OBJECTIVES: Previously, Interferon-induced Protein with Tetratricopeptide Repeats 1 (IFIT1) has been shown to promote cancer development. Here, we aimed to explore the role of IFIT1 in the development and progression of pancreatic cancer, including the underlying mechanisms. METHODS: We explored IFIT1 expression in pancreatic cancer samples using The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) datasets. Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK8), colony formation, scratch wound-healing and Transwell assays were performed to assess the proliferation, migration and invasion abilities of pancreatic cancer cells. Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) and Western blotting were performed to assess the regulatory effect of IFIT1 on the Wnt/ß-catenin pathway. RESULTS: We found that upregulation of IFIT1 expression is common in pancreatic cancer and is negatively associated with overall patient survival. Knockdown of IFIT1 expression led to decreased proliferation, migration and invasion of pancreatic cancer cells. We also found that IFIT1 could regulate Wnt/ß-catenin signaling, and that a Wnt/ß-catenin agonist could reverse this effect. In addition, we found that IFIT1 can promote epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) of pancreatic cancer cells. CONCLUSIONS: Our data indicate that IFIT1 increases pancreatic cancer cell proliferation, migration and invasion by activating the Wnt/ß-catenin pathway. In addition, we found that EMT could be regulated by IFIT1. IFIT1 may serve as a potential therapeutic target for pancreatic cancer.
Background: Armadillo repeat-containing 10 (ARMC10) is involved in the progression of multiple types of tumors. Pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PAAD) is a lethal disease with poor survival and prognosis. Methods: We acquired the data of ARMC10 in PAAD patients from the cancer genome atlas (TCGA) and gene expression omnibus (GEO) datasets and compared the expression level with normal pancreatic tissues. We evaluated the relevance between ARMC10 expression and clinicopathological factors, immune infiltration degree and prognosis in PAAD. Results: High expression of ARMC10 was relevant to T stage, M stage, pathologic stage, histologic grade, residual tumor, primary therapy outcome (P < 0.05) and related to lower Overall-Survival (OS), Disease-Specific Survival (DSS), and Progression-Free Interval (PFI). Gene set enrichment analysis showed that ARMC10 was related to methylation in neural precursor cells (NPC), G alpha (i) signaling events, APC targets, energy metabolism, potassium channels and IL10 synthesis. The expression level of ARMC10 was positively related to the abundance of T helper cells and negatively to that of plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs). Knocking down of ARMC10 could lead to lower proliferation, invasion, migration ability and colony formation rate of PAAD cells in vitro. Conclusions: Our research firstly discovered ARMC10 as a novel prognostic biomarker for PAAD patients and played a crucial role in immune regulation in PAAD.
OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effects of acupuncture on JNK pathway and autophagy level in rats with intracerebral hemorrhage ï¼ICHï¼ and explore the partial mechanism of acupuncture against ICH. METHODS: SD rats were randomly divided into blank group, model group and acupuncture group. Each group was divided into Day 1, Day 3 and Day 7 subgroups respectively, with 5 rats in each group. The autologous blood injection was adopted to duplicate rat model of ICH. In the acupuncture group, the needle was inserted from "Baihui" ï¼GV20ï¼ towards "Qubin" ï¼GB7ï¼ on the affected side, stimulating for 30 min each time, once dailyï¼ the same acupuncture technique was opera-ted in each subgroup for 1, 3 and 7 days, separately. Using Bederson scale, the neurological deficit was evaluated in each group. Western blot was adopted to detect the protein expression levels of Beclin1, LC3â /â ¡, phosphorylated c-Jun amino-terminal kinase ï¼p-JNKï¼ and the phosphorylated ï¼pï¼-c-Jun around hematoma lesion of the brain tissue of rats in each group. RESULTS: After treatment, the neurological deficit score of rats in the model group was higher than that of the blank group at each time point ï¼P<0.05ï¼, and the score of the acupuncture group started declining since the 3rd day of treatment when compared with the model group ï¼P<0.05ï¼. At each time point, compared with the blank group, the protein expression levels of LC3â /â ¡, Beclin1, p-c-Jun and p-JNK was increased ï¼P<0.01ï¼. Compared with the model group, the protein expression level of LC3â /â ¡ was reduced ï¼P<0.05ï¼ï¼ the protein expression levels of Beclin1, p-c-Jun and p-JNK was increased ï¼P<0.05, P<0.01ï¼ on day 3 and 7 in the acupuncture group. CONCLUSION: Acupuncture can activate the JNK pathway in the brain tissue of rats with ICH and increase the level of autophagy, thereby improving the neurological function of the rats with ICH.
