Effect of FTY-720 on Pulmonary Fibrosis in Mice via the TGF-β1 Signaling Pathway and Autophagy

Jin Yuying,Liu Weidong,Gao Ge,Song Yilan,Liu Hanye,Li Liangchang,Zhou Jiaxu,Yan Guanghai,Cui Hong 한국응용약물학회 2023 Biomolecules & Therapeutics(구 응용약물학회지) Vol.31 No.4

We investigated whether FTY-720 might have an effect on bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis through inhibiting TGF-β1 pathway, and up-regulating autophagy. The pulmonary fibrosis was induced by bleomycin. FTY-720 (1 mg/kg) drug was intraperitoneally injected into mice. Histological changes and inflammatory factors were observed, and EMT and autophagy protein markers were studied by immunohistochemistry and immunofluorescence. The effects of bleomycin on MLE-12 cells were detected by MTT assay and flow cytometry, and the related molecular mechanisms were studied by Western Blot. FTY-720 considerably attenuated bleomycin-induced disorganization of alveolar tissue, extracellular collagen deposition, and α-SMA and E-cadherin levels in mice. The levels of IL-1β, TNF-α, and IL-6 cytokines were attenuated in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid, as well as protein content and leukocyte count. COL1A1 and MMP9 protein expressions in lung tissue were significantly reduced. Additionally, FTY- 720 treatment effectively inhibited the expressions of key proteins in TGF-β1/TAK1/P38MAPK pathway and regulated autophagy proteins. Similar results were additionally found in cellular assays with mouse alveolar epithelial cells. Our study provides proof for a new mechanism for FTY-720 to suppress pulmonary fibrosis. FTY-720 is also a target for treating pulmonary fibrosis.

Social Responsibility and Investment Scale of Chinese Listed Enterprises

( Weidong Huang ),( Shanyue Jin ) 한국품질경영학회 2019 한국품질경영학회 학술대회 Vol.2019 No.-

Research on corporate social responsibility is a hot topic in the financial field recently. Domestic and foreign scholars have conducted some researches on the impact of CSR on investment and financing, but the special institutional background of China has not been considered. Based on the background of Chinese enterprise system, this paper introduces the property right nature and analyzes the role of Chinese enterprises with different ownership nature in fulfilling social responsibility on the investment scale. Also cash as the most liquid asset is the core component of corporate governance. There are three conclusions and four policy recommendations. The first conclusions is an enterprise's active fulfillment of social responsibility will increase its investment scale. Second in state-owned enterprises, fulfilling social responsibilities has a more significant effect on the improvement of enterprise investment scale. And final conclusions is Corporate cash holdings will improve the impact of corporate social responsibility on corporate investment scale.The first policy recommendations is the government should promote listed companies to actively fulfill their social responsibilities.Secnd Listed companies should strengthen their awareness of social responsibility.Third Private enterprises should not only pay attention to their economic development, but also actively fulfill their social responsibilities.Fourth Enterprises should retain sufficient cash flow, which will have a positive impact on fulfilling corporate social responsibility, ultimately increasing investment scale and improving corporate performance.

CTLA4-Ig protects tacrolimus-induced oxidative stress via inhibiting the AKT/FOXO3 signaling pathway in rats

Long Jin,Nan Shen,Xinyu Wen,Weidong Wang,Sun Woo Lim,양철우 대한내과학회 2023 The Korean Journal of Internal Medicine Vol.38 No.3

Background/Aims: Although the conversion from tacrolimus (TAC) to cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated antigen 4-immunoglobulin (CTLA4-Ig) is effective in reducing TAC-induced nephrotoxicity, it remains unclear whether CTLA4-Ig has a direct effect on TAC-induced renal injury. In this study, we evaluated the effects of CTLA4-Ig on TAC-induced renal injury in terms of oxidative stress. Methods: In vitro study was performed to assess the effect of CTLA4-Ig on TAC-induced cell death, reactive oxygen species (ROS), apoptosis, and the protein kinase B (AKT)/forkhead transcription factor (FOXO) 3 pathway in human kidney 2 cells. In the in vivo study, the effect of CTLA4-Ig on TAC-induced renal injury was evaluated using renal function, histopathology, markers of oxidative stress (8-hydroxy-2’-deoxyguanosine) and metabolites (4-hydroxy-2-hexenal, catalase, glutathione S-transferase, and glutathione reductase), and activation of the AKT/FOXO3 pathway with insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1). Results: CTLA4-Ig significantly decreased cell death, ROS, and apoptosis caused by TAC. TAC treatment increased apoptotic cell death and apoptosis-related proteins (increased Bcl-2-associated X protein and caspase-3 and decreased Bcl-2), but it was reversed by CTLA4-Ig treatment. The activation of p-AKT and p-FOXO3 by TAC decreased with CTLA4-Ig treatment. TAC-induced renal dysfunction and oxidative marker levels were significantly improved by CTLA4-Ig in vivo. Concomitant IGF- 1 treatment abolished the effects of CTLA4-Ig. Conclusions: CTLA4-Ig has a direct protective effect on TAC-induced renal injury via the inhibition of AKT/FOXO3 pathway.

