Molecular cloning, chromosomal localization and expression profiling of porcine selenoprotein M gene

Ji-Chang Zhou,Hua Zhao,Jia-Yong Tang,Jun-Gang Li,Xiao-Li Liu,Yu-Mei Zhu 한국유전학회 2011 Genes & Genomics Vol.33 No.5

Selenoprotein M may regulate a myriad of biological processes through its redox function. In pigs, neither the nucleotide sequence nor the amino acid sequence is known. Furthermore,patterns of tissue expression and regulation by dietary selenium (Se) have not been examined. We determined the full coding sequence (CDS) and the chromosomal location of the porcine gene, SELM, and described its expression profile in vivo under different dietary Se concentrations. The cDNA sequence of porcine SELM from the start codon to the poly(A) tail was cloned by reverse transcription PCR. The CDS contained 429bases with a typical mammalian selenocysteine insertion sequence of form 2 (F2) located in the 3′-untranslated region. The gene was mapped to chromosome 14q21, where porcine SELM and its neighboring genes exhibited a similar organization to human homologues on chromosome 22q12.2. The expression pattern of SELM mRNA in muscle, thyroid, cerebral cortex, pituitary, testis, liver, and kidney was analyzed with real-time quantitative PCR in young male pigs fed a Se-deficient corn-soybean meal basal diet supplemented with 0.0, 0.3,or 3.0 mg Se/kg in the form of Se-rich yeast. Though the SELM mRNA abundance in each of the 7 tissues was not affected by the dietary Se concentrations, it was significantly higher in thyroid (P < 0.01) than in cerebral cortex, pituitary,testis, liver, and kidney at all of the 3 dietary Se concentrations.

The Band Offset at CdS/Cu2ZnSnS4 Heterojunction Interface

Ji Li,Qingyang Du,Weifeng Liu,Guoshun Jiang,Xuefei Feng,Wenhua Zhang,Junfa Zhu,Changfei Zhu 대한금속·재료학회 2012 ELECTRONIC MATERIALS LETTERS Vol.8 No.4

The band offset at the CdS/Cu2ZnSnS4 heterojunction interface is studied by measuring the valence band spectra using synchrotron radiation photoemission spectroscopy. The Cu2ZnSnS4 thin films are prepared by the sulfurization of electrodeposited Cu-Zn-Sn precursors. A CdS overlayer is sequentially grown on the Cu2ZnSnS4 thin films from a chemical bath deposition process. Valence band spectra were obtained before and after each period of growth to study the electronic structure at the heterojunction interface. The valence band offset was determined to be 0.96 eV, and the conduction band offset was determined to be .0.06 eV. This means that the CdS/Cu2ZnSnS4 hetrojunction has a ‘type II’ band alignment which will cause largescale recombination at the interfaces and will not be suitable for solar cells fabrication.

<i>In Situ</i> Activation of Nitrogen-Doped Graphene Anchored on Graphite Foam for a High-Capacity Anode

Ji, Junyi,Liu, Jilei,Lai, Linfei,Zhao, Xin,Zhen, Yongda,Lin, Jianyi,Zhu, Yanwu,Ji, Hengxing,Zhang, Li Li,Ruoff, Rodney S. American Chemical Society 2015 ACS NANO Vol.9 No.8

<P>We report the fabrication of a three-dimensional free-standing nitrogen-doped porous graphene/graphite foam by <I>in situ</I> activation of nitrogen-doped graphene on highly conductive graphite foam (GF). After <I>in situ</I> activation, intimate “sheet contact” was observed between the graphene sheets and the GF. The sheet contact produced by <I>in situ</I> activation is found to be superior to the “point contact” obtained by the traditional drop-casting method and facilitates electron transfer. Due to the intimate contact as well as the use of an ultralight GF current collector, the composite electrode delivers a gravimetric capacity of 642 mAh g<SUP>–1</SUP> and a volumetric capacity of 602 mAh cm<SUP>–3</SUP> with respect to the whole electrode mass and volume (including the active materials and the GF current collector). When normalized based on the mass of the active material, the composite electrode delivers a high specific capacity of up to 1687 mAh g<SUP>–1</SUP>, which is superior to that of most graphene-based electrodes. Also, after ∼90 s charging, the anode delivers a capacity of about 100 mAh g<SUP>–1</SUP> (with respect to the total mass of the electrode), indicating its potential use in high-rate lithium-ion batteries.</P><P><B>Graphic Abstract</B> <IMG SRC='http://pubs.acs.org/appl/literatum/publisher/achs/journals/content/ancac3/2015/ancac3.2015.9.issue-8/acsnano.5b03888/production/images/medium/nn-2015-03888k_0006.gif'></P><P><A href='http://pubs.acs.org/doi/suppl/10.1021/nn5b03888'>ACS Electronic Supporting Info</A></P>

