MicroRNA-100 inhibits breast cancer cell proliferation, invasion and migration by targeting FOXA1.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs/miRs) are highly conserved single-stranded small non-coding RNAs, which are involved in the physiological and pathological processes of breast cancer, and affect the prognosis of patients with breast cancer. The present study used the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO)2R tool to detect miR-100 expression in breast cancer tissues obtained from GEO breast cancer-related datasets. Bioinformatics analysis revealed that miR-100 expression was downregulated in different stages, grades and lymph node metastasis stages of breast cancer, and patients with high miR-100 expression had a more favorable prognosis. Based on these analyses, Cell Counting Kit-8, wound healing and Transwell assays were performed, and the results demonstrated that overexpression of miR-100 inhibited the proliferation, migration and invasion of breast cancer cells. To verify the tumor-suppressive effect of miR-100 in breast cancer, the LinkedOmics and PITA databases were used to assess the association between miR-100 and forkhead box A1 (FOXA1). The results demonstrated that miR-100 had binding sites within the FOXA1 gene, and FOXA1 expression was negatively associated with miR-100 expression in breast cancer tissues. Similarly, a negative association was observed between miR-100 and FOXA1 expression, using the StarBase V3.0 database. The association between miR-100 and FOXA1 was further verified via reverse transcription-quantitative PCR and western blot analyses, and the dual-luciferase reporter assay. The results demonstrated that miR-100 targeted the 3'-untranslated region of FOXA1 in breast cancer cells. Furthermore, rescue experiments were performed to confirm whether miR-100 exerts its antitumor effects by regulating FOXA1. The results demonstrated that overexpression of FOXA1 promoted the proliferation, migration and invasion of breast cancer cells; thus, the antitumor effects of miR-100 in breast cancer were reversed following overexpression of FOXA1. Taken together, the results of the present study suggest that miR-100 inhibits the proliferation, migration and invasion of breast cancer cells by targeting FOXA1 expression. These results may provide a novel insight and an experimental basis for identifying effective therapeutic targets of high specificity for breast cancer.

Multi-Scale Microstructural Thermoelectric Materials: Transport Behavior, Non-Equilibrium Preparation, and Applications.

Considering only about one third of the world's energy consumption is effectively utilized for functional uses, and the remaining is dissipated as waste heat, thermoelectric (TE) materials, which offer a direct and clean thermal-to-electric conversion pathway, have generated a tremendous worldwide interest. The last two decades have witnessed a remarkable development in TE materials. This Review summarizes the efforts devoted to the study of non-equilibrium synthesis of TE materials with multi-scale structures, their transport behavior, and areas of applications. Studies that work towards the ultimate goal of developing highly efficient TE materials possessing multi-scale architectures are highlighted, encompassing the optimization of TE performance via engineering the structures with different dimensional aspects spanning from the atomic and molecular scales, to nanometer sizes, and to the mesoscale. In consideration of the practical applications of high-performance TE materials, the non-equilibrium approaches offer a fast and controllable fabrication of multi-scale microstructures, and their scale up to industrial-size manufacturing is emphasized here. Finally, the design of two integrated power generating TE systems are described-a solar thermoelectric-photovoltaic hybrid system and a vehicle waste heat harvesting system-that represent perhaps the most important applications of thermoelectricity in the energy conversion area.

Top-Down Strategy to Synthesize Mesoporous Dual Carbon Armored MnO Nanoparticles for Lithium-Ion Battery Anodes.

To overcome inferior rate capability and cycle stability of MnO-based materials as a lithium-ion battery anode associated with the pulverization and gradual aggregation during the conversion process, we constructed robust mesoporous N-doped carbon (N-C) protected MnO nanoparticles on reduced graphene oxide (rGO) (MnO@N-C/rGO) by a simple top-down incorporation strategy. Such dual carbon protection endows MnO@N-C/rGO with excellent structural stability and enhanced charge transfer kinetics. At 100 mA g-1, it exhibits superior rate capability as high as 864.7 mAh g-1, undergoing the deep charge/discharge for 70 cycles and outstanding cyclic stability (after 1300 cyclic tests at 2000 mA g-1; 425.0 mAh g-1 remains, accompanying merely 0.004% capacity decay per cycle). This facile method provides a novel strategy for synthesis of porous electrodes by making use of highly insulating materials.