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Continuous monitoring of water quality in dam reservoirs is a typically difficult and costly operation. In this study, the results of computer modeling with the CE-QUAL-W2 model were combined with data mining techniques to develop a new method called “delta-normal stress” for identifying the critical temporal and spatial monitoring ranges. For this purpose, long-term variations of three quality parameters including nitrite-nitrate level, dissolved oxygen (DO) level, and water temperature near the outlet of the dam, which is the point of interest for reservoir exploitation, were analyzed. Based on this analysis, the time intervals and depth ranges with the highest frequency of significant variations in terms of each parameter were identified. The results showed that given the difference between the delta-normal stress trend of temperature and that of other parameters in Karkheh Dam Reservoir, temperature can be monitored at much lower sampling resolutions and using cheaper methods and equipment without sacrificing accuracy. learn more Based on the frequency of occurrence of delta-normal stress of more than 20% above the total average, the key sampling times and locations for nitrite-nitrate and DO levels were determined to be the periods of January-February, February-March, and March-April, and depths of 60, 55, 50, and 5 m, respectively.Though many advancements in personalized medicine have been made, better methods are still needed to predict treatment benefit for patients with colorectal cancer. Patient-derived cancer organoids (PDCOs) are a major advance towards true personalization of treatment strategies. A growing body of literature is demonstrating the feasibility of PDCOs as an accurate and high-throughput preclinical tool for patient treatment selection. Many studies demonstrate that these cultures are readily generated and represent the tumors they were derived from phenotypically and based on their mutation profile. This includes maintenance of the driver muatations giving the cancer cells a selective growth advantage, and also heterogeneity, including molecular and metabolic heterogeneity. Additionally, PDCOs are now being utilized to develop patient biospecimen repositories, perform high to moderate-throughput drug screening, and to potentially predict treatment response for individual patients that are undergoing anti-cancer treatments. In order to develop PDCOs as a true clinical tool, further studies are required to determine the reproducibility and accuracy of these models to predict patient response.Cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (cSCC) of the head and neck is typically managed with Mohs Micrographic Surgery (MMS) for cosmetic reasons. MMS also improves oncologic outcomes for high-risk tumors. Patients with certain high-risk subsets of the disease also benefit from adjuvant radiation therapy. The PD-1 inhibitor, cemiplimab, was recently approved for treatment of locally advanced and metastatic cSCC unamenable to curative surgery or radiation therapy after the drug demonstrated encouraging, durable response rates. Cemiplimab and other systemic immunotherapies are now being evaluated in clinical trials in the neoadjuvant and adjuvant settings as well. Localized immunotherapies are also being studied, including oncolytic viruses such as talimogene laherparepvec, a modified herpes simplex virus previously approved for the treatment of advanced cutaneous melanoma. Most importantly, multidisciplinary care is crucial in optimizing outcomes for patients with high-risk cSCC of the head and neck.BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVE The absence of receptors in triple-negative breast cancer limits therapeutic choices utilized in clinical management of the disease. Doxorubicin is an important member of therapeutic regimens that is hindered by emergence of resistance. The current work aim to investigate of therapeutic potential of single and combinations of siRNA molecules designed for silencing STAT 3, Notch-1, and β-catenin genes in wild type and doxorubicin resistant MDA-MB-231 triple negative breast cancer cell line. METHODS Doxorubicin resistant MDA-MB-231 cell line was developed and characterized for the expression of multidrug resistance-related genes, CD44/CD24 markers, inflammatory cytokines, and the expression of STAT 3, Notch-1, and β-catenin targeted genes. link2 Further, the effect of single and combinations of siRNA on cell viability and chemosensitivity of both wild type MDA-MB-231 cells (MDA-MB-231/WT) and doxorubicin resistant MDA-MB-231 cells (MDA-MB-231/DR250) were assessed by MTT assay. RESULTS The IC50 of doxorubicin was 10-folds higher in MDA-MB-231/DR250 resistant cells compared to MDA-MB-231/WT control cells, 1.53 ± 0.24 μM compared to 0.16 ± 0.02 μM, respectively. The expression of targeted genes was higher in resistant cells compared to control cells, 3.6 ± 0.16 folds increase in β-catenin, 2.7 ± 0.09 folds increase in Notch-1, and 1.8 ± 0.09 folds increase in STAT-3. Following treatment with siRNAs, there was a variable reduction in mRNA expression of each of the targeted genes compared to scrambled siRNA and a reduction in IC50 in both cell lines. The effect of a combination of three genes produced the largest reduction in IC50 in resistant cell line. CONCLUSION Our study showed that the silencing of single and multiple genes involved in drug resistance and tumor progression by siRNA can enhance the chemosensitivity of cancer cells to conventional chemotherapy.Saccharomyces cerevisiae is being used for long as a rich source of proteins, sugars, nucleotides, vitamins and minerals. Autolyzed and hydrolyzed yeast biomass has found numerous applications in the health