Safety of Brucea javanica and Cantharidin Combined with Chemotherapy for Treatment of NSCLC Patients

Ji, Zhu-Qing,Huang, Xin-En,Wu, Xue-Yan,Liu, Jin,Wang, Lin,Tang, Jin-Hai Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2014 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.15 No.20

Objective: To assess the safety of Brucea javanica and Cantharidin combined with chemotherapy in treating patients with non-small-cell lung carcinoma. Method: A consecutive cohort of patients with NSCLC were divided into four groups: experimental group A treated with Brucea javanica injection combined with chemotherapy; experimental group B with Cantharidin injection combined with chemotherapy; experimental group C treated with Brucea javanica and Cantharidin injection combined with chemotherapy; and the control group receiving only chemotherapy. After more than two courses of treatment, safety, quality of life and side effects were evaluated. Results: The incidences of myelosuppression in groups A, B and C were lower than that in Control group (p<0.05), but without significant differences among A, B and C. Adverse effects on the gastrointestinal tract also were lower than in controls (p<0.05) without variation amnog the combined treatment groups. Conclusions: Brucea javanica or Cantharidin combined with chemotherapy could in both cases improve quality of life in our cohort of NSCLC patients without any increase in toxicity. However, further clinical experiments should be conducted to evaluate the efficacy of Brucea javanica and Cantharidin combined with chemotherapy for patients with NSCLC.

Hydraulic fracturing experiments of highly deviated well with oriented perforation technique

Zhu, Hai Y.,Deng, Jin G.,Liu, Shu J.,Wen, Min,Peng, Cheng Y.,Li, Ji R.,Chen, Zi J.,Hu, Lian B.,Lin, Hai,Guang, Dong Techno-Press 2014 Geomechanics & engineering Vol.6 No.2

In order to investigate the effect of different perforation angles (the angle between the perforation direction and the maximum horizontal principal stress) on the fracture initiation and propagation during hydraulic fracturing of highly deviated well in oil & gas saturated formation, laboratory experiments of the hydraulic fracturing had been carried out on the basis of non-dimensional similar criteria by using 400^3 $mm^3$ cement cubes. A plane fracture can be produced when the perforations are placed in the direction of the maximum horizontal principal stress. When the perforation angle is $45^{\circ}$, the fractures firstly initiate from the perforations at the upper side of the wellbore, and then turn to the maximum horizontal principal stress direction. When the well deviation angle and perforation angle are both between $45^{\circ}$ and $90^{\circ}$, the fractures hardly initiate from the perforations at the lower side of the wellbore. Well azimuth (the angle between the wellbore axis and the maximum horizontal principal stress) has a little influence on the fracture geometries; however it mainly increases the fracture roughness, fracture continuity and the number of secondary fractures, and also increases the fracture initiation and propagation pressure. Oriented perforating technology should be applied in highly deviated well to obtain a single plane fracture. If the well deviation angle is smaller, the fractures may link up.

Epidemiological Patterns of Cancer Incidence in Southern China: Based on 6 Population-based Cancer Registries

Liu, Jie,Yang, Xu-Li,Li, Ai,Chen, Wan-Qing,Ji, Lu,Zhao, Jun,Yan, Wei,Chen, Yi-Ying,Zhu, Li-Ping Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2014 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.15 No.3

