Search

The effect of early hydration behaviour on the long-term performance of cement is profound, but such studies are lacking. The early hydration behaviour and mechanical properties of basic magnesium sulfate (BMS) cement were investigated using an electrodeless resistivity test combined with compressive strength measurement, X-ray diffraction analysis, scanning electron microscopy and mercury intrusion porosimetry. According to the resistivity variation curve, the early hydration process of BMS cement can be divided into three stages (induction period, acceleration period and deceleration period). A linear correlation between resistivity and setting time was established. The initial and final setting times of BMS cement could thus be estimated using two points on the differential resistivity curve – the time when the resistivity growth rate starts to increase and the time of maximum resistivity, respectively. A linear fitting equation between resistivity at 24 h and compressive strength of the BMS cement after curing for 28 days was determined. The correlation coefficient was high (0.9979). Using the equation, the long-term strength (28 days) of BMS cement could be precisely predicted from the measured resistivity at 24 h. This study provides a feasible, accurate and in situ method for understanding the early hydration behaviour and quality monitoring of BMS cement.

Mg(OH)2 crystals with excellent flame retardance in the application of polymer materials are always in demand. Herein, regular and well-dispersed Mg(OH)2 hexagonal flakes were hydrothermally prepared with the existence of polyethylene glycol (PEG) and then modified by surface grafting-polymerization of methyl methacrylate (MMA) monomers. The results showed that the morphology and dispersity of Mg(OH)2 relied on the precise control of the reaction parameters including hydrothermal conditions, the molecular weight and additive amount of PEG. PEG with a molecular weight of 8000 exhibited an enhanced directing role due to its more appropriate length of molecular chains and intensive interaction with the formed Mg(OH)2 crystallites. The molecular chains of PEG-8000 can be preferentially adsorbed onto the (0 0 1) and (1 0 1) planes of Mg(OH)2 crystallites and sub-micro hexagonal flakes with low-polarity were consequently assembled. The optimal conditions for preparing Mg(OH)2 hexagonal flakes with higher crystallinity and more regular morphology were determined to be hydrothermal treatment at 120 °C for 12 h with 3 wt% PEG-8000. The dimension and decomposition temperature of the end products were 400 ~ 500 nm and 388 °C, respectively. The surface graft-modified Mg(OH)2 hexagonal flakes exhibited high hydrophobicity with a water contact angle of 148°, indicating an excellent compatibility with polymers.

Background Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) may develop from a variety of oral potentially malignant disorders, but the mechanism of malignant transformation is still unknown. Among them, oral lichen planus (OLP) has a high prevalence. Previous studies have shown that α-enolase (ENO1) can promote cell proliferation and play an important role in tumorigenesis. In this study, we aim to explore the mechanism of ENO1 regulation in the process of OSCC tumorigenesis from OLP. Methods ENO1 expression in tissues was determined by real-time quantitative PCR and immunohistochemistry. ENO1 was knocked down in cal-27 to observe the change in cell proliferation. Then, RNA-seq and bioinformatics analyses were conducted between OLP and OSCC samples. The expression of circ-AMOTL1, miRNA-22-3p, and miRNA-1294 was assessed using the real-time quantitative PCR. With knockdown and overexpression of circ-AMOTL1 in vitro, the change of ENO1 in the mRNA level was also assessed. Results ENO1 was enhanced in the OSCC samples in comparison with OLP. Immunohistochemistry and real-time quantitative PCR results showed that ENO1 was significantly higher in OSCC tissue than in the OLP group, with a statistically significant difference (p

Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is usually diagnosed at late stages, which leads to high morbidity. There are evidence that chronic inflammation (eg oral lichen planus [OLP]) was a risk factor of OSCC, but often misdiagnosed or ignored until invasion and metastasis. By applying precision medicine, the molecular microenvironment variations and relevant biomarkers for the malignant transformation from OLP to OSCC can be fully investigated. Several studies pointed out that the metabolic pathway were suppressed in OSCC. However, it remains unclear how the systemic profile of the metabolites change during the malignant transformation. In this study, we examined and compared the mucosa samples from 11 healthy individuals, 10 OLP patients and 21 OSCC patients. Based on the results, succinate, a key metabolite of the tricarboxylic acid cycle pathway, was accumulated in the primary cultured precancerous OLP keratinocytes and OSCC cells. Then, we found that succinate activated the hypoxia‐inducible factor‐1 alpha (HIF‐1α) pathway and induced apoptosis, which could also be up‐regulated by the tumour suppressor lncRNA MEG3. These results suggested the critical roles of succinate and MEG3 in the metabolic changes during malignant transformation from OLP to OSCC, which indicated that succinate, HIF1α and downstream proteins might serve as new biomarkers of precancerous OLP for early diagnosis and therapeutic monitoring. In addition, succinate or its prodrugs might become a potential therapy for the prevention or treatment of OSCC.

