Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common tumors with high mortality. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) were reported as crucial markers for the diagnosis of HCC. Paeonol exerted many pharmacological ...effects on tumor progression. This study aimed to elucidate the underlying molecular mechanism of paeonol in HCC progression.
Cell viability was determined by Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) assay. Cell apoptosis was examined by flow cytometry. The levels of Cyclin D1, cyclin-dependent kinase 4 (CDK4), B-cell lymphoma-2 (Bcl-2) and Bcl-2 associated X protein (Bax) were detected by Western blot assay. Cell migration and invasion were assessed by transwell assay. The levels of matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP2) and matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP9) were measured by Western blot. The expression of miR-21-5p and kruppel-like factor 6 (KLF6) was detected by quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) or Western blot assay, respectively. Dual-luciferase reporter assay was performed to analyze the interaction between miR-21-5p and KLF6. The enrichment of miR-21-5p was determined by RNA pull-down assay. Xenograft assay was conducted to analyze tumor growth in vivo.
The results demonstrated that cell viability of Hep3B and Huh-7 cells was inhibited, while cell apoptosis was promoted after treatment with paeonol. Transwell assay indicated that cell migration and invasion were blocked in paeonol-treated cells. Moreover, miR-21-5p expression was markedly decreased in paeonol-treated cells and its knockdown suppressed cell viability, migration and invasion, but contributed to cell apoptosis. MiR-21-5p targeted KLF6 and its silencing prominently elevated KLF6 level. Furthermore, the restoration experiment determined that miR-21-5p and KLF6 were antagonisms on cell viability, apoptosis, migration and invasion. Also, paeonol abated the decrease in KLF6 level caused by miR-21-5p up-regulation. Besides, paeonol suppressed tumor growth in vivo.
Paeonol impeded cell viability, migration and invasion and triggered apoptosis by regulating miR-21-5p/KLF6 axis in HCC cells. Xenograft assay confirmed that paeonol inhibited tumor growth through miR-21-5p/KLF6 axis in HCC in vivo.
Anodic bonding is broadly utilized to realize the structure support and electrical connection in the process of fabrication and packaging of MEMS devices, and the mechanical and electrical ...characteristics of the bonded interface of structure exhibit a significant impact on the stability and reliability of devices. For the anodic bonding structure, including the gold electrode of micro accelerometers, the elastic/plastic contact model of a gold-silicon rough surface is established based on Hertz contact theory to gain the contact area and force of Gauss surface bonding. The trans-scale finite element model of a silicon-gold glass structure is built in Workbench through the reconstruction of Gauss surface net by the reverse engineering technique. The translation load is added to mimic the process of contact to acquire the contact behaviors through the coupling of mechanical and electrical fields, and then the change law of contact resistance is obtained. Finally, the measurement shows a good agreement between the experimental results, theoretical analysis and simulation, which indicates there is almost no change of resistance when the surface gap is less than 20 nm and the resistance is less than 5Ω, while the resistance changes rapidly after the gap exceeds 20 nm.
Background
The protein kinase domain containing cytoplasmic (PKDCC) gene (OMIM#618821) is associated with bone development. Biallelic variants in the PKDCC gene can cause rhizomelic limb shortening ...with dysmorphic features.
Case Report
A fetus was found to be rhizomelic limb shortening at 16 weeks of gestation and amniocentesis was performed at 19 weeks of gestation. Genomic DNA extracted from the amniotic fluid was subjected to chromosomal microarray analysis (CMA), and Trio‐total whole‐exome sequencing (Trio‐WES). Sanger sequencing was used to verify the candidate pathogenic variants. CMA was normal, while Trio‐WES identified two compound heterozygous variants in the PKDCC gene, namely c.417_c.423delCGGCGCG insTCATGGGCTCAGTACAC(p.G140fs*35) and c.345G>A (p.W115*,379). Then the fetus was aborted and the development of its bone cells were compared with that of a normal fetus of similar gestational age by histopathological examination. Clinical findings of the fetus were shortening humerus and femur, synophrys, much hair on the side face, simian line on the right palm, etc. Histopathological examination showed that the affected fetus had increased proliferative chondrocytes, widened proliferative bands, and delayed bone mineralization.
