Impacts of hyperthermic chemotherapeutic agent on cytotoxicity, chemoresistance-related proteins and PD-L1 expression in human gastric cancer cells.

Objective: Gastric cancer with peritoneal metastasis is considered to be final stage gastric cancer. One current treatment approach for this condition is combined cytoreductive surgery with hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC). However, the therapeutic mechanisms of HIPEC remain largely undescribed. Method: In order to assess the cellular effects of HIPEC in vitro, we treated AGS human gastric adenocarcinoma cells with or without 5-fluorouracil (5-Fu) at 37 °C or at 43 °C (hyperthermic temperature) for 1 h followed by incubation at 37 °C for 23 h. The impacts of hyperthermia/5-Fu on apoptosis, cell survival signals, oxidative stress, chemoresistance-related proteins and programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression were measured. Results: Our results showed that hyperthermia potentiates 5-Fu-mediated cytotoxicity in AGS cells. Furthermore, the combination of 5-Fu and hyperthermia reduces levels of both phosphorylated STAT3 and STAT3, while increasing the levels of phosphorylated Akt and ERK. In addition, 5-Fu/hyperthermia enhances reactive oxygen species and suppresses superoxide dismutase 1. Chemoresistance-related proteins, such as multidrug resistance 1 and thymidylate synthase, are also suppressed by 5-Fu/hyperthermia. Interestingly, hyperthermia enhances 5-Fu-mediated induction of glycosylated PD-L1, but 5-Fu-mediated upregulation of PD-L1 surface expression is prevented by hyperthermia. Conclusion: Taken together, our findings provide insights that may aid in the development of novel therapeutic strategies and enhanced therapeutic efficacy of HIPEC.

Continuously Flow Photothermal Catalysis Efficiently CO2 Reduction Over S-Scheme 2D/0D Bi5 O7 I-OVs/Cd0.5 Zn0.5 S Heterojunction with Strong Interfacial Electric Field.

Using CO2 , water, and sunlight to produce solar fuel is a very attractive process, which can synchronously reduce carbon and convert solar energy into hydrocarbons. However, photocatalytic CO2 reduction is often limited by the low selectivity of reduction products and poor photocatalytic activity. In this study, S-scheme Bi5 O7 I-OVs/Cd0.5 Zn0.5 S (Bi5 O7 I-OVs/CZS-0.5) heterojunction with strong interfacial electric field (IEF) is prepared by in situ growth method. The performance of reduction CO2 to CO is studied by continuous flow photothermal catalytic (PTC) CO2 reduction platform. 12.5% Bi5 O7 I-OVs/CZS-0.5 shows excellent CO yield of 58.6 µmol g-1  h-1 and selectivity of 98.4%, which are 35.1 times than that of CZS-0.5 under visible light. The charge transfer path of the S-scheme through theoretical calculation (DFT), in situ irradiation Kelvin probe force microscope (ISI-KPFM) and in situ irradiation X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (ISI-XPS) analysis, is verified. The study can provide useful guidance and reference for improving activity by oxygen vacancy induced strong IEF and the development of a continuous flow PTC CO2 reduction system.

NiS/Cd0.6 Zn0.4 S Schottky Junction Bifunctional Photocatalyst for Sunlight-Driven Highly Selective Catalytic Oxidation of Vanillyl Alcohol Towards Vanillin Coupled with Hydrogen Evolution Reaction.

Selective oxidation of biomass-based molecules to high-value chemicals in conjunction with hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is an innovative photocatalysis strategy. The key challenge is to design bifunctional photocatalysts with suitable band structures, which can achieve highly efficient generation of high-value chemicals and hydrogen. Herein, NiS/Cd0.6 Zn0.4 S Schottky junction bifunctional catalysts are constructed for sunlight-driven catalytic vanillyl alcohol (VAL) selective oxidation towards vanillin (VN) coupling HER. At optimal conditions, the 8% NiS/Cd0.6 Zn0.4 S photocatalyst achieves high activity of VN production (3.75 mmol g-1 h-1 ) and HER (3.84 mmol g-1 h-1 ). It also exhibits remarkable VAL conversion (66.9%), VN yield (52.1%), and selectivity (77.8%). The photocatalytic oxidation of VAL proceeds a carbon-centered radical mechanism via the cleavage of αC-H bond. Experimental results and theoretical calculations show that NiS with metallic properties enhances the electron transfer capability. Importantly, a Ni-S-Cd "electron bridge" formed at the interface of NiS/Cd0.6 Zn0.4 S further improves the separation/transfer of electrone/h+ pairs and also furnishes HER active sites due to its smaller the |ΔGH* | value, thereby resulting in a remarkably HER activity. This work sheds new light on the selective catalytic oxidation VAL to VN coupling HER, with a new pathway towards achieving its efficient HER efficiency.

