Interleukin-6 (IL-6) is a pleiotropic cytokine involved in immune regulation. It can activate janus kinase 2 (JAK2)-signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) signaling pathway. As ...one of the important signal transduction pathways in cells, JAK2/STAT3 signaling pathway plays a critical role in cell proliferation and differentiation by affecting the activation state of downstream effector molecules. The activation of JAK2/STAT3 signaling pathway is involved in tumorigenesis and development. It contributes to the formation of tumor inflammatory microenvironment and is closely related to the occurrence and development of many human tumors. This article focuses on the relationship between IL-6/JAK2/STAT3 signaling pathway and liver cancer, breast cancer, colorectal cancer, gastric cancer, lung cancer, pancreatic cancer and ovarian cancer, hoping to provide references for the research of cancer treatment targeting key molecules in IL-6/JAK2/STAT3 signaling pathway.
Artificial steel slag aggregates were prepared via carbonating the mixes of steel slag, fly ash and Portland cement, of which the microstructure, property and their impact on the performance of ...concrete were investigated. Calcium carbonates were the main binders in the aggregates, of which the formation yielded dense microstructures and reduced crushing values. The carbonated artificial steel slag aggregates showed very stable volumes after the autoclaving test at 216 °C. This is due to the depletion of free-CaO contained in the steel slag as a result of carbonation. Concretes with compressive strengths of up to 45.5 MPa at 28d and stable volumes were prepared with the carbonated artificial steel slag aggregates. Owing to the water absorption in the artificial aggregates, higher relative humidity and in turn less autogenous shrinkages were induced in the concrete. This work provides a novel way to utilize steel slag to produce aggregates coupled with CO2 sequestration.
•Carbonated artificial steel slag aggregates were prepared via carbonation.•Calcium carbonates were the main binders in the artificial steel slag aggregates.•The artificial steel slag aggregate had light weight and stable volume.•Concrete with artificial aggregates gained compressive strength of 45.5 MPa at 28d•The artificial steel slag aggregates provided internal curing in concrete.
Interferons (IFNs) have been reported in vertebrates from fish to mammals. To date, two types of IFNs, i.e. type I and type II IFNs have been reported in a range of fish species in aquaculture. In ...fish, type I IFNs are clarified into group I and group II, with two cysteines and four cysteines, and further into subgroups a, d, e, h, and b, c, f, respectively. Group I IFNs appear to exist in all fish species, whereas group II IFNs are discovered only in certain species such as cyprinids, salmonids and perciform fish. It seems preferentially functional that group I IFNs signal through cytokine receptor family B (CRFB) 5 and CRFB1, while group II IFNs through CRFB5 and CRFB2. But they all initiate a same signalling pathway for the expression of interferon induced genes. The information about the production and the function of type I IFNs in fish are further summarized in the review. Interestingly, two members of type II IFNs, IFN‐γ and a unique member, IFN‐γ related gene (IFN‐γrel) exist in fish, and IFN‐γ and IFN‐γrel can separately become homodimers for signalling through CRFB13, CRFB17, CRFB6 and CRFB17, respectively. In addition, the variation in the composition of type I and type II IFNs as well as in their receptors in some cyprinid and salmonid fish has also been reviewed. It is suggested that future perspectives for the research on type I and type II IFNs in fish are outlined from a comparative and evolutionary point of view.
•Biochar supplies inner curing in cement paste to maintain a high relative humidity.•Biochar enhances the effect of MgO on compensating for autogenous shrinkage.•The cement paste containing 2% ...biochar and 8% MEA (MI) produced an expansion.•Addition of 2% biochar increases slightly the compressive strength of cement paste.
Internal curing and expansive additives are normally used to mitigate the autogenous shrinkage of cement materials. Biochar, with a porous microstructure and water holding capacity, has a potential to be used as a novel internal curing agent, whereas few work was focused on its impact on the autogenous shrinkage of cement materials. The present work aims to investigate the effects of biochar and its combination with MgO expansive additive (MEA) on the internal relative humidity, autogenous shrinkage, compressive strength as well as microstructures of the cement pastes via using humidity sensor, laser displacement measurer, MIP, TG/DSC, and SEM. Results indicated that, compared to the plain cement paste, incorporation of biochar provided efficient internal curing, maintaining a higher internal relative humidity and hence a reduced the autogenous shrinkage by 16.3% at the age of 180 h. An obvious synergetic effect on mitigating the autogenous shrinkage of cement paste was observed when the biochar was added with the combination of MEA in the cement paste. For instance, with the addition of 2 wt% biochar and 8 wt% MEA with a high reactivity (reactivity value of 45 s) gained an expansion of 80 microstrain rather than a shrinkage at the age of 180 h. Addition of biochar increased slightly the compressive strengths of the cement pastes at the late ages of 28d and 90d. This facilitates to offset partially the compromise on compressive strength of cement paste caused by the incorporation of MEAs alone. This study provides a novel and effective approach for mitigating the autogenous shrinkage of cement materials.
