Decreased Expression of LKB1 Correlates with Poor Prognosis in Hepatocellular Carcinoma Patients Undergoing Hepatectomy

Huang, Yue-Han,Chen, Zhen-Kun,Huang, Ka-Te,Li, Peng,He, Bin,Guo, Xu,Zhong, Jun-Qiao,Zhang, Qi-Yu,Shi, Hong-Qi,Song, Qi-Tong,Yu, Zheng-Ping,Shan, Yun-Feng Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2013 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.14 No.3

Aim: To study any correlation of LKB1 expression with prognosis in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cases. Methods: A total of 70 HCC patients and 20 primary intrahepatic stone patients in the first affiliated hospital of Wenzhou Medical College were enrolled in this study. LKB1 expression was detected by immunohistochemistry. Patients were followed-up and prognostic factors were evaluated. Result: LKB1 expression was decreased in the HCC samples. Loss of LKB1 expression in HCC was significantly related to histologic grade (P=0.010), vascular invasion (P=0.025) and TMN stage (P=0.011). Patients showing negative LKB1 expression had a significantly shorter disease-free and overall survival than those with positive expression (P = 0.001, P=0.000, respectively). Multivariate Cox regression analysis indicated that LKB1 expression level was an independent factor of survival (P = 0.033). Conclusion: HCC patients with decreased expression LKB1 have a poor prognosis. The loss of LKB1 expression is correlated with a lower survival rate.

Mechanical Stretch Promotes Invasion of Lung Cancer Cells via Activation of Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha

Liang-Kun Chen,Ching-Chi Hsieh,Yi-Chao Huang,Yuan-Jung Huang,Chun-Fan Lung,Wei-En Hsu,Chao-Ling Yao,Tsung-Yu Tseng,Chi-Chung Wang,Yi-Chiung Hsu 한국생물공학회 2023 Biotechnology and Bioprocess Engineering Vol.28 No.3

Most of the gas exchange in the human body is carried out by the lungs, and the physiological activities of the lungs are uninterrupted. Due to the deterioration of the external environment, pulmonary cell lesions are common clinical lung diseases. Mechanical cyclic stretching is one kind of bionic technology to observe lung cancer cells. The A549 cell line is the human lung adenocarcinoma cell line derived from a primary lung tumor. This study investigated the effects of mechanical cyclic stretching on A549 cell activity and gene expression profile. Whereas mechanical cyclic stretching had no significant difference in colony formation and cell migration of A549 cells, the cell invasion increased significantly in A549 cells after stretching. In addition, the microarray data showed that mechanical cyclic stretching altered gene expression, induced inflammation of cells, and activation of Wnt/β- catenin and tumor necrosis factor pathways. More importantly, mechanical cyclic stretching activated the expression of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) protein. Therefore, the increase of cell invasion induced by mechanical cyclic stretching might be associated with the activation of TNF-α in human lung adenocarcinoma cells.

Primary-Side Control for Flyback Converter with Wide Range Operation

Bin-Kun Huang,Tsorng-Juu Liang,Wei-Jing Tseng,Kai-Hui Chen,Qing-Mu Chen 전력전자학회 2019 ICPE(ISPE)논문집 Vol.2019 No.5

Most of current primary side regulation (PSR) control methods are implemented in either discontinuous conduction mode (DCM) or continuous conduction mode (CCM). Because of the difficulty in sensing the output voltage, no algorithm is suitable for both DCM and CCM, and the power range of the system is limited. The proposed controller is suitable for both DCM and CCM with wide power range operation. The “TSMC 0.25 μm CMOS high voltage mixed signal process” is adopted to implement the proposed IC. A flyback converter with 400 V input and 20 V/150 W output is built to verify the feasibility of proposed control IC.

Novel Carrier Doping Mechanism for Transparent Conductor: Electron Donation from Embedded Ag Nanoparticles to the Oxide Matrix

Huang, Po-Shun,Qin, Fen,Xiong, Ziye,Shim, Hyun-Woo,Gao, Tongchuan,Leu, Paul,Lee, Jung-Kun American Chemical Society 2017 ACS APPLIED MATERIALS & INTERFACES Vol.9 No.23

