The current research was aimed at probing into the role of long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) PVT1 in the pathogenesis of glioma and the regulatory mechanism of PVT1/miR-128-3p/GREM1 network in glioma via regulation of the bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) signaling pathway. Microarray analysis was used for preliminary screening for candidate lncRNAs and mRNAs in glioma tissues. Real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction, Western blot, MTT assay, flow cytometry, migration and invasion assays, and xenograft tumor model were utilized to examine the influence of the lncRNA PVT1/miR-128-3p/GREM1 network on the biological functions of glioma cells. Luciferase assay and RNA-binding protein immunoprecipitation assay were used to validate the miR-128-3p-target relationships with lncRNA PVT1 or GREM1. In addition, the impact of GREM1 on BMP signaling pathway downstream proteins BMP2 and BMP4 was detected via Western blot. LncRNA PVT1 was highly expressed in human glioma tissues and significantly associated with WHO grade (I-II vs III-IV; p < 0.05). There existed a regulatory relationship between lncRNA PVT1 and miR-128-3p as well as that between miR-128-3p and GREM1. MiR-128-3p was downregulated, whereas GREM1 was upregulated in glioma tissues in comparison with para-carcinoma tissues. Overexpression of GREM1 promoted the proliferation and metastatic potential of glioma cells, whereas miR-128-3p mimics inhibited the glioma cell activity through targeting GREM1. Furthermore, lncRNA PVT1 acted as a sponge of miR-128-3p and, thus, influenced the BMP signaling pathway downstream proteins BMP2 and BMP4 through regulating GREM1. LncRNA PVT1 modulated GREM1 and BMP downstream signaling proteins through sponging miR-128-3p, thereby promoting tumorigenesis and progression of glioma.

A memristive synapse based on novel biomaterial nanocomposites is proposed and simulations including the non-ideal factors prove an online learning accuracy of 94.3%.

Glioma is a common primary brain tumor with high mortality rate and poor prognosis. Long noncoding RNA maternally expressed gene 3 (MEG3) is a tumor suppressor in diverse cancer types. However, the role of MEG3 in glioma remains unclear. We aimed to explore the effects of MEG3 on U251 cells as well as the underlying mechanisms. U251 cells were stably transfected with different recombined plasmids to overexpress or silence MEG3. Effects of aberrantly expressed MEG3 on cell viability, migration, apoptosis, expressions of apoptosis‐associated and autophagy‐associated proteins, and phosphorylated levels of key kinases in the PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway were all evaluated. Then, messenger RNA (mRNA) and protein expression of Sirt7 in cells abnormally expressing MEG3 were estimated. In addition, effects of abnormally expressed MEG3 and Sirt7 on U251 cells were determined to reveal the underlying mechanism of MEG3‐associated modulation. Cell viability and migration were significantly reduced by MEG3 overexpression whereas cell apoptosis as well as Bax and cleaved caspase‐3/‐9 proteins were obviously induced. Beclin‐1 and LC3‐II/LC3‐I were upregulated and p62 was downregulated in MEG3 overexpressed cells. In addition, the autophagy pharmacological inhibitor (3‐methyladenine, 3‐MA) affected the effect of MEG3 overexpression on cell proliferation. Furthermore, the phosphorylated levels of key kinases in the PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway were all reduced by MEG3 overexpression. Sirt7 was positively regulated by MEG3 expression, and effects of MEG3 overexpression on U251 cells were ameliorated by Sirt7 silence. MEG3 suppressed cell proliferation and migration but promoted autophagy in U251 cells through positively regulating Sirt7, involving in the inhibition of the PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway.

