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The precise functions and mechanisms of micro RNAs (miR) in gallbladder cancer ( GBC) remain elusive. In this study, we found that miR-135a-5p expression is often dampened and correlated with neoplasm histologic grade in GBC. Micro RNA-135a-5p introduction clearly inhibited GBC cell proliferation in vitro and in vivo. Moreover, very low density lipoprotein receptor ( VLDLR), which is often upregulated in GBC tissues, was identified as a direct functional target of miR-135a-5p. Furthermore, the p38 MAPK pathway was proven to be involved in miR-135a- VLDLR downstream signaling. Together, these results suggested that the miR-135a- VLDLR-p38 axis may contribute to GBC cell proliferation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wireless multicast is a spectrum efficient method for group-data transmission. This paper focuses on energy efficient two-stage cooperative multicast transmissions, aiming to minimize the total transmission power while ensuring a practical coverage ratio. To focus on the relationship between the base station (BS) power at the first stage (PBS,C) and the total power consumption, a selective combining based on average received signal strength (SCA) is assumed at the receiver and the user density is supposed to be sufficiently high. Then a mobile relay (MR) arrangement based on sector ring structures is proposed for the second stage transmission, followed by an analytical derivation of the optimal PBS,C conditioned on a desired coverage ratio. In addition, further approximations are exploited to provide a simple theoretical estimation for the optimal PBS,C, whose effectiveness is verified by numerical results. It is shown that compared to the conventional one-stage multicast transmission, the proposed two-stage cooperative scheme can reduce the total power consumption and the BS power consumption by more than 40% and 80%, respectively. Although the proposed scheme is obtained based on SCA, when the user density is higher than 2 x 10-4, a coverage ratio of 95% can be guaranteed by using a practical CP combining with the proposed scheme. Moreover, the effectiveness of the proposed MR arrangement is verified by simulations where it outperforms other three arrangements. It is also shown that targeting at minimizing the total transmission power with guaranteed coverage, the proposed scheme significantly outperforms the existing two-stage scheme in terms of energy consumption and efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The worldwide outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has triggered an unprecedented global health and economic crisis. Early and accurate forecasts of COVID-19 and evaluation of government interventions are crucial for governments to take appropriate interventions to contain the spread of COVID-19. In this work, we propose the Interpretable Temporal Attention Network (ITANet) for COVID-19 forecasting and inferring the importance of government interventions. The proposed model is with an encoder–decoder architecture and employs long short-term memory (LSTM) for temporal feature extraction and multi-head attention for long-term dependency caption. The model simultaneously takes historical information, a priori known future information, and pseudo future information into consideration, where the pseudo future information is learned with the covariate forecasting network (CFN) and multi-task learning (MTL). In addition, we also propose the degraded teacher forcing (DTF) method to train the model efficiently. Compared with other models, the ITANet is more effective in the forecasting of COVID-19 new confirmed cases. The importance of government interventions against COVID-19 is further inferred by the Temporal Covariate Interpreter (TCI) of the model. • A model (Interpretable Temporal Attention Network, ITANet) to conduct accurate COVID-19 forecasting. • Introducing additional supervision through multi-task learning to enhance forecasting performance. • A tool (Temporal Covariate Interpreter, TCI) to infer the importance of government interventions. • A method (Degraded Teacher Forcing, DTF) to train encoder–decoder models efficiently. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A subcellular organelle-targeted delivery of anti-cancer drugs is a promising strategy to maximize the anti-cancer effects and minimize the adverse effects. Herein, we prepared a mitochondria-targeted drug delivery nanoplatform based on IR780 iodide (IR780) and titanium disulfide (TiS2) nanosheets. Due to the large specific surface area of TiS2 nanosheets, the nanoplatform could highly load anti-cancer drug resveratrol (RV). The as-prepared nanocomposite (IR780-TiS2/RV) was used for an efficacious photothermal-triggered tumor chemotherapy. IR780-TiS2/RV showed satisfactory stability and biocompatibility, and the loading ratio of RV and IR780 was about 112% and 56%, respectively. Upon the near-infrared (NIR) irradiation, the heat generated by IR780-TiS2/RV could trigger the RV release. Due to the conjugation with the mitochondria-specific IR780, IR780-TiS2/RV could target and accumulate in mitochondria and release RV when triggered by NIR to decrease the mitochondrial membrane potential, rapidly induce the upregulation of key intrinsic apoptotic factors such as cytochrome c, and initiate the caspase cascade, thereby achieving the chemotherapeutic effect. The IR780-TiS2/RV nanocomposite was demonstrated to have a high anti-tumor efficacy in vitro and in vivo as well as no remarkable tissue toxicity. We believe our study demonstrates that the NIR-triggered IR780-TiS2/RV nanoplatform could be a promising chemotherapeutic agent in clinical practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pomegranate peels are often regarded as waste products, despite its antibacterial properties and hydrophilic functional groups. In this work, varying concentrations (0, 0.05, 0.15, 0.2 and 0.5 wt%) of pomegranate peel powder (PPP) were doped into polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) ultrafiltration membranes (UF) as antimicrobial agents and hydrophilic modifiers. With increase in PPP concentration, the water contact angle (from 83° to 66°) and porosity (from 73% to 54%) of the membrane showed a decrease, while the water flux, mechanical strength, and elongation at break had a consistent pattern of first increase followed by subsequent decrease. The morphological characteristics, chemical composition and thermodynamic properties of the membranes were further analyzed by SEM, FTIR, TAG, and DSC respectively. Additionally, in comparison to the PVDF pure membrane, membranes containing PPP demonstrated a more pronounced inhibitory impact on E. coli , and when the concentration was 0.15 wt% (M2), the BSA rejection rate (93.72%) and water flux (734.7 L m−2 h−1) of the membrane reached the peak. In conclusion, this study proposes the consideration of a cost-effective, environmentally friendly UF membrane with hydrophilic and antibacterial dual function, highlighting the promising application of pomegranate peel as agricultural waste in the membrane industry. [Display omitted] • PPP/PVDF blended membranes were fabricated via the phase inversion method. • Prepared membranes exhibited enhanced hydrophilicity, water permeability and thermal stability. • The prepared membrane has dual functions of antifouling and antibacterial. • Realize the reuse of agricultural waste and prepare an environmentally sustainable ultrafiltration membrane. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, a three-dimensional multi-phase proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) electrochemical model coupled with a cooling channel (CC) was developed, to comprehensively analyze the heat transfer characteristics. The membrane temperature, index of uniform temperature (IUT), net power, and the Nusselt number were applied to evaluate the heat transfer performance. The results indicate that a smaller IUT value achieves better PEMFC performance at close temperatures, and the best performance is achieved with a coolant inlet temperature of 343.15 K. Although increasing the coolant flow velocity improves the cooling effect, thereby enhancing PEMFC performance. However, it inevitably leads to an increase in parasitic power, resulting in a decrease in the output power of the PEMFC system. Moreover, with the coolant temperature difference less than 6K, PEMFC shows better performance when the coolant flow direction is the same as O 2. On the contrary, with the coolant temperature difference greater than 6K, the coolant flow direction should be the same as H 2 to ensure good performance. In addition, with the temperature difference between the coolant inlet and outlet of 10K, 6K, and 3K, respectively, the surface Nusselt number of wavy CC is 5.46%, 8.92%, and 18.71% higher than the straight CC, respectively. • A three-dimensional multi-phase PEMFC electrochemical model coupled with cooling channel is developed. • IUT, net power and Nusselt number are applied to evaluate the heat transfer performance. • The effect of coolant flow direction on performance depends on the flow velocity. • Performance of PEMFC with wave cooling channel is slightly better than that of straight cooling channel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurately forecasting tourism demand requires learning the spatial–temporal features of tourism demand, which is challenging due to constantly changing human behavior. This study presents a spatial–temporal feature enhancement model designed to maintain the integrity of tourism demand features. Specifically, the tourism system is modeled as an undirected graph and the steady-state analysis method is employed to learn spatial–temporal features. To enhance the feature learning ability for sparse features, we employ convolutional filters, and we convert the feature series into an image series while preserving the relationship of the spatial–temporal features. The method's effectiveness is demonstrated using the digital footprints of tourists from the urban area of Zhuhai. Numerical experiments indicate that the proposed model outperforms state-of-the-art tourism demand forecasting models. • Learning spatial–temporal features in urban area to forecast tourism demand. • Proposing a feature enhancement method to model the relationship among spots. • Proposing a series-to-image learning process and a deep network as predictor. • Improving Zhuhai's daily tourism demand forecasting accuracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Flow channel optimization is an important method to improve the water-gas transport capacity and enhance the performance of proton exchange membrane fuel cells. In this study, the size ratio of the opposite sinusoidal wave flow channel (OSWFC) is optimized, and three-dimensional numerical models are developed to evaluate the comprehensive performance. The results show that OSWFCs obtain performance enhancement compared to the parallel flow channel. 1:1 wave channel has a maximum improvement of 19.53% in mass transfer capacity by the most frequent flow disturbance, while 1:3 has a maximum increasement of 37.5% in water removal performance by the virtue of gentle wave structure. Large pressure loss decreases the mass transfer efficiency, although it with the maximum mass transfer capacity, the mass transfer evaluation criterion of 1:1 wave channel is less than that of 1:3. Moreover, a significant correlation between water-gas transport capacity and electrochemical performance is demonstrated by Pearson correlation coefficient. [Display omitted] • The OSWFC has a significant performance enhancement at high current densities. • The wave flow channel with ratio of 1:1 has the best mass transfer capacity. • The wave flow channel with ratio of 1:3 has the best water removal performance. • MTEC is proposed to evaluate the mass transfer efficiency. • PCC is proposed to evaluate the comprehensive performance of PEMFC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Low-frequency magnetic fields exert a significant inhibitory effect on tumor growth and have been developed as a therapeutic modality. However, the effect of a low-frequency magnetic field on the interaction between cells is still poorly understood. This study aimed to preliminarily evaluate the direct effect of magnetic field ditectely on cultured cells and indirect effect mediated by cell-environment (conditioned medium). 293 T cells, Hepg2 cells, A549 cells have been cultured at 37 ± 0.18 °C in presence of an extremely low-frequency magnetic field of 20 Hz, 5-mT. The adherent tumor cells were more sensitive to magnetic field inhibition in the original environment (conditioned medium) with adherence inhibition rate for Hepg2 and A549 estimated at 18% and 30% respectively. The inhibition effect was suppressed when the suspended cells separated or clump density at a low density. The nontumor cell lines showed no inhibitory effect on exposure to a low-frequency magnetic field. The intracellular ion fluorescence (IIF) showed that the magnetic field significantly altered the membrane potential, indicating hyperpolarization of the adherent cells (ΔIIF 293 T cells: − 25%, ΔIIF Hepg2 cells: − 20% and ΔIIF A549 cells: − 13%) and depolarization of the suspended cells (ΔIIF Raji cells: + 9%). In addition, the conditioned media collected after magnetic field exposure acted on unexposed tumor cells and caused inhibition. Our findings might provide a basis for the mechanism of magnetic field interaction between cells and cell environment in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate tourism demand forecasting can improve tourism experiences and realize smart tourism. Existing spatial–temporal tourism demand forecasting models only explore pre-specified and static spatial connections across regions without considering multiple or dynamic spatial connections; however, this is not sufficient for modeling actual tourism demand. In this paper, we propose a graph-attention based spatial–temporal learning framework for tourism demand forecasting. A weight-dynamic multi-dimensional graph is organized to embed multiple explicit dynamic spatial connections and provide a node attribute sequence for learning implicit dynamic spatial connections. We further propose a heterogeneous spatial–temporal graph-attention network (called HSTGANet), which is effective in handling both explicit and implicit dynamic spatial connections, learning high-dimensional spatial–temporal features, and forecasting tourism demand. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed model over baseline models in forecasting the tourism demand for six regions of Wanshan Archipelago in Zhuhai, China, and indicate that the proposed spatial–temporal learning framework may provide useful insights for developing more effective models for other spatial–temporal forecasting problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The mechanism of structural defects in cut-and-cover tunnels in high-fill areas is revealed. • The impact of the strata shape of soil-rock mixtures on structural defects has been analyzed. • Using gradient pile foundation reinforcement effectively controls tunnel structural defects in this case. Tunnel traverses high-fill soil-rock mixtures regions will often be susceptible to structural defects, which necessitate strata reinforcement. To mitigate the extent of these defects, this study employs a combination of model tests and numerical simulations to investigate the stability of tunnel structures. The mechanisms of structural defects were clarified, the influence of different soil-rock mixture strata shapes on structural defects was investigated, and a gradient pile foundation reinforcement technique was proposed based on this engineering case. The findings reveal that the primary manifestations of structural defects are various types of cracks, which developed in regard to the depth of the high-fill soil-rock mixture at the tunnel base, the self-settlement of the mixture, and the layer-by-layer backfilling at the tunnel vault. The differences between the model test and numerical simulation results are minimal, indicating that the shape of the soil-rock mixture stratum can significantly influence structural defects. The gradient pile reinforcement technology reduced tunnel settlement by up to 73.0%, while the foundation's bearing capacity met the required standards, effectively controlling both tunnel settlement and structural defects. In terms of reinforcement for non-horizontal strata, gradient pile reinforcement technology demonstrates good adaptability, providing a feasible solution for similar engineering projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective To evaluate arterial covered stent used in the resection of complex carotid body tumor (CBT) and postoperative adverse events. Methods Twelve patients with CBT Shamblin type Ⅱ 3 cases and type Ⅲ 9 cases from 2018 to 2020 who underwent intraoperative combined arterial covered stent reconstruction (4 cases) or prereconstruction of internal carotid artery (8 cases) were included in this study. Statistics and analysis were done for general clinical data, intraoperative evaluation and postoperative adverse events. Results The operation was successful for all 12 cases. Average operative time was (160±55) min and blocking time was (25±6) min during carotid artery reconstruction. There was without need to block during internal carotid artery prereconstruction. Intraoperative bleeding was (342±101) mL. It was shown by follow-up one year later that there were 2 cases of temporary nerve injury and 1 case of postoperative covered stent obstruction. Both permanent nerve injury and transient ischemic attack were not found. Conclusions Stent graft used to reconstruct during operation or prereconstruction of internal carotid artery in CBT Shamblin type Ⅱ and type Ⅲ could reduce vascular injury, shorten blocking time of carotid artery, and lower adverse events. However, the treatment remained to be studied with large-sample controlled trial.

