17β-Estradiol Enhances Breast Cancer Cell Motility and Invasion via Extra-Nuclear Activation of Actin-Binding Protein Ezrin

Estrogen promotes breast cancer metastasis. However, the detailed mechanism remains largely unknown. The actin binding protein ezrin is a key component in tumor metastasis and its over-expression is positively correlated to the poor outcome of breast cancer. In this study, we investigate the effects of 17β-estradiol (E2) on the activation of ezrin and its role in estrogen-dependent breast cancer cell movement. In T47-D breast cancer cells, E2 rapidly enhances ezrin phosphorylation at Thr567 in a time- and concentration-dependent manner. The signalling cascade implicated in this action involves estrogen receptor (ER) interaction with the non-receptor tyrosine kinase c-Src, which activates the phosphatidylinositol-3 kinase/Akt pathway and the small GTPase RhoA/Rho-associated kinase (ROCK-2) complex. E2 enhances the horizontal cell migration and invasion of T47-D breast cancer cells in three-dimensional matrices, which is reversed by transfection of cells with specific ezrin siRNAs. In conclusion, E2 promotes breast cancer cell movement and invasion by the activation of ezrin. These results provide novel insights into the effects of estrogen on breast cancer progression and highlight potential targets to treat endocrine-sensitive breast cancers

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

Energy Efficient Design of Ionic Liquid based Gas Separation Processes

Gas separation processes are among the most important operations in the oil and gas related industries. The most common separation technology applied is distillation, which consumes large amounts of energy. Because of the good stability, non-volatility, tunable viscosity and designable properties, ionic liquids (ILs) are regarded as novel potential solvents and alternative media for gas absorption. Therefore, a strategy for hybrid gas separation process synthesis where distillation and IL-based absorption are employed for energy efficient gas processing has been developed. In this work, a three-stage methodology proposed for hybrid gas separation process design and evaluation is proposed: IL screening, where a systematic screening method together with a database tool is established to identify suitable ILs; process design, where the important design issues (amounts of solvent needed, operating temperatures and pressures, evaporation conditions, etc.) are determined; process simulation and evaluation, where the final separation process results are concluded.</p

Modeling the climate effects of different subregional uplifts within the Himalaya-Tibetan Plateau on Asian summer monsoon evolution

Considering the different uplifting time of different subregions of the Himalaya-Tibetan Plateau (TP), a series of numerical simulations have been conducted with the Community Atmosphere Model (CAM4) developed at the National Center for Atmospheric Research to explore the effects of the phased tectonic uplift of the Himalaya-TP on the evolution of Asian summer monsoons. The results show that the uplifts of the Himalaya and northern TP significantly affect the evolutions of South Asian summer monsoon and northern East Asian summer monsoon respectively. That is, the tectonic uplift of the Himalaya intensifies the South Asian summer monsoon circulation and increases the precipitation in South Asia, whereas the uplift of the northern TP intensifies the northern East Asian summer monsoon circulation and increases the precipitation in northern East Asia. Compared with previous simulations, current comparative analyses of modeling results for different subregional uplifts within the Himalaya-TP help deepen our understanding of the evolutionary history of Asian monsoons.</p

Application of COSMO-RS and UNIFAC for ionic liquids based gas separation

In recent years, due to their advantages on good stability, non-volatility, tunable viscosity and tailormade properties, ionic liquids (ILs) have been regarded as novel potential solvents and alternative media for gas separation. However, the various cations and anions representing the ILs, together with limited experimental data, make it challenging to predict gas solubility in ILs and identify the optimal IL for a specific gas separation. In this work, a comprehensive Henry&#39;s law constants database is first established for gas-IL which supplements an already established extensive gas solubility database. Because of the insufficient experimental data for both IL-C2H4 and IL-C2H6 systems, the COSMO-RS model is used after validation to generate additional pseudo-experimental data. Then, together with the sufficient experimental data of CO2-IL and CH4-IL systems, UNIFAC-IL is developed for the prediction of four-component shale gas (CH4, C2H4, C2H6, CO2 ) solubility in ILs. A relatively good agreement between the model predicted and the experimental solubility data is observed. Moreover, the developed UNIFAC-IL model can be used to predict the solubility of gases in new ILs that are not included in parameter fitting due to its group contribution basis. For this reason, the model represents a very useful tool for task-specific design of ionic liquids for gas separations. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.</p

The time and energy signals, counter plateau, energy resolution and gas gains performances of a new kind of micro-pattern gaseous detector-Micromegas

In present paper, a new Micromegas detector is developed, and its time and energy signals are obtained in the figure form. The rising time of fast time signal is less than 2 ns due to the very fast collection of avalanche electrons, and the rising time of the energy pulse is about 100 ns, which is corresponding to the total collecting time of the electrons and ions in the avalanche process. The counter plateau, energy resolution and the gas gains of the detector have been compared with other groups' experimental results and the Garfield simulation result