The expression of microRNA 574-3p as a predictor of postoperative outcome in patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma

Background: Despite advances in radical esophagectomies and adjuvant therapy, the postoperative prognosis in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) patients remains poor. The aim of this study was to identify a molecular signature to predict postoperative favorable outcomes in patients with ESCC. Methods: As a training data set, total RNA was extracted from formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded samples of surgically removed specimens from 19 ESCC patients who underwent curative esophagectomy. The expression of microRNA (miRNA) was detected using a miRNA oligo chip on which 885 genes were mounted. As a validation data set, we obtained frozen samples of surgically resected tumors from 12 independent ESCC patients and the expression of miR-574-3p was detected by quantitative real-time PCR. Results: Our microarray analysis in the training set patients identified three miRNAs (miR-574-3p, miR-106b, and miR-1303) and five miRNAs (miR-1203, miR-1909, miR-204, miR-371-3p, miR-886-3p) which were differentially expressed between the patients with (n=14) and without (n=5) postoperative tumor relapse (p<0.01 and p<0.05, respectively). Higher expression of miR-574-3p, which showed the most significant association with non-relapse (p=0.001), was associated with favorable overall survival (p=0.016). Real-time PCR experiments on the validation set patients confirmed that higher expression of miR-574-3p was associated with non-tumor relapse (p=0.029) and better overall survival (p=0.004). Conclusions: Our results suggest that the aberrant expression of the miRNAs identified in this study plays key roles in the progression of ESCC. miR-574-3p was suggested to have a tumor suppressor effect, and thus, to be a predictor of postoperative outcome in patients with ESCC

Non-volatile optical phase shift in ferroelectric hafnium zirconium oxide

A non-volatile optical phase shifter is a critical component for enabling large-scale, energy-efficient programmable photonic integrated circuits (PICs) on a silicon (Si) photonics platform. While ferroelectric materials like BaTiO3 offer non-volatile optical phase shift capabilities, their compatibility with complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) fabs is limited. Hence, the search for a novel CMOS-compatible ferroelectric material for non-volatile optical phase shifting in Si photonics is of utmost importance. Hafnium zirconium oxide (HZO) is an emerging ferroelectric material discovered in 2011, which exhibits CMOS compatibility due to the utilization of high-k dielectric HfO2 in CMOS transistors. Although extensively studied for ferroelectric transistors and memories, its application in photonics remains relatively unexplored. Here, we show the optical phase shift induced by ferroelectric HZO deposited on a SiN optical waveguide. We observed a negative change in refractive index at a 1.55 um wavelength in the pristine device regardless of the direction of an applied electric filed. We achieved approximately pi phase shift in a 4.5-mm-long device with negligible optical loss. The non-volatile multi-level optical phase shift was confirmed with a persistence of > 10000 s. This phase shift can be attributed to the spontaneous polarization within the HZO film along the external electric field. We anticipate that our results will stimulate further research on optical nonlinear effects, such as the Pockels effect, in ferroelectric HZO. This advancement will enable the development of various devices, including high-speed optical modulators. Consequently, HZO-based programmable PICs are poised to become indispensable in diverse applications, ranging from optical fiber communication and artificial intelligence to quantum computing and sensing

Oral-Nasopharyngeal Dendritic Cells Mediate T Cell-Independent IgA Class Switching on B-1 B Cells

Native cholera toxin (nCT) as a nasal adjuvant was shown to elicit increased levels of T-independent S-IgA antibody (Ab) responses through IL-5- IL-5 receptor interactions between CD4+ T cells and IgA+ B-1 B cells in murine submandibular glands (SMGs) and nasal passages (NPs). Here, we further investigate whether oral-nasopharyngeal dendritic cells (DCs) play a central role in the induction of B-1 B cell IgA class switch recombination (CSR) for the enhancement of T cell-independent (TI) mucosal S-IgA Ab responses. High expression levels of activation-induced cytidine deaminase, Iα-Cμ circulation transcripts and Iμ-Cα transcripts were seen on B-1 B cells purified from SMGs and NPs of both TCRβ−/− mice and wild-type mice given nasal trinitrophenyl (TNP)-LPS plus nCT, than in the same tissues of mice given nCT or TNP-LPS alone. Further, DCs from SMGs, NPs and NALT of mice given nasal TNP-LPS plus nCT expressed significantly higher levels of a proliferation-inducing ligand (APRIL) than those in mice given TNP-LPS or nCT alone, whereas the B-1 B cells in SMGs and NPs showed elevated levels of transmembrane activator and calcium modulator cyclophilin ligand interactor (TACI) expression. Interestingly, high frequencies of IgA+ B-1 B cells were induced when peritoneal IgA− IgM+ B cells were stimulated with mucosal DCs from mice given nasal TNP-LPS plus nCT. Taken together, these findings show that nasal nCT plays a key role in the enhancement of mucosal DC-mediated TI IgA CSR by B-1 B cells through their interactions with APRIL and TACI

