Cancer cells present sustained de novo fatty acid (FA) synthesis with increased production of saturated fatty acids (SFAs) and monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs). This change in FA metabolism is associated with overexpression of stearoyl-CoA desaturase 1 (SCD1), which catalyses the transformation of SFAs into MUFAs (e.g., oleic acid). In this study, we provide new evidence that SCD1 inhibition leads to the anti-proliferation effect of breast cancer cells through induction of apoptosis, cell cycle arrest and migration prevention. However, the antitumor effect of the SCD1 inhibitor can be reversed by exogenous oleic acid. We hypothesize that, in addition to de novo synthesis, cancer cells may uptake exogenous FAs actively. CD36, also known as FA translocase (FAT), that functions as a transmembrane protein and mediates the uptake of FAs, is observed to be highly expressed in breast cancer tissues. Furthermore, the anti-proliferation effect caused by the SCD1 inhibitor can not be reversed by exogenous oleic acid supplementation in CD36 knockdown breast cancer cells. Our study revealed that the lipid metabolism of breast cancer is regulated not only by de novo lipogenesis but also by the availability of lipids outside cancer cells. Consistent with FA synthesis, FA uptake and transport will be another important target pathway for anticancer therapy, and the FA channel protein CD36 may provide a promising therapeutic target. Lipogenesis combined with FA transport will be a new orientation for antitumor therapy.

Reported herein is a molecular design strategy of deep‐blue emitters for resolving the lack of highly efficient deep‐blue organic light‐emitting diodes (OLEDs) featuring CIEy (Commission Internationale de l'Eclairage) color coordinates matching the display requirements (<0.1). The strategy is to combine weak spiro‐donor and spiro‐acceptor groups into a linear donor‐π‐acceptor type of thermally‐activated delayed fluorescence molecule through a sterically bulky π‐spacer. The strategy endows an emitter with deep‐blue emission, a narrower emission bandwidth (51 nm in toluene), a high photoluminescence quantum yield (0.95 in toluene), weak concentration quenching, and efficient triplet‐exciton utilization, which are all attractive characteristics for emitters of deep‐blue OLEDs with lower CIEy coordinates. Owing to the rational design, the emitter has realized not only highly efficient doped deep‐blue OLEDs with external quantum efficiencies (EQEs) up to 25.4 % and CIEy less than 0.1 but also so far the most efficient nondoped deep‐blue OLED (EQE up to 22.5 %) with CIEy less than 0.1.

We investigate the influence of phase-shifting error on the quality of the reconstructed image in digital holography and propose a method of error elimination for a perfect image. In this method the summation of the intensity bit errors of the reconstructed image is taken as an evaluation function for an iterative algorithm to find the exact phase-shifting value. The feasibility of this method is demonstrated by computer simulation.

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A self-powered current sensor consisting of the magnetostrictive/piezoelectric laminate composite and the high-permeability nanocrystalline alloys is presented. The induced vortex magnetic flux is concentrated and amplified by using an optimized-shape nanocrystalline alloy of FeCuNbSiB into the magnetoelectric laminate composite; this optimization allows improving the sensitivity significantly as well as increasing the saturation of the current sensor. The main advantages of this current sensor are its large dynamic range and ability to measure currents accurately. An analytical expression for the relationship between current and voltage is derived by using the magnetic circuit principle, which predicts the measured sensitivity well. The experimental results exhibit an approximately linear relationship between the electric current and the induced voltage. The dynamic range of this sensor is from 0.01 A to 150 A, and a small electric current step-change of 0.01 A can be clearly distinguished at the power-line frequency of 50 Hz. We demonstrate that the current sensor has a flat operational frequency in the range of 1 Hz-20 kHz relative to a conventional induction coil. The current sensor indicates great potentials for monitoring conditions of electrical facilities in practical applications due to the large dynamic range, linear sensitivity, wide bandwidth frequency response, and good time stability.

