A New ent-Kaurane type Diterpenoid Glycoside from Inula japonica Thunb

Jiang Jiang Qin,Jia Xian Zhu,Wei Dong Zhang1,2,Yan Zhu,Jian Jun Fu,Xiao Hua Liu,Hui Zi Jin 대한약학회 2009 Archives of Pharmacal Research Vol.32 No.10

A new ent-kaurane type diterpenoid glycoside, 17-O-β-D-glucopyranosyl-16α-ent-kauran-19-oic acid (1), together with 17-hydroxy-16α-ent-kauran-19-oic acid (2), 16α,17-dihydroxyl-ent-kauran-19-oic acid (3), and 16α-hydroxy-17-acetoxy-ent- kauran-19-oic acid (4) were isolated from the aerial parts of Inula japonica Thunb. The structure of 1 was determined mainly by use of 1D and 2D NMR spectroscopic techniques including HSQC, 1H-1H COSY, HMBC, and NOESY. In addition, 4 exhibited significant inhibitory activity on NO production in LPS-stimulated RAW264.7 cells with IC50 value of 14.3 μg/mL.

Risk Factors for Cervical Cancer in Rural Areas of Wuhan China: a Matched Case-control Study

Zhang, Bin,Zhou, Ai-Fen,Zhu, Chang-Cai,Zhang, Ling,Xiang, Bing,Chen, Zhong,Hu, Rong-Hua,Zhang, Ya-Qi,Qiu, Lin,Zhang, Yi-Ming,Xiong, Chao-Du,Du, Yu-Kai,Shi, Yu-Qin Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2013 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.14 No.12

Cervical cancer is a serious public health problem in developing countries. We investigated possible risk factors for cervical cancer in rural areas of Wuhan China using a matched case-control study with 33 women diagnosed with cervical cancer and 132 healthy women selected from the same area as matched controls. A questionnaire, which included questions about general demography conditions, environmental and genetic factors, the first sexual intercourse, first marriage age, age at first pregnancy, pregnancy first child's age, female personal health history, social psychological factors, dietary habits, smoking and alcohol status and other living habits was presented to all participants. At the same time, HPV infection of every participant was examined in laboratory testing. Results showed HPV infection (P<0.000, OR=23.4) and pregnancy first child's age (P<0.000, OR=13.1) to be risk factors for cervical cancer. Menopause (P=0.003, OR=0.073) was a protective factor against cervical cancer. However, there was no indication of associations of environmental (drinking water, insecticide, disinfectant) genetic (cancer family history), or life-style factors (smoking status, alcohol status, physical training, sleep quality), including dietary habits (intake of fruit and vegetable, meat, fried food, bean products and pickled food) or social psychological factors with cervical cancer. The results suggest that the risk of cervical cancer in Chinese rural women may be associated with HPV infection, menopause and the pregnancy first child's age.

Tracking the movement trajectory of newly emerged adult Chinese citrus flies with insect harmonic radar

Zhang-Zhang He,Jie Luo,Lian-You Gui,Deng-Ke Hua,Tian-Hua Du,Fu-Lian Wang,Peng Liang,Yong-Fang Shi,Xuan Yang 한국응용곤충학회 2019 Journal of Asia-Pacific Entomology Vol.22 No.3

Previous work reveals that the adult Chinese citrus fly, Bactrocera minax (Enderlein), emerges from the ground in citrus orchards and presumably disperses to alternate food sources in neighboring shrubs and trees, where it stays and becomes reproductively mature, and then later returns to the orchard to lay eggs. We investigated the trajectories of early emerged adult Chinese citrus flies, which were tracked with portable harmonic radar in 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016 in four different habitats in Hubei province of China that presumably provided food sources for adults. This study we investigated whether early emerged adult Chinese citrus flies migrate into forests. A total of 47 adults were tracked following release in a citrus orchard. Our results showed that a total of 33 adults released in a citrus orchard flew into the forest, and 14 adults that disappeared during the tracking process in the citrus orchard. A total of 10 adults (in 2014) that were tracked and released in the forest flew to the forest. Of the adult flies investigated, 54.5% flew directly into the forest, while the remaining 45.5% finally arrived in the forest after repeatedly adjusting their trajectories. When there were Castanea mollissima Blume (Fagaceae) in the surrounding forest, the proportion of frequency of adult landing on the plant represented 58.3% and 88.5% of landing on all species in 2014 and in 2015, respectively. We conclude that early emerged adult Chinese citrus flies in the mosaic-type citrus orchard of the hilly terrain landform dispersed into adjacent forest.

