Advancing Integration of Direct C-H Arylation-Derived Star-Shaped Oligomers as Second Acceptors for Ternary Organic Solar Cells.

Organic solar cells (OSCs) could benefit from the ternary bulk heterojunction (BHJ), a method that allows for fine-tuning of light capture, cascade energy levels, and film shape, in order to increase their power conversion efficiency (PCE). In this work, the third components of PM6:Y6 and PM6:BTP-eC9 BHJs are a set of four star-shaped unfused ring electron acceptors (SSUFREAs), i.e., BD-IC, BFD-IC, BD-2FIC, and BFD-2FIC, that are facilely synthesized by direct C-H arylation. The four SSUFREAs all show complete complementary absorption with PM6, Y6, and BTP-eC9, which facilitates light harvesting and exciton collection. When BFD-2FIC is added as a third component, the PCEs of PM6:Y6 and PM6:BTP-eC9 binary BHJs are able to be improved from 15.31% to 16.85%, and from 16.23% to 17.23%, respectively, showing that BFD-2FIC is useful for most effective ternary OSCs in general, and increasing short circuit current (JSC) and better film morphology are two additional benefits. The ternary PM6:Y6:BFD-2FIC exhibits a 9.7% percentage of increase in PCE compared to the PM6:Y6 binary BHJ, which is one of the highest percentage increases among the reported ternary BHJs, showing the huge potential of BFD-2FIC for ternary BHJ OSCs.

Loss of ß-arrestin-2 and Activation of CXCR2 Correlate with Lymph Node Metastasis in Non-small Cell Lung Cancer.

Background : Although ß-arrestin-2 (ß-arr2) and CXCR2 have been shown to affect various malignant tumors, their exact roles in lung cancer remain unclear. We investigated expression of ß-arr2 and CXCR2 in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and their correlation with lymph node metastasis and prognosis. Methods : We reviewed medical records of 136 patients with NSCLC who underwent surgical resection, and assessed their specimens immunohistochemically for expression of ß-arr2 and CXCR2 in primary tumors and metastatic lymph nodes (MLNs), respectively. Results: High ß-arr2 expression was seen in 63 specimens (46.3%), and was significantly associated with male patients (P=0.011), squamous cell carcinoma (P=0.003), and lymph node metastasis (P<0.001). High CXCR2 expression was seen in 62 specimens (45.6%), and was significantly correlated only with lymph node metastasis (P<0.001). Expression of ß-arr2 was significantly lower at MLNs than at primary lesions (Z=-2.315; P=0.021; Wilcoxon signed-rank), whereas CXCR2 expression was significantly higher in MLNs than in primary lesions (Z=-3.712; P<0.001; Wilcoxon signed-rank). No relationship was seen between ß-arr2 and CXCR2 expression in primary lesions (r=-0.065, P=0.548; Spearman rank coefficient), but they were inversely related in MLNs (r=-0.263, P=0.012). Kaplan-Meier survival curve was shown that low ß-arr2 and high CXCR2 expressions was associated with poor survival (log-rank: χ2=5.926, P=0.015). Conclusions : ß-arr2 may promote lymph node metastasis in NSCLC by modulating CXCR2 activation.

Molecular cloning, expression, purification and characterization of a novel cellulase gene (Bh-EGaseI) in the beetle Batocera horsfieldi.

Wood-feeding insects depend heavily on the secretion of a combination of cellulases, mainly endoglucanases and other glucanases such as exoglucanases and xylanases, to achieve efficient digestion of the cellulose of cellulosic materials. In this paper, we report a novel cellulose Bh-EGaseI belonging to the glycoside hydrolase family 45(gh45-1) obtained from the beetle Batocera horsfieldi. The Bh-EGaseI gene spans 714 bp and consists of three exons coding 237 amino acid residues. The cDNA encoding Bh-EGaseI was expressed as 25 KDa in baculovirus-infected Bombyx mori larvae. The expression products of Bh-EGaseI from larval hemolymph showed a specific enzymatic activity of approximately 1030.87 IU per mg. The enzyme was active over a wide range of pH and temperatures; optimal activity was observed at 40 °C and pH 4.0. The effects of ions on Bh-EGaseI activity were also studied, and results indicated that activity decreased to different extents upon addition of ions. Investigations on Bh-EGaseI facilitate their potential application in the production of bioenergy and biomaterials from cellulosic biomass in the future.

Differentially expressed genes in the ovary of the sixth day of pupal "Ming" lethal egg mutant of silkworm, Bombyx mori.

