Role of circular RNAs in retinoblastoma.

Retinoblastoma (RB), the most common malignant retinal tumor among children under 3 years old, is lethal if left untreated. Early diagnosis, together with timely and effective treatment, is important to improve retinoblastoma-related outcomes. Circular RNAs (circRNAs), a new class of non-coding RNAs with the capacity to regulate cellular activities, have great potential in retinoblastoma diagnosis and treatment. Recent studies have identified circular RNAs that regulate multiple cellular processes involved in retinoblastoma, including cell viability, proliferation, apoptosis, autophagy, migration, and invasion. Six circular RNAs (circ-FAM158A, circ-DHDDS, circ-E2F3, circ-TRHDE, circ-E2F5, and circ-RNF20) promote disease progression and metastasis in retinoblastoma and function as oncogenic factors. Other circular RNAs, such as circ-TET1, circ-SHPRH, circ-MKLN1, and circ-CUL2, play tumor suppressive roles in retinoblastoma. At present, the studies on the regulatory mechanism of circular RNAs in retinoblastoma are not very clear. The purpose of this review is to summarize recent studies on the functional roles and molecular mechanisms of circular RNAs in retinoblastoma and highlight novel strategies for retinoblastoma diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment.

Selective and sensitive fluorescent turn-off chemosensors for Fe3+.

Two novel chemosensors (2a and 2b) were synthesized by facile condensation of the binding unit (L-histidine) and the fluorophores (anthracene and dansyl groups). Both of them displayed high selectivity and sensitivity towards Fe(3+) over other metal ions in aqueous solution. The sensing mechanism was based on the paramagnetic property of Fe(3+) that would lead to fluorescence quenching of the fluorophores when Fe(3+) was bound to the recognition units. The results showed that l-histidine was a good coordination motif for Fe(3+) and both the anthracene and dansyl groups can sensitively report the sensing information.

[Effects of different water potentials on leaf gas exchange and chlorophyll fluorescence parameters of cucumber during post-flowering growth stage].

Impacts of different substrate water potentials (SWP) on leaf gas exchange and chlorophyll fluorescence parameters of greenhouse cucumber during its post-flowering growth stage were analyzed in this study. The results demonstrated that -10 and -30 kPa were the critical values for initiating stomatal and non-stomatal limitation of drought stress, respectively. During the stage of no drought stress (-10 kPa < SWP ≤ 0 kPa), gas exchange parameters and chlorophyll fluorescence parameters were not different significantly among treatments. During the stage of stomatal limitation of drought stress (-30 kPa

[Soil respiration dynamics and its controlling factors of typical vegetation communities on meadow steppes in the western Songnen Plain].

In order to accurately explore the soil respiration dynamics and its controlling factors of typical vegetation types in the western Songnen Plain, soil respiration rates of Chloris virgata, Puccinellia distans, Phragmites australis and Leymus chinensis communities were measured. The results showed that the diurnal curves of soil respiration rates of the four vegetation communities had simple peak values, which appeared at 11:00-15:00, and the valley values occurred at 21:00-1:00 or 3:00-5:00. The seasonal dynamic patterns of their soil respiration rates were similar, with the maximum (3.21-4.84 micromol CO2 x m(-2) x s(-1)) occurring in July and August and the minimum (0.46-1.51 micromol CO2 x m(-2) x s(-1)) in October. The soil respiration rates of the four vegetation communities had significant exponential correlations with ambient air temperature and soil temperature. Soil moisture, however, only played an important role in affecting the soil respiration rate of C. virgata community while air humidity near the soil surface was significantly correlated with the soil respiration rates of P. australis and L. chinensis communities. The soil salt contents seriously constrained the CO2 dioxide emission, and the soil pH, electrical conductivity (EC), exchangeable sodium percentage (ESP) could explain 87%-91% spatial variations of the soil respiration rate.