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Although dysregulated HMMR is linked to prostate cancer (PCa) prognosis, the precise mechanisms remain unclear. Here, we sought to elucidate the roles of HMMR in PCa progression as well as underlying mechanisms. Herein, we found that upregulated of HMMR frequently occurred in PCa samples and was corrected with poor prognosis. Additionally, HMMR significantly promoted PCa proliferation and metastasis through gain- and loss-of function approaches in vitro and in vivo. Mechanistically, HMMR interacted with AURKA and elevated AURKA protein level through inhibiting ubiquitination-mediated degradation, which subsequently activated mTORC2/AKT pathway to ensure the reinforcement of PCa progression. Moreover, upregulated of E2F1 caused from sustained activating mTORC2/AKT pathway in turn function as transcription factor to promote HMMR transcription, thereby forming a positive feedback loop to trigger PCa progression. Importantly, administration of the mTOR inhibitor remarkably antagonized HMMR-mediated PCa progression in vivo. In summary, we not only reveal a novel post-translation mechanism mediated by HMMR involved in AURKA regulation, but also describe a positive feedback loop which contributes to PCa deterioration, suggesting HMMR may serve as a potential promising therapeutic target in PCa.

Background Migration can be linked to the transmission of COVID-19. COVID-19 vaccine uptake and hesitancy among rural-to-urban migrant workers in China, the largest group of internal migrants in the world, has not been characterized. Objective To investigate COVID-19 vaccine uptake and identify vaccine hesitancy-associated factors among rural-to-urban migrant workers in the first round of COVID-19 vaccination in China. Methods A cross-sectional questionnaire-based survey was conducted, including 14,917 participants. Socio-demographics, COVID-19 vaccine uptake, vaccine hesitancy and its associated factors based on Vaccine Hesitancy Determinants Matrix (VHDM) were applied for the survey. Data were principally analyzed by logistic regression analysis. Results The COVID-19 vaccine uptake and vaccine hesitancy rates were 7.1% and 57.7%, respectively. Vaccine hesitancy was strongly associated with VHDM, including individual factors (female, higher annual income and fewer medical knowledge), group factors (less family support, friend support and public opinion support), COVID-19 epidemic factors (lower fatality, infection and emotional distress) and vaccine factors (less vaccine necessity, vaccine safety, vaccine efficacy, vaccine importance and vaccine reliability). Conclusion The VHDM model has the potential utility in efforts to reduce COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy. Greater efforts should be put into addressing positive predictors associated with vaccine hesitancy.

A facile two-step hydrothermal approach is adopted to synthesize MoSe2/N-doped RGO (NG) composites with the N/C atomic percentage changing from 1.13 to 5.16 at%. In the composites, nanoclusters of MoSe2 nanosheets are dispersed on plicated NG nanosheets. The electrochemical measurement suggests that the MoSe2/NG composites exhibit enhanced electro-catalytic HER activity as compared to MoSe2 and MoSe2/RGO. Moreover, as the N/C ratio of NG is increased, the activity of MoSe2/NG increases firstly and then decreases. At low N/C ratio, the impact of interfacial energy barrier between MoSe2 and NG is negligible and the electron transfer is substantial, so the activity of the MoSe2/NG composites increases with carrier concentration in NG. However, at high N/C ratio, the energy barrier blocks the electron transfer from NG to MoSe2 remarkably. Consequently, the MoSe2/NG composites with an intermediate N/C ratio have the highest activity. Owing to the synergistic effect of NG and MoSe2, the Tafel slope of the composites is reduced from 114.69 to 78.45 mV dec−1 by 32% as compared to pure MoSe2. The results provide us valuable information for efficient design of transition metal dichalcogenide catalysts for electro-catalytic hydrogen evolution.

Atomic layer deposition is adopted to fabricate HfO2/Al2O3 multilayer thin films to study the sub-layer-thickness-dependent thermal stability. The nano-laminated structure with too thin sub-layer might degrade into a nano-composite configuration. Upon thermal annealing, the HfO2 sub-layers in the laminated configuration crystallize into the monoclinic phase without expanding into the neighboring Al2O3 sub-layers, while the crystallization occurs across the Al2O3 sub-layers in the nano-composite configuration. The thermal stability is enhanced with decreasing thickness of the HfO2 sub-layer and is essentially structure dependent, which can be regulated by the stacking numbers and the stacking sequence per supercycle. Doped Al could induce the phase transition from the monoclinic to the tetragonal phase. In thermodynamics, a thicker HfO2 sub-layer is more likely to initiate the crystallization owing to more bulk Gibbs free energy contributed to the total energy. However, the lost energy in the bond-breaking process impedes the crystallization, resulting in the enhanced thermal stability. The dielectric constant is significantly enhanced owing to the phase transformation from the monoclinic to the tetragonal phase. The leakage current density of the post-annealed nano-composite structure films is 3 × 10−6 A/cm2 at bias of −2 V, which is much lower than in other structures.