Acupuncture Therapy , MAP Kinase Signaling System , Animals , Rats , Rats, Sprague-Dawley , Beclin-1 , Cerebral Hemorrhage/genetics , Cerebral Hemorrhage/therapy , Autophagy
The exciplex-thermally activated delayed fluorescence (exciplex-TADF) system is an excellent candidate for the fabrication of high-efficiency organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) because of its more easily achieved small singlet-triplet energy splitting (ΔEST) and doping control. However, exciplex-TADF is still faced with the problems of low external quantum efficiency (ηext) and unclear effect of structure modification in electron acceptors. Herein, we provide a steric hindrance increase strategy to obtain high-efficiency exciplex emissions. Through introducing a 9-phenylfluorene group into N-ethylcarbazole of the dicyano-substituted 9-phenylfluorene, an electron acceptor material with increased steric hindrance is obtained, which helps the exciplex harvest a larger driving force and higher emission efficiencies. Encouragingly, the obtained OLED displays a maximum ηext of 25.8%, which is one of the best efficiency values among reported exciplex-OLEDs, simultaneously possessing excellent current efficiency of 83.6 cd A-1 and power efficiency of 93.7 lm W-1. It is expected that this work will offer a new avenue for designing electron acceptors for highly efficient exciplex emissions.
@#Abstract: Objective To explore the early diagnostic value of peripheral blood peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPARγ) combined with γ-interferon (IFN-γ) release assay (IGRA) in the diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis in patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD), and to provide reference for clinical diagnosis and treatment. Methods From January 2019 to December 2021, 70 ESRD patients with suspicious symptoms of pulmonary tuberculosis were treated at Hebei Chest Hospital were selected as the research objects. According to the examination results, they were divided into ESRD group (40 cases) and ESRD complicated by pulmonary tuberculosis (40 cases, comorbidity group). In addition, 40 cases with pulmonary tuberculosis were used as the PTB group. All three groups of patients underwent IGRA test, and the peripheral blood PPARγ level was detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, and the diagnostic value of PPARγ combined with IGRA test for ESRD patients with pulmonary tuberculosis was explored. Results The expression level of PPARγ and IFN-γ content in the PTB group and the comorbidity group were obviously higher than those in the ESRD group (P<0.05), while the differences in PPARγ expression level and IFN-γ content between the PTB and comorbidity groups were not statistically significant (P>0.05). The ROC curve showed that the areas under the curve (AUC) of PPARγ and IGRA in the diagnosis of end-stage renal disease combined with tuberculosis were 0.823 (95%CI: 0.722-0.925) and 0.773 (95%CI: 0.662-0.883), respectively, and the AUC of combined detection was 0.928 (95%CI: 0.871-0.984), which was better than that of PPARγ and IGRA alone (Z/P=2.057/0.039, 2.843/0.005). The Kappa values of serum PPARγ and IGRA test compared with the clinical gold standard results in the diagnosis of ESRD complicated with pulmonary tuberculosis were 0.557 and 0.444 (P<0.05). The combined screening of ESRD with pulmonary tuberculosis was consistent with the clinical gold standard (Kappa=0.661, P<0.05). Among the 30 ESRD patients complicated with pulmonary tuberculosis, the sensitivity of PPARγ combined with IGRA test in diagnosis of ESRD complicated with pulmonary tuberculosis was 93.33% (28/30), which was higher than 70.00% (21/30) of PPARγ and 66.67% (20/30) of IGRA test alone (P<0.05). Conclusions Peripheral blood PPARγ and IGRA tests have certain diagnostic value for ESRD complicated with tuberculosis, and the combined detection of the two can improve the sensitivity and reduce the rate of missed diagnosis, which is worthy of clinical promotion.