Major facilitator superfamily (MFS) is the maximum and most diversified membrane transporter, acting as uniporters, symporters and antiporters. MFS is considered to have a good development potential ...in the transport of drugs for the treatment of brain diseases. The major facilitator superfamily domain containing protein 2a (Mfsd2a) is a member of MFS. Mfsd2a-knockout mice have shown a marked decrease of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) level in brain, exhibiting neuron loss, microcephaly and cognitive deficits, as DHA acts essentially in brain growth and integrity. Mfsd2a has attracted more and more attention in the study of nervous system diseases because of its critical role in maintaining the integrity of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and transporting DHA, including inhibiting cell transport in central nervous system endothelial cells, alleviating BBB injury, avoiding BBB injury in cerebral hemorrhage model, acting as a carrier etc. Up to now, the clinical research of Mfsd2a in nervous system diseases is rare. This article reviewed the current research progress of Mfsd2a in nervous system diseases. It summarized the physiological functions of Mfsd2a in the occurrence and development of intracranial hemorrhage (ICH), Alzheimer’s disease (AD), sepsis-associated encephalopathy (SAE), autosomal recessive primary microcephaly (MCPH) and intracranial tumor, aiming to provide ideas for the basic research and clinical application of Mfsd2a.
Pseudouridylation is the most prevalent type of posttranscriptional modification in various stable RNAs of all organisms, which significantly affects many cellular processes that are regulated by ...RNA. Thus, accurate identification of pseudouridine (Ψ) sites in RNA will be of great benefit for understanding these cellular processes. Due to the low efficiency and high cost of current available experimental methods, it is highly desirable to develop computational methods for accurately and efficiently detecting Ψ sites in RNA sequences. However, the predictive accuracy of existing computational methods is not satisfactory and still needs improvement.
In this study, we developed a new model, PseUI, for Ψ sites identification in three species, which are H. sapiens, S. cerevisiae, and M. musculus. Firstly, five different kinds of features including nucleotide composition (NC), dinucleotide composition (DC), pseudo dinucleotide composition (pseDNC), position-specific nucleotide propensity (PSNP), and position-specific dinucleotide propensity (PSDP) were generated based on RNA segments. Then, a sequential forward feature selection strategy was used to gain an effective feature subset with a compact representation but discriminative prediction power. Based on the selected feature subsets, we built our model by using a support vector machine (SVM). Finally, the generalization of our model was validated by both the jackknife test and independent validation tests on the benchmark datasets. The experimental results showed that our model is more accurate and stable than the previously published models. We have also provided a user-friendly web server for our model at http://zhulab.ahu.edu.cn/PseUI , and a brief instruction for the web server is provided in this paper. By using this instruction, the academic users can conveniently get their desired results without complicated calculations.
In this study, we proposed a new predictor, PseUI, to detect Ψ sites in RNA sequences. It is shown that our model outperformed the existing state-of-art models. It is expected that our model, PseUI, will become a useful tool for accurate identification of RNA Ψ sites.
