A Review on the Role of miR-149-5p in the Carcinogenesis

miR-149 is an miRNA with essential roles in carcinogenesis. This miRNA is encoded by the MIR149 gene on 2q37.3. The miR-149 hairpin produces miR-149-5p and miR-149-3p, which are the “guide” and the sister “passenger” strands, respectively. Deep sequencing experiments have shown higher prevalence of miR-149-5p compared with miR-149-3p. Notably, both oncogenic and tumor suppressive roles have been reported for miR-149-5p. In this review, we summarize the impact of miR-149-5p in the tumorigenesis and elaborate mechanisms of its involvement in this process in a variety of neoplastic conditions based on three lines of evidence, i.e., in vitro, in vivo and clinical settings.     

The Emerging Role of Non-Coding RNAs in the Regulation of Virus Replication and Resultant Cellular Pathologies

Non-coding RNAs, particularly lncRNAs and miRNAs, have recently been shown to regulate different steps in viral infections and induction of immune responses against viruses. Expressions of several host and viral lncRNAs have been found to be altered during viral infection. These lncRNAs can exert antiviral function via inhibition of viral infection or stimulation of antiviral immune response. Some other lncRNAs can promote viral replication or suppress antiviral responses. The current review summarizes the interaction between ncRNAs and herpes simplex virus, cytomegalovirus, and Epstein–Barr infections. The data presented in this review helps identify viral-related regulators and proposes novel strategies for the prevention and treatment of viral infection.     

Premarin Reduces Neurodegeneration and Promotes Improvement of Function in an Animal Model of Spinal Cord Injury

Spinal cord injury (SCI) causes significant mortality and morbidity. Currently, no FDA-approved pharmacotherapy is available for treating SCI. Previously, low doses of estrogen (17β-estradiol, E2) were shown to improve the post-injury outcome in a rat SCI model. However, the range of associated side effects makes advocating its therapeutic use difficult. Therefore, this study aimed at investigating the therapeutic efficacy of Premarin (PRM) in SCI. PRM is an FDA-approved E2 (10%) formulation, which is used for hormone replacement therapy with minimal risk of serious side effects. The effects of PRM on SCI were examined by magnetic resonance imaging, immunofluorescent staining, and western blot analysis in a rat model. SCI animals treated with vehicle alone, PRM, E2 receptor antagonist (ICI), or PRM + ICI were graded in a blinded way for locomotor function by using the Basso–Beattie–Bresnahan (BBB) locomotor scale. PRM treatment for 7 days decreased post-SCI lesion volume and attenuated neuronal cell death, inflammation, and axonal damage. PRM also altered the balance of pro- and anti-apoptotic proteins in favor of cell survival and improved angiogenesis and microvascular growth. Increased expression of estrogen receptors (ERs) ERα and ERβ following PRM treatment and their inhibition by ER inhibitor indicated that the neuroprotection associated with PRM treatment might be E2-receptor mediated. The attenuation of glial activation with decreased inflammation and cell death, and increased angiogenesis by PRM led to improved functional outcome as determined by the BBB locomotor scale. These results suggest that PRM treatment has significant therapeutic implications for the improvement of post-SCI outcome.     

Series coupled non-contractile elements are functionally unimportant in the isolated heart

OBJECTIVE: In order to evaluate possible artefact in interpretations of contractile behaviour in isolated heart experiments, the relative elastances of series coupled non-contractile and contractile components of the left ventricle of the isolated heart were evaluated. METHODS: Hearts were isolated from ferrets and rabbits and mounted on a servo-controlled volume regulation device. These hearts were made to beat isovolumetrically until a selected volume perturbation was introduced. Constant flow volume withdrawals at two flow values were performed over a period of < 20 ms centred around the time of peak isovolumetric pressure. Three levels of isovolumetric pressure were produced using basal, extrasystolic, and potentiated beats. Pressure responses to volume withdrawals at two flows and three isovolumetric pressures were then analysed using a mathematical model to evaluate relative values of series coupled contractile and non-contractile elastances. To validate the analysis procedure, a non-contractile series artefact with known elastance was coupled to the left ventricle; volume perturbations were then applied to the coupled left ventricle-artefact system; responses were analysed and the estimate of series coupled non-contractile elastance was compared to the known elastance of the added artefact. RESULTS: A wide range of isovolumetric pressures [208(SD 40) mmHg] was produced in the ferret with basal, extrasystolic, and potentiated beats. A lesser range of isovolumetric pressures [50(15) mmHg] was produced in the rabbit. The mathematical model fitted the data very well in both the ferret and rabbit. The elastance of the series coupled non-contractile component could be estimated only in some ferrets. When estimated in the ferret, the elastance of the series coupled non-contractile component was never less than 4x that of the contractile component. When a series artefact of sufficiently low value was coupled with the native left ventricle, the elastance of the non-contractile component could be reliably estimated in both ferrets and rabbits and the estimated value approximated that of the added artefact. This indicated that the elastance of the series coupled non-contractile component of the native left ventricle was much higher than that of the added artefact. CONCLUSIONS: The series coupled non-contractile component of the isolated heart possesses a very much higher elastance than the contractile component. In fact, the elastance of the non-contractile component is so great that it contributes very little to the dynamic behaviour of the left ventricle. Virtually all of the elastance of the left ventricle of the isolated heart is due to the contractile component.     

