Dispersal and Control of Anammox Granular Sludge at High Substrate Concentrations

Ting-Ting Chen,Ping Zheng,Li-Dong Shen,Chong-Jian Tang,Shuang Ding 한국생물공학회 2012 Biotechnology and Bioprocess Engineering Vol.17 No.5

This paper reports about the dispersal and control of anammox granular sludge at high substrate concentrations. The results demonstrate that anammox granular sludge would turn into flocculent sludge when the substrate concentrations exceed the inhibitory threshold concentrations, with an apparent drop in the settling velocity of anammox sludge from 73.73 to 16.49 m/h. Moreover, the sludge was washed out of the reactor and a decrease in the nitrogen removal rate from 23.82 to 16.97kg N/(m3/day) was observed. The dominant anammox bacteria in the granular and flocculent sludge were Candidatus Kuenenia stuttgartiensis; however, the contents of heme c and extracellular polymeric substances in the flocculent sludge were much lower than in the granular sludge. Furthermore, the chemical composition of extracellular polymeric substances was different. The high nitrite concentrations more than the inhibitory threshold concentrations were regarded as the reason for the observed granular sludge dispersal and deterioration in reactor performance. The apparent dispersed granular sludge and malfunction of reactor performance could be recovered by means of washing out the residual substrate from the reactor and then re-running the reactor from low substrate concentrations.

The Prognostic Value of Treatment-Related Lymphopenia in Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Patients

Li-Ting Liu,Qiu-Yan Chen,Lin-Quan Tang,Shan-Shan Guo,Ling Guo,Hao-Yuan Mo,Ming-Yuan Chen,Chong Zhao,Xiang Guo,Chao-Nan Qian,Mu-Sheng Zeng,Jin-Xin Bei,Jing Tan,Shuai Chen,Ming-Huang Hong,Jian-Yong Shao 대한암학회 2018 Cancer Research and Treatment Vol.50 No.1

Purpose This study was conducted to evaluate the prognostic value of treatment-related lymphopenia in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). Materials and Methods A total of 413 consecutive stage II-IVb NPC patients treated with concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) were enrolled. The overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS), and distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS) were calculated with the Kaplan-Meier method, and differences were compared using the log-rank test. Results A minimum (mini)–absolute lymphocyte counts (ALC) of < 390 cells/μL or ALC after 3 months of CCRT (post3m-ALC) < 705 cells/μL was significantly associated with worse outcome than mini-ALC ! 390 cells/μL (OS, p=0.002; PFS, p=0.005; DMFS, p=0.004) or post3m-ALC ! 705 cells/μL (OS, p < 0.001; PFS, p < 0.001; DMFS, p=0.001). Patients with lymphopenia (mini-ALC < 390 cells/μL and post3m-ALC < 705 cells/μL) had a worse prognosis than those without lymphopenia (mini-ALC ! 390 cells/μL and post3m-ALC ! 705 cells/μL) (OS, p < 0.001; PFS, p < 0.001; DMFS, p < 0.001). Multivariate analysis revealed that post3m-ALC was an independent prognostic factor for OS (hazard ratio [HR], 1.76; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.12 to 2.78; p=0.015), PFS (HR, 1.86; 95% CI, 1.23 to 2.82; p=0.003), and DMFS (HR, 1.87; 95% CI, 1.13 to 3.08; p=0.014). Multivariate analysis also revealed that patients with lymphopenia had a high risk of death (HR, 3.79; 95% CI, 1.75 to 8.19; p=0.001), disease progression (HR, 2.93; 95% CI, 1.59 to 5.41; p=0.001), and distant metastasis (HR, 3.89; 95% CI, 1.67 to 9.10; p=0.002). Multivariate analysis performed with time dependent Cox regression demonstrated ALC was an independent prognostic factor for OS (HR, 0.995; 95% CI, 0.991 to 0.999; p=0.025) and PFS (HR, 0.993; 95% CI, 0.988 to 0.998; p=0.006). Conclusion Treatment-related lymphopenia was a poor prognostic factor in NPC patients.

