Immune Infiltrates of m5C RNA Methylation-Related LncRNAs in Uterine Corpus Endometrial Carcinoma.

Aberrant 5-methylcytidine (m5C) modification plays an essential role in the progression of different cancers. More and more researchers are focusing on developing a lncRNA-based risk model to assess the clinical prognosis of cancer patients. However, the impact of m5C-related lncRNAs on the prognosis of patients with uterine corpus endometrial carcinoma (UCEC), as well as the immune microenvironment of UCEC, remains unclear. Here, we comprehensively analyzed the predictive value of m5C-associated lncRNAs in UCEC and their association with the tumor immune microenvironment, according to the information extracted from the TCGA-UCEC dataset. We identified a total of 32 m5C-associated lncRNAs that were significantly correlated with the prognosis of UCEC patients. Two molecular subtypes were determined by consensus clustering analysis of these 32 m5C-associated prognostic lncRNAs. Further data showed that cluster 1 was associated with poor clinical prognosis, advanced tumor grade, higher PD-L1 expression levels, higher ESTIMATEScore, and higher immuneScore, as well as the immune cell infiltration. Then, 17 m5C-associated lncRNAs with prognostic values were obtained using LASSO regression analysis. And a risk model was constructed based on these 17 lncRNAs. It was revealed that the risk model could be used as an independent factor for UCEC prognosis. In addition, patients with UCEC in the high-risk group had higher tumor grades and immune scores. The risk model based on m5C-related lncRNAs was also closely associated with infiltrating immune cells. In conclusion, our study elucidated the crucial roles of the identified m5C-related lncRNAs in the UCEC patients' prognoses, as well as in the immune microenvironment in UCEC. The results suggest that the components of risk models based on the m5C-related lncRNAs may serve as important mediators of the immune microenvironment in UCEC.

Facile interface engineering of hierarchical flower spherical-like Bi-metal-organic framework microsphere/Bi2MoO6 heterostructure for high-performance visible-light photocatalytic tetracycline hydrochloride degradation.

The self-assembled Bi-based metal-organic framework microspheres (Bi-MOF-M) by nanorods were successfully constructed by the glycol-assisted solvothermal method. Using Bi-MOF-M as a homologous template, a petal-like Bi2MoO6 (BMO) layer was grown in situ on its surface to facilely construct a chemically bonded heterojunction interface, realizing a micro/nano hierarchical flower spherical-like Bi-MOF-M/BMO heterojunction composite photocatalyst. The as-prepared series of Bi-MOF-M/BMO-x catalysts show higher visible light catalytic performance for tetracycline hydrochloride (TC) degradation. Among them, Bi-MOF-M/BMO-0.3 has the optimal catalytic activity, and the degradation efficiency can reach 93.6% within 60 min of light irradiation with superior mineralization ability and structural stability, and the degradation kinetic constant is 6.12 times that of Bi-MOF-M and 5.69 times that of BMO, respectively. The homologously grown Bi-MOF-M/BMO chemically bonded heterojunction not only effectively broadens the spectral absorption range and enhances the absorption intensity but also promotes the efficient separation of photogenerated carriers through forming a favorable interfacial electric field and well-matched energy band alignment. A reasonable mechanism for the visible light degradation of TC by the Bi-MOF-M/BMO composite catalyst with h+ and 1O2 as the main reactive species is proposed. The micro/nano hierarchical structure of the Bi-MOF/BMO catalyst allows it to exhibit the easy recovery advantage of micron-scale materials while maintaining the high catalytic activity of the primary nano-components.

Electrochemical Detection of Phosphate Ion in Body Fluids with a Magnesium Phosphate Modified Electrode.

An electrochemical sensor for phosphate detection in body fluids was developed based on the hydration transition of magnesium hydrogen phosphate (newberyite, MgHPO4·3H2O). The sensor was fabricated through incubation of a multi-walled carbon nanotube/Nafion (MWCNT/Nafion) modified glassy carbon electrode (GCE) in magnesium phosphate solution, where MgHPO4·3H2O was self-assembled on the electrode surface (denoted as MgP/MWCNT/Nafion). An electrooxidation peak at 1.0 V vs. Ag/AgCl was observed when the as-prepared electrode was subjected to a differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) scan in the presence of phosphate in acetate solution. When the DPV scan was performed in 0.4 - 1.3 V vs. Ag/AgCl, a linear relationship was observed between the peak height and the phosphate concentration in the range from 0.01 to 25 µM in the presence of 0.1 mM Mg2+ in the acetate solution with a limit of detection of 32 nM. And the sensor was successfully applied for phosphate detection in human urine and saliva samples with recoveries of 94.7 - 104.4 and 96 - 103.3%, respectively.

Electroactive Cu2O nanocubes engineered electrochemical sensor for H2S detection.

