Description: Down-regulation of miR-26a is found to be associated with poor prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), but its functional mechanism in HCC remains unclear. In this study, we investigated the roles of miR-26a in tumor growth and metastasis of HCC and found that miR-26a was frequently down-regulated in HCC tissues. Down-regulation of miR-26a correlated with HCC recurrence and metastasis. Through gain- and loss-of-function studies, miR-26a was demonstrated to significantly inhibit in vitro cell proliferation, migration, and invasion. In addition, miR-26a induced G1 arrest and promoted apoptosis of HCC cells. Importantly, miR-26a suppressed in vivo tumor growth and metastasis in nude mice models bearing human HCC. Interleukin-6 (IL-6) was identified as a target of miR-26a. Knockdown of IL-6 induced effects on HCC cells similar to those induced by miR-26a. In contrast, IL-6 treatment abrogated the effects induced by miR-26a up-regulation. Moreover, miR-26a dramatically suppressed expression of Stat3 target genes including Bcl-2, Mcl-1, cyclin D1, and MMP2. IL-6 treatment antagonized this effect, while knockdown of IL-6 by shIL-6 induced inhibitory effects on the expression of p-Stat3 and its main target genes, similar to miR-26a. The mRNA and protein levels of IL-6 inversely correlated with miR-26a in HCCs. Patients with high miR-26a or low IL-6 in HCC tissues had a better prognosis with longer overall survival (OS) and time to recurrence (TTR). In multivariate analysis, miR-26a, IL-6, and their combination were demonstrated to be independent prognostic indicators for OS and TTR of HCC patients. Conclusion: miR-26a could suppress tumor growth and metastasis of HCC through IL-6-Stat3 signaling and is a novel prognostic marker and therapeutic target for HCC. (H EPATOLOGY 2013.)

Description: To investigate the driving stability of tank trucks, an equivalent trammel pendulum was utilized to approximately demonstrate the dynamic characteristics of liquid sloshing in a partially filled tank. The oscillation movement of the trammel pendulum in the tank was described under the tank-fixed coordinate system and its motion equation under the noninertia coordinate system was derived using a Lagrangian function. The motion of the pendulum that expresses the fluid cargo dynamic behavior and that of the solid truck was coupled with each other by the tank. Therefore, a tank truck dynamic model was established using Newton’s first law and the angular momentum. A typical tank truck was selected and used to study its driving stability under steering angle step test. The study on tankers driving stability is of great importance for evaluating tankers driving safety, investing the main impact factor aspecting tankers driving stability, and developing active/passive roll control systems for them.