A new heteroleptic iridium complex demonstrated low cytotoxicity and near-infrared excitation (via two-photon absorption) for target-specific in vitro Golgi imaging in various cell lines (HeLa and ...A549 cells) with two-photon absorption cross section (~350 GM) in DMSO.
Plastics waste and microplastics including polyethylene (PE) and polystyrene (PS) have been an environmental concern for years. Recent research has revealed that larvae of Galleria mellonella are ...capable of biodegrading low density PE film. In this study, we tested the feasibility of enhancing larval survival and the effect of supplementing the co-diet on plastic degradation by feeding the larvae beeswax or wheat bran as a co-diet. Significant mass loss of plastic was observed over a 21-day period, i.e., with respective consumption of 0.88 and 1.95 g by 150 larvae fed only either PS or PE. The formation of CO and C–O containing functional groups and long chain fatty acids as the metabolic intermediates of plastics in the residual polymers indicated depolymerization and biodegradation. Supplementing beeswax and bran increased the survival rates but decreased the consumption of plastic. The changes in the gut microbiome revealed that Bacillus and Serratia were significantly associated with the PS and PE diets. Beeswax and bran showed different shaping effects on the core gut microbiome of larvae fed the PE and PS. These results suggest that supplementing the co-diet affected the physiological properties of the larvae and plastic biodegradation and shaped the core gut microbiome.
•Superoxide dismutases (SODs) have important regulatory functions in metabolism, signalling and transcription.•SODs are crucial for cancer cell growth, proliferation, survival and metastasis.•SODs ...are potential therapeutic targets for drug and radiation therapy for human cancer.
Reactive oxygen species (ROS) have important roles in normal physiology and diseases, particularly cancer. Under normal physiological conditions, they participate in redox reactions and serve as second messengers for regulatory functions. Owing to aberrant metabolism, cancer cells accumulate excessive ROS, thus requiring a robustly active antioxidant system to prevent cellular damage. Superoxide dismutases (SODs) are enzymes that catalyze the removal of superoxide free radicals. There are three distinct members of this metalloenzyme family in mammals: SOD1 (Cu/ZnSOD), SOD2 (MnSOD) and SOD3 (ecSOD). SODs are increasingly recognized for their regulatory functions in growth, metabolism and oxidative stress responses, which are also crucial for cancer development and survival. Growing evidence shows that SODs are also potentially useful anticancer drug targets. This review will focus on recent research of SODs in cellular regulation, with emphasis on their roles in cancer biology and therapy.
ABSTRACT
We report the evolution of the X-ray pulsations of EXO 2030+375 during its 2021 outburst using the observations from Insight-HXMT. Based on the accretion torque model, we study the ...correlation between the spin frequency derivatives and the luminosity. Pulsations can be detected in the energy band of 1–160 keV. The pulse profile evolves significantly with luminosity during the outburst, leading to that the whole outburst can be divided into several parts with different characteristics. The evolution of the pulse profile reveals the transition between the supercritical (fan-beam dominated) and the subcritical accretion (pencil-beam dominated) mode. From the accretion torque model and the critical luminosity model, based on a distance of 7.1 kpc, the inferred magnetic fields are (0.41 − 0.74) × 1012 and (3.48 − 3.96) × 1012 G, respectively, or based on a distance of 3.6 kpc, the estimated magnetic fields are (2.4 − 4.3) × 1013 and (0.98 − 1.11) × 1012 G, respectively. Two different sets of magnetic fields both support the presence of multipole magnetic fields of the neutron star.
Abstract Objective To identify important prognostic factors and optimized treatment strategies through the analysis of the clinical and pathological characteristics of placental site trophoblastic ...tumor. Methods 108 patients with PSTT registered in two GTD centers or in six tertiary hospitals in China were analyzed retrospectively between the years 1998 and 2013. The computerized database of clinical and pathological reports was reviewed on this patient group. The data were subsequently analyzed retrospectively using SPSS software. Results Among 3581 patients with GTNs treated in GTD centers or in the tertiary hospitals between 1998 and 2013, 108 cases were histologically confirmed PSTT (3%). Only seven deaths and eleven relapse cases were observed. All seven of the deaths were disease related, due to chemotherapy-resistant or relapsed. 23 patients who received fertility preservation treatment did not experience poor outcome or high risk of relapse. In 71 patients with International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) stage I disease, the use of adjuvant chemotherapy following surgery (n = 49) or not (n = 22) made no significant difference in relapse rate (P = 0.303) or survival (P = 0.782). Univariate analysis revealed the interval between antecedent pregnancy and onset of PSTT, stage, prognosis score, and necrosis as significant predictors of poor survival but only stage remained significant on multivariate analysis. Conclusions Patients with FIGO stage IV disease demonstrate the most critical risk indicator of PSTT in the current study. Preservation of fertility is considered in highly-selected patients with localized tumor; and surgery without chemotherapy is recommended as first line treatment for patients with stage I who are at low-risk.