Conclusions
We reported a prenatal case of rhizomelic shortening of limbs caused by compound heterozygous variants in the PKDCC gene, which emphasized the important role of Trio‐WES for diagnosis of skeletal dysplasia in fetuses.
Novel compound heterozygous variants in the protein kinase domain containing cytoplasmic gene can cause fetal rhizomelic shortening of limbs.
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FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
The applications of magnesium (Mg) alloys as biodegradable orthopedic implants are mainly restricted due to their rapid degradation rate in the physiological environment. In this study, Si–CaP ...micro-arc oxidation (MAO) coatings were prepared on a Mg–Zn–Ca alloy by a second-step MAO process at different voltages in order to decrease the degradation rate and increase the bioactivity of the alloy. The microstructure and morphology of the samples were characterized using XRD, FT-IR SEM and EDS. The degradation behaviours of samples were evaluated using electrochemical techniques, and immersion tests in simulated body fluid (SBF). The results indicate that the morphology of the Si–CaP coatings changed significantly with the increase in Ca/P ratio as the second-step voltage increased. The Si–CaP containing coating produced at 450 V could significantly decrease the degradation rate of Mg and caused a slow increase in pH of the SBF solution. The haemolysis test concluded that the coating C3 did not cause a haemolytic reaction. The corrosion resistance of Mg alloy was greatly improved with the Si–CaP coatings, and the Mg alloy with Si–CaP coating prepared at 450 V had the best corrosion resistance, which indicates that the Si–CaP coatings are promising for improving the biodegradation properties of Mg-based orthopedic implants. Haemolysis tests indicated that the Si–CaP coating prepared at 450 V conforms to the given standard (YY/T0127.1-93).
The composite coatings were fabricated by laser cladding Ni60A/B
C pre-placed powders on the surface of Ti-6Al-4V alloy for improving wear resistance and hardness of the substrate. In this research, ...the composite coatings were studied by means of X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope and energy dispersive spectrometer. The sliding wear tests were performed using MM200 wear test machine. The hardness of the coatings was tested by HV-1000 hardness tester. After laser cladding, it was found that there was a good metallurgical bond between the laser cladding coating and Ti-6Al-4V substrate. The composite coatings were mainly composed of the matrix of γ-Ni and a little Ni
Ti and the reinforcements of TiB
, TiC and CrB. The hardness of the sample of Ni60A-5B
C was approximately 2.5–3.5 times that of the Ti-6Al-4V substrate. The hardness of the sample of Ni60A-10B
C was 30% higher than that of sample 1. The wear resistance of samples 1 and 2 were 11 times and 10 times that of the substrate, respectively.
Research on the photochemical reduction of CO2, initiated already 40 years ago, has with few exceptions been performed by using amines as sacrificial reductants. Hydrocarbons are high‐volume ...chemicals whose dehydrogenation is of interest, so the coupling of a CO2 photoreduction to a hydrocarbon‐photodehydrogenation reaction seems a worthwhile concept to explore. A three‐component construct was prepared including graphitic carbon nitride (g‐CN) as a visible‐light photoactive semiconductor, a polyoxometalate (POM) that functions as an electron acceptor to improve hole–electron charge separation, and an electron donor to a rhenium‐based CO2 reduction catalyst. Upon photoactivation of g‐CN, a cascade is initiated by dehydrogenation of hydrocarbons coupled to the reduction of the polyoxometalate. Visible‐light photoexcitation of the reduced polyoxometalate enables electron transfer to the rhenium‐based catalyst active for the selective reduction of CO2 to CO. The construct was characterized by zeta potential, IR spectroscopy, thermogravimetry, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive X‐ray spectroscopy (EDS). An experimental Z‐scheme diagram is presented based on electrochemical measurements and UV/Vis spectroscopy. The conceptual advance should promote study into more active systems.
The coupling of CO2 photoreduction to photodehydrogenation of cyclohexene was promoted by a three‐component construct consisting of graphitic carbon nitride as a visible‐light photoactive semiconductor and a polyoxometalate that functions as an electron acceptor to improve hole–electron charge separation and also acts as an electron donor to a rhenium‐based CO2‐reduction catalyst.
