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The co‐factors independent cypridina bioluminescence was often used to detect molecular oxygen. Whereas the native cypridina oxyluciferin and the majority analogues only emit blue light, it limits the application of the cypridina oxyluciferin derivative in detection active oxygen species. To overcome these limitations, we design two series of oxyluciferin derivatives: 2‐acetamido‐5‐aryl‐3‐(p‐trifluoromethylphenyl)pyrazine and 2‐acetamido‐5‐aryl‐3‐(p‐methoxylphenyl)pyrazine. The results found that the fluorescence emissions of the cypridina oxyluciferin derivatives cover the whole region of visible light. Especially, 2‐acetamido‐5‐(trans‐2,3,6,7‐tetrahydro‐1H,5H‐benzo[i,j]quinolizine‐ethenyl)‐3‐(p‐trifluoromethyl phenyl)pyrazine (1 h) can emit red light. By comparison of the emission spectra and oscillator strengths, it found that electron‐donating group in C3 position contributed to blue shift wavelength and improve luminous efficiency. The increasing conjugated length by introducing a conjugated double bond made the emission spectra shift to red and the luminescence strengths much stronger. Moreover, the analysis of the relative stabilities at the ground and excited states indicates that neutral forms, not amide ions, are dominant at physiological pH. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Synovial sarcoma (SS) is a mesenchymal malignant neoplasm showing characteristics of epithelial–mesenchymal biphasic differentiation. SS is of uncertain cellular origin; however, studies have suggested that SS originates from a somatic stem cell population. In this study, we aim to determine whether differential morphological features of the epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) contributed to the tumourigenesis of SS invasion and metastasis. Twelve paraffin‐embedded formalin‐fixed tissue (FFPE) SS tissue specimens were obtained, and laser capture microdissection (LCM) with the ArcturusXT system and small chip method (SCM) were used to isolate and purify spindle and epithelial cells from SS specimens. The TRIzol method was used to extract RNA, and the mRNA levels of EMT‐related genes in epithelial and spindle cells of SS specimens were measured using real‐time fluorescent quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT‐PCR). The results show that collection of about 2 × 104 cells from FFPE samples using LCM was sufficient for qRT‐PCR, with an efficiency of 75%. Compared with LCM, 72.2% (13 of 18) RNA samples were successfully extracted using SCM to isolate cells from FFPE SS tissues. In the 16 samples (11 spindle cell samples and 5 epithelial cell samples), Snail mRNA was significantly upregulated in spindle cell areas compared with that in epithelial cell areas (P = .001). Expression levels of the epithelial marker E‐cadherin and the mesenchymal marker N‐cadherin were not significantly different between epithelial and spindle cell areas. In spindle cells of recurrent SS samples, the mRNA levels of E‐cadherin, N‐cadherin, Snail, and Slug were higher in primary SS samples than in recurrent samples. Taken together, our results indicated that in SS samples, Snail mRNA was upregulated in spindle cell areas compared with that in epithelial cell areas and that the expression of EMT‐related genes was increased in primary SS. LCM could be used to isolate and purify RNA from FFPE samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three recent large-scale genome-wide association studies ( GWAS) in Chinese Han populations have identified an esophageal squamous cell carcinoma ( ESCC) susceptibility locus within phospholipase C epsilon 1 ( PLCE1) gene, which encodes a phospholipase involved in intracellular signaling. The expressed PLCE1 in ESCC, however, are inconsistent. This study examined PLCE1 expression by immunohistochemistry ( IHC) from 110 ethnic Kazakh ESCC patients and 50 from adjacent normal esophageal tissues ( NETs). The expressed PLCE1 was localized in cytoplasm, especially in the peripheral layers of cancer cell nests, which was significantly higher in tumors than in NETs (p < 0.001). Increased expression of PLCE1 was correlated with advanced tumor-node-metastasis (TNM) stages (p = 0.015) and lymph node metastasis (p = 0.003) in patients with ESCC. Of the 110 patients, we examined 50 paired ESCC tissues and corresponding NETs by quantitative RT-PCR (polymerase chain reaction) and the mean mRNA level of PLCE1 in ESCC was 1.85-fold higher compared with those in corresponding NETs (p = 0.0012). Meanwhile, 4 of 5 ESCC cell lines also showed elevated expression of PLCE1 mRNA. Furthermore, elevated expression of PLCE1 mRNA in Kazakh ESCC was associated with its immunoreactivity (ρ = 0.297, p = 0.040), lymph node metastasis (p < 0.001), and advanced TNM stages of ESCC (p = 0.013). To our knowledge, this study demonstrates for the first time that PLCE1 overexpression correlates with lymph node metastasis and advanced TNM stages of Kazakh ESCC, implicating a role of PLCE1 in cancer metastasis and aggressiveness in ethnic Kazakh patients with ESCC. Furthermore, the current findings may warrant investigations into whether inhibiting PLCE1 could be a strategy for targeted anticancer therapy particularly for Kazakh ESCC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The waste perfluoro-ion-exchange membranes (PFIEMs) in chlor-alkali industry were regenerated and used to the separation of dimethyl carbonate (DMC)/methanol (MeOH) mixtures by pervaporation process. The energy-dispersive spectrum (EDS) demonstrates that the impurities on the surfaces of waste PFIEMs can be effectively cleared by the regeneration process. The degree of swelling, sorption, and pervaporation properties of the regenerated PFIEMs with different counter ions were investigated. The results indicate that the counter ions of PFIEMs conspicuously influence the degree of swelling, sorption, and pervaporation properties for DMC/MeOH mixtures. The degree of swelling and solubility selectivity both decreases with the alkali metal counter ions in the sequence: Li+ > Na+ > K+ > Cs+. The degree of swelling increases with MeOH concentration increasing in feed liquid. The pervaporation measurements illustrate that the permeation flux decreases and the separation factor increases with the rising in ion radius of counter ions. The increase of feed concentration (MeOH) and feed temperature is advantageous to improve permeation flux while at the cost of separation factor decreasing. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci., 2013 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]