LINC02535 + miR-30a-5p combination enhances proliferation and inhibits apoptosis in metastatic breast Cancer cells.

Current clinical therapies for metastatic breast cancer (MBC) have limited therapeutic efficacy and induce significant systemic side effects, leading to poor patient compliance. To address this challenge, this investigation focuses on the design of LINC02535 + miR-30a-5p for treating breast cancer. In vitro cytotoxicity studies confirmed that LINC02535 + miR-30a-5p was more effective in 4 T1 cells, with reduced toxicity in NIH3T3 cells. Further verification of cellular morphology was achieved through various biochemical staining methods. Additionally, the antimetastatic attributes of LINC02535 + miR-30a-5p have been evaluated using both migration scratch and Transwell migration assays, which have collectively revealed excellent antimetastatic potential. The DNA fragmentation of the 4 T1 cells was assessed using a comet assay. LINC02535 + miR-30a-5p improved ROS levels and caused mitochondrial membrane potential alterations and DNA damage, which resulted in apoptosis. Therefore, we propose that LINC02535 + miR-30a-5p could be an alternative therapeutic strategy for breast cancer therapy.

Research on the applicability of an exercise rehabilitation app aiming to improve the mental and physical health of breast cancer patients in the post-operative period.

Purpose: Breast cancer is one of the most common malignant cancers in women, seriously endangering the physical and mental health of patients. In this study, we developed an app for breast cancer patients undergoing radiotherapy or chemotherapy with a focus on exercise interventions, supplemented by nutritional and psychological interventions, to verify the applicability of the app for these patients and its impact on their quality of life, sleep, and psychological state. We also investigated the patients' experience and perceptions of the app. Methods: A total of 17 participants, aged 42-58 years, were recruited for this study using a mixed-methods design, including quantitative group pre-and post-test scores and qualitative interview results. The participants used the app for 8-18 weeks depending on their radiotherapy or chemotherapy cycle. During the radiotherapy or chemotherapy period, the participants used the "Yun Dong Ru Kang" exercise rehabilitation app to perform aerobic exercises twice a week, as well as rehabilitation exercises appropriate to their radiotherapy or chemotherapy stage, and used the app on their own the rest of the time. The primary results included their scores on the PSSUQ overall assessment usability questionnaire, the users' use of the app, and the results of the interviews; the secondary indicators were quality of life, sleep status, and anxiety and depression status. Results: An overall score of 6.2 (out of 7 points) on the PSSUQ questionnaire indicates the high usability; the average use time per subject per week was 97.69 ± 11.82 min, which exceeds the minimum use time, but the average use time tended to decrease as the use time was postponed. Promoted articles on nutritional diets received the most hits. The results of the interviews were consistent with the questionnaire scores, with the majority of participants believing that the means of exercise should be enriched and the interface optimized, while the reduction in the length of use was related to the participants' own state of learning about calisthenics. In the results of the Breast Cancer-Specific Scale FACT-B, there was a significant increase (p < 0.05) in the Emotional Status dimension score and a significant decrease (p < 0.05) on the Additional Concerns dimension score. In the results of the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Inventory PSQI, there was a non-significant improvement in all items except for a significant increase (p < 0.05) for the Hypnotic Medication item. In the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), there was no significant improvement in any of the anxiety and depression factors. Conclusions: The "Yun Dong Ru Kang "app has certain applicability, and the use of the exercise rehabilitation app may effectively reduce the negative impact of chemotherapy side effects on the quality of life, sleep and depression of breast cancer patients in the chemotherapy or radiotherapy phase. Before it is put into use in the future, the app should be enriched with exercise tools, the interface should be optimized, and articles on nutrition and diet should be promoted.

Coalescence and Break-Up Behaviors of Nanodroplets under AC Electric Field.

Water must be separated from water-in-oil (W/O) emulsion because of the corrosion it brings to the relative equipment in the process of transportation and storage. It is an effective method to apply external electric field to achieve high performance of separating small, dispersed water droplets from W/O emulsion; however, the coalescing micromechanism of such small salty droplets under AC electric field is unclear. In this paper, molecular dynamics simulation was adopted to investigate the coalescence and separation process of two NaCl-aqueous droplets under AC electric field and discuss the effect of AC electric field frequency, as well as the time required for contacting, the critical electric field strength, the dynamic coalescence process and the stability of the final merged droplet. The results show that the critical electric field strength of the droplet coalescence increases with the increase of frequency, while the time required for droplet contacting becomes shorter. The shrinkage function curve was applied to characterize the droplet coalescence effect and it was found that the droplets coalescence and form a nearly spherical droplet under the AC electric field with a frequency of 1.25 GHz and strength of 0.5 V/nm. When the electric field frequency is 10 GHZ, the merged droplet presents a periodic fluctuation with the same period as the AC electric field, which mainly depends on the periodic movement of cations and anions under the AC electric field. The results can provide theoretical basis for the practical application of electrostatic demulsification technology in the petroleum or chemical industry from the microscopic perspective.

