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Our study aims to investigate the clinical outcome of 1-stage posterior vertebral column resection (PVCR) for adolescent thoracic and lumbar tuberculosis with severe kyphotic deformity (Cobb angle≥60°).Between January 2008 and January 2016, we recorded 16 (9 male, 7 female) adolescent cases of thoracic and lumbar tuberculosis complicated with severe kyphotic deformity treated by 1-stage PVCR (average age: 15.38 ± 1.54 years; range: 13-18 years). The Cobb angle of kyphosis was 64.56° ± 3.41°. According to the American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) classification, all patients were classified preoperatively. The lesions involved T4-T11 in 10 cases and T12-L2 in 6 cases.The mean follow-up time was 19.06 ± 11.42 months (range: 12-48 months). Based on ASIA classification, postoperative grades were significantly increased compared with preoperative grades (P0.05), The mean Cobb angle was significantly corrected to 20.25° ± 13.83° at 1 week after surgery, when compared with preoperative Cobb angle (P0.05). There was no significant difference in Cobb angle between 1-week after operation and the last follow-up (20.69° ± 13.83°) (P0.05). All the patients achieved bony fusion at a mean time of 14 months (range: 10-20 months) postoperatively. No fixation loosening, displacement, or fracture was observed during follow-up.One-stage PVCR is an effective surgical method for the treatment of adolescent thoracic and lumbar spinal tuberculosis with severe kyphotic deformity, which can completely remove the lesion, effectively correct the kyphosis deformity, and prevent related complications.

The presence of lymph node metastasis plays a decisive role in the selection of treatment options in patients with early gastric cancer. However, there is currently no established protocol to predict the risk of lymph node metastasis before/after endoscopic resection. The aim of this study was to develop and validate several machine learning algorithms for clinical practice.A total of 2,348 patients with early gastric cancer were selected from 5 major tertiary medical centers. We applied 6 machine learning algorithms to develop lymph node metastasis prediction models for clinical feature variables. The partial dependence plots were used to explain the prediction of the models. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve and area under the precision recall curve were measured to assess the detection performance. The R shiny interactive web application was used to translate the prediction model in a clinical setting.The incidence of lymph node metastasis in patients with early gastric cancer was 13.63% (320/2348) and significantly higher in young women, in the lower third of the stomach, with a size2 cm, depressed type, poorly/nondifferentiated, lymphovascular invasion, nerve invasion, and submucosal infiltration. In terms of age, there is a nonlinear and younger trend. XGBOOST displayed the best predictive performance at the initial and postendoscopy evaluation. In addition, the machine learning algorithm was converted to a user-friendly web tool for patients and clinicians.XGBOOST can predict the risk of lymph node metastasis with best accuracy in patients with early gastric cancer. Our online web application may help determine the optimal best surgical option for patients with early gastric cancer.

BACKGROUND: Evidence of the efficacy of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) plus antiangiogenic drugs in previously treated patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is still insufficient, so we investigated the safety and efficacy of nivolumab plus recombinant human (rh)-endostatin in such patients. METHODS: Patients without epithelial growth factor receptor (EGFR) or anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) targetable mutations in advanced NSCLC who did not respond to previous treatment were enrolled. Eligible patients received nivolumab (3 mg/kg, i.v. drip, day 1) every 2 weeks and rh-endostatin (210 mg, continuous i.v. infusion for 168 h) every 4 weeks until disease progression or discontinuation. The primary endpoint was the objective response rate (ORR). The secondary endpoints included disease control rate (DCR), duration of response (DOR), clinical benefit response rate (CBR), progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS) and safety. RESULTS: A total of 34 patients received a median of 4 cycles of therapy. In all, 14 patients achieved confirmed partial response (PR) with an ORR of 41.2% [14/34; 95% confidence interval (CI): 23.7–58.6%], DCR of 64.7% (22/34; 95% CI: 47.8–81.6%), CBR of 44.1% (95% CI: 26.5–61.7%), and a DOR of 6.9 (95% CI: 4.4–9.4) months. Median follow-up was 12.2 (range, 2.3–18.1) months. Median PFS (mPFS) was 6.8 (95% CI: 1.1–12.1) months, median OS (mOS) was 17.1 (95% CI: 6.6–27.6) months, and 12-month survival rate of 64.4% (95% CI: 46.2–82.6%). In all, 18 (18/34, 52.9%) patients experienced at least one treatment-related adverse event (TRAE), and Grade 3 TRAEs occurred in 4 (4/34, 11.8%) of them. CONCLUSIONS: This study is first to assess nivolumab plus rh-endostatin in previously treated patients with advanced NSCLC. In view of its favorable efficacy and safety profile, this combination represents a promising treatment regimen in this patient population.

