Changes in the physicochemical properties and in vitro protein digestibility of peanut hulls treated via mechanical activation

Miao-miao Feng,Ya-fen Wang,Xuan Cai,Hong-cai Zhang,Jian-xiong Xu 한국식품과학회 2022 Food Science and Biotechnology Vol.31 No.6

In this study, peanut hulls powder (PHP) wastreated via mechanical activation (MA) and divided intothree groups (control, PHP150 and PHP250). Physicochemicalproperties including mean particle size distribution(MPSD), powder properties, solubility and in vitro proteindigestibility of PHP were then investigated. The resultsshowed that MA could decrease the particle size of PHP bydestroying its crystal structure, resulting in an increase ofamorphization and a decrease of crystallinity and crystallinesize. The results of in vitro protein digestibility and crudefi ber contents showed that MA increased the protein digestibilityof PHP by 43.32% and 74.70% ( P < 0.05), while crudefi ber content was decreased by 0.42% and 26.65% ( P < 0.05). These fi ndings indicated a large application potential of MAin PHP treatment.

AlGaN/GaN Metal-Insulator-Semiconductor (MIS)-HFETs Based DC-DC Boost Converters with Integrated Gate Drivers

Miao Cui,Qinglei Bu,Yutao Cai,Ruize Sun,Wen Liu,Huiqing Wen,Sang Lam,Yung. C. Liang,Ivona Z. Mitrovic,Stephen Taylor,Paul R. Chalker,Cezhou Zhao 전력전자학회 2019 ICPE(ISPE)논문집 Vol.2019 No.5

This study proposed a 100 kHz, 5V/11V boost converter with an integrated gate driver for a power switching device using recessed E-mode MIS-HFETs. The integrated gate driver consisting of multi-stages DCFL (Direct-Coupled FET Logic) inverters and a buffer stage, has large input swing (up to 10 V) and wide noise margin with gate dielectric, which benefits applications requiring large gate swing without any additional drivers or level shifters. The impact of transistor size on rise times and fall times have been studied. Either buffer stage or larger width of DCFL inverter can reduce rise times from 2.4 μs to less than 0.5 μs at 100 kHz, so the output voltage of boost converter is increased by 10 % at a duty cycle of 0.7. However, large buffer width can result in high gate overshoot and oscillation, indicating careful design to balance switching speed and oscillation.

Survivin Gene Functions and Relationships between Expression and Prognosis in Patients with Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma

Cai, Jun-Hong,Fu, Sheng-Miao,Tu, Zhi-Hua,Deng, Li-Qun,Liang, Zhu,Chen, Xin-Ping,Gong, Xuan-Ju,Wan, Li-Hua Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2015 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.16 No.6

This study aimed to investigate the relationship between prognosis and protein and mRNA expression of an apoptotic inhibitor gene, survivin, in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Furthermore, functions of the survivin gene in the CNE2 nasopharyngeal carcinoma cell line were assessed. Immunohistochemistry and in situ hybridization were used in detecting the survivin protein and mRNA in 44 nasopharyngeal carcinoma specimens, and 30 chronic nasopharyngitis samples as controls. Survivin gene expression in CNE2 cell line was suppressed with an shRNA (short hairpin RNA). The positive ratios of expression for survivin protein and mRNA in nasopharyngeal carcinoma were 79.5% and 75.0% respectively, obviously higher than in the control group (p<0.01), and there is very good consistency between the two methods. The mean survival time of patients with higher survivin protein or mRNA expression was shorter than in patients with lower levelsv(p<0.01). Proliferation of the CNE2 cell line was distinctly inhibited by the shRNA. The results indicate that overexpression of the survivin gene plays an important role in onset and development of nasopharyngeal carcinoma, and it may be helpful for prognostic appraisal.

Investor Sentiment, Product Features, and Advertising Investment Sensitivities

Miao Luo,Daniel X. Jiang,Jun Cai 한국증권학회 2014 Asia-Pacific Journal of Financial Studies Vol.43 No.6

Investor sentiment plays an important role, affecting firm level advertising expenditures. Weprovide evidence that financially constrained firms exhibit lower advertising investment-cashflow sensitivity and higher advertising investment-q sensitivity during high sentiment periods. The patterns are driven mainly by those firms facing financial constraints. More importantly, weidentify several product features that also affect advertising investment sensitivities. Sorting onproduct features generates investment sensitivities that closely resemble those of sorting onfinancial constraint measures. We design empirical analyses to provide clean tests of the cost-of-external-financing-based and product-feature-based explanations underlying the variation inadvertising investment sensitivities.

