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With the development of big data and cloud computing, more and more data owners store their data with encrypted form in the cloud server. To retrieve some data they are interested in, an important technology called searchable encryption can be adopted. Sometimes, the encrypted data are desired to be shared to some users by the data owners without destroying the user privacy. To address this problem, many works of delegated searchable encryption (DSE) have been studied. However, in the existing DSE schemes, the delegated users can make keyword search over the encrypted data without any restrictions. In some systems such as E-health record system in which the data are sensitive, it is desired that the delegated users can only make search with some specified keywords designated by the data owners. In this work, we present an efficient solution to this problem and give a concrete construction. Then we show that our construction is efficient and practical for real applications by experimental results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gastric cancer is a common malignant tumor, and due to its insidious onset and limited screening methods, most patients are diagnosed with advanced disease and have a poor prognosis. The circRNA in exosomes has an essential role in cancer diagnosis and treatment. However, the part of hsa_circ_0014606 within exosomes in gastric cancer progression is unclear. Firstly, we extracted exosomes from the serum of gastric cancer patients and healthy individuals by ultracentrifugation and analyzed the expression of hsa_circ_0014606 in both exosomes; then knocked down hsa_circ_0014606 in vivo and in vitro, respectively, to observe its effect on the physiological function of gastric cancer cells; finally, we used bioinformatics to screen hsa_circ_0014606 targeting miRNAs and mRNAs, and experiments were performed to verify the interrelationship between the three. The results showed that the level of hsa_circ_0014606 in the serum exosomes of gastric cancer patients was significantly higher than that of the healthy population. The knockdown of hsa_circ_0014606 slowed the proliferation of gastric cancer cells, significantly reduced migration and invasion ability, accelerated apoptosis, and reduced tumor size in mice. In addition, the expression of hsa_circ_0014606 was negatively correlated with the expression of miR-514b-3p and positively correlated with the expression of heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein C (HNRNPC). In conclusion, hsa_circ_0014606 exerted a pro-cancer effect indirectly through miR-514b-3p targeting gene HNRNPC, and this study provides a new potential target for treating gastric cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The conversion of biomass energy sources is a crucial direction in the transformation of energy resources, such as cellulose to high-value chemicals. As an important platform compound, 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) is one of the worthwhile products from biomass. Previously, the use of Hf/ZSM-5 catalyst demonstrated excellent catalytic performance, with the yield of HMF reaching 67.50% under optimal reaction conditions (120 min, 190 °C, H2O(NaCl)/THF). Based on the previous work, the effect of a series of metal salts on the preparation of HMF from cellulose catalyzed by Hf/ZSM-5 catalyst was investigated in this paper. This result demonstrates the addition of AlCl3 promoted the production of HMF yield and AlCl3 completed with excellent performance among five metal salts. Moreover, the yield of HMF was improved to 70.95% by adjusting the optimal reaction conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plant phenology under changing climate is a critical factor controlling terrestrial vegetation productivity. However, large uncertainties exist due to different data sources and phenological parameter extraction methods. In this study, we took advantage of a suite of long-term field observational data in northern grassland of China to investigate the drivers of phenological shifts and their effect on the maximum aboveground net primary productivity (ANPPmax) across four representative grassland types during 1984–2017. Results showed that drivers of phenological events (i.e., start (SOS), end (EOS), and length (GSL) of the growing season) with warming influence dramatically differed among grassland types, indicating that the synergistic effect of temperature and precipitation should be highlighted. For temperate desert steppe and alpine meadow, GSL of dominant species was both significantly lengthened with temperature rising with averaged 0.94 days year−1 (P < 0.001) and 1.15 days year−1 (P < 0.001), respectively, while for typical temperate grassland, GSL was considerably shortened by an average of 0.58 days year−1 (P < 0.01) as a result of water deficit caused by sharp warming and precipitation decreasing in summer and autumn. For most grassland types in our study, both SOS and GSL were significantly correlated with ANPPmax under different precipitation gradients with SOS advanced and GSL extended leading to higher ANPPmax. Only the typical temperate grassland presents a relatively poor correlation between phenological events and productivity. Furthermore, compared with GSL, ANPPmax was more sensitive to the advancement of SOS for every 1-day phenological change. However, the effect of EOS on ANPPmax across the four grassland types was much weaker and unstable. There were spatial response differences between ANPPmax and phenological transition events, with the temperate meadow grassland tending to be more sensitive compared with three other grassland types. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Flower-like porous carbon has fascinated significant attention due to its outstanding and exceptional properties. However, controlled synthesis of porous carbon with adjustable morphology, highly active sites and cross-linked pore channels remains still a great challenge. Herein, an inimitable dissolution–reassembly anisotropic growth strategy was firstly demonstrated for the fabrication of idiographic orchid-like hierarchical porous carbon with ultra-thin multilayer carbon sheets, high specific surface area (1063 m2 g−1), large pore volume (0.82 cm3 g−1) and rich nitrogen content (7.6 wt%). Highly reactive phloroglucinol and EDA aggregated magically and SiO2 acted as a pore former. Ingeniously, acetone acted as a "surgical knife," which cut the composite of SiO2@phloroglucinol–EDA into many tiny units and further anisotropic growth into orchid-like polymers. The width and thickness of the carbon petals can be effectively controlled with the diversification of acetone concentration. Intriguingly, monodisperse hollow carbon nanospheres could be harvested with silicon-deficient system, which may offer new insight into the construction of functionalized carbon materials with hollow architecture. Owing to the unmatched superstructures, orchid-like carbon materials can be employed as an ideal drug carrier and dye adsorbent. Figure Schematic illustration of solid carbon nanosphere, hollow carbon nanosphere and OHPC-25. For the first time, a novel dissolution–reassembly route based on strong hydrogen-bonding interaction was developed to prepare unique orchid-like hierarchical porous carbon, in which phloroglucinol acted as a carbon precursor and EDA both as a base catalyst and as a nitrogen precursor. The critical step to this synthetic approach was the ingeniously employed acetone as a "surgical knife" to cut the composite of SiO2@phloroglucinol–EDA into many tiny units, and these units were reassembled into orchid-like polymers. After adding acetone, the morphology of carbon materials has changed from solid nanospheres to hollow nanospheres. This strategy did not use any template as the cavity, which may offer a new insight into the comprehension of synthesized functionalized carbon materials with hollow architecture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neuroblastoma (NB) is one of the most common malignant tumors of the sympathetic nervous system in childhood. NB severely threatens patient's health and life. However, more effective diagnosis and treatment methods are badly needed in clinics all over the world. MYCN is well recognized as a genetic biomarker of high risk and poor outcome in NB. miRNAs are small RNAs and miR-98 involved in the pathogenesis of various cancers. The role and mechanism of miR-98 in NB remains to be investigated. Here we found that miR-98 was decreased in human MYCN-high-expression NB tissues, and its down-regulation was associated with poor prognosis of NB. Over-expression of miR-98 inhibited cell proliferation, migration and invasion of NB cells. The analysis by employing the software of miRanda predicted the possible binding sites of miR-98 in the 3′-UTR of MYCN, and experimental data illustrated that miR-98 directly bound to MYCN 3′-UTR and decreased MYCN expression. Over-expression of MYCN rescued the decreased malignant phenotype caused by over-expression of miR-98 in NB. N6-methyladenosine modification in 3′-UTR of MYCN promoted its interaction with miR-98. The data collectively demonstrated that RNA m6A modification was required for miR-98/MYCN axis-mediated inhibition of neuroblastoma progression, and miR-98 might be novel targets for NB detection and treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Citric acid and oxalic acid, the main metabolites of fungi, have different leaching effects on uranium ore. Herein, uranium leaching from a volcano-litho-type uranium ore using citric acid and oxalic acid was studied by performing soaking experiments in incubator shakers using pure water and H2SO4 as controls. The citric acid is advantageous over oxalic acid in terms of the uranium leaching rate (97% and 67%) and speed for 20 days of leaching. These findings will help optimize the isolation and cultivation conditions of organic acid-producing fungi used for uranium leaching. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Early detection of diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) is critical in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) due to the lack of targeted therapy for DPN. We have investigated the relationship between different stages of diabetic nephropathy and DPN in an attempt to elucidate whether albuminuria can be used as an early warning signal of DPN progression.Methods: A total of 217 T2DM patients who met the inclusion criteria were recruited from the Department of Endocrinology, Nanfang Hospital between January 2016 and June 2016. These patients were placed in groups based on urinary albumin excretion rate (UAER) and estimated glomerular filtration rate. Nerve conduction studies, the Semmes-Weinstein monofilament test (SWMT) and the vibration