Measuring the simultaneous effects of hypoxia and deformation on ATP release from erythrocytes

It is known that adenosine triphosphate (ATP) is released from red blood cells (RBCs) due to various forms of stimulation such as deformation, pharmacological stimuli, and hypoxia. To date, these various stimuli have been investigated individually. Here, we have combined a microflow system capable of initiating deformation-induced release of ATP from the RBCs at various levels of hypoxia as measured by percent oxygen saturation in the RBC sample. When values of ATP released from deformation and hypoxia are compared to values of ATP release due to hypoxia alone, the relationship between the two stimuli can be deduced. Measurement of RBC-derived ATP with the well-known chemiluminescence assay employing luciferin/luciferase indicates that RBCs deoxygenated for 4 min released 1.84 +/- 0.075 microM ATP. The largest decrease in oxygen saturation was found to be between 0 s (66.3% O(2) saturation) and 15 s (22.3% O(2) saturation). RBCs deoxygenated to a 22.3% O(2) saturation released 0.374 +/- 0.011 microM ATP when pumped through the microflow system. This value is an increase from 0.281 +/- 0.007 microM ATP in the presence of flow alone. The ATP release after exposure to hypoxia at 22.3% O(2) saturation was 0.381 +/- 0.014 microM ATP, a value statistically equivalent to that of hypoxia and flow combined. These data suggest that, at an oxygen saturation point of around 25.0% or above, deformation contributes to ATP release from the RBC; however, beyond this saturation point, the ATP release is largely due to hypoxia.     

Evaluating the effects of estradiol on endothelial nitric oxide stimulated by erythrocyte-derived ATP using a microfluidic approach

Recently, estrogens have been reported to have protective effects against experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), a murine model of multiple sclerosis (MS). Although the molecular mechanism for such a protective effect is currently incomplete, we hypothesized that estradiol may reduce the release of ATP from erythrocytes (ERYs), thereby lowering the production of nitric oxide (NO) by endothelial cells. Here, we report on the use of a microfluidic device to investigate the direct effects of the estrogen estradiol on endothelial cell nitric oxide production. In addition, the incorporation of a thin polycarbonate membrane into the device enabled the passage of ERYs through the device to determine indirect effects of estradiol on NO production that may be meditated by ERYs. When these ERYs were incubated with increasing concentrations of estradiol, the NO production from the endothelial cells was attenuated to a value that was only 59 ± 7% of ERYs in the absence of estradiol. This decrease in NO production coincides with reductions in ERY-derived ATP release in the presence of estradiol. Estradiol is typically reported to have NO-stimulating effects; however, such reports have employed in vitro experimental designs that include only a single cell type. To demonstrate the potential importance of this attenuation of ATP from ERYs, results from a small-scale study show that the ATP release obtained from healthy controls was 138 ± 21 nM (n = 18) while the release from the ERYs obtained from people with MS was 375 ± 51 nM (n = 11). The studies reported here involving multiple cells types (endothelial cells and ERYs) may lead to a reappraisal of the in vivo activities of estradiol.     

Effects of photodynamic therapy evaluated in a novel three-dimensional squamous cell carcinoma organ construct of the skin

Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the skin is a malignant neoplasm that occurs in all ethnic groups primarily due to chronic sun exposure and constitutes a major health problem worldwide. Novel therapies for SCC are in development but as yet no in vitro models capable of screening these therapies and their mechanism of action before proceeding to clinical trials in human subjects have emerged. For this reason we have developed and characterized a novel three-dimensional human SCC construct and validated it using photodynamic therapy (PDT), a well-established modality for treating in situ SCCs. Histologic and immunohistochemical characterization of these SCC constructs revealed epidermal and dermal de-differentiation, increased cell proliferation and expression of immunohistochemical markers specific for cutaneous SCC. Application of PDT to these constructs led to tumor regression with widespread apoptosis and necrosis within 5 days. This in vitro model consistently reproduces the tumor development and dynamics of growing SCCs in vivo and provides a useful approach for screening new treatment modalities for this form of cutaneous cancer.     

