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In this study, we first reported a simple method for preparing an iron phosphide bifunctional oxygen catalyst by combining nitrogen-doped carbon. The d-band center of the catalytic material and the free energy of the intermediate were optimized with a half-wave potential of 0.87 V and an overpotential of 0.39 V at 10 mA·cm−2 in 0.1 M KOH, which was comparable to the catalytic activity of the precious metal-based catalyst. [Display omitted] • Construction of N-doped carbon-loaded Fe 2 P nanoparticle composite structures. • DFT calculations show that the center of the d-band of Fe 2 P/NC is shifted downwards. • The Fe 2 P/NC catalyst has a low potential gap ΔE (ΔE = E j=10 − E 1/2) of about 0.75 V. • Zinc-air battery with a specific capacity of 833 mAh·gZn-1 and a cycle performance of up to 1320 cycles. Constructing composite structures is an effective strategy for tailoring the electronic configuration and balances the adsorption/desorption capability of oxygen-containing intermediates for obtaining high-performance bifunctional catalysts. Herein, an in-situ pyrolysis strategy was used to construct Fe 2 P nanoparticles supported on N-doped carbon (Fe 2 P/NC) catalyst. The DFT indicated that the catalytic activity of the as-prepared catalyst is significantly increased by the strong electronic interaction between the Fe 2 P nanoparticles and the nitrogen-doped carbon, which endows the catalyst with fast electron transfer capability and optimizes the free energy between the catalyst and the adsorbed intermediate, as well as the d-band center of the material. The as-synthesized Fe 2 P/NC has a low potential gap ΔE (ΔE = E j=10 – E 1/2) of ca. 0.75 V, a specific capacity as high as 833 mAh·g Zn − 1 and cycling stability for 1320 cycles at the current density of 10 mA·cm−2. Such a synthesis strategy provides an effective route to realizing applications for portable electronic Zn-air battery-related devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The Fe-Cr-Ni based composite coating was prepared using laser cladding method. • The addition of rare earth elements makes the cladding layer more dense and more refined. • Increased tensile strength, increased yield strength and increased impact value. Laser cladding technology was used to prepare Fe314 coating with added CeO 2 and La 2 O 3 on the surface of EA4T steel. The microstructure and structure of the coating were analyzed using scanning electron microscopy, electron probe microanalyzer, and X-ray diffraction. The mechanical properties of the coating were tested using a microhardness tester, universal testing machine, and pendulum impact testing machine. The results show that the addition of rare earth elements makes the cladding layer more dense and more refined; at the same time, compared to the base material, the tensile strength of the repaired specimen increased by 12.9 %, the yield strength increased by 23.3 %, and the impact value increased by 43.6 %. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This document is a retraction notice from the journal OncoTargets & Therapy regarding an article titled "Mannose Suppresses the Proliferation and Metastasis of Lung Cancer by Targeting the ERK/GSK-3β/β-Catenin/SNAIL Axis." The retraction is due to concerns about the duplication of images from other unrelated articles. The authors did not respond to inquiries or provide an explanation for the duplicated images. The retracted article will remain online but will be marked as "Retracted." [Extracted from the article]

Infections in ruxolitinib-treated myeloproliferative neoplasm (MPN) patients were reported frequently. This work aimed to systematically estimate the risk of infection associated with ruxolitinib in MPN patients. The PUBMED, CNKI, EMBASE, Cochrane and CBM databases were searched to identify all related studies. Odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) were used to express the difference between groups. I2 was calculated to evaluate heterogeneity. Revman software was used to conduct the analysis. Eleven randomized control trials were included in this analysis. The risk of overall infections was not different at the early stage of ruxolitinib use (OR, 95%CI: 1.23, [0.91, 1.67]). In the extension phase, overall infection was significantly lower in patients receiving ruxolitinib (OR, 95%CI: 0.53, [0.36, 0.79]). Herpes zoster infection was at higher risk both at early stage and in the extension phase (OR, 95%CI: 7.39, [1.33, 41.07]), (OR, 95%CI: 5.23, [1.46, 18.79]), respectively. Our study suggested that ruxolitinib increased the risk of herpes zoster infection. However, current studies were not enough to estimate the effects of ruxolitinib on the risk of overall infection in patients with myeloproliferative neoplasm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: It has been found that mannose exerts antitumoural properties in vitro and in animal models. Whether mannose has potential anti-proliferative and anti-metastatic properties against non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is still unclear. Methods: Here, we performed ex vivo experiments and established a nude mouse model to evaluate the anticancer effects of mannose on NSCLC cells and its effects on the ERK/GSK-3β/β-catenin/SNAIL axis. A CCK-8 assay was conducted to