Functional microRNAs (miRNAs) in exosomes have been recognised as potential stable biomarkers in cancers. The aim of this study is to identify specific miRNAs in exosome as serum biomarkers for the ...early detection of recurrence in human colorectal cancer (CRC).
Serum samples were sequentially obtained from six patients with and without recurrent CRC. The miRNAs were purified from exosomes, and miRNA microarray analysis was performed. The miRNA expression profiles and copy number aberrations were explored using microarray and array CGH analyses in 124 CRC tissues. Then, we validated exosomal miRNAs in 2 serum sample sets (90 and 209 CRC patients) by quantitative real-time RT-PCR.
Exosomal miR-17-92a cluster expression level in serum was correlated with the recurrence of CRC. Exosomal miR-19a expression levels in serum were significantly increased in patients with CRC as compared with healthy individuals with gene amplification. The CRC patients with high exosomal miR-19a expression showed poorer prognoses than the low expression group (P<0.001).
Abundant expression of exosomal miR-19a in serum was identified as a prognostic biomarker for recurrence in CRC patients.
In this paper the flow over regular arrangements of buildings with slanted roofs is numerically studied and its impact on pollutant dispersion is analyzed. By systematically varying the roof slope, ...we could identify the switching point between a one- and a two-vortex regime inside the street canyons between the buildings. In the one-vortex regime, the pollutant concentration in the street canyon is found to decrease with increasing roof slope, which is related to the rotational speed of the canyon vortex and the aerodynamic roughness felt by the fully-developed flow aloft the street canyons. In the two-vortex regime limited mixing occurs between both vortex cores, resulting in higher near-ground pollutant concentrations. Compared to the widely studied flat-roof case, slightly upward slanted roofs exhibit a lower aerodynamic roughness, yet yield similar air quality in the street canyon.
•Validated model to study flow and dispersion in building arrays with slanted roofs.•One- and two-vortex regimes are identified based on orientation and roof slope.•More dilution and reduced concentrations for steeper roofs in one-vortex regime.•Higher aerodynamic roughness but poorer air quality in two-vortex regime.•Flat roof has similar air quality but higher aerodynamic roughness than 2–4° roofs.
We previously conducted gene expression microarray analyses to identify novel indicators for colorectal cancer (CRC) metastasis and prognosis from which we identified PVT-1 as a candidate gene. ...PVT-1, which encodes a long noncoding RNA, mapped to chromosome 8q24 whose copy-number amplification is one of the most frequent events in a wide variety of malignant diseases. However, PVT-1 molecular mechanism of action remains unclear.
We conducted cell proliferation and invasion assays using colorectal cancer cell lines transfected with PVT-1siRNA or negative control siRNA. Gene expression microarray analyses on these cell lines were also carried out to investigate the molecular function of PVT-1. Further, we investigated the impact of PVT-1 expression on the prognosis of 164 colorectal cancer patients by qRT-PCR.
CRC cells transfected with PVT-1 siRNA exhibited significant loss of their proliferation and invasion capabilities. In these cells, the TGF-β signalling pathway and apoptotic signals were significantly activated. In addition, univariate and multivariate analysis revealed that PVT-1 expression level was an independent risk factor for overall survival of colorectal cancer patients.
PVT-1, which maps to 8q24, generates antiapoptotic activity in CRC, and abnormal expression of PVT-1 was a prognostic indicator for CRC patients.
This study introduces a novel diagnostic method to assess tropical atmosphere‐ocean coupling, using a two‐dimensional plane defined by the 90‐day high‐pass‐filtered sea surface temperature (SST) and ...column water vapor (CWV). The method was applied to reanalysis data and high‐resolution coupled atmosphere‐ocean simulation data. In the Indo–Pacific warm pool region, the phase relationship between SST and CWV remained consistent across both reanalysis and simulation data sets. However, differences in the temporal evolution of these variables were observed in the central Pacific region. The heat budget analysis results indicate that the differences between the two data sets in the central Pacific are related to variations in the effects of atmospheric disturbances on SST. This study demonstrates the potential of our novel diagnostic method for evaluating atmosphere–ocean coupling in climate models.
