Circular RNAs (circRNAs), a novel class of noncoding RNAs, have recently drawn lots of attention in the pathogenesis of human cancers. However, the role of circRNAs in cancer cells ...epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) remains unclear. In this study, we aimed to identify novel circRNAs that regulate urothelial carcinoma of the bladder (UCB) cells' EMT and explored their regulatory mechanisms and clinical significance in UCBs.
We first screened circRNA expression profiles using a circRNA microarray in paired UCB and normal tissues, and then studied the clinical significance of an upregulated circRNA, circPRMT5, in a large cohort of patients with UCB. We further investigated the functions and underlying mechanisms of circPRMT5 in UCB cells' EMT. Moreover, we evaluated the regulation effect of circPRMT5 on miR-30c, and its target genes,
and
, in two independent cohorts from our institute and The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA).
We demonstrated that upregulated expression of circPRMT5 was positively associated with advanced clinical stage and worse survival in patients with UCB. We further revealed that circPRMT5 promoted UCB cell's EMT via sponging miR-30c. Clinical analysis from two independent UCB cohorts showed that the circPRMT5/miR-30c/SNAIL1/E-cadherin pathway was essential in supporting UCB progression. Importantly, we identified that circPRMT5 was upregulated in serum and urine exosomes from patients with UCB, and significantly correlated with tumor metastasis.
CircPRMT5 exerts critical roles in promoting UCB cells' EMT and/or aggressiveness and is a prognostic biomarker of the disease, suggesting that circPRMT5 may serve as an exploitable therapeutic target for patients with UCB.
The paper is concerned with the problem of the observer-based robust control for a class of fractional-order nonlinear systems. First, by introducing a continuous frequency distributed equivalent ...model and using indirect Lyapunov approach, the sufficient condition for robust asymptotic stability of the closed-loop system via state observer-based control is presented, which is less conservative than some existing ones in recent literature. Next, using matrix’s singular value decomposition (SVD) and linear matrix inequality (LMI) techniques, the existence condition and method of designing a robust non-fragile observer-based controller are derived. Finally, the validity of the proposed methods are demonstrated by two numerical examples.
l-Tryptophan (Trp) metabolites and related neurotransmitters play crucial roles in physiological functions, and their imbalances are implicated in the pathology of depression, Alzheimer's disease and ...other diseases. Measurement of Trp metabolites and related neurotransmitters possesses a great potential to elucidate the disease mechanisms and evaluate the outcomes of therapeutic interventions. A simple, rapid, sensitive and specific liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method was developed for simultaneous determination of Trp, l-kynurenine (Kyn), kynurenic acid (Kyna), 3-hydroxykynurenine (3-HK), 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT), 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA), norepinephrine (NE), l-glutamic acid (Glu), γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) and acetylcholine (ACh) in mice serum and the brain tissues in a single chromatographic run. Samples were spiked with the internal standard, mixed with trifluoroacetic acid to precipitate protein and analyzed by LC-MS/MS. Chromatographic separation was achieved using a Restek Ultra Aqueous C18 column in combination with a gradient elution within 8 min. Mass spectrometric detection was performed using multiple reaction monitoring with electrospray ionization source in positive mode. The method exhibited good selectivity and correlation coefficient values for the calibration curves of each analyte were >0.99. The limit of detection and quantification ranged from 0.96 to 24.48 nmol/L and 3.42 to 244.82 nmol/L, respectively. The intra- and inter-day precision were ≤13.92%. All analytes were stable in prepared samples at room temperature in the autosampler for 24 h. This method was successfully applied to the analysis of biological samples from control and chronic mild stress (CMS) induced depression mice. It was found that Kyn and 3-HK pathways were enhanced by CMS, while the levels of Trp, Kyna, 5-HIAA, Glu, GABA and ACh were significantly reduced. The changes in 5-HT and NE levels were not uniform in the periphery and the brain. This method can therefore be applied to analyze Trp metabolites and related neurotransmitters levels to monitor disease states, study the mechanisms and outcomes of therapeutic interventions.
•Simultaneous quantification of tryptophan metabolites and related neurotransmitters•The validated method shows high selectivity, sensitivity and precision.•Analytes were successfully detected in control and chronic mild stress mice.
Roegneria yenchiana sp. nov. (Triticeae) is a new species collected from Shangri‐la of Yunnan Province in China based on morphological, cytological, and molecular data. It is morphologically ...characterized by one spikelet per node, rectangular glums, awns flanked by two short mucros in lemmas, distinguished from other species of Roegneria. The genomic in situ hybridization results indicate that R. yenchiana is an allotetraploid, and its genomic constitution is StY. Phylogenetic analyses based on multiple loci suggested that R. yenchiana is closely related to Pseudoroegneria and Roegneria, and the Pseudoroegneria served as the maternal donors during its polyploid speciation.
Roegneria yenchiana sp. nov. (Triticeae) is described as a new species collected from the Hengduan Mountain Region. Roegneria yenchiana contains the StY genomic constitution. Pseudoroegneria served as the maternal donors during the polyploid speciation of Roegneria yenchiana.
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•Fully vegetable oil-based polyols with a low hydroxyl value and viscosity were designed and prepared.•The effect of the isocyanate index on the properties of the PU films was ...investigated;•By 180 days, the degradation percentage of PU film 3 reached 21.85%.•The 80% cumulative release of Oil-PCUs-6% took more than 70 days.
