PRMT4 promotes hepatocellular carcinoma progression by activating AKT/mTOR signaling and indicates poor prognosis.

: Protein arginine methyltransferase 4 (PRMT4) has been reported to play a role in several common cancers; however, the function and mechanism of PRMT4 in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) are not fully understood. This study aimed to investigate the role and mechanism of PRMT4 in the progression of HCC. PRMT4 expression and clinicopathological characteristics were investigated using an HCC tissue microarray (TMA) consisting of 140 patient samples analyzed by immunohistochemistry.

Relationship Between Serum Albumin and Risk of Atrial Fibrillation: A Dose-Response Meta-Analysis.

The dose-response association between serum albumin and atrial fibrillation is not well known. This study aims to assess the relationship between albumin and atrial fibrillation and the potential dose-response effect. Studies reported that the serum albumin and AF were identified by searching the EMBASE, PubMed, and Cochrane Library databases.

Investigation on conformational variation and fibrillation of human serum albumin affected by molybdenum disulfide quantum dots.

In this work, binding interaction between molybdenum disulfide quantum dots (MoS QDs) and human serum albumin (HSA) was researched deeply to dissect the conformational variation and fibrillation of HSA affected by MoS QDs. The results revealed that MoS QDs bound strongly with HSA with molar ratio of 1:1 under the joint actions of hydrogen bond and van der Waals force, leading to the static fluorescence quenching of HSA. MoS QDs caused the secondary structure transition of HSA from α-helix stepwise to β-turn, β-sheet, and random coil gradually.

Engineering hollow carbon spheres: directly from solid resin spheres to porous hollow carbon spheres via air induced linker cleaving.

Hollow carbon spheres (HCSs) have broad application in many fields such as catalysis, adsorption and energy storage. Due to various restrictions on hard and soft templates, self-templating methods have received extensive attention. Generally, the conventional self-templating method includes two steps, including the hollowing and carbonization process.

Integrating target-responsive CD-CdTe QD-based ratiometric fluorescence hydrogel with smartphone for visual and on-site determination of dichlorvos.

A facile, economic, and portable test kit based on target-responsive hydrogel with smartphone detection was fabricated for the accurate determination of dichlorvos in tap water and food samples. Carbon dots (CDs) and CdTe quantum dots (QDs) embedded hydrogel were employed as indicator, and fluorescence of CdTe QDs (645 nm) was dynamically quenched by Cu while that of CDs (490 nm) were non-response for Cu, em erging a typical ratiometric fluorescence signal. Acetylcholinesterase hydrolyzed acetylthiocholine to generate thiocholine that bound with Cu strongly via S-Cu-S bond.

Comparison on binding interactions of quercetin and its metal complexes with calf thymus DNA by spectroscopic techniques and viscosity measurement.

Quercetin (Qu) and its metal complexes have received great attention during the last years, due to their good antioxidant, antibacterial, and anticancer activities. In this contribution, binding interactions of Qu and Qu-metal complexes with calf thymus DNA (ctDNA) were investigated and compared systematically by using spectroscopic techniques and viscosity measurement. UV-vis absorption spectra of ctDNA-compound systems showed obvious hypochromic effect.

Unconventional, Gram-Scale Synthesis of a Molecular Dimer Organic Luminogen with Aggregation-Induced Emission.

Organic luminogens have been widely used in optoelectronic devices, bioimaging, and sensing. Conventionally, the synthesis of organic luminogens requires sophisticated, multistep design, reaction, and isolation procedures. Herein, the products of the melt-phase condensation of benzoguanamine (BG; 2,4-diamino-6-phenyl-1,3,5-triazine) at 370-410 °C display interesting reaction-condition-dependent luminescence properties, including photoluminescence (PL) at a variety of wavelengths in the visible spectrum and quantum efficiencies (PLQE) of up to 58% in the powder form.

Trends of epidemiological characteristics of traumatic spinal cord injury in China, 2009-2018.