evaluate the effects of mannose on lung cancer cells (A549 and HCC827) and normal lung cells (HPAEpiC). Transwells were used to examine the motility of cancer cells. qRT-PCR was used to evaluate the effects of mannose on the mRNA expression of β-catenin. Western blotting was conducted to explore the effects of mannose on the ERK/GSK-3β/β-catenin/SNAIL axis and nuclear accumulation of β-catenin. An animal model was established to evaluate the antitumoural effect of mannose on hepatic metastasis in vivo. Results: In this study, we found that mannose inhibited the proliferation of A549 and HCC827 cells in vitro both time- and dose-dependently. However, it exerted only a slight influence on the viability of normal lung cells in vitro. Moreover, mannose also inhibited the migrating and invading capacity of NSCLC cells in vitro. Using Western blotting, we observed that mannose reduced SNAIL and β-catenin expression and ERK activation and promoted phospho-GSK-3β expression. The ERK agonist LM22B-10 promoted the metastatic ability of NSCLC cells and increased SNAIL and β-catenin expression in cancer cells, which could be reversed by mannose. Furthermore, ERK-mediated phosphorylation of the β-catenin-Tyr654 residue might participate in the nuclear accumulation of β-catenin and its transcriptional function. The results from animal experiments showed that mannose effectively reduced hepatic metastasis of A549 cells in vivo. Furthermore, mannose inhibited ERK/GSK-3β/β-catenin/SNAIL in tumour tissues obtained from nude mice. Discussion: Collectively, these findings suggest that mannose exerts anti-metastatic activity against NSCLC by inhibiting the activation of the ERK/GSK-3β/β-catenin/SNAIL axis, which indicates the potential anticancer effects of mannose. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Along with the increasing prosperity of electric vehicles (EVs), the large-scale penetration of EVs in V2G (Vehicle to Grid) trading market brings difficulties and security issues in the operation of the energy market. The blockchain has the characteristics of security, transparency, decentralization and traceability, which provides an alternative for complex energy market operation in a secure environment. In this paper, a novel hierarchical blockchain architecture is constructed for the V2G trading system including Data Blockchain layer, Operation Blockchain layer and Transaction Blockchain layer. The intelligent contracts of the V2G trading, two-level auction and optimization strategies are designed for scheduling EVs orderly charge and discharge to participate in the grid load regulation so as to minimize the total load variance of the grid and realize reasonable benefit distribution among the involved market entities, i.e., EVs, aggregators and grid. Based on the V2G trading characteristics, a transaction manager with four optimization strategies are designed to further optimize the transaction generation process. The CA (cellular automata) based simulation experiments are performed to verify the effectiveness of the proposed V2G trading system. • A novel V2G trading system based on hierarchical blockchain architecture. • Intelligent contracts are designed to schedule EVs for the grid load regulation. • A transaction manager is designed to improve the transaction execution efficiency. • A Cellular Automata model is applied for the V2G trading simulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Each step in the catalyst synthesis process plays an important role in tuning the catalyst structures. For zeolite‐supported nickel catalysts, we found the conventional calcination‐reduction method typically leads to the formation of large nickel particles, but a pre‐aging in hydrogen or nitrogen at a low temperature prior to final reduction can result in ultra‐small nickel nanoparticles in a metallic state. This pre‐aging treatment facilitates the interaction between Ni2+ cations and silanol nests on zeolite before the decomposition of the metal salt, leading to the formation of nanoparticles with an average diameter of ~1.2 nm. In contrast, the pre‐calcination in oxygen caused the Ni2+ aggregation before the decomposition of the metal salt precursor, yielding nickel nanoparticles larger than 5 nm. Given the structure sensitivity of nickel in cyclohexane dehydrogenation for hydrogen production, the ultra‐small nickel nanoparticles exhibited significantly enhanced activity and durability compared to previous nickel catalysts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To uncover the genes associated with the development of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC), an ESCC microarray dataset was used to identify genes differentially expressed between ESCC and normal control tissues. The dataset GSE17351 was downloaded from the Gene Expression Omnibus, containing 5 tumor esophageal mucosa samples and 5 adjacent normal esophageal mucosa samples from 5 male patients with ESCC. The differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified using the Linear Models for Microarray Data R package. Then, a co‑expression network was constructed using the Weighted Correlation Network Analysis (WGCNA) package, and co‑expression network modules were obtained with a hierarchical clustering algorithm. Additionally, functional enrichment analyses for DEGs in the top 2 modules with