Mauritone A, a new polyketide from a fungal-bacterial symbiont Aspergillus spelaeus GXIMD 04541/Sphingomonas echinoides GXIMD 04532.

A new polyketide, mauritone A (1) with six known polyketides curvulone B (2), curvularin (3), 12-oxocurvularin (4), (10E,15S)-10,11-dehydrocurvularin (5), (11R,15S)-11-hydroxycurvularin (6), and (11S,15S)-11-hydroxycurvularin (7) were isolated from the fungal-bacterial symbiont Aspergillus spelaeus GXIMD 04541/Sphingomonas echinoides GXIMD 04532 derived from Mauritia arabica. Their structures were elucidated by extensive spectral analysis. All compounds (1-7) were evaluated for their anti-inflammatory effects. The inhibitory effects of 4, 5, and 7 on nitric oxide (NO) production were found to be significant, with IC50 values of 5.5 ± 0.26, 2.0 ± 0.31, and 8.3 ± 0.62 µM, respectively, surpassing that of the positive control quercetin (10.6 ± 0.64 µM). Compounds 3 and 6 exhibited moderate inhibition of NO, with IC50 values of 18.6 ± 0.53 and 12.7 ± 0.45 µM, respectively.

TSPAN6 reinforces the malignant progression of glioblastoma via interacting with CDK5RAP3 and regulating STAT3 signaling pathway.

Glioblastoma is the prevailing and highly malignant form of primary brain neoplasm with poor prognosis. Exosomes derived from glioblastoma cells act a vital role in malignant progression via regulating tumor microenvironment (TME), exosomal tetraspanin protein family members (TSPANs) are important actors of cell communication in TME. Among all the TSPANs, TSPAN6 exhibited predominantly higher expression levels in comparison to normal tissues. Meanwhile, glioblastoma patients with high level of TSPAN6 had shorter overall survival compared with low level of TSPAN6. Furthermore, TSPAN6 promoted the malignant progression of glioblastoma via promoting the proliferation and metastatic potential of glioblastoma cells. More interestingly, TSPAN6 overexpression in glioblastoma cells promoted the migration of vascular endothelial cell, and exosome secretion inhibitor reversed the migrative ability of vascular endothelial cells enhanced by TSPAN6 overexpressing glioblastoma cells, indicating that TSPAN6 might reinforce angiogenesis via exosomes in TME. Mechanistically, TSPAN6 enhanced the malignant progression of glioblastoma by interacting with CDK5RAP3 and regulating STAT3 signaling pathway. In addition, TSPAN6 overexpression in glioblastoma cells enhanced angiogenesis via regulating TME and STAT3 signaling pathway. Collectively, TSPAN6 has the potential to serve as both a therapeutic target and a prognostic biomarker for the treatment of glioblastoma.

Microascones, Decahydrofluorene-Class Alkaloids from the Marine-Derived Fungus Microascus sp. SCSIO 41821.

Eight new decahydrofluorene-class alkaloids, microascones A and B (1 and 2), 2,3-epoxyphomapyrrolidone C (3), 14,16-epiascomylactam B (4), 24-hydroxyphomapyrrolidone A (5), and microascones C-E (6-8), along with five known analogs (9-13) were isolated from the marine-derived fungus Microascus sp. SCSIO 41821. Compounds 1 and 2 have an unprecedented complex macrocyclic alkaloid skeleton with a 6/5/6/5/6/5/13 polycyclic system. Their structures and absolute configurations were determined by spectroscopic analysis, quantum chemical calculations of ECD spectra, and 13C NMR chemical shifts. Compounds 10-13 showed selective enzyme inhibitory activity against PTPSig, PTP1B, and CDC25B, and 4, 9, and 10 exhibited strong antibacterial activity against seven tested pathogens. Their structure-bioactivity relationship was discussed, and a plausible biosynthetic pathway for 1-8 was also proposed.

