A national survey on how to improve traditional Chinese medicine learning internationally: Perceptions from both teachers and students

Zhu Yu-Hang,Yan Wu,Hao Zhang,Yanfei Zhao,Yule Ren,Wei Hu,Pan Li,Huiyi Wang,Ying Wang,Boda Zhang,Yujie Wang,Hongwen Yuan,Jiping Zhang,Wenqiang Li,Yufang Zhao,Jie Zhao,Yedong Shi,Yanye Shu,Xiao Zhang,Ya 한국한의학연구원 2022 Integrative Medicine Research Vol.11 No.4

Background With the increasing popularity of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) by the global community, how to teach basic knowledge of TCM to international students and improve the teaching quality are important issues for teachers of TCM. The present study was to analyze the perceptions from both students and teachers on how to improve TCM learning internationally. Methods A cross-sectional national survey was conducted at 23 universities/colleges across China. A structured, self-reported on-line questionnaire was administered to 34 Chinese teachers who taught TCM course in English and to 1016 international undergraduates who were enrolled in the TCM course in China between 2017 and 2021. Results Thirty-three (97.1%) teachers and 900 (88.6%) undergraduates agreed Chinese culture should be fully integrated into TCM courses. All teachers and 944 (92.9%) undergraduates thought that TCM had important significance in the clinical practice. All teachers and 995 (97.9%) undergraduates agreed that modern research of TCM is valuable. Thirty-three (97.1%) teachers and 959 (94.4%) undergraduates thought comparing traditional medicine in different countries with TCM can help the students better understand TCM. Thirty-two (94.1%) teachers and 962 (94.7%) undergraduates agreed on the use of practical teaching method with case reports. From the perceptions of the undergraduates, the top three beneficial learning styles were practice (34.3%), teacher's lectures (32.5%), case studies (10.4%). The first choice of learning mode was attending to face-to-face teaching (82.3%). The top three interesting contents were acupuncture (75.5%), Chinese herbal medicine (63.8%), and massage (55.0%). Conclusion To improve TCM learning among international undergraduates majoring in conventional medicine, integration of Chinese culture into TCM course, comparison of traditional medicine in different countries with TCM, application of the teaching method with case reports, and emphasization of clinical practice as well as modern research on TCM should be fully considered.

An Efficient and Secure Authentication Scheme with Session Key Negotiation for Timely Application of WSNs

Jiping Li,Yuanyuan Zhang,Lixiang Shen,Jing Cao,Wenwu Xie,Yizheng,Shouyin Liu 한국인터넷정보학회 2024 KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Syst Vol.18 No.3

For Internet of Things, it is more preferred to have immediate access to environment information from sensor nodes (SNs) rather than from gateway nodes (GWNs). To fulfill the goal, mutual authentication scheme between user and SNs with session key (SK) negotiation is more suitable. However, this is a challenging task due to the constrained power, computation, communication and storage resources of SNs. Though lots of authentication schemes with SK negotiation have been designed to deal with it, they are still insufficiently secure and/or efficient, and some even have serious vulnerabilities. Therefore, we design an efficient secure authentication scheme with session key negotiation (eSAS2KN) for wireless sensor networks (WSNs) utilizing fuzzy extractor technique, hash function and bitwise exclusive-or lightweight operations. In the eSAS2KN, user and SNs are mutually authenticated with anonymity, and an SK is negotiated for their direct and instant communications subsequently. To prove the security of eSAS2KN, we give detailed informal security analysis, carry out logical verification by applying BAN logic, present formal security proof by employing Real-Or-Random (ROR) model, and implement formal security verification by using AVISPA tool. Finally, computation and communication costs comparison show the eSAS2kN is more efficient and secure for practical application.

