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Background and aims LncRNA plasmacytoma variant translocation 1 (PVT1) plays a regulatory role in some cardiovascular diseases, but its role in atherosclerosis (AS) remains barely explored. The study aimed to investigate the effects of PVT1 on high fat diet-induced AS and its potential mechanisms. Methods and results ApoE −/− mice were fed with high fat diet for 8 weeks to establish an AS model. Lentiviral vectors containing PVT1 short hairpin RNA (PVT1-shRNA) or NC-shRNA were administered by tail vein injection. Cell viability, apoptosis, inflammatory factor secretion, and cellular oxidative stress were measured to evaluate oxidized low-density lipoprotein (ox-LDL)-induced human umbilical vein endothelial cell (HUVEC) injury. Dual-luciferase reporter gene and RNA immunoprecipitation assays were used to confirm the interaction between miR-153-3p and PVT1 or growth factor receptor binding protein 2 (GRB2). Atherosclerotic lesions, lipid deposition, and cell apoptosis in aorta were analyzed by H&E, Oil Red O, and TUNEL straining. PVT1 knockdown alleviated ox-LDL-induced inflammation, apoptosis and oxidative stress in HUVECs. PVT1 acted as a sponge of miR-153-3p, and GRB2 was confirmed as a target of miR-153-3p. MiR-153-3p overexpression attenuated the enhanced effects of PVT1 on ox-LDL-induced cell damage. GRB2 overexpression reversed the mitigating effects of miR-153-3p on ox-LDL-caused injury. Inhibiting PVT1 restrained the activation of ERK1/2 and p38 pathway via miR-153-3p/GRB2 axis. Additionally, silencing PVT1 in vivo reduced atherosclerotic plaques, lipid deposition, inflammation, oxidative stress, and apoptosis in AS mice. Conclusion PVT1 knockdown alleviated ox-LDL-induced vascular endothelial cell injury and atherosclerosis through miR-153-3p/GRB2 axis via ERK1/2 and p38 pathway.

Background and aims Myocardial infarction (MI) has been an important heart disease affecting human health. The aim of this study was to investigate the regulatory effect of abhydrolase domain containing 15 (ABHD15) on hypoxic cardiomyocytes. Methods and results Hypoxic cardiomyocytes are commonly used as an vitro model for the study of MI. We found that cardiomyocyte viability was decreased under hypoxia, but cell glucose uptake, insulin receptor phosphorylation level and apoptosis were increased. Interestingly, ABHD15 expression was up-regulated in hypoxia-induced cardiomyocytes. Then, we identified the function of ABHD15 in hypoxic cardiomyocytes by using ABHD15 overexpression vector or short interfering RNA (siRNA) against ABHD15. The results showed that overexpression of ABHD15 promoted hypoxic cardiomyocyte viability, glucose uptake and IR phosphorylation (p-IR), and inhibited cell apoptosis. However, knockdown of ABHD15 attenuated hypoxic cardiomyocyte viability, glucose uptake and IR phosphorylation, and promoted apoptosis. Moreover, we found that ABHD15 promoted glucose transporter 4 (GLUT4) expression, translocation and enhance rate-limiting enzyme activation of glycolysis, thereby affecting glucose uptake. Furthermore, our study suggested that ABHD15 may affect the viability and apoptosis of hypoxic cardiomyocytes through IR/Ras/Raf/ERK/MEK and IR/PI3K/AKT/Bcl2/Bad/caspase9 signaling pathways, respectively. When the phosphorylation of IR, Raf or ERK was blocked by inhibitors, the protective effect of overexpressing ABHD15 on the viability of hypoxic cardiomyocytes was eliminated. Furthermore, inhibiting the phosphorylation of IR, AKT or Bcl2 abolished the inhibitory effect of overexpressing ABHD15 on hypoxic cardiomyocyte apoptosis. Conclusion ABHD15 regulated myocardial cell viability, glycolysis, and apoptosis under hypoxia, providing a novel potential therapeutic strategy for MI.

