Bis(2,2′-bi-1H-imidazole-κ2 N 3,N 3′)bis­(dimethyl sulfoxide-κO)copper(II) bis­(tetra­fluoridoborate)

In the title copper(II) salt, [Cu(C6H6N4)2(C2H6OS)2](BF4)2, the Jahn–Teller distorted octa­hedral coordination sphere of copper is formed from four 2,2′-bi-1H-imidazole N atoms and two dimethyl sulfoxide O atoms. The Cu atom lies on a center of inversion. N—H⋯O and N—H⋯F hydrogen bonds give rise to a one-dimensional structure. The BF4 − anion is disordered over two sites in a 0.671 (10):0.329 (10) ratio

Endoglin Is Essential for the Maintenance of Self-Renewal and Chemoresistance in Renal Cancer Stem Cells.

Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is a deadly malignancy due to its tendency to metastasize and resistance to chemotherapy. Stem-like tumor cells often confer these aggressive behaviors. We discovered an endoglin (CD105)-expressing subpopulation in human RCC xenografts and patient samples with a greater capability to form spheres in vitro and tumors in mice at low dilutions than parental cells. Knockdown of CD105 by short hairpin RNA and CRISPR/cas9 reduced stemness markers and sphere-formation ability while accelerating senescence in vitro. Importantly, downregulation of CD105 significantly decreased the tumorigenicity and gemcitabine resistance. This loss of stem-like properties can be rescued by CDA, MYC, or NANOG, and CDA might act as a demethylase maintaining MYC and NANOG. In this study, we showed that Endoglin (CD105) expression not only demarcates a cancer stem cell subpopulation but also confers self-renewal ability and contributes to chemoresistance in RCC

Workplace Social Capital and Mental Health among Chinese Employees: A Multi-Level, Cross-Sectional Study

Background: Whereas the majority of previous research on social capital and health has been on residential neighborhoods and communities, the evidence remains sparse on workplace social capital. To address this gap in the literature, we examined the association between workplace social capital and health status among Chinese employees in a large, multilevel, cross-sectional study. Methods: By employing a two-stage stratified random sampling procedure, 2,796 employees were identified from 35 workplaces in Shanghai during March to November 2012. Workplace social capital was assessed using a validated and psychometrically tested eight-item measure, and the Chinese language version of the WHO-Five Well-Being Index (WHO-5) was used to assess mental health. Control variables included sex, age, marital status, education level, occupation status, smoking status, physical activity, and job stress. Multilevel logistic regression analysis was conducted to explore whether individual- and workplace-level social capital was associated with mental health status. Results: In total, 34.9% of workers reported poor mental health (WHO-5,13). After controlling for individual-level sociodemographic and lifestyle variables, compared to workers with the highest quartile of personal social capital, workers with the third, second, and lowest quartiles exhibited 1.39 to 3.54 times greater odds of poor mental health, 1.39 (95% CI: 1.10– 1.75), 1.85 (95% CI: 1.38–2.46) and 3.54 (95% CI: 2.73–4.59), respectively. Corresponding odds ratios for workplace-level social capital were 0.95 (95% CI: 0.61–1.49), 1.14 (95% CI: 0.72–1.81) and 1.63 (95% CI: 1.05–2.53) for the third, second, and lowest quartiles, respectively. Conclusions: Higher workplace social capital is associated with lower odds of poor mental health among Chinese employees. Promoting social capital at the workplace may contribute to enhancing employees’ mental health in China

Curcumin combining with si-MALAT1 inhibits the invasion and migration of colon cancer SW480 cells

To study the effect of small interfering RNA targeting metastasis-associated lung adenocarcinoma transcript1 (si-MALAT1) combining with curcumin on the invasion and migration abilities of human colon cancer SW480 cells, and to explore the involved molecular mechanism. The recombinant lentiviral vector expressing si-MALAT1 was constructed, and its titer was determined by gradient dilution method. The colon cancer SW480 cells with stable expression of si-MALAT1 was established, followed by treatment with curcumin at different concentrations. The effect of curcumin or si-MALAT1 alone and the combination of the two on the cell activity was detected by MTT assay. The cell invasion and migration abilities were detected by transwell and scratch-wound assay. The relative expression level of MALAT1 was detected by RT-qPCR. The protein expression was determined by Western blot analysis. The IC50 of curcumin alone was 77.69 µmol/L, which was 51.17 mol/Lwhen combined with curcumin and random sequence. The IC50 of curcumin was 30.02 µmol/L when combined with si-MALAT1. The increased susceptibility multiples was 2.58. The wound healing rates were 30.9% and 67.5% after treatment with si-MALAT1 combined with curcumin for 24 hrs and 48 hrs, respectively. The numbers of invasion cells were 200±12, 162±13, 66±8, 53±4 and 16±3 after treatment with si-MALAT1 combined with curcumin for 48 hrs. The relative expression level of lncRNA-MALAT1 in the curcumin group was 68%, and the relative expression level of lncRNA-MALAT1 in si-MALAT1group was 56%, and that for the combination treatment group was about 21%. The protein expression levels of β- catenin, c-myc and cyclinD1 were significantly down-regulated upon treatment with certain concentration of si-MALAT1 alone or combined with curcumin.si-MALAT1 could significantly inhibit the invasion and migration of SW480 cells by enhancing the sensitivity of SW480 cells to curcumin. The mechanism involved mignt be related to the down-regulation of β-catenin, c-myc and cyclinD1 proteins

