Peripheral nerve defects repaired with autogenous vein grafts flled with platelet-rich plasma and active nerve microtissues and evaluated by novel multimodal ultrasound techniques

Yaqiong Zhu,Nan Peng,Jing Wang,Zhuang Jin,Lianhua Zhu,Yu Wang,Siming Chen,Yongqiang Hu,Tieyuan Zhang,Qing Song,Fang Xie,Lin Yan,Yingying Li,Jing Xiao,Xinyang Li,Bo Jiang,Jiang Peng,Yuexiang Wang,Yukun 한국생체재료학회 2022 생체재료학회지 Vol.26 No.3

Background: Developing biocompatible nerve conduits that accelerate peripheral nerve regeneration, lengthening and functional recovery remains a challenge. The combined application of nerve microtissues and platelet-rich plasma (PRP) provides abundant Schwann cells (SCs) and various natural growth factors and can compensate for the deficiency of SCs in the nerve bridge, as well as the limitations of applying a single type of growth factor. Multimodal ultrasound evaluation can provide additional information on the stiffness and microvascular flow perfusion of the tissue. This study was designed to investigate the effectiveness of a novel tissue-engineered nerve graft composed of an autogenous vein, nerve microtissues and PRP in reconstructing a 12-mm tibial nerve defect and to explore the value of multimodal ultrasound techniques in evaluating the prognosis of nerve repair. Methods: In vitro, nerve microtissue activity was first investigated, and the effects on SC proliferation, migration, factor secretion, and axonal regeneration of dorsal root ganglia (DRG) were evaluated by coculture with nerve microtissues and PRP. In vivo, seventy-five rabbits were equally and randomly divided into Hollow, PRP, Micro-T (Microtissues), Micro-T + PRP and Autograft groups. By analysing the neurological function, electrophysiological recovery, and the comparative results of multimodal ultrasound and histological evaluation, we investigated the effect of these new nerve grafts in repairing tibial nerve defects. Results: Our results showed that the combined application of nerve microtissues and PRP could significantly promote the proliferation, secretion and migration of SCs and the regeneration of axons in the early stage. The Micro-T + PRP group and Autograft groups exhibited the best nerve repair 12 weeks postoperatively. In addition, the changes in target tissue stiffness and microvascular perfusion on multimodal ultrasound (shear wave elastography; contrast-enhanced ultrasonography; Angio PlaneWave UltrasenSitive, AngioPLUS) were significantly correlated with the histological results, such as collagen area percentage and VEGF expression, respectively. Conclusion: Our novel tissue-engineered nerve graft shows excellent efficacy in repairing 12-mm defects of the tibial nerve in rabbits. Moreover, multimodal ultrasound may provide a clinical reference for prognosis by quantitatively evaluating the stiffness and microvescular flow of nerve grafts and targeted muscles

B7-H4 Expression is Associated with Cancer Progression and Predicts Patient Survival in Human Thyroid Cancer

Zhu, Jian,Chu, Bing-Feng,Yang, Yi-Peng,Zhang, Sheng-Lai,Zhuang, Ming,Lu, Wen-Jie,Liu, Ying-Bin Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2013 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.14 No.5

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the expression of B7-H4 in human thyroid cancer and determine any association with patient clinicopathological parameters and survival. Methods: B7-H4 expression in 64 clinical thyroid cancer specimens was assessed with immunohistochemistry. Moreover, B7-H4 mRNA expression in 10 fresh resected specimens were evaluated by the reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Immunohistochemical staining of CD3 was performed to assess the number of tumor infiltrating T lymphocytes (TILs) in thyroid cancers. Results: Positive B7-H4 immunohistochemical staining was observed in 61 out of 64 (95.3%) specimens of thyroid cancer tissues. Significantly more B7-H4 mRNA copies were found in thyroid cancer tissue than that adjacent normal tissue. Moreover, B7-H4 expression in human thyroid cancer tissues was significantly correlated with patient TNM stages and extrathyroidal extension (P<0.05), being inversely correlated with the number of TILs (P<0.05). The overall survival rate of the patients with higher B7-H4 expression was significantly worse than that of the patients with lower B7-H4 expression. Conclusions: This present study suggests that high B7-H4 expression is associated with cancer progression, reduced tumor immunosurveillance and worse patient outcomes in human thyroid cancer.