The effects of qigong intervention based on the Internet on quality of life and physical fitness in Chinese postoperative breast cancer patients: a protocol of randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study is to verify the improvement of remote qigong intervention on the quality of life and physical fitness of breast cancer patients after surgery by means of a randomized controlled trial and to compare it with the conventional exercise combination of aerobic exercise and resistance training. METHODS/DESIGN: The research approach applied in this study is a randomized controlled trial. After completing the baseline questionnaire and physical fitness test, participants were randomly assigned to either the qigong group or the combined exercise rehabilitation group. Patients in the qigong group performed Qigong-Baduanjin twice a week for 30 min each time under remote guidance and practiced Baduanjin by themselves at other times. Patients in the combined exercise rehabilitation group were given resistance training twice a week for 30 min under remote guidance, and walking the rest of the time. At the end of the 12-week intervention, outcomes testing and data collection were carried out. The primary outcomes are quality of life, measured using the Medical Outcomes Study 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36), and the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Breast (FATC-B). The secondary outcomes include cardiopulmonary endurance, upper limb strength, lower limb strength, and skinfold thickness. DISCUSSION: The importance of postoperative exercise rehabilitation for breast cancer has been gradually accepted by more and more doctors and patients, but further research and development of simple and practical means of exercise rehabilitation are necessary. Remote qigong intervention for breast cancer patients via the Internet will be a great alternative. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Chinese Clinical Trial Registry ChiCTR1900027989. Registered on December 7, 2019.

Activation of PI3K/AKT is involved in TINAG-mediated promotion of proliferation, invasion and migration of hepatocellular carcinoma.

OBJECTIVE: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a highly aggressive malignancy that has a poor prognosis. Through the literatures, TINAG significantly participated in the processes of the renal-associated diseases, but there were no studies about the roles of TINAG in the HCC development. Hence, we attempted to use the HCC samples collected by ourselves to reveal the clinical significance and prognostic impact of TINAG in HCC. METHODS: We first measured the expression level of TINAG in HCC on the basis of TCGA database. Then, real time quantitative reverse transcription PCR (RT-qPCR) was used to examine the expression level of TINAG in 100 pairs of HCC tissues and corresponding adjacent non-tumor tissues, as well as HCC cell lines (HepG2, HB611, HHCC, and Hep3B). Moreover, Kaplan-Meier method and COX's proportional hazards model were utilized to perform the survival and prognosis analyses using the clinical data collected by ourselves. After knockdown of TINAG, the cell proliferation, invasion and migration capacities of HepG2 and Hep3B cells were evaluate by counting kit-8 (CCK-8) assay (24 h, 48 h, 72 h, and 96 h post-cultivation), clone formation experiment, would-healing, and invasion as well as migration assays. To further explore whether the dys-regulated TINAG expression regulates the HCC progression and prognosis, protein biomarkers of PI3K signaling pathway, including AKT, p-AKT, PI3K, p-PI3K, p70S6K, and p-p70S6K were measured based on western blotting analysis. RESULTS: According to the data of TCGA database, clinical patients, and HCC cell lines, TINAG was highly expressed in HCC compared with normal. Relationship of TINAG expression level with the clinicopathological factors implicated that the high expression of TINAG was significantly associated with pathologic stage, pathologic-node, and pathologic-metastasis. Univariate as well as multivariate COX analysis indicated that TINAG expression and pathologic metastasis can serve as the independent prognostic factor for overall survival of HCC. After TINAG knockdown in HepG2 and Hep3B cells, cell proliferation rate, the colony numbers, and the invasive and migratory capacity were found to be suppressed. Remarkably, western blot results showed that reduction of TINAG remarkably decreased p-AKT, p-PI3K, and p-p70S6K expression level in HepG2 and Hep3B cells. CONCLUSION: Collectively, our results underscore the significance of TINAG in HCC progression and prognosis, and TINAG might be a novel candidate oncogene in HCC. These results propose that targeting TINAG might offer future clinical utility in HCC.

Nanostructured lipid carriers co-delivering lapachone and doxorubicin for overcoming multidrug resistance in breast cancer therapy.

BACKGROUND: Multidrug resistance is responsible for the poor outcome in breast cancer therapy. Lapa is a novel therapeutic agent that generates ROS through the catalysis of the NAD(P) H:quinone oxidoreductase-1 (NQO1) enzyme which significantly facilitate the intracellular accumulation of the co-delivered DOX to overcome MDR in cancer cells. PURPOSE: Herein, in our study, nanostructured lipid carrier (NLC) co-delivering ß-lapachone (Lapa) and doxorubicin (DOX) was developed (LDNLC) with the aim to overcome the multidrug resistance (MDR) in breast cancer therapy. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Lapa and DOX were loaded into NLC to prepare LDNLC using melted ultrasonic dispersion method. RESULTS: The well designed LDNLC was nanoscaled particles that exhibited preferable stability in physiological environment. In vitro cell experiments on MCF-7 ADR cells showed increased DOX retention as compared to DOX mono-delivery NLC (DNLC). In vivo anti-cancer assays on MCF-7 ADR tumor bearing mice model also revealed significantly enhanced efficacy of LDNLC than mono-delivery NLCs (DNLC and LNLC). CONCLUSION: LDNLC might be a promising platform for effective breast cancer therapy.