Sr-doping enhanced electrical transport and thermionic emission of single crystal 12CaO·7Al2O3 electride

Xin Zhang,Qi Feng,Jiping Zhao,Hong-liang Liu,Jichao Li,Yixin Xiao,Fan Li,Qingmei Lu 한국물리학회 2020 Current Applied Physics Vol.20 No.1

Sr-doped single crystals (C1-xSx)12A7:e− (x=0, 0.01, 0.02, 0.03) were successfully fabricated by floating zone method. It is found that Sr-doping decreases the reduction time from 30 h to 20 h. The maximum emission current of (C1-xSx)12A7:e− is greatly improved by 50% than that of the un-doped. The DFT calculations show Srdoping in C12A7 contributed to the free O2− in the cages spread out, leading to a short reduction time; increase the “window” between two adjacent cages that is conducive to the electrons in cages to escape. And the work function of the (C1-xSx)12A7:e− is lower than that of C12A7:e−.

Synthesis and Application of Reactive Dyes Based on Azo-Anthraquinone Skeleton to Realize Clean Printing of Cotton Fabrics

Hongjuan Zhang,Liujun Pei,Shuaitong Liang,Qun Wang,Jingming Huang,Xiaomin Gu,Jiping Wang 한국섬유공학회 2021 Fibers and polymers Vol.22 No.5

Traditional reactive dyes generate a large amount of colored wastewater during printing owing to low reactivity,causing severe environmental problems. In this investigation, four novel reactive dyes were synthesized via incorporating azostructure into anthraquinone chromophore. They were characterized by UV-Vis, FT-IR, and 1H-NMR spectra. Their printingproperties on cotton fabric were comprehensively studied. Attributed to multifunctional groups, the fixation of the novelreactive dyes can reach 98 % even at the dye concentration of 10 %. It increases by 30 % compared with traditionalanthraquinone dyes. Moreover, the reactive dyes containing both mono-chlortriazine and bis(sulfatoethylsufone) groups canachieve urea-free printing. This research has a potential and significant application in the cleaner production of printing forcotton fabrics.

Triphenylphosphine-Containing Thermo-Responsive Copolymers: Synthesis, Characterization and Catalysis Application

Tao Chen,Shuo Zhang,Laiyu Hua,Zhenkai Xu,Lei Zhou,Jiping Wang 한국고분자학회 2019 Macromolecular Research Vol.27 No.10

Triphenylphosphine-containing thermo-responsive copolymers of 4- (diphenylphosphino) styrene (DPPS), di(ethylene glycol) methyl ether methacrylate (DEGMA) and oligo(ethylene glycol) methyl ether methacrylate (average molecule weight is 300, OEGMA300) were synthesized by free-radical copolymerization using azodiisobutyronitrile (AIBN) as an initiator in solution polymerization. A series of copolymers P(DEGMA-co-DPPS-co-OEGMA300) with different lower critical solution temperature (LCST) were synthesized. The synthesized copolymers were well characterized by 1H NMR, 31P NMR and gel permeation chromatography (GPC). Based on the copolymers, a thermo-responsive and water soluble assembled catalyst of palladium acetate was developed. In the presence of the thermoresponsive copolymer-supported palladium catalyst, the Suzuki-Miyaura reaction proceeded efficiently in water. The catalyst was reused at least five cycles without obvious decrease in catalytic activity and can be easily recovered by heating/centrifugation of the polymer aqueous solution.

Substituent-Dyeing Properties Relationship of Disperse Dyes on Polyester in Low Pressure Waterless Dyeing System

Shunjie Yu,Hongjuan Zhang,Liujun Pei,Shuaitong Liang,Aixue Dong,Jiping Wang 한국섬유공학회 2022 Fibers and polymers Vol.23 No.2

Decamethylcyclopentasiloxane (D5) has attracted an increasing attention because it can realize waterless dyeing ofchemical fibers. In this paper, two azo disperse dyes with different substituents were synthesized, and compared with C.I. Disperse Red 73 to study the relationship between structure and dyeing properties systematically in D5 media. The resultsshowed that the dyeing uptake of dyes increased from 85.5 % to 98.0 % with the substituent changing from N-ethyl to Nacetoxyethylgroup. This was because the solubility of dyes in D5 media showed an evident reduction. Although the dyescontaining N-cyanoethyl group had the lowest solubility, the dyeing uptake became 93.4 %, which was slight lower than thatof dyes with N-acetoxyethyl group. This was because an introduction of N-cyanoethyl group increased dye molecularaggregation in D5 media, making it difficult to diffuse. Additionally, the dyes with N-ethyl or N-acetoxyethyl groups showedbetter washing fastness and rubbing fastness than that of dye containing N-cyanoethyl group. These results provide apotential theoretical guidance for improving exhaustion of disperse dyes in waterless dyeing system. This study will promotetextile industry sustainable development.

