No abstract

We propose a concept for the prediction of the glass-forming ability (GFA) before quenching through studies of the stabilization of clusters in metallic liquids in terms of a parameter, B=dr∕dT (r is the correlation radius of clusters and T is the absolute temperature). Strong correlation between B and GFA was found for a broad range of alloy systems. When the absolute value of B is lower than 1×10−4nm∕K, the metallic liquid can be prepared into a metallic glass. This criterion is important for studies of glass-forming abilities of metallic liquids in the future.

Interferon regulatory factor 7 (IRF7) is widely studied in inflammatory models. Its effects on malignant progression have been documented mainly from the perspective of the microenvironment. However, its role in leukemia has not been established. Here we used MLL-AF9-induced acute myeloid leukemia (AML) mouse models with IRF7 knockout or overexpression and xenograft mouse models to explore the intrinsic effects of IRF7 in AML. AML-IRF7−/− mice exhibited accelerated disease progression with intracerebral invasion of AML cells. AML-IRF7−/− cells showed increased proliferation and elevated leukemia stem cell (LSC) levels. Overexpression of IRF7 in AML cells decreased cell proliferation and LSC levels. Furthermore, overexpression of transforming growth-interacting factor 1 (TGIF1) rescued the enhanced proliferation and high LSC levels caused by IRF7 deficiency. Moreover, upregulation of vascular cell adhesion molecule 1 (VCAM1), which correlated with high LSC levels, was detected in AML-IRF7−/− cells. In addition, blocking VCAM1-very late antigen 4 (VLA-4) axis delayed disease progression and attenuated intracerebral invasion of AML cells. Therefore, our findings uncover the intrinsic effects of IRF7 in AML and provide a potential strategy to control central nervous system myeloid leukemia.

In an individual alloy system for marginal metallic glasses (MGs), the fragility of supercooled liquids (m) is inversely proportional to the fragility of superheated melts (M), which depends on the differently inherent characteristic temperatures. The more stable the superheated melt, the more fragile the supercooled liquid becomes and the better the glass-forming ability (GFA). The strong supercooled liquids correspond to the bad GFA resulting from heterogeneous nucleation in liquids. For the whole Al-based MGs, m has general linear relations with the GFA and M, respectively.