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Cross-linked epoxy resin (EP) single-hole Janus hollow spheres are prepared by cross-linking induced phase separation within an emulsion droplet and selective modification. The droplet is composed of an EP oligomer, toluene, and hexadecane. 2-Ethyl-4-methylimidazole is used as the cross-linker added to the aqueous phase. During the cross-linking, hexadecane forms an eccentric core in the cross-linked EP sphere. A single hole forms across the shell after dissolving the solvents, and a single-hole hollow sphere is achieved. The hole and cavity size are controlled by adjusting the solvent content and cross-linker concentration. Furthermore, frozen wax is used as the core material instead of hexadecane to effectively protect the sphere's interior surface. Selective modification of the exterior and interior surfaces is thus permitted. As an example, a responsive single-hole Janus hollow sphere is prepared by the favorable growth of a silica-polyoxyethylene composite layer onto the exterior surface and a selective grafting of poly(2-diethylaminoethyl methacrylate) (PDEAEMA) by atom-transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) onto the interior. The Janus sphere is water-dispersible and controllably captures and releases oil from the aqueous environment as triggered by the pH value.

Transition metal catalysts were supposed to be the most likely substitute for commercial noble metal catalysts, and the development of highly active and long-term catalyst for water splitting are the future trend. Herein, Ni rectangular nitrogen doped carbon nanorods@Fe–Co nanocubes (Ni-CNRs@Fe–Co cubes) were fabricated via a facile template-free method. This simple strategy not only realizes the structure tailoring, but also achieves high-quality nitrogen-doping. Specifically, nickel dimethylglyoxime [Ni(dmg)2] with rectangular rodlike structure was firstly synthesized by solution method, then metal-organic frameworks Fe–Co nanocube with different contents were loaded on rectangular carbon nanorods with polydopamine as the locating and the connecting agent, and finally Ni-CNRs@xFe-Co cubes were obtained by a one-step calcination. A series of electrochemical tests were researched on materials with different metal contents in the 1 M KOH solution. The Ni-CNRs@Fe–Co cubes show excellent electrocatalytic activity in the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and the oxygen evolution reaction (OER). For HER and OER, the Tafel slopes were 83.3 mV dec−1 and 71 mV dec−1, the onset potential were −167 mV and 1.62 V, and reached the current densities of 10 mA cm−2, the overpotential just needed 196 mV and 433 mV, respectively. This novel synthetic strategy will provide a template-free way for cheap electrocatalysts of non-precious metal for OER and HER.

What is essential to solving energy scarcity problems is that develop the high activity, durable and non-noble metal-based dual-functional electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution reactions (HER) and oxygen evolution reactions (OER). In this work, a series of core-shell structure M@Fe–Cu-GR nanocubes (NCs) are prepared. In the prepared process, the bimetallic FeCu prussian blue analogues (PBA) is used as precursor, transition metals ions Co2+ and Ni2+ are introduced into the FeCu-PBA using the exchange of potassium ions with other metal ions, and then the FeCu-PBA are successfully loaded on the graphene oxide (GO) employed the attraction of opposite charges between polydiallyldimethylammonium chloride (PDDA) and GO. Electrochemical tests show that the Tafel slope of Co–Ni@Fe–Cu–GR NCs for HER and OER are 60 and 82 mV dec−1, respectively, and Co–Ni@Fe–Cu–GR NCs shows excellent performance in long-term stability test.

BackgroundsAn understanding of the oncology nurse spiritual care competence would help nurse managers recognize weakness in spiritual practice and improve the quality of spiritual care. But the relationship between attitude towards death and spiritual care competence is unknown.MethodsWe recruited 326 nurses from hospitals in Guangzhou, China. The nurses completed the Chinese Spiritual Care Competence Scale and the Chinese Death Attitude Profile-Revised questionnaires.ResultsThe total score of spiritual care competence was 61.62 ± 16.10. And the lowest score of attitude towards death was forescape acceptance, 2.64 ± 0.82. Factors associated with nurse spiritual care competence were work department, whether trained in spiritual care,approaching acceptance, andescaping acceptanceof attitude towards death.ConclusionNurses need to perfect their spiritual care competence and establish positive attitudes towards death.