Plain Language Summary
Weather disturbances in the tropics develop from the interaction between the ocean and the atmosphere. We can use climate models to investigate the impact of this interaction, but we need other methods to evaluate the interaction itself. In this study, we develop a new way to understand how the atmosphere and the ocean interact in the tropics. We achieve this by focusing on changes over time in the sea surface temperature and the amount of water vapor in the air. We found that these changes happen at different rates in different regions of the ocean. We also found that a climate model failed to capture these changes in some regions. Our new method improves our understanding of the atmosphere and ocean interaction and teaches us how to improve climate models.
Key Points
A novel analysis method was developed to illustrate regional differences in the atmosphere‐ocean coupling across tropical oceans
The application of this diagnostic method to the reanalysis and coupled model data revealed differences in the central Pacific region
Through heat budget analysis, we proposed distinct processes by which atmospheric disturbances change the sea surface temperatures
•Tin sulfide (SnS) based heterojunction solar cells, SnS/MgSnO solar cells were fabricated.•This report is the first to describe MgSnO films employed as a buffer layer.•The structure achieved 2.1% ...efficiency with 313 mV Voc, 21 mA/cm2Jsc and 0.33 FF.
SnS films present great potential as absorber materials. MgSnO films were chosen as a buffer layer forming a heterojunction with SnS for photovoltaic applications. We investigated the effects of Mg on heterojunction solar cell performance. After amorphous MgSnO films were prepared using sol-gel method, SnS films were deposited using thermal evaporation. The SnS/MgSnO structure showed rectifying and photovoltaic characteristics, although the SnS/SnO2 structure exhibited no rectifying characteristic. The SnS/MgSnO solar cell reached conversion efficiency of 2.1%.
The neuropeptide oxytocin may be an effective therapeutic strategy for the currently untreatable social and communication deficits associated with autism. Our recent paper reported that oxytocin ...mitigated autistic behavioral deficits through the restoration of activity in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), as demonstrated with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during a socio-communication task. However, it is unknown whether oxytocin exhibited effects at the neuronal level, which was outside of the specific task examined. In the same randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, within-subject cross-over clinical trial in which a single dose of intranasal oxytocin (24 IU) was administered to 40 men with high-functioning autism spectrum disorder (UMIN000002241/000004393), we measured N-acetylaspartate (NAA) levels, a marker for neuronal energy demand, in the vmPFC using (1)H-magnetic resonance spectroscopy ((1)H-MRS). The differences in the NAA levels between the oxytocin and placebo sessions were associated with oxytocin-induced fMRI signal changes in the vmPFC. The oxytocin-induced increases in the fMRI signal could be predicted by the NAA differences between the oxytocin and placebo sessions (P=0.002), an effect that remained after controlling for variability in the time between the fMRI and (1)H-MRS scans (P=0.006) and the order of administration of oxytocin and placebo (P=0.001). Furthermore, path analysis showed that the NAA differences in the vmPFC triggered increases in the task-dependent fMRI signals in the vmPFC, which consequently led to improvements in the socio-communication difficulties associated with autism. The present study suggests that the beneficial effects of oxytocin are not limited to the autistic behavior elicited by our psychological task, but may generalize to other autistic behavioral problems associated with the vmPFC.
Microbial life inhabits deeply buried marine sediments, but the extent of this vast ecosystem remains poorly constrained. Here we provide evidence for the existence of microbial communities in ∼40° ...to 60°C sediment associated with lignite coal beds at ∼1.5 to 2.5 km below the seafloor in the Pacific Ocean off Japan. Microbial methanogenesis was indicated by the isotopic compositions of methane and carbon dioxide, biomarkers, cultivation data, and gas compositions. Concentrations of indigenous microbial cells below 1.5 km ranged from <10 to ∼104 cells cm–3. Peak concentrations occurred in lignite layers, where communities differed markedly from shallower subseafloor communities and instead resembled organotrophic communities in forest soils. This suggests that terrigenous sediments retain indigenous community members tens of millions of years after burial in the seabed.
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