Long Non-Coding RNA AP000695.2 Acts as a Novel Prognostic Biomarker and Regulates the Cell Growth and Migration of Lung Adenocarcinoma.

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are tumor-associated biological molecules and have been found to be implicated in the progression of lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD). LncRNA-AP000695.2 (ENSG00000248538) is a long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) that is widely increased in many tumor types including lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD). However, the aberrant expression profile, clinical significance, and biological function of AP000695.2 in human lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) need to be further investigated. This study mines key prognostic AP000695.2 and elucidates its potential role and molecular mechanism in regulating the proliferation and metastasis of LUAD. Here, we discovered that AP000695.2 was significantly upregulated in lung adenocarcinoma tissues compared with healthy adjacent lung tissue and higher in LUAD cell lines than in normal human bronchial epithelial cell lines. A higher expression of AP000695.2 was positively correlated with aggressive clinicopathological characteristics, and AP000695.2 served as an independent prognostic indicator for the overall survival, disease-free survival, and progression-free survival in patients with LUAD. Receiver operating curve (ROC) analysis revealed the significant diagnostic ability of AP000695.2 (AUC = 0.838). Our in vivo data confirmed that AP000695.2 promotes the proliferation, migration, and invasion of LUAD cells. GSEA results suggested that AP000695.2 co-expressed genes were mainly enriched in immune-related biological processes such as JAK-STAT signaling pathway and toll-like receptor signaling pathway. Single-sample GSEA analysis showed that AP000695.2 is correlated with tumor-infiltrating immune cells in lung adenocarcinoma. Our findings confirmed that AP000695.2 was involved in the progression of lung adenocarcinoma, providing a novel prognostic indicator and promising diagnostic biomarker in the future.

Research on Association between Levels of Serum Adiponectin, Hs-CRP, and sICAM-1 and Hypertensive Cerebrovascular Complications.

The study is aimed at studying the association between the levels of serum adiponectin (ADPN), high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), and soluble intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (sICAM-1) and hypertensive cerebrovascular complications. 50 patients with hypertensive cerebrovascular disease treated in Gansu Provincial Hospital from December 2016 to December 2018 were selected as the experimental group, and 50 normal people who underwent physical examination were selected as the control group. The blood pressure, heart rate, and the complications were recorded, and the serum blood lipid indexes were detected. Moreover, the content of serum ADPN, hs-CRP, and sICAM-1; the neurological indexes; brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BNDF); and neurone-specific enolase (NSE) were also determined using ELISA. The content of aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), blood urea nitrogen (BUN), and serum creatinine (SCR) in the experimental group was significantly higher than that in control group (p < 0.05); the incidence of cerebrovascular complications, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, and heart rate increased (p < 0.05); the content of total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), low-density lipoprotein (LDL), high-density lipoprotein (HDL), hs-CRP, and sICAM-1 obviously rose (p < 0.05); and the content of ADPN and HDL obviously declined (p < 0.05). Besides, the experimental group had evidently lower systolic blood flow velocity (Vs), diastolic blood flow velocity (Vd), and mean blood flow velocity (Vm) and evidently higher pulsatility index (PI) (p < 0.05). The levels of S100 and NSE in the experimental group increased significantly, and the level of BNDF decreased significantly (p < 0.05). In patients with hypertensive cerebrovascular disease, the level of ADPN declines; the levels of hs-CRP and sICAM-1 rise; the incidence rate of cerebrovascular complications is elevated; and there are changes in the blood lipid, cerebrovascular hemodynamic, and neurological indexes, thereby further promoting the occurrence and development of hypertensive cerebrovascular disease.

Comparison of electrocatalytic activity of Pt1-x Pd x /C catalysts for ethanol electro-oxidation in acidic and alkaline media.

In this paper, a comparision of Pt1-x Pd x /C catalysts for ethanol-oxidation in acidic and alkaline media has been investigated. We prepared Pt1-x Pd x /C catalysts with different ratios of Pt/Pd (x at% = 0, 27, 53, 77 and 100) by the formic acid reduction method. The obtained Pt1-x Pd x /C catalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), induced coupled plasma-atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Structural and morphological investigations of the as-prepared catalysts revealed that the metallic particle size increases with increasing Pd content in the catalyst. The electrocatalytic performances and stabilities of Pt1-x Pd x /C catalysts were tested by cyclic voltammetry (CV), linear sweep voltammetry (LSV) and chronoamperometry (CA) measurements for ethanol oxidation in acidic and alkaline media. The electrochemical measurements demonstrate that Pt1-x Pd x /C catalysts exhibit much higher electrocatalytic activity for alcohol oxidation in alkaline media than that in acidic media. The composition of Pt/Pd has a significant impact on the ethanol-oxidation in both acidic and alkaline media. The Pt23Pd77/C catalyst shows the highest electrocatalytic performance with a mass specific peak current of 2453.7 mA mgPtPd -1 in alkaline media, which is higher than the Pt77Pd23/C with the maximum of peak current of 339.7 mA mgPtPd -1 in acidic media. Meanwhile, the effect of electrolyte, CH3CH2OH concentrations and scan rates was also studied for ethanol-oxidation in acidic and alkaline media.

