Immune infiltration of tumors is closely associated with clinical outcome in renal cell carcinoma (RCC). Tumor‐infiltrating immune cells (TIICs) regulate cancer progression and are appealing ...therapeutic targets. The purpose of this study was to determine the composition of TIICs in RCC and further reveal the independent prognostic values of TIICs. CIBERSORT, an established algorithm, was applied to estimate the proportions of 22 immune cell types based on gene expression profiles of 891 tumors. Cox regression was used to evaluate the association of TIICs and immune checkpoint modulators with overall survival (OS). We found that CD8+ T cells were associated with prolonged OS (hazard ratio HR = 0.09, 95% confidence interval CI.01‐.53; P = 0.03) in chromophobe carcinoma (KICH). A higher proportion of regulatory T cells was associated with a worse outcome (HR = 1.59, 95% CI 1.23‐.06; P < 0.01) in renal clear cell carcinoma (KIRC). In renal papillary cell carcinoma (KIRP), M1 macrophages were associated with a favorable outcome (HR = .43, 95% CI .25‐.72; P < 0.01), while M2 macrophages indicated a worse outcome (HR = 2.55, 95% CI 1.45‐4.47; P < 0.01). Moreover, the immunomodulator molecules CTLA4 and LAG3 were associated with a poor prognosis in KIRC, and IDO1 and PD‐L2 were associated with a poor prognosis in KIRP. This study indicates TIICs are important determinants of prognosis in RCC meanwhile reveals potential targets and biomarkers for immunotherapy development.
We described the immune landscape in detail, revealing the distinct immune infiltration patterns of different subtypes and stages of RCC. We further revealed relationships between TIIC and molecular subtypes, tumor stages, recurrent genomic alterations and survival in RCC. Our work advances the understanding of immune response meanwhile reveals potential targets and biomarkers for immunotherapy development.
Industries are the paramount driving force for the economic and technological development of society. However, the flourishing industrialization and unimpeded growth of current production unit's ...result in widespread environmental pollution due to increased discharge of wastes loaded with baleful, hazardous, and carcinogenic contaminants. Physicochemical-based remediation means are costly, create a secondary disposal problem and remain inadequate for pollution mitigating because of the continuous emergence of new recalcitrant pollutants. Due to eco-friendly, social acceptance, and lesser health hazards, microbial bioremediation has received considerable global attention for pollution abatement. Moreover, with the recent advancement in biotechnology and microbiology, genetically engineered bacteria with high ability to remove environmental pollutants are widely used in the fields of environmental restoration, resulting in the bioremediation in a more viable and eco-friendly way. This review summarized the advantages of genetically engineered bacteria and their application in the treatment of a wide variety of environmental contaminants such as synthetic dyestuff, heavy metal, petroleum hydrocarbons, polychlorinated biphenyls, phenazines and agricultural chemicals which will include herbicides, pesticides, and fertilizers. Considering the risk of genetic material exchange by using genetically engineered bacteria, the challenges and limitations associated with the application of recombinant bacteria on contaminated sites are also discussed. An integrated microbiological, biological and ecological acquaintance accompanied by field engineering designs are the desired features for effective in situ bioremediation of hazardous waste polluted sites by recombinant bacteria.
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•This review highlights the mitigation of pollutants by genetically engineered bacteria.•Advantages of engineered bacteria and their applications are discussed.•The challenges and limitations associated with the recombinant bacteria are also discussed.
Mobile colistin resistance (mcr) genes represent an emerging challenge. Here we describe a novel mcr gene, mcr-10, on an IncFIA plasmid of an Enterobacter roggenkampii clinical strain. mcr-10 has the ...highest nucleotide identity (79.69%) with mcr-9 and encodes MCR-10 with 82.93% amino acids identical to MCR-9. mcr-10 confers 4-fold increase in colistin MIC (from 1 to 4 mg/L) when cloned into a colistin-susceptible E. roggenkampii strain. By screening GenBank, mcr-10 was found in various Enterobacteriaceae species of countries in four continents, suggesting that this gene has widely spread. MCR-10 shows 79.04% to 83.67% amino acid identity and highly conserved predicted protein structures with chromosomally encoded MCR-like phosphoethanolamine transferases (designated MCR-B here) of various Buttiauxella species. MCR-10, MCR-9 and MCR-B proteins may, therefore, originate from a common ancestor. mcr-10 was adjacent to a site-specific recombinase-encoding gene and was bracketed by IS903 and may be mobilized by site-specific recombination or composite transposon. Our results indicate that mcr-10 is a novel plasmid-borne colistin resistance gene and warrants immediate monitoring and further studies.
