Growth differentiation factor-15 (GDF15),Urinary bladder carcinoma is the fourth leading malignancy in American males and the eighth most common cause of malignancy-related death 1 . Approximately 20% to 25% of primary bladder cancers have invaded the muscle layer of the bladder wall by the time they were diagnosed, and thus suggesting a poor prognosis; in addition, seventy percent of papillary and superficial tumors recur within two years of surgical excision 2 . Because the effective strategies for early detection of bladder cancer remain elusive,

Growth differentiation factor-15 (GDF15), a member of the transforming growth factor-b superfamily, is associated with human cancer progress. We evaluated the role GDF15 plays in tumorigenesis of prostate carcinoma PC-3 cells. Results from real-time RT-PCR and ELISA revealed that expression of GDF15 was approximately threefold higher in LNCaP cells than in PC-3 cells. Other prostate cell lines (PZ-HPV-7, CA-HPV-10, and DU145 cells) expressed extremely low levels of GDF15. Stable overexpression of GDF15 in PC-3 cells enhanced the degree of cell proliferation and invasion as shown in the 3 H-thymidine incorporation assay and in the Matrigel invasion assay respectively. Soft agar assays and xenograft animal studies indicated that overexpression of GDF15 in PC-3 cells increased tumorigenesis in vitro and in vivo. Results from RT-PCR, immunoblot, and reporter assays revealed that overexpression of GDF15 resulted in decreased expression of maspin and upregulation of interleukin-6 (IL6), matriptase, and N-myc downstream-regulated gene 1 (NDRG1) expression. Further studies revealed that overexpression of IL6 enhanced GDF15 expression in LNCaP cells while knockdown of IL6 blocked the expression of GDF15 in PC-3 cells, suggesting that expression of GDF15 is upregulated by IL6. This study demonstrated that expression of GDF15 induces cell proliferation, invasion, and tumorigenesis of prostate carcinoma PC-3 cells. The enhancement of tumorigenesis and invasiveness of prostate carcinoma cells that stably overexpress GDF15 may be caused by the dysregulation of maspin, matriptase, and IL6 gene expression. The expression of GDF15 and IL6 is controlled via a positive feedback loop in PC-3 cells.

Micro-light-emitting diodes (μLEDs) are getting much attention in display industry because of their outstanding optical and electrical characteristics. μLEDs have several advantages over liquid crystal displays (LCDs) and organic lightemitting diodes (OLEDs). μLEDs are showing long lifetimes, high reliability, high power efficiencies, high brightness, and fast response times with tiny pixels. However, for commercial usage, the high production cost and low external quantum efficiency (EQE) are the major hurdles. In this review, we briefly discuss the breakthroughs in μLED technology, fabrication methods, optical/ electrical characteristics, and challenges for display applications. In addition, the development of monolithic μLEDs and general device characteristics combined with various quantum dot patterning processes are systematically discussed. Potential solutions to address these challenges are also presented case by case.

Interleukin-6, a multifunctional cytokine, contributes to tumor cell proliferation and differentiation. However, the biological mechanisms that are affected by the expression of interleukin-6 in bladder cancer cells remain unclear. We evaluated the effects of interleukin-6 expression in human bladder carcinoma cells in vitro and in vivo. The results of interleukin-6-knockdown experiments in T24 cells and interleukin-6-overexpression experiments in HT1376 cells revealed that interleukin-6 reduced cell proliferation, migration, and invasion in vitro. Xenograft animal studies indicated that the overexpression of interleukin-6 downregulated tumorigenesis of bladder cells and that interleukin-6 knockdown reversed this effect. The results of RT-PCR, immunoblotting, and reporter assays indicated that the overexpression of interleukin-6 upregulated the expression of the mammary serine protease inhibitor (MASPIN), N-myc downstream gene 1 (NDRG1), and KAI1 proteins in HT1376 cells and that interleukin-6 knockdown reduced the expression of these proteins in T24 cells. In addition, results of immunoblotting assays revealed that interleukin-6 modulated epithelial-mesenchymal transitions by upregulating the expression of the E-cadherin, while downregulation N-cadherin and vimentin proteins. Our results suggest that the effects of interleukin-6 on the regulation of epithelial-mesenchymal transitions and the expressions of the MASPIN, NDRG1, and KAI1 genes attribute to the modulation of tumorigenesis in human bladder carcinoma cells.

In this study, we present a high-efficiency InGaN red micro-LED fabricated by the incorporation of superlattice structure, atomic layer deposition passivation, and a distributed Bragg reflector, exhibiting maximum external quantum efficiency of 5.02% with a low efficiency droop corresponding to an injection current density of 112    A / cm 2 . The fast carrier dynamics in the InGaN is characterized by using time-resolved photoluminescence, which is correlated to a high modulation bandwidth of 271 MHz achieved by a 6 × 25-μm-sized micro-LED array with a data transmission rate of 350 Mbit/s at a high injection current density of 2000    A / cm 2 . It holds great promise for full-color micro-displays as well as high-speed visible light communication applications based on monolithic InGaN micro-LED technologies.