In this article, glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) was grafted on poly(butylene succinate) (PBS) by virtue of reactive blending in the extrusion process and thermoplastic starch (TPS) was prepared
via
a ...melt blend process with anhydroxylitol tripelargonate (AXP) as a bio-based plasticizer and starch as a polymer matrix. A ternary blend of fully biodegradable polymers, namely PBS-
g
-GMA, thermoplastic starch and poly(butylene adipate-
co
-terephthalate) (PBAT), was successfully fabricated in an attempt to achieve novel entirely biodegradable composites with good comprehensive properties. The mechanical properties, rheological behavior, thermal behavior, crystallization properties and microscopic morphology of PBS-
g
-GMA/TPS/PBAT composites were investigated in detail. The incorporation of 30 wt% TPS into the PBS-
g
-GMA/TPS composite promoted a dramatic increase of 47% in the Izod impact strength of the PBS, which indicated that our work proposed an efficient route to fabricate PBS composites with good properties by a simple, eco-friendly, and low-cost processing methodology. DMA results showed that the loss factor of the composite was dependent on the TPS amount, meanwhile, with the increase of PBAT, the glass transition temperature (
T
g
) was more affected. The change in storage modulus indicates that the addition of TPS can improve the elasticity and the degradation of elastic properties due to the addition of PBAT. Analysis of the rheological results showed that the storage modulus (
G
′), loss modulus (
G
′′) and complex viscosity increased significantly with increasing PBAT and TPS amount which could enhance their processability. SEM indicated that PBAT was compatible with the system, and the appearance of particles at a high TPS amount confirmed the occurrence of phase separation.
A ternary blend of biodegradable polymers, namely PBS-
g
-GMA, thermoplastic starch (TPS) and poly(butylene adipate-
co
-terephthalate) (PBAT), was successfully fabricated attempt to achieve novel biodegradable composites with comprehensive properties.
Background and Aims
Androgen receptor (AR) has been reported to play an important role in the development and progression of man’s prostate cancer. Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is also ...male‐dominant, but the role of AR in HCC remains poorly understood. Mechanistic target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1) also has been reported to be highly activated in HCC. In this study, we aimed to explore the role of AR phosphorylation and its relationship with mTORC1 in hepatocarcinogenesis.
Approach and Results
In vitro experiment, we observed that mTORC1 interacts with hepatic AR and phosphorylates it at S96 in response to nutrient and mitogenic stimuli in HCC cells. S96 phosphorylation promotes the stability, nuclear localization, and transcriptional activity of AR, which enhances de novo lipogenesis and proliferation in hepatocytes and induces liver steatosis and hepatocarcinogenesis in mice independently and cooperatively with androgen. Furthermore, high ARS96 phosphorylation is observed in human liver steatotic and HCC tissues and is associated with overall survival and disease‐free survival, which has been proven as an independent survival predictor for patients with HCC.
Conclusions
AR S96 phosphorylation by mTORC1 drives liver steatosis and HCC development and progression independently and cooperatively with androgen, which not only explains why HCC is man‐biased but also provides a target molecule for prevention and treatment of HCC and a potential survival predictor in patients with HCC.
Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) induced by transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) is implicated in hepatocarcinogenesis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) metastasis. HAb18G/CD147, which ...belongs to the CD147 family, is an HCC-associated antigen that has a crucial role in tumor invasion and metastasis. The goal of this study was to investigate the role of HAb18G/CD147 during EMT in hepatocarcinogenesis. Human normal hepatic cell lines QZG and L02, primary mouse hepatocytes and nude mouse models were used to determine the role of HAb18G/CD147 in EMT, and the involvement of the TGF-β-driven pathway. A dual-luciferase reporter assay and ChIP were used to investigate the transcriptional regulation of the CD147 gene. Samples from patients with liver disease were assessed to determine the relationship between HAb18G/CD147 and typical markers for EMT. Our results show that upregulation of HAb18G/CD147 is induced by TGF-β coupled with downregulation of E-cadherin and upregulation of N-cadherin and vimentin. The expression of HAb18G/CD147 is controlled by the cell survival PI3K/Akt/GSK3β signaling pathway, and is directly regulated by the transcription factor Slug. Transfection of CD147 also induces an elevated expression of TGF-β. CD147-transfected hepatocytes have mesenchymal phenotypes that accelerate tumor formation and tumor metastasis in vivo. Immunohistochemistry analysis shows a negative correlation between HAb18G/CD147 and E-cadherin expression (r(s)=-0.3622, P=0.0105), and a positive correlation between HAb18G/CD147 and Slug expression (r(s)=0.3064, P=0.0323) in human HCC tissues. Our study uncovers a novel role of HAb18G/CD147 in mediating EMT in the process of HCC progression and showed that CD147 is a Slug target gene in the signaling cascade TGF-β→PI3K/Akt→GSK3β→Snail→Slug→CD147. Our results suggest that CD147 may be a potential target for the treatment and prevention of HCC.
•Local resonances of metamaterial panels lead to further sound absorption improvement.•Effective medium method is used to model finite metamaterial panels.•Full multiphysical simulation model ...considers vibroacoustic coupling and end effects.
To further improve the sound absorption enhancement of flexible micro-perforated panels (FMPPs), a new sort of perforated sound absorbers – metamaterial-based micro-perforated panels (MMPPs) – is proposed by combining a micro-perforated host panel and local resonators (LRs) attached on a sub-wavelength scale, targeting the flexural waves. Theoretical and numerical models show that MMPPs are able to further enhance sound absorption in a wide frequency range. The theoretical model is developed based on the effective medium method as the structural wavelength in the host panel is much larger than the distance between the LRs, and the full simulation model, including visco-thermal effects, is conducted by utilizing multi-physical coupling integrated in COMSOL. Besides, a structural finite element unit cell method is used to evaluate the stop band behavior of the MMPP. Good agreement is achieved between the theoretically predicted acoustical properties and the simulation results for both conventional FMPPs and the proposed MMPPs, validating the numerical and theoretical models. Both models reveal that the sound absorption enhancement of the MMPP stems from the resulting acoustic surface impedance improvement, caused by the sub-wavelength attached local resonances. The effect of key properties of the LRs (i.e. mass, damping and multiple resonances) on the sound absorption performance of MMPPs is then analyzed by applying the theoretical model and effective frequency-adjustability of the absorption enhancement performance is found. The proposed MMPP shows great potential for the noise reduction industry.
A proportion of glioblastoma stemlike cells (GSCs) expressing endothelial cell marker CDH5 (vascular-endothelial-cadherin or CD144) can transdifferentiate into endothelial cells and form blood ...vessels. However, the implications of CDH5 expression in gliomas and how it is regulated in GSCs remain to be clarified.
The mRNA and protein levels of CDH5 were detected in glioma samples and cultured cell lines, and the prognostic value of the CDH5 expression level for GBM patients was evaluated. Bioinformatics analysis was performed to reveal the potential functional roles of CDH5 in glioblastoma multiforme. Gene knockdown induced by short hairpin RNA, chromatin immunoprecipitation analysis, and a vasculogenic tube formation assay were performed to investigate the relationships among hypoxia, CDH5 expression level, and angiogenesis.
CDH5 was overexpressed in gliomas, correlated with tumor grades, and was an independent adverse prognostic predictor for glioblastoma multiforme patients. CDH5 was specifically activated in GSCs but not in non-GSCs or neural stem cells, and CDH5(+) cells could produce xenografts in immunocompromised mice. Bioinformatics analysis demonstrated that CDH5 might interact directly with hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF)2α. CDH5 expression was significantly upregulated in GSCs, but not in non-GSCs or normal neural stem cells, under a 1% O2 condition. Both HIF1α and HIF2α positively regulated CDH5 level in GSCs and could bind to the promoter of CDH5. Furthermore, CDH5 contributed to the vasculogenic mimicry of GSCs, especially under hypoxic conditions.
The specific expression of CDH5 in GSCs may contribute to GSC-derived neovasculogenesis in glioblastoma multiforme, especially under hypoxic conditions, revealing novel tumorigenic mechanisms contributed by GSCs.
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