Structural Transformation by Crystal Engineering Endows Aqueous Zinc-Ion Batteries with Ultra-long Cyclability.

Manganese oxide is a promising cathode material for aqueous zinc batteries. However, its weak structural stability, low electrical conductivity, and sluggish reaction kinetics lead to rapid capacity fading. Herein, a crystal engineering strategy is proposed to construct a novel MnO2 cathode material. Both experimental results and theoretical calculations demonstrate that Al-doping plays a crucial role in phase transition and doping-superlattice structure construction, which stabilizes the structure of MnO2 cathode materials, improves conductivity, and accelerates ion diffusion dynamics. As a result, 1.98% Al-doping MnO2 (AlMO) cathode shows an incredible 15 000 cycle stability with a low capacity decay rate of 0.0014% per cycle at 4 A g-1 . Additionally, it provides superior specific capacity of 311.2 mAh g-1 at 0.1 A g-1 and excellent rate performance (145.2 mAh g-1 at 5.0 A g-1 ). To illustrate the potential of 1.98%AlMO to be applied in actual practice, flexible energy storage devices are fabricated and measured. These discoveries provide a new insight for structural transformation via crystal engineering, as well as a new avenue for the rational design of electrode material in other battery systems.

Construction of Ternary Bismuth-Based Heterojunction by Using (BiO)2 CO3 as Electron Bridge for Highly Efficient Degradation of Phenol.

Inspired by nature, it has been considered an effective approach to design artificial photosynthetic system by fabricating Z-scheme photocatalysts to eliminate environmental issues and alleviate the global energy crisis. However, the development of low cost, environment-friendly, and high-efficient photocatalysts by utilizing solar energy still confronts huge challenge. Herein, we constructed a Bi2 O3 /(BiO)2 CO3 /Bi2 MoO6 ternary heterojunction via a facile solvothermal method and calcination approach and used it as a photocatalyst for the degradation of phenol. The optimized Bi2 O3 /(BiO)2 CO3 /Bi2 MoO6 heterojunction delivers a considerable activity for phenol photodegradation with an impressive removal efficiency of 98.8 % and about total organic carbon (TOC) of 68 % within 180 min under visible-light irradiation. The excellent photocatalytic activity was ascribed to the formation of a Z-scheme heterojunction, more importantly, the presence of (BiO)2 CO3 as an electron bridge greatly shortens the migration distance of photogenerated electron from ECB of Bi2 O3 to EVB of Bi2 MoO6 , thus prolonging the lifetime of photogenerated electrons, which is verified by trapping experiments, electron spin-resonance spectroscopy (ESR) results, and density functional theory (DFT) calculations. This work provides a potential strategy to fabricate highly efficient Bi-based Z-scheme photocatalysts with wide application prospects in solar-to-fuel conversion and environmental protection.

Small-Angle X-ray Scattering for PEGylated Liposomal Doxorubicin Drugs: An Analytical Model Comparison Study.

