Sublethal effects of beta-cypermethrin on the bird cherry-oat aphid Rhopalosiphum padi (Hemiptera: Aphididae)

Qing-Qing Zhang,Wen-Qiang Li,Zeng-Bin Lu,Li-Li Li,Yi Yu,Chao Li,Xing-Yuan Men 한국응용곤충학회 2019 Journal of Asia-Pacific Entomology Vol.22 No.3

Rhopalosiphum padi is a sap-sucking aphid and an important pest of wheat that causes considerable yield loss. Beta-cypermethrin, a synthetic pyrethroid pesticide, has a broad insecticide spectrum and is considered effective for aphid control, while its residual concentrations may have sublethal effects on R. padi. Here, the sublethal effects of beta-cypermethrin on R. padi were conducted under laboratory conditions. The acute toxicity test showed that LC 10 , LC 20 , and LC 25 of beta-cypermethrin to R. padi adults were 0.003, 0.031 and 0.079 mg L −1 , respectively. The pre-adult survival rate was significantly reduced by all three concentrations. LC 20 significantly extended the development duration of 1st instar nymphs, pre-oviposition period, and oviposition period of R. padi. The adult longevity was also reduced by LC 25 . However, the fecundity did not differ between the betacypermethrin treatment and control. For life table parameters, both the finite rate (λ) and intrinsic rate of increase (r) decreased at LC 10 and LC 20 , as well as the net reproductive rate (R 0 ) reduced at LC 10 and LC 25 , while mean generation time (T) increased at LC 20 . Thus, at the concentrations of beta-cypermethrin tested here, there were negative impacts on R. padi fitness by decreased pre-adult survival rate, λ, r, and R 0 , and delayed the development of some stages and increased T.

Perioperative Comprehensive Supportive Care Interventions for Chinese Patients with Esophageal Carcinoma: a Prospective Study

Zhang, Xiao-Dan,Zhao, Qing-Yu,Fang, Yi,Chen, Guan-Xuan,Zhang, Hui-Fang,Zhang, Wen-Xiao,Yang, Xiao-Ping Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2013 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.14 No.12

Objective: To assess the effects of perioperative comprehensive supportive care interventions on outcome of Chinese esophageal cancer patients in a prospective study. Methods: 60 patients with primary esophageal carcinoma were randomized into an intervention group (IG, n=31) and a control group (CG, n=29). The Chinese version of symptom checklist-90 (SCL-90) was adopted to assess their psychological status. The interventions, including health education, psychological support, stress management, coping strategies and behavior training, were carried out in 3 phases (preoperative, postoperative I and postoperative II), and psychological effects were thereafter evaluated accordingly before surgery, and 1 week, 4 weeks and 24 weeks post-surgery. Medical costs were estimated at discharge. Survival of patients was estimated each year post-surgery. General health status and satisfaction-with-hospital were surveyed by a follow-up questionnaire 4 years post-surgery. Results: All the subjects demonstrated higher scores in the preoperative phase than the normal range of Chinese population concerning 7 psychological domains including somatization, obsessive-compulsive, depression, anxiety, hostility, phobic anxiety and paranoid ideation. Although no significant difference was observed between the two groups at admission, the scores of IG, which tended to decrease at a faster rate, were generally lower than those of CG at weeks 1, 4 and 24 post-surgery. The length of hospital stay and medical costs of IG were significantly less than those of CG and satisfaction-with-hospital was better. However, there was no significant difference in 4-year survival or health status between two groups. Conclusions: Appropriate perioperative comprehensive supportive care interventions help to improve the psychological state of Chinese patients with esophageal carcinoma, to reduce health care costs and to promote satisfaction of patients and their families with hospital.

The evaluation of online course of Traditional Chinese Medicine for Medical Bachelor, Bachelor of Surgery international students during the COVID-19 epidemic period

Zhang Qing,He Yi-Jing,Zhu Yu-Hang,Dai Min-Chen,Pan Man-Man,Wu Jia-Qi,Zhang Xian,Gu Ying-Er,Wang Fang-Fang,Xu Xiang-Rong,Qu Fan 한국한의학연구원 2020 Integrative Medicine Research Vol.9 No.3