Radial Angular Momentum Transfer and Magnetic Barrier for Short-Type Gamma-Ray Burst Central Engine Activity

Soft extended emission (EE) following initial hard spikes up to 100 seconds was observed with {\em Swift}/BAT for about half of short-type gamma-ray bursts (SGRBs). This challenges the conversional central engine models of SGRBs, i.e., compact star merger models. In the framework of the black hole-neutron star merger models, we study the roles of the radial angular momentum transfer in the disk and the magnetic barrier around the black hole for the activity of SGRB central engines. We show that the radial angular momentum transfer may significantly prolong the lifetime of the accretion process and multiple episodes may be switched by the magnetic barrier. Our numerical calculations based on the models of the neutrino-dominated accretion flows suggest that the disk mass is critical for producing the observed EE. In case of the mass being $\sim 0.8M_{\odot}$, our model can reproduce the observed timescale and luminosity of both the main and EE episodes in a reasonable parameter set. The predicted luminosity of the EE component is lower than the observed EE with about one order of magnitude and the timescale is shorter than 20 seconds if the disk mass being $\sim 0.2M_{\odot}$. {\em Swift}/BAT-like instruments may be not sensitive enough to detect the EE component in this case. We argue that the EE component would be a probe for merger process and disk formation for compact star mergers.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in Ap

Ru doping induced spin frustration and enhancement of the room-temperature anomalous Hall effect in La2/3Sr1/3MnO3 films

In transition-metal-oxide heterostructures, the anomalous Hall effect (AHE) is a powerful tool for detecting the magnetic state and revealing intriguing interfacial magnetic orderings. However, achieving a larger AHE at room temperature in oxide heterostructures is still challenging due to the dilemma of mutually strong spin-orbit coupling and magnetic exchange interactions. Here, we exploit the Ru doping-enhanced AHE in LSMRO epitaxial films. As the B-site Ru doping level increases up to 20 percent, the anomalous Hall resistivity at room temperature can be enhanced from nOhmcm to uOhmcm scale. Ru doping leads to strong competition between ferromagnetic double-exchange interaction and antiferromagnetic super-exchange interaction. The resultant spin frustration and spin-glass state facilitate a strong skew-scattering process, thus significantly enhancing the extrinsic AHE. Our findings could pave a feasible approach for boosting the controllability and reliability of oxide-based spintronic devices

Simultaneous acquisition of cerebral blood volume-, blood flow-, and blood oxygenation-weighted MRI signals at ultra-high magnetic field

Purpose Yang et al. proposed an MRI technique for the simultaneous acquisition of cerebral blood volume (CBV), cerebral blood flow (CBF), and blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD)-weighted MRI signals (9). The purpose of this study was to develop modified version of the Yang sequence, which utilizes the advantages of 7 Tesla, leading to a robust and reliable MRI sequence. MethodsThe inversion recovery-based MR pulse sequence introduced here involves slice-saturation slab-inversion vascular space occupancy (SI-SS-VASO) MRI, double echo planar imaging readouts for arterial spin labeling, and VASO in order to correct for BOLD contamination, and a separate BOLD acquisition to minimize inversion effects on the BOLD signal. A standard visual stimulus block design was used to evaluate the spatial and temporal characteristics of CBV-, CBF-, and BOLD-weighted images. ResultsThe high signal-to-noise ratio and spatial resolution of this method leads to robust activation maps. This technique enables the investigation of the differential spatial specificity and temporal characteristics of the different modalities. ConclusionThe pulse sequence could be a powerful tool for studies of neurovascular coupling, hemodynamic response, or calibrated BOLD. Magn Reson Med 74:513-517, 2015

Quantitative analysis of reaction gases or exhaust using an online process mass spectrometer

Online quantitative analysis of reaction gases or exhaust in industrial production is of great significance to improve the production capacity and process.Anovel method is developed for the online quantitative analysis of reaction gases or exhaust using quantitative mathematical models combined with the linear regression algorithm of machine learning. After accurately estimating the component gases and their contents in the reaction gases or exhaust, a ratio matrix is constructed to separate the relevant overlapping peaks. The ratio and calibration standard gases are detected, filtered, normalized, and linearly regressed with an online process mass spectrometer to correct the ratio matrices and obtain the relative sensitivity matrices. A quantitative mathematical model can be established to obtain the content of each component of the reaction gases or exhaust in real time. The maximum quantification error and relative standard deviation of the method are within 0.3% and 1%, after online quantification of the representative yeast fermenter tail gas