Partially Etched Piezoelectric Film Filled with SiO2 Structure Applied to A1 Mode Resonators for Transverse Modes Suppression

With the arrival of the Fifth Generation (5G) communication era, there has been an urgent demand for acoustic filters with a high frequency and ultrawide bandwidth used in radio-frequency (RF) front-ends filtering and signal processing. First-order antisymmetric (A1) lamb mode resonators based on LiNbO3 film have attracted wide attention due to their scalable, high operating frequency and large electromechanical coupling coefficients (K2), making them promising candidates for sub-6 GHz wideband filters. However, A1 mode resonators suffer from the occurrence of transverse modes, which should be addressed to make these devices suitable for applications. In this work, theoretical analysis is performed by finite element method (FEM), and the admittance characteristics of an A1 mode resonator and displacement of transverse modes near the resonant frequency (fr) are investigated. We propose a novel Dielectric-Embedded Piston Mode (DEPM) structure, achieved by partially etching a piezoelectric film filled with SiO2, which can almost suppress the transverse modes between the resonant frequency (fr) and anti-resonant frequency (fa) when applied on ZY-cut LiNbO3-based A1 mode resonators. This indicates that compared with Broadband Piston Mode (BPM), Filled-broadband Piston Mode (FPM) and standard structures, the DEPM structure is superior. Furthermore, the design parameters of the resonator are optimized by adjusting the width, depth and filled materials in the etched window of the DEPM structure to obtain a better suppression of transverse modes. The optimized A1 mode resonator using a DEPM structure exhibits a transverse-free response with a high fr of 3.22 GHz and a large K2 of ~30%, which promotes the application of A1 mode devices for use in 5G RF front-ends.

NORFA, long intergenic noncoding RNA, maintains sow fertility by inhibiting granulosa cell death

Long intergenic non-coding RNAs (lincRNAs) have been proved to be involved in regulating female reproduction. However, to what extent lincRNAs are involved in ovarian functions and fertility is incompletely understood. Here we show that a lincRNA, NORFA is involved in granulosa cell apoptosis, follicular atresia and sow fertility. We found that NORFA was down-regulated during follicular atresia, and inhibited granulosa cell apoptosis. NORFA directly interacted with miR-126 and thereby preventing it from binding to TGFBR2 3'-UTR. miR-126 enhanced granulosa cell apoptosis by attenuating NORFA-induced TGF-β signaling pathway. Importantly, a breed-specific 19-bp duplication was detected in NORFA promoter, which proved association with sow fertility through enhancing transcription activity of NORFA by recruiting transcription factor NFIX. In summary, our findings identified a candidate lincRNA for sow prolificacy, and provided insights into the mechanism of follicular atresia and female fertility.

[An interlaboratory comparison study on the detection of RUNX1-RUNX1T1 fusion transcript levels and WT1 transcript levels]

Objective: To investigate the current status and real performance of the detection of RUNX1-RUNX1T1 fusion transcript levels and WT1 transcript levels in China through interlaboratory comparison. Methods: Peking University People's Hospital (PKUPH) prepared the samples for comparison. That is, the fresh RUNX1-RUNX1T1 positive (+) bone morrow nucleated cells were serially diluted with RUNX1-RUNX1T1 negative (-) nucleated cells from different patients. Totally 23 sets with 14 different samples per set were prepared. TRIzol reagent was added in each tube and thoroughly mixed with cells for homogenization. Each laboratory simultaneously tested RUNX1-RUNX1T1 and WT1 transcript levels of one set of samples by real-time quantitative PCR method. All transcript levels were reported as the percentage of RUNX1-RUNX1T1 or WT1 transcript copies/ABL copies. Spearman correlation coefficient between the reported transcript levels of each participated laboratory and those of PKUPH was calculated. Results: ①RUNX1-RUNX1T1 comparison: 9 samples were (+) and 5 were (-) , the false negative and positive rates of the 20 participated laboratories were 0 (0/180) and 5% (5/100) , respectively. The reported transcript levels of all 9 positive samples were different among laboratories. The median reported transcript levels of 9 positive samples were from 0.060% to 176.7%, which covered 3.5-log. The ratios of each sample's highest to the lowest reported transcript levels were from 5.5 to 12.3 (one result which obviously deviated from other laboratories' results was not included) , 85% (17/20) of the laboratories had correlation coefficient ≥0.98. ②WT1 comparison: The median reported transcript levels of all 14 samples were from 0.17% to 67.6%, which covered 2.6-log. The ratios of each sample's highest to the lowest reported transcript levels were from 5.3-13.7, 62% (13/21) of the laboratories had correlation coefficient ≥0.98. ③ The relative relationship of the reported RUNX1-RUNX1T1 transcript levels between the participants and PKUPH was not always consistent with that of WT1 transcript levels. Both RUNX1-RUNX1T1 and WT1 transcript levels from 2 and 7 laboratories were individually lower than and higher than those of PKUPH, whereas for the rest 11 laboratories, one transcript level was higher than and the other was lower than that of PKUPH. Conclusion: The reported RUNX1-RUNX1T1 and WT1 transcript levels were different among laboratories for the same sample. Most of the participated laboratories reported highly consistent result with that of PKUPH. The relationship between laboratories of the different transcript levels may not be the same.

ICG-001 suppresses growth of gastric cancer cells and reduces chemoresistance of cancer stem cell-like population

BACKGROUND

ICG-001, a small molecule, binds CREB-binding protein (CBP) to disrupt its interaction with β-catenin and inhibits CBP function as a co-activator of Wnt/β-catenin-mediated transcription. Given its ability to inhibit Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway, ICG-001 has been used in some tumor types to exert its anticarcinogenic effect. Here, we examined ICG-001 and its potential role as a therapeutic in gastric cancer (GC).

METHODS

The gastric cancer cell lines SGC-7901, MGC-803, BGC-823 and MKN-45 were used in vitro and in vivo. The abilities of cell proliferation, tumor sphere formation, metastasis, tumorgenesis and chemoresistance to chemotherapy drugs in vitro were evaluated by MTT assay, colony formation assay, flow cytometry, migration and invasion assay, and tumor spheres culture. The in vivo experiments were performed using a subcutaneous transplantation tumor model in athymic nude mice. Alterations at RNA and protein levels were followed by qRT-PCR, western blot, coimmunoprecipitations and immunofluorescence assay.

RESULTS

In this study, we showed that ICG-001 significantly inhibited growth and metastasis of multiple GC cell lines, induced cell apoptosis, and augmented in vitro tumor spheres suppression when used in combination with chemotherapy drugs probably through robustly blocking association of β-catenin with CBP and N-cadherin, but promoting association of β-catenin with P300 and E-cadherin, instead of altering the distribution and expression of β-catenin.

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings suggest that ICG-001 suppresses GC cell line growth, metastasis and reduces its stem cell-like properties and chemoresistance, indicating that ICG-001 is a potentially useful small molecule therapeutic for GC.