Drawing on the componential model of creativity (Amabile), we examined how shared leadership and a formally appointed leader's transformational leadership jointly cultivate team creativity in two ...studies. We conducted an experiment with a sample of 109 undergraduate students (32 teams) enrolled in a business plan competition (Study 1) and a field survey based on multisource, time‐lagged data collected from 251 full‐time employees working on 64 research and development teams (Study 2). The results from both studies revealed that shared leadership enhanced team members’ individual creative self‐efficacy and individual creativity, which in turn improved team creativity. Moreover, the results from Study 2 showed that a formally appointed leader's use of different transformational leadership behaviors had different impacts on individual and team creativity. Individual‐focused transformational leadership strengthened the positive effect of shared leadership on team members’ average individual creativity, whereas group‐focused transformational leadership facilitated the translation of teams with high average individual creativity into teams with high levels of team creativity. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.
MicroRNAs (MiRNAs, MiRs) represent a class of conserved small non‐coding RNAs that affect post‐transcriptional gene regulation and play a vital role in angiogenesis, proliferation, apoptosis, ...migration and invasion. They are essential for a wide range of physiological and pathological processes, especially for vascular diseases. However, data concerning miRNAs in endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) and deep vein thrombosis (DVT) remain incomplete. We explored miRNAs that modulate angiogenesis in EPCs and thrombolysis, and analysed their underlying mechanisms using a DVT model, dual‐luciferase reporter assay, qRT‐PCR, Western blot, immunofluorescence staining, flow cytometry analysis, CCK‐8 assay, angiogenesis assay, wound healing and Transwell assay. We found that miR‐205 enhanced the homing ability of EPCs to DVT sites and promoted thrombosis resolution and recanalization, which significantly reduced venous thrombus. Additionally, we demonstrated that miR‐205 overexpression significantly enhanced angiogenesis in vivo and in vitro, migration, invasion, F‐actin filaments and proliferation in EPCs, and inhibited cell apoptosis. Conversely, down‐regulation of miR‐205 played the opposite role in EPCs. Importantly, this study demonstrated that miR‐205 directly targeted PTEN to modulate the Akt/autophagy pathway and MMP2 expression, subsequently playing a key role in EPC function and DVT recanalization and resolution. These results elucidated the pro‐angiogenesis effects of miR‐205 in EPCs and established it as a potential target for DVT treatment.
Over the past decades, N‐heterocyclic carbene (NHC) organocatalysis has undergone a flourish of development on the basis of closed‐shell reaction paths. By contrast, the emerging area of ...single‐electron transfer (SET) reactions enabled by NHC catalysis still remain underdeveloped, but offer plenty of opportunities to develop new catalytic modes and useful synthetic methods. A number of interesting transformations were triggered by the SET process from the electron‐rich Breslow intermediates to various single‐electron acceptors. In additions, recent studies revealed that the Breslow radical cations could also be generated by single‐electron reduction of the electron‐deficient acyl azolium intermediates. These discoveries open a new avenue for NHC organocatalysis to harness radical reactions. The present review will focus on the exciting advancements in the dynamic area of radical NHC organocatalysis.
NHC organocatalysis: The development of N‐heterocyclic carbene (NHC) organocatalysis presents new opportunities in radical reactions. The Breslow intermediate‐based radical cations, which could be generated through single‐electron oxidation or reduction, enabled a series of novel radical transformations. These advancements greatly extend the synthetic potential of N‐heterocyclic carbene catalysis.
Inferences of population genetic structure are of great importance to the fields of ecology and evolutionary biology. The program structure has been widely used to infer population genetic structure. ...However, previous studies demonstrated that uneven sampling often leads to wrong inferences on hierarchical structure. The most widely used ΔK method tends to identify the uppermost hierarchy of population structure. Recently, four alternative statistics (medmedk, medmeak, maxmedk and maxmeak) were proposed, which appear to be more accurate than the previously used methods for both even and uneven sampling data. However, the lack of easy‐to‐use software limits the use of these appealing new estimators. Here, we developed a web‐based user‐friendly software structureselector to calculate the four appealing alternative statistics together with the commonly used Ln Pr(X|K) and ΔK statistics. structureselector accepts the result files of structure, admixture or faststructure as input files. It reports the “best” K for each estimator, and the results are available as HTML or tab separated tables. The program can also generate graphical representations for specific K, which can be easily downloaded from the server. The software is freely available at http://lmme.qdio.ac.cn/StructureSelector/.
