miR-483-5p determines mitochondrial fission and cisplatin sensitivity in tongue squamous cell carcinoma by targeting FIS1.

Mitochondria play an important role in the initiation of apoptosis. However, whether cisplatin can induce apoptosis by initiating a mitochondrial fission pathway and the mechanism underlying this effect remain poorly understood. In this study, we show that the mitochondrial fission protein FIS1 is upregulated upon cisplatin treatment in tongue squamous cell carcinoma (TSCC) cells.

The bacterial communities associated with fecal types and body weight of rex rabbits.

Rex rabbit is an important small herbivore for fur and meat production. However, little is known about the gut microbiota in rex rabbit, especially regarding their relationship with different fecal types and growth of the hosts. We characterized the microbiota of both hard and soft feces from rex rabbits with high and low body weight by using the Illumina MiSeq platform targeting the V4 region of the 16S rDNA.

Promotion of expression of interferon-stimulated genes in U937 monocytic cells by HIV RNAs, measured using stable isotope labeling with amino acids in cell culture (SILAC).

Type I interferon (IFN) exerts strong antiviral activity, particularly against human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and although several viral proteins have been shown to deregulate IFN induction, little is known about the induction of type I IFNs by HIV RNAs. In the present study, we used the stable isotope labeling with amino acids in cell culture (SILAC) method to determine the proteomic profile in U937 monocytic cells after transfection with viral RNA of HIV. We then used a western blot assay to validate the proteomic results.

Nanoarchitectured materials composed of fullerene-like spheroids and disordered graphene layers with tunable mechanical properties.

Type-II glass-like carbon is a widely used material with a unique combination of properties including low density, high strength, extreme impermeability to gas and liquid and resistance to chemical corrosion. It can be considered as a carbon-based nanoarchitectured material, consisting of a disordered multilayer graphene matrix encasing numerous randomly distributed nanosized fullerene-like spheroids. Here we show that under both hydrostatic compression and triaxial deformation, this high-strength material is highly compressible and exhibits a superelastic ability to recover from large strains.

[Effects of Biejiajian Pills on Wnt signal pathway signal molecules β-catenin/TCF4 complex activities and downstream proteins cyclin D1 and MMP-2 in hepatocellular carcinoma cells].

Objective: To study the effect of Biejiajian Pills on Wnt signal pathway and the mechanisms underlying its action to suppress the invasiveness of hepatocellular carcinoma.

Methods: HepG2 cells cultured in the serum of rats fed with Biejiajian Pills for 48 h were examined for β-catenin expression using immunofluorescence, β-catenin/TCF4 complex activity with luciferase, and expressions of the downstream proteins cyclin D1 and MMP-2 using qRT-PCR.

Results: Biejiajian Pills-treated sera significantly reduced the expressions of cytoplasmic and nuclear β-catenin protein, cyclin D1 and MMP-2 proteins and lowered the activities of β-catenin/TCF4 complex.

[Relationship between hypoxia inducible factor-1α and esophageal squamous cell carcinoma: a meta analysis].

Objective: To explore the expression of hypoxia inducible factor-1α(HIF-1α) in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma and its correlation with clinicopathological features.

Methods: Original literatures in foreign languages regarding correlation between HIF-1α and esophageal squamous cell carcinoma were identified from Cochrane Library, PubMed, EMbase database, and Chinese original literatures were from CBM, CNKI. All analyses were performed by Stata 11.

Relative importance of grain boundaries and size effects in thermal conductivity of nanocrystalline materials.

A theoretical model for describing effective thermal conductivity (ETC) of nanocrystalline materials has been proposed, so that the ETC can be easily obtained from its grain size, single crystal thermal conductivity, single crystal phonon mean free path (PMFP), and the Kaptiza thermal resistance. In addition, the relative importance between grain boundaries (GBs) and size effects on the ETC of nanocrystalline diamond at 300 K has been studied. It has been demonstrated that with increasing grain size, both GBs and size effects become weaker, while size effects become stronger on thermal conductivity than GBs effects.

