Hydrostatic Pressure and Built-In Electric Field Effects on the Donor Impurity States in Cylindrical Wurtzite GaN/Al x

Within the framework of the effective mass approximation, the ground-state binding energy of a hydrogenic impurity is investigated in cylindrical wurtzite GaN/AlxGa1-xN strained quantum ring (QR) by means of a variational approach, considering the influence of the applied hydrostatic pressure along the QR growth direction and the strong built-in electric field (BEF) due to the piezoelectricity and spontaneous polarization. Numerical results show that the donor binding energy for a central impurity increases inchmeal firstly as the QR radial thickness (ΔR) decreases gradually and then begins to drop quickly. In addition, the donor binding energy is an increasing (a decreasing) function of the inner radius (height). It is also found that the donor binding energy increases almost linearly with the increment of the applied hydrostatic pressure. Moreover, we also found that impurity positions have an important influence on the donor binding energy. The physical reasons have been analyzed in detail

Association of Short Tandem Repeat Polymorphism in the Promoter of Prostate Cancer Antigen 3 Gene with the Risk of Prostate Cancer

BACKGROUND: PCA3 (prostate cancer antigen 3) gene is one of the most prostate cancer-specific genes at present. Consequently, the prostate-specific expression and the sharp up-regulation of PCA3 mRNA in prostate cancer suggest a unique transcriptional regulation, which possibly can be attributed to promoter polymorphism. In our study, we evaluated whether there is polymorphism in PCA3 promoter region and also assess the association of the polymorphism with prostate cancer. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We designed a specific primer set to screen the promoter of PCA3 gene by polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based cloning and sequencing with the DNA extracted from peripheral blood samples of prostate cancer (PCa) cases (n = 186) and healthy control cases (n = 135). Genotype-specific risks were estimated as odds ratios (ORs) with associated 95% confidence intervals (CIs) by chi-square test. Possible deviation of the genotype frequencies from controls and PCa cases expected under Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium was assessed by the chi-square test. Short tandem repeat polymorphism of TAAA was found in the promoter region of PCA3 gene, five polymorphisms and eight genotypes were identified. The eight genotypes were divided into three groups: ≤10TAAA, 11TAAA, ≥12TAAA. The group 11TAAA and ≥12TAAA were associated with higher relative risk for prostate cancer than group ≤10TAAA (OR = 1.76, 95%CI = 1.07-2.89[for group 11TAAA]; OR = 5.28, 95%CI = 1.76-15.89[for group ≥12TAAA]). CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The presence of the (TAAA)n short tandem repeat polymorphisms in the PCA3 promoter region may be a risk factor for prostate cancer in the Chinese population

Barrier Thickness and Hydrostatic Pressure Effects on Hydrogenic Impurity States in Wurtzite GaN/AlxGa1−xN Strained Quantum Dots

Within the framework of the effective mass approximation, barrier thickness and hydrostatic pressure effects on the ground-state binding energy of hydrogenic impurity are investigated in wurtzite (WZ) GaN/AlxGa1−xN strained quantum dots (QDs) by means of a variational approach. The hydrostatic pressure dependence of physical parameters such as electron effective mass, energy band gaps, lattice constants, and dielectric constants is considered in the calculations. Numerical results show that the donor binding energy for any impurity position increases when the hydrostatic pressure increases. The donor binding energy for the impurity located at the central of the QD increases firstly and then begins to drop quickly with the decrease of QD radius (height) in strong built-in electric fields. Moreover, the influence of barrier thickness along the QD growth direction and Al concentration on donor binding energy is also investigated. In addition, we also found that impurity positions have great influence on the donor binding energy

Identification of Diagnostic CpG Signatures in Patients with Gestational Diabetes Mellitus via Epigenome-Wide Association Study Integrated with Machine Learning

