Neurotransmitters: Impressive regulators of tumor progression.

In contemporary times, tumors have emerged as the primary cause of mortality in the global population. Ongoing research has shed light on the significance of neurotransmitters in the regulation of tumors. It has been established that neurotransmitters play a pivotal role in tumor cell angiogenesis by triggering the transformation of stromal cells into tumor cells, modulating receptors on tumor stem cells, and even inducing immunosuppression. These actions ultimately foster the proliferation and metastasis of tumor cells. Several major neurotransmitters have been found to exert modulatory effects on tumor cells, including the ability to restrict emergency hematopoiesis and bind to receptors on the postsynaptic membrane, thereby inhibiting malignant progression. The abnormal secretion of neurotransmitters is closely associated with tumor progression, suggesting that focusing on neurotransmitters may yield unexpected breakthroughs in tumor therapy. This article presents an analysis and outlook on the potential of targeting neurotransmitters in tumor therapy.

Study on the Nanopore Deformation Mechanisms in Shale Oil Reservoir: Insights from the Molecular Simulation.

The stress and adsorption motivation deformation during shale oil production directly affect its development dynamics. First, a mathematical simulation of pore deformation in shale oil under stress motivation is established. We analyzed the impact of factors including the reservoir pressure, Biot coefficient, bulk modulus, and tortuosity on the deformation characteristics of nanopores. Second, a pore deformation model under multifactor synergistic effect is derived by combining the molecular dynamics, which takes into account the influence of adsorption deformation on the total adsorption of shale oil reservoir. Finally, a shale oil pore deformation model under multifactor synergistic effect is obtained. The results show that the current pore diameter shows a trend of decreasing with the decrease of current formation pressure and the difference with original reservoir pressure increases. The pore shows a trend of less deformation with a decrease in the effective stress coefficient. When the Biot coefficient is 0.8, the pore diameter under 5 MPa is 4.01 nm. When the Biot coefficient decreases to 0.3, the pore diameter under 5 MPa becomes 9.12 nm, an increase of 127.43% compared to 4.01 nm. The bulk modulus affects the magnitude of pore deformation under the same pressure, which means that the pore diameter shows a tendency to deform more easily as the bulk modulus increases. Meanwhile, the pore diameter decreases with increasing tortuosity. In addition, the pore deformation is subject to both stress and adsorption motivation deformation synergistically. The stress motivation deformation leads to a decrease of pore diameter with pressure decrease, while, in contrast, the adsorption motivation leads to an increase of pore diameter. The pore diameter under synergy is influenced by the coupling effect, and the deformation under synergy tends to decrease as the pore diameter decreases. When the rock mechanical parameters are changed so that the pores are not easily deformed by stress, the adsorption motivation deformation plays a dominant role in synergy. The amount of synergistic deformation decreases with increasing temperature, while the change in the component ratio of multicomponent fluid mainly affects the corresponding adsorption and the amount of synergistic deformation. Interestingly, when the proportion of CO2 is the largest, the corresponding maximum deformation is higher than the other proportions (43.77%). It not only enhances the recovery rate of shale oil reservoirs by utilizing CO2 but also provides the possibility of geological CO2 burial.

Theoretical Exploration on the Role of Magnetic States to the N2 Fixation behaviors of 2D Transition Metal Tri-borides (TMB3 s).

Fixing nitrogen (N2 ) by electrosynthesis method has become a promising way to ammonia (NH3 ) production, nevertheless, developing electrocatalysts combining long-term stable and low-cost feathers are still a great challenge to date. Using comprehensive first-principles calculations, we herein investigate the potential of a new class of two-dimensional (2D) transition metal tri-borides (TMB3 s) as nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR) electrocatalysts, and explore the effect of magnetic orders on the NRR. Our results show that the TMB3 s can sufficiently activate N2 and convert it to NH3 . Particularly, TiB3 is identified as a high-efficiency catalyst for NRR because of its low limiting potential (-0.24 V) and good suppression of the competitive hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). For the first time, we present that these TMB3 s with various magnetic states exhibit different performances in the adsorption of N2 and NRR intermediates, and minor effect on activation of N2 . Besides, VB3 , CrB3 , MnB3 , and FeB3 monolayers possess the superior capacity to suppress surface oxidation via the self-activating process, which reduces * O/* OH into * H2 O under NRR electrochemical conditions, thus favoring the N2 electroreduction. This work paves the way for finding high-performance NRR catalysts for transition metal borides and pioneering the research of magnetic states effects in NRR.