Background: During the COVID-19 epidemic period, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) course for international students of Medical Bachelor, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) program in Zhejiang University has shifted from traditional classroom to online environment. This study aimed to investigate MBBS international students’ perception on online TCM course, and to assess the online learning efficacy. Methods: A total of 84 MBBS international students attending course of “Basic Traditional Chinese Medicine” during 2020 academic years at Zhejiang University were enrolled in this study. A quantitative questionnaire was respectively completed before and after the TCM course using a pretest–post-test design. By means of two online learning platforms, Learning in ZJU and DingTalk, TCM course was broadcast in both live and archived format to students. Results: A total of 48 participants completed both baseline and follow-up questionnaires. The majority of participants preferred face-to-face classroom learning (26, 54.17% of total) when compared with online learning. Students felt that the course had brought in much benefits (mean 3.88, SD 0.87), and they were satisfied with the course content (mean 3.83, SD 0.95). Students’ TCM related knowledge and their behaviors of discussion and consulting were significantly improved by online TCM course (all P < 0.001). Students’ awareness of the necessity of TCM education and their feeling of difficulty in learning TCM were significantly strengthened (P = 0.042, 0.025, respectively). Conclusion: Online learning is a good alternative for TCM course of MBBS international students when classroom learning is suspended, whereas it cannot replace the need for onsite and face-to-face learning.

Short Low Concentration Cisplatin Treatment Leads to an Epithelial Mesenchymal Transition-like Response in DU145 Prostate Cancer Cells

Liu, Yi-Qing,Zhang, Guo-An,Zhang, Bing-Chang,Wang, Yong,Liu, Zheng,Jiao, Yu-Lian,Liu, Ning,Zhao, Yue-Ran Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2015 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.16 No.3

Background: Prostate cancer is one of the main causes of cancer death, and drug resistance is the leading reason for therapy failure. However, how this occurs is largely unknown. We therrfore aimed to study the response of DU145 cells to cisplatin. Materials and Methods: Du145 prostate cancer cells were treated with a low dose of cisplatin for 24 h and cell viability and number were determined by MTT assay and trypan blue exclusion assay, respectively. The real time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used to assess responses to cisplatin treatment. Results: After 24h $2{\mu}g/ml$ treatment did not result in significant reduction in cell viability or number. However, it led to enhanced cancer cell invasiveness. E-cadherin mRNA was reduced, and vimentin, Snail, Slug, metalloproteinase 9 (MMP9) mRNA expression increased significantly, a feature of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). Conclusions: Short time low concentration cisplatin treatment leads to elevated invasiveness of DU145 cancer cells and this is possibly due to EMT.

Automatic Detection and Classification of Rib Fractures on Thoracic CT Using Convolutional Neural Network: Accuracy and Feasibility

Zhou Qing-Qing,Wang Jiashuo,Tang Wen,Hu Zhang-Chun,Xia Zi-Yi,Xue-Song Li,Zhang Rongguo,Yin Xindao,Zhang Bing,Zhang Hong 대한영상의학회 2020 Korean Journal of Radiology Vol.21 No.7

Objective: To evaluate the performance of a convolutional neural network (CNN) model that can automatically detect and classify rib fractures, and output structured reports from computed tomography (CT) images. Materials and Methods: This study included 1079 patients (median age, 55 years; men, 718) from three hospitals, between January 2011 and January 2019, who were divided into a monocentric training set (n = 876; median age, 55 years; men, 582), five multicenter/multiparameter validation sets (n = 173; median age, 59 years; men, 118) with different slice thicknesses and image pixels, and a normal control set (n = 30; median age, 53 years; men, 18). Three classifications (fresh, healing, and old fracture) combined with fracture location (corresponding CT layers) were detected automatically and delivered in a structured report. Precision, recall, and F1-score were selected as metrics to measure the optimum CNN model. Detection/diagnosis time, precision, and sensitivity were employed to compare the diagnostic efficiency of the structured report and that of experienced radiologists. Results: A total of 25054 annotations (fresh fracture, 10089; healing fracture, 10922; old fracture, 4043) were labelled for training (18584) and validation (6470). The detection efficiency was higher for fresh fractures and healing fractures than for old fractures (F1-scores, 0.849, 0.856, 0.770, respectively, p = 0.023 for each), and the robustness of the model was good in the five multicenter/multiparameter validation sets (all mean F1-scores > 0.8 except validation set 5 [512 x 512 pixels; F1-score = 0.757]). The precision of the five radiologists improved from 80.3% to 91.1%, and the sensitivity increased from 62.4% to 86.3% with artificial intelligence-assisted diagnosis. On average, the diagnosis time of the radiologists was reduced by 73.9 seconds. Conclusion: Our CNN model for automatic rib fracture detection could assist radiologists in improving diagnostic efficiency, reducing diagnosis time and radiologists’ workload.

