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Background: Pancreatic cancer stem cells are crucial for tumorigenesis and cancer metastasis. Presently, long non-coding RNAs were found to be associated with Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma stemness characteristics but the underlying mechanism is largely known. Here, we aim to explore the function of LINC00909 in regulating pancreatic cancer stemness and cancer metastasis. Methods: The expression level and clinical characteristics of LINC00909 were verified in 80-paired normal pancreas and Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma tissues from Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital cohort by in situ hybridization. RNA sequencing of PANC-1 cells with empty vector or vector encoding LINC00909 was experimented for subsequent bioinformatics analysis. The effect of LINC00909 in cancer stemness and metastasis was examined by in vitro and in vivo experiments. The interaction between LINC00909 with SMAD4 and the pluripotency factors were studied. Results: LINC00909 was generally upregulated in pancreatic cancer tissues and was associated with inferior clinicopathologic features and outcome. Over-expression of LINC00909 enhanced the expression of pluripotency factors and cancer stem cells phenotype, while knock-down of LINC00909 decreased the expression of pluripotency factors and cancer stem cells phenotype. Moreover, LINC00909 inversely regulated SMAD4 expression, knock-down of SMAD4 rescued the effect of LINC00909-deletion inhibition on pluripotency factors and cancer stem cells phenotype. These indicated the effect of LINC00909 on pluripotency factors and CSC phenotype was dependent on SMAD4 and MAPK/JNK signaling pathway, another downstream pathway of SMAD4 was also activated by LINC00909. Specifically, LINC00909 was localized in the cytoplasm in pancreatic cancer cells and decreased the stability the SMAD4 mRNA. Finally, we found over-expression of LINC00909 not only accelerated tumor growth in subcutaneous mice models, but also facilitated tumorigenicity and spleen metastasis in orthotopic mice models. Conclusion: We demonstrate LINC00909 inhibits SMAD4 expression at the post-transcriptional level, which up-regulates the expression of pluripotency factors and activates the MAPK/JNK signaling pathway, leading to enrichment of cancer stem cells and cancer metastasis in pancreatic cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives. Limited research on the role of membrane-bound O-acyltransferase domain–containing 2 (MBOAT2) in cancer biology exists. In particular, the underlying role of MBOAT2 and its potential mechanisms in pancreatic cancer have not yet been explored. Further study of MBOAT2 could provide new ideas about the carcinogenesis and treatment of pancreatic cancer (PC). Methods. In the current study, the potential biological and clinical significances of MBOAT2 were explored by bioinformatics analysis. Real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction and western blot analysis were performed to determine the level of MBOAT2 in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) cell lines. MTT, colony formation, and Transwell assays and flow cytometry of cell cycle were performed to analyze PDAC cell proliferation, migration, and cycle progression. The potential relationship between MBOAT2 level and tumor immunity was analyzed using the ESTIMATE algorithm, CIBERSORT algorithm, and single-sample gene set enrichment analysis. Results. The level of MBOAT2 was remarkably upregulated in most tumors, especially pancreatic tumors, and was positively correlated with a greater rate of tumor recurrence, higher histologic grade, and worse overall survival. MBOAT2 overexpression was also closely correlated with the mutation status and expression level of driver genes, especially KRAS. Meanwhile, functional enrichment analysis demonstrated that MBOAT2 might be involved in cell–cell communication; cell cycling; the Ras signaling pathway; and immune-related biological functions such as the leukocyte activation involved in T-cell–receptor signaling pathway, the inflammatory response, and antigen processing and presentation. Furthermore, in vitro experiments demonstrated that MBOAT2 overexpression accelerated PC cell proliferation and migration. MBOAT2 overexpression also enhanced CDK2 and CCNA2 expression, leading to cell cycle progression from the G1 phase to the G2 phase. Lastly, MBOAT2 overexpression reduced the infiltration level of CD8+ T-cells, plasmacytoid dendritic cells, and activated dendritic cells but triggered a high type-2 T helper/type-1 T helper cell ration (Th2/Th1 ration) in PC. Conclusion. Our findings suggest that MBOAT2 is a potential protooncogene in PDAC that predicts a poor prognosis and is related to KRAS activation and inferior infiltration of CD8+ T-cells in PC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is one of the deadliest cancer due to its highly aggressive phenotype and lack of effective biomarkers