An electrochemical sensor was proposed for the detection of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) at room temperature, by using electroactive Cu2O nanocubes (NCs) as an electrochemical beacon. Electroactive Cu2O NCs were synthesized on the surface of reduced graphene oxide (rGO)/Fe3O4 nanosheets (NSs) due to the good electronic conductivity and well-responded magnetic responses. The fabricated rGO/Fe3O4/Cu2O NSs not only showed electrochemical oxidization peak at -0.1 V from Cu2O NCs, and could be served as sensitive electrochemical beacon for the simple modification on magnetic electrodes in the applications. The unique redox reaction between Cu2O NCs and H2S enabled the transformation of Cu2O NCs to Cu9S8 NCs, resulting in decreased electroxidation responses at -0.1 V. The constructed electrochemical platform had a limit of detection (LOD) of 230 pM and a detection range of 500 pM-100 µM. The simple and cheap electrochemical sensor developed in this paper showed potential application for H2S detection.

A facile electroless preparation of Cu, Sn and Sb oxides coated Ti electrode for electrocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants.

Electrocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants is an encouraging technology for wastewater treatment. To achieve practical application, electrode plate with cost effective fabrication, high catalytic efficiency and long service life is urgently required. This work prepared a CuO-SnO2-SbOX electrode on Ti substrate, which is achieved by ultrasonic assisted deposition of Cu layer, followed by electroless deposition of SnSb layer and finalized by calcination at 500 °C. The obtained electrode (Ti/CuO-SnO2-SbOX) exhibited high catalytic degradation activity and a high oxygen evolution potential (OEP) of 2.13 V, which is 0.4 V greater than that of the widely recognized Ti/SnO2-SbOX electrode. The oxygen evolution reaction (OER) models of active oxygen intermediate adsorption was optimized by density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The results revealed that (1) the ΔG of the OER rate-determining step was raised to 2.30 eV after Cu doping on 101 plane; (2) binding energies of the optimized surface with reactive oxygen species (ROS) were substantially decreased. Furthermore, the as-prepared electrode has a high yield of hydroxyl radical generation as evidenced by terephthalic acid detection. The potential for hydroxyl radical generation was measured to be 1.8 V at pH = 12 and 2.6 V at pH = 2.The catalytic degradation rate of methylene blue (MB) follows pseudo first order reaction kinetics, and the reaction constant K value reached 0.02964 -k/min-1, twice as much as that obtained from electrodeposition electrode (Ti/Cu/SnO2-SbOX). A degradation rate of 94.6% was achieved for MB in 100 min in the first run, and the value remained over 85% in the subsequent 10 runs. At the same conditions, the degradation rate of p-nitrophenol was over 90% in 100 min and complete mineralization was achieved in 4 h.

Facile fabrication of flower-like MnO2 hollow microspheres as high-performance catalysts for toluene oxidation.

A facile and robust interface reaction method for controllable synthesis of hierarchically structured flower-like MnO2 hollow microspheres was developed at a low cost. With MnCO3 microspheres as homologous templates, KMnO4 was used to conduct redox reactions with the surface layer of the MnCO3 microspheres to form porous flower-like MnO2. Then, the internal template was removed by HCl etching to obtain flower-like MnO2 hollow microspheres. HCl plays the dual role of removing the template and generating oxygen vacancies through acid etching. The as-prepared flower-like MnO2 hollow microspheres exhibited excellent low-temperature catalytic activity for toluene oxidation owing to the desirable features of a high specific surface area, abundant oxygen vacancies, high content of Mn4+, a high number of acidic sites and a strong acidity. This work provides a new strategy for the facile construction of high-performance volatile organic compounds oxidation catalysts with industrial application prospects.

TBL1XR1 induces cell proliferation and inhibit cell apoptosis by the PI3K/AKT pathway in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.

BACKGROUND: Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is one of the deadliest solid tumors. Identification of diagnostic and therapeutic biomarkers for PDAC is urgently needed. Transducin (ß)-like 1 X-linked receptor 1 (TBL1XR1) has been linked to the progression of various human cancers. Nevertheless, the function and role of TBL1XR1 in pancreatic cancers are unclear. AIM: To elucidate the function and potential mechanism of TBL1XR1 in the development of PDAC. METHODS: Ninety patients with histologically-confirmed PDAC were included in this study. PDAC tumor samples and cell lines were used to determine the expression of TBL1XR1. CCK-8 assays and colony formation assays were carried out to assess PDAC cell viability. Flow cytometry was performed to measure the changes in the cell cycle and cell apoptosis. Changes in related protein expression were measured by western blot analysis. Animal analysis was conducted to confirm the impact of TBL1XR1 in vivo. RESULTS: Patients with TBL1XR1-positive tumors had worse overall survival than those with TBL1XR1-negative tumors. Moreover, we found that TBL1XR1 strongly promoted PDAC cell proliferation and inhibited PDAC cell apoptosis. Moreover, knockdown of TBL1XR1 induced G0/G1 phase arrest. In vivo animal studies confirmed that TBL1XR1 accelerated tumor cell growth. The results of western blot analysis showed that TBL1XR1 might play a key role in regulating PDAC cell proliferation and apoptosis via the PI3K/AKT pathway. CONCLUSION: TBL1XR1 promoted PDAC cell progression and might be an effective diagnostic and therapeutic marker for pancreatic cancer.

