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Clear‐cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) is the most prevalent renal malignancy. The pathogenesis of the disease is currently poorly understood, and the prognosis is poor. Therefore, in this study, we focused on exploring and identifying genes and signal transduction pathways that are closely related to ccRCC. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were analyzed using the renal cell oncogene expression profiles GSE100666 and GSE68417. DAVID evaluation of gene ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analyses was used. We constructed a protein–protein interaction (PPI) network of DEGS using Cytoscape software and analyzed the submodules with the CytoHubba plugin. Finally, we performed western blot, immunohistochemistry, and PCR validation by collecting tissues, and also utilized cells for in vitro functional analysis of ceruloplasmin (CP). In total, 202 DEGs (52 upregulated and 150 downregulated genes) were identified. Upregulated DEGs are significantly rich in angiogenesis, cell adhesion, and response to hypoxia, whereas downregulated DEGs are involved in intracellular pH regulation, excretion, coagulation, and chloride transmembrane transport. We selected the interactions of the top 20 hub genes provided by the PPI network, all of which are involved in important physiological pathways in vivo, such as complement and coagulation cascades. Tissue protein assays demonstrated that renal cancer highly expressed CP, while in vitro experiments showed that CP could promote the invasion of renal cancer cells. Our study suggests that ALB, C3, LOX, HRG, CXCR4, GPC3, SLC12A3, CP, and CASR may be involved in the development of ccRCC, and is expected to provide theoretical support for future studies on the diagnosis and targeted therapy of ccRCC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

GaN‐containing titanosilicate catalysts were used for the first time for the oxidative dehydrogenation (ODH) of n‐butane at a relatively low reaction temperature (460 °C). Commercially available GaN powder with a wurtzite crystal structure showed superior reactivity and stability for the ODH of n‐butane. The catalytic property of GaN catalyst for ODH strongly depends on the GaN particle size. The effects of the GaN weight percentage and GaN particle size on the catalytic performance are investigated in a fixed bed reactor. Based on the physicochemical properties of the catalyst characterized via TEM, DLS, N2 adsorption‐desorption, XRF, O2‐TPD, XRD, XPS, and in‐situ FTIR, the textural and structural properties of catalyst were obtained. The catalytic results reveal that the presence of GaN increases the activity of the catalysts, indicating that GaN can be used as a new active phase for the ODH of n‐butane. XRD, XPS, O2‐TPD, DLS, TEM, and in‐situ FTIR results show that activated O species exist on the surface of the GaN catalyst and enhance the catalytic performance with a decreasing GaN particle size, suggesting that smaller GaN particles possess a remarkable capability to activate O species in O2 and C‐H bonds in light alkanes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT An UV-polymerization approach was proposed to construct luminescence organic-inorganic hybrid. Methacryloxypropyltrimethoxysilane (MAPTMS) was chosen as sol-gel precursor to prepare the host matrix and acrylic europium Eu(AA)3 was used as guest dopants. Structural modifications during irradiation were evident in both the inorganic and organic domains of the hybrid material. The influence of condensation degree of the silicate network on the photopolymerization kinetics of organic moieties was investigated. It appeared that the sol maturation time was of vital importance to the phase homogeneity and optical transparency of materials. To get more efficient copolymerization and higher luminescence intensity of the target ormosils, two key processing factors including incorporation time and entrapping concentration are reported. Incorporation time when acrylic europium was introduced into the matrix during sol maturation is found to be helpful to overcome phase separation. The effect of entrapping concentration of europium(III) compound on the luminescence performance was further studied. Material synthesized by this approach has three advantages: optical transparency with little phase separation, organic and inorganic composite with interpenetrating network, covalent grafting of acrylic europium without luminescent species leakage. This 'photopolymerization of molecular grafting' strategy is hopeful to offer a promising development for luminescent ormosil glasses. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2017, 134, 45146. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT A novel fluorinated reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer agent, S,S-di-pentaflourobenzyl trithiocarbonate (DPFBTTC), was designed and synthesized. DPFBTTC and dibenzyl trithiocarbonate (DBTTC) were applied in the polymerization of dodecafluoroheptyl methacrylate (DFHMA), hexafluorobutyl methacrylate (HFBMA), and trifluoroethyl methacrylate (TFEMA) in scCO2. The polymerization processes were monitored using a high-pressure in-situ NIR, through which the polymerization kinetics was investigated and the controllability of DPFBTTC was evaluated. It is found that the controllability of DPFBTTC presented in the order of DFHMA > HFBMA > TFEMA, indicating that DPFBTTC may fit for the controlled polymerization of the highly fluorinated methacrylates. Moreover, the controllability of DPFBTTC is verified to be better than that of DBTTC, possibly resulting from the enhanced accessibility/miscibility of DPFBTTC to the fluorinated monomer used. We believe that the employment of DPFBTTC and the resulted introduction of stable pentafluorobenzyl end groups to the polymer are expected to distinctly improve performances of the polymer, and thus will meet the special application requirements. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2016, 54, 825-834 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By using N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF) as a methylenating reagent, the copper-catalyzed CH activation of indole was demonstrated as an efficient and facile protocol for synthesizing 3,3′-diindolylmethane (DIM) and its derivatives. The results indicate that copper chloride was the best catalyst among the investigated transition metal salts, which affords an excellent regioselectivity and good yield when tert-butyl hydroperoxide (TBHP) was used as an oxidant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phytochemical investigation of the 70% EtOH extract from the stem bark of Dysoxylum lukii led to the isolation of three new ergostane steroids, (3 β)-3,20-dihydroxyergosta-5,24(28)-dien-7-one ( 1), (3 β,4 β,7 α)-ergosta-5,24(28)-diene-3,4,7-triol ( 2), and (3 β,7 α)-3,20-dihydroxyergosta-5,24(28)-dien-7-yl acetate ( 3), together with the known compound (3 β,4 β)-ergosta-5,24(28)-diene-3,4,20-triol ( 4). Their structures were elucidated on the basis of extensive 1D- and 2D-NMR (COSY, HMQC, HMBC, and NOESY) analyses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An abstract of the article "Highly Enantioselective Catalytic Domino Reaction: Synthesis of (R)-2-Phenyl-2H-thiochromene-3-carbaldehyde in Supercritical Carbon Dioxide" by Zhen Li and colleagues is presented.