The epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is crucial to cancer progression and metastasis. Although multiple cellular miRNAs have been identified to regulate the EMT and metastasis in cancers, the ...role of viral miRNAs in cancer progression remains largely unknown. Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is an Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-associated malignancy typically characterized by its early metastasis. In the present study, we have discovered the involvement of a viral miRNA, EBV-miR-BART7-3p, in the EMT and metastasis of NPC cells. Initially, we observed that EBV-miR-BART7-3p was highly expressed in NPC and positively correlated with lymph node metastasis and clinical stage of NPC. Subsequently, we demonstrated that EBV-miR-BART7-3p enhanced cell migration/invasion in vitro, cancer metastasis in vivo, and particularly the EMT characterized by loss of epithelial markers and gain of mesenchymal features in NPC cells. Furthermore, mechanistic studies disclosed that EBV-miR-BART7-3p targeted a major human tumor suppressor PTEN, modulating PI3K/Akt/GSK-3β signaling and eventually leading to the high expression and nuclear accumulation of Snail and β-catenin, which favor EMT. Knockdown of PTEN could phenocopy the effect of EBV-miR-BART7-3p, whereas re-expression of PTEN resulted in a phenotypic reversion. Moreover, these findings were supported by an observation of an EBV-positive cell model in which silencing of endogenous EBV-miR-BART7-3p partially attenuated cell migration/invasion and altered EMT protein expression pattern via reverting PI3K/Akt, Snail and β-catenin expression. Thus, this study suggests a novel mechanism by which EBV-miR-BART7-3p modulates the EMT and metastasis of NPC cells, and a clinical implication of EBV-miR-BART7-3p as a potential biomarker or therapeutic target.
Mergers of neutron stars are known to be associated with short γ-ray bursts
. If the neutron-star equation of state is sufficiently stiff (that is, the pressure increases sharply as the density ...increases), at least some such mergers will leave behind a supramassive or even a stable neutron star that spins rapidly with a strong magnetic field
(that is, a magnetar). Such a magnetar signature may have been observed in the form of the X-ray plateau that follows up to half of observed short γ-ray bursts
. However, it has been expected that some X-ray transients powered by binary neutron-star mergers may not be associated with a short γ-ray burst
. A fast X-ray transient (CDF-S XT1) was recently found to be associated with a faint host galaxy, the redshift of which is unknown
. Its X-ray and host-galaxy properties allow several possible explanations including a short γ-ray burst seen off-axis, a low-luminosity γ-ray burst at high redshift, or a tidal disruption event involving an intermediate-mass black hole and a white dwarf
. Here we report a second X-ray transient, CDF-S XT2, that is associated with a galaxy at redshift z = 0.738 (ref.
). The measured light curve is fully consistent with the X-ray transient being powered by a millisecond magnetar. More intriguingly, CDF-S XT2 lies in the outskirts of its star-forming host galaxy with a moderate offset from the galaxy centre, as short γ-ray bursts often do
. The estimated event-rate density of similar X-ray transients, when corrected to the local value, is consistent with the event-rate density of binary neutron-star mergers that is robustly inferred from the detection of the gravitational-wave event GW170817.
We report a study of the processes of e^{+}e^{-}→K^{+}D_{s}^{-}D^{*0} and K^{+}D_{s}^{*-}D^{0} based on e^{+}e^{-} annihilation samples collected with the BESIII detector operating at BEPCII at five ...center-of-mass energies ranging from 4.628 to 4.698 GeV with a total integrated luminosity of 3.7 fb^{-1}. An excess of events over the known contributions of the conventional charmed mesons is observed near the D_{s}^{-}D^{*0} and D_{s}^{*-}D^{0} mass thresholds in the K^{+} recoil-mass spectrum for events collected at sqrts=4.681 GeV. The structure matches a mass-dependent-width Breit-Wigner line shape, whose pole mass and width are determined as (3982.5_{-2.6}^{+1.8}±2.1) MeV/c^{2} and (12.8_{-4.4}^{+5.3}±3.0) MeV, respectively. The first uncertainties are statistical and the second are systematic. The significance of the resonance hypothesis is estimated to be 5.3 σ over the contributions only from the conventional charmed mesons. This is the first candidate for a charged hidden-charm tetraquark with strangeness, decaying into D_{s}^{-}D^{*0} and D_{s}^{*-}D^{0}. However, the properties of the excess need further exploration with more statistics.
Iron selenide superconductors exhibit a number of unique characteristics that are helpful for understanding the mechanism of superconductivity in high-Tc iron-based superconductors more generally. ...However, in the case of AxFe2Se2 (A = K, Rb, Cs), the presence of an intergrown antiferromagnetic insulating phase makes the study of the underlying physics problematic. Moreover, FeSe-based systems intercalated with alkali metal ions, NH3 molecules or organic molecules are extremely sensitive to air, which prevents the further investigation of their physical properties. It is therefore desirable to find a stable and easily accessible FeSe-based superconductor to study its physical properties in detail. Here, we report the synthesis of an air-stable material, (Li0.8Fe0.2)OHFeSe, which remains superconducting at temperatures up to ~40 K, by means of a novel hydrothermal method. The crystal structure is unambiguously determined by a combination of X-ray and neutron powder diffraction and nuclear magnetic resonance. Moreover, antiferromagnetic order is shown to coexist with superconductivity. This synthetic route opens a path for exploring superconductivity in other related systems, and confirms the appeal of iron selenides as a platform for understanding superconductivity in iron pnictides more broadly.
