Expression of Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha-induced Protein 8 in Pancreas Tissues and its Correlation with Epithelial Growth Factor Receptor Levels

Liu, Ke,Qin, Cheng-Kun,Wang, Zhi-Yi,Liu, Su-Xia,Cui, Xian-Ping,Zhang, Dong-Yuan Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2012 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.13 No.3

Tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha-induced protein 8 (TNFAIP8 or TIPE) is a recently identified protein considered to be associated with carcinogenesis. To investigate its expression pattern in pancreatic cancer patients and to analyse its correlation with clinicopathological significance and the expression levels of epithelial growth factor receptor (EGFR), immunohistochemistry was performed to detect the TNFAIP8 and EGFR proteins in pancreatic cancers, pancreatitis tissues, and healthy controls. The results showed stronger staining of TNFAIP8 protein in pancreatic cancer tissues compared with normal pancreas tissue. Furthermore, in 56 patients with pancreatic cancer, the expression levels of TNFAIP8 in patients with low tumor stage was higher than that with high tumor stage, and correlated with tumor staging and lymph node metastasis (P<0.05). Furthermore, TNFAIP8 expression positively correlated with EGFR levels (r=0.671135, P<0.05). These results indicate that TNFAIP8 may play important roles in the progression of pancreatic cancer.

The Dynamic Relationship between the NFT Index and Macroeconomic Factors in Korea

Ke-Qin Liu,Ai-Lian Bian 한국무역연구원 2023 무역연구 Vol.19 No.3

Purpose – This study attempts to analyze the dynamic relationship between the NFT index and macroeconomic factors, and make effective suggestions using research methods in the field of management finance. Design/Methodology/Approach – The study sample was from January 2020 to March 2023. The variables used in the analysis were based on monthly time series data, measured on the basis of the Metaverse–NFT Index (MVNX) index released by Wavebridge Limited in Korea to reflect the growth trend of the NFT market, money supply, US dollar–won exchange rate, gross domestic product, consumer price index, and other macroeconomic indicators. The analytical tools in this study included a unit root test based on the VAR model, the Johansen cointegration Test, Granger causality test, impulse response analysis, and variance decomposition. These methods are very effective in analyzing time series data. Findings – The results of the analysis show that macroeconomic factors, such as money supply, exchange rate, GDP, and consumer price index are important sources of information in predicting the NFT index. Research Implications – The results of this study are expected to provide practical information for NFT users, virtual asset trading platforms, investors, and policymakers related to NFT ecology. Furthermore, this study’s findings are of great significance, being the first global study to explore the relationship between NFTs and macroeconomic factors.

STAR FORMATION LAWS IN BOTH GALACTIC MASSIVE CLUMPS AND EXTERNAL GALAXIES: EXTENSIVE STUDY WITH DUST CONINUUM, HCN (4-3), AND CS (7-6)

Liu, Tie,Kim, Kee-Tae,Yoo, Hyunju,Liu, Sheng-yuan,Tatematsu, Ken’ichi,Qin, Sheng-Li,Zhang, Qizhou,Wu, Yuefang,Wang, Ke,Goldsmith, Paul F.,Juvela, Mika,Lee, Jeong-Eun,Tó,th, L. Viktor,Mardones, D American Astronomical Society 2016 The Astrophysical journal Vol.829 No.2

<P>We observed 146 Galactic clumps in HCN (4-3) and CS (7-6) with the Atacama Submillimeter Telescope Experiment 10 m telescope. A tight linear relationship between star formation rate and gas mass traced by dust continuum emission was found for both Galactic clumps and the high redshift (z > 1) star forming galaxies (SFGs), indicating a constant gas depletion time of similar to 100 Myr for molecular gas in both Galactic clumps and high z SFGs. However, low z galaxies do not follow this relation and seem to have a longer global gas depletion time. The correlations between total infrared luminosities (L-TIR) and molecular line luminosities (L-mol') of HCN (4-3) and CS (7-6) are tight and sublinear extending down to clumps with L-TIR similar to 10(3) L-circle dot. These correlations become linear when extended to external galaxies. A bimodal behavior in the L-TIR-L-mol' correlations was found for clumps with different dust temperature, luminosity-to-mass ratio, and sigma(line)/sigma(vir). Such bimodal behavior may be due to evolutionary effects. The slopes of L-TIR-L-mol' correlations become more shallow as clumps evolve. We compared our results with lower J transition lines in Wu et al. (2010). The correlations between clump masses and line luminosities are close to linear for low effective excitation density tracers but become sublinear for high effective excitation density tracers for clumps with L-TIR larger than L-TIR similar to 10(4.5) L-circle dot. High effective excitation density tracers cannot linearly trace the total clump masses, leading to a sublinear correlations for both M-clump-L-mol' and L-TIR-L-mol' relations.</P>