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Background:A high consumption of fructose leads to hepatic steatosis. About 20–30% of triglycerides are synthesized via de novo lipogenesis. Some studies showed that endoplasmic reticulum stress (ERS) is involved in this process, while others showed that a lipotoxic environment directly influences ER homeostasis. Here, our aim was to investigate the causal relationship between ERS and fatty acid synthesis and the effect of X-box binding protein-1 (XBP-1), one marker of ERS, on hepatic lipid accumulation stimulated by high fructose.Methods:HepG2 cells were incubated with different concentrations of fructose. Upstream regulators of de novo lipogenesis (i.e., carbohydrate response element-binding protein [ChREBP] and sterol regulatory element-binding protein 1c [SREBP-1c]) were measured by polymerase chain reaction and key lipogenic enzymes (acetyl-CoA carboxylase [ACC], fatty acid synthase [FAS], and stearoyl-CoA desaturase-1 [SCD-1]) by Western blotting. The same lipogenesis-associated factors were then evaluated after exposure of HepG2 cells to high fructose followed by the ERS inhibitor tauroursodeoxycholic acid (TUDCA) or the ERS inducer thapsigargin. Finally, the same lipogenesis-associated factors were evaluated in HepG2 cells after XBP-1 upregulation or downregulation through cell transfection.Results:Exposure to high fructose increased triglyceride levels in a dose- and time-dependent manner and significantly increased mRNA levels of SREBP-1c and ChREBP and protein levels of FAS, ACC, and SCD-1, concomitant with XBP-1 conversion to an active spliced form. Lipogenesis-associated factors induced by high fructose were inhibited by TUDCA and induced by thapsigargin. Triglyceride level in XBP-1-deficient group decreased significantly compared with high-fructose group (4.41 ± 0.54 μmol/g vs. 6.52 ± 0.38 μmol/g, P < 0.001), as mRNA expressions of SREBP-1c (2.92 ± 0.46 vs. 5.08 ± 0.41, P < 0.01) and protein levels of FAS (0.53 ± 0.06 vs. 0.85 ± 0.05, P = 0.01), SCD-1 (0.65 ± 0.06 vs. 0.90 ± 0.04, P = 0.04), and ACC (0.38 ± 0.03 vs. 0.95 ± 0.06, P < 0.01) decreased. Conversely, levels of triglyceride (4.22 ± 0.54 μmol/g vs. 2.41 ± 0.35 μmol/g, P < 0.001), mRNA expression of SREBP-1c (2.70 ± 0.33 vs. 1.00 ± 0.00, P < 0.01), and protein expression of SCD-1 (0.93 ± 0.06 vs. 0.26 ± 0.05, P < 0.01), ACC (0.98 ± 0.09 vs. 0.43 ± 0.03, P < 0.01), and FAS (0.90 ± 0.33 vs. 0.71 ± 0.02, P = 0.04) in XBP-1s-upregulated group increased compared with the untransfected group.Conclusions:ERS is associated with de novo lipogenesis, and XBP-1 partially mediates high-fructose-induced lipid accumulation in HepG2 cells through augmentation of de novo lipogenesis.

A high-quality factor magnetoelectric (ME) laminated composite employing a type of ferromagnetic constant-elasticity alloy (FCEA) and piezoelectric Pb(Zr,Ti)O 3 material is developed. The laminate is designed to operate as a half-wavelength ( 2), longitudinal resonator. The FCEA features high effective quality factor and low magnetomechanical coupling coefficient. This induces a particular ME characteristic. The theoretical analysis shows that the ME voltage coefficient (MEVC) at low frequency is directly proportional to the product of the electromechanical coupling factor in piezoelectric layer, magnetomechanical coupling factor, and the square root of magnetic permeability in FCEA layers. The MEVC at resonance and the ME sensitivity (under resonant drive) to dc bias magnetic field ( dc ) are dramatically increased by the effective quality factor ( ) of the resonator. The measured vibrational characteristics reveal that the strain coefficient at resonance achieves 314.74 nm/A and is 1600. The MEVC at resonance ( ) achieves 30.55 V/Oe (381.875 V/cm Oe), which is 1608 times higher than that at low frequency. In addition, strongly depends on dc due to the high , e.g., dc achieves 0.84 V/Oe 2 . The ME resonator is potential for highly sensitive dc or quasi-static magnetic field sensing.Index Terms-Ferromagnetic constant-elasticity alloy (FCEA), magnetoelectric (ME) effect, magnetostrictive, piezoelectric material.