Search Results (14)

Background/Objectives: Cancer stem cells (CSCs) represent a minor yet critical subpopulation within tumors, endowed with self-renewal and differentiation capacities, and are implicated in tumor initiation, progression, metastasis, therapeutic resistance, and recurrence. Reliable in vitro functional assays to characterize CSCs are pivotal for the development of personalized oncology strategies. This study sought to establish and validate a microfluidic device (MD) platform for the enrichment, functional assessment, and therapeutic evaluation of CSC populations derived from experimental models and primary tumor samples. Methods: Murine (LM38LP) and human (BPR6) breast cancer cell lines were cultured within MDs to promote sphere formation. CSC enrichment was confirmed through the expression analysis of pluripotency-associated genes (Oct4, Sox2, Nanog, and CD44) by quantitative PCR (qPCR) and immunofluorescence. Sphere number, size, and gene expression profiles were quantitatively assessed before (control) and after chemotherapeutic exposure. To validate the MD platform against conventional scale, parallel experiments were performed in 12 well plates. To extend translational relevance, three primary canine tumor samples (solid thyroid carcinoma, simple tubular carcinoma, and reactive lymph node) were mechanically disaggregated and processed within MDs for CSC characterization. Results: The MD platform enabled the consistent enrichment of CSC populations, showing significant modulation of sphere growth parameters and stemness marker expression following chemotherapeutic treatment. Beyond its comparability with conventional culture, the MD also supported immunofluorescence staining and allowed real-time monitoring of individual cell growth. Sphere formation efficiency (SFE) and CSC marker expression were similarly demonstrated in primary veterinary tumor cultures, highlighting the device’s cross-species applicability. Conclusions: Microfluidic-based sphere assays represent a robust, reproducible, and scalable platform for the functional interrogation of CSC dynamics and therapeutic responses. This methodology holds great promise for advancing CSC-targeted therapies and supporting personalized oncology in both human and veterinary settings. Full article

A wideband polarization-insensitive bistatic radar cross-section (RCS) reduction design under linear and circular polarization incidence is proposed based on spherical-chessboard metasurfaces. A new metasurface element with wideband characteristics was designed, including a double split-ring structure, single-layer media, and metal board. In the proposed RCS-reduction design, the Pancharatnam–Berry (P-B) phase theory is applied with the designed metasurface element to realize phase distribution mimicking the low-scattering sphere, and thus realizing RCS reduction. In addition, the chessboard configuration is combined with spherical phase distribution to further improve the performance of monostatic and bistatic RCS reduction. Finally, the proposed RCS reduction design can not only realize wideband RCS reduction but also exhibit polarization-insensitive characteristics. It realized 10 dB monostatic and bistatic RCS reduction in a frequency band ranging from 8.5 to 21 GHz (84.8% relative bandwidth) under linear polarization (LP) and circular polarization (CP) incidence. The straightforward and efficient design method of the hybrid spherical chessboard can effectively avoid the complex and time-consuming optimization process in RCS-reduction design. Full article

Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is a critical illness in critically unwell patients, characterized by refractory hypoxemia and shock. This study evaluates an early detection tool and investigates the relationship between hypoxia and circulatory shock in ARDS, to improve diagnostic precision and therapy customization. We used a porcine model, inducing ARDS with mechanical ventilation and intratracheal plus intravenous lipopolysaccharide (LPS) injection. Hemodynamic changes were monitored using an Acumen IQ sensor and a ForeSight Elite sensor connected to the HemoSphere platform. We evaluated tissue damage, inflammatory response, and hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) alterations using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and immunohistochemistry. The results showed severe hypotension and increased heart rates post-LPS exposure, with a notable rise in the hypotension prediction index (HPI) during acute lung injury (p = 0.024). Tissue oxygen saturation dropped considerably in the right brain region. Interestingly, post-injury HIF-2α levels were lower at the end of the experiment. Our findings imply that the HPI can effectively predict ARDS-related hypotension. HIF expression levels may serve as possible markers of rapid ARDS progression. Further research should be conducted on the clinical value of this novel approach in critical care, as well as the relationship between the HIF pathway and ARDS-associated hypotension. Full article

