The long non-coding RNA MACC1-AS1 promotes nasopharyngeal carcinoma cell stemness via suppressing miR-145-mediated inhibition on SMAD2/MACC1-AS1 axis.

The promoting roles of the long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) MACC1-AS1 have been indicated in gastric and pancreatic cancer, however, its roles in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) progression are never been revealed. In this work, it was shown that lncRNA MACC1-AS1 was highly expressed in NPC tissues and cells relative to the adjacent tissues and nasal mucosa cells, respectively. Additionally, MACC1-AS1 expression was positively correlated with the high rate of lymph node metastasis and large tumor size.

Distinct Spontaneous Brain Activity Patterns in Different Biologically-Defined Alzheimer's Disease Cognitive Stage: A Preliminary Study.

: The National Institute on Aging-Alzheimer's Association (NIA-AA) has proposed a biological definition of Alzheimer's disease (AD): individuals with both abnormal amyloid and tau biomarkers (A+T+) would be defined as AD. It remains unclear why different cognitive status is present in subjects with biological AD. Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rsfMRI) has provided an opportunity to reveal the brain activity patterns in a biologically-defined AD cohort.

Effect of verapamil on the pharmacokinetics of hydroxycamptothecin and its potential mechanism.

Hydroxycamptothecin (HCPT) has antitumor activity in various cancers, but its poor bioavailability and efflux limit its clinical application. Verapamil has been demonstrated to improve the bioavailability of many drugs. However, the effect of verapamil on the pharmacokinetics of HCPT was not clear.

Physical activity compared to adiposity and risk of liver-related mortality: Results from two prospective, nationwide cohorts.

Background & Aims: Obesity in adulthood has been associated with increased risk of liver-related mortality. Whether higher levels of physical activity counteract the excess risk conferred by obesity remains unknown. We simultaneously evaluated the long-term impact of physical activity and adiposity on liver-related mortality, within 2 nationwide populations.

The impact of atrial fibrillation on accuracy of oscillometric blood pressure measurement: effect of ventricular rate.

This study evaluated the impact of ventricular rate (VR) in atrial fibrillation (AF) patients with oscillometric BP measurements. This study included 138 patients with AF and 112 patients with sinus rhythm (SR) who underwent coronary angiography. Left arm BP was measured three times with an oscillometric device, and the average was recorded as the final oscillometric value.

Mechanisms of triplet energy transfer across the inorganic nanocrystal/organic molecule interface.

The mechanisms of triplet energy transfer across the inorganic nanocrystal/organic molecule interface remain poorly understood. Many seemingly contradictory results have been reported, mainly because of the complicated trap states characteristic of inorganic semiconductors and the ill-defined relative energetics between semiconductors and molecules used in these studies. Here we clarify the transfer mechanisms by performing combined transient absorption and photoluminescence measurements, both with sub-picosecond time resolution, on model systems comprising lead halide perovskite nanocrystals with very low surface trap densities as the triplet donor and polyacenes which either favour or prohibit charge transfer as the triplet acceptors.

[Time-sequential expression of lnc AK079912 during adipose tissue development and browning in mice].

Objective: To investigate the time-sequential expression of a novel long non-coding RNA, lnc AK079912, in metabolically related tissues and during adipose tissue development and browning in mice.

Methods: The interscapular brown adipose tissue (iBAT), subcutaneous white adipose tissue (sWAT), epididymal white adipose tissue (eWAT), liver tissues and muscular tissues were collected from 8-week-old C57BL/6J mice. The iBAT, sWAT and eWAT were also collected from the mice during development (0 day, 21 days, 8 weeks and 6 months after birth) and from 8- to 10-week- mice with cold exposure (4 ℃) and intraperitoneal injections of CL316, 243 (1 μg/g body weight) for 1 to 5 days.

Cyclic compression emerged dual effects on the osteogenic and osteoclastic status of LPS-induced inflammatory human periodontal ligament cells according to loading force.