To overcome the drawback of UV light response in La2Ti2O7 nanosheets, novel up-conversion carbon quantum dots (CQDs) with visible light response have been introduced on the surface of La2Ti2O7 for efficient enhancement of photocatalytic performance. The resulted CQDs/La2Ti2O7 samples were characterized by XRD, TEM, FT-IR, XPS and UV–vis, respectively. Rhodamine B (RhB) solution was chosen as the target organic pollutant to evaluate the photocatalytic activity under visible light irradiation. The results indicated that 5 wt% loading of CQDs composite exhibited the best performance. Both the up-converted photoluminescence behavior and their electron capturing ability of CQDs are considered as the main reasons for the enhanced photocatalytic abilities.

In this paper, we took the initiative to investigate the synthesis and photocatalytic properties of new solar-light active Ag3PO4/La2Ti2O7 0D/2D heterojunction photocatalysts with 10 wt% ∼70 wt% Ag3PO4 loading. 2D La2Ti2O7 nanosheets modified by uniformly dispersed super-small Ag3PO4 nanoparticles with average particle size as small as 4.9 nm were prepared by an in-situ chemical deposition method, and probed by electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction and UV–vis diffuse reflection spectroscopy. The photocatalytic activities were evaluated using Rhodamine B (RhB) as a target organic pollutant under simulated solar light irradiation. The results show that La2Ti2O7 nanosheets modified with proper amount of Ag3PO4 nanoparticles exhibited much higher photocatalytic activity. The optimal loading amount of Ag3PO4 was observed to be 50 wt% with the best photocatalytic performance, which could degrade almost all RhB dyes within 8 min under sunlight irradiation with the highest rate constant value of 0.5632 min−1. The mechanism accounting for the photocatalytic results were also proposed by PL, transient photocurrent response, radical trapping experiments and electron paramagnetic resonance spectra. Moreover, the photocorrosion of Ag3PO4/La2Ti2O7 photocatalysts is efficiently suppressed after depositing thin layers of AgI on Ag3PO4 nanoparticles.

Microfluidic chips integrated with negative dielectrophoresis (nDEP) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy have wide applications in cell sensing. Accurate analysis of the kinematics and dynamics of cells in the nDEP process is crucial to improve the positioning accuracy and electric cell-substrate impedance sensing (ECIS) performance. This paper reports employing the three-dimensional (3D) finite element model to analyze the coupling effects of electrokinetic flows (EF) such as alternating current electroosmosis (ACEO) and the electrothermal flow (ETF) on the nDEP positionings. On the quadrupole ECIS microfluid chip, three typical nDEP results are observed in the frequency range of 100 Hz-25 MHz and the amplitude range of 1-20 Vp-p. Simulations Based on the 3D hybrid model provide abundant kinematic information and show clear dynamic processes. Based on the discussion, the mechanisms of nDEP localizations and phase-tuning manipulations are proposed. It is found that the drag force could affect the particle's movement through the vortex of the flow field induced by ACEO and ETF, while the nDEP forces dominate the particles' locations on the substrate. Thus, the 3D dynamic-coupling analyses could help design the quadrupole-electrode microfluid chip and optimize the manipulation parameters in the experiment.

Recently, the development of electronic skin and smart wearable sensor have put forward high requirements for flexible sensor with excellent performance. As for a flexible sensor, precision and stability are also significant parameters besides the sensitivity and measuring range. Flexible piezoresistive sensors based on nanomaterial/nanostructure have been reported to possess the high sensitivity. Precision and stability are also important for a sensor, hence we focused on promoting them in this paper. Furthermore, a mechanism for random error generated by a nano-based piezoresistive sensor was proposed. Based on the mechanism, a certain high frequency testing signal was used instead of the direct current signal to promote the precision of the sensor. The relative random error of the sensor decrease greatly above 800 kHz (by three order at low pressure range), which increase the precision greatly. Long-term stability was tested using a total of 12 000 consecutive compression tests. After a 250 s aging process, the sensor remained incredibly stable and only 0.08% change occurred which is much better than those of reported sensors. The sensor also possessed a sensitivity of 0.24 kPa−1 and a linear measuring range of 0–4 kPa. Some applications, including respiratory/arterial pulse measurement and gait recognition, were demonstrated finally.