Soft robotic apparel to avert freezing of gait in Parkinson's disease.

Freezing of gait (FoG) is a profoundly disruptive gait disturbance in Parkinson's disease, causing unintended stops while walking. Therapies for FoG reveal modest and transient effects, resulting in a lack of effective treatments. Here we show proof of concept that FoG can be averted using soft robotic apparel that augments hip flexion.

ADAR1-dependent miR-3144-3p editing simultaneously induces MSI2 expression and suppresses SLC38A4 expression in liver cancer.

Aberrant adenosine-to-inosine (A-to-I) RNA editing, catalyzed by adenosine deaminase acting on double-stranded RNA (ADAR), has been implicated in various cancers, but the mechanisms by which microRNA (miRNA) editing contributes to cancer development are largely unknown. Our multistage hepatocellular carcinogenesis transcriptome data analyses, together with publicly available data, indicated that ADAR1 was the most profoundly dysregulated gene among RNA-editing enzyme family members in liver cancer. Targeted inactivation of ADAR1 inhibited the in vitro tumorigenesis of liver cancer cells.

hnRNPC induces isoform shifts in miR-21-5p leading to cancer development.

MicroRNA (miRNA) processing is a critical step in mature miRNA production. Its dysregulation leads to an increase in miRNA isoforms with heterogenous 5'-ends (isomiRs), which can recognize distinct target sites because of their shifted seed sequence. Although some miRNA genes display productive expression of their 5'-isomiRs in cancers, how their production is controlled and how 5'-isomiRs affect tumor progression have yet to be explored.

Serum Proteins, HMMR, NXPH4, PITX1 and THBS4; A Panel of Biomarkers for Early Diagnosis of Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

The high morbidity rate of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is mainly linked to late diagnosis. Early diagnosis of this leading cause of mortality is therefore extremely important. We designed a gene selection strategy to identify potential secretory proteins by predicting signal peptide cleavage sites in amino acid sequences derived from transcriptome data of human multistage HCC comprising chronic hepatitis, liver cirrhosis and early and overt HCCs.

SMARCA4 oncogenic potential via IRAK1 enhancer to activate Gankyrin and AKR1B10 in liver cancer.

SWItch/Sucrose Non-Fermentable (SWI/SNF) is a multiprotein complex essential for the regulation of eukaryotic gene expression. SWI/SNF complex genes are genetically altered in over 20% of human malignancies, but the aberrant regulation of the SWI/SNF subunit genes and subsequent dysfunction caused by abnormal expression of subunit gene in cancer, remain poorly understood. Among the SWI/SNF subunit genes, SMARCA4, SMARCC1, and SMARCA2 were identified to be overexpressed in human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

Pathogenic diversity of RNA variants and RNA variation-associated factors in cancer development.

Recently, with the development of RNA sequencing technologies such as next-generation sequencing (NGS) for RNA, numerous variations of alternatively processed RNAs made by alternative splicing, RNA editing, alternative maturation of microRNA (miRNA), RNA methylation, and alternative polyadenylation have been uncovered. Furthermore, abnormally processed RNAs can cause a variety of diseases, including obesity, diabetes, Alzheimer's disease, and cancer. Especially in cancer development, aberrant RNAs caused by deregulated RNA modifiers or regulators are related to progression.

A Layered Manufacturing Approach for Soft and Soft-Rigid Hybrid Robots.

We present a manufacturing process for creating centimeter-scale multichambered inflatable robots and structures that can include both soft and rigid components. Our process uses a thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) adhesive film to bond together layers of textiles, plastics, or other materials. The structures are heated and compressed a few layers at a time with a heat press machine or bonded in an oven all at once.

