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lncRNAs, a group of eukaryotic cell genome-encoded transcripts, have been demonstrated to exert a notable impact on tumorigenesis. LINC01535, belonging to the lncRNA family, was reported to have an aberrant expression in certain types of cancers and thus affect cancer progression. Nevertheless, the expression pattern and potential roles of LINC01535 in clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) remain to be elucidated. Here, LINC01535 expression was detected in ccRCC by RT-qPCR, cell proliferation by CCK-8 assays, and invasion by transwell assays. Besides, effects of LINC01535 on in vivo tumor growth were investigated by xenograft tumor models. The miR-146b-5p/LINC01535/TRIM2 interaction was evaluated via luciferase reporter assays. This study showed downregulation of LINC01535 in ccRCC. Moreover, LINC01535 upregulation attenuated in vitro ccRCC development and hindered in vivo tumor growth. Furthermore, LINC01535 sponged miR-146b-5p which had a negative correlation with LINC01535, and TRIM2 was a direct target of miR-146b-5p and mediated by LINC01535. Mechanically, LINC01535/miR-146b-5p/TRIM2 axis affected ccRCC progression by mediating the PI3K/Akt signaling. All in all, our observations suggest the LINC01535/miR-146b-5p/TRIM2 axis as a crucial role in ccRCC.

The members of the Nedd4-like E3 family participate in various biological processes. However, their role in clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) is not clear. This study systematically analyzed the Nedd4-like E3 family members in ccRCC data sets from multiple publicly available databases. NEDD4L was identified as the only NEDD4 family member differentially expressed in ccRCC compared with normal samples. Bioinformatics tools were used to characterize the function of NEDD4L in ccRCC. It indicated that NEDD4L might regulate cellular energy metabolism by co-expression analysis, and subsequent gene ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analysis. A prognostic model developed by the LASSO Cox regression method showed a relatively good predictive value in training and testing data sets. The result revealed that NEDD4L was associated with biosynthesis and metabolism of ccRCC. Since NEDD4L is downregulated and dysregulation of metabolism is involved in tumor progression, NEDD4L might be a potential therapeutic target in ccRCC.

To assess the feasibility, safety, and efficiency of bilateral inguinal lymphadenectomy using simultaneous double laparoscopies for penile cancer.We reviewed retrospectively the records of 65 patients who underwent inguinal lymph nodes dissection (ILND) for penile cancer from January 2012 to May 2019. Treatments included open ILND (OILND, 19 patients), video-endoscopic inguinal lymphadenectomy (VEIL) using single laparoscopy (S-VEIL, 24 patients), and VEIL using double laparoscopies (D-VEIL, 22 patients). We evaluated the peri-operative and short-term oncological outcomes of the three groups.The mean operative time of D-VEIL (105.91 ± 10.87 minutes) was significantly shorter than the other two groups, OILND shorter than S-VEIL (160.47 ± 13.74 minutes, 191.67 ± 17.80 minutes, respectively) (P0.001). Intraoperative blood loss in the S-VEIL and D-VEIL groups were 53.54 ± 8.78 and 48.41 ± 13.22 ml, respectively; they were significantly lower than that of the OILND group (99.74 ± 9.64 ml; P0.001). The numbers of unilateral and total lymph nodes harvested were similar in all groups. The complication rates in the S-VEIL group (4.2%) and the D-VEIL group (4.5%) were significantly lower than that in the OILND group (63.2%; P0.001). Compared with open surgery (13.53 ± 1.74 days for hospitalization; 11.37 ± 1.92 days for the left side of drain, 11.95 ± 1.84 days for the right side), the two VEIL groups had significantly shorter drainage tube residence time (7.42 ± 2.02 and 7.32 ± 1.52 days, respectively for the left side; 7.63 ± 1.81 and 7.27 ± 1.58 days, respectively for the right side), shorter postoperative hospitalization (9.46 ± 1.64 and 9.00 ± 1.83 days, respectively) (P0.001). There were no statistically significant differences in rates of regional recurrence and short-term survival among the three groups.Bilateral inguinal lymphadenectomy using double laparoscopies simultaneously can provide adequate oncological outcomes safely and efficiently, and carry significantly lower morbidity than OILND, at a median follow-up of 33.5 months. It is a more time-saving surgical approach for penile cancer patients who need bilateral ILND.

