The mechanism of enhanced photocatalytic activity of SnO2 through fullerene modification

Shuang-Shuang Ding,Wei-Qing Huang,Bing-Xin Zhou,Ping Peng,Wangyu Hu,Meng-Qiu Long,Gui-Fang Huang 한국물리학회 2017 Current Applied Physics Vol.17 No.11

Carbon nanomaterials are prominent building blocks in the synthetic van der Waals (vdW) heterostructures with desired properties. Scientific understanding of their interfacial interactions is the premise to design this kind of vdW heterostructures with optimal performance.We here study the mechanism of enhanced photocatalytic activity of SnO2 by fullerene modification at electronic level, to explore the interfacial interaction and its correlation with photocatalytic activity. The results show that the interfacial interaction increases with the number of C atom of fullerene, and leads to some of C atoms be positively/ negatively charged, making the fullerene a highly active co-catalyst in heterostructures. Compared to pristine SnO2, the band gap of the heterostructures is much smaller, leading to their absorption wavelength extending the entire visible region. Interestingly, a staggered type-II band alignment in the C20 (C60)/SnO2 (101) heterostructures results into the robust separation of photoexcited charge carriers between the two constituents, indicating that the fullerene is an effective sensitizer, and thus enhanced photocatalytic activity. These findings can rationalize the available experiment and will be of broad interest in developing the highly efficient semiconductor photocatalysts via fullerene modification.

Dexmedetomidine promotes the progression of hepatocellular carcinoma through hepatic stellate cell activation

Chen Peng,Luo Xiaojun,Dai Guanqi,Jiang Yuchuan,Luo Yue,Peng Shuang,Wang Hao,Xie Penghui,Qu Chen,Lin Wenyu,Hong Jian,Ning Xue,Li Aimin 생화학분자생물학회 2020 Experimental and molecular medicine Vol.52 No.-

Dexmedetomidine (DEX) is an anesthetic that is widely used in the clinic, and it has been reported to exhibit paradoxical effects in the progression of multiple solid tumors. In this study, we sought to explore the mechanism by which DEX regulates hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) progression underlying liver fibrosis. We determined the effects of DEX on tumor progression in an orthotopic HCC mouse model of fibrotic liver. A coculture system and a subcutaneous xenograft model involving coimplantation of mouse hepatoma cells (H22) and primary activated hepatic stellate cells (aHSCs) were used to study the effects of DEX on HCC progression. We found that in the preclinical mouse model of liver fibrosis, DEX treatment significantly shortened median survival time and promoted tumor growth, intrahepatic metastasis and pulmonary metastasis. The DEX receptor (ADRA2A) was mainly expressed in aHSCs but was barely detected in HCC cells. DEX dramatically reinforced HCC malignant behaviors in the presence of aHSCs in both the coculture system and the coimplantation mouse model, but DEX alone exerted no significant effects on the malignancy of HCC. Mechanistically, DEX induced IL-6 secretion from aHSCs and promoted HCC progression via STAT3 activation. Our findings provide evidence that the clinical application of DEX may cause undesirable side effects in HCC patients with liver fibrosis.

Breastfeeding and Ovarian Cancer Risk: a Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of 40 Epidemiological Studies

Li, Da-Peng,Du, Chen,Zhang, Zuo-Ming,Li, Guang-Xiao,Yu, Zhi-Fu,Wang, Xin,Li, Peng-Fei,Cheng, Cheng,Liu, Yu-Peng,Zhao, Ya-Shuang Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2014 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.15 No.12

The present systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted to assess any association between breastfeeding and the risk of ovarian cancer. A systematic search of published studies was performed in PUBMED and EMBASE and by reviewing reference lists from retrieved articles through March 2013. Data extraction was conducted independently by two authors. Pooled relative risk ratios were calculated using random-effect models. Totals of 5 cohort studies and 35 case-control studies including 17,139 women with ovarian cancer showed a 30% reduced risk of ovarian cancer when comparing the women who had breastfed with those who had never breastfed (pooled RR = 0.70, 95% CI: 0.64-0.76; p = 0.00), with significant heterogeneity in the studies (p = 0.00; I2 = 76.29%). A significant decreasd in risk of epithelial ovarian cancer was also observed (pooled RR = 0.68, 95% CI: 0.61-0.76). When the participants were restricted to only parous women, there was a slightly attenuated but still significant risk reduction of ovarian cancer (pooled RR = 0.76, 95% CI: 0.69-0.83). For total breastfeeding duration, the pooled RRs in the < 6 months, 6-12 months and > 12 months of breastfeeding subgroups were 0.85 (95% CI: 0.77-0.93), 0.73 (95% CI: 0.65-0.82) and 0.64 (95%CI: 0.56-0.73), respectively. Meta-regression of total breastfeeding duration indicated an increasing linear trend of risk reduction of ovarian cancer with the increasing total breastfeeding duration (p = 0.00). Breastfeeding was inversely associated with the risk of ovarian cancer, especially long-term breastfeeding duration that demonstrated a stronger protective effect.

