MicroRNA-331-3p Suppresses Cervical Cancer Cell Proliferation and E6/E7 Expression by Targeting NRP2

Aberrant expression of microRNAs (miRNAs) is involved in the development and progression of various types of cancers. In this study, we investigated the role of miR-331-3p in cell proliferation and the expression of keratinocyte differentiation markers of uterine cervical cancer cells. Moreover, we evaluated whether neuropilin 2 (NRP2) are putative target molecules that regulate the human papillomavirus (HPV) related oncoproteins E6 and E7. Cell proliferation in the human cervical cancer cell lines SKG-II, HCS-2, and HeLa was assessed using the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-5-(3-carboxymethoxyphenyl)-2-(4-sulfophenyl)-2H-tetrazolium, inner salt (MTS) assay. Cellular apoptosis was measured using the TdT-mediated dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) and Annexin V assays. Quantitative RT-PCR was used to measure the messenger RNA (mRNA) expression of the NRP2, E6, E7, p63, and involucrin (IVL) genes. A functional assay for cell growth was performed using cell cycle analyses. Overexpression of miR-331-3p inhibited cell proliferation, and induced G2/M phase arrest and apoptosis in SKG-II, HCS-2 and HeLa cells. The luciferase reporter assay of the NRP2 3′-untranslated region revealed the direct regulation of NRP2 by miR-331-3p. Gene expression analyses using quantitative RT-PCR in SKG-II, HCS-2, and HeLa cells overexpressing miR-331-3p or suppressing NRP2 revealed down-regulation of E6, E7, and p63 mRNA and up-regulation of IVL mRNA. Moreover, miR-331-3p overexpression was suppressed NRP2 expression in protein level. We showed that miR-331-3p and NRP2 were key effectors of cell proliferation by regulating the cell cycle, apoptosis. NRP-2 also regulates the expression of E6/E7 and keratinocyte differentiation markers. Our findings suggest that miR-331-3p has an important role in regulating cervical cancer cell proliferation, and that miR-331-3p may contribute to keratinocyte differentiation through NRP2 suppression. miR-331-3p and NRP2 may contribute to anti-cancer effects.     

Chain stiffness and chain conformation of poly(α-methylene-γ-butyrolactone) in dilute solutions

The chain stiffness and local chain conformation of atactic poly(α-methylene-γ-butyrolactone) (PMBL), which is a side chain cyclic structural analog of poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), with a weight-average molecular weight (M_w) ranging from 2.8 × 10³ to 2.6 × 10⁶ in N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF) and γ-butyrolactone (GBL) were characterized by size exclusion chromatography with a multi-angle light-scattering detector (SEC-MALS) and synchrotron radiation small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS). Based on the Kratky-Porod worm-like chain model, the scattering functions and the M_w dependence of z-average root-mean-square radius of gyration <S²>_z^1/2 yielded the Kuhn segment lengths λ⁻¹, the diameter of the PMBL chains d, and the excluded-volume strengths in DMF and GBL. The local conformation of atactic PMBL in DMF and GBL were slightly larger than those of atactic PMMA, due to the presence of the conformationally rigid lactone ring structure.     

Thermal decomposition of cellulose/synthetic polymer blends containing grafted products. V. Cellulose/polystyrene blends

Homogeneous grafting of styrene onto cellulose was carried out in a dimethylacetamide/lithium chloride solvent system. The grafted products were added to cellulose/polystyrene (PS) blends as compatibilizers. The thermal decomposition behavior of the blends was investigated by thermogravimetry. The thermal stability of the blends decreased with an increase in grafted product content. The crystallinity of the blends decreased with grafted product content. The microphase‐separated structures of the blends became finer with grafted product content. The glass transition temperatures for cellulose and PS in the blends were lowered with grafted product content. Differences in thermal decomposition behavior of the blends were correlated with compatibility. Thermogravimetry was effective for compatibility estimation in cellulose/PS blends containing grafted products. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2010     

Preliminary spectrum shifter design for intermediate energy nuclear data benchmark experiments with DT neutrons