Grapefruit peel carbon (GPC) is prepared from waste grapefruit peel and further used as substrate for in situ construction of MoS2 arrays, forming MoS2/GPC heterostructured materials. Based on the effect of the mass ratio between MoS2 and GPC on the morphology and structure, it can be found that the mass ratio not only has an important impact on the morphology and structure of MoS2, but also further affects the energy storage performance when used as the anode in lithium-ion batteries. Under the optimal mass ratio of 3:1, flower-like MoS2 is uniformly dotted on the GPC surface, presenting a special heterostructure, which has been successfully synthesized via the hydrothermal method. The electrochemical study shows that the MoS2/GPC composite obtained exhibits satisfying charge–discharge stability and rate capability thanks to the short diffusion channel for lithium ions and very low charge transfer resistance. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy at different states of charge reveals that the passivation layer formed in the initial stage plays an important role in maintaining the stability of the electrode.

Cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) is a group of tumors that arise along the human biliary duct tree, ranking second in primary hepatic malignancies. Intrahepatic CCA (iCCA) represents about 10%-20% of CCAs. There is an increasing body of evidence suggesting that iCCAs' incidence and mortality have been increasing globally over the past few decades. In this study, we found that the EIF3H expression level in iCCA tissues was significantly increased compared to the adjacent non-cancerous tissues by immunohistochemistry analysis (IHC). A similar tendency of EIF3H mRNA and protein level was confirmed in iCCA cell lines using RT-qPCR and Western blot. EIF3H has been identified as a critical molecule that plays a pro-neoplasmic role in iCCA both in vivo and in vitro, such as proliferation, migration, and anti-apoptosis. Mechanistically, we found that EIF3H knockdown can promote the degradation of CCND1 and the proteolysis of CCND1 is mediated by ubiquitin-proteasome system (UPS). Thus, we come to the conclusion that EIF3H promotes proliferation and migration of iCCAs, inhibiting apoptosis of iCCA cells at the same time by stabilizing the CCND1 protein structure. Our findings provide insights into the mechanism of tumorigenesis role of EIF3H in iCCAs and a potential therapeutic target for iCCA treatment.

BACKGROUND: Lymphoepithelioma-like carcinoma (LELC) of the lung is a rare type of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), and researches of it are still not enough. METHODS: In this study, we retrospectively analyzed 36 patients with LELC diagnosed in the Fifth Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University and Zhaoqing First People’s Hospital from January 2014 to June 2021, to investigate the clinical manifestations, tumor markers, treatment, and prognosis of LELC. Clinical data including age, gender, smoking history, family history of cancers, Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) encoding RNA (EBER) status, gene mutations, programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression, treatment, and prognosis. RESULTS: There was a total of 36 participants in this study, 16 males and 20 females, the median age was 57 years (37–76 years). A total of 22 cases (61.1%) were advanced (stage III and IV), and EBER was 94.4% positive. Most patients were treated with surgery, platinum chemotherapy, or radiotherapy. At the time of 31 June 2021, 33 participants had survived, and the longest survival time was 72 months. Lung LELC was more common in old participants (≥59 years) and was not associated with smoking history. Expression of PD-L1 was positive in the majority (27 cases, 75%) and participants with positive PD-L1 expression tended to have longer progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) time than those with negative PD-L1 expression. CONCLUSIONS: Pulmonary LELC usually occurs in non-smoking patients and is associated with EBV infection. Common treatments for tumors include multimodal therapy. The expression of PD-1 may be related to the prognosis of LELC, but more studies are needed to support further optimization of the treatment of LELC.