The multi-hole steam ejection system is widely applied in practical engineering applications, whereas the heat transfer mechanisms in unstable condensation conditions are not very clear yet. In this study, the separate-effect mechanism tests of single/double-hole sparger, and 88-hole scaled ADS sparger tests are carried out to investigate the unstable steam spraying condensation performances. The experimental results indicate that for the multi-hole steam unstable condensation process, the plumes expand and contract in high frequency, and the instantaneous heat transfer coefficients are estimated quantitatively. The multi-hole steam condensation regimes are significantly determined by the steam mass flow flux and water sub-cooling degree, then the double-hole condensation regimes map is proposed based on the key inputting parameters. Moreover, the simplified lumped condensation model for the multi-hole condensation process is developed, in which the upper and lower heat transfer coefficient values limitations are evaluated to be 4.3–5.9 MW/(m2 °C) and 0.89–0.94 MW/(m2 °C), respectively. The ADS 1–3 scaled 88-hole steam condensation results further validate the appropriation of the lumped condensation model, with the heat transfer coefficients estimated as 0.17–2.9 MW/(m2 °C).

Accumulating evidence reports that Capn4 plays an important role in the development and progression of various malignant cancers. However, whether Capn4 is involved in prostate cancer remains unclear. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the expression, biological function and regulatory mechanism of Capn4 in prostate cancer. Herein, we found that Capn4 was highly expressed in prostate cancer cell lines compared with normal prostate cells. Capn4 gene silencing markedly suppressed the growth, invasion and Wnt/β-catenin signaling of prostate cancer cells, whereas Capn4 overexpression showed an oncogenic effect. Moreover, silencing of β-catenin significantly blocked the oncogenic effect of Capn4 overexpression. Bioinformatics analysis predicted that Capn4 was a potential target gene of microRNA-520b (miR-520b), which has been reported as a tumor suppressive miRNA in various cancers. The dual-luciferase reporter assay confirmed that miR-520b directly bound to the 3'-untranslated region of Capn4. Real-time quantitative PCR and Western blot analysis showed that miR-520b negatively regulated Capn4 expression in prostate cancer cells in vitro. Furthermore, we found that miR-520b was significantly downregulated in prostate cancer cell lines and tissues. In addition, miR-520b expression was inversely correlated with Capn4 expression in prostate cancer clinical specimens. Overexpression of miR-520b mimicked the tumor suppressive effect of Capn4 siRNA, whereas inhibition of miR-520b had an oncogenic effect. Restoration of Capn4 significantly blocked the antitumor effect of miR-520b in prostate cancer cells. Overall, our findings demonstrate an oncogenic role of Capn4 in prostate cancer and show that its expression is epigenetically regulated by miR-520b. Our results reveal that suppression of Capn4 by miR-520b inhibits the growth and invasion of prostate cancer cells associated with downregulated Wnt/β-catenin signaling, indicating an important role of the miR-520b/Capn4/Wnt/β-catenin regulation axis in the molecular pathogenesis of prostate cancer. Our study suggests that miR-520b and Capn4 may represent potential and novel therapeutic targets for prostate cancer.

Most of the old oilfields in China have entered the stage of ultra-high water cut development. In order to guide drilling wells and further exploitation, it is necessary to describe the remaining oil distribution at present accurately and quantitatively. At the same time, the focus of work should be shifted to the study of remaining oil distribution between wells. For the oilfields with wide area, large thickness, long history of production and many injection production wells, the calculation of numerical simulation is too large and the grid precision is coarse. Although the traditional modeling method of mixing new and old wells can ensure the grid precision, it cannot represent the current situation of the reservoir and play a guiding role in production, so it needs a new way, ensures the plane and vertical precision of the model (accuracy 10×10×0.5m), and through certain constraints, can accurately describe the current plane and vertical oil saturation distribution law of the oilfield, which provides a new direction for further exploitation of the oilfield.

We in this study investigated the role of lncRNA NR2F2-AS1 in prostate carcinoma (PC). We showed that NR2F2-AS1 was upregulated in PC and positively correlated with CDK4. In PC cells, NR2F2-AS1 overexpression led to upregulated, while NR2F2-AS1 siRNA silencing led to downregulated CDK4. Follow-up study revealed that high levels of NR2F2-AS1 and CDK4 in PC tissues were closely correlated with the poor survival of PC patients. Cell proliferation data showed that NR2F2-AS1 overexpression led to increased, while NR2F2-AS1 siRNA silencing led to proliferation rate of PC cells. Moreover, NR2F2-AS1 also showed positive effects on cell cycle progression. In addition, CDK4 overexpression reduced the effects of NR2F2-AS1 siRNA silencing. Therefore, NR2F2-AS1 positively regulates CDK4 to promote cancer cell proliferation in PC.

