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Osteosarcoma is prevalent in children and adolescent. The oncogenic function of long-chain noncoding RNA (lncRNA) FGD5 antisense RNA 1 (FGD5-AS1) has been reported. However, the function of FGD5-AS1 in doxorubicin-resistance in osteosarcoma remains to be illucidated. Quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) and western blot analysis (WB) were used to measure the expression of FGD5-AS1, miR-154-5p, WNT5A and autophagy proteins. MTT assay was used to assess cell viability and transwell assay was performed to evaluate migration. A nude mouse xenograft model was developed to verify the function of FGD5-AS1 in vivo. FGD5-AS1 was upregulated in doxorubicin-resistant (DXR) osteosarcoma cells. Knockdown of FGD5-AS1 suppressed osteosarcoma cell proliferation, migration, and autophagy. FGD5-AS1 upregulated WNT5A expression via sponging miR-154-5p. Furthermore, FGD5-AS1 enhanced osteosarcoma cell chemotherapy resistance through upregulation of WNT5A by inhibiting miR-154-5p. Suppression of FGD5-AS1 significantly suppressed tumor growth in nude mice. FGD5-AS1 may promote chemoresistance through WNT5A-induced autophagy by sponging miR-154-5p in osteosarcoma cells.

The problems of data leakage and unreliable information transfer in the management process make sustainability management an inevitable need for future development. Globally, there is increasing attention paid to blockchain technology and particularly its application in addressing sustainable management issues, both from academia and industry. Aiming to deepen the understanding of how blockchain technology could deal with sustainable management issues across different disciplines, this paper investigates the latest research on the application of blockchain technology in sustainable management published from 2017 to 2021. It is found that there is a drastic surge of publications in the recent 2 years. The analysis focuses on authors' origins, the collaboration network of the keywords, countries, and research topics covered. The application of blockchain technology in five key sectors of sustainable management, encompassing energy management, construction management, supply chain management, environmental management, and e-government management, is selected for further analysis detail. Also, a general framework for applying blockchain technology is proposed for broadening its use and dealing with sustainable management issues. The findings show that the identified 108 publications are distributed in 75 different journals, and scholars from China, the UK, and the USA have been working closely in BT-based sustainable management research. Blockchain technology is just emerging in sustainable management, and there is a great potential for applying blockchain technology to improve sustainable management performance and, more importantly, to provide solutions to quite a few long-lasting problems in these sectors. Opportunities for future research are also presented and discussed.

To reduce carbon emissions in the electric vehicle (EV) market, the Chinese government has issued a subsidy scheme involving a subsidy threshold that is quite different from the fixed subsidy. This study aims to investigate competing EV manufacturers’ decisions on carbon-reduction (CR) technology investment under the subsidy threshold. We construct a Cournot game model involving two competitive EV manufacturers. The results show that decisions of the two EV manufacturers on investing in CR technology vary under different subsidy thresholds. Particularly, they would make the same investment decisions when the subsidy threshold is low or large, but achieve the opposite investment decisions when the subsidy threshold is intermediate. In the benchmark model where there is only one EV manufacturer, an EV manufacturer could always increase its profit from investing in CR technology when the subsidy threshold is low. In the Cournot model where there are two competing manufacturers, however, they may get involved in the Prisoner’s Dilemma and both manufacturers could suffer economic losses from CR technology investment.

Early growth response-1 (EGR1) is a multi-domain protein and an immediate early transcription factor that is induced during liver injury and controls the expression of a variety of genes implicated in metabolism, cell proliferation, and tumorigenesis. Liver cancer (LC) is a highly malignant disease with high mortality worldwide. This study focused on the function of EGR1 in LC development and the mechanism of action. Two LC-related datasets GSE101728 and GSE138178 downloaded from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database were used for identification of key genes involved in cancer progression. A microarray analysis was conducted to identify differentially expressed microRNAs (miRNAs) after EGR1 knockdown. The target gene of miR-675 was identified by integrated analysis. EGR1 and miR-675 were highly expressed, whereas sestrin 3 (SESN3) was poorly expressed in LC tissues and cells. High EGR1 expression was associated with poor liver function and disease severity in patients with LC. Knockdown of EGR1 weakened proliferation and invasiveness of LC cells. EGR1 bound to the miR-675 promoter and increased its transcription, and miR-675 bound to SESN3 mRNA to induce its downregulation. miR-675 upregulation promoted the malignance of LC cells, but further upregulation of SESN3 reduced invasiveness of cells. SESN3 was enriched in the Wnt/β-catenin signaling. EGR1 and miR-675 activated the Wnt/β-catenin through downregulating SESN3. This study demonstrated that EGR1 promotes the malignant behaviors of LC cells through mediating the miRNA-675/SESN3/Wnt/β-catenin axis.