Liposomal delivery systems are recognized as efficient and safe platforms for chemotherapeutic agents, with doxorubicin-loaded liposomes being the most representative nanopharmaceuticals. Characterizing the structure of liposomal nanomedicines in high spatial and temporal resolution is critical to analyze and evaluate their stability and efficacy. Small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) is a powerful tool increasingly used to investigate liposomal delivery systems. In this study, we chose a Doxil-like PEGylated liposomal doxorubicin (PLD) as an example and characterized the liposomal drug structure using synchrotron SAXS. Classical analytical models, including the spherical-shell or flat-slab geometries with Gaussian or uniform electron density profiles, were used to model the internal structure of the liposomal membrane. A cylinder model was applied to fit the scattering from the drug crystal loaded in the liposomes. The high-resolution structures of the original drug, Caelyx, and a similar research drug prepared in our laboratory were characterized using these analytical models. The structural parameters of PLDs, including the thickness of the liposomal membrane and morphology of the drug crystal, were further compared. The results demonstrated that both spherical-shell and flat-slab geometries with Gaussian electron density distribution were suitable to elucidate the structural features of the liposomal membrane under a certain range of scattering vectors, while models with uniform electron density distribution exhibited poor fitting performance. This study highlights the technical features of SAXS, which provides structural information at the nanoscale for liposomal drugs. The demonstrated methods are reliable and easy-to-use for the structural analysis of liposomal drugs, which are helpful for a broader application of SAXS in the production and regulation of nanopharmaceuticals.

Comparative study of Janus B2XY (X, Y = S, Se, Te) and F-BNBN-H monolayers for water splitting: revealing the positive and negative roles of the intrinsic dipole.

It is widely recognized that the intrinsic dipole in two-dimensional (2D) photocatalysts promotes hydrogen production during water splitting. Herein, we wonder whether the intrinsic dipole plays a negative role in water splitting. In this work, we make a comparative study of the structural, electronic, and photocatalytic properties of Janus B2XY (X, Y = S, Se, Te) and F-BNBN-H monolayers using first principles. Our theoretical results reveal that both B2XY and F-BNBN-H monolayers exhibit spatially separated conduction band minimum (CBM) and valence band maximum (VBM), as well as vacuum level differences at the opposite surfaces due to the intrinsic dipole. The F-BNBN-H monolayer has excellent redox ability for water splitting, because its CBM is located at the surface with a lower vacuum level and its VBM is distributed on the opposite surface possessing a higher vacuum level. By sharp contrast, B2XY monolayers have limited or vanishing redox ability, because their CBM is located at the surface with a higher vacuum level and their VBM is distributed on the opposite surface with a lower vacuum level. This work emphasizes the negative role of vacuum level differences of photocatalysts caused by the intrinsic dipole in water splitting.

A hybrid method based on semi-supervised learning for relation extraction in Chinese EMRs.

BACKGROUND: Building a large-scale medical knowledge graphs needs to automatically extract the relations between entities from electronic medical records (EMRs) . The main challenges are the scarcity of available labeled corpus and the identification of complexity semantic relations in text of Chinese EMRs. A hybrid method based on semi-supervised learning is proposed to extract the medical entity relations from small-scale complex Chinese EMRs. METHODS: The semantic features of sentences are extracted by a residual network and the long dependent information is captured by bidirectional gated recurrent unit. Then the attention mechanism is used to assign weights for the extracted features respectively, and the output of two attention mechanisms is integrated for relation prediction. We adjusted the training process with manually annotated small-scale relational corpus and bootstrapping semi-supervised learning algorithm, and continuously expanded the datasets during the training process. RESULTS: We constructed a small corpus of Chinese EMRs relation extraction based on the EMR datasets released at the China Conference on Knowledge Graph and Semantic Computing. The experimental results show that the best F1-score of the proposed method on the overall relation categories reaches 89.78%, which is 13.07% higher than the baseline CNN.

Anti-Inflammatory Mechanism of An Alkaloid Rutaecarpine in LTA-Stimulated RAW 264.7 Cells: Pivotal Role on NF-κB and ERK/p38 Signaling Molecules.