Highly homogeneous, well dispersed SiO2@Au@TiO2 (SAT) microspheres decorated with Au nanoparticles (AuNPs) were prepared and incorporated into the photoanode with an optimized concentration gradient-ascent. The effects of SAT microspheres and the gradient-ascent architecture on the light absorption and the photoelectric conversion efficiency (PCE) of the dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) were investigated. Studies indicate that the introduction of SAT microspheres and the gradient-ascent architecture in the photoanode significantly enhance the light scattering and harvesting capability of the photoanode. The DSSC with the optimized SAT gradient-ascent photoanode has the maximum short circuit current density (Jsc) of 17.7 mA cm−2 and PCE of 7.75%, remarkably higher than those of the conventional DSSC by 23.7% and 28.0%, respectively. This significantly enhancement of the performance of the DSSC can be attributed to the excellent light reflection/scattering of SAT, the localized surface plasma resonance (LSPR) effect of AuNPs within the microspheres, and the gradient-ascent architecture of SAT microspheres inside the photoanode. This study demonstrates that the tri-synergies of the scattering of SAT microspheres, the LSPR of AuNPs and the gradient-ascent architecture can effectively improve the PCE of DSSC.

The diet compositions of MD12031 and MD12033 purchased from Mediscience Co., Ltd.

The recent discovery of the cancer-associated E76K mutation in histone H2B (H2BE76-to-K) in several types of cancers revealed a new class of oncohistone. H2BE76K weakens the stability of histone octamers, alters gene expression, and promotes colony formation. However, the mechanism linking the H2BE76K mutation to cancer development remains largely unknown. In this study, we knock in the H2BE76K mutation in MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells using CRISPR/Cas9 and show that the E76K mutant histone H2B preferentially localizes to genic regions. Interestingly, genes upregulated in the H2BE76K mutant cells are enriched for the E76K mutant H2B and are involved in cell adhesion and proliferation pathways. We focused on one H2BE76K target gene, ADAM19 (a disintegrin and metalloproteinase-domain-containing protein 19), a gene highly expressed in various human cancers including breast invasive carcinoma, and demonstrate that H2BE76K directly promotes ADAM19 transcription by facilitating efficient transcription along the gene body. ADAM19 depletion reduced the colony formation ability of the H2BE76K mutant cells, whereas wild-type MDA-MB-231 cells overexpressing ADAM19 mimics the colony formation phenotype of the H2BE76K mutant cells. Collectively, our data demonstrate the mechanism by which H2BE76K deregulates the expression of genes that control oncogenic properties through a combined effect of its specific genomic localization and nucleosome destabilization effect.

Hydroquinone (HQ), one of the major metabolic products of benzene, is a carcinogen, which induces apoptosis and inhibit proliferation in lymphoma cells. microRNA-7-5p (miR-7-5p), a tumor suppressor, participates in various biological processes including cell proliferation and apoptosis regulation by repressing expression of specific oncogenic target genes. To explore whether miR-7-5p is involved in HQ-induced cell proliferation and apoptosis, we assessed the effect of miR-7-5p overexpression on induction of apoptosis analyzed by FACSCalibur flow cytometer in transfection of TK6 cells with miR-7-5p mimic (TK6- miR-7-5p). We observed an increased apoptosis by 25.43% and decreased proliferation by 28.30% in TK6-miR-7-5p cells compared to those negative control cells (TK6-shNC) in response to HQ treatment. Furthermore, HQ might active the apoptotic pathway via partly downregulation the expression of BRCA1 and PARP-1, followed by p53 activation, in TK6-miR-7-5p cells. In contrast, attenuated p53 and BRCA1 expression was observed in shPARP-1 cells than in NC cells after HQ treatment. Therefore, we conclude that HQ may activate apoptotic signals via inhibiting the tumor suppressive effects of miR-7-5p, which may be mediated partly by upregulating the expression of PARP-1 and BRCA1 in control cells. The increase of miR-7-5p expression further intensified downregulation of PARP-1 and BRCA1 in TK6-miR-7-5p cells, resulting in an increase of apoptosis and proliferation inhibited.