OBJECTIVES: Previously, Interferon-induced Protein with Tetratricopeptide Repeats 1 (IFIT1) has been shown to promote cancer development. Here, we aimed to explore the role of IFIT1 in the development and progression of pancreatic cancer, including the underlying mechanisms. METHODS: We explored IFIT1 expression in pancreatic cancer samples using The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) datasets. Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK8), colony formation, scratch wound-healing and Transwell assays were performed to assess the proliferation, migration and invasion abilities of pancreatic cancer cells. Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) and Western blotting were performed to assess the regulatory effect of IFIT1 on the Wnt/ß-catenin pathway. RESULTS: We found that upregulation of IFIT1 expression is common in pancreatic cancer and is negatively associated with overall patient survival. Knockdown of IFIT1 expression led to decreased proliferation, migration and invasion of pancreatic cancer cells. We also found that IFIT1 could regulate Wnt/ß-catenin signaling, and that a Wnt/ß-catenin agonist could reverse this effect. In addition, we found that IFIT1 can promote epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) of pancreatic cancer cells. CONCLUSIONS: Our data indicate that IFIT1 increases pancreatic cancer cell proliferation, migration and invasion by activating the Wnt/ß-catenin pathway. In addition, we found that EMT could be regulated by IFIT1. IFIT1 may serve as a potential therapeutic target for pancreatic cancer.
Adaptor Proteins, Signal Transducing/metabolism , Cell Movement , Pancreatic Neoplasms/metabolism , Pancreatic Neoplasms/pathology , RNA-Binding Proteins/metabolism , Wnt Signaling Pathway , Adaptor Proteins, Signal Transducing/genetics , Cell Line, Tumor , Cell Movement/genetics , Cell Proliferation/genetics , Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition/genetics , Female , Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Multivariate Analysis , Neoplasm Invasiveness , Prognosis , RNA-Binding Proteins/genetics , Wnt Signaling Pathway/genetics
Methyltransferase-like 18 (METTL18), a METTL family member, is abundant in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Studies have indicated the METTL family could regulate the progress of diverse malignancies while the role of METTL18 in HCC remains unclear. Data of HCC patients were acquired from the cancer genome atlas (TCGA) and gene expression omnibus (GEO). The expression level of METTL18 in HCC patients was compared with normal liver tissues by Wilcoxon test. Then, the logistic analysis was used to estimate the correlation between METTL18 and clinicopathological factors. Besides, Gene Ontology (GO), Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA), and single-sample Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (ssGSEA) were used to explore relevant functions and quantify the degree of immune infiltration for METTL18. Univariate and Multivariate Cox analyses and Kaplan-Meier analysis were used to estimate the association between METTL18 and prognosis. Besides, by cox multivariate analysis, a nomogram was conducted to forecast the influence of METTL18 on survival rates. METTL18-high was associated with Histologic grade, T stage, Pathologic stage, BMI, Adjacent hepatic tissue inflammation, AFP, Vascular invasion, and TP53 status (P < 0.05). HCC patients with METTL18-high had a poor Overall-Survival [OS; hazard ratio (HR): 1.87, P < 0.001), Disease-Specific Survival (DSS, HR: 1.76, P = 0.015), and Progression-Free Interval (PFI, HR: 1.51, P = 0.006). Multivariate analysis demonstrated that METTL18 was an independent factor for OS (HR: 2.093, P < 0.001), DSS (HR: 2.404, P = 0.015), and PFI (HR: 1.133, P = 0.006). Based on multivariate analysis, the calibration plots and C-indexes of nomograms showed an efficacious predictive effect for HCC patients. GSEA demonstrated that METTL18-high could activate G2M checkpoint, E2F targets, KRAS signaling pathway, and Mitotic Spindle. There was a positive association between the METTL18 and abundance of innate immunocytes (T helper 2 cells) and a negative relation to the abundance of adaptive immunocytes (Dendritic cells, Cytotoxic cells etc.). Finally, we uncovered knockdown of METTL18 significantly suppressed the proliferation, invasion, and migration of HCC cells in vitro. This research indicates that METTL18 could be a novel biomarker to evaluate HCC patients' prognosis and an important regulator of immune responses in HCC.
