Inorganic Chemistry

The mechanisms by which microRNAs control pediatric high-grade gliomas (pHGGs) have yet to be fully elucidated. Our studies of patient-derived pHGG tissues and of the pHGG cell line KNS42 revealed down-regulation in these tumors of three microRNAs, specifically miR-107, miR-181c, and miR-29a-3p. This down-regulation increases the proliferation of KNS42 cells by de-repressing expression of the Notch2 receptor (Notch2), a validated target of miR-107 and miR-181c and a putative target of miR-29a-3p. Inhibition (either pharmacologic or genetic) of Notch2 or re-expression of the implicated microRNAs (all three combined but also individually) significantly reduced KNS42 cell proliferation. These findings suggest that Notch2 pathway activation plays a critical role in pHGGs growth and reveal a direct epigenetic mechanism that controls Notch2 expression, which could potentially be targeted by novel forms of therapy for these childhood tumors characterized by high-morbidity and high-mortality.

Over the last decade, liquid biopsy has gained much attention as a powerful tool in personalized medicine since it enables monitoring cancer evolution and follow-up of cancer patients in real time. Through minimally invasive procedures, liquid biopsy provides important information through the analysis of circulating tumour cells (CTCs) and circulating tumour-derived material, such as circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA), circulating miRNAs (cfmiRNAs) and extracellular vehicles (EVs). CTC analysis has already had an important impact on the prognosis, detection of minimal residual disease (MRD), treatment selection and monitoring of cancer patients. Numerous clinical trials nowadays include a liquid biopsy arm. CTC analysis is now an exponentially expanding field in almost all types of solid cancers. Functional studies, mainly based on CTC-derived cell-lines and CTC-derived explants (CDx), provide important insights into the metastatic process. The purpose of this review is to summarize the...

Composite Bi4Ti3O12/TiO2 heterojunction photocatalyst has been prepared by sonication methods. The heterojunction material Bi4Ti3O12/TiO2 was synthesized using an ultrasonic cleaning bath for 4 hours, by mixing Bi4Ti3O12 and TiO2 with variations in the comparison of mol 1:1, 1:2, 1:4 and 1:6. Characterization with XRD showed heterojunction material consisting of Bi4Ti3O12, anatase, rutile, and Bi12TiO20. The surface was observed by SEM which showed the morphology of Bi4Ti3O12/TiO2 were spherical TiO2 and plate-like Bi4Ti3O12. The band gap energy of heterojunction material with a variation in mol Bi4Ti3O12: TiO2 of 1:1, 1:2, 1:4 and 1:6 are 3.09; 3.10; 3.15; and 3.16 eV respectively. The all of band gap energy is lower than the band gap energy of TiO2 anatase and higher than the band gap energy of Bi4Ti3O12.

Background. Both 1,2,3- and 1,2,4-triazoles are nowadays incorporated in numerous antibacterial pharmaceutical formulations.Aim. Our study aimed to prepare three substituted 1,2,4-triazoles and to evaluate their antibacterial properties.Materials and Methods. One disubstituted and two trisubstituted 1,2,4-triazoles were prepared and characterised by physical and spectroscopic properties (melting point, FTIR, NMR, and GC-MS). The antibacterial properties were studied against three bacterial strains:Staphylococcus aureus(ATCC 25923),Escherichia coli(ATCC 25922), andPseudomonas aeruginosa(ATCC 27853), by the agar disk diffusion method and the dilution method with MIC (minimal inhibitory concentration) determination.Results. The spectroscopic characterization of compounds and the working protocol for the synthesis of the triazolic derivatives are described. The compounds were obtained with 15–43% yields and with high purities, confirmed by the NMR analysis. The evaluation of biological ...

Fe/S clusters generated in situ from simple iron salts and sulfur S8 were found to be highly efficient to catalyze the decarboxylative redox condensation of arylacetic acids with nitroarenes in the presence of N-methylpiperidine as a basic additive.

Ethanol is commonly used as a solvent in extracting glucomannan from Porang. However, the extraction process often leaves ethanol. The remaining ethanol can be re-distilled to save the use of it. The remaining ethanol is used in the re-distillation process with input volumes of 50L and 100L with variations in heating temperatures of 80°C, 85°C, and 90°C. This study aimed to analyze the effect of the ethanol input volume and temperature on the output volume of re-distilled ethanol and determine the constant change in volume of re-distilled ethanol using kinetics and Arrhenius equations. The results showed that the input volume and heating temperature variation differed significantly from the ethanol output volume. The k value changes in the ethanol output volume from re-distillation with an input volume of 50L and a temperature variation of 80°C, 85°C, and 90°C respectively were 0.0016, 0.0023, and 0.0027 L/min, while the input volume of 100L was 0.0009, 0.001, and 0.0014 L/min. The ...