Mounting evidence indicates that there exists an association between heparanase (HPSE) and several physiological and pathological mechanisms in humans. However, the dynamics of the mechanisms involved in the regulation of HPSE expression in pancreatic cancer (PC) remain unclear. The aim of the present study was to assess the levels of HPSE in PC tissues and cell lines by western blotting and reverse transcription-quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) analysis. Wound healing and Transwell assays were conducted to examine the effects of HPSE on migration and invasion in sh-NC and sh-HPSE PC cell lines. In addition, tumor growth was assessed in a mouse xenograft model in vivo. The expression levels of epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT)-related biomarkers and the involvement of the Wnt/β-catenin pathway were assessed by analyzing the results of western blot and RT-qPCR assays. The results indicated that the expression of HPSE was substantially higher in PC tissues and cell lines, whereas experimental knockdown of HPSE suppressed the rates of migration and invasion of PC cells. Western blotting was used to assess the expression of EMT biomarkers and determine the function of HPSE in EMT. Furthermore, our results indicated that downregulation of HPSE expression decreased the expression of Wnt/β-catenin associated proteins. In conclusion, HPSE appears to be a good candidate as a molecular target for the treatment of PC based on the finding of the present study.

Background There is a growing number of evidence which report the relationship of the dual-specificity phosphatases 14 (DUSP14) with physiological and pathological mechanisms in the human body. However, it is still not known what if any role DUSP14 plays in pancreatic cancer. Materials and methods The study evaluates the levels of DUSP14 in the pancreatic cancer tissues and cell lines using Western blotting and qRT-PCR to assess the levels of the DUSP14 and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) biomarkers. After the DUSP14 was blocked, the following assays were performed: colony formation, assessments of scratch wound and transwell to examine the effects of DUSP14 on the proliferation, migration and invasion of the pancreatic cancer. Results Results showed that there was a significant increase in the level of DUSP14 expression both in the pancreatic cancer tissues and cell lines. Experimental downregulation of DUSP14 induced the inhibition of the capacity of proliferation, migration and invasion of the pancreatic cancer cells. Western blotting analyses showed changes in the levels of expression of the EMT biomarkers, which helped to determine the function of DUSP14 in EMT. Conclusion In conclusion, we suggest that DUSP14 is a novel molecular target that can be used for the treatment of pancreatic cancer.

We have theoretically investigated the modulation between the opposite- and equal-spin pairings and the related transport properties in silicene-based ferromagnet/ferromagnet/superconductor hybrid structures with noncollinear magnetizations. Due to the exotic electronic properties of silicene, the exclusive fully spin-polarized equal-spin pairing state appears without any contamination from the opposite-spin pairing state in a perpendicular magnetic configuration. Furthermore, the switch effect between fully spin-polarized opposite- and equal-spin pairings can be realized by tuning the Fermi level. In addition, the fully spin-polarized equal-spin pairing correlation can be enhanced by modulation of the magnitude and orientation of the exchange field in the central region. It is also a significant finding that for the formation of the fully spin-polarized equal-spin pairing state, the length of the central layer can be taken to be large, but not for opposite-spin pairing. Our findings provide an ideal platform to explore fully spin-polarized opposite- and equal-spin pairing states separately.

Hooke’s law for springs, stating that the force needed to extend or compress a spring by some distance is proportional to that distance, is a topic covered by almost all introductory physics courses at both school and university levels. In this article we present a much more efficient and intuitive approach, compared to the traditional method, for demonstrating Hooke’s law. Figure 1 illustrates the design of our homemade setup. The apparatus consists of a base wooden frame, a hanging bar with a few equally spaced grooves (here we have six) at the top of the wooden frame, a transparent acrylic plate that is embedded into the wooden frame, two magnetic strips, and a thin, straight iron stick.

The spin-flipping effect can be induced by the Rashba spin-orbit coupling (RSOC), leading to triplet equal-spin pairs in a superconducting hybrid structure. Herein, by combining the Dirac--Bogoliubov--de Gennes equation and the Furusaki-Tsukada formalism at a finite temperature, we theoretically investigate the Josephson effect in graphene-based superconductor-ferromagnet-R-superconductor junctions, where R refers to a region with the RSOC. It is demonstrated that as a result of the RSOC, one $0\text{\ensuremath{-}}\ensuremath{\pi}$ transition can be attained by tuning the orientation of the exchange field $\stackrel{P\vec}{h}$, which is determined by its magnitude $h$ that could be periodically taken, and the periodical $0\text{\ensuremath{-}}\ensuremath{\pi}$ transitions are also caused by manipulating $h$ during a considerable scope of the orientation. More interestingly, although varying the RSOC strength $\ensuremath{\lambda}$ cannot give rise to the $0\text{\ensuremath{-}}\ensuremath{\pi}$ transition in itself, not only is it a necessary condition for the $0\text{\ensuremath{-}}\ensuremath{\pi}$ transition induced by modulating the orientation of $\stackrel{P\vec}{h}$ but also can produce the shift of the crossover point. Furthermore, two different kinds of anomalous Josephson current effect are exhibited by controlling the orientation of $\stackrel{P\vec}{h}$. Particularly, the out-of- and in-plane magnetoanisotropic Josephson currents always exist, varying monotonically with $\ensuremath{\lambda}$ while nonmonotonically with $h$. The characteristics may provide more insights into the proximity-induced RSOC and pave the way to a new class of tunable superconducting spintronic devices based on large-scale graphene.