Causal Relations between Exposome and Stroke: A Mendelian Randomization Study

Hong-Qi Li,Yi-Wei Feng,Yu-Xiang Yang,Xin-Yi Leng,Prof Can Zhang,Shi-Dong Chen,Kevin Kuo,Shu-Yi Huang,Xue-Qing Zhang,Yi Dong,Xiang Han,Xin Cheng,Mei Cui,Lan Tan,Qiang Dong,Jin-Tai Yu 대한뇌졸중학회 2022 Journal of stroke Vol.24 No.2

Background and Purpose To explore the causal relationships of elements of the exposome with ischemic stroke and its subtypes at the omics level and to provide evidence for stroke prevention. Methods We conducted a Mendelian randomization study between exposure and any ischemic stroke (AIS) and its subtypes (large-artery atherosclerotic disease [LAD], cardioembolic stroke [CE], and small vessel disease [SVD]). The exposure dataset was the UK Biobank involving 361,194 subjects, and the outcome dataset was the MEGASTROKE consortium including 52,000 participants. Results We found that higher blood pressure (BP) (systolic BP: odds ratio [OR], 1.02; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.01 to 1.04; diastolic BP: OR, 1.03; 95% CI, 1.01 to 1.05; pulse pressure: OR, 1.03; 95% CI, 1.00 to 1.06), atrial fibrillation (OR, 1.18; 95% CI, 1.13 to 1.25), and diabetes (OR, 1.13; 95% CI, 1.07 to 1.18) were significantly associated with ischemic stroke. Importantly, higher education (OR, 0.69; 95% CI, 0.60 to 0.79) decreased the risk of ischemic stroke. Higher systolic BP (OR, 1.06; 95% CI, 1.02 to 1.10), pulse pressure (OR, 1.08; 95% CI, 1.02 to 1.14), diabetes (OR, 1.28; 95% CI, 1.13 to 1.45), and coronary artery disease (OR, 1.58; 95% CI, 1.25 to 2.00) could cause LAD. Atrial fibrillation could cause CE (OR, 1.90; 95% CI, 1.71 to 2.11). For SVD, higher systolic BP (OR, 1.04; 95% CI, 1.00 to 1.07), diastolic BP (OR, 1.06; 95% CI, 1.01 to 1.12), and diabetes (OR, 1.22; 95% CI, 1.10 to 1.36) were causal factors. Conclusions The study revealed elements of the exposome causally linked to ischemic stroke and its subtypes, including conventional causal risk factors and novel protective factors such as higher education.

Historical Long-term Exposure to Pentachlorophenol Causing Risk of Cancer - A Community Study

Zheng, Rui-Zhi,Zhang, Qing-He,He, Yi-Xin,Zhang, Qian,Yang, Lin-Shen,Zhang, Zhi-Hua,Zhang, Xiu-Jun,Hu, Jing-Ting,Huang, Fen Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2013 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.14 No.2

Background: Pervious studies suggested occupational workers exposure to pentachlorophenol (PCP) might contribute to increased risk of cancer. However, few studies have focused on associations between PCP and cancer risk at the community level. Objective: The present study was to explore the cancer risk for the community population living long-term in a PCP contaminated area. Methods: All the cancer cases diagnosed in 2009-2011 in Tongling City were collected. The cancer patients' residencies were geo-referenced in each district. The historical PCP usage for each district of Tongling was calculated as the PCP pollution index, which was further used to divide into PCP exposure categories. Standardized rate ratios (SRRs) of cancer incidence were applied to detect the cancer risk as exposure grade elevated. Correlation analysis was performed to analyze the relationship between PCP pollution and cancer incidence. Results: A total of 5,288 cancer cases (3,451 male and 1,837 female) were identified. PCP usage was correlated with the incidence of leukemia (r=0.88, P=0.002) for males, and with cancer of the esophagus for males (r=0.83, P=0.008) and females (r=0.71, P=0.020). Compared with the low exposure category, significant SRRs for total cancer sites was obtained for high PCP exposure category (SRR=1.61, 95%CI=1.59-1.62). Most SRR values of the cancer sites were significantly increased as exposure grade elevated and exposure time extended. Conclusion: The present study found that community residents living in the PCP contaminated area had increased risk of cancers. Leukemias, lymphomas and nasopharyngeal and esophageal cancers are most possibly associated with PCP exposure.

