Excessive mechanical strain accelerates intervertebral disc degeneration by disrupting intrinsic circadian rhythm

Ding Sheng-Long,Zhang Tai-Wei,Zhang Qi-Chen,Ding Wang,Li Ze-Fang,Han Guan-Jie,Bai Jin-Song,Li Xi-Lei,Dong Jian,Wang Hui-Ren,Jiang Li-Bo 생화학분자생물학회 2021 Experimental and molecular medicine Vol.53 No.-

Night shift workers with disordered rhythmic mechanical loading are more prone to intervertebral disc degeneration (IDD). Our results showed that circadian rhythm (CR) was dampened in degenerated and aged NP cells. Long-term environmental CR disruption promoted IDD in rats. Excessive mechanical strain disrupted the CR and inhibited the expression of core clock proteins. The inhibitory effect of mechanical loading on the expression of extracellular matrix genes could be reversed by BMAL1 overexpression in NP cells. The Rho/ROCK pathway was demonstrated to mediate the effect of mechanical stimulation on CR. Prolonged mechanical loading for 12 months affected intrinsic CR genes and induced IDD in a model of upright posture in a normal environment. Unexpectedly, mechanical loading further accelerated the IDD in an Light-Dark (LD) cycle-disrupted environment. These results indicated that intrinsic CR disruption might be a mechanism involved in overloading-induced IDD and a potential drug target for night shift workers.

Microstructural Evolution and Mechanical Properties of a Continuously Cast Al–Mg–Si–Cu Alloy Processed by Repetitive Continuous Extrusion Forming

Long Zhang,Ruiqing Lu,Jie Tang,Fulin Jiang,Dingfa Fu,Hui Zhang,Jie Teng 대한금속·재료학회 2023 METALS AND MATERIALS International Vol.29 No.7

A continuously cast Al–Mg–Si–Cu alloy was processed by repetitive continuous extrusion forming (R-Conform) and thecorresponding deformation behaviors, microstructural evolution and mechanical properties were investigated systematicallyby combining uniaxial compression deformation, finite element simulation, microstructural observation and mechanicaltest. The results showed that the grain size of Al–Mg–Si–Cu alloy bar was gradually refined and became more uniformafter R-Conform processing with the increase of pass as a result of continuous dynamic recrystallization. The evolution ofmicrostructure was related to the complex thermomechanical conditions of temperature, shear rate and the distribution ofaccumulated strain during R-Conform process. Then the improvement of properties was obtained by the refined grains afterR-Conform processing. Further, the dense and fine precipitates formed after solution treatment and aging led to optimizedmechanical properties with tensile strength approximate 400 MPa and elongation about 17.8%.

Current Status of Etiology, Epidemiology, Clinical Manifestations and Imagings for COVID-19

Jiang Meng Di,Zu Zi Yue,Schoepf U. Joseph,Savage Rock H.,Zhang Xiao Lei,Lu Guang Ming,Zhang Long Jiang 대한영상의학회 2020 Korean Journal of Radiology Vol.21 No.10

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a transmissible respiratory disease that was initially reported in Wuhan, China in December 2019. With the alarming levels of COVID-19 spread worldwide, the World Health Organization characterized COVID-19 as a pandemic. Over the past several months, chest CT has played a vital role in early identification, disease severity assessment, and dynamic disease course monitoring of COVID-19. The published data has enriched our knowledge on the etiology, epidemiology, clinical manifestations, and pathologic findings of COVID-19. Additionally, as the imaging spectrum of the disease continues to be defined, extrapulmonary infections or other complications will require further attention. This review aims to provide an updated framework and essential knowledge with which radiologists can better understand COVID-19.

Temporary formation of highly conducting domain walls for non-destructive read-out of ferroelectric domain-wall resistance switching memories

Jiang, Jun,Bai, Zi Long,Chen, Zhi Hui,He, Long,Zhang, David Wei,Zhang, Qing Hua,Shi, Jin An,Park, Min Hyuk,Scott, James F.,Hwang, Cheol Seong,Jiang, An Quan Nature Publishing Group, a division of Macmillan P 2018 NATURE MATERIALS Vol.17 No.1

Erasable conductive domain walls in insulating ferroelectric thin films can be used for non-destructive electrical read-out of the polarization states in ferroelectric memories. Still, the domain-wall currents extracted by these devices have not yet reached the intensity and stability required to drive read-out circuits operating at high speeds. This study demonstrated non-destructive read-out of digital data stored using specific domain-wall configurations in epitaxial BiFeO<SUB>3</SUB> thin films formed in mesa-geometry structures. Partially switched domains, which enable the formation of conductive walls during the read operation, spontaneously retract when the read voltage is removed, reducing the accumulation of mobile defects at the domain walls and potentially improving the device stability. Three-terminal memory devices produced 14 nA read currents at an operating voltage of 5 V, and operated up to T = 85 °C. The gap length can also be smaller than the film thickness, allowing the realization of ferroelectric memories with device dimensions far below 100 nm.

