miR-21 promotes proliferation and inhibits apoptosis of hepatic stellate cells through targeting PTEN/PI3K/AKT pathway.

To investigate the effect of microRNA 21 (miR-21) on hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) proliferation and apoptosis, and further to study its potential mechanisms. LX-2 cells were divided into miR-21 mimic group (Mimic), miR-21 mimic negative control group (NM), miR-21 inhibitor group (Inhibitor), miR-21 inhibitor negative control group (NC), and blank control group (Control). The cell proliferation was detected by CCK-8 assay and the cell migration and invasion were detected by scratch and transwell assay. Cell cycle and apoptosis were detected by flow cytometry. The levels of interleukin (IL)-6, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, and transforming growth factor (TGF)-ß1 were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Proliferation, apoptosis, and phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN)/phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)/protein kinase B (AKT) signaling pathway related genes and proteins were detected by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) and western blot, respectively. The cells proliferation, migration, and invasion were promoted in Mimic group. The levels of IL-6, TNF-α, and TGF-ß1 were increased after miR-21 administration. The expression of α-smooth muscle actin (SMA) and collagen 1 (Colla1) were increased, while Bax/B-cell lymphoma (Bcl)-2 ratio and programed cell death 4 (PDCD4) were reduced after miR­21 treatment. Meanwhile, the mRNA and protein expression of PTEN were reduced and PI3K/AKT pathway been promoted. Our study demonstrated that miR-21 could promote proliferation and inhibit apoptosis of HSCs, and its mechanism may be related to PTEN/PI3K/AKT pathway.

Industrial three-division network system in China: efficiencies and their impact factors.

The industrial production system can be divided into energy consumption (EC), wastewater treatment (WWT), and waste gas treatment (WGT) stages. Based on three stages, this paper presents an empirical investigation on China's industrial efficiencies and the impact factors between 2011 and 2015. Specifically, we apply the network slacks-based measure (SBM) model to evaluate the industrial eco-efficiency, and calculate the division efficiencies via efficiency decomposition approach. Furthermore, the factors affecting the industrial efficiencies are explored through Tobit regression. We find that (1) there is a great potential to improve the eco-efficiency, and for most provinces, the EC efficiencies are highest, followed by the WGT efficiencies, and the WWT efficiencies are the lowest. (2) The efficiencies present obvious area disparities, the eco-efficiency of the eastern area is the highest except for 2012 and 2013, and the eastern area behaves best at the EC stage, while the western area at the WGT stage and the central area fluctuate greatly at the WWT stage. (3) Technological innovation and urbanization level hinder the improvements of eco-efficiency, while economic structure, industrial structure, and economic development level are positive impact factors, especially the industrial structure. Moreover, environmental regulation insignificantly affects the eco-efficiency but exerts a positive effect on the WGT efficiency.

Computational and Experimental Approaches to Decipher the Binding Mechanism of General Odorant-Binding Protein 2 from Athetis lepigone to Chlorpyrifos and Phoxim.

Insect resistance to insecticides is an increasingly serious problem, and the resistant mechanisms are complicated. The resistance research based on the chemosensory pathway is one of the hot problems at present, but the specific binding mechanism of chemosensory genes and insecticides remains elusive. The binding mechanism of AlepGOBP2 (belong to insect chemosensory gene) with two insecticides was investigated by computational and experimental approaches. Our calculation results indicated that four key residues (Phe12, Ile52, Ile94, and Phe118) could steadily interact with these two insecticides and be assigned as hotspot sites responsible for their binding affinities. The significant alkyl-π and hydrophobic interactions involved by these four hotspot residues were found to be the driving forces for their binding affinities, especially for two residues (Phe12 and Ile94) that significantly contribute to the binding of chlorpyrifos, which were also validated by our binding assay results. Furthermore, we also found that the AlepGOBP2-chlorpyrifos/phoxim complexes can be more efficiently converged in the residue-specific force field-(RSFF2C) and its higher accuracy and repeatability in protein dynamics simulation, per-residue free energy decomposition, and computational alanine scanning calculations have also been achieved in this paper. These findings provided useful insights for efficient and reliable calculation of the binding mechanism of relevant AlepGOBPs with other insecticides, facilitating to develop new and efficient insecticides targeting the key sites of AlepGOBP2.

5-(4-Meth-ylphenyl)-1,3,4-thia-diazol-2-amine.

The title compound, C(9)H(9)N(3)S, was synthesized by the reaction of 4-methyl-benzoic acid and thio-semicarbazide. The thia-diazol ring adopts a planar conformation and makes a dihedral angle of 31.19 (18)° with the phenyl ring. In the crystal, mol-ecules are linked by N-H⋯N hydrogen bonds.