Effects of Insect Hormones on the Replication of Nucleopolyhedrovirus

Zhang, Zhi-Fang,Yi, Yong-Zhu,Xiao, Qing-Li,He, Jia-Lu,Zhou, Ya-Jing,Zhang, Yuan-Xing Korean Society of Sericultural Science 2002 International Journal of Industrial Entomology Vol.4 No.2

An experimental study was undertaken to quantify the effects of insect hormones on the replication of nucleopolyhedrovirus (NPV). The results demonstrated that TCID/ sub 50/ at 72 h post-infection (hpi) rose systematically from 0.55$\times$10$^{8}$ /m1, for untreated cells, up to 1.67$\times$10$^{8}$ / ml at 3$\mu$g/ml, then dropped down to 1.45$\times$10$^{8}$ /m1 at 4 $\mu$g/ml, by adding ecdysone to the culture medium for Bm-N cells infected with a wild-type Bambyx mori. nucleopolyhedrovirus (BmNPV). The optimum enhancement of about 3 times on budded virus (BV) titer at 72 hpi was given at 3 $\mu$g/ml of ecdysone. While the polyhedra number had no obvious variation within the range of concentrations from 0 to 4 $\mu$g/ml. By addition of juvenile hormone analogue (JHA) into the media with this concentration range, the BmNPV TCID/ sub 50/ and polyhedra number at 72 hpi did not show significant changes. Also, the addition of either 3 $\mu$g/ml of ecdysone or 3 $\mu$g/ml of JHA to the culture media did not appear to affect the TCID/ sub 50/ and polyhedra number significantly in infected Sf-21 cells with the autographa californica nucleopolyhedrovirus (AcMNPV).

Antitumor Activity of Chloroquine in Combination with Cisplatin in Human Gastric Cancer Xenografts

Zhang, Hui-Qing,Fang, Nian,Liu, Xiao-Mei,Xiong, Shu-Ping,Liao, Yu-Qian,Jin, Wen-Jian,Song, Rong-Feng,Wan, Yi-Ye Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2015 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.16 No.9

Purpose: To investigate the antitumor activity and mechanism of chloroquine (CQ) in combination with cisplatin (DDP) in nude mice xenografted with gastric cancer SGC7901 cells. Materials and Methods: 35 cases of gastric cancer patients with malignant ascites were enrolled and intraperitoneal cisplatin injection was performed. Ascites were collected before and 5 days after perfusion for assessment of autophagy levels in cancer cells. In addition, 24 tumor-bearing mice were randomly divided into control, DDP, CQ and CQ + DDP groups. Results: In 54.3% (19/35) of patients the treatment was therapeutically effective (OR), 5 days after peritoneal chemotherapy, 13 patients had the decreased ascites Beclin-1 mRNA levels. In 16 patients who had NR, only 2 cases had decreased Beclin-1 (P=0.001). Compared with the control group, the xenograft growth in nude mice in the DDP group was low, and the inhibition rate was 47.6%. In combination with chloroquine, the inhibition rate increased to 84.7% (P<0.01). The LC3-II/I ratio, and Beclin1 and MDR1/P-gp expression were decreased, while caspase 3 protein levels increased (P<0.05). Conclusions: Antitumor ability of cisplatin was associated with autophagy activity and chloroquine can enhance chemosensitivity to cisplatin in gastric cancer xenografts nude mice.

Autophagy Inhibition Sensitizes Cisplatin Cytotoxicity in Human Gastric Cancer Cell Line Sgc7901

Zhang, Hui-Qing,He, Bo,Fang, Nian,Lu, Shan,Liao, Yu-Qian,Wan, Yi-Ye Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2013 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.14 No.8

We aimed to investigate the mechanism and effects of autophagy on cisplatin (DDP)-induced apoptosis in human gastric cancer cell line SGC7901. After SGC7901 cells were treated with DDP and/or chloroquine, cell proliferation was measured using MTT assay; cell apoptosis was determined by flow cytometry; autophagy and apotosis-related proteins expression were detected by Western blot; and quantitative analysis of autophagy after monodansylcadaverine (MDC) staining was performed using fluorescence microscopy. We found after treatment with 5 mg/L DDP for 24 h, the rates of cell apoptosis were ($21.07{\pm}2.12$)%. Autophagy, characterized by an increase in the number of autophagic vesicles and the level of LC3-II protein was observed in cells treated with DDP. After inhibition of autophagy by chloroquine, the rates of cell apoptosis were increased to ($30.16{\pm}3.54$)%, and the level of Caspase-3 and P53 protein were increased, and Bcl-2 protein was decreased. Therefore, autophagy protects human gastric cancer cell line SGC7901 against DDP-induced apoptosis, inhibition of autophagy can promote apoptosis, and combination therapy with DDP and chloroquine may be a promising therapeutic strategy for gastric cancer.