Profiling of skeletal muscle tissue for long non-coding RNAs related to muscle metabolism in the QingYu pig at the growth inflection point

Luo, Jia,Shen, Linyuan,Gan, Mailin,Jiang, Anan,Chen, Lei,Ma, Jideng,Jin, Long,Liu, Yihui,Tang, Guoqing,Jiang, Yanzhi,Li, Mingzhou,Li, Xuewei,Zhang, Shunhua,Zhu, Li Asian Australasian Association of Animal Productio 2021 Animal Bioscience Vol.34 No.8

Objective: Investigation of muscle growth at different developmental stages is an appropriate strategy for studying the mechanisms underlying muscle development and differences in phenotypes. In particular, the muscle development mechanisms and the difference between the fastest and slowest growth rates. Methods: In this study, we used a growth curve model to fit the growth inflection point (IP) of QingYu pigs and compared differences in the long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) transcriptome of muscle both at the growth IP and plateau phase (PP). Results: The growth curve of the QingYu pig had a good fit (R² = 0.974) relative to a typical S-curve and reached the IP at day 177.96. At the PP, marbling, intramuscular fat, and monounsaturated fatty acids had increased significantly and the percentage of lean muscle and polyunsaturated fatty acids had decreased. A total of 1,199 mRNAs and 62 lncRNAs were differentially expressed at the IP compared with the PP. Additional to gene ontology and Kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes pathway analyses, these differentially expressed protein coding genes were principally related to muscle growth and lipid metabolism. Conclusion: Our results suggest that the identified differentially expressed lncRNAs, could play roles in muscle growth, fat deposition and regulation of fatty acid composition at the IP and PP.

Structural and functional comparative mapping between the Brassica A genomes in allotetraploid Brassica napus and diploid Brassica rapa.

Jiang, Congcong,Ramchiary, Nirala,Ma, Yongbiao,Jin, Mina,Feng, Ji,Li, Ruiyuan,Wang, Hao,Long, Yan,Choi, Su Ryun,Zhang, Chunyu,Cowling, Wallace A,Park, Beom Seok,Lim, Yong Pyo,Meng, Jinling Springer 2011 TAG. Theoretical and applied genetics. Theoretisch Vol.123 No.6

<P>Brassica napus (AACC genome) is an important oilseed crop that was formed by the fusion of the diploids B. rapa (AA) and B. oleracea (CC). The complete genomic sequence of the Brassica A genome will be available soon from the B. rapa genome sequencing project, but it is not clear how informative the A genome sequence in B. rapa (A(r)) will be for predicting the structure and function of the A subgenome in the allotetraploid Brassica species B. napus (A(n)). In this paper, we report the results of structural and functional comparative mapping between the A subgenomes of B. napus and B. rapa based on genetic maps that were anchored with bacterial artificial chromosomes (BACs)-sequence of B. rapa. We identified segmental conservation that represented by syntenic blocks in over one third of the A genome; meanwhile, comparative mapping of quantitative trait loci for seed quality traits identified a dozen homologous regions with conserved function in the A genome of the two species. However, several genomic rearrangement events, such as inversions, intra- and inter-chromosomal translocations, were also observed, covering totally at least 5% of the A genome, between allotetraploid B. napus and diploid B. rapa. Based on these results, the A genomes of B. rapa and B. napus are mostly functionally conserved, but caution will be necessary in applying the full sequence data from B. rapa to the B. napus as a result of genomic rearrangements in the A genome between the two species.</P>

HOXB7 Predicts Poor Clinical Outcome in Patients with Advanced Esophageal Squamous Cell Cancer

Long, Qing-Yun,Zhou, Jun,Zhang, Xiao-Long,Cao, Jiang-Hui Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2014 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.15 No.4

Background: Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) accounts for most esophageal cancer in Asia, and is the sixth common cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Previous studies indicated HOXB7 is overexpressed in ESCC tissues, but data on prognostic value are limited. Methods: A total of 76 advanced ESCC cases were investigated. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) was used to detect the expression levels of HOXB7 and Kaplan-Meier curves and Cox regression models to determine prognostic significance. Stratified analysis was also performed according to lymph node (LN) status. Results: Kaplan-Meier curve analysis indicated that HOXB7 positive patients had significantly shorter overall survival (OS) than HOXB7 negative patients. Multivariate analysis using the Cox proportional hazards model indicated only TNM stage and HOXB7 expression to be independent predictors of overall survival of advanced ESCC patients. HOXB7 indicated poor OS in both lymph node negative (LN-) and lymph node positive (LN+) patients. Conclusion: HOXB7 predicts poor prognosis of advanced ESCC patients and can be applied as an independent prognostic predictor.