Cavitation in a Shaft-less Double Suction Centrifugal Miniature Pump

Zhuang, Baotang,Luo, Xianwu,Zhu, Lei,Wang, Xin,Xu, Hongyuan Korean Society for Fluid machinery 2011 International journal of fluid machinery and syste Vol.4 No.1

Based on the consideration that the cavitation would affect the operation stability of miniature pumps, the 3-D turbulent cavitating flow in a test pump was simulated by using a mixed cavitation model and k-${\omega}$ SST turbulence model. In order to investigate the influence of inlet geometry parameters on the cavitation performance of the miniature pump, two more impellers are designed for comparison. Based on the results, the following conclusions are drawn: 1) Cavitation performance of the double suction shaft-less miniature pump having different impeller is equivalent to the centrifugal pump having ordinary size, though the flow passage at impeller inlet is small; 2) The miniature pump having radial impeller can produce much higher pump head, but lower cavitation performance than that having the impeller based on the conventional design method; 3) It is believed that by applying the double suction design, the miniature pump achieved relatively uniform flow pattern upstream the impeller inlet, which is favorable for improving cavitation performance.

Inhibitory Effect of Benzyl Isothiocyanate on Proliferation in vitro of Human Glioma Cells

Zhu, Yu,Zhuang, Jun-Xue,Wang, Qin,Zhang, Hai-Yan,Yang, Ping Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2013 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.14 No.4

Malignant glioma, also known as brain cancer, is the most common intracranial tumor, having an extremely high mortality and recurrence rate. The survival rate of the affected patients is very low and treatment is difficult. Hence, growth inhibition of glioma has become a hot topic in the study of brain cancer treatment. Among the various isothiocyanate compounds, it has been confirmed that benzyl isothiocyanate (BITC) can inhibit the growth of a variety of tumors, including leukemia, glioma and lung cancer, both inside and outside the body. This study explored inhibitory effects of BITC on human glioma U87MG cells, as well as potential mechanisms. It was found that BITC could inhibit proliferation, induce apoptosis and arrest cell cycling of U87MG cells. In addition, it inhibited the expression of SOD and GSH, and caused oxidative stress to tumor cells. Therefore, it is believed that BITC can inhibit the growth of U87MG cells outside the body. Its mechanism may be related to the fact that BITC can cause oxidative stress to tumor cells.

Microstructures and nano mechanical properties of the metal tungsten film

Zhu Li-na,Li Guo-lu,Wang Hai-dou,Xu Bin-shi,Zhuang Da-ming,Liu Jia-jun 한국물리학회 2009 Current Applied Physics Vol.9 No.3

The W film was prepared on 1045 steel by magnetron sputtering, with the thickness of 2 ㎛, its surface and cross-section morphologies were investigated with SEM, and the phase structure was analyzed with XRD. X-ray stress determinator was utilized to measure its residual stress, and the nano-hardness and elastic modulus of the film were surveyed by nano-indentation tester. The results show that the surface of W film is very compact and smooth; the particles arranged regularly, the granularity of the thin film is about 1 ㎛. The microcracks, cavities and desquamation were not found in the film and interface, and the bonding between the W film and substrate is well. The XRD results showed that the W film had a body-centered cubic structure, the lattice constant: ɑ = 0.316 nm, the growth preferred orientations are (110) and (220). The compressive stress (-169 MPa) was found on the surface. The average nano-hardness and elastic modulus of W film are 15.22 GPa, 176.64 GPa, respectively, and the mechanical properties of W film are well. The W film was prepared on 1045 steel by magnetron sputtering, with the thickness of 2 ㎛, its surface and cross-section morphologies were investigated with SEM, and the phase structure was analyzed with XRD. X-ray stress determinator was utilized to measure its residual stress, and the nano-hardness and elastic modulus of the film were surveyed by nano-indentation tester. The results show that the surface of W film is very compact and smooth; the particles arranged regularly, the granularity of the thin film is about 1 ㎛. The microcracks, cavities and desquamation were not found in the film and interface, and the bonding between the W film and substrate is well. The XRD results showed that the W film had a body-centered cubic structure, the lattice constant: ɑ = 0.316 nm, the growth preferred orientations are (110) and (220). The compressive stress (-169 MPa) was found on the surface. The average nano-hardness and elastic modulus of W film are 15.22 GPa, 176.64 GPa, respectively, and the mechanical properties of W film are well.

