Effect of Dinitrosyl Iron Complexes (NO Donors) on the Metabolic Processes in Human Fibroblasts.

The results of the study of the effect of mononuclear dinitrosyl iron complexes (DNICs) with functional sulfur-containing ligands (NO donors) on the cell viability and metabolism of human lung fibroblasts are presented, and the efficiency of their action is evaluated. It was shown that cationic DNICs increased the cell viability of fibroblasts and demonstrated the cytoprotective properties. Fluorescent analysis revealed that the DNICs compounds decrease the mitochondrial membrane potential but do not have a significant effect on the level of glutathione and reactive oxygen species in fibroblasts. It is assumed that the DNICs have the therapeutic potential for treating cardiovascular diseases.

Supercooling of the A phase of 3He.

Because of the extreme purity, lack of disorder, and complex order parameter, the first-order superfluid 3He A-B transition is the leading model system for first order transitions in the early universe. Here we report on the path dependence of the supercooling of the A phase over a wide range of pressures below 29.3 bar at nearly zero magnetic field. The A phase can be cooled significantly below the thermodynamic A-B transition temperature. While the extent of supercooling is highly reproducible, it depends strongly upon the cooling trajectory: The metastability of the A phase is enhanced by transiting through regions where the A phase is more stable. We provide evidence that some of the additional supercooling is due to the elimination of B phase nucleation precursors formed upon passage through the superfluid transition. A greater understanding of the physics is essential before 3He can be exploited to model transitions in the early universe.

Modification of the 3He phase diagram by anisotropic disorder.

Motivated by the recent prediction that uniaxially compressed aerogel can stabilize the anisotropic A phase over the isotropic B phase, we measure the pressure dependent superfluid fraction of (3)He entrained in 10% axially compressed, 98% porous aerogel. We observe that a broad region of the temperature-pressure phase diagram is occupied by the metastable A phase. The reappearance of the A phase on warming from the B phase, before superfluidity is extinguished at T(c), is in contrast to its absence in uncompressed aerogel. The phase diagram is modified from that of pure (3)He, with the disappearance of the polycritical point (PCP) and the appearance of a region of A phase extending below the PCP of bulk (3)He, even in zero applied magnetic field. The expected alignment of the A phase texture by compression is not observed.

Fragility of surface states in topological superfluid 3He.

Superfluid 3He, with unconventional spin-triplet p-wave pairing, provides a model system for topological superconductors, which have attracted significant interest through potential applications in topologically protected quantum computing. In topological insulators and quantum Hall systems, the surface/edge states, arising from bulk-surface correspondence and the momentum space topology of the band structure, are robust. Here we demonstrate that in topological superfluids and superconductors the surface Andreev bound states, which depend on the momentum space topology of the emergent order parameter, are fragile with respect to the details of surface scattering. We confine superfluid 3He within a cavity of height D comparable to the Cooper pair diameter ξ0. We precisely determine the superfluid transition temperature Tc and the suppression of the superfluid energy gap, for different scattering conditions tuned in situ, and compare to the predictions of quasiclassical theory. We discover that surface magnetic scattering leads to unexpectedly large suppression of Tc, corresponding to an increased density of low energy bound states.

Thermal transport of helium-3 in a strongly confining channel.

The investigation of transport properties in normal liquid helium-3 and its topological superfluid phases provides insights into related phenomena in electron fluids, topological materials, and putative topological superconductors. It relies on the measurement of mass, heat, and spin currents, due to system neutrality. Of particular interest is transport in strongly confining channels of height approaching the superfluid coherence length, to enhance the relative contribution of surface excitations, and suppress hydrodynamic counterflow. Here we report on the thermal conduction of helium-3 in a 1.1 µm high channel. In the normal state we observe a diffusive thermal conductivity that is approximately temperature independent, consistent with interference of bulk and boundary scattering. In the superfluid, the thermal conductivity is only weakly temperature dependent, requiring detailed theoretical analysis. An anomalous thermal response is detected in the superfluid which we propose arises from the emission of a flux of surface excitations from the channel.

Fabrication of microfluidic cavities using Si-to-glass anodic bonding.