A Vitis vinifera xanthine dehydrogenase gene, VvXDH, enhances salinity tolerance in transgenic Arabidopsis

Shuang-Hong You,Bo Zhu,Feibing Wang,Hong-Juan Han,Miao Sun,Hengweng Zhu,Ri-he Peng,Quan-Hong Yao 한국식물생명공학회 2017 Plant biotechnology reports Vol.11 No.3

Xanthine dehydrogenase (EC1.1.1.204; XDH) plays an important role in purine catabolism that catalyzes the oxidative hydroxylation of hypoxanthine to xanthine and of xanthine to uric acid. Long attributed to its role in recycling and remobilization of nitrogen, recently, XDH is implicated in plant stress responses and acclimation, such research efforts, however, have thus far been restricted to Arabidopsis XDH-knockdown/knockout studies. This study, using an ectopic overexpression approach, is expected to provide novel findings. In this study, a XDH gene from Vitis vinifera, named VvXDH, was synthesized and overexpressed in Arabidopsis, the transgenic Arabidopsis showed enhanced salt tolerance. The VvXDH gene was investigated and the results demonstrated the explicit role of VvXDH in conferring salt stress by increasing allantoin accumulation and activating ABA signaling pathway, enhancing ROS scavenging in transgenic Arabidopsis. In addition, the water loss and chlorophyll content loss were reduced in transgenic plants; the transgenic plants showed higher proline level and lower MDA content than that of wild-type Arabidopsis, respectively. In conclusion, the VvXDH gene has the potential to be applied in increasing allantoin accumulation and enhancing the tolerance to abiotic stresses in Arabidopsis and other plants.

Phytoremediation of 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene by Arabidopsis plants expressing a NAD(P)H-flavin nitroreductase from Enterobacter cloacae

Shuang-Hong You,Bo Zhu,Hong-Juan Han,Bo Wang,Ri-He Peng,Quan-Hong Yao 한국식물생명공학회 2015 Plant biotechnology reports Vol.9 No.6

2,4,6-Trinitrotoluene (TNT) is released into natural environment from demilitarization facilities, manufacturing, and explosive remnants of war; this compound is one of the most recalcitrant explosives. TNT contamination is associated with human health risks because TNT strongly causes mutagenicity and carcinogenicity. Unfortunately, effective and affordable technologies to remediate TNT-contaminated environments are insufficient. As such, studies have been conducted to develop strategies using plants to extract and detoxify TNT from environment. In this study, a system was designed to overcome high phytotoxicity of TNT by expressing a NAD(P)H-flavin nitroreductase from Enterobacter cloacae to investigate the possibility of TNT phytoremediation. The resulting transgenic Arabidopsis showed a remarkable improvement in the ability to tolerate, absorb, and detoxify TNT as evidenced by their growth condition. This study can be used as reference to facilitate the effective cleanup of TNTcontaminated sites.

Molecular Recognition Enables Nanosubstrate-Mediated Delivery of Gene-Encapsulated Nanoparticles with High Efficiency

Peng, Jinliang,Garcia, Mitch André,Choi, Jin-sil,Zhao, Libo,Chen, Kuan-Ju,Bernstein, James R.,Peyda, Parham,Hsiao, Yu-Sheng,Liu, Katherine W.,Lin, Wei-Yu,Pyle, April D.,Wang, Hao,Hou, Shuang,Tse American Chemical Society 2014 ACS NANO Vol.8 No.5

