Junctional adhesion molecule-A, an epithelial-mesenchymal transition inducer, correlates with metastasis and poor prognosis in human nasopharyngeal cancer.

Junctional adhesion molecule-A (JAM-A) is preferentially concentrated at tight junctions and influences epithelial cell morphology and migration. Epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is the conversion process of epithelial cells into mesenchymal cells, and it plays an important role in the invasiveness and metastasis of various cancers. However, the role of JAM-A in regulating the invasive behaviours of human nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is unknown. In this study, we found that JAM-A upregulation induced EMT, whereas silencing of endogenous JAM-A expression reversed EMT. Furthermore, upregulation of JAM-A led to EMT via activation phosphoinositide 3-kinase/protein kinase B (PI3K/Akt) pathway. PI3K inhibitors blocked JAM-A-induced EMT, suggesting that the kinase acts downstream of JAM-A. Finally, results from 172 human patients with NPC showed that high expression levels of JAM-A correlated with metastasis and poor prognosis in NPC. Taken together, these results suggest that high JAM-A expression positively correlates with poor prognosis in patients with NPC, and induces EMT of NPC cells in vitro and in vivo via the PI3K/Akt pathway. These data indicate novel functions in the JAM-A repertoire, and have clinical implications for the treatment of patients with NPC.

Identification and characterization of microRNAs related to salt stress in broccoli, using high-throughput sequencing and bioinformatics analysis.

BACKGROUND: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a new class of endogenous regulators of a broad range of physiological processes, which act by regulating gene expression post-transcriptionally. The brassica vegetable, broccoli (Brassica oleracea var. italica), is very popular with a wide range of consumers, but environmental stresses such as salinity are a problem worldwide in restricting its growth and yield. Little is known about the role of miRNAs in the response of broccoli to salt stress. In this study, broccoli subjected to salt stress and broccoli grown under control conditions were analyzed by high-throughput sequencing. Differential miRNA expression was confirmed by real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The prediction of miRNA targets was undertaken using the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) Orthology (KO) database and Gene Ontology (GO)-enrichment analyses. RESULTS: Two libraries of small (or short) RNAs (sRNAs) were constructed and sequenced by high-throughput Solexa sequencing. A total of 24,511,963 and 21,034,728 clean reads, representing 9,861,236 (40.23%) and 8,574,665 (40.76%) unique reads, were obtained for control and salt-stressed broccoli, respectively. Furthermore, 42 putative known and 39 putative candidate miRNAs that were differentially expressed between control and salt-stressed broccoli were revealed by their read counts and confirmed by the use of stem-loop real-time RT-PCR. Amongst these, the putative conserved miRNAs, miR393 and miR855, and two putative candidate miRNAs, miR3 and miR34, were the most strongly down-regulated when broccoli was salt-stressed, whereas the putative conserved miRNA, miR396a, and the putative candidate miRNA, miR37, were the most up-regulated. Finally, analysis of the predicted gene targets of miRNAs using the GO and KO databases indicated that a range of metabolic and other cellular functions known to be associated with salt stress were up-regulated in broccoli treated with salt. CONCLUSION: A comprehensive study of broccoli miRNA in relation to salt stress has been performed. We report significant data on the miRNA profile of broccoli that will underpin further studies on stress responses in broccoli and related species. The differential regulation of miRNAs between control and salt-stressed broccoli indicates that miRNAs play an integral role in the regulation of responses to salt stress.

Dynamic relationship between green finance, environmental taxes, and CO2 emissions in transition toward circular economy: what causes what?

The study was aimed at investigating the dynamic relationship between environmental taxes, green financing, and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in Brazil, China, India, and South Africa from 1994 to 2019. To thoroughly examine the proposed relationship, a family of robust econometric methods is used to get reliable and accurate results. Our evidence indicates that green finance and CO2 emissions are negatively connected with each other. Similarly, positive relationship is found between environmental taxes and CO2 emissions. Additionally, environmental taxes and green finance are positively related as well. Further, the results of the Method of Moments Quantile Regression estimator indicate that green finance and CO2 emissions decrease in countries with higher pollution compared to those with lower pollution. Interestingly, environmental taxes only contribute to pollution in countries with higher emissions, whereas CO2 emissions increase environmental taxes in all sample countries. Lastly, green finance has a mitigating effect only in countries with greater pollution, and CO2 emissions have a negative rebound effect on green finance in countries with greater CO2 emissions. According to the evidence, green financing can be an effective tool for promoting environmental quality. By allocating the funds collected from environmental taxes to green financing, environmental sustainability can be promoted in sample countries.

A New Strategy for Fabricating Well-Distributed Polyaniline/Graphene Composite Fibers toward Flexible High-Performance Supercapacitors.

Fiber-shaped supercapacitors are promising and attractive candidates as energy storage devices for flexible and wearable electric products. However, their low energy density (because their microstructure lacks homogeneity and they have few electroactive sites) restricts their development and application. In this study, well-distributed polyaniline/graphene composite fibers were successfully fabricated through a new strategy of self-assembly in solution combined with microfluidic techniques. The uniform assembly of polyaniline on graphene oxide sheets at the microscale in a water/N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone blended solvent was accompanied by the in situ reduction of graphene oxides to graphene nanosheets. The assembled fiber-shaped supercapacitors with gel-electrolyte exhibit excellent electrochemical performance, including a large specific areal capacitance of 541.2 mF cm-2, along with a high energy density of 61.9 µW h cm-2 at a power density of 294.1 µW cm-2. Additionally, they can power an electronic device and blue LED lights for several minutes. The enhanced electrochemical performance obtained is mainly attributed to the homogeneous architecture designed, with an increased number of electroactive sites and a synergistic effect between polyaniline and graphene sheets. This research provides an avenue for the synthesis of fiber-shaped electrochemically active electrodes and may promote the development of future wearable electronics.