MiR-214 Regulates the Human Hair Follicle Stem Cell Proliferation and Differentiation by Targeting EZH2 and Wnt/b- Catenin Signaling Way In Vitro

Ke-Tao Du,Jia-Qin Deng,Xu-Guang He,Zhao-ping Liu,Cheng Peng,Mingsheng Zhang 한국조직공학과 재생의학회 2018 조직공학과 재생의학 Vol.15 No.3

miR-214 plays a major role in the self-renewal of skin tissue. However, whether miR-214 regulates the proliferation and differentiation of human hair follicle stem cells (HFSCs) is unknown. Primary HFSCs were isolated from human scalp skin tissue, cultured, and identified using flow cytometry. An miR-214 mimic and inhibitor were constructed for transfection into HFSCs. The MTS and colony formation assays examined cell proliferation. Immunofluorescence detected the localization and expression levels of TCF4, b-catenin, and differentiation markers. Luciferase reporter and TOP/FOP Flash assays investigated whether miR-214 targeted EZH2 and regulated the Wnt/b-catenin signaling pathway. Western blot determined the expression levels of enhancer of zeste homolog 2 (EZH2), Wnt/b-catenin signaling-related proteins, and HFSC differentiation markers in cells subjected to miR-214 transfection. miR-214 expression was remarkably decreased during the proliferation and differentiation of HFSCs into transit-amplifying (TA) cells. Downregulation of miR- 214 promotes the proliferation and differentiation of HFSCs. Overexpression of miR-214 led to decreased expression of EZH2, b-catenin, and TCF-4, whereas downregulation of miR-214 resulted in increased expression of EZH2, b-catenin, and TCF-4 as well as TA differentiation markers. Immunofluorescence assay revealed that inhibiting miR-214 triggered the entry of b-catenin and TCF-4 into the nucleus. The luciferase reporter and TOP/FOP Flash assays demonstrated that miR- 214 directly targets EZH2 and affects Wnt/b-catenin signaling. The miR-214/EZH2/b-catenin axis could be considered a candidate target in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine for HFSCs.

ALMA Reveals Sequential High-mass Star Formation in the G9.62+0.19 Complex

Liu, Tie,Lacy, John,Li, Pak Shing,Wang, Ke,Qin, Sheng-Li,Zhang, Qizhou,Kim, Kee-Tae,Garay, Guido,Wu, Yuefang,Mardones, Diego,Zhu, Qingfeng,Tatematsu, Ken’ichi,Hirota, Tomoya,Ren, Zhiyuan,Liu, Sheng-Yu American Astronomical Society 2017 The Astrophysical journal Vol.849 No.1

<P>Stellar feedback from high-mass stars (e.g., H II regions) can strongly influence the surrounding interstellar medium and regulate star formation. Our new ALMA observations reveal sequential high-mass star formation taking place within one subvirial filamentary clump (the G9.62 clump) in the G9.62+0.19 complex. The 12 dense cores (MM1-MM12) detected by ALMA are at very different evolutionary stages, from the starless core phase to the UC H II region phase. Three dense cores (MM6, MM7/G, MM8/F) are associated with outflows. The mass-velocity diagrams of the outflows associated with MM7/G and MM8/F can be well-fit by broken power laws. The mass-velocity diagram of the SiO outflow associated with MM8/F breaks much earlier than other outflow tracers (e.g., CO, SO, CS, HCN), suggesting that SiO traces newly shocked gas, while the other molecular lines (e.g., CO, SO, CS, HCN) mainly trace the ambient gas continuously entrained by outflow jets. Five cores (MM1, MM3, MM5, MM9, MM10) are massive starless core candidates whose masses are estimated to be larger than 25 M-circle dot, assuming a dust temperature of <= 20 K. The shocks from the expanding H II regions ('B' and 'C') to the west may have a great impact on the G9.62 clump by compressing it into a filament and inducing core collapse successively, leading to sequential star formation. Our findings suggest that stellar feedback from H II regions may enhance the star formation efficiency and suppress low-mass star formation in adjacent pre-existing massive clumps.</P>