LncRNA LINC01410 Induced by MYC Accelerates Glioma Progression via Sponging miR-506-3p and Modulating NOTCH2 Expression to Motivate Notch Signaling Pathway.

Glioma is a common invasive cancer with unfavorable prognosis in patients. Long non-coding RNAs have been reported to participate in modulating diverse cellular processes. Here, we focused on exploring the role of long intergenic non-protein coding RNA 1410 (LINC01410) in glioma and its underlying mechanism. The expression levels and protein levels of genes were analyzed by quantitative real-time PCR (RT-qPCR) analysis and western blot. Loss-of-function assays were performed to assess the function of LINC01410 in glioma cells. The interactions among MYC, LINC01410, microRNA-506-3p (miR-506-3p) and notch receptor 2 (NOTCH2) were validated through Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP), RNA Binding Protein immunoprecipitation (RIP), RNA pull-down and luciferase reporter assays. Our data supported that LINC01410 was up-regulated in glioma cells. Bioinformatics predictions and the integrated experiments identified that MYC activated LINC01410 transcription and LINC01410 promoted the levels of NOTCH2 through sponging miR-506-3p and further motivated Notch signaling pathway. Rescue assays validated that LINC01410 exerted its influential functions on glioma cell proliferation and apoptosis via enhancing NOTCH2 expression. Our studies identified that LINC01410 accelerates the progression of glioma through acting as a ceRNA for miR-506-3p and elevating NOTCH2 expression to further activate the Notch signaling pathway, which indicated that LINC01410 might act as a novel regulator of glioma progression.

Research on Characterization and Heterogeneity of Microscopic Pore Throat Structures in Tight Oil Reservoirs.

The key to the efficient development of a tight reservoir is its accurate evaluation. In this study, the pore throat structure characteristics of sandstone samples in the study block were analyzed by high-pressure mercury injection technology. According to the characteristics of the capillary pressure curve, the sandstone samples in the study block were divided into three types: the first type has a reservoir permeability greater than 0.7 mD and a core mercury injection saturation of 96% with a good reservoir quality; the second type has a reservoir permeability ranging from 0.4 to 0.7 mD and a core mercury injection saturation of 80% with a moderate reservoir quality; and the third type has a reservoir permeability between 0.1 and 0.4 mD and a core mercury injection saturation of 50% with a poor reservoir quality. Also, high-resolution synchrotron radiation imaging and scanning electron microscopy were used to observe the pore throat structure, connectivity, and microscopic heterogeneity of sandstone samples, showing an increasing level of pore disconnection, serious microscopic heterogeneity, and poor reservoir performance as reservoir permeability declines. As mineral composition tests show, the lithology of the tight sandstone in the target block is mainly medium-grained and fine-grained feldspar lithic sandstone and the longitudinal heterogeneity of lithology and mineral components of tight sandstone is relatively weak at above the centimeter level. Besides, based on the high-pressure mercury injection test data, fractal theory is applied to calculate the fractal dimensions of the three types of reservoirs. The result shows a gradual increase in fractal dimensions with the decrease of reservoir quality, in which the closer the fractal dimension is to 3, the more serious the microscopic heterogeneity is, and the stronger the roughness of the pore surface is. As a result, the more heterogeneous the tight reservoir gets, the more likely the injected fluid is to flow along the developed and connected pore regions.

miRNA-21 may serve as a promising noninvasive marker of glioma with a high diagnostic performance: a pooled analysis of 997 patients.

