Two New Species of Placolecis (Lichenized Ascomycota) from China

( An Cheng Yin ),( Xin Yu Wang ),( Dong Liu ),( Yan Yun Zhang ),( Mei Xia Yang ),( Li Juan Li ),( Li Song Wang ) 한국균학회 2019 Mycobiology Vol.47 No.4

Two new species of the lichen genus Placolecis are discovered in China, namely P. kunmingensis An. C. Yin & Li S. Wang and P. sublaevis An. C. Yin & Li S. Wang. The new combination P. loekoesiana (S.Y. Kondr., Farkas, J.J. Woo & Hur) An. C. Yin is proposed. Placolecis kunmingensis is characterized by having simple, spherical or ellipsoid, hyaline spores, and pear-shaped pycnidia; while P. sublaevis can be distinguished by its thallus forming larger aggregations with slightly flattened lobes at the thallus margin, and urn-shaped pycnidia. Descriptions, a phylogenetic tree and a key are provided for all the known Placolecis species in China.

Effect of Fermentation Conditions on L-Lactic Acid Production from Soybean Straw Hydrolysate

( Juan Wang ),( Qunhui Wang ),( Zhong Xu ),( Wenyu Zhang ),( Juan Xiang ) 한국미생물 · 생명공학회 2015 Journal of microbiology and biotechnology Vol.25 No.1

Four types of straw, namely, soybean, wheat, corn, and rice, were investigated for use in lactic acid production. These straws were mainly composed of cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin. After pretreatment with ammonia, the cellulose content increased, whereas the hemicellulose and lignin contents decreased. Analytical results also showed that the liquid enzymatic hydrolysates were primarily composed of glucose, xylose, and cellobiose. Preliminary experiments showed that a higher lactic acid concentration could be obtained from the wheat and soybean straw. However, soybean straw was chosen as the substrate for lactic acid production owing to its high protein content. The maximum lactic acid yield (0.8 g/g) and lactic acid productivity (0.61 g/(l/h)) were obtained with an initial reducing sugar concentration of 35 g/l at 30°C when using Lactobacillus casei (10% inoculum) for a 42 h fermentation period. Thus, the experimental results demonstrated the feasibility of using a soybean straw enzymatic hydrolysate as a substrate for lactic acid production.

Curdione Inhibits Proliferation of MCF-7 Cells by Inducing Apoptosis

Li, Juan,Bian, Wei-He,Wan, Juan,Zhou, Jing,Lin, Yan,Wang, Ji-Rong,Wang, Zhao-Xia,Shen, Qun,Wang, Ke-Ming Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2014 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.15 No.22

Background: Curdione, one of the major components of Curcuma zedoaria, has been reported to possess various biological activities. It thus might be a candidate anti-flammatory and cancer chemopreventive agent. However, the precise molecular mechanisms of action of curdione on cancer cells are still unclear. In this study, we investigated the effect of curdione on breast cancer. Materials and Methods: Xenograft nude mice were used to detect the effect of curdione on breast cancer in vivo; we also tested the effect of curdione on breast cancer in vitro by MTT, Flow cytometry, JC-I assay, and western blot. Results: Firstly, we found that curdione significantly suppressed tumor growth in a xenograft nude mouse breast tumor model in a dose-dependent manner. In addition, curdione treatment inhibited cell proliferation and induced cell apoptosis. Moreover, after curdione treatment, increase of impaired mitochondrial membrane potential occurred in a concentration dependent manner. Furthermore, the expression of apoptosis-related proteins including cleaved caspase-3, caspase-9 and Bax was increased in curdione treatment groups, while the expression of the anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 was decreased. Inhibitors of caspase-3 were used to confirm that curdione induced apoptosis. Conclusions: Overall, our observations first suggested that curdione inhibited the proliferation of breast cancer cells by inducing apoptosis. These results might provide some molecular basis for the anti-cancer activity of curdione.

Effects of Light and Temperature on Antioxidant Activity and Peroxidase Expression at Different Growth Stages of the Chinese Red Radish

( Lan Wang ),( Li Wang ),( Xiao Juan Li ),( Lin Song Wang ),( Kwang Soo Roh ),( Myeong Hyeon Wang ) 한국응용생명화학회 2009 Applied Biological Chemistry (Appl Biol Chem) Vol.52 No.2

Study on mechanical behaviors of column foot joint in traditional timber structure

Wang, Juan,He, Jun-Xiao,Yang, Qing-Shan,Yang, Na Techno-Press 2018 Structural Engineering and Mechanics, An Int'l Jou Vol.66 No.1

Column is usually floating on the stone base directly with or without positioning tenon in traditional Chinese timber structure. Vertical load originated by the heavy upper structure would induce large friction force and compression force between interfaces of column foot and stone base. This study focused on the mechanical behaviors of column foot joint with consideration of the influence of vertical load. Mechanism of column rocking and stress state of column foot has been explored by theoretical analysis. A nonlinear finite element model of column foot joint has been built and verified using the full-scale test. The verified model is then used to investigate the mechanical behaviors of the joint subjected to cyclic loading with different static vertical loads. Column rocking mechanism and stress distributions of column foot were studied in detail, showing good agreement with the theoretical analysis. Mechanical behaviors of column foot joint and the effects of the vertical load on the seismic behavior of column foot were studied. Result showed that compression stress, restoring moment and stiffness increased with the increase of vertical load. An appropriate vertical load originated by the heavy upper structure would produce certain restoring moment and reset the rocking columns, ensuring the stability of the whole frame.

