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To investigate the relationship between serum phospholipid omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (ω-3 PUFAs) and insulin resistance (IR) in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).51 patients with T2DM and NAFLD (T2DM+NAFLD group), 50 with T2DM alone (T2DM group), 45 with NAFLD alone (NAFLD group), and 42 healthy control subjects (NC group) were studied. Serum ω-3 PUFA profiles were analyzed by gas chromatography, and alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), γ-glutamyltransferase (GGT), and serum lipid concentrations were measured. Insulin resistance was assessed by the homeostasis model assessment method (HOMA-IR).HOMA-IR levels were higher in the T2DM+NAFLD group than in the T2DM, NAFLD and NC groups (p0.05), as were ALT, AST, GGT, total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), and triglyceride (TG) concentrations (p0.05). Conversely, serum ω-3 PUFA levels were significantly lower in the T2DM+NAFLD group than in the other groups (p0.05). The ω-3 PUFA level was negatively correlated with HOMA-IR, TC, LDL-C and TG.Serum phospholipid ω-3 PUFA levels were significantly decreased in patients with T2DM and NAFLD, and were negatively related with insulin resistance. Thus, reduced ω-3 PUFAs may play an important role in the development of T2DM and NAFLD.

In the absence of template and surfactant, hierarchical nanostructured boehmite was synthesized via a simple solvothermal route using aluminum nitrate as aluminum source and isopropanol–toluene mixture as solvent. The crystal structures, morphologies and textural properties of products were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and N 2 adsorption–desorption technique. The as-obtained hierarchical nanostructures consist of nanosheets keeping Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) specific surface area and pore volume of ca. 264.7 m 2 /g and 1.2 cm 3 /g, respectively. The experimental results show that the longer reaction time and the lower reaction temperature are unfavorable to the formation of hierarchical nanostructures. Moreover, the properties of solvent have important influence on the morphology of product. The possible formation mechanism of boehmite hierarchical nanostructures was proposed and discussed.

A B S T R A C T Through exploring the reaction parameters during the synthesis of the AACH, rod-like ammonium aluminium carbonate hydroxide (AACH) with high crystallinity has been successfully prepared via a facile hydrothermal method. The synthesis parameters like time, the molar ratio of NH4HCO3/Al and the properties of starting materials were systematically investigated. The structure was characterized using X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), IR and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The experimental results display that the obtained g-Al2O3 materials possess meso/ macroporosity and large pore volume, which are mainly attributed to the removal of gas molecules during the decomposition of AACH. Moreover, using the rod-like AACH as precursor, g-Al2O3 nanorods were obtained via a low-temperature thermal decomposition method.

Activin, a member of the TGF-beta superfamily, inhibits the proliferation of breast cancer cells. Activin interacts with its type I and type II receptors to induce phosphorylation of intracellular signaling molecules known as Smads. Previous studies showed that mouse ARIP2 can reduce activin signaling by interacting with activin type II receptors (ActRIIs); however, the activity of ARIP2 in breast cancer is still unclear. In this study, we used RT-PCR to obtain a human homologue of mouse ARIP2, human activin receptor-interacting protein 2 (hARIP2). Like murine ARIP2, hARIP2 has a PDZ domain in its NH2-terminal region and can interact specifically with ActRIIs. Overexpression of hARIP2 reduced activin-induced transcriptional activity and enhanced cell proliferation and colony formation in human breast adenocarcinoma MCF-7 cells and MDA-MB-231 cells. However, down-regulation of hARIP2 expression by RNAi enhanced activin-induced transcriptional activity and reduced cell proliferation and colony formation. Immunohistochemistry revealed that hARIP2 was expressed more frequently and much more intensely in malignant breast tissues such as simple carcinoma, invasive ductal carcinoma and mucinous adenocarcinoma than in benign hyperplasia or fibroadenoma cases. These results suggest that hARIP2 is a putative growth-promoting factor involved in breast tumorigenesis and tumor development.