Chinese Pediatric Reference Intervals for Serum Cortisol on IMMULITE 2000

Ling-Li Wang,Li-Yue Zhang,Hui-Yan Wang,Huai-Kai Wen,Hong-Qun Tao,Xiao-wei Zhao 대한진단검사의학회 2018 Annals of Laboratory Medicine Vol.38 No.1

Clinical interpretation of the test results for cortisol based on continuous reference intervals with appropriate partitions improves pediatric diagnosis; however, these values are available only for Caucasians. To develop the pediatric reference intervals for Chinese population, we examined the serum cortisol levels in 1,143 healthy Chinese children aged 4–18 years (566 boys and 577 girls), using an IMMULITE 2000 Immunoassay System (Siemens Healthcare GmbH). Phlebotomy was performed at 7–9 a.m. for 284 boys and 287 girls and at 1–3 p.m. for the others. They were divided into four age groups according to the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute guideline EP28-A3c, with the last group further stratified according to sampling time. Separate reference intervals of 49.6–323.7, 70.9–395.3, and 90.1–448.7 nmol/L were established for children aged 4–8, 9–12, and 13–15 years, respectively. Further, reference intervals of 118.2–464.7 and 71.4–446.7 nmol/L were established for morning and afternoon cortisol levels, respectively, in children aged 16–18 years. Further studies are necessary to transfer and validate these reference intervals in other analytical systems and pediatric populations, and to allow for broader applications.

Genes Regulating the ABORTED MICROSPORES (AMS)-Mediated Male Sterility Networks in Melon (Cucumis melo L.)

Ling Wang,Dong-yang Dai,Xia Wu,Yun-yan Sheng,Peng Ji,Dan-dan Li,Fan Zhang,Di Wang 한국원예학회 2021 원예과학기술지 Vol.39 No.5

The male sterile plants have higher heterosis in the production of hybrid seeds. The ABORTED MICROSPORES (AMS) gene has been demonstrated to be a candidate gene for ms-5. However, the genetic mechanism underlying AMS-mediated male sterility (MS) regulatory networks in melon (Cucumis melo L.) is still not clearly understood. In the present study, we used transcriptome sequencing analysis, yeast hybridization technology, quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR), and bioinformatics analyzed to systematically investigate the AMS-mediated MS regulatory networks in melon. A set of 15 proteins interacting with AMS, including the C. melo L. Zinc Ribbon protein 1 (CmZR1) gene, was identified using the yeast one-hybrid (Y1H) system and further confirmed using the yeast two-hybrid (Y2H) assay. The interaction of the CmZR1 protein with the C. melo L. Pectin Methylesterase Inhibitor 1 (CmPMEI1) protein was identified and further verified by the glutathione S-transferase (GST) pull-down technique. Bioinformatics analyzed the physical and chemical properties, gene structure, and kinship of the melon PMEI family. We proposed a partial regulatory network for melon MS in which the interaction of CmPMEI1 protein with CmZR1 protein regulates the expression of the AMS gene for pollen abortion. These findings provide important information for increasing the understanding of the molecular mechanism of the MS regulatory network in melon.

Prognostic Significance of Interactions Between ER Alpha and ER Beta and Lymph Node Status in Breast Cancer Cases

Han, Shu-Jing,Guo, Qing-Qing,Wang, Ting,Wang, You-Xin,Zhang, Yu-Xiang,Liu, Fen,Luo, Yan-Xia,Zhang, Jie,Wang, You-Li,Yan, Yu-Xiang,Peng, Xiao-Xia,Ling, Rui,He, Yan Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2013 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.14 No.10

