Expert Perceptual Behavior under the Spatiotemporal Visual Constraints in Table Tennis

Ming-Yuan Tang,Chih-Mei Yang,Hank Jun-Ling Jwo 대한운동학회 2021 아시아 운동학 학술지 Vol.23 No.3

[OBJECTIVES] The perceptual ability to detect movement is essential for expert table tennis players. A spatiotemporal occlusion paradigm was employed to examine the critical information that facilitates athletes’ perception. [METHODS] Thirty-one expert table tennis players, 29 participants and 2 demonstrators, volunteered to participate in the study. Four types of temporal conditions and five types of spatial occlusions were displayed in experimental videos of two opponents playing a table tennis forehand stroke. Period t1-4 represented the four temporal conditions, with 250, 500, 750, and 1000 ms of action being occluded, respectively. The five types of spatial occlusion involved showing the kinematics of only the ball, paddle, arm, trunk, or head. The participants were instructed to judge the landing direction of the ball on the basis of the information in the footage. [RESULTS] The footage depicted the longest period of play. Furthermore, in separate trials, the spatial information (for the ball, torso, or head) was missing because of occlusion. The absence of such critical spatiotemporal information impaired the ability of players to make an accurate prediction. [CONCLUSION] Players obtained crucial spatiotemporal information if the timeframe of the video was relatively complete and spatial information on the opponent’s torso and head was available. For peak performance, expert table tennis players perceive and detect the optical flow of the ball’s flight and consider invariant information concerning their opponent’s torso and head.

HMGB1 regulates autophagy through increasing transcriptional activities of JNK and ERK in human myeloid Leukemia cells

( Ming Yi Zhao ),( Ming Hua Yang ),( Liang Chun Yang ),( Yan Yu ),( Min Xie ),( Shan Zhu ),( Rui Kang ),( Dao Lin Tang ),( Zhi Gang Jiang ),( Wu Zhou Yuan ),( Xiu Shan Wu ),( Li Zhi Cao ) 생화학분자생물학회(구 한국생화학분자생물학회) 2011 BMB Reports Vol.44 No.9

HMGB1 is associated with human cancers and is an activator of autophagy which mediates chemotherapy resistance. We here show that the mRNA levels of HMGB1 are high in leukemia cells and it is involved in the progression of childhood chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). HMGB1 decreases the sensitivity of human myeloid leukemia cells K562 to anti-cancer drug induced death through up-regulating the autophagy pathway, which is confirmed by the observation with an increase in fusion of autophagosomes and autophagolysosomes. When overexpressing HMGB1, both mRNA levels of Beclin-1, VSP34 and UVRAG which are key genes involved in mammalian autophagy and protein levels of p-Bcl-2 and LC3-II are increased. Luciferase assays document that over-expression of HMGB1 increases the transcriptional activity of JNK and ERK, which may be silenced by siRNA. The results suggest that HMGB1 regulates JNK and ERK required for autophagy, which provides a potential drug target for therapeutic interventions in childhood CML. [BMB reports 2011; 44(9): 601-606]

Polymerization of Vinyl Acetate Initiated by Hydrosilane in the Presence of Platinum Complex

Ming Yuan,Wenxian Zhu,Jiaxing Lv,Panpan Zhang,Huadong Tang 한국고분자학회 2021 폴리머 Vol.45 No.3

In this work, a series of hydrosilanes including phenylsilane, diphenylsilane, triethylsilane (TES), and tris(trimethylsilyl)silane combined with catalytical amount of platinum complex such as dichloro(1,5-cyclooctadiene) platinum (COD) and dichloro(dicyclopentadienyl)platinum have been used to initiate the polymerization of vinyl acetate (VAc) at 70-95 ℃. An ultrahigh molecular weight PVAc with number-average molecular weight (Mn) up to 1.17×10<SUP>6</SUP> Da and polydispersity index (PDI) of 2.59 has been synthesized using TES as an initiator in the presence of 9.7 ppm of COD. A kinetic study indicates that the polymerization at VAc/TES/COD molar ratio = 3.0×10<SUP>5</SUP> : 60 : 1 smoothly reached 81.0% conversion in 28.0 h at 85 ℃, producing PVAc with Mn increasing linearly from 1.41×105 to 6.01×10<SUP>5</SUP> Da with the increase of monomer conversion. A mechanistic investigation revealed that COD was firstly reduced by reductive TES, producing Pt nanoparticles and corresponding silane radicals to initiate the polymerization of VAc.