Accurate determination of modes in dielectric-loaded cylindricalcavities using a one-dimensional finite element method

A unified approach is presented for calculating the resonant frequencies of all the modes in cylindrical cavities axisymmetrically loaded with dielectrics. In this method, the radial variations of the field components in the resonator are expressed in terms of first-degree finite-element polynomials, whereas the axial variations of the field components are approximated by trigonometric functions. To calculate the resonant frequencies, an H-vector variational formulation is employed and minimized with respect to the coefficients of the expanded field components. Spurious solutions which are inherent in the finite-element technique are effectively eliminated by means of a penalty term included in the variational expression, imposing a divergence-free magnetic field constraint. To show the capability of the method, resonant frequencies of several cylindrical cavities, including those loaded with dielectric rods and dielectric rings, were calculated. A mode chart is presented which can be used for designing certain multimode dielectric-loaded cavity filters. In contrast to other rigorous techniques reported in the literature, the present method is highly efficient when dielectrics are fully extended along the cavity length     

CO2 capture by methanol,ionic liquid,and their binary mixtures: Experiments,modeling, and process simulation

The CO₂ solubility data in the ionic liquid (IL) 1‐allyl‐3‐methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethyl sulfonyl)imide, methanol (MeOH), and their mixture with different combinations at temperatures of 313.2, 333.2, and 353.2 K and pressures up to 6.50 MPa were measured experimentally. New group binary interaction parameters of the predictive universal quasichemical functional‐group activity coefficient (UNIFAC)‐Lei model, which has been continually advanced by our group, were introduced by correlating the experimental data of this work and the literature. The consistency between experimental data and predicted results proves the reliability of UNIFAC‐Lei model for CO₂‐IL‐organic solvent systems. The newly obtained parameters were incorporated into the UNIFAC property model of Aspen Plus software to optimize a conceptual process developed for the purification of a CO₂‐containing gas stream. The simulation results indicate that the use of IL either mixed with MeOH or purely considerably lowers the process power consumption and improves the process performance in terms of CO₂ capture rate and solvent loss. © 2018 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 64: 2168–2180, 2018     

A simple novel technique for evaluation of viscoelastic properties of ceramic composites

Relatively large residual and processing stresses may be developed during the manufacturing of ceramic composites. Such stresses can be responsible for generating microcracks during the cooldown cycle of hot pressing, or can remain in the body and contribute to the formation of cracks during the service life of the components. These stresses can be effectively modeled by the finite element method (FEM), in conjunction with a viscoelastic constitutive material model. The FEM, however requires parameters, such as the elastic and viscoelastic properties, that are not readily available. Although there are techniques available for measuring the elastic properties as a function of porosity and temperature, limited measurement values are available at elevated temperatures. Moreover, measurement of the viscoelastic parameters is very complicated.In this paper we discuss a simple yet elegant approach for evaluating the viscoelastic properties of ceramic composites. The method uses readily available data (i.e. hot pressing pressure and ram displacement, both time dependent quantities). The method therefore produces in-processing viscosity data. The properties obtained using the method was used to conduct transient nonlinear viscoelastic finite element analysis (FEA). The FEA results were in close agreement with those measured experimentally, thereby validating the integrity of the proposed method.     

Integrating Feature Extractors for the Estimation of Human Facial Age

Facial feature extraction algorithms play an important role in many applications of face biometrics such as face recognition for person identification, classification of emotions by facial expression recognition and age estimation using facial images. In this paper, an integration of different type of feature extraction algorithms is applied on facial images for accurate age estimation. This integration is performed by using two-level fusion of features and scores with the help of feature-level and score-level fusion techniques. In our proposed method, the advantage of using different types of features such as biologically inspired features, texture-based features, and appearance-based features is used. Feature-level fusion of biologically inspired and texture-based methods is integrated into the proposed method and their combination is fused with an appearance-based method using score-level fusion. Experiments on the publicly available MORPH and FG-NET databases prove the effectiveness of the proposed method and the proposed method outperforms many of the state-of-the-art systems.     

An isogeometric approach to topology optimization of multi‐material and functionally graded structures

A new isogeometric density‐based approach for the topology optimization of multi‐material structures is presented. In this method, the density fields of multiple material phases are represented using the isogeometric non‐uniform rational B‐spline‐based parameterization leading to exact modeling of the geometry, removing numerical artifacts and full analytical computation of sensitivities in a cost‐effective manner. An extension of the perimeter control technique is introduced where restrictions are imposed on the perimeters of density fields of all phases. Consequently, not only can one control the complexity of the optimal design but also the minimal lengths scales of all material phases. This leads to optimal designs with significantly enhanced manufacturability and comparable performance. Unlike the common element‐wise or nodal‐based density representations, owing to higher order continuity of density fields in this method, their gradients required for perimeter control restrictions are calculated exactly without additional computational cost. The problem is formulated with constraints on either (1) volume fractions of different material phases or (2) the total mass of the structure. The proposed method is applied for the minimal compliance design of two‐dimensional structures consisting of multiple distinct materials as well as functionally graded ones. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.