NAT10 Promotes Prostate Cancer Growth and Metastasis by Acetylating mRNAs of HMGA1 and KRT8.

N4-acetylcytidine (ac4C) is essential for the development and migration of tumor cells. According to earlier research, N-acetyltransferase 10 (NAT10) can increase messenger RNAs (mRNAs) stability by catalyzing the synthesis of ac4C. However, little is known about NAT10 expression and its role in the acetylation modifications in prostate cancer (PCa). Thus, the biological function of NAT10 in PCa is investigated in this study. Compared to paraneoplastic tissues, the expression of NAT10 is significantly higher in PCa. The NAT10 expression is strongly correlated with the pathological grade, clinical stage, Gleason score, T-stage, and N-stage of PCa. NAT10 has the ability to advance the cell cycle and the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), both of which raise the malignancy of tumor cells. Mechanistically, NAT10 enhance the stability of high mobility group AT-hook 1 (HMGA1) by acetylating its mRNA, thereby promoting cell cycle progression to improve cell proliferation. In addition, NAT10 improve the stability of Keratin 8 (KRT8) by acetylating its mRNA, which promotes the progression of EMT to improve cell migration. This findings provide a potential prognostic or therapeutic target for PCa.

The surfactant effect on electrorheological performance and colloidal stability.

The impact of two nonionic surfactants, namely Span 20 and Span 85, on the electrorheological response and colloidal stability of urea-coated barium titanyl oxalate (BTRU)/silicone oil suspensions is investigated. We quantitatively analyze the surfactant effect on modified ER performance through the measurements of yield stress and current density, as well as the tuned suspension stability through calculation of the Turbiscan stability index (TSI) and naked-eye observations of sedimentation phenomena. The surfactant effect on particle-oil interactions and agglomeration effects is examined by measuring the permeability of silicone oil when mixed with the Span surfactant and the cluster size of particles in dispersing medium, respectively. Our results indicate that with the presence of a Span surfactant, the yield stress of the suspension exhibits a local maximum at certain Span concentrations. We hypothesize that below the optimal Span concentration, the ER properties are enhanced by the increase of the electrostatic interaction between particles. Above the limiting concentration, the ER activity is weakened by the formation of a double-layer surfactant structure that generates a steric hindrance effect. We discover that the addition of the Span surfactant favors the improvement of the particle agglomeration phenomenon, thereby promoting colloidal stability of the suspension. Consequently, in the consideration of both ER properties and suspension stability, an optimal ER fluid with the addition of 0.4 wt% Span 85 is acquired with remarkable integrated ER properties.

Performance tuning of giant electrorheological fluids by interfacial tailoring.

Giant electrorheological (GER) fluids exhibit a high yield stress due to saturation surface polarization from contact between neighboring particles. To fine-tune the competitive performance of GER fluids, we modified the surface of the GER particles by adding silicone polyether, which strongly adsorbed at the solid-liquid interface and significantly influenced the dispersion, GER effect and electrical current density of the GER fluid. We discovered that a small amount of silicone polyether could improve the dispersion and reduce the electrical current density of the fluid. However, the steric hindrance effect suppressed the GER performance. Ultimately, an optimal solution was obtained by making tradeoffs among the dispersion, current density, viscosity, anti-sedimentation and ER effect. These tradeoffs were effective because they provided repetitive stability and wide opportunities for industrial usage.

Mapping three-dimensional temperature in microfluidic chip.

Three-dimensional (3D) temperature mapping method with high spatial resolution and acquisition rate is of vital importance in evaluating thermal processes in micro-environment. We have synthesized a new temperature-sensitive functional material (Rhodamine B functionalized Polydimethylsiloxane). By performing optical sectioning of this material, we established an advanced method for visualizing the micro-scale 3D thermal distribution inside microfluidic chip with down to 10 ms temporal resolution and 2 ~ 6 °C temperature resolution depending the capture parameters. This method is successfully applied to monitor the local temperature variation throughout micro-droplet heat transfer process and further reveal exothermic nanoliter droplet reactions to be unique and milder than bench-top experiment.

Efficient photocatalytic activity with carbon-doped SiO2 nanoparticles.

Photocatalysis provides a 'green' approach to completely eliminate various kinds of contaminants that are fatal for current environmental and energy issues. Semiconductors are one of the most frequently used photocatalysts as they can absorb light over a wide spectral range. However, it is also well known that naked SiO2 is not an efficient photocatalyst due to its relatively large band gap, which could only absorb shortwave ultraviolet light. In this report, nanoscale particles of carbon-doped silicon dioxide (C-doped SiO2) for use in photocatalysis were successfully prepared by a facile one-pot thermal process using tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS) as the source of both silicon and carbon. These particles were subsequently characterized by thermogravimetric analysis, X-ray diffraction, standard and high resolution transmission electron microscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The C-doped SiO2 displayed outstanding photocatalytic properties, as evidenced by its catalysis of Rhodamine B degradation under near-UV irradiation. We propose that carbon doping of the SiO2 lattice creates new energy states between the bottom of the conduction band and the top of the valence band, which narrows the band gap of the material. As a result, the C-doped SiO2 nanoparticles exhibit excellent photocatalytic activities in a neutral environment. The novel synthesis reported herein for this material is both energy efficient and environmentally friendly and as such shows promise as a technique for low-cost, readily scalable industrial production.