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A series of energetic coordination compounds [Co(tza)2} n ( 1), [Bi(tza)3] n ( 2), {[Cu4(tza)6(OH)2] ·4H2O} n ( 3), [Mn(tza)2] n ( 4), {[Bi(tza)(C2O4)(H2O)] ·H2O} n ( 5) and [Fe3O(tza)6(H2O)3]NO3 ( 6) based on tetrazole-1-acetic acid (Htza) were synthesized though environmentally friendly methods. The coordination compounds were characterized by elemental analyses, IR spectroscopy, single-crystal and powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), thermogravimetric analyses (TG), and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Their catalytic performances and the synergetic catalytic effects between 1 and 2, 3 and 4, 5 and 6 on the thermal decomposition of octahydro-1,3,5,7-tetranitro-1,3,5,7-tetrazocine (HMX) were all investigated by DSC. The results revealed that compounds 1- 6 are thermally stable energetic compounds and they all exhibit high catalytic action for HMX thermal decomposition. The catalytic effects of the compounds on HMX thermal decomposition are closely related to the oxides, which come from the decomposition of the compounds, but have no positive relationships with the heat releases of the compounds themselves. Moreover, the synergetic catalytic effects between 1 and 2, 3 and 4, 5 and 6 were observed. Their mixtures at different mass ratio have different synergetic catalytic effects, and the sequence of the biggest synergetic index (SI) in each system is copper-manganese system (compounds 3 and 4) > iron-bismuth system (compounds 5 and 6) > cobalt-bismuth system (compounds 1 and 2), indicating that the synergistic catalytic effects are mainly related to the combination and the proportion of the compounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The proliferation of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs), remodeling of the vasculature, and the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) play important roles in the development of essential hypertension (EH), which is defined as high blood pressure (BP) in which secondary causes, such as renovascular disease, are absent. The calcium-sensing receptor (CaSR) is involved in the regulation of BP. However, the underlying mechanisms by which the CaSR regulates BP are poorly understood. In the present study, the role of the CaSR in EH was investigated using male spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRs) and rat and human plasma samples. The percentages of medial wall thickness to external diameter (WT%), total vessel wall cross-sectional area to the total area (WA%) of thoracic arteries, as well as the percentage of wall area occupied by collagen to total vessel wall area (CA%) were determined. Tissue protein expression and plasma concentrations of the CaSR, cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP), renin, and angiotensin II (Ang II) were additionally assessed. WT%, WA%, and CA% were found to increase with increasing BP, whereas the plasma concentration of CaSR was found to decrease. With increasing BP, the levels of smooth muscle actin and calponin decreased, whereas those of osteopontin and proliferating cell nuclear antigen increased. The CaSR level negatively correlated with the levels of cAMP and Ang II, but positively correlated with those of renin. Our data suggest that reduced expression of the CaSR is correlated with activation of the RAS, which induces increased vascular remodeling and VSMC proliferation, and thereby associated with EH in the SHR model and in the Han Chinese population. Our findings provide new insights into the pathogenesis of EH. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The wastewater from coal-mine industry varies greatly and is resistant to biodegradation for containing large quantities of inorganic and organic pollutants. Microorganisms in activated sludge are responsible for the pollutants’ removal, whereas the microbial community composition and structure are far from understood. In the present study, the sludges from five coal-mine wastewater treatment plants were collected and the microbial communities were analyzed by Illumina high-throughput sequencing. The diversities of these sludges were lower than that of the municipal wastewater treatment systems. The most abundant phylum was Proteobacteria ranging from 63.64% to 96.10%, followed by Bacteroidetes (7.26%), Firmicutes (5.12%), Nitrospira (2.02%), Acidobacteria (1.31%), Actinobacteria (1.30%) and Planctomycetes (0.95%). At genus level, Thiobacillus and Comamonas were the two primary genera in all sludges, other major genera included Azoarcus , Thauera , Pseudomonas , Ohtaekwangia , Nitrosomonas and Nitrospira . Most of these core genera were closely related with aromatic hydrocarbon degradation and denitrification processes. Identification of the microbial communities in coal-mine wastewater