Lipoteichoic acid (LTA) is a key cell wall component and virulence factor of Gram-positive bacteria. LTA contributes a major role in infection and it mediates inflammatory responses in the host. Rutaecarpine, an indolopyridoquinazolinone alkaloid isolated from Evodia rutaecarpa, has shown a variety of fascinating biological properties such as anti-thrombotic, anticancer, anti-obesity and thermoregulatory, vasorelaxing activity. It has also potent effects on the cardiovascular and endocrine systems. Herein, we investigated rutaecarpine's (Rut) anti-inflammatory effects in LTA-stimulated RAW macrophage cells. The Western blot and spectrophotometric results revealed that Rut inhibited the production of nitric oxide (NO) and the expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), and interleukin (IL)-1ß in the LTA-induced macrophage cells. Successively, our mechanistic studies publicized that Rut inhibited LTA-induced phosphorylation of mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) including the extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK), and p38, but not c-Jun NH2-terminal kinase (JNK). In addition, the respective Western blot and confocal image analyses exhibited that Rut reserved nuclear transcription factor kappa-B (NF-κB) by hindering inhibitor of nuclear factor κB-α (IκBα) and NF-κB p65 phosphorylation and p65 nuclear translocation. These results indicate that Rut exhibits its anti-inflammatory effects mainly through attenuating NF-κB and ERK/p38 signaling pathways. Overall, this result suggests that Rut could be a potential therapeutic agent for the treatment of Gram-positive bacteria induced inflammatory diseases.

Density Prediction Models for Energetic Compounds Merely Using Molecular Topology.

Newly developed high-throughput methods for property predictions make the process of materials design faster and more efficient. Density is an important physical property for energetic compounds to assess detonation velocity and detonation pressure, but the time cost of recent density prediction models is still high owing to the time-consuming processes to calculate molecular descriptors. To improve the screening efficiency of potential energetic compounds, new methods for density prediction with more accuracy and less time cost are urgently needed, and a possible solution is to establish direct mappings between the molecular structure and density. We propose three machine learning (ML) models, support vector machine (SVM), random forest (RF), and Graph neural network (GNN), using molecular topology as the only known input. The widely applied quantitative structure-property relationship based on the density functional theory (DFT-QSPR) is adopted as the benchmark to evaluate the accuracies of the models. All these four models are trained and tested by using the same data set enclosing over 2000 reported nitro compounds searched out from the Cambridge Structural Database. The proportions of compounds with prediction error less than 5% are evaluated by using the independent test set, and the values for the models of SVM, RF, DFT-QSPR, and GNN are 48, 63, 85, and 88%, respectively. The results show that, for the models of SVM and RF, fingerprint bit vectors alone are not facilitated to obtain good QSPRs. Mapping between the molecular structure and density can be well established by using GNN and molecular topology, and its accuracy is slightly better than that of the time-consuming DFT-QSPR method. The GNN-based model has higher accuracy and lower computational resource cost than the widely accepted DFT-QSPR model, so it is more suitable for high-throughput screening of energetic compounds.

QTL Mapping of Fusarium Ear Rot Resistance in Maize.

Ear rot is a globally prevalent class of disease in maize, of which Fusarium ear rot (FER), caused by the fungal pathogen Fusarium verticillioides, is the most commonly reported. In this study, three F2 populations, namely F2-C, F2-D, and F2-J, and their corresponding F2:3 families were produced by crossing three highly FER-resistant inbred lines, Cheng351, Dan598, and JiV203, with the same susceptible line, ZW18, for quantitative trait locus (QTL) mapping of FER resistance. The individual crop plants were inoculated with a spore suspension of the pathogen injected into the kernels of the maize ears. The broad-sense heritability (H2) for FER resistance was estimated to be as high as 0.76, 0.81, and 0.78 in F2-C, F2-D, and F2-J, respectively, indicating that genetic factors played a key role in the phenotypic variation. We detected a total of 20 FER-resistant QTLs in the three F2 populations, among which QTLs derived from the resistant parent Cheng351, Dan598, and JiV203 explained 62.89 to 82.25%, 43.19 to 61.51%, and 54.70 to 75.77% of the phenotypic variation, respectively. Among all FER-resistant QTLs detected, qRfer1, qRfer10, and qRfer17 accounted for the phenotypic variation as high as 26.58 to 43.36%, 11.76 to 18.02%, and 12.02 to 21.81%, respectively. Furthermore, QTLs mapped in different F2 populations showed some extent of overlaps indicating potential resistance hotspots. The FER-resistant QTLs detected in this study can be explored as useful candidates to improve FER resistance in maize by introducing these QTLs into susceptible maize inbred lines via molecular marker-assisted selection.

