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A new sulfate oxide solid acid catalyst SO42-/SnO2-Hangjin2# clay was compounded with Hangjin2#clay, activated by sulfuric acid, as a carrier. In the catalysis of Xanthoceras sorbifolium Bunge, using the yield of oil and methanol synthesis of biodiesel as an index, the effect of SO42-/SnO2-Hangjin2#clay and the preparation conditions on the activity of solid acid were investigated. The variables included in the optimization process were concentration of Sn, impregnation sulfuric acid concentration, and calcination temperature. The optimal conditions were found as 0.4 M SnCl4, 3.0 M H2SO4 impregnation, and 350 °C calcination temperature. The catalyst was examined by scanning electron microscope, X-ray diffraction meter, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, surface area, and thermal weight analysis. The results showed that the introduction of Hangjin2#clay in the SO42--SnO2 solid acid catalyst improves its catalytic activity.

Summary: SLC17A9 is a vesicular ATP transport protein that plays an important role in determining cell functions and the onset and progression of different diseases. In this study, SLC17A9 was initially identified as a potential diagnostic and prognostic risk biomarker for clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC). Then, the aberrant expression levels of SLC17A9 were confirmed in both the cell lines and clinical tissues. Mechanistically, SLC17A9 could upregulate the expression of PTHLH, thus promoting epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in ccRCC. Functionally, SLC17A9 knockdown inhibited the proliferation, migration, and invasion activity of renal cancer cells, whereas its overexpression led to stronger cell viability and more malignant phenotype in vitro. The overexpression of SLC17A9 in vivo could significantly contribute to the growth of tumors. Finally, we found that SLC17A9 might be related to the drug resistance of vorinostat. Cumulatively, this study demonstrated that the SLC17A9-PTHLH-EMT axis could promote the progression of ccRCC.

ObjectiveTo estimate whether the new obesity indicator tri-ponderal mass index (TMI) has a better capacity to predict adolescent hypertension (HTN) and HTN subtypes at three separate blood pressure (BP) visits than the conventionally used body mass index (BMI).MethodsA total of 36,950 adolescents who had initial normal BP from 2012 to 2019 were included in Suzhou, China. HTN was defined as having three separate visits of elevated BP in 2020. The area under the receiver-operating characteristic curve (AUC), false-positive rate, false-negative rate, total misclassification rates, net reclassification improvement (NRI), and integrated discrimination improvement were calculated to compare the discriminative ability of HTN between BMI and TMI.ResultsTMI had better predictive abilities than BMI among all of the participants when predicting HTN (difference in AUC = 0.019, 95% CI = 0.007–0.031; NRI = 0.067, 95% CI = 0.008–0.127) and isolated systolic hypertension (difference in AUC = 0.021, 95% CI = 0.005–0.036; NRI = 0.106, 95% CI = 0.029–0.183). The difference in prediction abilities between BMI and TMI was more obvious in the subgroup of age ≥16. Also, TMI outperformed BMI in predicting adolescent HTN in girls but not in boys.ConclusionCompared with BMI, TMI may have a better predictive capacity for HTN, particularly in girls and older adolescents. TMI has the potential to be used as an effective predictor for HTN in clinic practice. Further studies are needed to verify the utility of TMI.

ObjectiveWe aimed to demonstrate characteristics of hypertension at three separate visits and its risk factors among children and adolescents based on a large school-based study in China.Materials and methodsBased on a large-scale ongoing monitoring program conducted in Suzhou, China, 59,679 children and adolescents aged 7–17 years from 60 public schools were enrolled during 2020 to 2021. Height, weight, and blood pressure (BP) were measured. Additional BP would be measured for hypertensive students at least 2 weeks later. Confirmed hypertension was defined as simultaneously BP meeting above or equal to 95th percentile for age, sex, and height at three separate visits. Odds ratio (ORs), and 95% CIs were calculated by logistic regression to identify risk factors for hypertension.ResultsPrevalence of hypertension at three separate visits were 20.4, 6.3, and 3.1%, respectively. Prevalence of confirmed isolated systolic hypertension, isolated diastolic hypertension, and systolic and diastolic hypertension were 1.9, 0.3, and 0.9%, respectively. Hypertension prevalence for stages 1 and 2 were 2.6 and 0.6%. Different hypertension prevalence were found among various age and gender groups. Boys [OR, 1.137 (95% CI, 1.033–1.251)], high age [OR, 3.326 (95% CI, 2.950–3.751)], urban residents [OR, 1.579 (95% CI, 1.417–1.760)], high-socioeconomic status [OR, 1.156 (95% CI, 1.039–1.286)] and body mass index category including overweight [1.883 (95% CI, 1.665–2.129)], obesity [4.049 (95% CI, 3.625–4.523)], and thinness [OR, 0.457 (95% CI, 0.306–0.683)] were associated with confirmed hypertension.ConclusionA single BP measurement would overestimate hypertension prevalence, about 3% Chinese children were hypertensive, early, and effective intervention around risk factors for hypertension should be taken.