Analysis-Based Nonlocal-Approximate Sparsity Representation in Image Processing

Xiaowei He,Li Zhang,Jiping Xiong 보안공학연구지원센터 2016 International Journal of Signal Processing, Image Vol.9 No.9

1l norm is a popular regularizer in various linear inverse problems including image processing, compressed sensing and machine learning. But the non-zero entries of the sparsity solution obtained by 1l are independent with each other, which always leads to biased result to real solution. Actually, there always exist some different correlations among those non-zero entries in an image signal domain or various analysis domains. In this paper, based on a simple observation that the non-zero entries of the sparsity vector in various image analysis domains should be also approximate when the relevant signal values are proximate, we proposed a nonlocal-approximate sparsity regularizer in analysis domains by minimizing the sum of the 2l norms of those vectors with the same nonzero pattern like signal vectors. This regularizer is applied to image denoising, edge detecting, inpainting and decomposition models successively. The numerical experiments demonstrate the effectiveness of our method in terms of PSNR, visual effect and edge preserving.

Isobutanol and 2-ketoisovalerate production by <i>Klebsiella pneumoniae</i> via a native pathway

Gu, Jinjie,Zhou, Jidong,Zhang, Zhongxi,Kim, Chul Ho,Jiang, Biao,Shi, Jiping,Hao, Jian Elsevier 2017 Metabolic engineering Vol.43 No.1

<P><B>Abstract</B></P> <P>Isobutanol is a valuable chemical and is considered a new generation biofuel. Construction of isobutanol synthesis pathways in bacteria is a hot topic in isobutanol production. Here, we show that an isobutanol synthesis pathway exists naturally in <I>Klebsiella pneumoniae</I>; however, this pathway is dormant in the wild-type bacterium. <I>K. pneumoniae</I> is a 2,3-butanediol producer, and the synthesis pathways of 2,3-butanediol, valine and isobutanol all start from condensation of two pyruvate molecules to yield α-acetolactate. Inactivation of α-acetolactate decarboxylase (encoded by <I>budA</I>) resulted in α-acetolactate flowing into the valine pathway, which led to synthesis of isobutanol and 2-ketoisovalerate (a precursor of isobutanol). <I>ldhA</I> (lactate dehydrogenase) deletion further increased the isobutanol and 2-ketoisovalerate production. In the first step of this pathway, <I>BudB</I> (α-acetolactate synthase) was identified as responsible for most of the α-acetolactate synthesis. Complementation of <I>ilvBN</I> or <I>ilvIH</I> (isoenzymes of <I>budB</I>) both resulted in a remarkable increase in 2-ketoisovalerate production. Thus, α-acetolactate formation is the rate-limiting step of 2-ketoisovalerate production. <I>ilvC</I> (acetohydroxy acid isomeroreductase) and <I>ilvD</I> (dihydroxy acid dehydratase) were identified responsible for 2-ketoisovalerate synthesis from α-acetolactate. <I>ipdC</I>, which encodes an indole-3-pyruvate decarboxylase, was identified responsible for most of the isobutyraldehyde formation from 2-ketoisovalerate, and isobutanol production was increased 15.7 fold in the <I>ipdC</I> complementation strain, with a final titer of 2.45g/L. Isobutanol dehydrogenase activity is distributed across multiple alcohol dehydrogenase enzymes expressed by <I>K. pneumoniae</I>. BudC, DhaT, DhaD and YqhD all had isobutanol dehydrogenase activity <I>in vitro</I>. YqhD uses NADPH as the coenzyme, while the other dehydrogenases use NADH. However, inactivating one or two of these dehydrogenases had no effect on isobutanol production <I>in vivo</I> with isobutyraldehyde as the substrate. These results reveal a novel method for biological production of isobutanol and 2-ketoisovalerate.</P> <P><B>Highlights</B></P> <P> <UL> <LI> An isobutanol synthesis pathway exists naturally in <I>K. pneumoniae</I>. </LI> <LI> <I>budA</I> knockout resulted in the production of 2-ketoisovalerate and isobutanol. </LI> <LI> <I>budB</I> is responsible for most of the α-acetolactate formation. </LI> <LI> <I>ipdC</I> is responsible for the conversion of 2-ketoisovalerate to isobutyraldehyde. </LI> <LI> Isobutanol dehydrogenase activity is distributed across multiple alcohol dehydrogenase. </LI> </UL> </P>