Background: The epidemiological patterns of cancer incidence have been investigated widely in western countries. Nevertheless, information is quite limited in Jiangxi province, southern China. Materials and Methods: All data were reported by 6 population-based cancer registries in Jiangxi Province. The results were presented as incidence rates of cases by site (ICD-10), sex, crude rate (CR), age-standardized rates (ASRs) and truncated incidence rate (TR) per 100,000 person-years, using the direct method of standardization to the world population. Results: 8,765 new cancer cases were registered in our study during the period 2009-2011. Diagnosis of cancer was based on histopathology in 61.0%, clinical or radiology findings in 4.87% and death certificate only (DCO) in 3.0% of the cases. The median age at diagnosis was 62.0 years (mean, 61; standard deviation, 15). The ASRs were 170.8 per 100,000 for men and 111.2 for women. The ASRs for all invasive cancers from the urban areas (145.7 per 100,000) was higher than that of rural areas (137.1). Incidence rates for lung cancer were higher in rural (35.8) than in urban areas (27.0). Similarly, relatively high rates were observed for stomach cancer in rural (20.1) relative to urban areas (15.5). Conclusions: Our results reveal that the most common cancers were breast and lung in women and lung and liver in men. Interestingly, this study suggested a higher incidence rates for lung and stomach cancer in rural males than in urban population, which may suggest other potential causes, such as over-consumption of smoked meats and high prevalence of Helicobacter pylori infection, respectively. Public education and the promotion of healthy lifestyles should be actively carried out.

Perovskite and Conjugated Polymer Wrapped Semiconducting Carbon Nanotube Hybrid Films for High-Performance Transistors and Phototransistors

Zhu, Huihui,Liu, Ao,Luque, Hector Lopez,Sun, Huabin,Ji, Dongseob,Noh, Yong-Young American Chemical Society 2019 ACS NANO Vol.13 No.4

<P>Although organic-inorganic halide perovskites continue to generate considerable interest due to great potentials for various optoelectronic devices, there are some critical obstacles to practical applications, including lead toxicity, relatively low field-effect mobility, and strong hysteresis during operation. This paper proposes a universal approach to significantly improve mobility and operational stability with reduced dual-sweep hysteresis for perovskite-based thin film transistors (TFTs) by coupling low-dimensional lead-free perovskite material (C<SUB>6</SUB>H<SUB>5</SUB>C<SUB>2</SUB>H<SUB>4</SUB>NH<SUB>3</SUB>)<SUB>2</SUB>SnI<SUB>4</SUB> (hereafter abbreviated as (PEA)<SUB>2</SUB>SnI<SUB>4</SUB>) with embedded conjugated polymer wrapped semiconducting carbon nanotubes (semi-CNTs). In (PEA)<SUB>2</SUB>SnI<SUB>4</SUB>/semi-CNT hybrid TFTs, semi-CNTs can provide highway-like transport paths, enabling smoother carrier transport with less trapping and scattering. We also demonstrate the performance of (PEA)<SUB>2</SUB>SnI<SUB>4</SUB>/semi-CNT hybrid phototransistors with ultrahigh photoresponsivity (<I>R</I>) of 6.3 × 10<SUP>4</SUP> A/W and detectivity (<I>D*</I>) of 1.12 × 10<SUP>17</SUP> Jones, which is about 2 or 3 orders of magnitude higher than that of the best devices available to date. The results indicate promising potentials for solution-processed perovskite/semi-CNT hybrid platforms, and the developed strategy can be applied for high-performance perovskite nanomaterial optoelectronics.</P> [FIG OMISSION]</BR>

Sex-related Differences in DNA Copy Number Alterations in Hepatitis B Virus-Associated Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Zhu, Zhong-Zheng,Wang, Dong,Cong, Wen-Ming,Jiang, Hongmei,Yu, Yue,Wen, Bing-Ji,Dong, Hui,Zhang, Xiao,Liu, Shu-Fang,Wang, Ai-Zhong,Zhu, Guanshan,Hou, Lifang Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2012 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.13 No.1

Background: Males have a higher prevalence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) than females in general, but the reasons for the sex disparity are still obscure. DNA copy number alteration (CNA) is a major feature of solid tumors including HCC, but whether CNA plays a role in sex-related differences in HCC development has never been evaluated. Methods: High-resolution array comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) was used to examine 17 female and 46 male HCC patients with chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in Shanghai, China. Two-tailed Fisher's exact or ${\chi}^2$ tests was used to compare CNAs between females and males. Results: The overall frequencies and patterns of CNAs in female and male cases were similar. However, female HCC tumors presented more copy number gains compared to those in males on 1q21.3-q22 (76.5% vs. 37.0%, P = 0.009), 11q11 (35.3% vs. 0.0%, P = 0.0002) and 19q13.31-q13.32 (23.5% vs. 0.0%, P = 0.004), and loss on 16p11.2 (35.3% vs. 6.5%, P = 0.009). Relative to females, male cases had greater copy number loss on 11q11 (63.0% vs. 17.6%, P = 0.002). Further analyses showed that 11q11 gain correlated with 19q13.31-q13.32 gain (P = 0.042), 11q11 loss (P = 0.011) and 16p11.2 loss (P = 0.033), while 1q21.3-q22 gain correlated with 19q13.31-q13.32 gain (P = 0.046). Conclusions: These findings suggest that CNAs may play a role in sex-related differences in HBVassociated HCC development.