New Method of Designing Controller for Uncertain Diff erential-Diff erence Systems and Application to Time-Delay Operational Amplifi er System

Ke Jian,Chung-Cheng Chen,Yen-Ting Chen,Gui-hong Lin 대한전기학회 2020 Journal of Electrical Engineering & Technology Vol.15 No.6

This study combines the feedback linearization method and our recent researches of Chen electrical unifying approach to propose a global tracking controller design for nonlinear uncertain diff erential-diff erence systems with time delay. One example, which cannot be solved by the fi rst paper on the almost disturbance decoupling problem, is presented in this study to show the essential points that the tracking performance is easily solved by the proposed approach. The study applies Chen electrical unifying approach to take the place of using the disorganized virtual ground technique and the Kirchhoff ’s law for those traditional approaches. In order to show its signifi cant practicability, the study has fi rstly designed an easy-to-implement adder and a time-delay circuit, and an unstable time-delay operational amplifi er control system based on the Chen electrical unifying approach, and then has proposed a stable controller.

Prognostic Value of PLCE1 Expression in Upper Gastrointestinal Cancer: a Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Cui, Xiao-Bin,Peng, Hao,Li, Su,Li, Ting-Ting,Liu, Chun-Xia,Zhang, Shu-Mao,Jin, Ting-Ting,Hu, Jian-Ming,Jiang, Jin-Fang,Liang, Wei-Hua,Li, Na,Li, Li,Chen, Yun-Zhao,Li, Feng Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2014 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.15 No.22

Background: A number of studies have identified a shared susceptibility locus in phospholipase C epsilon 1 (PLCE1) for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) and gastric cardia adenocarcinomas (GCA). However, the results of PLCE1 expression in esophageal and gastric cancer remain inconsistent and controversial. Moreover, the effects on clinicopathological features remain undetermined. This study aimed to provide a precise quantification of the association between PLCE1 expression and the risk of ESCC and GCA through meta-analysis. Materials and Methods: Eligible studies were identified from PubMed, Wanfang Data, ISI Web of Science, and the Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure databases. Using RevMan5.2 software, pooled odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were employed to assess the association of PLCE1 expression with clinicopathological features relative to ESCC or GCA. Results: Seven articles were identified, including 761 esophageal and gastric cancer cases and 457 controls. Overall, we determined that PLCE1 expression was associated with tumor progression in both esophageal cancers (pooled OR=5.93; 95%CI=3.86 to 9.11) and gastric cancers (pooled OR=9.73; 95%CI=6.46 to 14.7). Moreover, invasion depth (pooled OR=3.62; 95%CI=2.30 to 5.70) and lymph node metastasis (pooled OR=4.21; 95%CI=2.69 to 6.59) were linked with PLCE1 expression in gastric cancer. However, no significant associations were determined between PLCE1 overexpression and the histologic grade, invasion depth, and lymph node metastasis in esophageal cancer. Conclusions: Our metaanalysis results indicated that upregulated PLCE1 is significantly associated with an increased risk of tumor progression in ESCC and GCA. Therefore, PLCE1 expression can be appropriately regarded as a promising biomarker for ESCC and GCA patients.

Inhibition of microRNA-214 promotes epithelial mesenchymal transition process and induces interstitial cystitis in postmenopausal women by upregulating Mfn2

Jian-Wei Lv,Wei Wen,Chen Jiang,Qi-Bo Fu,Yin-Jun Gu,Ting-Ting Lv,Zhen-Dong Li,Wei Xue 생화학분자생물학회 2017 Experimental and molecular medicine Vol.49 No.-

Our study aims to investigate the roles that microRNA-214 (miR-214) plays in the epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT) process and the development of interstitial cystitis (IC) in postmenopausal women by targeting Mitofusin 2 (Mfn2). IC bladder tissues and adjacent normal bladder tissues were collected from postmenopausal women. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) staining was conducted. The target relationship between miR-214 and Mfn2 was determined by a dual luciferase reporter gene assay. Adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (ADMSCs) were extracted from postmenopausal rats and assigned to the blank, mimics, miR-214 inhibitors, mimics negative control (NC), inhibitors NC, Mfn2 siRNA, miR-214 inhibitors and Mfn2 siRNA groups. Exosomes secreted by transfected ADMSCs were instilled into the bladders of postmenopausal rats. The expression of miR-214 and Mfn2 mRNA and EMT markers was assessed by qRT-PCR and western blotting. It was confirmed that Mfn2 was the target gene of miR-214 in IC. Compared with the normal bladder tissues, miR-214 decreased, but Mfn2 increased in IC bladder tissues. Compared with the blank group, the expression of miR-214 and the expression levels of N-cadherin, Fibronectin, Twist1, Snail and Vimentin mRNA and protein increased, whereas the expression levels of Mfn2, E-cadherin and ZO-1 mRNA and protein decreased in the miR-214 mimics and Mfn2 groups. The expression of MiR-214 and the expression levels of N-cadherin, Fibronectin, Twist1, Snail and Vimentin mRNA and protein decreased, whereas the expression levels of Mfn2, E-cadherin and ZO-1 mRNA and protein increased in the miR-214 inhibitors group. Our findings indicate that the inhibition of miR-214 promotes the EMT process and contributes to bladder wall fibrosis by up-regulating Mfn2, thus leading to the occurrence of IC in postmenopausal women.