Comparison of Gayal (Bos frontalis) and Yunnan Yellow Cattle (Bos taurus): Rumen Function, Digestibilities and Nitrogen Balance during Feeding of Pelleted Lucerne (Medicago sativum)

Deng, Weidong,Wang, Liping,Ma, Songcheng,Jin, Bo,He, Tianbao,Yang, Zhifang,Mao, Huaming,Wanapat, Metha Asian Australasian Association of Animal Productio 2007 Animal Bioscience Vol.20 No.6

Three male Gayal (Bos frontalis) and three male Yunnan Yellow cattle (Bos taurus) were fed pelleted lucerne and measurements made of digestibility, nitrogen utilisation, rumen fermentation and microbial population and key plasma metabolites. Total actual dry matter intake was similar but when expressed in terms of live weight or metabolic live weight feed intakes were significantly higher (p<0.05) for Gayal than cattle. Apparent digestibilities of dry matter, organic matter, fibre and dietary nitrogen were similar for both Gayal and cattle. Rumen ammonia nitrogen and total volatile fatty acids were significantly higher (p<0.05) for Gayal than cattle and total numbers of viable rumen bacteria, cellulolytic and amylolytic bacteria, but not proteolytic bacteria nor protozoa, were significantly greater (p<0.05) for Gayal than cattle. Although Gayal have a different rumen ecology to cattle, similar digestive parameters were exhibited. Further research is required to establish relationship between rumen ecology and digestive parameters.

An Analytic Model for the Optimal Number of Relay Stations in Two-Hop Relay Networks

Zilong Jin,Weidong Su,Jinsung Cho,Een-Kee Hong IEEE 2013 IEEE COMMUNICATIONS LETTERS Vol.17 No.2

<P>The RS(Relay Station) has become an important radio resource in next generation wireless communication systems. The optimal number of RSs is one of the crucial issues in configuring a cost-effective RS-based network architecture. In this letter, we present an analytic model to describe the impact of the number of RSs on the channel capacity of two-hop relay network. From the mathematical analysis, the optimal number of RSs is obtained to satisfy QoS requirements of users considering various levels of MCS(Modulation and Coding Scheme). In addition to the mathematical analysis to determine the feasibility of the analytic model, we also examine its performance through a set of simulations. The simulation results show the validity of the proposed analytic model.</P>

A modified U-net for crack segmentation by Self-Attention-Self-Adaption neuron and random elastic deformation

Yang Xu,Jin Zhao,Fangqiao Hu,Weidong Qiao,Weida Zhai,Yuequan Bao,Hui Li 국제구조공학회 2022 Smart Structures and Systems, An International Jou Vol.29 No.1

Despite recent breakthroughs in deep learning and computer vision fields, the pixel-wise identification of tiny objects in high-resolution images with complex disturbances remains challenging. This study proposes a modified U-net for tiny crack segmentation in real-world steel-box-girder bridges. The modified U-net adopts the common U-net framework and a novel Self-Attention-Self-Adaption (SASA) neuron as the fundamental computing element. The Self-Attention module applies softmax and gate operations to obtain the attention vector. It enables the neuron to focus on the most significant receptive fields when processing large-scale feature maps. The Self-Adaption module consists of a multiplayer perceptron subnet and achieves deeper feature extraction inside a single neuron. For data augmentation, a grid-based crack random elastic deformation (CRED) algorithm is designed to enrich the diversities and irregular shapes of distributed cracks. Grid-based uniform control nodes are first set on both input images and binary labels, random offsets are then employed on these control nodes, and bilinear interpolation is performed for the rest pixels. The proposed SASA neuron and CRED algorithm are simultaneously deployed to train the modified U-net. 200 raw images with a high resolution of 4928 × 3264 are collected, 160 for training and the rest 40 for the test. 512 × 512 patches are generated from the original images by a sliding window with an overlap of 256 as inputs. Results show that the average IoU between the recognized and ground-truth cracks reaches 0.409, which is 29.8% higher than the regular U-net. A five-fold cross-validation study is performed to verify that the proposed method is robust to different training and test images. Ablation experiments further demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed SASA neuron and CRED algorithm. Promotions of the average IoU individually utilizing the SASA and CRED module add up to the final promotion of the full model, indicating that the SASA and CRED modules contribute to the different stages of model and data in the training process.

Stochastic Resonance for a Linear Oscillator with Two Kinds of Fractional Derivatives and Random Frequency

Jianqu Zhu,Weidong Jin,Feng Guo 한국물리학회 2017 THE JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN PHYSICAL SOCIETY Vol.70 No.8

The stochastic resonance (SR) behavior for a linear oscillator with two kinds of fractional derivatives and random frequency is investigated. Based on linear system theory, and applying with the definition of the Gamma function and fractional derivatives, we derive the expression for the output amplitude gain (OAG). A stochastic multiresonance is found on the OAG curve versus the first kind of fractional derivative exponent. The SR occurs on the OAG as a function of the second kind of fractional exponent, as a function of the viscous damping and the friction coefficients, and as a function of the system’s frequency. The bona fide SR also takes place on the OAG curve versus the driving frequency.