Heavy concrete shielding properties for carbon therapy

Jin-Long Wang,Jiade J Lu,Da-Jun Ding,Wen-Hua Jiang,Ya-Dong Li,Rui Qiu,Hui Zhang,Xiao-Zhong Wang,Huo-Sheng Ruan,Yan-Bing Teng,Xiao-Guang Wu,Yun Zheng,Zi-Hao Zhao,Kai-Zhong Liao,Huan-Cheng Mai,Xiao-Dong Korean Nuclear Society 2023 Nuclear Engineering and Technology Vol.55 No.6

As medical facilities are usually built at urban areas, special concrete aggregates and evaluation methods are needed to optimize the design of concrete walls by balancing density, thickness, material composition, cost, and other factors. Carbon treatment rooms require a high radiation shielding requirement, as the neutron yield from carbon therapy is much higher than the neutron yield of protons. In this case study, the maximum carbon energy is 430 MeV/u and the maximum current is 0.27 nA from a hybrid particle therapy system. Hospital or facility construction should consider this requirement to design a special heavy concrete. In this work, magnetite is adopted as the major aggregate. Density is determined mainly by the major aggregate content of magnetite, and a heavy concrete test block was constructed for structural tests. The compressive strength is 35.7 MPa. The density ranges from 3.65 g/cm³ to 4.14 g/cm³, and the iron mass content ranges from 53.78% to 60.38% from the 12 cored sample measurements. It was found that there is a linear relationship between density and iron content, and mixing impurities should be the major reason leading to the nonuniform element and density distribution. The effect of this nonuniformity on radiation shielding properties for a carbon treatment room is investigated by three groups of Monte Carlo simulations. Higher density dominates to reduce shielding thickness. However, a higher content of high-Z elements will weaken the shielding strength, especially at a lower dose rate threshold and vice versa. The weakened side effect of a high iron content on the shielding property is obvious at 2.5 µSv=h. Therefore, we should not blindly pursue high Z content in engineering. If the thickness is constrained to 2 m, then the density can be reduced to 3.3 g/cm³, which will save cost by reducing the magnetite composition with 50.44% iron content. If a higher density of 3.9 g/cm³ with 57.65% iron content is selected for construction, then the thickness of the wall can be reduced to 174.2 cm, which will save space for equipment installation.

Characteristics of Observed Tropopause Height Derived From L-band Sounder Over the Tibetan Plateau and Surrounding Areas

Xiaoling Jiang,Donghai Wang,Jianjun Xu,Yuwei Zhang,Long S. Chiu 한국기상학회 2017 Asia-Pacific Journal of Atmospheric Sciences Vol.53 No.1

The tropopause, which plays important roles in the stratosphere-troposphere exchange, is an interface between the troposphere and stratosphere. In this study, the characteristics of tropopause is investigated with the high vertical resolution daily sounding data during the period from 2008 to 2014 collected by the network of L-band sounder at 119 observational stations over Mainland China developed by the China Meteorological Administration (CMA). The results show that the tropopause height increases from the north to the south and has little correspondence with the station elevation. In addition, the spectral analyses and wavelet analyses are also performed to understand the intraseasonal variations of the tropopause. The results show that usually there are seasonal cycles with maximum in summer and minimum in winter. The strongest spectral band with period of 25-35 days is observed over the Southeast China. Besides, 20-60 days signals over the Changjiang River basin and the Tibetan Plateau has a good correlation to the Oceanic Niño Index (ONI), suggesting that the behavior of tropopause over the regions between 30oN and 40oN could relate to the Niño events.

Molecular genetic characterization of rice seed lipoxygenase 3 and assessment of its effects on seed longevity

Qizhang Long,Wenwei Zhang,Peng Wang,Wenbiao Shen,Tong Zhou,Nannan Liu,Ren Wang,Ling Jiang,Jiexue Huang,Yihua Wang,Yuqiang Liu,Jianmin Wan 한국식물학회 2013 Journal of Plant Biology Vol.56 No.4

Lipoxygenases (LOXs) are enzymes involved in lipid peroxidation. Here we reported the identification, molecular and functional characterization of the gene encoding rice (Oryza sativa L.) seed LOX3 (sLOX3). Via a map-based cloning strategy we identified Os03g0700400 as the candidate gene encoding sLOX3. Further functional complementary test and biochemical characterization of the recombinant Os03g0700400 protein verified the identification. The sLOX3 gene was highly expressed in roots, moderately in embryos and very weakly in leaves, leaf sheaths and stems. Transient expression experiment (in rice protoplasts) and subsequent laser confocal microscopic analysis demonstrated that the sLOX3 protein was localized into the cytosol. We next showed that overexpression of sLOX3 in a japonica sLOX3-normal rice cultivar, Wuyunjing 7 accelerated the decrease of seed germination ability when the seeds were routinely stored, which demonstrated that sLOX3 had a negative effect on seed longevity (storability). Meanwhile, an increased occurrence of embryo decay was observed in the same transgenic seeds, suggesting that sLOX3 might negatively affect seed longevity by facilitating colonization of particular seed pathogens. Our result forwarded the understanding of the effects of 9-LOX on rice seed longevity.