Osthole inhibits proliferation of human breast cancer cells by inducing cell cycle arrest and apoptosis

Recent studies have revealed that osthole,an active constituent isolated from the fruit of Cnidium monnieri（L.） Cusson,a traditional Chinese medicine,possesses anticancer activity.However,its effect on breast cancer cells so far has not been elucidated clearly.In the present study,we evaluated the effects of osthole on the proliferation,cell cycle and apoptosis of human breast cancer cells MDA-MB 435.We demonstrated that osthole is effective in inhibiting the proliferation of MDA-MB 435 cells,The mitochondrion-mediated apoptotic pathway was involved in apoptosis induced by osthole,as indicated by activation of caspase-9 and caspase-3 followed by PARP degradation.The mechanism underlying its effect on the induction of G1 phase arrest was due to the up-regulation of p53 and p21 and down-regulation of Cdk2 and cyclin D1 expression.Were observed taken together,these findings suggest that the anticancer efficacy of osthole is mediated via induction of cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in human breast cancer cells and osthole may be a potential chemotherapeutic agent against human breast cancer.

Improved normalization method for ductile fracture toughness determination based on dimensionless load separation principle

This study successfully deals with the inhomogeneous dimension problem of load separation assumption, which is the theoretical basis of the normalization method. According to the dimensionless load separation principle, the normalization method has been improved by intro- ducing a forcible blunting correction. With the improved normalization method, the J-resistance curves of five different metallic materials of CT and SEB specimens are estimated. The forcible blunting correction of initial crack size plays an important role in the J-resistance curve estima- tion, which is closely related to the strain hardening level of material. The higher level of strain hardening leads to a greater difference in JQ determined by different slopes of the blunting line. If the blunting line coefficient recommended by ASTM E1820-11 is used in the improved nor- realization method, it will lead to greater fracture resistance than that processed by the blunting line coefficient recommended by ISO 12135-2002. Therefore, the influence of the blunting line on the determination of JQ must be taken into full account in the fracture toughness assessment of metallic materials.

Prediction of fatigue crack growth rate for smallsized CIET specimens based on low cycle fatigue properties

Based on experiments of low cycle fatigue for 5083-H112 aluminum alloy, two energybased predictive models have been introduced to predict the fatigue crack growth behaviors of traditional Compact Tension（CT） and small-sized C-shaped Inside Edge-notched Tension（CIET）specimens with different thicknesses and load ratios. Different values of the effective stress ratio U are employed in the theoretical fatigue crack growth models to correct the effect of crack closure.Results indicate that the two predictive models show different capacities of predicting the fatigue crack growth behaviors of CIET and CT specimens with different thicknesses and load ratios.The accuracy of predicted results of the two models is strongly affected by the method for determination of the effective stress ratio U. Finally, the energy-based Shi＆Cai model with crack closure correction by means of Newman＇s method is highly recommended in prediction of fatigue crack growth of CIET specimens via low cycle fatigue properties.