CHINA : CAN THE AWAKENING GIANT FEED A WEALTHIER POPULATION ?

Xiang, Xu,Kai, Wang 경남대학교 극동문제연구소 1997 ASIAN PERSPECTIVE Vol.21 No.3

Ginsenoside Rh2 reduces depression in offspring of mice with maternal toxoplasma infection during pregnancy by inhibiting microglial activation via the HMGB1/TLR4/NF-kB signaling pathway

Xiang Xu,Yu-Nan Lu,Jia-Hui Cheng,Hui-Wen Lan,Jing-Mei Lu,Guang-Nan Jin,Guang-Hua Xu,Cheng-Hua Jin,Juan Ma,Hu-Nan Piao,Xuejun Jin,Lian-Xun Piao 고려인삼학회 2022 Journal of Ginseng Research Vol.46 No.1

Background: Maternal Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) infection during pregnancy has been associated with various mental illnesses in the offspring. Ginsenoside Rh2 (GRh2) is a major bioactive compound obtained from ginseng that has an anti-T. gondii effect and attenuates microglial activation through toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4)/nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-kB) signaling pathway. GRh2 also alleviated tumor-associated or lipopolysaccharide-induced depression. However, the effects and potential mechanisms of GRh2 on depression-like behavior in mouse offspring caused by maternal T. gondii infection during pregnancy have not been investigated. Methods: We examined GRh2 effects on the depression-like behavior in mouse offspring, caused by maternal T. gondii infection during pregnancy, by measuring depression-like behaviors and assaying parameters at the neuronal and molecular level. Results: We showed that GRh2 significantly improved behavioral measures: sucrose consumption, forced swim time and tail suspended immobility time of their offspring. These corresponded with increased tissue concentrations of 5-hydroxytryptamine and dopamine, and attenuated indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase or enhanced tyrosine hydroxylase expression in the prefrontal cortex. GRh2 ameliorated neuronal damage in the prefrontal cortex. Molecular docking results revealed that GRh2 binds strongly to both TLR4 and high mobility group box 1 (HMGB1). Conclusion: This study demonstrated that GRh2 ameliorated the depression-like behavior in mouse offspring of maternal T. gondii infection during pregnancy by attenuating the excessive activation of microglia and neuroinflammation through the HMGB1/TLR4/NF-kB signaling pathway. It suggests that GRh2 could be considered a potential therapy in preventing and treating psychiatric disorders in the offspring mice of mothers with prenatal exposure to T. gondii infection.

Anti-sway Controls of Double-pendulum Rotary Cranes

Xiang Xu,Huimin Ouyang 제어로봇시스템학회 2019 제어로봇시스템학회 국제학술대회 논문집 Vol.2019 No.10

Crane systems with double-pendulum effect seem more practical than those with single-pendulum effect. However, in these cases the load sway properties become more complicated so that the difficulty of the dynamic performance analysis and controller design is increased. In order to solve the aforementioned problems, the linear dynamics of a rotary crane with double-pendulum effect is derived based on disturbance observers, and is decoupled for controller design by modal analysis. Next, an S-shaped curve is generated on the basis of the decoupled linear crane model for suppressing residual double-pendulum load sway. Parameters of the trajectory can be easily obtained by calculating algebraic equations. Finally, simulation results validate the effectiveness of the proposed method.

Radical Scavenging Activity of Sea Buckthorn Oils from Different Parts of Sea Buckthorn Berry

Xiang Xu,Yanxiang Gao 한국식품과학회 2009 Food Science and Biotechnology Vol.18 No.2

Antioxidant-rich oils were extracted from different parts of sea buckthorn berry with supercritical CO₂ (SC-CO₂) and n-hexane. The functional components were analyzed and the extracts were screened for their potential as radical scavengers in 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl radical (DPPH), 2,2’-azinobis-3-ethylbenzotiazoline-6-sulphonic acid (ABTS), galvinoxyl systems. Minor differences were found in fatty acid composition of oils extracted by the two methods. Seed oil contains the highest content of tocopherols while pulp oil and whole berry oil possessed higher concentration of carotenoids. Whole berry oil, pulp oil, and seed oil extracted by SC-CO₂ showed 91.7, 90.9, and 93.5% radical scavenging activity (RSA) at 6 ㎎/㎖ towards DPPH and 74.3, 54.3, and 74.8% towards galvanoxyl radical at 10 ㎎/㎖. The hexane-extracted oils showed similar scavenging ability. However, the oils obtained by hexane showed significantly higher RSA (p<0.05) than those obtained by SC-CO₂ while whole berry oil has the highest RSA towards ABTS among 3 oil samples.

