TNFRSF10C methylation is a new epigenetic biomarker for colorectal cancer

Background Abnormal methylation of TNFRSF10C was found to be associated with different types of cancers, excluding colorectal cancer (CRC). In this paper, the performance of TNFRSF10C methylation in CRC was studied in two stages. Method The discovery stage was involved with 38 pairs of CRC tumor and paired adjacent non-tumor tissues, and 69 pairs of CRC tumor and paired adjacent non-tumor tissues were used for the validation stage. Quantitative methylation specific PCR (qMSP) method and percentage of methylated reference (PMR) were used to test and represent the methylation level of TNFRSF10C, respectively. A dual-luciferase reporter gene experiment was conducted to evaluate the promoter activity of TNFRSF10C fragment. Results A significant association of TNFRSF10C promoter hypermethylation with CRC was found and validated (discovery stage: 24.67 ± 7.52 vs. 3.36 ± 0.89; P = 0.003; validation stage: 31.21 ± 12.48 vs. 4.52 ± 1.47; P = 0.0005). Subsequent analyses of TCGA data among 46 pairs of CRC samples further confirmed our findings (cg23965061: P = 4E − 6; cg14015044: P = 1E − 7). Dual-luciferase reporter gene assay revealed that TNFRSF10C fragment was able to significantly promote gene expression (Fold change = 2.375, P = 0.013). Our data confirmed that TNFRSF10C promoter hypermethylation can predict shorter overall survival of CRC patients (P = 0.032). Additionally, bioinformatics analyses indicated that TNFRSF10C hypermethylation was significantly associated with lower TNFRSF10C expression. Conclusion Our work suggested that TNFRSF10C hypermethylation was significantly associated with the risk of CRC

FERONIA interacts with ABI2-type phosphatases to facilitate signaling cross-talk between abscisic acid and RALF peptide in Arabidopsis

[EN] Receptor-like kinase FERONIA (FER) plays a crucial role in plant response to small molecule hormones [e.g., auxin and abscisic acid (ABA)] and peptide signals [e.g., rapid alkalinization factor (RALF)]. It remains unknown how FER integrates these different signaling events in the control of cell growth and stress responses. Under stress conditions, increased levels of ABA will inhibit cell elongation in the roots. In our previous work, we have shown that FER, through activation of the guanine nucleotide exchange factor 1 (GEF1)/4/10-Rho of Plant 11 (ROP11) pathway, enhances the activity of the phosphatase ABA Insensitive 2 (ABI2), a negative regulator of ABA signaling, thereby inhibiting ABA response. In this study, we found that both RALF and ABA activated FER by increasing the phosphorylation level of FER. The FER loss-of-function mutant displayed strong hypersensitivity to both ABA and abiotic stresses such as salt and cold conditions, indicating that FER plays a key role in ABA and stress responses. We further showed that ABI2 directly interacted with and dephosphorylated FER, leading to inhibition of FER activity. Several other ABI2-like phosphatases also function in this pathway, and ABA-dependent FER activation required PYRABACTIN RESISTANCE (PYR)/PYR1-LIKE (PYL)/REGULATORY COMPONENTS OF ABA RECEPTORS (RCAR)-A-type protein phosphatase type 2C (PP2CA) modules. Furthermore, suppression of RALF1 gene expression, similar to disruption of the FER gene, rendered plants hypersensitive to ABA. These results formulated a mechanism for ABA activation of FER and for cross-talk between ABA and peptide hormone RALF in the control of plant growth and responses to stress signals.We thank Dr. Alice Cheung, Dr. Daniel Moura, Grossniklaus Ueli, Dr. Jigang Li, and Dr. Nieng Yan for providing plant, ABI1 antibody, or plasmid materials, and Dr. Legong Li for assistance in laser confocal microscopy. This work was supported by grants from National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC-31400232, 31571444), the State Key Laboratory of Molecular Developmental Biology (2015-MDB-KF-12), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities of China, and a grant from the National Science Foundation.Chen, J.; Yu, F.; Liu, Y.; Du, C.; Li, X.; Zhu, S.; Wang, X.... (2016). FERONIA interacts with ABI2-type phosphatases to facilitate signaling cross-talk between abscisic acid and RALF peptide in Arabidopsis. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 113(37):E5519-E5527. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1608449113SE5519E55271133

Clinical and Immunopathological Features of Moyamoya Disease

Background: Moyamoya disease (MMD) is a cerebrovascular disease characterized by progressive stenosis or occlusion of the terminal portion of internal carotid arteries and the formation of a vascular network at the base of the brain. The pathogenesis of MMD is still unclear. Methodology/Principal Findings: We retrospectively analyzed clinical data for 65 consecutive patients with MMD in our institutions and evaluated the histopathological and immunohistochemical findings of intracranial vessels from 3 patients. The onset age distribution was found to have 1 peak at 40–49 year-old age group, no significant difference was observed in the female-to-male ratio (F/M = 1.2). Intracranial hemorrhage was the predominant disease type (75%). Positive family history was observed in 4.6 % of patients. Histopathological findings were a narrowed lumen due to intimal fibrous thickening without significant inflammatory cell infiltration, and the internal elastic lamina was markedly tortuous and stratified. All 3 autopsy cases showed vacuolar degeneration in the cerebrovascular smooth muscle cells. Immunohistochemical study showed the migration of smooth muscle cells in the thickened intima, and aberrant expression of IgG and S100A4 protein in vascular smooth muscle cells. The Complement C3 immunoreactivity was negative. Conclusion/Significance: This study indicated that aberrant expression of IgG and S100A4 protein in intracranial vascular wall of MMD patients, which suggested that immune-related factors may be involved in the functional and morphologica