We demonstrate the fabrication of ∼1.08 µm deep microfluidic cavities with characteristic size as large as 7 mm × 11 mm or 11 mm diameter, using a silicon-glass anodic bonding technique that does not require posts to act as separators to define cavity height. Since the phase diagram of 3He is significantly altered under confinement, posts might act as pinning centers for phase boundaries. The previous generation of cavities relied on full wafer-bonding which is more prone to failure and requires dicing post-bonding, whereas these cavities are made by bonding a pre-cut piece of Hoya SD-2 glass to a patterned piece of silicon in which the cavity is defined by etching. Anodic bonding was carried out at 425 °C with 200 V, and we observe that pressurizing the cavity to failure (>30 bars pressure) results in glass breaking, rather than the glass-silicon bond separation. In this article, we discuss the detailed fabrication of the cavity, its edges, and details of the junction between the coin silver fill line and the silicon base of the cavity that enables a low internal-friction joint. This feature is important for mass coupling torsional oscillator experimental assays of the superfluid inertial contribution where a high quality factor (Q) improves frequency resolution. The surface preparation that yields well-characterized smooth surfaces to eliminate pinning sites, the use of transparent glass as a cover permitting optical access, low temperature capability, and attachment of pressure-capable ports for fluid access may be features that are important in other applications.

Saponins from Tribulus terrestris L are less toxic for normal human fibroblasts than for many cancer lines: influence on apoptosis and proliferation.

The objective of the study was to explore the influence of saponins derived from Tribulus terrestris L. (TT) on normal human skin fibroblasts and to compare it with their anticancer properties. In this study, [3H]thymidine incorporation and MTT to assess cell proliferation and viability, respectively, and immunoblotting and HPLC analysis to explore intracellular signal transduction pathways have been used. We found that TT caused a dose-dependent decrease in [3H]thymidine incorporation into the DNA of treated fibroblast compared to the untreated controls. Viability of treated cells remained within the control levels with treatment of up to 5 micro g TT/ml medium. It was significantly depressed with incubation in > or =6 micro g TT/ml medium with an IC50 of 12.6 micro g TT/ml of cultivating media. ERK1/2 was significantly dephosphorylated at 5 mins of incubation with TT until the 48th hour, when phosphorylation slightly recovered, but was still below the control levels. In contrast, p38 and JNK phosphorylation was positively influenced, with peaks at 1 hr and 24 hrs of incubation respectively. Phosphorylation/dephosphorylation events of SAPK/MAPK clearly correlated with Mkp-1 induction. Procaspase 3 was activated after 5 mins of incubation and coincided with a rapid actin cleavage. There was a significant decrease of putrescine concentration and a concomitant increase of spermidine and spermine at 2 mins of treatment. According to our results, TT is less toxic for normal human skin fibroblasts in comparison to many cancer lines investigated in previous studies. The molecular mechanism of this cytotoxicity involves up- and downregulation of polyamines' homeostasis, suppression of proliferation, and induction of apoptosis. Further research in this field using animal models would help to explore and interpret the potential properties of TT as an anticancer supplement.

Anisomycin and rapamycin define an area upstream of p70/85S6k containing a bifurcation to histone H3-HMG-like protein phosphorylation and c-fos-c-jun induction.

Anisomycin, a translational inhibitor, synergizes with growth factors and phorbol esters to superinduce c-fos and c-jun by a number mechanisms, one of which is its ability to act as a potent signalling agonist, producing strong, prolonged activation of the same nuclear responses as epidermal growth factor or tetradecanoyl phorbol acetate. These responses include the phosphorylation of pp33, which exists in complexed and chromatin-associated forms, and of histone H3 and an HMG-like protein. By peptide mapping and microsequencing, we show here that pp33 is the phosphoprotein S6, present in ribosomes and in preribosomes in the nucleolus. Ablation of epidermal growth factor-, tetradecanoyl phorbol acetate-, or anisomycin-stimulated S6 phosphorylation by using the p70/85S6k inhibitor rapamycin has no effect on histone H3 and HMG-like protein phosphorylation or on the induction and superinduction of c-fos and c-jun. Further, [35S]methionine-labelling and immunoprecipitation studies show that the ablation of S6 phosphorylation has no discernible effect on translation in general or translation of newly induced c-fos transcripts. Finally, we show that anisomycin augments and prolongs S6 phosphorylation not by blocking S6 phosphatases but by sustained activation of p70/85S6k. These results suggest the possible use of anisomycin and rapamycin to define upstream and downstream boundaries of an area of signalling above p70/85S6k which contains a bifurcation that produces histone H3-HMG-like protein phosphorylation and c-fos-c-jun induction in the nucleus.

