HDAC3-mediated lncRNA-LOC101928316 contributes to cisplatin resistance in gastric cancer via activating the PI3K-Akt-mTOR pathway.

The present study aimed to explore how histone deacetylases 3 (HDAC3) regulated the resistance to cisplatin by inhibiting the transcription of lncRNA-LOC101928316 (LOC101928316) in gastric cancer (GC). We revealed that HDAC3 expression in cisplatin-resistant cell lines was significantly higher than that of GC parental cell lines. Besides, knockdown of HDAC3 inhibited the cell activity, cell invasion, and migration but promoted the apoptosis of GC cisplatin-resistant cell lines. To our surprise, silencing HDAC3 inhibited the transcription of LOC101928316 by promoting the level of acetylation of H3K4 on the LOC101928316 promoter, thus promoting the LOC101 expression in GC cisplatin-resistant cell lines. Together, the overexpression of HDAC3 mediated LOC101928316 to promote GC resistance to cisplatin by activating the PI3K-Akt-mTOR pathway. Therefore, HDAC3 may serve as a potential target of cisplatin resistance in GC.

Early-Age Hydration Reaction and Strength Formation Mechanism of Solid Waste Silica Fume Modified Concrete.

Solid waste silica fume was used to replace fly ash by different ratios to study the early-age hydration reaction and strength formation mechanism of concrete. The change pattern of moisture content in different phases and micro morphological characteristics of concrete at early age were analyzed by low field nuclear magnetic resonance (LF-NMR) and scanning electron microscope (SEM). The results showed that the compressive strength of concrete was enhanced optimally when the replacement ratio of solid waste silica fume was 50%. The results of LF-NMR analysis showed that the water content of modified concrete increased with the increase of solid waste silica fume content. The compressive strength of concrete grew faster within the curing age of 7 d, which means the hydration process of concrete was also faster. The micro morphological characteristics obtained by SEM revealed that the concrete was densest internally when 50% fly ash was replaced by the solid waste silica fume, which was better than the other contents.

[Study on ecological stereoscopic cultivation mode of Amomum villosum-Dimocarpus longan].

In order to set up a technical standard for planting Amomum villosum in wood forest in the future, we analyzed the relationship between the ecological factors and the yield of A. villosum planted in five Dimocarpus imocarpus longan wood forests and five miscellaneous wood forests in Yangchun city, to find out the dominant factors that affect the yield of A. villosum. The results showed that agricultural measures of fertilization, artificial irrigation and removing the old plants were positively correlated with the yield of A. villosum, the pesticide spraying and soil pH value were negatively correlated with the yield of A. villosum. But the effects of ecological factors on the yield were not significantly. High yield regions are generally located in the ravine, two sides of mountain stream and other places where water is more adequate. The slope of cultivated field with high yield is generally less than 30°, lighting and ventilation are more appropriate; soil type is generally sandy or loam, shade density is generally about 50%, and pollinators are many in quantity and variety. And we found that there was a large difference in mineral nutrient contents of soils among ten plantations. Results indicate that the yield of A. villosum is determined by the combination of each ecological factor. Suitable light intensity, moisture, ventilation and reasonable fertilization are conductive to increase the yield of A. villosum, but the use of pesticides and soil alkalization hinder the increase of A. villosum production. Too high shade density and the abuse of pesticides may be the main reason for limiting the yield of A. villosum planted in D. longan wood forests. This study has obtained key techniques of the ecological stereoscopic cultivation mode of A. villosum-D. longan, which lays a theoretical foundation for the guidance of farmers in planting A. villosum in the D. Longan forest in the future.

Evaluation of the mechanism of Gong Ying San activity on dairy cows mastitis by network pharmacology and metabolomics analysis.