Phase diagram for the Na2O-PbO-H2O system at 130 degrees C

A phase diagram of the Na2O-PbO-H2O system at 130 degrees C was studied using Schreinemakers&#39;s method, to provide fundamental data for producing PbO via hydrometallurgical process. In the phase diagram, saturated solubility of PbO has two maximum values vs the sodium hydroxide concentration in the solution. The equilibrium solid phases of lead oxide (PbO), sodium plumbite hydroxide (Na2O center dot PbO center dot H2O) and sodium hydroxide ( NaOH) were identified in the different alkali concentration regions, which is different from that at low temperature presented in literature. Copyright (C) 2017 Curtin University of Technology and John Wiley &amp; Sons, Ltd.</p

ISIJ Int.

Blast furnace dust is a kind of solid waste that produced in the process of iron smelting and it contains large amount of Fe and non-ferrous metal elements. It&#39;s not only a very good Fe-contained resource, but also a very important non-ferrous metal resource. Application of blast furnace dust to RHF (Rotary Hearth Furnace) briquette is an effective and comprehensive utilization method. However the strength of the briquettes is low, therefore the application of binder to the briquette should be developed. In this study, physical and chemical characteristics of blast furnace dust were investigated firstly. And the experiments of different binder used in the briquettes were studied. Then the bonding mechanisms of binders were discussed. The experiment results showed that different binder has different bonding mechanism of the briquettes. According to the application effect of binders, it should be priority to use the composite binder, and the excellent collocation pattern is starch binder together with silicon-containing binder, such as sodium silicate.Blast furnace dust is a kind of solid waste that produced in the process of iron smelting and it contains large amount of Fe and non-ferrous metal elements. It's not only a very good Fe-contained resource, but also a very important non-ferrous metal resource. Application of blast furnace dust to RHF (Rotary Hearth Furnace) briquette is an effective and comprehensive utilization method. However the strength of the briquettes is low, therefore the application of binder to the briquette should be developed. In this study, physical and chemical characteristics of blast furnace dust were investigated firstly. And the experiments of different binder used in the briquettes were studied. Then the bonding mechanisms of binders were discussed. The experiment results showed that different binder has different bonding mechanism of the briquettes. According to the application effect of binders, it should be priority to use the composite binder, and the excellent collocation pattern is starch binder together with silicon-containing binder, such as sodium silicate

Exploration of Straw Fiber as Reducing Agent Utilization in Rotary Hearth Furnace Process for Direct Reduced Iron Production

Straw fiber is a waste obtained by jet milling after extracting valuable substances form corn straw through steam explosion-washing-mechanical carding process. At the same time, it is also a clean and renewable reducing agent. In this study, physical and chemical characteristics of straw fiber were investigated firstly. The usage of straw fiber in rotary hearth furnace process for direct reduced iron production was then discussed. The results show that on one hand, fixed carbon content in straw fiber is low, which is unfavorable for the productivity of direct reduced iron; on the other hand, ash and sulfur content is also low, which improves the quality of direct reduced iron. Besides, the fibrous structure is conducive to improving the pelletizing performance of carbon-containing pellets, thus reducing an additional amount of binder. Compared with common reducing agents, straw fiber provides better reduction effect, and straw fiber carbon-containing pellets possess higher compressive strength and larger volumetric shrinkage, which is beneficial to increase the thickness of the whole material layer in rotary hearth furnace. In addition, these carbon-containing pellets also have advantages of lowering C/O ratio and shortening reduction time. The appropriate C/O and reduction time are 0.8 and 15 min, respectively, and the particle size of straw fiber below 0.15 mm has better reduction effect. This study aims to provide theoretical and technical basis for the utilization of straw fiber in rotary hearth furnace process

Single-step hydrothermal synthesis of strontium titanate nanoparticles from crystalline anatase titanium dioxide

In the present study, strontium titanate (SrTiO3) nanoparticles were successfully synthesized by a single-step direct hydrothermal process under the strong alkaline condition using crystalline anatase titanium dioxide (TiO2) and strontium hydroxide octahydrate (Sr(OH)(2) center dot 8H(2)O) as the starting materials at 220 degrees C. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns identified the products were highly crystalline and well matched with standard SrTiO3 data. The crystalline structure, lattice parameters, and atomic position were refined by Highscore Plus and Maud program. The results of Rietveld refinement showed high purity of products. The thermal field emission scanning electron microscope and energy dispersive spectrometer (FE-SEM-EDS) displayed the samples prepared were perovskite phase cubic SrTiO3 nanoparticles having regular morphology and small particle with a size distribution of 32-45 nm. The fine morphologies and structures of SrTiO3 nanoparticles were investigated by field emission transmission electron microscope (FE-TEM). The results showed the important roles played by reaction duration and mole ratio of Sr and Ti (Sr/Ti) to the grain size of SrTiO3 nanoparticles. The particle sizes increased with prolonging reaction duration and reducing Sr/Ti. Compared to SrTiO3 synthesized by solid state reaction, the as-synthesized SrTiO3 nanoparticles had large specific surface areas (up to 32.98 m(2)/g), which would exhibit potential applications in photocatalysis. The reaction mechanism of the process was illustrated using the dissolution precipitation mechanism finally. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd and Techna Group S.r.l. All rights reserved