Improving coal resource mining rates has long been a focus of coal industry research. The gob-side entry retaining by roof cutting (GERRC) is a new coal mining technology that has gained popularity in China due to its high mining rate and safety. Based on the GERRC technology, the precise technical procedure is elaborated, and the fundamental idea of pressure relief is explored through creating a structural mechanics model of the surrounding rock in this paper. The results of mechanical analysis show that the primary mechanism of roof pressure release is to weaken the integrity of the roof, thereby reducing the ultimate bending moment of the rock stratum. In addition, an additional strategy for pressure release is suggested in this research, involving the weakening of the roof rock by the creation of dense pressure-released holes. The results of the engineering field experimentation demonstrate that the dense pressure-released holes can completely replace the conventional blasting technology of the past to achieve the effect of releasing the roof pressure, thus avoiding the use of hazardous and challenging-to-obtain explosives and demonstrating safety, reliability, and feasibility.

In recent years, developing low-carbon technology has been a critical strategy for enterprises to respond to global warming challenges. Although consumer perception is influential in determining technology adoption, there is a lack of studies looking into the impact of consumer perceptions on enterprises' low-carbon technology adoption behaviors. This paper thus aims to investigate enterprises' decisions on technology adoption by considering the consumer perception disparity. Findings reveal that enterprises' optimal decisions would vary with the consumer perception disparity. When the consumer perception disparity is moderate, the enterprise would not choose to adopt low-carbon technology only. When the consumer perception disparity is either small or large, win-win situations could be achieved to maximize both enterprise profits and the social welfare. However, excessively high environmental costs would compress the win-win areas and severely reduce the total social welfare. The findings also reveal that government subsidies would be helpful in driving enterprises' low-carbon technology adoption behaviors; however, the study identifies three cases when government subsidies are ineffective. Major measures, including developing a flexible government subsidy mechanism by considering consumers’ low-carbon preferences, keeping a reasonable environmental cost, can be taken to effectively promote low-carbon technology adoption. This study provides a new perspective for enterprises to make decisions on low-carbon technology adoption, and provides theoretical evidence for the government to promote the effectiveness of subsidy policies.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNAs that are involved in tumor initiation and development by suppressing target gene expression. miRNA-154 has been shown to be important in tumorigenesis in many types of cancers. However, its role in osteosarcoma (OS) remains unknown. In the present study, we focused on the roles and mechanisms of miR‑154 in OS development. The results of quantitative RT‑PCR showed that miR‑154 expression was decreased in primary OS tumor samples and cell lines compared to levels in the matched adjacent normal tissues and human normal osteoblast cells (NHOst). Restoration of expression in U2OS cells inhibited cell proliferation, colony formation, migration and invasion, as well as induced cell cycle arrest at the G1 stage. Bioinformatic prediction suggested that Wnt5a is a target gene of miR‑154. It was further verified that Wnt5a is a target gene of miR‑150 in OS cells using luciferase assay, mRNA and protein expression analysis. Wnt5a was upregulated in OS cell lines and primary tumor samples, and its mRNA expression level was negatively correlated with the miR‑154 level in the OS tissues. Restored expression of Wnt5a weakened miR‑154‑mediated suppression of tumor progression. Taken together, these findings suggest that miR‑154 functions as a tumor suppressor in OS by partially suppressing Wnt5a expression.

