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Interfacial solar evaporators (ISEs) for seawater desalination have garnered enormous attention in recent decades due to global water scarcity. Despite the progress in the energy conversion efficiency and production rate of ISE, the poor portability of large-area ISE during transportation as well as the clogging of water transport pathways by precipitated salts during operation remain grand challenges for its fielded applications. Here, we designed an ISE with high energy conversion efficiency and shape morphing capability by integrating carbon nanotube (CNT) fillers with a light-responsive shape memory polymer (SMP, cross-linked polycyclooctene (cPCO)). Utilizing the shape memory effect, our ISE can be folded to an origami with 1/9 of its original size to save space for transportation and allow for on-demand unfolding upon sunlight irradiation when deployed in service. In addition, the ISE is equipped with a real-time clogging monitoring function by measuring the capacitance of the electric double layer (EDL) formed at the evaporator/seawater nanointerface. Due to its good energy conversion efficiency, high portability, and clogging monitoring capability, we envisage our ISE as a promising selection in solar evaporation technologies.

Piezoelectric catalysis (piezocatalysis) is a physical/chemical process that utilizes piezoelectric potential for accelerating chemical reactions, in which ubiquitous mechanical energies in nature are used for various catalysis applications, e.g., treating organic water pollutants. Despite the high efficiency achieved by piezocatalytic powders, the particles used tend to diffuse in water systems and are hard to be separated, thus causing secondary pollution. Herein, a free‐standing piezocatalytic foam is designed and fabricated, which is composed of BaTiO3 nanoparticles embedded in the PVDF scaffold. The as‐prepared PVDF–BaTiO3 composite foam demonstrates outstanding piezocatalytic efficiency in removing aqueous organics among state‐of‐the‐art integral piezocatalytic platforms, which lie in the synergy of piezoelectric materials and abundant interconnected pores within the foam. Significantly, PVDF–BaTiO3 foam is further applied for purifying natural water samples, by which the permanganate index of the water sample reduces by nearly 30% after 2 h of treatment. In addition, as a monolithic platform, PVDF–BaTiO3 foam is easy to be collected, with high reuse stability and applicability for treating various pollutants, resulting in dominant advantages over powder‐based systems for practical high‐flux wastewater treatment. Herein, a piezocatalytic platform is provided for the effective degradation of organic pollutants in water, with minimal environmental side effects.

The hypoxic microenvironment is beneficial to the metastasis but not to the proliferation of cancer cells. However, the mechanisms regarding to hypoxia differentially regulating cancer metastasis and proliferation are largely unknown. In this study, we revealed that hypoxia induced the expression of LIN28A at mRNA level but segregated LIN28A mRNAs in the P-bodies and thus inhibits the production of LIN28A protein. This unexpected finding suggests that there may be non-coding role for LIN28A mRNA in the progression of colon cancer. We further showed that the non-coding LIN28A mRNA promotes the metastasis but not proliferation of colon cancer cells in vitro and in vivo. Mechanistically, we revealed that methionyl aminopeptidase 2 (METAP2) is one of the up-regulated metastasis regulators upon over-expression of non-coding LIN28A identified by mass spectrum, and confirmed that it is non-coding LIN28A mRNA instead of LIN28A protein promotes the expression of METAP2. Moreover, we demonstrated that knockdown of DICER abolished the promotional effects of non-coding LIN28A on the metastasis and METAP2 expression. Conclusively, we showed that hypoxia induces the production of LIN28A mRNAs but segregated them into the P-bodies together with miRNAs targeting both LIN28A and METAP2, and then promotes the metastasis by positively regulating the expression of METAP2. This study uncovered a distinctive role of hypoxia in manipulating the metastasis and proliferation by differently regulating the expression of LIN28A at mRNA and protein level.

Gastric cancer (GC), a malignant tumor originating from the epithelium of the gastric mucosa, has been endangering human health for many years. The current standard surgical resection is not ideal for advanced gastric cancer. Therefore, it is urgent to find new prognostic indicators as well as drug targets. In our study, referring to clinicopathological characteristics of GC, we found that raftlin lipid raft linker 1 (RFTN1) had high expression in primary GC tissues. Subsequently, we showed that knockdown of RFTN1 inhibited GC cell proliferation and induced cell cycle arrest in G0/G1 phase, and promoted GC cell apoptosis. Conversely, overexpression of RFTN1 promoted GC cell proliferation and G0/G1 to S phase transition, and inhibited apoptosis. Furthermore, cell derived xenograft experiments showed that knockdown of RFTN1 inhibited GC cell growth in vivo. Notably, our experimental data demonstrated that knockdown of RFTN1 could inhibit the AKT signaling pathway and activate p38 signaling pathway, whereas overexpression of RFTN1 did the opposite. Moreover, the effects caused by knockdown of RFTN1 in GC cells could be rescued by using SC79 (an AKT activator). In conclusion, these results indicated that RFTN1 plays an oncogenic role in GC, and might act as a prospective prognostic indicator or therapeutic target for GC patients.

In vivo and real-time analysis could reflect a more real biological state, which was of great significance to the study of complex life processes. In this work, we constructed an online extraction electrospray ionization (OE-ESI) ion source as the interface of microdialysis and mass spectrometry, which realized real-time analysis of metabolites in vivo without sample pretreatment process. The ion source was consisted of three coaxial capillaries, and the parameters of the ion source were optimized. The OE-ESI ion source could simultaneously extract, desalt and ionize the analyte, successfully perform MS analysis of analyte in high salt system, and overcome the ion suppression caused by salt ion. Compared with commercial ESI MS, the OE-ESI ion source had excellent salt tolerance and stability. MD-OE-ESI MS realized the real-time MS detection of metabolites in the living body, avoiding the complex desalting process. In the rat liver ischemia-reperfusion model, a total of 24 metabolites, including glucose, glutamate, glutamine, etc., were monitored in real time mode, and their concentrations had varying degrees of change during the experimental process compared with the control group. This platform, we believed, would be helpful for real-time monitoring of biological metabolites in vivo, and had great application prospects to study physiological processes.

