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Nudix type 5 (NUDT5) has been recently identified as a new cancer-associated protein that is involved in numerous cancers. To date, the relationship between NUDT5 and gastric carcinoma has not been addressed. In the current research, we focused on exploring the potential relevance of NUDT5 in gastric carcinoma. The initial analysis of NUDT5 expression in gastric carcinoma by TCGA data revealed a clear increase in NUDT5 expression in tumor versus normal tissue. The increased expression of NUDT5 was also validated in the clinical specimens of gastric carcinoma by immunoblotting detection. Moreover, high NUDT5 levels predicted a poorer overall survival in gastric carcinoma patients. A series of cellular functional assays demonstrated that gastric carcinoma cells with silenced NUDT5 exhibited decreased proliferative and invasive ability, increased cell cycle arrest at the G0/G1 phase, and enhanced chemosensitivity. In-depth research showed that the silencing of NUDT5 led to a reduction in the activation of AKT and β-catenin. The reactivation of AKT blocked the repressive effect of NUDT5 silencing on β-catenin activation. The forced expression of β-catenin also reversed NUDT5-silencing-mediated anticancer effects. A Xenograft tumor assay confirmed the anticancer role of NUDT5 in gastric carcinoma in vivo. In short, these findings reveal elevated NUDT5 levels in gastric carcinoma and demonstrate that the inhibition of NUDT5 displays promising anticancer effects by affecting the AKT/β-catenin pathway. Thus, our work unveils a vital role of NUDT5 in gastric carcinoma and indicates it as a viable candidate target for anticancer drug discovery. [Display omitted] • NUDT5 level was up-regulated in gastric carcinoma. • NUDT5 silencing displayed antitumor effects in gastric carcinoma. • NUDT5 modulated the Wnt/β-catenin pathway via AKT. • NUDT5 mediated gastric carcinoma progression by AKT-Wnt/β-catenin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: This Mendelian randomization (MR) study was performed to explore the potential bidirectional causal association between inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and periodontitis. Materials and Methods: We used genetic instruments from the genome‐wide association study summary statistics of European descent for IBD (12,882 cases and 21,770 controls) to investigate the association with periodontitis (3046 cases and 195,395 controls) and vice versa. The radial inverse‐variance weighted method was carried out to obtain the primary causal estimates, and the robustness of the results was assessed by a series of sensitivity analyses. Due to multiple testing, associations with p values <.008 were considered as statistically significant, and p values ≥.008 and <.05 were considered as suggestively significant. Results: In the primary causal estimates, IBD as a whole was associated with an increased risk of periodontitis (odds ratio [OR], 1.060; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.017; 1.105; p =.006). Subtype analyses showed that ulcerative colitis (UC) was associated with periodontitis (OR, 1.074; 95% CI 1.029; 1.122; p =.001), while Crohn's disease (CD) was not. Regarding the reverse direction, periodontitis showed a suggestive association with IBD as a whole (OR, 1.065; 95% CI 1.013; 1.119; p =.014). Subtype analyses revealed that periodontitis was associated with CD (OR, 1.100; 95% CI 1.038; 1.167; p =.001) but not UC. The final models after outlier removal showed no obvious pleiotropy, indicating that our primary analysis results were reliable. Conclusions: The present MR study provides moderate evidence on the bidirectional causal relationship between IBD and periodontitis. The bidirectional increased risk found in our study was marginal and, possibly, of limited clinical relevance. More studies are needed to support the findings of our current study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies have been devoted to the transport and accumulation of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in mountain environments. The Himalayas have the widest altitude gradient of any mountain range, but few studies examining the environmental behavior of POPs have been performed in the Himalayas. In this study, air, soil, and leaf samples were collected along a transect on the southern slope of the Himalayas, Nepal (altitude: 135-5100 m). Local emission occurred in the lowlands, and POPs were transported by uplift along the slope. During the atmospheric transport, the HCB proportion increased from the lowlands (20%) to high elevation (>50%), whereas the proportions of DDTs decreased. The largest residue of soil POPs appeared at an altitude of approximately 2500 m, and may be related to absorption by vegetation and precipitation. The net deposition tendencies at the air--soil surface indicated that the Himalayas may be a 'sink' for DDTs and PCBs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Hybrid brake discs consisting of composite tops and aluminium alloy bases demonstrates advanced performance during full-scale dynamometer tests under city-rail environments. • Friction stir processing of the hybrid brake discs create graded microstructures and properties between the top and bottom of the brake disc. • The most refined microstructures with a uniform distribution of thermally-stable SiC and Si particles is in the brake disc top where the hardness is the highest. • The highest elongation is obtained at the top of the aluminium base close to the interface with the composite top. • The graded distributions of hardness, elongation and strength are attributed to the satisfactory performance by the brake disc at elevated temperatures. Lightweight hybrid composite brake discs consisting of a A357/SiC aluminium matrix composite (AMMC) top layer and an AA6082 Al alloy bottom base are fabricated by friction-stir processing. These hybrid AMMC brake discs demonstrate excellent wear and friction performance in full-scale dynamometer braking tests under relevant environments for operating a city rail vehicle. Characterisation and analysis conducted on the tested brake discs correlate these performances to a series of improvements in microstructures and properties. They include the presence of thermally stable and hard SiC particles enhancing wear resistance, especially at elevated temperatures, the refinement of microstructures by the uniform distribution of these SiC particles as well as secondary particles resulting in minimised crack initiation, and the generation of gradient hardness and tensile properties leading to increased resistance