perception threshold (VPT) test were conducted. Multiple linear regression analysis, multivariate logistic regression and receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) analysis were performed to investigate the relationship between different stages of diabetic nephropathy and DPN in these patients.Results: Significant differences were observed in the conduction velocity (CV) and amplitude of sensory/motor nerve potential among the T2DM patients at different stages of diabetic nephropathy (all p  < 0.05). The UAER and duration of diabetes were found to be independent factors associated with the mean CV and amplitude of sensory/motor nerve potential (all p  < 0.05). A disease duration of > 10 years (p  = 0.025) and a higher total cholesterol value (p  = 0.024) were found to be significantly associated with abnormal SWMT results. A UAER of > 300 mg/24 h (p  = 0.007) and a diastolic blood pressure of > 100 mmHg (p  = 0.042) were associated with a higher risk for abnormal VPT. A UAER  of > 300 mg/24 h (p  < 0.001) and a disease duration of > 10 years (p  = 0.02) were observed to be significantly correlated with DPN. The ROC analysis showed that the optimal cutoff values of UAER and duration as indicators of DPN were 90.5 mg/24 h and 9.5 years, respectively (both p  < 0.001).Conclusions: The results suggest that diabetic nephropathy is closely associated with the development of DPN in T2DM patients and that UAER and disease duration can be used as warning indicators of DPN progression.Chinese Clinical Trials Register Number: ChiCTR-ROC-16007701. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction and hypothesis: Given the younger age of cervical cancer patients and improved postoperative survival, postoperative quality of life should be a reason for concern, particularly given the prevalence of pelvic floor dysfunction. High uterosacral ligament suspension (HUS) has been deemed the more consistently successful surgery for the treatment of mid-pelvic abnormalities. HUS intraoperatively prevents pelvic floor dysfunction effectively. Methods: We demonstrate the steps of surgery using surgical video and photographs. The uterosacral ligament is fan shaped and connected to the fascial and extraosseous membranes on the surface of the anterior sacral foramen of the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th sacral vertebrae. Given that the uterosacral ligament was fan-shaped, the fan-shaped suture with three stitches was more compatible with the original anatomy. Results: Thirty patients with HUS who underwent thorough hysterectomy had no complications, operation time 230.82 ± 43.61 min, and blood loss 62.32 ± 37.25 ml. The urinary catheter was successfully removed 1 week after the operation, and no pelvic organ prolapse, including vaginal anterior and posterior wall prolapse, or rectocele, occurred after 3 years of follow-up. Conclusion: The uterosacral ligament fulfills the role of supporting, pulling, and suspending the uterus. We should exploit the advantage of fully exposing the uterosacral ligament in radical hysterectomy. Performing HUS to prevent pelvic organ prolapse following radical hysterectomy is a procedure worthy of investigation and promotion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the tremendous growth of cloud computing, verifiable computation has been firstly formalized by Gennaro et al. and then studied widely to provide integrity guarantees in the outsourced computation. However, existing verifiable computation protocols either work in the secret key setting or in the public key setting, namely, work either for single client or for all clients, which rules out some practical applications with access control policies. In this paper, we introduce and formalize the notion of verifiable computation with access control (AC-VC), in which only the computationally weak clients with necessary access control permissions can be allowed by a trusted source to apply the outsourced computation of a function to a server. We present a formal security definition and a proved secure black-box construction for AC-VC. This construction is built based on any verifiable computation in the secret key model and ciphertext-policy attribute-based encryption (CP-ABE). The access control policies that our AC-VC can realize depend on that realized in the based CP-ABE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM) based on time-correlated single photon counting (TCSPC) is a widely used method for fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET). Here we report a feasible add-on approach to upgrade a commercial two-photon FLIM microscope into a single-photon FLIM microscope which provides optimal FLIM-FRET imaging of FRET pairs consisting of cyan fluorescent proteins (CFPs) as the donor and yellow fluorescent proteins (YFPs) as the acceptor. The capability of the upgraded system is evaluated and discussed, and the imaging performance of the system is demonstrated using FLIM-FRET experiments with a representative CFP-YFP FRET pair (mCerulean-mCitrine). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hybridization is particularly likely to occur in initial and young polyploid complexes, and interspecies hybridization between diverged species usually leads to a complicated reticulate evolution. The Ranunculus cantoniensis complex and its allied species include R. chinensis (2 x), R. silerifolius var. silerifolius (2 x), R. cantoniensis (4 x), R. trigonus (2 x), R. shuichengensis (2 x), R. diffusus (4 x), R. repens (4 x), R. vaginatus (5 x) and R. sieboldii (6 x, 8 x). Many morphological intermediates can be found between the members of this complex, and the relationship among members is complicated. By analyzing internal transcribed spacers and nrDNA FISH (fluorescence in situ hybridization) signals, we unraveled the phylogenetic and genetic constitution of the various taxonomic units of this complex. Haplotypes were highly separated by median-joining network analysis and at least four haplogroups emerged in which there were 11 primary haplotypes; six out of ten taxa shared haplotype 1, suggesting that haplotype 1, a variation of the primary haplotype R. chinensis, served as the pivotal genome in the complex. The pollen characteristics and electrophoretic patterns of R. vaginatus (5 x) showed it to be an intermediate between R. diffusus (4 x) and R. sieboldii (6 x). The distribution of R. vaginatus (5 x) was located at the junction of the distributions of R. diffusus (4 x) and R. sieboldii (6 x). Ranunculus vaginatus (5 x) shared haplotypes 7 and 8 with R. diffusus (4 x), and haplotypes 8 and 9 with R. sieboldii (6 x). This proved that R. vaginatus (5 x) emerged from hybridization between R. diffusus (4 x) and R. sieboldii (6 x). The results of FISH also support a hybrid origin of R. vaginatus (5 x). The findings of this study clearly show that there are only eight taxa in this polyploid complex including R. chinensis (2 x), R. silerifolius var. silerifolius (2 x), R. trigonus (2 x), R. silerifolius var. dolicanthus(2 x), R. cantoniensis (4 x) , R. diffusus (2 x), R. vaginatus (5 x) and R. sieboldii (6 x, 8 x). These taxa associated with each other by hybridizing with the pivotal genome. Ranunculus cantoniensis (4 x) and R. vaginatus (5 x) arose from hybridization events between diverged species in the polyploid complex, leading to a complicated reticulate evolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A sandwich-type electrochemical aptasensor is described for detecting the carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) with high sensitivity and accuracy. Two kinds of nanomaterials are used. The first was obtained by modifying gold nanoparticles with reduced graphene oxide and hemin (Hemin-rGO-AuNPs). The second consists of horseradish peroxidase-modified organic-inorganic hybrid nanoflowers linked to gold nanoparticles to obtain an architecture of type HRP-Cu3(PO4)2-HNF-AuNPs). These serve as carriers for two aptamers (apt1 and apt2) against CEA. Simultaneously, they were used to catalyze the precipitation reaction between 4-chloro-1-naphthol(4-CN) and H2O2. A sandwich-type assay linked to enzyme inhibition amplification was established for electrochemical determination of CEA. Under optimal experimental conditions and by using differential pulse voltammetry, the response peak currents (best measured at −0.34 V vs. Ag/AgCl) increases linearly with the logarithm of the CEA concentration in the range between 100 fg mL−1 and 100 ng mL−1. The detection limit is as low as 29 fg mL−1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The cardiovascular efficacy of glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonists (GLP-1RAs) in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) are well documented; however, the differences in cardiovascular efficacy among subpopulations remain unknown. This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to explore the differences in cardiovascular efficacy of long-acting GLP-1RAs among subpopulations of patients with T2DM and to assess the drug safety. Methods: Relevant studies up to March 31, 2020 were searched for in six electronic databases, namely PubMed, Cochrane Library, Embase, Clinical Trials, Science Direct, and Web of Science. The primary outcome was three-point major adverse cardiovascular events (including cardiovascular mortality, non-fatal myocardial infarction, and non-fatal stroke). Subpopulations were defined using ten selected influential factors, and the differences in cardiovascular efficacy in subpopulations stratified by different influential factors were accessed by synthesizing studies with random-effects models one by one. Results: A total of six cardiovascular outcome trials of long-acting GLP-1RAs, comprising 49,936 participants, were included. Among stratified subpopulations, no significant differences in the cardiovascular efficacy of long-acting GLP-1RAs were observed across the ten characteristics of subjects (all P for interaction > 0.05). Favorable trends were observed in the subpopulation with established cardiovascular disease (CVD) compared to that without (P = 0.171). With regards to safety, long-acting GLP-1RAs did not significantly increase the risk of retinopathy (OR 1.09; 95% CI 0.92–1.29; P = 0.316), but increase the risk of serious gastrointestinal events (OR 1.37; 95% CI 1.02–1.83; P = 0.037). Long-acting GLP-1RAs did not significantly increase the risk of serious adverse events (OR 0.92; 95% CI 0.85–1.00; P = 0.039). Conclusions: Our analysis suggested no subpopulation differences in the cardiovascular efficacy of long-acting GLP-1RAs among stratified subpopulations, and favorable trends were only observed in the subpopulation with established CVD. These findings may have implications for the management of long-acting GLP-1RAs across subpopulations of patients with