A synthetic decursin analog with increased in vivo stability suppresses androgen receptor signaling in vitro and in vivo.

Zhang, Yong,Shaik, Ahmad Ali,Xing, Chengguo,Chai, Yubo,Li, Li,Zhang, Jinhui,Zhang, Wei,Kim, Sung-Hoon,L?, Junxuan,Jiang, Cheng M. Nijhoff ; Kluwer Academic Publishers 2012 Investigational new drugs Vol.30 No.5

<P>Targeting androgen receptor (AR) signaling with agents distinct from current antagonist drugs remains a rational approach to the prevention and treatment of prostate cancer (PCa). Our previous studies have shown that decursin and isomer decursinol angelate (DA), isolated from the Korean medicinal herb Angelica gigas Nakai, interrupt AR signaling and possess anti-PCa activities in vitro. In the LNCaP PCa cell model, these pyranoccoumarin compounds exhibit properties distinct from currently used antagonists (e.g., Casodex). However, both are rapidly de-esterified to decursinol, a partial AR agonist. We report here that a synthetic decursin analog, decursinol phenylthiocarbamate (DPTC), has greater in vivo stability than the parent compounds. DPTC-decursinol conversion was undetectable in mice. Furthermore, in LNCaP cells, DPTC decreased prostate specific antigen (PSA) expression, down-regulated AR abundance and mRNA and inhibited AR nuclear translocation. The effect of DPTC on AR and PSA mRNA and protein abundance was also observed in VCaP cells expressing wild type AR. DPTC inhibited growth of both PCa cell lines through G(1) cell cycle arrest and apoptosis, as did decursin and DA. Furthermore, i.p. administration of DPTC for 3 weeks suppressed the expression of AR target genes probasin and Nkx3.1 in mouse prostate glands. Overall, our data suggest that DPTC represents a prototype lead compound for development of in vivo stable and active novel decursin analogs for the prevention or therapy of PCa.</P>

Characteristics of Copper-Clad Aluminum Rods Prepared by Horizontal Continuous Casting

Yubo Zhang,Ying Fu,Jinchuan Jie,Li Wu,Kateryna Svynarenko,Qingtao Guo,Tingju Li,Tongmin Wang 대한금속·재료학회 2017 METALS AND MATERIALS International Vol.23 No.6

An innovative horizontal continuous casting method was developed and successfully used to prepare copper-cladaluminum (CCA) rods with a diameter of 85 mm and a sheath thickness of 16 mm. The solidification structure andelement distribution near the interface of the CCA ingots were investigated by means of a scanning electron microscope,an energy dispersive spectrometer, and an electron probe X-ray microanalyzer. The results showed that theproposed process can lead to a good metallurgical bond between Cu and Al. The interface between Cu and Al wasa multilayered structure with a thickness of 200 μm, consisting of Cu9Al4, CuAl2, α-Al/CuAl2 eutectic, and α-Al +α-Al/CuAl2 eutectic layers from the Cu side to the Al side. The mean tensile-shear strength of the CCA sample was45 MPa, which fulfills the requirements for the further extrusion process. The bonding and diffusion mechanismsare also discussed in this paper.

Research on the Wear Mechanism of Ceramic Tool in Turning of Nickel-based Superalloy GH4169

Yubo Liu,Yongde Zhang 보안공학연구지원센터 2014 International Journal of Control and Automation Vol.7 No.12

The dry cutting experiment for nickel-based high temperature alloyGH4169 was conducted with Al2O3- SiCw whisker toughening ceramic blade WG300 and Si3N4-Al2O3 ceramics (Sialon) blade SX9. The main wear mechanism of ceramic cutting tools were analyzed by means of observing the wear morphology about cutting tools with scanning electron microscope, and measuring concentration of each element in wear tiny region lying in the ceramic tools with Energy Dispersive Spectrometer(EDS). The results show that the main wear mechanism of ceramic cutting tool was presented by cohesive wear, abrasive wear and oxidation wear. Cohesive wear occurs mainly on the rake face and were influenced by the contact stress state between the contact points of cutting tool and workpiece material.

Renal surface reconstruction and segmentation for image‑guided surgical navigation of laparoscopic partial nephrectomy

Xiaohui Zhang,Xuquan Ji,Junchen Wang,Yubo Fan,Chunjing Tao 대한의용생체공학회 2023 Biomedical Engineering Letters (BMEL) Vol.13 No.2