The A-B transition in superfluid helium-3 under confinement in a thin slab geometry.

The influence of confinement on the phases of superfluid helium-3 is studied using the torsional pendulum method. We focus on the transition between the A and B phases, where the A phase is stabilized by confinement and a spatially modulated stripe phase is predicted at the A-B phase boundary. Here we discuss results from superfluid helium-3 contained in a single 1.08-µm-thick nanofluidic cavity incorporated into a high-precision torsion pendulum, and map the phase diagram between 0.1 and 5.6 bar. We observe only small supercooling of the A phase, in comparison to bulk or when confined in aerogel, with evidence for a non-monotonic pressure dependence. This suggests that an intrinsic B-phase nucleation mechanism operates under confinement. Both the phase diagram and the relative superfluid fraction of the A and B phases, show that strong coupling is present at all pressures, with implications for the stability of the stripe phase.

Observation of a new superfluid phase for 3He embedded in nematically ordered aerogel.

In bulk superfluid 3He at zero magnetic field, two phases emerge with the B-phase stable everywhere except at high pressures and temperatures, where the A-phase is favoured. Aerogels with nanostructure smaller than the superfluid coherence length are the only means to introduce disorder into the superfluid. Here we use a torsion pendulum to study 3He confined in an extremely anisotropic, nematically ordered aerogel consisting of ∼10 nm-thick alumina strands, spaced by ∼100 nm, and aligned parallel to the pendulum axis. Kinks in the development of the superfluid fraction (at various pressures) as the temperature is varied correspond to phase transitions. Two such transitions are seen in the superfluid state, and we identify the superfluid phase closest to Tc at low pressure as the polar state, a phase that is not seen in bulk 3He.

Transfer printing of CVD graphene FETs on patterned substrates.

We describe a simple and scalable method for the transfer of CVD graphene for the fabrication of field effect transistors. This is a dry process that uses a modified RCA-cleaning step to improve the surface quality. In contrast to conventional fabrication routes where lithographic steps are performed after the transfer, here graphene is transferred to a pre-patterned substrate. The resulting FET devices display nearly zero Dirac voltage, and the contact resistance between the graphene and metal contacts is on the order of 910 ± 340 Ω µm. This approach enables formation of conducting graphene channel lengths up to one millimeter. The resist-free transfer process provides a clean graphene surface that is promising for use in high sensitivity graphene FET biosensors.

Use of reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography on polystyrene-divinylbenzene columns for the rapid separation and purification of acid-soluble nuclear proteins.

The suitability of polystyrene-divinylbenzene reversed-phase HPLC columns for rapid separation and purification of acid-soluble nuclear proteins was evaluated. We used a polystyrene-divinylbenzene reversed-phase HPLC column (PLRP-S) for purification of nuclear proteins extracted with 0.3 M HCl or 5% HClO4. We are able to obtain electrophoretically pure fractions for a number of nuclear proteins including HMG14, HMG17 and variants of histone H3. The identity of proteins in these fractions was confirmed by immunochemical analysis, protein sequencing, mass spectrometry and migration on two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. These methods do not require special preparation of the sample and are quicker than similar published methods.

[A unique case of pseudohypoparathyroidism]. / Za edin osoben sluchai na psevdokhipoparatireoidizum.

A case of pseudohypoparathyroidism is reported. The case presents with unusual features: primary hypogonadism (a rare feature) and several features undescribed until now with the syndrome--changes in the amino acid composition, coxae valgae, shallow fossa olecrani as well as normal values of the parathyroid hormones which is considered as a "phase state" due to the exhaustion of the secreting function of the parathyroid glands. The role of the G-unit in the etiology of the disease is discussed.

Isolation of U5 snRNP particles.

A method for the isolation of intact U5 small nuclear RNP particles from HeLa cells has been developed. The procedure includes nuclear extraction of the particles at moderate ionic strength, fractionation in agarose gels, electrophoretic transfer on DEAE cellulose paper and elution with ammonium chloride. The purified U5 snRNP particles contain U5 RNA and a set of eleven proteins. They retain their antigenicity as judged by their reaction with autoantibodies from patients with connective tissue diseases.