or treatment strategies. ZMAT1 belongs to the C2H2 type zinc finger family, but its biological function is rarely investigated, as well as its role in cancer development. Methods: Multiple bioinformatics analyses were used to evaluate ZMAT1 expression and potential role in PDAC. Intro and vivo studies were performed to assess the effects of ZMAT1 on PDAC cells growth. Furthermore, CHIP-seq and luciferase reporter assay was conducted to identify its specific regulatory mechanism in PDAC. Results: The current study identified the down-regulation of ZMAT1 and its associations with unfavorable clinicopathological characteristics and poor survival of PDAC. Further, we found overexpression of ZMAT1 inhibited pancreatic cancer cell proliferation by inducing p21, leading to impaired S/G2 cell cycle progression. Besides, over-expression of ZMAT1 led to decreased pancreatic cancer cell apoptosis. Mechanistically, ZMAT1 up-regulated p53 expression and inhibition of p53 abrogated the effect of ZMAT1 over-expression on pancreatic cancer cell, indicating the role of ZMAT1 in PDAC was dependent on p53. By performing CHIP-seq assay, we found ZMAT1 did not bind to P53 but bound to the promoter region of SIRT3, an upstream regulator for p53. Luciferase reporter assay showed transfection of ZMAT1 induced SIRT3 transcription, suggesting ZMAT1 was a transcriptional activator for SIRT3. Conclusion: Our findings indicated the role of ZMAT1-SIRT3-p53 signaling pathway during tumor growth, highlighting that ZMAT1 is a tumor suppressor and novel biomarker of PDAC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. KRAS was reported to affect some metabolic genes and promote metabolic reprogramming in solid tumors. However, there was no comprehensive analysis to explore KRAS-associated metabolic signature or risk model for pancreatic cancer (PC). Methods. In the current study, multiple bioinformatics analyses were used to identify differentially expressed metabolic genes based on KRAS mutation status in PC. Then, we developed and validated a prognostic risk model based on the selected KRAS-associated metabolic genes. Besides, we explored the association between the risk model and the metabolic characteristics as well as gemcitabine-associated chemoresistance in PC. Results. 6 KRAS-associated metabolic genes (i.e., CYP2S1, GPX3, FTCD, ENPP2, UGT1A10, and XDH) were selected and enrolled to establish a prognostic risk model. The prognostic model had a high C-index of 0.733 for overall survival (OS) in TCGA pancreatic cancer database. The area under the curve (AUC) values of 1- and 3-year survival were both greater than 0.70. Then, the risk model was validated in two GEO datasets and also presented a satisfactory discrimination and calibration performance. Further, we found that the expression of some KRAS-driven glycolysis-associated genes (PKM, GLUT1, HK2, and LDHA) and gemcitabine-associated chemoresistance genes (i.e., CDA and RMM2) was significantly upregulated in high-risk PC patients evaluated by the risk model. Conclusions. We constructed a risk model based on 6 KRAS-associated metabolic genes, which predicted patients' survival with high accuracy and reflected tumor metabolic characteristics and gemcitabine-associated chemoresistance in PC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The insertion of an MgO buffer layer significantly reduces the large lattice mismatch between FeRh and PMN-PT. • The FeRh(001) film is epitaxially grown on the ferroelectric PMN-PT(001) substrate. • The epitaxial FeRh(001) film displays multi-step hysteresis loops at various field orientations at 350 K. • The butterfly shape of coercivity vs electric field indicates a strain-mediated magnetoelectric coupling. • The transition temperature and the magnetization are enhanced and reduced in the remnant polarization state, respectively. We epitaxially grew the metamagnetic FeRh films on ferroelectric PMN-PT(001) substrates and investigated the electric control of magnetic properties. An MgO buffer layer is inserted to reduce the considerably large lattice mismatch of 5.44% between FeRh and PMN-PT, leading to a nice epitaxial growth with a relationship of FeRh[110](001)||MgO[100](001)||PMN-PT[100](001). The as-grown FeRh film shows a typical antiferromagnetic-to-ferromagnetic phase transition by means of varying the temperature. Because a growth-induced uniaxial magnetic anisotropy is superimposed on the in-plane four-fold magnetocrystalline anisotropy, the epitaxial FeRh film displays different kinds of multi-step hysteresis loops at various field orientations. An electric field applied on the PMN-PT substrate can remarkably increase the coercivity of FeRh film, which presents a butterfly type shape, indicating a strain-mediated magnetoelectric coupling. Because of the inhibitory effect of the remnant compressive strain on the phase transition, the critical transition temperature and the magnetization are obviously enhanced and reduced, respectively, after removing the electric effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. Gallbladder cancer (GBC), which accounts for more than 80% of biliary tract malignancies, has a poor prognosis with an overall 5-year survival less than 10%. The study aimed to identify risk factors and develop a predictive model for GBC following surgical resection. Methods. 