פרסומים

Activator protein-2 (AP-2) is a transcription factor that regulates proliferation and differentiation in mammalian cells and has been implicated in the acquisition of the metastatic phenotype in several types of cancer. Herein, we examine the role of AP-2alpha in colon cancer progression. We provide evidence for the lack of AP-2alpha expression in the late stages of colon cancer cells. Re-expression of the AP-2alpha gene in the AP-2alpha-negative SW480 colon cancer cells suppressed their tumorigenicity following orthotopic injection into the cecal wall of nude mice. The inhibition of tumor growth could be attributed to the increased expression of E-cadherin and decreased expression and activity of matrix-metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) in the transfected cells, as well as a substantial loss of their in vitro invasive properties. Conversely, targeting constitutive expression of AP-2alpha in AP-2-positive KM12C colon cancer cells with small interfering RNA resulted in an increase in their invasive potential, downregulation of E-cadherin and increased expression of MMP-9. In SW480 cells, re-expression of AP-2alpha resulted in a fourfold increase in the activity of E-cadherin promoter, and a 5-14-fold decrease in the activity of MMP-9 promoter, indicating transcriptional regulation of these genes by AP-2alpha. Chromatin immunoprecipitation assay showed that re-expressed AP-2alpha directly binds to the promoter of E-cadherin, where it has been previously reported to act as a transcriptional activator. Furthermore, chromatin immunoprecipitation assay revealed AP-2alpha binding to the MMP-9 promoter, which ensued by decreased binding of transcription factor Sp-1 and changes in the recruitment of transcription factors to a distal AP-1 element, thus, contributing to the overall downregulation of MMP-9 promoter activity. Collectively, our data provide evidence that AP-2alpha acts as a tumor suppressor gene in colon cancer..

In the Physics Aristotle describes time as something that either does not exist or exists barely and in an obscure manner. Ruben Borg argues that an attempt to grapple with this problem informs the narrative structure, imagery and complex rhetorical strategies of Ulysses and Finnegans Wake. By examining the relation between time and processes of figuration in Joyce’s fiction, this study engages with the challenges of grasping time as a multiplicity that resists representation and objective measurement. Joyce’s lexical and rhetorical inventions are viewed as an attempt to describe time’s characteristic movement in terms of waste, measureless excess or fading. 

The Gibbard-Satterthwaite Theorem asserts the impossibility of designing a non-dictatorial voting rule in which truth-telling always constitutes a Nash equilibrium. We show that in voting games of complete information where a mediator is on hand, this troubling impossibility result can be alleviated. Indeed, we characterize families of voting rules where, given a mediator, truthful preference revelation is always in strong equilibrium. In particular, we observe that the family of feasible elimination procedures has the foregoing property.

PURPOSE: To evaluate methotrexate penetration and distribution profile in ocular structures after short low current transscleral hydrogel iontophoresis. METHODS: Methotrexate iontophoresis was studied in rabbits using drug-loaded hydrogels mounted on a portable iontophoretic device. Drug distribution profile was evaluated 2, 4, and 8 hours after iontophoretic treatment of 1.6 mA/cm2 for 4 min. Ocular drug levels were also determined two hours after iontophoretic treatment of 5 mA/cm2, compared to mock iontophoresis and intravitreal injection of methotrexate. RESULTS: Therapeutic drug levels were maintained for at least 8 h at the sclera and retina and for 2 h at the aqueous humor following the iontophoretic treatment. After increasing the current density, a twice-higher concentration was achieved at the vitreous and 8 to 20 time higher concentrations at the retina and sclera. CONCLUSIONS: A short low current non-invasive iontophoretic treatment using methotrexate-loaded hydrogels has a potential clinical value in treating ocular inflammatory diseases and intraocular lymphoma.

Polar lipid mols. such as glycerol monooleate (GMO) and polar solvent (usually water) can spontaneously organize in high order at the long-range distances while in the short-range, at at. distances, they are disordered. Liq. cryst. mesophases with a long-range order in one dimension are lamellar phases (L$\alpha$ ) while those showing two dimensional long-range order are known as hexagonal phases (HI and H2 for normal and reverse hexagonal) and those with three dimension long-range orders are lyotropic cubic phase (C). Hydrophobic effect with a variety of intra- and intermol. interactions, in combination with a no. of geometric packing constraints, are responsible for the degree of order. Addn. of guest mols. (solubilizates) to the liq. crystals can alter the structure according to specific mol. interaction between the GMO and the guest compd. that contributes to the surface area species. In our recent studied we have discovered that ternary blends of GMO, water and cosolvent can form unique structures. The focus of this presentation is on a new mesophase that was formed as a result of phase transformations. The new structure was eluted from lamellar, cubic, and hexagonal isotropic liq. phases in ternary systems. The new phase, termed by us the QL mesophase, is very unique since it is transparent liq. phase with long-range order. The QL phase was studied by small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), cryo-transmission electron microscopy (cryo-TEM), self-diffusion NMR, DSC and cond. methods. The unique rheol. properties of a system totally fluid and yet non Newtonian will be discussed in view of the suggested structure of micellar discontinuous cubic phase. Microstructure data as well as solubilization data of several nutraceuticals mols. and their bioavailability advantages will be presented. [on SciFinder(R)]

The crystn. patterns of carbamazepine pptd. from a confined microemulsion reservoir were studied by DSC, TGA, Powder XRD, single crystal XRD, SEM, and optical microscopy. The results suggest that interfacial fast nucleation and slow growth from O/W microemulsion leads to a selective, large, and better-ordered single crystals of dihydrate form with primitive monoclinic unit cell with parameters a = 10.16 {\AA

The invention relates to a nucleating microemulsion comprising nanovehicles, each comprising an amphiphilic shell surrounding a nucleating agent. The microemulsion is suitable for delivery of the nucleating agents into a thermoplastic polymer, thereby allowing crystn. of the polymer. A method for crystg. and increasing the nucleation efficiency of a thermoplastic polymer comprises dispersing the above nucleating microemulsion in a thermoplastic polymer melt. The polymer compns. contg. the nucleating microemulsions can be used for prodn. of plastic films, fibers, boards, sheets, articles, packaging materials, containers, pipes, medical goods, sporting goods, labware, dinnerware, and cookware. [on SciFinder(R)]
Novel interfacial crystallization technique to obtain drugs polymorphes controlled by the microemulsions interfaces.