China is the largest producer and consumer of plastics worldwide. Microplastic (MP) pollution has been a recent research hotspot in environmental science and ecology. This study collects and analyzes ...the statistical data for microplastics (MPs) 86 lakes in entire China’s lake ecosystems in past five years (2016–2020), their range in area is 0.056–4543.000 km2 (average: 566.045 km2), and the water storage varies from 0.162 × 108 to 1050.000 × 108 m3 (average: 77.884 ×108 m3). The results showed (1) The MP abundance in lake surface water is significantly correlated with lake area (ρ = −0.562, p ＜0.01), provincial GDP (Gross Domestic Product, GDP) (ρ = 0.377, p = 0.002), GDP per capita (ρ = 0.346, p = 0.006), urban waste water discharge and ratio of agricultural land area (ρ = 0.369, p = 0.003). (2) The MP abundance in lake sediment is significantly correlated with per capita domestic volume of garbage disposal (ρ = −0.536, p ＜0.001), per capita urban waste water discharge (ρ = −0.544, p ＜0.001) and ratio of agricultural land area (ρ = 0.635, p ＜0.001). (3) Irrespective of whether the samples were from surface water or sediment, MPs were primarily transparent, and the dominant types were fragments, films, and fibers. In addition, the size of MPs samples was mostly less than 2 mm, and the major polymers were polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), and polystyrene (PS). (4) The degree of MP pollution in organisms was related to the degree of environmental pollution. These findings could provide a theoretical basis for the control and management of MP pollution in China’s lake ecosystems.
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•MP pollution in China’s lake ecosystems were reviewed.•Main sources of MPs in China’s lake ecosystems were analyzed.•Lake ecosystems in China have varying degrees of MP pollution.•Major polymers were PE, PP, and PS.•MPs are present at different levels of food chain in China's lake ecosystems.
To evaluate the efficacy of laparoscopic pyeloplasty relative to retrograde balloon dilatation for the treatment of ureteropelvic junction obstruction (UPJO).
This retrospective study enrolled UPJO ...patients with stricture length < 2 cm who had been treated with laparoscopic pyeloplasty (LP; 44 cases) or balloon dilatation (BD; 38 cases) from Jan 2010 to Jan 2012, according to patients' preference after consultation. Demographics and clinical parameters were collected. Patients were followed-up at 3, 6, 12, and 24 months. Ultrasonography, intravenous urography, and diuretic renography were applied to evaluate the remission of hydronephrosis.
Both groups were comparable with respect to age, UPJO location, gender, and other baseline parameters. Compared to the LP group, patients receiving BD experienced significantly shorter operative time, analgesia time, hospital stay, and urethral catheter indwelling time, and less cost (P<0.001). Three and 6 months after their respective procedures, the success rates of the LP (97.7%, both) and BD (94.7% and 86.8%) groups were similar, and at 12 and 24 months the long-term success rate of LP (95.5%, both) was better than that of BD (78.9% and 71.0%).
LP showed better long-term success rate than did BD in the management of UPJO with length of stricture < 2 cm. Considering that BD is more minimally invasive, simpler and easier to perform, and costs less, we recommend it for some selective UPJO patients as the first-line therapy.
High titanium heavy slag is one kind of solid waste that exists in large amounts in the southwest of China. In this paper, this high titanium heavy slag is used as natural pre-wetted material in ...concrete because of its porous structure. Three kinds of aggregates are used in this concrete. The first one is natural limestone and river sand. The second one is dry slag fine aggregate and coarse aggregate. The third one is pre-wetted coarse slag aggregate and dry slag fine aggregate. The strength, dry shrinkage, autogenous shrinkage, relative humidity, pore size distribution, stress-strain relationship, micro-hardness and chloride penetration of concrete composed of the above three aggregates are tested in this study. The results show that pre-wetted slag aggregate is a suitable internal curing material. The concrete with pre-wetted slag aggregate shows higher strength, lower shrinkage and smaller porosity. The water absorbed in the slag aggregate can be released effectively to increase the relative humidity, accelerate hydration, improve porosity and increase the interface strength.
Interferons (IFNs) are critical soluble factors in the immune system and are composed of three types, (I, II and III) that utilize different receptor complexes IFN-αR1/IFN-αR2, IFN-γR1/IFN-γR2, and ...IFN-λR1/IL-10R2, respectively. Here we identify IFN-υ from the genomic sequences of vertebrates. The members of class II cytokine receptors, IFN-υR1 and IL-10R2, are identified as the receptor complex of IFN-υ, and are associated with IFN-υ stimulated gene expression and antiviral activity in zebrafish (Danio rerio) and African clawed frog (Xenopus laevis). IFN-υ and IFN-υR1 are separately located at unique and highly conserved loci, being distinct from all other three-type IFNs. IFN-υ and IFN-υR1 are phylogenetically clustered with class II cytokines and class II cytokine receptors, respectively. Therefore, the finding of this IFN ligand-receptor system may be considered as a type IV IFN, in addition to the currently recognized three types of IFNs in vertebrates.
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