A Novel Esterase from a Marine Metagenomic Library Exhibiting Salt Tolerance Ability

( Ze Ming Fang ),( Jing Jing Li ),( Quan Wang ),( Wei Fang ),( Hui Peng ),( Xue Cheng Zhang ),( Ya Zhong Xiao ) 한국미생물 · 생명공학회 2014 Journal of microbiology and biotechnology Vol.24 No.6

A putative lipolytic enzyme gene, named as est9x, was obtained from a marine microbial metagenome of the South China Sea. Sequence analysis showed that Est9X shares lower than 27% sequence identities with the characterized lipolytic enzymes, but possesses a catalytic triad highly conserved in lipolytic enzymes of the α/β hydrolase superfamily. By phylogenetic tree construction, Est9X was grouped into a new lipase/esterase family. To understand Est9X protein in depth, it was recombinantly expressed, purified, and biochemically characterized. Within potential hydrolytic activities, only lipase/esterase activity was detected for Est9X, confirming its identity as a lipolytic enzyme. When using p-nitrophenol esters with varying lengths of fatty acid as substrates, Est9X exhibited the highest activity to the C2 substrate, indicating it is an esterase. The optimal activity of Est9X occurred at a temperature of 65°C, and Est9X was pretty stable below the optimum temperature. Distinguished from other salttolerant esterases, Est9X``s activity was tolerant to and even promoted by as high as 4 M NaCl. Our results imply that Est9X is a unique esterase and could be a potential candidate for industrial application under extreme conditions.

Overexpression of Tbx3 Predicts Poor Prognosis of Patients with Resectable Pancreatic Carcinoma

Wang, Hong-Cheng,Meng, Qing-Cai,Shan, Ze-Zhi,Yuan, Zhou,Huang, Xin-Yu Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2015 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.16 No.4

Background: To determine the expressions of Tbx3, a member of subgroup belonging to T-box family, and its prognostic value in pancreatic carcinoma. Materials and Methods: We determined the expression levels of Tbx3 on both mRNA and protein levels in 30 pairs of fresh tumor tissues and paratumor tissues by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) and Western blotting, respectively. In addition, protein level of Tbx3 were identified using immunochemistry in 80 pairs of paraffin-embedded specimen. The correlations between Tbx3 expression and various clinicopathological parameters as well as overall survival were evaluated. Results: Tbx3 mRNA and protein levels in tumor tissues were significantly higher than in the paratumor tissues by qRT-PCR ($0.05{\pm}0.007$ vs. $0.087{\pm}0.001$, p<0.001) and western blotting ($1.134{\pm}0.043$ vs. $0.287{\pm}0.017$, p<0.001). The statistical analysis based on immunohistochemical evaluation suggested that Tbx3 aberrant expression was significantly associated with several conventional clinicopathological variables, such as gender, age, tumor position, preoperative CA19-9 level, pathological T staging and N staging. Univariate and multivariate analyses revealed that Tbx3 expression was an independent prognostic factor for overall survival (<0.001). Conclusions: Our results suggest that overexpression of Tbx3 is associated with poor prognosis of pancreatic cancer patients. However, additional clinical trials are needed to accurately validate this observation.

Complete Mitochondrial Genome of Echinostoma hortense (Digenea: Echinostomatidae)

Ze-Xuan Liu,Yan Zhang,Yu-Ting Liu,Qiao-Cheng Chang,Xin Su,Xue Fu,Dong-Mei Yue,Yuan Gao,Chun-Ren Wang 대한기생충학열대의학회 2016 The Korean Journal of Parasitology Vol.54 No.2

Association of 8 Loci on Chromosome 8q24 with Prostate Carcinoma Risk in Northern Chinese Men

Zhao, Cheng-Xiao,Liu, Ming,Wang, Jian-Ye,Xu, Yong,Wei, Dong,Yang, Kuo,Yang, Ze Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2013 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.14 No.11