Port-Site Metastases and Chimney Effect of B-Ultrasound-Guided and Laparoscopically-Assisted Hyperthermic Intraperitoneal Perfusion Chemotherapy

Ming-Chen Ba,Hui Long,Xiang-Liang Zhang,Yuan-Feng Gong,Zhao-Fei Yan,Shuai Wang,Yun-Qiang Tang,Shu-Zhong Cui 연세대학교의과대학 2017 Yonsei medical journal Vol.58 No.3

Purpose: CO2 leakage along the trocar (chimney effect) has been proposed to be an important factor underlying port-site metastasisafter laparoscopic surgery. This study aimed to test this hypothesis by comparing the incidence of port-site metastasis betweenB-ultrasound-guided and laparoscopically-assisted hyperthermic intraperitoneal perfusion chemotherapy (HIPPC). Materials and Methods: Sixty-two patients with malignant ascites induced by gastrointestinal or ovarian cancer were divided into two groups to receive either B-ultrasound-guided or laparoscopically-assisted HIPPC. Clinical efficacy was assessed from the objective remission rate (ORR), the Karnofsky Performance Status (KPS) score, and overall survival. The incidence of port-site metastasis was compared between the two groups. Results: Patients in the B-ultrasound (n=32) and laparoscopy (n=30) groups were comparable in terms of age, sex, primary diseasetype, volume of ascites, and free cancer cell (FCC)-positive ascites. After HIPPC, there were no significant differences between the B-ultrasound and laparoscopy groups in the KPS score change, ORR, and median survival time. The incidence of port-site metastasis after HIPPC was not significantly different between the B-ultrasound (3 of 32, 9.36%) and laparoscopy (3 of 30, 10%) groups, but significantly different among pancreatic, gastric, ovarian, and colorectal cancer (33.33, 15.79, 10.00, and 0.00%, p<0.001). Conclusion: The chimney effect may not be the key reason for port-site metastasis after laparoscopy. Other factors may play a role, including the local microenvironment at the trocar site and the delivery of viable FCCs (from the tumor or malignant ascites) to the trauma site during laparoscopic surgery.

Aberrant Expression of E-cadherin in Lung Tissues of Patients with Probable Lung Cancer

Yuan, Yu-Lin,Wang, Yu-Ming,Liu, Hua,Qin, Gui-Fang,Tang, Ai-Guo,Duan, Yong Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2012 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.13 No.10

Introduction: This study assessed the relationship of E-cadherin mRNA and protein expression with the diagnosis of lung cancer with the aim of providing an auxiliary diagnostic method. Methods: Semi-quantitative nested RT-PCR and western blotting were applied to detect E-cadherin mRNA transcripts and protein, respectively, in 30 cases of diagnostic lung cancer, 30 cases of clinically suspected patients with lung cancer and 30 cases of other disease. Immunohistochemical staining was also used to detect E-cadherin. Results: Remarkably decreased levels of relative E-cadherin mRNA value and increased E-cadherin protein negativity were observed in probable lung cancer, when compared with possible lung cancer and others. With a threshold of 1.45, relative E-cadherin mRNA value showed a sensitivity of 90% and a specifity of 83% for the diagnosis of lung cancer. The combination of decreased relative E-cadherin mRNA value and negative E-cadherin protein increased the specificity and sensitivity. Conclusion: These data suggest that Chinese patients with diagnostic lung cancer have similar decreased levels of relative E-cadherin mRNA and E-cadherin protein value in the lung cancer tissues as in lung cancer patients in other countries. Measurement of relative E-cadherin mRNA and protein values in lung cancer tissues has potential for lung cancer diagnosis.

Interleukin-18 Synergism with Interleukin-2 in Cytotoxicity and NKG2D Expression of Human Natural Killer Cells

Qi, Yuan-Ying,Lu, Chao,Ju, Ying,Wang, Zi-E,Li, Yuan-Tang,Shen, Ya-Juan,Lu, Zhi-Ming Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2014 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.15 No.18

Natural killer (NK) cells play an important role in anti-tumor immunity. Interleukin (IL)-18 is an immunoregulatory cytokine that induces potent NK cell-dependent anti-tumor responses when administrated with other cytokines. In this study, we explored the effects of combining IL-18 and IL-2 on NK cytotoxicity as well as expression levels of the NK cell receptor NKG2D in vitro. Freshly isolated PBMCs were incubated for 48 h with IL-18 and IL-2, then CD107a expression on $CD3^-CD56^+$ NK cells was determined by three-colour flow cytometry to evaluate the cytotoxicity of NK cells against human erythroleukemia K562 cells and human colon carcinoma HT29 cells. Flow cytometric analysis was also employed to determine NKG2D expression on NK cells. The combined use of IL-18 and IL-2 significantly increased CD107a expression on NK cells compared with using IL-18 or IL-2 alone, suggesting that the combination of these two cytokines exerted synergistic enhancement of NK cytotoxicity. IL-18 also enhanced NKG2D expression on NK cells when administered with IL-2. In addition, blockade of NKG2D signaling with NKG2D-blocking antibody attenuated the up-regulatory effect of combining IL-18 and IL-2 on NK cytolysis. Our data revealed that IL-18 synergized with IL-2 to dramatically enhance the cytolytic activity of human NK cells in a NKG2D-dependent manner. The results appear encouraging for the use of combined IL-18 and IL-2 in tumor immunotherapy.

