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The main focus of this study is to investigate the radioactivity concentration, and the hazardous effects of using paint materials for decorative purposes which are available on the market. The gamma radiation from these collected paint samples is detected by using the High-Purity Germanium (HPGe) detector. A total of 20 samples from four brands and five different colours of each brand were collected for this experiment. From this study, the activity concentrations of Ra-226, Th-232 and K-40 in paint samples were found to be varied from 2.20 ± 0.98 to 60.22 ± 7.37 Bq kg−1 with an average value of 20.88 ± 4.05 Bq kg−1, 8.01 ± 3.54 to 87.07 ± 7.68 Bq kg−1 with an average value 28.19 ± 7.70 Bq kg−1 and 21.98 ± 19.39 to 517.92 ± 47.08 Bq kg−1 with an average value 221.70 ± 32.06 Bq kg−1, respectively. The total annual effective dose rate ranges from 0.04 to 0.25 mSvy−1 with an average of 0.15 mSvy−1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quantification of gross alpha and beta-emitting radionuclides in drinking water helps to understand the water quality as well as the long-term exposures to human health. The gross alpha and beta activity concentrations have been measured in 35 tap water samples taken from different residential areas of Dhaka city in the year 2020–2021. The measurement was performed using a dual phosphor Zinc Sulphide Scintillation Detector, ZnS(Ag). The activity of gross alpha of the collected tap water samples ranged from 0.45 ± 0.04 to 16.53 ± 0.01 mBq/L with an average value of 7.22 ± 0.43 mBq/L, which is below the WHO recommended limit of 0.5 Bq/L (WHO, 2011) or 0.1 Bq/L (WHO, 1978). Furthermore, the activity of gross beta in the tap water samples ranged from 3.26 ± 1.25 to 57.99 ± 1.98 mBq/L (mean 30.78 ± 1mBq/L) which is below the WHO recommended limit of 1 Bq/L (WHO, 2011). The total annual equivalent dose due to tap water was found below the WHO recommended dose limit of 100 µSv/y due to radionuclides in water. Present results may help to create baseline data for gross alpha and beta activity in drinkable water in Bangladesh and also for further analysis in identifying specific radionuclides. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BackgroundBreast cancer, a heterogeneous disease has been broadly classified into oestrogen receptor positive (ER+) or oestrogen receptor negative (ER-) tumour types. Each of these tumours is dependent on specific signalling pathways for their progression. While high levels of survivin, an anti-apoptotic protein, increases aggressive behaviour in ER- breast tumours, oxidative stress (OS) promotes the progression of ER+ breast tumours. Mechanisms and molecular targets by which OS promotes tumourigenesis remain poorly understood.ResultsDETA-NONOate, a nitric oxide (NO)-donor induces OS in breast cancer cell lines by early re-localisation and downregulation of cellular survivin. Using in vivo models of HMLE(HRAS) xenografts and E2-induced breast tumours in ACI rats, we demonstrate that high OS downregulates survivin during initiation of tumourigenesis. Overexpression of survivin in HMLE(HRAS) cells led to a significant delay in tumour initiation and tumour volume in nude mice. This inverse relationship between survivin and OS was also observed in ER+ human breast tumours. We also demonstrate an upregulation of NADPH oxidase-1 (NOX1) and its activating protein p67, which are novel markers of OS in E2-induced tumours in ACI rats and as well as in ER+ human breast tumours.ConclusionOur data, therefore, suggest that downregulation of survivin could be an important early event by which OS initiates breast tumour formation.

BackgroundMechanisms that increase resistance to apoptosis help promote cellular transformation. Cancer cells have deregulated apoptotic pathways, where increased expression and stability of anti-apoptotic proteins Mcl-1 and Bcl-2 increases resistance to apoptosis. Pathways that increase the stability of proteins in cancer cells remain poorly understood.MethodsUsing human mammary epithelial and established breast cancer cell lines, we assessed the mechanisms that increase the stability of anti-apoptotic proteins in breast cancer cells by caspase assay, western blot, small-inhibitory RNA treatment and immunoprecipitation.ResultsWhile breast cancer cells were resistant to de novo inhibition of protein synthesis, a rapid proteosome-mediated degradation of Mcl-1 and Bcl-2 induced apoptosis in mammary epithelial cells. Although Mule, an E3 ligase that targets Mcl-1 for degradation was expressed in mammary epithelial and breast cancer cell lines, rapid increase of polyubiquitinated Mcl-1 and Bcl-2 was detected only in mammary epithelial cells. Only transient formation of the Mule-Mcl-1 complex was detected in breast cancer cells. Downregulation of pERK1/2 in breast cancer cells reduced Mcl-1 levels and increased Mcl-1/Mule complex.ConclusionOur findings suggest that reduced Mule/Mcl-1 complex has a significant role in increasing the stability of Mcl-1 in breast cancer cells and increased resistance to apoptosis.