Multiple genetic studies have confirmed association of 8q24 variants with susceptibility to prostate cancer (PCa). As PCa risk SNPs may also influence disease outcome, we studied here eight 8q24 risk alleles, and evaluated their role in PCa clinical covariates in northern Chinese men. Blood samples and clinical information were collected from ethnically Chinese men from Northern China with histologically-confirmed PCa (n=289) and from age-matched normal controls (n=288). Eight 8q24 SNPs were genotyped by polymerase chain reaction-high- resolution melting analysis in 577 subjects. We examined the prevalence distribution of 8q24 risk alleles and analyzed the associations between the risk allele and PCa and clinical covariates to infer their impact on aggressive PCa. Three of the eight SNPs were associated with PCa risk in northern Chinese men, including rs16901966 (OR 1.31, 95% CI 1.01-1.70, p=0.042), rs1447295 (OR 1.47, 95% CI 1.09-1.98, p=0.011) and rs10090154 (OR 1.55, 95% CI 1.14-2.12, p=0.005). Haplotype analysis based association with the risk alleles revealed significant differences between cases and controls (OR 1.43, 95%CI 0.99-2.06, p=0.049). The risk alleles rs16901966, rs1447295 and rs10090154 were associated with age at diagnosis and tumor stage as compared with controls, while rs16901966 was associated with aggressive PCa (OR 1.43, 95% CI 1.01-2.03, p=0.042). The evidence for 8q24 SNPs with PCa risk in northern Chinese men showed rs16901966, rs1447295 and rs10090154 at 8q24 (region 1, region 2) to be strongly associated with PCa and clinical covariates. The three SNPs at 8q24 could be PCa susceptible genetic markers in northern Chinese men.

State‑of‑health estimation for lithium‑ion batteries using differential thermal voltammetry and Gaussian process regression

Ping Wang,Xiangyuan Peng,Cheng Ze 전력전자학회 2022 JOURNAL OF POWER ELECTRONICS Vol.22 No.7

The state of health (SOH) of lithium-ion batteries is a key factor to ensure the safe and reliable operation of electric vehicles (EVs). Differential thermal voltammetry (DTV) has been shown to be an effective in situ diagnosis method. In this paper, a SOH estimation method for lithium-ion batteries by a fusion of DTV and Gaussian process regression (GPR) is proposed. First, a wavelet transform (WT) is used to smooth DTV curves. Then the health features (HFs) are extracted, and their correlation with capacity loss is quantitatively evaluated through a Pearson correlation coefficient. To compress the data, canonical correlation analysis (CCA) is applied to obtain the canonical health feature (CHF). Subsequently, the GPR algorithm is used to establish the nonlinear mapping relationship between CHF and SOH. Experiments are performed on two datasets at different temperatures. Results show that the proposed method has high estimation accuracy and robustness.

Burial depth of anode affected the bacterial community structure of sediment microbial fuel cells

Yi-cheng Wu,Hong-jie Wu,Hai-yan Fu,Zhineng Dai,Ze-jie Wang 대한환경공학회 2020 Environmental Engineering Research Vol.25 No.6

Sediment microbial fuel cells (SMFCs) are attractive devices to in situ power environmental monitoring sensors and bioremediate contaminated soils/sediments. Burial depth of the anode was verified to affect the performance of SMFCs. The present research evaluated the differences in microbial community structure of anodic biofilms located at different depth. It was demonstrated that both microbial diversity and community structure of anodic biofilms were influenced by the depth of anode location. Microbial diversity decreased with increased anodic depth. The number of the operational taxonomic units (OTUs) was determined as 1438 at the anode depth of 5 cm, which reduced to 1275 and 1005 at 10 cm and 15 cm, respectively. Cluster analysis revealed that microbial communities of 5 cm and 10 cm were clustered together, separated from the original sediment and 15 cm. Proteobacteria was the predominant phylum in all samples, followed by Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes. Beta- and Gamma-proteobacteria were the most abundant classes. A total of 23 OTUs showed high identity to 16S rRNA gene of exoelectrogens such as Geobacter and Pseudomonas. The present results provided insights into the effects of anode depth on the performance of SMFC from the perspectives of microbial community structure.