Expression of the Arabidopsis vacuolar $H^+$-pyrophosphatase gene AVP1 in peanut to improve drought and salt tolerance

Qin, Hua,Gu, Qiang,Kuppu, Sundaram,Sun, Li,Zhu, Xunlu,Mishra, Neelam,Hu, Rongbin,Shen, Guoxin,Zhang, Junling,Zhang, Yizheng,Zhu, Longfu,Zhang, Xianlong,Burow, Mark,Payton, Paxton,Zhang, Hong 한국식물생명공학회 2013 Plant biotechnology reports Vol.7 No.3

The Arabidopsis gene AVP1 encodes an $H^+$-pyrophosphatase that functions as a proton pump at the vacuolar membranes, generating a proton gradient across vacuolar membranes, which serves as the driving force for many secondary transporters on vacuolar membranes such as $Na^+/H^+$-antiporters. Overexpression of AVP1 could improve drought tolerance and salt tolerance in transgenic plants, suggesting a possible way in improving drought and salt tolerance in crops. The AVP1 was therefore introduced into peanut by Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. Analysis of AVP1-expressing peanut indicated that AVP1-overexpression in peanut could improve both drought and salt tolerance in greenhouse and growth chamber conditions, as AVP1-overexpressing peanuts produced more biomass and maintained higher photosynthetic rates under both drought and salt conditions. In the field, AVP1-overexpressing peanuts also outperformed wild-type plants by having higher photosynthetic rates and producing higher yields under low irrigation conditions.

ACCURACY OF LAMOST DR1 STELLAR PARAMETERS

GAO, HUA,ZHANG, HUA-WEI,XIANG, MAO-SHENG,HUANG, YANG,LIU, XIAO-WEI,LUO, A-LI,ZHANG, HAO-TONG,WU, YUE,ZHANG, YONG,LI, GUANG-WEI,DU, BING The Korean Astronomical Society 2015 天文學論叢 Vol.30 No.2

We adopt the PASTEL catalog combined with SIMBAD radial velocities as a testing standard to validate the stellar parameters (effective temperature $T_{eff}$, surface gravity log g, metallicity [Fe/H] and radial velocity $V_r$) from the first data release (DR1) of The Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope (LAMOST) survey. After applying data reduction and temperature constraints to the sample obtained by cross-identification, we compare the stellar parameters from DR1 and PASTEL. The results show that the DR1 results are reliable under certain conditions. We derive a dispersion of 110 K, 0.19 dex, 0.11 dex and $4.91kms^{-1}$ in specified effective temperature ranges, for $T_{eff}$, log g, [Fe/H] and $V_r$ respectively. Systematic errors are negligible except for those of $V_r$. In addition, for stars with PASTEL [Fe/H] < -1:5, the metallicities in DR1 are systematically higher than those in PASTEL.

Which Indicator Among Lumbar Vertebral Hounsfield Unit, Vertebral Bone Quality, or Dual-Energy X-Ray Absorptiometry-Measured Bone Mineral Density Is More Efficacious in Predicting Thoracolumbar Fragility Fractures?

