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Atherosclerosis (AS) is one of the main potential factors of cardiovascular disease (a disease with the highest mortality).1 It seriously endangers human health, especially the health and intellectual activities of middle- and old-aged people. It is noted that cerebral AS may cause acute cerebral circulatory disorders and chronic cerebral ischemic symptoms, such as transient ischemic attack (TIA) and stroke. It has been known that the main cellular components of blood vessels are endothelial cells (ECs) and vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs).2 Thus, cerebral AS, which has complex etiology and pathogenesis, is believed to be closely related to the inflammatory response caused by vascular endothelial injury and the dysfunction of vascular ECs and VSMCs.3 In addition, the higher total cholesterol (TC) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels are significantly related to the occurrence of cerebral AS.4 The hypersensitivity C-response protein (hs-CRP) is a vital inflammatory factor related to the formation of AS.5 Small noncoding microRNAs (miRNAs) are single-stranded RNA molecules with a length of approximately 21–23 nucleotides. Generally speaking, miRNAs can induce mRNA degradation or inhibit mRNA translation.6 It is well known that miRNAs are related to many important biological processes, including proliferation, invasion, and apoptosis.7–9 MiRNAs seem to be potential biomarkers for various diseases, such as prostate cancer,10 glioblastoma,11 and liver cirrhosis.12 In addition, miRNAs have been known to be associated with arteriosclerosis.13 Moreover, miR-126-5p,14 miR-126, and miR-14315 have been shown to function as biomarkers for AS. A study on gene and miRNA profiling of human induced pluripotent stem cell–derived ECs showed that miR-137 was increased in human embryonic stem cell–derived ECs and human induced pluripotent stem cell–derived ECs during endothelial differentiation.16 More importantly, studies have found that miR-137 can regulate the function of vascular ECs and VSMCs, and promote angiogenesis,17,18 suggesting a vital role of miR-137 in vascular biology. The dysfunction of vascular ECs and VSMCs has been well known to be a key mechanism of the cerebral AS; consequently, miR-137 may be related to the pathogenesis of cerebral AS and stroke. Currently, the diagnosis of cerebral AS, however, is made by neuroimaging techniques, with the absence of circulating biomarkers. Therefore, studies regarding the clinical significance of circulating miRNA expression in patients with cerebral AS are helpful for the early intervention of high-risk patients, and then decrease the occurrence of cerebrovascular adverse events. Thus, this study aimed to assess whether miR-137 could be used as a biomarker for cerebral AS diagnosis and prediction of cerebrovascular events.

Graphical abstract, Direct cloning of metagenomes has proven to be a powerful tool for the exploration of the diverse sequence space of a microbial community leading to gene discovery and biocatalyst development. The key to such approach is the development of rapid, sensitive, and reliable functional screening of libraries. The majority of library screen have relied on the use of agar plates in petri dishes incorporating the target enzyme substrate for activity detection of positive clones (Iqbal et al. [1], Knietsch et al. [2], Popovic et al. [3]). In this article, a novel method is described consisting of: (1) formulation and application of substrate gel microtiter assay plates, (2) screening of libraries of clones in split pools in the wells of the assay plate, and (3) progressive enrichment and isolation of individual positive clones. The method has been successfully used in the rapid discovery of novel genes and enzymes from rumen microbial metagenome with high efficacy. • Novel substrate gel assay plates for activity screening with localized and intensified signals. • Rapid and complete screening of library clones in split pools. • Progressive enrichment scheme as a refining step for isolating target gene.

In the fast-developing information age, the current teaching level can no longer meet the current students’ demand for knowledge. Based on the current teaching system and platform, this paper uses modern programming and big data information database as the basis, and combines some shortcomings of current college education methods and levels to design a set of remote dance information teaching system. On the basis of the B/S network structure, a new online and offline interactive teaching model for the three roles of teachers, students and administrators established by using big data has successfully enriched the diversity of higher vocational education methods.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) represents a major endpoint of chronic liver diseases and is the third leading cause of cancer-related mortality. Long intergenic non-coding RNA-integrin subunit β1 ITGB1 (linc-ITGB1) is a novel long non-coding RNA, which is implicated in the development and progression of human tumors. However, its involvement in hepatocarcinogenesis remains to be elucidated. In the present study, the specific roles of linc-ITGB1 on cell proliferation and metastasis in HCC were investigated. It was initially observed that the expression of linc-ITGB1 was significantly elevated in 30 cases of clinical HCC tissues relative to their adjacent non-cancerous tissues. Expression of linc-ITGB1 was particularly elevated in the highly invasive cell line, HCCLM3. Knockdown of linc-ITGB1 in HCCLM3 cells using a specific short hairpin RNA decreased cell viability and colony formation in vitro. In addition, cell cycle analysis demonstrated that linc-ITGB1-depleted cells accumulated in the G0/G1 phase. HCCLM3 cells with linc-ITGB1 depletion exhibited significantly decreased migration and invasion abilities, when compared with control cells (P