At present, conventional microdialysis (MD) techniques cannot efficiently sample lipids in vivo, possibly due to the high mass transfer resistance and/or the serious adsorption of lipids onto the semi-permeable membrane of a MD probe. The in vivo monitoring of lipids could be of great significance for the study of disease development and mechanisms. In this work, an open-flow microperfusion (OFM) probe was fabricated, and the conditions for sampling lipids via OFM were optimized. Using OFM, the recovery of lipid standards was improved to more than 34.7%. OFM is used for the in vivo sampling of lipids in mouse liver tissue with fibrosis, and it is then combined with mass spectrometry (MS) to perform lipidomic analysis. 156 kinds of lipids were identified in the dialysate collected via OFM, and it was found that the phospholipid levels, including PC, PE, and SM, were significantly higher in a liver suffering from fibrosis. For the first time, OFM combined with MS to sample and analyze lipids has provided a promising platform for in vivo lipidomic studies.

Full aperture rapid planar polishing (RPP) equipment has been widely used in the field of optical processing, which requires high precision and stability of the polishing shaft. With high stability and sustainability of precision, the aerostatic bearing is the potential technology for RPP machine. To meet the needs of RPP machine, Fluent was used to analyze the load-bearing characteristics of high-precision aerostatic bearing. Based on the simulated results, the parameter optimization design for porous aerostatic bearing was conducted to get better load-bearing characteristics, including bearing capacity, static stiffness and gas consumption. The influence of air supply pressure, porous material thickness and film thickness on bearing characteristics were studied, and the simulation analysis was performed to get the optimal design parameters for aerostatic bearing. The simulated results show that the designed high-precision aerostatic bearing can satisfy the requirements of RPP machine.

With the development of the modern state of optical engineering, large diameter (400×400 mm) of optical element processing and its whole surface shape accuracy is 0.1 micron (λ/ 6). It's on special crystal material single point diamond fly knife cutting ultra-precision machine tools put forward higher request, the bed is equipped with stable, the lathe bed equipment for the foundation design, and set the parts of the material. We think about the precision analysis of the external influencing factors of equipment, and design the model of equipment bed. In the bed model, the static simulation analysis is made under the two schemes of basic design and optimized reinforcement, respectively. And we compared the necessary design model and optimized design model. The total deformation was 0.409 microns for bed base, 0.268 microns for oblique rib, and 0.312 microns for circular rib. And we analyzed the deformation in X, Y and Z directions.

Under the background of high precision machining requirements for planar optical elements, the overall structure design of four-axis special milling equipment was made, and the basic materials of equipment components were set. The precision distribution of the moving parts of the equipment is carried out for the traction of the plane optical element with high precision and high efficiency machining, so the equipment model is designed. The static simulation analysis was carried out in the two limit states of the equipment model, the basic design model and the optimal design model were compared. In the intermediate processing state, the deformation of the processing point and the driving part of the basic design model was optimized from 0.298 micron and 0.20 micron to 0.172 micron and 0.155 micron of the optimal design model respectively. The deformation of the processing point and the transmission part of the basic design model was optimized from 0.301 micron and 0.197 micron to 0.197 micron and 0.201 micron of the optimal design model, respectively.

Haloxylon ammodendron, a typical xerophyte, tolerates various abiotic stresses and is widely distributed in desert areas. Two PGPR strains, Bacillus sp. WM13-24 and Pseudomonas sp. M30-35, were previously isolated from the rhizosphere of H. ammodendron in Tengger Desert, Gansu province, northwest China. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of M30-35 and WM13-24 in drought stress alleviation of ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.). Under normal condition, both M30-35 and WM13-24 increased shoot fresh and dry weight, chlorophyll content, total nitrogen and phosphorus contents and altered phytohormone distribution compared to control. Moreover, after 7 days of drought stress, WM13–24 and M30-35 enhanced photosynthetic capacity, relative water content, the activities of catalase (CAT) and peroxidase (POD) and proline content, resulted in decreased malondialdehyde (MDA) content, relative membrane permeability (RMP) and H2O2 accumulation; interestingly, the two strains decreased ABA content in leaves. This study demonstrated that the two PGPR strains promoted ryegrass growth and root development via regulating plant hormone distribution and enhanced drought tolerance of ryegrass through improving the activities of antioxidant enzymes, regulating ABA signaling and maintaining plant growth. Our results indicated that PGPR strains from rhizosphere of the desert plant species could be considered as promising bioinoculants for grass plants.

As the key technology of connected intelligence, the importance of artificial intelligence has increased rapidly. It is worth to note that the most critical challenge is the secure data sharing which is stored in different area and belonged to different organization. With this in mind, a hashgraph based federated learning for secure data sharing model is proposed to protect user privacy and detect the dishonest model provider. In terms of technologies, detection of the local model is added to the hashgraph consensus processing, and only if the supermajority (more than 2/3) of the participants agree, the local model could be adopted. Therefore, the accuracy and convergence rate of the federated learning both increased largely. On the other hand, the asynchronous working mode of hashgraph can greatly reduce network overload. Simulation results show that the hashgraph based federated learning enables the data sharing more secure and reliable.

This study investigated the effect of methyl-CpG-binding protein 2 (MeCP2) on miRNA transcription. Our results of miRNA chip assay and ChIP-seq showed that MeCP2 inhibited the expressions of numerous miRNAs by binding to their upstream elements, including not only the promoter but also the distal enhancer. Among the affected miRNAs, miR-22 was identified to remarkably suppress gastric cancer (GC) cell proliferation, arrest G1–S cell cycle transition, and induce cell apoptosis by targeting MeCP2, MTHFD2, and MTHFR. Understanding GC metabolism characteristics is the key to developing novel therapies that target GC metabolic pathways. Our study revealed that the metabolic profiles in GC tissues were altered. SAM (S-adenosylmethionine), a universal methyl donor for histone and DNA methylation, which is specifically involved in the epigenetic maintenance of cancer cells, was found increased. The production of SAM is promoted by the folate cycle. Knockdown of MTHFD2 and MTHFR, two key enzymes in folate metabolism and methyl donor SAM production, significantly suppressed GC cell proliferation. MiR-22 overexpression reduced the level of endogenous SAM by suppressing MTHFD2 and MTHFR, inducing P16, PTEN, and RASSF1A hypomethylation. In conclusion, our study suggests that miR-22 was inhibited by MeCP2, resulting in deficiency of endogenous SAM, and ultimately leading to tumor suppressor dysregulation.

