Implications of biomarkers in human hepatocellular carcinoma pathogenesis and therapy

Hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC)is one of the most frequent tumors worldwide and accounts for approximately one-third of all malignancies.In the past decade,advances have been made to improve the prognosis of HCC,including improvement in the clinical diagnosis of early-stage HCC using molecular biomarkers and molecular-targeted therapy to treat advanced HCC.However,the diagnosis,pathogenesis and targeted therapy of HCC are not completely independent,and should be comprehensively studied.For example,a number of tumor markers provide useful clinical information not only for prognosis,but also in pathogenesis and treatment efficacy.Therefore,this review will focus on the role of several specific biomarkers implicated in the pathogenesis of HCC and several promising molecular-targeted drugs that target the biomarkers of HCC.

Characteristic improvements of thin film AlGaInP red light emitting diodes on a metallic substrate

We report a type of thin film Al Ga In P red light emitting diode（RLED） on a metallic substrate by electroplating copper（Cu） to eliminate the absorption of Ga As grown substrate.The fabrication of the thin film RLED is presented in detail.Almost no degradations of epilayers properties are observed after this substrate transferred process.Photoluminescence and electroluminescence are measured to investigate the luminous characteristics.The thin film RLED shows a significant enhancement of light output power（LOP） by improving the injection efficiency and light extraction efficiency compared with the reference RLED on the Ga As parent substrate.The LOPs are specifically enhanced by 73.5% and 142% at typical injections of 2 A/cm^2 and 35 A/cm^2 respectively from electroluminescence.Moreover,reduced forward voltages,stable peak wavelengths and full widths at half maximum are obtained with the injected current increasing.These characteristic improvements are due to the Cu substrate with great current spreading and the back reflection by bottom electrodes.The substrate transferred technology based on electroplating provides an optional way to prepare high-performance optoelectronic devices,especially for thin film types.

Effect of Dopant Concentration in a Base Layer on Photocurrent–Voltage Characteristics of Photovoltaic Power Converters

It is known that the p–n junction of an absorption region is a crucial part for power conversion efficiency of photovoltaic power converters.We fabricate four samples with different dopant concentrations in base layers.The dependences of power conversion efficiency and fill factor on input power are displayed by photocurrent–voltage measurement.Photoluminescence characteristics under open circuit and connected circuit conditions are also studied.It is found that the status of p–n junction matching is the critical factor in affecting the power conversion efficiency.In addition,series resistance of photovoltaic power converters impairs the efficiency especially at high input powers.Both the key factors need to be considered to obtain high efficiency,and this work provides promising guidance on designing photovoltaic power converters.

Prevalence of Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus in Uygur and Han populations from the Urumqi and Kashgar regions of Xinjiang, China

Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus(KSHV) is the infectious etiologic agent associated with Kaposi's sarcoma(KS), primary effusion lymphoma, and multicentric Castleman disease. It has been shown that high KSHV prevalence and high incidence of both classic KS and AIDSassociated KS are found mostly among people of Uygur ethnicity in Xinjiang, while people of Han ethnicity in Xinjiang have a higher KSHV seroprevalence than those of other Han populations in China's Mainland. However, it is still unclear why there is such geographical and population variation in KSHV distribution in China. In this work, we focused on the populations in the Kashgar region and Urumqi area, where a total of 1294 research subjects were randomly selected to investigate the potential correlation between KSHV prevalence and different ethnicities in endemic areas of Xinjiang, and to determine risk factors that may affect KSHV infection rates or KS incidence. We identified a high seroprevalence of KSHV and high peripheral blood DNA infection in the general Uygur and Han populations in both Urumqi and Kashgar regions of Xinjiang, and determined that advancing age, low education level, and stationary population status affect KSHV infection rates. Further, KSHV-positive Uygur participants were shown to have higher prevalence of neutralizing antibodies and neutralizing antibody titers than KSHV-positive Han participants.

Rational design of three-dimensional nitrogen and phosphorus co-doped graphene nanoribbons/CNTs composite for the oxygen reduction

In the present work, we report nitrogen and phosphorus co-doped 3-D structured carbon nanotube intercalated graphene nanoribbon composite. The graphene nanoribbons are prepared via partial exfoliation of multi-walled carbon nanotubes. In the graphene nanoribbons/CNTs composite, carbon nanotubes play a role of skeleton and support the exfoliated graphene nanoribbons to form the stereo structure. After high temperature heat-treatment with ammonium dihydrogen phosphate, the unique structure reserves both the properties of carbon nanotube and graphene, exhibiting excellent catalytic performance for the ORR with excellent onset and half-wave potential, which is similar to commercial Pt/C electrocatalysts.

Study on Phase Transformation Behavior of Strain-induced PLLA Mesophase by Polarized Infrared Spectroscopy

The structural transformation of mesophase to crystalline phase of strain-induced poly(L-lactic acid) has been investigated by differential scanning calorimetry(DSC) and in situ temperature dependent polarized Fourier transform infrared(FTIR) spectroscopy. It is found that, as the drawing temperature increases, melting of strain-induced mesophase in the heating process can remarkably interfere the crystallization behavior subsequently. Coupling with in situ polarized FTIR, from 60 °C to 76 °C, the mesophase melts partially rather than completely melting, and changes immediately to three-dimensional ordered structure. Of particular note, through monitoring the subtle spectral change in the critical phase transformation temperature from 60 °C to 64 °C, it is clearly demonstrated that relaxation of oriented amorphous chains initially takes place prior to the melting of mesophase.