real-time for laparoscopic image-guided navigation. The stereo vision method for intraoperative tissue 3D reconstructionhas the most potential for clinical development benefiting from its high reconstruction accuracy and laparoscopy compatibility. However, existing stereo vision methods have difficulty in achieving high reconstruction accuracy in real time. Also,intraoperative tissue reconstruction results often contain complex background and instrument information that preventsclinical development for image-guided systems. Taking laparoscopic partial nephrectomy (LPN) as the research object, thispaper realizes a real-time dense reconstruction and extraction of the kidney tissue surface. The central symmetrical Censusbased semi-global block stereo matching algorithm is proposed to generate a dense disparity map. A GPU-based pixel-bypixelconnectivity segmentation mechanism is designed to segment the renal tissue area. An in-vitro porcine heart, in-vivoporcine kidney and offline clinical LPN data were performed to evaluate the accuracy and effectiveness of our approach. The algorithm achieved a reconstruction accuracy of ± 2 mm with a real-time update rate of 21 fps for an HD image size of960 × 540, and 91.0% target tissue segmentation accuracy even with surgical instrument occlusions. Experimental resultshave demonstrated that the proposed method could accurately reconstruct and extract renal surface in real-time in LPN. Themeasurement results can be used directly for image-guided systems. Our method provides a new way to measure geometricinformation of target tissue intraoperatively in laparoscopy surgery.

The Influence of Environment on the Settlement of Historic Buildings in China

Chengya Zhang,Yubo Gao,Enze Duan 대한토목학회 2021 KSCE JOURNAL OF CIVIL ENGINEERING Vol.25 No.6

Chinese ancient wooden buildings prefer fronting water and with hills on the back. Therefore, some ancient buildings were built on the bedrock of the mountain. The uneven height of the building platform from the bedrock causes the uneven settlement of the foundation. Due to the disturbance of groundwater, the uneven settlement of the building foundation will also change due to the groundwater. This paper takes the Song Dynasty Jinci Goddess Mother Hall as an example to compare the settlement of the original foundation and the settlement of the repaired foundation. Summarize the effect of groundwater and the bedrock location of the settlement of ancient building platforms under different strengthening methods. The Flac-3D simulation software was used to simulate the foundation and load of the building. The numerical simulation results show that the settlement value after reparation is reduced by 84% compared with that before. The values of the settlement trend are similar to actual data, which has to guide significance for the prediction of building settlement and the protection of the building. Authors can provide references for future protection and the foundation reinforcement of similar buildings by comparing the foundation reinforcement methods by actual measurement and numerical simulation.

Structure and Refinement Performance of Al-5Ti-0.2C Master Alloy Produced via an Improved Self Propagating Synthesis Approach

Kateryna Svynarenko,Yubo Zhang,Jinchuan Jie,Valentyna Kutsova,Tingju Li 대한금속·재료학회 2017 METALS AND MATERIALS International Vol.23 No.4

When Al-Ti-C master alloys are produced via the conventional Self-propagating High-temperature Synthesis(SHS), the reduction of production temperature below 1523 K leads to the drastic deterioration of the refiner efficacy. In the present work, a simple yet effective way to improve the combustion process for low TiC-containingrefiners is proposed. The SHS reaction was performed to obtain Al-10TiC slurry first, which subsequently wasmixed with Al-Ti melt to obtain Al-5Ti-0.2C master alloy. By means of the proposed method, the process temperaturewas lowered to 1323 K. According to the results, in the case of improved SHS approach, the Al temperatureafter the onset of reaction increases by 90-100 K more than in the case of conventional preparation route,providing better kinetic conditions for TiC formation. As a result, at 1323 K production temperature, the averagecarbide size increases by 100% as compared to the conventionally produced refiner, which is claimed to be a reasonfor the improved refining performance of master alloy.

Microstructure and Refinement Performance of Al-Ti-C Master Alloy: Effect of Excess Ti on the Growth and Nucleating Ability of TiC Particles

Kateryna Svynarenko,Yubo Zhang,Jinchuan Jie,Valentyna Kutsova,Tingju Li 대한금속·재료학회 2017 METALS AND MATERIALS International Vol.23 No.5

Al-5Ti-0.2C, Al-0.8Ti-0.2C, Al-8Ti-2C, and Al-10Ti master alloys were prepared and used to investigate theinfluence of excess Ti on the growth of TiC particles and its ability to nucleate Al-grains. The results of a microstructureanalysis of TiC-containing alloys and refined CPAl were interrelated to the results of a refinement test. Itwas found that the presence of excess Ti is essential at the stage of master alloy preparation, as it facilitates thegrowth and uniform distribution of TiC within the structure. In Al-5Ti-0.2C alloy containing excess Ti, carbideparticles grow faster and to a higher extent (from 0.29 μm to 0.44 μm) compared to Al-0.8Ti-0.2C alloy producedwithout excess Ti (from 0.29 μm to 0.32 μm). The results support the “Ti-transition zone theory” as the mechanismof grain refinement by TiC-containing master alloys. The refinement performance of Al-5Ti-0.2C is superiorcompared to the one achieved by adding Al-8Ti-2C and Al-10Ti master alloys in corresponding concentrations. For the TiC particles to become favourable nucleating sites, they must undergo certain interaction with excess Ti atthe stage of master alloy preparation.

Pentagalloylglucose induces autophagy and caspase-independent programmed deaths in human PC-3 and mouse TRAMP-C2 prostate cancer cells.