treatment plants will be helpful for wastewater management and control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Nimotuzumab is a humanized IgG1 monoclonal antibody specifically targeting EGFR. In this study, we aimed to investigate the molecular mechanisms of nimotuzumab in its effects of enhancing cancer cell radiosensitivity. Principal Finding: Lung cancer A549 cells and breast cancer MCF-7 cells were pretreated with or without nimotuzumab for 24 h before radiation to perform the clonogenic survival assay and to analyze the cell apoptosis by flow ctyometry. γ-H2AX foci were detected by confocal microscopy to assess the effect of nimotuzumab on radiation induced DNA repair. EGFR activation was examined and the levels of DNA damage repair related proteins in A549 cells at different time point and at varying doses exposure after nimotuzumab and radiation treatment were examined by Western blot. Pretreatment with nimotuzumab reduced clonogenic survival after radiation, inhibited radiation-induced EGFR activation and increased the radiation-induced apoptosis in both A549 cells and MCF-7 cells. The foci of γ-H2AX 24 h after radiation significantly increased in nimotuzumab pretreated cells with different doses. The phosphorylation of AKT and DNA-PKcs were remarkably inhibited in the combination group at each dose point as well as time point. Conclusions: Our results revealed that the possible mechanism of nimotuzumab enhancing the cancer radiosensitivity is that nimotuzumab inhibited the radiation-induced activation of DNA-PKcs through blocking the PI3K/AKT pathway, which ultimately affected the DNA DSBs repair. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Gel propellant is one of the non-Newtonian viscoelastic liquids. The study of breakup of a gel propellant jet emanating from an injector has always been a fundamental task for a propulsion system with gel propellants. In this paper, a linear instability analysis method has been used to investigate the breakup of a slightly viscoelastic liquid jet. The disturbance wave growth rate of the axisymmetric mode has been determined by solving the dispersion equation of a slightly viscoelastic liquid jet, which was obtained by combining the linear instability theory and the linear viscoelastic model. Moreover, the maximum growth rate and corresponding dominant wave number have been observed, according to which maximum growth rate curves and dominant wave number curves have been plotted; this theory has been verified in the experiments of other authors. The time constant ratio, zero shear viscosity, liquid jet velocity, surface tension, liquid jet radius, liquid density and the gas density have been tested for their influence on the instability of the viscoelastic liquid jet. The results show that the effect of gas density is the greatest on the breakup of the viscoelastic jet, the jet velocity is affected second and the zero shear viscosity is least affected. However, the effects of other parameters are limited. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The performances and microbial population changes in laboratory-scale membrane bioreactor (MBR) augmented with Sphingomonas xenophaga QYY were investigated in the present study. It was demonstrated that after 30 days acclimation, the non-augmented MBR system were able to degrade bromoamine acid (BAA) well. However, the efficiency of the system decreased with BAA concentration increasing. While the augmented MBR showed higher capability, in which the color and COD removal were more than 90% and 50%, respectively. By ribosomal intergenic spacer analysis (RISA), it was found that BAA-utilizing populations gradually increased to become the dominant species in the non-augmented MBR. However, the augmented MBR possessed relatively stable treatment abilities, in which the introduced strain QYY could be persistent and co-exist well with the indigenous populations. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Aberrant DNA methylation has been implicated in prostate carcinogenesis. The one-carbon metabolism pathway and related metabolites determine cellular DNA methylation and thus is thought to play a pivotal role in PCa occurrence. This study aimed to investigate the contribution of genetic variants in one-carbon metabolism genes to prostate cancer (PCa) risk and the underlying biological mechanisms. In this hospital-based case-control study of 1817 PCa cases and 2026 cancer-free controls, we genotyped six polymorphisms in three one-carbon metabolism genes and assessed their association with the risk of PCa. We found two noncoding MTR variants, rs28372871 T > G and rs1131450 G > A, were independently associated with a significantly increased risk of PCa. The rs28372871 GG genotype (adjusted OR = 1.40, P = 0.004) and rs1131450 AA genotype (adjusted OR = 1.64, P = 