Background: Methyl-CpG-binding protein 2 (MECP2), an epigenetic regulatory factor, promotes the carcinogenesis and progression of a number of cancers. However, its role in the migration and invasion of gastric cancer (GC) as well as the underlying molecular mechanisms remain unclear.Methods: Immunohistochemistry (IHC), Western blot, and quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) were performed to measure the expressions of MECP2, FBXW7, c-Myc, mTOR and Notch1 in GC tissues and cell lines, respectively. The effects of MECP2 silencing and overexpression on GC cell migration and invasion were detected by wound healing assay and transwell assay. The mechanisms of MECP2-mediated migration and invasion were further investigated using chromatin immunoprecipitation sequencing (ChIP-Seq) and luciferase reporter gene assay.Results: In this study, we found that MECP2 facilitated the migration and invasion of GC cells. Investigation of the molecular mechanism revealed that MECP2 restrained FBXW7 transcription in GC by binding to the methylated CpG sites of FBXW7’s promoter region. MECP2 expression was remarkably negatively correlated with the FBXW7 level in GC tissues. FBXW7 expression was significantly downregulated in GC tissues and cell lines, and low FBXW7 expression was correlated with the clinicopathologic features. FBXW7 repressed cell migration and invasion by regulating the Notch1/c-Myc/mTOR signaling pathways, and knockdown of FBXW7 reversed the effects of silencing MECP2. Moreover, MECP2 upregulated the Notch1/c-Myc/mTOR signaling pathways by inhibiting FBXW7 expression at the transcription level.Conclusion: This study demonstrates that MECP2 promotes migration and invasion of GC cells via modulating the Notch1/c-Myc/mTOR signaling pathways by suppressing FBXW7 transcription. The findings suggest that MECP2 may be a novel effective therapeutic target for GC patients.

The prediction of gas diffusion concentration has practical significance. Because the process simulation is based on complex mechanism, it will not be able to be calculated in real time. Moreover, the requirements of computational fluid dynamics on computers limit its application. This paper proposes the computational fluid dynamics simulation surrogate models based on the GA-BP neural network to predict the concentration after aerosol dispersion. Considering the relevant influence parameters of time, space coordinates and concentration, two different models of input and output variables are constructed. The results reveal that when the prediction object is affected by high-dimensional complex factors, the GA-BP neural network can generate accurate prediction results. Compared with the traditional BP neural network, the prediction accuracies can be improved by 40.65% and 77.61%, respectively, which exhibits excellent performance for data prediction. The method proposed in this paper successfully verifies the computational fluid dynamics simulation of the aerosol dispersion processes, and the research has potential application value for environmental safety assessment.

Objectives HOXD3 is associated with progression of multiple types of cancer. This study aimed to identify the association of YY1 with HOXD3‐ITGA2 axis in the progression of hepatocellular carcinoma. Materials and Methods Bioinformatics assay was used to identify the effect of YY1, HOXD3 and ITGA2 expression in HCC tissues. The function of YY1 and HOXD3 in HCCs was determined by qRT‐PCR, MTT, apoptosis, Western blotting, colony formation, immunohistochemistry, and wound‐healing and transwell invasion assays. The relationship between YY1 and HOXD3 or HOXD3 and ITGA2 was explored by RNA‐Seq, ChIP‐PCR, dual luciferase reports and Pearson's assays. The interactions between YY1 and HDAC1 were determined by immunofluorescence microscopy and Co‐IP. Results Herein, we showed that the expression of YY1, HOXD3 and ITGA2 associated with the histologic and pathologic stages of HCC. Moreover, YY1, recruiting HDAC1, can directly target HOXD3 to regulate progression of HCCs. The relationship between YY1 and HOXD3 was unknown until uncovered by our present investigation. Furthermore, HOXD3 bound to promoter region of ITGA2 and up‐regulated the expression, thus activating the ERK1/2 signalling and inducing HCCs proliferation, metastasis and migration in the vitro and vivo. Conclusions Therefore, HOXD3, a target of YY1, facilitates HCC progression via activation of the ERK1/2 signalling by promoting ITGA2. This finding provides a new whole way to HCC therapy by serving YY1‐HOXD3‐ITGA2 regulatory axis as a potential therapeutic target for HCC therapy.

Methyl-CpG-binding protein 2 (MeCP2) facilitates the carcinogenesis and progression of several types of cancer. However, its role in breast cancer and the relevant molecular mechanism remain largely unclear. In this study, analysis of the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) data that MeCP2 expression was significantly upregulated in breast cancer tissues, and high MeCP2 expression was correlated with poor overall survival. Knockdown of MeCP2 inhibited breast cancer cell proliferation and G1–S cell cycle transition and migration as well as induced cell apoptosis in vitro. Moreover, MeCP2 knockdown suppressed cancer cell growth in vivo. Investigation of the molecular mechanism showed that MeCP2 repressed RPL11 and RPL5 transcription by binding to their promoter regions. TCGA data revealed significantly lower RPL11 and RPL5 expression in breast cancer tissues; additionally, overexpression of RPL11/RPL5 significantly suppressed breast cancer cell proliferation and G1–S cell cycle transition and induced apoptosis in vitro. Furthermore, RPL11 and RPL5 suppressed ubiquitination-mediated P53 degradation through direct binding to MDM2. This study demonstrates that MeCP2 promotes breast cancer cell proliferation and inhibits apoptosis through suppressing RPL11 and RPL5 transcription by binding to their promoter regions.

The new demands for energy storage systems have been placed with demands for flexible wearable electronics. Herein, rugby-like GeO₂ nanoparticles (NPs) have been directly grown on carbon cloth (GeO₂ NPs/CC) through a one-step hydrolysis process at room temperature, which can be used as a self-supporting flexible anode for lithium ion battery (LIBs). The rugby-like GeO₂ NPs/CC showed an improved lithium-storage performance with features of high reversible capacity ~2000 mA·h·g-1 even after 100 cycles and good cycling stability. Besides, its initial coulomb efficiency (79.1%) was also enhanced compared to that of some reported GeO₂-based materials.

In this work, three-dimensional (3D) TiO₂ nanotubes (NTs) on carbon cloth (CC) (TiO₂ NTs/CC) were synthesized by a method involving formation of a ZnO@TiO₂ nanorod (NRs) on CC (ZnO@TiO₂ NRs/CC) structure and a subsequent chemical etching process for ZnO NRs template. The 3D TiO₂ NTs/CC were applied as flexible anodes for sodium ion batteries (SIBs). The TiO₂ NTs/CC yielded high specific capacity and good cycling stability, superior to that of some reported TiO₂ nanocomposites. The TiO₂ NTs/CC delivered a reversible capacity of 260 mA·h·g-1 and 85.1% capacity retention over 150 cycles at current density of 0.25 C (1 C = 335 mA·g-1). It also exhibited high rate capacity of 200 mA·h·g-1 at 0.5 C. Even at a high rate of 1.0 C, the TiO₂ NTs/CC can still maintain a high capacity of 100 mA·h·g-1. Moreover, it was observed that the electrochemical performance for the TiO₂ NTs/CC was much better than that (150 mA·h·g-1 for up to 150 cycles) of a solid TiO₂ NRs/CC counterpart, which also demonstrated the capacity enhancement and good cycling stability.

