Crucial Role for Early Growth Response-1 in the Transcriptional Regulation of miR-20b in Breast Cancer

Transcriptional regulation of miRNAs that control the pathogenesis of breast cancer remains largely unknown. Here, we showed that ionizing radiation, a known breast carcinogen, triggered the differential expression of miR-20b in mammary tissues. We identified several GC-rich consensus binding motifs for the zinc finger transcription factor early growth response-1 (EGR1) in miR-20b promoter. miR-20b was upregulated by IR and its upregulation correlated with EGR1 expression in the breast cancer cell line HCC1806. Therefore, we used HCC1806 cells as a model system to explore the role of EGR1 in miR-20b transcription. siRNA knockdown of EGR1 attenuated miR-20b expression. Luciferase assays showed that whereas EGR1 stimulated luciferase activity driven by the wild-type miR-20b promoter, this induction was abolished in the mutant miR-20 promoter construct. We noted significant enrichment of EGR1 at miR-20b promoter in HCC1806 cells compared with normal human mammary epithelial cells. Suppression of miR-20b significantly inhibited HCC1806 cell proliferation and migration, and led to G 0/G 1 and S phase arrest. In vitro RNA-pull down assays indicated that miR-20b targets numerous tumor suppressors, including PTEN and BRCA1, which were downregulated in HCC1806. Conversely, suppression of miR-20b increased PTEN and BRCA1 levels. Moreover, immunohistochemical and FISH analyses showed that the miR-20b expression correlated significantly with EGR1 levels in breast cancer tissues. Our findings thus demonstrate for the first time that EGR1 is a key player in the transcriptional control of miR-20b, and miR-20b may in turn function as an oncogene by contributing to breast tumorigenesis via tumor suppressor targeting

Evaporation of sessile droplets

Recent developments in the studies of evaporation of liquid droplets placed on a solid substrate are reviewed for the droplet size typically larger than 1 μm, so that kinetics effects of evaporation are neglected. The attention is paid to the limits of applicability of classical diffusion model of evaporation, effect of substrate, evaporation of complex fluids and applicability for its description of the theory developed for pure liquids, and hydrothermal waves accompanying evaporation

THE INTERNET AND ITS IMPACT ON MODERN SOCIETY

Today, most people cannot imagine their lives without the Internet and it has grown to be more than merely an entertainment. It has become a necessity in the lives of the vast majority of Earth's population. According to statistics, the Internet is used by 85% of people in America and by 65% of Ukraine's population. Every seventh person uses Facebook. By the end of 2016, the number of Internet users will be about three billion, and that's almost half of all people who inhabit our planet (1).

Legal regulation of state support of agribusiness

The article is devoted to the study of public relations in the agricultural sector as a direct object of state and legal regulation. This is characterized by several features, among which the most significant is the wide range of activities covered by this type of regulation and in itself, the specific legal regulation of the agro-industrial complex as a branch of the economy. The methodological basis of the article is modern methods of scientific knowledge, which are today used by legal science in conducting research. The authors of the article combined general scientific and special methods for the best achievement of the goal set in the article. All methods were used in combination and complementarity, which provided objectivity of conclusions. According to the authors, the peculiarity of a modern state and legal regulation of the agricultural sector is that a significant role in the choice of legal instruments should play incentives to ensure sustainable development of agriculture and related industries. Also to increase the profitability of agricultural producers and other agribusiness entities. To provide a sufficient scientific base to increase efficiency and social usefulness of state and legal regulation in the agricultural sector is possible only with a detailed study of each of the components of regulation, among which the most important is the basics of legal regulation. And, as is known, the food security of the country and the functioning of the domestic food market, and providing the rural population with jobs and social stability in society, depending on the development of the agro-industrial complex

Phenomenological model of lithium-ion battery formation cycling and aging

This work proposes a semi-empirical model for the SEI growth process during the early stages of lithium-ion battery formation cycling and aging. By combining a full-cell model which tracks half-cell equilibrium potentials, a zero-dimensional model of SEI growth kinetics, and a semi-empirical description of macroscopic cell expansion, the resulting model replicated experimental trends measured on a 2.5 Ah pouch cell, including the first-cycle efficiency, cell thickness changes, and electrolyte reduction peaks during the first charge dQ/dV signal. This work also introduces an SEI growth boosting formalism which enables a unified description of SEI growth during both formation cycling and aging. The model further provides a homogenized representation of multi-component SEI reactions which enables the study of both solvent and additive consumption during formation. This work bridges the gap between electrochemical descriptions of SEI growth and applications towards industrial battery manufacturing technology where battery formation is an essential but time-consuming final step. We envision that the formation model can further be used to predict the impact of formation protocols and electrolyte systems on SEI passivation and resulting battery longevity.Comment: Submitted to the Journal of the Electrochemical Society on May 24, 202

Surfactant enhanced spreading: Catanionic mixture

The spreading behaviour of aqueous solutions of mixture of two surfactants sodium 1-decane sulfonate and dodecyltrimethylammoniumbromide is investigated on two hydrophobic substrates. The solutions demonstrate rapid complete wetting on polyethylene film and only partial wetting on silanized glass. It is shown that the spreading behaviour depends crucially on the age of the mixture and is determined by the crystal growth affecting the surface tension of solution. An increase of surface tension with time results in an interesting phenomenon — a transition from complete to partial wetting, that is, a droplet of freshly prepared mixture first spreads completely but after some time the solution assembles into the droplet agai

Mixtures of catanionic surfactants can be superspreaders: Comparison with trisiloxane superspreader

© 2015 Elsevier Inc.Hypothesis: Mixed solutions of cationic and anionic surfactants show considerable synergism in their wetting behaviour, but their spreading is affected considerably by the phase separation processes. The valuable information about wetting properties of synergetic mixtures can be obtained by using mixtures in which phase separation occurs at concentrations above cmc. Experiments: Spreading properties of mixed solutions of cationic and anionic surfactants over highly hydrophobic substrate such as polyethylene are investigated and compared with those for trisiloxane superspreader. Experiments are performed at relative humidity of 40% and 80%. Interfacial tension at water/air and water/alkane interfaces is measured to explain spreading performance. Findings: Catanionic solutions can wet hydrophobic substrates nearly as effective as solutions of trisiloxane superspreader. The spreading factor reaches 70% of that of superspreader for the most effective mixed solution. The spreading slows down earlier at high surfactant concentrations. At room humidity (40%) spread area has a maximum vs concentration. However, the maximum was not observed at higher humidity 80%. Humidity does not affect the short-time spreading rate, but it influences considerably the time when spreading slows down. The spreading rate of mixed solutions is smaller than that of superspreader despite the same spreading exponent α= 0.5