Evidence for the Presence of Long-Lived Plasma Cells in Nasal Polyps

Ya-Na Zhang,Jia Song,Guan-Ting Zhai,Hai Wang,Ren-Zhong Luo,Jing-Xian Li,Bo Liao,Jin Ma,Heng Wang,Xiang Lu,Da-Bo Liu,Zheng Liu 대한천식알레르기학회 2020 Allergy, Asthma & Immunology Research Vol.12 No.2

Purpose: Plasma cells and immunoglobulins (Igs) play a pivotal role in the induction and maintenance of chronic inflammation in nasal polyps. During secondary immune responses, plasma cell survival and Ig production are regulated by the local environment. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the presence of long-lived plasma cells (LLPCs) and specific survival niches for LLPCs in human nasal polyps. Methods: Nasal mucosal samples were cultured with an air-liquid interface system and the Ig levels in culture supernatants were analyzed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The characteristics of LLPCs in nasal polyps were determined by immunohistochemistry and immunofluorescence. The expression of neurotrophins as well as their receptors was detected by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction, immunohistochemistry, immunofluorescence, and Western blotting. Results: The numbers of CD138+ total plasma cells and BCL2+ plasma cells were increased in both eosinophilic and non-eosinophilic nasal polyps compared with those in normal tissues. The production of IgG, IgA, and IgE was detected in culture supernatants even after a 32-day culture of nasal polyps. Although the total numbers of plasma cells were decreased in nasal polyps after culture, the numbers of BCL2+ plasma cells remained stable. The expression of nerve growth factor (NGF) as well as tropomyosin receptor kinase (Trk) A, a high-affinity receptor for NGF, was upregulated in both eosinophilic and non-eosinophilic nasal polyps. In addition, BCL2+ plasma cell numbers were positively correlated with NGF and TrkA mRNA expression in nasal mucosal tissues. Polyp plasma cells had the expression of TrkA. Conclusions: Human nasal polyps harbor a population of LLPCs and NGF may be involved in their prolonged survival. LLPCs may be a novel therapeutic target for suppressing the local Ig production in nasal polyps.

Involvement of Alternative Oxidase in the Regulation of Sensitivity of Sclerotinia sclerotiorum to the Fungicides Azoxystrobin and Procymidone

Ting Xu,Ya-Ting Wang,Wu-Sheng Liang,Fei Yao,Yong-Hong Li,Dian-Rong Li,Hao Wang,Zheng-Yi Wang 한국미생물학회 2013 The journal of microbiology Vol.51 No.3

Sclerotinia sclerotiorum is a filamentous fungal pathogen that can infect many economically important crops and vegetables. Alternative oxidase is the terminal oxidase of the alternative respiratory pathway in fungal mitochondria. The function of alternative oxidase was investigated in the regulation of sensitivity of S. sclerotiorum to two commercial fungicides, azoxystrobin and procymidone which have different fungitoxic mechanisms. Two isolates of S. sclerotiorum were sensitive to both fungicides. Application of salicylhydroxamic acid, a specific inhibitor of alternative oxidase, significantly increased the values of effective concentration causing 50% mycelial growth inhibition (EC50) of azoxystrobin to both S. sclerotiorum isolates, whereas notably decreased the EC50 values of procymidone. In mycelial respiration assay azoxystrobin displayed immediate inhibitory effect on cytochrome pathway capacity, but had no immediate effect on alternative pathway capacity. In contrast, procymidone showed no immediate impact on capacities of both cytochrome and alternative pathways in the mycelia. However, alternative oxidase encoding gene (aox) transcript and protein levels, alternative respiration pathway capacity of the mycelia were obviously increased by pre-treatment for 24 h with both azoxystrobin and procymidone. These results indicate that alternative oxidase was involved in the regulation of sensitivity of S. sclerotiorum to the fungicides azoxystrobin and procymidone, and that both fungicides could affect aox gene expression and the alternative respiration pathway capacity development in mycelia of this fungal pathogen.

Three-Dimensional Elastic Stress Fields of Finite Thickness Plates with Elliptical Hole

Yang, Zheng,Cho, Chong Du,Su, Ting Ya,Kim, Chang Boo,Beom, Hyeon Gyu Trans Tech Publications, Ltd. 2007 Key Engineering Materials Vol.353 No.-

<P>Based on detailed three-dimensional finite element analyses, elastic stress and strain field of ellipse major axis end in plates with different thickness and ellipse configurations subjected to uniaxial tension have been investigated. The plate thickness and ellipse configuration have obvious effects on the stress concentration factor, which is higher in finite thickness plates than in plane stress and plane strain cases. The out-of-plane stress constraint factor tends the maximum on the mid-plane and approaches to zero on the free plane. Stress concentration factors distribute ununiformly through the plate thickness, the value and location of maximum stress concentration factor depend on the plate thickness and the ellipse configurations. Both stress concentration factor in the middle plane and the maximum stress concentration factor are greater than that under plane stress or plane strain states, so it is unsafe to suppose a tensioned plate with finite thickness as one undergone plane stress or plane strain. For the sharper notch, the influence of three-dimensional stress state on the SCF must be considered.</P>

Response Surface Optimized Extraction of Flavonoids from Mimenghua and Its Antioxidant Activities In vitro

Lei Guo,Wen-Cheng Zhu,Ya-Ting Liu,Jiu-Yu Wu,An-Qi Zheng,Yan-Li Liu 한국식품과학회 2013 Food Science and Biotechnology Vol.22 No.5

