Atherosclerosis is universally recognized as a chronic lipid-induced inflammation of the vessel wall. Oxidized low density lipoprotein (oxLDL) drives the onset of atherogenesis involving macrophages ...and endothelial cells (ECs). Our earlier work showed that expression of long noncoding RNA-growth arrest-specific 5 (lncRNA GAS5) was significantly increased in the plaque of atherosclerosis collected from patients and animal models. In this study, we found that knockdown of lncRNA GAS5 reduced the apoptosis of THP-1 cells treated with oxLDL. On the contrary, overexpression of lncRNA GAS5 significantly elevated the apoptosis of THP-1 cells after oxLDL stimulation. The expressions of apoptotic factors including Caspases were changed with lncRNA GAS5 levels. Moreover, lncRNA GAS5 was found in THP-1 derived-exosomes after oxLDL stimulation. Exosomes derived from lncRNA GAS5-overexpressing THP-1 cells enhanced the apoptosis of vascular endothelial cells after taking up these exosomes. However, exosomes shed by lncRNA GAS5 knocked-down THP-1 cells inhibited the apoptosis of endothelial cells. These findings reveal the function of lncRNA GAS5 in atherogenesis which regulates the apoptosis of macrophages and endothelial cells via exosomes and suggest that suppressing the lncRNA GAS5 might be an effective way for the therapy of atherosclerosis.
The innovation of band‐gap engineering in advanced materials caused by the alloying of different semiconductors into solid‐solution nanostructures provides numerous opportunities and advantages in ...optoelectronic property tailoring. The semiconductor solid‐solution nanostructures have multifarious emission wavelength, adjustability of absorption edge, tunable electrical resistivity, and cutting‐edge photoredox capability, and these advantages can be rationalized by the assorted synthesis strategies such as, binary, ternary, and quaternary solid‐solutions. In addition, the abundance of elements in groups IIB, IIIA, VA, VIA, and VIIA provides sufficient room to tailor‐make the semiconductor solid‐solution nanostructures with the desired properties. Recent progress of semiconductor solid‐solution nanostructures including synthesis strategies, structure and composition design, band‐gap engineering related to the optical and electrical properties, and their applications in different fields is comprehensively reviewed. The classification, formation principle, synthesis routes, and the advantage of semiconductor solid‐solution nanostructures are systematically reviewed. Moreover, the challenges faced in this area and the future prospects are discussed. By combining the information together, it is strongly anticipated that this Review may shed new light on understanding semiconductor solid‐solution nanostructures while expected to have continuous breakthroughs in band‐gap engineering and advanced optoelectronic nanodevices.
Semiconductor solid solution nanostructures are promising candidates for advanced optoelectronic nanodevices and clean energy harvesting. Recent progress in synthesis, fundamental properties and potential applications of semiconductor solid solution nanostructures is reviewed, and an overview of challenges and future perspectives is provided.
Hydrophilic modification of polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) surface is performed by atmospheric pressure plasma jet (APPJ) in Ar gas for improving the PMMA surface flashover performance in vacuum. In ...the experiments, APPJ is driven by a microsecond-duration pulsed generator, which has voltages of 0-30 kV, a rise time of 300 ns and a full width at half maximum of 2μs. Characteristics of the APPJ are analyzed according to its voltage and current waveform, discharge image and optical emission spectrum. Furthermore, surface properties of the PMMA surface before and after the treatment are characterized by water contact angle measurements and morphology observations. Results show that the main species of the plasma jet are composed of N 2 , Ar, OH, and O, among which such polar groups as OH and O enhance the hydrophilic property of the PMMA surface. The water contact angle decreases from 68° to a minimum value (16°) after the treatment. In addition, all the surface flashover voltages in vacuum for the PMMA samples treated by APPJ are higher than those for the untreated PMMA samples.
Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is the sixth most frequent cancer in humans globally. In addition to smoking and drinking, genetic and epigenetic changes also play a big role in how ...HNSCC starts and grows. MicroRNAs are short, non-coding RNAs that control cell differentiation and apoptosis by interfering with gene expression. In addition, microRNAs in HNSCC have been shown to affect the clinical behaviors of HNSCC in amazing ways. Moreover, metabolic reprogramming is a key part of cancer and is needed for cancer to turn into a tumor and grow. But it is still not clear what effect microRNAs related to fatty acid metabolism have on the prognosis of HNSCC patients. We downloaded the data of HNSCC patients from the TCGA database and obtained the genes associated with fatty acid metabolism according to the GSEA database. Then, the microRNAs associated with fatty acid metabolism genes were matched. Finally, fatty acid metabolism gene-associated microRNAs for calculating risk scores and then building multifactorial Cox regression models in patients with HNSCC. Heatmap analysis showed that microRNAs involved in fatty acid metabolism were significantly different in HNSCC patients than in healthy controls. A total of 27 microRNAs associated with fatty acid metabolism were screened by univariate Cox analysis (
p
< 0.05). Using lasso regression, 18 microRNAs substantially linked with the prognosis of HNSCC patients were identified and included in risk scores. The ROC curves demonstrate that risk scores derived from microRNAs involved in fatty acid metabolism can accurately predict the prognosis of HNSCC patients at 1, 3, and 5 years. Moreover, we discovered that 11 microRNAs included in the risk score properly distinguished the prognosis of HNSCC patients. This paper indicated that microRNAs involved with fatty acid metabolism are strongly linked to the prognosis of HNSCC patients. It also indicated that reprogramming of fatty acid metabolism in tumor tissues may play an important role in HNSCC cancer.
The design and development of highly efficient and stable non-noble metal electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) have attracted increasing attention. However, some key issues related ...to large overpotential, high cost and poor stability at high current density still remains challenging. In this work, we report a facile in-situ integration strategy of porous Ni2P nanosheet catalysts on 3D Ni foam framework (PNi2P/NF) for efficient and stable HER in alkaline medium. The two-step method can creates high density of ultra-thin porous Ni2P nanosheets firmly rooted into Ni foam substrate which can guarantee excellent electrical contacts, strong substrate adherence and large amount of active sites. Such a binder-free flexible HER cathode exhibits superior electrocatalytic performance with an overpotential of 134 mV at current density of 10 mA cm−2. It also shows superior stability at higher current densities of 100 and 500 mA cm−2 for at least 48 h and negligible performance degradation is observed.
Display omitted Porous Ni2P nanosheets in-situ grown on Ni foam have been obtained to act as a promising HER electrode with excellent electrocatalytic activity and robust stability at high current density in alkaline medium.
•Porous Ni2P nanosheets have been in-situ grown on Ni foam.•Ni2P nanosheets show strong mechanical adherence with Ni foam substrate.•The porous structure of Ni2P nanosheets exhibit high activity towards HER.•Ni2P nanosheets also show superior HER stability at the high current density.
Abstract
Studying stars that are located off the Galactic plane is important for understanding the formation history of the Milky Way. We searched for SiO masers toward off-plane O-rich asymptotic ...giant branch (AGB) stars from the catalog presented by Mauron et al. in order to shed light on the origins of these objects. A total of 102 stars were observed in the SiO
J
= 1−0,
v
= 1 and 2 transitions with the Effelsberg 100 m and Tianma 65 m telescopes. SiO masers were discovered in eight stars, all first detections. The measured maser velocities allow for initial estimates of the host AGB stars’ radial velocities. We find that the radial velocities of three stars (namely G068.881−24.615, G070.384−24.886, and G084.453−21.863) significantly deviate from the values expected from Galactic circular motion. The updated distances and 3D motions indicate that G068.881−24.615 is likely located in the Galactic halo, while G160.648−08.846 is probably located in the Galactic thin disk, and the other six stars are probably part of the Galactic thick disk.
•Increase in hydrophobicity on PMMA is achieved after the DBD treatment in CF4, and the water contact angle can increase from 68° to 100° after treatment.•Nanosecond-pulse DBD is used for the surface ...treatment and the power density is about 114.8mW/cm2.•The effects of applied voltage, CF4 flow, and time on plasma treatment are investigated.•Plasma treatment causes morphological change, significantly increases the roughness of the surface, and introduces fluorine-containing groups into the polymethylmethacrylate surface.•Hydrophobic behavior of the treated PMMA surface is slightly affected by the aging effect.