Intracranial schwannoma accounts for between 5 and 8% of intracranial tumors, whereas intracerebral schwannoma, a rare disease, accounts for <1% of intracranial schwannomas. In addition to the present case report, a total of 84 cases reported within China and elsewhere were reviewed and summarized, and the age of the tumor onset, the site of disease, imaging results, clinical presentation, pathological classification and prognosis were analyzed. The present case report described a 12-year-old female with an intracerebral schwannoma in the brainstem, who was followed-up for 5 years using magnetic resonance imaging after a surgical resection without recurrence, and clinical symptoms were reported to have completely resolved. The incidence of intracerebral schwannoma was low among cases, and the correct diagnosis was not able to be made preoperatively, and the majority of cases were diagnosed on the basis of postoperative pathology. The majority of cases analyzed were supratentorial, occurring at an age ≤40 according to previous literature. In addition, 33% of patients presented with subtentorial schwannoma, occurring at an age >40. The prognosis was classified as good (patient can live independently) for the majority of patients if surgery was able to completely resect the lesion.

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Microreactors are efficient with regard to the continuous production of biodiesel, because of their enhanced mass transfer. In this study, a novel structure of microchannel reactor was studied to synthesize biodiesel from soybean oil via alkali-catalyzed transesterification. Response surface methodology (RSM) was applied to evaluate the relationship between biodiesel yield and reaction parameters, such as residence time, reaction temperature, catalyst amount, and molar ratio of methanol to oil. A three-level four-factor Box–Behnken design (BBD) was used to fit the available response data to a second-order polynomial regression model. Under the optimum conditions of a residence time of 14.9 s, a methanol/oil molar ratio of 8.5, 1.17 wt % KOH, and 59 °C, the biodiesel yield reached 99.5%. The effect of moisture and free fatty acid on biodiesel production were also explored.

Glioblastoma is a common primary brain tumor with aggressive malignancy, which results in poor outcomes, short survival time and high mortality. Vitexin, an active ingredient from natural products, has been reported to inhibit cell growth and induce cell apoptosis in various cancer cell lines including hepatocellular carcinoma, oral and esophageal cancer. To the best of the authors knowledge, the present study was the first to investigate anticancer effects of vitexin on human glioblastoma cells and potential underlying mechanisms. The present study demonstrated that vitexin inhibited cell viability in a dose‑ and time‑dependent manner. In the present study, vitexin induced G2/M cell cycle arrest, as demonstrated by flow cytometry. Induction of cell apoptosis following vitexin treatment, was further indicated by observation of morphological alterations, flow cytometry analysis and detection of cleaved‑poly (ADP‑ribose) polymerase. The present study also demonstrated that vitexin inhibited RAC‑alpha serine/threonine‑protein kinase (Akt)/mechanistic target of rapamycin kinase (mTOR) signaling in human glioblastoma cells. Collectively, the results of the present study demonstrated that vitexin induced G2/M cell cycle arrest and apoptosis by inhibiting Akt/mTOR signaling in human glioblastoma cells. Vitexin may in the future be used as a therapeutic agent for treatment of malignant glioblastoma.

BackgroundMicroRNAs (miRNAs) play an important role in cancer initiation, progression, and metastasis by directly regulating their target genes.Materials and methodsIn this study, we observed that the miR-1225-5p expression level in glioblastoma tissues was significantly lower as compared with that in normal brain tissues, and its low expression was significantly associated with histopathological grade and poor patient prognosis.ResultsThrough establishing a miR-1225-5p overexpression glioblastoma cell line, we found that ectopic overexpression of miR-1225-5p inhibited the proliferation, migration, and invasion of glioblastoma cells in vitro. Moreover, the growth of a glioblastoma xenograft tumor was attenuated by overexpression of miR-1225-5p. Further integrative studies suggested that the insulin receptor substrate 1 (IRS1) was a direct functional target of miR-1225-5p in glioblastoma, and the mRNA and protein levels of IRS1 in six human glioblastoma cell lines (A172, SW1783, U87, LN-229, SW1088, and T98G) were significantly higher as compared with normal human astrocytes.ConclusionThese results suggest that miR-1225-5p may be a novel candidate for glioblastoma therapy.