With the push toward global low-carbon and sustainable development goals, an urgent need exists to find building materials that can replace cement. Engineering muck (EM) produced by foundation pit engineering in subtropical areas is rich in clay minerals, which are suitable for the preparation of low-carbon geotechnical materials. In this study, the effects of SiO2/Na2O and the liquid–solid ratio on the performance of alkali-activated EM-based geopolymers were investigated. In addition, a life cycle assessment (LCA) was performed to evaluate the environmental impacts of EM-based geopolymers. The findings showed that the geopolymer with a SiO2/Na2O ratio of 1.5 achieved the highest 7-day compressive strength of 42 MPa, which was 47.46% and 56.49% greater than that of the geopolymer with SiO2/Na2O ratios of 0.9 and 1.8, respectively because of its densest structure and fewest cracks. Moreover, increasing the liquid–solid ratio from 0.75 to 0.90 slightly increased the 28-day compressive strength from 47 to 52 MPa because of the refined pore structure. However, this modification also increased carbonate formation and mass loss at elevated temperatures. Compared with those of concrete, the CO2 and SO2 emissions of EM-based geopolymers were reduced by 4–26% and 8–19%, respectively, owing to the considerable environmental impact of cement. The overall performance of the geopolymers was assessed via multiple influence indicator methods, and the optimal synthesis conditions for the geopolymers were a SiO2/Na2O ratio of 1.5 and a liquid–solid ratio of 0.75. This study suggests that using alkaline activation technology to transform EM into geopolymers has potential as a substitute for concrete, providing a new type of green material for geotechnical engineering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