Wrinkled rGO Sheets-Wrapped Carbon Fibers with High Tensile Strength and Excellent Electrochemical Stability as Anodes for Structural Li-Ion Battery

Huagen Li,Shubin Wang,Mengjie Feng,Jiping Yang,Boming Zhang 성균관대학교(자연과학캠퍼스) 성균나노과학기술원 2018 NANO Vol.13 No.08

Herein, we report a hierarchical structure formed by wrinkled reduced graphene oxide (rGO) sheets-wrapped carbon fiber via a facile and efficient electrostatic self-assembly method and subsequent annealing treatment. For this material, the Weibull scale parameter is 4.77 GPa. After 100 cycles, the rGO@CF retains 91% of its second charge capacity at 50mA· g -1, corresponding to a capacity fading of only 0.09% per cycle. Thus, this structural anode material exhibits enhanced capacity, high initial Coulombic efficiency and high tensile strength. Meanwhile, the carbon fiber and interweaved rGO sheets together form the whole conductive networks to provide multichannel highways for charge transfer (lithium-ion diffusion and electron transport) during discharge–charge processes, promising excellent electrochemical performance of this structural anode material.

AP2α negatively regulates PDHA1 in cervical cancer cells to promote aggressive features and aerobic glycolysis in vitro and in vivo

Lijie Zhao,Rong Geng,Yi Huang,Jiping Zhang,Haiying Cheng,Cankun Zhou,Yifeng Wang 대한부인종양학회 2023 Journal of Gynecologic Oncology Vol.34 No.5

Objective: As a gate-keeper enzyme link, pyruvate dehydrogenase E1 subunit alpha (PDHA1) functions as a key regulator during glycolysis and the mitochondrial citric acid cycle, which has been reported in several tumors. Nevertheless, the effects of PDHA1 on biological behaviors and metabolism remain unclear in cervical cancer (CC) cells. The study aims to explore the PDHA1 effects on glucose metabolism in CC cells and its possible mechanism. Methods: We first determined the expression levels of PDHA1 and activating protein 2 alpha (AP2α) as a PDHA1 potential transcription factor. The effects of PDHA1 in vivo were evaluated through a subcutaneous xenograft mouse model. Cell Counting Kit-8 assay, 5-ethynyl-2′-deoxyuridine (EdU) labeling assay, Transwell invasion assay, wound healing assay, Terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick end labeling assay and flow cytometry were performed in CC cells. Oxygen consumption rate (OCR) levels were determined to reflect aerobic glycolysis level in gastric cancer cells. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) level was measured with 2′, 7′-dichlorofluorescein diacetate kit. The relationship between PDHA1 and AP2α was examined by conducting chromatin immunoprecipitation assay and electrophoretic mobility shift assay. Results: In CC tissues and cell lines, PDHA1 was downregulated, while AP2α was upregulated. Overexpression of PDHA1 remarkedly inhibited the proliferation, invasion and migration of CC cells, and tumor growth in vivo, as well as promoted OCR, apoptosis and ROS production. Moreover, AP2α directly bound to PDHA1 within suppressor of cytokine signaling 3 promoter region to negatively regulate PDHA1 expression level. What is more, PDHA1 knockdown could effectively reversed the AP2α silencing-mediated suppressive effects on cell proliferation, invasion, migration, and the promotive effects of AP2α knockdown on OCR, apoptosis and ROS production. Conclusions: Our findings demonstrate that AP2α negatively regulated PDHA1 via binding to PDHA1 gene promoter to promote malignant CC cell behaviors, which may provide a potential approach for CC therapeutics.