the highest significance were respectively conducted using the WGCNA package and the cluster Profiler package. In total, 487 upregulated and 468 downregulated DEGs were identified. A total of 24 modules were obtained from the co‑expression network, and the top 2 modules with the highest significance, designated as ‘blue4’ and ‘magenta’, were further analyzed. In the module blue4, DEGs were significantly enriched in a number of Gene Ontology terms, including ‘spindle organization’ [e.g., ubiquitin conjugating enzyme E2 C (UBE2C) and SAC3 domain containing 1] and ‘cell cycle process’ [e.g., UBE2C, minichromosome maintenance complex component 6 (MCM6) and cell division cycle 20 (CDC20)]. Furthermore, a number of DEGs (e.g., UBE2C, CDC20 and MCM6) were enriched in the ‘cell cycle’ and ‘ubiquitin mediated proteolysis’ pathways. In the module ‘magenta’, a number of DEGs [e.g., transferrin receptor (TFRC) and TEA domain transcription factor 4 (TEAD4)] were enriched in the primary metabolic process and intracellular membrane‑bounded organelle. Additionally, 308 upregulated genes and 215 downregulated genes were differentially expressed in the same pattern in another dataset, GSE20347, including UBE2C, CDC20, MCM6, TFRC, TEAD4, protein phosphatase 1 regulatory subunit 3C and MAL, T‑cell differentiation protein. These DEGs may function in the development of ESCC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Celecoxib is an inhibitor of cyclooxygenase‑2, a gene that is often aberrantly expressed in the lung squamous cell carcinoma (LSQCC). The present study aims to provide novel insight into chemoprevention by celecoxib treatment. The human LSQCC cell line SK‑MES‑1 was treated with or without celecoxib and RNA‑sequencing (RNA‑seq) was performed on the Illumina HiSeq 2000 platform. Expression levels of genes or long non‑coding RNAs (lncRNAs) were calculated by Cufflinks software. Subsequently, differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and differentially expressed lncRNAs (DE‑LNRs) between the two groups were selected using the limma package and LNCipedia 3.0, respectively; followed by co‑expression analysis based on their expression correlation coefficient (CC). Enrichment analysis for the DEGs and co‑expressed DE‑LNRs were performed. Protein‑protein interaction (PPI) network analysis for DEGs was performed using STRING database. A set of 317 DEGs and 25 DE‑LNRs were identified between celecoxib‑treated and non‑treated cell lines. A total of 12 pathways were enriched by the DEGs, including ‘protein processing in endoplasmic reticulum’ for activating transcription factor 4 (ATF4), ‘mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling pathway’ for vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGFA) and ‘ECM‑receptor interaction’ for fibronectin 1 (FN1). Genes such as VEGFA, ATF4 and FN1 were highlighted in the PPI network. VEGFA was linked with lnc‑AP000769.1‑2:10 (CC=‑0.99227), whereas ATF4 and FN1 were closely correlated with lnc‑HFE2‑2:1 (CC=0.996159 and ‑0.98714, respectively). lncRNAs were also enriched in pathways such as ‘mTOR signaling pathway’ for lnc‑HFE2‑2:1. Several important molecules were identified in celecoxib‑treated LSQCC cell lines, such as VEGFA, ATF4, FN1, lnc‑AP000769.1‑2:10 and lnc‑HFE2‑2:1, which may enhance the anti‑cancer effects of celecoxib on LSQCC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the high-speed movement of low-orbit satellites, the Doppler frequency offset in 1550-nm wavelength satellite-to-ground coherent laser communication is as high as ±4.5 GHz, which greatly increases the difficulty of carrier frequency acquisition. Low complexity, short capture time, and stable coarse frequency offset estimation and compensation algorithms are technical bottlenecks that must be addressed. In this work, a coarse frequency offset estimation and compensation algorithm based on short-time spectrum analysis is proposed. In the proof-of-principle system, the feasibility of the coarse frequency offset capture is verified based on a 2.5-GBaud data rate PM-QPSK modulation FPGA-based coherent receiver. The results show that the frequency offsets capture range is extended to ±4.5 GHz, covering the Doppler frequency offset range. Moreover, the standard deviation of the residual frequency offset after coarse frequency offset compensation is less than 140 MHz, which is smaller than the accurate frequency offset compensation range of 312.5 MHz. • Low complexity, pilot data-free, and wide range coarse frequency offset estimation and compensation algorithm. • Experimentally demonstrated online in a FPGA-based hardware platform. • The operation of coarse frequency offset estimation does not rely on other equalization algorithms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The proposed optical physical layer encryption method has good adaptability to the existing optical fiber networks. • The integration with quantum key distribution is realized by using an optical scrambling architecture. • The unpredictable scrambling is used as an efficient and flexible high-speed optical signal encryption method. We propose an optical physical layer encryption method based on real-time optical signal temporal scrambling and decoy-state quantum key distribution. The real-time optical signal processing is operating with an array of tunable Fabry-Perot