HDAC6 Suppresses Let-7i-5p to Elicit TSP1/CD47-Mediated Anti-Tumorigenesis and Phagocytosis of Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

Histone deacetylase 6 (HDAC6) uniquely serves as a tumor suppressor in hepatocellular carcinogenesis, but the underlying mechanisms leading to tumor suppression are not fully understood. To identify comprehensive microRNAs (miRNAs) regulated by HDAC6 in hepatocellular carcinogenesis, differential miRNA expression analysis of HDAC6-transfected Hep3B cells was performed. Using integrative analyses of publicly available transcriptome data and miRNA target prediction, we selected five candidate miRNAs and, through in vitro functional validation, showed that let-7i-5p specifically suppressed thrombospondin-1 (TSP1) in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

Modeling and Analysis of a High-Displacement Pneumatic Artificial Muscle With Integrated Sensing.

We present a high-displacement pneumatic artificial muscle made of textiles or plastics that can include integrated electronics to sense its pressure and displacement. Compared to traditional pneumatic muscle actuators such as the McKibben actuator and other more recent soft actuators, the actuator described in this paper can produce a much higher (40~65%) contraction ratio. In this paper, we describe the design, fabrication, and evaluation of the actuator, as well as the manufacturing process used to create it.

T-cell immune regulator 1 enhances metastasis in hepatocellular carcinoma.

Recurrence and metastasis are major challenges in the management of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients after resection. To identify a metastasis-associated gene signature, we performed comparative gene expression analysis with recurrent HCC tissues from HCC patients who underwent partial or total hepatectomy and from non-metastatic primary HCC tissues. From this, we were able to identify genes associated with HCC recurrence.

Identification of novel biomarkers for prediction of neurological prognosis following cardiac arrest.

Background: Early prognostication of neurological outcome in comatose patients after cardiac arrest (CA) is important for devising patient treatment strategies. However, there is still a lack of sensitive and specific biomarkers for easy identification of these patients. We evaluated whether molecular signatures from blood of CA patients might help to improve the prediction of neurological outcome.

High-efficiency electrochemical thermal energy harvester using carbon nanotube aerogel sheet electrodes.

Conversion of low-grade waste heat into electricity is an important energy harvesting strategy. However, abundant heat from these low-grade thermal streams cannot be harvested readily because of the absence of efficient, inexpensive devices that can convert the waste heat into electricity. Here we fabricate carbon nanotube aerogel-based thermo-electrochemical cells, which are potentially low-cost and relatively high-efficiency materials for this application.

MicroRNA-31 functions as a tumor suppressor by regulating cell cycle and epithelial-mesenchymal transition regulatory proteins in liver cancer.

MicroRNA-31 (miR-31) is among the most frequently altered microRNAs in human cancers and altered expression of miR-31 has been detected in a large variety of tumor types, but the functional role of miR-31 still hold both tumor suppressive and oncogenic roles in different tumor types. MiR-31 expression was down-regulated in a large cohort of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients, and low expression of miR-31 was significantly associated with poor prognosis of HCC patients. Ectopic expression of miR-31 mimics suppressed HCC cell growth by transcriptional deregulation of cell cycle proteins.

Characteristic molecular and proteomic signatures of drug-induced liver injury in a rat model.

Drug-induced liver injury (DILI) is a major safety concern during drug development and remains one of the main reasons for withdrawal of drugs from the market. Although it is crucial to develop methods that will detect potential hepatotoxicity of drug candidates as early and as quickly as possible, there is still a lack of sensitive and specific biomarkers for DILI that consequently leads to a scarcity of reliable hepatotoxic data. Hence, in this study, we assessed characteristic molecular signatures in rat liver treated with drugs (pyrazinamide, ranitidine, enalapril, carbamazepine and chlorpromazine) that are known to cause DILI in humans.

HDAC6 sustains growth stimulation by prolonging the activation of EGF receptor through the inhibition of rabaptin-5-mediated early endosome fusion in gastric cancer.

The aberrant regulation of histone deacetylase 6 (HDAC6) contributes to malignant progression in various types of cancer, but the mechanism underlying gastric carcinogenesis remains unknown. Aberrant HDAC6 overexpression was observed in a subset of human gastric cancer cells. HDAC6 knockdown caused the significant inhibition of gastric cancer cell growth without affecting the transition of cell cycles or the processing of cell death.