[Lipoatrophic diabetes with hypertrophic subaortic stenosis]. / Lipoatrofichen diabet s khipertrofichna subaortna stenoza.

A rare case is described of the combination of lipotrophic diabetes with hyperrophic subaortic stenosis in a young female. The authors announce the good results from the administration of bromorgocryptin for the reduction of the considerable hyperlipoproteinemia in the patient. The scare experiences in literature from the administration of the preparation is emphasized as well as the difficulties in the explanation of its mechanisms of action, at the present stage of our knowledge.

[Hereditary nephritis with bearing loss of the receiver type (Alport's syndrome) with a description of 2 cases]. / Vurkhu nasledstveniia nefrit s namalenie na slukha ot priemen tip (sindrom na Alport) s opisanie na dva sluchaia

A familial predisposed diffuse nephropathy is described in three adult patients--brothers, combined with hearing abatement--receiver type--in two of them. Typical gout was also found in them, that is difficult to associate with the azotemia. It was admitted that it concerns the Alport syndrome in adults, developing with certain peculiarities, advanced patient age, disturbances of purine metabolism, moderately selective proteinuria of glomercultubular type and chromosome aberration--thresomia of F chromosome.

[Thyroid hormone dynamics during the thyrostatic treatment of Basedow's disease]. / Dinamika na tireoidnite khormoni pri tireostatichno lechenie na bazedovata bolest.

The efficacy of the generally accepted therapeutic scheme was studied in 52 newly discovered and untreated patients with Basedow's disease with the purpose to clarify the frequent failures of the thyrostatic treatment. The thyroid hormones levels were determined in dynamics initially and in the course of the disease. The results show that the efficacy of the thyrostatic drugs is individually different and depends on the supersensitivity of the thyroid gland. The remission occurred on the average on the 50th day--considerably earlier than the usually expected time limit. In order to study the expedience of the therapeutic scheme applied, the active dose required by the scheme was continued. As a result in the 4 month after the beginning of the treatment the thyrotropic hormone increased to a mean level of 35.7 mU/l--hypothyroid value. A monthly control of the thyroid hormones levels during the course of the active treatment is necessary and a reduction of the doses of the thyrostatic drugs when a remission is achieved must be performed.

[Treatment of obesity with a very low-energy dietetic regimen--the endocrine parallels]. / Lechenie na zatlustiavaneto s mnogo niskoenergien dietichen rezhim--endokrinni paraleli.

25 patients with various degree of obesity treated with a very low-caloric diet (Dresden diet) were followed up dynamically. By an average clinical stay of 22 days a satisfactory reduction of the body mass with mean 6.6 kg was achieved at mean reduction of the body mass index from 34 to 31. The blood sugar level, immunoreactive insulin in the course of the oral glucose tolerance test, the 24 h rhythm of the plasma cortisol and the aldosterone level at rest and in orthostatic position at the beginning and the end of the dietetic treatment were followed up. The results achieved are discussed in relation to the reduction of the body mass.

Phosphorylation-related accumulation of the 125K nuclear matrix protein mitotin in human mitotic cells.

The preparation of mammalian cells for entry into mitosis is related to a cascade of G2 phase phosphorylations of several nuclear proteins driven by mitosis-specific protein kinases. Using a monoclonal antibody we have identified previously in mammalian cells a 125K/pI6.5 protein, associated with the nuclear matrix, and markedly increased in mitotic cells, which was named 'mitotin'. Here, we show by short-term [35S]methionine labeling of cell cycle synchronized cells that this protein is synthesized at comparable rates throughout interphase. However, upon cycloheximide block of protein synthesis mitotin labeled during S phase is rapidly degraded, while the degradation of mitotin labeled during late G2 phase is abolished, resulting in its net and marked increase. The accumulation of mitotin in premitotic and mitotic cells is related to its phosphorylation and the metabolic stability of its two phosphorylated forms. The metabolic stabilization and accumulation of a nuclear matrix protein upon phosphorylation suggests the operation of a novel mechanism among the complex events preparing the cell for mitosis.