Characterization of transcriptional responses mediated by benzo[a] pyrene stress in a new marine fish model of goby, Mugilogobius chulae

Lei Cai,Jianjun Li,Lujun Yu,Yuanzheng Wei,Zongyu Miao,Meili Chen,Ren Huang 한국유전학회 2019 Genes & Genomics Vol.41 No.1

Benzo[a]pyrene (BaP) is one of the most studied targets among polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Because of the complexity of the toxicity mechanism in BaP, little is known about the molecular mechanism at the level of transcription of BaP in marine fishes. The primary objective of this study was to investigate the molecular basis of the effects of BaP on marine fish, using Mugilogobius chulae (Smith 1932) as the model. A closed colony of M. chulae was used for the BaP toxicity test. Two fish liver samples per replicate from each group were excised and blended into one sample by pooling an equal amount of liver tissue. Total RNA of all samples was extracted separately. Equal quantities of total RNA from the three replicates of the two groups were pooled for sequencing. The sequencing cDNA libraries were sequenced using Illumina HiSeq 2000 system. Differentially expressed genes were detected with the DEGSeq R package. In total, 52,364,032 and 53,771,748 clean nucleotide reads were obtained in the control and BaP-exposed libraries, respectively, with N50 lengths of 1277 and 1288 bp, respectively. Gene Ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway analyses revealed a significant enrichment of genes related to detoxification, transportation, and lipid metabolism. We also identified, for the first time, an association between endoplasmic reticulum dysfunction and lipid metabolism resulting from BaP exposure. Using quantitative real-time PCR, some effective molecular biomarkers for monitoring of BaP-polluted seawater were identified. The results demonstrate that BaP enhanced the expression of genes involved in detoxification in M. chulae and inhibited that of genes related to lipid metabolism, possibly by suppressing the expression of numerous ER-related genes involved in fat digestion and absorption.

Parameter Optimization of the LC filters Based on Multiple Impact Factors for Cascaded H-bridge Dynamic Voltage Restorers

Guodong Chen,Miao Zhu,Xu Cai 전력전자학회 2014 JOURNAL OF POWER ELECTRONICS Vol.14 No.1

The cascaded H-Bridge Dynamic Voltage Restorer (DVR) is used for protecting high voltage and large capacity loads from voltage sags. The LC filter in the DVR is needed to eliminate switching ripples, which also provides an accurate tracking feature in a certain frequency range. Therefore, the parameter optimization of the LC filter is especially important. In this paper, the value range functions for the inductance and capacitance in LC filters are discussed. Then, parameter variations under different conditions of voltage sags and power factors are analyzed. In addition, an optimized design method is also proposed with the consideration of multiple impact factors. A detailed optimization procedure is presented, and its validity is demonstrated by simulation and experimental results. Both results show that the proposed method can improve the LC filter design for a cascaded H-Bridge DVR and enhance the performance of the whole system.

Elevated Platelets Enhance Cancer Cell Migration, Promote Hematogenous Metastasis and Associate with a Poor Prognosis in Advanced Non-small Cell Lung Cancer Cases

Li, Yan,Miao, Li-Yun,Xiao, Yong-Long,Cai, Hou-Rong,Zhang, De-Ping Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2014 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.15 No.1

Although correlations between platelets and lung cancer has been recognized, effects on non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) metastasis remain to be determined in detail. In the present study, wound healing assays revealed a role of platelets in NSCLC cell migration. Thus the mean migration rate of lung adenocarcinoma A549 cells was significantly elevated after co-culture with platelets ($81.7{\pm}0.45%$ vs $41.0{\pm}3.50%$, P<0.01). Expression of GAPDH was examined by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction to study the effect of platelets on NSCLC cell proliferation. The result showed that the proliferation of A549 and SPC-A1 cells was not affected. Mouse models were established by transfusing A549 cells and SPC-A1 cells into mice lateral tail veins. We found tumor metastasis nodules in lungs to be increased significantly after co-transfusion with platelets (in A549, $4.33{\pm}0.33$ vs $0.33{\pm}0.33$, P=0.01; in SPC-A1, $2.67{\pm}0.33$ vs $0.00{\pm}0.00$, P=0.01). In addition, consecutive inoperable patients with newly diagnosed NSCLC (TNM stage III or IV) between January 2009 and December 2011 were retrospectively reviewed. Using the Kaplan-Meier method, NSCLC patients with a high platelet counts demonstrated a significantly shorter progression free survival compared with those with a low platelet count (> $200{\times}10^9/L$, 3 months versus ${\leq}200{\times}10^9/L$, 5 months, P=0.001). An elevated platelet count was also identified as an independent prognostic factor by Cox regression analysis for prgression free survival (adjusted hazard ratio: 1.69; 95% CI: 1.16, 2.46; P=0.006). This study suggested that platelets might contribute to the hematogenous metastatic process by promoting cancer cell migration, which eventually affects the prognosis of NSCLC.