Background: Appropriate mechanical stimulation is essential for bone homeostasis in healthy periodontal tissues. While the osteogenesis and osteoclast differentiation of inflammatory periodontal ligament cells under different dynamic loading has not been yet clear. The aim of this study is to clarify the inflammatory, osteogenic and pro-osteoclastic effects of different cyclic stress loading on the inflammatory human periodontal ligament cells (hPDLCs).

Fast Covariance Estimation for Multivariate Sparse Functional Data.

Covariance estimation is essential yet underdeveloped for analyzing multivariate functional data. We propose a fast covariance estimation method for multivariate sparse functional data using bivariate penalized splines. The tensor-product B-spline formulation of the proposed method enables a simple spectral decomposition of the associated covariance operator and explicit expressions of the resulting eigenfunctions as linear combinations of B-spline bases, thereby dramatically facilitating subsequent principal component analysis.

Maternal low protein exposure alters glucose tolerance and intestinal nutrient-responsive receptors and transporters expression of rat offspring.

Aims: Maternal protein malnutrition during perinatal period has long-term consequences on the offspring's metabolic phenotype. Here we determined the effects of maternal protein-restricted (PR) diet on offspring's metabolism in 3- and 12-week-old.

Main Methods: Sprague-Dawley rats were fed with standard chow diet or PR diet during pregnancy and lactation.

The association between rs12807809 polymorphism in neurogranin gene and risk of schizophrenia: A meta-analysis.

Background: The correlation between single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs12807809 in Neurogranin (NRGN) gene and Schizophrenia (SCZ) was investigated by several studies, whereas the results were conflicting. Thus, we performed the present meta-analysis to combine and analyze the available studies in order to provide a more accurate result on the association of rs12807809 polymorphism in NRGN gene and SCZ vulnerability.

Methods: A comprehensive retrieval in PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, Cochrane Library and Wanfang was performed for relevant studies on the relationship of rs12807809 polymorphism and SCZ.

[Timeliness of β3 adrenergic receptor agonist-induced browning of white adipose tissues in mice].

To characterize the timeliness of β3 adrenergic receptor agonist CL316,243-induced browning of white adipose tissues in mice.
 Methods: Male C57BL/6J mice at 10 weeks of age were housed in conventional cages and given sterile saline for the control group or CL316,243 (1 μg/g) for the experimental group via intraperitoneal injection for 1, 3, and 5 days. Food intake and body weight were measured daily.

High-contrast and reversible polymer thermal regulator by structural phase transition.

In comparison with the advancement of switchable, nonlinear, and active components in electronics, solid-state thermal components for actively controlling heat flow have been extremely rare. We demonstrate a high-contrast and reversible polymer thermal regulator based on the structural phase transition in crystalline polyethylene nanofibers. This structural phase transition represents a dramatic change in morphology from a highly ordered all-trans conformation to a combined trans and gauche conformation with rotational disorder, leading to an abrupt change in phonon transport along the molecular chains.

Targeting CARD6 attenuates spinal cord injury (SCI) in mice through inhibiting apoptosis, inflammation and oxidative stress associated ROS production.

Spinal cord injury (SCI) causes long-term and severe disability, influencing the quality of life and triggering serious socioeconomic consequences. Lack of effective pharmacotherapies for SCI is largely attributable to an incomplete understanding of its pathogenesis. Caspase recruitment domain family member 6 (CARD6) was initially suggested to be a protein playing significant role in NF-κB activation.

Interactions between sleep disturbances and Alzheimer's disease on brain function: a preliminary study combining the static and dynamic functional MRI.

Though sleep disturbance constitutes the risk factor for Alzheimer's disease (AD), the underlying mechanism is still unclear. This study aims to explore the interaction between sleep disturbances and AD on brain function. We included 192 normal controls, 111 mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and 30 AD patients, with either poor or normal sleep (PS, NS, respectively).

Experiencing winter for spring flowering: A molecular epigenetic perspective on vernalization.

