Parkinson’s Disease with Fatigue: Clinical Characteristics and Potential Mechanisms Relevant to α-Synuclein Oligomer

Li-Jun Zuo,Shu-Yang Yu,Fang Wang,Yanghui Xia,Ying-Shan Piao,Yang Du,Teng-Hong Lian,Rui-Dan Wang,Qiu-Jin Yu,Ya-Jie Wang,Xiao-Min Wang,Piu Chan,Sheng-Di Chen,Yongjun Wang,Wei Zhang 대한신경과학회 2016 Journal of Clinical Neurology Vol.12 No.2

Background and Purpose The aim of this study was to identify the clinical characteristics and potential mechanisms relevant to pathological proteins in Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients who experience fatigue. Methods PD patients (n=102) were evaluated using a fatigue severity scale and scales for motor and nonmotor symptoms. The levels of three pathological proteins—α-synuclein oligomer, β-amyloid (Aβ)1-42, and tau—were measured in 102 cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples from these PD patients. Linear regression analyses were performed between fatigue score and the CSF levels of the above-listed pathological proteins in PD patients. Results The frequency of fatigue in the PD patients was 62.75%. The fatigue group had worse motor symptoms and anxiety, depression, and autonomic dysfunction. The CSF level of α-synuclein oligomer was higher and that of Aβ1-42 was lower in the fatigue group than in the non-fatigue group. In multiple linear regression analyses, fatigue severity was significantly and positively correlated with the α-synuclein oligomer level in the CSF of PD patients, after adjusting for confounders. Conclusions PD patients experience a high frequency of fatigue. PD patients with fatigue have worse motor and part nonmotor symptoms. Fatigue in PD patients is associated with an increased α-synuclein oligomer level in the CSF

Nonlinear boundary parameter identification of bridges based on temperature-induced strains

Zuo-Cai Wang,Guo-Peng Zha,Wei-Xin Ren,Ke Hu,Hao Yang 국제구조공학회 2018 Structural Engineering and Mechanics, An Int'l Jou Vol.68 No.5

Temperature-induced responses, such as strains and displacements, are related to the boundary conditions. Therefore, it is required to determine the boundary conditions to establish a reliable bridge model for temperature-induced responses analysis. Particularly, bridge bearings usually present nonlinear behavior with an increase in load, and the nonlinear boundary conditions cause significant effect on temperature-induced responses. In this paper, the bridge nonlinear boundary conditions were simulated as bilinear translational or rotational springs, and the boundary parameters of the bilinear springs were identified based on the measured temperature-induced responses. First of all, the temperature-induced responses of a simply support beam with nonlinear translational and rotational springs subjected to various temperature loads were analyzed. The simulated temperature-induced strains and displacements were assumed as measured data. To identify the nonlinear translational and rotational boundary parameters of the bridge, the objective function based on the temperature-induced responses is then created, and the nonlinear boundary parameters were further identified by using the nonlinear least squares optimization algorithm. Then, a beam structure with nonlinear translational and rotational springs was simulated as a numerical example, and the nonlinear boundary parameters were identified based on the proposed method. The numerical results show that the proposed method can effectively identify the parameters of the nonlinear boundary conditions. Finally, the boundary parameters of a real arch bridge were identified based on the measured strain data and the proposed method. Since the bearings of the real bridge do not perform nonlinear behavior, only the linear boundary parameters of the bridge model were identified. Based on the bridge model and the identified boundary conditions, the temperature-induced strains were recalculated to compare with the measured strain data. The recalculated temperature-induced strains are in a good agreement with the real measured data.

A Study on BMPR-IB Genes of Bayanbulak Sheep

Zuo, Beiyao,Qian, Hongguang,Wang, Ziyu,Wang, Xu,Nisa, Noor,Bayier, Aierdin,Ying, Shijia,Hu, Xiaolong,Gong, Changhai,Guo, Zhiqin,Wang, Feng Asian Australasian Association of Animal Productio 2013 Animal Bioscience Vol.26 No.1

