Tailor-made porous nanotube arrays are of great technological interest for the development of high-performance optical and electrochemical energy storage devices. Herein, we report facile successive ...electro-deposition (ED) methods to fabricate three-dimensional (3D) hierarchical porous NiO nanotube arrays on nickel foam with the help of ZnO nanorod template. The obtained hierarchical porous NiO nanotubes have a diameter of ∼170 nm and consist of interconnected branch nanoflakes of ∼10 nm. The resulting NiO nanotube arrays are well characterized as positive electrode materials for supercapacitor application by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and galvanostatic charge/discharge measurements. Due to the unique architecture, the NiO nanotube arrays exhibit a high capacitance of 675 F g−1 at the 2 A g−1 and 569 F g−1 at 40 A g−1, respectively, as well as good cycling stability. The proposed synthesis method is expected for fabrication of other nanotube arrays for applications in solar cells, gas sensors and Li ion batteries.
Hierarchical porous NiO nanotube arrays are prepared via facile successive electro-deposition methods and show superior supercapacitor performance with high capacitance. Display omitted
•Construct a hierarchical porous NiO nanotube array.•Porous nanotube array shows high pseudo-capacitive properties.•Porous nanotube array structure is favorable for fast ion and electron transfer.
Histones and their post-translational modifications have key roles in chromatin remodeling and gene transcription. Besides intranuclear functions, histones act as damage-associated molecular pattern ...molecules when they are released into the extracellular space. Administration of exogenous histones to animals leads to systemic inflammatory and toxic responses through activating Toll-like receptors and inflammasome pathways. Anti-histone treatment (e.g., neutralizing antibodies, activated protein C, recombinant thrombomodulin, and heparin) protect mice against lethal endotoxemia, sepsis, ischemia/reperfusion injury, trauma, pancreatitis, peritonitis, stroke, coagulation, and thrombosis. In addition, elevated serum histone and nucleosome levels have been implicated in multiple pathophysiological processes and progression of diseases including autoimmune diseases, inflammatory diseases, and cancer. Therefore, extracellular histones could serve as biomarkers and novel therapeutic targets in human diseases.
STUDY QUESTION
Is preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) for translocation carriers more effective when done with a single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) array using trophectoderm (TE) biopsy and ...frozen embryo transfer (FET) compared with traditional PGD based on fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH-PGD) using blastomere biopsy and fresh embryo transfer?
SUMMARY ANSWER
The procedure using the SNP array combined with TE biopsy and FET significantly improves the clinical pregnancy rate for translocation carriers. The miscarriage rate also slightly decreases.
WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADY
FISH-PGD has been widely used in translocation carriers but the clinical outcomes have not been ideal. SNP arrays can detect both chromosome segmental imbalances and aneuploidy, and may overcome the limitations of FISH in PGD for translocation carriers.
STUDY DESIGN, SIZE AND DURATION
This was a retrospective study of 575 couples with chromosomal translocations, including 169 couples treated by SNP-PGD between October 2011 and August 2012, and 406 couples treated by FISH-PGD between January 2005 and October 2011.
PARTICIPANTS/MATERIALS, SETTING, METHODS
The study was set in an IVF center at the Reproductive and Genetic Hospital of CITIC-Xiangya, China. In total, 169 couples underwent SNP analysis, including 52 Robertsonian translocation carriers and 117 carriers of reciprocal translocations. Blastocysts (n = 773) were biopsied and FET was carried out on the balanced embryos. Four hundred and six couples underwent FISH-PGD, including 149 Robertsonian translocation carriers and 257 reciprocal translocation carriers. In total, 3968 embryos were biopsied and balanced embryos were transferred fresh. The SNP-PGD results and clinical outcomes were compared with those of FISH-PGD.
