Protective Effects of Gypenosides against Fatty Liver Disease Induced by High Fat and Cholesterol Diet and Alcohol in Rats

Renan Qin,Hong Nie,Jianyu Zhang,Chuyuan Li,Xiaoqi Zhang,Aihua Xiong,Feng Huang,Zhen Yin,Kongyan Li,Wenyu Qin,Mingzhen Chen,Shubing Zhang,Lingyi Liang,Huiye Zhang,Wencai Ye 대한약학회 2012 Archives of Pharmacal Research Vol.35 No.7

In the present study, the protective effects of gypenosides from Gynostemma pentaphyllum on fatty liver disease (FLD) were examined in rats treated with high fat and cholesterol diet and alcohol. Male SD rats were divided into seven groups: control, model, lovastatin, silymarin, gypenosides high-, medium- and low-treatment groups. The latter 6 groups were fed high-fat and cholesterol diet and administered alcohol intragastricly once a day. Body weight was measured every week for 10 weeks, and the hepatic index was measured after 10 weeks. Compared with model group, levels of serum triglyceride (TG), total cholesterol (TC), free fatty acid (FFA), and low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) level, malondialdehyde (MDA), serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) activity, and hepatocyte apoptosis were significantly decreased in gypenosides groups; while serum high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity in both serum and hepatic tissue and mRNA and protein level of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor α (PPAR-α) were significantly increased. Moreover, hepatic steatosis and mitochondrial damage were improved. These results suggested that gypenosides could prevent liver fatty degeneration in fatty liver disease through modulating lipid metabolism, ameliorating liver dysfunction and reducing oxidative stress.

Dynamics and Adaptive Sliding Mode Control of a Mass-Actuated Fixed-Wing UAV

Xiaoqi Qiu,Mingen Zhang,Wuxing Jing,Changsheng Gao 한국항공우주학회 2021 International Journal of Aeronautical and Space Sc Vol.22 No.4

Compared with UAVs controlled by aerodynamic surfaces, mass-actuated UAVs have higher aerodynamic efficiency and better stealth performance. This paper focuses on the dynamics and attitude control of a mass-actuated fixed-wing UAV (MFUAV) with an internal slider. Based on the derived mathematical model of the MFUAV, the influence of the slider parameters on the dynamical behavior is analyzed, and the ideal installation position of the slider is given. Besides, it is revealed that the mass-actuated scheme has a higher control efficiency for low-speed UAVs. To deal with the coupling, uncertainty and disturbances in the dynamics, an adaptive sliding mode controller based on fuzzy system, RBF neural network and sliding mode control are proposed. The RBF neural network uses the minimum parameter learning method to improve its learning speed. It is proved by the Lyapunov method that the proposed controller is ultimately uniformly bounded. Finally, the simulation verifies the effectiveness and robustness of the controller.

Comparison and analysis on sheep meat quality and flavor under pasture-based fattening contrast to intensive pasture-based feeding system

Zhang Zhichao,Wang Xiaoqi,Jin Yan,Zhao Kai,Duan Ziyuan 아세아·태평양축산학회 2022 Animal Bioscience Vol.35 No.7