The advent of SELEX (systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment) technology has shown the ability to evolve artificial ligands with affinity and specificity able to meet growing ...clinical demand for probes that can, for example, distinguish between the target leukemia cells and other cancer cells within the matrix of heterogeneity, which characterizes cancer cells. Though antibodies are the conventional and ideal choice as a molecular recognition tool for many applications, aptamers complement the use of antibodies due to many unique advantages, such as small size, low cost, and facile chemical modification. This Minireview will focus on the novel applications of aptamers and SELEX, as well as opportunities to develop molecular tools able to meet future clinical needs in biomedicine.
Advantages of aptamers and SELEX in diverse research fields are summarized in this Minireview, along with some limitations and possible solutions to them. Furthermore described are future perspectives for aptamer modification with a near‐infinite number of molecular‐modulating elements that will result in more powerful tools in bioscience.
Background and Purpose
Acute pancreatitis (AP) is a common acute abdominal condition, frequently associated with intestinal barrier dysfunction, which aggravates AP retroactively. Butyrate exhibits ...anti‐inflammatory effects in a variety of inflammatory diseases. However, its potential beneficial effect on AP and the underlying mechanisms have not been investigated.
Experimental Approach
Experimental AP was induced by caerulein hyperstimulation in wild‐type and GPR109A−/− mice. Sodium butyrate was administered intragastrically for 7 days prior to caerulein hyperstimulation. Anti‐inflammatory mechanisms of butyrate were further investigated in peritoneal macrophages.
Key Results
Butyrate prophylaxis attenuated AP as shown by reduced serum amylase and lipase levels, pancreatic oedema, myeloperoxidase activity, and improved pancreatic morphology. Amelioration of pancreatic damage by butyrate was associated with reduced levels of TNF‐α, IL‐6, and CCL2 and suppressed activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome in both pancreas and colon. Further, butyrate ameliorated pancreatic inflammation by suppressing interactions between histone deacetylase 1 (HDAC1) and AP1 and STAT1 with increased histone acetylation at H3K9, H3K14, H3K18, and H3K27 loci, resulting in suppression of NLRP3 inflammasome activation and modulation of immune cell infiltration in pancreas. Additionally, butyrate mediated STAT1/AP1‐NLRP3 inflammasome suppression via HDAC1 inhibition was demonstrated in peritoneal macrophage. In colon, butyrate inhibited NLRP3 inflammasome activation via GPR109A. Accordingly, the modulatory effects of butyrate on AP, AP‐associated gut dysfunction, and NLRP3 inflammasome activation were diminished in GPR109A−/− mice.
Conclusion and Implications
Our study dissected tissue‐specific anti‐inflammatory mechanisms of butyrate during AP, suggesting that increased colonic levels of butyrate may be a strategy to protect against AP.
Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) are a class of promising materials for diverse heterogeneous catalysis, but they are usually not directly employed for oxygen evolution electrocatalysis. Most reports ...focus on using MOFs as templates to in situ create efficient electrocatalysts through annealing. Herein, we prepared a series of Fe/Ni‐based trimetallic MOFs (Fe/Ni/Co(Mn)‐MIL‐53 accordingly to the Material of Institute Lavoisier) by solvothermal synthesis, which can be directly adopted as highly efficient electrocatalysts. The Fe/Ni/Co(Mn)‐MIL‐53 shows a volcano‐type oxygen evolution reaction (OER) activity as a function of compositions. The optimized Fe/Ni2.4/Co0.4‐MIL‐53 can reach a current density of 20 mA cm−2 at low overpotential of 236 mV with a small Tafel slope of 52.2 mV dec−1. In addition, the OER performance of these MOFs can be further enhanced by directly being grown on nickel foam (NF).
Multimetallic MOFs with modulated compositions have been successfully synthesized and directly adopted as efficient oxygen evolution reaction (OER) catalysts (MOFs=metal–organic frameworks). The Fe/Ni/Co/(Mn)‐MIL‐53 catalyst exhibits a volcano‐type OER activity as a function of compositions. The optimized Fe/Ni/Mn0.4‐MIL‐53/NF catalyst is highly active and ultrastable towards OER catalysis.
