Ellagic acid and human cancers: a systems pharmacology and docking study to identify principal hub genes and main mechanisms of action

Research on anticancer properties of natural compounds, as effective materials that are available while causing minimal side effects, is growing. Ellagic acid (EA) is a well-known polyphenolic compound, which has been found in both free and complex modes in several medicinal plants such as pomegranate, walnut, and berries. Although many articles have reported anticancer properties for this compound, its mechanism of action has not been fully elucidated. In this study, we used several online and offline bioinformatics tools and databases to identify the mechanism of action of EA on various types of human malignancies including bladder, blood, breast, cervical, colorectal, liver, pancreas, and prostate cancers. In this context, after identifying and extracting EA-affected human genes/proteins that have been reported in various references, we built the related gene networks and determined functional hub genes. In addition, docking was performed to recognize target proteins that react directly with EA and are in fact most affected by this compound. Our findings revealed that EA exerts its anticancer effects by influencing specific hub genes in various types of cancers. Moreover, different cellular signaling pathways are affected by this natural compound. Generally, it turned out that EA probably exerts most of its anticancer activities, through induction of apoptosis, as well as P53 and WNT signaling pathways, and also by affecting the expression of several hub genes such as CDKN1A, CDK4, CDK2, CDK6, TP53, JUN, CCNA2, MAPK14, CDK1, and CCNB1 and especially interactions with some related proteins including P53, CDK6, and MAPK14.

     

Effect of Copper Substitution and Preparation Methods on the LaMnO3 Structure and Catalysis of Methane Combustion and CO Oxidation

 LaMn1-xCuxO3刡冊 perovskite oxides (x = 0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8, 1) were prepared by two different methods, the Pechini and sol-gel methods. The catalysts were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy, N2 adsorption, and temperature-programmed reduction. Their catalytic activity in the oxidation of methane and CO was evaluated. EDS and SEM results showed that the Pechini samples had more homogeneity and smaller particles (higher specific surface area). The catalytic activity for methane combustion was highest for x = 0.2. In CO oxidation, the oxides with x = 0.2 and x = 0.4 were the most active. The Pechini samples had higher activity and stability than the sol-gel samples.     

Exactly solvable reaction diffusion models on a Cayley tree

The most general reaction-diffusion model on a Cayley tree with nearest-neighbor interactions is introduced, which can be solved exactly through the empty-interval method. The stationary solutions of such models, as well as their dynamics, are discussed. Concerning the dynamics, the spectrum of the evolution Hamiltonian is found and shown to be discrete, hence there is a finite relaxation time in the evolution of the system towards its stationary state.     

Modified carbon nanotubes as a sorbent for solid-phase extraction of gold,and its determination by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry

A simple, sensitive and accurate method was developed for solid-phase extraction and preconcentration of trace levels of gold in various samples. It is based on the adsorption of gold on modified oxidized multi-walled carbon nanotubes prior to its determination by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry. The type and volume of eluent solution, sample pH value, flow rates of sample and eluent, sorption capacity and breakthrough volume were optimized. Under these conditions, the method showed linearity in the range of 0.2–6.0 ng L⁻¹ with coefficients of determination of >0.99 in the sample. The relative standard deviation for seven replicate determinations of gold (at a level of 0.6 ng L⁻¹) is ±3.8 %, the detection limit is 31 pg L⁻¹ (in the initial solution and at an S/N ratio of 3; for n = 8), and the enrichment factor is 200. The sorption capacity of the modified MWCNTs for gold(III) is 4.15 mg g⁻¹. The procedure was successfully applied to the determination of gold in (spiked) water samples, human hair, human urine and standard reference material with recoveries ranging from 97.0 to 104.2 %.

A sorbent based on modified carbon nanotubes was prepared and used to extract gold ion from various samples prior to its determination by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry

     

An Eco‐friendly Three Component Manifold for the Synthesis of α‐Aminophosphonates under Catalyst and Solvent‐free Conditions,X‐ray Characterization and Their Evaluation as Anticancer Agents

A series of α‐aminophosphonates were synthesized through one‐pot condensation of aryl aldehydes, aryl amines and diethyl phosphite in the absence of any catalyst and organic solvents. All the synthesized α‐aminophosphonates were characterized by spectral and elemental analysis and in the case of compound 4j by X‐ray crystallography. Some of these new α‐aminophosphonate derivatives were found to have cytotoxic activity on the cancer cell line DU145 in vitro by the MTT method.     

A two-phase approach for setting targets in DEA with negative data

Conventional DEA models have been introduced to deal with non-negative data. In the real world, in some occasions, we have outputs and/or inputs, which can take negative data. In DEA literature some approaches have been presented for evaluating performance of units, which operate with negative data. In this paper, firstly, we give a brief review of these works, then we present a new additive based approach in this framework. The proposed model is designed to provide a target with non-negative value associated with negative components for each observed unit, failed by other methods. An empirical application in banking is then used to show the applicability of the proposed method and make a comparison with the other approaches in the literature.     

A constitutive relation for compressible plastic materials

Summary In this note a yield criterion and its associated stress-strain increment relations dependent on isotropic pressure, are presented, for a non-hardening elastic-plastic compressible material.     

Self-assembly of boehmite nanopetals to form 3D high surface area nanoarchitectures

A flower-like boehmite nanostructure was prepared through a template-free chemical route by the self-assembly process of nanosize petals 800–1000 nm long, 200–250 nm wide, 20–50 nm thick and having an average crystallite size of about 2.21 nm. X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), DTA/TGA analyses and Brunauer–Emmet–Teller (BET-N₂) analyses were used in order to characterize the product obtained. XRD results exhibited that the obtained nanostructures composed of pure orthorhombic AlOOH phase. The effects of Cl⁻ ions and TEA on the growth of boehmite three-dimensional nanoarchitectures in the presence of NO₃^-\mathrm{NO}_{3}^{-} ions were investigated. BET analyses of as-prepared material demonstrate that this nanostructure material has a high specific surface area, as high as 123 m² g⁻¹.     

Numerical evaluation on thermal–hydraulic characteristics of dilute heat-dissipating nanofluids flow in microchannels

The present work deals with numerical investigations on heat transfer characteristics and friction factor of aqueous CuO nanofluids flow in a set of four microchannels connected in parallel under laminar regime. For each single phase, volume of fluid, mixture and Eulerian models, a particular computer code is developed to carefully simulate this problem. The three-dimensional steady-state governing equations are solved through finite volume method. The primary aim of this study is to comparatively distinguish the most appropriate and accurate model for numerical studies of nanofluids in microchannels. The results are compared with one another and the data obtained from an experimental work. Regarding the results, an acceptable consistency is observed for all models with the experimental data. The current study truly demonstrates that applying single-phase model to simulate and evaluate the laminar flow of CuO–water nanofluid inside microchannels with uniform wall temperature is more modest, precise and reliable compared with two-phase models.