Objective: The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of 4-month intensive feeding on the meat quality, fatty acid profile, flavor, and growth performance of grazing Hulunbuir sheep (HBS). Methods: The HBS were selected 4-months after birth in a pasture rearing system as the experimental animals (n = 44, female, average body weight 23.8±2.2 kg) then divided equally into pasture-based grazing fattening (PAS) and concentrate-included intensive fattening (CON) groups for another 4-month finishing. When finished fattening, all animals were slaughtered to collect musculus longissimus dorsi subcutaneous adipose tissue and to investigate the influences on meat quality, fatty acid profile, flavor and growth performance. Results: The results showed lambs in CON group got significantly higher live weight, hot carcass weight, and dressing percentage. The CON group had significantly higher value of redness (a*), lightness (L*) and water holding capacity (p<0.05), significantly lower value of Warner-Bratzler shear force than the PAS group (p<0.05). The subcutaneous fat from CON group lambs demonstrated a significantly higher content of C18:1 and C18:2 (p<0.05), but lower C14:0 and C16:0, indicating an increased degree of unsaturated fatty acid. The content of 4-methyloctanoic acid, 4-ethyloctanoic acid and 4-methylnonanoic acid had increased 2 to 4 times, representing a more intense odor in the CON group. However, the values were still lower than most sheep breeds reported, indicating the indoor feeding system could not fundamentally deteriorate the excellent meat characteristic of HBS. Conclusion: It was evident that lambs in CON group exhibited a better meat production performance, improved in meat color, texture and healthier fatty acid profile through pastureweaned concentrate included intensive fattening system, which offers a good alternative regimen for lamb finishing and has a wide prospection in the HBS meat industry. Objective: The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of 4-month intensive feeding on the meat quality, fatty acid profile, flavor, and growth performance of grazing Hulunbuir sheep (HBS).Methods: The HBS were selected 4-months after birth in a pasture rearing system as the experimental animals (n = 44, female, average body weight 23.8±2.2 kg) then divided equally into pasture-based grazing fattening (PAS) and concentrate-included intensive fattening (CON) groups for another 4-month finishing. When finished fattening, all animals were slaughtered to collect musculus longissimus dorsi subcutaneous adipose tissue and to investigate the influences on meat quality, fatty acid profile, flavor and growth performance.Results: The results showed lambs in CON group got significantly higher live weight, hot carcass weight, and dressing percentage. The CON group had significantly higher value of redness (a*), lightness (L*) and water holding capacity (p<0.05), significantly lower value of Warner-Bratzler shear force than the PAS group (p<0.05). The subcutaneous fat from CON group lambs demonstrated a significantly higher content of C18:1 and C18:2 (p<0.05), but lower C14:0 and C16:0, indicating an increased degree of unsaturated fatty acid. The content of 4-methyloctanoic acid, 4-ethyloctanoic acid and 4-methylnonanoic acid had increased 2 to 4 times, representing a more intense odor in the CON group. However, the values were still lower than most sheep breeds reported, indicating the indoor feeding system could not fundamentally deteriorate the excellent meat characteristic of HBS.Conclusion: It was evident that lambs in CON group exhibited a better meat production performance, improved in meat color, texture and healthier fatty acid profile through pastureweaned concentrate included intensive fattening system, which offers a good alternative regimen for lamb finishing and has a wide prospection in the HBS meat industry.

Secrecy Performance of Multi-Antenna Satellite-Terrestrial Relay Networks with Jamming in the Presence of Spatial Eavesdroppers

Xiaoqi Wang,Zheng Hou,Hanwei Zhang 한국인터넷정보학회 2022 KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Syst Vol.16 No.9

This work investigates the physical layer secrecy of a multi-antenna hybrid satellite-terrestrial relay networks (HSTRN) with jamming, in which a satellite aims to make communication with a destination user by means of a relay, along with spatially random eavesdroppers. In order to weaken the signals of eavesdroppers, the conventional relay can also generate intentional interference, besides forwarding the received signal. Shadowed-Rician fading is adopted in satellite link, while Rayleigh fading is adopted in terrestrial link, eavesdropper link and jamming link. The analytical and asymptotic formulas for the system secrecy outage probability (SOP) are characterized. Practical insights on the diversity order of the network are revealed according to the asymptotic behavior of SOP at high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) regime. Then, analysis of the system throughput is examined to assess the secrecy performance. In the end, numerical simulation results are presented to validate the theoretical analysis and point out: (1) The secrecy performance of the considered network is affected by the channel fading scenario, the system configuration; (2) Decrease of the relay coverage airspace can provide better SOP performance; (3) Jamming from the relay can improve secrecy performance without additional network resources.