Polycrystalline graphene nanoribbons usually experience a brittle rupture before failure, and the irreversible breaking occurs in grain boundaries (GBs). In this paper, molecular dynamic simulations are conducted to study the fatigue properties of bi-crystal graphene nanoribbons under a periodic in-plane compression. It is found that ribbon edges rather than GBs dominate the dynamic stability when the ribbon width is smaller than 5 nm. The fatigue failure is closely related to the misorientation angle between two grains because of the distinct edge energy. It always starts from the edges with higher energy and results in a localized damage at the edges.

Cu-doped Bi2Te3 hexagonal nanoplates were fabricated by a simple solvothermal method. Scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy characterization illustrated that the nanoplates are single-crystal ones with an average width of 300 nm and thickness in the range of 20–30 nm. It was demonstrated that Cu x Bi2Te3 nanoplates possess the lowest thermal conductivity (0.8–1.2 W/m K) at 300 K, which is mainly due to the enhanced phonon scattering by grain boundaries. Furthermore, the doped Cu could evidently enhance the power factor of Bi2Te3 through optimizing the carrier transport properties. As a result, Cu0.02Bi2Te3 nanoplates exhibit the best thermoelectric performance with a figure of merit of 0.33, which is more than two times higher than that of Bi2Te3 nanoplates.

The physical properties of transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) with a few layers can be tailored by strain engineering because of the good elasticity with a strain limit of more than 10 %. In this work, elastic deformation under uniaxial tension in single-layer MoS2 nano-sheets is investigated theoretically by molecular dynamics simulation. A size-dependent elastic modulus is observed especially from sheets with a width of less than 10 nm. The elastic modulus of the nano-sheets with zigzag edges decreases as the width becomes narrower but that of the nano-sheets with armchair edges increases anomalously. The anisotropic behavior is ascribed to the opposite variation of the edge stress induced by the atomic configurations at the edges. Based on the continuum theory, a composite model composed of edge and core regions is established and the parameter, α, is adopted to describe the edge stiffness. The value of α is negative and positive for the zigzag and armchair edges, respectively, but the fitted edge width is 0.63 nm that is independent of the edge chirality.

Background MicroRNAs have emerged as critical modulators of carcinogenesis and tumor progression including renal cell carcinoma (RCC). MiR-622 plays as a tumor inhibitor in some types of cancer, however, its role in kidney cancer is unknown. The purpose of the present work is to investigate the functional behaviors and regulatory mechanism of miR-622 in RCC. Results We examined the expression of miR-622 in RCC and adjacent normal tissues and then explored the roles of miR-622. The results of this analysis indicated that miR-622 activity was significantly downregulated in RCC tissues compared with the corresponding normal tissues, so did in RCC cell lines. MiR-622 was associated with RCC aggressiveness. MiR-622 in RCC cells decreased CCL18 expression and suppressed CCL18 activated MAPK signal pathway. Using Western blot and luciferase reporter assays, it was verified that CCL18 was a direct target of miR-622. A specific and inverse correlation between miR-622 and CCL18 expression was found in human RCC samples. Conclusions The results demonstrated that miR-622 acted as a tumor-promoting miRNA by targeting CCL18 in RCC.

Chemotherapy is a strategy for patients with advanced prostate cancer, especially those with castration-resistant prostate cancer. Prostate cancer stem cells (PCSCs) are believed to be the origin of cancer recurrence following therapy intervention, including chemotherapy. The mechanisms underlying the chemoresistance of PCSCs are still poorly understood. In the present study, fluorescence-activated cell sorting was used to isolate PCSCs from LNCaP and PC3 cell lines. 3-(4,5-Dimethyl-2-thiazolyl)-2,5-diphenyl-2H-tetrazolium bromide was used to measure the cell viability. Quantitative real-time PCR and western blotting were utilized to evaluate the mRNA and protein levels. ShRNA was employed to knock down target gene expression. Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) was performed to explore the detailed mechanism underlying ABCC1 expression. Our results revealed that the sorted PCSCs showed enhanced chemoresistance ability than matched non-PCSCs. Protein level of activated form of NOTCH1(ICN1) was significantly higher in PCSCs. Inhibition of NOTCH1 with shRNA could decrease ABCC1 expression, and improve chemosensitivity in PCSCs. Finally, ChIP–PCR showed ICN1 could directly bind to the promoter region of ABCC1. In conclusion, NOTCH1 signaling could transactivate ABCC1, resulting in higher chemoresistance ability of PCSCs, which might be one of the important mechanisms underlying the chemoresistance of PCSCs.