Objective: Both estrogen receptors, ER alpha ($ER{\alpha}$) and ER beta ($ER{\beta}$), are expressed in 50-70% of breast cancer cases. The role of $ER{\alpha}$ as a prognostic marker in breast cancer has been well established as its expression is negative correlated with tumor size and lymph node metastasis. $ER{\beta}$ is also a favorable prognostic predictor although this is less well documented than for $ER{\alpha}$. Materials and Methods: To explore whether ERs independently or together might influence clinical outcome in breast cancer, the correlation between the ERs with the clinicopathological features was analyzed in 84 patients. Results: $ER{\alpha}$ expression negatively correlated with tumor stage (r=-0.246, p=0.028) and tended to be negatively correlated with lymph node status (r=-0.156, p=0.168) and tumor size (r=-0.246, p=0.099). Also, $ER{\beta}$ was negatively correlated with nodal status (r=-0.243, p=0.028), as was coexpression of $ER{\alpha}$ and $ER{\beta}$ (p=0.043, OR=0.194, 95% CI= 0.040-0.953). Conclusion: Coexpression of ERs might serve as an indicator of good prognosis in breast cancer patients.

Tentative identification of 20(S)-protopanaxadiol metabolites in human plasma and urine using ultra-performance liquid chromatography coupled with triple quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry

Ling, Jin,Yu, Yingjia,Long, Jiakun,Li, Yan,Jiang, Jiebing,Wang, Liping,Xu, Changjiang,Duan, Gengli The Korean Society of Ginseng 2019 Journal of Ginseng Research Vol.43 No.4

Background: 20(S)-Protopanaxadiol (PPD), the aglycone part of 20(S)-protopanaxadiol ginsenosides, possesses antidepressant activity among many other pharmacological activities. It is currently undergoing clinical trial in China as an antidepressant. Methods: In this study, an ultra-performance liquid chromatography coupled with triple quadrupole time-of-flight mass tandem mass spectrometry method was established to identify the metabolites of PPD in human plasma and urine following oral administration in phase IIa clinical trial. Results: A total of 40 metabolites in human plasma and urine were identified using this method. Four metabolites identified were isolated from rat feces, and two of them were analyzed by NMR to elucidate the exact structures. The structures of isolated compounds were confirmed as (20S,24S)-epoxydammarane-12,23,25-triol-3-one and (20S,24S)-epoxydammarane-3,12,23,25-tetrol. Both compounds were found as metabolites in human for the first time. Upon comparing our findings with the findings of the in vitro study of PPD metabolism in human liver microsomes and human hepatocytes, metabolites with m/z 475.3783 and phase II metabolites were not found in our study whereas metabolites with m/z 505.3530, 523.3641, and 525.3788 were exclusively detected in our experiments. Conclusion: The metabolites identified using ultra-performance liquid chromatography coupled with triple quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry in our study were mostly hydroxylated metabolites. This indicated that PPD was metabolized in human body mainly through phase I hepatic metabolism. The main metabolites are in 20,24-oxide form with multiple hydroxylation sites. Finally, the metabolic pathways of PPD in vivo (human) were proposed based on structural analysis.

An Edge-based Stochastic Proximal Gradient Algorithm for Decentralized Composite Optimization

Ling Zhang,Yu Yan,Zheng Wang,Huaqing Li 제어·로봇·시스템학회 2021 International Journal of Control, Automation, and Vol.19 No.11

This paper investigates decentralized composite optimization problems involving a common non-smooth regularization term over an undirected and connected network. In the same situation, there exist lots of gradientbased proximal distributed methods, but most of them are only sublinearly convergent. The proof of linear convergence for this series of algorithms is extremely difficult. To set up the problem, we presume all networked agents use the same non-smooth regularization term, which is the circumstance for most machine learning to implement based on centralized optimization. For this scenario, most existing proximal-gradient algorithms trend to ignore the cost of gradient evaluations, which results in degraded performance. To tackle this problem, we further set the local cost function to the average of a moderate amount of local cost subfunctions and develop an edge-based stochastic proximal gradient algorithm (SPG-Edge) by employing local unbiased stochastic averaging gradient method. When the non-smooth term does not exist, the proposed algorithm could be extended to some notable primal-dual domain algorithms, such as EXTRA and DIGing. Finally, we provide a simplified proof of linear convergence and conduct numerical experiments to illustrate the validity of theoretical results.