Safflower Yellow Inhibits Progression of Hepatocellular Carcinoma by Modulating Immunological Tolerance via FAK Pathway.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the anti-tumor effect of safflower yellow (SY) against hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and the underlying potential mechanism. METHODS: An in vitro model was established by mixing Luc-Hepa1-6 cells and CD3+CD8+ T cells, followed by adding programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) antibody (Anti-mPD-1) with or without SY. The apoptosis was detected by flow cytometry and the level of inflammatory cytokines was determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The protein levels of programmed cell death 1 ligand 1 (PD-L1), chemokine ligand (CCL5), C-X-C motif chemokine ligand 10 (CXCL10) were measured by Western blot. An in situ animal model was established in mice followed by treatment with anti-mPD-1 with or without SY. Bioluminescence imaging was monitored with an AniView 100 imaging system. To establish the FAK-overexpressed Luc-Hepa1-6 cells, cells were transfected with adenovirus containing pcDNA3.1-FAK for 48 h. RESULTS: The fluorescence intensity, apoptotic rate, release of inflammatory cytokines, and CCL5/CXCL10 secretion were dramatically facilitated by anti-mPD-1 (P<0.01), accompanied by an inactivation of PD-1/PD-L1 axis, which were extremely further enhanced by SY (P<0.05 or P<0.01). Increased fluorescence intensity, elevated percentage of CD3+CD8+ T cells, facilitated release of inflammatory cytokines, inactivated PD-1/PD-L1 axis, and increased CCL5/CXCL10 secretion were observed in Anti-mPD-1 treated mice (P<0.01), which were markedly enhanced by SY (P<0.05 or P<0.01). Furthermore, the enhanced effects of SY on inhibiting tumor cell growth, facilitating apoptosis and inflammatory cytokine releasing, suppressing the PD-1/PD-L1 axis, and inducing the CCL5/CXCL10 secretion in Anti-mPD-1 treated mixture of Luc-Hepa1-6 cells and CD3+CD8+ T cells were abolished by FAK overexpression (P<0.01). CONCLUSION: SY inhibited the progression of HCC by mediating immunological tolerance through inhibiting FAK.

Al@SiO2 Core-Shell Fillers Enhance Dielectric Properties of Silicone Composites.

Over the past decade, there has been significant interest in polysiloxane-based dielectric elastomers as promising soft electroactive materials. Nevertheless, the natural low permittivity of polydimethylsiloxane has limited its practical applications. In this study, we have developed silicone rubber/Al@SiO2 composites with a high dielectric constant, low dielectric loss, and high electrical breakdown strength by controlling the shell layer thickness and the content of the core-shell filler. We also investigated the dielectric behavior of the composites. The use of core-shell fillers has increased the Maxwell-Wagner-Sillars (MWS) relaxation process while reducing the dielectric loss of direct current conductance in silicone rubber composites. Moreover, the temperature dependence of the MWS relaxation time in the composites follows the Arrhenius equation. This strategy of increasing the permittivity of silicone composites through core-shell structural fillers can inspire the preparation of other high dielectric constant composites.

Cultivation of Spirulina platensis for nutrient removal from piggery wastewater.

The discharge of livestock wastewater without appropriate treatment causes severe harm to the environment and human health. In the pursuit of finding solutions to this problem, the cultivation of microalgae as feedstock for biodiesel and animal feed additive using livestock wastewater coupled with the removal of nutrients from wastewater has become a hot research topic. In this study, the cultivation of Spirulina platensis using piggery wastewater for the production of biomass and the removal of nutrients were studied. The results of single factor experiments confirmed that Cu2+ seriously inhibit the growth of Spirulina platensis, while the influences of nitrogen, phosphorous, and zinc on the growth of Spirulina platensis can all be described as "low promotes high inhibits." Spirulina platensis grew well in the 4-fold dilution of piggery wastewater supplemented with moderate sodium bicarbonate, which indicated that it is the limiting nutrients for Spirulina platensis growth in piggery wastewater. The biomass concentration of Spirulina platensis reached 0.56 g/L after 8 days of culture at the optimal conditions proposed by the response surface method, which were as follows: 4-fold dilution of piggery wastewater, 7 g/L sodium bicarbonate, pH of 10.5, initial OD560 of 0.63, light intensity of 3030 lx, and light time/dark time of 16 h/8 h. Spirulina platensis cultured in the diluted piggery wastewater contained 43.89% protein, 9.4% crude lipid, 6.41 mg/g chlorophyll a, 4.18% total sugar, 27.7 mg/kg Cu, and 246.2 mg/kg Zn. The removal efficiency for TN, TP, COD, Zn, and Cu from the wastewater by Spirulina platensis was 76%, 72%, 93.1%, 93.5%, and 82.5%, respectively. These results demonstrated the feasibility of piggery wastewater treatment by the cultivation of Spirulina platensis.