Ginsenoside Rh2 attenuates microglial activation against toxoplasmic encephalitis via TLR4/NF-kB signaling pathway

Xiang Xu,Lan Jin,Tong Jiang,Ying Lu,Fumie Aosai,Hu-Nan Piao,Guang-Hua Xu,Cheng-Hua Jin,Xue-Jun Jin,Juan Ma,Lian-Xun Piao 고려인삼학회 2020 Journal of Ginseng Research Vol.44 No.5

Background: Ginsenoside Rh2 (GRh2) is a characterized component in red ginseng widely used in Korea and China. GRh2 exhibits a wide range of pharmacological activities, such as anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and anticancer properties. However, its effects on Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) infection have not been clarified yet. Methods: The effect of GRh2 against T. gondii was assessed under in vitro and in vivo experiments. The BV2 cells were infected with tachyzoites of T. gondii RH strain, and the effects of GRh2 were evaluated by MTT assay, morphological observations, immunofluorescence staining, a trypan blue exclusion assay, reverse transcription PCR, and Western blot analyses. The in vivo experiment was conducted with BALB/c mice inoculated with lethal amounts of tachyzoites with or without GRh2 treatment. Results and conclusion: The GRh2 treatment significantly inhibited the proliferation of T. gondii under in vitro and in vivo studies. Furthermore, GRh2 blocked the activation of microglia and specifically decreased the release of inflammatory mediators in response to T. gondii infection through TLR4/NF-kB signaling pathway. In mice, GRh2 conferred modest protection from a lethal dose of T. gondii. After the treatment, the proliferation of tachyzoites in the peritoneal cavity of infected mice markedly decreased. Moreover, GRh2 also significantly decreased the T. gondii burden in mouse brain tissues. These findings indicate that GRh2 exhibits an antieT. gondii effect and inhibits the microglial activation through TLR4/NF-kB signaling pathway, providing the basic pharmacological basis for the development of new drugs to treat toxoplasmic encephalitis.

Study on the structure of reduced graphene oxide prepared by different reduction methods

Xiang Xu,Zhu Ying,Gao Changqin,Du Han,Guo Chunwen 한국탄소학회 2022 Carbon Letters Vol.32 No.2

The reduced graphene oxide (rGO) has attracted more and more attention in recent years. How to choose a suitable reduction method to prepare rGO is a critical problem in the preparation of graphene composites. In this work, the differences of rGO reduced by thermal, microwave, Ultraviolet (UV) and reducing agent were studied. The reduction degree and functional groups of rGO were compared by SEM, XPS, Raman, FTIR and TGA. Thermal can remove most of the oxygen-containing groups of graphene oxide (GO) and the thermal reduction is the most effective reduction method. UV light can directly act on the unstable oxygen-containing groups, and its reduction efficiency is second only to thermal reduction. The efficiency of chemical reduction is not as good as that of UV reduction, because the reducing agent only act on the surface of GO. Microwave reduction is a mild thermal reduction with the lowest efficiency, but the residual oxygen-containing groups increase the hydrophilicity of rGO. To sum up, this work studies that rGO prepared by different reduction methods has different characteristics, which provides a reference for selecting appropriate reduction methods to prepare graphene composites with better properties.

Condition Assessment of Suspension Bridges Using Local Variable Weight and Normal Cloud Model

Xiang Xu,Qiao Huang,Yuan Ren,Hong-Bin Sun 대한토목학회 2018 KSCE JOURNAL OF CIVIL ENGINEERING Vol.22 No.10

A systematic work has been presented for condition assessment of suspension bridges in this study. Initially, a four-layer index system is built up. Subsequently, 45 experts are invited to determine the index weights by processing the experts’ opinions using the Group Decision-Making (GDM). The assigned weights seem more reasonable (especially weights of the tower and auxiliary facility) when compared with those in the existing China’s code. Next, assessment algorithms, the Local Variable Weight Model (LVWM) and Normal Cloud Model (NCM), are established based on the characteristics of the bridge condition assessment. The LVWM adjusts weight properly to make assessment results in line with the actual situation under extreme cases. The NCM describes not only the fuzziness but also the randomness in the assessment process. Finally, a case study is illustrated to verify the effectiveness of the methodology. For sake of highlighting the advantages of the LVWM, two more models are subjected to the case study, which are the Constant Weight Model (CWM) and Traditional Variable Weight Model (TVWM). Consequently, the assessment result of the LVWM is more in keeping with the actual situation than those of the CWM or TVWM.

