thermal sensitivity of the tumor and normal tissues was studied. Average peak reaction and RD50 (50% reaction dosage) were used to evaluate the effect of V.C on thermal sensitivity of the normal tissue. Tumor cure rate and TCD50 (50% tumor cure dosage) were used to evaluate the effect of V.C on that of the tumor tissue. In all mice injected by V.C locally, the average peak reaction markedly increased, RD50 decreased by 1-2 fold; the tumor cure rate was obviously elevated, TCD50 was significantly reduced except those treated by 20' hyperthermia. TGF (therapeutic gain factor) was 1.76. These results indicate that V.C can increase the thermal sensitivity of tumor and normal tissues but the effect on tumor tissue is selective.

[Radiotherapy of chordoma--a report of 10 patients].

A consecutive series of 10 patients with chordoma was treated in our hospital from 1956 to 1982. Six were male and four were female. The age ranged 19 approximately 52 years. Eight lesions occurred in the base of sphenoid and two in the sacrum. All were treated by postoperative radiotherapy with a medium dose of 4,500 approximately 6,000 rad. Recurrent patients were given a hyperfractionated radiotherapy (100 rad, 4/D, at intervals of 3 hours, total dose 2000 rad). The 5 and 10 year survival rates were 75% and 50%. No complications were found after radiation. In this paper, literature on chordoma and radiotherapy for chordoma are reviewed. An optimal schedule is proposed: operation be the choice of treatment, which be as thorough as possible; two months after the operation, radiotherapy be given at a suitable dose of 5000 approximately 6000 rad; the recurrent lesions be treated by hyperfractionated radiotherapy.

Rate of acetylcholine hydrolysis affects the phase dependency of cardiac responses to vagal stimulation.

The influence of the rate of acetylcholine hydrolysis on the magnitude and phase dependency of the cardiac chronotropic response to vagal stimulation was studied in anaesthetised dogs. In one group of animals the chronotropic response to tonic vagal stimulation varied directly with the dose of physostigmine. In a second group of animals one brief stimulus burst was delivered to the right vagus nerve during each cardiac cycle, and the timing (phase) of the stimulus was varied within the cycle. Before physostigmine was given the phase of the stimulus had a substantial influence on the chronotropic response. When each stimulus burst contained 6 pulses the response was changed from its minimum to its maximum value (mean (SEM) change 0.338(0.081) s) when the phase was shifted by a mean value of 0.091(0.031) s. After physostigmine (0.3 mg X kg-1) was given the change in response produced by a phase shift was much less pronounced. A mean shift in phase of 0.593(0.052) s was required to change the chronotropic response from its minimum to its maximum value, and the mean difference between the minimum and maximum response was only 0.140(0.032) s. Hence the rate of acetylcholine hydrolysis in the cardiac tissues is an important determinant of the phase dependency of the chronotropic response to repetitive vagal stimulation-that is, the slower the rate of hydrolysis the less the change in the chronotropic response elicited by a given change in stimulus timing.