2D Chiral Stripe Nanopatterns Self-Assembled from Rod-Coil Block Copolymers on Microstripes.

Chiral nanoarchitectures usually possess unique and intriguing properties. However, the construction of 2D chiral nanopatterns through polymer self-assembly is a challenge. Reported herein is the formation of chiral stripe nanopatterns through surface self-assembly of polypeptide-based rod-coil block copolymers on microstripes. The nanostripes align oblique to the boundary of the microstripes, resulting in the chirality of the nanopatterns. The chirality of the nanopatterns is closely related to the width of the microstripes, i.e., a narrower width results in higher chirality. Besides, the chiral sense of the nanopatterns can be regulated by the chirality of the polypeptide blocks. This work demonstrates the transmission of chirality from polymer to nanoarchitecture on a confined surface, which can guide the preparation of nanopatterns with tuned chiral features.

Photocatalytic performance and mechanism insights of a S-scheme g-C3N4/Bi2MoO6 heterostructure in phenol degradation and hydrogen evolution reactions under visible light.

Photocatalysis with potentially low cost and sustainable utilization is a typically environmentally benign method for the degradation of organic pollutants, but the rational design and fabrication of photocatalysts with high catalytic performance is still an enormous challenge. The efficient segregation of photogenerated electron-hole pairs in photocatalysts is a key and essential factor to decide photocatalytic activity. Herein, a novel Step-scheme (S-scheme) heterojunction photocatalyst, a g-C3N4/Bi2MoO6 (g-CN/BMO) composite, was successfully fabricated using g-C3N4 nanosheet-wrapped Bi2MoO6 microspheres. By adjusting the amount of g-C3N4 in BMO, a series of g-CN/BMO composites was prepared while optimizing posttreatment temperature. The resulting g-CN/BMO indicated well the photocatalytic performance for the degradation of phenol and hydrogen evolution reactions, especially, 100 g of g-CN was integrated into 100 g of the pre-calcined BMO at 200 °C to produce 100% g-CN/BMO-200, showing the highest photocatalytic performance compared to single composite BMO, BMO-200, g-CN, and g-CN/BMO-200 with other mass ratios. Combining the results from the density functional theory calculations and the results of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, for S-scheme heterojunction-structured g-CN/BMO-200, the internal electric field-, band edge bending- and coulomb interaction-driven efficient segregation of photogenerated electrons and holes at the interface is elucidated to explain the photocatalytic mechanism, and the resulting holes on the VB of BMO and electrons on the CB of g-CN are responsible for the improvement of the photocatalytic performance. This study revealed that for the S-scheme g-CN/BMO composite the internal electric field, band edge bending and coulomb interaction at the interface between g-CN and BMO can not only promote the effective segregation of electrons and holes, but also retain stronger redox ability. Such an investigation provides a facile and simple strategy to fabricate novel S-scheme heterojunction-structured photocatalysts for solar energy conversion.

Betulinic acid induces apoptosis and inhibits metastasis of human renal carcinoma cells in vitro and in vivo.

Betulinic acid (BA), a natural product with a broad range of biological properties, is a lupane-type pentacyclic triterpene isolated from various plants. Evidence is accumulating that BA is cytotoxic against multiple types of human cancer cells; however, its effects on renal carcinoma cells remain obscure. This study aimed to evaluate the anticancer activity of BA in human renal cancer cells in vitro and in vivo. In the current study, we found that BA inhibited renal cancer cell proliferation in a time-dependent and dose-dependent manner in vitro. Moreover, flow cytometry analysis revealed that BA affected the survival of renal cancer cells via the induction of apoptosis. Western blot analysis showed that the occurrence of apoptosis was associated with upregulation of Bcl2-associated X protein and cleaved caspase-3 and downregulation of B-cell lymphoma 2 in renal cancer cells. Additionally, BA treatment augmented the production of reactive oxygen species and induced a significant loss of mitochondrial membrane potential in renal cancer cells, suggesting that BA may trigger apoptosis via the mitochondria-mediated apoptotic pathway. Furthermore, the migrative and invasive capabilities of renal cancer cells were markedly repressed by BA treatment, which was related to upregulation of matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)2, MMP9, and vimentin, and downregulation of tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase 2 and E-cadherin. Notably, administration of BA retarded tumor growth in 786-O-bearing mice in vivo. Taken together, our results demonstrated the anticancer potential of BA in human renal cancer cells by triggering apoptosis and suppressing migration and invasion.

