The Antiproliferation Activity of Ganoderma formosanum Extracts on Prostate Cancer Cells

( Cheng-yen Chiang ),( Kai-di Hsu ),( Yen-yi Lin ),( Chang-wei Hsieh ),( Jui-ming Liu ),( Tze-ying Lu ),( Kuan-chen Cheng ) 한국균학회 2020 Mycobiology Vol.48 No.3

Androgen-independent prostate cancer accounts for mortality in the world. In this study, various extracts of a medical fungus dubbed Ganoderma formosanum were screened for inhibition of DU145 cells, an androgen-independent prostate cancer cell line. Results demonstrated that both hexane (GF-EH) and butanol (GF-EB) fraction of G. formosanum ethanol extract inhibited DU145 cell viability in a dose-dependent manner. GF-EH induced cell-cycle arrest in G1 phase of DU145 cells via downregulation of cyclin E2 protein expression. In addition, GF-EB triggered extrinsic apoptosis of DU145 cells by activating caspase 3 gene expression resulting in programed cell death. Above all, both GF-EH and GF-EB show lower toxicity to normal human fibroblast cell line compared to DU145 cell, implying that they possess specific drug action on cancer cells. This study provides a molecular basis of G. formosanum extract as a potential ingredient for treatment of androgen-independent prostate cancer.

R&D activities dispersion and innovation: implications for firms in China

Ying Ying,Yang Liu,Cong Cheng 기술경영경제학회 2016 ASIAN JOURNAL OF TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION Vol.24 No.3

Despite the increasing attention paid to the dispersion of research and development (R&D)activities, scholars have presented opposing arguments with respect to its effects oninnovation output to date. To address this controversy, we conceptualize and empirically testa model that links different dimensions of R&D activities dispersion and innovation output. Moreover, few studies have explicitly addressed R&D activities dispersion among firms inemerging markets. Using a sample of 244 Chinese high-tech firms collected from 2000 to2009, this study aims to determine how firms in developing countries domestically andglobally distribute their activities. The results show that a firm in an emerging market with adecentralized R&D organizational structure with geographically centralized R&D activitieshas better innovation outputs. Moreover, institutional development positively moderates therelationship between the dispersion of R&D activities and innovation performance.

Trends in incidence and survival outcome of epithelial ovarian cancer: 30-year national population-based registry in Taiwan

Ying-Cheng Chiang,Chi-An Chen,Chun-Ju Chiang,Tsui-Hsia Hsu,Ming-Chieh Lin,San-Lin You,Wen-Fang Cheng,Mei-Shu Lai 대한부인종양학회 2013 Journal of Gynecologic Oncology Vol.24 No.4

Objective: To investigate the changes of incidence and prognosis of epithelial ovarian cancer in thirty years in Taiwan. Methods: The databases of women with epithelial ovarian cancer during the period from 1979 to 2008 were retrieved from the National Cancer Registration System of Taiwan. The incidence and prognosis of these patients were analyzed. Results: Totally 9,491 patients were included in the study. The age-adjusted incidences of epithelial ovarian cancer were 1.01, 1.37, 2.37, 3.24, 4.18, and 6.33 per 100,000 person-years, respectively, in every 5-year period from 1979 to 2008. The age-specific incidence rates increased especially in serous, endometrioid and clear cell carcinoma, and the age of diagnosis decreased from sixty to fifty years old in the three decades. Patients with mucinous, endometrioid, or clear cell carcinoma had better long-term survival than patients with serous carcinoma (log rank test, p<0.001). Patients with undifferentiated carcinoma or carcinosarcoma had poorer survival than those with serous carcinoma (log rank test, p<0.001). The mortality risk of age at diagnosis of 30-39 was significantly higher than that of age of 70 years or more (test for trend, p<0.001). The mortality risk decreased from the period of 1996-1999 (hazard ratio [HR], 0.90; p=0.054) to the period after 2000 (HR, 0.74; p<0.001) as compared with that from the period of 1991-1995. Conclusion: An increasing incidence and decreasing age of diagnosis in epithelial ovarian cancer patients were noted. Histological type, age of diagnosis, and treatment period were important prognostic factors for epithelial ovarian carcinoma.

