MicroRNAs (miRs) function as either oncogenes or tumor suppressors in the progression of various human cancers, including cervical cancer. This study aimed to explore the role of miR-212 in cervical ...cancer and the mechanisms underlying this role.
Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and Western blot assays were used to determine the expression levels of miR-212 and TCF7L2 in the cervical cancer cells. Cell proliferation invasion was examined using BrdU assays and transwell, respectively. A bioinformatics analysis was used to predict targets, and a dual-luciferase reporter system was applied for validation.
In our study, we demonstrated that miR-212 expression was significantly downregulated in cervical cancer tissues and cell lines. Moreover, the increased expression of miR-212 suppressed cell proliferation and invasion of cervical cancer cell lines in vitro. On the contrary, the decreased expression of miR-212 promoted cell proliferation and invasion of cervical cancer cell lines. Finally, the results of Western blot showed that overexpression of miR-212 dramatically suppressed the protein expression of TCF7L2. The knockdown of miR-212 showed the contrary effect. Luciferase reporter assay identified TCF7L2 as a novel direct target of miR-212.
Our results revealed that miR-212 inhibited cervical cancer metastasis and progression by targeting TCF7L2 expression.
To study the effects of the miR-324-5p on the glioma cells proliferation via the targeted regulation of the glioma-associated oncogene 1.
The luciferase reporter gene was used to test whether the ...glioma-associated oncogene 1 was the target of the miR-324-5p microRNA. The glioma-associated oncogene 1 expression was detected by Western blot. The proliferation and cell cycle were evaluated by MTT assay and flow cytometry.
The glioma-associated oncogene 1 is a target of the miR-324-5p. An over-expressed miR-324-5p could reduce the cell survival rate and increase the G1/G0 phase rate in the glioma cell lines.
The miR-324-5p can inhibit proliferation of the glioma cells via the targeted regulation of the glioma-associated oncogene 1.
Purpose
Soil is composed of particles of different sizes. A fraction of soil particles with different sizes has many vital effects on soil properties such as soil texture, soil porosity, and soil ...nutrient content. We intended to explore what change took place in soil particle distribution along the chronosequence of restoration and to address what implication this change has for ecosystem restoration.
Materials and methods
Six restoration ecosystem sites were selected to form a chronosequence in a sandy desertified region, northern China. We examined the relative content of soil particles with different sizes and established an index of enrichment ratio to reflect the change trend of soil particle size fraction.
Results and discussion
It was showed that soil substrate in this region is mainly composed of coarse sand (>0.25 mm) and fine sand (0.25–0.10 mm), the fraction of which are averagely 23.62 and 57.07 %, respectively. These characteristics make soil coarse, loose and erodible, and to be one of the reasons why sandy desertification was quickly developed in this region. In sandy desertification process, the grades of soil particles were air-classified. Fine sand was strongly enriched 1.36 times than average level, while very fine sand (0.10–0.05 mm) and silt and clay (<0.05 mm) were strongly diluted 0.14 and 0.22 times than average level, respectively. Along with the chronosequence of restoration, very fine sand and silt and clay were deposited and markedly enriched. This change in soil particle size fraction along the chronosequence has many fundamental roles for the subsequent restoration succession of sandy land ecosystem, such as promoting plant growth, strengthening soil anti-erodibility, leading to species replacement and community succession.
Conclusions
From this research, it could be concluded that the response of soil particle size fraction to ecological restoration in sandy desertified lands is ecologically valuable, demonstrating that a positive cycle between plant and soil was formed to strengthen the stability of soil-plant system, and the ecosystem has the ability of self-recovering or self-organizing.
Studies have shown that edaravone may prevent liver injury. This study aimed to investigate the effects of edaravone on the liver injury induced by D-galactosamine (GalN) and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) ...in female BALB/c mice. Edaravone was injected into mice 30 min before and 4 h after GalN/LPS injection. The survival rate was determined within the first 24 h. Animals were killed 8 h after GalN/LPS injection, and liver injury was biochemically and histologically assessed. Hepatocyte apoptosis was measured by TUNEL staining; proinflammatory cytokines tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) in the liver were assayed by ELISA; expression of caspase-8 and caspase-3 proteins was detected by Western blot assay; and caspase-3 activity was also determined. Results showed that GalN/LPS induced marked elevations in serum aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT). Edaravone significantly inhibited elevation of serum AST and ALT, accompanied by an improvement in histological findings. Edaravone lowered the levels of TNF-α and IL-6 and reduced the number of TUNEL-positive cells. In addition, 24 h after edaravone treatment, caspase-3 activity and mortality were reduced. Edaravone may effectively ameliorate GalN/LPS-induced liver injury in mice by reducing proinflammatory cytokines and inhibiting apoptosis.