· The heat transfer characteristics in the concentration polarization zone are analyzed. · IUT, Nusselt number and Field synergy angle are applied for heat transfer performance evaluation. · Cooling capacity is improved by increasing the twists and turns in the cooling flow field. Heat management plays a vital role in the efficient and stable operation of proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs), especially at high current densities, which is directly related to the cooling flow field (CFF). In this paper, a non-isothermal electrochemical model coupled with CFF of PEMFC is developed, and the effects of CFF structures on the water and heat transfer performance enhancement of PEMFC at high current densities are studied. In addition, an Evaluation Criteria is expected to be applied to evaluate the heat transfer capacity of CFFs. The results indicate that high temperatures effectively alleviate PEMFC concentration polarization. Due to the twists and turns design within the channel, the heat transfer capability of the Wave CFF performs well, Nusselt number and field synergy angle values respectively 35.7 % higher and 3.34 % lower than those of Parallel CFF. Additionally, the heat transfer performance factor is used to evaluate the heat transfer capability of different cooling flow field structures. The performance factor of the Wave CFF reaches 1.44 at a coolant temperature difference of 1 K. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A 5-cell stack model coupling electrochemistry and manifold configuration has been constructed. • Effects of manifold configuration and cooling intensity on PEMFC stack internal heat and mass transfer mechanisms is revealed. • The U-type configuration and increasing coolant velocity can effectively enhance stack performance and consistency. • Adequate cooling effectively improves temperature consistency but exacerbates concentration polarization. The heat transfer and mass transfer mechanisms in proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) stacks are crucial for ensuring performance, consistency, and safety. A three-dimensional PEMFC 5-cell stack simulation model with cooling flow fields is developed to observation of the internal heat and mass transfer characteristics of the stack. This contributes to understanding the impact of the cooling flow field on performance. Results highlight the significant impact of coolant velocity on heat and mass transfer performance, adequate cooling effectively improves temperature consistency but exacerbates concentration polarization. Additionally, manifold configurations exhibit distinct effects. The U-type configuration not only exhibits superior single-cell consistency but also improves temperature uniformity under adequate cooling. At a current density of 3.6 A cm−2 and with adequate cooling, the Z-type configuration exhibits a maximum voltage difference of 117.52 mV, while the U-type configuration only exhibits 38.12 mV, indicating a difference exceeding 300 %. At high current densities, significant dead zones are present near the outlet side of each cell's flow field, where the oxygen molar fraction is nearly zero, which is a primary cause of concentration polarization. Under the Z-type configuration, the maximum difference in oxygen molar concentration among single cells reached 72 %. For stacks operating at high current densities, employing the U-type configuration and increasing coolant velocity can effectively enhance stack performance and consistency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• For the first time, an all-fiber (6 + 3) structure was proposed for the fabrication of a ring spot signal combiner, and samples were successfully fabricated. • The samples produced showed a significant improvement in transmission efficiency compared to the cascaded 3 × 1 − (6 + 1) × 1 structure. • For the first time in the test method proposed return light test, and the sample test successfully passed. Aiming at the problem that the ring beam mode adjustable signal combiner with a single center port structure limits the output power of the laser beam in the inner ring of the laser. A new all-fiber structure (6 + 3) × 1 signal combiner is designed, which can independently carry more than 3 kW of power at each input port, and the output fiber is a ring-shaped dual-core fiber. The tapered fiber bundle adopts the (6 + 3) × 1 structure, where the three input ports in the center form a tapered fiber bundle to transmit the laser beam to the inner core of the output fiber, and the remaining six ports in the outer ring transmit the beam to the outer core of the output fiber, and the beams of the inner and outer cores can be transmitted independently, which effectively increases the output power of the center port. Combiner using (6 + 3) × 1 structure of the fiber transmission efficiency of more than 98 %, the center of the M2 is 5.32, can withstand the role of the return light. The structure of the output beam energy is more uniform, can effectively prevent sputtering, so that it can be applied to ultra-precision welding and other fields. At the same time, the structure also provides a feasible new solution to increase the center M2 of the beam splitter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid drawdown of river level is very detrimental to the stability of dikes. In this paper, the entire slope failure process of a real dike with sandy soil interlayer after rapid river drawdown is accurately reproduced using the material point method (MPM). The analysis of pre-failure behaviour, in combination with field test results, reveals the triggering mechanism of such dike slope failure, demonstrating that the presence of sandy soil interlayer is the leading cause of dike instability. By tracking the response of the dike slope from failure initiation to runout termination, the failure mode of the dike slope with sandy soil interlayer is identified as a progressive and retrogressive failure mode, with shallow and deep-seated slip surfaces appearing successively. Parametric studies indicate the friction angle, cohesion, dilatancy, and permeability of the sandy soil play significant roles in dike slope stability. A relationship between the permeability of sandy soil and the maximum sliding displacement is also found. In the face of rapid river drawdown, river-facing slope surface protection is the most effective protection measure for such dike slopes with sandy soil interlayer, while traditional riprap protection at the slope toe has a limited protecting effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A forged TiAl-Nb alloy was investigated by means of measurements of properties related to performance at high temperatures, and the microstructure was observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) with electron backscattering diffraction (EBSD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The brittle-ductile transition temperature of the alloy was between 800 °C and 820 °C. The alloy had high strength in the brittle stage, and the main deformation mechanisms of the alloy were dislocation movement and dynamic recovery (DRV) in the γ phase. In the ductile stage, the alloy had good deformation ability and the main deformation mechanism of the alloy was continuous dynamic recrystallization (CDRX) in γ phase and α 2 phase, the integrity of the lamellar colonies was destroyed. At the same time, the phase transformation occurred. • The brittle-ductile transition of a forged TiAl-Nb alloy was investigated. • The deformation mechanism during the brittle stage were dislocation movement and dynamic recovery in the γ phase. • Lamellar colonies destroy and phase transformation occurred during the ductile stage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We first presented all-fiber cascaded combiners for ARM beam laser with a flattop central beam. The cascaded combiners are consist of a 3×1 combiner and a (6+1)×1 combiner in series. • By selecting appropriate structural parameters of the cascaded combiners, the first 3 × 1 combiner can form a multi-mode laser beam, which is input to the center port of the second (6 + 1) × 1 combiner to obtain an ARM beam with a uniformly distributed central beam. • The cascaded combiners yield an 8.8 kW central output laser with a transmission efficiency of 96.2 % and M2 factor of 5.24, as well as a ring output laser with an average efficiency higher than 98 %. An all-fiber structure that obtains an adjustable-ring mode (ARM) beam with a uniformly distributed central beam is put forward for the first time based on the beam combining technology. This structure is all-fiber cascaded combiners consisting of a 3 × 1 combiner and a (6 + 1) × 1 combiner in series. A multi-mode fiber with core diameter of 50 µm acts as the connective fiber, transmitting the combined laser of the first 3 × 1 combiner into the center guide core of the output fiber by the well-designed (6 + 1) × 1 combiner. Through the independent transmission of the center and ring beams, an 8.8 kW uniformly distributed central output laser with a transmission efficiency of 96.2 % and M2 of 5.24 is obtained by the cascaded combiners. The feasibility of ARM laser beam with a 10 kW-level flattop central beam provides a new approach for high-power laser welding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Cathode flow fields of PEMFCs with great water–gas transfer capacity are optimized. • PEMFC obtains 9.30% performance enhancement with the optimal cathode flow field. • Visualization experiment verify water removal advantage and performance benefits. • PCC is firstly proposed to evaluate the correlation of PEMFC performance indexes. Flow field design plays a key role in enhancing the performance of proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC). In this work, the cathode flow field is optimized to enhance the performance of PEMFC by improving the capacity of mass transfer and water removal, and a three-dimensional, two-phase, isothermal numerical model is established to evaluate its performance. Additionally, visualization experiment is carried out to verify the simulation results. It shows that the opposite sinusoidal wave flow fields (OSWFFs) with single-inlet, dual-inlet and the block provide 6.86%, 1.26%, and 2.31% performance enhancement, respectively, compared with the parallel flow fields (PFFs), which positively affects the mass transfer capacity and water removal performance. Among them, the dual-inlet OSWFF with block is the most helpful for performance enhancement, with an enhancement of 9.30% at 2.2 A cm−2 compared to the PFF. Moreover, Pearson correlation coefficient (PCC) is proposed for the first time to evaluate the correlation between each index and PEMFC performance. The comparison of stoichiometric ratios shows that the more significantly correlated indexes contribute to the dual-inlet OSWFF outperforming the single-inlet OSWFF at high inlet velocities, verifying the applicability of PCC in PEMFC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rationale: Small bowel adenocarcinoma (SBA) is an extremely rare tumor that is not fully understood, SBA accounts for less than 5% of gastrointestinal cancers, Krukenberg tumors account for a lower proportion of all ovarian tumors, close to 2%. Stomach is the most common primary site of Krukenberg tumor. The phenomenon of bilateral ovarian Kukenberg tumor caused by implantation and metastasis of small bowel cancer is extremely rare, with few literature reports and limited clinical diagnosis and treatment data. We present a case of a 55-year-old woman with bilateral Kukenberg's tumor caused by small bowel cancer implantation and share our views on the diagnosis and treatment of this case., Patient Concerns: A 55-year-old woman presented with vaginal bleeding and persistent lower abdominal pain after fatigue 10 days ago. Pelvic ultrasound at a local hospital revealed 2 solid masses in her pelvis, and she came to our hospital for further diagnosis and treatment. The results of colonofiberscope examination and histopathological examination confirmed intramucosal adenocarcinoma in the small intestine., Diagnoses: The results of colonofiberscope examination and histopathological examination confirmed intramucosal adenocarcinoma in the small intestine. Contrast-enhanced computed tomography showed multiple cystic space-occupying lesions in the pelvic cavity, and the possibility of ovarian tumor was considered., Interventions: Radical treatment of right half colon cancer and pelvic mass resection were performed under general anesthesia. Combined with intraoperative and postoperative pathological examination, the diagnosis was mucinous adenocarcinoma of the small intestine stage IV (pT4N1M1). Bilateral ovarian metastasis, metastatic cancer (3/19): lymph nodes around the small intestine (3/12), lymph nodes around the colon (0/7)., Outcomes: He is currently receiving chemotherapy, the chemotherapy regimen is XELOX regimen. The specific drugs were oxaliplatin and capecitabine., Lessons: SBA is often difficult to diagnose due to few specific symptoms and is usually detected at stage IV. Bilateral ovarian Kukenberg tumor caused by small bowel cancer implantation metastases is extremely rare, and clinicians must be vigilant for women with fewer specific symptoms of gastrointestinal discomfort and conduct further diagnostic studies to avoid delayed diagnosis and treatment., Competing Interests: The authors have no funding and conflicts of interest to disclose., (Copyright © 2024 the Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.)