Structural characteristics and thermal performances of lauric-myristic-palmitic acid introduced into modified water hyacinth porous biochar for thermal energy storage.

Water hyacinth (WH) was used to prepare biochar for phase change energy storage field to realize encapsulation and enhance thermal conductivity of phase change materials (PCMs) in this work. The maximum specific surface area of modified water hyacinth biochar (MWB) obtained by lyophilization and carbonization at 900 °C was 479.966 m2/g. Lauric-myristic-palmitic acid (LMPA) was used as phase change energy storage material, LWB900 and VWB900 were used as porous carriers respectively. Modified water hyacinth biochar matrix composite phase change energy storage materials (MWB@CPCMs) were prepared by vacuum adsorption method, with loading rates of 80 % and 70 % respectively. The enthalpy of LMPA/LWB900 was 105.16 J/g, which was 25.79 % higher than that of LMPA/VWB900, and the energy storage efficiency was 99.1 %. Moreover, the introduction of LWB900 increased the thermal conductivity (k) of LMPA from 0.2528 W/(m·K) to 0.3574 W/(m·K). MWB@CPCMs have good temperature control capability, and the heating time of LMPA/LWB900 was 15.03 % higher than that of LMPA/VWB900. In addition, after 500 thermal cycles, the maximum change rate of enthalpy of LMPA/LWB900 was 6.56 %, and it maintains a phase change peak, showing better durability than LMPA/VWB900. This study shows that the preparation process of LWB900 is the best, and the adsorption of LMPA has high enthalpy value and stable thermal performance, realizing the sustainable development of biochar.

Two new linear peptides from the marine-derived fungus Penicillium sp. SCSIO 41512.

Two new linear peptides, penicamides A and B (1 and 2), together with four known analogous were isolated from the extracts of the marine-derived fungus Penicillium sp. SCSIO 41512. Their structures were elucidated by analysis of 1D/2D NMR data and HRESI-MS. Their absolute configurations were established by Marfey's methods and quantum chemical calculations.

Porous Carbon Nanofiber Flexible Membranes via a Bottlebrush Copolymer Template for Enhanced High-Performance Supercapacitors.

We report a method to construct ordered hierarchical porous structures in carbon nanofiber membranes using poly(ethylene oxide)-block-polydimethylsiloxane bottlebrush block copolymers (BBCPs) as templates. The BBCPs self-assemble into a spherical morphology driven by small-molecule hydrogen bond donors which act as bridges between carbon precursors and templates to promote uniform dispersion of the templates. We successfully obtained flexible, self-supporting, and porous carbon nanofiber membranes (PCNFs) with high porosity. Then, a supercapacitor electrode was independently prepared using PCNFs as an active substance without infiltrating any conductive agents or binders. The PCNFs exhibit excellent performance with a capacitance of 234.1 F g-1 at a current density of 1 A g-1 owing to the abundant hierarchical porous structures and high content of nitrogen and oxygen elements internally. The aqueous symmetric supercapacitor prepared using PCNFs electrodes maintains more than 95% capacitance retention after 55,000 charge-discharge cycles. Furthermore, the capacitance retention reaches up to 67.72% at a current density of 50 A g-1 (compared to 1 A g-1), exhibiting excellent cycling stability and rate capability. Based on the excellent electrochemical performance and flexible self-supporting ability of PCNFs, this work is expected to facilitate the development of flexible displays, flexible sensors, wearable devices, and electrocatalysis.