There is a worldwide interest in studying SLC26A4 mutations that are responsible for enlarged vestibular aqueduct (EVA) in different ethnic background and populations. The spectrum of SLC26A4 ...mutations in Chinese population is yet to be fully characterized. In this study, all the 21 exons of SLC26A4 were screened in 107 Chinese patients with hearing loss associated with EVA or both EVA and Mondini dysplasia (MD), taken from six multiplex and 95 simplex families. The two types of control populations consisted of 84 normal‐hearing subjects and 46 sensorineural hearing loss subjects without inner ear malformations. Biallelic mutations were found in 12 patients from multiplex families and 84 patients (88.4%) from the simplex families. In addition, monoallelic variant was detected in nine patients in the remaining 11 simplex families. Overall, up to 97.9% patients were found having at least one possible pathogenic variant in SLC26A4, with most having biallelic variants consistent with recessive inheritance of this disorder. A total of 40 mutations including 25 novel mutations were identified in the Chinese patients but were not detected in all the controls except for one normal subject. For the Chinese mutation spectrum of SLC26A4 gene, IVS7‐2A>G mutation was the most common form accounting for 57.63% (102/177) of all the mutant alleles.
Various mechanistic theories of community assembly have been proposed ranging from niche-based theory to neutral theory. Analyses of beta diversity in a phylogenetic context could provide an ...excellent opportunity for testing many of these hypotheses. We analyzed the patterns of phylogenetic beta diversity in tropical tree communities in Panama to test several community assembly hypotheses. In particular, the degree to which the phylogenetic dissimilarity between communities can be explained by geographical or environmental distance can yield support for stochastic or deterministic assembly processes, respectively. Therefore, we examined： （i） the existence of distance decay of phylogenetic similarity among communities and its degree of departure from that expected under a null model; and （ii） the relative importance of geographical versus environmental distance in predicting the phylogenetic dissimilarity of communities. We found evidence that the similarity in the phylogenetic composition of communities decayed with geographical distance and environmental gradients. Null model evidence showed that beta diversity in the study system was phylogenetically non-random. Our results highlighted not only the role of local ecological mechanisms, including environmental filtering and competitive exclusion, but also biogeographical processes such as speciation, dispersal limitation, and niche evolution in structuring phylogenetic turnover. These results also highlight the importance of niche conservatism in structuring species diversity patterns.
Wear behaviors of Ag/Cu multilayers were evaluated and compared using nanoscratch techniques under a ramping load. Scratch grooves were examined using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and in situ ...cross-section scan. It was found that the friction coefficients for all samples have significant difference and the wear resistance is not linearly proportional to the hardness. These discrepancies were suggested to be a result of the transition of the wear mechanism from micro-cutting to micro-ploughing with decreasing periodicity. Multilayer with periodicity
Λ
=
100
nm has the highest friction coefficient and wear resistance due to formation of built-up edge. The elastic recovery increases consistently with increasing
H/
E.
Cu–W alloy films were prepared by magnetron sputtering. Their microstructure, hardness, elastic modulus and plastic deformation were investigated by various technologies. The results show that Cu–W ...amorphous alloy films are formed in the composition range from Cu
36W
64 to Cu
75W
25, and out of this range solid solutions are formed. Both the hardness and elastic modulus of Cu–W amorphous alloy films are lower than their rule-of-mixture values. The load–displacement curves of Cu–W amorphous alloys with lower Cu content exhibit obvious serrated flow at lower strain rate. Serrations are suppressed at higher strain rate and higher Cu content. For all Cu–W amorphous alloy films, shear bands are observed and their number and density increase with increasing Cu content, indicating that the details of the plastic deformation of Cu–W amorphous alloys are material-related.
Gastric cancer is the fourth most common cancer worldwide and the leading cause of tumor-related death in China. Gastric cancer is a heterogeneous disease and therefore requires different treatments ...based on the subtype. We describe a patient who had gastric cancer with liver metastases. Biopsy and tumor analysis using the HercepTest revealed a human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-positive adenocarcinoma as confirmed by fluorescence in situ hybridization. The patient was treated with a regimen of trastuzumab, oxaliplatin, and S-1 (six cycles). When positron emission tomography findings suggested that the metastases had resolved, the patient underwent surgery. Histopathologically, no cancer cells were observed in the resected hepatic tissue. The patient underwent tumor resection surgery, during which the tumor and gastric lymph nodes with lesions were removed. The patient has remained disease-free for 3 months. Therefore, trastuzumab may be an effective agent in the chemotherapeutic treatment of liver metastases in patients with HER2-positive gastric adenocarcinoma.
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