The "Ming" lethal egg mutant (l-em) is a vitelline membrane mutant in silkworm, Bombyx mori. The eggs laid by the l-em mutant lose water, ultimately causing death within an hour. Previous studies have shown that the deletion of BmEP80 is responsible for the l-em mutation in silkworm, B. mori. In the current study, digital gene expression (DGE) was performed to investigate the difference of gene expression in ovaries between wild type and l-em mutant on the sixth day of the pupal stage to obtain a global view of gene expression profiles using the ovaries of three l-em mutants and three wild types. The results showed a total of 3,463,495 and 3,607,936 clean tags in the wild type and the l-em mutant libraries, respectively. Compared with those of wild type, 239 differentially expressed genes were detected in the l-em mutant, wherein 181 genes are up-regulated and 58 genes are down-regulated in the mutant strain. The Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analysis results showed that no pathway was significantly enriched and three pathways are tightly related to protein synthesis among the five leading pathways. Moreover, the expression profiles of eight important differentially expressed genes related to oogenesis changed. These results provide a comprehensive gene expression analysis of oogenesis and vitellogenesis in B. mori which facilitates understanding of both the specific molecular mechanism of the 1-em mutant and Lepidopteran oogenesis in general.

[Effect of silencing bmi-1 by RNA interference on function of K562 cell line].

Bmi-1 is a transcriptional repressor, which belongs to the polycomb group family. It has been demon- started that over-expression of Bmi-1 occurs in a variety of cancers, including several types of leukemia. Bmi-1 gene plays a key role in regulation of self-renewal in normal and leukemic stem cells. Acute myeloid leukemic cells lacking Bmi-1 undergo proliferation arrest and show signs of differentiation and apoptosis, which leads to the proposal of Bmi-1 as a potential target for therapeutic intervention in leukemia. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of short hairpin RNA (shRNA) targeting Bmi-1 on functions of K562 cell line. The shRNA eukaryotic expression vector targeting Bmi-1 was constructed and transfected into K562 cells through lipofectamine 2000. The mRNA and protein levels of Bmi-1 were detected by PCR and Western blot respectively. The proliferation of K562 after Bmi-1 silencing was measured by using MTT assay and clone formation assay. The cell cycle was detected by flow cytometry. The results indicated that among the four shRNA designed, there was a shRNA which efficiently interfered with the expression of Bmi-1. The results of PCR and Western blot validated that the Bmi-1 gene of K562 cells transfected with such a Bmi-1 shRNA was suppressed successfully. Although levels of Bmi-1 mRNA and protein were significantly reduced, delivery of this siRNAs had no effect on cell viability or growth. Flow cytometry analysis suggested that Bmi-1 inhibition did not affect the cell cycle. It is concluded that the suppression of Bmi-1 expression is not able to reduce proliferation of K562 cells, suggesting existence of some other parallel signaling pathways, which are fundamental for leukemic transformation and are independent of Bmi-1 over-expression. Bmi-1 over-expression may play a secondary role in chronic myeloid leukemia transformation.

[Expression of human factor IX in retrovirus-transfected human umbilical cord tissue derived mesenchymal stem cells].

The purpose of this study was to investigate the expression of human Factor IX (hFIX) in retrovirus-transfected human umbilical cord tissue derived mesenchymal stem cells (hUCT-MSCs). The pLEGFP-N1-hFIX vector was generated by cloning a 3.0 kb Bgl II-BamH I fragment from the pIRES2-EGFP-hFIX plasmid containing the hFIX cDNA and part of intron 1 of hFIX in pLEGFP-N1 vector. The retroviral supernatants were produced from the Phoenix packaging cell line and then infected the hUCT-MSCs. After selection with G418 for 10 day, the expression of FIX was detected by ELISA and Western blot. The biological activity of FIX was determined by the clotting assay employing human Factor IX-deficient plasma. The results showed that compared with the activity of pooled human normal plasma (100%), transduced cells produced biologically active hFIX with 100-130% activity in two-day culture supernatant and expressed hFIX at levels of 2.68 +/- 0.36 microg/10(6) cells/24 hours after G418 selection for 10 days. The secretion of hFIX into culture supernatant was also confirmed by Western blot analysis. It is concluded that genetically modified hUCT-MSCs can express biologically active hFIX and thus serve as an efficient drug delivery vehicle carrying hFIX used as a way of somatic gene therapy for hemophilia B.

[Mesenchymal stem cells derived from human umbilical cord tissue modulate the secretion of antiplatelet antibody from splenocytes of ITP patients in vitro].

The study was aimed to investigate the potential immunotherapeutical values of umbilical cord tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cells (UC-MSC) on patients with chronic idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP). UC-MSC was cocultured in vitro with splenocytes isolated from ITP patients who experienced splenectomy. The level of IgG antiplatelet antibody (PAIgG) was determined by a competitive micro-enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method. The proliferation of platelet-reactive CD4+ T lymphocytes was also measured in the presence of UC-MSCs. The results showed that UC-MSCs could stimulate the spontaneous secretion of PAIgG in supernatants; In the platelet-inducing condition, UC-MSC inhibited the production of PAIgG at a low ratio of 1 UC-MSC to 100 splenocytes, but promoted at a high proportion of 1 UC-MSC to 10 splenocytes. Moreover, UC-MSC exerted a suppressive effect on proliferation of platelet-reactive T helper cells in a dose-dependent manner. It is concluded that the UC-MSCs can regulate secretion of antiplatelet antibodies in vitro. Its concrete regulation mechanism and potential immunotherapeutical value are need to further study.