Separation Technology, Thermodynamics : A new model for predicting solute solubility in supercritical fluids based on the Wilson equation

( Bao Hua Wang ),( Qun Sheng Li ),( Ze Ting Zhang ),( Jin Miao Yang ),( Yan Cheng Liu ) 한국화학공학회 2006 Korean Journal of Chemical Engineering Vol.23 No.1

Driver circuit to eliminate bridge leg crosstalk in SiC MOSFETs

Gao, Tian,Cheng, Ze,Wang, Qi,Yang, Yan The Korean Institute of Power Electronics 2020 JOURNAL OF POWER ELECTRONICS Vol.20 No.2

This study involves the crosstalk caused by the high-frequency parasitic parameters in the driver circuits of SiC MOSFETs, which are high-speed switching devices. A lumped parameter model for the high-frequency crosstalk of a driver circuit was established. Then, the relationships between the parameters and crosstalk of the driver circuit were analyzed. Finally, an improved SiC MOSFET driver circuit was proposed. The optimized driver circuit parameters can reduce the driver signal oscillation and minimize the crosstalk of the driver circuit. Verification was performed on a test platform of a full-bridge LLC converter. Test results show that the improved driver circuit can remarkably suppress crosstalk, increase the turn-off speed of SiC MOSFETs and reduce the switching loss. This demonstrates the effectiveness of the driver circuit.

Melatonin stimulates aromatase expression and estradiol production in human granulosa-lutein cells: relevance for the high serum estradiol levels in ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome

Jung-Chien Cheng,Lanlan Fang,Yiran Li,Sijia Wang,Yuxi Li,Yang Yan,Qiongqiong Jia,Ze Wu,Zhen Wang,Xiaoyu Han,Ying-Pu Sun 생화학분자생물학회 2020 Experimental and molecular medicine Vol.52 No.-

Ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS) is one of the most life-threatening and potentially fatal complications associated with controlled ovarian hyperstimulation (COH) during in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment. Although the pathogenesis of OHSS remains unclear, elevated serum estradiol (E2) levels before human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) administration are associated with the risk of OHSS. The pineal hormone melatonin and its receptors are expressed in human granulosa cells and have been shown to stimulate E2 production. However, the effect of melatonin on the expression of aromatase, an enzyme responsible for a key step in the biosynthesis of E2, in human granulosa cells remains to be determined. Here, we demonstrate that melatonin upregulates aromatase expression in primary cultured human granulosa-lutein (hGL) cells through the melatonin receptor-mediated PKA-CREB pathway. Using a mouse model of OHSS, we demonstrate that administration of the melatonin receptor inhibitor luzindole inhibits the development of OHSS. In addition, the expression of ovarian aromatase and serum E2 levels are upregulated in OHSS mice compared to control mice, but this upregulation is attenuated by inhibition of the function of melatonin. Moreover, clinical results reveal that aromatase expression levels are upregulated in hGL cells from OHSS patients. Melatonin and E2 levels in the follicular fluid are significantly higher in OHSS patients than in non-OHSS patients. Furthermore, melatonin levels are positively correlated with E2 levels in follicular fluid. This study helps to elucidate the mechanisms mediating the expression of aromatase in hGL cells and provides a potential mechanism explaining the high E2 levels in patients with OHSS.

Does H3K27M Mutation Impact Survival Outcome of High-Grade Spinal Cord Astrocytoma?

Fan Zhang,Lei Cheng,Ze Ding,Shengxi Wang,Xingang Zhao,Zijun Zhao,Cong Liang,Kun Wu,Dongao Zhang,Yinqian Wang,Tao Fan 대한척추신경외과학회 2023 Neurospine Vol.20 No.4

Objective: To evaluate the impact of H3K27M mutation in the prognosis of histological high-grade intramedullary astrocytoma. Methods: A total of 78 patients who were diagnosed with high-grade spinal cord astrocytoma were included. Clinical data consisting demographic, radiological, molecular features and treatment data were recorded. Univariate and multivariate Cox analysis were performed to investigate variables associated with survival outcome of histological high-grade spinal cord astrocytoma. Results: Median survival time was 21 months. Overall survival (OS) at 1 and 3 years was 65.7% and 40.7%, respectively. Sex, location, and tumor span did not present significant association with OS. Patients with H3K27M mutation showed significant shorter duration of symptom than patients with H3K27 wild-type. As respect to adjuvant treatment, adjuvant radiotherapy and chemotherapy were associated with favorable OS (both p = 0.01). Younger patients (age ≤ 18 years) had shorter OS (p = 0.008) than adult patients (age > 18 years). Of note, H3K27M mutation did not show significant impact on the survival outcome, regardless of histology grade 3 or grade 4 (p = 0.3). Conclusion: Histological high-grade spinal cord astrocytoma has dismal prognosis. Our study demonstrated that H3K27M mutation did not show significant impact on survival outcome of histological high-grade spinal cord astrocytoma.