MAIN RESULTS AND THE ROLE OF CHANCE
Reliable SNP-PGD results were obtained for 717 out of 773 (92.8%) biopsied blastocysts. The proportions of normal/balanced embryos, embryos with translocation-related and translocation-unrelated abnormalities, the median number of embryos per patient, the ongoing pregnancy rate per embryo transfer and the miscarriage rate were 58, 23, 19, 2, 69 and 12%, respectively, for Robertsonian translocation carriers and 36, 52, 12, 1, 74 and 11%, respectively, in reciprocal translocation carriers. Reliable FISH-PGD results were obtained for 3452 out of 3968 (87.0%) biopsied embryos. The proportions of normal/balanced embryos, unbalanced embryos, the median number of embryos per patient, the ongoing pregnancy rate per transfer and the miscarriage were 36, 64, 3, 38 and 17%, respectively, for Robertsonian translocation carriers and 20, 80, 1, 39 and 16%, respectively, for reciprocal translocation carriers. Thus, SNP-PGD achieved a higher pregnancy rate but a lower miscarriage rate than FISH-PGD. There were no significant differences in maternal age, basal endocrine level and the average number of retrieved oocytes and good-quality D3 embryos in the SNP-PGD group compared with the FISH-PGD group.
LIMITATIONS, REASONS FOR CAUTION
This was a retrospective study with the two groups treated in different periods; therefore, there is a chance of sample bias and a possibility that the results were influenced by other factors that changed over time. Furthermore, the two treatment protocols differ in several respects and we cannot say which makes the greatest contribution to the difference in success. Complete pregnancy outcomes of SNP-PGD have not been obtained as some embryos have not been transferred yet. We cannot exclude differences between the final data and the data in the present manuscript.
WIDER IMPLICATIONS OF THE FINDINGS
The adoption of SNP-PGD combined with TE biopsy and FET may significantly improve the clinical pregnancy rate, and decrease the miscarriage rate after PGD for translocation carriers.
STUDY FUNDING/COMPETING INTEREST(S)
This work was supported by a grant from the Major State Basic Research Development Program of China (No. 2012CB944901) and National Science Foundation of China (No. 81222007). The authors have no competing interests to declare.
TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER
Not applicable.
Objectives
To determine the impact of age at diagnosis and other factors on survival in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC).
Design, Setting and Participants
A retrospective, population‐based cohort study ...of 3103 patients are selected, whose records were submitted to the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database between 2004 and 2013. We evaluated the demographic and clinical characteristics of patients who were 20 years or older with a diagnosis of primary, non‐metastatic NPC.
Main outcome measures
Overall survival (OS) and risks of OS and NPC‐specific survival.
Results
Overall survival rates at 1, 3, and 5 years were 85.8%, 71.0%, and 62.6%, respectively. Older age was a significant predictor of poor OS, as was Chinese ethnicity. We also determined that middle‐aged white patients, but not middle‐aged black or Chinese patients, were at a higher risk of death than were younger patients of the same race/ethnicity. Nodal (N) stage 0‐1 disease was a significant predictor of poor OS when comparing survival of older patients with N0‐1 vs N2‐3 stage disease. Finally, we found that married patients had a decreased risk of death when compared to those who were single.
Conclusions
The survival of older patients with NPC is inferior to that of younger patients. Race/ethnicity, marital status, and stage of disease are important modifiers of risk. Collectively, our results indicate that management of older patients requires optimisation.
We report the detailed electronic structure of WTe2 by high resolution angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy. We resolved a rather complicated Fermi surface of WTe2. Specifically, there are in ...total nine Fermi pockets, including one hole pocket at the Brillouin zone center Γ, and two hole pockets and two electron pockets on each side of Γ along the Γ-X direction. Remarkably, we have observed circular dichroism in our photoemission spectra, which suggests that the orbital angular momentum exhibits a rich texture at various sections of the Fermi surface. This is further confirmed by our density-functional-theory calculations, where the spin texture is qualitatively reproduced as the conjugate consequence of spin-orbital coupling. Since the spin texture would forbid backscatterings that are directly involved in the resistivity, our data suggest that the spin-orbit coupling and the related spin and orbital angular momentum textures may play an important role in the anomalously large magnetoresistance of WTe2. Furthermore, the large differences among spin textures calculated for magnetic fields along the in-plane and out-of-plane directions also provide a natural explanation of the large field-direction dependence on the magnetoresistance.