Background. Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is the most prevalent metabolic disease during pregnancy, but the diagnosis is controversial and lagging partly due to the lack of useful biomarkers. CpG methylation is involved in the development of GDM. However, the specific CpG methylation sites serving as diagnostic biomarkers of GDM remain unclear. Here, we aimed to explore CpG signatures and establish the predicting model for the GDM diagnosis. Methods. DNA methylation data of GSE88929 and GSE102177 were obtained from the GEO database, followed by the epigenome-wide association study (EWAS). GO and KEGG pathway analyses were performed by using the clusterProfiler package of R. The PPI network was constructed in the STRING database and Cytoscape software. The SVM model was established, in which the β-values of selected CpG sites were the predictor variable and the occurrence of GDM was the outcome variable. Results. We identified 62 significant CpG methylation sites in the GDM samples compared with the control samples. GO and KEGG analyses based on the 62 CpG sites demonstrated that several essential cellular processes and signaling pathways were enriched in the system. A total of 12 hub genes related to the identified CpG sites were found in the PPI network. The SVM model based on the selected CpGs within the promoter region, including cg00922748, cg05216211, cg05376185, cg06617468, cg17097119, and cg22385669, was established, and the AUC values of the training set and testing set in the model were 0.8138 and 0.7576. The AUC value of the independent validation set of GSE102177 was 0.6667. Conclusion. We identified potential diagnostic CpG signatures by EWAS integrated with the SVM model. The SVM model based on the identified 6 CpG sites reliably predicted the GDM occurrence, contributing to the diagnosis of GDM. Our finding provides new insights into the cross-application of EWAS and machine learning in GDM investigation

Genome-wide analysis of androgen receptor binding sites in prostate cancer cells

En este objeto de información se muestra la importancia de la Ley 100 de 1993 como regidora del Sistema General de Seguridad Social, sus propósitos, a quiénes formalizó como integrantes de dicho sistema y los posibles riesgos a los que se pueden ver enfrentados.1.0Acceso a Interne

SGK1 inhibition-induced autophagy impairs prostate cancer metastasis by reversing EMT

Abstract Background Despite SGK1 has been identified and characterized as a tumor-promoting gene, the functions and underlying mechanisms of SGK1 involved in metastasis regulation have not yet been investigated in cancer. Methods We investigated the cellular responses to GSK650394 treatment and SGK1 silencing (or overexpression) in human prostate cancer (PCa) cell lines and PC3 xenografts by wound healing assay, migration and invasion assay, western blotting, immunofluorescence and immunohistochemistry. Results In the present study, we found that SGK1 expression positively correlates with human prostate cancer (PCa) progression and metastasis. We show that SGK1 inhibition significantly attenuates EMT and metastasis both in vitro and in vivo, whereas overexpression of SGK1 dramaticlly promoted the invasion and migration of PCa cells. Our further results suggest that SGK1 inhibition induced antimetastatic effects, at least partially via autophagy-mediated repression of EMT through the downregulation of Snail. Moreover, ectopic expression of SGK1 obviously attenuated the GSK650394-induced autophagy and antimetastatic effects. What’s more, dual inhibition of mTOR and SGK1 enhances autophagy and leads to synergistic antimetastatic effects on PCa cells. Conclusions Taken together, this study unveils a novel mechanism in which SGK1 functions as a tumor metastasis-promoting gene and highlights how co-targeting SGK1 and autophagy restrains cancer progression due to the amplified antimetastatic effects

Association between <i>PCA3</i> promoter STR polymorphism and Gleason score in prostate carcinoma.

e<p>Spearman's rank correlation coefficient.</p

Repressentative PCR -based cloning and sequencing of STR polymorphism in the promoter region of <i>PCA3</i> gene.

<p><b>A</b>. (<i>TAAA</i>)₄ alleles; <b>B</b>. (<i>TAAA</i>)₅ alleles; <b>C</b>. (<i>TAAA</i>)₆ alleles; <b>D</b>. (<i>TAAA</i>)₇ alleles; <b>E</b>. (<i>TAAA</i>)₈ alleles.</p

Association between <i>PCA3</i> promoter STR polymorphisms and prostate carcinoma risk.

a<p>10, 11, 12 and 13 correspond to the total number of <i>TAAA</i> repeat in one allele.</p>b<p>10<i>TAAA</i> group includes the 9<i>TAAA</i> group.</p>c<p>4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 correspond to the number of <i>TAAA</i> repeat.</p

Clinical characteristics.

a<p>Independent-Samples T Test between cases and controls, t = 1.20, P = 0.23.</p