Abstract Background Oligodendrocytes, responsible for axon ensheathment, are critical for central nervous system (CNS) development, function, and diseases. OLIG2 is an important transcription factor (TF) that acts during oligodendrocyte development and performs distinct functions at different stages. Previous studies have shown that lncRNAs (long non-coding RNAs; > 200 bp) have important functions during oligodendrocyte development, but their roles have not been systematically characterized and their regulation is not yet clear. Results We performed an integrated study of genome-wide OLIG2 binding and the epigenetic modification status of both coding and non-coding genes during three stages of oligodendrocyte differentiation in vivo: neural stem cells (NSCs), oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (OPCs), and newly formed oligodendrocytes (NFOs). We found that 613 lncRNAs have OLIG2 binding sites and are expressed in at least one cell type, which can potentially be activated or repressed by OLIG2. Forty-eight of them have increased expression in oligodendrocyte lineage cells. Predicting lncRNA functions by using a “guilt-by-association” approach revealed that the functions of these 48 lncRNAs were enriched in “oligodendrocyte development and differentiation.” Additionally, bivalent genes are known to play essential roles during embryonic stem cell differentiation. We identified bivalent genes in NSCs, OPCs, and NFOs and found that some bivalent genes bound by OLIG2 are dynamically regulated during oligodendrocyte development. Importantly, we unveiled a previously unknown mechanism that, in addition to transcriptional regulation via DNA binding, OLIG2 could self-regulate through the 3′ UTR of its own mRNA. Conclusions Our studies have revealed the missing links in the mechanisms regulating oligodendrocyte development at the transcriptional level and after transcription. The results of our research have improved the understanding of fundamental cell fate decisions during oligodendrocyte lineage formation, which can enable insights into demyelination diseases and regenerative medicine.

Abstract Background Extracellular vesicles (EVs) and their mimics from mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are promising drug carriers to improve cancer treatment, but their application is hindered by donor variations and expansion limitations of conventional tissue-derived MSCs. To circumvent these issues, we made EV-mimicking nanovesicles from standardized MSCs derived from human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) with a theoretically limitless expandability, and examined the targeting capacity of these nanovesicles to prostate cancer. Methods Nanovesicles are made from intact iPSC-MSCs through serial extrusion. The selective uptake of fluorescently labeled nanovesicles by prostate cancer cells vs. non-tumor cells was examined with flow cytometry. For in vivo tracing, nanovesicles were labeled with fluorescent dye DiR or renilla luciferase. In mice carrying subcutaneous or bone metastatic PC3 prostate cancer, the biodistribution of systemically infused nanovesicles was examined with in vivo and ex vivo imaging of DiR and luminescent signals. A chemotherapeutic drug, docetaxel, was loaded into nanovesicles during extrusion. The cytotoxicities of nanovesicle-encapsulated docetaxel on docetaxel-sensitive and -resistant prostate cancer cells and non-tumor cells were examined in comparison with free docetaxel. Therapeutic effects of nanovesicle-encapsulated docetaxel were examined in mice carrying subcutaneous or bone metastatic prostate cancer by monitoring tumor growth in comparison with free docetaxel. Results iPSC-MSC nanovesicles are more selectively taken up by prostate cancer cells vs. non-tumor cells in vitro compared with EVs, membrane-only EV-mimetic nanoghosts and liposomes, which is not affected by storage for up to 6 weeks. In mouse models of subcutaneous and bone metastatic PC3 prostate cancer, systemically infused nanovesicles accumulate in tumor regions with significantly higher selectivity than liposomes. The loading of docetaxel into nanovesicles was efficient and did not affect the selective uptake of nanovesicles by prostate cancer cells. The cytotoxicities of nanovesicle-encapsulated docetaxel are significantly stronger on docetaxel-resistant prostate cancer cells and weaker on non-tumor cells than free docetaxel. In mouse models of subcutaneous and bone metastatic prostate cancer, nanovesicle-encapsulated docetaxel significantly decreased the tumor growth and toxicity to white blood cells compared with free docetaxel. Conclusions Our data indicate that EV-mimicking iPSC-MSC nanovesicles are promising to improve the treatment of metastatic prostate cancer.