Diagnostic values of radiomics models in micro-calcifications in carotid plaques / 中华神经医学杂志

Objective:To construct radiomics models of micro-calcification in carotid plaques, and compare their diagnostic values.Methods:Fifty-two patients with large atherosclerotic cerebral infarction admitted to Department of Neurology, Third Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University from May 2017 to November 2019 were enrolled. All patients underwent conventional carotid artery Doppler ultrasound to detect carotid plaques and Micropure? ultrasound to detect micro-calcifications in the plaques. A cross-section image with maximum numbers of micro-calcifications was chosen when there were micro-calcifications in carotid plaques; otherwise, a cross-section image with the largest area of the plaque was chosen. After all images were normalized by Photoshop software, the plaques were delineated as regions of interest using MaZda 4.6 software and 283 texture features of the plaques were automatically extracted. The texture features with the strongest predictive value were selected through consistency analysis (intrclass correlation coefficient [ICC]>0.75), two-sample t-test, Least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (Lasso) regression. The predictive models were constructed by RandomForest (RF) and Support vector machine (SVM) classifiers. The training set and test set were divided by 7: 3 to analyze the classification accuracy. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used to calculate the area under the curve (AUC) to evaluate the diagnostic values of the models. Delong test was used to compare the difference between the diagnostic values of the 2 classifiers in test set. Results:A total of 148 plaque images from 52 patients were enrolled, including 104 plaques with micro-calcification and 44 plaques without micro-calcification. Nine texture features were finally selected after ICC analysis, T test and Lasso regression: 5 image gray histogram features were mean, variance, skewness, kurtosis and 99 th percentile (Perc. 99%); 1 autoregressive model feature was Teta3, and 3 wavelet transform features were WavEnLH_s-3, WavEnLH_s-4, and WavEnLH_s-6. With RF classifier, accuracy of the diagnostic model was 0.93, enjoying AUC of 0.92; with SVM classifier, that was 0.91, enjoying AUC of 0.90; Delong test showed that the diagnostic values of the 2 classifiers in test set were significantly different ( Z=1.000, P=0.320). Conclusion:Radiomic models constructed by RF and SVM classifiers can identify micro-calcification in carotid plaques, and the 2 classifiers share equivalent diagnostic values.

Pyrrospirones K-Q, Decahydrofluorene-Class Alkaloids from the Marine-Derived Fungus Penicillium sp. SCSIO 41512.

Seven new decahydrofluorene-class alkaloids, pyrrospirones K-Q (1-7), together with six known analogues (8-13) were isolated from the marine-derived fungal strain Penicillium sp. SCSIO 41512. Their structures were determined by extensive spectroscopic analysis, and their absolute configurations were established by single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis and quantum chemical calculations of electronic circular dichroism spectra. Compounds 1 and 3 possess a novel decahydrofluorene-class alkaloid skeleton with a 6/5/6/8/5/6/13 and a 6/5/6/5/6/13 polycyclic system, respectively. Biologically, 13 displayed significant inhibitory activity against protein tyrosine phosphatases CD45, TCPTP, SHP1, and PTP1B with IC50 values of 8.1-17.8 µM, and 1, 2, 5, 8-10, 12, and 13 showed antibacterial activity against six pathogens. Their structure-activity relationship is also discussed.

DYRK1A suppression attenuates HIF­1α accumulation and enhances the anti­liver cancer effects of regorafenib and sorafenib under hypoxic conditions.