Oligonucleotide synthesis is vital for molecular experiments. Bioinformatics has been employed to create various algorithmic tools for the in vitro synthesis of nucleotides. The main approach to synthesizing long-chain DNA molecules involves linking short-chain oligonucleotides through ligase chain reaction (LCR) and polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Short-chain DNA molecules have low mutation rates, while LCR requires complementary interfaces at both ends of the two nucleic acid molecules or may alter the conformation of the nucleotide chain, leading to termination of amplification. Therefore, molecular melting temperature, length, and specificity must be considered during experimental design. POSoligo is a specialized offline tool for nucleotide fragment synthesis. It optimizes the oligonucleotide length and specificity based on input single-stranded DNA, producing multiple contiguous long strands (COS) and short patch strands (POS) with complementary ends. This process ensures free 5'- and 3'-ends during oligonucleotide synthesis, preventing secondary structure formation and ensuring specific binding between COS and POS without relying on stabilizing the complementary strands based on Tm values. POSoligo was used to synthesize the linear RBD sequence of SARS-CoV-2 using only one DNA strand, several POSs for LCR ligation, and two pairs of primers for PCR amplification in a time- and cost-effective manner., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Purpose: Ubiquitin-specific peptidase 10 (USP10) has been found to have oncogenic activity in several human tumors. This study first revealed the exact function of USP10 on the progression of thyroid cancer (THCA) by researching its effect on the ferroptosis., Methods: USP10 expression in THCA patients was analyzed by online data analysis and in 75 THCA cases was scrutinized by real-time quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and Western blot. Influence of USP10 on the viability, colony formation, migration and invasion of THCA cells was demonstrated by cell counting kit-8, colony formation, wound healing and Transwell invasion assays. Effect of USP10 on the Erastin-induced ferroptosis in THCA cells was evaluated by detecting the ferroptosis-related indicators. Intrinsic mechanism of USP10, glutathione peroxidase 4 (GPX4) and sirtuin 6 (SIRT6) in regulating THCA progression was identified. In vivo xenograft experiment was implemented., Results: USP10 was abundantly expressed in THCA patients, linking to poor outcome. USP10 overexpression enhanced the viability, colony formation, migration and invasion of THCA cells. USP10 mitigated the Erastin-induced ferroptosis in THCA cells, decreased the levels of iron, Fe 2+ , malondialdehyde, lipid reactive oxygen species, reduced mitochondrial superoxide level, and increased mitochondrial membrane potential. USP10 facilitated the expression of ferroptosis suppressor GPX4 by elevating SIRT6. Loss of USP10 repressed the in vivo growth of THCA cells., Conclusion: USP10 might attenuate the ferroptosis to promote thyroid cancer malignancy by facilitating GPX4 via elevating SIRT6. It might be novel target for the treatment of THCA., (© 2023 Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