<P/><P>Substrate-mediated gene delivery is a promising method due to its unique ability to preconcentrate exogenous genes onto designated substrates. However, many challenges remain to enable continuous and multiround delivery of the gene using the same substrates without depositing payloads and immobilizing cells in each round of delivery. Herein we introduce a gene delivery system, nanosubstrate-mediated delivery (NSMD) platform, based on two functional components with nanoscale features, including (1) DNA⊂SNPs, supramolecular nanoparticle (SNP) vectors for gene encapsulation, and (2) Ad-SiNWS, adamantane (Ad)-grafted silicon nanowire substrates. The multivalent molecular recognition between the Ad motifs on Ad-SiNWS and the β-cyclodextrin (CD) motifs on DNA⊂SNPs leads to dynamic assembly and local enrichment of DNA⊂SNPs from the surrounding medium onto Ad-SiNWS. Subsequently, once cells settled on the substrate, DNA⊂SNPs enriched on Ad-SiNWS were introduced through the cell membranes by intimate contact with individual nanowires on Ad-SiNWS, resulting in a highly efficient delivery of exogenous genes. Most importantly, sequential delivery of multiple batches of exogenous genes on the same batch cells settled on Ad-SiNWS was realized by sequential additions of the corresponding DNA⊂SNPs with equivalent efficiency. Moreover, using the NSMD platform <I>in vivo</I>, cells recruited on subcutaneously transplanted Ad-SiNWS were also efficiently transfected with exogenous genes loaded into SNPs, validating the <I>in vivo</I> feasibility of this system. We believe that this nanosubstrate-mediated delivery platform will provide a superior system for <I>in vitro</I> and <I>in vivo</I> gene delivery and can be further used for the encapsulation and delivery of other biomolecules.</P>

Optimizing bioconversion of ferulic acid to vanillin by Bacillus subtilis in the stirred packed reactor using Box-Behnken design and desirability function

Peng Chen,Lei Yan,Shuang Zhang,Zhengrong Wu,Suyue Li,Xiaojuan Yan,Ningbo Wang,Ning Liang,Hong Yu Li 한국식품과학회 2017 Food Science and Biotechnology Vol.26 No.1

A stirring bioreactor packed with a carbon fiber textiles (FT) biofilm formed by Bacillus subtilis was used to produce vanillin from ferulic acid. Biofilm formation was characterized by scanning electron microscopy. The interactive effects of three variables on vanillin molar yield (M) and conversion efficiency of ferulic acid (E) were evaluated by response surface methodology (RSM) with a Box-Behnken design (BBD). The optimal conversion conditions with a maximum overall desirability D of 0.983 were obtained by a desirability function. Considering the actual operation, the confirmation tests were performed using the slightly modified optimal conditions (initial ferulic acid concentration 1.55 g/ L, temperature 35oC, stirring speed 220 rpm). The results showed that M and E were 57.42 and 93.53%, respectively. This was only 1.03% and 1.87%, respectively, different from the predicted values, confirming the validity of the predicted models. These revealed that the stirred packed reactor could be successfully used in vanillin bioconversion from ferulic acid.

A Compact UWB and Bluetooth Slot Antenna for MIMO/Diversity Applications

Peng Gao,Shuang He 한국전자통신연구원 2014 ETRI Journal Vol.36 No.2

A novel compact pattern diversity slot antenna for ultrawideband(UWB) and Bluetooth applications is presented. Thisantenna consists of two modified coplanar waveguides thatfeed staircase-shaped radiating elements, wherein two differentfork-like stubs are placed at the 45º axis. The measured resultsshow that this proposed antenna operates from 2.3 GHz to12.5 GHz, covering Bluetooth, WLAN, WiMAX, and UWB. Theperformance of radiation patterns and the correspondingenvelope correlation coefficient prove this antenna is suitablefor MIMO/diversity systems. Also, the antenna’s compact sizemakes it a good candidate for portable devices.

Solvothermal Synthesis of InOOH Nanospheres with Enhanced Photocatalytic Activity

Shuang Yang,Cheng-Yan Xu,Sheng-Peng Hu,Wen-Shou Wang,Jing Yu,Liang Zhen 대한화학회 2016 Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society Vol.37 No.4

Monodispersive indium oxyhydroxide (InOOH) nanospheres were successfully synthesized by an acetic acid-assisted solvothermal method. The structure and morphology of InOOH nanospheres were characterized by means of X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope, and transmission electron microscope. The obtained InOOH nanospheres have a porous structure with diameters of 400–650 nm and a relative large specific surface area of 60.63 m2/g. Introducing a trace amount of acetic acid into the reaction system can effectively adjust the reaction rate, realizing the morphology and phase tuning of InOOH nanospheres. The InOOH nanospheres exhibit excellent photocatalytic degradation of Rhodamine B under UV light irradiation, which is ascribed to the porous structures and high-Brunauer–Emmett–Teller surface area of InOOH nanospheres.

Development of High-specificity Antibodies against Renal Urate Transporters Using Genetic Immunization

( Guo Shuang Xu ),( Xiang Mei Chen ),( Di Wu ),( Suo Zhu Shi ),( Jian Zhong Wang ),( Rui Ding ),( Quan Hong ),( Zhe Feng ),( Shu Peng Lin ),( Yang Lu ) 생화학분자생물학회 2006 BMB Reports Vol.39 No.6