Filtering capacitors with high energy densities are of critical importance in stabilizing the pulse signal of circuits that require the conversion of alternating current to direct current, which is however far from satisfactory at current stage due to lack of a reasonable design. Here, we report an ultrafast aqueous electrochemical capacitor based on highly conductive and continuously cross-linked poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrene sulfonate) nanomesh films fabricated using a rational morphology engineering strategy. The interpenetrating polymer network promoted an efficient electron transfer and provided smooth channels for ion transport while exposing a significant number of accessible interfacial area to electrolyte. In addition to the large phase angle of − 84° at 120 Hz, this polymer-based electrochemical capacitor exhibited an extremely high areal specific capacitance of 1087 μF cm−2 and areal specific energy density of 544 μF V2 cm−2, far superior to those of most reported aqueous filtering capacitors. Furthermore, it can efficiently smoothen the ripples generated when arbitrary alternating current waveforms were converted into straight signals over a wide frequency range of 1–10,000 Hz. Moreover, it was conveniently integrated with a rotating disk triboelectric nanogenerator for ripple filtering and pulse energy smoothing. This work brings a view for aqueous filtering capacitors with high performance.

In magnesium and its alloys, $$ \{ 10\bar{1}2\} $$ tension twinning is an important deformation mode and is highly dependent on the strain path. Although the $$ \{ 10\bar{1}2\} $$ -twinning behavior has been extensively modeled, the effects of twinning models on the predicted results has seldom been compared. In this study, two typical twinning models, predominant twin reorientation (PTR) and twinning-detwinning (TDT), were chosen to simulate the $$ \{ 10\bar{1}2\} $$ twinning-predominant deformations of a Mg alloy AZ31 rolled plate, in compression along the transverse direction (TD-c) and in tension along the normal direction (ND-t), and the results were compared with experimental data. In addition to the strain-stress curves in the ND-t and TD-c, six other flow curves were used to determine the material-parameter inputs for the simulations with the elastic visco-plastic self-consistent (EVPSC) model. Compared with the PTR model, the TDT model permits better curve fitting and texture prediction. The PTR model cannot fit the TD-c and ND-t flow stresses simultaneously, whereas the TDT model can. The best-fit parameters for the two models are identical at low strains but diverge somewhat at high strains. The simulated twin volume fractions are similar in the two models, but the predicted textures are significantly different. The PTR model can only reproduce the texture at strains over 5 pct in the TD-c and cannot reproduce the deformed texture in the ND-t. In contrast, the TDT model can reproduce all the experimental textures. To fit both the compression and tension curves well, strong latent hardening of the critical resolved shear stress (CRSS) for $$ \{ 10\bar{1}2\} $$ twinning by other twinning systems (htt) is necessary. The htt favors the twin variant with the highest Schmid factor in compression. The htt increases the CRSS for all $$ \{ 10\bar{1}2\} $$ twinning systems in tension, but the CRSS for the dominant twinning system remains relatively low in compression.

In the present study, the effect of different (0002) distributions ( // ND (MT texture) and // ND together with // RD (BT texture)) on strength of slip and twinning predominant deformations of a Mg AZ31 plate was systematically studied. The results show that the tensile yield strengths along the TD are similar in the two textures, but yield strength in compression along the TD is obviously higher in BT texture than in MT texture. Here, TD, RD and ND refer to the transverse direction, rolling direction and normal direction of the AZ31 plate, respectively. An analysis on Schmid factors demonstrates that the different compression yield strengths in the two texture mainly results from their different boundary obstacle effect against { 10 1 2 } twinning. The mechanism was further analyzed by a compound use of the activation stress difference of slip/twinning (ΔStress) and geometrical compatibility factor ( m ′ ) between neighboring grains. A lower ΔStress or a higher m ′ mean a lower boundary obstacle effect. There is a similar ΔStress in the two texture under compression, but an obvious lower m ′ in BT texture than that in MT texture. The lower m ′ in BT texture than in MT texture leads to a higher boundary obstacle effect and the resultant higher compressive yield strength in BT texture. It is found that the presence of a large number of neighboring grains with a high angle between their c-axes in BT texture mainly accounts for the lower m ′ .

Novel thin and flexible broadband electromagnetic microwave absorbers are realized with nanocomposites and achieve a wide frequency tunability (from 10 to 17.2 GHz) by actively adjusting the resistance. The proposed absorbers are fabricated by scalable screen printing of optimized nanoparticle ink onto the flexible dielectric composite substrates. Based on the shape memory effects of the substrate and piezoresistive effect of the nanocomposite frequency selective surface, a controllable sheet resistance, and thereby tunable wave absorption performance, can be realized in a temperature-activated and dynamically stable manner. The results provide new dimensions for the design of active electromagnetic devices by utilizing previously underestimated intrinsic properties of the artificial materials and the smart behavior of polymer-based nanocomposites.

The mechanical and twinning behavior of Mg alloys containing a monolithic texture component have been extensively studied; however, studies on samples with multi texture components are much insufficient. In this study, the quantitative relationship between the mechanical behavior under tension along the extrusion direction (ED) of Mg AZ31 rods and the percentages of bimodal texture components // ED (19–87%) and ⊥ED were systematically studied. The component // ED favors { 10 1 ¯ 2 } twinning and is soft orientation; however, the component ⊥ED favors prismatic slip and is hard orientation. The results show that the yield strength does not decrease linearly with an increase in the percentage of the soft orientations and show a deviation from the calculations using the conventional rule of mixtures. A higher percentage of the soft grains increases this deviation when the percentage is below 50%, and decreases it over 50%. The ultimate strengths, however, do not show an obvious dependence on the percentage of the soft orientations. Subsequently, the corresponding mechanisms are discussed and a modified rule of mixtures was developed. Bimodal texture components stimulate the activation of { 10 1 ¯ 2 } twin variants with a low Schmid factor and the presence of more variants within one grain. Conventional strain accommodation rule was used to analyze this twinning behavior, but it cannot explain the experimental observations. Crystal-plasticity based finite element modeling was employed to analyze this strange twinning behavior. The results indicate that the interaction among twin variants, rather than deformation in neighboring grains, plays a major role in the activation of twins with a low Schmid factor, due to a hard deformation propagation from the soft grains to the hard grains. This finding provides an important complementation to the strain accommodation theory.