Packing irregular objects composed by generalized spheres is considered. A generalized sphere is defined by an arbitrary norm. For three classes of packing problems, balance, homothetic and sparse packing, the corresponding new (generalized) models are formulated. Non-overlapping and containment conditions for irregular objects composed by generalized spheres are presented. It is demonstrated that these formulations can be stated for any norm. Different geometrical shapes can be treated in the same way by simply selecting a suitable norm. The approach is applied to generalized spheres defined by Lp norms and their compositions. Numerical solutions of small problem instances obtained by the global solver BARON are provided for two-dimensional objects composed by spheres defined in Lp norms to demonstrate the potential of the approach for a wide range of engineering optimization problems. Full article

The NLR family pyrin domain containing 3 (NLRP3) promotes the growth of colorectal cancer (CRC). However, the therapeutic effect of NLRP3 inhibition on CRC cell progression is controversial. This study comparatively investigated the therapeutic effect of a pharmacological NLRP3 inhibitor, glibenclamide (gli), and the post-translational suppression of NLRP3 by miR-223 on CRC cell progression in HCT-116 and HCT-15 cells. LPS and ATP were used to activate Gli-treated and LSB-hsa-miR-223-3p (WT^miR-223)-expressing HCT-116 cells. NLRP3.AB.pCCL.sin.cPPT.U6.miR-223-Decoy.hPGK.GFP.WPRE plasmid (D^miR-223) was the negative control for miR-223 expression. NLRP3, gasdermin D, and BAX expressions were analyzed using western blotting. Real-time PCR detected the RNA expression of autophagy-related genes ATG5, BECN1, and miR-223 in non-transfected cells. ELISA analyzed IL-1β and IL-18 in the medium. MTS-1, annexin V, wound-healing, and sphere-invasion assays were used to assess cell viability and progression. A multiplex cytokine assay detected proinflammatory cytokine secretion. LPS–ATP-activated NLRP3 produced gasdermin D cleavage, released IL-1b and IL-18, and activated cell migration and sphere invasion. In contrast, reduced cell growth, miR-223 expression, IFN-γ, CXCL10, and LIF secretion were found in cells after inflammasome activation. Both gli and WT^miR-223 induced autophagy genes ATG5 and BECN1 and reduced the NLRP3 activation and its downstream proteins. However, while gli had a limited effect on the production of IFN-γ, CXCL10, and LIF, WTmiR-223 increased the release of those cytokines. In addition, gli did not suppress cell growth, while WTmiR-223 promoted apoptosis. Notably, neither gli nor WTmiR-223 effectively prevented sphere invasion. These data suggest that, while WT^miR-223 could have a better anticancer effect in CRC compared to gli, the sole usage of miR-223-mediated NLRP3 suppression may not be sufficient to prevent CRC metastasis. Full article

The versatile Generalized Retrieval of Aerosol and Surface Properties (GRASP) algorithm exploits the advantages of synergic ground-based aerosol observations such as radiometric (sensitive to columnar aerosol optical and microphysical properties) and lidar (sensitive to vertical distribution of the optical properties) observations. The synergy is possible when the complementary data is mutually constrained by GRASP parametrization that includes, for the first time ever, the degree of linear polarization (DoLP) parameter measured by a polarized sun-sky-lunar AERONET photometer (380, 440, 500, 675, 870, 1020, and 1640 nm) in synergy with the vertical profiles from an elastic lidar (355, 532, and 1064 nm). First, a series of numerical tests is performed using simulated data generated using a climatology of data and ground-based measurements. The inversions are performed with and without random noise for five different combinations of input data, starting from the AERONET-like dataset and increasing to the complex one by adding more information for three aerosol scenarios: I—high aerosol optical depth (AOD) with dominant coarse mode; II—low AOD with dominant coarse mode; III—high AOD with dominant fine mode. The inclusion of DoLP improves (i) the retrieval accuracy of the fine-mode properties when it is not dominant; (ii) the retrieval accuracy of the coarse-mode properties at longer wavelengths and that of the fine-mode properties at shorter wavelengths; (iii) the retrieval accuracy of the coarse-mode real part of the refractive index (up to 36% reduction), but has no effect on the retrieval of the imaginary part; (iv) reduces up to 83% the bias of the sphere fraction (SF) retrieval in coarse-mode dominated regimes; and (v) the root mean square error (RMSE) of the retrieval for most of the parameters in all scenarios. In addition, the addition of more photometer channels in synergy with a three-wavelength elastic lidar reduces the RMSE for the real part (67% in the coarse mode) and the imaginary part (35% in the fine mode) of the refractive index, the single scattering albedo (38% in the fine mode), the lidar ratio (20% in the coarse mode), and the SF (43%). Full article