Circ‑NT5C2 stimulates FZD4 expression to promote the malignant progression of osteosarcoma by targeting miR‑488‑3p

Yang Xiaoqi,Wang Shuhua,Zhang Xianjun,Gao Xiangbin,Xu Pengfei 한국응용생명화학회 2022 Applied Biological Chemistry (Appl Biol Chem) Vol.65 No.5

Background: Circ-NT5C2 has been confirmed to be highly expressed and associated to the progression of osteosarcoma (OS). However, the behind mechanism of circ-NT5C2 involvement in OS remains unclear. Methods: The expression of circ-NT5C2, miR-488-3p and FZD4 was measured by quantitative real-time PCR, and the protein expression of E-cadherin, N-cadherin and FZD4 was detected by western blot. Cell counting kit 8 assay, colony formation assay and 5-ethynyl-2-deoxyuridine assay were performed to assess the cell proliferation. The cell apoptosis was measured by flow cytometry and Caspase3/Caspase9 Activity Assay Kits. Cell migration and invasion were detected by transwell assay. Dual-luciferase reporter assay and RIP assay were carried out to determine the binding relation among circ-NT5C2, miR-488-3p and FZD4. Animal experiment and immunohistochemistry analysis were conducted to explore the role of circ-NT5C2 in tumor growth in vivo. Results: Comparing with controls, the expression of circ-NT5C2 and FZD4 was upregulated and miR-488-3p expression was downregulated in OS tumor tissues and cells. Circ-NT5C2 overexpression facilitated the cell proliferation and motility and induced cell apoptosis of OS cells, whereas circ-NT5C2 knockdown had the opposite effect. Besides, we also found and confirmed that circ-NT5C2 regulated cell malignant behaviors via modulating miR-488-3p/FZD4 axis in OS. Moreover, circ-NT5C2 silencing repressed the growth of xenografts in vivo. Conclusion: Circ-NT5C2 upregulated FZD4 expression via sponging miR-488-3p, thus facilitating cell malignant behaviors in OS.

Research on steady characteristics of human-robot system for preventing elderly falls during walking

Xiao Dong Zhang,Xiaoqi Mu,Liangliang Li,Ahmad Bala Alhassan,Khaled Kadry Hamza 대한기계학회 2022 JOURNAL OF MECHANICAL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY Vol.36 No.9

Due to the ever-increasing demand of caregivers and the high cost of nursing the elderly, researchers have been developing the elderly assistant robots (EARs) for assisting the elderly. To improve the safety of the elderly during walking, the steady characteristics of the EAR are discussed for preventing elderly falls during walking in this paper. Initially, the walking elderly was modeled as an inverted pendulum, and the steadiness region of the human and the general elderly fall conditions were obtained. The dynamics of the human-robot system were derived for preventing the general elderly falls. Also, the steadiness of the human and the robot were analyzed, respectively. Finally, experiments were conducted to verify the effectiveness of the models. The results demonstrated that the system met the requirements of steadiness, and hence, the designed robot could prevent elderly fall during walking. Thus, this study provides a theoretical basis for the effective control and the practical application of the EARs.

Analysis and study of compact inductive power transfer systems for EV charging

Ai, Yongle,Hu, Xiaoqi,Li, Xing,Zhang, Xin The Korean Institute of Power Electronics 2021 JOURNAL OF POWER ELECTRONICS Vol.21 No.5

The double-sided LCC topology provides an efficient compensation method for electric vehicle (EV) wireless charging systems. However, the existence of two compensation coils results in an electric vehicle wireless charging device with a large volume, high power consumption, and low efficiency. To solve these problems, this paper proposes a wireless charging structure in which the compensation coils are separately integrated into the transmitting and receiving coils. First, the number of turns of the transmitting coil is optimized to maximize the coupling coefficient of the transmitting coil. Secondly, to minimize the redundant coupling effect, the relative placement of the compensation coils is studied. Based on the proposed coil integration method, it is possible to ignore the redundant coupling between the compensation coils and the transmitting and receiving coils. Then, the Ansys Maxwell and Ansys Twin Builder are used to build a joint simulation circuit to construct the proposed wireless charging system. Simulation and experimental results show that the system output power is 3.09 kW with a gap of 150 mm, and that the transmission efficiency is 95.49%. In addition, the integrated solution has a high transmission efficiency in the presence of front-to-back misalignment and vertical misalignment of electric vehicles.