To describe the surgical technique and to report the midterm outcomes of laparoendoscopic single-site radical prostatectomy (LESS-RP) with a homemade single-port device.Between August 2009 and October 2011, 20 LESS-RP procedures were performed in a single center by a high-volume surgeon. The surgical methods are outlined in the paper. Preoperative, perioperative, pathologic, midterm oncological, and functional outcomes data were analyzed.On average, patients were 66.1 years old, had a mean body mass index of 24.4 kg/m(2), and a mean prostate-specific antigen (PSA) value of 12.2 ng/ml. No conversion was required; however, a single additional 5-mm port was required in one case. The mean operative time was 248 min; mean estimated blood loss was 94 ml. The mean visual analog pain score at day 3 was 1.5 out of 10, and the mean hospital stay was 15.4 day. Pathology showed one focal positive margin (5 %) in a T3a patient, and mean Gleason score was 6.7. There were a total of four Clavien grade 2 complications. The median follow-up was 22.8 month (range 12-36 month). No PSA recurrence was detected during follow-up period; the potency rate after bilateral neurovascular bundle preservation was 60 % (3/5). Complete continence recovery (no pad) was observed in 85 % of the patients at 1 year, in 90 % at 2 years, and in all three patients at 3 years.LESS-RP is technically feasible and safe, with excellent cosmesis, low postoperative pain levels, and acceptable midterm oncological, and functional outcomes. Comparative investigation to conventional LRP is needed.

Though GaN nanoribbons (GaNNRs) with H atoms terminating both edges are nonmagnetic semiconductors, the extra dangling bond bands around the Fermi level lead to a transition from semiconducting to metallic, except for the armchair edge GaNNRs (AGaNNRs) with bare N and Ga edges, which are still nonmagnetic semiconductors due to the strong coupling of the dangling bonds of dimeric N and Ga atoms at the same edge. The larger difference in the charge density (ρup-ρdown) for edge bare N atoms and decaying for N sub-lattices away from the edge, as well as the smaller difference in the charge density for edge bare Ga atoms and without decaying for Ga sub-lattices away from the edge is consistent with the magnetic moment of a GaNNR with bare N edge being larger than that of a GaNNR with bare Ga edge. The magnetic moment of a zigzag edge GaNNR (ZGaNNR) with bare N (Ga) edge has nearly half the value of the magnetic moment of a AGaNNR with bare N (Ga) edge. Such a relationship also exists in the number of extra dangling bond states appearing around the Fermi level in the band structures. For ZGaNNRs, the magnetic moment of bare N and Ga edges is larger than either bare N edge or bare Ga edge, but smaller than their sum, implying that there exists an interaction between the dangling bonds at both edges of bare N and Ga edges.

We have performed the first-principles calculations onto the structural, electronic and magnetic properties of seven 3d transition-metal (TM=V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni and Cu) atom substituting cation Zn in both zigzag (10,0) and armchair (6,6) zinc oxide nanotubes (ZnONTs). The results show that there exists a structural distortion around 3d TM impurities with respect to the pristine ZnONTs. The magnetic moment increases for V-, Cr-doped ZnONTs and reaches maximum for Mn-doped ZnONTs, and then decreases for Fe-, Co-, Ni- and Cu-doped ZnONTs successively, which is consistent with the predicted trend of Hund’s rule for maximizing the magnetic moments of the doped TM ions. However, the values of the magnetic moments are smaller than the predicted values of Hund’s rule due to strong hybridization between p orbitals of the nearest neighbor O atoms of ZnONTs and d orbitals of the TM atoms. Furthermore, the Mn-, Fe-, Co-, Cu-doped (10,0) and (6,6) ZnONTs with half-metal and thus 100% spin polarization characters seem to be good candidates for spintronic applications.

The effects of two typical methanogenic inhibitors [2-bromoethanesulfonate (BES) and chloroform (CHCl(3))] on the bacterial populations were investigated using molecular ecological techniques. Terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism analyses (T-RFLP) in combination with clone library showed that both the toxicants not only inhibited methanogenic activity but also considerably altered the bacterial community structure. Species of low % G + C Gram-positive bacteria (Clostridiales), high % G + C Actinomycetes, and uncultured Chloroflexi showed relatively greater tolerance of CHCl(3), whereas the BES T-RFLP patterns were characterized by prevalence of Geobacter hydrogenophilus and homoacetogenic Moorella sp. In addition, due to indirect thermodynamic inhibition caused by high hydrogen partial pressures, the growth of obligately syntrophic acetogenic Syntrophomonas and Syntrophobacter was also affected by selective inhibition of methanogenesis. Interestingly, by comparing the fermentative intermediates detected in BES- and CHCl(3)-treated experiments, it was furthermore found that when methanogenesis is specifically inhibited, the syntrophic interaction between hydrogen-producing fatty acid degraders and hydrogen-utilizating homoacetogens seemed to be strengthened.