Melatonin Attenuates Noise Stress-induced Gastrointestinal Motility Disorder and Gastric Stress Ulcer: Role of Gastrointestinal Hormones and Oxidative Stress in Rats

( Lei Zhang ),( Ji T Gong ),( Hu Q Zhang ),( Quan H Song ),( Guang H Xu ),( Lei Cai ),( Xiao D Tang ),( Hai F Zhang ),( Fang E Liu ),( Zhan S Jia ),( Hong W Zhang ) 대한소화기기능성질환·운동학회 2015 Journal of Neurogastroenterology and Motility (JNM Vol.21 No.2

Background/Aims There are increasing evidences for gastrointestinal motility disorder (GIMD) and gastric stress ulcer induced by noise stress. The present study was to investigate the reversed effect of melatonin on GIMD and gastric stress ulcer induced by noise stress and potential mechanism. Methods Noise stress was induced on rats, and melatonin (15 mg/kg) was administered to rats by intraperitoneal injection. Differences were assessed in gastric residual rate (GRR), small intestine propulsion rate (SPR), Guth injury score, cortisol, gastrointestinal hormones (calcitonin-gene-related peptide and motilin) and oxidative stress markers (superoxide dismutase and malondialde hyde) in blood plasma as well as gastric mucosa homogenate with or without melatonin. The pathological examination of gastric mucosa was also performed. Results The GRR and SPR were improved by noise stress compared with control (P < 0.05). The pathological examination and Guth injury score revealed gastric stress ulcer. Moreover, the levels of cortisol, motilin and malondialdehyde in blood plasma and malondialdehyde in gastric mucosa homogenate were increased by noise stress (P < 0.05). CGRP and superoxide dismutase activity in both of blood plasma and gastric mucosa homogenate were significantly decreased (P< 0.05). Furthermore, melatonin reversed changes in GRR, SPR, pathological examination, Guth injury score, cortisol, motilin, CGRP, superoxide dismutase activity and malondialdehyde (P < 0.05). Conclusions Melatonin is effective in reversing the GIMD and gastric stress ulcer induced by noise stress. The underlying mechanism may be involved in oxidative stress and gastrointestinal hormones. (J Neurogastroenterol Motil 2015;21:189-199)

Novosphingobium oryzae sp. nov., a potential plant-promoting endophytic bacterium isolated from rice roots

Jiang, Ju-Quan,Gao, Ju-Sheng,Zhang, Xiao-Xia,Zhang, Lei,Zhang, Jun,Zhang, Cai-Wen,Kim, Song-Gun,Ma, Xiao-Tong Microbiology Society 2016 International journal of systematic and evolutiona Vol.66 No.-

Identifying natural genotypes of grain number per panicle in rice (Oryza sativa L.) by association mapping

Jianyin Xie,Fengmei Li,Najeeb Ullah Khan,Xiaoyang Zhu,Xueqiang Wang,Zhifang Zhang,Xiaoqian Ma,Yan Zhao,Quan Zhang,Shuyang Zhang,Zhanying Zhang,Jinjie Li,Zichao Li,Hongliang Zhang 한국유전학회 2019 Genes & Genomics Vol.41 No.3

Introduction As one of the main yield components, grain number per panicle (GNP) played critical role in the rice yield improvement. The identification of natural advantageous variations under different situations will promote the sustainable genetic improvement in rice yield. Objectives This study was designed to identify natural genotypes in a rice mini-core collection, to examine the genotypic effects across the indica and japonica genetic background in different environments, and excavating the superior genotypes that had drove the modern genetic improvement. Methods The association mapping of GNP was carried out using a mini-core collection including 154 indica and 119 japonica accessions in seven different environments. Genotypic effects of each genotype for each QTL were calculated and genotype frequency distortion between the commercial rice cultivars and landraces was screened by χ2-test. Results In total, 74 QTLs containing stable and sensitive QTLs in various environments were detected. Within them, 20 positive and 24 negative genotypes in indica, and 24 positive and 16 negative genotypes in japonica were identified. When checking the accumulation of positive genotypes identified in indica across cultivars in each of the two subspecies, it indicated that increased number of positive genotypes identified in indica results in the substantially increased GNP in both indica and japonica across all of the environments, while this trend was not obvious for the positive genotypes identified in japonica especially in short day environments. Moreover, the positive and negative genotype frequency distortion between the landraces and commercial rice cultivars indicated that both positive selection of positive genotypes and negative selection of negative genotypes had driven the genetic improvement on GNP. Conclusion Our findings suggested that the accumulation of positive genotypes and purifying negative genotypes played equivalently important roles in the improvement of rice yield, but the efficient use for some QTLs or genotypes depends on the comprehensive evaluation of their effect under diverse genetic backgrounds and environments.