Association of IgE-mediated allergen sensitivity and promoter polymorphisms of chemokine (C–C motif) ligand 5 gene in Han Chinese patients with allergic skin diseases

Ji-Chang Zhou,Yu-Mei Zhu,Zheng Chen,Shan He,Shi-jie Zheng,Jun-luan Mo,Xiao-Li Liu,Chun-mei Gong,Bin Hou,Hui Yang 한국유전학회 2015 Genes & Genomics Vol.37 No.5

Two single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), rs2280788 (-28C[G) and rs2107538 (-403G[A), in the promoter region of chemokine (C–C motif) ligand 5 (CCL5) was reported to be involved in the immunoglobulin E (IgE) expression and IgE-mediated allergic reactions. This study was to investigate the characteristics of total serum IgE level, specific allergen sensitivities and the two SNPs in the allergic skin disease (ASD) patients. ASD patients visiting the dermatological outpatient department of a local hospital were included with certain criteria, and the fasting venous blood was sampled for analysis. Total serum IgE was assayed with an ELISA kit, and 14 kinds of allergen-specific IgE were tested with an allergen screening system. The polymerase chain reaction–restriction fragment length polymorphism method was used to analyze the two SNPs. Among the finally included 437 patients aged from 16 to 85 years, 68.2 % was positive for the total serum IgE, 49.2 % was positive for at least one of the assayed allergen-specific IgE, and 35.0 % was sensitive to house dust mite. In the SNPs analysis, the GG/(GA?AA) ratio and G/A ratio for the -403G[A locus in the male and/or female C45 years subgroup were significantly lower in the total serum IgE positive patients than in the negative patients (P\0.05). Weak linkage disequilibrium was found between -403A and -28C alleles in male subgroups adjusted by age. Conclusively, house dust mite was the most common allergen in ASD patients, and -403A allele of CCL5 promoter was a risk factor for IgE-mediated sensitization.

Isolation and characterization of tick-borne Roseomonas haemaphysalidis sp. nov. and rodent-borne Roseomonas marmotae sp. nov.

Zhu Wentao,Zhou Juan,Lu Shan,Yang Jing,Lai Xin-He,Jin Dong,Pu Ji,Huang Yuyuan,Liu Liyun,Li Zhenjun,Xu Jianguo 한국미생물학회 2022 The journal of microbiology Vol.60 No.2

Four novel Gram-negative, mesophilic, aerobic, motile, and cocci-shaped strains were isolated from tick samples (strains 546T and 573) and respiratory tracts of marmots (strains 1318T and 1311). The 16S rRNA gene sequencing revealed that strains 546T and 573 were 97.8% identical to Roseomonas wenyumeiae Z23T, whereas strains 1311 and 1318T were 98.3% identical to Roseomonas ludipueritiae DSM 14915T. In addition, a 98.0% identity was observed between strains 546T and 1318T. Phylogenetic and phylogenomic analyses revealed that strains 546T and 573 clustered with R. wenyumeiae Z23T, whereas strains 1311 and 1318T grouped with R. ludipueritiae DSM 14915T. The average nucleotide identity between our isolates and members of the genus Roseomonas was below 95%. The genomic G+C content of strains 546T and 1318T was 70.9% and 69.3%, respectively. Diphosphatidylglycerol (DPG) and phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) were the major polar lipids, with Q-10 as the predominant respiratory quinone. According to all genotypic, phenotypic, phylogenetic, and phylogenomic analyses, the four strains represent two novel species of the genus Roseomonas, for which the names Roseomonas haemaphysalidis sp. nov. and Roseomonas marmotae sp. nov. are proposed, with 546T (= GDMCC 1.1780T = JCM 34187T) and 1318T (= GDMCC 1.1781T = JCM 34188T) as type strains, respectively.