Sensor fault diagnosis for bridge monitoring system using similarity of symmetric responses

Xiang Xu,Qiao Huang,Yuan Ren,Dan-Yang Zhao,Juan Yang 국제구조공학회 2019 Smart Structures and Systems, An International Jou Vol.23 No.3

To ensure high quality data being used for data mining or feature extraction in the bridge structural health monitoring (SHM) system, a practical sensor fault diagnosis methodology has been developed based on the similarity of symmetric structure responses. First, the similarity of symmetric response is discussed using field monitoring data from different sensor types. All the sensors are initially paired and sensor faults are then detected pair by pair to achieve the multi-fault diagnosis of sensor systems. To resolve the coupling response issue between structural damage and sensor fault, the similarity for the target zone (where the studied sensor pair is located) is assessed to determine whether the localized structural damage or sensor fault results in the dissimilarity of the studied sensor pair. If the suspected sensor pair is detected with at least one sensor being faulty, field test could be implemented to support the regression analysis based on the monitoring and field test data for sensor fault isolation and reconstruction. Finally, a case study is adopted to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed methodology. As a result, Dasarathy’s information fusion model is adopted for multi-sensor information fusion. Euclidean distance is selected as the index to assess the similarity. In conclusion, the proposed method is practical for actual engineering which ensures the reliability of further analysis based on monitoring data.

Antioxidant and Anti-Inflammatory Effects of Various Cultivars of Kiwi Berry (Actinidia arguta) on Lipopolysaccharide-Stimulated RAW 264.7 Cells

( Xiangxue An ),( Sang Gil Lee ),( Hee Kang ),( Ho Jin Heo ),( Youn-sup Cho ),( Dae-ok Kim ) 한국미생물 · 생명공학회 2016 Journal of microbiology and biotechnology Vol.26 No.8

The present study evaluated the total phenolic and flavonoid contents as well as total antioxidant capacity (TAC) of three cultivars of Actinidia arguta Planch. kiwi berries; cv. Mansoo (Mansoo), cv. Chiak (Chiak), and cv. Haeyeon (Haeyeon). In addition, the antiinflammatory effects of the three cultivars of kiwi berries were investigated using a lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated RAW 264.7 murine macrophage cell line. Mansoo had the highest total phenolic content and TAC among the three cultivars, whereas Chiak had the highest total flavonoid content. The total antioxidant capacities of the kiwi berry extracts were more strongly correlated with total phenolic content than with total flavonoid content. The kiwi berry extracts suppressed the secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines, including interleukin-6 and tumor necrosis factor-α, from LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells. The release of nitrite, an indirect indicator of nitric oxide, was also ameliorated by pre-treatment with the kiwi berry extracts in a dose-dependent manner. Cellular-based measurements of antioxidant capacity exhibited that the kiwi berry extracts had cellular antioxidant capacities. Such cellular antioxidant effects are possibly attributed to their direct antioxidant capacity or to the inhibition of reactive oxygen species generation via anti-inflammatory effects. Our findings suggest that kiwi berries are potential antioxidant and anti-inflammatory agents.

Research on the workspace and analytical stiffness method of a cable-driven robot intended to conduct lower limb rehabilitation therapies

Xiangxu Qu,Dongxing Cao,Mengying Song,Yuting Zhang 대한기계학회 2023 JOURNAL OF MECHANICAL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY Vol.37 No.10

This paper proposed a cable-driven robot for performing lower limb rehabilitation therapies. Based on important requirements intended to confirm positive tensions within a redundant number of cables, a simple way of examining the operational area for cable-driven structures is discussed and implemented for a rehabilitation device. In contrast, a more suitable scheme is to add torsion springs at the robot joints. These springs can create resistance torque, potentially reducing the number of cables and solving issues of interference. An examination approach using the virtual joint method is suggested to describe the stiffness of the robot amidst rehabilitation development when considering mass, external force, and compliant impacts of the structural joints. Simulated and experimental results demonstrated that the proposed method was effective and the designed robot can fulfil lower limb rehabilitation with advantages such as being lightweight, low-cost, and having simple transmission.