Background: Thyroidectomy is commonly performed for benign or malignant thyroid tumors, often resulting in hypothyroidism. Levothyroxine (LT4) supplementation is crucial to maintain hormone levels within the normal range and suppress TSH for cancer control. However, determining the optimal dosage remains challenging, leading to uncertain outcomes and potential side effects., Methods: We analyzed clinical examination data from 510 total thyroidectomy patients, including demographic information, blood tests, and thyroid function. Using R, we applied data preprocessing techniques and identified 274 samples with 98 variables. Principal Component Analysis, correlation analysis, and regression analysis were conducted to identify factors associated with optimal LT4 dosage., Results: The analysis revealed that only eight variables significantly influenced the final satisfactory dosage of LT4 in tablets: Benign0/Malignant1 (benign or malignant), BQB (electrophoretic albumin ratio), TP (total protein), FDP (fibrin degradation products), TRAB_1 (thyroid-stimulating hormone receptor antibody), PT (prothrombin time), MONO# (monocyte count), and HCV0C (hepatitis C antibody). The resulting predictive model was: ., Conclusion: Parameters such as benign/malignant status, TRAB_1, and BQB ratio during medication can serve as observational indicators for postoperative LT4 dosage. The calculated linear model can predict the LT4 dosage for patients after thyroidectomy, leading to improved treatment effectiveness and conserving medical resources., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing interests in this work., (© 2024 Yang et al.)

Smart healthcare has achieved significant progress in recent years. Emerging artificial intelligence (AI) technologies enable various smart applications across various healthcare scenarios. As an essential technology powered by AI, natural language processing (NLP) plays a key role in smart healthcare due to its capability of analysing and understanding human language. In this work, we review existing studies that concern NLP for smart healthcare from the perspectives of technique and application. We first elaborate on different NLP approaches and the NLP pipeline for smart healthcare from the technical point of view. Then, in the context of smart healthcare applications employing NLP techniques, we introduce representative smart healthcare scenarios, including clinical practice, hospital management, personal care, public health, and drug development. We further discuss two specific medical issues, i.e., the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and mental health, in which NLP-driven smart healthcare plays an important role. Finally, we discuss the limitations of current works and identify the directions for future works.

