Identification of a novel microRNA-mRNA regulatory biomodule in human prostate cancer

Our recent study identified a list of differentially expressed microRNAs (miRNAs) in human prostate cancer (PCa) tissues compared to adjacent benign prostate tissues. In the current study, to identify the crucial miRNA–mRNA regulatory biomodule involved into prostate carcinogenesis based on the previous miRNA expression profile in PCa, we proposed an integrated systematic approach which combined miRNA-mediated gene expression regulatory network analysis, experimental validations in vitro and in vivo, as well as clinical significance evaluation. As a result, the CCND1-RNASEL-CDKN1A-TP73-MDM2-UBE2I axis was identified as a bottleneck in the miRNA-mediated gene expression regulatory network of PCa according to network topological analysis. The direct binding relationship between TP73 and PCa downregulated miR-193a-5p, and the direct binding relationship between UBE2I and PCa upregulated miR-188-5p were both experimentally validated. In addition, miR-193a-5p had a more significant regulatory effect on the tumor promoter isoform of TP73-deltaNp73 than on the tumor suppressive isoform of TP73-TAp73. Importantly, the deregulation of either the miR-193a-5p-TP73 or miR-188-5p-UBE2I axes was significantly associated with aggressive progression and poor prognosis in PCa patients. Gain- and loss-of-function experiments showed that miR-193a-5p efficiently inhibited in vitro PCa cell proliferation, migration, and invasion, and in vivo tumor growth, and markedly induced PCa cell apoptosis via regulating TP73 with a corresponding suppression of the CCND1-RNASEL-CDKN1A-MDM2 axis. In contrast, miR-188-5p exerted its tumor promoter roles through targeting UBE2I with a subsequent activation of the CCND1-RNASEL-CDKN1A-MDM2 axis. Taken together, this integrated analysis revealed the potential roles of the miR-193a-5p/TP73 and miR-188-5p/UBE2i negative regulation pairs in PCa. In addition to the significant clinical relevance, miR-193a-5p- and miR-188-5p-regulated CCND1-RNASEL-CDKN1A-TP73-MDM2-UBE2I signaling may be a novel regulatory biomodule in prostate carcinogenesis

Altered Resting-State EEG Microstate in Idiopathic Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss Patients with Tinnitus

In order to clarify the central reorganization in acute period of hearing loss, this study explored the aberrant dynamics of electroencephalogram (EEG) microstates and the correlations with the features of idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss (ISSNHL) and tinnitus. We used high-density EEG with 128 channels to investigate alterations in microstate parameters between 25 ISSNHL patients with tinnitus and 27 healthy subjects. This study also explored the associations between microstate characteristics and tinnitus features. Microstates were clustered into four categories. There was a reduced presence of microstate A in amplitude, coverage, lifespan, frequency and an increased presence of microstate B in frequency in ISSNHL patients with tinnitus. According to the syntax analysis, a reduced transition from microstate C to microstate A and an increased transition from microstate C to microstate B were found in ISSNHL subjects. In addition, the significant negative correlations were found between Tinnitus Handicap Inventory (THI) scores and frequency of microstate A as well as between THI scores and the probability of transition from microstate D to microstate A. While THI was positively correlated with the transition probability from microstate D to microstate B. To sum up, the significant differences in the characteristics of resting-state EEG microstates were found between ISSNHL subjects with tinnitus and healthy controls. This study suggests that the alterations of central neural networks occur in acute stage of hearing loss and tinnitus. And EEG microstate may be considered as a useful tool to study the whole brain network in ISSNHL patients

Qianliening Capsule Promotes Mitochondrial Pathway Mediated the Apoptosis of Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia Epithelial-1 Cells by Regulating the miRNA-181a

Summary: Background: Our previous studies reported that Qianliening capsule (QC) has a significant therapeutic effect on BPH. Therefore, we investigated the effect QC on apoptosis of human prostatic hyperplasia epithelial-1 cells (BPH-1). Methods: The BPH-1 cells were treated with various concentrations of QC in vitro. Morphology of BPH-1 cell was observed, and the cell viability was determined by the 3-(4,5)-dimethylthiahiazo (-z-y1)-3,5-di-phenytetrazoliumromide (MTT) assay. The levels of Cytochrome C, caspase-9 and caspase-3 were detected using the flow cytometry and colorimetric assay respectively. The Bax mRNA and the miRNA-221, -222, -15a, -16, -181a was determine by Real-time PCR analysis. Results: The apoptosis of BPH-1 cells treated with QC increased than that of untreated cells, as evidenced by loss of plasma membrane asymmetry, the nuclear condensation and fragmentation, collapse of mitochondrial membrane potential in a dose depended manner. The levels of Cytochrome C and caspase-9, caspase-3 in the cells treated with QC increased using the flow cytometry and colorimetric assay respectively. The mRNA and protein expression of Bax and the expression of miRNA-181a in the cells treated with QC increased in a dose dependent manner. Conclusion: QC could induce BPH-1 cells apoptosis by regulating miRNA-181a mediated mitochondrial dependent apoptosis pathway, which may be one of the important mechanisms that QC treated benign prostatic hyperplasia. Keywords: qianliening capsule, benign prostatic hyperplasia, apoptosis, miRNA181

Underwater radiated noise from commercial ships in the Yellow Sea of China

During the past decades, ship-building and engine-manufacturing have developed very quickly. The source levels of modern ships may have changed. The underwater radiated noise from many commercial ships of opportunity was measured by bottom-mounted self-contained hydrophone near the shipping lanes in the yellow sea of China one day in each month from June. 2014 to Mar. 2016. Twenty seven ships among them are selected whose peak value of 20-1000Hz passing curve is 10dB higher than background noise level. A Gaussian source distribution in depth direction is supposed and source levels normalized at different ranges are averaged in source levels acquisition to reduce the error of transmission loss calculation. A key result was the estimated results of RANDI-3 are much greater than measured results universally for ships whose length are larger than 200 meters, however, the two are close for ships whose length are less than 150 meters. Furthermore, the samples were divided into two categories to analyze. The broad-band source levels of modern commercial ships are not highly correlated to ship length but closely related to ship speed. The decay slope is less than RANDI-3

Recursive SISO Impedance Modeling of Single-Phase Voltage Source Rectifiers

Due to the nonlinear time-periodic nature, precise impedance modeling of power-converter-based single-phase ac systems is complex. Small-signal modeling for the systems with a fixed operating point is easy, but the extension of the same procedure to the systems with time-periodic trajectory is still challenging. In this article, a recursive single-input single-output (SISO) impedance modeling framework for single-phase rectifiers is presented, which can greatly simplify both the modeling procedure and the resulting impedance model. A general linear-time periodic modeling method is proposed by extending the linear-time invariant modeling method, where frequency-coupling effects are modeled by the transfer function vector rather than the transfer function matrix, so the modeling complexity is reduced. Furthermore, based on the idea of mathematical induction, an analytical and accurate recursive SISO impedance model is derived. The resulting recursive SISO impedance model can characterize the frequency-coupling dynamics of arbitrary order with a low computation burden. Experiments validate the accuracy of the recursive SISO impedance modeling method