BACKGROUND: Although various serum and tissue biomarkers have been investigated for glioma diagnosis, no gold standard has been identified. miRNA-21 was demonstrated to be a promising biomarker for the diagnosis of various brain tumors, whereas there remains uncertainty concerning whether miRNA-21 could be used as a good clinical diagnostic biomarker for glioma. The current meta-analysis aimed to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of miRNA-21 as a potent biomarker in adults with suspected glioma. METHODS: The Pubmed and Embase databases were searched systematically from inception to January 2020 to identify relevant research reports. Pooled sensitivity, specificity, positive likelihood ratio (PLR), negative likelihood ratio (NLR), and diagnostic odds ratio (DOR) were calculated. Summary receiver operating characteristic (SROC) curves were used to evaluate the overall diagnostic performance. Meta-regression and subgroup analyses were conducted to determine the source of heterogeneity and test the robustness of the results. RESULTS: From 5394 citations with 997 subjects that met the inclusion criteria, 11 studies were selected. Summary estimates of the diagnostic performance of miRNA-21 were as follows: sensitivity, 0.83 [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.73-0.89]; specificity, 0.92 (95% CI: 0.85-0.96); PLR, 10.20 (95% CI: 5.10-20.30); NLR, 0.19 (95% CI: 0.12-0.31); and DOR, 54 (95% CI: 19-155). The area under the SROC curve was 0.94 (95% CI: 0.92-0.96). Deeks's funnel plot revealed no evidence of publication bias (p = 0.59). Meta-regression analysis suggested that study publication year could attribute to the heterogeneity. Subgroup analysis found miRNA-21 had a constant high diagnostic accuracy across different ethnicity, glioma grade, sample source, and study region. CONCLUSION: This meta-analysis demonstrated that miRNA-21 has high diagnostic performance and could serve as a promising noninvasive diagnostic marker for glioma. Further large prospective studies are needed to validate its diagnostic value and its prognostic significance and therapeutic effects.

miR-103a-3p alleviates oxidative stress, apoptosis, and immune disorder in oxygen-glucose deprivation-treated BV2 microglial cells and rats with cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury by targeting high mobility group box 1.

BACKGROUND: Cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury (CI/R) is among the most common diseases affecting the central nervous system. Due to the poor efficacy and adverse side effects of the drugs used to treat CI/R in clinical trials, a new treatment strategy is urgently needed. In this study, we aimed to investigate whether miR-103a-3p alleviates CI/R in vivo and vitro and to explore the relevant mechanisms. METHODS: BV2 microglial cells underwent oxygen-glucose deprivation (OGD) treatment to imitate the pathophysiology of CI/R in vitro. A middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) rat model was established to imitate the pathophysiology of CI/R in vivo. The expression levels of miR-103a-3p and HMGB1 were detected by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and western blot. Flow cytometry, terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) assay, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) and Nissl staining were used to evaluated apoptosis, oxidative stress, inflammatory response, and histopathology, respectively. RESULTS: OGD-stimulated BV2 microglial cells and brain tissues with CI/R had low expression of miR-103a-3p but high expression of high mobility group box 1 (HMGB1). As expected, miR-103a-3p and HMGB1 had a targeting relationship. Overexpression of HMGB1 enhanced the the levels of interleukin (IL)-1 beta, tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) and malondialdehyde (MDA), but reduced the content of superoxide dismutase (SOD), IL-4, and IL-10, in vitro. Moreover, high expression of HMGB1 aggravated the brain injury of the model rats, and increased the secretion of inflammatory factors, exacerbated oxidative stress, and further induced tissue apoptosis in the brain tissue. Importantly, these effects of HMGB1 overexpression were partly reversed by miR-103a-3p overexpression on HMGB1 interference. CONCLUSIONS: HMGB1 is targeted by miR-103a-3p, which may be a new strategy in the treatment of CI/R.

Designed Single Atom Bifunctional Electrocatalysts for Overall Water Splitting: 3d Transition Metal Atoms Doped Borophene Nanosheets.

Single atom catalysts (SAC) for water splitting hold the promise of producing H2 in a highly efficient and economical way. As the performance of SACs depends on the interaction between the adsorbate atom and supporting substrate, developing more efficient SACs with suitable substrates is of significance. In this work, inspired by the successful fabrications of borophene in experiments, we systematically study the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) activities of a series of 3d transition metal-based SACs supported by various borophene monolayers (BMs=α_sheet, α1 _sheet, and ß1 _sheet borophene), TM/BMs, using density functional theory calculations and kinetic simulations. All of the TM/BMs systems exhibit superior HER performance compared to Pt with close to zero thermoneutral Gibbs free energy (ΔGH* ) of H adsorption. Furthermore, three Ni-deposited systems, namely, Ni/α_BM, Ni/α1 _BM and Ni/ß1 _BM, were identified to be superior OER catalysts with remarkably reduced overpotentials. Based on these results, Ni/BMs can be expected to serve as stunning bifunctional electrocatalysts for water splitting. This work provides a guideline for developing efficient bifunctional electrocatalysts.