Hypoxia promotes drug resistance and induces the expression of hypoxia inducible factor (HIF)­1α in liver cancer cells. However, to date, no selective HIF­1α inhibitor has been clinically approved. The aim of this study is to investigate a drug­targetable molecule that can regulate HIF­1α under hypoxia. The present study demonstrated that hyperactivation of dual­specificity tyrosine­phosphorylation­regulated kinase 1A (DYRK1A)/HIF­1α signaling was associated with an increased risk of liver cancer. In addition, DYRK1A knockdown using small interfering RNA transfection or treatment with harmine, a natural alkaloid, significantly reduced the protein expression levels of HIF­1α in liver cancer cells under hypoxic conditions in vitro. Conversely, DYRK1A overexpression­vector transfection in liver cancer cell lines notably induced HIF­1α expression under the same conditions. Furthermore, DYRK1A was shown to interact and activate STAT3 under hypoxia to regulate HIF­1α expression. These findings indicated that DYRK1A may be a potential upstream activator of HIF­1α and positively regulate HIF­1α via the STAT3 signaling pathway in liver cancer cells. Additionally, treatment with harmine attenuated the proliferative ability of liver cancer cells under hypoxic conditions using sulforhodamine B and colony formation assay. Furthermore, DYRK1A knockdown could significantly enhance the anti­liver cancer effects of regorafenib and sorafenib under hypoxia. Co­treatment with harmine and either regorafenib or sorafenib also promoted cell death via the STAT3/HIF­1α/AKT signaling pathway under hypoxia using PI staining and western blotting. Overall, the results from the present study suggested that DYRK1A/HIF­1α signaling may be considered a novel pathway involved in chemoresistance, thus providing a potentially effective therapeutic regimen for treating liver cancer.

Determination of trans-fatty acids in food samples based on the precolumn fluorescence derivatization by high performance liquid chromatography.

Trans-fatty acids are unsaturated fatty acids that are considered to have health risks. 1,3,5,7-Tetramethyl-8-butyrethylenediamine-difluoroboradiaza-s-indacene is a highly sensitive fluorescent labeling reagent for carboxylic acids developed by our lab. In this study, using this precolumn fluorescent derivatization reagent, a rapid and accurate high-performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection method was developed for the determination of two trans-fatty acids in food samples. Under the optimized derivative conditions, two trans-fatty acids were tagged with the fluorescent labeling reagent in the presence of 1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethyl-aminopropyl) carbodiimide at 25°C for 30 min. Then, the baseline separation of trans- and cis-fatty acids and their saturated fatty acid with similar structures was achieved with less interference using a reversed-phased C18 column with isocratic elution in 14 min. With fluorescence detection at λex /λem  = 490 /510 nm, the linear range of the TFAs was 1.0-200 nM with low detection limits in the range of 0.1-0.2 nM (signal-to-noise ratio = 3). In addition, the proposed approach was successfully applied for the detection of trans-fatty acids in food samples, and the recoveries using this method ranged from 96.02 to 109.22% with low relative standard deviations of 1.2-4.3% (n = 6).

Isoquinoline Alkaloids as Protein Tyrosine Phosphatase Inhibitors from a Deep-Sea-Derived Fungus Aspergillus puniceus.

Puniceusines A-N (1-14), 14 new isoquinoline alkaloids, were isolated from the extracts of a deep-sea-derived fungus, Aspergillus puniceus SCSIO z021. Their structures were elucidated by spectroscopic analyses. The absolute configuration of 9 was determined by ECD calculations, and the structures of 6 and 12 were further confirmed by a single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis. Compounds 3-5 and 8-13 unprecedentedly contained an isoquinolinyl, a polysubstituted benzyl or a pyronyl at position C-7 of isoquinoline nucleus. Compounds 3 and 4 showed selective inhibitory activity against protein tyrosine phosphatase CD45 with IC50 values of 8.4 and 5.6 µM, respectively, 4 also had a moderate cytotoxicity towards human lung adenocarcinoma cell line H1975 with an IC50 value of 11.0 µM, and 14, which contained an active center, -C=N+, exhibited antibacterial activity. An analysis of the relationship between the structures, enzyme inhibitory activity and cytotoxicity of 1-14 revealed that the substituents at C-7 of the isoquinoline nucleus could greatly affect their bioactivity.

Characteristic and Properties of Ternary Shape-Stabilized Composite Phase Change Materials Based on Expanded Graphite.