Hu, Hongbo,Chai, Yubo,Wang, Lei,Zhang, Jinhui,Lee, Hyo Jeong,Kim, Sung-Hoon,Lü,, Junxuan American Association for Cancer Research, Inc 2009 Molecular Cancer Therapeutics Vol.8 No.10

<P>Penta-1,2,3,4,6-O-galloyl-beta-d-glucose (PGG) suppresses the in vivo growth of human DU145 and PC-3 prostate cancer xenografts in nude mice, suggesting potential utility as a prostate cancer chemotherapeutic or chemopreventive agent. Our earlier work implicates caspase-mediated apoptosis in DU145 and LNCaP prostate cancer cells as one mechanism for the anticancer activity. We show here that, in the more aggressive PC-3 prostate cancer cell line, PGG induced programmed cell deaths lacking the typical caspase-mediated apoptotic morphology and biochemical changes. In contrast, PGG induced patent features of autophagy, including formation of autophagosomes and lipid modification of light chain 3 after 48 hours of PGG exposure. The 'autophagic' responses were also observed in the murine TRAMP-C2 cells. Caspase inhibition exacerbated PGG-induced overall death. As for molecular changes, we observed a rapid inhibition of the phosphorylation of mammalian target of rapamycin-downstream targets S6K and 4EBP1 by PGG in PC-3 and TRAMP-C2 cells but not that of mammalian target of rapamycin itself, along with increased AKT phosphorylation. Whereas the inhibition of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase increased PGG-induced apoptosis and autophagy, experiments with pharmacologic inducer or inhibitor of autophagy or by knocking down autophagy mediator Beclin-1 showed that autophagy provided survival signaling that suppressed caspase-mediated apoptosis. Knocking down of death receptor-interacting protein 1 kinase increased overall death without changing light chain 3-II or caspase activation, thus not supporting death receptor-interacting protein 1-necroptosis for PGG-induction of autophagy or other programmed cell death. Furthermore, PGG-treated PC-3 cells lost clonogenic ability. The induction by PGG of caspase-independent programmed cell death in aggressive prostate cancer cell lines supports testing its merit as a potential drug candidate for therapy of caspase-resistant recurrent prostate cancer.</P>

Smart Television Interaction Design Guideline and Evaluation

Pei-Luen Patrick Rau,Yubo Zhang,Sheau-Farn Max Liang 대한인간공학회 2014 대한인간공학회 학술대회논문집 Vol.2014 No.5

This study aims to develop a set of interaction design guidelines for smart TV, as well as to utilize the guidelines to analyze existing interaction design of smart TV and provide beneficial design implications for related manufacturers. Relevant literature was reviewed to cover three areas of smart TV interaction design: TV screen design, interaction design and user experience design. With theoretical foundations from previous studies, the Guidelines of Smart TV Interaction Design were developed, which contained four sections: the first section was about general design principles about simplicity, consistency, aesthetics and feedback; sections from the second to the fourth were about TV screen design, interaction design and user experience design. For each guideline, there was a paragraph demonstrating the requirement of design details with several cases illustrating the requirement. Based on the guidelines, a heuristic expert evaluation was conducted to assess the interaction designs provided by three different brands of smart TV set-top boxes. Different levels of usability problems and user experience issues were identified according to the guidelines. It was found that the most important design issue was the consistency, which means that the interaction design should match the “TV-remote control” mode rather than the “computer-mouse/keyboard” mode. Issues about user experience innovation and design for the smart TV were also discussed. It was suggested that the guidelines and findings from the evaluation should be considered in the future development and design of smart TV products.

Reducing higher alcohols by nitrogen compensation during fermentation of Chinese rice wine

Xianfeng Zhong,Ali Wang,Yubo Zhang,Ziying Wu,Bin Li,Hua Lou,Guidong Huang,Haixiang Wen 한국식품과학회 2020 Food Science and Biotechnology Vol.29 No.6

Excessive amount of higher alcohols in alcoholicbeverages causes unwell and side-effect for consumersalthough adequate consumption offers joy and pleasure. Therefore, reducing higher alcohols in alcoholic beveragesis necessary. We used nitrogen compensation to reducehigher alcohols with Chinese rice wine as an experimentalmodel. Higher alcohols including isobutyl alcohols, isoamylalcohols, and b-phenethyl alcohols were significantlydecreased by 19.27, 23.03 and 19.43%, respectively, when200 mg/L (NH4)2HPO4, 5% (w/v) yeast, and 11% wheatKoji were added to fermentation broth. Meanwhile,important quality parameters remained unchanged includingfree amino acids, organic acids, biogenic amines, andesters. The expression of glutamate dehydrogenase 1 gene(GDH1) and glutamine synthetase gene (GLN1) was significantlyenhanced, 26.9- and 1.9-folds respectively. Theseresults suggest that ammonium compensation could effectivelydecrease higher alcohols in Chinese rice wine byactivating glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH) pathway inammonium assimilation.