The necrobiome is the postmortem community that includes bacteria, fungi, arthropods, and other cadaver-associated organisms. It has been suggested as biological evidence for forensic investigation. Fungi form distinctive mildew spots in colonizing decomposing bodies, converting them into moldy cadavers. However, the postmortem fungal community consists of more than these visible species. Characterizing the succession pattern of the fungal community during decomposition is valuable not only for understanding the ecosystem composition of the cadaver decomposition islands but also for contributing to forensic investigations. In the present study, the fungal composition of pig cadavers and succession patterns during decomposition were investigated with high-throughput sequencing. The succession patterns were easier to discern in outdoor cadavers, compared with those that were placed indoors. The metabarcoding approach revealed trends linking particular fungal taxa with specific postmortem intervals (PMIs). Dominant species increased notably in cadavers and soil. Furthermore, the succession of the soil community was driven by the cadaver decomposition. Significant mycoflora differences were observed between environmental and cadaveric soil. The results obtained suggested that postputrefaction mycoflora have considerable potential for PMI estimation, particularly in cases that involve heavily decomposed bodies. In addition, the diversity of fungal communities revealed by the metabarcoding approach allowed us to discriminate the sites of cadaver decomposition, implying that postputrefaction mycoflora may be helpful in identifying the environment in which a cadaver has been placed, or the original location from which a cadaver has been moved. Our results provide an important step towards developing fungal evidence for use in forensic science and add to the growing body of work on postmortem microbial communities.

The Kongdian Oilfield is located in eastern China. More than 30 years have passed since the oil field was discovered in 1979. The majority of the oil is produced from reservoirs of the Guantao Formation (Miocene). A detailed description and interpretation of core, well-logging and 3-D seismic stratal slices data was carried out to analyze sedimentological characteristics of the Guantao Formation and two fluvial styles have been identified encompassing braided channel and meandering channel. Seven main facies associations were defined: (i) upward-fining channel, (ii) braided channel with mid-channel bar, (iii) meandering channel with point bar, (iv) levee, (v) floodplain, (vi) minor channel, (vii) swamp. Vertical changes in fluvial styles of the Guantao Formation were recognized by variations in preserved thickness, channels stacking pattern, regional paleoflow directions, and channel/floodplain ratios. The fluvial succession is 50–70 m thick in the lower Guantao Formation, composed of braided channels and high channel/floodplain ratio. The alluvial succession is 60 m in thickness in the upper Guantao Formation, the dominant fluvial styles change to meandering channels and channel/floodplain ratio reduces. The main factor that may have affected the fluvial style is the base-level changes. With the rise of the base level the fluvial style is believed to have changed from braided channels to meandering channels.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have emerged as important regulators in cancer that are implicated in regulation of various cellular processes. miR-382 has been proposed as a tumor suppressor by several recent studies. However, the function of miR-382 in prostate cancer remains unknown. In this study, we aimed to investigate the potential function of miR-382 in prostate cancer. We found that miR-382 was significantly decreased in prostate cancer specimens and cancer cell lines. The overexpression of miR-382 in prostate cancer cells markedly inhibited cell proliferation, migration, and invasion. In contrast, miR-382 suppression exhibited an opposite effect. Target analysis predicted that chicken ovalbumin upstream promoter transcription factor II (COUP‑TFII) was a direct target of miR-382. This prediction was experimentally confirmed by dual-luciferase reporter assay, real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction, and western blot analysis. Our results further demonstrated that miR-382 inhibited the downstream genes of COUP‑TFII, including Snail and matrix metalloproteinase 2 (MMP2). Moreover, the restoration of COUP‑TFII expression significantly blocked the inhibitory effect of miR-382 on cell proliferation, migration, and invasion, and Snail expression. Taken together, this study suggests that miR-382 inhibits prostate cancer cell proliferation and metastasis through inhibiting COUP‑TFII, representing an important new mechanism for understanding prostate cancer pathogenesis and providing a novel therapeutic candidate target for prostate cancer therapy.

The Han population accounts for the majority of the Chinese population. Hunan is a large province located at 108°47′–114°15′ E and 30°08′–24°38′ N in Southern China, specifically in the area in the...

The multi-hole spargers are widely used to discharge the high temperature and high pressure steam for depressurization in most engineering applications due to its high efficiency in heat and mass transfer. However, the steam condensation microscopic mechanisms are very complicated, especially for the multi-hole conditions. In this study, the double-hole spraying steam direct contact condensation (DCC) mechanism and heat transfer characteristics are researched based on the scaled IRWST & ADS experimental facility. The double-hole condensation flow regimes are distinguished on the condensation flow patterns diagram, and the steam condensation analytical models are then developed with characteristic parameters including L, Rex, Rx, δ etc. to quantitatively describe the double-hole condensation features. New empirical correlation for predicting the double-hole steam penetration length L is proposed. Moreover, special temperature distributions along both the steam plumes centerline and middle line reflect the interactions between the adjacent steam plumes, especially for the ellipsoidal plume pattern. In essential, the specific temperature variations reflect the equilibrium and transformation between the thermal dynamic energy and kinetic energy. Finally, the heat transfer coefficients for the double-hole steam condensation are calculated based on the steam plume analytical models. The analysis indicates that the double-hole steam condensation heat transfer coefficients are in same order of magnitude with the single-hole stable condensation case, whereas the lower boundary of heat transfer coefficients deceases to some extent. It provides experimental references for the operation and design of the actual industrial steam condensation applications.

