The type II histidine triad protein HtpsC facilitates invasion of epithelial cells by highly virulent Streptococcus suis serotype 2

Lu Yunjun,Li Shu,Shen Xiaodong,Zhao Yan,Zhou Dongming,Hu Dan,Cai Xushen,Lu Lixia,Xiong Xiaohui,Li Ming,Cao Min 한국미생물학회 2021 The journal of microbiology Vol.59 No.10

Streptococcus suis serotype 2 (S. suis 2) is an important zoonotic pathogen that presents a significant threat both to pigs and to workers in the pork industry. The initial steps of S. suis 2 pathogenesis are unclear. In this study, we found that the type II histidine triad protein HtpsC from the highly virulent Chinese isolate 05ZYH33 is structurally similar to internalin A (InlA) from Listeria monocytogenes, which plays an important role in mediating listerial invasion of epithelial cells. To determine if HtpsC and InlA function similarly, an isogenic htpsC mutant (ΔhtpsC) was generated in S. suis by homologous recombination. The htpsC deletion strain exhibited a diminished ability to adhere to and invade epithelial cells from different sources. Double immunofluorescence microscopy also revealed reduced survival of the ΔhtpsC mutant after cocultivation with epithelium. Adhesion to epithelium and invasion by the wild type strain was inhibited by a monoclonal antibody against E-cadherin. In contrast, the htpsC-deficient mutant was unaffected by the same treatment, suggesting that E-cadherin is the host-cell receptor that interacts with HtpsC and facilitates bacterial internalization. Based on these results, we propose that HtpsC is involved in the process by which S. suis 2 penetrates host epithelial cells, and that this protein is an important virulence factor associated with cell adhesion and invasion.

Single-cell RNA sequencing reveals B cell–related molecular biomarkers for Alzheimer’s disease

Xiong Liu-Lin,Xue Lu-Lu,Du Ruo-Lan,Niu Rui-Ze,Chen Li,Chen Jie,Hu Qiao,Tan Ya-Xin,Shang Hui-Fang,Liu Jia,Yu Chang-Yin,Wang Ting-Hua 생화학분자생물학회 2021 Experimental and molecular medicine Vol.53 No.-

In recent years, biomarkers have been integrated into the diagnostic process and have become increasingly indispensable for obtaining knowledge of the neurodegenerative processes in Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) in human blood have been reported to participate in a variety of neurodegenerative activities. Here, a single-cell RNA sequencing analysis of PBMCs from 4 AD patients (2 in the early stage, 2 in the late stage) and 2 normal controls was performed to explore the differential cell subpopulations in PBMCs of AD patients. A significant decrease in B cells was detected in the blood of AD patients. Furthermore, we further examined PBMCs from 43 AD patients and 41 normal subjects by fluorescence activated cell sorting (FACS), and combined with correlation analysis, we found that the reduction in B cells was closely correlated with the patients’ Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR) scores. To confirm the role of B cells in AD progression, functional experiments were performed in early-stage AD mice in which fibrous plaques were beginning to appear; the results demonstrated that B cell depletion in the early stage of AD markedly accelerated and aggravated cognitive dysfunction and augmented the Aβ burden in AD mice. Importantly, the experiments revealed 18 genes that were specifically upregulated and 7 genes that were specifically downregulated in B cells as the disease progressed, and several of these genes exhibited close correlation with AD. These findings identified possible B cell-based AD severity, which are anticipated to be conducive to the clinical identification of AD progression.

MODEL PREDICTIVE TRAJECTORY OPTIMIZATION AND TRACKING IN HIGHLY CONSTRAINED ENVIRONMENTS

Lu Xiong,Zhiqiang Fu,Zixuan Qian,Bo Leng,Dequan Zeng,Yanjun Huang 한국자동차공학회 2022 International journal of automotive technology Vol.23 No.4

This paper presents a model predictive trajectory optimization and tracking framework to avoid collisions for autonomous vehicles in highly constrained environments. Firstly, a vehicle model is established in road coordinate system to describe the relationship between the vehicle and the reference road. Secondly, a numerical optimization method is applied to smoothen the reference path generated by waypoints. Then, a multilayer searched method is used to establish a safe driving corridor in highly constrained environments. In addition, an optimal path optimization and tracking framework based on model predictive control is formulated to improve the driving safety and comfort. The proposed framework considers the constraints of path boundaries and vehicle dynamics to provide the optimal control command. Furthermore, the speed profile is optimized based on the longitudinal motion model in space domain to ensure the constraints of speed limits and vehicle acceleration. Finally, the proposed algorithms are evaluated through experiments in various scenarios to demonstrate the effectiveness.