Rajan Singh,1,2 Shehla Pervin,1,2 Se-Jin Lee,3,4 Alan Kuo,5 Victor Grijalva,6 John David,7 Laurent Vergnes,8 Srinivasa T Reddy1,6 1Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, UCLA School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA, USA; 2Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science, Los Angeles, CA, USA; 3The Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Medicine, Farmington, CT, USA; 4Department of Genetics and Genome Sciences, University of Connecticut School of Medicine, CT, USA; 5Department of Biology, California State University Dominguez Hills, CA, USA; 6Department of Molecular and Medical Pharmacology, UCLA School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA, USA; 7Department of Comparative Medicine, Pfizer Inc, San Diego, CA, USA; 8Department of Human Genetics, UCLA School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA, USA Background: Follistatin (Fst) promotes brown adipocyte characteristics in adipose tissues.Methods: Abdominal fat volume (CT scan), glucose clearance (GTT test), and metabolomics analysis (mass spectrometry) of adipose tissues from Fst transgenic (Fst-Tg) and wild type (WT) control mice were analyzed. Oxygen consumption (Seahorse Analyzer) and lipidomics (gas chromatography) was analyzed in 3T3-L1 cells.Results: Fst-Tg mice show significant decrease in abdominal fat content, increased glucose clearance, improved plasma lipid profiles and significant changes in several conventional metabolites compared to the WT mice. Furthermore, overexpression of Fst in 3T3-L1 cells resulted in up regulation of key brown/beige markers and changes in lipidomics profiles. Conclusion: Fst modulates key factors involved in promoting metabolic syndrome and could be used for therapeutic intervention. Keywords: follistatin, transgenic, adipocyte, fibroblast growth factor 21, AdipoQ

Introduction: Because of poor knowledge and awareness, gynecological cancers are late in diagnosis and outcome is worse. Objective: The aim of this audit was to assess the trend of the gynecological cancers for the year of 2022. Methods: This is an observational study on retrospectively collected data of gynecological cancer patients at National Institute of Cancer Research and Hospital (NICRH), Dhaka. All cases of cancer seen at the gynecology outpatient department and cases admitted in the gynecological oncology ward at NICRH, between the months of January to December 2022 were audited. Results: The results shown that about 5.8% of all the new cases were young women aged below 25 years. The majority of gynecological cancers were among women aged between 35 and 64 years (73.17%) and only 2.6% patients were aged above 75 years. Cervical cancer (59%) was the leading gynecological cancer among all female cancers attended at NICRH. In ovarian malignancy, most of the patients(61%) had stage lll disease and no patient in stage IV diseases. Due to improper evaluation of abnormal uterine bleeding, majority of the endometrial carcinoma patients (64%) presented with histopathology reports after hysterectomy. Conclusion: Cervical cancer in the commonest gynecological malignancy in this series. Most of the ovarian malignancies were in stage III. This study might help to get a in depth understanding of the trend of major gynecological cancers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are one of the most frequently occurring infections majority of which are caused by multi-drug resistant (MDR) uropathogens. Hence, the present study was designed to find out the prevalence of bacterial pathogens causing UTIs and to determine their antibiotic resistance patterns against different classes of antibiotics. Cleancatch midstream urine samples were collected from 200 UTI patients of different sex and age groups. The uropathogens were isolated using Hi-Chrome UTI agar, Blood agar, MacConkey agar and then subjected to antibiotic susceptibility analysis against nine antibiotics of different classes using Kirby-Bauer's disc diffusion method. From 55.08% positive samples, it was found that females were more prone to UTIs than males and in both cases; the prevalence rate was higher in the age group 21-40 years (33%). Among the uropathogens, E.coli was the predominant etiological agent (57.38%) followed by Enterococcus sp. (36.06%), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (3.28%) and Staphylococcus aureus (3.28%). The pathogens showed remarkable amount of sensitivity against Gentamicin and Ciprofloxacin. The present experiment can be helpful for the clinicians in finding proper drugs in the developing countries like Bangladesh where multi-drug resistance problem has just complicated the treatment of UTIs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A strongly coupled dusty plasma system consisting of non-thermal electrons, Maxwellian ions, and negatively charged dust in presence of polarization force has been considered. The nonlinear propagation of dust-acoustic shock waves in such a dusty plasma system has been theoretically investigated by employing the reductive perturbation method. The effects of the polarization force and non-thermal electrons, on the properties of these dust-acoustic shock waves are briefly discussed. It is shown that the strong correlation among the charged dust grains is a source of dissipation, and is responsible for the formation of the dust-acoustic shock waves. It has been found that the effects of polarization force and non-thermal electrons significantly modify the basic features of such shock waves. It has been proposed to design a new laboratory experiment, which will be able to identify the basic features of the dust-acoustic shock waves predicted in this present investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a high precision calculation of d-axis stator current, id to improve the performance of interior permanent magnet synchronous motor (IPMSM) drive over wide speed range for high performance industrial drive applications. The Newton-Raphson method (NRM) is used for computation of flux component of stator current, id. Traditionally, the simplified equation is used to calculate id in the flux weakening region in order to avoid complexity. The power capacities of the motor and the inverter are considered in developing the control algorithm. The efficacy of the proposed NRM based computation of id for IPMSM drive is evaluated in simulation at different operating conditions. The performance of the IPMSM drive with the proposed NRM method is also compared with the conventional calculation of id. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]