High‐performance catalysts are required in various energy storage and conversion systems. In this work, hierarchical Ni‐Fe‐Mo trimetal nitride nanotubes (NTs) as highly efficient, low‐cost, robustly ...stable, multifunctional catalysts through room‐temperature Fe incorporation and subsequent thermal treatment for full water splitting and Zn‐air batteries are fabricated. The two‐electrode electrolyzer assembled from the NTs delivers a current density of 10 mA cm−2 at 1.513 V, outperforming the precious metal IrO2|Pt couple and state‐of‐the‐art bifunctional catalysts. Furthermore, two all‐solid‐state Zn‐air batteries with the hierarchical NT air cathode in series can power 55 red light‐emitting diodes with excellent operation stability, at the same time as the electrolyzer based on the hierarchical NTs.
An alkaline electrolyzer and zinc‐air battery assembled with trifunctional Ni‐Fe‐Mo nitride nanotubes exhibits excellent electrochemical properties. The electrolyzer shows remarkable activity with a current density of 10 mA cm−2 at a voltage of 1.513 V, superior to the Pt and IrO2 couple, and can be self‐powered by the Zn‐air battery with the nanotubes as air‐cathode.
Emerging evidences have suggested the vital roles of circular RNA (circRNA) in the human cancers. However, the underlying biological functions and biogenesis of circRNA in the oral squamous cell ...carcinoma (OSCC) is still ambiguous. Here, we investigate the oncogenic roles and biogenesis of the novel identified circRNA, circUHRF1 (hsa_circ_0002185), in the OSCC tumorigenesis. Results showed that circUHRF1 was markedly upregulated in the OSCC cells and tissue, besides, the overexpression was closely correlated with the poor prognosis of OSCC patients. Functionally, circUHRF1 promoted the proliferation, migration, invasion, and epithelial mesenchymal transformation (EMT) in vitro and the tumor growth in vivo. Mechanically, circUHRF1 acted as the sponge of miR-526b-5p, thereby positively regulating c-Myc. Transcription factor c-Myc could accelerate the transcription of TGF-β1 and ESRP1. Moreover, splicing factor ESRP1 promoted the circularization and biogenesis of circUHRF1 by targeting the flanking introns, forming the circUHRF1/miR-526b-5p/c-Myc/TGF-β1/ESRP1 feedback loop. In conclusion, our research identified the oncogenic roles of circUHRF1 in the OSCC tumorigenesis and EMT via circUHRF1/miR-526b-5p/c-Myc/TGF-β1/ESRP1 feedback loop, shedding light on the pathogenic mechanism of circUHRF1 for OSCC and providing the potential therapeutic target.
Summary
The rice root system is important for growth. The crosstalk between auxin and cytokinin mediates root initiation and elongation. However, it remains unclear how the transcriptional network ...upstream of the auxin and cytokinin signalling pathways determines root development. Here, we observed that the knockdown of OsNAC2, which encodes a NAC transcription factor, increased the primary root length and the number of crown roots. OsNAC2 predominantly expressed in primary root tips, crown roots and lateral root primordia, implying it influences root development. Molecular analyses revealed that the expressions of auxin‐ and cytokinin‐responsive genes were affected in OsNAC2‐overexpressing (OsNAC2‐OX; ON7 and ON11), RNA interference (OsNAC2‐RNAi; RNAi25 and RNAi31) and CRISPR/Cas9 plants. Additionally, OsNAC2 can directly bind to the promoters of IAA inactivation‐related genes (GH3.6 and GH3.8), an IAA signalling‐related gene (OsARF25), and a cytokinin oxidase gene (OsCKX4). Furthermore, genetic analysis of ON11/osgh3.6 and RNAi31/osckx4 homozygote confirmed that OsCKX4 and OsGH3.6 functioned downstream of OsNAC2. The mRNA levels of CROWN ROOTLESS (CRL) genes and cyclin‐dependent protein kinase (CDK) genes increased in OsNAC2‐RNAi and OsNAC2‐cas9 lines while reduced in OsNAC2‐OX lines. Thus, we describe that OsNAC2 functions as an upstream integrator of auxin and cytokinin signals that affect CRL and CDK production to regulate cell division during root development. This novel auxin‐OsNAC2‐cytokinin model should provide a new insight into the understanding of NAC TFs and crosstalk of auxin and cytokinin pathway, and can be potentially applied in agriculture to enhance rice yields by genetic approaches.