NOD-like receptor protein 3 (NLRP3) may contribute to the growth and propagation of breast cancer (BC). The effect of estrogen receptor-α (ER-α), progesterone receptor (PR), and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) on NLRP3 activation in BC remains unknown. Additionally, our knowledge of the effect of blocking these receptors on NLRP3 expression is limited. We used GEPIA, UALCAN, and the Human Protein Atlas for transcriptomic profiling of NLRP3 in BC. Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and adenosine 5′-triphosphate (ATP) were used to activate NLRP3 in luminal A MCF-7 and in TNBC MDA-MB-231 and HCC1806 cells. Tamoxifen (Tx), mifepristone (mife), and trastuzumab (Tmab) were used to block ER-α, PR, and HER2, respectively, on inflammasome activation in LPS-primed MCF7 cells. The transcript level of NLRP3 was correlated with ER-ɑ encoding gene ESR1 in luminal A (ER-α⁺, PR⁺) and TNBC tumors. NLRP3 protein expression was higher in untreated and LPS/ATP-treated MDA-MB-231 cells than in MCF7 cells. LPS/ATP-mediated NLRP3 activation reduced cell proliferation and recovery of wound healing in both BC cell lines. LPS/ATP treatment prevented spheroid formation in MDA-MB-231 cells but did not affect MCF7. HGF, IL-3, IL-8, M-CSF, MCP-1, and SCGF-b cytokines were secreted in both MDA-MB-231 and MCF7 cells in response to LPS/ATP treatment. Tx (ER-α inhibition) promoted NLRP3 activation and increased migration and sphere formation after LPS treatment of MCF7 cells. Tx-mediated activation of NLRP3 was associated with increased secretion of IL-8 and SCGF-b compared to LPS-only-treated MCF7 cells. In contrast, Tmab (Her2 inhibition) had a limited effect on NLRP3 activation in LPS-treated MCF7 cells. Mife (PR inhibition) opposed NLRP3 activation in LPS-primed MCF7 cells. We have found that Tx increased the expression of NLRP3 in LPS-primed MCF7. These data suggest a link between blocking ER-α and activation of NLRP3, which was associated with increased aggressiveness of the ER-α⁺ BC cells. Full article

Lightning is a perilous and unavoidable event of nature that presents major deleterious consequences on humans, tall structures, electrical power systems, forests, etc. Though several research studies have been carried out to analyse the sufficiency of a Lightning Protection System (LPS), very few research findings have been reported to assess the extent of risk due to lightning-human interaction in the vicinity of tall structures. This research aims at carrying out detailed modelling and simulation studies of LPS for heritage structure. Several current waveshapes as stipulated in IEC 62305 are modelled appropriately and presented to the electrical equivalent circuit representation of a heritage monument in South India (Brihadisvara Temple) to ascertain the impact of lightning parameters on heritage monuments. In addition, to assess the effectiveness of the earthing system, detailed earthing models during lightning is developed to assess the role played by aspects such as soil resistivity (single and double), earth electrode dimensions, nature of elements in the equivalent circuit, etc. Further, the role of lightning strikes on human due to step and touch potential is ascertained by formulating a lumped electrical equivalent model of human to assess its role and impact on dry and wet skin. Full article

Macrophage polarization has become increasingly important for the improvement of the biocompatibility of biomaterials. In this study, we coated Ti discs with phospholipids (phosphatidylserine/phosphatidylcholine [4:1 mole/mole]) by evaporating the solvent under vacuum, and observed the polarization of RAW 264.7 cells cultured on the discs. The coated discs were hydrated before cell culture was added. The shape of the hydrated phospholipids varied with the concentration of loaded phospholipids: a perforated layer (0.1 mM), tubules and spheres (1 mM), and spheres (10 mM). RAW 264.7 cells exhibited different morphologies, depending on the concentration of phospholipids. On the coated discs, the gene expression and protein release of TGF-β1, VEGF, Arg-1, and TNF-α were downregulated, especially with 10 mM phospholipids. The stimulation of mRNA expression and the protein release of those genes by IL-4 and LPS were also disturbed on the phospholipid-coated discs. In conclusion, the polarization of RAW 264.7 cells was prevented by hydrated phospholipids on Ti discs. Full article