Tristetraprolin Overexpression in Gastric Cancer Cells Suppresses PD-L1 Expression and Inhibits Tumor Progression by Enhancing Antitumor Immunity

Jian Guo,Huiheng Qu,Ting Shan,Yigang Chen,Ye Chen,Jiazeng Xia 한국분자세포생물학회 2018 Molecules and cells Vol.41 No.7

The RNA-binding protein tristetraprolin (TTP) binds to adenosine- uridine AU-rich elements in the 3’-untranslated region of messenger RNAs and facilitates rapid degradation of the target mRNAs. Therefore, it regulates the expression of multiple cancer and immunity-associated transcripts. Furthermore, a lack of TTP in cancer cells influences cancer progression and predicts poor survival. Although the functions of TTP on cancer cells have previously been researched, the mechanism of TTP on the interaction between cancer cells with their microenvironment remains undiscovered. In this study, we admed to determine the role of cancer cell TTP during the interaction between tumor and immune cells, specifically regulatory T cells (Tregs). We evaluate the capability of TTP to modulate the antitumor immunity of GC and explored the underlying mechanism. The overexpression of TTP in GC cells dramatically increased peripheral blood mononuclear lymphocyte (PBML) -mediated cytotoxicity against GC cells. Increased cytotoxicity against TTP-overexpressed GC cells by PBMLs was determined by Treg development and infiltration. Surprisingly, we found the stabilization of programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) mRNA was declining while TTP was elevated. The PDL1 protein level was reduced in TTP-abundant GC cells. PD-L1 gas been found to play a pivotal role in Treg development and functional maintenance in immune system. Taken together, our results suggest the overexpression of TTP in GC cells not only affects cell survival and apoptosis but also increases PBMLs -mediated cytotoxicity against GC cells to decelerate tumor progression. Moreover, we identified PD-L1 as a critical TTP-regulated factor that contributes to inhibiting antitumor immunity.

Study on the Mechanical Behavior of Composite Special-Shaped Columns under Compression-Bending Without End Rotation Constraints

Jian Zhang,Hongjun Wang,Ting Zhou,Zixuan Wang,Zhihua Chen 한국강구조학회 2023 International Journal of Steel Structures Vol.23 No.1

In this study, three double-plate connected L-shaped concrete-filled steel tube composite (LCFST-D) columns were subjected to axial and eccentric loading tests using spherical-hinge supports to relieve the bidirectional rotation constraints. By analyzing the failure phenomenon of the LCFST-D specimen, the rotation of the endplate, and the comparison of similarities and differences between the support of the knife-edge and the support of the spherical-hinge, the bidirectional eccentric loading performance of the LCFST-D column when the bidirectional rotation constraint was released was studied. The test results show that when the spherical-hinge support was loaded, the out-of-the-plane deflection was more evident than the knife hinge. The bearing capacity of the LCFST-D specimen decreases as the eccentricity increased. When the end rotation constraints were relieved, the failure mode of the axial and eccentric loading was nontorsional bidirectional instability. In addition, the loading tests using spherical-hinge supports were verified to effectively release end rotation constraints. A finite element model for the LCFST-D column was established, and its accuracy was confirmed. From the failure mode, deflection, bearing capacity, and rotation of the endplate, the differences between spherical-hinge, knife-edge hinge, and rigid pad loading supports and their influence on bidirectional eccentric loading tests performed on special-shaped columns were investigated. The results show that the bidirectional eccentric loading performance of the LCFST-D column can be reflected by spherical-hinge supports. The theoretical formula was used simultaneously to verify the data from the finite element model and the test.