[Overexpression of miR-382-5p Mediated Downregulation of PTEN on Malignant Biological Behavior of Human Glioma U251 Cells].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of overexpression of miR-382-5p overexpression on malignant biological behavior of human glioma U251 cells. METHODS: U251 cells were transfected with miR-382-5pmimic. Then miR-382-5p and PTEN mRNA levels were detected by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) after transfection. Used bioinformatics to predicted the presence of base binding sites between miR-382-5p and PTEN, and constructed PTEN pcDNA vector overexpression plasmid was constructed. Luciluciase reporting experiment was used to detect the targeting relationship between miR-382-5p and PTEN. Cells were randomly divided into four groups: control group, mimics group, pc-PTEN group and mimics+pc-PTEN group for follow-up experiments. RT-PCR was carried out to detect the level of PTEN mRNA in each group. Cell proliferation was detected by clone formation method. The mRNA levels of Ki67, Survivin and c-Myc were detected by RT-PCR. Transwell experiment was used to assayed cell invasion ability. The expression levels of E-cadherin, N-cadherin and Vimentin were determined by Western blot. RESULTS: Results showed that miR-382-5p directly targeted PTEN. Compared with the control group, miR-382-5p and c-Myc mRNA levels and E-cadherin protein level were increased (P<0.05),PTEN, Ki67 and Survivin mRNA levels were decreased (P<0.05), cell clonal formation rate and cell invasion number were decreased (P<0.05), N-cadherin and Vimentin protein levels were decreased (P<0.05) in the mimics group; In pc-PTEN group, miR-382-5p mRNA and c-Myc mRNA levels and E-cadherin protein level were decreased (P<0.05),PTEN, Ki67 and Survivin mRNA levels were increased (P<0.05), cell clonal formation rate and cell invasion number were increased (P<0.05), N-cadherin and Vimentin protein levels were increased (P<0.05). Compared with pc-PTEN group, PTEN, Ki67 and Survivin mRNA levels, the cell clone formation rate, the number of invasion cells and the N-cadherin and Vimentin levels of mimics+PC-PTEN group decreased significantly (P<0.05), while the c-Myc mRNA level and E-cadherin protein level increased significantly (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: Overexpression of miR-382-5p mediates the downregulation of PTEN expression, causing the inhibition of the proliferation, invasion, growth and EMT of U251 glioma cells.

CREB1-induced miR-1204 promoted malignant phenotype of glioblastoma through targeting NR3C2.

BACKGROUND: Glioblastoma (GBM) is a subclass of brain malignancy with unsatisfactory prognosis. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a group of non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) that exert key function on tumorigenesis and tumor development. PURPOSES: The purpose of this work was to unravel the biological behavior and mechanism of miR-1204 in GBM. METHODS: Expressions of miR-1204, NR3C2 and CREB1 were detected by RT-qPCR and western blot. Proliferation and apoptosis of GBM cells were detected by CCK-8, colony formation, caspase-3 activity and TUNEL assays. Molecular interplays were examined by ChIP, RIP, and luciferase reporter assays. RESULTS: MiR-1204 level was elevated in GBM cell lines. Functionally, miR-1204 aggravated cell proliferation whereas suppressed cell apoptosis in GBM cells. Mechanistically, cAMP Responsive Element Binding Protein 1 (CREB1) bound to the promoter of miR-1204 and activated the transcription of miR-1204. Furthermore, miR-1204 targeted and inhibited Nuclear receptor subfamily 3 group C member 2 (NR3C2), a tumor suppressor gene in GBM cells. Rescue assays indicated that NR3C2 participated in the regulation of miR-1204 on the malignant phenotype of GBM cells. CONCLUSIONS: We observed for the first time that CREB1-induced miR-1204 promoted malignant phenotype of GBM through targeting NR3C2, indicating that miR-1204 acted as a novel oncogenic miRNA in GBM.

CBX3 promotes glioma U87 cell proliferation and predicts an unfavorable prognosis.