Fully vegetable oil-based polyols with a low hydroxyl value and viscosity were designed and prepared using epoxidized soybean oil (ESO) and oleic acid as raw materials, which were also used to prepare polyurethane films 1-5 with different isocyanate indices. Their structures were characterized by FTIR and 1H NMR. The GPC data indicated that the number-average molecular weight (Mn) of the polyols was 3331 and the distribution index was 1.578. The effects of the isocyanate index on the morphology, DMA, mechanical properties, water absorption, water contact angle, TGA and soil degradation of PU films were investigated. When the isocyanate index increased from 1.13 to 2.65, the glass transition temperature (Tg) and crosslinking density (νe) of polyurethane increased from −4.5 °C to 74.7 °C and from 630 mol/m3 to 2000 mol/m3, respectively. By 180 days, the degradation percentages of the five PU films (1-5) were 10.23%, 20.01%, 21.85%, 26.78% and 29.63%, respectively. Two coated ureas (Oil-PCUs) were successfully prepared containing 70% vegetable oil. The 80% cumulative release of Oil-PCUs-6% (isocyanate index: 1.58) took more than 70 days, indicating that the prepared Oil-PCUs have great potential for use in agriculture, forestry and grasslands.
This paper considers the consensus control problem of multi‐agent systems (MAS) with distributed parameter models. Based on the framework of network topologies, a second‐order PI‐type iterative ...learning control (ILC) protocol with initial state learning is proposed by using the nearest neighbor knowledge. A discrete system for proposed ILC is established, and the consensus control problem is then converted to a stability problem for such a discrete system. Furthermore, by using generalized Gronwall inequality, a sufficient condition for the convergence of the consensus errors between any two agents is obtained. Finally, the validity of the proposed method is verified by two numerical examples.
The mechanism of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) metastasis remains poorly understood. Tropomodulin 3 (TMOD3) is a member of the pointed end capping protein family that contributes to invasion and ...metastasis in several types of malignancies. It has been found to be crucial for the membranous skeleton and embryonic development, although, its role in HCC progression remains largely unclear. We observed increased levels of Tmod3 in HCCs, especially in extrahepatic metastasis. High Tmod3 expression correlated with aggressive carcinoma and poor patient with HCC survival. Loss‐of‐function studies conducted by us determined Tmod3 as an oncogene that promoted HCC growth and metastasis. Mechanistically, Tmod3 increases transcription of matrix metalloproteinase‐2, ‐7, and ‐9 which required PI3K‐AKT. Interaction between Tmod3 and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) that supports the activation of EGFR phosphorylation, is essential for signaling activation of PI3K‐AKT viral oncogene homolog. These findings reveal that Tmod3 enhances aggressive behavior of HCC both in vitro and in vivo by interacting with EFGR and by activating the PI3K‐AKT signaling pathway.
The spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and its variants is threatening public health around the world. Endocytosis functions as an important way for viral ...infection, and SARS-CoV-2 bears no exception. However, the specific endocytic mechanism of SARS-CoV-2 remains unknown. In this study, we used endocytic inhibitors to evaluate the role of different endocytic routes in SARS-CoV-2 pseudovirus infection and found that the viral infection was associated with caveolar/lipid raft- and cytoskeleton-mediated endocytosis, but independent of the clathrin-mediated endocytosis and macropinocytosis. Meanwhile, the knockdown of CD147 and Rab5a in Vero E6 and Huh-7 cells inhibited SARS-CoV-2 pseudovirus infection, and the co-localization of spike protein, CD147, and Rab5a was observed in pseudovirus-infected Vero E6 cells, which was weakened by CD147 silencing, illustrating that SARS-CoV-2 pseudovirus entered the host cells via CD147-mediated endocytosis. Additionally, Arf6 silencing markedly inhibited pseudovirus infection in Vero E6 and Huh-7 cells, while little change was observed in CD147 knockout-Vero E6 cells. This finding indicated Arf6-mediated CD147 trafficking plays a vital role in SARS-CoV-2 entry. Taken together, our findings provide new insights into the CD147-Arf6 axis in mediating SARS-CoV-2 pseudovirus entry into the host cells, and further suggest that blockade of this pathway seems to be a feasible approach to prevent the SARS-CoV-2 infection clinically.
This paper concerns with the method of observer-based control and static output feedback control for fractional-order uncertain systems with the fractional commensurate order
α
(
0
<
α
<
1
)
and
α
(
...1
≤
α
<
2
)
via linear matrix inequality (LMI) approach, respectively. First, the sufficient conditions for robust asymptotical stability of the closed-loop control systems are presented. Next, by using matrix’s singular value decomposition (SVD) and LMI technics, the existence condition and method of designing a robust stabilizing controller for such fractional-order control systems are derived. Unlike previous methods, the results are obtained in terms of LMI, which can be easily obtained by Matlab’s LMI toolbox. Finally, two numerical examples demonstrate the validity of this approach.
We report the use of five alpha-hydroxy acids (citric, tartaric, mandelic, lactic and glycolic acids) as catalysts in the synthesis of terpineol from alpha-pinene. The study found that the hydration ...rate of pinene was slow when only catalyzed by alpha-hydroxyl acids. Ternary composite catalysts, composed of AHAs, phosphoric acid, and acetic acid, had a good catalytic performance. The reaction step was hydrolysis of the intermediate terpinyl acetate, which yielded terpineol. The optimal reaction conditions were as follows: alpha-pinene, acetic acid, water, citric acid, and phosphoric acid, at a mass ratio of 1:2.5:1:(0.1-0.05):0.05, a reaction temperature of 70 °C, and a reaction time of 12-15 h. The conversion of alpha-pinene was 96%, the content of alpha-terpineol was 46.9%, and the selectivity of alpha-terpineol was 48.1%. In addition, the catalytic performance of monolayer graphene oxide and its composite catalyst with citric acid was studied, with acetic acid used as an additive.
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