Surface oxygen vacancy induced solar light activity enhancement of a CdWO4/Bi2O2CO3 core-shell heterostructure photocatalyst.

A CdWO4/Bi2O2CO3 core-shell heterostructure photocatalyst was fabricated via a facile two-step hydrothermal process. Flower-like Bi2O2CO3 was synthesized and functioned as the cores on which CdWO4 nanorods were coated as the shells. Photoluminescence (PL) spectra and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) demonstrate that the CdWO4/Bi2O2CO3 core-shell heterostructure photocatalyst possesses a large amount of oxygen vacancies, which induce defect levels in the band gap and help to broaden light absorption. The photocatalyst exhibits enhanced photocatalytic activity for Rhodamine B (RhB), methylene blue (MB), methyl orange (MO), and colorless contaminant phenol degradation under solar light irradiation. The heterostructured CdWO4/Bi2O2CO3 core-shell photocatalyst shows drastically enhanced photocatalytic properties compared to the pure CdWO4 and Bi2O2CO3. This remarkable enhancement is attributed to the following three factors: (1) the presence of oxygen vacancies induces defect levels in the band gap and increases the visible light absorption; (2) intimate interfacial interactions derived from the core-shell heterostructure; and (3) the formation of the n-n junction between the CdWO4 and Bi2O2CO3. The mechanism is further explored by analyzing its heterostructure and determining the role of active radicals. The construction of high-performance photocatalysts with oxygen vacancies and core-shell heterostructures has great potential for degradation of refractory contaminants in water with solar light irradiation.

3D Porous PtAg Nanotubes for Ethanol Electro-Oxidation.

A 3-dimensional (3D) porous PtAg tubular catalyst for ethanol electro-oxidation was fabricated through a two-step alloying-dealloying approach, which was composed of the controlled alloying Pt to Ag nanowire templates and the selectively dealloying Ag from AgPt nanowires. The as-synthesized PtAg porous nanotubes (PNTs) contain ~85% Pt and ~15% Ag, with a diameter of ~80 nm, lengths between 5 to 10 µm, and a continuous porous network with pore/ligament size of 2­3 nm. The interconnected porous shell structure allows free transport of electrons and medium molecules, which results in superior performance for ethanol electro-oxidation.

Local Grafting of Ionic Liquid in Poly(vinylidene fluoride) Amorphous Region and the Subsequent Microphase Separation Behavior in Melt.

Polymer-based nanostructures can be generally created by self-assembly of block copolymers that are commonly synthesized by living radical polymerization. In this study, a new strategy is proposed to fabricate block-like copolymers by using the template of binary phase structure of semicrystalline polymers. Poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) is thermodynamically miscible with an unsaturated ionic liquid (IL) (1-vinyl-3-ethylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate) in the melt and IL molecules are expelled out from the crystalline parts during the crystallization of PVDF. Therefore, the IL molecules are only located at the amorphous region of PVDF crystals. The electron beam irradiation of the IL incorporated PVDF leads to the local grafting of IL molecules onto the PVDF molecular chains in the amorphous region, so block-like grafting polymer chains of crystalline PVDF-b-(amorphous PVDF-g-IL)-b-crystalline PVDF can be achieved. The subsequent heating of the irradiated sample induces the microphase separation of PVDF-g-IL from the ungrafted PVDF chains.

[Study on the Crystal Structure of Cellulose in Bamboo with Synchrotron Radiation Wide Angle X-Ray Scattering].