Bo Zhang,Lu-Ping Zhou,Xian-Liang Zhang,Dui Li,Jia-Qi Wang,Chong-Yu Jia,Hua-Qing Zhang,Liang Kang,Ren-Jie Zhang,Cai-Liang Shen 대한척추신경외과학회 2023 Neurospine Vol.20 No.4

Objective: Hounsfield units (HU), vertebral bone quality (VBQ), and bone mineral density (BMD) can all serve as predictive indicators for thoracolumbar fragility fractures. This study aims to explore which indicator provides better risk prediction for thoracolumbar fragility fractures. Methods: Patients who have received medical attention from The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University for thoracolumbar fragility fractures were selected. A total of 78 patients with thoracolumbar fragility fractures were included in the study. To establish a control group, 78 patients with degenerative spinal diseases were matched to the fracture group on the basis of gender, age, and body mass index. The lumbar vertebral HU, the VBQ, and the BMD were obtained for all the 156 patients through computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, and dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA). The correlations among these parameters were analyzed. The area under curve (AUC) analysis was employed to assess the predictive efficacy and thresholds of lumbar vertebral HU, VBQ, and BMD in relation to the risk of thoracolumbar fragility fractures. Results: Among the cohort of 156 patients, lumbar vertebral HU exhibited a positive correlation with BMD (p < 0.01). Conversely, VBQ showed a negative correlation with HU, BMD (p < 0.05). HU and BMD displayed a favorable predictive efficacy for thoracolumbar fragility fractures (p < 0.01), with HU (AUC = 0.863) showcasing the highest predictive efficacy, followed by the DEXA-measured BMD (AUC = 0.813). VBQ (AUC = 0.602) ranked lowest among the 3 indicators. The thresholds for predicting thoracolumbar fragility fractures were as follows: HU (88),VBQ (3.37), and BMD (0.81). Conclusion: All 3 of these indicators, HU, VBQ, and BMD, can predict thoracolumbar fragility fractures. Notably, lumbar vertebral HU exhibits the highest predictive efficacy, followed by the BMD obtained through DEXA scanning, with VBQ demonstrating the lowest predictive efficacy.

INTERVAL OSCILLATION CRITERIA FOR A SECOND ORDER NONLINEAR DIFFERENTIAL EQUATION

Zhang, Cun-Hua The Korean Society for Computational and Applied M 2009 Journal of applied mathematics & informatics Vol.27 No.5

This paper is concerned with the interval oscillation of the second order nonlinear ordinary differential equation (r(t)|y'(t)|$^{{\alpha}-1}$ y'(t))'+p(t)|y'(t)|$^{{\alpha}-1}$ y'(t)+q(t)f(y(t))g(y'(t))=0. By constructing ageneralized Riccati transformation and using the method of averaging techniques, we establish some interval oscillation criteria when f(y) is not differetiable but satisfies the condition $\frac{f(y)}{|y|^{{\alpha}-1}y}$ ${\geq}{\mu}_0$ > 0 for $y{\neq}0$.

Current Evidence on the Relationship Between Two Polymorphisms in the NBS1 Gene and Breast Cancer Risk: a Meta-analysis

Zhang, Zhi-Hua,Yang, Lin-Sheng,Huang, Fen,Hao, Jia-Hu,Su, Pu-Yu,Sun, Ye-Huan Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2012 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.13 No.11

Introduction: Published studies on the association between Nijmegen breakage syndrome 1(NBS1) gene polymorphisms and breast cancer risk have been inconclusive, and a meta-analysis was therefore performed for clarification. Methods: Eligible articles were identified by a search of MEDLINE and EMBASE bibliographic databases for the period up to March 2012. The presence of between-study heterogeneity was investigated using the chi-square-based Cochran's Q statistic test. When there was statistical heterogeneity, the random effects model was chosen; otherwise, fixed effects estimates were reported as an alternative approach. Results: A total of 11 eligible articles (14 case-control studies) were identified, nine case-control studies were for the 657del5 mutation (7,534 breast cancer cases, 14,034 controls) and five case-control studies were for the I171V mutation (3,273 breast cancer cases, 4,004 controls). Our analysis results indicated that the 657del5 mutation was associated with breast cancer risk (carriers vs. non-carriers: pooled OR =2.63, 95% CI: 1.76-3.93), whereas the I171V mutation was not (carriers vs. non-carriers: pooled OR =1.52, 95% CI: 0.70-3.28). Conclusion: The present meta-analysis suggests that the 657del5 gene mutation in the NBS1 gene plays a role in breast cancer risk, while the I171V mutation does not exert a significant influence.