Aligned carbon nanotube (CNT) arrays are promising candidates for strain sensors owing to their scalable preparation and excellent conductivity and stretchability. However, aligned CNT arrays are limited by low strain sensitivity and buckling deformation. In addition, cross-stacked CNT array films layer-by-layer assembled on soft substrates exhibit anisotropic mechanical behavior due to their asymmetric layered structures. In this work, we introduced a chemically hybridized CNT-graphene (G/CNT) film in which CNT crossbars are effectively welded together by graphene. The hybrid films demonstrate enhanced isotropic mechanical properties and strain sensitivity with a gauge factor of ∼3, together with a high stretchability of more than 20%. The enhanced electromechanical properties are attributed to the improved load transfer efficiency among CNTs by graphene hybridization, as confirmed by Finite Element Analysis (FEA). Biaxial strain sensors based on the hybridized G/CNT films have been applied for sensitive detection of both minute vibrations caused by sound waves and large deformations from finger bending. The sensors were further integrated into a tactile sensing array to map the spatial distribution of the surface pressures.

Wrought magnesium and Mg alloys are characterized by a strong basal texture and several slip and twin modes activated during plastic deformation. A hot rolled AZ31 plate was deformed in tension and compression along 4 directions at room temperature, and texture was investigated after e = 0.1 plastic strain by EBSD. The plastic deformation and deformed texture were simulated with the visco-plastic self-consistent twinning-detwinning model (VPSC-TDT), and compared with the experimental observations. {10–12} extension twins are responsible of the main texture variations, but {10–11} contraction and {10–11}{10–12} double twins were also observed in the 8 samples. The simulated main texture components are in good agreement with the measurements. Because the TDT scheme in its present form does not allows secondary twinning, some minor differences between the predicted and observed textures are observed. The strain anisotropy ( r -value) was over-estimated in in-plane tension, suggesting a very low threshold stress for basal slip.

An efficient ligand- and solvent-free method for the synthesis of quinoxaline derivatives via copper(I)-catalyzed cross-coupling process has been developed. 1,2-Halobenzenes or 1,8-diiodonaphthalene coupled with N,N′-disubstituted ethane-1,2-diamines to give the corresponding products in moderate yields under the reaction conditions.

Background MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play key roles in tumorigenesis and progression of gastric cancer (GC). miR-1269 has been reported to be upregulated in several cancers and plays a crucial role in carcinogenesis and cancer progression. However, the biological function of miR-1269 in human GC and its mechanism remain unclear and need to be further elucidated. Methods The expression of miR-1269 in GC tissues and cell lines was detected by quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR). Target prediction programs (TargetScanHuman 7.2 and miRBase) and a dual-luciferase reporter assay were used to confirm that Ras-association domain family 9 (RASSF9) is a target gene of miR-1269. The expression of RASSF9 was measured by qRT-PCR and Western blotting in GC tissues. MTT and cell counting assays were used to explore the effect of miR-1269 on GC cell proliferation. The cell cycle and apoptosis were measured by flow cytometry. RASSF9 knockdown and overexpression were used to further verify the function of the target gene. Results We found that miR-1269 expression was upregulated in human GC tissues and cell lines. The overexpression of miR-1269 promoted GC cell proliferation and cell cycle G1-S transition and suppressed apoptosis. The inhibition of miR-1269 inhibited cell growth and G1-S transition and induced apoptosis. miR-1269 expression was inversely correlated with RASSF9 expression in GC tissues. RASSF9 was verified to be a direct target of miR-1269 by using a luciferase reporter assay. The overexpression of miR-1269 decreased RASSF9 expression at both the mRNA and protein levels, and the inhibition of miR-1269 increased RASSF9 expression. Importantly, silencing RASSF9 resulted in the same biological effects in GC cells as those induced by overexpression of miR-1269. Overexpression of RASSF9 reversed the effects of miR-1269 overexpression on GC cells. Both miR-1269 overexpression and RASSF9 silencing activated the AKT signaling pathway, which modulated cell cycle regulators (Cyclin D1 and CDK2). In contrast, inhibition of miR-1269 and RASSF9 overexpression inhibited the AKT signaling pathway. Moreover, miR-1269 and RASSF9 also regulated the Bax/Bcl-2 signaling pathway. Conclusions Our results demonstrate that miR-1269 promotes GC cell proliferation and cell cycle G1-S transition by activating the AKT signaling pathway and inhibiting cell apoptosis via regulation of the Bax/Bcl-2 signaling pathway by targeting RASSF9. Our findings indicate an oncogenic role of miR-1269 in GC pathogenesis and the potential use of miR-1269 in GC therapy.

The aim of this research was to detect potential serum biomarkers of melamine diet-induced bladder stones in C57BL/6 mice. Magnetic bead-based weak cationexchange chromatography (MB-WCX) and matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight-mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS) were employed to detect serum biomarkers in 10 mice fed a melamine diet and 10 control mice. Seventeen peaks (fold change>1.5) with a mass to charge (m/z) value of 1000–10,000 Da were detected in the two groups. Among the significant peaks, five were upregulated and the other 12 were downregulated in the model group. Among the upregulated peaks, 2954.49 and 1710.49 were found to correspond to the peptide regions of NADH dehydrogenase [ubiquinone] 1 alpha subcomplex subunit 8(Ndufα8) and basigin, respectively, by liquid chromatography with electrospray ionization and tandem triple quadrupole mass spectrometry(LC-ESI-MS/MS). Western blot analysis was used to detect the expression of Ndufα8 and basigin in another 10 model mice and 10 control mice. The western blot results confirmed the LC-ESI-MS/MS data. The expression of serum basigin and Ndufα8 was partly dependent the concentration of melamine, but no time dependence. In conclusion, Ndufα8 and basigin may be potential serum biomarkers for the detection of melamine diet-induced bladder stones in C57BL/6 mice