// Shaoyun Chen 1, * , Hairong Liang 1, * , Gonghua Hu 2, * , Hui Yang 1 , Kairu Zhou 1 , Longmei Xu 1 , Jiaxian Liu 1 , Bei Lai 1 , Li Song 1 , Hao Luo 1 , Jianming Peng 3 , Zhidong Liu 3 , Yongmei Xiao 4 , Wen Chen 4 and Huanwen Tang 1 1 Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, Dongguan Key Laboratory of Environmental Medicine, School of Public Health, Guangdong Medical University, Dongguan, 523808, China 2 Department of Preventive Medicine, Gannan Medical University, Ganzhou, 341000, China 3 Huizhou Prevention and Treatment Centre for Occupational Disease, Huizhou, 516000, China 4 Guangzhou Key Laboratory of Environmental Pollution and Health Risk Assessment, Department of Toxicology, School of Public Health, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510080, China * These authors contributed equally to this work Correspondence to: Huanwen Tang, email: thw@gdmu.edu.cn Keywords: long noncoding RNA (lncRNA), hydroquinone, high-throughput sequencing, expression profiles, leukemia Received: August 01, 2017 Accepted: September 20, 2017 Published: October 04, 2017 ABSTRACT Previous studies have shown that long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) were related to human carcinogenesis and might be designated as diagnosis and prognosis biomarkers. Hydroquinone (HQ), as one of the metabolites of benzene, was closely relevant to occupational benzene poisoning and occupational leukemia. Using high-throughput sequencing technology, we investigated differences in lncRNA and mRNA expression profiles between experimental group (HQ 20 μmol/L) and control group (PBS). Compared to control group, a total of 65 lncRNAs and 186 mRNAs were previously identified to be aberrantly expressed more than two fold change in experimental group. To validate the sequencing results, we selected 10 lncRNAs and 10 mRNAs for quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR). Through GO annotation and KEGG pathway analysis, we obtained 3 mainly signaling pathways, including P53 signaling pathway, which plays an important role in tumorigenesis and progression. After that, 25 lncRNAs and 32 mRNAs formed the lncRNA-mRNA co-expression network were implemented to play biological functions of the dysregulated lncRNAs transcripts by regulating gene expression. The lncRNAs target genes prediction provided a new idea for the study of lncRNAs. Finally, we have another important discovery, which is screened out 11 new lncRNAs without annotated. All these results uncovered that lncRNA and mRNA expression profiles in TK6 cells exposed to low dose HQ were different from control group, helping to further study the toxicity mechanisms of HQ and providing a new direction for the therapy of leukemia.

B cell leukemia/lymphoma-2 (Bcl-2) suppresses apoptosis by binding the BH3 domain of proapoptotic factors and thereby regulating mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP). This study aimed to investigate the role of Bcl-2 in controlling the mitochondrial pathway of apoptosis during hydroquinone (HQ)-induced TK6 cytotoxicity. In this study, HQ, one metabolite of benzene, decreased the MMP in a concentration-dependent manner and induced the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), the activation of the DNA damage marker γ-H2AX, and production of the DNA damage-responsive enzyme poly(ADP-ribose)polymerase-1 (PARP-1). Exposure of TK6 cells to HQ leads to an increase in Bcl-2 and co-localization with PARP-1 in the cytoplasm. Inhibition of Bcl-2 using the BH3 mimetic, ABT-737, suppressed the PARP-1 nuclear to cytoplasm translocation and sensitized TK6 cells to HQ-induced apoptosis through depolarization of the MMP. Western blot analysis indicated that ABT-737 combined with HQ increased the levels of cleaved PARP and γ-H2AX, but significantly decreased the level of P53. Thus, ABT-737 can influence PARP-1 translocation and induce apoptosis via mitochondria-mediated apoptotic pathway, independently of P53. In addition, we found that knockdown of PARP-1 attenuated the HQ-induced production of cleaved PARP and P53. These results identify Bcl-2 as a protective mediator of HQ-induced apoptosis and show that upregulation of Bcl-2 helps to localize PARP-1 to the cytoplasm and stabilize MMP. Environ. Mol. Mutagen. 59:49-59, 2018. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Hydroquinone (HQ), one of the metabolic products of benzene, is a carcinogen. It can induce apoptosis in lymphoma cells. However, whether HQ can induce autophagy and what roles autophagy plays in TK6 cells exposured to HQ remains unclear. In this study, we found that HQ could induce autophagy through techniques of qRT-PCR, Western blot, immunofluorescent assay of LC3 and transmission electron microscope. Furthermore, inhibiting autophagy using 3-methyladenine (3-MA) or chloroquine (CQ) significantly enhanced HQ-induced cell apoptosis, suggesting that autophagy may be a survival mechanism. Our study also showed that HQ activated PARP-1. Moreover, knockdown of PARP-1 strongly exhibited decreased autophagy related genes expression. In contrast, the absence of SIRT1 increased that. Altogether, our data provided evidence that HQ induced autophagy in TK6 cells and autophagy protected TK6 from HQ attack-induced injury in vitro, and the autophagy was partially mediated via activation of the PARP-1-SIRT1 signaling pathway.