BACKGROUND: Chromobox protein homolog 3 (CBX3) is one of the heterochromatin protein 1 (HP1) family members. Among multiple cancers, it is usually overexpressed. However, the mechanism and function of CBX3 in glioma remain incompletely illustrated. METHODS: The expression level of CBX3 as well as its correlation with glioma are detected through TCGA and Oncomine database. The expressions of CBX3 mRNA and protein in glioma tissues and normal brain tissues have been identified by qRT-PCR and Western blot. The prognostic role of CBX3 has been assessed in a retrospective cohort study. Additionally, the correlation between CBX3 expression and the clinicopathological characteristics of glioma patients were also discussed. To better understand the role of CBX3 in glioma, a lentiviral vector expressing CBX3-shRNA and cyclin dependent kinase inhibitor 1A (CDKN1A) siRNA were established and transfected into the glioma U87 cells. Besides, the CBX3 and CDKN1A expression levels in glioma U87 cells after transfected with CBX3-shRNA were gauged by qRT-PCR and Western blot. CCK-8, colony formation and EdU assays have been applied to evaluate the influence of CBX3 on U87 cells proliferation, and flow cytometry has been applied to manage the changes in cell cycle and cell apoptosis after transfection with CBX3-shRNA. Xenograft tumors have been examined in vivo for the carcinogenic effects and prognostic value of CBX3 in glioma tissues. RESULTS: In the present study, CBX3 was demonstrated to be highly expressed in human glioma tissues, and high CBX3 expression predicted the dismal recurrence-free survival (RFS) and poor overall survival (OS) for glioma patients. High CBX3 expression was dependent on the tumor size, Karnofsky performance scale (KPS) score, WHO grade, recurrence and survival status. Moreover, CBX3 expression knockdown could remarkably suppress the proliferation and colony formation ability of U87 cells, which was achieved through blocking cell arrest at G0/G1 phase and inducing apoptosis. Additionally, our findings also suggested that, compared with shRNA-Ctrl transfection, the mRNA and protein expression levels of CDKN1A have been dramatically up-regulated in vitro after transfection with shRNA-CBX3. Consistent with the results of in vitro assays, the outcomes of xenograft assay and immunohistochemistry (IHC) also indicated that, the tumor growth and Ki-67 expression level were restrained in response to CBX3 inhibition, while the CDKN1A expression level in vivo was up-regulated. Down-regulation of CDKN1A expression partially restored the ability of cell proliferation in the U87 cells, which was inhibited by shRNA-CBX3 CONCLUSIONS: In conclusion, results of the current research suggest that a high CBX3 expression level predicts the poor prognosis for glioma patients. CBX3 can stimulate the growth of glioma U87 cells through targeting CDKN1A and CBX3 may become a novel target in the clinical treatment for glioma.

How Do Patients with Chronic Diseases Make Usage Decisions regarding Mobile Health Monitoring Service?

Objectives: The increasing population of patients with chronic diseases generates great challenge of chronic disease management. The occurrence of mobile health monitoring service (MHMS) is beneficial to chronic disease prevention and health promotion. The objective of this study is to investigate how patients with chronic diseases make usage decisions on MHMS. Study Design: A survey. Methods: 213 respondents with chronic diseases were asked to rate their level of health severity, negative health emotions, and health uncertainty avoidance. SmartPLS was used to test the measurement model. Results: Of 213 research respondents, 159 of them have one chronic disease, while 54 have more than one such disease. Perceived health severity of patients with chronic diseases positively influences MHMS usage intentions, while negative health emotions do not. Health uncertainty avoidance strengthens the effect of health severity but weakens the effect of negative health emotions on MHMS usage intentions. Conclusion: Patients with chronic diseases have a unique decision-making process regarding MHMS usage in which their special health-related factors and tendencies play a critical role in determining behavioral intentions.

Investigating the Adoption of Mobile Health Services by Elderly Users: Trust Transfer Model and Survey Study.

BACKGROUND: Although elderly users comprise a major user group in the field of mobile health (mHealth) services, their adoption rate of such services is relatively low compared with their use of traditional health services. Increasing the adoption rate of mHealth services among elderly users is beneficial to the aging process. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to examine the determinants of mHealth service use intentions using a trust transfer model among elderly users facing declining physiological conditions and lacking support from hospitals. METHODS: A survey comprising 395 users aged 60 years and above was conducted in China to validate our research model and hypotheses. RESULTS: The results reveal that (1) trust in mHealth services positively influences use intentions, (2) trust in offline health services positively influences trust in mHealth services, (3) declining physiological conditions strengthen the effects of trust in offline health services regarding trust in mHealth services, (4) support from hospitals weakens the effects of trust in mHealth services on use intentions, and (5) the relationship between trust in offline health services and intention to use mHealth services is partially mediated by trust in mHealth services. The independent variables and moderators collectively explain a 48.3% variance in the use intention of mHealth services. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that the trust transfer theory is useful in explaining the development of initial trust in mHealth services. In addition, declining physiological conditions and support from hospitals are important factors for investigating the adoption of mHealth services among elderly users.