The species identification of forensically important sarcophagid flies (Diptera: Sarcophagidae) is very difficult and requires strong taxonomic expertise. More and more methods according to the mitochondrial DNA (MtDNA) and nuclear fragments are raised, but the current methods of molecular identification have some defects, such as insufficient discrimination power, high cost, time-consuming and so on. In this study, the CO II sequences of sarcophagid flies were analyzed to establish the SNP-based genotyping system for the first time. Using this system by PSQ, we can identify the species of forensically important Sarcophgid flies with high discrimination power at a low cost in the short time. The SNPs marker system shows a new idea for genetic identification of forensic insects.

Body provides a home for diverse commensal microbiota. Microorganisms such as fungi have major roles in this microbial community stability. Postputrefaction fungi have been recorded in association with decomposed mammalian cadavers in disparate regions. The succession and diversity of these fungi are reviewed with a view to their potential as a forensic tool. The researches of mycology would be an interface to forensic investigation and may provide a means to estimate PMI within serious decomposition. To evaluate the use of succession and diversity of fungi species for PMI estimation, we investigate the Internal Transcribed Spacer (ITS) of fungi community on 3 points of time of rat carcasses conducted by Illumina MiSeq platform. Through high-throughput sequencing, several fungi genus such as Aspergillus , Ophiocordyceps are found in community succession. The community structure of each sample significantly differs in taxon richness and relative abundance patterns within decomposition progress. The succession and diversity of fungi community in corpse decomposition revealed by the indicator of ITS would be a potential forensic tool for PMI estimation.

Decomposition is a complex process involving the interaction of both biotic and abiotic factors. Microbes play a critical role in the process of carrion decomposition. In this study, we analysed bacterial communities from live rats and rat remains decomposed under natural conditions, or excluding sarcosaphagous insect interference, in China using Illumina MiSeq sequencing of 16S rRNA gene amplicons. A total of 1,394,842 high-quality sequences and 1,938 singleton operational taxonomic units were obtained. Bacterial communities showed notable variation in relative abundance and became more similar to each other across body sites during the decomposition process. As decomposition progressed, Proteobacteria (mostly Gammaproteobacteria) became the predominant phylum in both the buccal cavity and rectum, while Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes in the mouth and rectum, respectively, gradually decreased. In particular, the arrival and oviposition of sarcosaphagous insects had no obvious influence on bacterial taxa composition, but accelerated the loss of biomass. In contrast to the rectum, the microbial community structure in the buccal cavity of live rats differed considerably from that of rats immediately after death. Although this research indicates that bacterial communities can be used as a “microbial clock” for the estimation of post-mortem interval, further work is required to better understand this concept.

The Brill transition of polyamide 66 was investigated by temperature-dependent infrared spectroscopy combined with moving-window two-dimensional (MW2D) correlation spectroscopy. The temperature range of the Brill transition determined by MW2D correlation spectroscopy was 90–170 °C. We employed generalized 2D correlation spectroscopy to study the sequential order of polyamide 66 chains with linear increment of temperature. The movement of the methylene segments near to NH is earlier than those on the C O sides. At the same time, the methylene which is close to NH varies before the inner methylene. Three kinds of NH groups in polyamide 66 were found. The sequential order of their motions is as follows. The free hydrogen-bonded NH groups change first, and then the disordered hydrogen-bonded NH groups. Finally, the ordered hydrogen-bonded NH groups start to change. We also found that the changes of the ordered hydrogen-bonded NH groups follow with the methylene groups.

The estimation of postmortem interval (PMI) is one of the most difficult tasks in forensic practice, especially in putrefied bodies. After death, organisms are decomposed by a variety of enzymes and microorganisms. To investigate the succession of bacterial community in the decomposition process, rat remains were placed outside to decompose under natural conditions in Changsha city, China. Bacterial communities from two regions (buccal cavity and rectum) were sampled when experiment animals were alive, soon after they died and at various time span after death. Bacterial samples were analyzed by high throughput metagenomic sequencing of 16S rRNA gene conducted on an Illumina MiSeq platform. Our data showed that several bacteria genera were potentially useful for estimating the PMI, such as Streptococcus , Ignatzschineria , Acinetobacter , Aggregatibacter , Prevotella and Proteus . There were significant bacterial community structure differences in taxon richness and relative abundance patterns through the decomposition process and across different body sites. As decomposition progressed, a negative linear relationship for taxon richness was found along with a shift from aerobic bacteria to anaerobic bacteria. We first reported the bacterial biodiversity in the decomposition process in Chinese terrestrial scenarios and climatic conditions. Bacteria have a remarkable potential for estimate the PMI and next generation sequencing is a novel method to support the application of bacteria in forensic science.