Hydroquinone (HQ), one of the most important metabolites derived from benzene, induces cell cycle arrest and apoptosis. Poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase-1 (PARP-1) participates in various biological processes, including DNA repair and cell cycle regulation. To explore whether PARP-1 regulatory pathway mediated HQ-induced cell cycle arrest and apoptosis, we assessed the effect of PARP-1 suppression on induction of apoptosis analyzed by FACSCalibur flow cytometer in PARP-1 deficientTK6 cells (TK6-shPARP-1). We observed an increase in the fraction of cells in G1 phase by 7.6% and increased apoptosis by 4.5% in PARP-1-deficient TK6 cells (TK6-shPARP-1) compared to those negative control cells (TK6-shNC cells) in response to HQ treatment. Furthermore, HQ might activate the extrinsic pathways of apoptosis via up-regulation of Fas expression, followed by caspase-3 activation, apoptotic body, and sub G1 accumulation. Enhanced p53 expression was observed in TK6-shPARP-1 cells than in TK6-shNC cells after HQ treatment. In contrast, Fas expression was lower in TK6-shPARP-1 cells than in TK6-shNC cells. Therefore, we conclude that HQ may activate apoptotic signals via Fas up-regulation and p53-mediated apoptosis in TK6-shNC cells. The reduction of PARP-1 expression further intensified up-regulation of p53 in TK6-shPARP-1 cells, resulting in an increased G1→S phase cell arrest and apoptosis in TK6-shPARP-1 cells compared to TK6-shNC cells.

The synaptic adhesion protein Neurexin 2a (Nrxn2a) plays a key role in neuronal development and is associated with cognitive functioning and locomotor behavior. Although low-level metal exposure poses a potential risk to the human nervous system, especially during the developmental stages, little is known about the effects of metal exposures on nrxn2a expression during embryonic development. We therefore exposed wild-type zebrafish embryos/larvae to cadmium (CdCl2 ), manganese (MnCl2 ), and lead ([CH3 COO]2 Pb), to determine their effect on mortality, malformation, and hatching rate. Concentrations of these metals in zebrafish were detected by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry analysis. Locomotor activity of zebrafish larvae was analyzed using a video-track tracking system. Expression of nrxn2a was assessed by in situ hybridization and quantitative polymerase chain reaction. The results showed that mortality, malformation, and bioaccumulation increased as the exposure dosages and duration increased. Developmental exposure to these metals significantly reduced larval swim distance and velocity. The nrxn2aa and nrxn2ab genes were expressed in the central nervous system and downregulated by almost all of the 3 metals, especially Pb. These data demonstrate that exposure to metals downregulates nrxn2a in the zebrafish model system, and this is likely linked to concurrent developmental processes. Environ Toxicol Chem 2017;36:2147-2154. © 2017 SETAC.

Hydroquinone (HQ), known as one of the metabolic products of benzene, causes a number of hematologic malignancies. The study evaluated the potential mechanism of Sirtuin 1 (SIRT1) in HQ-induced TK6 cell malignant transformation. The data of our study show that short term exposure of TK6 cells to HQ led to a decrease expression of SIRT1. Knockdown of SIRT1 sensitized to the HQ-induced apoptosis in vitro and increased the expression of p53, p21 and γ-H2AX. Furthermore, chronic HQ-treated (20μM once a week for 19 weeks) caused carcinogenic transformation and was confirmed by abnormal cell proliferation, matrix metalloproteinase 9(MMP9) and subcutaneous tumor formation in nude mice. SIRT1 increased KRAS expression, and decreased H3K9 and H3K18 acetylation, inhibited p53 signaling and the level of caspase-3 in HQ-induced transformation cells. Taken together, these data suggest that SIRT1 is involved in HQ-induced malignant transformation associated with suppressing p53 signaling and activation of KRAS.

In this paper, a complete separation process for 2,3-butanediol fermentation broth has been developed using reactive-extraction and reactive-distillation. n-Butylaldehyde can be used as both reactant and extractant in the process. Equilibrium and kinetics were studied on the reaction between 2,3-butanediol and n-butylaldehyde using different catalysts. Pseudo-Homogeneous model was used to describe the reaction behavior. The kinetic parameters were determined by analyzing experimental data. The results revealed that the reaction enthalpy ΔrH0 = −21.58 ± 1.63 kJ mol−1. The reaction rate was found to increase with increasing reaction temperature and had a linear correlation with catalyst amount. The activity energy for H2SO4 system and HCl system was 57.52 ± 5.35 and 58.14 ± 5.06 kJ mol−1, respectively. Feasible operation conditions have been obtained as follows: volume ratio of n-butylaldehyde to fermentation broth is 0.2; feed molar ratio of water and 2-propyl-4,5-dimethyl-1,3-dioxolane (n-butylaldehyde 2,3-butanediol acetal) for hydrolysis is 3.0; theoretical plate number for reactive-distillation column is 10 with concentration of HCl solution of 0.5 mol/L. With the above conditions, more than 90% of 2,3-butanediol can be recovered from fermentation broth by reactive-extraction process and the purity of final product can be over 99%.

