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Background Pomegranate fruit has been shown to exhibit the inhibitory activity against prostate cancer and lung cancer in vitro and in vivo, which might be a resource for chemoprevention and chemotherapy of cancer. Our previous documented findings indicated that treatment of urinary bladder urothelial carcinoma cell with the ethanol extract isolated from the juice of pomegranate fruit grown in Taiwan could inhibit tumor cell. In this study we intended to uncover the molecular pathway underlying anti-cancer efficacy of Taiwan pomegranate fruit juice against urinary bladder urothelial carcinoma. Methods We exploited two-dimensional gel electrophoresis coupled with tandem mass spectrometry to find the de-regulated proteins. Western immunoblotting was used to confirm the results collected from proteomics study. Results Comparative proteomics indicated that 20 proteins were differentially expressed in ethanol extract-treated T24 cells with 19 up-regulated and 1 down-regulated proteins. These de-regulated proteins were involved in apoptosis, cytoskeleton regulation, cell proliferation, proteasome activity and aerobic glycolysis. Further studies on signaling pathway demonstrated that ethanol extract treatment might inhibit urinary bladder urothelial carcinoma cell proliferation through restriction of PTEN/AKT/mTORC1 pathway via profilin 1 up-regulation. It also might evoke cell apoptosis through Diablo over-expression. Conclusions The results of this study provide a global picture to further investigate the anticancer molecular mechanism of pomegranate fruit. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12906-016-1071-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

This file included extended experimental procedures as well as materials and additional 2-DE gel pairs. (DOCX 276Â kb)

In this paper, a ZigBee monitoring and protection system for building electrical safety is proposed. The main components of traditional distribution systems in buildings are no-fuse breakers (NFBs) and electrical outlets, whose functions are power transmission and overload protection respectively. NFBs only have the function of overload protection and are not completely effective in preventing electrical fires caused by poor contact or dust contamination. In addition, all equipments are disconnected in the same branch circuit due to NFB trips, thus the security and intelligence of the traditional distribution systems still need improvement. In this paper, the proposed system was constructed with protection mechanisms in order to enhance the functions of traditional distribution systems. The system can dynamically set the overload limit of outlets and avoid the effects on other equipments in the same branch circuit when the outlet disconnects the power. In addition, a self-protection function with temperature control was built in the outlet for fire prevention. This paper provides a detailed description of the proposed system, from design to implementation, as well as the results of the demonstration experiment.

Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) accounts for more than 90% of malignant tumors of the oral cavity. In Taiwan, oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is among the most frequent malignancies, largely due to betal quid chewing. Despite the recent improvement in treatment results, the long-term outcome of OSCC generally remains poor, especially for those with advanced diseases. It is therefore desirable to identify potential biomarkers that may aid in risk stratification and perhaps the development of therapeutic targets. In this study, we exploited two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DE) coupled with mass spectrometry to compare the proteome maps of 10 OSCC specimens with their adjacent nontumorous epithelia to identify differentially expressed proteins. Comparative proteomics indicated that 17 proteins were differentially expressed in OSCC with 11 up-regulated and 6 down-regulated proteins. These deregulated proteins participated in cytoskeletal functions, cell signaling, antiapoptosis, angiogenesis, lipid metabolism, drug metabolism, and protein translation/turnover. They were all associated with tumor development in various cancers. Among the dys-regulated proteins, the immunoexpression of three proteins including nicotinamide N-methyltransferase, apolipoprotein AI, and 14-3-3 zeta were evaluated in 38 OSCCs of testing cohort to confirm the proteomics data. Subsequently, the expression of 14-3-3 zeta, as the most relevant to OSCC progression determined by testing cohort, was further assessed in 80 OSCCs of independent validation cohort to identify the clinical relevance of its expression. By this comprehensive study, we identified 14-3-3 zeta as the only prognosticator of local recurrence-free survival (LRFS) and also an independently predicted factor of disease-specific survival (DSS).

In our previous studies, comparative proteomics and immunohistochemistry (IHC) demonstrated that annexin-I (ANXA1) is up-regulated in high grade urinary bladder urothelial carcinoma (UBUC) as compared to non-high grade carcinomas. However, the small sample size prohibited further correlation of ANXA1 expression to tumour progression. Therefore, in the present study, 81 primary localised UBUC specimens of various grades and primary tumour (pT) status were examined for ANXA1 expression to further confirm the proteomics data and to clarify the relevance of ANXA1 expression level to the prognosis of UBUC.IHC was implemented to investigate ANXA1 protein expression in 81 primary localised UBUC specimens. The association of ANXA1 expression with tumour progression and prognosis was analysed.Our data demonstrated that the ANXA1 expression level was strongly associated with an escalated pT status (p0.001) and a higher histological grade (p0.001), suggesting that ANXA1 might be related to tumour progression. Moreover, at the univariate level, ANXA1 overexpression, along with higher pT status and histological grade, significantly predicted disease-specific survival (DSS) and metastasis-free survival (MFS). More importantly, multivariate analyses revealed that the association of ANXA1 overexpression and prognosis remained significant for both DSS and MFS.The above results reinforced the comparative proteomics results and confirmed the prognostic role of ANXA1 in UBUC.