Resistance to chemotherapy occurs in many ovarian cancer cases. Here, the authors show that mir-424(322) expression restores the sensitivity of ovarian cancer cells to chemotherapy by blocking the PD-L1 immune checkpoint, and find that combining immunotherapy and chemotherapy has a synergistic effect.

To investigate the feasibility analysis of ultrasonic detection methods applied in the fatigue crack characteristics of steel structures, the double-probe ultrasonic detection method was applied to the prefabricated crack specimens fabricated from of flat steel plate. The test features including length, width, depth, angle, and crack location were considered. Based on the calculation of geometric relationship and experimental results, a method for judging the crack tip position was developed. The formulae for determining the depth and angle of crack were not only established but also analyzed the detection accuracy of the double-probe penetration method. The feasibility of this method in weld crack detection was verified by a combination of the finite-element simulation and actual experiment. The results showed that the ratio of crack tip wave height to crack free wave height ωK is related to the K value (K value is one of the parameters of the angle probe, which is defined as the tangent value of angle β between the incident wave and an interface normal line), but the influence of crack depth and width can be ignored. Due to higher detection accuracy for crack depth and angle, a double-probe penetrating method could improve the detection accuracy for crack angle by nearly 5% more than the single probe pulse reflection method. Therefore, application of the double-probe penetrating method had a significant impact on accurate crack detection of rib-to-deck weld in the practical issue.

No effective treatment for Sjögren’s syndrome (SS), a chronic autoimmune disease affecting mainly salivary and lacrimal glands, is available now. Systemic infusion of allogeneic mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) isolated from tissues such as bone marrow (BM) alleviated SS in mouse models and a small clinical trial, but further research and application of this MSC therapy were hindered by limited expandability, significant donor variations, and safety concerns of tissue-derived MSCs. To circumvent these issues, we derived MSCs from human iPSCs using an optimized protocol that can be easily scaled up to produce a huge amount of standardized MSCs. Our iPSC-MSCs inhibited the onset of lymphocyte infiltration into salivary glands in the NOD mouse model of SS in the same way as BM-MSCs. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) carry bioactive molecules in the same way as their originating cells and are more stable and considered much safer than cells for therapies. We found that EVs derived from BM-MSCs and iPSC-MSCs suppressed activation of immune cells and expression of proinflammation factors essential for SS progression in vitro and that infusion of iPSC-MSC EVs at the predisease stage decreased the lymphocyte infiltration in salivary glands and serum autoantibody levels in the same way as infusion of BM-MSCs and iPSC-MSCs. These data suggested that iPSC-MSC EVs have the potential to prevent the progression of SS before the onset of sialadenitis.

The peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPARs) -α, -δ/β and -γ are the ligand-activated transcription factors involved in the regulation of fatty acid and lipoprotein metabolism, energy balance, cell proliferation and differentiation and atherosclerosis, etc. We investigated the associations of 10 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in PPARs with apolipoprotein (apo) A-I/apoB ratio in Chinese Han population.Overall, 630 subjects (212 males, 418 females) were randomly selected from the Prevention of Metabolic Syndrome and Multiple Metabolic Disorders in Jiangsu Province of China Study Cohort. Population analyzed was as the general population which involved healthy people and individuals with disorders of apoA-I or apoB. 10 SNPs (rs1800206, rs135539, rs4253778, rs2016520, rs9794, rs10865710, rs1805192, rs709158, rs3856806 and rs4684847) were genotyped. Mean difference (Difference) and 95% confident interval (95%CI) were calculated.After covariates adjustment, rs1800206-V allele (LV+VV) and rs3856806-T allele (CT+TT) were significantly associated with a decreased apoA-I/apoB ratio than those wild type carriers, Difference (95%CI) were -1.29 (-1.96-0.62) and -0.8 (-1.42~-0.17), respectively. Rs4253778-C allele was significantly associated with an increased apoA-I/apoB ratio compared to the wild type carriers (GG), Difference (95%CI) was 0.76 (0.04-1.48). Generalized multifactor dimensionality reduction analysis showed that three-to-eight-locus models were significant with apoA-I/apoB ratio (P