Hydroquinone (HQ), a metabolite of benzene, is a well-known human carcinogen; however, its molecular mechanisms of action remain unclear. MeCP2 has been traditionally described as a transcriptional repressor, though growing evidence indicates that it also activates gene expression. Here, we investigated whether some epigenetic machinery genes are aberrantly expressed as target tumor suppressor genes in HQ-transformed TK6 lymphoblastoid cells. Our results showed that treatment with 5-Aza-2'-deoxycytidine or trichostatin A enhanced the expression of Rb, resulting in cell arrest in G1-phase, and subsequently, an increase in apoptosis and a decrease in cell growth. Moreover, we hypothesised that Rb was silenced by the down-regulation of MeCP2 in HQ-transformed cells, resulting in the dynamic expression of Rb and epigenetic machinery proteins in HQ-transformed cells at different time points. The expression of Rb and MeCP2 in patients with B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (B-NHL) showed that positive staining for MeCP2 or Rb was significantly lower in B-NHL tumor tissues, and these changes were significantly and negatively correlated with the grade of B-NHL. The restoration of MeCP2 in HQ-transformed cells enhanced the expression of Rb, promoted cell apoptosis, and inhibited cell growth. The changes in the expression patterns of MeCP2 and Rb were inversely correlated with the degree of DNA methylation. A ChiP assay revealed that MeCP2 proteins were recruited to the Rb promoter with lower 5'-methylcytosine levels. In conclusion, we demonstrated that the down-regulation of MeCP2 silences Rb, a process involved in cell transformation resulting from long-term exposure to HQ. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

A bowl-like carbon backbone supported CoFe2O4 nanoparticles (CoFe2O4 NPs@C) composite was successfully synthesized and used as a high performance anode in lithium batteries. The as-prepared hierarchical structure takes full use of favorable characteristics of individual components down to the nano-sized building block, i.e., high specific capacities of CoFe2O4 NPs and volume change buffering of the bowl-like carbon during charge/discharge cycles. Moreover, the bowl-like carbon architecture sufficiently realizes the space-efficient packing of electrode materials to augment the energy density of batteries. Owing to the efficient combination of individual merits, the CoFe2O4 NPs@C composite presents superior lithium storage properties. Even after 200 cycles at current density of 400 mA h g−1, the as-prepared material exhibits a discharge capacity of 1111.5 mA h g−1.

Histone modifications are one form of epigenetic information that relate closely to gene regulation. Aberrant histone methylation caused by alteration in chromatin-modifying enzymes has long been implicated in cancers. More recently, recurrent histone mutations have been identified in multiple cancers and have been shown to impede histone methylation. All three histone mutations (H3K27M, H3K36M, and H3G34V/R) identified result in amino acid substitution at/near a lysine residue that is a target of methylation. In the cases of H3K27M and H3K36M, found in pediatric DIPG (diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma) and chondroblastoma respectively, expression of the mutant histone leads to global reduction of histone methylation at the respective lysine residue. These mutant histones are termed “oncohistones” because their expression reprograms the epigenome and shapes an oncogenic transcriptome. Dissecting the mechanism of H3K27M-driven oncogenesis has led to the discovery of promising therapeutic targets in pediatric DIPG. The purpose of this review is to summarize the work done on identifying and dissecting the oncogenic properties of histone H3 mutations.

Hydroquinone (HQ), one of the most significant metabolic activation products of benzene in an organism, can cause hematological toxicity, such as acute myeloid leukemia. It is a clear carcinogen that can cause changes in the disorder of cell cycle and cell growth. However, its molecular mechanisms remain unclear. E4 transcription factor 1 (E4F1), an important transcription factor, participating in the regulation of cell cycle may be related to the occurrence of tumor. Here, we examined the HQ-induced malignant transformed TK6 cells (TK6-HT) to illustrate the role of E4F1 in carcinogenesis. The present study showed that both the expressions of E4F1 messenger RNA and protein increased obviously in TK6-HT, preliminarily indicating that E4F1 is associated with HQ-induced carcinogenesis. To further explore the role of E4F1, we established E4F1 silencing TK6-HT (pLVX-shE4F1) and its control cells (pLVX-shNC) using lentiviral short hairpin RNA (shRNA) interference expression plasmid vector pLVX-shRNA. Flow cytometry and cell counting kit-8 assay were used to determine the effects of E4F1 silencing on cell cycle and cell growth, respectively. E4F1 silencing inhibited cell growth in TK6-HT. The results from flow cytometry indicated that the inhibitory effect on cell growth may be the results of the E4F1 silencing-induced accumulation in G2/M compared with TK6-HT-shNC. Meanwhile, levels of DNA damage (γ-H2AX), proteins of Rb and phosphorylated Rb, and reactive oxygen species were increased in TK6-HT-shRNA2 cells, which is the critical reason of cell-cycle arrest. In conclusion, E4F1 silencing inhibits the cell growth through cell-cycle arrest in malignant transformed cells induced by HQ.