Hypoxia Induced High Expression of Thioredoxin Interacting Protein (TXNIP) in Non-small Cell Lung Cancer and its Prognostic Effect

Li, Yan,Miao, Li-Yun,Xiao, Yong-Long,Huang, Mei,Yu, Min,Meng, Kui,Cai, Hou-Rong Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2015 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.16 No.7

Although associations between thioredoxin interacting protein (TXNIP) and cancers have been recognized, the effects of TXNIP on non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) prognosis remained to be determined in detail. In addition, while hypoxia is a key characteristic of tumor cell growth microenvironment, the effect of hypoxia on TXNIP expression is controversial. In this study, formaldehyde fixed and paraffin embedded (FFPE) samples of 70 NSCLC patients who underwent resection between January 2010 and December 2011 were obtained. Evaluation of TXNIP and hypoxia inducible factor-$1{\alpha}$ ($HIF-1{\alpha}$) protein expression in FFPE samples was made by immunohistochemistry. By Kaplan-Meier method, patients with high TXNIP expression demonstrated a significantly shorter progression free survival (PFS) compared with those with low TXNIP expression (18.0 months, 95%CI: 11.7, 24.3 versus 23.0 months, 95%CI: 17.6, 28.4, P=0.02). High TXNIP expression level was also identified as an independent prognostic factor by Cox regression analysis (adjusted hazard ratio: 2.46; 95%CI: 1.08, 5.56; P=0.03). Furthermore, TXNIP expression was found to be significantly correlated with $HIF-1{\alpha}$ expression (Spearman correlation=0.67, P=0.000). To further confirm correlations, we established a tumor cell hypoxic culture model. Expression of TXNIP was up-regulated in all three NSCLC cell lines (A549, SPC-A1, and H1299) under hypoxic conditions. This study suggests that hypoxia induces increased TXNIP expression in NSCLC and high TXNIP expression could be a poor prognostic marker.

Rapid fabrication of NiFe(OH)x/Fe0.2Co-Se complexes for oxygen evolution reaction electrocatalysis

Kang Gao,Miao Xu,Chuankun Zhang,Haiming Huang,Dongming Cai,Minglei Cao,Jun Wu,Chengrui Wu,Yongjin Hu,Rui Tong 한국공업화학회 2023 Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Vol.124 No.-

Exploiting the inexpensive and efficient oxygen evolution reaction (OER) electrocatalysts is crucial forimproving the efficiency of electrocatalytic water splitting (EWS), since the slow 4-electron OER processis a rate-limiting step in EWS. Herein, we prepared the NiFe(OH)x/Fe0.2Co-Se complexes on carbon paper(CP) via an easy two-step electrochemical deposition strategy. By varying the doping amount of Fe andthe deposition time of Fe0.2Co-Se, the OER property of NiFe(OH)x/Fe0.2Co-Se/CP was optimized to the best:only requiring low overpotentials of 243 and 277 mV at the current density of 20 and 100 mA/cm2 (j20and j100) and a small Tafel slope of 36.8 mV/dec, along with a terrific long-term durability in 1 M KOH. According to the experimental results, the rich exposed active sites, improved intrinsic site activityand enhanced electrical conductivity lead to the superior OER performance. Our work will provide someinspiration for designing other metal selenide/hydroxide heterostructures for other energy conversion orstorage applications.

An Approach to Test Generation for Web Applications

Pan Liu,Huaikou Miao,Hongwei Zeng,Lizhi Cai 보안공학연구지원센터(IJUNESST) 2013 International Journal of u- and e- Service, Scienc Vol.6 No.1