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Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the second most fatal cancer. Many studies have shown that cancer stemness contributes to resistance to conventional chemotherapy and poor prognosis. However, the mechanisms involved in maintaining cancer stemness in CRC are still obscure and few clinical drugs were used to target cancer stemness. Previous studies had reported CD95 increases the stemness of cancer cells with long-term stimulation of exogenous agonist CD95 ligand (CD95L). However, the expression of CD95L is relative low in certain human tumor tissues. In this study, we found that CD95 was highly expressed in CRC cells, and in vitro it promoted the tumorsphere formation, chemotherapy resistance and in vivo tumor growth without stimulation of exogenous CD95L. Mechanistically, the bulk and single-cell RNA-sequencing results suggested that CD95 promotes stemness of CRC cells through upregulation of long non-coding RNAs metastasis-associated lung adenocarcinoma transcript 1 (lncRNA MALAT1). MALAT1 knockdown inhibited CD95-induced tumorsphere formation and chemotherapy resistance. In summary, our findings reveal that CD95 has the capability to modulate cancer stemness via the action of the lncRNA MALAT1. Targeting CD95 may be a promising strategy to inhibit cancer stemness in CRC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For graphene films, the change of crystal structure induced by ion bombardment as well as the doping and strain generated in thermal annealing process is addressed in this work. Experimental results show that both the structure and number of defects for graphene depends strongly on the ion dose. Furthermore, it is found that the structure defects caused by ion bombardment in graphene can be healed and the graphene samples are all doped in subsequent thermal annealing. The frequency shift of G and 2D peaks in Raman spectra reveals that compressive strain in graphene results from the thermal annealing treatment and the occurrence of strain is influenced by the thermal annealing and defects in graphene. For graphene, since defects and thermal annealing are unavoidable for the fabrication of graphene-based devices, the systematical investigation on these two aspects in this work is, therefore, of great importance and significance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Enterovirus71(EV71), the etiological agent of hand-foot-and-mouth disease, has increasingly become a public health challenge around the world. Type I interferons (IFNs) are an important family of cytokines that regulate innate and adaptive immune responses to pathogens.These pathways are tightly regulated by the host to prevent an inappropriate cellular response, but viruses can modulate these pathways to proliferate and spread. In this study, we demonstrated that EV71 evades the immune surveillance system to proliferate by activating microRNA-21. We demonstrated that EV71 infection upregulates miR-21, which in turn suppresses EV71-triggered type I IFN production, thus promoting EV71 replication. Furthermore, we demonstrated that miR-21 targets the myeloid differentiation factor 88(MyD88) and interleukin-1 receptor-associated kinase 1(IRAK1), which are involved in EV71-induced type I IFN production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Created a new type of embedded cooling modules for multi-chip electronic devices. • The module can be reconfigured, and chips can be replaced multiple times. • Tested a 70 × 88 × 9 mm3 cooling module for a 3 × 3 array of chips. • Demonstrated successful thermal management of multi-chip electronic devices. • Can be useful for high-performance processors and DC/DC power converters. Multi-chip thermal management technology is facing new challenges for improving system performance with the increasing use of multi-chip strategies in electronic systems. In this study, an embedded cooling method with configurability and replaceability for multi-chip electronic devices was demonstrated. A cooling module with the size of 70 × 88 × 9 mm3 for a 3 × 3 chip array verified the feasibility. The experimental results showed that each chip was cooled independently with no thermal coupling between each other, the maximum temperature of the array less than 85.81 ℃ and the temperature uniformity was 0.0728 (coefficient of variation) at 600 W/cm2 and 500 mL/min. Under the same conditions, the cooling effect of chips in the array was not affected by arrangements, where the differences in pressure drops and temperature uniformity were less than 4% and 0.0276, respectively. The heat dissipation effect of the chips in the module remained unchanged after repeated assembly, which proves the replaceability of the chips into the module. Therefore, this configurable and replaceable cooling method for multi-chip electronic devices is promising for high-performance processors and power converters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Strigolactones (SLs), a class of the most recently identified terpenoid phytohormones, play essential roles in plant development, specifically in suppressing shoot branching. MAX2, a subunit of an SCF E3 ligase and a positive regulator that inhibits shoot branching, is likely a key SL signaling component. Here, we provide genetic and biochemical evidence to demonstrate that BES1 interacts with MAX2 and acts as its substrate to regulate SL-responsive gene expression. Additional AtD14, a putative receptor of SLs, can promote BES1 degradation. Knockdown of BES1 and its homologs dramatically suppressed the branching phenotype of max2-1 mutant. These results portray an SL signaling cascade from the putative receptor to downstream transcription factors. In addition, we demonstrate that the SL and brassinosteroid (BR) signaling pathways distinctly regulate the same transcription factor, BES1, to control specific developmental processes. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In this study, negative DIBL (NDIBL) due to negative capacitance is used to improve MOSFETs and Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Transistor (CMOS) circuits by employing custom-built Simulation Program with Integrated Circuit Emphasis (SPICE) model. A multi-threshold technique was proposed by using NDIBL effect, and it can be manufactured by simple manufacturing process without increasing footprint of transistor. The influence of the negative DIBL effect of a negative capacitance field-effect-transistor (NCFET) on transistor effective drive current (I eff) and CMOS circuit performance were analyzed. The results shown that increasing NDIBL effect increased I eff by ~12%. A 7-stage ring oscillator (RO) was simulated to analyze the CMOS circuit energy-delay, and it shown that significant delay reduction, at iso-energy and iso-area, can be achieved owing to NDIBL effect of NCFET. A 6T Static Random-Access Memory (SRAM) cell was investigated, and enhanced hold and read static noise margins (SNM) are achieved owing to NDIBL effect. Moreover, several methods of increasing NDIBL effect were proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The applications of a boron-doped diamond (BDD) used in electrode application for toxic and refractory organic degradation have attracted much attention, and its efficiency is considered to be an important factor for its practical application. In this study, BDD thin films were prepared on Ti plates by double bias-assisted hot filament chemical vapor deposition (HFCVD) technique. A reactive ion etching process was introduced by a positive grid bias and a negative substrate bias which can generate an electric field in HFCVD system. Then a novel structure of BDD electrode with nanocone arrays was successfully etched from a flat diamond thin film by this system. The addition of the bias greatly improved the etching efficiency and promoted the formation of nanocones structures. The cyclic voltammograms (CV) test showed nanostructured BDD (NBDD) electrodes had excellent electrochemical performance almost the same as that of the electrodes with untreated surfaces. It had a large effective electroactive surface area (EASA), which was 31.0% greater than the unetched electrode. As a result, the NBDD electrode exhibited improved electrocatalytic performance as compared with the untreated one, i.e., an about 24.3% increase of chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal efficiency. Among them, the superiority of NBDD electrode was obvious in the initial stage due to its highest concentration in the initial stage. In addition, the NBDD electrode achieved higher average current efficiency (ACE) as compared with the untreated one. Unlabelled Image • The BDD nanostructure was prepared by double bias-assisted HFCVD system. • The NBDD films were used as electrodes for wastewater treatment. • The EASA of the NBDD electrodes was increased. • The COD removal rate and ACE of NBDD electrodes were improved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]