Sizable bandgaps of graphene in 3d transition metal intercalated defective graphene/WSe2 heterostructures.

Controlling the electronic and magnetic properties of G/TMD (graphene on transition metal dichalcogenide) heterostructures is essential to develop electronic devices. Despite extensive studies in perfecting G/TMDs, most products have various defects due to the limitations of the fabrication techniques, and research investigating the performances of defective G/TMDs is scarce. Here, we conduct a comprehensive study of the effects of 3d transition metal (TM = Sc-Ni) atom-intercalated G/WSe2 heterostructures, as well as their defective configurations having single vacancies on graphene or WSe2 sublayers. Interestingly, Ni-intercalated G/WSe2 exhibits a small band gap of 0.06 eV, a typical characteristic of nonmagnetic semiconductors. With the presence of one single vacancy in graphene, nonmagnetic (or ferromagnetic) semiconductors with sizable band gaps, 0.10-0.51 eV, can be achieved by intercalating Ti, Cr, Fe and Ni atoms into the heterostructures. Moreover, V and Mn doped non-defective and Sc, V, Co doped defective G/WSe2 can lead to sizable half metallic band gaps of 0.1-0.58 eV. Further analysis indicates that the significant electron transfer from TM atoms to graphene accounts for the opening of a large band gap. Our results provide theoretical guidance to future applications of G/TMD based heterostructures in (spin) electronic devices.

Cell division cycle associated 7 like predicts unfavorable prognosis and promotes invasion in glioma.

BACKGROUND: Cell division cycle associated 7 like (CDCA7L) belongs to the JPO protein family, which is recently identified as a target gene of c-Myc and is frequently dysregulated in multiple cancers. This study aimed to explore the clinicpathological value and biological role of CDCA7L in glioma. METHODS: CDCA7L expression in glioma patients was determined using the Oncomine database, and the prognostic role of CDCA7L expression was assessed in a retrospective cohort study. Moreover, the relationship of CDCA7L expression with the clinicopathological characteristics in glioma patients, including age, gender, tumor size, cystic change, Karnofsky performance scale (KPS) score, tumor location, extent of resection, WHO grade, adjuvant therapy and tumor recurrence, was analyzed in this study. In addition, the CDCA7L small interfering (si) RNA was constructed and transfected into the glioma U251 cells, so as to examine the role of CDCA7L in glioma patients. Besides, the changes in U251 cell invasion after transfection with CDCA7L siRNA were also monitored through Transwell assay. RESULTS: Our results suggested that CDCA7L expression was up-regulated in different glioma types, including glioblastoma, oligodendroglioma, diffuse astrocytoma and anaplastic astrocytoma. Moreover, the current retrospective cohort study indicated that high CDCA7L expression was associated with tumor size, WHO grade, adjuvant therapy and recurrence, as well as the poor overall survival (OS) and recurrence-free survival (RFS) in glioma patients. Lastly, CDCA7L expression was knocked down using CDCA7L siRNA, which could block the invasion abilities of glioma U251 cells. CONCLUSIONS: CDCA7L is highly expressed in human glioma tissues and a high CDCA7L expression level predicts the dismal prognosis for glioma patients. Moreover, CDCA7L can promote glioma invasion, which can serve as an independent potential prognostic biomarker for glioma patients.

Modulating the electronic and magnetic properties of bilayer borophene via transition metal atoms intercalation: from metal to half metal and semiconductor.