food industry as well as livestock feeds. Here, we have compared three lysis methods for production of yeast lysates using autolysis, plasmolysis (ethyl acetate 1.5%), and enzymatic hydrolysis (Alcalase 0.2%). The efficiency of each process was compared according to soluble solid and protein contents, cell lysis monitoring, and release of intracellular materials, cell viability and microscopic analysis. Results showed that plasmolysis by ethyl acetate was found to be more efficient compared to autolysis, with a higher recovery of yeast extract (YE) content. In comparison, the content of released solids and proteins were higher during the enzymatic hydrolysis using Alcalase compared to autolysis and plasmolysis treatments. The highest decrease in optical density of 600 nm was monitored for the hydrolyzed cells. Besides, we defined “Degree of Leakage (DL)” as a new index of the lysis process, referring to the percentage of total released proteins from the cells and it was estimated to about 65.8%, which represents an appropriate indicator of the cell lysis. The biochemical and biophysical properties of the hydrolyzed yeast product as well as its biological activity (free radical scavenging activity and bacterial binding capacity) suggest that Alcalase could be used to accelerate the lysis of yeast cells and release the valuable intracellular components used for foodstuffs, feed and fermentation media applications. Production of baker’s yeast lysates using autolysis, plasmolysis, and enzymatic hydrolysis methods.Conventional water quality measurements are nearly impossible during and immediately after extreme storms due to dangerous conditions. In this study, remotely sensed reflectance is used to develop a regression equation that quantifies total suspended solids (TSS) in near real-time after Hurricane Harvey. The application focused specifically on sediment loading and deposition and its potential impacts on the Houston Ship Channel and Galveston Bay riverine-estuarine system. The European Space Agency’s Sentinel-2 satellite captured images at critical points in the storm’s progression, necessitating the development of a new algorithm for this relatively new satellite mission. Several linear regressions were analyzed with the goal of developing a simple one- or two-band equation, and the final model uses the red and near infrared bands (R2 = 0.74). Results show that record flows during Harvey delivered unprecedented suspended sediment loads to the Gulf of Mexico at concentrations above 125 mg/L with a mean concentration of 43 mg/L across the bay. The study findings demonstrated that it took up to 11 days after the storm for sediment transport to abate.This study presents a comparison of SO2 concentrations simulated by a dispersion model, using as input both emission data inventories of the Mexican petroleum company Petroleos Mexicanos and emissions estimated by the Ozone Monitoring Instrument on board of the Aura satellite, contrasting results with data measured by an on-ground sensor located in the city of Villahermosa, Tabasco, Mexico, during the month of February 2013. The emissions used came from both oil extraction facilities located in the Gulf of Mexico and oil installations located on land. The days selected to be modeled were those when the winds had a northern component, and there was an observable emission detected by the Aura satellite coming from the emission sources. Evaluation analysis of the results showed that satellite data overestimate SO2 concentration, while the inventories of Petroleos Mexicanos underestimate it. Good correlations (r, r2, and concordance index) were observed between simulated and measured concentrations when the winds had a high frequency of directions of northern component and not-so weak speeds. It is recommended that Mexican oil company calculates more precise and updated emission inventories, considering not only a higher sulfur content of the gas emitted to the atmosphere and its combustion process but also from other existing sources of SO2 emission in this region.The continuous deterioration of drinking water quality supplies by several anthropogenic activities is a serious global challenge in recent times. In this current study, the drinking water quality of Ikem rural agricultural area (southeastern Nigeria) was assessed using chemometrics and multiple indexical methods. Twenty-five groundwater samples were collected from hand-dug wells and analyzed for physicochemical parameters such as pH, major ions, and heavy metals. link3 The pH of the samples (which ranged between 5.2 and 6.7) indicated that waters were slightly acidic. Cations and anions (except for phosphate) were within their respective standard limits. Except for Mn, heavy metals were also found to be below their maximum allowable limits. Factor analysis identified both geogenic processes and anthropogenic inputs as possible origins of the analyzed physicochemical parameters. Modified heavy metal index, geoaccumulation index, and overall index of pollution revealed that all the hand-dug wells were in excellent condition, and hence safe for drinking purposes. However, pollution load index, water quality index (WQI), and entropy-weighted water quality index (EWQI) revealed that some wells (about 8-12%) were slightly contaminated, and hence are placed in good water category. A hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) was performed based on the integration of the WQI and EWQI results. The HCA revealed two major quality categories of the samples. While the first cluster comprises of samples classified as excellent drinking water by both WQI and EWQI models, the second cluster comprises of about 12% samples which were identified as good water by either the WQI or EWQI.