0.007) exhibited 1.40-fold and 1.64-fold higher risk of PCa, respectively, compared with their respective homozygous wild-type genotypes. Further functional analyses revealed these two variants contribute to reducing MTR expression, elevating homocysteine and SAH levels, reducing methionine and SAM levels, increasing SAH/SAM ratio, and promoting the invasion of PCa cells in vitro. Collectively, our data suggest regulatory variants of the MTR gene significantly increase the PCa risk via decreasing methylation potential. These findings provide a novel molecular mechanism for the prostate carcinogenesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Papillary renal cell carcinoma (PRCC) can be divided into type 1 (PRCC1) and type 2 (PRCC2) and PRCC2 share a more invasive phenotype and worse prognosis. This study aims to identify potential prognostic and therapeutic biomarkers in PRCC2. Methods: A cohort from The Cancer Genome Atlas and two datasets from Gene Expression Omnibus were examined. Common differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were screened and potential biomarkers were explored by using Kaplan–Meier method and cox regression analysis. Functional enrichment analysis was utilized to evaluate the potential biological functions. Tumor infiltrating immune cells were estimated by CIBERSORT algorithm. Ninety-two PRCC2 samples from Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center were obtained, and immunostaining was performed to validate prognostic and therapeutic significance of the potential biomarker. Results: PRCC2 has worse overall survival and shares distinct molecular characteristics from PRCC1. There was significant higher expression level of Targeting protein for Xklp2 (TPX2) in PRCC2 compared with normal tissues. Higher expression level of TPX2 was significantly associated with worse overall survival in PRCC2 and kinesin family genes expression were found significantly elevated in high risk PRCC2. Abundance of tumor infiltrating M1 macrophage was significantly higher in PRCC2 and it was also associated with worse overall survival. In the FUSCC cohort, higher TPX2 expression was significantly correlated with worse overall and progression-free survival. Retrospective analysis indicated that mTOR inhibitor (everolimus) had greater efficacy in the high-risk group than in the low-risk group (overall response rate: 28.6% vs. 16.7%) and that everolimus had greater efficacy than sunitinib in the high-risk group (overall response rate: 28.6% vs. 20%). Conclusions: TPX2 was a prognostic and therapeutic biomarker in PRCC2. Higher abundance of tumor infiltrating M1 macrophage was significantly associated with worse overall survival in PRCC2. mTOR inhibitors may have good efficacy in patients with high-risk PRCC2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Inflammation has been recognized as one of the hallmarks of cancers. PYCARD, the adaptor protein of inflammasomes, plays an important role in pyroptosis and apoptosis. However, the function of PYCARD remains unclear in human cancers. Here, we systematically performed a comprehensive analysis of PYCARD expression and its relationship with immunotherapy response and prognosis. We found significant differences in PYCARD expression between tumor and normal tissue, particularly in clear cell renal cell carcinoma. We also found that PYCARD was an unfavorable prognostic factor and was confirmed by external validation cohorts. Exploration of the profound mechanisms of PYCARD might help to identify new therapeutic targets and improve the efficacy of immunotherapy. PYCARD is a protein engaged in inflammation, pyroptosis, and apoptosis. However, the function of PYCARD in human cancers remains unclear. The objective of our study was to explore PYCARD expression and prognostic value in human cancers. Public databases were used to assess PYCARD expression and prognostic value. The TISIDB database was used to explore the associations between PYCARD expression and different immune subtypes. The correlations between PYCARD expression and ICP genes, MMR genes, MSI, and TMB were also investigated. The immunotherapy response was assessed using the TIDE database. Single-cell RNA databases evaluated the PYCARD expression of immune cells. External datasets and immunohistochemical staining were conducted to validate PYCARD expression and prognostic value. The results showed that PYCARD expression varied in several cancers and was associated with prognosis, immune-related genes, published biomarkers, and immunotherapy response. Of note, PYCARD expression was upregulated in renal cancers with high diagnostic ability. Upregulation of PYCARD was correlated with worse prognosis in KIRC and external validation cohorts. In conclusion, PYCARD demonstrated strong correlations with prognosis, immune response, and disease progression in pan-cancer analysis. In ccRCC, PYCARD might serve as a biomarker for diagnosis and therapeutic target-boosting immunotherapy response. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Gelled propellants behave as non-Newtonian fluids and are promising for future aerospace application because they combine the advantages of solid propellants with those of liquid propellants. Spray formation of gel simulants from swirl injectors was described by carrying out experiments in a spray test facility. A high speed camera was used to record detailed information about the liquid sheet breakup process and spray development. The experiments were performed with injectors of different configurations to test the effect of injector geometry on spray characteristics. Spray patterns were identified and their characteristic features were presented. The spray patterns identified for the gel investigated are swirling jet, twisted ribbon, fluid web and fully developed hollow cone. The fully developed spray field can be divided into four parts: the intact conical liquid sheet, coexistence of liquid sheet and ligaments, turbulent web-like ligaments and coexistence of ligaments and droplets. Regarding the effect of injector geometry, increasing the injector geometry characteristics constant always tends to increase the breakup length of the conical liquid sheet, and decrease the discharge coefficient (except when the geometry characteristics constants of two injectors are close, other flow parameters have greater influence on the flow characteristics than injector geometry characteristics constant). The spray cone angle generally increases as the geometry characteristics constant increases. However, it was difficult to measure the spray cone angle accurately because under some conditions the spray cone pulsates. The pulsation frequency increases as the pressure drop increases, and it decreases as the geometry characteristics constant increases. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Gel propellant is promising for future aerospace application, but because it behaves as the non-Newtonian power-law liquid, it is difficult to atomize. Impinging jet injectors are often used for atomization of gelled propellant. To understand the atomization mechanism of gelled propellant, a linear instability analysis method was used to investigate the instability and breakup characteristics of the sheet formed by a gelled propellant impinging-jet injector. The maximum disturbance wave growth rate and dominant wave number were determined by solving the dispersion equation of a power-law liquid sheet. It was found that the maximum disturbances growth rate and the dominant wave number both increase as Weber number of the liquid sheet increases. Consistency coefficient and flow index were tested for their influence on the stability of the power-law liquid sheet. A modified model, to predict the breakup length and critical wavelength of the power-law liquid sheet, was adopted. To validate the power-law liquid sheet breakup model, experiments were performed with injectors of different configurations and a high speed camera was used to show detailed information of the liquid sheet breakup process. The rheology of the power-law fluid used in the present study was also investigated. Comparison between the theoretical and experimental results shows that the linear instability analysis method can be applied to predict breakup length and wavelength of the power-law liquid sheet. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: An electrical conductance method was used to measure the liquid film thickness formed in an open-end swirl injector which is commonly used in Russian liquid-oxygen (LOX)/kerosene engines such as RD-120, RD-170, and RD-180. Two porous titanium electrodes and signal processing circuit based on lock-in amplifier were designed to measure the rapid variation liquid film thickness. The experimental results show that the liquid film thickness in the injector decreases with the increase of the pressure drop. The results of these measurements were compared with theoretical equations for predicting liquid film thickness in a swirl injector. An empirical equation to predict liquid film thickness in open-end swirl injector was modified based on the experimental results. Agreement between the modified equation and experimental results is demonstrated in this paper. This measurement method was also used to measure the liquid film thickness under pulsating conditions, and the study shows that our proposed method can be used to measure the liquid film thickness not only in the steady condition but also in the pulsating condition. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Introduction: The cell-surface ectonucleotidase CD39 is a key molecule of the immunosuppressive adenosine pathway within the tumor microenvironment. However, the relationship between CD39 and clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) is rarely reported and still remains unclear. Methods: CD39 expression was first analyzed using the Oncomine and the Tumor IMmune Estimation Resource (TIMER) databases, and then examined in ccRCC patients (n=367) who had undergone radical nephrectomy using immunohistochemistry (IHC) and real-time quantitative PCR analysis (qPCR). The prognosis value of CD39 in ccRCC was evaluated by Cox proportional hazards analysis. Functional and gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) was performed using transcriptomic data of ccRCC from TCGA. Correlation analysis between CD39 and tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) was performed using the TISIDB database. The impact of CD39 on immune checkpoint therapy (ICT) was evaluated by two public cohorts. Results: CD39 mRNA and protein expression was upregulated in tumor tissues from ccRCC patients and aberrant expression of CD39 was associated with advanced tumor stage and poor prognosis in ccRCC patients. EMT, IL-2/STAT5, inflammatory response, interferon gamma and KRAS hallmark gene sets were identified as CD39-related signaling pathway. The expression level of CD39 was significantly and positively correlated with high abundance of the regulatory TILs including NK cells, macrophages, Th cells and Treg cells. CD39 was correlated with expression of several immune checkpoints and higher CD39 expression was associated with better OS of ccRCC patients who received ICT. Conclusion: CD39 is a powerful prognostic marker of ccRCC patients. Increased tumor expression of CD39 mRNA is significantly correlated with infiltrating levels of TILs, and better efficacy of ICT to ccRCC. CD39 could be a novel therapeutic target for ccRCC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Long non-coding RNA H19 (lncRNA H19) has been implicated in tumorigenesis and metastasis of breast cancer through regulating epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT); however, the underlying mechanisms remain elusive. Methods: LncRNA H19 and TNFAIP8 were identified by qRT-PCR and western blotting. CCK-8 assay, clone formation assay, transwell assay, and flow cytometry assay were performed to determine cell proliferation, migration, invasion and cell cycle of breast cancer respectively. Western blotting and immunohistochemistry (IHC) were utilized to evaluate the protein expression levels of p53, TNFAIP8, and marker proteins of EMT cascades in vivo. Dual luciferase reporter assay and RNA pull down assay were conducted to evaluate the interactions of lncRNA H19, p53 and TNFAIP8. Results: The expression of lncRNA H19 and TNFAIP8 was up-regulated in breast cancer tissues and cell lines, especially in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). Functionally, knockdown of lncRNA H19 or TNFAIP8 coused the capacities of cell proliferation, migration, and invasion were suppressed, and cell cycle arrest was induced, as well as that the EMT markers were expressed abnormal. Mechanistically, lncRNA H19 antagonized p53 and increased expression of its target gene TNFAIP8 to promote EMT process. Furthermore, silencing of lncRNA H19 or TNFAIP8 also could inhibit tumorigenesis and lymph node metastases of MDA-MB-231 cells in xenograft nude mouse models. Conclusions: Our findings provide insight into a novel mechanism of lncRNA H19 in tumorigenesis and metastases of breast cancer and demonstrate H19/p53/TNFAIP8 axis as a promising therapeutic target for breast cancer, especially for TNBC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the wide applications of wireless sensor network (WSN), its reliability evaluation has been attracted more attention. The reliability of a WSN is affected mainly by internal and external factors, which include internal faults and external attacks. In this paper, a reliability evaluation method based on a hierarchical belief rule base (BRB) method is proposed for the reliability evaluation of the WSN. First, the factors affecting the reliability of a WSN are analysed, and the reliability evaluation process that considers the WSN fault evaluation and WSN security evaluation is described. Second, the reliability evaluation model is constructed based on the hierarchical BRB model. The qualitative knowledge is used by the BRB model to build initial belief rules, and the quantitative data are used to optimize the initial parameters of the BRB model, which can utilize various types of uncertainty information effectively. Therefore, the proposed method can be applied to the WSN reliability evaluation, which is a complex and uncertain problem. Finally, a simulation case study and an actual case study of wellhead blowout monitoring are conducted to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method. The reliability results of actual WSN are obtained by the standard testing method, where the loss and accuracy rates of the collected data are treated as the observation factors for obtaining the actual reliability values. The estimated results of hierarchical BRB model are very close to the actual reliability values, which shows that the proposed method can be used for evaluating the reliability of the actual WSN accurately. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives To investigate the clinicopathological features, therapeutic strategies, and prognostic factors of patients with penoscrotal invasive extramammary Paget's disease ( EMPD). Patients and Methods We retrospectively collected clinical, pathological, and follow-up data of 56 men with invasive penoscrotal EMPD. Histopathological features of the primary skin lesion including tumour size, surgical margin status, depth of invasion and lymphovascular invasion were examined. Results The median age was 67 years and median longest diameter of lesion was 5 cm. All patients were treated with wide surgical excision and 22 patients with clinically positive regional lymph nodes underwent therapeutic regional lymph node dissection. At the end of the study, 44.6% of patients developed distant metastasis and 39.3% of patients had died from disease. Univariate analysis showed that patients with one of the following poor prognostic factors: depth of invasion of lower dermis or deeper, presence of lymphovascular invasion and regional lymph node metastasis at diagnosis, had significantly shorter cancer-specific survival time. Multivariate analysis found that depth of invasion was the only independent prognostic factor. Conclusion The prognosis of invasive EMPD is significantly associated with depth of invasion, lymphovascular invasion and regional lymph node status. More aggressive therapy and more rigorous follow-up should be recommended for patients with these poor prognostic factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective To investigate whether visceral obesity is associated with certain histological subtypes of renal cell carcinoma ( RCC) in a multicentre Chinese cohort. Patients and Methods A kidney tumour database was created using three tertiary centres in China; 487 patients were enrolled presenting with localised RCC and complete computer tomography ( CT)/magnetic resonance imaging ( MRI) information. A single-slice CT image was used to measure the area of visceral and subcutaneous adipose tissues in each patient. Statistical methods were used to analyse clear-cell RCC ( ccRCC) and non-clear-cell RCC (non- ccRCC) as they relate to visceral fat area ( VFA) and other risk factors, such as age, gender, tumour size, diabetes, hypertension, total fat area ( TFA) and body mass index ( BMI). Results In all, 418 patients had a ccRCC subtype and 69 had a non- ccRCC subtype. For all the patients with RCC, the mean VFA was 102 cm2, while mean BMI was 24 kg/m2. The mean VFA was greater in ccRCC than non- ccRCC patients by 25 cm2. There were significant differences in the mean VFA and TFA between patients with ccRCC and those with non- ccRCC. Multivariate analysis showed that the presence of VFA was more important than the effects of BMI and Type 2 diabetes on pathology prediction. In patients with a normal BMI, those with a higher quartile of VFA were more likely to develop ccRCC than those with a low VFA. Conclusions Increased visceral fat was found to be associated with ccRCC and the significance of VFA outweighed the effects of BMI and Type 2 diabetes for the prediction of RCC pathology in multivariate analyses. As a result, VFA could constitute a primary explanation for the link between obesity and ccRCC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phenol hydroxylase gene engineered microorganism (PH) was used to synthesize catechols from benzene and toluene by successive hydroxylation reaction. HPLC-MS and H NMR analysis proved that the products of biotransformation were the corresponding catechols via the intermediate production of phenols. It was indicated that the main products of toluene oxidation were o-cresol and p-cresol. 