Nanosecond-pulse dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) can provide non-thermal plasmas with extremely high energy and high density, which can result in a series of complicated physical and chemical reactions in the surface treatment of polymers. Therefore, in this paper, hydrophobic treatment of polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) surface is conducted by nanosecond-pulse DBD in carbon tetrafluoride (CF4) at atmospheric pressure. Investigations on surface morphology and chemical composition before and after the DBD treatment in CF4 are conducted with the contact angle measurement, atomic force microscope, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectrometer. The effects of the applied voltage, CF4 flow rate, and treatment time on the hydrophobic modification are studied. Results show that the contact angles of the treated PMMA surface increases with the applied voltage, and it could be greatly affected by the CF4 flow rate and the treatment time. The water contact angle can increase from 68° to 100° after the treatment. Furthermore, both surface morphology and chemical composition of the PMMA samples are changed. Both the increase of the surface roughness and the occurrence of fluorine-containing functional groups on the PMMA surface treated by DBD in CF4 lead to the hydrophobicity improvement of the PMMA surface after high CF4 flow rate and long time treatment. Moreover, due to the small amount of oxygen in the DBD plasma, hydrophilic effect exists on the PMMA surface after small CF4 flow rate treatment. Similar phenomenon occurs at short time treatment. It is because that CH2F, CHF, CHF2 groups, having hydrophilic property, are likely generated in the initial stage of hydrogen abstraction. In addition, because the residual groups (mainly CF, CF2 and CF3) on the PMMA surface have strong hydrophobic property, the hydrophobic behavior of the treated PMMA surface could maintain for 8-day aging period.
Antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) are a targeted chemotherapeutic currently at the cutting edge of oncology medicine. These hybrid molecules consist of a tumor antigen-specific antibody coupled to a ...chemotherapeutic small molecule. Through targeted delivery of potent cytotoxins, ADCs exhibit improved therapeutic index and enhanced efficacy relative to traditional chemotherapies and monoclonal antibody therapies. The currently FDA-approved ADCs, Kadcyla (Immunogen/Roche) and Adcetris (Seattle Genetics), are produced by conjugation to surface-exposed lysines, or partial disulfide reduction and conjugation to free cysteines, respectively. These stochastic modes of conjugation lead to heterogeneous drug products with varied numbers of drugs conjugated across several possible sites. As a consequence, the field has limited understanding of the relationships between the site and extent of drug loading and ADC attributes such as efficacy, safety, pharmacokinetics, and immunogenicity. A robust platform for rapid production of ADCs with defined and uniform sites of drug conjugation would enable such studies. We have established a cell-free protein expression system for production of antibody drug conjugates through site-specific incorporation of the optimized non-natural amino acid, para-azidomethyl-l-phenylalanine (pAMF). By using our cell-free protein synthesis platform to directly screen a library of aaRS variants, we have discovered a novel variant of the Methanococcus jannaschii tyrosyl tRNA synthetase (TyrRS), with a high activity and specificity toward pAMF. We demonstrate that site-specific incorporation of pAMF facilitates near complete conjugation of a DBCO-PEG-monomethyl auristatin (DBCO-PEG-MMAF) drug to the tumor-specific, Her2-binding IgG Trastuzumab using strain-promoted azide-alkyne cycloaddition (SPAAC) copper-free click chemistry. The resultant ADCs proved highly potent in in vitro cell cytotoxicity assays.
Abstract We identify a molecular bubble, and study the star formation and its feedback in the S Mon region, using multiple molecular lines, young stellar objects (YSOs), and infrared data. We revisit ...the distance to S Mon, ∼722 ± 9 pc, using Gaia Data Release 3 parallaxes of the associated Class II YSOs. The bubble may be mainly driven by a massive binary system (namely 15 Mon), the primary of which is an O7V-type star. An outflow is detected in the shell of the bubble, suggesting ongoing star formation activities in the vicinity of the bubble. The total wind energy of the massive binary star is 3 orders of magnitude higher than the sum of the observed turbulent energy in the molecular gas and the kinetic energy of the bubble, indicating that stellar winds help to maintain the turbulence in the S Mon region and drive the bubble. We conclude that the stellar winds of massive stars have an impact on their surrounding environment.
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