Relaxation Effect of Schisandra Chinensis Lignans on the Isolated Tracheal Smooth Muscle in Rats and Its Mechanism

Cheng-Cheng Lin,Zhi-Ying Xu,Bi-Han Wang,Wenyue Zhuang,Jinghui Sun,He Li,JianGuang Chen,Chunmei Wang 한국식품영양과학회 2021 Journal of medicinal food Vol.24 No.8

Schisandra chinensis (S. chinensis) is one of the core drugs used for relieving cough and asthma in traditional Chinese medicine. However, there are few basic studies on the treatment of respiratory diseases with S. chinensis in modern pharmacology, and the material basis and mechanism of its antiasthmatic effect are still unclear. Lignans are the main active components of S. chinensis. The aim of this study was to observe the relaxation effect of S. chinensis lignans (SCL) on the tracheal smooth muscle of rats by in vitro tracheal perfusion experiments, and to explore the mechanism by preincubation with L-type calcium channel blocker verapamil, four potassium channel blockers glibenclamide, tetraethylamine, 4-aminopyridine and barium chloride (BaCl2), β-adrenoceptor blocker propranolol, nitric oxide synthase inhibitor Nω-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME), and the cyclooxygenase inhibitor indomethacin, respectively. The results showed that SCL (0.25–1.75 mg/mL) reduced the contraction of isolated tracheal smooth muscle induced by acetylcholine, the preincubation with verapamil and glibenclamide could attenuate the relaxation effect, whereas propranolol, 4-aminopyridine, BaCl2, tetraethylamine, L-NAME, and indomethacin had no such effect. These results suggest that SCL has a significant relaxation effect on the isolated tracheal smooth muscle of rats, and the mechanism may be related to the inhibition of extracellular calcium influx and intracellular calcium release from the sarcoplasmic reticulum, as well as the activation of ATP-sensitive potassium channels. These findings may provide a pharmacological basis for the traditional use of S. chinensis to treat asthma.

TOWARD ESTABLISHING AN EAST-WEST UNIVERSITY SYSTEM : A PROGRAM FOR THE INTERNATIONALIZATION OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN THE GREATER PACIFIC

CHENG, CHUNG-YING EAST WEST EDUCATION RESEARCH INSTITUTE EWHA WOMANS 1988 East west education Vol.9 No.1

Attenuation of hyperoxic acute lung injury by Lycium barbarum polysaccharide via inhibiting NLRP3 inflammasome

Cheng-Ying Hong,Hua-Dong Zhang,Xue-Yan Liu,Yong Xu 대한약학회 2019 Archives of Pharmacal Research Vol.42 No.10

Lycium barbarum polysaccharide (LBP), anactive component from Goji berry which is a traditionalChinese medicine, has anti-inflammatory and antioxidantfeatures. The aim of our study was to investigate whetherLBP has any role in hyperoxia-induced acute lung injury(ALI). Using a murine model of hyperoxia-induced ALI,we investigate the effect of LBP on pulmonary pathologicalchanges as well as Sirtuin 1 (SIRT1) and the nucleotidebinding domain and leucine-rich repeat pyrin domaincontaining 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome. Exposure to 100%oxygen for 72 h in male C57BL/6 mice resulted inincreased protein levels of tumor necrosis factor-a andinterleukin-1b in lung tissues, and aggravated lung histologicalalterations. These hyperoxia-induced changes andmortality were improved by LBP. LBP markedly suppressedthe activation of NLRP3 inflammasome bothin vivo and in vitro. Moreover, LBP upregulated SIRT1expression compared with vehicle-treated group. Importantly,knockdown of SIRT1 reversed the inhibitory effectof LBP on NLRP3 inflammasome activation in vitro. LBP meliorated hyperoxia-induced ALI in mice by SIRT1-dependentinhibition of NLRP3 inflammasome activation.

Clinical Characteristics and Outcomes of the First Episode of Urinary Tract Infection in Neonates and Infants Younger than 2 Months of Age

Cheng, Jackie Ying-Wai Korean Society of Pediatric Nephrology 2017 Childhood kidney diseases Vol.21 No.2

Purpose: The American Academy of Pediatrics provides guidelines for managing febrile urinary tract infection (UTI) in infants and children 2-24 months old, but little guidance is offered regarding UTIs in those younger than 8 weeks of age. The definition of UTI is unclear and whether to proceed with micturating cystourethrography (MCUG) or $^{99m}$technetium-dimercaptosuccinic acid (DMSA) scintigraphy scan in this age group is controversial. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed 29 neonates and infants younger than 2 months of age who underwent late DMSA scans 9 months following the first episode of febrile or symptomatic UTI between July 2009 and June 2016. Results: In total, 192 children aged 0-24 months underwent ultrasound and DMSA scans (MCUG in 174/192). Neonates and infants younger than 2 months of age were significantly less likely to develop fever, and had a lower fever peak, shorter duration of fever before admission and after starting antibiotics, longer hospitalization period, lower C-reactive protein, and greater incidence of nonEscherichia coli infection. There was no difference in pyuria response at diagnosis. The prevalence rates of an ultrasound abnormality (28%), vesicoureteral reflux (28%), UTI recurrence (38%), and renal scarring (10%) in infants younger than 8 weeks of age were similar to those in children 2-24 months old. Conclusion: Neonates and infants younger than 2 months of age with UTI warrant special consideration because the fever response used for diagnosis in older children may be absent or blunted. Clinical guideline is needed for the diagnosis and management of UTI in this age group.

