Retinoblastoma (Rb) is a common childhood intraocular cancer that affects approximately 300 children each year in the United States alone. 2-Methoxyestradiol (2ME), an endogenous metabolite of 17-β-estradiol that dose not bind to nuclear estrogen receptor, exhibits potent apoptotic activity against rapidly growing tumor cells. Here, we report that 2ME induction of apoptosis was demonstrated by early fragmented DNA after 48 h of incubation with 10 µM 2ME in Rb cell lines. Subsequently, a decrease of proliferation was observed in a time- and dose-dependent manner. Further analysis of the mechanism indicates that p38 kinase plays a critical role in 2ME-induced apoptosis in Y79 cells, even though ERK was also activated by 2ME under the same conditions. Activation of p38 kinase also mediates 2ME induced Bax phosphorylated at Thr(167) after a 6 h treatment of 2ME, which in turn prevents formation of the Bcl-2-Bax heterodimer. Both p38 specific inhibitor, SB 203580, or p38 knockdown by specific siRNA, blocked 2ME induction of Bax phosphorylation. Furthermore, only transiently transfected mutant BaxT167A, but not Bax S163A, inhibited 2ME-induced apoptosis. In summary, our data suggest that 2ME induces apoptosis in human Rb cells by causing phosphorylation of p38 Mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK), which appears to be correlated with phosphorlation of Bax. This understanding of 2ME's ability may help develop it as a promising therapeutic candidate by inducing apoptosis in a Rb.

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As an important method for preparing aluminum foam, space holders have the advantages of simple preparation process, controllable porosity, high operation safety, easy to realize the large-scale production and so on. In this paper, sodium thiosulfate (Na2S2O3) is selected as the new raw material for spacer to replace the traditional spacer (such as urea and salt), which is prepared by melting, injecting into the mold and solidifying. Three kinds of spherical spacer with different diameters were modified, and aluminum foams with three porosity (65%, 70% and 75%) and three pore sizes (Ø2mm, Ø3mm and Ø4mm) were prepared by compaction, dissolution and sintering. The results of metallographic analysis of aluminum foam sintered sample show that the aluminum powder particles bond closely above 600 °C. The quasi-static compression results show that the interaction between aluminum matrix materials and pore structure affects the mechanical properties of foamed aluminum, and the interaction between porosity and pore size affects the mechanical properties of foamed aluminum.

Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are worldwide threat to human health, resulting in the highest mortality among all causes of death. The effect of therapeutic medicines for CVD varies greatly among people because of their different genetic background. In order to evaluate the necessity of having genetic testing before taking medicines in CVD patients, 19 SNPs influencing the metabolism of frequently-used anti-CVD drugs were selected and detected in 237 CVD patients by PCR-LDR method. The results showed that the genotypic distribution of most SNPs met the Hardy-Weinberg principle. The allelic distribution of the SNPs in the tested samples was similar to that in Chinese population. 78 percent of these patients carried at least one allele that affected the efficacy of the medicines. The accuracy of the PCR-LDR detection for the clinical samples was comparable to that of Sanger sequencing, and with higher multiplexity and lower cost.

In this paper, the current status of Municipal Domestic Solid Waste (MDSW) in China was analyzed and discussed. Furthermore, management modes of MDSW in China and abroad were also investigated. Finally, the cyclic management mode of MDSW was carried out, which may accelerate the process of rubbish problem solving. Key words-Municipal domestic solid waste (MDSW) ； Cyclic management mode ； Solid waste treatment ； Cyclic economyThe traditional economic development model had been followed for a long time. of which the remarkable characteristic is "high mining, low utilization, high