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Sinulariolide is an active compound isolated from the cultured soft coral Sinularia flexibilis. In this study, we investigated the effects of sinulariolide on A375 melanoma cell growth and protein expression. Sinulariolide suppressed the proliferation and migration of melanoma cells in a concentration-dependent manner and was found to induce both early and late apoptosis by flow cytometric analysis. Comparative proteomic analysis was conducted to investigate the effects of sinulariolide at the molecular level by comparison between the protein profiles of melanoma cells treated with sinulariolide and those without treatment. Two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DE) master maps of control and treated A375 cells were generated by analysis with PDQuest software. Comparison between these maps showed up- and downregulation of 21 proteins, seven of which were upregulated and 14 were downregulated. The proteomics studies described here identify some proteins that are involved in mitochondrial dysfunction and apoptosis-associated proteins, including heat shock protein 60, heat shock protein beta-1, ubiquinol cytochrome c reductase complex core protein 1, isocitrate dehydrogenase (NAD) subunit alpha (down-regulated), and prohibitin (up-regulated), in A375 melanoma cells exposed to sinulariolide. Sinulariolide-induced apoptosis is relevant to mitochondrial-mediated apoptosis via caspase-dependent pathways, elucidated by the loss of mitochondrial membrane potential, release of cytochrome c, and activation of Bax, Bad and caspase-3/-9, as well as suppression of p-Bad, Bcl-xL and Bcl-2. Taken together, our results show that sinulariolide-induced apoptosis might be related to activation of the caspase cascade and mitochondria dysfunction pathways. Our results suggest that sinulariolide merits further evaluation as a chemotherapeutic agent for human melanoma.

SUMMARYThis paper presents a DC/DC converter topology for renewable energy systems. The proposed DC/DC converter can be used to obtain a well-regulated output voltage from low-voltage power source, such as wind turbine, photovoltaic array, fuel cell, etc. It has the merits of high efficiency, low device stresses, and low current ripple. The operating principle, theoretical analysis, and design criteria are provided in this paper. A laboratory prototype was successfully implemented. The simulation and experimental results are given to verify the feasibility of the proposed scheme.

Abstract-This paper presents a dimmable light-emitting diode (LED) driver with adaptive feedback control for low-power lighting applications. An improved pulsewidth modulation dimming technique is studied for regulating the LED current and brightness. Under universal input voltage operation, high efficiency and high power factor can be achieved by a coupled inductor singleended primary inductance converter power factor correction (PFC) converter with a simple commercial transition-mode PFC controller. The operation principles and design considerations of the studied LED driver are analyzed and discussed. A laboratory prototype is also designed and tested to verify the feasibility.Index Terms-Coupled inductor single-ended primary inductance converter power factor correction (SEPIC PFC), dimmable light-emitting diode (LED) driver, universal input voltage.

SUMMARYThis letter presents a single-stage soft-switched full-bridge AC/DC converter for low-voltage/high-current output applications. A phase-shifted method with a variable frequency control is used to regulate the DC bus voltage and the output voltage of the single-stage AC/DC converter. The proposed circuit topology and control scheme exhibit superior performances (i.e. high power factor, high-efficiency, and ring-free features). Correspondingly, a laboratory prototype, 500 W 5V/100A AC/DC converter, is implemented to verify the feasibility of the proposed design.