Key challenges, recent advances and future perspectives of rechargeable lithium-sulfur batteries

Ze-Chen Lv,Peng-Fei Wang,Jian-Cang Wang,Shu-Hui Tian,Ting-Feng Yi 한국공업화학회 2023 Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Vol.124 No.-

Lithium-sulfur (Li-S) battery, which releases energy by coupling high abundant sulfur with lithium metal,is considered as a potential substitute for the current lithium-ion battery. Thanks to the lightweight andmulti-electron reaction of sulfur cathode, the Li-S battery can achieve a high theoretical specific capacityof 1675 mAh g1 and specific energy of 2600 Wh kg1. However, some key scientific issues limit its practicalapplication, such as the ‘‘shuttle effect” of lithium polysulfides, large volume change, poor conductivityof sulfur and its solid-state products, and self-discharge phenomenon. Of these, the ‘‘shuttle effect”is recognized as the most critical challenge affecting on electrochemical performance. Hence, this reviewfirst systematically introduces the development of Li-S batteries and the corresponding ‘‘shuttle effect”. Then, the latest work on anode, cathode, separator and electrolyte are summarized. Finally, some promisingviews on the future research direction of this battery system are put forward.

Performance of the R-way Colposcopic Evaluation System in Cervical Cancer Screening

Zhao, Jian,Zhang, Xi,Chen, Rui,Zhao, Yu-Qian,Wang, Ting-Ting,He, Shan,Qiao, You-Lin Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2015 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.16 No.10

Objective: To investigate the diagnostic value of the R-way colposcopic evaluation system (R-way system) in cervical cancer screening. Materials and Methods: Between August 2013 and August 2014, a total of 1,059 cases referred to colposcopy in Peking University First Hospital were studied using both the R-way system and conventional colposcopy. Our study evaluated and compared the diagnostic ability of the two methods in detecting high-grade lesions and cervical cancer (hereinafter called CIN2+). Evaluation indicators including sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV), Youden index and the area under the curve (AUC) of the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) were calculated. Results: The R-way system had a slightly lower specificity (94.5%) than conventional colposcopy (96.0%) for CIN2+ detection (P=0.181). However, the sensitivity (77.8%) was significantly higher than with the conventional colposcopic method (46.6%) (${\chi}^2=64.351$, P<0.001). In addition, the AUC of the ROC for CIN2+ detection using the R-way system (0.839) was larger than that with conventional colposcopy (0.731) (Z=4.348, P<0.001). If preliminary result had been drawn from cervical exfoliated cytology before colposcopy referral, combination of the R-way system with cytology could increase the sensitivity to 93.9% for CIN2+ detection (excluding ASCUS\LSIL), confirmed by multipoint biopsy or ECC. Conclusions: The diagnostic value of the R-way evaluation system is higher than that of conventional colposcopic evaluation in cervical cancer screening. Moreover, taking the ease of use and standardized quality control management into account, the R-way system is highly preferable.

Platycodin D Induces Apoptosis, and Inhibits Adhesion, Migration and Invasion in HepG2 Hepatocellular Carcinoma Cells

Li, Ting,Xu, Wen-Shan,Wu, Guo-Sheng,Chen, Xiu-Ping,Wang, Yi-Tao,Lu, Jin-Jian Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2014 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.15 No.4

Background: Platycodin D (PD), a triterpenoid saponin isolated from the Chinese medicinal herb Platycodonis radix, possesses anti-cancer effects in several cancer cell lines. The aim of this study was to evaluate its anticancer activities in hepatocellular carcinoma cells. Materials and Methods: MTT and colony formation assays were performed to evaluate cell proliferation, along with flow cytometry and Western blotting for apoptosis. Cell adhesion was tested by observing cellular morphology under a microscope, while the transwell assay was employed to investigate the cell migration and invasion. Results: PD concentration-dependently inhibited cell proliferation in both HepG2 and Hep3B cells, and significantly suppressed colony formation and induced apoptosis in HepG2 cells. The protein levels of cleaved poly ADP-ribose polymerase (PARP) and Bax were up-regulated while that of survivin was down-regulated after treatment with PD. Moreover, PD not only obviously suppressed the adhesion of HepG2 cells to Matrigel, but also remarkably depressed their migration and invasion induced by 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol 13-acetate (TPA). Conclusions: PD presents anti-cancer potential in hepatocellular carcinoma cells via inducing apoptosis, and inhibiting cell adhesion, migration and invasion, indicating promising features as a lead compound for anti-cancer agent development.