Many over-wintering plants, through vernalization, overcome a block to flowering and thus acquire competence to flower in the following spring after experiencing prolonged cold exposure or winter cold. The vernalization pathways in different angiosperm lineages appear to have convergently evolved to adapt to temperate climates. Molecular and epigenetic mechanisms for vernalization regulation have been well studied in the crucifer model plant Arabidopsis thaliana.

Deepprune: Learning Efficient and Interpretable Convolutional Networks Through Weight Pruning for Predicting DNA-Protein Binding.

Convolutional neural network (CNN) based methods have outperformed conventional machine learning methods in predicting the binding preference of DNA-protein binding. Although studies in the past have shown that more convolutional kernels help to achieve better performance, visualization of the model can be obscured by the use of many kernels, resulting in overfitting and reduced interpretation because the number of motifs in true models is limited. Therefore, we aim to arrive at high performance, but with limited kernel numbers, in CNN-based models for motif inference.

A new feature selection method based on symmetrical uncertainty and interaction gain.

Defining important information from complex biological data is of great significance in biological study. It is known that the physiological and pathological changes in an organism are usually influenced by molecule interactions. Analyzing biological data by fusing the evaluation of the individual molecules and molecule interactions could induce a more accurate and comprehensive understanding of the organism.

Silencing of long noncoding RNA SRRM2-AS exerts suppressive effects on angiogenesis in nasopharyngeal carcinoma via activating MYLK-mediated cGMP-PKG signaling pathway.

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) play a crucial role in several malignances, involving nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC), a heterogeneous disease. This study investigated mechanism of serine/arginine repetitive matrix protein 2-alternative splicing (SRRM2-AS) in NPC cell proliferation, differentiation, and angiogenesis. Initially, differentially expressed lncRNAs were screened out via microarray analysis.

Prenatal exercise reverses high-fat-diet-induced placental alterations and alters male fetal hypothalamus during late gestation in rats†.

Maternal high-fat (HF) diet negatively affects maternal metabolism and placental function. This study aimed to determine whether gestational exercise prevents the effect of HF diet on placental amino acid transporter expression and nutrient-sensing signaling and the fetal response. Pregnant Sprague-Dawley rats were either fed with a CHOW (13.

Overexpression of AtAAP1 increased the uptake of an alanine-chlorantraniliprole conjugate in Arabidopsis thaliana.

Transporters play an important role in the uptake and redistribution of agrochemicals to the site of insect feeding. The product of the Arabidopsis thaliana gene AtAAP1 substantially contributes to inorganic nitrogen acquisition under ecologically relevant amino acid concentrations. Here, the transporter ability of AtAAP1 to a chlorantraniliprole-alanine conjugate (CAP-Ala-1) was tested both in planta and in vitro.

Chemotherapy drugs derived nanoparticles encapsulating mRNA encoding tumor suppressor proteins to treat triple-negative breast cancer.

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is one type of the most aggressive breast cancers with poor prognosis. It is of great urgency to develop new therapeutics for treating TNBC. Based on current treatment guideline and genetic information of TNBC, a combinational therapy platform integrating chemotherapy drugs and mRNA encoding tumor suppressor proteins may become an efficacious strategy.

Co-delivery of mRNA and SPIONs through amino-ester nanomaterials.

Nanoparticles have been widely explored for combined therapeutic and diagnostic applications. For example, lipid-based nanoparticles have been used to encapsulate multiple types of agents and achieve multi-functions. Herein, we enabled a co-delivery of mRNA molecules and superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) by using an amino-ester lipid-like nanomaterial.

Biomimetic dynamic membrane (BDM): Fabrication method and roles of carriers and laccase.

Biomimetic dynamic membrane (BDM) has been employed as a promising membrane separation technology regarding water/wastewater treatment (Model pollutant is methylene blue). Given its catalytic function on micro-pollutant removal and fouling control, detailed mechanism for impacts of fabrication method, carriers (CNT and GO) and laccase on the construction of biomimetic layer and enzyme immobilization have not been clear so far. In this work, the BDM performance with various fabrication methods, carriers and laccase were investigated and verified.