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 1588 synchronous clock based on Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) is used for communication networks timing in substations. The path time-delay error of synchronous message is caused by the communication network transmission. The precision error of IEEE 1588 clock synchronization is analyzed, where the correction methods of path time-delay error of synchronous message are proposed with the diffserv-based packets scheduling model (DPSM). The bandwidth adjustment factor, urgent degree mechanism and the time-delay of synchronous message are determined by setting the priority of the service message queue of the network node. Then the correction methods of oscillation frequency of clock generator are proposed. The IEEE 1588 synchronization clock error is thus corrected. Finally, the high precision network clock hardware platform is built and the test is completed. Experiment results show that the clock has the synchronization precision of nanosecond, and it can satisfy the time synchronization precision requirements of International Electro-technical Commission (IEC) 64850 standard for smart substations.

To solve the problem of the maloperation of the existing large-scale wind farm collector line protection. The intrinsic relationship between short circuit current and the voltage sags of the doubly-fed induction generator (DFIG) with low voltage ride-through(LVRT) capability is analyzed under the fault condition. According to the characteristics of the DFIG, the paper proposed a method of wind farm collector line protection based on the clustering algorithm. The protection is realized by collecting the historical feature sample set which is composed of the decayed current component, AC component of fault current and terminal voltage under different operation conditions, utilizing the proposed clustering algorithm to characterize fault history data features and category attributes and using the distance similarity criterion to determine the real-time feature sample attribute. A large-scale wind farm model is built in DIg-SILENT to simulate the various fault conditions of collector lines. The simulation results show that the proposed protection method not only does not need to set the setting values but also does not cause maloperation of non-fault line protection affected by the DFIG feeding current under the fault condition, which effectively solves the problem of selective mismatch in wind farm collector lines protection.

Subsynchronous oscillation of wind farm integration through HVDC system includes both AC series compensation lines and DC transmission lines, which is difficult for the analysis. In this paper, a simplified model of the actual wind farm is established and time-domain waveforms are gotten by the simulation. Transient waveforms in the system are closely related to the operating status and reveal some possible failures. Chaos and fractal theory are used to analyze the transient waveform in the system. By extracting characteristics values, a new fractal dimension and mean density method is proposed. Different frequencies transient waveforms can be identified to analyze the operating status. The analysis of the characteristics can be further extended as a detection technique for the subsynchronous oscillations identification and suppression.

Liver cancer ranks in the top 10 most common malignancies for both mortality rate and incidence worldwide. Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common subtype of liver cancer. It has been reported that long non-coding RNA GABPB1 intronic transcript 1 (IT1) is downregulated in lung cancer and predicts poor survival. However, its role in live cancer remains unclear. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the role of GABPB1-IT1 in HCC. A total of 64 patients with HCC (40 males and 24 females; range, 43-67 years old; mean age=55.1±5.1 years) were enrolled at the 96604 Military Hospital of the Chinese People's Liberation Army between May 2012 and May 2014. The expression levels of GABPB1-IT1 and microRNA (miR)-93 in tumor and adjacent normal tissues were measured using quantitative PCR. A dual luciferase activity assay was performed to analyze the interaction between miR-93 and GABPB1-IT1. A Cell Counting Kit-8 assay was used to analyze the effect of miR transfection on the proliferation of SNU-398 cells. It was demonstrated that GABPB1-IT1 can interact with miR-93 in HCC cells, while overexpression of GABPB1-IT1 and miR-93 in HCC cells did not affect the expression of each other. GABPB1-IT1 was downregulated in HCC tissues compared with paired non-tumor tissues and predicted poor survival. Notably, overexpression of GABPB1-IT1 in HCC cells led to upregulation of pigment epithelium-derived factor (PEDF), a target of miR-93. In addition, overexpression of GABPB1-IT1 reduced the enhancing effects of miR-93 on HCC cell proliferation. Therefore, GABPB1-IT1 may upregulate PEDF through miR-93 to suppress cell proliferation in HCC.