In this study, ZnS quantum dots (QDs) and strong yellow light-emitting Mn2+-doped ZnS QDs are synthesized using 3-mercaptopropionic acid (MPA) as a stabilizer by a promising preparation method in an aqueous solution. Further, the photoluminescence (PL) properties of the ZnS QDs under different conditions are thoroughly investigated. Under optimized experimental conditions, the structure of the obtained ZnS:Mn2+ nanocrystals is consistent with that of the cubic zinc blende crystal, with a nearly spherical shape of approximately 5 nm average diameter. The emission peak varies from 450 nm to 575 nm with Mn2+ doping, which suggests effective energy transfer from the host ZnS QDs to the dopant Mn2+ ions. The results indicate that ZnS:Mn2+ QDs can potentially be used in light-emitting diodes (LEDs).

Low-dose chronic lead (Pb) exposure interferes with the development of the nervous system, which may lead to learning disabilities, behavioral abnormalities, and mental retardation. Neurexins (Nrxns) are synaptic cell-adhesion molecules associated with neurological disorders. We hypothesized that Pb can affect the expression of nrxns during synapse formation and alter the phenotype behavior. Here, apoptosis, nrxns mRNA expression, and alterations of locomotion were examined after exposure to Pb in zebrafish embryos/larvae. To confirm the function of nrxn2a, rescue experiments were performed using β-nrxn2a mRNA microinjection. Pb exposure increased apoptosis and altered locomotor behavior in zebrafish larvae. Quantitative PCR showed that among several synaptic adhesion molecules, only nrxn2a were affected by Pb exposure. Moreover, exposure to Pb at 10μmol/L upregulated mRNA expression of nrxn1a and nrxn3a at 24h post fertilization (hpf) and downregulated expression at 48 hpf, whereas the expression remained unchanged at 72 hpf. Only the two isoforms of nrxn2a were downregulated by Pb at 10μmol/L at all three time points. Rescue experiments showed that β-nrxn2a mRNA injection recovered the decreased locomotor activity and the increased apoptosis induced by Pb. In addition, overexpression of β-nrxn2a mRNA upregulated α-nrxn2a. These data indicated that Pb inhibited the expression of nrxn2a genes, which play a critical role in neural development, and further altered the behavior of zebrafish embryos/larvae.

Dichloroacetonitrile (DCAN), one of the disinfection byproducts of water chlorination, induces cell proliferation and apoptosis, however, the detailed mechanism remains unclear. Oxidative stress participates in various biological processes, including DNA damage and cytotoxicity. To explore whether oxidative stress mediated DCAN-induced cell proliferation and apoptosis, we assessed the effect of redox imbalance and apoptosis in LO2 cells. We observed increase of reactive oxygen species and malondialdehyde and increased apoptosis by 13.6% in 500 μM DCAN compared to the control group. We also observed a decrease of antioxidant ability damage including glutathione, superoxide dismutase and total antioxidant capacity depletion. Furthermore, DCAN might activate oxidative stress mediated apoptosis pathway via up-regulation of p53 expression and caspase-3 activity. Therefore, we conclude that DCAN may activate apoptotic signals via p53 up-regulation and oxidative stress mediated apoptosis in LO2 cells.

Long non-coding RNAs (LncRNAs) are a category of non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) with a length of 200nt-100kb lacking a significant open reading frame. The study of lncRNAs is a newly established field, due in part to their capability to act as the novel biomarkers in disease. A growing body of research shows that lncRNAs may not only useful as biomarkers for the diagnosis and clinical typing and prognosis of cancers, but also as potential targets for novel therapies. Differential expression of lncRNAs has been found in leukemia in the last two years, however, the majority of the lncRNAs described here are transcripts of unknown function and their role in leukemogenesis is still unclear. Here, we summarize the lncRNAs associated with leukemia in order to find a potential classification tool for leukemia, and a new field of research is being explored.