Predictive Value of Exercise Blood Pressure Changes for Orthostatic Hypotension in Patients With Parkinson’s Disease

Yi Qin,Zhao-hui Jin,Zhen-ying Zhang,Ke-ke Chen,Xin Yu,Hong-jiao Yan,Rui-dan Wang,Yuan Su,Ai-xian Liu,Jia-ning Xi,Bo-yan Fang 대한신경과학회 2023 Journal of Clinical Neurology Vol.19 No.1

Background and Purpose Orthostatic hypotension (OH) is common in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD). Early recognition OH is required with sensitive assessments. The purpose of this study was to determine whether blood pressure (BP) changes during exercise can predict the occurrence of OH in PD. Methods This prospective cohort study included 80 consecutive patients with PD. All patients agreed to participate in a baseline evaluation and cardiopulmonary exercise test (CPET). According to the initial active standing test (AST), those without OH (PD-nonOH) at baseline had their AST results followed up for 6 months. The main outcome was defined as whether patients without OH at baseline would develop OH after 6 months. Logistic regression analysis was applied to identify the relevant variables. A nomogram was constructed based on clinical features and identified variables. The concordance index (C-index) and area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) were used to evaluate the accuracy and predictive ability of the nomogram, respectively. Results CPET results indicated that peak load, peak heart rate, heart rate recovery at 1 min, and systolic BP change (ΔSBP) were lower in those with OH than in the PD-nonOH group (p<0.05) at baseline. Logistic regression analysis indicated that peak load and ΔSBP during CPET had significant effects on OH (p<0.05). Age, sex, peak load, and ΔSBP were used to construct the nomogram model (C-index=0.761). The prediction model had an AUC of 0.782 (95% confidence interval=0.649–0.889) and a specificity and sensitivity of 70.0% and 81.8%, respectively. Conclusions This study has identified predictive factors for OH development in patients with PD. CPET could be used as a complementary examination to identify patients at a high risk of OH.

Amycolatopsis jiangsuensis sp. nov., a novel endophytic actinomycete isolated from a coastal plant in Jiangsu, China.

Xing, Ke,Liu, Wei,Zhang, Yue-Ji,Bian, Guang-Kai,Zhang, Wen-Di,Tamura, Tomohiko,Lee, Jung-Sook,Qin, Sheng,Jiang, Ji-Hong N.V. Swets en Zeitlinger 2013 Antonie van Leeuwenhoek Vol.103 No.2

<P>A novel actinomycete, designated strain KLBMP 1262(T), was isolated from a coastal plant Dendranthema indicum (Linn.) Des Moul collected from the coastal region of Nantong, Jiangsu Province, in east China and was studied in detail for its taxonomic position. Phylogenetic analysis based on the 16S rRNA gene sequence revealed that strain KLBMP 1262(T) is a member of the genus Amycolatopsis. The 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity indicated that strain KLBMP 1262(T) is most closely related to Amycolatopsis sulphurea DSM 46092(T) (97.96 %), Amycolatopsis ultiminotia RP-AC36(T) (97.50 %) and Amycolatopsis jejuensis N7-3(T) (97.44 %); similarity to other type strains of the genus Amycolatopsis was less than 97.0 %. The organism was determined to have chemical and morphological features consistent with its classification in the genus Amycolatopsis such as meso-diaminopimelic acid as the diagnostic diamino acid in the cell wall peptidoglycan and arabinose and galactose as the diagnostic sugars. The predominant menaquinone was determined to be MK-9 (H(4)). The polar lipids detected were phosphatidylmethylethanolamine, phosphatidylethanolamine, an unknown aminophospholipid, two unknown glycolipids and several unknown lipids. The major fatty acids were found to be C(16:0), iso-C(16:0) and iso-C(15:0). DNA-DNA relatedness data, together with phenotypic differences, clearly distinguished the isolate from its closest relatives. On the basis of these phenotypic and genotypic data, the isolate is considered to represent a novel species, for which the name A. jiangsuensis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is KLBMP 1262(T) (=KCTC 19885 (T) = NBRC 108679(T)).</P>