98 GBC patients who underwent surgical resection from Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital were enrolled in the study. Cox-regression analysis was performed to identify significant prognostic factors. A nomogram was constructed and Harrell's concordance index, calibration plot, and decision cure analysis were used to evaluate the discrimination and calibration of the nomogram. Results. Liver resection, tumor size, perineural invasion, surgical margin, and liver invasion were identified as independent risk factors for overall survival (OS) in GBC patients who underwent surgical resection. Based on the selected risk factors, a novel nomogram was constructed. The C-index of the nomogram was 0.777, which was higher than the American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) staging system (0.724) and Nevin staging system (0.659). Decision cure analysis revealed that the nomogram had a better net benefit and the calibration curves for the 1-, 3-, and 5-year survival probabilities were also well matched with the actual survival rates. Lastly, high-risk GBC were stratified based on the scores of the nomogram and we found high-risk GBC were associated with both worse OS and disease-free survival (DFS). Conclusion. We developed a nomogram showing a better predictive capacity for patients' survival of resected GBC than the AJCC staging systems. The established model may help to stratify high-risk GBC and facilitate decision-making in the clinic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Co-digestion of 45.7% BPS, 26.2% SCB and 28.1% CM produced 186.5 mL/g VS methane. • This co-digestion strategy provided a synergistic effect of 37.1% on methane yield. • A higher microbial diversity was found in co-digestion due to the balanced nutrition. • The predominant microorganisms in co-digestion were Choroflexi with a proportion of 39.3%. • Enriched hydrogenotrophic Methanobacterium and Methanolinea were found at high OLR. Balanced nutrition is important for maximizing anaerobic digestion (AD) performance. Herein, the strategy of balancing sugar-fiber-nitrogen nutrients was first established for improved methane production by co-digesting two agricultural and one livestock wastes with complementary compositional properties, such as banana pseudo-stem (BPS), sugarcane baggage (SCB), and chicken manure (CM) having high sugar, fiber and nitrogen contents, respectively. The maximum methane yield was 186.5 mL/g VS added with a mixture of 45.7% BPS, 26.2% SCB and 28.1% CM (with 1: 11.3: 0.3 of sugar to fiber to nitrogen ratio), increasing by 16.1%, 53.3%, 122.6% than those of mono- BPS, SCB, and CM, respectively. The co-digestion process remained stable under an organic load of 4 g VS/(L·day), which was attributed to the predominant presence of Bacteroidetes, Proteobacteria, Thauera , uncultured_bacterium_p_Aegiribacteria , and hydrogenotrophic methanogens. This study provides a deeper understanding of the co-digestion with agricultural and livestock wastes from the perspective of nutrient balance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sustainability of biogas production from straws is limited by the collection, transportation, storage, and pretreatment of feedstocks. To address these constraints, this study investigated briquetting as a pretreatment strategy for rice straw (RS) to increase bioenergy generation. The results indicated that briquetted RS yielded 205.4 mL/g VS of methane, which was 11.7% higher compared to that produced by the untreated RS. The economic analysis revealed that the briquetting process had positive effects with a payback time of 3.4 y and an internal rate of return of 23.4%. It also reduced feedstock transportation and storage costs by 42.6%. Adding a NaOH treatment to the briquetting process increased methane production by 26.4% compared to untreated RS. However, the integration of briquetting with NaOH treatment might be an unprofitable method for processing RS. This became apparent when examining the production cost, which stood at 1.13 $/kg biomethane with an internal rate of return of 16.2%, representing an 8.7% increase and a 7.2% decrease, respectively, compared to the mono briquetting method. These results revealed that briquetting as a source pretreatment strategy can improve the productivity of straw biogas plants, thereby advancing the industry towards cleaner production. [Display omitted] • Briquetting, a source pretreatment strategy, improved straw biogas production. • The briquetting strategy integrates the collection and pretreatment of rice straw. • The proposed strategy reduced straw transportation and storage costs by 42.6%. • Adding an NaOH treatment reduced the profitability