In view of the rapid development of gene chips and high-throughput sequencing technology, noncoding RNAs (ncRNas) form a high percentage of the mammalian genome. Two major subgroups of ncRNAs that have been identified are the long ncRNAs (lncRNas) and the microRNAs. A number of studies in the past few years have showed crucial functions for lncRNas in cancer. LincRNa-p21 as a p53-dependent transcriptional target gene and a potential diagnostic marker is involved in proliferation, cell cycle, metabolism and reprogramming. In addition, more researches revealed that lincRNa-p21 is associated with cancer progression and contributed to the treatment and prognosis of cancer. In this review, we briefly summarize the function and molecular mechanisms of lincRNa-p21 in cancer and its regulation for the genes expression .

B cell leukemia/lymphoma-2 (Bcl-2) suppresses apoptosis by binding the BH3 domain of proapoptotic factors and thereby regulating mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP). This study aimed to investigate the role of Bcl-2 in controlling the mitochondrial pathway of apoptosis during hydroquinone (HQ)-induced TK6 cytotoxicity. In this study, HQ, one metabolite of benzene, decreased the MMP in a concentration-dependent manner and induced the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), the activation of the DNA damage marker γ-H2AX, and production of the DNA damage-responsive enzyme poly(ADP-ribose)polymerase-1 (PARP-1). Exposure of TK6 cells to HQ leads to an increase in Bcl-2 and co-localization with PARP-1 in the cytoplasm. Inhibition of Bcl-2 using the BH3 mimetic, ABT-737, suppressed the PARP-1 nuclear to cytoplasm translocation and sensitized TK6 cells to HQ-induced apoptosis through depolarization of the MMP. Western blot analysis indicated that ABT-737 combined with HQ increased the levels of cleaved PARP and γ-H2AX, but significantly decreased the level of P53. Thus, ABT-737 can influence PARP-1 translocation and induce apoptosis via mitochondria-mediated apoptotic pathway, independently of P53. In addition, we found that knockdown of PARP-1 attenuated the HQ-induced production of cleaved PARP and P53. These results identify Bcl-2 as a protective mediator of HQ-induced apoptosis and show that upregulation of Bcl-2 helps to localize PARP-1 to the cytoplasm and stabilize MMP. Environ. Mol. Mutagen. 59:49-59, 2018. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Biochemical 2,3-butanediol is a renewable material, but the lack of an effective separation process limits its industrial application. We developed an effective separation process to recover 2,3-butanediol from fermentation broth by reactive-extraction with ion-exchange resin HZ732 as catalyst. n-Butylaldehyde was used as both reactant and extractant. Feasible operation conditions were obtained as follows: room temperature, C cat =200 g·L−1, three-stage cross-current extraction, with reactant ratio (V Butylaldehyde : V fermentation broth ) 0.05 for each stage. Reactive-extraction can recover over 98% of 2,3-butanediol in the form of 2-propyl-4,5-dimethyl-1,3-dioxolane from fermentation broth. Then 2,3-butanediol was obtained by hydrolyzing 2-propyl-4,5-dimethyl-1,3-dioxolane and purified by vacuum distillation. The total yield rate of 2,3-butanediol through the process was over 94% and purity of final product reached 99%.

An effective process was developed to separate 2,3-butanediol (2,3-BD) from fermentation broth (FB) by reactive-extraction. Propionaldehyde (PRA) was used as reactant and reaction product 2-ethyl-4,5-dimethyl-1,3-dioxolane (EDD) acted as extractant. HCl was selected as catalyst. Appropriate conditions were obtained by experiment as follows: 10 °C, C HCl =0.2mol·L−1, two-stage cross-current extraction, reactant volume ratio (V PRA : V FB ) for first stage and second stage is 0.10 and 0.05, respectively. The yield rate of 2,3-butanediol for the whole process can reach 90% w/w, and 2,3-butanediol in the final product can be more than 99% w/w. The novel process required less solution and especially had advantages in treating dilute fermentation broth. Furthermore, equilibrium and kinetic study were investigated on the reaction of propionaldehyde and 2,3-butanediol to provide basic data for process development. The results reveal that reaction enthalpy and activation energy of the reaction were −21.84±2.38 KJ·mol−1 and 51.97±2.84 KJ·mol−1, respectively. Kinetics was well described by pseudo-homogeneous model.

