Enhanced laser thermal ablation for the in vitro treatment of liver cancer by specific delivery of multiwalled carbon nanotubes functionalized with human serum albumin.

The main goal of this investigation was to develop and test a new method of treatment for human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). We present a method of carbon nanotube-enhanced laser thermal ablation of HepG2 cells (human hepatocellular liver carcinoma cell line) based on a simple multiwalled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) carrier system, such as human serum albumin (HSA), and demonstrate its selective therapeutic efficacy compared with normal hepatocyte cells. Both HepG2 cells and hepatocytes were treated with HSA-MWCNTs at various concentrations and at various incubation times and further irradiated using a 2 W, 808 nm laser beam.

Role of micro-RNAs in regulation of lentiviral latency and persistence.

Small interfering RNAs have been demonstrated to serve as a molecular defence against numerous retroviruses in plants and insects and, more recently, in primates. With the recent findings of micro-RNAs (miRNAs) that seem to play a pivotal role in the survival of the host, we have explored the role of miRNAs in lentiviral (LV) replication. We have previously hypothesized that, at least in the case of lentivirus infection, small interfering RNAs are involved in the inhibition of these types of viruses by the formation of intramolecular triplex formation (triplexes) between the polypurine tracks sequences of LV provirus and miRNAs and blocking the viral replication at the preintegration complex levels, placing these viruses into a suspended latency.

Caregiver role strain of older workers.

Unlabelled: The purpose of this study was to measure role strain in older adult workers who were also caregivers of frail elders according to Komarovsky's role strain theory, and to determine whether different patterns of role strain exist for male worker-caregivers than females.

Method: Researchers developed the Job-Caregiver Role Strain Scale Survey, which was adapted from a survey that measured role strain in working parents and spouses. Surveys were distributed to 11 male and 34 female older workers who were also caregivers.

[Use of western-immunoblotting to determine serum IgG-antibodies to antigens of different genotypes of Borrelia--Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto, Borrelia afzelii, and Borrelia garinii].

The reaction of the sera from 86 patients with Lyme borreliosis was evaluated in the immunoblotting using three genotypes of pathogenic Borrelia strains. The Russian isolates of Borrelia afzelii (strain IP3) and B. garinii 20047T (strain IP90) were compared with the USA typical strain B31--B.

[Regulation of the catalytic activity of the monooxygenase enzyme system depending of the substrate structure and phospholipid composition of the model membrane].

A comparative study of pentoxy- and benzyloxyresorufin dealkylation by a monooxygenase enzyme system in dilauroylphosphatidylcholine micelles and in proteoliposomes was carried out. In proteoliposomes whose lipid matrix is formed by double phospholipid mixtures, a cooperative regulation of the oxidation reaction was found. It was shown that the cooperativity of this process depends on the substrate type as well as on the phospholipid composition of the vesicles and decreases during peroxide oxidation of lipids.