Integral benchmark experiments with DT neutrons are not always sufficient for nuclear data benchmarking in the MeV region, below 10 MeV. A neutron spectrum shifter, which will be placed between a sample and a DT neutron source, is effective to moderate DT neutrons incident to the sample. In order to estimate effects of the spectrum shifter, the ratio of the contribution of 14 MeV neutrons in the leakage neutron and gamma-ray spectra was calculated with MCNP-4C for an experimental configuration at FNS of JAEA, Japan. The calculations were carried out for a Li₂TiO₃ sample with a Be, D₂O, or ⁷LiD spectrum shifter. It was found out that the Be shifter was superior to others and the Be shifter was effective to decrease the contribution of 14 MeV neutrons especially for secondary gamma-ray spectrum measurements.     

A new spatio-temporal method for event detection and personalized retrieval of sports video

In this paper, a new spatio-temporal method for adaptively detecting events based on Allen temporal algebra and external information support is presented. The temporal information is captured by presenting events as the temporal sequences using a lexicon of non-ambiguous temporal patterns. These sequences are then exploited to mine undiscovered sequences with external text information supports by using class associate rules mining technique. By modeling each pattern with linguistic part and perceptual part those work independently and connect together via transformer, it is easy to deploy this method to any new domain (e.g baseball, basketball, tennis, etc.) with a few changes in perceptual part and transformer. Thus the proposed method not only can work well in unwell structured environments but also can be able to adapt itself to new domains without the need (or with a few modification) for external re-programming, re-configuring and re-adjusting. Results of automatic event detection progress are tailored to personalized retrieval via click-and-see style using either conceptual or conceptual-visual query scheme. Experimental results carried on more than 30 hours of soccer video corpus captured at different broadcasters and conditions as well as compared with well-known related methods, demonstrated the efficiency, effectiveness, and robustness of the proposed method in both offline and online processes.     

Biodesulfurization of dibenzothiophene with Rhodococcus erythropolis ATCC 53968 and its mutant in an interface bioreactor

An interface bioreactor was used in the biodesulfurization (BDS) of dibenzothiophene (DBT) with Rhodococcus erythropolis ATCC 53968. Although this strain could efficiently degrade DBT to 2-hydroxybiphenyl (2-HBP), the microbial film peeled off from the surface of the carrier (agar plate) to an organic phase (dodecane or tetradecane). To overcome this problem, a UV mutant, which strongly adhered to the carrier surface, was obtained by a new screening method. The best UV mutant (UM-021) could efficiently catalyze the BDS and the microbial film did not peel off from the surface of the carrier to tetradecane layer.     

Selective and in-situ determination of carbonate and oxide particles in aqueous solution using laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) for wearable information equipment

Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) has been applied for quantitative analysis of Al₂O₃, CaCO₃ and MgO particles suspended in water. In the single elemental system, the plasma emission intensities of Al, Ca and Mg were linearly increased with concentration of elements in the range of 1.0×10^?5–1.0×10^?3  M, 1.0×10^?4–2.0×10^?3 M and 8.0×10^?5 –4.0×10^?3 M, respectively. We also investigated the concentration dependence of breakdown spectra for suspended mixtures of Al₂O₃, CaCO₃ and MgO particles. The emission lines, such as Al I, Ca I, Ca II and Mg I, were appeared in the LIBS spectrum simultaneously, and each emission peak could be deconvoluted. The plasma emission intensities of Al, Ca and Mg in the multielemental system were also linearly increased with their concentrations in the range of 1.0×10^?5–1.0×10^?3 M, 1.0×10^?4–2.0×10^?3 M and 4.0×10^?4–2.0×10^?3 M, respectively. LIBS was found to be available for quantitative and qualitative measurement of the concentrations of Al₂O₃, CaCO₃ and MgO particles suspended in water. The present results suggest that LIBS is a potentially useful tool for in-situ analysis on particles composition and concentrations for environmental monitoring by the wearable information equipments.