Search

ABSTRACTHepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a principal histologic type of liver cancer with high mortality. Long non-coding RNAs (LncRNAs) exert a crucial role in the pathogenesis of human tumors. To date, the functions and mechanisms of lncRNA HAGLROS in HCC are rarely reported. In the current study, HAGLROS exhibited a higher level in HCC tissues and cells. HAGLROS expression was positively correlated with tumor size, TNM stage and poor clinical prognosis. Loss-of-function experiments showed that knockdown of HAGLROS significantly lowered cell proliferation, cell cycle progression, migration, invasion and epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) but induced apoptosis in vitro. Consistently, tumor growth in the nude mice was effectively slowed by the depletion of HAGLROS. Mechanistically, HAGLROS could competitively bind to miR-26b-5p to prevent the suppression of miR-26b-5p on its downstream target gene Karyopherin α2 (KPNA2). Moreover, the inhibitory effects of HAGLROS knockdown on cell malignant behaviors were reversed due to the miR-26b-5p down-regulation or KPNA2 overexpression. It was interesting to note that HAGLROS inactivated p53 signaling through targeting miR-26b-5p/KPNA2. In conclusion, our results demonstrated that HAGLROS contributed to the malignant progression of HCC via serving as a sponge for miR-26b-5p to facilitate KPNA2 expression and inactivate p53 signaling. Targeting HAGLROS/miR-26b-5p/KPNA2 axis might be an alternative therapeutic strategy for HCC patients.

In this paper, we investigate the consensus problem for discrete linear multi-agent systems (MASs) with Markovian packet dropouts. Both identical and nonidentical packet dropouts are studied. For the discrete-time MASs under identical packet dropouts, we present the expectation of the total sojourn time of packet dropouts and successful message transmission, the switching number from packet dropouts to successful message transmission, and the awaken number of packet dropouts and successful message transmission. Based on these expectations, a linear consensus controller is designed through analyzing the transient properties of the Markov process such that the MASs can reach consensus almost surely for any initial distribution of packet dropouts. When it comes to the nonidentical packet dropouts where all the packets are independent and stochastic, a Markovian-lossy-channel based switching model (MLCBS model) is proposed. Based on the MLCBS model, we also propose an easy-to-implement linear consensus controller such that the MASs with nonidentical packet dropouts can achieve consensus almost surely. Finally, the theoretical results are illustrated by simulation examples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the circular motion of a group of n (n ≥ 2) nonholonomic robots over time-varying communication networks. We aim to achieve a balanced circular motion centered at a location determined by each robot under the assumption that the global ranking of any robot is unknown. A back-stepping based controller is firstly designed to make all the robots rotate around a common center, the position of which is obtained through executing a consensus algorithm by each robot. Then, the maximum and minimum consensus algorithm and a distributed modified ordinal ranking algorithm are applied to set the rotation radius, angular velocity, and orientation parameters in a distributed manner such that all the robots can uniformly space on the common circle. At last, the effectiveness of the proposed algorithms is illustrated through a simulation example. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Black Phosphorus The “Tao Wu” is a fierce beast in Chinese legend, which here is symbolizing tumors. When it encounters black phosphorus, it transforms into a cat. This is analogous to how black phosphorus can effectively reverse the drug resistance of tumors and be better killed by anti‐tumor medications. This work is found in article 2301324by Xianbin Zhang, Peng Gong, and co‐workers.

ABO-incompatible (ABO-i) living-donor liver transplantation (LDLT) is performed if an ABO-compatible graft cannot be obtained. However, a perfect desensitization protocol has not been established worldwide, especially for simultaneous ABO-i LDLT and splenectomy. We herein report two cases of ABO-i LDLT. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first case report of ABO-i LDLT in an adult patient in China. Splenectomy and T-cell-targeted immunosuppression (basiliximab) was used to overcome the blood group barrier in these recipients. The patients had good graft function without signs of antibody-mediated rejection throughout the 12-month follow-up. Thus, ABO-i LDLT with splenectomy is undoubtedly life-saving when an ABO-compatible graft cannot be obtained for patients in critical condition.

We describe a scalable method for preparing an aminopyrazole building block using copper-catalyzed amidation with acetamide as an ammonia surrogate. This procedure provides an alternative to the standard nitration/reduction sequence and avoids energetic intermediates, specialized hydrogenation equipment, and potentially genotoxic impurities that arise from nitro reduction. The chemistry has been successfully scaled to produce >50 kg of the target compound and demonstrate the viability of this alternative route.