Objective: We focus on providing the first comprehensive national dataset on the incidence, injury aetiology and mortality of TSCI in China.

Methods: A multi-stage stratified cluster sampling method was used. We included TSCI cases from all hospitals in three regions, nine provinces and 27 cities in China via search of electronic medical records and retrospectively analysed the characteristics of TSCI in China from 2009 to 2018.

Long non-coding RNA VCAN-AS1 promotes the malignant behaviors of breast cancer by regulating the miR-106a-5p-mediated STAT3/HIF-1α pathway.

An accumulating number of studies have found that long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) participate in breast cancer (BC) development. LncRNA VCAN-AS1, a novel lncRNA, has been confirmed to regulate the progression of gastric cancer, while its role in BC is elusive. Here, our results illustrate that VCAN-AS1 is overexpressed in BC tissues and cells, while miR-106a-5p was downregulated and negatively correlated with VCAN-AS1.

Efficient Blue Light Emitting Diodes Based On Europium Halide Perovskites.

Flat panel displays enjoy 100 billion-dollar markets with significant penetration in daily life, which require efficient, color-saturated blue, green, and red light-emitting diodes (LEDs). The recently emerged halide perovskites have demonstrated low-cost and outstanding performance for potential LED applications. However, the performance of blue perovskite LEDs (PeLEDs) lags far behind red and green cousins, particularly for color coordinates approaching (0.

One-Component Multifunctional Sequence-Defined Ionizable Amphiphilic Janus Dendrimer Delivery Systems for mRNA.

Efficient viral or nonviral delivery of nucleic acids is the key step of genetic nanomedicine. Both viral and synthetic vectors have been successfully employed for genetic delivery with recent examples being DNA, adenoviral, and mRNA-based Covid-19 vaccines. Viral vectors can be target specific and very efficient but can also mediate severe immune response, cell toxicity, and mutations.

Hypoxia-inducible factor-1alpha protects the liver against ischemia-reperfusion injury by regulating the A2B adenosine receptor.

Hepatic ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI) is an inevitable complication associated with liver surgical procedures, and its pathological process remains elusive. Therefore, the present study investigated the role and mechanism of hypoxia-inducible factor-1alpha (HIF-1α) in hepatic IRI. Here, we constructed rat models with hepatic IRI and BRL-3A cell models with hypoxia/reoxygenation (H/R) insult.

Sentinel lymph node biopsy in oral cavity cancer using indocyanine green: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

This meta-analysis was conducted to evaluate the value of indocyanine green (ICG) in guiding sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) for patients with oral cavity cancer. An electronic database search (PubMed, MEDLINE, Cochrane Library, Embase, and Web of Science) was performed from their inception to June 2020 to retrieve clinical studies of ICG applied to SLNB for oral cavity cancer. Data were extracted from 14 relevant articles (226 patients), and 9 studies (134 patients) were finally included in the meta-analysis according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria.

Construction and Nanostructure of Chitosan/Nanocellulose Hybrid Aerogels.

Biomass aerogels have received extensive attention due to their unique natural characteristics. However, biomass-based chitosan aerogels are often confronted with the traditional issue concerning a weak skeleton structure, namely, the corresponding huge shrinkage for chitosan aerogels in the stage from the final gel to the aerogel. Herein, we put forward a new approach to enhance chitosan aerogels by introducing natural biomaterial cellulose nanocrystal (CNC).

Comprehensive Analysis of Peripheral Exosomal circRNAs in Large Artery Atherosclerotic Stroke.

Exosomes are crucial vehicles in intercellular communication. Circular RNAs (circRNAs), novel endogenous noncoding RNAs, play diverse roles in ischemic stroke. Recently, the abundance and stability of circRNAs in exosomes have been identified.

Assessing the post-treatment therapeutic effect of pinaverium in irritable bowel syndrome: a randomized controlled trial.