Predicting the Fracture Characteristics of Concrete Using Ensemble and Meta-heuristic Algorithms

Quan Zhang,Xiaojun Zhou 대한토목학회 2023 KSCE Journal of Civil Engineering Vol.27 No.7

Fracture properties are crucial for the design and application of concrete materials. Thefracture energy which represents the fracture performance of concrete always suffers theinfluence of various factors, making it difficult to accurately predict the fracture energy ofconcrete with traditional methods. Thus, the artificial intelligence (AI) approaches areemployed to establish the predictive models for the concrete fracture energy. Additionally, thefirefly meta-heuristic algorithm (FA) is used to search for the optimum model hyper-parameters. The FA algorithm is proved to be efficient in tuning the hyper-parameters of the three models,and optimum values are obtained within ten iterations. Compared with the single classification andregression tree algorithm (CART), the ensemble algorithm appears to be more accurate andgeneralizable. Moreover, through the importance evaluation of different features in theoptimum predictive model, the aggregate characteristics (aggregate size distribution andmaximal aggregate size) and specimen size have been proven to be dominant factors for thepredictive models, which should be carefully considered in predictive work regardingconcrete fracture properties.

Inhibition of copper corrosion in acidic chloride solution by methionine combined with cetrimonium bromide/cetylpyridinium bromide

Zhang, Da-Quan,Xie, Bin,Gao, Li-Xin,Joo, Hyung Goun,Lee, Kang Yong Springer-Verlag 2011 Journal of applied electrochemistry Vol.41 No.5

An Approach to Multiple Attribute Decision Making Based on Three Preference Information on Alternatives

Quan Zhang,Jian Ma,Zhiping Fan 한국경영정보학회 2001 한국경영정보학회 학술대회논문집 Vol.2001 No.-

Hilbert-Huang Transformation based Solar Light Noise Suppression Method

QUAN Jin-guo,BAI Bo,ZHANG Hao,ZHANG Yan 보안공학연구지원센터 2016 International Journal of Smart Home Vol.10 No.6

Solar light noise, as the main part of channel noise in outdoor visible light communication (VLC) system, would easily saturate the photon-detector, and dramatically decrease the outdoor VLC system performance. A Hilbert-Huang Transformation based solar light noise suppression method is proposed in this paper, a background light noise measurement system is also designed and implemented to verify the noise suppression method's performance. And the measurement result shows that it could effectively reduce the solar light noise, and improve the VLC system’s stability and reliability.

Evolution of surface O₃ and PM_2.5 concentrations and their relationships with meteorological conditions over the last decade in Beijing

Zhang, Z.,Zhang, X.,Gong, D.,Quan, W.,Zhao, X.,Ma, Z.,Kim, S.J. Pergamon Press ; Elsevier [distribution] 2015 Atmospheric environment Vol.108 No.-

In this study, hourly and daily records since 2005 and correlation, regression and composite methods were used to analyze the long-term evolution of surface O<SUB>3</SUB> and PM<SUB>2.5</SUB> concentrations at the rural station of Shangdianzi (SDZ) and urban station of Baolian (BL) over Beijing and their relationships with meteorological conditions. The results show that the mean concentrations of PM<SUB>2.5</SUB> (O<SUB>3</SUB>) decreased (increased) at the urban and rural stations over the last decade. The linear trends of the annual mean concentrations of PM<SUB>2.5</SUB> at BL and SDZ were -31.8 ug/m<SUP>3</SUP>/10yr (-4.3%/yr) (p < 0.01) and -13.3 ug/m<SUP>3</SUP>/10yr (-2.9%/yr) (p < 0.05), respectively. In winter, the mean wind speed (W<SUB>s</SUB>) and relative humidity (RH) were the most closely correlated with O<SUB>3</SUB> at both stations, whereas RH and sunshine hours (S) were most closely correlated with PM<SUB>2.5</SUB>. The correlation coefficients and explained variances in spring and autumn were generally less than those in winter and greater than those in summer. Moreover, increase in precipitation can significantly reduce the PM<SUB>2.5</SUB> concentration in both urban and rural areas in Beijing, whereas trace and light precipitation more effectively decreases the O<SUB>3</SUB> concentration. Concentrations of PM<SUB>2.5</SUB> (O<SUB>3</SUB>) on haze days increased by 114% (3%) and 162% (20%) compared with that on non-haze days at the urban and rural stations, respectively. This result suggests that haze is a major manifestation of air pollution in Beijing.