In this work, a comprehensive simulation strategy based on machine learning technique was implemented to predict the adsorption kinetic data for separation of ions from aqueous media. Two ions were studied using the developed method including Pb(II) and Cd(II), and their single adsorption data were used for the model development in the machine learning. The adsorption kinetics were collected from literature for adsorption of two ions onto the surface of a novel metal organic framework- layered double hydroxide nanocomposite material due to its great separation properties. The kinetics data of adsorption were collected and the adsorption capacity versus time was regenerated using the fitted machine learning model and compared with experimental data for validation. We used artificial neural network method for the simulations of kinetics data and tuned the model’s parameters. In the artificial neural network model, the type of ions (Pb & Cd) and time were chosen as the input variables, whereas the adsorption capacity (Q) was chosen as the predicted variable. The model validation revealed that the fitted network is capable of predicting the adsorption kinetics data with high accuracy and a coefficient of determination more than 0.999 was obtained which indicated the validity of the developed model in predicting the adsorption end time.

N-Doped graphene quantum dots (N-GQDs) combine the advantages of N-doped carbon and quantum dot materials, displaying enhanced performance in electrocatalysis, drug delivery, sensing and so on. In this work, novel hydrotropic N-GQDs with controlled size are obtained for the first time via a nanospace-confined preparation strategy, in which HNO3 vapour serves as scissors for quickly cutting the N-doped carbon nanolayer in the confined nanospace of reusable mesoporous molecular sieves. The as-prepared N-GQDs exhibit a uniform lateral size of about 2.4 nm, high photostability and yellow fluorescence, which is strongly quenched upon addition of ferric ions due to the coordination between ferric ions and N/O-rich groups of the N-GQDs surface. Significantly, the fluorescence response to Fe3+ is linear in the 0.5 to 40 μM concentration range and the N-GQDs showed good selectivity and satisfying recovery for ferric ion detection in tap water. Noteworthily, the quenched fluorescence by Fe3+ can be recovered by adding ascorbic acid (AA), which efficiently destroyed the coordination between Fe3+ and N-GQDs. Based on this principle, the N-GQDs were used to successfully construct an AA sensor, exhibiting a wide linearity range (between 0.5 and 90 μM) with a low detection of limit (80 nM at S/N = 3) and better selectivity towards AA compared with other common physiological substances. Finally, the constructed fluorescence sensor was employed successfully for AA determination in fish blood with satisfactory recovery ranging from 95.3 to 106.2%. The results indicate that N-GQDs synthesized by the nanospace-confined strategy are promising in biosensor fabrication.

BACKGROUND: The role of caudal-related homeobox 2 (CDX2) in the pathogenesis of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is unclear. The purpose of this study was to investigate the mRNA (message RNA) expression of CDX2 in NSCLC, and to determine its relationship with miR-744 (microRNA744) and its potential as a biomarker of NSCLC. METHODS: MiR-744 is overexpressed in A549, H460, and H1299 cell lines. Real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was used to detect the mRNA expression. A chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) essay was performed to determine the CDX2 binding sites. We then conducted a luciferase reporter essay to analyze interaction between MiR-744 and 3'UTRs (the 3' untranslated sequences). The migration and Boyden chamber method were used to study cell mobility. RESULTS: In this study, we found that ectopic CDX2 increased the expression of miR-744, while the attenuation of CDX2 reduced the expression of miR-744 by qRT-PCR. Chromatin immunoprecipitation experiments confirmed that CDX2 directly binds to the promoter of miR-744. The luciferase reporter assay further verified the binding sites of −347 to −358 bp in the most likely promoter like sequence of miR-744. CDX2-induced up-regulation of miR-744 can significantly promote the migration and invasion of NSCLC cells, while overexpression CDX2 is sufficient to rescue the migration and invasion capacity of these cells following knockdown of miR-744. CONCLUSIONS: In summary, our results confirmed for the first time the regulatory mechanism of CDX2 on miR-744 transcription and provided a potential mechanism for CDX2 as an oncogene in lung cancer.