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play critical roles in the tumorigenesis and progression of gastric cancer (GC). However, the biological function of miR-4268 in GC and its mechanism remain unclear. In the present study, qTR-PCR found that the expression of miR-4268 was significantly downregulated in GC tissues and cell lines. The overexpression of miR-4268 inhibited GC cell proliferation and the cell cycle G1/S phase transition, and induced cell apoptosis. In contrast, inhibition of miR-4268 promoted cell proliferation and G1-S transition, and suppressed cell apoptosis. Further analyses revealed that miR-4268 expression was negatively correlated with Rab6B expression in GC tissues. Rab6B was verified to be a direct target of miR-4268. Notably, silencing Rab6B resulted in the same biological effects in GC cells as those induced by overexpression of miR-4268. Importantly, both miR-4268 overexpression and Rab6B silence inhibited the AKT/JNK signaling pathways, which modulated cell cycle regulators (Cyclin D1 and CDK4). In contrast, inhibition of miR-4268 promoted the AKT/JNK signaling pathways. MiR-4268 overexpression also promoted the p38 MAPK signaling pathway. Taken together, miR-4268 suppresses GC cell proliferation through inhibiting the AKT/JNK signaling pathways by targeting Rab6B and induces cell apoptosis through promoting the p38 MAPK signaling pathway. Our findings indicate a tumor-suppressor role of miR-4268 in GC pathogenesis and the potential of miR-4268 in GC theropy.

Magnesium and its alloys are characterized by a strong basal texture, resulting in severe anisotropy at low temperature. To investigate the deformation behavior of a rolled magnesium alloy AZ31 at room temperature, uniaxial compression and tension experiments along four directions were performed and modeled using both the EVPSC-TDT and the VPSC-TDT models. The required threshold stress parameters were determined by curve fitting. Similar parameters were found to fit relatively well for all the experimental flow curves for both models. The predictions of the two models are also very similar beyond the elastic strain. The simulations reveal only a very limited increase with strain of the threshold stress for basal slip, which is favorable for basal texture development, whereas the threshold stresses for other deformation modes increase significantly. A discrepancy between experiments and simulations suggests that depending on loading condition strain accommodation between grains by basal slip varies in ease. A deformation-path dependent discrepancy between the modeled stress and the experimental curves is also found for the threshold stress for {10−12} twinning. This discrepancy is assumed to be related to the larger number of twin variants activated in tension as compared to compression, due to twin boundary hardening. A {10−12} twin-associated hardening, primarily on pyramidal slip and prismatic slip systems, evaluated to be about 15 MPa for both through thickness tension and in-plane compression, is included in the model via the use of a higher latent hardening modulus these slip systems by twinning.

// Lumin Wang 1 , Hongfei Sun 1 , Xiaofei Wang 1 , Ni Hou 1 , Lingyu Zhao 1 , Dongdong Tong 1 , Kang He 1 , Yang Yang 1 , Tusheng Song 1 , Jun Yang 3 , Chen Huang 1, 2, 4 1 Department of Cell Biology and Genetics, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Xi’an Jiaotong University Health Science Center, Xi’an, Shaanxi, P.R. China 2 Key Laboratory of Environment and Genes Related to Diseases, Xi’an Jiaotong University Health Science Center, Xi’an, Shaanxi, P.R. China 3 Department of Pathology, Second Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University College of Medicine, Xi’an, Shaanxi, P.R. China 4 Cardiovascular Research Center, Xi’an Jiaotong University Health Science Center, Xi’an, Shaanxi, P.R. China Correspondence to: Chen Huang, email: hchen@mail.xjtu.edu.cn Jun Yang, email: yangjundr@163.com Keywords: EGR1, miR-203a, HOXD3, hepatocellular carcinoma, cell progression Received: February 23, 2016 Accepted: April 26, 2016 Published: May 26, 2016 ABSTRACT EGR1 plays a critical role in cancer progression. However, its precise role in hepatocellular carcinoma has not been elucidated. In this study, we found that the overexpression of EGR1 suppresses hepatocellular carcinoma cell proliferation and increases cell apoptosis by binding to the miR-203a promoter sequence. In addition, we investigated the function of miR-203a on progression of HCC cells. We verified that the effect of overexpression of miR-203a is consistent with that of EGR1 in regulation of cell progression. Through bioinformatic analysis and luciferase assays, we confirmed that miR-203a targets HOXD3. Silencing HOXD3 could block transition of the G2/M phase, increase cell apoptosis, decrease the expression of cell cycle and apoptosis-related proteins, EGFR, p-AKT, p-ERK, CCNB1, CDK1 and Bcl2 by targeting EGFR through EGFR/AKT and ERK cell signaling pathways. Likewise, restoration of HOXD3 counteracted the effects of miR-203a expression. In conclusion, our findings are the first to demonstrate that EGR1 is a key player in the transcriptional control of miR-203a, and that miR-203a acts as an anti-oncogene to suppress HCC tumorigenesis by targeting HOXD3 through EGFR-related cell signaling pathways.

Designing smart surfaces with tunable wettability has drawn much attention in recent years for academic research and practical applications. Most of the previous methods to achieve such surfaces demand some particular materials that inherently have special features or complicated structures which are usually not easy to obtain. A novel strategy to achieve such smart surfaces is proposed by using the surface patterned shape memory polymers of chemically crosslinked polycyclooctene which shows a giant deformability of up to ≈730% strain. The smart surfaces possess the ability to continuously tune the wettability by controlling the recovery temperature and/or time. Coating the modified titanium dioxide nanoparticles onto such surfaces renders the surface superhydrophobicity and expands the tunable range of contact angles (CAs). Theoretical calculations of the CAs at different strains via modified Cassie model well explain the tunable wettability behaviors of such smart surfaces.