Gob-side entry retaining by roof cutting (GERRC) is a new technique regarding a non-pillar mining method based on the “cutting cantilever beam theory” proposed in recent years. In this technology, the composition, formation mechanism, load transfer mode and stability mechanism of roadways are quite different from those of traditional coal mining methods. Based on the technical principle of the GERRC, the formation mechanism of the sidewall composed by collapsed gangues is clarified. Also, on basis of the observation of engineering site, the movement characteristics of the gangues in goaf are analyzed, and the movement processes are mainly divided into two stages, i.e. the rapid collapse stage and the slow compaction stage. Then, the interaction between the gangues and retaining structures in different movement stages is revealed. Meanwhile, a mechanical model of the roadside gangues was established, and the mechanical characteristics of the retaining structures were analyzed. Besides, a control concept, considering both dynamic and static pressure in the lateral direction and making it extensible to release pressure in the axial direction, was put forward to support the gangues in goaf based on the interaction characteristics of the gangues and the retaining structures. At last, three different retaining structures for the gangues were proposed in view of different mining heights, and the roadside gangues control system was established, which has been proved to be of good practicality in the engineering site. The research results can provide technical guidances for the control of roadside gangues in the GERRC and accelerate the process of popularization and application of the GERRC, which is of positive significance.

Although a plethora of research has been conducted to investigate the economic performance of construction waste (CW) management, the vast majority of studies have concentrated on the economic feasibility of CW recycling, while ignoring the economic performance of CW reduction strategies and measures. Moreover, previous studies mostly focused on one specific waste stage for waste reduction, failing to envisage dynamic interactions among various factors inherent in different waste management stages including waste generation, on-site reduction, and waste disposal, which inevitably affects the effectiveness of implementing those management strategies. To address these research gaps, this study developed a system dynamics model to investigate the economic performance of CW reduction. The model is constructed based on the interrelationships of major factors affecting the economic performance of CW reduction and comprises three subsystems covering waste generation and disposal, waste reduction, and economic performance assessment. Data from a residential building project were used for model validation and simulation. The findings reveal four strategies to effectively promote the economic performance of CW reduction, including: enhancing waste sorting, reducing illegal dumping behaviors, promoting government's financial subsidy on waste recycling, and raising waste landfilling charge. Furthermore, model simulations inform that combining different waste reduction strategies could result in better outcomes than a single measure regarding CW reduction. This study is significant in revealing the interrelationships of factors affecting the economic performance of CW reduction. Meanwhile, the results are helpful for designing policies to improve CW reduction practice.

This study aims to investigate the recycler’s profits and associated environmental impacts of construction and demolition waste (CDW) recycling under two waste treatment capacity expansion strategies, which primarily consider the mismatch between demand and supply in CDW recycling market. Through developing and comparing non-linear programming models in two waste recycling market scenarios, we find that in both scenarios, no matter how much the initial waste treatment capacity, a waste recycling capacity-glut strategy can be always optimal from the recycler’s perspective. However, the recycler may not expand its waste treatment capacity when the initial waste treatment capacity is medium or high. Instead of decreasing its waste treatment fee, the recycler would set a constant waste treatment fee for profit attainment when the initial waste treatment capacity is high. Furthermore, although the government and the recycler commonly have conflicting objectives in CDW recycling, a win-win situation where both the recycler and the government prefer the same strategy can be achieved when the initial waste treatment capacity is low or moderate. This study not only offers new insights into understanding the recyclers’ capacity expansion strategies, but also provides valuable implications for related policy development.

BNIP3 is an atypical BH3-only member of the Bcl-2 family with pro-death, pro-autophagic, and cytoprotective functions, depending on the type of stress and cellular context. Recently, we demonstrated that BNIP3 stimulates the migration of epidermal keratinocytes under hypoxia. In the present study found that autophagy and BNIP3 expression were concomitantly elevated in the migrating epidermis during wound healing in a hypoxia-dependent manner. Inhibition of autophagy through lysosome-specific chemicals (CQ and BafA1) or Atg5-targeted small-interfering RNAs greatly attenuated the hypoxia-induced cell migration, and knockdown of BNIP3 in keratinocytes significantly suppressed hypoxia-induced autophagy activation and cell migration, suggesting a positive role of BNIP3-induced autophagy in keratinocyte migration. Furthermore, these results indicated that the accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) by hypoxia triggered the activation of p38 and JNK mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) in human immortalized keratinocyte HaCaT cells. In turn, activated p38 and JNK MAPK mediated the activation of BNIP3-induced autophagy and the enhancement of keratinocyte migration. These data revealed a previously unknown mechanism that BNIP3-induced autophagy occurs through hypoxia-induced ROS-mediated p38 and JNK MAPK activation and supports the migration of epidermal keratinocytes during wound healing.

