The Role of microRNAs in Development of Colitis-Associated Colorectal Cancer

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most deadly cancer worldwide, and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is one of the critical factors in CRC carcinogenesis. IBD is responsible for an unphysiological and sustained chronic inflammation environment favoring the transformation. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) belong to a class of highly conserved short single-stranded segments (18–25 nucleotides) non-coding RNA and have been extensively discussed in both CRC and IBD. However, the role of miRNAs in the development of colitis-associated CRC (CAC) is less clear. The aim of this review is to summarize the major upregulated (miR-18a, miR-19a, miR-21, miR-31, miR-155 and miR-214) and downregulated (miR-124, miR-193a-3p and miR-139-5p) miRNAs in CAC, and their roles in genes’ expression modulation in chronic colonic-inflammation-induced carcinogenesis, including programmed cell-death pathways. These miRNAs dysregulation could be applied for early CAC diagnosis, to predict therapy efficacy and for precision treatment.     

Thermal Protective Properties of the Allomyrina dichotoma Beetle Forewing for Thermal Protection Systems

ABSTRACT

This paper studies the heat-shielding performance of a beetle forewing to explore how it has excellent thermal protective properties. With an experimental setup of a self-developed heating environment, the heat transfer characteristics of the beetle forewing were tested at 50°C under steady state conditions. Two types of the forewings are considered: cut wing and live wing. The heat transfer results show that the live forewing provides a good heat-shielding performance with the heat-shielding index stabilizing at around 22.1%, which is 60% higher than that of the cut wing. Based on scanning electron microscope images of the microstructure of the cross section of the beetle forewing, a simplified finite element analysis is performed to numerically calculate the heat transfer properties of the forewing. The numerical simulations reveal that the proposed structure of the forewing is good for the design of an effective thermal protection system. In addition, the uncertainty analysis is performed to evaluate the quality of experimental data. These results provide a foundational understanding of the heat transfer characteristics of beetle forewing, which will inspire a promising candidate for an actively cooled thermal protection systems.     

Study on Flow Behavior and Heat Exchange Characteristics of a Capillary Tube-Suction Line Heat Exchanger

The present research is to develop a homogenous mathematical model to simulate capillary tube-suction line heat exchanger (CT-SL HX) based on the fundamentals of conservations of mass, momentum and energy with comprehensive experimental result validations. The computer model is fully validated by 72 experimental data with error bands of ±15%, ±2°C and ±35% on the mass flow rate prediction, the suction pipe outlet temperature, and the heat exchange estimation respectively. The results suggest that the internal diameter of the capillary tube, and the heat-transfer length of the CT-SL HX have demonstrated an apparent impact on the capillary tube outlet conditions and heat transfer across the segment.     

Advanced Surface of Fibrous Activated Carbon Immobilized with FeO/TiO2 for Photocatalytic Evolution of Hydrogen under Visible Light

FeO-doped TiO₂ nanoparticle photocatalysts were immobilized onto the surface of fibrous activated carbon (ACF) via a sol-gel process. As an adsorbent and photocatalyst, FeO-TiO₂ on immobilized ACFs (FeO-TiO₂/ACF) greatly improved the photocatalysis rate of hydrogen production as compared with pure TiO₂ and ACF-TiO₂ under UV irradiation and visible light. The addition of ACFs surface significantly reduced the photogenerated pairs of electrons-hole recombination, thereby promoting the photocatalysis action of doped photo-metal oxides of FeO-TiO₂. Co-doping of FeO onto the lattice of the TiO₂ approach can improve the absorption activity of visible light through photo-metal oxide of TiO₂ and further enhance hydrogen production under visible light. The photocatalytic fabrics (FeO-TiO₂/ACF) were effortlessly split out from the experimental solution for re-utilization and exhibited high stability even after five complete regeneration cycles.     

Tunable colors and conductivity by electroless growth of Cu/Cu2O particles on sol-gel modified cellulose

Nano Research - Development of colored surfaces by formation of nano-structured aggregates is a widely used strategy in nature to color lightweight structures (e.g. butterflies) without the use of...     

专业认证背景下铸造工艺课程设计教学改革的探讨

工程教育专业认证是保证、改进教育质量的重要途经,是以专业全体学生的学习结果为认证的主要目标。铸造工艺课程设计是综合性较强的专业核心课程,对于学生综合能力培养具有重要作用。本文基于对重庆大学材料成型及控制工程专业铸造工艺课程设计课程目标达成情况的分析,对课程教学的教学设计、组织形式、实施方法以及学业成绩评价等方面进行了改进,突出"以学生为中心"的工程应用水平和创新能力的培养。