Background: Gastric cancer (GC) is a leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Understanding the molecular mechanisms of GC metastasis is crucial for improving patient survival outcomes., Methods: RNA sequencing and analysis were performed on tissue samples from primary and lymph node metastatic lesions of gastric cancer. Differential gene analysis and functional pathway analysis were conducted. Immune infiltrating environment and protein expression levels were evaluated using immunohistochemistry. Cell experiments were conducted to investigate the role of CCL21 in GC metastasis., Results: ACTG2, CNN1, DES, MUC6, and PGC were significantly upregulated in primary tumor cells, while CCL21, MS4A1, CR2, CLDN11, and FDCSP were significantly upregulated in metastatic tumor cells. Functional pathway analysis revealed enrichment in pathways related to immune response. CLDN11 and CCL21 were found to play important roles in promoting gastric cancer metastasis. Cell experiments confirmed the role of CCL21 in promoting GC cell growth and metastasis. CCL21 is highly expressed in GC tissues and binds to CCR7, leading to upregulation of CLDN11. This results in GC-lymph node metastasis and abnormal activation of immune cells (B cells and CD4 + T cells)., Conclusion: Inhibition of CCL21 and CLDN11 proteins may be a promising strategy for treating GC and preventing lymph node metastasis. These findings provide specific molecular markers for early lymph node metastases of GC, which can aid in developing treatment strategies and predicting patient prognosis., Competing Interests: Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Background: Bladder cancer (BLCA) is a commonly diagnosed cancer worldwide that exhibits high rates of recurrence and metastasis. Immunotherapy is increasingly being recognised in the clinical management of bladder cancer. In addition, the prospect of developing Natural Killer (NK) cell-related immunotherapy is promising in BLCA., Methods: We established and verified a prognostic signature based on NK cell-related gene expression. We then calculated the NKscore of BLCA samples and correlated it with the clinical outcomes, molecular subtypes of BLCA, tumour microenvironment (TME), and predicted efficacy of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) and chemotherapy drugs to thoroughly explore the implications of the NKscore. Finally, the role of the NK signature gene HECTD1 in BLCA was verified by Quantitative Real-time PCR, Cell Counting Kit-8 Assay (CCK-8), Transwell Assay and Colony Formation Experiment., Results: We analysed NK cell-associated genes and identified six genes with significant prognostic relevance. A high NK score significantly represents a worse prognosis. NKscore was significantly correlated with seven types of classical molecular subtype classifications of BLCA. In addition, NKscore positively correlates with NK-related immune checkpoints, suggesting that emerging NK cell immune checkpoint inhibitors, such as monalizumab, may have potential therapeutic promise for patients with high NKscore. The results of the T cell inflamed score (TIS) and tumour immune dysfunction exclusion (TIDE) score confirmed the suitability of immunotherapy for patients with a high NK score. Likewise, patients with a high NK score may be more suitable for several significant chemotherapeutic drugs. Functional experiments showed that the knockdown of HECTD1 significantly attenuated the proliferation, migration, and invasion ability of tumour cells., Conclusion: To sum up, the capability of our signature to predict prognosis and immunotherapy response was robust. Hopefully, these results will provide new insights for BLCA research and patient immunotherapy., (Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.net.)

The development of negative temperature coefficient (NTC) thermistor materials with a wide range of operating temperatures, high resistance (R), low thermal content (B) and good stability is significant for improving the overall performance of NTC thermistors. Traditional NTC thermistors materials are of the spinel, however, their practical applications are commonly limited to temperatures below approximately 200°C.In this study, it was found that a novel perovskite-structured solid solution (1-x)Bi 0.2 Sr 0.5 La 0.3 TiO 3 -xLaMnO 3 (0.05 ≤ × ≤ 0.2) (BSLT-LM) showed good NTC performance from room temperature to high temperature (600°C) due to the stable structure at high temperatures. The ρ 25 , ρ 100 , ρ 600 and B 25/100 , B 25/600 constants of Bi 0.2 Sr 0.5 La 0.3 TiO 3 -0.1LaMnO 3 NTC thermistors are approximately 1.76 × 10 8  Ω cm, 1.13 × 10 7  Ω cm, 9.89 × 10 2  Ω cm, 4063.91 K, 5472.34 K, respectively. The electrical conductivity of these solid solution refers to the electronic transition between Mn 3+ and Mn 4+ , and oxygen vacancies. These results demonstrate the tremendous potential of perovskite-structured (1-x) Bi 0.3 Sr 0.5 La 0.2 TiO 3 -xLaMnO 3 thermistor ceramics with NTC performance., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Liu, Yang, Ma, Zhang, Zhang and Chang.)

MicroRNA-142-3p (miR-142-3p) has been reported to be implicated in colon cancer; however, the possible regulatory mechanisms and molecular subtypes regulated by miR-142-3p have not been fully elucidated. This study aimed to investigate the biological functions and regulatory mechanism of miR-142-3p in colon cancer. The expression level of miR-142-3p in colon cancer was analyzed based on the mRNA and miRNA expression datasets of colon cancer retrieved from The Cancer Genome Atlas. Target genes of miR-142-3p were also predicted. Based on these target genes, the functions and subtypes of miR-142-3p were investigated. The metabolic and tumor-related pathways, immune microenvironment, and target gene expression between the 2 subtypes were analyzed. MiR-142-3p was upregulated in tumor tissues, and its high expression indicated a poor prognosis. A total of 39 target genes were predicted, which were significantly involved in autophagy- and metabolism-related functions and pathways. Based on these target genes, the colon cancer samples were clustered into 2 subtypes. There were 35 metabolism-related pathways that were significantly different between the 2 clusters. The immune and stromal scores in cluster 2 were higher than those in cluster 1, whereas the tumor purity of cluster 2 was significantly lower than that of cluster 1. TP53INP2 expression in cluster 2 was higher than that in cluster 1. MiR-142-3p may promote colon cancer progression via autophagy- and metabolism-related pathways. MiR-142-3p may be served as a candidate target for the treatment of colon cancer., Competing Interests: The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose., (Copyright © 2023 the Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.)

Lipase is a kind of industrial enzyme preparation with various catalytic abilities and is widely used in food, energy, medicine and other fields. To increase lipase and enzyme cocktail activity through solid-state fermentation, the novel strain Penicillium sp. Y-21 was obtained through ethyl methanesulfonate (EMS) mutation from the novel strain Y, which was isolated from soils. Solid-state fermentation by strain Y-21 using agricultural byproducts was carried out in tray bioreactors. The optimum culture composition for enzyme cocktail fermentation was soybean meal 20 g, 3% (w/w) glucose, 1% (w/w) peptone, 5% (w/w) lard, 0.04% (w/w) CaCl 2 , 0.04% (w/w) FeCl 3 , 28 °C for 72 h. The enzyme cocktail produced by strain Y-21 is a kind of multienzyme complex, containing xylanase, glucanase, acidic protease, pectinase, cellulase and lipase, and their enzymatic activities (unit: U g -1 ) were 8000, 6000, 8000, 2000, 3000 and 120, respectively. During the fermentation process, the lipase coding genes pel, pha, and p12 were also studied and amplified from the RNA of Penicillium sp. Y-21 by RT-PCR. The results showed that the pel gene played an important role in enzyme production. Afterwards, an enzyme cocktail can be added to chicken feed as an additive, which improves animal growth and feed efficiency., (© 2023. Springer Nature Limited.)

In recent years, mesenchymal stem cell (MSCs)-derived exosomes have attracted much attention in the field of tissue regeneration. Mesenchymal stem cell-derived exosomes are signaling molecules for communication among cells. They are characterized by natural targeting and low immunogenicity, and are mostly absorbed by cells through the paracrine pathway of mesenchymal stem cells. Moreover, they participate in the regulation and promotion of cell or tissue regeneration. As a scaffold material in regenerative medicine, hydrogel has good biocompatibility and degradability. Combining the two compounds can not only improve the retention time of exosomes at the lesion site, but also improve the dose of exosomes reaching the lesion site by in situ injection, and the therapeutic effect in the lesion area is significant and continuous. This paper summarizes the research results of the interaction of exocrine and hydrogel composite materials to promote tissue repair and regeneration, in order to facilitate research in the field of tissue regeneration in the future.