Zollinger-Ellison syndrome (ZES) is characterized by gastric acid hypersecretion causing severe recurrent acid-related peptic disease. Excessive secretion of gastrin can now be effectively controlled with powerful proton pump inhibitors, but surgical management to control gastrinoma itself remains controversial. Based on a thorough literature review, we design a surgical algorithm for ZES and list some significant consensus findings and recommendations: (1) For sporadic ZES, surgery should be routinely undertaken as early as possible not only for patients with a precisely localized diagnosis but also for those with negative imaging findings. The surgical approach for sporadic ZES depends on the lesion location (including the duodenum, pancreas, lymph nodes, hepatobiliary tract, stomach, and some extremely rare sites such as the ovaries, heart, omentum, and jejunum). Intraoperative liver exploration and lymphadenectomy should be routinely performed; (2) For multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1-related ZES (MEN1/ZES), surgery should not be performed routinely except for lesions > 2 cm. An attempt to perform radical resection (pancreaticoduodenectomy followed by lymphadenectomy) can be made. The ameliorating effect of parathyroid surgery should be considered, and parathyroidectomy should be performed first before any abdominal surgery for ZES; and (3) For hepatic metastatic disease, hepatic resection should be routinely performed. Currently, liver transplantation is still considered an investigational therapeutic approach for ZES. Well-designed prospective studies are desperately needed to further verify and modify the current considerations.
Gastroenterology/standards , Medical Oncology/standards , Practice Guidelines as Topic , Zollinger-Ellison Syndrome/surgery , Duodenum/cytology , Duodenum/pathology , Duodenum/surgery , Gastrin-Secreting Cells/pathology , Gastrins/metabolism , Gastroenterology/methods , Hepatectomy , Humans , Liver/cytology , Liver/pathology , Liver/surgery , Lymph Node Excision , Medical Oncology/methods , Pancreas/cytology , Pancreas/pathology , Pancreas/surgery , Pancreaticoduodenectomy , Parathyroidectomy , Stomach/cytology , Stomach/pathology , Stomach/surgery , Time Factors , Zollinger-Ellison Syndrome/pathology
With water as an eco-friendly heterogeneous nucleation accelerator, silver nanowires (Ag NWs) have been successfully prepared with a high aspect ratio (>1600). The Ag NW-based film exhibits a low sheet resistance of 8.1 Ω sq-1 with a transparency of 81.9% at 550 nm, showing the potential application of electrode materials in polymer solar cells.
Three isomers were prepared by covalently grafting carbazole (Cz) onto spiro[fluorene-9,9'-xanthene] (SFX) at different positions. Due to the complicated and variable roles of molecular segments, an evolution of the corresponding molecular packing mode was realized, accompanied by the change of nanocrystal morphology and photoluminescence properties.
A sulfur-free iridium(III) complex (pbi)2Ir(mtpy) (1) was successfully prepared and adopted as a Hg(II)-chemosensor with high selectivity and sensitivity. Multi-signaling responses towards Hg(II) ions were observed by UV-vis absorption, phosphorescence and electrochemistry measurements. With addition of Hg(II) ions, complex 1 presented quenched emission in its phosphorescence spectrum and the detection limit was as low as 2.5 × 10(-7) M. Additionally, its redox peak currents showed a broad linear relationship with the concentration of Hg(II) ions ranging from 0 to 500 µM, which was beneficial for the quantitative detection. Based on the (1)H NMR and ESI-MS analyses, the probing mechanism was tentatively supposed to be the Hg(2+)-induced changes in the local environment of complex 1. Such a response process was useful for achieving simple and effective detection of Hg(II) ions as well as developing more chemosensors.
The AIE mechanism for cationic Ir(III) complexes with triazole-pyridine ligands has been determined by the combination of an experimental and a computational study. Larger structural relaxation and weak emissive excited-state intraligand charge transfer (ILCT) characters are responsible for the non-emission in solution, whereas the non-radiative processes are efficiently restricted in the solid state, enhancing the emission.
A new cationic Ir(III) complex with AIE characteristics was designed and synthesized with the help of density functional theory calculations, which exhibits highly sensitive and selective detection of explosives (2,4,6-trinitrophenol, TNP).
High dielectric constant (high-k) Al2O3 thin films were prepared on ITO glasses by reactive RF-magnetron sputtering at room temperature. The effect of substrate bias on the subband structural, morphological, electrode/Al2O3 interfacial and electrical properties of the Al2O3 films is systematically investigated. An optical method based on spectroscopic ellipsometry measurement and modeling is adopted to probe the subband electronic structure, which facilitates us to vividly understand the band-tail and deep-level (4.8-5.0 eV above the valence band maximum) trap states. Well-selected substrate biases can suppress both the trap states due to promoted migration of sputtered particles, which optimizes the leakage current density, breakdown strength, and quadratic voltage coefficient of capacitance. Moreover, high porosity in the unbiased Al2O3 film is considered to induce the absorption of atmospheric moisture and the consequent occurrence of electrolysis reactions at electrode/Al2O3 interface, as a result ruining the electrical properties.