Illumina MiSeq sequencing reveals the effects of grape seed procyanidin on rumen archaeal communities in vitro

Zhang, Hua,Tong, Jinjin,Wang, Zun,Xiong, Benhai,Jiang, Linshu Asian Australasian Association of Animal Productio 2020 Animal Bioscience Vol.33 No.1

Objective: The present study explored the effects of grape seed procyanidin extract (GSPE) on rumen fermentation, methane production and archaeal communities in vitro. Methods: A completely randomized experiment was conducted with in vitro incubation in a control group (CON, no GSPE addition; n = 9) and the treatment group (GSPE, 1 mg/bottle GSPE, 2 g/kg dry matter; n = 9). The methane and volatile fatty acid concentrations were determined using gas chromatography. To explore methane inhibition after fermentation and the response of the ruminal microbiota to GSPE, archaeal 16S rRNA genes were sequenced by MiSeq high-throughput sequencing. Results: The results showed that supplementation with GSPE could significantly inhibit gas production and methane production. In addition, GSPE treatment significantly increased the proportion of propionate, while the acetate/propionate ratio was significantly decreased. At the genus level, the relative abundance of Methanomassiliicoccus was significantly increased, while the relative abundance of Methanobrevibacter decreased significantly in the GSPE group. Conclusion: In conclusion, GSPE is a plant extract that can reduce methane production by affecting the structures of archaeal communities, which was achieved by a substitution of Methanobrevibacter with Methanomassiliicoccus.

Antiobesity Effect of <i> Astilbe chinensis</i> Franch. et Savet. Extract through Regulation of Adipogenesis and AMP-Activated Protein Kinase Pathways in 3T3-L1 Adipocyte and High-Fat Diet-Induced C57BL/6N Obese Mice

Zhang, Xian Hua,Wang, Zhiqiang,Kang, Bueom-Goo,Hwang, Seung Hwan,Lee, Jae-Young,Lim, Soon Sung,Huang, Bo Hindawi 2018 Evidence-based Complementary and Alternative Medic Vol.2018 No.-

<P><I>Astilbe chinensis </I>Franch. et Savat. (AC) has been used in traditional medicine for the treatment of chronic bronchitis, arthralgia, and gastralgia. In this study, we investigated the antiobesity effect of AC extract on 3T3-L1 preadipocytes and high-fat-diet-fed C57BL/6N obese mice. We found that AC extracts dramatically decreased the lipid content of 3T3-L1 cells in a concentration-dependent manner without cytotoxicity. The action mechanism of AC extract was demonstrated to be the inhibition of lipid accumulation and dose-dependent decrease in the expression of CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein <I>α</I> (C/EBP<I>α</I>), peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-<I>γ</I> (PPAR-<I>γ</I>), and sterol regulatory element-binding protein 1 (SREBP1). Furthermore, AC extract increased the mitochondrial phosphorylation of AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) and acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACC), mitochondrial biogenesis, and lipolysis-related factors. In amice model of high-fat-diet-induced obesity, the mice administered AC extract experienced significant decrease of 64% in weight gain, 55% in insulin resistance index, 22% in plasma triglycerides (TG), 56% in total cholesterol (TC), and 21% in nonesterified fatty acid (NEFA) levels compared with those in the high-fat diet-fed control mice. Collectively, these results indicated that AC extract exerted antiobesogenic activity through the modulation of the AMPK signaling pathway, inhibition of adipogenesis, decreased lipid content, and reduced adipocyte size.</P>