Non-pillar mining technology plays an important role in sustainable exploitation of coal resources. Gob-side entry retaining by roof cutting (GERRC) is a new technique regarding a non-pillar mining method based on the “cutting cantilever beam theory”. In order to study the distribution and evolution characteristics of macroscopic stress field of surrounding rocks in GERRC, and find out differences from traditional pillar retained mining method (PRMM), some key issues about abutment pressure and stress concentration shell were analyzed by numerical simulations. Results show that: (1) distribution characteristics of lead abutment pressure for the two mining methods are basically the same during the primary mining stage; (2) during the secondary mining stage, peak stress in front of mining face of the two modes is close, while the abutment pressure can be transferred more evenly to coal and rock mass far away from goaf when using GERRC, and that is more likely to cause high stress concentration in the coal mass near the goaf when mining with PRMM; (3) for the PRMM, lateral abutment pressure will produce a higher stress concentration in section coal pillar and a high residual stress will be maintained in it when coal masses on both sides of the pillar are extracted; (4) adjacent goafs can be connected to form a wide range of pressure relief region when using GERRC, and shape of distribution of the maximum principal stress appears a semi-space ellipsoidal shell in three-dimensional space, and it is a single arch shape in the section perpendicularly to the mining direction, however, it looks like a “m” shape in that section when mining with PRMM because of the high stress concentration in the coal pillar.

Although construction and demolition (C&D) waste has drawn increasing attention from scholars, there is a lack of study to summarize the latest development of C&D waste research. By using a...

Sustainable treatments of construction and demolition (C&D) wastes have become an increasingly urgent social, environmental, and economic issue worldwide. Based on a filter of 370 articles related to C&D waste management, this review-based study adopted a science mapping approach to evaluating the recent decade’s C&D waste management research. Through a three-step workflow consisting of bibliometric literature search, scientometric analysis, and qualitative discussion, this study identified the most influential journals, scholars, articles, and countries that have been active and influential in the C&D waste management research since 2009. Keyword analysis revealed the emerging research topics, such as BIM, prefabricated construction, Big Data, and Circular Economy. The follow-up discussion summarized the mainstream research areas (e.g., qualification of waste generation), discussed research gaps (e.g., integration of BIM and Big Data into C&D waste management), and proposed the framework for near-future research, such as a comprehensive evaluation of the performance of C&D waste diversion, human factors, and design and planning for waste diversion. By providing the big picture of the latest research in C&D waste management since 2009, the paper serves as a multi-disciplinary guide for practitioners and researchers to link current research areas into future trends.

The aim of this study was to confirm the effects of ginsenoside Rb1 on neural cell apoptosis in the spinal cord of rats with spinal cord ischemia-reperfusion injury (SCII) and to explore its potential mechanisms. A total of 100 healthy adult Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were randomly divided into four groups: normal control (n = 10), sham-operated (n = 10), SCII model (n = 40), and ginsenoside Rb1-treated groups (n = 40). Basso, Beattie, Bresnahan (BBB) scale was used to examine rat hindlimb locomotor function. Nissl and Tunnel staining were used to observe neural cell injury and apoptosis, respectively, in the spinal cord of rats with SCII. Immunofluorescence staining was performed to detect the expression of Bax and Bcl-2. The levels of caspase-3 and phosphorylated Ask-1 (p-Ask-1) were detected by western blotting. Ginsenoside Rb1 prevented neural cell apoptosis in the spinal cord and improved hindlimb locomotor dysfunction of rats (P .05). Moreover, SCII-induced upregulation of caspase-3 and p-Ask-1 levels and the Bax/Bcl-2 ratio were significantly decreased by ginsenoside Rb1 (P .05). The protective effects of ginsenoside Rb1 on neural cells in the spinal cord of rats with SCII were mediated by the ginsenoside Rb1-induced downregulation of caspase-3 and p-Ask-1 levels and the Bax/Bcl-2 ratio.