Cadmium (Cd) is a ubiquitous environmental heavy metal, which may be harmful to the reproductive functions through injury to the blood-testis barrier (BTB). However, the underlying mechanism of this adverse effect on the BTB remains uncharacterized. A preliminary study revealed that dermatopontin (DPT) expression was significantly increased in Cd chloride (CdCl2)-treated Sertoli cells in vitro, which suggested that an increase in DPT expression is crucial for CdCl2-induced BTB damage. To explore this further, in the present study we initially determined that DPT is expressed in testis Sertoli cells. The treatment of cells with CdCl2 resulted in a significant increase in DPT expression and a parallel decrease in claudin-11 expression, both in vivo and in vitro. To confirm the relationship between DPT and claudin-11, a DPT-silenced 15P-1 Sertoli cell model was established. We determined that DPT silencing could partly reduce the CdCl2-induced decrease in claudin-11 expression. Additionally, western blot analyses demonstrated that the p38 signaling pathway is involved in the effect of CdCl2 on DPT expression. In conclusion, the present study provides the first evidence that DPT may be a novel effector of CdCl2, highlighting the significant role of DPT in the regulation of claudin-11 expression.

As reported in the literature, the worldwide 5-year overall survival rate for patients with gastric cancer receiving surgical treatment in the progressive stage is less than 25%. Therefore, there is an urgent need for the development of novel therapeutic strategies. Our preliminary studies demonstrated that proliferin-related protein (PRP) inhibits the proliferation of TM3 Leydig testicular cells. To evaluate whether PRP has antitumor effects in vitro and in vivo, we stably expressed PRP in SGC-7901 gastric carcinoma cells. PRP inhibited the proliferation and cell cycle progression of SCG-7901 cells, as determined by cell growth and cell cycle assays. Transwell experiments demonstrated that PRP inhibited the cell migration and invasion of SCG-7901 cells. Western blotting demonstrated that PRP-overexpressing cells had upregulated matrix metalloproteinase 9 (MMP-9) and downregulated tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases-1 (TIMP-1). In a xenograft tumor formation assay using nude mice, tumors formed by PRP-overexpressing cells had significantly lower weights than those formed by control cells, and the tumor inhibitory rate reached 71.9%. We demonstrated for the first time that PRP inhibits gastric carcinoma cell proliferation, motility, and tumorigenicity in vivo, suggesting that PRP may become an important target for the development of gastric cancer gene therapy.

Oral lichen planus (OLP) is a chronic inflammatory disease that may transform to oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC), while its carcinogenesis mechanisms are not entirely clear. This study was designed to identify the important genes involved in the malignant transformation of OLP to OSCC. After RNA-sequencing, the differently expressed genes (DEGs) in OLP vs. normal and OSCC vs. normal groups, respectively, were identified by limma package in R language, and then clustering analysis were conducted by Pheatmap package in R language. Weighed gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) was performed for the DEGs to screen disease-associated modules. Using Cytoscape software, co-expression networks were constructed for the genes involved in the modules. Enrichment analysis was conducted for the genes involved in the co-expression networks using GOstat package in R language. Finally, quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) experiments were conducted to validate the key genes. There were, respectively, 223 and 548 DEGs in OLP vs. normal and OSCC vs. normal groups. WGCNA identified the blue modules for the DEGs in the two groups as disease-associated modules. Moreover, 19 common DEGs (including upregulated BCL9L, PER2 and TSPAN33, and downregulated GMPS and HES1) associated with both OLP and OSCC were identified. In the co-expression networks, BCL9L, HES1, PER2 and TSPAN33 might function in OLP via interactions (such as BCL9L-TSPAN33 and HES1-PER2). qRT-PCR analysis showed that BCL9L, PER2 and TSPAN33 were significantly upregulated, and GMP and HES1 were downregulated. These findings indicated that BCL9L, GMPS, HES1, PER2 and TSPAN33 affected the transformation of OLP to OSCC.