Myristic acid-palmitic acid-tetradecanol/expanded graphite (MA-PA-TD/EG) and myristic acid-stearic acid-lauric acid/ expanded graphite (MA-SA-LA/EG) were obtained. MA-PA-TD/EG and MA-SA-LA/EG for the optimum mass ratio of 8:1 were investigated by DSC, FT-IR, TG, and SEM, and it was shown that MA-PA-TD and MA-SA-LA phase change materials were evenly distributed in expanded graphite through capillary force. Phase transition temperatures of MA-PA-TD/EG and MA-SA-LA/EG before and after cooling and heating cycles were 34.14, 34.39 °C and 30.21, 30.33 °C, respectively, and MA-PA-TD/EG and MA-SA-LA/EG had good stability. On the other hand, MA-PA-TD/EG was 67% faster than that of MA-PA-TD during solid-liquid phase change, and MA-SA-LA/EG was 63% faster than that of MA-SA-LA. Meanwhile, MA-PA-TD/EG and MA-SA-LA/EG had good thermal stability and heat storage according to thermogravimetric experiments. Therefore, MA-PA-TD/EG and MA-SA-LA/EG are suitable for practical application in buildings.

Prenatal diagnosis of mosaic trisomy 16 by amniocentesis in a pregnancy associated with abnormal first-trimester screening result (low PAPP-A and low PlGF), intrauterine growth restriction and a favorable outcome.

OBJECTIVE: We present prenatal diagnosis of mosaic trisomy 16 by amniocentesis in a pregnancy associated with an abnormal first-trimester screening result, intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) and a favorable outcome. CASE REPORT: A 27-year-old woman underwent amniocentesis at 18 weeks of gestation because of an abnormal first-trimester screening result with maternal serum free ß-hCG of 1.474 multiples of the median (MoM), pregnancy associated plasma protein-A (PAPP-A) of 0.122 MoM and placental growth factor (PlGF) of 0.101 MoM, and a Down syndrome risk of 1/45. Amniocentesis revealed a karyotype of 47,XY,+16 [9]/46,XY [16] and an abnormal array comparative genomic hybridization (aCGH) result of arr (16) × 3 [0.54] compatible with 54% mosaicism for trisomy 16 in uncultured amniocytes. At 24 weeks of gestation, repeat amniocentesis revealed a karyotype of 47,XY,+16 [4]/46,XY [16] and an aCGH result of arr 16p13.3q24.3 (96,766-90,567,357) × 2.25 with a log2 ratio = 0.2 compatible with 20-30% mosaicism for trisomy 16 in uncultured amniocytes. Quantitative fluorescent polymerase chain reaction (QF-PCR) excluded uniparental disomy (UPD) 16. Interphase fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) analysis on uncultured amniocytes revealed 19.4% (12/62 cells) mosaic trisomy 16. Prenatal ultrasound revealed IUGR. At 36 weeks of gestation, a phenotypically normal baby was delivered with a body weight of 1900 g. The cord blood had a karyotype of 46,XY. QF-PCR analysis confirmed biparentally inherited disomy 16 in the cord blood and maternal-origin of trisomy 16 in the placenta. When follow-up at age two months, FISH analysis on 101 buccal mucosal cells and 32 urinary cells revealed no signal of trisomy 16. CONCLUSION: Mosaic trisomy 16 at amniocentesis can be associated with IUGR and an abnormal first-trimester screening result with low PAPP-A and low PlGF. Mosaic trisomy 16 without UPD 16 at amniocentesis can have a favorable outcome, and the abnormal triosmy 16 cell line may disappear after birth.

Fusidane-Type Antibiotics from the Marine-Derived Fungus Simplicillium sp. SCSIO 41513.

Simplifusidic acids A-K (1-11), 11 new fusidane-type nortriterpenoids, were isolated from the marine-derived fungus Simplicillium sp. SCSIO 41513. Compound 1 possessed an unprecedented fusidane triterpene skeleton with a 6/6/7/5/5 polycyclic system. Their structures were elucidated by spectroscopic methods, and their absolute configurations were further determined by quantum chemical calculations of ECD spectra, comparison of experimental ECD spectra, and single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis. Compound 9 showed strong antibacterial activity toward Staphylococcus aureus with an MIC value of 0.078 µg/mL. Their structure-bioactivity relationship was also discussed.

Antifungal peptides from the marine gorgonian-associated fungus Aspergillus sp. SCSIO41501.