to external impacts and reduced internal thermal stress. The excellent performance of the lightweight hybrid composite brake discs confirms its high technology readiness level to replace heavy iron and steel brake discs in city rail vehicles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, a UV-curable polysiloxane methacrylate (PSMA) was synthesized by a one-step method. The reaction was catalyzed by chloroplatinic acid between polymethylhydrosiloxane (PMHS) and hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA), as proved by FTIR and H-NMR. The preliminary results indicate that the obtained UV-cured PSMA film has very good thermal stability, excellent transparency and satisfactory tensile strength. Our work provides a simple but efficient way to prepare UV-curable PSMA, which may find potential applications in UV-curing optical fiber, metal and glass coating and other fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The classic Lanchester equations reveal size effect of combat, but their assumption is challenged in the modern warfare that the battlefield is universal sensible and direct targeting. Through the semiotical analysis of the combat information flow in microscopic view, it is suggested that the modern battlefield is networked universal sensible and direct targeting, and by combining the Albert's "removal of node" operation with the stochastic duel based oil the global network efficiency, a novel model -- stochastic duel of networks is put forward which represents combat behavior and cooperation behavior in an unitary form. The network effect of networked combat system (NCS) has been characterized in the model: (1) Lanchester square law is the optimized special case of network effect of NCS; (2) a NCS loses its attrition- rate along with the combat process, which relates not only the generative factors of effective combat power, such as its weapon performance and the structure of the network, but also the rate of target redundancy; (3) the scale-tree network is more superiority, robust yet fragile than the random network in combat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we study the isometric extension problem and show that every surjective isometry between the unit spheres of L(µ) (1 < p < ∞, p ≠ 2) and a Banach space E can be extended to a linear isometry from L(µ) onto E, which means that if the unit sphere of E is (metrically) isometric to the unit sphere of L(µ), then E is linearly isometric to L(µ). We also prove that every surjective 1-Lipschitz or anti-1-Lipschitz map between the unit spheres of L(µ, H) and L(µ, H) must be an isometry and can be extended to a linear isometry from L(µ, H) to L(µ, H), where H and H are Hilbert spaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To explore construction of novel mimicking biomembrane on biomaterials surfaces, a new polymerizable phosphatidylcholine containing a long monoalkyl chain ended with acryl group (AASOPC) was designed and synthesized, which was easily derived from the terminal amino group of 9-(2-amino-ethylcarbamoyl)-nonyl-1-phosphatidyl-choline (ASOPC) reacting with acryloyl chloride. The obtained AASOPC was grafted on poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) via surface-initiated atom-transfer radical polymerization (SI-ATRP) to form mimicking biomembrane. These modified surface structures of PET were investigated using water contact angle (WAC), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The results indicated that the new mimicking phosphatidylcholine biomembrane could be prepared on inert polymer surfaces by using the acryloyl phosphatidylcholine (AASOPC) via surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization (SI-ATRP). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A temperature detection system based on wireless sensor network has been designed, which consists of ten to twenty monitoring points and central computer. Each monitoring point of infrared tem-perature sensor tests the human's temperature, sends the monitoring data to the central computer by wireless unit, the central computer analyzes and saves the tested humans' temperature. The result of ex-periment shows that the system runs stably and reliably. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

series of fluorinated phosphatidylcholine polyurethane macromolecular additives were synthesized by solution polymerization using methylenebis(phylene isocyanates) (MDI) and 1,4-butanediol (BDO) as hard segments, a new phoshporycholine, 2-(2,2,3,3,4,4,5,5,6,6,7,7,8,8,9,9-hexadecafluoro-10-(2-hydroxyethoxy)decyloxy) ethyl phosphorycholine (HDFOPC) as end-capper, and four polydiols, poly(tetramethylene glycol)s (PTMG), polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), poly(1,6-hexyl-1,5-pentylcarbonate) (PHPC) and poly(propylene glycol) (PPG) as soft segments, respectively. The chemical structures of the synthesized polyurethanes were characterized by H-NMR and FTIR. DSC and DMA were employed to study the phase behavior of these novel polyurethanes due to their great influences on the surface properties, and hence their interactions with bio-systems. The results showed that phase separation of the fluorinated phosphatidylcholine end-capped polyurethanes was increased in comparison with that of normal polyurethanes. The effect of fluorinated phosphatidylcholine end-capped groups on the phase behavior was further demonstrated by analyzing the degree of hydrogen-bonding between hard and soft segments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To obtain novel salt-tolerant phenol-degrading bacteria and amplify the corresponding genes, a bacterium named W1 was isolated from the active sludge samples. 16S rRNA sequence analysis was used to identify the bacterium, and characteristics for phenol biodegradation were also studied. The 5' - and 3' -flanking regions of gene encoding the phenol hydroxylase were amplified from strain W1 by TAIL-PCR method. 1 wt % -10 wt % was showed that strain W1 was identified as Arthrobacter sp. The strain was capable of growing in the medium with 1 wt % -10wt% NaCl and utilizing phenol as the sole carbon and energy source. And it could also degrade some other aromatic compounds such as p -methylphenol, salicylic acid and p -hydroquinone, etc. When concentration of NaCl was about 5 wt %, 1 000 mg · L-1 phenol could be degraded more than 90% by strain W1. The complete gene cluster was about 6 kb, of which the gene encoding the large subunit of phenol hydroxylase exhibited the highest similarity about 93% with the corresponding gene of Alcaligenes sp. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]