of a straw biogas plant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rice straw is an abundant lignocellulosic biomass used to produce biogas. However, its resistant structure hinders biogas production. In this study, three pretreatments, microwave, ammoniation, and microwave-assisted ammoniation (MAA), were evaluated for their use in improving biogas production from rice straw. After an 18-day digestion, methane production by rice straw pretreated with MAA was 281.56 mL/g (volatile solids of substrate), which was 25.43%, 7.96%, and 18.18% more than that produced following the control, microwave, and ammoniation pretreatments, respectively. These increases were mainly attributed to the change in the resistant structure of rice straw following the MAA pretreatment and a more stable anaerobic digestion system. The degradation rate for the volatile solids of the rice straw pretreated with MAA during anaerobic digestion was 71.20%, which was 4.71%, and 4.86% higher than the rates observed using microwave and ammoniation pretreatments, respectively. In addition, the MAA method had a T90 fermentation cycle of 6 days, which was 33.3%, 25.0%, and 33.3% shorter than those for the control, microwave, and ammoniation methods, respectively. This technology shows the potential to enhance biogas production from the anaerobic digestion of rice straw. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biogas production by anaerobic digestion is an attractive approach to producing clean fuel biomethane and reducing environmental pollution. However, many fluctuations in production occur during a batch digestion period. This study investigated the dynamics of microbial communities involved in biogas production during a 20-day digestion of rice straw (RS) at 35 °C. The results demonstrated roughly consistent trends in biogas and methane production and revealed distinct stages of production. The lowest and peak methane yields were 82 ± 19.9 mL/(L•day) at day 3 and 328.5 ± 0.9 mL/(L•day) at day 8, respectively, whereas most (97.1%) of the methane was produced in the first 14 days of digestion. Ultimately, the biogas potential of RS reached 393.2 ± 13.6 mL/g added volatile solids (CH4% = 57.1%), and the logistic model best fitted actual methane production compared to the modified Gompertz, first-order kinetic, and Cone models. The microbial communities at different critical stages are a clear reflection of the biochemical dynamics in digesters. The bacterial genera Bacteroides and Clostridium_sensu_stricto_1 were the dominant microorganisms at the early stage of digestion, while the archaeal genus Methanosarcina was significantly more abundant at the peak stage of methane production than at other times during the digestion. This study demonstrates the detailed micro- and macro-conditions that exist during the fluctuating and constant digestion of RS, which will benefit industrial applications during the anaerobic digestion of RS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The prognosis of patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) of pancreatic head remains poor, even after potentially curative R0 resection. The aim of this study was to develop an accurate model to predict patients' prognosis for PDAC of pancreatic head following pancreaticoduodenectomy. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed 112 patients with PDAC of pancreatic head after pancreaticoduodenectomy in Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital between 2014 and 2018. Results: Five prognostic factors were identified using univariate Cox regression analysis, including age, histologic grade, American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) Stage 8th, total bilirubin (TBIL), CA19-9. Using all subset analysis and multivariate Cox regression analysis, we developed a nomogram consisted of age, AJCC Stage 8th, perineural invasion, TBIL, and CA19-9, which had higher C-indexes for OS (0.73) and RFS (0.69) compared with AJCC Stage 8th alone (OS: 0.66; RFS: 0.67). The area under the curve (AUC) values of the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve for the nomogram for OS and RFS were significantly higher than other single parameter, which are AJCC Stage 8th, age, perineural invasion, TBIL, and CA19-9. Importantly, our nomogram displayed higher C-index for OS than previous reported models, indicating a better predictive value of our model. Conclusions: A simple and practical nomogram for patient prognosis in PDAC of pancreatic head following pancreaticoduodenectomy was established, which shows satisfactory predictive efficacy and deserves further evaluation in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Family with sequence similarity 83 (FAM83) members were shown recently to have oncogenic effect in a variety of cancer types, but the biological roles and prognostic value of FAM83 family in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma remain unknown. In the current study, the clinical significance and molecular function of