Hybridizing nanocarbons, such as carbon nanotubes (CNT) or graphene, with magnetic metals is a powerful strategy towards designing high-performance microwave absorber due to the resulting synergetic ...loss mechanisms and tunable electromagnetic properties. Herein, CNT and reduced graphene oxide (rGO) have been respectively coupled with amorphous wire through electrodeposition in a complementary fashion. The absorption performance of the hybrid fibers proves to be tunable via controlling the thickness and morphology of the CNT or by regulating the number of oxygen-functional groups of rGO through thermal annealing. The CNT/wire hybrid structure effectively strengthens both the interfacial polarization of CNT through the support of circular-shaped conductive substrate, and the ferromagnetic resonance of wire through the coupling with magnetic impurities in CNT. As for the rGO/wire fiber, dual-band absorption occurs in the sample annealed at 900 °C with an optimal absorption loss of −35 dB at 11.3 GHz, derived from dielectric loss mechanisms such as removal of functional groups and induced defective structure in combination with enhanced magnetic losses in the hybrid structure. Such complementary design opens up new horizons to scale up the excellent assets of nano-carbons into the macroscale and develop functional adaptive materials for high-frequency applications.
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The cross section for the process e^{+}e^{-}→π^{+}π^{-}J/ψ is measured precisely at center-of-mass energies from 3.77 to 4.60 GeV using 9 fb^{-1} of data collected with the BESIII detector operating ...at the BEPCII storage ring. Two resonant structures are observed in a fit to the cross section. The first resonance has a mass of (4222.0±3.1±1.4) MeV/c^{2} and a width of (44.1±4.3±2.0) MeV, while the second one has a mass of (4320.0±10.4±7.0) MeV/c^{2} and a width of (101.4_{-19.7}^{+25.3}±10.2) MeV, where the first errors are statistical and second ones are systematic. The first resonance agrees with the Y(4260) resonance reported by previous experiments. The precision of its resonant parameters is improved significantly. The second resonance is observed in e^{+}e^{-}→π^{+}π^{-}J/ψ for the first time. The statistical significance of this resonance is estimated to be larger than 7.6σ. The mass and width of the second resonance agree with the Y(4360) resonance reported by the BABAR and Belle experiments within errors. Finally, the Y(4008) resonance previously observed by the Belle experiment is not confirmed in the description of the BESIII data.
The processes X(3872) ... , and γD+D− are searched for in a 9.0 fb−1 data sample collected at center-of-mass energies between 4.178 and 4.278 GeV with the BESIII detector. We observe X(3872) ... . ...and find evidence for X (3872)→γJ/ψ with statistical significances of 7.4 σ and 3.5σ, respectively. No evident signals for X(3872)→γψ(2S) and γD+D− are found, and the upper limit on the relative branching ratio Rγψ ≡ {BX(3872)→γψ(2S)}/{BX(3872)→γJ/ψ} <0.59 is set at 90% confidence level. Measurements of branching ratios relative to decay X(3872)→π+π−J/ψ are also reported for decays ... .,γψ(2S), γJ/ψ, and γD+D−, as well as the non-... three-body decays ... .(ProQuest: ... denotes formulae omitted.)
The exclusive process e+e−→ΛΛ¯, with Λ→pπ− and Λ¯→p¯π+, has been studied at s=2.396 GeV for measurement of the timelike Λ electric and magnetic form factors, GE and GM. A data sample, corresponding ...to an integrated luminosity of 66.9 pb−1, was collected with the BESIII detector for this purpose. A multidimensional analysis with a complete decomposition of the spin structure of the reaction enables a determination of the modulus of the ratio R=|GE/GM| and, for the first time for any baryon, the relative phase ΔΦ=ΦE−ΦM. The resulting values are R=0.96±0.14(stat)±0.02(syst) and ΔΦ=37°±12°(stat)±6°(syst), respectively. These are obtained using the recently established and most precise value of the asymmetry parameter αΛ=0.750±0.010 measured by BESIII. In addition, the cross section is measured with unprecedented precision to be σ=118.7±5.3(stat)±5.1(syst) pb, which corresponds to an effective form factor of |G|=0.123±0.003(stat)±0.003(syst). The contribution from two-photon exchange is found to be negligible. Our result enables the first complete determination of baryon timelike electromagnetic form factors.
Bread wheat (Triticum aestivum) is a globally important crop, accounting for 20 per cent of the calories consumed by humans. Major efforts are underway worldwide to increase wheat production by ...extending genetic diversity and analysing key traits, and genomic resources can accelerate progress. But so far the very large size and polyploid complexity of the bread wheat genome have been substantial barriers to genome analysis. Here we report the sequencing of its large, 17-gigabase-pair, hexaploid genome using 454 pyrosequencing, and comparison of this with the sequences of diploid ancestral and progenitor genomes. We identified between 94,000 and 96,000 genes, and assigned two-thirds to the three component genomes (A, B and D) of hexaploid wheat. High-resolution synteny maps identified many small disruptions to conserved gene order. We show that the hexaploid genome is highly dynamic, with significant loss of gene family members on polyploidization and domestication, and an abundance of gene fragments. Several classes of genes involved in energy harvesting, metabolism and growth are among expanded gene families that could be associated with crop productivity. Our analyses, coupled with the identification of extensive genetic variation, provide a resource for accelerating gene discovery and improving this major crop.
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