Effect of Freeze Drying on the Liquid Penetration of Chinese fir wood

( Jian Xiong Lu ),( Zhi Yuan Lin ),( Jia Ji Jiang ),( Jing Hui Jiang ) 韓國木材工學會 2005 한국목재공학회 학술발표논문집 Vol.2005 No.-

Estimation of damping induced by taut mooring lines

Xiong, Lingzhi,Lu, Wenyue,Li, Xin,Guo, Xiaoxian The Society of Naval Architects of Korea 2020 International Journal of Naval Architecture and Oc Vol.12 No.1

A moored floating structure may exhibit resonant motion responses to low-frequency excitations. Similar to the resonant responses of many vibration systems, the motion amplitude of a moored floating structure is significantly affected by the damping of the entire system. In such cases, the damping contributed by the mooring lines sometimes accounts for as much as 80% of the total damping. While the damping induced by catenary mooring lines is well-investigated, few studies have been conducted on the damping induced by taut mooring lines, especially one partly embedded in soil. The present study develops a simple but accurate model for estimating the damping contributed by mooring lines. A typical type of taut mooring line was used as the reference and the hydrodynamic drag force and soil resistance were taken into consideration. The proposed model was validated by comparing its predictions with those of a previously developed model and experimental measurements obtained by a physical model. Case studies and sensitivity studies were also conducted using the validated model. The damping induced by the soil resistance was found to be considerably smaller than the hydrodynamic damping. The superposition of the wave frequency motion on the low-frequency motion was also observed to significantly amplify the damping induced by the mooring lines.

Physiological and Pharmacological Characterization of Glutamate and GABA Receptors in the Retina

Xiong-Li Yang,Ying Shen,Ming-Hu Han,Tao Lu 대한생리학회-대한약리학회 1999 The Korean Journal of Physiology & Pharmacology Vol.3 No.5

<P> Glutamate and γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) are major excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmitters in the vertebrate retina, respectively. Using the whole-cell patch clamp technique and a rapid solution changer, glutamate and GABA receptors have been extensively investigated in carp retina. Glutamate receptors on both horizontal and amacrine cells may be an AMPA preferring subtype, which predominantly consists of flop splice variants. GABA<SUB>A</SUB> and GABA<SUB>C</SUB> receptors coexist in bipolar cells and they both show significant desensitization. Kinetics analysis demonstrated that activation, deactivation and desensitization of the GABA<SUB>C</SUB> receptor-mediated response of these cells are overall slower than those of the GABA<SUB>A</SUB> response. Endogenous modulator Zn<SUP>2⁢</SUP> in the retina was found to differentially modulate the kinetic characteristics of the GABA<SUB>C</SUB> and GABA<SUB>A</SUB> responses.

Association Between Insulin-like Growth Factor-2 Expression and Prognosis after Transcatheter Arterial Chemoembolization and Octreotide in Patients with Hepatocellar Carcinoma

Xiong, Zheng-Ping,Huang, Fang,Lu, Meng-Hou Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2012 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.13 No.7

Objective: To investigate the association between the change of IGF-2 level in serum after transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) progression, especially in relation to metastasis. Methods: IGF-2 in serum was measured by quantitative sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assaybefore, 3 days and 4 weeks after TACE in 60 patients with HCC. The occurrence of HCC metastasis was also evaluated, 3 months after TACE. Results: (1) The average serum level of IGF-2 in the 60 patients with HCC was $136.5{\pm}87.3$ pg/ml; (2) A tendency for increase was observed with heterogenous uptake of octreotide and portal vein thrombosis. Metastatic foci were found in 37/38 patients in the group with IGF-2 increasing (97.0%), in contrast to 3/22 (13.6%) patients with IGF-2 decrease. Conclusion: The increase of IGF-2 level in serum appears to be associated with the occurrence of metastatic HCC after TACE and chemotherapy.

