Heat-resistant two-dimensional (2D) sphere/hemisphere shell array is significant for the fabrication of novel nanostructures. Here large-area, well-ordered arrays of carbonized polystyrene (PS) hollow sphere/hemisphere with controlled size and morphology are prepared by combining the nanosphere self-assembly, kV Ag ion beam modification, and subsequent annealing or chloroform treatment. Potenti...

Cancer stem-like cells (CSCs)/cancer-initiating cells (CICs) are defined by their abilities of tumor initiation, self-renewal and differentiation. In a previous study, we showed by gene knockdown using siRNA and gene overexpression experiments that Dnaj (Hsp40) homolog, subfamily B, member 8 (DNAJB8), a role in the maintenance, of renal cell carcinoma CSCs/CICs. In the present study, we establi...

AIM To determine the potential roles of CD4 and microRNA (miR)-145 in gastric cancer. METHODS The levels of CD44 and miR-145 were determined in gastric cancer cells. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction was used to measure to the level of CD44 mRNA. A luciferase reporter assay and western blotting were performed to examine the effect of miR-145 on CD44 expression. Tumor sphere and...

Background The acquisition of high quality Magnetic Resonance (MR) images requires exploring a parameter space for image quality improvement. This iterative process can benefit from simulations of MRI pulse sequences and imaging protocols. Current MRI physics simulators are confined to few pulse sequences and compromises are made due to the high computational power needed. A step-by-step compre...

Musculoskeletal sarcomas are aggressive malignancies often characterized by an adverse prognosis despite the use of intense multiagent chemotherapy or molecular targeted therapy in combination to surgery and radiotherapy. Stem-like cells identified within solid tumors have been recently implicated in drug resistance, metastasis and local relapse. Here, we report the identification of putative c...

Radiotherapy is the primary treatment for patients with head and neck cancer, which account for roughly 500,000 annual cases worldwide. Dysfunction of the salivary glands and associated conditions like xerostomia and dysphagia are often developed by these patients, greatly diminishing their life quality. Current preventative and palliative care fail to deliver an improvement in the quality of l...

Introduction: In each chondrite group, the bulk composition of all group members is the same, whereas the few bulk compositions of chondrules known so far show large variations [e.g. 1,2]. As these variations are observed even in primitive type 3 meteorites, they must be related to the formation event of chondrules or their precursors in the solar nebular, for example, the formation of the prec...

The dental follicle is an ectomesenchymal tissue surrounding the developing tooth germ. Human dental follicle cells (hDFCs) have the capacity to commit to differentiation into multiple cell types. Here we investigated the capacity of hDFCs to differentiate into neural cells and the efficiency of a two-step strategy involving floating neurosphere-like bodies for neural differentiation. Undiffere...

PURPOSE Evidence is lacking whether the number of breast tumor-initiating cells (BT-ICs) directly correlates with the sensitivity of breast tumors to chemotherapy. Here, we evaluated the association between proportion of BT-ICs and chemoresistance of the tumors. METHODS Immunohistochemical staining(IHC) was used to examine the expression of aldehyde dehydrogenase 1 (ALDH1) and proliferating c...

Our group established a method to culture spheres under serum-free culture condition. However, the biological characteristics and the tumorigenicity of spheres are unknown. Here, we demonstrate that sphere cells expressed high levels of the putative colorectal cancer stem cell markers CD133 and CD44. The CD133-positive rates were 13.27 ± 5.62, 52.71 ± 16.97 and 16.47 ± 2.45% in sphere cells, re...