Managing Social Stability: The Perspective of a Local Government in China

Juan Wang 동아시아연구원 2015 Journal of East Asian Studies Vol.15 No.1

Based on a town government’s meeting memos between March 2001 and October 2007, annual work reports, and my interviews with local officials, I show that China’s township governments have strived to contain, rather than resolve, social discontent. The tendency toward containment lies in two fundamental features of China’s political institutions and central government strategy. First, in order to optimize the function of the petition system as a source of information without losing control, the Hu Jintao administration (2002–2012) passed regulations protecting the rights of petitioners on the one hand, and simultaneously put pressure on local officials to discourage petitioning, on the other. Second, the technical, institutional, and political features of China’s cadre evaluation system encouraged local officials to take a short-term perspective on challenges, avoiding penalties rather than actually solving problems.

Structure Analysis and Laxative Effects of Oligosaccharides Isolated from Bananas

Juan Wang,Hui Hua Huang,Yan Feng Cheng,Gong Ming Yang 한국식품영양과학회 2012 Journal of medicinal food Vol.15 No.10

Banana oligosaccharides (BOS) were extracted with water, and then separated and purified using column chromatography. Gel penetration chromatography was used to determine the molecular weights. Thin layer chromatogram and capillary electrophoresis were employed to analyze the monosaccharide composition. The indican bond and structure of the BOS molecule were determined using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and nuclear magnetic resonance. Results showed that BOS were probably composed of eight β-D-pyran glucose units linked with 1→6 indican bonds. The laxative effects of BOS were investigated in mice using the method described in “Handbook of Technical Standards for Testing and Assessment of Health Food in China.” The length of the small intestine over which a carbon suspension solution advanced in mice treated with low-, middle-, and high-dose BOS was significantly greater than that in the model group, suggesting that BOS are effective in accelerating the movement of the small intestine.

Changes in 11β-Hydroxysteroid Dehydrogenase and Glucocorticoid Receptor Expression in Kawasaki Disease

Juanli Wang,Nan Zhou,Shouzhen Wu,Xiaoyan Zhang,Decheng Su 대한심장학회 2017 Korean Circulation Journal Vol.47 No.3

Background and Objectives: This study aims to investigate the significance of changes in the expression 11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (11β-HSD) and glucocorticoid receptor (GR) for the development of Kawasaki disease (KD). Subjects and Methods: Real-time polymerase chain reaction was performed to determine the mRNA expression levels of GR and 11β-HSD in peripheral blood monocytes, both in the acute phase of the disease and after treatment. Western blotting was performed to determine the protein expression levels of GR and 11β-HSD. Results: The expression levels of GRβ, GRβ, and 11β-HSD1 mRNA in the acute phase were significantly higher than levels at baseline (p<0.01) and after treatment (p<0.05). The 11β-HSD2 mRNA levels were lower in the acute phase than in the normal group (p<0.01), and they were significantly higher after treatment than before (p<0.01). Western blot results were consistent with the real-time PCR results. The coronary artery lesion group exhibited significantly different 11β-HSD2 expression levels from that of the group with normal coronary arteries (p<0.01). Conclusion: GR and 11β-HSD expression changes in the acute phase of KD are important factors for regulating inflammatory responses in KD.

Sensor selection approach for damage identification based on response sensitivity

Wang, Juan,Yang, Qing-Shan Techno-Press 2017 Structural monitoring and maintenance Vol.4 No.1

The response sensitivity method in time domain has been applied extensively for damage identification. In this paper, the relationship between the error of damage identification and the sensitivity matrix is investigated through perturbation analysis. An index is defined according to the perturbation amplify effect and an optimal sensor placement method is proposed based on the minimization of that index. A sequential sub-optimal algorithm is presented which results in consistently good location selection. Numerical simulations with a two-dimensional high truss structure are conducted to validate the proposed method. Results reveal that the damage identification using the optimal sensor placement determined by the proposed method can identify multiple damages of the structure more accurately.

Molecular Cloning and Heterologous Expression of an Acid-Stable Endoxylanase Gene from Penicillium oxalicum in Trichoderma reesei

( Wang Juan ),( Guo Qin Mai ),( Gang Liu ),( Shao Wen Yu ) 한국미생물 · 생명공학회 2013 Journal of microbiology and biotechnology Vol.23 No.2

An endoxylanase gene (PoxynA) that belongs to the glycoside hydrolase (GH) family 11 was cloned from a xylanolytic strain, Penicillium oxalicum B3-11(2). PoxynA was overexpressed in Trichoderma reesei QM9414 by using a constitutive strong promoter of the encoding pyruvate decarboxylase (pdc). The high extracellular xylanase activities in the fermentation liquid of the transformants were maintained 29~35-fold higher compared with the wild strain. The recombinant POXYNA was purified to homogeneity, and its characters were analyzed. Its optimal temperature and pH value were 50oC and 5.0, respectively. The enzyme was stable at a pH range of 2.0 to 7.0. Using beechwood as the substrate, POXYNA had a high specific activity of 1,856 ± 53.5 IU/mg. In the presence of metal ions, such as Cu2+, and Mg2+, the activity of the enzyme increased. However, strong inhibition of the enzyme activity was observed in the presence of Mn2+ and Fe2+. The recombinant POXYNA hydrolyzed birchwood xylan, beechwood xylan, and oat spelt xylan to produce short-chain xylooligosaccharides, xylopentaose, xylotriose, and xylobiose as the main products. This is the first report on the expression properties of a recombinant endoxylanase gene from Penicillium oxalicum. The properties of this endoxylanase make it promising for applications in the food and feed industries.