Background: Non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) are widely associated with pulmonary diseases. Evidence is lacking on the transmission of NTM from one person to another. Hence, it has gained lower public health priority than tuberculosis. Objectives: We determined the prevalence and antibiotic resistance rate of NTM isolated from sputum samples of patients with pulmonary infections. Methods: A total of 375 duplicate sputum samples were collected from 375 patients on consecutive days. The NTM growth was assessed using BACTEC 960 mycobacterial growth indicator tubes. The GenoType Mycobacterium CM/AS line probe assay was used for the species-level identification of mycobacteria. Antibiotic susceptibility tests were performed using the auto-MODS assay. Results: The overall NTM prevalence rate was 34.4%. Mycobacterium avium complex (24.8%) was the predominant species identified, followed by M. kansasii (24%) and M. abscessus complex (20.2%). Of the 129 NTM isolates tested for antibiotic susceptibility, 62.8% were resistant to rifampicin, 60.5% to levofloxacin, 58.1% to ofloxacin, 55.8% to ethambutol, 49.6% to isoniazid, 48.1% to streptomycin, and 41.9% to amikacin. Seventy-three (56.6%) isolates were identified as multidrug-resistant (MDR) isolates. Conclusions: Mycobacterium avium complex was the predominant species identified, and the majority of the organisms were resistant to commonly used anti-tuberculosis drugs. The high prevalence of NTM and drug resistance towards the tested antibiotics suggests that NTM can no more be ignored as a contaminant, reiterating the need for periodic surveillance and species-specific treatment for effective management of diseases caused by NTM.

Construction and demolition (C&D) waste minimization is an important strategy for addressing waste management challenges. Generally, C&D waste minimization is a complex and open system involving various interrelated processes, elements and stakeholders. Previous studies have investigated internal factors of the system, but neglected effects of external factors and interactions between internal and external factors. Therefore, this paper aims to investigate China���s C&D waste minimization system from the perspectives of integrity and dynamics. Based on the dissipative structure theory, the paper examines whether China���s C&D waste minimization system is a dissipative structure, given that a dissipative structure system can transform itself from disordered state to ordered state spontaneously through interactions among the inherent subsystems and elements involved. Firstly, 28 factors influencing waste minimization are identified. Secondly, the Brusselator model and entropy methods are adopted for empirical analysis with the data collected by questionnaire survey. The findings reveal that China���s current C&D waste minimization system is not a dissipative structure; consequently, the development of the system cannot form a macroscopic stable and orderly structure through self-organization. Accordingly, suggestions are proposed to effectively promote the C&D waste minimization system toward a dissipative structure. The findings are expected to enhance the C&D waste minimization system through forming a dissipative structure and consequently achieving orderly and coordinated system development.

Using metacognition and dual process theories, this paper studied the role of types of presentation of mixed opinions in mitigating negative impacts of online word of mouth (WOM) dispersion on consumer&rsquo, s purchasing decisions. Two studies were implemented, respectively. By employing an eye-tracking approach, study 1 recorded consumer&rsquo, s attention to WOM dispersion. The results show that the activation of the analytic system can improve reviewer-related attribution options. In study 2, three kinds of presentation of mixed opinions originating from China&rsquo, s leading online platform were compared. The results demonstrated that mixed opinions expressed in moderately complex form, integrating average ratings and reviewers&rsquo, impressions of products, was effective in promoting reviewer-related attribution choices. However, too-complicated presentation types of WOM dispersion can impose excessively on consumers&rsquo, cognitive load and eventually fail to activate the analytic system for promoting reviewer-related attribution choices. The main contribution of this paper lies in that consumer attribution-related choices are supplemented, which provides new insights into information consistency in consumer research. The managerial and theoretical significance of this paper are discussed in order to better understand the purchasing decisions of consumers.

Over the years, numerous studies have been conducted to investigate construction and demolition waste (CDW) management problems. However, the massive amount of literature brings challenges to scholars because it is difficult and time-consuming to manually identify research emphasis from the literature. Therefore, a method that can informationize literature collection and automatically detect insights from the identified literature is worthy of exploration. This paper attempts to present a comprehensive thematic model by combining Latent Dirichlet Allocation, word2vec, and community detection algorithm on python to detect insights from CDW management literature. Based on the database of Web of Science, 641 articles published between 2000 and 2019 are retrieved and used as the sample for analysis. The comprehensive thematic results reveal a four-domain knowledge map in CDW management research, which covers (1) introducing current situation of CDW management, (2) quantifying CDW generation, (3) assessing CDW and by-products, and (4) facilitating waste diversion. Future research directions in CDW management research have also been discussed. The results prove that the comprehensive thematic model is useful in mining insights from CDW management literature.