Preparation, characterization and thermal risk evaluation of dihydroxylammonium 5, 5'-bistetrazole-1, 1'-diolate based polymer bonded explosive.

Dihydroxylammonium 5,5'- bistetrazole-1,1'-diolate (TKX-50) was used to prepare TKX-50-based polymer bonded explosive (PBX) for the first time in this study. The thermal stabilities and the kinetic parameters of TKX-50 and TKX-50-based PBX were compared via Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), Thermal Gravity-Differential Thermal Gravity (TG-DTG) and Accelerating Rate Calorimeter (ARC). Furthermore, in order to know about their thermal safeties comprehensively, an advanced thermal analysis program based on Friedman method was employed to calculate the thermal safety parameters for TKX-50 and its PBX. With its help, two important safety parameters (time to maximum rate under adiabatic conditions (TMRad) and self-accelerating decomposition temperature (SADT)) for the two energetic materials were calculated and discussed. Finally, based on the safety parameters, effects of storage conditions and ambient temperatures on the thermal explosions of TKX-50 and TKX-50-based PBX were further studied by using finite element analysis (FEA).

Arginase inhibitor attenuates pulmonary artery hypertension induced by hypoxia.

Hypoxia-induced pulmonary arterial hypertension (HPAH) is a refractory disease characterized by increased proliferation of pulmonary vascular smooth cells and progressive pulmonary vascular remodeling. The level of nitric oxide (NO), a potential therapeutic vasodilator, is low in PAH patients. L-arginine can be converted to either beneficial NO by nitric oxide synthases or to harmful urea by arginase. In the present study, we aimed to investigate whether an arginase inhibitor, S-(2-boronoethyl)-L-cysteine ameliorates HPAH in vivo and vitro. In a HPAH mouse model, we assessed right ventricle systolic pressure (RVSP) by an invasive method, and found that RSVP was elevated under hypoxia, but was attenuated upon arginase inhibition. Human pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells (HPASMCs) were cultured under hypoxic conditions, and their proliferative capacity was determined by cell counting and flow cytometry. The levels of cyclin D1, p27, p-Akt, and p-ERK were detected by RT-PCR or Western blot analysis. Compared to hypoxia group, arginase inhibitor inhibited HPASMCs proliferation and reduced the levels of cyclin D1, p-Akt, p-ERK, while increasing p27 level. Moreover, in mouse models, compared to control group, hypoxia increased cyclin D1 expression but reduced p27 expression, while arginase inhibitor reversed the effects of hypoxia. Taken together, these results suggest that arginase plays an important role in increased proliferation of HPASMCs induced by hypoxia and it is a potential therapeutic target for the treatment of pulmonary hypertensive disorders.

A simple ratiometric and colorimetric chemosensor for the selective detection of fluoride in DMSO buffered solution.

A derivative of squaramide (cyclobuta[b]quinoxaline-1, 2(3H, 8H)-dione) has been synthesized for the ratiometric and colorimetric sensing of F(-) in aqueous solution in competitive fashion. With F(-), probe 1 showed a highly selective naked-eye detectable color change along with a characteristic UV-Vis absorbance over other tested ions, which probably originates from the deprotonation occurred between 1 and F(-), as proved by the (1)H NMR titration experiments and DFT calculations.

[Infrared Spectra Characteristics of the Silicate Nickel Ores: A Comparison Study on Different Ore Samples from Indonesia and China].

The silicate nickel ores developed in the lateritic nickel deposit, from Kolonodale, Sulawesi Island, Indonesia, and Yuanjiang, Yunnan province, China, were selected for the present study. The X-ray diffraction and Fourier infrared spectra were used to analyze the mineralogical attribute of laterite nickel ores from two different places. The results show that these two different silicate nickel ores have unique infrared spectra characteristics individually, which contributes to the ore classification. The silicate nickel ores from Kolonodale deposit, Indonesia, can be classified as the serpentine type, the montmorillonite + serpentine type, and the garnierite type. While, the silicate nickel ores from Yuanjiang deposit, China, can be classified as the serpentine type and the talc + serpentine type. Moreover, the mineral crystallinity of Yuanjiang nickel ores is generally better than Kolonodale nickel ores. According to the advantage of infrared absorption spectra in distinguishing mineral polytypes, it can be determined that lizardite is the main mineral type in the silicate nickel ores of the two deposits, and there is no obvious evidence of chrysotile and antigorite's existence. The characteristic of infrared absorption spectra also shows that frequency change of OH libration indicates Ni (Fe) replacing Mg in the serpentine type nickel-bearing mineral, that is, OH libration of serpentine moves to higher frequency, with the proportion of Ni (Fe) replacing Mg increasing.