The average twin lambing rate of Bayanbulak sheep is 2% to 3%. However, a flock of sheep with a close genetic relationship and an average of 2 to 3 lambs per birth has been found recently. To determine the major genes controlling the prolificacy of the flock in the present study, the flock was designated A while 100 normal Bayanbulak sheep were randomly selected to comprise the control flock B. Ligase detection reaction method was applied to detect and analyze the 10 mutational loci of the 3 candidate prolificacy genes including bone morphogenetic protein type I receptors, bone morphogenetic protein 15, and growth differentiation factor 9. The 10 mutational loci are as follows: FecB locus of the BMPR-IB gene; $FecX^I$, $FecX^B$, $FecX^L$, $FecX^H$, $FecX^G$, and $FecX^R$ of the BMP15 gene; and G1, G8, and FecTT of the GDF9 gene. Two mutations including BMPR-IB/FecB and GDF9/G1 were found in Bayanbulak sheep. Independence test results of the two flocks demonstrate that the FecB locus has a significant effect on the lambing number of Bayanbulak sheep. However, the mutation frequency of the G1 locus in GDF9 is very low. Independence test results demonstrate that the GDF9 locus does not have a significant impact on the lambing performance of Bayanbulak sheep. Among the 10 detected loci, BMPR-IB/FecB is the major gene that influences the high lambing rate of Bayanbulak sheep.

Evaluation of Different Yeast Species for Improving In vitro Fermentation of Cereal Straws

Wang, Zuo,He, Zhixiong,Beauchemin, Karen A.,Tang, Shaoxun,Zhou, Chuanshe,Han, Xuefeng,Wang, Min,Kang, Jinhe,Odongo, Nicholas E.,Tan, Zhiliang Asian Australasian Association of Animal Productio 2016 Animal Bioscience Vol.29 No.2

Information on the effects of different yeast species on ruminal fermentation is limited. This experiment was conducted in a $3{\times}4$ factorial arrangement to explore and compare the effects of addition of three different live yeast species (Candida utilis 1314, Saccharomyces cerevisiae 1355, and Candida tropicalis 1254) at four doses (0, $0.25{\times}10^7$, $0.50{\times}10^7$, and $0.75{\times}10^7$ colony-forming unit [cfu]) on in vitro gas production kinetics, fiber degradation, methane production and ruminal fermentation characteristics of maize stover, and rice straw by mixed rumen microorganisms in dairy cows. The maximum gas production (Vf), dry matter disappearance (IVDMD), neutral detergent fiber disappearance (IVNDFD), and methane production in C. utilis group were less (p<0.01) than other two live yeast supplemented groups. The inclusion of S. cerevisiae reduced (p<0.01) the concentrations of ammonia nitrogen ($NH_3$-N), isobutyrate, and isovalerate compared to the other two yeast groups. C. tropicalis addition generally enhanced (p<0.05) IVDMD and IVNDFD. The $NH_3$-N concentration and $CH_4$ production were increased (p<0.05) by the addition of S. cerevisiae and C. tropicalis compared with the control. Supplementation of three yeast species decreased (p<0.05) or numerically decreased the ratio of acetate to propionate. The current results indicate that C. tropicalis is more preferred as yeast culture supplements, and its optimal dose should be $0.25{\times}10^7$ cfu/500 mg substrates in vitro.

COMMON FIXED POINTS FOR COMPATIBLE MAPPINGS OF TYPE(A) IN 2-METRIC SPACES

Wang, Wen Zuo 호남수학회 2000 호남수학학술지 Vol.22 No.1

In this paper we obtain a criterion for the existence of a common fixed point of a pair of mappings in 2-metric spaces. Our result generalizes a number of fixed point theorems given by Imdad, Khan and Khan [1], Kahn and Fisher [2], Kubiak [3], Rhoades [5], and Singh, Tiwari and Gupta [6].

AN ULTRA-LUMINOUS QUASAR AT <i>z</i> = 5.363 WITH A TEN BILLION SOLAR MASS BLACK HOLE AND A METAL-RICH DLA AT <i>z</i> ∼ 5

Wang, Feige,Wu, Xue-Bing,Fan, Xiaohui,Yang, Jinyi,Cai, Zheng,Yi, Weimin,Zuo, Wenwen,Wang, Ran,McGreer, Ian D.,Ho, Luis C.,Kim, Minjin,Yang, Qian,Bian, Fuyan,Jiang, Linhua IOP Publishing 2015 ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL LETTERS - Vol.807 No.1

<P>We report the discovery of an ultra-luminous quasar J030642.51+185315.8 (hereafter J0306+1853) at redshift 5.363, which hosts a supermassive black hole with M-BH = (1.07 +/- 0.27) x 10(10) M-circle dot. With an absolute magnitude M-1450 = -28.92 and a bolometric luminosity L-bol similar to 3.4 x 10(14) L-circle dot, J0306+1853 is one of the most luminous objects in the early universe. It is not likely to be a beamed source based on its small flux variability, low radio loudness, and normal broad emission lines. In addition, a z = 4.986 damped Ly alpha system (DLA) with [M/H] = -1.3 +/- 0.1, among the most metal-rich DLAs at z greater than or similar to 5, is detected in the absorption spectrum of this quasar. This ultra-luminous quasar puts strong constraints on the bright end of the quasar luminosity function and massive end of the black hole mass function. It will provide a unique laboratory for the study of BH growth and the co-evolution between a BH and the host galaxy with multi-wavelength follow-up observations. The future high-resolution spectra will give more insight into the DLA and other absorption systems along the line of sight of J0306+1853.</P>