Three undescribed cyclic lipopeptides maribasins C-E and four undescribed linear peptides aspergillipeptides H-K together with three known analogous maribasins A-B and marihysin A were isolated from the marine gorgonian-associated fungus Aspergillus sp. SCSIO 41501 (Trichocomaceae). Their structures were determined by spectroscopic analysis, and their absolute configurations were further confirmed by Marfey's methods. Maribasins C-E and maribasins A-B showed significant antifungal activity against five phytopathogenic fungal strains with MIC values of 3.12-50 µg/disc. Structure-bioactivity relationship exhibited that the ß-amino fatty acid chain could significantly affect the antifungal activity of this type of cyclic lipopeptides.

Preparation and Energy Storage Properties of a Lauric acid/Octadecanol Eutectic Mixture.

A phase change material (PCM) has the characteristics of latent heat storage, controllable phase transition temperature (PTT), and chemical stability. It can naturally regulate the ambient temperature in a certain range and reduce the load of air conditioning operation. Therefore, it plays an important role in the field of energy-saving buildings, and the PTT of PCM is one of the decisive factors. In this paper, through analyzing PCM installed in solar buildings at various regions, a binary eutectic mixture (EM) was prepared from lauric acid (LA) and octadecanol (OD) by the method of mixed melting, and the PTT and enthalpy of the EM were 39.87 °C and 186.94 J/g, respectively. The PTT, latent heat, and EM ratio were determined by theoretical calculation, the step cooling curve, and DSC. FT-IR result shows that no chemical reaction occurs among the components of composites, and the molecular forces are uniform and stable. XRD results further proves that no other phases existed in the composites. Thermal cycles (500) and the TG test show that the EM has excellent thermal stability and heat resistance, which meets the engineering application. Due to the thermodynamic properties of the EM, it can be used in thermal cooling of electronic systems, building envelopes, and thermal storage in solar buildings to obtain a good energy-saving effect.

Prognostic Value and Significant Pathway Exploration Associated with TOP2A Involved in Papillary Thyroid Cancer.

BACKGROUND: Topoisomerase 2-alpha (TOP2A) has been identified as a hub gene that played an important role in the initiation and progression of thyroid carcinoma (THCA). However, the exact function of TOP2A in papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) remained elusive. The current study aimed to evaluate the TOP2A expression, prognosis significance and key signaling pathways involved in PTC. METHODS: We firstly evaluated the expression of TOP2A in PTC via UALCAN, cBioportal, HPA and LinkdedOmics databases. Genetic alteration of TOP2A in PTC was then explored in cBioportal. Prognostic impacts of TOP2A expression on disease-free survival (DFS) of PTC patients were subsequently evaluated using Kaplan-Meier plotter and Gepia databases. Taking gender, age, cancer stage, T, N and M stages into consideration, we compared survival difference between TOP2A high and low expression groups. KEGG pathway analysis in WebGestalt and GSEA analysis were further performed to reveal the potential TOP2A-associated signaling pathways involved in PTC. Finally, the upstream microRNAs of TOP2A were assessed using DIANA, TargetScan, miRDB and miRWALK database, followed by mechanism exploration of upstream microRNAs. RESULTS: 1) The mRNA and protein of TOP2A were highly expressed in PTC tissue compared with normal thyroid tissue. TOP2A expression was associated with patient's age, N stage and cancer stage (all P<0.05). TOP2A protein was mainly localized to nucleoplasm. 2) Most of samples occurred the missense substitution, and mutation site was located at K1199E. Nucleotide mutations were mainly presented as G>A (35.29%). 3) TOP2A high expression significantly influenced the DFS of PTC patients (P=0.015). Restricted survival analysis showed that TOP2A high expression caused poorer DFS of female patients (P=0.003) and those with age <60 years old (P=0.002), early clinical stage (P=0.012), N0 stage (P=0.002) or M0 stage (P=0.040). 4) Pathway analysis suggested that TOP2A positively participated in the cell cycle, oocyte meiosis and p53 signaling pathways (all P<0.05) involved in thyroid cancer. CONCLUSION: The expression of TOP2A was higher in PTC tissue, which resulted in a worse DFS of patients with PTC. TOP2A might act as an effective therapeutic target for PTC treatment.