[Effect of Biejiajian Pills on Wnt signal pathway molecules β-catenin and GSK-3β and the target genes CD44v6 and VEGF in hepatocellular carcinoma cells].

Objective: To investigate the effect of Biejiajian Pills on the expressions of the signal molecules and target genes of Wnt signal pathway in HepG2 cells and explore the mechanisms by which Biejiajian pills suppress the invasiveness of hepatocellular carcinoma.

Methods: HepG2 cells were cultured for 48 h in the presence of serum collected from rats fed with Biejiajian Pills. The expressions of β-catenin, GSK-3β and P-GSK-3β in the cultured cells were assessed by Western blotting and the expressions of CD44v6 and VEGF were detected using immunohistochemistry.

A promising new class of high-temperature alloys: eutectic high-entropy alloys.

High-entropy alloys (HEAs) can have either high strength or high ductility, and a simultaneous achievement of both still constitutes a tough challenge. The inferior castability and compositional segregation of HEAs are also obstacles for their technological applications. To tackle these problems, here we proposed a novel strategy to design HEAs using the eutectic alloy concept, i.

Characterization of protein flexibility using small-angle x-ray scattering and amplified collective motion simulations.

Large-scale flexibility within a multidomain protein often plays an important role in its biological function. Despite its inherent low resolution, small-angle x-ray scattering (SAXS) is well suited to investigate protein flexibility and determine, with the help of computational modeling, what kinds of protein conformations would coexist in solution. In this article, we develop a tool that combines SAXS data with a previously developed sampling technique called amplified collective motions (ACM) to elucidate structures of highly dynamic multidomain proteins in solution.

Combined immunotherapy with dendritic cells and cytokine-induced killer cells for malignant tumors: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Purpose: A new strategy of adoptive and passive immunotherapy involves combining dendritic cells (DCs) with a subset of natural killer T lymphocytes termed cytokine-induced killer (CIK) cells. The objective of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to evaluate the safety and efficacy of DC-CIK therapy vs. placebo, no intervention, conventional treatments, or other complementary and alternative medicines for malignant tumors.

Graphene networks with low percolation threshold in ABS nanocomposites: selective localization and electrical and rheological properties.

Acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene resin (ABS)/graphene nanocomposites were prepared through a facile coagulation method. Because the chemical reduction of graphene oxide was in situ conducted in the presence of ABS at the dispersion stage, the aggregation of the graphene nanosheets was avoided. It was shown by transmission electron microscopy that the graphene nanosheets were selectively located and homogeneously dispersed in the styrene-acrylonitrile (SAN) phase.

Phase transformation of cadmium sulfide under high temperature and high pressure conditions.

Cadmium sulfide (CdS) is one of the most significant wide band gap semiconductors, and knowledge of the phase transformation of CdS under high temperature and pressure is especially important for its applications. The pressure-temperature phase diagram and the phase transformation pathways of CdS have been investigated by using density functional theory combined with quasiharmonic approximation. Our results indicated that under ambient conditions, wz-CdS is a stable phase, while under high temperature and pressure, rs-CdS becomes the stable phase.

Nanotwinned diamond with unprecedented hardness and stability.

Although diamond is the hardest material for cutting tools, poor thermal stability has limited its applications, especially at high temperatures. Simultaneous improvement of the hardness and thermal stability of diamond has long been desirable. According to the Hall-Petch effect, the hardness of diamond can be enhanced by nanostructuring (by means of nanograined and nanotwinned microstructures), as shown in previous studies.

Finite-time boundedness filtering for discrete-time Markovian jump system subject to partly unknown transition probabilities.

This paper investigates the problem of finite-time boundedness filtering for discrete-time Markovian jump system subject partly unknown transition probabilities. By using the multiple Lyapunov function approach, a novel sufficient condition for finite-time bounded of H∞ filtering is derived and the system trajectory stays within a prescribed bound during a specified time interval. Finally, an example is provided to illustrate the usefulness and effectiveness of the proposed method.