Background: Carotid body tumor (CBT) is the most common head and neck paraganglioma. Whether preoperative embolization benefits CBT patients who will receive surgical resection is still controversial., Methods: In this multi-center retrospective study, we collected data from patients with CBT who received surgical treatment without (group A) or with preoperative embolization (group B) from 2011 to 2019. The primary outcome was the rate of death or stroke after 3 years of follow-up. The secondary outcomes of the study were length of operation (LOO), intraoperative blood loss (IBL), length of stay (LOS), rate of recurrence, and rate of cranial nerve (CN) injuries. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the demographics, clinical characteristics, complications, and follow-up results of the patients., Results: Between January 2011 and October 2019, 261 consecutive patients (107 male and 154 female) entered analysis. After 3 years of follow-up, no patient died in both groups. Only three patients with stroke were detected: 2/226 (0.9%) in group A vs. 1/35 (2.9%) in group B (p = .308). The LOO in group A was 132.6 ± 64.6 min compared with 152.9 ± 40.4 min in group B (p = .072). IBL in group A was 375.4 ± 497.8 ml compared with 448.0 ± 270.8 ml in group B (p = .400). LOS in group A was 8.3 ± 2.0 days compared with 7.4 ± 1.7 days in group B (p = .016). Seventy-two CN injuries were detected: 65/226 (28.8%) in group A vs. 7/35 (20.0%) in group B (p = .281). There were 65 temporary CN injuries (59 in group A vs. 6 in group B) (p = .254) and seven permanent CN injuries (6 in group A vs. 1 in group B) (p = .945). Three most frequently injured cranial nerves were the pharyngeal branch and superior laryngeal nerve (12.3%), recurrent laryngeal nerve (7.7%) and vagus nerve (7.3%)., Conclusion: There was insufficient evidence to support the efficacy of preoperative embolization. CBT resection alone had a similar rate of stoke, recurrence, and CN injuries when compared with CBT resection with preoperative arterial embolization. Meanwhile, CBT resection alone did not increase LOO and IBL., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Han, Pu, Tang, Yang, Dong, Lu, Wei, Yang, Zhao, Guo, Tang and Zhao.)

We present the design and fabrication of a 3 × 1 signal combiner with high beam quality based on supermode theory. For improving beam quality, the fiber with core diameter of 34 µm and numerical aperture of 0.11 is first chosen as the output fiber. An 8.89 kW output laser with a power transmission efficiency of 97.2% and a low temperature rise coefficient of 3.5 °C/ kW at >8 kW is obtained when the combiner launched by three Yb-doped fiber lasers. In addition, the energy density distribution of the output beam is Gaussian-like and M 2 factor is 2.32, which is the best beam quality compared with the presented signal combiners for high power laser to the best of our knowledge.

Context: Chinese herb Huangqin decoction (HQD) can regulate intestinal flora in ulcerative colitis (UC) mice., Objective: Our study clarifies the mechanism of HQD in regulating the intestinal flora of UC mice., Materials and Methods: Male C57BL/6 mice were randomly divided into six groups: Control, Model (3% DSS), Sulfasalazine (500 mg/kg), HQD-L (250 mg/kg), HQD-M (500 mg/kg), and HQD-H (1000 mg/kg) groups. Measurement of body weight, colon length, DAI, and haematoxylin-eosin staining were conducted. FISH and 16S rDNA detected colonic bacterial infiltration and intestinal flora changes. The expression of RegIIIγ and PRRs (NOD2, TLR5, TLR4) were detected by FCM and WB, respectively. In addition, WB, qPCR, or IHC were used to detect the expression of NOD2, MyD88, RIP2, and NF-κB p65 in the colon. ELISA was used to determine cytokines., Results: Compared with the model group (DAI score, 2.38 ± 0.05; histological score, 4.08 ± 0.54), HQD treatment significantly reduced the DAI score (L, 2.16 ± 0.09; M, 1.45 ± 0.05; H, 1.18 ± 0.05) and histological score (L, 3.16 ± 0.82; M, 2.50 ± 0.81; H, 1.51 ± 0.76); restored the weight, the colonic length ( p  < 0.05). 16S rDNA identification showed HQD regulated the balance of intestinal flora. Moreover, HQD suppressed the expression of RegIIIγ ( p  < 0.05) and prevented colonic bacterial infiltration. Furthermore, WB results showed NOD2, and TLR4 were inhibited by HQD, especially NOD2 ( p  < 0.01). The data of WB, qPCR, and IHC demonstrated that the NOD2-dependent pathway was inhibited by HQD ( p  < 0.01)., Discussion and Conclusions: HQD (1000 mg/kg) regulates the intestinal flora of colitis mice, mainly characterized as inhibition of the NOD2-dependent pathway. These results indicate that HQD has potential.

Background: ZNRD1-AS1 plays an important role in liver cancer, endometrial cancer and other diseases. However, the relationship between ZNRD1-AS1 and retinoblastoma has not been studied in detail. This study aimed to determine the role of ZNRD1-AS1 in retinoblastoma., Methods: Differentially expressed genes in retinoblastoma downloaded from GEO database were identified by Limma package, and the expression and cell location of ZNRD1-AS1 were detected by real-time quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR). The relationships between miR-128-3p and two genes (ZNRD1-AS1 and BMI1) were analyzed by bioinformatics and dual-luciferase assay. After manipulating the expressions of ZNRD1-AS1, miR-128-3p and BMI1, cell viability, tube length, migration, invasion and the protein expressions (PCNA, E-Cadherin, N-Cadherin) of retinoblastoma cells were determined by cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8), tube formation, transwell and Western blot assays, respectively. Subcutaneous transplantation tumor assay, immunohistochemistry, and RT-qPCR were applied to verify the functions of the target gene in vivo ., Results: ZNRD1-AS1 was up-regulated in the cytoplasm of retinoblastoma and regulated BMI1 via sponging miR-128-3p. ZNRD1-AS1 knockdown alleviated the malignant phenotype (viability, tube length, migration and invasion) of retinoblastoma cells, reduced tumor volume and weight, and inhibited BMI1 and CD34 expressions. Different from miR-128-3p mimic, miR-128-3p inhibitor promoted malignant phenotype of retinoblastoma cells, and partially reversed the inhibitory effect of siZNRD1-AS1. MiR-128-3p mimic down-regulated BMI1, PNCA, N-Cadherin expressions, and up-regulated p16 and E-Cadherin expressions. The regulatory effect of miR-128-3p was partially reversed by BMI1., Conclusion: ZNRD1-AS1, acting as a "sponge" of miR-128-3p, up-regulates BMI1, thereby promoting the progression of retinoblastoma., Competing Interests: None., (AJTR Copyright © 2021.)