Partial oxidation of polyvinyl alcohol using a commercially available DSA anode

Guo-Ting Liang,Weiyong Zhu,Xiaoqi Chai,Lingfeng Zhu,Xiwang Zhang 한국공업화학회 2015 Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Vol.31 No.-

The removal of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) by electrochemical oxidation was investigated systematicallyunder various conditions using a commercial Dimensionally Stable Anodes anode. It was observed thathigher electrode potential led to more PVA degradation and gases evolution. Acidic conditions werebeneficial for PVA degradation. The higher degradation of PVA was achieved with KBr compared withother salts. The PVA degradation was slightly improved by ultraviolet irradiation while hydrogenperoxide lowered the degradation evidently. FTIR analysis indicated that PVA was partially oxidizedrather than completely mineralized. The iso-propanol quenching test indicated hydroxyl radicals weremainly responsible for PVA degradation.

An Analysis of Population Polices in China

( Eng Seng Chia ),( Yan Jia ),( Chenxi Li ),( Yulu Li ),( Manbo Liao ),( Xiaoqi Zhang ) 한국시스템다이내믹스학회 2016 한국시스템다이내믹스 연구 Vol.17 No.4

This paper examines the impact of various population policies in China, in particular, how to increase the fertility rate and reduce the age dependency ratio. The investigation carried out involved the identification of relevant factors, the establishment of causal relationships between factors and the building of a causal loop diagram, and subsequent conversion into a stock and flow diagram for running simulations. Data collected were from newspapers, published reports, and official government websites. The results obtained from the simulations revealed that the newly implemented two-child policy would most likely be ineffective in alleviating the issue of ageing population in China. Sensitivity analysis carried out to identify potential points of intervention revealed two possible measures. Both measures were shown to be effective in increasing the Actual Fertility Rate, and also in slowing down the increase in Aged Dependency Ratio. Hence, it is recommended that the Chinese government introduce alternative measures, such as giving cash bonus to families that give birth to a second child, or implementing policies that reduce the cost of healthcare services, in order to ensure that its population is productive, and continues to be so in the future.

Analysis of Altered Baseline Brain Activity in Drug-Naive Adult Patients with Social Anxiety Disorder Using Resting-State Functional MRI

Changjian Qiu,Yuan Feng,Yajing Meng,Wei Liao,Xiaoqi Huang,Su Lui,Chunyan Zhu,Huafu Chen,Qiyong Gong,Wei Zhang 대한신경정신의학회 2015 PSYCHIATRY INVESTIGATION Vol.12 No.3

ObjectiveaaWe hypothesize that the amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (ALFF) is involved in the altered regional baseline brain function in social anxiety disorder (SAD). The aim of the study was to analyze the altered baseline brain activity in drug-naive adult patients with SAD. MethodsaaWe investigated spontaneous and baseline brain activities by obtaining the resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging data of 20 drug-naïve adult SAD patients and 19 healthy controls. Voxels were used to analyze the ALFF values using one- and two-sample t-tests. A post-hoc correlation of clinical symptoms was also performed. ResultsaaOur findings show decreased ALFF in the bilateral insula, left medial superior frontal gyrus, left precuneus, left middle temporal gyrus, right middle temporal pole, and left fusiform gyrus of the SAD group. The SAD patients exhibited significantly increased ALFF in the right inferior temporal gyrus, right middle temporal gyrus, bilateral middle occipital gyrus, orbital superior frontal gyrus, right fusiform gyrus, right medial superior frontal gyrus, and left parahippocampal gyrus. Moreover, the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale results for the SAD patients were positively correlated with the mean Z values of the right middle occipital and right inferior occipital but showed a negative correlation with the mean Z values of the right superior temporal gyrus and right medial superior frontal gyrus. ConclusionaaThese results of the altered regional baseline brain function in SAD suggest that the regions with abnormal spontaneous activities are involved in the underlying pathophysiology of SAD patients.