// Dongdong Tong 1, 2 , Lingyu Zhao 1, 2 , Kang He 1, 2, 3 , Hongfei Sun 1, 2 , Donghui Cai 1, 2 , Lei Ni 1 , Ruifang Sun 4 , Su’e Chang 5 , Tusheng Song 1, 2 , Chen Huang 1, 2 1 Department of Cell Biology and Genetics, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Xi'an Jiaotong University Health Science Center, Shaanxi, P. R. China 2 Key Laboratory of Environment and Genes Related to Diseases, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Ministry of Education of China, Shaanxi, P. R. China 3 Department of Periodontology, Stomatology Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University College of Medicine, Xi’an, Shaanxi, P. R. China 4 Department of pathology, College of Medicine, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, Shaanxi, P. R. China 5 Department of Orthopaedics, the Second Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, Shaanxi, P. R. China Correspondence to: Chen Huang, email: hchen@mail.xjtu.edu.cn Keywords: gastric cancer, MECP2, miR-338, BMI1, proliferation Received: October 19, 2015 Accepted: March 31, 2016 Published: May 06, 2016 ABSTRACT The methyl-CpG-binding protein 2 (MECP2), a transcriptional suppressor, is involved in gene regulation by binding to methylated promoters. We found that MECP2 is overexpressed in gastric cancer (GC), and that Mecp2 knockdown affects the growth of GC cells both in vitro and in vivo . MECP2 can directly bind to the methylated-CpG island of miR-338 promoter and suppress the expression of two mature microRNAs, namely, miR-338-3p and miR-338-5p. Furthermore, miR-338-5p can suppress GC cell growth by targeting BMI1 (B lymphoma Mo-MLV insertion region 1 homolog). We additionally found that decreased miR-338-5p expression in GC tissues, relative to normal tissues, was significantly negatively correlated with increased BMI1 expression. Silencing MECP2 can indirectly lead to reduced expression of P-REX2, which has been identified as the miR-338-3p target, as well as BMI1 and increasing expression of P16 or P21 both in vitro and in vivo . Altogether, our results indicate that MECP2 promote the proliferation of GC cells via miR-338 (miR-338-3p and miR-338-5p)-mediated antitumor and gene regulatory effect.

This study aimed to identify novel serum peptides biomarkers for female breast cancer (BC) patients. We analyzed the serum proteomic profiling of 247 serum samples from 96 BC patients, 48 additional paired pre- and postoperative BC patients, 39 fibroadenoma patients as benign disease controls, and 64 healthy controls, using magnetic-bead-based separation followed by MALDI-TOF MS. ClinProTools software identified 78 m/z peaks that differed among all analyzed groups, ten peaks were significantly different (P < 0.0001), with Peaks 1-6 upregulated and Peaks 7-10 downregulated in BC. Moreover, three peaks of ten (Peak 1, m/z: 2660.11; Peak 2, m/z: 1061.09; Peak 10, m/z: 1041.25) showed a tendency to return to healthy control values after surgery. And these three peptide biomarkers were identified as FGA605-629, ITIH4 347-356, and APOA2 43-52. Methods used in this study could generate serum peptidome profiles of BC, and provide a new approach to identify potential biomarkers for diagnosis as well as prognosis of this malignancy.

Transparent, stretchable films of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have attracted significant attention for applications in flexible electronics, while the lack of structural strength in CNT networks leads to deformation and failure under high mechanical load. In this work, enhancement of the strength and load transfer capabilities of CNT networks by chemical vapor deposition of graphene in the nanotube voids is proposed. The graphene hybridization significantly strengthens the CNT networks, especially at nanotube joints, and enhances their resistance to buckling and bundling under large cyclic strain up to 20%. The hybridized films show linear and reproducible responses to tensile strains, which have been applied in strain sensors to detect human motions with fast response, high sensitivity, and durability.

Wrought magnesium and Mg alloys are characterized by a strong basal texture and several slip and twin modes activated at room temperature. These modes interact with each other, and the obstacles on each system associated with other deformation systems are empirically modeled via latent hardening coupling coefficients. { 10 1 ‾ 2 } tension twinning can be easily and largely activated, causing severe mechanical anisotropy and dramatic texture change. Twin nucleation and growth can also be influenced by slip-induced dislocations. To investigate how dislocations and twins affect { 10 1 ‾ 2 } twinning, a rolled magnesium alloy AZ31 was pre-deformed along different directions and reloaded in in-plane compression at room temperature. Elasto-visco-plastic self-consistent simulations including twinning, detwinning and secondary twinning show that the critical resolved shear stress for { 10 1 ‾ 2 } twinning is strongly increased by previous twins, moderately enhanced by basal and pyramidal slips, but additional prismatic dislocations have no effect on twinning. The present experiments and simulations demonstrate that latent hardening for { 10 1 ‾ 2 } by slip modes is much less than self-hardening.

The phase equilibrium of Mg–Cu–Ca ternary system at 350 °C were investigated using thirteen key samples. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) equipped with energy-dispersive spectroscope (EDS) was employed to investigate equilibrium relationships and phase compositions in alloy samples. Powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) technique was used to analyze the crystal structures of new found phases. Two unreported ternary phases, P1 and Mg25-xCu75Cax were observed and investigated for the first time. The compound P1 has a narrow solid homogeneity ranged from about Mg25Cu35Ca40 to Mg30Cu30Ca40 (in at. %). The solid solubility limit of the compound Mg25-xCu75Cax was found to be 8.03 ≤ xCa ≤ 16.67 with constant value of about 75 at. % Cu at 350 °C. The 2θ of fourteen diffraction peaks of new phase P1 were determined to be 23.0°, 35.9°, 37.3°, 38.9°, 42°, 44°, 47°, 52.5°, 54°, 56.7°, 62.3°, 66.8°, 68.2° and 75.4°. The 2θ of ten diffraction peaks of the new compound Mg25-xCu75Cax were confirmed to be 20.5°, 21.2°, 34.7°, 35.7°, 42.3°, 43.3°, 44.8°, 47.3°, 50.5° and 74.5°. The maximum solid solubility of Ca in the terminal compound MgCu2 was found to be 8.83 at. % at 350 °C. Ternary maximum solid solubility of binary terminal compounds Mg2Ca, Mg2Cu, Cu5Ca and CuCa were less than 2 at. %. In addition, eight three-phase equilibrium relationships were determined in the present work.

A class of artificial K

Deterministic design of surface patterns has seen a surge of interests because of their wide applications in flexible and stretchable electronics, microfluidics, and optical devices. Recently, instability of bilayer systems has been extensively utilized by which micro-/nano-patterns of a film can be easily achieved through macroscopically deforming the underlying substrate. For a bilayer system with traditional thermostable substrates, the pattern morphology is only determined by initial strain mismatch of the two layers, and the realization of localized patterns appears to be particularly challenging because of the difficulties associated with manipulating inhomogeneous deformations. In this work, we exploit cross-linked polyethylene ( cPE), a shape memory polymer (SMP), as the flexible substrate for building micro-/nano-structures of sputtered gold films. We find that the shape memory effect can offer new dimensions for designing diverse and hierarchical surface structures by harnessing film thickness orheating time and by globally or locally controlling the thermal field. By combining those strategies, we further demonstrate versatile hierarchical, superimposed, and local surface patterns based on this cPE/gold (Au) system. Piezoresistive pressure sensors are assembled with the obtained patterned surface, which have high sensitivity, operational range, and cyclic stability. These results highlight the unique advantages of SMPs for building arbitrary surface patterns.