The main purpose of this paper was to develop a DNP3.0 protocol based on the high performance remote terminal unit (RTU) which was applied to the feeder automation system of substations. As the efficiency of architecture and instruction set of microcontroller was low, a higher operating frequency and larger memory microcontroller was utilized as the control core of early RTU to improve the efficiency, so the cost was increased. Therefore, the advanced microcontroller would be used as the control core, which employed the Harvard architecture and pipeline processing technology to improve the system efficiency. The RTU proposed by this paper could measure the voltage and current of the feeder, monitor the feeder line branch switch status, digital relay, and utilize DNP3.0 and feeder automation host machine, Feeder remote terminal unit (FRTU), communication. This paper has finished the development of the prototype of RTU to verify the feasibility of the architecture proposed.

This paper presents a hybrid PV system operated in accordance with an electric energy management strategy for public lighting equipments in apartment buildings. We attempt to alternate PV with grid-connected power systems to avoid the occurrences of islanding, safe protection and the low reliability of power supply in standalone PV system through implementing the electric energy management strategy presented herein. The power conversion devices included in the proposed system contain buck-boost, push-pull, full-bridge inverter, switches and high-efficient digital signal controller as means of achieving MPPT, power charging and power system switching. A 100W experimental prototype of hybrid PV system was built in the lab. Experimental results are shown to verify the effectiveness of proposed energy management strategy.

This paper aims at producing a power supply with the characteristics of solar panels under partially shaded. Temperature and solar illumination can be set up on the power supply to emulate the characteristics of a solar panel, which can be provided for exploring the effect of a solar panel when it is shaded by clouds or polluted by dust. In this paper, uniform solar illumination model and partial shading model with two solar modules in series are proposed. A buck converter is adopted to adjust the output of power supply. The adjustments are made in accordance with the quiescent points of solar panels obtained from a digital signal processor on a basis of the load impedance and the characteristics of solar panels. Finally, this study develops a power supply with the maximum short circuit current of 5A and maximum open circuit voltage of 60V. Load is changed time after time so as to depict V–I curve and verify the practicability of the power supply.

Summary We report a successfully managed case of locally far-advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) by preoperative downsizing by transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) and three-dimensional conformal radiation therapy (3D-CRT), with subsequent surgical resection. A 35-year-old man was referred to our hospital with right huge HCC in May, 2006. The laboratory data were normal except for elevated aspartate transaminase 100 U/L (0–38), alanine transaminase 54 U/L(0–44), and α-fetoprotein 32 ng/mL(1–8). A computed tomography scan of the liver revealed a 20-cm right side huge HCC with inferior vena cava tumor thrombus (IVC-TT) and a second 2-cm HCC in segment III. TACE was performed on the right HCC with 20 mg of doxorubicin (Adriamycin), mixed with 10 mL of lipiodol and gelfoam. 3D-CRT was followed by 60 Gy (3 Gy/fraction) over 4 weeks. The posttreatment computed tomography scan showed significant shrinkage of the right tumor and IVC-TT. The tumors with the concomitant IVC-TT were surgically removed 6 weeks later.

Background Pomegranate possesses many medicinal properties such as antioxidant, anti-inflammation and antitumor. It has been extensively used as a folk medicine by many cultures. Pomegranate fruit has been shown to have the inhibitory efficacy against prostate cancer and lung cancer in vitro and in vivo. It can be exploited in chemoprevention and chemotherapy of prostate cancer. In this study we examined the anti-cancer efficacy of pomegranate fruit grown in Taiwan against urinary bladder urothelial carcinoma (UBUC) and its mechanism of action. Methods Edible portion of Taiwanese pomegranate was extracted using ethanol and the anti-cancer effectiveness of ethanol extract was evaluated by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide assay. Flow cytometry and western immunoblotting were exploited to uncover the molecular pathways underlying anti-UBUC activity of Taiwanese pomegranate ethanol extract. Results This study demonstrated that Taiwanese pomegranate fruit ethanol extract (PEE) could effectively restrict the proliferation of UBUC T24 and J82 cells. Cell cycle analyses indicated that the S phase arrest induced by PEE treatment might be caused by an increase in cyclin A protein level and a decrease in the expression of cyclin-dependent kinase 1. The results of western immunoblotting demonstrated that PEE treatment could not only evoke the activation of pro-caspase-3, -8,-9 but also increase Bax/Bcl-2 ratio in T24 cells. The above observations implicated that PEE administration might trigger the apoptosis in T24 cells through death receptor signaling and mitochondrial damage pathway. Besides we found that PEE exposure to T24 cells could provoke intensive activation of procaspase-12 and enhance the expressions of CHOP and Bip, endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress marker, suggesting that ER stress might be the cardinal apoptotic mechanism of PEE-induced inhibition of bladder cancer cell. Conclusions The analytical results of this study help to provide insight into the molecular mechanism of induced bladder cancer cell apoptosis by pomegranate and to develop novel mechanism-based chemopreventive strategy for bladder cancer.