Metformin Inhibits Growth of Hepatocellular Carcinoma Cells by Inducing Apoptosis Via Mitochondrion-mediated Pathway

Xiong, Yu,Lu, Qing-Jun,Zhao, Jing,Wu, Guo-Yang Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2012 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.13 No.7

Recently, population-based studies of type 2 diabetes patients have provided evidence that metformin treatment is associated with a reduced cancer incidence and mortality, but its mode of action remains unclear. Here we report effects of metformin on hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) Hep-G2 cells and details of molecular mechanisms of metformin activity. Our research indicates that metformin displays anticancer activity against HCC through inhibition of the mTOR translational pathway in an AMPK-independent manner, leading to G1 arrest in the cell-cycle and subsequent cell apoptosis through the mitochondrion-dependent pathway. Furthermore, we showed that metformin strongly attenuated colony formation and dramatically inhibited Hep-G2 tumor growth in vivo. In conclusion, our studies suggested that metformin might have potential as a cytotoxic drug in the prevention and treatment of HCC.

Exploring finger vein based personal authentication for secure IoT

Lu, Yu,Wu, Shiqian,Fang, Zhijun,Xiong, Naixue,Yoon, Sook,Park, Dong Sun North-Holland 2017 Future generations computer systems Vol.77 No.-

<P><B>Abstract</B></P> <P>Personal authentication is getting harder and harder in the internet of things (IoT). Existing methods used for personal authentication, such as passwords and the two-factor authentication (2FA), are inadequate and ineffective due to human error and other attacks. To support more secure IoT, this paper proposes a finger vein based personal authentication method by exploring competitive orientations and magnitudes from finger vein images. Finger vein recognition has been proven to be a reliable and promising solution for biometric-based personal authentication. The stable and rich piecewise line features in finger vein images can be used to clearly represent finger vein patterns for personal authentication. In this paper, we propose an efficient local descriptor for finger vein feature extraction, namely the histogram of competitive orientations and magnitudes (HCOM). For a finger vein image, two types of local histograms are extracted and fused together to efficiently and adequately represent the competitive information: the histogram of competitive orientations (HCO) and the local binary pattern histogram generated from the image of competitive magnitudes (named as HCMLBP). The extensive experimental results from the application of the proposed method to the public finger vein database MMCBNU_6000, demonstrate that the proposed method outperforms state-of-the-art orientation coding (OC)-based methods and other commonly used local descriptors. Additionally, the proposed method can be used for finger vein image enhancement.</P> <P><B>Highlights</B></P> <P> <UL> <LI> The proposed method can efficiently extract competitive orientations and magnitudes. </LI> <LI> The proposed method outperforms the OC-based methods and common local descriptors. </LI> <LI> The proposed method has small feature size and fast speed. </LI> <LI> The proposed method can be used for finger vein image enhancement. </LI> </UL> </P>

Breast Cancer Inpatients Undergoing Mastectomy from a Hospital in Guangzhou, China: A Retrospective Analysis 2004-2013

Lu, Jian-Jun,Li, Heng-Ai,Xiong, Ying Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2015 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.16 No.11

Background: To explore the hospitalizations of breast cancer patients undergoing mastectomy, and to provide a basis for management, clinical prevention and treatment. Materials and Methods: We conducted an investigation by means of the retrospective survey and the medical records retrieval system, and made out the data of patients suffered from breast cancer in a hospital in Guangzhou from 2004 to 2013, including age, medical payment methods, pathological type, treatment, treatment results, complications, hospitalization days, cost and so on. Results: The average age of the inpatients was 50.14 years old. The main histologic types were infiltrating duct carcinoma (88.06%). The main surgery was modified radical mastectomy (80.41%). The cure rate was 90.80% during the 10 years. The main medical payment method was self-paying (57.28%). The average hospital stay was 13.51 days, and average hospitalization cost was RMB 23,083.66 yuan, proportion of drug fees up to 39.70%. Postoperative complication rate was 0.79%. The self-paying group was with the highest proportion of drug fees (P<0.05), while the free medical service group was with the longest hospitalization days (P<0.05). Conclusions: The payment methods significantly affected the proportion of drug fees and hospitalization days. The therapeutic effect was satisfactory with less complications and reasonable proportion of drug fees in our hospital.