There were no systematic researches about autophagy-related long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) signatures to predict the survival of patients with colon adenocarcinoma. It was necessary to set up corresponding autophagy-related lncRNA signatures. The expression profiles of lncRNAs which contained 480 colon adenocarcinoma samples were obtained from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. The coexpression network of lncRNAs and autophagy-related genes was utilized to select autophagy-related lncRNAs. The lncRNAs were further screened using univariate Cox regression. In addition, Lasso regression and multivariate Cox regression were used to develop an autophagy-related lncRNA signature. A risk score based on the signature was established, and Cox regression was used to test whether it was an independent prognostic factor. The functional enrichment of autophagy-related lncRNAs was visualized using Gene Ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes. Ten prognostic autophagy-related lncRNAs (AC027307.2, AC068580.3, AL138756.1, CD27-AS1, EIF3J-DT, LINC01011, LINC01063, LINC02381, AC073896.3, and SNHG16) were identified to be significantly different, which made up an autophagy-related lncRNA signature. The signature divided patients with colon adenocarcinoma into the low-risk group and the high-risk group. A risk score based on the signature was a significantly independent factor for the patients with colon adenocarcinoma (HR=1.088, 95%CI=1.057−1.120; P<0.001). Additionally, the ten lncRNAs were significantly enriched in autophagy process, metabolism, and tumor classical pathways. In conclusion, the ten autophagy-related lncRNAs and their signature might be molecular biomarkers and therapeutic targets for the patients with colon adenocarcinoma.

Cryptosporidium parvum is an intracellular protozoan that can cause severe diarrhea in humans and various mammals. Results of a comparative genomic analysis indicated that genes encoding two C. parvum-specific insulinase-like proteases (INS19 and INS20), cgd6_5510 and cgd6_5520, are lost in many Cryptosporidium species. In this study, we provided evidence indicating that cgd6_5510 and cgd6_5520 are fragments of a full gene (cgd6_5520-5510) encoding one insulinase-like protease (INS20-19) that is similar in structure to classic insulinases. We expressed cgd6_5510 in Escherichia coli for antiserum preparation and found the protein (INS19) that was partially degraded. A ~180 kDa protein of INS20-19 was specifically recognized by the polyclonal anti-INS19 antiserum in sporozoite lysate. We observed that INS20-19 is likely a protein with high expression in the apical region of sporozoites, and neutralization of the protein led to a partial reduction of parasite load in HCT-8 and MDBK cell cultures at 24 h. Taken together, our findings support the involvement of INS20-19 in the invasion or early developmental process of C. parvum.

In the widely-studied two-color laser scheme for terahertz (THz) radiation from a gas, the frequency ratio of the two lasers is usually fixed at ω2/ω1 =1:2. We investigate THz generation with uncommon frequency ratios. Our experiments show, for the first time, efficient THz generation with new ratios of ω2/ω1 =1:4 and 2:3. We observe that the THz polarization can be adjusted by rotating the longer-wavelength laser polarization and the polarization adjustment becomes inefficient by rotating the other laser polarization; the THz energy shows similar scaling laws with different frequency ratios. These observations are inconsistent with multi-wave mixing theory, but support the gas-ionization model. This study pushes the development of the two-color scheme and provides a new dimension to explore the long-standing problem of the THz generation mechanism.Terahertz (THz) waves have broad applications in THz spectroscopy [1,2] and THz-field matter interactions [3,4]. These applications can potentially benefit from powerful THz radiation sources with various parameters via different laser-plasma-based schemes [5][6][7][8][9]. For example, MV/cm-scale THz radiation with either linear [5,10,11] or elliptical polarization [12][13][14][15] can be generated from gas plasma. THz radiation of near mJ can be produced via relativistic laser interaction with solid plasma [8,[16][17][18]. Among these schemes, the two-color laser scheme [5] has been studied most widely [19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28] because it can provide high-efficiency tabletop broadband sources. Generally, an 800nm pump laser pulse passes through a frequency-doubling crystal to generate a second-harmonic pulse and then the two pulses are mixed to produce gas plasma. Up to now, the frequency ratio of the two-color pulses has been always taken as ω 2 /ω 1 =1:2 in experiments, although the fundamentalpulse wavelength longer than 800nm was adopted in recent experiments to enhance the THz strength [29][30][31] and the second-harmonic-pulse frequency was detuned to yield ultra-broadband radiation [32]. Since 2013 a few theoretical reports [33][34][35] have predicted that the twocolor scheme could be extended to uncommon frequency ratios such as ω 2 /ω 1 =1:4, 2:3, but these predictions have not yet been verified experimentally.In this Letter, we present the first experimental demonstration of THz generation with uncommon frequency ratios. With the ω 1 -laser wavelength fixed at 800nm and 400nm, respectively, a scan of the ω 2 -laser wavelength from 1200nm to 1600nm shows that the THz energies have three resonantlike peaks located near ω 2 /ω 1 = 1:4, 1:2, and 2:3. The energies at these peaks are at the same order. Beyond the previous predictions [33][34][35], we find that the THz polarization can be adjusted by rotating the ω 2 -pulse polarization and however, the polarization adjustment becomes inefficient by rotating the ω 1 -pulse polarization. In this Letter we define the ω 1 pulse as the higher-frequency one. These observations agree with our particle-in...

Miniaturization, fast motion, high resolution, high agility, and good adaptability are relatively contradictory characteristics in mobile robot design. It is indeed a challenge to satisfy these performances at the same time. Inspired by the arthropod metamerism in nature, herein, a millirobot composed of three piezoelectric segments is proposed. The millirobot is tethered for power, and the whole size of the millirobot is 58 Â 44 Â 12 mm; it uses several principles of arthropod locomotion, can carry loads and cross obstacles, and also has the rapidity and agility like a centipede through the coordination of multiple piezoelectric segments. Fast motion with a maximum speed of 516 mm s À1 is realized by operating at resonant mode, and stepping motion with a resolution of 0.44 μm is achieved by the pulsed sinusoidal mode. The widest speed range among published reports of millirobots is achieved (from 4.5e À3 to 9 BL s À1 ). Its agility surpasses other piezoelectric millirobots; the linear, steering, and rotational motions are performed and switched flexibly. The results show that fast motion, high resolution, wide speed range, high agility, large load capacity, good adaptability, and miniaturization are successfully achieved by the millirobot.

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Enhancing the built-in electric field to promote charge dynamitic process is of great significance to boost the performance of the non-fullerene organic solar cells (OSCs), which has rarely been concerned. In this work, we introduced a cheap ferroelectric polymer as an additive into the active layers of non-fullerene OSCs to improve the device performance. An additional and permanent electrical field was produced by the polarization of the ferroelectric dipoles, which can substantially enhance the built-in electric field. The promoted exciton separation, significantly accelerated charge transport, reduced the charge recombination, as well as the optimized film morphology were observed in the device, leading to a significantly improved performance of the PVDF-modified OSCs with various active layers, such as PM6 : Y6, PM6 : BTP-eC9, PM6 : IT-4F and PTB7-Th : Y6. Especially, a record efficiency of 17.72 % for PM6 : Y6-based OSC and an outstanding efficiency of 18.17 % for PM6 : BTP-eC9-based OSC were achieved.