Adsorption properties of hollow carbon spheres to gaseous cyclohexane using DFT simulation and experiments.

The cyclohexane is the common toxic volatiles emitted from the various industry in worldwide leading to environmental degradation and human illnesses. Hence, there is a requirement for an efficient and stable adsorbent for adsorbing these toxic molecules to safeguard human health and the air atmosphere. Hollow carbon spheres (HCS) are a new type of carbon nanomaterial with large specific surface area, low density, and good chemical and thermal stability. In this study, DFT simulations and static-dynamic adsorption studies of cyclohexane were carried out using HCS as the adsorbent material. Among them, static adsorption focuses on adsorption/desorption isotherm, adsorption isotherm model fitting and isosteric heat of adsorption. Dynamic adsorption was mainly studied the effect of initial concentrations, gas flow rate, and ambient temperature on adsorption performance. The results showed that HCS exhibited very good performance in cyclohexane adsorption.

Ultrasensitive and Self-Powered Multiparameter Pressure-Temperature-Humidity Sensor Based on Ultra-Flexible Conductive Silica Aerogel.

The application of silica aerogel has been limited because of its poor mechanical properties. In order to expand the application scope of silica aerogel, this study fabricated an ultra-flexible conductive silica aerogel as a multiparameter sensor. The sample is fabricated by introducing poly (3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT:PSS) on a base of ultra-flexible silica aerogel, which was prepared by a diene synthesis reaction at atmospheric pressure. The pressure, temperature, and humidity can be converted into electrical signals. The pressure sensitivity can reach up to 54.88 kPa-1, and the detection limit is as low as 5 Pa. The temperature resolution is up to 0.1 K, and the response time of humidity is within 4 s. More importantly, the developed multiparameter sensor can be self-powered to realize multiparameter sensing of pressure, temperature, and humidity. The ultra-flexible conductive silica aerogel is a promising candidate for monitoring human activities and fire-affected areas.

Expression of CD40 is a positive prognostic factor of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma treated with R-CHOP (rituximab, cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisone).

OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study was to investigate the expression level of CD40 and its role in the prognosis of patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) who were treated with rituximab-CHOP (rituximab, cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisone). DESIGN AND METHODS: The immunohistochemical expressions of CD40 in 186 well-characterized DLBCL patients were evaluated by tissue microarrays, thereby revealing the relationship of the molecule CD40 with known tumor, patient-related variables, and survival rates. RESULTS: The results showed that CD40 expressions were not statistically different between the germinal center B-cell-like (GCB) type and the non-GCB type. We also analyzed the relationships of CD40 expression with overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) in DLBCL patients who were uniformly treated with R-CHOP. A low expression of CD40 compared to high expression is related to poor OS and PFS. CONCLUSION: Our findings indicate that the CD40 level at onset acts as an independent prognostic predictor of DLBCL patients treated with R-CHOP.

Low expression of miRNA-224 predicts poor clinical outcome in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma treated with R-CHOP.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the expression and prognostic value of miR-224 expression in patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) who underwent R-CHOP. MATERIALS AND METHODS: RT-PCR was used to determine the relative expression of miR-224, in 258 DLBCL patients and 40 normal lymphoid tissue specimens. RESULTS: MiR-224 expression in DLBCL patients was significantly down-regulated compared to that in negative controls (p < 0.05). The 5-year progression-free survival and overall survival rates were significantly higher in the high-expression level group compared to the low-expression level group (p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: MiR-224 expression level is implicated as a prognostic marker for DLBCL patients treated with R-CHOP.

Lack of association between CYP17 Mspa1 polymorphism and prostate cancer risk: a meta-analysis of 14494 cases and 15971 controls.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: A T-to-C polymorphism that creates a recognition site for the MspA1 restriction enzyme in the 5' promoter region of CYP17 has been implicated as a risk factor for prostate cancer. To date, many studies have evaluated associations between the CYP17 MspA1 polymorphism and prostate cancer risk; however, the results were controversial. Therefore, the aim of this study was to perform a meta-analysis to investigate the association between the CYP17 MspA1 polymorphism and the risk of prostate cancer. MATERIAL AND METHODS: By searching the Pubmed, Web of Science, ScienceDirect, EBSCO databases, 36 studies including 14 494 cases and 15 971 controls were collected. Odds ratios (ORs) with their 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were used to assess the strength of the association. RESULTS: The overall results showed no significant association between the CYP17 MspA1 polymorphism and the risk of prostate cancer (OR, 1.07; 95% CI, 0.92-1.25 for A2/A2 vs. A1/A1; OR, 1.02; 95% CI, 0.92-1.12 for A1/A2 vs. A1/A1; OR, 1.07; 95% CI, 0.94-1.22 for A2/A2 vs. A1/A2+A1/A1; OR, 1.03; 95% CI, 0.93-1.14 for A1/A2+A2/A2 vs. A1/A1). In the stratified analysis according to ethnicity, no significant associations were observed in Asian, European, and African populations in all genetic models. In the stratified analysis by the source of controls and inpatients were found to have an increased risk of prostate cancer in all genetic models. CONCLUSIONS: The meta-analysis suggests that the CYP17 MspA1 polymorphism is unlikely to increase the risk of prostate cancer in a wide population.

Loss of imprinting of IGF2 correlates with hypomethylation of the H19 differentially methylated region in the tumor tissue of colorectal cancer patients.