OBJECTIVES: The goal of this investigation was to identify the main compounds and the pharmacological mechanism of the traditional Chinese medicine formulation, Gong Ying San (GYS), by infrared spectral absorption characteristics, metabolomics, network pharmacology, and molecular-docking analysis for mastitis. The antibacterial and antioxidant activities were determined in vitro. METHODS: The chemical constituents of GYS were detected by ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography Q-extractive mass spectrometry (UHPLC-QE-MS). Related compounds were screened from the Traditional Chinese Medicine Systems Pharmacology Database and Analysis Platform (TCMSP, http://tcmspw.com/tcmsp.php) and the Encyclopedia of Traditional Chinese Medicine (ETCM, http://www.tcmip.cn/ETCM/index.php/Home/) databases; genes associated with mastitis were identified in DisGENT. A protein-protein interaction (PPI) network was generated using STRING. Gene ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment screening was conducted using the R module. Molecular-docking analyses were performed with the AutoDockTools V1.5.6. RESULTS: Fifty-four possible compounds in GYS with forty likely targets were found. The compound-target-network analysis showed that five of the ingredients, quercetin, luteolin, kaempferol, beta-sitosterol, and stigmasterol, had degree values >41.6, and the genes TNF, IL-6, IL-1ß, ICAM1, CXCL8, CRP, IFNG, TP53, IL-2, and TGFB1 were core targets in the network. Enrichment analysis revealed that pathways associated with cancer, lipids, atherosclerosis, and PI3K-Akt signaling pathways may be critical in the pharmacology network. Molecular-docking data supported the hypothesis that quercetin and luteolin interacted well with TNF-α and IL-6. CONCLUSIONS: An integrative investigation based on a bioinformatics-network topology provided new insights into the synergistic, multicomponent mechanisms of GYS's anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, and antioxidant activities. It revealed novel possibilities for developing new combination medications for reducing mastitis and its complications.

Study on the characteristics of radon exhalation from rocks in coal fire area based on the evolution of pore structure.

Radon is of great significance as a tracer for the detection of coal fires due to its distinct variations in radon exhalation properties while heating. The research on radon exhalation performance through pore structure is still in its early stages. In this paper, the pore structure and radon exhalation characteristics of heat-treated limestone are studied using indoor tests such as nuclear magnetic and radon measurements. The study's results demonstrate that the radon exhalation rate of limestone initially increases gradually, followed by a steady decline and subsequent increase with the increase in temperature. The radon exhalation rate at 800 °C reaches 2.42 times that at room temperature. The pore structure change within limestone strongly correlates with the radon exhalation rate. The pore volume of micropores (<0.1 µm) plays an essential role in the radon exhalation capacity, which is directly related to the fractal dimension of micropore structure in the heated limestone. The study's findings can be used to identify coal fires.

The Effects of Diatomite as an Additive on the Macroscopic Properties and Microstructure of Concrete.

Diatomite is a siliceous sedimentary rock containing amorphous silica, which can be used as a green mineral admixture to improve the properties of concrete. This study investigates the affecting mechanism of diatomite on concrete performance by macro and micro tests. The results indicate that diatomite can reduce the fluidity of concrete mixture and change its water absorption, compressive strength, resistance to chloride penetration (RCP), porosity, and microstructure. The low fluidity of concrete mixture containing diatomite can reduce workability. With increasing diatomite as partial replacement for cement in concrete, water absorption of concrete decreases before increasing, while compressive strength and RCP rise first and then drop. When diatomite is added to the cement at a content of 5% by weight, the concrete has the lowest water absorption and the highest compressive strength and RCP. Through the mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP) test, we determined that the addition of 5% diatomite reduces the porosity of concrete from 12.68% to 10.82% and changes the proportion of pores with different sizes in concrete, the proportion of harmless and less harmful pores increases, and the proportion of harmful pores reduces. Based on the microstructure analysis, the SiO2 in diatomite can react with CH and produce C-S-H. C-S-H is responsible for developing concrete because it fills pores and cracks, forms a platy structure, and makes the concrete much denser, thereby improving its macroscopic performance and microstructure.

Radon exhalation from temperature treated loess.

Radon gas is a cancer risk and exists naturally in certain soils, such as loess, which is an important raw earth construction material in arid regions such as northwestern China and southern USA. Accordingly, the radon exhalationed from building materials is of increasing concern; however, there is little research on radon exhalation from loess. In this study, the pore structure and radon exhalation characteristics of heat-treated loess were investigated by nitrogen adsorption tests, swept surface electron microscopy, and radon measurements. The rate of radon exhalation increases linearly with temperature until 400 °C and then decreases exponentially. Changes in the internal pore structure (pore type, surface morphology, and specific surface area) of loess are strongly correlated with the radon exhalation rate. The volume of micropores (<2 nm diameter) is an important influence on radon exhalation ability, which is closely related to the fractal dimension of the micropore structure after heating. The results provide guidance for predicting the radiation risk posed by radon diffusing from loess.