Herein we designed and synthesized a series of cationic iridium(III) complexes with a phenylbenzoimidazole-based cyclometalated ligand, containing different numbers of carbazole moieties from zero to three (complexes 1-4). The photophysical and electrochemical properties of this series have been systematically investigated. The complexes exhibit strong luminescence in both solution and in neat films, as well as excellent redox reversibility. Introducing carbazole groups into the complexes is found to lead to substantially enhanced photoluminescence quantum efficiency in the neat film, but has little effect on the emitting color and excited-state characteristics as supported by density functional theory (DFT) results. DFT calculations also suggest that functionalized complexes 2-4 reveal better hole-transporting properties than 1. More importantly, all complexes effectively reduce the degradation reaction to some extent in metal-centered (³MC) excited-states, demonstrating their stability. Further studies indicate that restriction of opening of the structures in the ³MC state is caused by the unique molecular conformation of the phenylbenzoimidazole ligand, which is first demonstrated here in cationic iridium(III) complexes without intramolecular π-π stacking. These results presented here would provide valuable information for designing and synthesizing highly efficient and stable cationic iridium(III) complexes suitable for the optical devices.
Coordination Complexes/chemistry , Imidazoles/chemistry , Iridium/chemistry , Models, Molecular , Carbazoles/chemistry , Cations/chemistry , Coordination Complexes/chemical synthesis , Crystallography, X-Ray , Ligands , Molecular Conformation , Quantum Theory , Spectrometry, Fluorescence
In this paper, SnO(x) films were produced by reactive radio frequency magnetron sputtering under various oxygen partial pressure (P(O)) in conjunction with a thermal annealing at 200 °C afterwards. The obtained SnO(x) films were systematically studied by means of various techniques, including X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, spectroscopic ellipsometry, and Hall-effect measurement. The structural, chemical, and electrical evolution of the SnO(x) films was found to experience three stages: polycrystalline SnO phase dominated section with p-type conduction at P(O) ≤ 9.9%; amorphous SnO(2) phase dominated area at P(O) ≥ 12.3%, exhibiting n-type characteristics; and conductivity dilemma area in between the above mentioned sections, featuring the coexistence of SnO and SnO(2) phases with compatible and opposite contribution to the conductivity. The polycrystalline to amorphous film structure transition was ascribed to the enhanced crystallization temperature due to the perturbed structural disorder by incorporating Sn(4+) into the SnO matrix. The inversion from p-type to n-type conduction with P(O) variation is believed to result from the competition between the donor and acceptor generation process, i.e., the n-type behavior would be present if the donor effect is overwhelming, and vice versa. In addition, with increasing P(O), the refractive index decreased from 3.0 to 1.8 and the band gaps increased from 1.5 to 3.5 eV, respectively.
We demonstrate that two new cationic Ir(III) complexes exhibit an interesting piezochromism, and their emission color can be smartly switched by grinding and heating. This is the first example that the Ir(III) complexes display piezochromic phosphorescence.
In this letter, it is proposed that the usage of Al(2)O(3) capping layer can tremendously improve the phase stability of SnO thin films, which allows the accurate determination of the optical constants of the SnO films without the perturbation arising from impurity phases. For the SnO films, the refraction index and extinction coefficient are significantly influenced by the crystallinity. The nondirect optical bandgap of the amorphous SnO films is determined to be 2.27 eV, whereas two nondirect optical transitions are observed in the polycrystalline SnO films and the corresponding gap energies are estimated to be 0.50 and 2.45 eV, respectively.
A simple, cost-effective, two-step method was proposed for preparing single-phase SnO polycrystalline thin films on quartz. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis demonstrated that the annealed films were consisted of polycrystalline alpha-SnO phase without preferred orientation, and chemical composition analysis of the single phase in nature was analyzed using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Transmittance spectra in UV-vis-IR range indicated that the average transmittance of both the as-deposited and the annealed SnO thin films was up to 70%. The optical band gap decreased from 3.20 to 2.77 eV after the annealing process, which was attributed to the crystalline size related quantum size effect. Photoluminescence (PL) spectrum of the annealed film showed only a weak peak at 585 nm, and no intrinsic optical transition emission was observed. Moreover, the p-type conductivity of SnO film was confirmed through Hall effect measurement, with Hall mobility of 1.4 cm(2) V(-1) s(-1) and hole concentration of 2.8 x 10(16) cm(-3).
