Co-administration of JQ1, a bromodomain-containing protein 4 inhibitor, enhances the antitumor effect of combretastatin A4, a microtubule inhibitor, while attenuating its cardiotoxicity.

Combretastatin A4 (CA4) inhibits microtubule polymerization, and clinical trials of the prodrug, CA4 disodium phosphate (CA4DP), as an anti-cancer agent have been conducted. However, CA4DP has not been marketed to date because the margin between the effective dose and the cardiotoxic dose is insufficient. Meanwhile, bromodomain-containing protein 4 (BRD4) has been reported to be required for recovery from mitotic arrests induced by anti-microtubule drugs.

Observation of stochastic resonance in a liquid-crystal light valve with optical feedback induced by colored noise in the driving voltage.

Stochastic resonance is a noise phenomenon that benefits applications such as pattern formation, neural systems, microelectromechanical systems, and image processing. This study experimentally clarifies that the orientation of the liquid crystal molecules was switched between two stable positions when stochastic resonance was induced by colored noises in a liquid crystal light valve with optical feedback. Ornstein-Uhlenbeck and dichotomous noises were used for colored noise, and the noise was applied to the drive voltage of the liquid crystal light valve.

Negative viscosity of liquid crystals in the presence of turbulence: Conductivity dependence, phase diagram, and self-oscillation.

Recently, we reported the discovery of enormous negative viscosity of a nematic liquid crystal in the presence of turbulence induced by ac electric fields, which enabled us to observe unique phenomena related to the negative viscosity, such as spontaneous shear flow, hysteresis in flow curves, and self-oscillation [Orihara et al., Phys. Rev.

Three-dimensional observation of Brownian particles under steady shear flow by stereo microscopy.

Three-dimensional observation of Brownian particles under shear flow is performed with a stereo microscope to examine the nature of the Brownian motion that occurs in the presence of shear flow. From the three-dimensional trajectories of the particles, we clearly demonstrate the occurrence of anomalous diffusion in the flow direction and the coupling of the displacements in the flow and velocity gradient directions. Furthermore, we experimentally obtain the probability distribution function and current density, which also exhibit characteristic features, and compare the obtained results with theoretical results derived using the Fokker-Planck equation.

Negative viscosity of a liquid crystal in the presence of turbulence.

We report on the discovery of enormous negative viscosity in a nematic liquid crystal in the presence of turbulence induced by electric fields. As the negative viscosity in this system is so large, we are able to observe several phenomena originating from it. For example, we observe a spontaneous shear flow that rotates the upper disk of a rheometer, as well as the reversal of the rotational direction upon applying an external torque in the opposite direction.