Knee osteoarthritis (KOA) is the most common progressive joint disorder associated with disability in the world. As a chronic disease, KOA has multifactorial etiology. However, the poor self-healing ability of the articular cartilage due to its intrinsic tissue hypovascularity and hypocellularity seems to be directly incriminated in the physio-pathological mechanism of KOA. While conventional therapies result in unfavorable clinical outcomes, regenerative cell therapies have shown great promise in articular cartilage regeneration. Adipose-derived stem cells (ASCs) appear to be an ideal alternative to bone-marrow derived stem cells (BMSCs) and autologous chondrocytes, due to their lower immunogenicity, richer source and easier acquisition. Since the first case report in 2011, ASCs have demonstrated safety and efficacy for articular cartilage regeneration in several phase I/II clinical trials. However, different levels of abnormality were found in the regenerated cartilage for most of the patients. A large portion of recent publications investigated different optimization strategies to improve the therapeutic function of ASCs, including cell source selection, preconditioning and co-delivery. Herein, we give an update on the latest research progress on ASCs, with a focus on the most promising optimization strategies for ASC-based therapy.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the second most common cancer in the world. The incidence of this cancer is increasing in the developing countries. Mechanism of CRC tumorigenesis has been widely studied at the molecular levels, and has been recently proposed microRNAs as novel players in CRC. It has been reported that microRNA-138-5p (miR-138-5p) play key roles in different kinds of human cancers. However, the roles and underlying molecular mechanisms of miR-138-5p in CRC have not been adequately elucidated. Thus, the aim of the present study was to investigate the roles and possible regulatory mechanisms of miR-138-5p in CRC. In this study, we demonstrated that miR-138-5p was significantly down-regulated in CRC tissue samples and cell lines. Functional analyses indicated that the overexpression of miR-138-5p significantly delayed cell proliferation, reduced colony formation and increased apoptosis in CRC cell lines. Moreover, human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT), an important oncogene in the management of tumors, was confirmed as a direct target of miR-138-5p in CRC cells. We also found that the hTERT expression was increased in CRC tissues and was inversely correlated with miR-138-5p. Further study showed that the restoration of hTERT expression by an overexpressing plasmid could reverse the effects of miR-138-5p on proliferation and apoptosis of CRC cells. Taken together, these data defines a major suppresses proliferation and promotes apoptosis role for miR-138-5p, a microRNA functions as a tumor suppressor in CRC, by directly targeting hTERT, which would be provide a new strategy for future CRC therapies., Competing Interests: None., (IJCEP Copyright © 2017.)

Triptolide (TP) is the major active component of Tripterygium wilfordii Hook F (TWHF) and possesses multiple pharmacological effects. However, hepatotoxicity of TP which is one of the toxic properties slows its progression in clinical application. 18 β -Glycyrrhetinic acid (GA) is the main bioactive ingredient of Licorice ( Glycyrrhiza glabra L.), a herbal medicine famous for its detoxification. This study aims to investigate whether GA possesses protective effect against TP-induced hepatotoxicity in rats. TP interference markedly elevated serum levels of ALT, AST, and ALP, caused evident liver histopathological changes, and elevated hepatic TNF- α , IL-6, IL-1 β , and IFN- γ as well as nuclear translocation of NF- κ B. TP also significantly elevated liver MDA and declined hepatic activities of SOD, CAT, and GSH-Px. Assay of TUNEL and apoptosis proteins (Bax, Bcl-2, and active caspase-3) showed that TP induced severe hepatocellular apoptosis. In contrast, low-dose GA (50 mg/kg) significantly reversed TP-induced changes above. However, high-dose GA (100 mg/kg) had no such effect. Overall, these findings indicated that low-dose GA but not high-dose GA exhibited a protective effect against TP-induced hepatotoxicity in rats by anti-inflammation, antioxidation, and antiapoptosis, which suggests that the doses of GA/Licorice should be carefully considered when used together with TWHF or TWHF preparations.

Bladder cancer (BC) is the most common cancers of the urinary tract worldwide, killing thousands of people a year. WISP3 is a cysteine-rich protein that belongs to the CCN (Cyr61, CTGF, Nov) family of proteins. Increasing evidences have linked abnormal levels of CCN family members to tumorigenic effects. In the present study, we found that WISP3 was overexpressed in BC. Knockdown of WISP3by RNA interference in two BC cell lines (5367 and SCaBER cells) significantly inhibited cell proliferation, which may be mediated by cell cycle arrest in G1 phase. Moreover, silencing of WISP3 also induced cell apoptosis via increasing the expression of caspase 3 and caspase 9. Depletion of WISP3 notably inhibited the invasion of BC cells. Our data suggests that inhibition of WISP3 may be a therapeutic strategy for BC.

Objective: To investigate the effect of different mechanical tensions on the expressions of RhoA/Rho associated protein kinases (ROCK) in rat tendon stem cells (TSCs)., Methods: TSCs were isolated from the tendon tissue of male Sprague Dawley rats (aged, 2-3 months; weighing, 200-250 g) by enzymatic digestion method and cultured for 2-3 passages, then seeded on micro groovdishes. The 4% (4% stretch group) and 8% (8% stretch group) mechanical stretching was performed for 4 hours every day at 1 Hz. After 1, 2, and 3 days, the protein and mRNA expressions of RhoA and ROCK were measured by Western blot and real-time quantitative PCR. The cell proliferation was measured by cell counting kit 8. The cells were not stretched as control group., Results: The TSCs at passage 2 showed a cobble-stone shape and aggregation growth; TSCs seeded on micro groovdishes showed random growth, and the cells grew along the stretching direction after mechanical stretching. The mRNA expressions of RhoA and ROCK in control group, 4%, and 8% stretch groups showed an increasing tendency at 1, 2, and 3 days, showing significant difference between groups (P < 0.05). The protein expressions of RhoA and ROCK in 4% and 8% stretch groups were similar to those in control group at 1 day (P > 0.05), but the expressions in 4% and 8% stretch groups showed an increasing tendency at 2 and 3 days, which were significantly higher than those in control group (P < 0.05). The cell proliferation of 8% stretch group was significantly lower than that of 4% stretch group and control group at each time point (P < 0.05), but no significant difference was found between 4% stretch group and control group (P > 0.05)., Conclusion: The expressions of RhoA and ROCK of rat TSCs are positively correlated with stretch intensity. So RhoA/ROCK may be an important molecule in TSCs after mechanical stretching.