Resveratrol and quercetin are polyphenols abundant in frequently consumed fruits, vegetables, and red wine. They have many biological activities, including antitumor, anti-inflammation, and antioxidation effects. This study evaluates the chemopreventive potential of resveratrol and quercetin against pancreatic cancer and investigates some of the underlying mechanisms. We report that resveratrol and quercetin suppress pancreatic tumor growth and that resveratrol extends life expectancy in a tumor bearing mouse model. Further, these two polyphenols inhibit growth of pancreatic cancer cell line, Panc02, in vitro. Results suggest that mechanisms may include induction of expression of caspase 3/8, causing DNA fragmentation, and arresting cells in G1 phase of the cell cycle. Cell invasion data reveals that both resveratrol and quercetin are able to decrease tumor cell invasion through an endothelial barrier. These data suggest that resveratrol and quercetin may be beneficial in pancreatic cancer treatment and metastasis prevention.

Guoliang Cui

Yuebo Zhang

Cindy Liu

Sheri Skinner

Ying Qin

Pancreatic Cancer Suppression by Natural Polyphenols

To introduce a new technique and to choose the process parameters,  <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mml:msub><mml:mtext>ZrB</mml:mtext><mml:mn>2</mml:mn></mml:msub></mml:math>-SiC ultrahigh temperature ceramics (UHTCs) were prepared by mixing and explosive compaction. The explosive kinds or explosive mass was variable so as to change the explosive impact energy. We have studied the relationships of the explosive impact energy, the tube deformation energy, the powder compaction energy and the ratio of the explosive mass to the tube mass  (<mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mml:mi>R</mml:mi></mml:math>), the relationships of the tube deformation energy, the tube equivalent strain and the mass ratio <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mml:mi>R</mml:mi></mml:math>, and the relationships of the densities of the <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mml:msub><mml:mtext>ZrB</mml:mtext><mml:mn>2</mml:mn></mml:msub></mml:math> composites and the powder compact energy. The results show that the densities of the  <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mml:msub><mml:mtext>ZrB</mml:mtext><mml:mn>2</mml:mn></mml:msub></mml:math>  composites reach 93.37% of theory density. For any kind of explosive, the reduction of the outer diameter and  the equivalent strain of the steel tubes raises gradually with the rise of the mass ratio <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mml:mi>R</mml:mi></mml:math>. Generally speaking, the higher the explosion speed of the explosive is, the larger the deformation degree and the equivalent strain of the steel tubes are. The explosive impact energy can be divided into two parts: the tube deformation energy and the powder compact energy; with the rise of the mass ratio <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mml:mi>R</mml:mi></mml:math>, the tube deformation energy hardly changes, while the explosive impact energy and powder compact energy increase synchronously, and the densities of the <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mml:msub><mml:mtext>ZrB</mml:mtext><mml:mn>2</mml:mn></mml:msub></mml:math> composites also increase gradually. The density of the <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mml:msub><mml:mtext>ZrB</mml:mtext><mml:mn>2</mml:mn></mml:msub></mml:math> composites produced by different explosives orders from big to small as RDX, Ammonium Nitrate, TNT, and Urea Nitrate.

Jin-Ping Li

Song-He Meng

Jie-Cai Han

Bao-Lin Wang

Energy and Deformation during Explosive Compaction of ZrB<sub>2</sub>-SiC Ultrahigh Temperature Ceramics

Between 1995 and 2003, otter surveys were conducted on 11 islands off the north west coast of Scotland. These located holts in a 100-metre-wide strip along the coasts of these islands. The information was then used to calculate the total number of holts for each island, and from that the adult otter population for each island was calculated using the models based on studies in Skye and Shetland. The diet of marine-foraging otters was assessed from five of these islands using spraint analysis, and was compared with the diet of otters from other coastal areas in Scotland. With the exception of the free-swimming saithe, the diet was dominated by small benthic fish, with the five key prey species being viviparous blenny, five-bearded rockling, butterfish, sea scorpion, and saithe.