Phase stability limit of c-BN under hydrostatic and non-hydrostatic pressure conditions.

Phase stability limit of cubic boron nitride (c-BN) has been investigated by the crystal structure search technique. It indicated that this limit is ∼1000 GPa at hydrostatic pressure condition. Above this pressure, c-BN turns into a metastable phase with respect to rocksalt type boron nitride (rs-BN).

Berberine metabolites could induce low density lipoprotein receptor up-regulation to exert lipid-lowering effects in human hepatoma cells.

Berberine (BBR) is an isoquinoline alkaloid isolated from several Chinese herbal medicines, such as Coptis chinensis, Berberis aristata, and Coptis japonica. It exhibits a lipid-lowering effect by up-regulating the hepatic low density lipoprotein receptor (LDLR) expression. However, the plasma concentration of BBR is very low after oral administration for the reason that BBR is poorly absorbed and rapidly metabolized.

Genome Sequence of the Bacterium Bifidobacterium longum Strain CMCC P0001, a Probiotic Strain Used for Treating Gastrointestinal Disease.

Bifidobacterium longum subsp. longum CMCC P0001, a standard probiotic strain in China, has been widely used in clinical medicine for more than 20 years. Here we report the genome features of B.

Nucleonic-resolution optical mass sensor based on a graphene nanoribbon quantum dot.

The high frequency and ultrasmall mass of graphene make it an ideal material for ultrasensitive mass sensing. In this article, based on the all-optical technique, we propose a scheme of an optical mass sensor to weigh the mass of a single atom or molecule via a doubly clamped Z-shaped graphene nanoribbon (GNR). We use the detection of shifts in the resonance frequency of the Z-shaped GNR to determine the mass of an external particle landing on the GNR.

[Chemical characteristics of water-soluble components of aerosol particles at different altitudes of the Mount Huang in the summer].

Aerosol was collected with Anderson cascade sampler at three altitudes of the Mount Huang in the summer 2011. Samples were analyzed by the ion chromatography (IC, Metrohm). The results showed that the mean mass concentrations of all the ions were 13.

Berberine metabolites exhibit triglyceride-lowering effects via activation of AMP-activated protein kinase in Hep G2 cells.

Ethnopharmacological Relevance: Rhizoma coptidis (Huanglian in Chinese) is commonly used in Chinese folk medicine to treat diarrhea, diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia and tumors. This herb has increasingly gained attention because of its use as a hypolipidemic herb. Berberine (BBR) is the most important constituent of R.

Compressed carbon nanotubes: a family of new multifunctional carbon allotropes.

The exploration of novel functional carbon polymorphs is an enduring topic of scientific investigations. In this paper, we present simulations demonstrating metastable carbon phases as the result of pressure induced carbon nanotube polymerization. The configuration, bonding, electronic, and mechanical characteristics of carbon polymers strongly depend on the imposed hydrostatic/non-hydrostatic pressure, as well as on the geometry of the raw carbon nanotubes including diameter, chirality, stacking manner, and wall number.

Ultrahard nanotwinned cubic boron nitride.

Cubic boron nitride (cBN) is a well known superhard material that has a wide range of industrial applications. Nanostructuring of cBN is an effective way to improve its hardness by virtue of the Hall-Petch effect--the tendency for hardness to increase with decreasing grain size. Polycrystalline cBN materials are often synthesized by using the martensitic transformation of a graphite-like BN precursor, in which high pressures and temperatures lead to puckering of the BN layers.

Temperature dependent elastic constants and ultimate strength of graphene and graphyne.

Based on the first principles calculation combined with quasi-harmonic approximation in this work, we focus on the analysis of temperature dependent lattice geometries, thermal expansion coefficients, elastic constants, and ultimate strength of graphene and graphyne. For the linear thermal expansion coefficient, both graphene and graphyne show a negative region in the low temperature regime. This coefficient increases up to be positive at high temperatures.