•Low cost additive-free glass-ceramics is produced from BA and CFA.•Basicity rather than sintering temperature affect the crystal species of products.•The increase of sintering temperature is ...beneficial for the compressive strength.•Heavy metals were well immobilized into the amorphous and crystalline phase.•The product shows an extreme low ecological risk and is an eco-friendly material.
An additive-free glass-ceramics was prepared entirely from municipal solid waste incineration bottom ash (BA) and coal fly ash (CFA), which provided new sight for the synthesis of waste-derived glass-ceramics and reduced its production cost. By varying temperature and proportion of BA and CFA, the thermal behaviour, crystalline species, microstructure, physical-mechanical-chemical properties, and metals leaching of glass-ceramics were studied. The results showed that the variation of temperatures did not change the crystal types of glass-ceramics, but affect the crystal volume and morphology. With the basicity increasing from 0.15 (G1, BA/CFA = 30/70) to 0.41 (G5, BA/CFA = 70/30) at 950 °C, the main crystalline phases evolved from single anorthite to coexisting anorthite and diopside, and the compressive strength showed a volcano trend. Among different glass-ceramics, G3 with 50% BA and 50% CFA sintered at 1000 °C demonstrated the most promising properties with density of 2.55 ± 0.02 g/cm3, water absorption of 0.1 ± 0.01%, and compressive strength of 299.09 ± 21.19 MPa, as well as good corrosion resistance to strong acid/alkali solutions. Besides, the metals leaching and ecological risk assessment results of the additive-free glass-ceramics demonstrated a low risk for the metal contamination in the final products and heavy metals were well fixed into the coexistence system of amorphous and crystalline phases. The achieved additive-free glass-ceramics showed competitive properties and environmentally friendly features. Therefore, the preparation of additive-free glass-ceramics from BA and CFA can be considered as a feasible and promising method to realize their efficient utilization and simultaneously reduce the cost of waste-derived glass-ceramics.
Few studies have been conducted on whether the coexistence of green innovation and corporate social responsibility (CSR) has a favorable interaction effect on firm value. This interaction effect is ...of great significance for enterprises balancing resource allocation between two factors in the future. Meanwhile, information disclosure can reflect the efforts of enterprises in taking on CSR. Therefore, taking China’s listed companies as an example, this paper studies the interaction effect of CSR after being divided into the three different dimensions of environment, society, and governance (ESG) and green innovation on firm value. The quantile regression method can reflect the impact of CSR and green innovation on the firm value of different levels. The study finds that: (1) green innovation can promote the improvement of medium- and high-level firm value; (2) only the disclosure of environmental and social information can have a positive impact on firm value; (3) the interaction effect between green innovation and social disclosure on firm value is a substitution effect, which will gradually weaken with the increase of firm value. This paper proposes that relevant departments should guide green funds into enterprises with capital constraints to alleviate the issue of fund crowding into CSR and green innovation.
An Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) system used in the Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) exhaust heat recovery was proposed and techno-economically analyzed based on various working fluids. It is ...significant to recover ICE exhaust heat (about one third of energy generated from the fuel) by ORC system. In this paper, the suitable working fluids have been screened and recommended for the ORC system, among 20 fluids (boiling point temperature range from −51.60 to 32.05 °C) analyzed on the rated condition of one popular commercial diesel generator set. The cycle parameters, including the thermal efficiency (ηth), the expansion ratio (v2/v1), the net power output per unit mass flow rate of hot exhaust (Pnet), the ratio of total heat transfer area to net power output (A/Wnet), and electricity production cost (Epc), have also been analyzed and optimized. Results show that R141b, R123 and R245fa present the highest ηth and Pnet values ranging from 16.60% to 13.30% (ηth value), and from 60 to 49 kJ/kg (Pnet value). Meanwhile, the three fluids also express the lowest Epc values ranging from 0.30 to 0.35$/kWh, and lowest A/Wnet values ranging from 0.436 to 0.516 m2/kW. The optimum evaporating pressures for R141b, R123, R245fa are ranging from 2.8 MPa to 3.6 MPa.
Research Subject: Waste heat recovery technology in internal combustion engine; The key technology on the improvement of ICE efficiency.
▸ We proposed an organic Rankine cycle recovering Internal Combustion Engine exhaust heat. ▸ We established techno-economically model and did analysis based on 20 working fluids. ▸ System performance express better at high evaporating pressure. ▸ R141b, R123 and R245fa present the highest thermal efficiency ηth and Pnet values. ▸ R141b, R123 and R245fa express the lowest electricity production cost Epc and A/Wnet values.