Improved the hydrogen sorption properties of MgH2 by CeMnZr solid solution

Ying Cheng,Wei Zhang,Biqing Shi,Siqi Li,Bing Dong,Yulian Quan,Xianbin Ji 한국화학공학회 2023 Korean Journal of Chemical Engineering Vol.40 No.1

Magnesium hydride (MgH2) is one of the promising solid-state hydrogen storage materials because of its high capacity, abundant resource and excellent reversibility. However, the high dehydrogenation temperatures and sluggish kinetics restrict its practical application. It was found that doping catalysts could significantly improve the hydrogen storage properties of MgH2. The solid solution Ce0.8Mn0.1Zr0.1O2 (denoted as CeMnZr) with abundant oxygen vacancy was synthesized and its catalytic influence on the hydrogen sorption properties of MgH2 have been investigated. CeMnZr modified MgH2 composite showed a reduced initial decomposition temperature, almost 62 K lower than the pristine MgH2. At 473 K, MgH2-CeMnZr composite had an absorption capacity of 4.08 wt% hydrogen within 3,500 s, which was about twice better than the pure MgH2 at same condition. MgH2-CeMnZr sample could desorb 2.56 wt% of H2 within 3,500 s at 573 K compared to low desorption rate and 0.85 wt% H2 by as-milled MgH2. The activation energy (Ea) for CeMnZr codoped MgH2 sample is about 50kJ·mol−1 lower than the milled MgH2. Based on the characteration analysis, the in-situ generated MgO and CeH2.51 species as well as abundant oxygen vacancy is believed to play synergistic catalytic effects in enhancing the hydrogen storage properties of MgH2.

Application of a Neural Network-based Visual Question Answering System in Preschool Language Education

Ying Cheng 대한전자공학회 2023 IEIE Transactions on Smart Processing & Computing Vol.12 No.5

The continuous progress of modern science and technology has led to comprehensive innovations in education, and the use of information technology for teaching has become the mainstream in the current education field. For children’s preschool language education, the application of a visual question answering (VQA) system has gradually become a new development power. This research uses a Recurrent Neural Network and a VGGNet-16 network to extract features from text and images, respectively, and applies a Hierarchical Joint Attention (HJA) model to the whole VQA system. Experiment results demonstrate that the HJA model reaches the target accuracy after 125 iterations, and convergence performance is good. When using the VQAv1 dataset, accuracy can stabilize at 88% after 18 iterations, and when using the VQAv2 dataset, the highest and lowest overall accuracy rates are 77% and 72%, respectively. The three question types (Num, Y/N, and Other) are answered with high accuracy when using the chosen preschool language education database for children, providing accuracy rates of 90%, 94%, and 91%, respectively. This new reference technique offers a new method for maximization of a VQA system, and significantly raises the preschool language education level of the children.

Quantitative Peptidomics Study Reveals That a Wound-Induced Peptide from PR-1 Regulates Immune Signaling in Tomato

Chen, Ying-Lan,Lee, Chi-Ying,Cheng, Kai-Tan,Chang, Wei-Hung,Huang, Rong-Nan,Nam, Hong Gil,Chen, Yet-Ran American Society of Plant Biologists 2014 The Plant cell Vol.26 No.10

<P>CAPE1, a conserved peptide elicitor derived from tomato PR-1, was induced by wounding and found to regulate immune responses against biological threats. As PR-1 is highly conserved across many organisms and the putative peptide from AtPR1 was also found to be bioactive in <I>Arabidopsis</I>, the results suggest that this peptide may be useful for enhancing resistance to stress in other plant species.</P><P>Many important cell-to-cell communication events in multicellular organisms are mediated by peptides, but only a few peptides have been identified in plants. In an attempt to address the difficulties in identifying plant signaling peptides, we developed a novel peptidomics approach and used this approach to discover defense signaling peptides in plants. In addition to the canonical peptide systemin, several novel peptides were confidently identified in tomato (<I>Solanum lycopersicum</I>) and quantified to be induced by both wounding and methyl jasmonate (MeJA). A wounding or wounding plus MeJA-induced peptide derived from the pathogenesis-related protein 1 (PR-1) family was found to induce significant antipathogen and minor antiherbivore responses in tomato. This study highlights a role for PR-1 in immune signaling and suggests the potential application of plant endogenous peptides in efforts to defeat biological threats in crop production. As PR-1 is highly conserved across many organisms and the putative peptide from At-PR1 was also found to be bioactive in <I>Arabidopsis thaliana</I>, our results suggest that this peptide may be useful for enhancing resistance to stress in other plant species.</P>