New Glycosides from Dracocephalum tanguticum Maxim

Qi Zeng,Hui-zi Jin,Ruijie Chang,Jiangjiang Qin,Xiangrong Cheng,Weidong Zhang 대한약학회 2011 Archives of Pharmacal Research Vol.34 No.12

Four new glycosides, luteolin-7-methoxy-3'-O-(3''-O-acetyl)-β-D-gluco pyranuronic acid-6''-methyl ester (1), benzyl-6-[(2E)-2-butenoate]-β-D-glucopyranoside (2), 2-methoxy-4-(2-propen-1-yl)penyl-6-acetate-β-D-glucopyranoside (3), and 2-methoxy-4-(2-propen-1-yl)penyl-6-[(2E)-2-butenoate]-β- D-glucopyranoside (4), along with benzyl-β-D-glucopyranoside (5), 2-methoxy-4-(2-propen-1-yl)penyl-β-D-glucopyranoside (6), and pectolarigenin (7), were isolated from the whole plant of Dracocephalum tanguticum Maxim. The structures of 1-4 were elucidated by detailed spectroscopic analyses, including HR-ESI-MS and 2D NMR spectroscopic data. The inhibitory effects against nitric oxide production in LPS-stimulated RAW264.7 cells of all seven compounds were also evaluated.

Torque Error Based Auto-tuning of Weighting Factor in Model Predictive Torque Control of Induction Motor Drive

Shahid Muhammad Bilal,Jin Weidong,Abbasi Muhammad Abbas,Husain Abdul Rashid,Hassan Mannan 대한전기학회 2023 Journal of Electrical Engineering & Technology Vol.18 No.3

Weighting factor design is considered a challenging and tedious task in finite control set model predictive torque control (FCS-MPTC) for induction motor drives. The complexity involved in designing the weighting factor occurs due to the presence of different quantities in the cost function. In the absence of an accurate design method, a constant weighting factor is used for entire operating range of the drive which does not guarantee optimal performance. To improve the performance of the MPTC, an online tuning method for the weighting factor is proposed in this work. The tuning process is achieved by comparing torque error to predefined threshold value at any given sampling instant. If the error is larger than the threshold limit, weighting factor is increased to bring the error within the acceptable limit and vice versa. In each sampling interval, the cost function is optimized with the tuned weighting factor and optimal voltage vector is chosen. The effectiveness of the proposed method is validated experimentally for a two level three-phase inverter-fed induction motor drive on dSpace DS1104 controller board. The performance of the proposed method is compared to the conventional MPTC with fixed weighting factor and an online weighting factor tuning method based on the principle of coefficient-of-variation (CV-MPTC). It is concluded that the proposed method not only improves dynamic performance of the drive as compared to both methods but also offers computational advantages over CV-MPTC.

재무부정의 동기: 중국 루이씽커피의 사례를 중심으로

오려견 ( Lijuan Wu ),황위동 ( Weidong Huang ),김산월 ( Shanyue Jin ) 사단법인 아시아문화학술원 2021 인문사회 21 Vol.12 No.6

루이씽커피는 중국의 신흥 커피 브랜드다. 루이씽커피는 온라인과 오프라인에서 운영되는 저렴한 커피 브랜드를 만들었으며 2019년에 성공적으로 나스닥에 상장하였다. 하지만 2020년에 루이씽커피의 재무부정이 폭로되었고 얼마 지나지 않아서 상장폐지 되었다. 따라서 본 연구는 루이씽커피의 재무부정이 왜 일어났는지 그 이유에 대해 설명하고 해결책을 제시하고자 한다. 본 연구는 사례연구 방법과 재무분석 방법을 적용하여 루이씽커피의 재무부정의 원인을 탐욕, 기회, 수요, 공개요인의 관점에서 해석하였다. 본 연구는 루이씽커피의 사례를 통해 기업들이 지배구조를 발전시키고 내부 통제를 강화해야 한다는 것을 제시하고 있다. Luckin Coffee is an emerging coffee band in China. It created an inexpensive coffee brand operating online and offline and soon successfully got listed on NASDAQ in 2019. However, Luckin Coffee’s financial fraud was revealed in 2020 and it was delisted shortly after. Therefore, this study aims to explain the reason why Luckin Coffee’s financial corruption occurred and suggest the solutions. The study applied the case study method and the financial analysis method to explain the causes of Luckin Coffee’s financial fraud in terms of greed, opportunity, demand, and exposure factors. This study suggests that companies should develop their governance structure and strengthen internal control through case of Luckin Coffee.