Long noncoding RNA NEAT1 is involved in the protective effect of Klotho on renal tubular epithelial cells in diabetic kidney disease through the ERK1/2 signaling pathway

Yan-Lin Yang,Meng Xue,Yijie Jia,Fang Hu,Zongji Zheng,Ling Wang,Ze-Kun Si,Yaoming Xue 생화학분자생물학회 2020 Experimental and molecular medicine Vol.52 No.-

Klotho, an antiaging protein, has been shown to play a protective role in renal tubular epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) during the development of diabetic kidney disease (DKD). Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) participate in the progression of EMT in many diseases. However, the effect of Klotho on lncRNAs during the development of DKD is still unknown. In this study, we found that Klotho overexpression in high-fat diet (HFD)- and streptozotocin (STZ)- induced DKD mice significantly inhibited the expression of lncRNA nuclear-enriched abundant transcript 1 (Neat1). We demonstrated that NEAT1 was significantly upregulated in both bovine serum albumin (BSA)-stimulated HK2 cells and mice with HFD- and STZ-induced diabetes. In addition, we observed that Klotho displays colocalization with NEAT1. Furthermore, overexpression of Klotho can inhibit the high expression of NEAT1 in BSA-stimulated HK2 cells, while silencing Klotho can further upregulate the expression of NEAT1. Silencing NEAT1 in HK2 cells resulted in inhibition of the EMT-related markers alpha smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) and vimentin (VIM) and the renal fibrosis-related markers transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) and connective tissue growth factor (CTGF). The effect of NEAT1 on DKD was partly mediated by regulation of the ERK1/2 signaling pathway. Finally, we found that silencing NEAT1 can reverse the activation of EMT and fibrosis caused by Klotho silencing in a manner dependent on the ERK1/2 signaling pathway. These findings reveal a new regulatory pathway by which Klotho regulates ERK1/2 signaling via NEAT1 to protect against EMT and renal fibrosis, suggesting that NEAT1 is a potential therapeutic target for DKD.

Effect of Annealing Atmosphere on Photoluminescence and Gas Sensing of Solution-Combustion-Synthesized Al, Pd Co-Doped ZnO Nanoparticles

Yan Li,Min Liu,Tan Lv,Qiong Wang,Yun-ling Zou,Xiao-xue Lian,Hong-peng Liu 대한금속·재료학회 2015 ELECTRONIC MATERIALS LETTERS Vol.11 No.6

Al, Pd co-doped ZnO nanoparticles (NPs) synthesized using a solution combustion method and subsequent annealing process under various atmospheres, including air, nitrogen, and hydrogen, were characterized using x-ray diffraction, energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy, fieldemission scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and photoluminescence spectroscopy. The gas-sensing properties of the sensors based on the NPs were also examined. The results indicated that the Al, Pd co-doped ZnO NPs, with an average crystallite size of 10 nm, exhibited enhanced gas-sensing performance compared with that of pure ZnO and Al-doped ZnO. The response of the Al, Pd co-doped ZnO NPs annealed in N2 to ethanol (49.22) was nearly 5.7 times higher than that to acetone (8.61) and approximately 20 - 27 times higher than that to benzene (2.38), carbon monoxide (2.23), and methane (1.78), which demonstrates their excellent selectivity to ethanol versus other gases. This high ethanol response can be attributed to the combined effects of the small size, Schottky barrier, lattice defects, and catalysis.

