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Treatments for giant congenital melanocytic nevi (GCMN) are extremely limited. Thus, there is an urgent need for development of relevant targeted therapies. However, current lack of preclinical cell models restricts progress in GCMN research. In this study, we aimed to establish and characterize an immortalized GCMN cell line. GCMN cells were successfully immortalized by means of lentivirus-mediated simian virus 40 large T transfection. The immortalized GNC cell line (ImGNC) showed lower proliferation rate and higher melanin content than primary melanocytes. Expression levels of the differentiation gene MITF and stemness genes TWIST1, SNAI1, and FOXD3 were elevated in ImGNCs; however, the established ImGNC cell line was immortalized but not transformed. Sanger sequencing detected the heterozygous NRAS

A series of D-A-D and D-A-A conjugated compounds composed of a benzoxadiazole core and corresponding amino moiety were synthesized. Their photoluminescent properties in different states were investigated as well. In the solution state, some compounds were observed to possess the usual anti-Kasha's emission in toluene and the solvatofluorochromic phenomenon. Meanwhile, compound 1 a could be utilized as fluorescent chemosensor for the environmental acidity, and 2 c could be developed for detecting fluoride anion. Moreover, they were emissive in powders and films, and 2 d could be applied to the emissive layer in red OLEDs.

Mass spectrometry (MS) driven metabolomics is a frequently used tool in various areas of life sciences; however, the analysis of polar metabolites is less commonly included. In general, metabolomic analyses lead to the detection of the total amount of all covered metabolites. This is currently a major limitation with respect to metabolites showing high turnover rates, but no changes in their concentration. Such metabolites and pathways could be crucial metabolic nodes (e.g., potential drug targets in cancer metabolism). A stable-isotope tracing capillary electrophoresis-mass spectrometry (CE-MS) metabolomic approach was developed to cover both polar metabolites and isotopologues in a non-targeted way. An in-house developed software enables high throughput processing of complex multidimensional data. The practicability is demonstrated analyzing [U-13 C]-glucose exposed prostate cancer and non-cancer cells. This CE-MS-driven analytical strategy complements polar metabolite profiles through isotopologue labeling patterns, thereby improving not only the metabolomic coverage, but also the understanding of metabolism.

Our aim was to identify plasma microRNA (miRNA)-based signatures to predict 3-year postoperative recurrence risk for patients with stage II and III gastric cancer (GC), so as to provide insights for individualized adjuvant therapy. Plasma miRNA expression was investigated in three phases, involving 407 patients recruited from three centers. ABI miRNA microarray and TaqMan Low Density Array were adopted in the discovery phase to identify potential miRNAs. Quantitative reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction was used to assess the expression of selected miRNAs. Logistic regression models were constructed in the training set (n = 170) and validated in the validation set (n = 169). Receiver operating characteristic analyses, survival analyses and subgroup analyses were further used to assess the accuracy of the models. We identified a 7 miRNA classifier and 7miR + pathological factors index that provided high predictive accuracy of GC recurrence (area under the curve = 0.725 and 0.841 in the training set; and 0.627 and 0.771 in the validation set). High-risk patients defined by the signatures had significantly shorter disease-free survival and overall survival than low-risk patients. The 7 miRNA classifier is an independent prognostic factor, and could add predictive value to traditional prognostic factors. Subgroup analyses revealed the satisfactory performance persisted regardless of stage, and the two models both displayed high accuracy in stage IIA patients. In conclusion, identified microRNA signature may potentially provide some additional benefit for prediction of disease recurrence in patients with stage II and III GC.

Biochar is a co-product from biomass pyrolysis that can sequester carbon when applied to soils. It may also reduce N2O and CH4 emissions from soils, increase fertilizer efficiency, increase soil organic carbon, and increase crop yields. Treatment of these additional agricultural effects in life cycle analyses (LCAs) of pyrolysis-based liquid fuels could significantly influence LCA results. In this study, we include these effects in analyses of fast and slow pyrolysis. We also consider scenarios in which biochar is combusted to produce electricity. Probability distribution functions are developed for biochar yield and carbon content whereas average, minimum, and maximum values for biochar's stability factor and agricultural effects are developed from a thorough literature review and used in baseline and sensitivity analyses. Overall, life-cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for pyrolysis-based gasoline are lower when biochar is applied to soil than when it is combusted. Carbon abatement (CA) values of fast and slow pyrolysis fuel production systems are comparable. CA is reduced for an alternative fast pyrolysis system in which the pyrolysis oil is combusted for heat and electricity generation rather than upgraded to a hydrocarbon fuel. In the baseline case with biochar soil application, inclusion of agricultural effects reduces GHG emissions by 2.1 g CO2e/MJ from 16 g CO2e/MJ. Biochar carbon content and yield exert the strongest influence on GHG emissions results. Results are also sensitive to biochar's ability to suppress N2O emissions and increase soil organic carbon, which are subject to high uncertainty. © 2013 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

We report the selective electrocatalytic oxidation of glycerol for the cogeneration of mesoxalic acid and electricity on a gold anode catalyst in anion-exchange membrane fuel cells (AEMFCs). Small Au nanoparticles (3.5 nm) were uniformly deposited onto carbon black with a loading of 40 wt % through a solution-phase method. An AEMFC with this Au/C anode catalyst, together with an Fe-based cathode catalyst, exhibited a peak power density of 57.9 mW cm−2 at 80 °C. Valuable mesoxalic acid was produced with high selectivity (46 %) from the electro-oxidation of glycerol on Au/C at an operating voltage of 0.3 V, whilst very small amounts of mesoxalic acid (selectivity

Raman measurements on hydrogenated amorphous carbon are performed in order to complete a comprehensive view of the carbon matrix disorder in a-C:H films. Hydrogenated amorphous carbon films are prepared by rf glow discharge. The changes in their microstructures due to the content of methane, the substrate bias voltage, and deposition fractional pressure are investigated using Raman scattering. These results reveal that the films tend to have a microcrystalline structure, the hydrogenation of the films is decreased corresponding to this structure change. The Raman scattering from amorphous carbon films shows several features, which are attributed to microcrystalline graphite-like structures which all originate from the same region in the samples, the microcrystalline average domain size is obtained, too.