T2DM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: To investigate the safety of insulin lispro Mix 25 and 50 (LM25 and LM50) in hypoglycemia in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Methods: This was a post hoc analysis of a phase IV, randomized, crossover clinical trial in Chinese patients with T2DM switching from premixed human insulin 70/30 (PHI70/30) to LM25 or LM50. Eighty-one subjects received a two-stage crossover protocol of either LM25 or LM50 twice daily for 16 weeks. Habitual diet was taken, and self-monitoring of blood glucose (SMBG) was performed throughout the study period. High-carbohydrate diet (HCD), high-fat diet (HFD) and habitual diet patterns were taken, and 72 h continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) was performed at the last 3 days of each treatment stage. Results: The frequencies of nocturnal hypoglycemia in LM50 were lower than those in LM25 under a Chinese habitual diet pattern. The related factors of hypoglycemia in patients with T2DM treated with a LM25 or LM50 regimen were the weight-based daily mean insulin dose and the type of combined oral hypoglycemic agents. Under both HCD and habitual diet patterns, the optimal cut point values of bedtime glucose predicting nocturnal hypoglycemia in LM50 were lower than those in LM25. Conclusions: The risk of nocturnal hypoglycemia in the LM50 regimen was lower than that in the LM25 regimen under the HCD pattern, and the safety range of bedtime glucose for the LM50 regimen was wider than that of the LM25 regimen in Chinese T2DM patients. Premixed insulin analogs combined with acarbose were more helpful to reduce the incidence of hypoglycemia. Trial Registration: http://www.chictr.org.cn #ChiCTR-TTRCC-12002516. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: To investigate the relative contribution rates of basal hyperglycemia (BHG) and postprandial hyperglycemia (PPHG) to overall hyperglycemia in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) treated with insulin lispro mix 25 and 50 (LM25 and LM50) as evaluated by continuous glucose monitoring (CGM).Methods: Eighty-one T2DM patients treated with premixed human insulin 70/30 (PHI70/30) were randomly divided into two groups and received a crossover protocol. In the first 16-week stage, one group received LM25 twice daily, the other group received LM50 twice daily. In the second 16-week stage, the two groups exchanged therapeutic regimen. Glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) measurement and CGM were performed at enrollment and at the end of each treatment stage.Results: BHG’s contribution rate increased with increasing HbA1c (from 34.5% to 60.8%). PPHG’s contribution rates in the LM50 regimen were significantly lower than those in LM25 and PHI70/30 regimens at HbA1c levels < 7.5%. Compared with LM50, LM25 shows a significant difference in reducing HbA1c in the subgroup with baseline HbA1c ≥ 8.5% (ΔHbA1c LM25 vs. LM50 − 0.6 ± 0.1% vs. 0.3 ± 0.1%, p < 0.05).Conclusions: For T2DM patients treated with premixed insulin analogues, postprandial hyperglycemia played a major role in the subgroup of patients with HbA1c < 8.5%, while fasting hyperglycemia became the major contributor to overall hyperglycemia in the subgroup of patients with HbA1c ≥ 8.5%.Trial Registration: Chinese Clinical Trial Registry Identifier ChiCTR-TTRCC-12002516.Funding: Lilly Suzhou Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (Shanghai Branch, China) and National Key Program of Clinical Science of China (WBYZ2011-873). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spiders store spidroins in their silk glands as high concentration aqueous solutions, spinning these dopes into fibres with outstanding mechanical properties. Aciniform (or wrapping) silk is the toughest spider silk and is devoid of the short amino acid sequence motifs characteristic of the other spidroins. Using solution-state NMR spectroscopy, we demonstrate that the 200 amino acid Argiope trifasciata AcSp1 repeat unit contrasts with previously characterized spidroins, adopting a globular 5-helix bundle flanked by intrinsically disordered N- and C-terminal tails. Split-intein-mediated segmental NMR-active isotope-enrichment allowed unambiguous demonstration of modular and malleable 'beads-on-a-string' concatemeric behaviour. Concatemers form fibres upon manual drawing with silk-like morphology and mechanical properties, alongside secondary structuring and orientation consistent with native AcSp1 fibres. AcSp1 structural stability varies locally, with the fifth helix denaturing most readily. The structural transition of aciniform spidroin from a mostly α-helical dope to a mixed α-helix/β-sheet-containing fibre can be directly related to spidroin architecture and stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aiming at recovery of uranium (U) from low-grade uranium ore with a high fluorine content, column bioleaching of uranium extraction with an indigenous mesophilic consortium was studied. The performance of the bacterial community and the effect of chemical parameters on column bioleaching of uranium were investigated. The results showed that U extraction reached a high value of 95.69%, including acid preleaching (65.53%) and bioleaching (30.16%), in a 124-day period of the leaching process. The composition and diversity of the bacterial community were found to be significantly changing in the acid preleaching and bioleaching