Utility-based Virtual Cloud Resource Allocation Model and Algorithm in Cloud Computing

Zhu Jianrong,Li Jing,Zhuang Yi 보안공학연구지원센터 2015 International Journal of Grid and Distributed Comp Vol.8 No.2

How to satisfy the users’ QoS requirements while improving the resource utilization is one of the key technologies in cloud computing environment. In our work, a virtual cloud resource allocation model VCRAM-U (Utility-based Virtual Cloud Resource Allocation Model) is proposed. In our model, the problem of virtual cloud resources allocation is abstracted as a utility-maximization problem, taking tradeoffs between the utility of the data center and the performance of the applications into account, and maximizing the utility on the premise of meet user’s performance. We design a local decision algorithm and a global decision algorithm to solve our model. Experimental results show that the virtual cloud resources can be managed and allocated efficiently by our model and algorithms. In addition, our model can get a higher utility of the data center compared with other models.

Well-dispersed graphene toward robust lubrication via reorganization of sliding interface

Zhuang Zhao,Xiaoqiang Fan,Yuting Li,Zihan Zeng,Xiaofeng Wei,Kaiyue Lin,Minhao Zhu 한국공업화학회 2023 Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Vol.119 No.-

Excellent lubrication performance of graphene lubricant is mostly attributed to the dispersion of graphene and forming of tribo-film. Herein, diethylene glycol dodecyl ether (E2C12) functionalized graphene oxide (E2C12-GO) was successfully prepared by simple esterification. The physicochemical properties of as-prepared samples were characterized by a series of characterization methods. E2C12-GO with flat edge and high-level spacing possesses high dispersion stability in PAO 20 base oil. Compared with base oil, 0.08 wt% E2C12-GO could achieve the reduction of average friction coefficient and wear rate by 30 % and 57 % at 150 N, respectively. Even with each long-term friction, E2C12-GO could still maintain the state of robust low friction coefficient. Meanwhile, the addition of E2C12-GO can significantly improve the loadbearing capacity (PB value and PD value) of base oil. The excellent tribological properties of E2C12-GO were attributed to high dispersion and high layer spacing, as well as the reorganization of sliding interface. Prospectively, the E2C12-GO shows promising potential as a multi-functional oil-based lubricating additive in industrial applications.

A Double-Layer Heartbeat Detection Algorithm Orienting to Embedded Heterogeneous Cluster

Zhu Wei,Zhuang Yi,Xu Chaoqun 보안공학연구지원센터 2015 International Journal of Grid and Distributed Comp Vol.8 No.3

The heartbeat detection is an important technology to detect faults of cluster nodes. This paper proposes a Double-layer Heartbeat Detection Model and a Double-layer Heartbeat Detection Algorithm (DLHB) orienting to embedded heterogeneous clusters to obtain high availability of embedded heterogeneous clusters. This algorithm divides the nodes in the embedded heterogeneous cluster into different areas by their physical positions. In each node area, a node is selected as the master control node. The inter-area detection uses heartbeat ring mechanism. The intra-area detection can only be made among master control nodes. The experiment results show that, DLHB is more accurate in prediction compared with DHB, and can detect faults concurrently occurring on multiple nodes with less time compared with the heartbeat ring algorithm.

Development of Coating Removing from GFRP Surface by Abrasive Air Jet Using Amino Thermoset Plastic Abrasive

Yansong Zhu,Dong Sun,Wen Zhuang Lu,Tae Jo Ko 한국정밀공학회 2023 International Journal of Precision Engineering and Vol.10 No.2

In this study, amino thermoset plastic (ATP) particles with medium hardness and angular shape were selected as abrasive to remove the aircraft coating from the glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) surface. According to the characteristics of the coating removal, it is found that ATP abrasive can be used in abrasive air jet (AAJ) to remove the coating from the GFRP surface. To illustrate the mechanism of coating removal by ATP-AAJ, a novel interaction model between ATP particle and coating material based on the law of momentum conservation was established; then an erosion model was further proposed to quantitatively estimate coating removal. It indicates that the above two models can be adequate to quantitatively evaluate the coating removal process. The results of this study showed that ATP abrasive can not only be used in AAJ (about 15 cycles of use) to remove the coating by delamination but also can avoid damage to the GFRP substrate surface. These discoveries are specially used for aircraft coating removal from the large aerospace monolithic components made of GFPR and other polymer composites, which can effectively avoid the degradation behavior of the composite substrate and, more importantly, benefit to economic improvement and environmental protection.

Overall evaluation of cutting forces and surface integrity in flank milling of Inconel 718

Kejia Zhuang,Dahu Zhu,Xiaoming Zhang,Han Ding 한국생산제조학회 2014 한국생산제조시스템학회 학술발표대회 논문집 Vol.2014 No.9(2)