<P>A trade-off between the carrier concentration and carrier mobility is an inherent problem of traditional transparent conducting oxide (TCO) films. In this study, we demonstrate that the electron concentration of TCO films can be increased without deteriorating the carrier mobility by embedding Ag nanoparticles (NPs) into Al-doped ZnO (AZO) films. An increment of Ag NP content up to 0.7 vol % in the AZO causes the electron concentration rising to 4 × 10<SUP>20</SUP> cm<SUP>–3</SUP>. A dependence of the conductivity on temperature suggests that the energy barrier for the electron donation from Ag NPs at room temperature is similar to the Schottky barrier height at the Ag–AZO interface. In spite of an increase in the electron concentration, embedded Ag NPs do not compromise the carrier mobility at room temperature. This is evidence showing that this electron donation mechanism by Ag NPs is different from impurity doping, which produces both electrons and ionized scattering centers. Instead, an increase in the Fermi energy level of the AZO matrix partially neutralizes Al impurities, and the carrier mobility of Ag NP embedded AZO film is slightly increased. The optical transmittance of mixture films with resistivity less than 1 × 10<SUP>–3</SUP> Ω·cm still maintains above 85% in visible wavelengths. This opens a new paradigm to the design of alternative TCO composite materials which circumvent an inherent problem of the impurity doping.</P><P><B>Graphic Abstract</B> <IMG SRC='http://pubs.acs.org/appl/literatum/publisher/achs/journals/content/aamick/2017/aamick.2017.9.issue-23/acsami.7b03871/production/images/medium/am-2017-03871m_0011.gif'></P><P><A href='http://pubs.acs.org/doi/suppl/10.1021/am7b03871'>ACS Electronic Supporting Info</A></P>

Association of RASSF1A Promoter Methylation with Lung Cancer Risk: a Meta-analysis

Huang, Ying-Ze,Wu, Wei,Wu, Kun,Xu, Xiao-Ning,Tang, Wen-Ru Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2014 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.15 No.23

RASSF1A, regarded as a candidate tumor suppressor, is frequently silenced and inactivated by methylation of its promoter region in many human tumors. However, the association between RASSF1A promoter methylation and lung cancer risk remains unclear. To provide a more reliable estimate we conducted a meta-analysis of cohort studies to evaluate the potential role of RASSF1A promoter methylation in lung carcinogenesis. Relevant studies were identified by searches of PubMed, Web of Science, ProQest and Medline databases using the following key words: 'lung cancer or lung neoplasm or lung carcinoma', 'RASSF1A methylation' or 'RASSF1A hypermethylation'. According to the selection standard, 15 articles were identified and analysised by STATA 12.0 software. Combined odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) were used to assess the strength of the association between RASSF1A promoter methylation and lung cancer risk. A chi-square-based Q test and sensitivity analyses were performed to test between-study heterogeneity and the contributions of single studies to the final results, respectively. Funnel plots were carried out to evaluate publication bias. Overall, a significant relationship between RASSF1A promoter methylation and lung cancer risk (OR, 16.12; 95%CI, 11.40-22.81; p<0.001) with no between-study heterogeneity. In subgroup analyses, increased risk of RASSF1A methylation in cases than controls was found for the NSCLC group (OR, 13.66, 95%CI, 9.529-19.57) and in the SCLC group (OR, 314.85, 95%CI, 48.93-2026.2).

Conjugated Polymers Based on Modified Benzo[1,2-b:4,5-b']Dithiophene and Perylene Diimide Derivatives: Good Optical Properties and Tunable Electrochemical Performance

Kun Fang,Xu Ye,Yawen Huang,Guanjun Chang,Junxiao Yang,Yueqin Shen 한국고분자학회 2015 Macromolecular Research Vol.23 No.6

Three original conjugated polymers were devised and synthesized via the alternating conjugated polymerization of the electron-donating monomer of the modified benzo[1,2-b:4,5-b']dithiophene (BDT) and electronaccepting monomers of perylene diimide (PDI), dithienyl-perylene diimide (DTPDI) and dithienocoronene diimide (DTCDI), respectively. The synthesized conjugated polymers presented excellent thermal stability (Td >400 oC) as well as broad absorption in visible region and narrow gap of energy level (1.80 to 2.01 eV). Moreover, P(BDT-DTCDI) exhibited strong fluorescence properties ( =736 nm with excitation at 680 nm). According to the theoretical calculations, P(BDT-PDI) and P(BDT-DTPDI) displayed significant polymer backbone torsion (41.44o and 39.64o), and P(BDT-DTCDI) had highly coplanar backbone with negligible angle between BDT and DTCDI. The results indicated that P(BDT-DTCDI) had potential applications in the fields of organic thin-film transistors (OTFTs) and fluorescence materials, and P(BDT-PDI) and P(BDT-DTPDI) could be used as a stable n-type semiconductor for polymer solar cells.

충적과정중 미국인삼 종자의 생리 및 생화학적 지표에 관한 동태학적 연구 I

Huang, Yao-Ge,Li, Xiang-Gao,Cui, Shu-Yu,Yu, Wen-Bo,Kuang, Ya-Lan,Yan, Jie-kun,Yang, Ji-Xiang,Liu, Ren-Song,Kim, Hack-Seang The Korean Society of Ginseng 1997 Journal of Ginseng Research Vol.21 No.1

Dynamic parameters of biochemistry including the contents of soluble carbohydrate (SC) , crude fat (CF) , fatty arid (FA) and soluble protein (SP) in American send (Panax qufnquelolium L.) seed are reported in the present paper. When embryo ratio (ER) increased from 7.31 to 20.48%, the SC content decreased from 4.08 to 1.16%. After that, SC content changed little. The CF content decreased successively from 34.50 to 14.40% from the beginning to the end during the embryo afterripening. The changes of FA content did not correlate with that of ER and the changing range of SP content was not large during the seed stratification. All of these may provide some information for understanding the dormancy mechanisms of American seng seed.