Effects of Doctor-patient Communication on Quality of Life among Breast Cancer Patients in Southern China

Zhou, Qin,Shen, Ji-Chuan,Liu, Ying-Zhi,Lin, Guo-Zhen,Dong, Hang,Li, Ke Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2014 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.15 No.14

Objective: This study aimed to determine effects of doctor-patient communication on the quality of life among breast cancer survivors in 16 communities in southern China. Methods: Multistage random sampling was to use to recruit 260 females from the Guangzhou Cancer Registry Database who were diagnosed with breast cancer. A questionnaire provided data on the doctor-patient communication (including the doctor's attitude, the patient's participation with the medical decision and information about the disease) and QOL (quality of life), as measured using FACT-B. Univariate analysis, non-conditional logistic regression was used to evaluate the associations between the doctor-patient communication and QOL. Results: Females who received good attitudes from doctors demonstrated higher FACT-B (OR=4.65, 95% CI: 1.68-12.86), social well-being (OR=5.88, 95% CI: 2.16-16.05), emotional well-being (OR=4.77, 95% CI: 1.92-11.88), and functional well-being ((OR=5.26, 95% CI: 1.90-14.52) compared to the females who encountered worse attitudes from their doctor, adjusting for age, education, marriage, employment, family income, years since diagnosis, TNM stage, radiation therapy, chemotherapy and side effects, particularly when the TNM stage was 0-II and the patients exhibited no side effects. Regardless of the length of time after diagnosis, doctors' good attitudes resulted in higher QOL scores. Conclusions: This study demonstrated that the doctor-patient communication has a significant association with the QOL of breast cancer survivors, mainly dependent on the doctors' attitude. Effective intervention is required to develop optimal doctor-patient communication.

Nematicidal coumarin from Ficus carica L.

Fangfang Liu,Zhongshan Yang,Xi Zheng,Shaoliu Luo,Ke Qin Zhang,Guo Hong Li 한국응용곤충학회 2011 Journal of Asia-Pacific Entomology Vol.14 No.1

The methanol extracts from 40 plant species were screened for their nematicidal activity against the nematodes Bursaphelenchus xylophilus, Panagrellus redivivus and Caenorhabditis elegans. The leaf extract of Ficus carica L. exhibited the strongest nematicidal activity, causing 74.3%, 96.2% and 98.4% mortality,respectively, within 72 h. By bioassay-guided fractionation, a coumarin was obtained. The compound was determined to be psoralen based on spectroscopic data. It showed nematicidal activity against the tested nematodes. This is the first report of the nematicidal activity of F. carica and psoralen.

Nematicidal Activity of Paecilomyces spp. and Isolation of a Novel Active Compound

Ya-Jun Liu,Chong-Yan Zhai,Yi Liu,Ke-Qin Zhang 한국미생물학회 2009 The journal of microbiology Vol.47 No.3

Many species of Paecilomyces are entomogenous fungi and several are efficacious toward nematodes. To study the potential of Paecilomyces species in controlling nematodes, fungal extracts of 40 Paecilomyces spp. were evaluated for their nematicidal activity against Bursaphelenchus xylophilus and Panagrellus redivivus. The extracts of six Paecilomyces spp. exhibited the nematicidal activity against P. redivivus, and 11 species exhibited the nematicidal activity against B. xylophilus. The methanol extract of strain 1.01761 incubating on Czapek solid medium killed more than 95% P. redivivus in 24 h at 5 mg/ml, and the filtrate of strain 1.01788 cultured in Sabouraud's broth medium resulted in 90% mortality of B. xylophilus in 24 h at 5 mg/ml. A novel nematicidal compound, 4-(4’-carboxy-2’-ethyl-hydroxypentyl)-5,6-dihydro-6-methylcyclobuta[ b]pyridine-3,6-dicarboxylic acid, was isolated from Paecilomyces sp. YMF1.01761. The LD50 value of the compound within 24 h against P. redivivus was 50.86 mg/L, against Meloidogyne incognita was 47.1 mg/L, and against B. xylophilus was 167.7 mg/L.