MgAl-layered double hydroxides with different interlayer anions (nitrate, carbonate and chloride) were evaluated for their abilities to adsorb the organic pesticide glyphosate (N-phosphonomethyl glycine, Gly). The adsorption isotherms of Gly on layered double hydroxides (LDHs) nitrate were described by the Langmuir equation at lower equilibrium concentration of Gly (C(e)1.0 mmol/L), and the Gly adsorption capacity on LDHs increased with the layer charge density, i.e. the structural Al3+/Mg2+ ratio. Gly adsorption on LDHs nitrate generally occurred through two processes, external surface adsorption and interlayer anion exchange. The adsorption amount on LDHs at C(e)=1.0 mmol/L decreased in the order of interlayer anions: Cl(-)NO3(-)CO3(2-).

In this paper, a series of pure Ni1 − xZnxFe2O4 (0 ≤ x ≤ 1) spinel ferrites have been synthesized successfully using a novel route through calcination of tailored hydrotalcite-like layered double hydroxide molecular precursors of the type [(Ni + Zn)1 − x − yFey2+Fex3+(OH)2]x+(SO42−)x/2·mH2O at 900 °C for 2 h, in which the molar ratio of (Ni2+ + Zn2+)/(Fe2+ + Fe3+) was adjusted to the same value as that in single spinel ferrite itself. The physico-chemical characteristics of the LDHs and their resulting calcined products were investigated by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Mossbauer spectroscopy. The results indicate that calcination of the as-synthesized LDH precursor affords a pure single Ni1 − xZnxFe2O4 (0 ≤ x ≤ 1) spinel ferrite phase. Moreover, formation of pure ferrites starting from LDHs precursors requires a much lower temperature and shorter time, leading to a lower chance of side-reactions occurring, because all metal cations on the brucite-like layers of LDHs can be uniformly distributed at an atomic level.

The present letter reported the synthesis of MgO-containing magnetic nanocomposites by calcinations of tailored hydrotalcite-like layered double hydroxides (LDHs) of the type [Mg1 − x − yFe2+ y Fe3 + x (OH)2]x +(A)x/2·mH2O (y ≥ 0; A = CO32 − or SO42 −) precursors at 900°C for 2 h. The results indicate that calcination of LDHs gives rise to the formation of magnetic nanocomposites of MgO and MgFe2O4 spinel ferrite, where MgO formed could disperse and separate MgFe2O4 particles, and MgO itself was also dispersed or embedded uniformly in the MgFe2O4 spinel matrix. Furthermore, initial studies on the bactericidal properties with staphylococcus aureus show that these as-synthesized nanometer-sized materials have significant bactericidal effect, which increases with the increasing volume fraction of MgO.

Supplemental Digital Content is available in the text, Background: In this study, the molecular mechanisms underlying malignant transformation from oral lichen planus (OLP) to oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) were examined. Methods: High-throughput sequencing of long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) and mRNAs of normal subjects and patients with OLP and OSCC was conducted. RNA-seq reads were mapped, lncRNA and mRNA transcripts were assembled, and expression levels were estimated. The targets of lncRNAs were predicted. Finally, Gene Ontology (GO) and pathway enrichment analyses of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and lncRNA targets were performed. Results: High-quality sequence data were generated and the mapping ratios for OSCC, normal, and OLP samples were high. In total, 820, 656, and 582 DEGs were obtained from OPL vs. normal, OSCC vs. normal, and OSCC vs. OPL, respectively. A total of 1721 known lncRNAs and 133 predicted lncRNAs and targets were obtained. Keratinization was significantly enriched by OSCC-related DEGs, but not OPL-related DEGs. The pathway of olfactory transduction was enriched by OPL- and OSCC-related DEGs. Defense response to virus and viral carcinogenesis were enriched by DEGs and lncRNA targets in all comparisons. GO term related to the metabolic process was enriched by lncRNA targets in the OPL vs normal comparison, and antigen processing and presentation via MHC class I was significantly enriched by lncRNA targets in the other 2 comparisons. Conclusion: Keratinization and MHC class I antigen processing and presentation were activated during the malignant transformation from OLP to OSCC. Additionally, the olfactory transduction pathway may be important for OSCC.