Improvement of ulcerative colitis control by searching and restricting of inflammatory trigger factors in daily clinical practice

Kun-Yu Tsai,Jeng-Fu You,Tzong-Yun Tsai,Yih Jong Chern,Yu-Jen Hsu,Shu-Huan Huang,Wen-Sy Tsai 대한장연구학회 2023 Intestinal Research Vol.21 No.1

Background/Aims: Exacerbating factors of ulcerative colitis (UC) are multiple and complex with individual influence. We aimed to evaluate the efficacy of disease control by searching and restricting inflammation trigger factors of UC relapse individually in daily clinical practice. Methods: Both patients with UC history or new diagnosis were asked to avoid dairy products at first doctor visit. Individual-reported potential trigger factors were restricted when UC flared up (Mayo endoscopy score ≥1) from remission status. The remission rate, duration to remission and medication were analyzed between the groups of factor restriction complete, incomplete and unknown. Results: The total remission rate was 91.7% of 108 patients with complete restriction of dairy product. The duration to remission of UC history group was significantly longer than that of new diagnosis group (88.5 days vs. 43.4 days, P=0.006) in patients with initial endoscopic score 2–3, but no difference in patients with score 1. After first remission, the inflammation trigger factors in 161 relapse episodes of 72 patients were multiple and personal. Milk/dairy products, herb medicine/Chinese tonic food and dietary supplement were the common factors, followed by psychological issues, non-dietary factors (smoking cessation, cosmetic products) and discontinuation of medication by patients themselves. Factor unknown accounted for 14.1% of patients. The benefits of factor complete restriction included shorter duration to remission (P<0.001), less steroid and biological agent use (P=0.022) when compared to incomplete restriction or factor unknown group. Conclusions: Restriction of dairy diet first then searching and restricting trigger factors personally if UC relapse can improve the disease control and downgrade the medication usage of UC patients in daily clinical practice.

Influence of Cooling Rate on Secondary Phase Precipitation and Proeutectoid Phase Transformation of Micro-Alloyed Steel Containing Vanadium

Kun Dou,Lingtao Meng,Qing Liu,Bo Liu,Yunhua Huang 대한금속·재료학회 2016 METALS AND MATERIALS International Vol.22 No.3

During continuous casting process of low carbon micro-alloyed steel containing vanadium, the evolution of strand surface microstructure and the precipitation of secondary phase particles (mainly V(C, N)) are significantly influenced by cooling rate. In this paper, influence of cooling rate on the precipitation behavior of proeutectoid α-ferrite at the γ-austenite grain boundary and in the steel matrix are in situ observed and analyzed through high temperature confocal laser scanning microscopy. The relationship between cooling rate and precipitation of V(C, N) from steel continuous casting bloom surface microstructure is further studied by scanning electron microscopy and electron dispersive spectrometer. Relative results have shown the effect of V(C, N) precipitation on α-ferrite phase transformation is mainly revealed in two aspects: (i) Precipitated V(C, N) particles act as inoculant particles to promote proeutectoid ferrite nucleation. (ii) Local carbon concentration along the γ-austenite grain boundaries is decreased with the precipitation of V(C, N), which in turn promotes α-ferrite precipitation.

Study of a hybrid modular exhaust turbocharging system and its application on an 8-cylinder marine diesel engine

Kun Zhang,Xinyu Huang,Sai He,Kangyao Deng,Yi Cui,Aiqiang Luo 대한기계학회 2016 JOURNAL OF MECHANICAL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY Vol.30 No.6

For turbocharging engines, the structure of the exhaust system directly affects the flow and energy transfer process of the exhaust gas, which has a big influence on the turbocharger performance. To evaluate the performance of various kinds of exhaust systems, two indicators, “available energy loss coefficient” and “pressure wave interference coefficient”, are proposed to evaluate the steady flow loss and transient flow anti-interference characteristics. Two kinds of exhaust system modular, Modular pulse converter (MPC) and Modular multi-purpose pulse converter (MMPC), are analyzed and compared by the three-dimensional calculation. The results show that the MMPC structure has a smaller available energy loss and a better anti-interference performance in the exhaust process. To solve the problems of scavenging interferences and exhaust temperature discrepancy on a highly boosted 8-cylinder marine diesel engine, a Hybrid modular exhaust (HME) system is proposed. Effects of MMPC, HME and MIXPC (Mixed pulse converter) on the engine performance are compared by one-dimensional simulation. This is followed by an engine test for performance comparison between MMPC and HME, which shows that the HME system can effectively relieve the problems of scavenging interference, and the maximum exhaust temperature discrepancy of all cylinders is reduced from 60°C to 31°C under the rated condition.