Application of Lobaplatin in Trans-catheter Arterial Chemoembolization for Primary Hepatic Carcinoma

Wang, Nan,Lv, Yin-Zhang,Xu, An-Hui,Huang, Yan-Rong,Peng, Ling,Li, Jia-Rui Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2014 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.15 No.2

Objective: To explore the efficiency of single application of lobaplatin in tran-scatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) for patients with a primary hepatic carcinoma who were unable or unwilling to undergo surgery. Methods: 173 patients with primary hepatic carcinoma diagnosed by imaging or pathology were randomly divided into experimental and control groups and respectively treated with lobaplatin and pirarubicin hydrochloride as chemotherapeutic drugs for TACE. The amount of iodipin was regulated according to the tumor number and size, and then gelatin sponge or polyvinyl alcohol particles were applied for embolisms. The efficiency of treatment in the two groups was compared with reference to survival time and therapeutic response. Results: The experimental group (single lobaplatin as chemotherapy drug) was superior to control group (single pirarubicin hydrochloride as chemotherapy drug) in the aspects of survival time and therapeutic response, with statistical significance. Conclusions: Single lobaplatin can be as a chemotherapy drug in TACE and has better efficiency in the aspects of mean survival time and therapeutic response, deserving to be popularized in the clinic.

Polarity-enhanced Gas-Sensing Performance of Au-Loaded ZnO Nanospindles Synthesized via Precipitation and Microwave Irradiation

Yan Li,Tan Lv,Fang-Xian Zhao,Xiao-xue Lian,Yun-ling Zou,Qiong Wang 대한금속·재료학회 2016 ELECTRONIC MATERIALS LETTERS Vol.12 No.3

Loading noble metal and exploring suitable morphology to achieveexcellent gas-sensing performance is very crucial for the fabrication ofgas sensors. We have successfully synthesized Au-loaded ZnO (Au/ZnO) nanospindles (NSs) through a really facile procedure involving aprecipitation and subsequent microwave irradiation. The as-preparedproducts have been characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanningelectron microscope (SEM). The formation and gas-sensing mechanismof Au/ZnO NSs were discussed. The SEM micrographs revealed aninteresting morphological evolution of the Au/ZnO NSs with Auloadingcontent ranging from 0 at. % to 7 at. %. The nanostructures wereemployed for gas-sensing measurement toward various gases. Itindicated that the Au/ZnO NSs based sensor showed a highly enhancedresponse (226.81) to 400 ppm acetone gas at a relatively low workingtemperature (270°C), and exhibited a fast response (1 s) and recoveryspeed (10 s). The highly enhanced acetone gas sensitivity of Au/ZnONSs based sensor could be attributed to its enhanced polarity owing tothe peculiar morphology, Schottcky barriers, as well as catalytic effect ofAu NPs.

Total Laparoscopic Hysterectomy Versus Total Abdominal Hysterectomy for Endometrial Cancer: A Meta-analysis

Wang, Hui-Ling,Ren, Yan-Fang,Yang, Jun,Qin, Rui-Ying,Zhai, Kai-Hua Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2013 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.14 No.4

The standard surgery for early-stage endometrial cancer is total abdominal hysterectomy (TAH), while total laparoscopic hysterectomy (TLH) is less invasive and assumed to be associated with lower morbidity. This meta-analysis was performed to investigate the effects of TLH versus TAH in women with early-stage endometrial cancer. We searched the PubMed, EMBASE, CBM and Cochrane Review databases for randomized trials assessing the effects of TLH versus TAH in women with early-stage endometrial cancer. The relative risks (RR) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) from each study were pooled using meta-analysis. In our study, 9 randomized trials with a total of 1,263 patients were included. Meta-analyses showed that TLH was associated with lower risks of major complications (RR = 0.53, 95%CI 0.29-0.98, P = 0.042), total complications (RR = 0.59, 95%CI 0.42-0.82, P = 0.002) and postoperative complications (RR = 0.57, 95%CI 0.40-0.83, P = 0.003). However, there were no obvious differences in risks of intra-operative complications (RR = 0.98, 95%CI 0.62-1.55, P = 0.919) and mortality (RR = 0.96, 95%CI 0.66-1.40, P = 0.835). In conclusion, our results provide new evidence of a benefit for TLH over TAH in terms of major complications, total complications and postoperative complications in endometrial cancer patients.