Prolactin (PRL)‑like protein J (PLP‑J) is a member of the prolactin family, mainly expressed in the placental decidua tissues of females, and is involved in gestation. To the best of our knowledge, it has not previously been shown to be expressed in males. Preliminary experiments of the present study indicated that PLP‑J is expressed in the testis of male mice and is implicated in the regulation of testicular function. To definitively address whether PLP‑J is expressed in the mouse testis, the expression pattern and cellular localization of PLP‑J in mouse testes during postnatal development were characterized in the current study using molecular and immunological methods. Reverse transcription (RT)‑polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was performed to amplify gene fragments from mouse testis specimens, which yielded sequences matching those of the PLP‑J gene in Genbank. Subsequently, in situ hybridization showed that PLP‑J was localized in interstitial tissue of the mouse testis. Immunofluorescence results indicated that PLP‑J and 3β‑hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase 1 were colocalized in testis Leydig cells, confirming PLP‑J expression in Leydig cells. In addition, PLP‑J gene expression levels were examined at different stages of postnatal mouse development in male testis tissues using quantitative RT‑PCR and western blotting. The results revealed that PLP‑J expression levels were lowest in 18‑day‑old mice and highest in adults aged 4 months. Levels observed in 16‑month‑old individuals were lower than those observed in the 4‑month‑old mice, but remained significantly higher than the levels observed in 18‑day‑old mice. Furthermore, the roles of PLP‑J in the murine testis TM3 Leydig cell line were studied. The results demonstrated that the upregulation of PLP‑J expression in TM3 Leydig cells did not affect testosterone production or the cell cycle. In conclusion, this study demonstrated that PLP‑J, a known member of the PRL family that was previously considered to be expressed solely in females, is also expressed in the testis of males with an age‑dependent expression profile. Nevertheless, the physiological role of PLP‑J in males remains unclear.

Based on a reverse micelle strategy, we successfully synthesized new magnetic silica nanoparticles functionalized with a bulky N-heterocyclic carbene (N,N′-bis(2,6-diisopropylphenyl)imidazol-2-ylidene, denoted as IPr) precursor through the co-condensation of IPr-bridged organosilane and tetraalkoxysilane in a one-pot reaction. TEM and SEM investigations revealed that the particle sizes of the synthesized materials were uniformly distributed in the range 15–30 nm, and could be tuned by varying the amount of siliceous precursors. FT-IR and XPS characterizations showed that the IPr ligand was successfully incorporated onto magnetic silica nanoparticles. Such materials show good coordination capability toward Pd(acac)2 (acac = acetylacetonate), leading to a higher loading in comparison with magnetic silica nanoparticles (without functionalization). This Pd-loaded material is active toward the Suzuki–Miyaura couplings of challenging aryl chlorides under relatively mild conditions (at 80 °C). An 81% yield for biphenyl was achieved in the presence of 0.32 mol% of Pd within 8 h, using iso-propyl alcohol as a solvent and KOtBu as a base. The activity of the functionalized nanoparticles is much higher than that of mesoporous silica-based catalysts, as well as a commercial Pd/C catalyst. This catalyst can be easily isolated by using a magnetic field and directly used in the next reaction cycle without significant loss of its activity.

Based on a reverse micelle strategy, we successfully synthesized new magnetic silica nanoparticles functionalized with a bulky N-heterocyclic carbene (N,N′-bis(2,6-diisopropylphenyl)imidazol-2-ylidene, denoted as IPr) precursor through the co-condensation of IPr-bridged organosilane and tetraalkoxysilane in a one-pot reaction. TEM and SEM investigations revealed that the particle sizes of the synthesized materials were uniformly distributed in the range 15–30 nm, and could be tuned by varying the amount of siliceous precursors. FT-IR and XPS characterizations showed that the IPr ligand was successfully incorporated onto magnetic silica nanoparticles. Such materials show good coordination capability toward Pd(acac)2 (acac = acetylacetonate), leading to a higher loading in comparison with magnetic silica nanoparticles (without functionalization). This Pd-loaded material is active toward the Suzuki–Miyaura couplings of challenging aryl chlorides under relatively mild conditions (at 80 °C). An 81% yield for biphenyl was achieved in the presence of 0.32 mol% of Pd within 8 h, using iso-propyl alcohol as a solvent and KOtBu as a base. The activity of the functionalized nanoparticles is much higher than that of mesoporous silica-based catalysts, as well as a commercial Pd/C catalyst. This catalyst can be easily isolated by using a magnetic field and directly used in the next reaction cycle without significant loss of its activity.