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BackgroundAccumulating evidence indicates that the long noncoding RNA, TINCR, plays a critical role in cancer progression and metastasis. However, the overall biological role and mechanisms of TINCR that were involved in human gastric cancer (GC) progression remain largely unknown.MethodsTINCR expression was measured in 56 paired tumor and adjacent nontumor tissue samples by real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Insights of the mechanism of competitive endogenous RNAs (ceRNAs) were gained from bioinformatic analysis, luciferase assays. The effects of TINCR and miR-375 on GC cell apoptosis and proliferation were studied by RNA interference approaches in vitro and in vivo. The correlation of TINCR and PDK1 was identified by real-time PCR and Western blot analysis.ResultsOur results showed that miR-375 level decreased and TINCR level increased in tumor tissues. In addition, TINCR was a target of miR-375 and inhibited its expression in GC cells. Furthermore, the low expression of TINCR increased cell apoptosis and inhibited the proliferation of GC cells, while the downregulation of miR-375 reversed the function. In particular, TINCR could negatively regulate the miR-375 expression and increased the PDK1 expression in GC cells. Finally, tumor growth suppression was retarded with miR-375 downregulated in TINCR knockdown of GC cell xenografts.ConclusionThe long noncoding RNA TINCR functions as a competing endogenous RNA to regulate PDK1 expression by sponging miR-375 in GC. The ceRNA regulatory network of TINCR/miR-375/PDK1 allows us to better understand the pathogenesis of GC and facilitate the development of long noncoding RNA (lncRNA)-directed diagnostics in GC.

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New energy storage devices such as batteries and supercapacitors are widely used in various fields because of their irreplaceable excellent characteristics. Because there are relatively few monitoring parameters and limited understanding of their operation, they present problems in accurately predicting their state and controlling operation, such as state of charge, state of health, and early failure indicators. Poor monitoring can seriously affect the performance of energy storage devices. Therefore, to maximize the efficiency of new energy storage devices without damaging the equipment, it is important to make full use of sensing systems to accurately monitor important parameters such as voltage, current, temperature, and strain. These are highly related to their states. Hence, this paper reviews the sensing methods and divides them into two categories: embedded and non-embedded sensors. A variety of measurement methods used to measure the above parameters of various new energy storage devices such as batteries and supercapacitors are systematically summarized. The methods with different innovative points are listed, their advantages and disadvantages are summarized, and the application of optical fiber sensors is emphasized. Finally, the challenges and prospects for these studies are described. The intent is to encourage researchers in relevant fields to study the early warning of safety accidents from the root causes.

The pandemic of respiratory diseases, such as coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and influenza, has imposed significant public health and economic burdens on the world. Wearing masks is an effective way to cut off the spread of the respiratory virus. However, due to cultural differences and uncomfortable wearing experiences, not everyone is willing to wear masks; there is an urgent need to find alternatives to masks. In this study, we tested the disinfection effect of a portable ionizer on pandemic severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) (strain V34) and influenza A virus (strain CA04). Negative ions significantly reduced the concentration of particulate matter in the air above and effectively disinfected viruses stuck to the solid plate at the level of both nucleic acid and virus titer. The disinfection efficiency was >99.8% after 1-h exposure. Moreover, negative ions effectively disinfected aerosolized viruses; the disinfection efficiency was more than 87.77% after purification for 10 min. Furthermore, negative ions had a significant protective effect on susceptible animals exposed to viral aerosols. When the negative ionizer was switched from off to on, the inhalation 50% infective dose (ID50) for golden hamsters challenged with SARS-CoV-2 rose from 9.878 median tissue culture infective dose (TCID50) [95% confidence interval (CI), 6.727–14.013 TCID50] to 43.891 TCID50 (95% CI, 29.31–76.983 TCID50), and the inhalation ID50 for guinea pigs challenged with influenza A virus rose from 6.696 TCID50 (95% CI, 3.251–9.601 TCID50) to 28.284 TCID50 (95% CI, 19.705–40.599 TCID50). In the experiment of transmission between susceptible animals, negative ions 100% inhibited the aerosol transmission of SARS-CoV-2 and influenza A virus. Finally, we tested the safety of negative ion exposure. Balb/c mice exposed to negative ions for 4 weeks showed no abnormalities in body weight, blood routine analysis, and lung pathology. Our study demonstrates that air ions can be used as a safe and effective means of blocking respiratory virus transmission and contribute to pandemic prevention and control.

Three types of compact MIMO (Multiple-Input Multiple-Output) antenna systems with four and six elements for mobile handsets are studied in this paper. The MIMO antenna system is built on a FR4 substrate of the dimensions 136 mm × 68.8 mm × 1 mm. The antenna element is a folded planar inverted-F antenna with added resonating branches wound on a small dielectric cube of the dimensions 10 mm × 10 mm × 5 mm, which is the smallest volume so far reported covering the frequency bands 1880 MHz–1920 MHz and 2300 MHz–2620 MHz for GSM1900, LTE2300, 2.4-GHz WLAN, and LTE2500. The effects of element numbers and configurations on the system performance are investigated. More than 10 dB isolations have been achieved by properly designing the antenna elements through the use of the pattern diversity without using decoupling circuits. The envelope correlation coefficients among the elements, the mean effective gains, the efficiencies, and the multiplexing efficiencies of the elements are also discussed.

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