The synaptic adhesion protein Neurexin 2a (Nrxn2a) plays a key role in neuronal development and is associated with cognitive functioning and locomotor behavior. Although low-level metal exposure poses a potential risk to the human nervous system, especially during the developmental stages, little is known about the effects of metal exposures on nrxn2a expression during embryonic development. We therefore exposed wild-type zebrafish embryos/larvae to cadmium (CdCl

Hydroquinone (HQ), a major reactive metabolite of benzene, contributes to benzene‑induced leukemia. The molecular mechanisms that underlie this activity remain to be elucidated. Poly ADP‑ribosylation (PARylation) is a type of reversible posttranslational modification that is performed by enzymes in the PAR polymerase (PARP) family and mediates different biological processes, including apoptosis. Zona occludens 2 (ZO‑2) is a tight junction scaffold protein, which is involved in cell proliferation and apoptosis. The present study investigated the activity and mechanisms regulated by PARP‑1 during HQ‑induced apoptosis using TK6 lymphoblastoid cells and PARP‑1‑silenced TK6 cells. The results revealed that exposure to 10 µM HQ for 72 h induced apoptosis in TK6 cells and that apoptosis was attenuated in PARP‑1‑silenced TK6 cells. In cells treated with HQ, inhibition of PARP‑1 increased the expression of B cell leukemia/lymphoma 2 (Bcl‑2), increased ATP production and reduced reactive oxygen species (ROS) production relative to the levels observed in cells treated with HQ alone. Co‑localization of ZO‑2 and PAR (or PARP‑1 protein) was determined using immunofluorescence confocal microscopy. The findings of the present study revealed that ZO‑2 was PARylated via an interaction with PARP‑1, which was consistent with an analysis of protein expression that was performed using western blot analysis, which determined that ZO‑2 protein expression was upregulated in HQ‑treated control cells and downregulated in HQ‑treated PARP‑1‑silenced TK6 cells. These findings indicated that prolonged exposure to a low dose of HQ induced TK6 cells to undergo apoptosis, whereas inhibiting PARP‑1 attenuates cellular apoptosis by activating Bcl‑2 and energy‑saving processes and reducing ROS. The present study determined that PARP‑1 was involved in HQ‑induced apoptosis by PARylation of ZO‑2.

Biochemical 2,3-butanediol is a renewable material with the potential to be used as an alternative fuel. However, in the lack of an effective separation process has limited its industrial application. In this paper, an effective process was achieved to separate 2,3-butanediol by reactive-extraction. Acetaldehyde and cyclohexane were chosen as the reactant and extractant, respectively. Ion-exchange resin HZ732 was used as the catalyst. Reaction equilibrium and a kinetic study on the reaction between 2,3-butanediol and acetaldehyde were investigated to provide basic data for process development. The reaction enthalpy and activation energy of reaction of 2,3-butanediol and acetaldehyde were −30.05 ± 1.62 KJ/mol and 45.29 ± 2.89 KJ/mol, respectively. Feasible conditions were obtained as follows: operating temperature = 20°C, acetaldehyde: 2,3-butanediol = 0.5:1 (w/w), cyclohexane: fermentation broth = 0.5:1 (w/w), catalyst amount = 100 g/L, stirring rate = 500 rpm and three-stage counter-current extraction method was used. Under these conditions, the total yield rate of 2,3-butanediol from fermentation broth was over 90% and the mass fraction of 2,3-butanediol in the final product reached 99%.

Hydroquinone (HQ), a metabolite of benzene, is a well-known human carcinogen; however, its molecular mechanisms of action remain unclear. MeCP2 has been traditionally described as a transcriptional repressor, though growing evidence indicates that it also activates gene expression. Here, we investigated whether some epigenetic machinery genes are aberrantly expressed as target tumor suppressor genes in HQ-transformed TK6 lymphoblastoid cells. Our results showed that treatment with 5-Aza-2'-deoxycytidine or trichostatin A enhanced the expression of Rb, resulting in cell arrest in G1-phase, and subsequently, an increase in apoptosis and a decrease in cell growth. Moreover, we hypothesised that Rb was silenced by the down-regulation of MeCP2 in HQ-transformed cells, resulting in the dynamic expression of Rb and epigenetic machinery proteins in HQ-transformed cells at different time points. The expression of Rb and MeCP2 in patients with B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (B-NHL) showed that positive staining for MeCP2 or Rb was significantly lower in B-NHL tumor tissues, and these changes were significantly and negatively correlated with the grade of B-NHL. The restoration of MeCP2 in HQ-transformed cells enhanced the expression of Rb, promoted cell apoptosis, and inhibited cell growth. The changes in the expression patterns of MeCP2 and Rb were inversely correlated with the degree of DNA methylation. A ChiP assay revealed that MeCP2 proteins were recruited to the Rb promoter with lower 5'-methylcytosine levels. In conclusion, we demonstrated that the down-regulation of MeCP2 silences Rb, a process involved in cell transformation resulting from long-term exposure to HQ. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.