stages; nevertheless, they existed in residue and pregnant leaching solution samples for the same stage and showed little difference. Additionally, dominant genera in the solid samples, including Stenotrophomonas, Pseudomonas, Brevundimonas Clostridium_sensu_stricto, Bacillus, Clostridium XI, and Acidithiobacillus, and the Acidithiobacillus genus were ubiquitous throughout the leaching column, which was in favour of U extraction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Metastasis is a primary cause of colorectal cancer (CRC)-related death, and cancer stem cells (CSCs) are thought to be majorly responsible for initiating metastatic behaviors. Doublecortin-like kinase 1 (DCLK1) was recently discovered to be a marker for gastrointestinal CSCs. Here, we aimed to explore whether DCLK1 is associated with CRC metastasis through clinical and in vitro investigations. Methods: The expression levels of DCLK1 mRNA and protein in human CRC tissues were analyzed through quantitative RT-PCR and immunohistochemistry staining, respectively. Human CRC cell line SW480 was selected to explore the effect of DCLK1 overexpression on cell migration and invasion. Besides, the associations between DCLK1 and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) were determined. Results: Compared to normal colorectal tissues, DCLK1 expression was significantly up-regulated in human CRC tissues and correlated well with high lymphatic metastasis and poor prognosis in patients. DCLK1 expression was inversely associated with overall survival in CRC patients. Overexpression of DCLK1 in SW480 cells markedly promoted cell migration and invasion. Furthermore, we validated that DCLK1 could facilitate EMT in cancer cells by up-regulation of the mesenchymal markers Vimentin and ZEB1 and down-regulation of the epithelial marker E-cadherin in SW480 cells. Conclusions: DCLK1 up-regulation may play a contributory role in CRC metastasis and poor prognosis via activation of EMT. DCLK1 may serve as an independent predictor for CRC prognosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

α-Synuclein (α-syn) is the main protein component of Lewy bodies, the major pathological hallmarks of Parkinson's disease (PD). C-terminally truncated α-syn is found in the brain of PD patients, reduces cell viability and tends to form fibrils. Nevertheless, little is known about the mechanisms underlying the role of C-terminal truncation on the cytotoxicity and aggregation of α-syn. Here, we use nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy to show that the truncation alters α-syn conformation, resulting in an attractive interaction of the N-terminus with membranes and molecular chaperone, protein disulfide isomerase (PDI). The truncated protein is more toxic to mitochondria than full-length protein and diminishes the effect of PDI on α-syn fibrillation. Our findings reveal a modulatory role for the C-terminus in the cytotoxicity and aggregation of α-syn by interfering with the N-terminus binding to membranes and chaperone, and provide a molecular basis for the pathological role of C-terminal truncation in PD pathogenesis. C-terminal truncation of a-syn results in a more extended and exposed conformation, providing further insight into the pathological role of this truncation event in the progression of Parkinson's disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the small size of uranium minerals, the occupations of U4+ and U6+, Th and Pb in uraninite is little studied. The coarse giant uraninite (CGU) from Miyi with size up to 1 cm is one of the best samples for studying uraninite mineralogical property. CGU mainly composed of UO2, ThO2, PbO, CaO. There are three forms of occurrence of U, namely UO2, UO3, and UO2+x; and impurity such as ThO2, PbO, CaO may entering the mineral lattice, which can affect mineral properties and facilitate the chemical reactions during mineralization and leaching processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to high content of carbonate and sulfide in ore, precipitation of calcium compounds is blocking the in-situ leaching system at Mengqiguer sandstone type deposit. Autoclave CO2 + O2 leaching tests were conducted in respecting the blockage and uranium migration. Result shows that: Most uranium was recovered within the first hour. Calcite and dolomite precipitated in the initial stage of leaching because of high pH value. As pH decreases rapidly after CO2 injection, calcite and dolomite did not precipitate. Gypsum is not saturated during the whole test. HCO3-, pH and Eh, controlled by CO2 + O2 injection are key factors influencing uranium leaching. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developing efficient and durable oxygen evolution reaction (OER) electrocatalysts with non-noble elements is particularly urgent for electrochemical water splitting. Herein, we report heterostructural Ni3S2–Fe5Ni4S8 hybrids directly grown on redox-NiFe foams (denoted as NFS/rNF) as excellent pre-catalysts for OER in 1 M KOH media. The electrochemical performance can be tuned by amount of sulfur source, and the optimized electrode only needs low overpotentials of 199 mV and 240 mV to attain 10 mA cm−2 and 100 mA cm−2, respectively. Moreover, the overpotential is further reduced to 231 mV to deliver 100 mA cm−2 after multi-cyclic voltammogram scans, due to the exposure of abundant in situ generated Ni(Fe)OOH species. Excellent stability with continuous 40 h operation