Price Learning Based Load Distribution Strategies for Demand Response Management in Smart Grid

Qiang Tang,Ming-zhong Xie,Kun Yang,Yuan-sheng Luo,Ping Li 보안공학연구지원센터 2016 International Journal of Smart Home Vol.10 No.11

In this paper, a Price learning based Load Distribution Strategy (PLDS) is proposed at first. In PLDS model, Smart Power Service, Utility Company and History Load Curves are included, and by considering both the average electricity consumption cost and the average electricity consumption habit, we proposed a convex optimization model to solve the model. In order to accelerate the convergence of PLDS, a price learning mechanism is proposed, which learns a price curve according to the history price data, and predicts price as a learned price for the next iteration. The optimization cycle of PLDS is one day or 24 hours, and in order to further improve the peak shaving performance, an extended version of PLDS named PLRS (Price learning based Load Redistribution Strategy) is proposed, whose optimization cycle length is 1 hour. The optimization models of PLDS and PLRS are the same, and the differences between them are the optimization cycle and the constraint conditions. In the simulation, we compared the convergence performance, peaking shaving performance and total cost among PLDS, PLRS and other strategy ODC in reference [11], and we found that the convergence performances of PLDS and PLRS are both better than that of ODC. The peak shaving performance of PLRS is better than that of ODC in the long term, and the total cost of PLRS is very close to that of ODC.

Near-Optimal Tracking Control for Discrete-time Systems with Delayed Input

Gong-You Tang,Shi-Yuan Han,Cheng-Ming Zhang 제어·로봇·시스템학회 2010 International Journal of Control, Automation, and Vol.8 No.6

This paper considers the near-optimal tracking control problem for discrete-time systems with delayed input. Using a variable transformation, the system with delayed input is transformed into a non-delayed system, and the quadratic performance index of the optimal tracking control is transformed into a relevant format. The optimal tracking control law is constructed by the solution of a Riccati matrix equation and a Stein matrix equation. A reduced-order observer is constructed to solve the physically realizable problem of the feedforward compensator and a near-optimal tracking control is obtained. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the optimal tracking control law.

Implementation of point-of-care platforms for rapid detection of porcine circovirus type 2

Chiao-Hsu Ke,Mao-Yuan Du,Wang-Ju Hsieh,Chiu-Chiao Lin,James Mingjuh Ting,Ming-Tang Chiou,Chao-Nan Lin The Korean Society of Veterinary Science 2024 Journal of Veterinary Science Vol.25 No.2

Background: Porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2) infection is ubiquitous around the world. Diagnosis of the porcine circovirus-associated disease requires clinic-pathological elements together with the quantification of viral loads. Furthermore, given pig farms in regions lacking access to sufficient laboratory equipment, developing diagnostic devices with high accuracy, accessibility, and affordability is a necessity. Objectives: This study aims to investigate two newly developed diagnostic tools that may satisfy these criteria. Methods: We collected 250 specimens, including 170 PCV2-positive and 80 PCV2-negative samples. The standard diagnosis and cycle threshold (Ct) values were determined by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). Then, two point-of-care (POC) diagnostic platforms, convective polymerase chain reaction (cPCR, qualitative assay: positive or negative results are shown) and EZtargex (quantitative assay: Ct values are shown), were examined and analyzed. Results: The sensitivity and specificity of cPCR were 88.23% and 100%, respectively; the sensitivity and specificity of EZtargex were 87.65% and 100%, respectively. These assays also showed excellent concordance compared with the qPCR assay (κ = 0.828 for cPCR and κ = 0.820 for EZtargex). The statistical analysis showed a great diagnostic power of the EZtargex assay to discriminate between samples with different levels of positivity. Conclusions: The two point-of-care diagnostic platforms are accurate, rapid, convenient and require little training for PCV2 diagnosis. These POC platforms can discriminate viral loads to predict the clinical status of the animals. The current study provided evidence that these diagnostics were applicable with high sensitivity and specificity in the diagnosis of PCV2 infection in the field.

Decrease of Oxygen Vacancy by Zn-Doped for Improving Solar-Blind Photoelectric Performance in β-Ga2O3 Thin Films

Daoyou Guo,Xinyuan Qin,Ming Lv,Haoze Shi,Yuanli Su,Guosheng Yao,Shunli Wang,Chaorong Li,Peigang Li,Weihua Tang 대한금속·재료학회 2017 ELECTRONIC MATERIALS LETTERS Vol.13 No.6

Highly (201) oriented Zn-doped β-Ga2O3 thin films with differentdopant concentrations were grown on (0001) sapphire substrates byradio frequency magnetron sputtering. With the increase of Zn dopantconcentration, the crystal lattice expands, the energy band gap shrinks,and the oxygen vacancy concentration decreases. Both the metalsemiconductor metal (MSM) structure photodetectors based on thepure and Zn-doped β-Ga2O3 thin films exhibit solar blind UVphotoelectric property. Compared to the pure β-Ga2O3 photodetector,the Zn-doped one exhibits a lower dark current, a higher photo/darkcurrent ratio, a faster photoresponse speed, which can be attributed tothe decreases of oxygen vacancy concentration.