Obscured Item Discovery

Cervical cancer is a common cause of cancer-related mortality in women. Mounting evidence suggests that long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) function vitally in many cancers. In this study, we discovered that the regulation of the heart and neural crest derivatives expressed 2-antisense RNA 1 (HAND2-AS1) in cervical cancer. RT-qPCR was conducted to detect the expression of HAND2-AS1 and microRNA-21-5p (miR-21-5p). The relationship of HAND2-AS1 and miR-21-5p was identified by dual-luciferase reporter gene assay. The roles of HAND2-AS1, miR-21-5p and tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases-3 (TIMP3) in cervical cancer were accessed via gain- and loss-of-function approaches. The expression of related proteins in the vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGFA) signaling pathway was detected through Western blot analysis. Finally, xenografts of cervical cancer in nude mice were established to assess the effect of HAND2-AS1 on tumorigenesis in vivo. HAND2-AS1 and TIMP3 were downregulated in cervical cancer, which were identified to be associated with a poor prognosis of patients with cervical cancer. Moreover, HAND2-AS1 was upregulated the expression of TIMP3 through competitively binding to miR-21-5p. Overexpressed HAND2-AS1 or downregulated miR-21-5p inhibited cell proliferation, migration, and invasion while promoting cell apoptosis, in association with increased expression of proteins in VEGFA signaling pathway. These changes were reversed by silencing of TIMP3. Oxalacetic acid Acetyl-CoA carboxyla chemical Overexpressed HAND2-AS1 reduced the tumor formation ability in nude mice. In summary, HAND2-AS1 may exert inhibitory effects on cervical cancer cell growth and cervical cancer development through its regulation on the miR-21-5p/TIMP3/VEGFA axis. This highlights that HAND2-AS1 may serve as a potential target for cervical cancer diagnosis and treatment.An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.In this work, carbon nanotubes (CNTs)/nitrogen-doped activated carbon (AC) hybrids were designed and fabricated using a facile and one-step synthesis. The synthesis of CNTs is based on the recently discovered phenomenon of thermally-induced polyfurfuryl alcohol (PFA) conversion. Hybrid materials are fabricated through the in-situ free growth of closed carbon nanotubes on low-cost activated carbon substrates which were obtained from green algae or amino acids. Herein, three types of carbon nanotubes were observed to freely grow on an activated carbon background from Chlorella vulgaris or L-lysine, types such as multiwalled carbon and bamboo-like nanotubes, whose structure depends on the background used and conditions of the synthesis. Structure type is identified by analyzing transmission electron microscopy images. HRTEM images reveal the tubes' outer diameter to be in the range of 20-120 nm. Because the carbon surface for the growth of carbon tubes contains nitrogen, the final hybrid materials also possess pyridinic-N and quaternary-N groups, as indicated by X-ray photoelectron spectra.Spin-states and charge-trappings in blue organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) are important issues for developing high-device-performance application such as full-color displays and white illumination. However, they have not yet been completely clarified because of the lack of a study from a microscopic viewpoint. Here, we report operando electron spin resonance (ESR) spectroscopy to investigate the spin-states and charge-trappings in organic semiconductor materials used for blue OLEDs such as a blue light-emitting material 1-bis(2-naphthyl)anthracene (ADN) using metal-insulator-semiconductor (MIS) diodes, hole or electron only devices, and blue OLEDs from the microscopic viewpoint. We have clarified spin-states of electrically accumulated holes and electrons and their charge-trappings in the MIS diodes at the molecular level by directly observing their electrically-induced ESR signals; the spin-states are well reproduced by density functional theory. In contrast to a green light-emitting material, the ADN radical anions largely accumulate in the film, which will cause the large degradation of the molecule and devices. The result will give deeper understanding of blue OLEDs and be useful for developing high-performance and durable devices.While homozygous pathogenic mutations in the NPC1 gene cause Niemann-Pick type C1 disease, heterozygous mutations cause highly-penetrant obesity. We aimed to investigate the prevalence of NPC1 mutations and their signatures of natural selection in 122,678 exome sequenced participants from six ethnic groups in the Genome Aggregation Database. Pathogenic missense coding mutations were identified by in silico tools and the ClinVar database. Signatures of natural selection were assessed by the probability of NPC1 being loss-of-function mutation intolerant and Z-scores of observed/expected synonymous and non-synonymous mutation ratios. There was no evidence of negative selection observed for synonymous, non-synonymous and loss-of-function mutations. However, there were significant ethnic differences in the prevalence of heterozygous pathogenic NPC1 mutations ranging from 0.56% in Ashkenazi Jewish to 3.26% in African/African Americans (5.8-fold difference). Four homozygous carriers of pathogenic NPC1 mutations were also identified, belonging to the South Asian population. In conclusion, NPC1 mutations are consistent with a model of balanced selection, where heterozygotes and homozygotes have higher and lower reproductive fitness, respectively. Therefore, NPC1 heterozygous mutations may account for a substantial and ethnic-dependent percentage of obesity in the general population, while NPC1 homozygous mutations may be frequent in the South Asian populations and warrants more investigation.Central serous chorioretinopathy (CSC) is a common condition characterized by serous detachment of the neurosensory retina at the posterior pole. We built a deep learning system model to diagnose CSC, and distinguish chronic from acute CSC using spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) images. Data from SD-OCT images of patients with CSC and a control group were analyzed with a convolutional neural network. Sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, and area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) were used to evaluate the model. For CSC diagnosis, our model showed an accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity of 93.8%, 90.0%, and 99.1%, respectively; AUROC was 98.9% (95% CI, 0.983-0.995); and its diagnostic performance was comparable with VGG-16, Resnet-50, and the diagnoses of five different ophthalmologists. For distinguishing chronic from acute cases, the accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity were 97.6%, 100.0%, and 92.6%, respectively; AUROC was 99.4% (95% CI, 0.985-1.000); performance was better than VGG-16 and Resnet-50, and was as good as the ophthalmologists.