Perpendicular magnetic tunnel junctions in the next-generation magnetic memory using current induced magnetization switching will likely rely on a material design that can enhance the perpendicular ...magnetic anisotropy of heterojunctions containing only light elements. Using first-principles calculations, we investigated the effect of compressive and tensile strain on the perpendicular magnetic anisotropy of light element heterostructures of Co films, Co/graphene, and Co/BN. We found that the perpendicular magnetic anisotropy of Co/graphene is greatly enhanced compared to the Co films, while that of Co/BN is reduced compared to the Co films. In addition, tensile strain can further enhance perpendicular magnetic anisotropy of Co/graphene and Co/BN heterojunctions by 48.5% and 80.8%, respectively, compared to the unstrained systems. A density of state analysis, combined with layer and orbital magnetic anisotropy contributions obtained from a second-order perturbation theory of the spin-orbit coupling, reveals that the tensile strain effect arises from the increase of the hybridization between same spin dxy and dx2−y2 states of the surface Co film. Our results suggest that strain engineering is an effective approach to enhance the perpendicular magnetic anisotropy of light element heterostructures.
Porous Co(OH)2/Ni composite nanoflake array is prepared by combing hydrothermal synthesis and electrodeposition methods. The as-prepared Co(OH)2/Ni composite nanoflake array exhibits a highly porous ...array structure composed of free-standing nanoflakes with thicknesses of 35–40nm. The pseudocapacitive behavior of the Co(OH)2/Ni composite nanoflake array is investigated by cyclic voltammograms (CV) and galvanostatic charge–discharge tests in 2M KOH. As cathode material for supercapacitor, the porous Co(OH)2/Ni composite nanoflake array exhibits weaker polarization, higher electrochemical activity and better cycling performance as compared to the unmodified Co(OH)2 nanoflake array. The Co(OH)2/Ni composite nanoflake array shows specific capacitances of 1310Fg−1 at 1Ag−1 and 1148Fg−1 at 40Ag−1, much higher than those of the unmodified Co(OH)2 nanoflake array (1017Fg−1 at 1Ag−1 and 775Fg−1 at 40Ag−1). The enhancement of supercapacitor properties is due to the introduction Ni in the composite array, which improves the electric conductivity of the film electrode with fast reaction kinetics.
Co(OH)2 nanocone arrays are prepared by a facile hydrothermal synthesis method. The Co(OH)2 nanocones are single crystalline in nature and have an average diameter of about 200 nm. The ...pseudocapacitive behavior of the Co(OH)2 nanocone arrays is investigated by cyclic voltammograms (CV) and galvanostatic charge–discharge tests in 2 M KOH. As cathode for supercapacitor, the Co(OH)2 nanocone arrays exhibit a capacitance of 562 F g−1 at 2 A g−1 as well as rather good cycling stability. The enhanced supercapacitor performances are due to the porous array architecture providing fast ion and electron transfer, large reaction surface area and good strain accommodation.
► β-Co(OH)2 nanocone arrays are prepared by a hydrothermal synthesis method. ► β-Co(OH)2 nanocone arrays with high capacitance for supercapacitors application. ► 1D nanocone arrays structure keeps structure stable with good strain accommodation.
MiR-646 has been reported to be aberrantly expressed in human cancers. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms of action of miR-646 in gastric cancer (GC) have not yet been investigated.
In ...vitro function of miR-646 in GC was evaluated using EdU assay, plate colony formation assay, and matrigel invasion assay. Real-time PCR or western blotting was performed to detect miR-646 and FOXK1 expressions. In vivo tumour growth and metastasis were conducted in nude mice.
MiR-646 expression was downregulated in GC tissues compared with adjacent normal tissues. Low miR-646 expression is associated with malignant progression. Transient transfection of GC cells with miR-646 inhibited their growth and migration. Moreover, miR-646 influenced the expression of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT)-associated proteins. TGF-β1 treatment significantly suppressed the expression of miR-646 and overexpression of this microRNA counteracted the influence of the TGF-β1-induced EMT phenotype. In terms of the underlying mechanism, miR-646 directly targeted FOXK1. In vivo, it inhibited the FOXK1-mediated proliferation and EMT-induced metastasis. Consistently, inverse correlations were also observed between the expression of miR-646 and FOXK1 in human GC tissue samples. Furthermore, miR-646 regulated Akt/mTOR signalling after FOXK1.
miR-646 inhibited GC cell proliferation and the EMT progression in GC cells by targeting FOXK1.
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