Borophene, a two-dimensional monolayer made of boron atoms, has attracted wide attention due to its appealing properties. Great efforts have been devoted to fine tuning its electronic and magnetic properties for desired applications. Herein, we theoretically investigate the versatile electronic and magnetic properties of bilayer borophene (BLB) intercalated by 3d transition metal (TM) atoms, TM@BLBs (TM = Ti-Fe), using ab initio calculations. Four allotropes of AA-stacking (α 1-, ß-, ß 12- and χ 3-) BLBs with different intercalation concentrations of TM atoms are considered. Our results show that the TM atoms are strongly bonded to the borophene layers with fairly large binding energies, around 6.31 âˆ¼ 15.44 eV per TM atom. The BLBs with Cr and Mn intercalation have robust ferromagnetism, while for the systems decorated with Fe atoms, fruitful magnetic properties, such as nonmagnetic, ferromagnetic or antiferromagnetic, are identified. In particular, the α 1- and ß-BLBs intercalated by Mn or Fe atom can be transformed into a semiconductor, half metal or graphene-like semimetal. Moreover, some heavily doped TM@BLBs expose high Curie temperatures above room temperature. The attractive properties of TM@BLBs entail an efficient way to modulate the electronic and magnetic properties of borophene sheets for advanced applications.

[Knockdown of STAT3 reduces the level of survivin and promotes the apoptosis of U87MG glioma cells].

Objective To investigate the effect of signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT3)-specific siRNA (siSTAT3) on the apoptosis of U87MG human glioma cells and its mechanism. Methods U87MG glioma cells were cultured in vitro. The effect of siSTAT3 on U87MG human glioma cells was evaluated by MTT assay to observe cell proliferation and by flow cytometry and acridine orange staining to observe cell apoptosis. Reverse transcription PCR and Western blotting were used to detect the expression of survivin. Results Compared with mock and si-scrambled groups, siSTAT3 expression plasmid inhibited the proliferation of U87MG cells obviously. Flow cytometry and acridine orange staining showed that siSTAT3 plasmid significantly promoted glioma cell apoptosis. In addition, siSTAT3 plasmid significantly inhibited the mRNA and protein levels of survivin. Conclusion Knockdown of STAT3 in U87MG cells can downregulate the level of survivin and remarkably promote the apoptosis of glioma cells.

PQ401, an IGF-1R inhibitor, induces apoptosis and inhibits growth, proliferation and migration of glioma cells.

Growth factor signalling pathways transduce extra-cellular physiological cues to guide cells to maintain critical cellular functions, including cell proliferation, survival and metabolism. Dysregulation of certain growth factor signalling pathways has been shown as a major route to promote tumourigenesis. Glioma is a type of aggressive malignant tumour with no effective systematic therapy so far. Overexpression or hyperactivation of IGF-1R has been observed to be tightly associated with glioma progression and poor prognosis. Here, we examined the biological effects of a specific IGF-1R inhibitor, PQ401, on suppressing U87MG glioma cell growth and migration. Specifically, we observed that PQ401 not only induced cellular apoptosis in U87MG cells and subsequently reduced cell viability and proliferation but also attenuated cell mobility in vitro. More importantly, through a mouse xenograft model, we observed that administration of PQ401 on mice led to suppression of glioma tumour growth in vivo. In summary, our study suggests that PQ401 may serve as a promising leading drug for treating glioma patients with elevated IGF-1R signalling.

Lack of genetic association of the TGM2 gene with schizophrenia in a Chinese population.

The gene coding for transglutaminase 2 (TGM2) has been reported to be associated with schizophrenia in a White population. The present study was then designed to replicate this initial finding in a Chinese population. A total of 428 individuals with schizophrenia and 555 control participants were recruited for genetic analysis. Four single nucleotide polymorphisms present in the TGM2 gene were selected for genotyping, including rs2076380, rs7270785, rs4811528, and rs6023526, by PCR-based restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis. None of these four single nucleotide polymorphisms genotyped showed an association with schizophrenia, although these 428 cases and 555 controls had 97% power to detect a disease association in small effect size (odds ratio=1.5). The present results did not support the TGM2 association with schizophrenia. It is thus possible that the TGM2 finding may have resulted from a random error of sampling.

Lack of genetic association between the MYO9B locus and schizophrenia in a Chinese population.

Jungerius et al. (2008) have reported that the myosin IXB (MYO9B) gene is strongly associated with susceptibility to schizophrenia in a Dutch population. However, this initial work failed to be replicated in a British population (Law et al., 2011). The present study was then undertaken to examine whether the association of MYO9B with schizophrenia could be replicated in a Chinese population.