Background MicroRNAs play crucial roles in tumorigenesis and tumor progression. miR-770 has been reported to be downregulated in several cancers and affects cancer cell proliferation, apoptosis, metastasis and drug resistance. However, the role and underlying molecular mechanism of miR-770 in human glioma remain unknown and need to be further elucidated. Methods The expression of miR-770 in glioma tissues and cell lines was measured by quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) to explore the association of miR-770 expression with clinicopathological characteristics. The expression of CDK8 was detected by qRT-PCR and Western blotting in glioma tissues. A target prediction program and a dual-luciferase reporter assay were used to confirm that CDK8 is a target gene of miR-770. MTT and cell counting assays were used to assess the effect of miR-770 on glioma cell proliferation. The cell cycle distribution and apoptosis were examined by flow cytometry. CDK8 siRNA and overexpression were used to further confirm the function of the target gene. Results We demonstrated that miR-770 expression was downregulated in human glioma tissues and cell lines. The overexpression of miR-770 inhibited glioma cell proliferation and cell cycle G1-S transition and induced apoptosis. The inhibition of miR-770 facilitated cell proliferation and G1-S transition and suppressed apoptosis. miR-770 expression was inversely correlated with CDK8 expression in glioma tissues. CDK8 was confirmed to be a direct target of miR-770 by using a luciferase reporter assay. The overexpression of miR-770 decreased CDK8 expression at both the mRNA and protein levels, and the suppression of miR-770 increased CDK8 expression. Importantly, CDK8 silencing recapitulated the cellular and molecular effects observed upon miR-770 overexpression, and CDK8 overexpression eliminated the effects of miR-770 overexpression on glioma cells. Moreover, both exogenous expression of miR-770 and silencing of CDK8 resulted in suppression of the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway. Conclusions Our study demonstrates that miR-770 inhibits glioma cell proliferation and G1-S transition and induces apoptosis through suppression of the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway by targeting CDK8. These findings suggest that miR-770 plays a significant role in glioma progression and serves as a potential therapeutic target for glioma.

In this work, three-dimensional (3D) TiO₂ nanotubes (NTs) on carbon cloth (CC) (TiO₂ NTs/CC) were synthesized by a method involving formation of a ZnO@TiO₂ nanorod (NRs) on CC (ZnO@TiO₂ NRs/CC) structure and a subsequent chemical etching process for ZnO NRs template. The 3D TiO₂ NTs/CC were applied as flexible anodes for sodium ion batteries (SIBs). The TiO₂ NTs/CC yielded high specific capacity and good cycling stability, superior to that of some reported TiO₂ nanocomposites. The TiO₂ NTs/CC delivered a reversible capacity of 260 mA·h·g

The new demands for energy storage systems have been placed with demands for flexible wearable electronics. Herein, rugby-like GeO₂ nanoparticles (NPs) have been directly grown on carbon cloth (GeO₂ NPs/CC) through a one-step hydrolysis process at room temperature, which can be used as a self-supporting flexible anode for lithium ion battery (LIBs). The rugby-like GeO₂ NPs/CC showed an improved lithium-storage performance with features of high reversible capacity ~2000 mA·h·g

Previous evidence has revealed that long non-coding RNAs serve important functions in numerous types of cancer when dysregulated, including in gastric cancer (GC). In the present study, reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) analysis was used to detect the expression of small integral membrane protein 10 like 2A (linc00086) in GC tissues and non-cancerous tissues, and the expression of linc00086 in GC cell lines was analyzed. A RT-qPCR assay was used to assess linc00086 expression levels in GC cell lines following treatment with 5-Aza-2′-deoxycytidine (5-aza-dC), which is a DNA methyltransferase inhibitor. Small interfering RNA was used to silence the expression of methyl-CpG binding protein 2 (MeCP2), and then the expression of linc00086 was detected. Linc00086 expression was revealed to be downregulated in GC tissues and GC cell lines. Furthermore, it was revealed that 5-aza-dC induced linc00086 expression in SGC-7901 and MKN45 cells, and analysis of CpG methylation by bisulfite sequencing-polymerase chain reaction demonstrated that DNA methylation may regulate the expression of linc00086. MeCP2 is involved in gene regulation by binding to methylated promoters, and it was revealed that the knockdown of the expression of MeCP2 resulted in a higher expression of linc00086. The present study revealed that DNA methylation regulate the expression of linc00086 in human GC cell lines.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), one of the most common aggressive tumors worldwide has a relatively high mortality rate among malignant tumors. MicroRNAs (miRNAs), acting as tumor suppressors, are involved in the regulation of invasion, metastasis, and angiogenesis of tumor cells. However, a potential role for miR-203a in HCC has not been described yet. In this study, we show that miR-203a markedly suppresses HCC cell migration, invasion, and angiogenesis. In addition, the transcription factor HOXD3 appears to be a direct target of miR-203a. HOXD3 knockdown substantially decreased HCC cell migration, invasion, and angiogenesis, effects similar to those seen for miR-203a expression. Rescuing the function of HOXD3 attenuated the effect of miR-203a overexpression in HCC cells. Furthermore, HOXD3 can directly target the promoter region of VEGFR and increase VEGFR expression. Taken together, our findings indicate that miR-203a inhibits HCC cell invasion, metastasis, and angiogenesis by negatively targeting HOXD3 and suppressing cell signaling through the VEGFR pathway, suggesting that miR-203a might represent a potential therapeutic target for HCC intervention.

In the present study, a pre-strained Mg AZ31 plate (7% cold rolling and 2% compression along the transverse direction (TD)) was annealed at 200 °C, 250 °C, 350 °C for 0.5 h and 3 h. An interesting annealing hardening phenomenon appears during recompression along the normal direction (ND). All the as-used annealing treatments increase the yield strengths by about 20–27 MPa. Microstructure examination shows that a large number of { 10 1 2 } twins in the pre-strained samples are completely removed by the annealing treatments, except that at 200 °C for 0.5 h. Disappearance of the pre-existing twins leads to a transition from a detwinning predominant deformation to a basal slip predominant one during ND-compression. This change of deformation mechanism accounts for the annealing hardening phenomenon.

A novel palladium–copper catalyzed C(sp3)–C(sp2) bond C–H activation cross-coupling reaction has been developed. A series of 9-aryl-9H-xanthenes and 9,9-diaryl-xanthenes were selectively synthesized in moderate to good yields by controlling the reaction time and temperature.