The crystal structure of cellulose will directly affect the properties of bamboo fiber -reinforced composite, but the unit cell of native cellulose in bamboo has never been investigated. The most accepted model for the structure of native cellulose is Meyer-Misch model which provides a reference to understand the unit cell of native cellulose in bamboo. The native cellulose consists of two different crystal structures (Ⅰ(α) and Ⅰ(ß)) which exist in different plants with different proportions. Because of this situation, the crystal structure of bamboo cellulose should have a unique model. The moso bamboo (Phyllostachys edulis (Carr. ) H. de Lehaie)was selected. The crystal structure of cellulose of bamboo was investigated with two dimensional synchrotron radiation wide angle X-ray scattering (SR-WAXS). The values of the interplanar spacings of each peak were obtained from SR-WAXS patterns, and then crystal structure parameters were calculated according to monoclinic crystal system. The results show that the fibre axis of a bamboo cellulose unit cell with a monoclinic unit cell of a=8.35 Å, b (fiber axis)=10.38 Å, c=8.02 Å, ß=84.99°. This model has a two antiparallel arrangement for the chains in unit cell, with four glucose residues. Thus, the model may be used to provide a theoretical basis for high value-added bamboo fiber -reinforced composite.

[Expression of EpCAM and E-cadherin in papillary thyroid carcinoma and its clinicopathologic significance].

OBJECTIVE: To study the expression of EpCAM and E-cadherin in papillary thyroid carcinoma and to analyze its correlation with various clinicopathologic parameters. METHODS: Immunohistochemical study for EpCAM and E-cadherin was carried out in 91 cases of papillary thyroid carcinoma. Twenty-four cases of papillary hyperplasia of thyroid were used as controls. RESULTS: In all of the 24 cases of papillary hyperplasia, EpCAM was located on the cell membrane, while in the 91 cases of papillary thyroid carcinoma studied, EpCAM was located within the cytoplasm, with 36.3% (33/91) showing nuclear localization as well. In all the papillary hyperplasia cases studied, E-cadherin showed membranous expression. E-cadherin expression was reduced in 84.6% (77/91) of papillary thyroid carcinoma, as compared with the surrounding native thyroid parenchyma. Amongst the 33 cases of papillary thyroid carcinoma which showed nuclear localization of EpCAM, 30 cases also showed reduced E-cadherin expression. There was a positive correlation between nuclear expression of EpCAM and loss of E-cadherin expression (P = 0.000; Spearman correlation coefficient = 0.857). Nuclear expression of EpCAM correlated with follicular variant of papillary thyroid carcinoma and presence of extrathyroidal extension ( P = 0.037 and 0.033, respectively). Loss of E-cadherin expression correlated with age of patients and presence of lymph node metastasis (P = 0.018 and 0.010, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: E-cadherin expression is reduced in papillary thyroid carcinoma, as compared with native thyroid parenchyma and papillary hyperplasia. Papillary thyroid carcinoma shows loss of EpCAM membranous expression and increased cytoplasmic/nuclear accumulation. Detection of these two markers may provide a valuable reference in defining the biologic behaviors of papillary thyroid carcinoma, including extrathyroidal extension and lymph node metastasis.

Enhancement of adriamycin cytotoxicity by sodium butyrate involves hTERT downmodulation-mediated apoptosis in human uterine cancer cells.

Activation of telomerase is a key element in oncogenesis and resistance to apoptosis for many cancers. Some histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACi) or chemotheraputic agents have been reported to downregulate the expression of human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT). However, whether hTERT is involved in cell death of uterine cancer cells induced by combination of HDACi with chemotheraputic regents remain unknown. The present study shows that combining sodium butyrate (NaBu) and adriamycin (ADR) inhibits proliferation of uterine cancer cell lines in a concentration and time-dependent manner. Growth inhibition was accompanied by caspase-dependent apoptosis with reduced telomerase activity and decreased hTERT mRNA expression. Ectopic wild type (WT)-hTERT suppressed the apoptosis induced by NaBu/ADR treatment, while knockdown of hTERT sensitized uterine cancer cells to ADR. Moreover, the addition of NaBu significantly enhanced ADR cytotoxicity for the primary uterine cancer cells with high hTERT expression. These data indicate that downregulation of hTERT is an important part of the mechanism by which NaBu enhances ADR-induced apoptosis, and suggests that combining NaBu and ADR may be effective in treating uterine tumor with high telomerase activity.