NR3C2 inhibits the proliferation of colorectal cancer via regulating glucose metabolism and phosphorylating AMPK.

We aim to investigate the roles and mechanisms of NR3C2 in colorectal cancer (CRC). The expression of NR3C2 in CRC tumours and paired paracancerous tissues of 71 CRC patients and five CRC cell lines was detected by western blotting, immunohistochemistry and real-time reverse-transcription PCR. Moreover, NR3C2 was overexpressed or knocked down in CRC cells by lentiviral vector transfection.

Eosinophils protect against pulmonary hypertension through 14-HDHA and 17-HDHA.

Background: Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is a life-threatening disease featuring pulmonary vessel remodelling and perivascular inflammation. The effect, if any, of eosinophils (EOS) on the development of PH remains unclear.

Methods: EOS infiltration and chemotaxis were investigated in peripheral blood and lung tissues from pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) patients without allergic history and from sugen/hypoxia-induced PH mice.

One-Step Fabrication of a Multifunctional Aggregation-Induced Emission Nanoaggregate for Targeted Cell Imaging and Enzyme-Triggered Cancer Chemotherapy.

A novel multifunctional aggregation-induced emission (AIE) nanoaggregate for targeted imaging and enzyme-triggered chemotherapy was successfully fabricated via a one-step assembly. In this system, a quaternary ammonium-modified tetraphenylethene derivative (QA-TPE) acted as the AIE fluorophore as well as the chemotherapeutic agent, and a water-soluble acidic polysaccharide, hyaluronic acid (HA) acted as the aggregation-inducing scaffold, AIE turn-on agent, and targeting agent for CD44 receptor-mediated cancer cells. More importantly, HA endowed the QA-TPE/HA nanoaggregate both good biocompatibility and hysteretic chemotherapy activity, which were achieved by controlling the release of QA-TPE using the endogenous HAase in CD44 receptor-mediated cancer cells.

Identification of polymer materials using laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy combined with artificial neural networks.

A combination of laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) and artificial neural networks (ANNs) has been used for the identification of polymer materials, including polypropylene (PP), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), polyoxymethylene (POM), polyethylene (PE), polyamide or nylon (PA), polycarbonate (PC) and poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA). After optimization of the experimental setup and the spectrum acquisition protocol, successful identification rates between 81 and 100% were achieved using spectral features gathered from single spectra without averaging (1 second acquisition time) over a wide spectral range (240-820 nm). Furthermore, ten different materials based on PVC were tested using the identification procedure.

Nonlinear X-shaped waves by second-harmonic generation with collimated femtosecond pulses.

Nonlinear X-shaped angle-wavelength spectrum of the generated second-harmonic wave is observed for a collimated femtosecond pulse of a large beam waist, where the spatiotemporal balance is originated from mutual coupling of the effective nonlinear Kerr effects, pulse frequency chirp, and negative phase shift from cascaded quadratic processes with appropriate phase mismatch.