III-V superlattice has emerged as an important material in the field of infrared detection. Infrared cameras and systems have been built and demonstrated worldwide. Theoretical modeling plays a significant role in terms of understanding the materials, devices, and associated technical limits. In this talk, temperature dependent empirical tight binding modeling (ETBM) will be discussed for efficient modeling of the bandgap of an alloy and a superlattice incorporating alloy compositions. It was observed that the temperature dependency of superlattice bandgap is independent of the superlattice design for a nominal bandgap at a given temperature. In addition, effect of cross incorporation of elements will be modeled. Its manifestation in xray diffraction will be shown. On the device side, a theory of photo carrier collection mechanism will be proposed for a barrier infrared detector structure. A hypothesis of photonic up/down conversion and photo current gain mechanism without excessive noise will also be discussed.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most commonly diagnosed liver cancer, accounting for ~90% of all primary malignancy of the liver. Although various medical treatments have been used as systemic therapies, patient survival time may be extended by only a few months. Moreover, the underlying mechanisms of HCC development and progression remain poorly understood. In the present study, the single-cell transcriptome of one in vivo HCC tumor sample, two in vitro HCC cell lines and normal peripheral blood mononuclear cells were analysed in order to identify the potential mechanism underlying the development and progression of HCC. Interestingly, JunB proto-oncogene was identified to serve a role in the immune response and in development and progression of HCC, potentially contributing to the development of novel therapeutics for HCC patients.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most commonly diagnosed liver cancer, accounting for ~90% of all primary malignancy of the liver. Although various medical treatments have been used as systemic therapies, patient survival time may be extended by only a few months. Moreover, the underlying mechanisms of HCC development and progression remain poorly understood. In the present study, the single-cell transcriptome of one in vivo HCC tumor sample, two in vitro HCC cell lines and normal peripheral blood mononuclear cells were analysed in order to identify the potential mechanism underlying the development and progression of HCC. Interestingly, JunB proto-oncogene was identified to serve a role in the immune response and in development and progression of HCC, potentially contributing to the development of novel therapeutics for HCC patients.

Cobalt and zinc bi-metal organic frameworks (CoZn-MOF) derived from double metal hydroxides (CoZn-DMH) is synthesized on the surface of rice husk carbon via hydrothermal method. The obtained CoZn-MOF/RHC is then used as electrochemical sensor for dopamine detection. SEM and TEM characterization displays that the morphology of CoZn-MOF/RHC is different from CoZn-DMH, as well as the electrochemical performance. Further investigation reveals that the kinetic process of the redox reaction of dopamine on CoZn-MOF/RHC electrode is controlled by diffusion process. Under the optimum conditions, the redox peak current linearly relates with the concentration of dopamine in the range of 2 μM~0.8 mM, with the low detection limit of 0.67 μM. During the anti-interference experiment, CoZn-MOF/RHC exhibits good selectivity toward dopamine detection but inappreciable response for interferent.

Nickel-based metal organic framework (Ni-MOF) and carbon nanotubes composite (Ni-MOF/CNTs) is constructed via in situ self-assembly of Ni-MOF in the presence of CNTs solution. The obtained electrode (Ni-MOF/CNTs) exhibits sensitive response toward the detection of taxifolin by significantly enhancing the redox peak currents and decreasing the peak-to-peak separation. Under the selected conditions, the peak current linearly relates with taxifolin concentration in the range of 4.0 × 10−8 ~ 1.0 × 10−5 mol L−1 with the detection limit of 1.33 × 10−8 mol L−1 (S/N = 3). Otherwise, the lithium storage results reveal that Ni-MOF/CNTs with enhanced conductivity exhibits benign cycling stability and rate capability, with coulomb efficiency around 100%. This Ni-MOF/CNTs electrode may lay the foundation for the Ni-MOF based materials in electrochemical application.

N-doped carbon nanopipe-arrayed mesoporous carbon (N-CMK-5) with double-pore system, large surface area (992 m2/g), and high nitrogen amount (5.2 at.%) was synthesized by a simplified template route. In this route, mesoporous silica was directly used instead of using time-consuming aluminosilicate as a template and the carbonization process occurred in a nitrogen atmosphere instead of a vacuum. Furthermore, CMK-3, N-doped CMK-3, and CMK-5 ordered mesoporous carbons (OMCs) were compared with the as-prepared N-doped CMK-5 (N-CMK-5) to investigate the effect of microstructure on the electrochemical activity of OMCs. N-CMK-5 exhibited higher electrochemical activity than the other OMCs because it has more exposed defective sites and nitrogen active species. The developed N-CMK-5-based electrochemical sensor showed good practical application for the electrochemical detection of pesticide amitrole in real water sample. This work contributes a simplified route to synthesize tubular N-CMK-5 carbon and provides valuable information on the design of high-performance carbon electrode materials.