Immune infiltration of tumors is closely associated with clinical outcome in renal cell carcinoma (RCC). Tumor‐infiltrating immune cells (TIICs) regulate cancer progression and are appealing ...therapeutic targets. The purpose of this study was to determine the composition of TIICs in RCC and further reveal the independent prognostic values of TIICs. CIBERSORT, an established algorithm, was applied to estimate the proportions of 22 immune cell types based on gene expression profiles of 891 tumors. Cox regression was used to evaluate the association of TIICs and immune checkpoint modulators with overall survival (OS). We found that CD8+ T cells were associated with prolonged OS (hazard ratio HR = 0.09, 95% confidence interval CI.01‐.53; P = 0.03) in chromophobe carcinoma (KICH). A higher proportion of regulatory T cells was associated with a worse outcome (HR = 1.59, 95% CI 1.23‐.06; P < 0.01) in renal clear cell carcinoma (KIRC). In renal papillary cell carcinoma (KIRP), M1 macrophages were associated with a favorable outcome (HR = .43, 95% CI .25‐.72; P < 0.01), while M2 macrophages indicated a worse outcome (HR = 2.55, 95% CI 1.45‐4.47; P < 0.01). Moreover, the immunomodulator molecules CTLA4 and LAG3 were associated with a poor prognosis in KIRC, and IDO1 and PD‐L2 were associated with a poor prognosis in KIRP. This study indicates TIICs are important determinants of prognosis in RCC meanwhile reveals potential targets and biomarkers for immunotherapy development.
We described the immune landscape in detail, revealing the distinct immune infiltration patterns of different subtypes and stages of RCC. We further revealed relationships between TIIC and molecular subtypes, tumor stages, recurrent genomic alterations and survival in RCC. Our work advances the understanding of immune response meanwhile reveals potential targets and biomarkers for immunotherapy development.
Exosomes contain cell-specific collections of bioactive materials including proteins, lipids, and RNAs that are transported to recipient cells to exert their impacts. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) can function ...as tumor suppressor or oncogenic genes and miR-21 is one of the most frequently up-regulated miRNAs in solid tumors including colon cancer. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of miR-21, secreted from exosomes, in proliferation and invasion of colon cancer, along with the mechanistic details. We used a variety of biochemical techniques including ultracentrifugation-based exosome purification, electron transmission microscopy, western blot and RT-qPCR to detect the expression levels of miR-21 in exosomes purified from culture media of human colonic adenocarcinoma cell lines. We then performed functional and mechanistic studies using three colon cancer cell lines HT29, T84 and LS174 as well as the normal colon epithelial cells CRL1831. miR-21 target PDCD4 was investigated for its role in mediating miR-21 effects. Expression of miR-21 was significantly up-regulated in exosomes of colon cancer cells, compared to the normal human colon epithelial cells. Treatment of colon cancer cells with isolated exosomes or miR-21 led to an increased expression of genes involved in cell proliferation, invasion and extracellular matrix formation. miR-21 targets PDCD4, TPM1 and PTEN were down-regulated by exosomes and silencing of PDCD4 mimicked miR-21 functional effects, even the induced resistance against 5-FU. Our study suggests that targeted inhibition of exosomes, particularly those carrying miR-21, may represent a novel approach for treatment of colorectal cancer.
The aim of this study was to analyze the clinical data, discharge rate, and fatality rate of COVID‐19 patients for clinical help. The clinical data of COVID‐19 patients from December 2019 to February ...2020 were retrieved from four databases. We statistically analyzed the clinical symptoms and laboratory results of COVID‐19 patients and explained the discharge rate and fatality rate with a single‐arm meta‐analysis. The available data of 1994 patients in 10 literatures were included in our study. The main clinical symptoms of COVID‐19 patients were fever (88.5%), cough (68.6%), myalgia or fatigue (35.8%), expectoration (28.2%), and dyspnea (21.9%). Minor symptoms include headache or dizziness (12.1%), diarrhea (4.8%), nausea and vomiting (3.9%). The results of the laboratory showed that the lymphocytopenia (64.5%), increase of C‐reactive protein (44.3%), increase of lactic dehydrogenase (28.3%), and leukocytopenia (29.4%) were more common. The results of single‐arm meta‐analysis showed that the male took a larger percentage in the gender distribution of COVID‐19 patients 60% (95% CI 0.54, 0.65), the discharge rate of COVID‐19 patients was 52% (95% CI 0.34,0.70), and the fatality rate was 5% (95% CI 0.01,0.11).
Research Highlights
Our study explored the clinical and epidemiological characteristics of COVID‐19 patients, and proposed the need to focus on other systemic symptoms such as the gastrointestinal tract firstly, which could be of use for clinical work.
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