Research on Splitting-Tensile Properties and Failure Mechanism of Steel-Fiber-Reinforced Concrete Based on DIC and AE Techniques.

Concrete presents different internal micro-structure and damage characteristics because of the different content of steel fibers and the randomness of its distribution. Therefore, the failure process of steel-fiber-reinforced concrete (SFRC) should be divided into different stages and the damage types should be classified to further clarify the strengthening mechanism of steel fibers. The role of volume fractions of steel fibers in the splitting-tensile strength of concrete was investigated by split tensile tests for concrete with four different volume fractions of steel fibers (0.0%, 1.0%, 1.5%, 2.0%). The acoustic emission energy and horizontal displacement of concrete in the splitting-tensile process were monitored by combing digital image correlation (DIC) and acoustic emission (AE) techniques, and the microscopic failure mechanism of SFRC was analyzed emphatically. The results showed that the addition of steel fibers improved the splitting-tensile strength of concrete. With the increase of the volume fraction of steel fibers, the splitting-tensile strength of concrete increased first and then decreased, and reached the maximum value of 5.294 MPa when the content was 1.5%. It was observed that the overall failure mechanism could be divided into four stages: slow accumulation of elastic energy (I); rapid accumulation of elastic energy (II); rapid accumulation of dissipated energy (III); a slow decrease of elastic energy and a slow increase of dissipated energy (IV). Tensile failure dominated the failure process of concrete splitting-tensile resistance, while there was a part of shear failure.

Research on germplasm diversity of Amomum villosum. Lour in genuine producing area.

BACKGROUND: Genuine Chinese medicine is produced from medicinal plant cultivated in a specific region and is of better quality and efficacy, more consistently qualified and famous than that from the same medicinal plant cultivated in other regions. The cultivating region of genuine medicinal plant is known as the genuine producing area. Yangchun City, which is in Guangdong Province of China, is a genuine producing area for the famous Chinese medicine Amomi Fructus (also called Sharen). Amomi Fructus is the ripe and dry fruit of the Zingiberaceae plant A. villosum Lour.. A. villosum was introduced from the Persian Gulf region and has been cultivated in China for over 1000 years. Until now there are no reports on screening for good germplasm of A. villosum. METHODS: The contents of volatile oil and bornyl acetate of Amomi Fructus from 14 populations were determined with GC method, and the relative contents of the main chemical components in the volatile oils were determined with GC-MS method. Evaluation and variance analysis of the comprehensive quality of the 14 samples were conducted by means of a multi-indicator entropy-weight TOPSIS model (Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to an Ideal Solution) combined with OPLS-DA (Orthogonal Partial Least Squares Discrimination Analysis) and HCA (Hierarchical Clustering Analysis). The ISSR (Inter-Simple Sequence Repeat) molecular marker technique and the UPGMA (unweighted pair-group method with arithmetic means) were employed to analyze the genetic relationship among A. villosum populations. RESULTS: The contents of volatile oil and bornyl acetate differed significantly among the different populations, but the main chemical component in the volatile oil was the same in all the samples, which was bornyl acetate. OPLS-DA results showed that 9 indicators were the main factors influencing the quality differences among the 14 populations. The entropy-weight TOPSIS results showed that there were significant differences in the comprehensive qualities of the 12 populations from the genuine producing area. The best quality of fruit was found in the genuine producing area of Chunwan Town; the qualities of 33% of genuine fruits were lower than that of non-genuine fruits. Twenty-three DNA fragments were obtained by ISSR-PCR amplification using four ISSR primers, eleven of which were polymorphic loci, which accounted for 47.8%. The similarity coefficients (GS) of different populations of A. villosum ranged from 0.6087 to 0.9565. CONCLUSION: There are significant differences among different populations of A. villosum in terms of the kinds of major chemical components and their contents, comprehensive quality and genetic diversity. The germplasm resources of A. villosum are rich in the genuine producing area. It means superior germplasm could be selected in the area. The comprehensive quality of the fruit of A. villosum from the non-genuine producing area is better than some of that from genuine producing area, proving that the non-genuine producing area can also produce Amomi Fructus with excellent quality.

miR-124-3p acts as a potential marker and suppresses tumor growth in gastric cancer.