Potassium Ferrate(VI) as a Highly Efficient and Environmentally Friendly Chemiluminescence Reagent in Acidic Solution.

Herein we report that the reactions of potassium ferrate (VI) with a number of reductants can produce strong chemiluminescence (CL) in acidic aqueous solution. The CL Spectra were registered and compared with the classical KMnO4 and NaClO-H2O2 CL systems. The characteristic emission peaks at 1268 and 1050 nm were observed, which are consistent to the spectrum obtained from the NaClO-H2O2 system. Additional emission bands at 680 nm further confirmed the formation of singlet oxygen dimers. The high CL intensity and the chemically green nature of K2FeO4, prompt us to further develop it as a novel CL reagent. Sensitive response and wide calibration ranges were obtained for dopamine, ascorbic acid, and ethanol. The linear range for the determination of three analytes were 50 nM to 50 µM for dopamine (LOD: 20 nM), 5.0 µM to 1.0 mM for ascorbic acid (LOD: 2.21 µM), and 0.5 µM to 1.0 mM for ethanol (LOD: 0.30 µM). Thus, K2FeO4 has a great potential for the postcolumn detection of those UV featureless compounds.

Catalytic conversion of cellulose to 5-hydroxymethyl furfural using acidic ionic liquids and co-catalyst.

Efficient catalytic conversion of microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) to 5-hydroxymethyl furfural (HMF), is achieved using acidic ionic liquids (ILs) as the catalysts and metal salts as co-catalysts in the solvent of 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazo-lium acetate ([emim][Ac]). A series of acidic ILs has been synthesized and tested in conversion of MCC to HMF. The effect of reaction conditions, such as reaction time, temperature, catalyst dosage, metal salts, water dosage, Cu(2+) concentration and various acidic ILs are investigated in detail. The results show that CuCl(2) in 1-(4-sulfonic acid) butyl-3-methylimidazolium methyl sulfate ([C(4)SO(3)Hmim][CH(3)SO(3)]), is found to be an efficient catalyst for catalytic conversion of MCC to HMF, and 69.7% yield of HMF is obtained. A mechanism to explain the high activity of CuCl(2) in [C(4)SO(3)Hmim][CH(3)SO(3)] is proposed. To the best of our knowledge, this report first proposes that the Cu(2+) and [C(4)SO(3)Hmim][CH(3)SO(3)] show better catalytic performance in catalytic conversion of MCC to HMF.

Linear sweep voltammetric studies on the complex of alizarin red s with aloe polysaccharide and determination of aloe polysaccharide.

A new electrochemical method for the determination of aloe polysaccharide based on its interaction with alizarin red s was established on a pretreated glassy carbon electrode in pH 3.5 Britton-Robinson buffer solution by linear sweep voltammetry in this work. The decrease of the second order derivative linear sweep voltammetric reductive peak current of alizarin red s is in proportion to aloe polysaccharide concentration due to the formation of a complex between them in the range from 0.032 to 0.448µmolL(-1), and the detection limit is 0.0051µmolL(-1) (3σ). The binding ratio and the binding constant of the complex were calculated as 1:1 and 2.75×10(4), respectively. Different kinds of complex samples of aloe polysaccharide were detected satisfactorily by this method.

Theoretical and experimental investigation on dissolution and regeneration of cellulose in ionic liquid.

Density functional theory calculations and atoms in molecules theory were performed to investigate the mechanism of cellulose dissolution and regeneration in 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate ([emim]Ac), and (1,4)-dimethoxy-ß-D-glucose (Glc) was chosen as the model for cellulose. The theoretical results show that the interaction of [emim]Ac with Glc is stronger than that of Glc with Glc. Further studies indicate that the anion acetate of [emim]Ac forms strong H-bonds with hydroxyl groups of Glc. It is also observed that the H-bonds between [emim]Ac and Glc are weakened or even destroyed by the addition of water. In addition, both the original and regenerated cellulose samples were characterized with FT-IR, XRD, TGA and SEM. The experimental results prove that cellulose can be readily reconstituted from the [emim]Ac-based cellulose solution by the addition of water and the crystalline structure of cellulose is converted to cellulose II from cellulose I in the original cellulose.

Chitosan modification and pharmaceutical/biomedical applications.

Chitosan has received much attention as a functional biopolymer for diverse applications, especially in pharmaceutics and medicine. Our recent efforts focused on the chemical and biological modification of chitosan in order to increase its solubility in aqueous solutions and absorbability in the in vivo system, thus for a better use of chitosan. This review summarizes chitosan modification and its pharmaceutical/biomedical applications based on our achievements as well as the domestic and overseas developments: (1) enzymatic preparation of low molecular weight chitosans/chitooligosaccharides with their hypocholesterolemic and immuno-modulating effects; (2) the effects of chitin, chitosan and their derivatives on blood hemostasis; and (3) synthesis of a non-toxic ion ligand--D-Glucosaminic acid from oxidation of D-Glucosamine for cancer and diabetes therapy.