the FAM83 family were assessed by multiple bioinformatics analysis. Besides, potential associations between differentially expressed genes (DEGs) of FAM83 family and antitumor immunity were evaluated using TIMER and TISIDB analyses. As the results show, FAM83A, FAM83D, FAM83E, and FAM83H were significantly upregulated in PDAC and were identified as DEGs. Higher expression of FAM83A, FAM83B, FAM83D, FAM83E, and FAM83H were associated with advanced tumor stage or worse patient prognosis. Importantly, the overexpression of DEGs was found to be significantly correlated with activated KRAS and loss of SMAD4, which are important drivers for PDAC. Further, FAM83A, FAM83D, and FAM83H were associated with CD8+ T cell, Gamma Delta T cell, and CD4+ T cell infiltration in PDAC and FAM83H was found closely correlated with some immunomodulators including immunoinhibitors, immunostimulators, and MHC molecules. In conclusion, FAM83A, FAM83D, FAM83E, and FAM83H have significant prognostic value in PDAC and they may play important roles in regulating tumor progression and the immune cell infiltration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To simplify the procedure of biogas production using agricultural straw as raw materials, the biogas performance of both dry and fresh rice straw (RS) was assessed during batch anaerobic digestion (AD) at 35 °C. The results showed that biogas production from fresh RS was 400.5 mL/g volatile solids (VS), which was 40.9% larger than that from dry RS substrate. Meanwhile, the methane content in biogas from fresh RS was 56.05% (approximately 2.5% larger than for dry RS), and the VS removal rate from feedstock was 72% (which was 7.2% greater than for the dry RS substrate). Moreover, the scum volume resulting from digestion of dry RS was 3.16 times the volume from fresh RS at the end of AD, indicating that RS feedstock in a fresh state was more readily biodegradable and more easily used as a substrate by microorganisms. Therefore, compared with dry RS, fresh RS as AD feedstock has practical application value and should be included in further research on the AD of biomass resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• High moisture content is a prominent feature of banana pseudo-stems (BPS). • The effect of squeezing pretreatment on methane production from BPS was evaluated. • Methane production increased by 41.2% after pretreating BPS by squeezing. • Most phenols were lost with the BPS juice during squeezing. • Energy output from squeezed BPS exceeded energy consumption during pretreatment. Banana pseudo-stems (BPS) are an abundant and low-lignin-content lignocellulosic biomass for methane production. However, the high-water content in BPS increases the transport costs, and the resistant structure of BPS hinders methane production. In this study, squeezing of BPS as a pretreatment was evaluated for improving anaerobic digestion (AD). After 20-d digestion, methane production from squeezed BPS was 204.2 ± 6.2 mL/(g volatile solids (VS) of feedstock), which was 41.2% more than that from untreated BPS. This increase was mainly attributed to the improvement of physical properties (e.g. water absorbing capacity) and the change in the resistant structure of BPS after squeezing, which promoted good contact between microbes and substrate during AD. The measured methane production was described using a modified Gompertz model and the results showed that anaerobic process would take less time and occur faster when pretreated BPS was used as the substrate. The energy produced during AD of squeezed BPS, after deducting the energy used by the squeezer, resulted in an energy surplus of 26.2%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A novel hydraulic digester with the ability to control scum formation was developed. • Improved biogas yield and feedstock degradation were achieved in conical digesters. • The conical shapes increased the diversity and evenness of the archaea community. • The digester was operated in batch and continuous modes. Scum formation is a widespread phenomenon and causes serious damage in straw biogas digesters. A 10-L novel hydraulic conical digester for controlling scum was developed in this work and compared with a hydraulic cylindrical digester that simulated the conventional digester. After 30 d of batch and 120 d of semi-continuous fermentations using banana stems, the scum volumes of in cylindrical digesters were 4.12 and 2.12 times that in the conical digesters, respectively. The conical digesters increased biogas production by 5.7% and 11.6% in batch and semi-continuous tests, respectively. The VS removal of feedstock in conical digesters were 5.6 and 7.2% greater than for the batch and semi-continuous cylindrical, respectively. The microbial diversity and evenness were higher in conical than cylindrical digesters. The results demonstrated that conical shape was an effective structure for controlling scum formation and improving biogas production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]