3-Methylcatechol was the predominant product for m-cresol biotransformation. Formation rate of catechol (25 μM/min/g cell dry weight) was 1.43-fold higher than that of methylcatechols. It was suggested that phenol hydroxylase could be successfully used to transform both benzene and toluene to catechols by successive hydroxylation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: An expanded granular sludge bed (EGSB) process with granular activated carbon (GAC) was developed for fermentative hydrogen production from molasses-containing wastewater by mixed microbial cultures. No pH regulation was performed during the whole operation period. Running at the temperature of 35°C, the EGSB reactor presented a high hydrogen production ability as the hydrogen production rate (HPR) maximized at 0.71L/Lh. At the same time, the hydrogen yield (HY) peaked at 3.47mol/mol sucrose and the maximum specific hydrogen production rate (SHPR) was found to be 3.16mmol H2/g VSSh. Hydrogen volume content was estimated to be 30–53% of the total biogas and the biogas was free of methane throughout the study. Dissolved fermentation products were predominated by acetate and ethanol, with smaller quantities of propionate, butyrate and valerate. It was found that high hydrogen yield was always associated with a high level of ethanol production. When the pH value and alkalinity ranged from 4.2–4.4mg CaCO3/L to 280–340mg CaCO3/L, respectively, stable ethanol-type fermentation was formed with the sum of ethanol and acetate concentration ratio of 89.1% to the total liquid products. The average attached biofilm concentration was estimated to be 17.1g/L, which favored hydrogen production efficiently. With high biomass retention at high organic loading rate (OLR), this EGSB system showed to be a promising high-efficient bioprocess for hydrogen production from high-strength wastewater. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Background: Growing evidence has demonstrated immune reactivity as a confirmed important carcinogenesis and therapy efficacy for clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC). Aquaporin 9 (AQP9) is involved in many immune-related signals; however, its role in ccRCC remains to be elucidated. This study investigated AQP9 expression in tumor tissues and defined the prognostic value in ccRCC patients.Methods: A total of 913 ccRCC patients with available RNA-sequence data from the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database and Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center (FUSCC) were consecutively recruited in analyses. Differential transcriptional and proteome expression profiles were obtained and validated using multiple datasets. A partial likelihood test from Cox regression analysis was developed to address the influence of independent factors on progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS). The Kaplan-Meier method and log-rank test were performed to assess survival. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used to describe binary classifier value of AQP9 using area under the curve (AUC) score. Functional enrichment analyses and immune infiltration analysis were used to describe significantly involved hallmark pathways of hub genes.Results: Significantly elevated transcriptional and proteomic AQP9 expressions were found in ccRCC samples. Increased AQP9 mRNA expression was significantly associated with advanced clinicopathological parameters and correlated with shorter PFS and OS in TCGA and FUSCC cohorts (p < 0.001). ROC curves suggested the significant diagnostic and prognostic ability of AQP9 (PFS, AUC = 0.823; OS, AUC = 0.828). Functional annotations indicated that AQP9 is involved in the most significant hallmarks including complement, coagulation, IL6/JAK-STAT3, inflammatory response and TNF-alpha signaling pathways.Conclusion: Our study revealed that elevated AQP9 expression was significantly correlated with aggressive progression, poor survival and immune infiltrations in ccRCC patients, and we validated its prognostic value in a real-world cohort. These data suggest that AQP9 may act as an oncogene and a promising prognostic marker in ccRCC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) c.677C>T and c.1298A>C variants were known to be associated with prostate cancer (PCa) risk with conflicting results, because of MTHFR and nutrient status interaction in the prostate development. In this large-scale, hospital-based, case-control study of 1817 PCa cases and 2026 cancer-free controls, we aimed to clarify the association between these two MTHFR variants and PCa risk in Shanghai and to explore the underlying molecular mechanisms. We found that both the heterozygous CT (adjusted OR = 0.78, 95% CI: 0.67-0.92) and the homozygous TT genotypes (adjusted OR = 0.68, 95% CI: 0.55-0.83) of c.677C>T were associated with a significantly decreased risk of PCa compared with homozygous wild-type CC genotype, respectively, using multivariate logistic regression. Furthermore, we confirmed that MTHFR c.677T allele was related to an increased serum homocysteine level in the Han Chinese population in Shanghai. In the cultured PCa cell lines, we observed that MTHFR c.677T could elevate the cellular homocysteine level and cause DNA damage, thus increasing cell apoptosis and finally inhibiting cell proliferation. In conclusion, MTHFR c.677T was a protective factor of PCa risk in ethnic Han Chinese males by inducing DNA damage and cell apoptosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]