Tier-based Proactive Path Selection Mode for Wireless Mesh Networks

( Zhang Fu-quan ),( Inwhee Joe ),( Yong-jin Park ) 한국인터넷정보학회 2012 KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Syst Vol.6 No.5

In the draft of the IEEE 802.11s standard, a tree topology is established by the proactive tree-building mode of the Hybrid Wireless Mesh Protocol (HWMP). It is used for cases in which the root station (e.g., gateway) is an end point of the majority of the data connections. In the tree topology, the root or central stations (e.g., parent stations) are connected to the other stations (e.g., leaves) that are one level lower than the central station. Such mesh stations are likely to suffer heavily from contention in bottleneck links when the network has a high traffic load. Moreover, the dependence of the network on such stations is a point of vulnerability. A failure of the central station (e.g., a crash or simply going into sleep mode to save energy) can cripple the whole network in the tree topology. This causes performance degradation for end-to-end transmissions. In a connected mesh topology where the stations having two or more radio links between them are connected in such a way that if a failure subsists in any of the links, the other link could provide the redundancy to the network. We propose a scheme to utilize this characteristic by organizing the network into concentric tiers around the root mesh station. The tier structure facilitates path recovery and congestion control. The resulting mode is referred to as Tier-based Proactive Path Selection Mode (TPPSM). The performance of TPPSM is compared with the proactive tree mode of HWMP. Simulation results show that TPPSM has better performance.

Association of Six Susceptibility Loci with Prostate Cancer in Northern Chinese Men

Zhang, Yu-Rong,Xu, Yong,Yang, Kuo,Liu, Ming,Wei, Dong,Zhang, Yao-Guang,Shi, Xiao-Hong,Wang, Jian-Ye,Yang, Fan,Wang, Xin,Liang, Si-Ying,Zhao, Cheng-Xiao,Wang, Fei,Chen, Xin,Sun, Liang,Zhu, Xiao-Quan,Zh Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2012 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.13 No.12

Background/Aim: Six prostate cancer (PCa) susceptibility loci were identified in a genome-wide association study (GWAS) in populations of European decent. However, the associations of these 6 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) with PCa has remained tobe clarified in men in Northern China. This study aimed to explore the loci associated with PCa risk in a Northern Chinese population. Methods: Blood samples and clinical information of 289 PCa patients and 288 controls from Beijing and Tianjin were collected. All risk SNPs were genotyped using polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-high resolution melting curve technology and gene sequencing. Associations between PCa and clinical covariates (age at diagnosis, prostate-specific antigen [PSA], Gleason score, tumor stage, and level of aggressiveness) and frequencies of alleles and genotypes of these SNPs were analyzed using genetic statistics. Results: Among the candidate SNPs, 11p15 (rs7127900, A) was associated with PCa risk (P = 0.02, odds ratio [OR] = 1.64, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.09-2.46). Genotypes showed differences between cases and controls on 11p15 (rs7127900, A), 11q13 (rs7931342, T), and HNF1B (rs4430796, A) (P = 0.03, P = 0.01, and P = 0.04, respectively). The genotype TG on 11q13 (rs7931342, T) was positively associated with an increased Gleason score (P = 0.04, OR = 2.15, 95% CI = 1.02-4.55). Patients carrying TG on 17q24 (rs1859962, G) were negatively associated with an increased body mass index (BMI) (P = 0.03, OR = 0.44, 95% CI = 0.21-0.92) while those with AG on HNF1B (rs4430796, A) were more likely to have PSA increase (P = 0.002). Conclusion: Our study suggests that 11p15 (rs7127900, A) could be a susceptibility locus associated with PCa in Northern Chinese. Genotype TG on 11q13 (rs7931342, T) could be related to an increased Gleason score, AG on HNF1B (rs4430796, A) could be associated with PSA increase, and TG on 17q24 (rs1859962, G) could be negatively associated with an increased BMI in Chinese men with PCa.