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
The glass polarization effects were introduced in this paper to study the main cause of turn-on drift phenomenon of closed-loop micro-accelerometers. The glass substrate underneath the sensitive ...silicon structure underwent a polarizing process when the DC bias voltage was applied. The slow polarizing process induced an additional electrostatic field to continually drag the movable mass block from one position to another so that the sensing capacitance was changed, which led to an output drift of micro-accelerometers. This drift was indirectly tested by experiments and could be sharply reduced by a shielding layer deposited on the glass substrate because the extra electrical filed was prohibited from generating extra electrostatic forces on the movable fingers of the mass block. The experimental results indicate the average magnitude of drift decreased about 73%, from 3.69 to 0.99 mV. The conclusions proposed in this paper showed a meaningful guideline to improve the stability of micro-devices based on silicon-on-glass structures.
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IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
Based on microelectronic mechanical system (MEMS) processing, a large-size 2-D scanning mirror (6.5 mm in diameter) driven by electromagnetic force was designed and implemented in this paper. We ...fabricated the micromirror with a silicon wafer and selectively electroplated Ni film on the back of the mirror. The nickel film was magnetized in the magnetic field produced by external current coils, and created the force to drive the mirror’s angular deflection. This electromagnetically actuated micromirror effectively eliminates the ohmic heat and power loss on the mirror plate, which always occurs in the other types of electromagnetic micromirrors with the coil on the mirror plate. The resonant frequency for the scanning mirror is 674 Hz along the slow axis, and 1870 Hz along the fast axis. Furthermore, the scanning angles could achieve ±4.5° for the slow axis with 13.2 mW power consumption, and ±7.6° for the fast axis with 43.3 mW power consumption. The application of the MEMS mirror to a laser display system effectively reduces the laser speckle. With 2-D scanning of the MEMS mirror, the speckle contrast can be reduced from 18.19% to 4.58%. We demonstrated that the image quality of a laser display system could be greatly improved by the MEMS mirror.
An amorphous-nanocrystal reinforced composite coating was fabricated on Ti–6Al–4V titanium alloy by laser cladding (LC) of the Al3Ti–TiB2–(Ni-coated WC)–Al2O3–Y2O3 mixed powders. Test results ...indicate that the lots of the nanoscale particles (NP), nanorods and amorphous phases were produced in such coating. Amorphous/nanocrystalline interface owns a high bonding energy, which may retard the growth of nanocrystals in a certain extent. With Ce–Al–Ni amorphous addition, amorphous surrounded nanopolycrystals (ASNPs) were produced after the LC process. Although coarser microstructure was obtained with productions of ASNPs, the Ce–Al–Ni addition played an important amorphization effect on such LC coating, which was beneficial in increasing wear resistance of the LC coating.
•Nanoscale particles, nanorods and amorphous phases were produced in such LC coating.•The amorphous/nanocrystalline interface owns a high bonding energy.•Amorphous/nanocrystalline interface may retard the growth of nanocrystals in a certain extent.•With the addition of Ce–Al–Ni amorphous alloy, the lots of micro/nanosize ASNPs were produced.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZRSKP
Magnesium alloys are one of the most promising lightweight structural materials. However, the poor corrosion and wear resistance restrain their further application. As a kind of surface modification ...technique, laser cladding treatment is superior to others owing to its unique characteristics such as high efficiency and the metallurgical bonding between the coatings and substrates. In this paper, the laser cladding process and the effects of processing parameters, including laser power, scanning velocity, beam focal position, feeding ways of the material etc., are discussed in detail. The material systems preplaced on magnesium alloys are summarized. Except for the traditional metallic materials, novel ternary alloys, amorphous alloys and high entropy alloys (HEAs) are widely used and apparent advantages are exhibited. In terms of the problems existing in the laser cladding process of magnesium alloys, some potential solutions and the development tendency are reviewed.
•Laser cladding material systems on magnesium alloys are reviewed entirely.•Novel devices used for laser cladding are summarized.•The existing problems and the corresponding solutions are discussed.•Potential development tendency is forecasted based on the latest research progress.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZRSKP
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