New Safrole Oxide Derivatives: Synthesis and in vitro Antiproliferative Activities on A549 Human Lung Cancer Cells

Wang, Li-Ying,Wang, Xiu-Hua,Tan, Jia-Lian,Xia, Shuai,Sun, Heng-Zhi,Shi, Jin-Wen,Jiang, Ming-Dong,Fang, Liang,Zuo, Hua,Dupati, Gautam,Jang, Kiwan,Shin, Dong-Soo Korean Chemical Society 2012 Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society Vol.33 No.11

A number of novel small molecules, safrole oxide derivatives 4a-c, 6a-c, 9a-h, were synthesized by the reaction of safrole oxide with anilines 3 and 5, or its alkyl allyl ether derivative 7 with alkyl bromide 8 in moderate yields. The antiproliferative effects of all the target molecules on A549 cell growth were investigated and it was found that the 14 novel compounds could suppress A549 lung cancer cell growth. Among them, compound 6b was the most effective compound in inhibiting the proliferation of A549 cells.

Time-varying physical parameter identification of shear type structures based on discrete wavelet transform

Wang, Chao,Ren, Wei-Xin,Wang, Zuo-Cai,Zhu, Hong-Ping Techno-Press 2014 Smart Structures and Systems, An International Jou Vol.14 No.5

This paper proposed a discrete wavelet transform based method for time-varying physical parameter identification of shear type structures. The time-varying physical parameters are dispersed and expanded at multi-scale as profile and detail signal using discrete wavelet basis. To reduce the number of unknown quantity, the wavelet coefficients that reflect the detail signal are ignored by setting as zero value. Consequently, the time-varying parameter can be approximately estimated only using the scale coefficients that reflect the profile signal, and the identification task is transformed to an equivalent time-invariant scale coefficient estimation. The time-invariant scale coefficients can be simply estimated using regular least-squares methods, and then the original time-varying physical parameters can be reconstructed by using the identified time-invariant scale coefficients. To reduce the influence of the ill-posed problem of equation resolving caused by noise, the Tikhonov regularization method instead of regular least-squares method is used in the paper to estimate the scale coefficients. A two-story shear type frame structure with time-varying stiffness and damping are simulated to validate the effectiveness and accuracy of the proposed method. It is demonstrated that the identified time-varying stiffness is with a good accuracy, while the identified damping is sensitive to noise.

Photoactivation and inactivation of <i>Arabidopsis</i> cryptochrome 2

Wang, Qin,Zuo, Zecheng,Wang, Xu,Gu, Lianfeng,Yoshizumi, Takeshi,Yang, Zhaohe,Yang, Liang,Liu, Qing,Liu, Wei,Han, Yun-Jeong,Kim, Jeong-Il,Liu, Bin,Wohlschlegel, James A.,Matsui, Minami,Oka, Yoshito,Lin American Association for the Advancement of Scienc 2016 Science Vol.354 No.6310

<P>Cryptochromes are blue-light receptors that regulate development and the circadian clock in plants and animals. We found that Arabidopsis cryptochrome 2 (CRY2) undergoes blue light-dependent homodimerization to become physiologically active. We identified BIC1 (blue-light inhibitor of cryptochromes 1) as an inhibitor of plant cryptochromes that binds to CRY2 to suppress the blue light-dependent dimerization, photobody formation, phosphorylation, degradation, and physiological activities of CRY2. We hypothesize that regulated dimerization governs homeostasis of the active cryptochromes in plants and other evolutionary lineages.</P>

A general method for active surface adjustment of cable net structures with smart actuators

Zuo-Wei Wang,Tuan-Jie Li 국제구조공학회 2015 Smart Structures and Systems, An International Jou Vol.16 No.1

Active surface adjustment of cable net structures is becoming significant when large-size cable net structures are widely applied in various fields, especially in satellite antennas. A general-duty adjustment method based on active cables is proposed to achieve active surface adjustment or surface profile reconfiguration of cable net structures. Piezoelectric actuators and voice coil actuators are selected for constructing active cable structures and their simplified mechanical models are proposed. A bilevel optimization model of active surface adjustment is proposed based on the nonlinear static model established by the direct stiffness method. A pattern search algorithm combined with the trust region method is developed to solve this optimization problem. Numerical examples of a parabolic cable net reflector are analyzed and different distribution types of active cables are compared.