Nd-ion Substitution Effect on f-electron Multipole Order of PrRu4P12

We studied the effect of magnetic Nd-ion substitution on the metal-nonmetal transition at a transition temperature of 63 K of PrRu4P12, which is characterized by antiferro-type electric multipole ordering of Pr-ion 4f electrons. The transition temperature of Pr1-xNdxRu4P12 depends weakly on the Nd concentration x as compared to Laand Ce-substituted compounds. Inelastic neutron-scattering measurements revealed that the energies and widths of crystalline field excitation peaks of Pr 4f 2 in Pr0.85Nd0.15Ru4P12 are very similar to those of PrRu4P12. These experimental results indicate that the ordered state is robust against the substitution of magnetic Nd ions as compared to the La and Ce substitutions. Magnetic interactions between the Pr ions and the Nd ions in Pr1-xNdxRu4P12 help stabilize the magnetic triplet ground state of the Pr ions that appears in the antiferro-type multipole ordered phase. Therefore, the nonmagnetic multipole ordered phase of PrRu4P12 is compatible with the magnetic perturbation.Conference : 20th International Conference on Magnetism, ICM 2015Location : Barcelona, SPAINDate : JUL 05-10, 201

Granular C3 Dermatosis

There has been no previous systematic study of bullous skin diseases with granular basement membrane zone deposition exclusively of C3. In this study we collected 20 such patients, none of whom showed cutaneous vasculitis histopathologically. Oral dapsone and topical steroids were effective. Various serological tests detected no autoantibodies or autoantigens. Direct immunofluorescence for various complement components revealed deposition only of C3 and C5?C9, indicating that no known complement pathways were involved. Studies of in situ hybridization and micro-dissection with quantitative RT-PCR revealed a slight reduction in expression of C3 in patient epidermis. These patients may represent a new disease entity, for which we propose the term “granular C3 dermatosis”. The mechanism for granular C3 deposition in these patients is unknown, but it is possible that the condition is caused by autoantibodies to skin or aberrant C3 expression in epidermal keratinocytes

Functional transforming growth factor-β receptor type II expression by CD4+ T cells in Peyer's patches is essential for oral tolerance induction.

Our previous studies have shown that Peyer's patches (PPs) play a key role in the induction of oral tolerance. Therefore, we hypothesized that PPs are an important site for Transforming Growth Factor (TGF)-β signaling and sought to prove that this tissue is of importance in oral tolerance induction. We found that expression of TGF-β type II receptor (TGFβRII) by CD4(+) T cells increases and persists in the PPs of normal C57BL/6 mice after either high- or low-dose feeding of OVA when compared to mesenteric lymph nodes (MLNs) and spleen. Approximately one-third of these TGFβRII(+) CD4(+) T cells express the transcription factor Foxp3. Interestingly, the number of TGFβRII(+) CD4(+) T cells in PPs decreased when OVA-fed mice were orally challenged with OVA plus native cholera toxin (CT). In contrast, numbers of TGFβRII(+) CD4(+) T cells were increased in the intestinal lamina propria (iLP) of these challenged mice. Further, these PP CD4(+) TGFβRII(+) T cells upregulated Foxp3 within 2 hours after OVA plus CT challenge. Mice fed PBS and challenged with OVA plus CT did not reveal any changes in TGFβRII expression by CD4(+) T cells. In order to test the functional property of TGFβRII in the induction of oral tolerance, CD4dnTGFβRII transgenic mice, in which TGFβRII signaling is abrogated from all CD4(+) T cells, were employed. Importantly, these mice could not develop oral tolerance to OVA. Our studies show a critical, dose-independent, role for TGFβRII expression and function by CD4(+) T cells in the gut-associated lymphoid tissues, further underlining the vital role of PPs in oral tolerance