Periodicity and solutions of some rational difference equations systems

In this paper we are interested in a technique for solving some nonlinear rational systems of difference equations of third order, in three-dimensional case. Moreover, we study the periodicity of solutions for such systems. Finally, some numerical examples are presented.     

A Quantum Crystal with Multidimensional Anharmonic Oscillators

The quantum anharmonic crystal is made up of a large number of multidimensional anharmonic oscillators arranged in a periodic spatial lattice with a nearest neighbor coupling. If the coupling coefficient is sufficiently small, then there is a convergent expansion for the ground state of the crystal. The estimates on the convergence are independent of the size of the crystal. The proof uses the path integral representation of the ground state in terms of diffusion processes. The convergence of the cluster expansion depends on the ergodicity properties of these processes.     

Self-error-rejecting photonic qubit transmission in polarization-spatial modes with linear optical elements

We present an original self-error-rejecting photonic qubit transmission scheme for both the polarization and spatial states of photon systems transmitted over collective noise channels. In our scheme, we use simple linear-optical elements, including half-wave plates, 50:50 beam splitters, and polarization beam splitters, to convert spatial-polarization modes into different time bins. By using postselection in different time bins, the success probability of obtaining the uncorrupted states approaches 1/4 for single-photon transmission, which is not influenced by the coefficients of noisy channels. Our self-error-rejecting transmission scheme can be generalized to hyperentangled n-photon systems and is useful in practical high-capacity quantum communications with photon systems in two degrees of freedom.     

High-spectral-resolution stimulated Rayleigh-Brillouin scattering at 1 microm

We have demonstrated stimulated Rayleigh-Brillouin scattering at a wavelength of 1.064 microm , using an injection-seeded Nd:YAG laser as a pump laser and a tunable diode laser as a probe laser. Spectra with a good signal-to-noise ratio are obtained despite the low probe-beam power and small gain coefficient in the infrared. Stimulated Rayleigh scattering is readily observable in organic and many other liquids because of absorption by the OH and CH overtone or combination bands. The absorption also causes an asymmetry in the stimulated Brillouin peak. A Rayleigh linewidth of 8 MHz is measured with this approach.     

Efficient Entanglement Concentration of Nonlocal Two-Photon Polarization-Time-Bin Hyperentangled States

We present two different hyperentanglement concentration protocols (hyper-ECPs) for two-photon systems in nonlocal polarization-time-bin hyperentangled states with known parameters, including Bell-like and cluster-like states, resorting to the parameter splitting method. They require only one of two parties in quantum communication to operate her photon in the process of entanglement concentration, not two, and they have the maximal success probability. They work with linear optical elements and have good feasibility in experiment, especially in the case that there are a big number of quantum data exchanged as the parties can obtain the information about the parameters of the nonlocal hyperentangled states by sampling a subset of nonlocal hyperentangled two-photon systems and measuring them. As the quantum state of photons in the time-bin degree of freedom suffers from less noise in an optical-fiber channel, these hyper-ECPs may have good applications in practical long-distance quantum communication in the future.     

Al2O3-47 nm and Al2O3-36 nm characterizations of nonlinear differential equations for biomedical applications: Magnetized peristaltic transport

Current research models the Al₂O₃ 47nm and Al₂O₃ 36nm nanoparticles transportation through peristalsis with entropy optimization. Conservation laws for mass, momentum and energy are used to model the present flow situation. These equations elaborates the magnetohydrodynamics, Hall, thermal radiation, Joule heating, heat generation and absorption. Convective heat transfer impacts are studied at channel walls. Entropy is modeled in view of thermodynamics second law. Two different expressions for effective viscosity are accounted. Simplification of the modeled equations is done through lubrication assumptions. Solution for momentum equation is obtained analytically and for numerically for temperature equation. Built-in shooting procedure is utilized to obtain the desired numerical results. Later on these obtained results are used to sketch and discussed the flow quantities of interest for the influential parameters accounted in the problem.