Sclederma of Poria cocos exerts its diuretic effect via suppression of renal aquaporin-2 expression in rats with chronic heart failure.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Sclederma of Poria cocos (Hoelen) has been used as a diuretic in traditional Asian medicine. However, the underlying mechanism by which Sclederma of Poria cocos (hoelen) exerts its diuretic effect has not been well identified. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effects of Sclederma of Poria cocos (hoelen) in rats with chronic heart failure (CHF) induced by acute myocardial infarction and to investigate the underlying mechanisms. MATERIALS AND METHODS: An aqueous extract of Sclederma of Poria cocos (hoelen) (2.4 g/kg/d, 1.2 g/kg/d or 0.6 g/kg/d) or furosemide (20 mg/kg/d) was administered orally to male Sprague-Dawley rats starting on the day of coronary ligation. The urine output of all rats was quantified and collected every day for 1 or 4 weeks. The expression of aquaporin-2 (AQP2) was examined after treatment for 1 or 4 weeks. RESULTS: Urinary output increased significantly and urinary osmolality decreased after oral administration of Sclederma of Poria cocos (hoelen) for both 1 and 4 weeks. Sclederma of Poria cocos (hoelen) caused less electrolyte disorder than furosemide. Furthermore, Sclederma of Poria cocos (hoelen) reduced the levels of plasma BNP in CHF rats, whereas furosemide had no effect. Importantly, both mRNA and protein expression of AQP2 were down-regulated and urinary excretion of AQP2 was decreased after administration of Sclederma of Poria cocos (hoelen) to CHF rats. Similarly, Sclederma of Poria cocos (hoelen) reduced plasma arginine vasopressin (AVP) level and down-regulated vasopressin type 2 receptor (V2R) mRNA expression. CONCLUSIONS: Sclederma of Poria cocos (hoelen) exerts its diuretic effect and improves cardiac function in CHF rats via the AVP-V2R-AQP2 axis.

Using graphene nanosheets as a conductive additive to enhance the rate performance of spinel LiMn2O4 cathode material.

Graphene nanosheets (GNs) were directly used as a type of novel but powerful planar conductive additive in spinel LiMn2O4 (LMO)-based electrodes, to improve the low electronic conductivity of LMO. It was found that the specific capacity and cycling performance of LMO were obviously enhanced when GNs co-existed with acetylene black (AB), a conventional carbon-based conductive agent, at an appropriate weight ratio in the LMO-based electrode (GNs and AB were 5 wt% and 10 wt% of the total weight, respectively). The unusual phenomenon was attributed to the following two reasons: (i) the planar GNs could bridge LMO particles more effectively via a "plane-to-point" conducting mode; (ii) AB particles might serve as the fillings in the electrode and connect the isolated LMO particles to GNs through a "filling effect", thereby constructing a novel and more effective conducting network. In this way, the synergy effect between the "plane-to-point" conducting mode (due to GNs) and the "filling" mode (due to AB) significantly decreased the charge-transfer resistance of the LMO-based electrode. With the much faster charge-transfer process, the rate performance of LMO was greatly enhanced. In contrast, when GNs were in excess, the effective conducting network was weakened by the agglomeration of GNs and the absence of AB, so the conductivity and the rate performance of LMO were not improved and even decreased.

[Effects of captopril and losartan on expression of kidney aquaporin-2 mRNA and urine aquaporin-2 excretion in rats].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate effects of captopril and losartan on the expression of kidney aquaporin-2 (AQP2) mRNA and the excretion of urine AQP2 in rats. METHODS: Thirty healthy rats were randomized into 3 groups, namely the control group, captopril group and losartan group, respectively. Blood and urine samples were collected from the rats for detecting serum Na(+), urine volume and urine osmolality in the course of medication. Urine AQP2 concentration was measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Semi-quantitative RT-PCR was performed for measurement of kidney inner medullary AQP2 and vasopressin V(2) receptor mRNA. RESULTS: Urine volume was increased in rats of captopril and losartan groups as compared with that of the control group. However, urine osmolality was lower in captopril group than in the other two groups (P<0.05). RT-PCR revealed decreased quantity of the inner medullary AQP2 mRNA of the captopril group than that of the other two groups, but the quantity of V(2) receptor mRNA did not differ significantly between the 3 groups. Urine AQP2 concentration was significantly higher in captopril group than in the control (P<0.05) and losartan groups (P0<0.01). CONCLUSION: Captopril can reduce the expression of the kidney inner medullary AQP2 mRNA and accelerate the excretion of the urine AQP2 in normal rats.

[Transient cytosolic free calcium changes in cultured neonatal rat cardiac myocytes in response to advanced glycation end-product treatment].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effects of advanced glycation end-products (AGEs) on transient cytosolic free calcium in neonatal rat cardiac myocytes (CMs) cultured in vitro. METHODS: CMs cultured for 3 to 5 days in vitro were incubated with Ca(2+)-sensitive fluorescent indicator Fluo-3AM with light screening at 37 degrees celsius; with 5% CO(2) for 60 min. Changes of the fluorescence signal of free calcium caused by AGEs were measured under laser scanning confocal microscope (LSCM). RESULTS: Compared with the control cells, AGEs caused an increase in the concentration of cytosolic free calcium in a dose-dependent manner. CONCLUSION: AGEs may impair neonatal rat CMs by altering cytosolic free calcium concentration.