The optimized extraction conditions of total flavonoids from mimenghua were determined by the Box-Behnken design and response surface methodology. The optimal conditions to achieve the maximum yield of flavonoids were determined as follows: ethanol concentration 68%(v/v), extraction temperature 72.4oC, liquid/material ratio 48:1mL/g, and extraction time 2 h. Under the optimized conditions, the extraction ratio of flavonoids was 15.44%. The crude extract was then purified by AB-8 macroporous adsorption resin, the flavonoids content in the purified extract increased to 90.43%. The antioxidant activities of the purified flavonoids were evaluated in vitro by scavenging capabilities of DPPH radical, hydroxyl radical and superoxide radical, reducing power and total antioxidant capacity. The results showed that the flavonoids have significant antioxidant activities, which can be used as a source of potential antioxidant.

Development and Validation of Nomograms to Provide Individualized Predictions of Sur-vival Benefits from Surgery in Patients with Intermediate/Advanced Hepatocel-lular Carcinoma

( Wen-tao Yan ),( Jia-he Wang ),( Ming-da Wang ),( Zheng Wang ),( Bing Quan ),( Ya-hao Zhou ),( Wei-min Gu ),( Hong Wang ),( Ting-hao Chen ),( Tian Yang ) 대한간학회 2018 춘·추계 학술대회 (KASL) Vol.2018 No.1

Aims: According to the BCLC treatment guidelines, surgery does not be recommended for intermediate/advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). In real world, however, liver resections are often performed in patients with intermediate/ advanced but resectable HCC, especially in the East. Methods: We retrospectively evaluated multicentric data of 1,325 patients newly diagnosed with intermediate/advanced HCC who underwent curative resection. We randomly divided the subjects into development (n = 875) and validation (n = 450) samples. Multivariate Cox proportional hazards models were developed and separately validated on the basis of patients’ clinicopathological variables assessed for associations with 1-year recurrence and 3-year mortality. The discriminatory accuracy of these models was compared with conventional tools by analyzing receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. Results: He statistical nomograms built based on performance status, Child-Pugh grade, portal hypertension, preoperative alpha-fetoprotein level, tumor rupture, largest tumor diameter, tumor number, macrovascular and microvascular invasion, and satellites had good calibration and discriminatory abilities, with c-indices of 0.70 (1-year recurrence) and 0.68 (3-year survival), respectively. These models showed satisfactory goodness-of-fit and discrimination abilities in the validation cohort (c-index, 0.68 for 1-year recurrence and 0.69 for 3-year survival). The areas under the ROC curve using these nomograms exceeded those of traditional staging systems, indicating superior discriminatory capability (c-indices, 0.60-0.63 and 0.56-0.62, respectively). Conclusions: Our proposed online nomograms, which present graphically postoperative prognostic models for recurrence and survival in patients with intermediate/advanced but resectable HCC, offer valuable guidance to surgeons and hepatologists for individually predicting survival benefits from surgery and planning recurrence surveillance and adjuvant therapy.

Optimal Monochromatic Imaging of Spectral Computed Tomography Potentially Improves the Quality of Hepatic Vascular Imaging

Xiao-Ping Yin,Bu-Lang Gao,Cai-Ying Li,Huan Zhou,Liang Zhao,Ya-Ting Zheng,Yong-Xia Zhao 대한영상의학회 2018 Korean Journal of Radiology Vol.19 No.4

Objective: To investigate the efficiency of spectral computed tomography (CT) optimal monochromatic images in improving imaging quality of liver vessels. Materials and Methods: The imaging data of 35 patients with abdominal CT angiography were retrospectively analyzed. Hepatic arteries, portal veins, and hepatic veins were reconstructed with mixed energy (quality check, QC), 70 keV and optimal monochromatic mode. Comparative parameters were analyzed including CT value, image noise (IN), contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR), signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and subjective qualitative analysis. Results: The optimal monochromatic value for assessment of the common hepatic artery, portal vein, and hepatic vein ranged between 49 keV and 53 keV, with a mean of 51 keV. There were statistically significant differences (p < 0.001) among the optimal monochromatic, 70 keV and QC images with regards to the hepatic vascular CT value, IN, CNR, SNR, and subjective qualitative score. CNR of the common hepatic artery in the optimal monochromatic, 70 keV and QC groups was 24.6 ± 10.9, 18.1 ± 8.3, and 11.6 ± 4.6, respectively (p < 0.001) with subjective scores of 4.7 ± 0.2, 4.0 ± 0.3, and 3.6 ± 0.4, respectively (p < 0.001). CNR of the hepatic portal vein was 6.9 ± 2.7, 4.3 ± 1.9, and 3.0 ± 2.1, respectively (p < 0.001) with subjective scores of 4.5 ± 0.3, 3.9 ± 0.4, and 3.3 ± 0.3, respectively (p < 0.001). CNR of the hepatic vein was 5.7 ± 2.3, 4.2 ± 1.9, and 2.7 ± 1.4, respectively with subjective scores of 4.3 ± 0.3, 3.8 ± 0.4, and 3.2 ± 0.3, respectively (p < 0.001). Conclusion: Optimal monochromatic images can lead to improvement in the imaging parameters and optimization of the image quality of the common hepatic artery, hepatic portal vein and hepatic vein compared with conventional mixed kV and with 70 keV datasets.