Analysis of cyclin E co-expression genes reveals nuclear transcription factor Y subunit alpha is an oncogene in gastric cancer

Objective: To explore genes potentially co-expressed with cyclin E in gastric cancer and discover possible targets for gastric cancer treatment. Methods: The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) stomach adenocarcinoma sequencing data were used to predict genes co-expressed with cyclin E. Co-expression genes predicted by cBioPortal online analysis with Pearson correlation coefficient ≥0.4 were analyzed by gene ontology (GO) enrichment annotation using the PANTHER online platform (Ver. 7). Interactions between proteins encoded by these genes were analyzed using the STRING online platform (Ver. 10.5) and Cytoscape software (Ver. 3.5.1). Genes displaying a high degree of connection were analyzed by transcription factor enrichment prediction using FunRich software (Ver. 3). The significant transcription factor and cyclin E expression levels and their impact on gastric cancer progression were analyzed by Western blotting and Kaplan-Meier survival curve analysis. Results: After filtering the co-expression gene prediction results, 78 predicted genes that included 73 protein coding genes and 5 non-coding genes with Pearson correlation coefficient ≥0.4 were selected. The expressions of the genes were considered to be correlated with cyclin E expression. Among the 78 genes co-expressed with cyclin E, 19 genes at the central of the regulatory network associated with cyclin E were discovered. Nuclear transcription factor Y subunit alpha (NF-YA) was identified as a significant transcription factor associated with cyclin E co-expressing genes. Analysis of specimen donors’ clinical records revealed that high expression of NF-YA tended to be associated with increased cyclin E expression. The expression of both was associated with progression of gastric cancer. Western blotting results showed that compared with normal tissues, NF-YA and cyclin E were highly expressed in tumor tissues (P < 0.001). Survival curve analysis clearly demonstrated relatively poor overall survival of gastric cancer patients with high cyclin E or high NF-YA expression level, compared to patients with low cyclin E or NF-YA expression (P < 0.05). Conclusions: NF-YA may promote gastric cancer progression by increasing the transcription of cyclin E and other cell cycle regulatory genes. NF-YA might be a potential therapeutically useful prognostic factor for gastric cancer.

Effect of Solvent Annealing Temperature on Crystal Modifications and Phase Transition Behavior of Regioregular Poly(3-octylthiophene)

In present study, the effect of the solvent annealing temperature on the crystal modifications and the phase transition behavior of the subsequently dried poly（3-octylthiophene） （P3OT） film has been investigated by the combination of DSC, WAXD and FTIR techniques. When chloroform is employed as the solvent, it is unexpectedly found that form I and form II crystal modifications of P3OT could be respectively obtained by room temperature and low temperature annealing. Comparing to the mostly used solvent reported for preparing form II, i.e. carbon disulfide （CS2） which is toxic and corrosive, chloroform is less toxic and corrosive and more suitable for solution processing of P3OT. Therefore, this finding provides an alternative way to obtain form II. By temperature dependent IR spectroscopy, the structural evolution of P3OT during the form II to form I phase transition process has also been studied in detail.

Synergistic rare-earth yttrium single atoms and copper phosphide nanoparticles for high-selectivity ammonia electrosynthesis

Electrochemical nitrate reduction to NH_(3)holds a great promise for N-upcycling in nature,while its sluggish reaction kinetics involved in both the stepwise deoxygenation and hydrogenation processes necessitates the development of bespoke catalysts with multi-site engineering.Herein,we report a hybrid catalyst composed of rare-earth(RE)yttrium(Y)single atoms and copper phosphide(Cu_(3)P)nanoparticles loaded on N,P-doped carbon(Y_(SA)-Cu_(3)P/CNP)through a chelating and pyrolysis method.Owing to a synergistic contribution of Y single atoms and Cu_(3)P nanoparticles,Y_(SA)-Cu_(3)P/CNP achieves an impressive NH_(3)Faradaic efficiency(FE)of 92%at-0.5V(vs.RHE)and the highest NH_(3)yield rate of11.4 mg·h^(-1)·cm^(-2)at-0.6 V(vs.RHE)in an alkaline media,which surpass most of the reported electrocatalysts.The intricate reaction pathway has been explored by online differential electrochemical mass spectrometry(DEMS),and the synergistic effect between Y single atoms and Cu_(3)P nanoparticles has been studied by in situ synchrotron X-ray absorption spectroscopy.Moreover,density-functional theory(DFT)calculations unveil that the high-efficiency nitrate reduction on Y_(SA)-Cu_(3)P/CNP is attributed to a reduced energy barrier of the rate-determining deoxygenation step coupled with the enhanced stabilization of active hydrogen favorable for the hydrogenation steps,thereby boosting the overall reaction rates.In addition,a prototype Zn-nitrate battery utilizing Y_(SA)-Cu_(3)P/CNP as the cathode is unveiled.This work not only elucidates the mechanism behind the enhanced catalytic performance but also paves the way for the future development of highefficiency electrocatalysts through dual-site engineering.