Large-Scale Fabrication of Boron Nitride Nanotubes via a Facile Chemical Vapor Reaction Route and Their Cathodoluminescence Properties

Cylinder- and bamboo-shaped boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs) have been synthesized in large scale via a facile chemical vapor reaction route using ammonia borane as a precursor. The structure and chemical composition of the as-synthesized BNNTs are extensively characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, and selected-area electron diffraction. The cylinder-shaped BNNTs have an average diameter of about 100 nm and length of hundreds of microns, while the bamboo-shaped BNNTs are 100–500 nm in diameter with length up to tens of microns. The formation mechanism of the BNNTs has been explored on the basis of our experimental observations and a growth model has been proposed accordingly. Ultraviolet–visible and cathodoluminescence spectroscopic analyses are performed on the BNNTs. Strong ultraviolet emissions are detected on both morphologies of BNNTs. The band gap of the BNNTs are around 5.82 eV and nearly unaffected by tube morphology. There exist two intermediate bands in the band gap of BNNTs, which could be distinguishably assigned to structural defects and chemical impurities

The expression difference of AChE, BChE, PON-1 and FOS mRNA in rats died of acute phorate poisoning

Objective To investigate mRNA expression of the related genes (AChE,BChE,PON-1 and FOS) in SD rats died of acute phorate poisoning, and screen the significant organs and genes in the detection of death. Methods 12 grown-up female SD rats were divided into the acute poisoning group and the control group. Organ samples( heart, liver, lung, brain, small intestine) were collected respectively, and total RNA were isolated to be reversely transcribed to cDNA with gene primers of AChE, BChE, PON-1, FOS and interior label β-actin. The Real Time PCR was used to detect the comparative expression differences of them and the data of all the groups were analyzed statistically. Results In liver, the expression of AChE, BChE and FOS mRNA increased (P<0.05), while the expression of AChE mRNA decreased in lung and brain (P<0.05). Conclusion Liver and AChE could be served as the target organ and the gene expression mark for death by acute phorate poisoning respectively, which could also be set as the reference of the diagnose and death detection from acute phorate poisoning

Concurrent alterations in TERT, KDM6A, and the BRCA pathway in bladder cancer

Purpose: Genetic analysis of bladder cancer has revealed a number of frequently altered genes, including frequent alterations of the telomerase (TERT) gene promoter, although few altered genes have been functionally evaluated. Our objective is to characterize alterations observed by exome sequencing and sequencing of the TERT promoter, and to examine the functional relevance of histone lysine (K)-specific demethylase 6A (KDM6A/UTX), a frequently mutated histone demethylase, in bladder cancer.Experimental Design: We analyzed bladder cancer samples from 54 U.S. patients by exome and targeted sequencing and confirmed somatic variants using normal tissue from the same patient. We examined the biologic function of KDM6A using in vivo and in vitro assays.Results: We observed frequent somatic alterations in BRCA1 associated protein-1 (BAP1) in 15% of tumors, including deleterious alterations to the deubiquitinase active site and the nuclear localization signal. BAP1 mutations contribute to a high frequency of tumors with breast cancer (BRCA) DNA repair pathway alterations and were significantly associated with papillary histologic features in tumors. BAP1 and KDM6A mutations significantly co-occurred in tumors. Somatic variants altering the TERT promoter were found in 69% of tumors but were not correlated with alterations in other bladder cancer genes. We examined the function of KDM6A, altered in 24% of tumors, and show depletion in human bladder cancer cells, enhanced in vitro proliferation, in vivo tumor growth, and cell migration.Conclusions: This study is the first to identify frequent BAP1 and BRCA pathway alterations in bladder cancer, show TERT promoter alterations are independent of other bladder cancer gene alterations, and show KDM6A loss is a driver of the bladder cancer phenotype. (C) 2014 AACR