Different notions of entropy can be identified in different scientific communities: (i) the thermodynamic sense; (ii) the information sense; (iii) the statistical sense; (iv) the disorder sense; and (v) the homogeneity sense. Especially the “disorder sense” and the “homogeneity sense” relate to and require the notion of space and time. One of the few prominent examples relating entropy to both geometry and space is the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy of a Black Hole. Although this was developed for describing a physical object—a black hole—having a mass, a momentum, a temperature, an electrical charge, etc., absolutely no information about this object’s attributes can ultimately be found in the final formulation. In contrast, the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy in its dimensionless form is a positive quantity only comprising geometric attributes such as an area A—the area of the event horizon of the black hole, a length L_P—the Planck length, and a factor 1/4. A purely geometric approach to this formulation will be presented here. The approach is based on a continuous 3D extension of the Heaviside function which draws on the phase-field concept of diffuse interfaces. Entropy enters into the local and statistical description of contrast or gradient distributions in the transition region of the extended Heaviside function definition. The structure of the Bekenstein-Hawking formulation is ultimately derived for a geometric sphere based solely on geometric-statistical considerations. Full article

Mass transfer plays a significant role in a sensor’s performance, because the substrate can be detected only when it contacts with the active catalytic surface. In this work, cuprous oxide mesoporous nanospheres (Cu₂O MPNS) with different pore size distributions are fabricated and applied as electrocatalysts for glucose detection. The small pore Cu₂O (SP-Cu₂O, mean pore size of 5.3 nm) and large pore Cu₂O (LP-Cu₂O, mean pore size of 16.4 nm) spheres are prepared by the template method and an etching treatment. The obtained two kinds of Cu₂O MPNS exhibit high porosity with a similar specific surface area of 61.2 and 63.4 (m²·g⁻¹), respectively. The prepared Cu₂O MPNS are used to construct an electrochemical non-enzymatic glucose sensor. The results show that the LP-Cu₂O exhibits better performance than SP-Cu₂O, which illustrates that the internal diffusion takes a great impact on the performance of the sensor. The LP-Cu₂O modified electrode possesses a high and reproducible sensitivity of 2116.9 μA mM⁻¹·cm⁻² at the applied potential of 0.6 V with a wide detection range of 0.003–7.8 mM and a low detection limit of 0.42 μM. Full article

Different notions of entropy can be identified in different communities: (i) the thermodynamic sense; (ii) the information sense; (iii) the statistical sense; (iv) the disorder sense; and (v) the homogeneity sense. Especially the “disorder sense” and the “homogeneity sense” relate to and require the notion of space and time. One of the few prominent examples relating entropy to geometry and to space is the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy of a Black Hole. Although being developed for the description of a physics object—a black hole—having a mass; a momentum; a temperature; a charge etc. absolutely no information about these attributes of this object can eventually be found in the final formula. In contrast; the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy in its dimensionless form is a positive quantity only comprising geometric attributes like an area A which is the area of the event horizon of the black hole-, a length L_P—which is the Planck length-and a factor 1/4. A purely geometric approach towards this formula will be presented. The approach is based on a continuous 3D extension of the Heaviside function; with this extension drawing on the phase-field concept of diffuse interfaces. Entropy enters into the local; statistical description of contrast respectively gradient distributions in the transition region of the extended Heaviside function definition. The structure of the Bekenstein-Hawking formula eventually is derived for a geometric sphere based on mere geometric-statistic considerations. Full article

The solution properties of four fractions (LPI–IV) from crude longan pulp polysaccharides (LP3) were analyzed by size-exclusion chromatography combined with laser light scattering, viscometry, complex formation with Congo red, and atomic force microscopy. Their radii of gyration (<S²>_z^1/2) were 43.3, 62.6, 43.2 and 77.3 nm, exponents of <S²>_z^1/2 = k M_w^v were 0.04, 0.50, 0.52 and 0.02, and intrinsic viscosities ([η]) were 9.945, 25.38, 308.2 and 452.1 mL/g, respectively. Moreover, the dependence of [η] on M_w was established to be [η] = 5.3 × 10⁻²M_w^0.61 (mL/g). LPI had both a sphere-like conformation and a triple-helix structure, and LPII–IV existed as flexible chains. LP3, LPI, LPII and LPIII all exhibited direct inhibitory effects on A549, HeLa and HepG2 cells in a positive dose-dependent manner in the range of 50–400 µg/mL. The activities of LPIII, especially the inhibition of HepG2 cell proliferation, were stronger than those of others, which may be partly related to its flexible conformation. The present results support the cancer therapeutic potential of longan polysaccharides. Full article