Expression of the imprinted genes insulin-like growth factor 2 (IGF2) and H19 depends on the methylation pattern of their differentially methylated region (DMR) located on chromosome 11p15. In the present study, we examined the imprinting status of the IGF2 gene in 120 human colorectal cancer (CRC) patients and 150 normal controls. In addition, we analyzed the DNA methylation of the sixth CTCF-binding site in the DMR of IGF2/H19 in 81 CRC patients using bisulfate sequencing. Of a total of 81 informative (heterozygous) samples, 51 samples showed bialleic IGF2 expression in tumor samples; however, only 15 of 69 informative samples showed loss of imprinting (LOI) of IGF2 in normal controls. Statistically significant differences in the methylation status between the retention of imprinting (ROI) and LOI groups (66.1±14.9 vs. 16.7±9.2, p=0.008) were observed. The results of the present study suggest that LOI of IGF2 is important in the carcinogenesis of CRC. Hypomethylation of the sixth CTCF-binding site in the DMR of IGF2/H19 is linked to LOI and the common IGF2-H19 enhancer competition model for IGF2 imprinting does not apply to human CRC.

CD147 silencing via RNA interference reduces tumor cell invasion, metastasis and increases chemosensitivity in pancreatic cancer cells.

CD147, which belongs to the immunoglobulin superfamily, is a multifunctional glycoprotein that has been shown to increase tumor invasion, metastasis and multidrug resistance. To define the role of CD147 in invasion and metastasis more precisely, we utilized gene silencing to inhibit the expression of CD147 in pancreatic cancer cells. We observed that CD147 expression was significantly impeded at both the mRNA and protein levels and resulted in a decrease of MMP-2 and MMP-9 activities. There was also a decrease of MCT1 expression in the invasion and metastasis potential of pancreatic cancer cells, as well as increased chemosensitivity to gemcitabine in Panc-1 cells. Overall, these results suggest that CD147 plays an important role in the invasion, metastasis and chemosensitivity of the human pancreatic cancer cell line Panc-1, indicating that CD147 may be a promising therapeutic target for pancreatic cancer.

Genetic variation in the promoter of DNMT3B is associated with the risk of colorectal cancer.

PURPOSE: DNA methyltransferase-3B (DNMT3B) plays an important role in the generation of aberrant methylation in carcinogenesis. Polymorphisms of the DNMT3B gene may influence DNMT3B enzyme activity on DNA methylation, thereby modulating the susceptibility to colorectal cancer (CRC). METHODS: The polymorphisms in the promoter region of the DNMT3B gene [-149C>T (rs2424913) and -579G>T (rs1569686)] were detected by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP), and a total of 544 CRC patients and 533 age- and sex-matched healthy controls were enrolled in the case-control study. RESULTS: The results showed that the -579G allele was associated with a significantly decreased risk of CRC (adjusted OR, 0.50; 95%CI, 0.35-0.72; P = 0.0002) when compared with the -579TT genotype. However, the DNMT3B-149CT genotype was not associated with the risk of CRC (adjusted OR, 0.48; 95%CI, 0.18-1.30; P = 0.151). In addition, stratification analysis revealed that the increased risk was predominant in both colon cancer and rectal cancer showing no effect of primary occurrence site. CONCLUSION: Our research demonstrated the -579G allele was a potential protective factor for the occurrence of CRC.

Inhibition of CD147 gene expression via RNA interference reduces tumor cell invasion, tumorigenicity and increases chemosensitivity to cisplatin in laryngeal carcinoma Hep2 cells.

CD147, also named extracelluar matrix metalloproteinase inducer (EMMPRIN), is a member of the immunoglobulin family and a glycoprotein enriched on the surface of tumor cells, which promotes invasion, metastasis, growth and survival of malignant cells, and is known to confer resistance to some chemotherapeutic drugs. To determine the possible role of CD147 in the invasive properties of laryngeal carcinoma, we used an RNA interference approach to silence CD147 expression in the Hep2 cell line at high levels of CD147 expression. Our results showed that CD147 expression was significantly impeded at both mRNA and protein levels, which resulted in a decrease of the Hep2 invasion activity in vitro and tumorigenicity in nude mice. The suppression of CD147 expression also sensitized cells to cisplatin. Our current results indicated that CD147 was a laryngeal carcinoma-related gene and CD147 might be a potential target for therapeutic anti-cancer drugs.

Association between polymorphisms in RAPGEF1, TP53, NRF1 and type 2 diabetes in Chinese Han population.

Type 2 diabetes is a common complex disorder with environmental and genetic components. The aim of the present study was to investigate the association between the polymorphisms of RAPGEF1, TP53 and NRF1 and the risk of type 2 diabetes in the Chinese Han population. We genotyped rs11243444 (RAPGEF1), rs1042522 (TP53) and rs1882095 (NRF1) in a case-control study, including 273 type 2 diabetes and 247 healthy controls. A significant association was found in a variant of TP53 (rs1042522, odd ratio (OR)=1.28, 95% confidence interval (CI)=1.00-1.64; P=0.046), whereas polymorphisms in RAPGEF1, NRF1 were not associated with the risk of type 2 diabetes. Furthermore, a potential gene-gene interaction showed the odds of being affected with type 2 diabetes was 2.54 times greater in subjects with the TP53 (rs1042522) and RAPGEF1 (rs11243444) risk alleles than those without either (95% CI=1.34-4.81; P=0.004) and the NRF1 gene polymorphism reached significance when paired with TP53:(OR=3.87, 95% CI=1.87-8.40; P=0.0006). We demonstrated that the polymorphism in TP53 (rs1042522) was associated with type 2 diabetes, and that potential interaction of TP53 (rs1042522) and RAPGEF1 (rs11243444), or NRF1 (rs1882095) increased the risk of type 2 diabetes.