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Background: Ferroptosis is associated with cancer initiation and progression. However, the molecular mechanism and prognostic value of ferroptosis-related genes in lung squamous cell carcinoma (LUSC) are poorly understood. Methods: The mRNA expression profiles, methylation data, and clinical information of patients with LUSC were downloaded from TCGA and GEO database. Ferroptosis-related differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified between cancerous and non-cancerous tissues, and their prognostic value was systemically investigated by bioinformatic analyses. Results: A ferroptosis-related gene signature (ALOX5, TFRC, PHKG2, FADS2, NOX1) was constructed using multivariate Cox regression analysis and represented as a risk score. Overall survival (OS) probability was significantly lower in the high-risk group than in the low-risk group (P Conclusions: A ferroptosis-related gene signature was constructed to predict OS probability in LUSC. This could facilitate novel therapeutic methods and guide individualized therapy.

We herein report the visible-light-induced photocatalytic degradation of ethylene by a C-doped TiO2 catalyst synthesized by the sol–gel method. The effects of key parameters such as visible light intensity, temperature, and feed composition (ethylene, oxygen, and water vapor) on the photocatalytic reaction rate were evaluated. Our observations, along with experimental results, indicated that the oxidation rate of ethylene improved significantly with an increase in visible light intensity, temperature, and oxygen and ethylene concentrations. Under all experimental conditions, approximately 96–753 ppmv of ethylene, which was adsorbed onto the photocatalyst surfaces (C-doped TiO2) were stoichiometrically oxidized to CO2. High temperature was found to improve the oxidation rate, which could be attributed to an increase in the reactivity of the heterogeneous catalyst and also a hostile adsorption of water on the catalyst. We found that the oxidation rate of ethylene was suppressed considerably with an increase in the water vapor concentration from 547 to 15,000 ppmv at two specific temperatures (303 and 318 K). This observation can be explained by the law of adsorption, since polar water molecules have higher adsorption affinity on a polar catalyst surface than do nonpolar ethylene molecules. We used a Langmuir–Hinshelwood (L–H) model with explicit temperature dependence for simulating the entire set of experimental rate data. The rate law was expressed as follows to account for the obtained results: r = I α k ′ exp - E a RT K e ′ exp - Δ H e / RT T C e 1 + K e ′ exp - Δ H e / RT T C e + K w ′ exp ( - Δ H w / RT T ) C w K O 2 ′ exp - Δ H O 2 / RT T C O 2 1 + K O 2 ′ exp - Δ H O 2 / RT T C O 2 Based on the L–H model, we determined the adsorption enthalpies of ethylene, water vapor, and oxygen on the C-doped TiO2 catalyst.

A C-doped TiO 2 photocatalyst has been found to be viable in degrading organic compounds under visible light. However, the characteristics of the C-doped TiO 2 in relation to photocatalytic activity remain largely unexplored. In this study, we systematically investigated the effect of carbon content and calcination temperature on the photocatalytic properties of a C-doped TiO 2 catalyst prepared by a sol–gel method. The phase, structure, chemical state, optical properties, and surface area/pore distribution of the C-doped TiO 2 were characterized using X-ray diffractometer, transmission electron microscope, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, UV–visible diffusion reflectance spectroscopy, and specific surface area by the Brunauer–Emmett–Teller method. The results showed that the photocatalytic activity of C-doped TiO 2 was greatly enhanced compared to pure TiO 2 under visible irradiation. The C dopant retarded the transformation from anatase to rutile. Namely, C doping was shown to stabilize the anatase phase. The results also showed that C atoms were incorporated into the interstitial positions of the TiO 2 lattice or formatted coke-like structure on the surface of TiO 2 . The formation of carbonate species could cause a long-tail absorption in the visible-light region. Ethylene was used to evaluate the photocatalytic activity of C-TiO 2 under visible-light irradiation. The results suggested that crystalline structure and smaller particle size enhance the photocatalytic activity of C-doped TiO 2 . The highest photocatalytic performance was found for a C-doped TiO 2 catalyst prepared at glucose to titanium n-butoxide ( G / T ) molar ratio of 1.0 and calcined at 400 °C.

// Yang-xi Ou 1, * , Fang-teng Liu 1, 2, * , Fang-ying Chen 3 and Zheng-ming Zhu 1 1 Department of General Surgery, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, Nanchang 330000, Jiangxi Province, P. R. China 2 Jiangxi Medical College, Nanchang University, Nanchang 330006, Jiangxi Province, P. R. China 3 The Health Centers of Fengzhou Town, Quanzhou 36200, Fujian Province, P. R. China * These authors have contributed equally to this work Correspondence to: Zhengming Zhu, email: zzm8654@163.com Keywords: Flotillin-1, carcinoma, prognosis, meta-analysis Received: December 21, 2016 Accepted: March 16, 2017 Published: April 13, 2017 ABSTRACT Background: In numerous studies, Flotillin-1 was reported to be involved in tumor progression, indicating prognosis in various types of cancer. However, the results were inconsistent. Results: A total of 2473 patients from 13 articles were included. The results indicated that: (1) Patients detected with high expression level of Flotillin-1 protein had a significantly shorter OS (HR =1.64; 95%CI: 1.39-1.88), statistical significance was also observed in subgroup meta-analyses stratified by the cancer type, nationality, detecting method, cutoff value, analysis type, sample size and publication date. (2) Patients with high Flotillin-1 protein expression level had a poorer DFS (HR = 2.49; 95%CI: 1.64-3.35), a worse RFS(HR = 3.26; 95%CI: 1.10-5.43) and a potential shorter PFS(HR = 1.84; 95%CI: 0.81-2.87). (3) The pooled odds ratios (ORs) showed that increased Flotillin-1 level was also related to lymph node metastasis (OR =6.30; 95% CI: 3.15-12.59), distant metastasis (OR =6.02; 95% CI: 1.50-24.06) and more advanced TNM stage (OR =4.69; 95% CI: 2.74-8.03). Materials and methods: A comprehensive retrieval was performed in multiple databases, including PubMed, Embase, Web of Science and CNKI. The relevant articles were screened for investigating the association between increased Flotillin-1 expression level and prognosis. Additionally, clinicopathological features data was also extracted from these studies. Conclusions: High expression level of Flotillin-1 protein was correlated with poorer clinical outcome. It might serve as a prognostic biomarker and a potential predictive factor of clinicopathology in various tumors. Further well-designed clinical studies should be performed to verify the clinical utility of Flotillin-1 in human solid tumors.

The removal of AB24 dye in aqueous solution by nano/micro-size zero-valent iron (ZVI) was investigated. Results indicate that the degradation efficiency increases with increasing ZVI concentration and temperature but decreases with particle size of ZVI. Analysis of the results indicates that the reaction follows pseudo-first order kinetics. The rate constant increases linearly with ZVI concentration and decreases with particle size. The activation energy of reaction is 72.3 kJ/mol, indicating that surface reaction controls the rate of degradation. The reaction rate is highly pH-dependent; at pH