The constant-volume method is used to determine the solubility of CO 2 in dimethyl carbonate (DMC) under the pressure of 6 MPa and the temperature variations from (280.7 to 327.66) K in this paper. It is found by contrast that DMC has greater ability to dissolve CO 2 than propylene carbonate and methanol at the same temperature. Furthermore, the solubility of CO 2 in DMC at room temperature 298.47 K is close to that of methanol at 263.15 K. Therefore, DMC is expected to become an effective and low-cost absorbent for precombustion CO 2 capture.

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BackgroundProfound chemoresistance remains an intractable obstacle in pancreatic cancer treatment. Pancreatic cancer stem cells (CSCs) and the ubiquitous hypoxic niche have been proposed to account for drug resistance. However, the mechanism involved requires further exploration. This study investigated whether the hypoxic niche enhances gemcitabine-induced stemness and acquired resistance in pancreatic cancer cells by activating the AKT/Notch1 signaling cascade. The therapeutic effects of blockading this signaling cascade on gemcitabine-enriched CSCs were also investigated.MethodsThe expression levels of CSC-associated markers Bmi1 and Sox2 as well as those of proteins involved in AKT/Notch1 signaling were measured by Western blot analysis. The expression level of the pancreatic CSC marker CD24 was measured by flow cytometry. Change in gemcitabine sensitivity was evaluated by the MTT assay. The ability of sphere formation was tested by the sphere-forming assay in stem cell medium. The ability of migration and invasion was detected by the transwell migration/invasion assay. A mouse xenograft model of pancreatic cancer was established to determine the effect of Notch1 inhibition on the killing effect of gemcitabine in vivo. The ability of metastasis was investigated by an in vivo lung metastasis assay.ResultsGemcitabine promoted pancreatic cancer cell stemness and associated malignant phenotypes such as enhanced migration, invasion, metastasis, and chemoresistance. The AKT/Notch1 signaling cascade was activated after gemcitabine treatment and mediated this process. Blockading this pathway enhanced the killing effect of gemcitabine in vivo. However, supplementation with hypoxia treatment synergistically enhanced the AKT/Notch1 signaling pathway and collaboratively promoted gemcitabine-induced stemness.ConclusionsThese findings demonstrate a novel mechanism of acquired gemcitabine resistance in pancreatic cancer cells through induction of stemness, which was mediated by the activation of AKT/Notch1 signaling and synergistically aggravated by the ubiquitous hypoxic niche. Our results might provide new insights for identifying potential targets for reversing chemoresistance in patients with pancreatic cancer.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s13046-018-0972-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Circulating exosomal microRNAs (ex-miRNAs) are reflective of the characteristics of the tumor and are valuable biomarkers in different types of tumor. In addition, miRNAs serve important roles in tumor progression and metastasis. The present study aimed to investigate the circulating ex-miRNA-21 and miRNA-210 as novel biomarkers for patients with pancreatic cancer (PC). For this purpose, serum ex-miRNAs were extracted from the serum of patients with PC (n=30) and chronic pancreatitis (CP) (n=10) using an RNA isolation kit. For exosome identification in serum, transmission electron micrographs were used to determine crystalline structure, western blotting was used to identify exosomal markers, and NanoSight was used for nanoparticle characterization. The relative expression levels of ex-miRNAs were quantified using quantitative PCR and compared between patients with PC and CP. The expression levels of both ex-miRNA-21 and miRNA-210 were significantly higher in patients with PC compared with patients with CP (both P<0.001). However, no significant difference in the relative serum levels of free miR-21 and miR-210 was observed between the 2 groups of patients (both P>0.05). ex-miRNA-21 and miRNA-210 were associated with tumor stage, as well as other factors. The diagnostic potential of ex-miRNA-21 and miRNA-210 levels was 83 and 85%, respectively. In addition, when ex-miRNA and serum carbohydrate antigen 19-9 expression levels were combined, the accuracy increased to 90%. The present study identified that serum ex-miRNAs, miRNA-21 and miRNA-210 may be of value as potential biomarkers and therapeutic targets for the diagnosis and treatment of PC.

A novel salting-out extraction process has been developed to separate isopropanol from aqueous solution. Potassium carbonate was experimentally shown to be effective in modifying the liquid±liquid equilibrium (LLE) of an isopropanol/water/hexane system in favour of the solvent extraction of isopropanol from an aqueous solution with hexane, particularly at suitable salt concentrations. Potassium carbonate enlarged the area of the two-phase region. This effect essentially increased the distribution coef®cient of isopropanol between hexane and water and increased the separation factor for isopropanol vs water, which is an important consideration in designing a solvent extraction process. The effects of potassium carbonate concentration, temperature and pH on the LLE were studied. Finally, a f30 mm  1200 mm reciprocating plate column (RPC) was tested to separate isopropanol from an aqueous solution. When isopropanol in an aqueous solution with composition of isopropanol/water = 1:0.95 (wt/wt) was extracted by hexane assisted with 30% (wt%) potassium carbonate aqueous solution, the alcohol±water ratio increased to 11:1 in the extract.

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