Search

Glioma is characterized by rapid cell proliferation, aggressive invasion, altered apoptosis and a poor prognosis. β-Sitosterol, a kind of phytosterol, has been shown to possess anticancer activities. Our current study aims to investigate the effects of β-sitosterol on gliomas and reveal the underlying mechanisms. Our results show that β-sitosterol effectively inhibits the growth of U87 cells by inhibiting proliferation and inducing G2/M phase arrest and apoptosis. In addition, β-sitosterol inhibits migration by downregulating markers of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). Mechanistically, network pharmacology and transcriptomics approaches illustrate that the EGFR/MAPK signaling pathway may be responsible for the inhibitory effect of β-sitosterol on glioma. Afterward, the results show that β-sitosterol effectively suppresses the EGFR/MAPK signaling pathway. Moreover, β-sitosterol significantly inhibits tumor growth in a U87 xenograft nude mouse model. β-Sitosterol inhibits U87 cell proliferation and migration and induces apoptosis and cell cycle arrest in U87 cells by blocking the EGFR/MAPK signaling pathway. These results suggest that β-sitosterol may be a promising therapeutic agent for the treatment of glioma.

This paper aims to investigate input-to-state stability (ISS) of nonlinear impulsive switched systems under mode-dependent event-triggered impulsive control (MDETIC) method. A novel mode-dependent event-triggered mechanism (MDETM) is devised, where triggering impulsive instants are determined by some predesigned event conditions. Different from existing MDETM, there are two types of impulsive behavior involved, including the impulsive behavior of system itself and event-triggered one. The novel MDETM not only reduces communication cost and energy consumption but also excludes "Zeno behavior." Then, the ISS criteria of the closed-loop system are established based on MDETIC strategy, admissible edge-dependent average dwell time (AED-ADT), and admissible edge-dependent average impulsive interval (AED-AII) methods. Finally, two examples are given to verify the effectiveness of the main results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the widespread investigations on the M‐N‐C type single atom catalysts (SACs) for oxygen evolution reaction (OER), an internal conflict between its intrinsic thermodynamically structural instability and apparent catalytic steadiness has long been ignored. Clearly unfolding this contradiction is necessary and meaningful for understanding the real structure‐property relation of SACs. Herein, by using the well‐designed pH‐dependent metal leaching experiments and X‐ray absorption spectroscopy, an unconventional structure reconstruction of M‐N‐C catalyst during OER process was observed. Combining with density functional theory calculations, the initial Ni−N coordination is easily broken in the presence of adsorbed OH*, leading to favorable formation of Ni−O coordination. The formed Ni−O works stably as the real active center for OER catalysis in alkaline media but unstably in acid, which clearly explains the existing conflict. Unveiling the internal contradiction between structural instability and catalytic steadiness provides valuable insights for rational design of single atom OER catalysts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship between tissue-specific DNA methylation and cancer risk remains inadequately elucidated. Leveraging resources from the Genotype-Tissue Expression consortium, here we develop genetic models to predict DNA methylation at CpG sites across the genome for seven tissues and apply these models to genome-wide association study data of corresponding cancers, namely breast, colorectal, renal cell, lung, ovarian, prostate, and testicular germ cell cancers. At Bonferroni-corrected P < 0.05, we identify 4248 CpGs that are significantly associated with cancer risk, of which 95.4% (4052) are specific to a particular cancer type. Notably, 92 CpGs within 55 putative novel loci retain significant associations with cancer risk after conditioning on proximal signals identified by genome-wide association studies. Integrative multi-omics analyses reveal 854 CpG-gene-cancer trios, suggesting that DNA methylation at 309 distinct CpGs might influence cancer risk through regulating the expression of 205 unique cis-genes. These findings substantially advance our understanding of the interplay between genetics, epigenetics, and gene expression in cancer etiology. The relationship between tissue-specific DNA methylation and cancer risk remains to be elucidated. Here, the authors predict DNA methylation at CpG sites for seven cancer types and investigate how these influence cancer risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report a change in the structural and magnetic properties of epitaxial Mn5Ge3 on a Ge-on-Si (111) substrate by applying strain engineering through ms-range flash lamp annealing (FLA). X-ray diffraction results demonstrate that during FLA for 20 ms, the formation of nonmagnetic MnxGey secondary phases is suppressed, while the in-plane expansion of the lattice increases with increasing annealing temperature. Temperature-dependent magnetization results indicate that the Curie temperature of Mn5Ge3 rises from 287 K in the as-prepared sample to above 400 K after FLA, making Mn5Ge3 an attractive material for spintronics. Experimental results together with theoretical Monte Carlo simulations allow us to conclude that the expansion of the in-plane lattice causes the increase of the Curie temperature due to enhancement of the ferromagnetic interaction between Mn atoms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]