In a ferromagnetic resonance experiment, the frequency vs resonance field data is fitted to the resonance condition formula for extraction of the effective magnetization and gyromagnetic ratio of the ferromagnetic material under test. We found that the fitting may result in significant error in some cases. We studied the influence of the number of data points, frequency range and noise level on the precision of the fittings by means of numerical simulation. The results suggest that the fitting is sensitive to the frequency range but an optimal frequency range can be estimated. The precision of the fitting is found to be proportional to the uncertainty in field measurements. As one increases the number of data points, the precision increases sharply in the beginning but the effect vanishes when the number of data points exceeds 40. The findings offer practical guidance for the design of ferromagnetic resonance experiments, which is a popular technique for ferromagnetic material characterization.

In resin transfer molding, void type defect is one of common process problems, it degenerates the mechanical performances of the final products seriously. Void content prediction has become a research hotspot in RTM, while the void formation when the flow direction and the tow direction are not identical or the fabric is sheared has not been studied to date. In this paper, based on the analysis of the resin flow velocities inside and outside fiber tows, a mathematical model to describe the formation of micro- and meso-scale-voids has been developed. Particular attention has been paid on the influence of flow direction and fabric shear on the impregnation of the unit cell, so their effects on the generation and size of voids have been obtained. Experimental validation has been conducted by measuring the formation and size of voids, a good agreement between the model prediction and experimental results has been found.

N-Doped graphene quantum dots (N-GQDs) combine the advantages of N-doped carbon and quantum dot materials, displaying enhanced performance in electrocatalysis, drug delivery, sensing and so on. In this work, novel hydrotropic N-GQDs with controlled size are obtained for the first time

Objective Colorectal neoplasia differentially expressed (CRNDE), a vital cancer-related long non-coding RNA (lncRNA), has been brought to reports for playing quintessential functions in the growth and progression of several human malignancies. Nevertheless, the expression as well as the functional mechanisms of CRNDE in pancreatic cancer is not known so for. This study aimed at investigating the biological and clinical importance of CRNDE in human pancreatic cancer. Materials and methods The expression levels of CRNDE in pancreatic cancer tissues as well as cell lines were identified with the help of quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR). Furthermore, the analysis of the relationship between CRNDE expression and clinicopathologic characteristics of patients with pancreatic cancer was also performed. Novel target of CRNDE was identified with the use of bioinformatics analysis and confirmed by a dual-luciferase reporter assay. Colorectal neoplasia differentially expressed was knocked down using siRNA in pancreatic cancer cells. Thereafter, cell proliferation, migration and invasion were examined. Tumour xenograft was created to explore the function of CRNDE in tumorigenesis in vivo. Results Upregulation of the expression of CRNDE was found in pancreatic cancer tissues as well as cell lines, in comparison with the adjacent non-tumour tissues and human pancreatic duct epithelial cells. High expression of CRNDE was correlated with poor clinicpathological characteristics and shorter overall survival. We identified miR-384 as a direct target for CRNDE. Moreover, the CRNDE knockdown considerably inhibited pancreatic cancer cell proliferation, migration and invasion not only in vitro but also in vivo. In addition, CRNDE positively regulated IRS1 expression through sponging miR-384. Conclusions Colorectal neoplasia differentially expressed performed an oncogenic function in cell proliferation as well as metastasis of pancreatic cancer. Our results suggest that CRNDE is likely to serve as an efficient therapeutic approach in respect of pancreatic cancer treatment.

BACKGROUND Latent transforming growth factor b binding protein 2 (LTBP2) is proven to be associated with ECM and involved in the advancement of several kinds of cancer. The present study evaluated the diagnosis and prognosis of pancreatic carcinoma (PC) using LTBP2 as a biomarker. MATERIAL AND METHODS Protein levels of LTBP2 were evaluated in 111 pairs of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) tissues and adjacent nontumor tissues via immunohistochemistry. ELISA method was used to quantify the serum concentration of LTBP2. The subjects in this study included 141 PDAC patients, 20 patients with benign pancreatic disease, and 20 healthy volunteers. RESULTS IHC results showed that LTBP2 levels were significantly elevated in the PDAC tissues as compared with the adjacent nontumor tissues (P