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Information storage and anti-counterfeiting are two very important applications of photochromic materials. Photochromic materials with both information storage and anti-counterfeiting should meet the requirements including fast coloration, good stability and reversibility, low storage cost, and practical application value. Herein, a novel viologen-based coordination polymer, Cd[(pbpy)0.5(HBTC)Cl]⋅2H2O (1) (pbpy = 1,1'-[1,4-phenylenebis-(methylene)]bis(4,4'-bipyridinium); HBTC2- = 1,3,5-benzenetricarboxylic acid), has been constructed. Compound 1 not only exhibits selective amine sensing properties, but also shows excellent photochromic properties, and the anti-counterfeiting of a two-dimensional code can be also realized through the color-changing behavior. Meanwhile, photochromic glass films of compound 1 were prepared, and compared to traditional optical information storage technology, these photochromic glass films have better water resistance and stability, improving their practical application stability. This work has further enriched the application of photochromic materials in the field of sensing, anti-counterfeiting and information storage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Significance: Diabetes can lead to the glycation of proteins and dysfunction of skin collagen. Skin lesions are a prevalent clinical symptom of diabetes mellitus (DM). Early diagnosis and assessing the efficacy of treatment for DM are crucial for patient health management. However, performing a non-invasive skin assessment in the early stages of DM is challenging. Aim: By using the polarization-sensitive optical coherent tomography (PS-OCT) imaging technique, it is possible to noninvasively assess the skin changes caused by diabetes. Approach: The PS-OCT was used to monitor the polarization characteristics of mouse skin at different stages of diabetes. Results: Based on a multi-layered adhesive tape model, we found that the polarization characteristics (retardation, optic axis, and polarization uniformity) were sensitive to the microstructure changes in the samples. Through this method, we observed significant changes in the polarization states of the skin as diabetes progressed. This was in line with the detected microstructure changes in skin collagen fibers using scanning electron microscopy. Conclusions: This study presents a highly useful approach for non-invasive skin assessment of diabetes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this experiment was to investigate the effect of soy lecithin on serum-related indicators and liver health in laying hens under the influence of high-fat diets. 180 peak laying hens at 40 weeks of age were randomly assigned to one of the four diets using a 2 × 2 factorial and fed for 5 weeks. The results showed that compared to the low-fat group, the high-fat group had lower egg production (p < 0.05) and higher average daily feed intake and feed-to-egg ratio (p < 0.05). At the 21st day, the serum levels of triglyceride (TC) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) were higher (p < 0.05), high-density lipoproteins cholesterol (HDL-C) levels were lower (p < 0.01), catalase (CAT) activity was lower (p < 0.05), TC and malondialdehyde (MDA) levels in liver were higher (p < 0.01) and SOD activity in liver was lower (p < 0.05) in layers supplemented with soy lecithin. CAT activity in serum was increased (p < 0.01) and total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC) activity in the liver was decreased (p < 0.05) after increasing the dietary fat concentration. The addition of soy lecithin and the increase in dietary fat concentration had a highly significant interaction on serum CAT activity and liver TC content in layers (p < 0.01). At the 35th day, the serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) activity was higher (p < 0.01), serum glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) and CAT activity were higher (p < 0.05), and serum triglyceride (TG) content and total T-AOC capacity activity were lower (p < 0.05) in layers supplemented with soy lecithin. Increasing dietary fat concentration decreased alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and GSH-Px activity in serum (p < 0.05). However, it increased TG and MDA content in liver (p < 0.05), and highly decreased SOD content in liver (p < 0.01) in layers. The addition of soy lecithin and increasing dietary fat concentration had a highly significant reciprocal effect on serum ALT viability and CAT viability (p < 0.01) and liver TG and MDA content and SOD viability (p < 0.05) in layers. In conclusion, feeding high-fat diets will adversely affect the laying performance of laying hens, while long-term addition of lecithin can improve the blood lipids and liver lipids of laying hens, enhance the antioxidant capacity of the liver, and maintain liver health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasing evidence has demonstrated that small nucleolar RNAs (snoRNAs) play important roles in tumorigenesis. We systematically investigated the expression landscape and clinical relevance of snoRNAs in >10,000 samples across 31 cancer types from The Cancer Genome Atlas. We observed overall elevated expression of snoRNAs and their ribonucleoproteins in multiple cancer types. We showed complex regulation of snoRNA expression by their host genes, copy number variation, and DNA methylation. Unsupervised clustering revealed that the snoRNA expression subtype is highly concordant with other molecular/clinical subtypes. We further identified 46 clinically relevant snoRNAs and experimentally demonstrated functional roles of SNORD46 in promoting cell proliferation, migration, and invasion. We developed a user-friendly data portal, SNORic, to benefit the research community. Our study highlights the significant roles of snoRNAs in the development and implementation of biomarkers or therapeutic targets for cancer and provides a valuable resource for cancer research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Renal impairment (RI) is one of the hallmarks of multiple myeloma (MM) and carries a poor prognosis. Microvesicles (MVs) are membrane vesicles and play an important role in disease progression. Here, we investigated the role of MVs derived from MM cells (MM-MVs) in RI of MM. We found that MM-MVs significantly inhibited viability and induced apoptosis, but not epithelial-mesenchymal transition in human kidney-2 (HK-2), a human renal tubular epithelial cell line. The protein levels of cleaved caspase-3, 8, and 9, and E-cadherin, were increased, but vementin levels were decreased in the HK-2 cells treated with MM-MVs. Through a comparative sequencing and analysis of RNA content between the MVs from RPMI8226MMcells (RPMI8226-MVs) and K562 leukemia cells, RPMI8226-MVs were enriched with more renal-pathogenic miRNAs, in which the selective miRNAs may participate in the up-regulation of the levels of cleaved caspase-3. Furthermore, the levels of CD138+ circulating MVs (cirMVs) in the peripheral blood were positively correlated with the severity of RI in newly-diagnosed MM. Our study supports MM-MVs representing a previously undescribed factor and playing a potential role in the development of RI of MM patients, and sheds light on the potential application of CD138+ cirMV counts in precise diagnosis of RI in MM and exploring MM-MVs as a therapeutic target. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of small non-coding RNAs, which function as critical gene regulators by targeting mRNAs for translational repression or degradation, and they are essential in cancer development and progression. Several previous studies have indicated that abnormal expression of miRNAs occurs frequently in human osteosarcoma (OS) tissues compared with that of adjacent normal tissues. In the present study, the role of miR-214 in the progression and metastasis of OS was investigated. The expression of miR-214 was frequently increased in OS tissues and cell lines. Inhibition of miR-214 in OS cell lines markedly suppressed cell proliferation, migration and invasion. Phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN) was identified as a direct target of miR-214, and ectopic expression of miR-214 inhibited PTEN by directly binding to its 3'-untranslated region. The expression of miR-214 negatively correlated with PTEN in OS tissues. Together, these data indicated that miR-214 acts as an oncogenic miRNA and may contribute to the progression, and metastasis of OS, suggesting that miR-214 may be a potential novel diagnostic and therapeutic target of OS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]