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is the most common gastrointestinal disorder significantly decreasing patients' lives of quality and placing huge economic burden on our society. Existing studies indicated that the therapeutic effects maintained for a period of time after the treatments were discontinued. It is clinically important to assess these post-treatment therapeutic effects (PTTE), which prevent IBS from relapsing.

Composition and diversity of gut microbiota in Pomacea canaliculata in sexes and between developmental stages.

Background: The apple snail, Pomacea canaliculata, is one of the world's 100 worst invasive alien species and vector of some pathogens relevant to human health.

Methods: On account of the importance of gut microbiota to the host animals, we compared the communities of the intestinal microbiota from P. canaliculata collected at different developmental stages (juvenile and adult) and different sexes by using high-throughput sequencing.

Simultaneously Tuning the Defects and Surface Properties of TaN Nanoparticles by Mg-Zr Codoping for Significantly Accelerated Photocatalytic H Evolution.

The simultaneous control of the defect species and surface properties of semiconducting materials is a crucial aspect of improving photocatalytic performance, yet it remains challenging. Here, we synthesized Mg-Zr-codoped single-crystalline TaN (TaN:Mg+Zr) nanoparticles by a brief NH nitridation process, exhibiting photocatalytic water reduction activity 45 times greater than that of pristine TaN under visible light. A coherent picture of the relations between the defect species (comprising reduced Ta, nitrogen vacancies and oxygen impurities), surface properties (associated with dispersion of the Pt cocatalyst), charge carrier dynamics, and photocatalytic activities was drawn.

The CTNNBIP1-CLSTN1 fusion transcript regulates human neocortical development.

Fusion transcripts or RNAs have been found in both disordered and healthy human tissues and cells; however, their physiological functions in the brain development remain unknown. In the analysis of deposited RNA-sequence libraries covering early to middle embryonic stages, we identify 1,055 fusion transcripts present in the developing neocortex. Interestingly, 98 fusion transcripts exhibit distinct expression patterns in various neural progenitors (NPs) or neurons.

High-throughput proteomics and AI for cancer biomarker discovery.

Biomarkers are assayed to assess biological and pathological status. Recent advances in high-throughput proteomic technology provide opportunities for developing next generation biomarkers for clinical practice aided by artificial intelligence (AI) based techniques. We summarize the advances and limitations of cancer biomarkers based on genomic and transcriptomic analysis, as well as classical antibody-based methodologies.

Interaction of porcine circovirus-like virus P1 capsid protein with host proteins.

Background: Porcine circovirus-like virus P1 is a relatively new kind of virus that is closely related to the post-weaning multisystemic wasting syndrome, congenital tremors, and abortions in swine. The molecular mechanisms of P1 virus infection and pathogenesis are fully unknown. To analyze P1 and its host interactions, we used a yeast two-hybrid (Y2H) assay to identify cellular proteins interacting with the Cap of the P1 virus.

Exosome component 1 cleaves single-stranded DNA and sensitizes human kidney renal clear cell carcinoma cells to poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase inhibitor.

Targeting DNA repair pathway offers an important therapeutic strategy for (human) cancers. However, the failure of DNA repair inhibitors to markedly benefit patients necessitates the development of new strategies. Here, we show that exosome component 1 (EXOSC1) promotes DNA damages and sensitizes human kidney renal clear cell carcinoma (KIRC) cells to DNA repair inhibitor.

High-contrast OPCPA front end in high-power petawatt laser facility based on the ps-OPCPA seed system.

A high-energy, high-beam-quality, high-contrast picosecond optical parametric chirped-pulse amplification (ps-OPCPA) laser system was demonstrated. The pulse from a femtosecond oscillator was stretched to 4 ps, after which it was amplified from 140 pJ to 600 µJ by an 8 ps/6 mJ pump laser in two non-collinear OPCPA stages. The total gain was >10, and the root mean square of the energy stability of the laser system was 1.