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One of the most significant global challenges for humans is environmental pollution. The technology to control this problem is the utilization of semiconductors as photocatalysts. In the current study, iron-doped titania nanotubes (Fe/TiNTs) with increased photocatalytic effect were synthesized via a modified hydrothermal method. The products were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), gas adsorption, electron spin resonance (ESR) and UV–Vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS). TEM results indicated that Fe/TiNTs have a tubular and uniform structure with an average outer diameter of 23–48 nm and length of 10–15 µm. ESR and DRS revealed that Fe3+ ions were successfully introduced into the TiNT structure by replacing Ti4+ ions. An enhanced light absorption in the range of 400–600 nm additionally indicated successful doping. The band gap was narrowed as iron wt% was increased. The photocatalytic activity was evaluated by the degradation of methyl orange (MO) in the presence of Fe/TiNTs and TiTNs by monitoring the degradation of MO under UV light irradiation. An acceleration on the hydration of Portland cement was observed in the presence of 2.0 wt% Fe/TiNTs. Fe/TiNTs can be used as a nanomaterial in cement-based building materials to provide self-cleaning properties to the surface of concrete even in indoor environments.

One of the most significant global challenges for humans is environmental pollution. The technology to control this problem is the utilization of semiconductors as photocatalysts. In the current study, iron-doped titania nanotubes (Fe/TiNTs) with increased photocatalytic effect were synthesized via a modified hydrothermal method. The products were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), gas adsorption, electron spin resonance (ESR) and UV–Vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS). TEM results indicated that Fe/TiNTs have a tubular and uniform structure with an average outer diameter of 23–48 nm and length of 10–15 µm. ESR and DRS revealed that Fe3+ ions were successfully introduced into the TiNT structure by replacing Ti4+ ions. An enhanced light absorption in the range of 400–600 nm additionally indicated successful doping. The band gap was narrowed as iron wt% was increased. The photocatalytic activity was evaluated by the degradation of methyl orange (MO) in the presence of Fe/TiNTs and TiTNs by monitoring the degradation of MO under UV light irradiation. An acceleration on the hydration of Portland cement was observed in the presence of 2.0 wt% Fe/TiNTs. Fe/TiNTs can be used as a nanomaterial in cement-based building materials to provide self-cleaning properties to the surface of concrete even in indoor environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Epigenetic deregulation is of importance in tumorigenesis. In particular CpG islands (CGI), are frequently hypermethylated. Here, genome-wide DNA-methylation profiles of 480,000 CpGs in lung cancer cells were generated. It was observed that intra- and intergenic CGI exhibited higher methylation compared to normal cells. The functional annotation of hypermethylated CGI revealed that the hypermethylation was associated with homeobox domain genes and targets marked by repressive histone modifications. The strongest methylation variation was observed in transitional areas of CGI, termed shores. 5′-shores of promoter-associated CGI in lung cancer cell lines were higher methylated than 3′-shores. Within two tandem-oriented genes, a significant hypermethylation of the downstream-located CGI promoters was revealed. Hypermethylation correlates with the length of the intergenic region between such tandem genes. As the RASSF1A tumor suppressor gene represents such a downstream tandem gene, its silencing was analyzed using an inducible system. It was determined that the induction of an upstream gene led to a repression of RASSF1A through a process involving histone deacetylases and CPSF1. A tumor-specific increase in expression of histone deacetylases and CPSF1 was detected in lung cancer. Our results suggest that the downstream gene could be susceptible to epigenetic silencing when organized in a tandem orientation.

Abstract Background Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths with 1.8 million new cases each year and poor 5-year prognosis. Promoter hypermethylation of tumour suppressors leads to their inactivation and thereby can promote cancer development and progression. Results In this study, we analysed ZAR1 (zygote arrest 1), which has been said to be a maternal-effect gene and its expression mostly limited to certain reproductive tissues. Our study shows that ZAR1 is expressed in normal lung but inactivated by promoter methylation in lung cancer. ZAR1 is hypermethylated in primary lung cancer samples (22% small cell lung carcinoma (SCLC) and 76% non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC), p

Abstract Lung cancer (LC) is the leading cause of cancer‐related deaths worldwide. Early LC diagnosis is crucial to reduce the high case fatality rate of this disease. In this case–control study, we developed an accurate LC diagnosis test using retrospectively collected formalin‐fixed paraffin‐embedded (FFPE) human lung tissues and prospectively collected exhaled breath condensates (EBCs). Following international guidelines for diagnostic methods with clinical application, reproducible standard operating procedures (SOP) were established for every step comprising our LC diagnosis method. We analyzed the expression of distinct mRNAs expressed from GATA6 and NKX2‐1, key regulators of lung development. The Em/Ad expression ratios of GATA6 and NKX2‐1 detected in EBCs were combined using linear kernel support vector machines (SVM) into the LC score, which can be used for LC detection. LC score‐based diagnosis achieved a high performance in an independent validation cohort. We propose our method as a non‐invasive, accurate, and low‐price option to complement the success of computed tomography imaging (CT) and chest X‐ray (CXR) for LC diagnosis.

The expression ratio between the analysed gene and an internal control gene is the most widely used normalization method for quantitative RT-PCR (qRT-PCR) expression analysis. The ideal reference gene for a specific experiment is the one whose expression is not affected by the different experimental conditions tested. In this study, we validate the applicability of five commonly used reference genes during different stages of mouse lung development. The stability of expression of five different reference genes (Tuba1a, Actb Gapdh, Rn18S and Hist4h4) was calculated within five experimental groups using the statistical algorithm of geNorm software. Overall, Tuba1a showed the least variability in expression among the different stages of lung development, while Hist4h4 and Rn18S showed the maximum variability in their expression. Expression analysis of two lung specific markers, surfactant protein C (SftpC) and Clara cell-specific 10 kDA protein (Scgb1a1), normalized to each of the five reference genes tested here, confirmed our results and showed that incorrect reference gene choice can lead to artefacts. Moreover, a combination of two internal controls for normalization of expression analysis during lung development will increase the accuracy and reliability of results.