miR-124-3p has been implicated in a variety of cancers. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the expression, prognostic roles and functions of miR-124-3p in gastric cancer. Functional studies indicated that ectopic overexpression of miR-124-3p in gastric cancer cells suppressed cell viability and plate colony formation in vitro and tumor growth in vivo. In situ hybridization analysis demonstrated that decreased expression of miR-124-3p was associated with clinical stage and lymph node metastasis, as well as shorter overall survival and disease-free survival rates. Furthermore, it was observed that miR-124-3p repressed the carcinogenesis of gastric cancer by targeting Ras-related C3 botulinum toxin substrate 1 (Rac1) and specificity protein 1 (SP1). Collectively, these results indicate a potential underlying mechanism for the regulation of gastric cancer by miR-124-3p involving targeting of Rac1 and SP1. Thus, miR-124-3p may be an independent indicator of survival and treatment strategy for patients with gastric cancer.

[Determination of formaldehyde and acetaldehyde in packaging paper by dansylhydrazine derivatization-high performance liquid chromatography-fluorescence detection].

A high performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection (HPLC-FLD) method was developed for the simultaneous determination of formaldehyde and acetaldehyde in packaging paper by dansylhydrazine (DNSH) derivatization. The samples were extracted by derivatization reagent for 30 min, and derived for 24 h. After purifying treatment with a PSA/C18 cartridge, a Diamonsil® C18 column (150 mm×4.6 mm, 5 µ m) was used as stationary phase for separation, the mixtures of acetic acid aqueous solution (pH 2.55)-acetonitrile were used as mobile phases by gradient elution, and the excitation and emission wavelengths were 330 nm and 484 nm, respectively. The results showed that the recoveries of formaldehyde and acetaldehyde spiked in the samples were 81.64%-106.78%, and the relative standard deviations (RSDs) were 2.02%-5.53% (n=5). The limits of detection of formaldehyde and acetaldehyde were 19.2 µ g/kg and 20.7 µ g/kg, respectively. The limits of quantification of formaldehyde and acetaldehyde were 63.9 µ g/kg and 69.1 µ g/kg, respectively. The method is simple, sensitive and reproducible. It provides a basic approach for the determination of trace formaldehyde and acetaldehyde.

Olaquindox induces DNA damage via the lysosomal and mitochondrial pathway involving ROS production and p53 activation in HEK293 cells.

Olaquindox (OLA) is a potent antibacterial agent used as a feed additive and growth promoter. In this study, the genotoxic potential of OLA was investigated in the human embryonic kidney cell line 293 (HEK293). Results showed that OLA caused significant increases of DNA migration. Lysosomal membrane permeability and mitochondrial membrane potential were reduced after treatment with OLA. OLA was shown to induce ROS production and GSH depletion. The expression of p53 protein is increased in cells incubated with OLA. The activation of p53 and ATM gene was assessed by exposure to OLA. Furthermore, NAC reduced DNA migration, ROS formation, GSH depletion and the expression of the p53 protein and gene. And desipramine significantly decreased AO fluorescence intensity and the expression of the p53 protein and gene. These results support the assumption that OLA exerted genotoxic effects and induced DNA strand breaks in HEK293 cells, possibly through lysosomal-mitochondrial pathway involving ROS production and p53 activation.

Secretion and activity of antimicrobial peptide cecropin D expressed in Pichia pastoris.

To express the antimicrobial peptide cecropin D in Pichia pastoris and determine the activity of the expressed product, four oligonucleotide fragments were synthesized in accordance with the available cecropin D sequences and a codon bias suitable for Pichia pastoris. Sequence fragments were phosphorylated, annealed, linked and cloned into the expression vector pGAPZαA and the yeast α-mating factor signal peptide was used as the signal sequence. The P. pastoris SMD1168 cells were transformed by electroporation using the constructed recombinant plasmid pGAPZαA-cecropin D. We were able to demonstrate by PCR that the cecropin D sequence had integrated into the P. pastoris genome. The expressed and secreted product was identified using Tricine-SDS-PAGE. Antibacterial activity was demonstrated using an agarose diffusion test and turbidimetry. The molecular mass of the recombinant cecropin D was estimated to be 3,900 Da. The recombinant cecropin D exhibited antibacterial activity for both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, suggesting that cecropin D was successfully expressed in P. pastoris. This approach holds great promise for antibacterial drug development.