Paul Yoxon

Otter Surveys of the North West Scottish Islands

It has been suggested that probabilistic approaches would provide more
             realistic estimates for human intake dose from exposure to soil contaminants than the commonly-used
              standard deterministic method. The objective of this study was to compare intake dose estimated by
               these methods for noncarcinogens and carcinogens in soil from 21 contaminated sites in
                Pennsylvania, USA. Intake doses by the principal human exposure routes for these contaminants were
                 estimated by the standard deterministic method using fixed input parameter values, and by two 
                 emergent probabilistic methods. The probabilistic methods were based (a) on distribution functions for
                  all input parameters, or (b) on some combination of these functions and fixed parameter
                   values. Intake doses were then taken as the 90th, 95th, or 99.9th percentile of the generated 
                   cumulative output distribution and compared with the commonly-used deterministic estimates over 
                   all contaminant/site combinations. For all exposure routes, the 90th and 95th percentile intake dose 
                   estimates were not markedly different from the deterministic values or from each other. The opposite
                    was generally the case for the 99.9th percentile estimates. These results did not indicate clear and 
                    definitive advantages in using probabilistic methods over the deterministic method for estimating 
                    human intake dose from exposure to soil contaminants.

Arne E. Olsen

N. Persaud

Comparison of Methodologies to Estimate Intake Dose for Exposure to Soil Contaminants

An efficient and environmentally friendly synthetic approach for the preparation of fexofenadine was developed. The method involves hydrogenation and oxygenation reaction and has good atom utilization, all the starting material is nontoxic.

Jiangang Mao

Haining Gu

Pengfei Zhang

A Novel and Efficient Synthesis of Intermediates for  the Preparation of Fexofenadine

Ion-specific effects underlie a vast array of physicochemical and biological phenomena ranging from human physiology to biotechnology to ecology.  These effects have traditionally been quantified by measuring the response of interest in a series of salt solutions at multiple concentrations; pH has consistently been shown to be of primary concern.  However, salt-based approaches violate critical tenets of proper experimental design and introduce confounding errors that make it impossible to quantify ion-specific effects.  For example, pH is a variable dependent on the type and concentration of ions in a solution, but is typically treated as an independent factor, thus confounding experiments designed to determine ion-specific effects.  We examined the relevancy of ion-specific effects research in relation to these concepts and demonstrated how these ideas impact protein precipitation and enzyme activity.  Based on these results, we present a conceptual and experimental framework of general applicability for proper quantification of ion-specific effects.

Terence J. Evens

Randall P. Niedz

Are Hofmeister Series Relevant to Modern Ion-Specific Effects Research?

Three isolates of H9N2 subtype of influenza virus have been isolated from chickens in Guangxi province. In this study, eight full-length genes of each of the H9N2 isolates, A/Chicken/Guangxi/1/00, A/Chicken/Guangxi/14/00, and A/Chicken/Guangxi/17/00, were obtained. Sequence analysis and phylogenetic studies were conducted by comparing eight genes of each isolate with those of the available H9N2 strains at GenBank. Results showed a high degree of homology between the Guangxi isolates and isolates from Guangdong and Jiangsu provinces, suggesting that Guangxi isolates originated from the same source. However, the eight genes of these three isolates from Guangxi were not in the same sublineages in the phylogenic trees, which suggest that they were products of natural reassortment between H9N2 avian influenza viruses from different sublineages. The 9 nucleotides ACAGAGATA encoding amino acids T, E, I were absent between nucleotide 205 and 214 in the open reading frame of NA genes in the Guangxi isolates. AIV strains that infect human have in their HA proteins, Leucine at position 226. The analysis of deduced amino acid sequence of HA proteins of C/GX/1/00, C/GX/14/00, and C/GX/17/00 showed that the position 226 of these isolates was glycine instead of leucine, suggesting that these three isolates differ from H9N2 AIV strains isolated from human infections.

Zhixun Xie

Jianbao Dong

Xiaofei Tang

Jiabo Liu

Mazhar I. Khan

Yaoshan Pang

Xianwen Deng

Zhiqin Xie

Sequence and Phylogenetic Analysis of Three Isolates of Avian Influenza H9N2 from Chickens in Southern China

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