is also demonstrated. Our study provides a new strategy for direct synthesis of self-standing integrated hybrid electrodes for efficient and durable water oxidation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Herein, a series of phosphorus-doped CoMoO4 rod bundles electrocatalysts on 3D nickel foams have been successfully synthesized and exploited as efficient hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) electrocatalyst in 1 M KOH. The incorporation of phosphorus into CoMoO4 can significantly promote the HER activity, and the CoMoO4 bundles phosphorized at 350 °C exhibited the optimum activity, which only required low overpotentials of 56 and 148 mV to deliver cathodic current densities of 10 mA cm−2 and 100 mA cm−2, respectively. This electrode also presented considerable long-term electrochemical stability with negligible delay after 30 h operation and 3000 accelerated cyclic voltammetry cycles. Our study provides a superior earth-abundant catalyst for efficient HER in alkaline media, which also suggests that P doping engineering is an effective way to boost the HER activity of transition metal-based oxides. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: A triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) and a glucose fuel cell (GFC) were separately designed to harvest biomechanical energy from body motion and biochemical energy from glucose molecules. A hybrid energy-harvesting system (HEHS) which consisted of TENG and GFC was developed successfully, and it can simultaneously harvest biomechanical energy and biochemical energy.Various types of energy exist everywhere around us, and these energies can be harvested from multiple sources to power micro-/nanoelectronic system and even personal electronic products. In this work, we proposed a hybrid energy-harvesting system (HEHS) for potential in vivo applications. The HEHS consisted of a triboelectric nanogenerator and a glucose fuel cell for simultaneously harvesting biomechanical energy and biochemical energy in simulated body fluid. These two energy-harvesting units can work individually as a single power source or work simultaneously as an integrated system. This design strengthened the flexibility of harvesting multiple energies and enhanced corresponding electric output. Compared with any individual device, the integrated HEHS outputs a superimposed current and has a faster charging rate. Using the harvested energy, HEHS can power a calculator or a green light-emitting diode pattern. Considering the widely existed biomechanical energy and glucose molecules in the body, the developed HEHS can be a promising candidate for building in vivo self-powered healthcare monitoring system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pro-inflammatory cytokines are crucial mediators of cancer development, representing potential targets for cancer therapy. The molecular mechanism of a vital pro-inflammatory cytokine, IL-17A, in cancer progression and its potential use in therapy through influencing fatty acid (FA) metabolism, especially FA uptake of cancer cells, remains unknown. In the present study, we used IL-17A and ovarian cancer (OvCa), a representative of both obesity-related and inflammation-related cancers, to explore the interactions among IL-17A, cancer cells and adipocytes (which can provide FAs). We found that in the presence of palmitic acid (PA), IL-17A could directly increase the cellular uptake of PA, leading to the proliferation of OvCa cells via the IL-17A/IL-17RA/p-STAT3/FABP4 axis rather than via CD36. Moreover, in vivo experiments using an orthotopic implantation model in IL-17A-deficient mice demonstrated that endogenous IL-17A could fuel OvCa growth and metastasis with increased expression of FABP4 and p-STAT3. Furthermore, analysis of clinical specimens supported the above findings. Our data not only provide useful insights into the clinical intervention of the growth and metastasis of the tumors (such as OvCa) that are prone to growth and metastasis in an adipocyte-rich microenvironment (ARM) but also provides new insights into the roles of IL-17A in tumor progression and immunomodulatory therapy of OvCa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to optimize conditions for bioleaching of the high-fluorine and low-sulfur uranium ore by the test acidophilic consortiums, the central composite design method and response surface method were applied to study the relationships between pyrite addition, pulp density, temperature and uranium recovery rate, respectively. The results showed that the pulp density, pyrite addition and temperature had a significant impact on the uranium recovery rate. The predicted optimum uranium leaching conditions were 2.20% of pyrite addition, 7.69% of pulp density and 31.90 °C of temperature, respectively. The actual uranium leaching rate under the optimal conditions was 94.84%, which was consistent with the predicted values with the model (95.21%). The results were of great significance for a large-scaled bioleaching practice of the high-fluorine and low-sulfur uranium or low-grade uranium ore. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The high level of fluorine and low sulfur in the ore could significantly undermine the bioleaching effectiveness. Here, a strategy to improve the bioleaching efficiency by introducing fluoride-resistant mesophilic eosinophils coupled with pyrite supplement was investigated in a bioleaching system with such ore. The results of column and heap bioleaching showed that 89.25% and 90.40% of uranium were recovered with the consortium and pyrite addition, which increased the uranium leaching rates by 13.22% and 8.96% as compared with the sulfuric acid leaching. Hence, it provides a method to improve uranium bioleaching efficiency of the high-fluorine and low-sulfur uranium ore by the consortium adding pyrite. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We cloned the GbABR1 gene from highly resistant Gossypium barbadense Xinhai15 based on the candidate genes screened by transcriptome sequencing that were related to resistance to Verticillium wilt. A sequence characteristic analysis showed that GbABR1 was an ERF subfamily B4 member and was a new member of the AP2 family of sea-island cotton. The GbABR1 gene was expressed highly in roots compared with the levels in leaves and stems in cotton. Expression was enhanced significantly in cotton after infection by Verticillium dahliae, indicating that GbABR1 probably plays an important role in the response to biotic stress. The results of subcellular localisation showed that GFP:GbABR1 was localised to the nucleus. GbABR1 silencing via the virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) method indicated that the incidence of disease and the disease index in VIGS-silenced plants were much higher than in the control after infection by Verticillium dahliae. The GbABR1-overexpressing Arabidopsis plants showed similar resistance to Verticillium dahliae compared to the wild type. These results indicate that the GbABR1 gene plays a positive role in resistance to Verticillium wilt. The GbABR1-overexpressing Arabidopsis plants presented dwarfism, early maturation and early bolting compared with wild-type plants, suggesting that GbABR1 also participates in growth and development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Virtual machine (VM) placement is a fundamental problem about resource scheduling in cloud computing; however, the design and implementation of an efficient VM placement algorithm are very challenging. To better multiplex and share physical hosts in the cloud data centers, this paper presents a VM placement algorithm based on the peak workload characteristics, which models the workload characteristics of VMs with mathematical method, and measures the similarity of VMs' workload with VM peak similarity. Avoiding virtual machines whose workload has high correlation are placed together, it places the virtual machines with peak workload staggering at different time together, which achieves better VM consolidation through VM peak similarity. This paper focuses on the mathematical analysis of VM peak similarity, and proves that compared to cosine-similarity method and correlation-coefficient method, peak-similarity method is better theoretically. Finally, numerical simulations and algorithm experiments show that our proposed peak-similarity-based placement algorithm outperforms the random placement algorithm and correlation-coefficient-based placement algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we will show that quantum private comparison protocol is secure when a malicious third party is presented. The security of the protocol is considered in a cheat-sensitive model, in which the TP is kept honest by the possibility of being caught cheating. Besides, we enhance the privacy of the quantum private comparison protocol, where the participants' inputs and the comparison result can be preserved. Furthermore, in contrast to pervious protocols requiring a large amount of quantum resources, such as entanglement and quantum memory, our protocol is based on BB84 protocol, which is more feasible for practical applications. Finally, we analyze the security of the presented protocol. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: A triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) and a glucose fuel cell (GFC) were separately designed to harvest biomechanical energy from body motion and biochemical energy from glucose molecules. A hybrid energy-harvesting system (HEHS) which consisted of TENG and GFC was developed successfully, and it can simultaneously harvest biomechanical energy and biochemical energy. Various types of energy exist everywhere around us, and these energies can be harvested from multiple sources to power micro-/nanoelectronic system and even personal electronic products. In this work, we proposed a hybrid energy-harvesting system (HEHS) for potential in vivo applications. The HEHS consisted of a triboelectric nanogenerator and a glucose fuel cell for simultaneously harvesting biomechanical energy and biochemical energy in simulated body fluid. These two energy-harvesting units can work individually as a single power source or work simultaneously as an integrated system. This design strengthened the flexibility of harvesting multiple energies and enhanced corresponding electric output. Compared with any individual device, the integrated HEHS outputs a superimposed current and has a faster charging rate. Using the harvested energy, HEHS can power a calculator or a green light-emitting diode pattern. Considering the widely existed biomechanical energy and glucose molecules in the body, the developed HEHS can be a promising candidate for building in vivo self-powered healthcare monitoring system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]