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A new composite antibacterial material ZnO/Cu2+-Chitosan/Montmorillonite (ZCCM) was prepared with montmorillonite as carrier, Zn(Ac)2•2H2O, Cu(NO3)2•3H2O and chitosan as raw materials. ZCCM was characterized by X-ray diffraction, nitrogen physical adsorption, scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersion spectrometry. The antibacterial activity of ZCCM against Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhimurium, and Staphylococcus aureus was evaluated by minimal inhibitory concentration, minimum bactericidal concentration and the influence of growth curves. ZCCM displays excellent antibacterial activity which is higher than ZnO-Montmorillonite, Cu2+-Montmorillonite and ZnO/Cu2+-Montmorillonite. In addition, the antibacterial mechanism of ZCCM was investigated by analyzing bacterial morphology, integrity of cell membrane, lipid peroxidation and the effect of histidine on antibacterial activity of materials. It is found that cell morphologies of bacteria are damaged and bacterial cells are shrunken. With the increase of cell membrane permeability, the intracellular dissolved matters leak continuously. What's more, the reactive oxygen species are generated and biomacromolecules are oxidized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

MiRNAs are emerging as critical regulators in carcinogenesis and tumor progression. Recently, miR-149 has been demonstrated as a tumor suppressor in several cancers, but its functions in the context of cervical cancer remains unknown. The objective of this study is to investigate the clinicopathological and prognostic values of miR-149 expression and its roles in cervical cancer progression. In this study, miR-149 expression is decreased in CC tissues and cell lines compare with paired normal tissues and normal epithelial cell, respectively. Moreover, the restoration of miR-149 expression inhibited cell proliferation, migration, invasion and promoted cell apoptosis in vitro. We further proved that miR-149 overexpression suppresse the growth of cervical cancer cells in vivo using a mouse xenograft model. Dual luciferase assays identified the GIT1 as a novel direct target of miR-149. To identify the mechanisms, we investigated the PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway and found that the expression of PI3K, AKT and mTOR were suppressed in cells which were transfected with miR-149 mimics. Taken together, these results indicate that miR-149 is involved in the carcinogenesis and development of cervical cancer by targeting GIT1 via PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway. Given these, our data suggest that miR-149 functions as a tumor suppressor and may serve as a biomarker or useful therapeutic target of cervical cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]