cavities by using the updating and synchronization keys. Based on this scheme, an experimental demonstration is given to realize secure communication for optical physical layer in a standard 10 Gbps data transmission with quantum key distribution in real time. An on-line transmitted data over 100 km of a standard single mode fiber is realized with power penalty of as low as 3.45 dB, where the average key generation rate is better than 800 bps. The experimental results indicate that, the proposed encryption scheme of dynamic scrambling with quantum keys exhibits significantly potential for improving the confidentiality of optical physical layer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR), a folate-dependent enzyme, is reportedly involved in several cancer types. The MTHFR C677T polymorphism influences many biological processes, including tumorigenesis. However, the association between the MTHFR C677T polymorphism and breast cancer (BC) subtypes is not fully understood. In this study, the MTHFR C677T polymorphism was genotyped in 490 individuals with or without BC from southwestern China. Analysis of the association between the MTHFR C677T polymorphism and BC revealed that there was a significant association between the MTHFR C677T polymorphism and triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) (OR = 2.83, 95% CI: 1.12–9.51, P = 0.0401). Furthermore, the MTHFR C677T polymorphism can also serve as a protective factor in luminal A breast cancer (OR = 0.57, 95% CI: 0.34–0.94, P = 0.0258). Evaluation of the association between the MTHFR C677T polymorphism and clinical characteristics indicated that people who suffered from hypertension had an increased risk for BC (OR = 2.27; 95% CI: 1.08–4.6; P = 0.0264), especially TNBC (OR = 215.38; 95% CI: 2.45–84430.3; P = 0.0317). Our results suggest that the MTHFR C677T polymorphism is significantly associated with susceptibility to luminal B breast cancer and TNBC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The proposed optical temporal scrambling scheme can be excellent adaptability to improve the security of quantum noise stream cipher system (QNSC) system. • By using an cascade Fabry-Perot cavities architecture to implement the masking of time domain features. • This work provides a security enhancement method for QNSC system to implement the capability of anti-eavesdropping for optical fiber communication, which could be favorable for the deployment of optical network infrastructure. In order to enhance security of QNSC signal, an optical temporal scrambling scenario which can avoid leaking synchronous clock parameters in QNSC system is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. In the proposed scenario, it utilized a cascaded FPCs to disturb time signature of 12.5 Gbps QNSC with 1024(210) intensity levels. The results indicate that, optical temporal scrambler cascaded 36 FPCs can spread the QNSC signal, resulting in the neighboring 12.5 bits of QNSC signal may be overlapped, which makes the signal look like noise both in intensity level and in time domain. Then, the descrambling process can be implemented by a matched filter corresponding to the optical temporal descrambling. Furthermore, by analyzing the scrambled QNSC signals, the power penalty caused by transmission for 50.8 km is about 3.22 dB. As for its actual effect, it greatly enhanced the security of the QNSC signal due to the concealment of time features. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Arsenic resistance protein 2 (Ars2) is a component of the nuclear RNA cap-binding complex (CBC) that is important for some microRNA biogenesis and it is critical for cell proliferation and tumorigenicity. However, mechanism of Ars2-regulated cellular proliferation and tumorigenicity in glioblastoma has not been fully understood. Western blotting was used to detect the expressions of Ars2, p53, p21, and cleavage/activation of caspases-3 (C-Caspase 3). Microarray and Quantitative Real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) were performed to identify the Ars2-regulated microRNAs. Apoptosis assessed by flow cytometry analysis was used to evaluate the role of Ars2 in cells proliferation. The lentivirus-mediated gene knockdown approach was conducted to determine the function of Ars2. The orthotopic glioblastoma xenograft was used to demonstrate the role of Ars2 in glioblastoma growth in vivo. The high expression of Ars2 was observed in several glioblastoma cell lines and was significantly associated with poorer overall survival. Importantly, the overexpression of Ars2 promoted cell proliferation and colony formation in glioblastoma cells, whereas the depletion of Ars2 inhibited cell proliferation, colony formation, and tumor growth. Mechanistic study revealed that knockdown of Ars2 reduced the expression levels of miR-6798-3p, which was responsible for the up-regulation of p53 and p21, leading to apoptosis. Furthermore, the knockdown of Ars2 suppressed tumor growth in orthotopic glioblastoma xenograft model and significantly prolonged the survival time of the tumor-bearing mice. These findings identify a critical role for Ars2 in regulation of proliferation and tumorigenicity in glioblastoma and suggest that Ars2 could be a critical therapeutic target for glioblastoma intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]