A miR-155–Peli1–c-Rel pathway controls the generation and function of T follicular helper cells

Liu, Wen-Hsien,Kang, Seung Goo,Huang, Zhe,Wu, Cheng-Jang,Jin, Hyun Yong,Maine, Christian J.,Liu, Yi,Shepherd, Jovan,Sabouri-Ghomi, Mohsen,Gonzalez-Martin, Alicia,Xu, Shunbin,Hoffmann, Alexander,Zheng, The Rockefeller University Press 2016 The Journal of experimental medicine Vol.213 No.9

<P>MicroRNA (miRNA) deficiency impairs the generation of T follicular helper (Tfh) cells, but the contribution of individual miRNAs to this phenotype remains poorly understood. In this study, we performed deep sequencing analysis of miRNAs expressed in Tfh cells and identified a five-miRNA signature. Analyses of mutant mice deficient of these miRNAs revealed that miR-22 and miR-183/96/182 are dispensable, but miR-155 is essential for the generation and function of Tfh cells. miR-155 deficiency led to decreased proliferation specifically at the late stage of Tfh cell differentiation and reduced CD40 ligand (CD40L) expression on antigen-specific CD4<SUP>+</SUP> T cells. Mechanistically, miR-155 repressed the expression of Peli1, a ubiquitin ligase that promotes the degradation of the NF-κB family transcription factor c-Rel, which controls cellular proliferation and CD40L expression. Therefore, our study identifies a novel miR-155–Peli1–c-Rel pathway that specifically regulates Tfh cell generation and function.</P>

EXAMINING THE INFUENCE OF CULTURAL EXPERIENCE ON CONSUMERS’ AUTHENTICITY EVALUATION OF LUXURY BRANDS

Qing Wang,Martin Liu 글로벌지식마케팅경영학회 2016 Global Marketing Conference Vol.2016 No.7

This research explored how experiencing a country’s cultural heritage influences consumers’ authenticity evaluation of its luxury brands. It showed authenticity was culturally constructed and perception was influenced by marketing means selectively exposing the consumers to different brand attributes. It contributes to transcultural research by linking cultural attributes to brand authenticity attributes.

FITTING IN OR STANDING OUT: LUXURY BRAND CONSUMPTION AMONGST CHINA’S POST-80S CONSUMERS

Sally McKechnie,Caroline Tynan,Martin Liu 글로벌지식마케팅경영학회 2015 Global Fashion Management Conference Vol.2015 No.06

So far much of the academic literature on luxury goods has been written from a Western perspective, with the result that our understanding of luxury consumption in the Chinese context remains rather limited. This paper aims to close this gap by examining how reference groups influence contemporary luxury brand consumption amongst young aspirational middle class consumers belonging to the Post-80s generation. It explores from a socio-cultural perspective the role which luxury brands play in their everyday lives and how this impacts on how they construct their identity at both a social and an individual level. In East Asian societies there has traditionally been a Confucian emphasis on the ‘collective self’ being more important than the individual self, and the need to take into account face saving (mianzi) and its corollary shame when understanding consumer behavior. Indeed, according to Wong and Ahuvia (1998), it is this notion of the interdependent self and the importance of maintaining ‘face’ which explains the significance given to possessions that are public and visible such as luxury goods and designer fashion brands. The present study examines luxury consumption through the lens of Social Identity Theory (SIT), which posits that individuals define their self-concept in relation to their connections with particular social groups or organizations. As people make comparisons between themselves and groups, they judge themselves as being similar to members of those groups which they feel they belong to (i.e. in-groups) and different from those which they feel they do not belong to (i.e. out-groups) (Hogg & Abrams, 2001). Fifteen in-depth interviews lasting around one hour each were conducted with a convenience sample of luxury consumers aged between 20 and 25 years, who were studying at a private university in mainland China. They were asked about the role which luxury brands play in their life. Major findings revealed different reasons for their strong desire to engage in luxury consumption. Some want to stand out as a luxury consumer within the wider community, while others use their luxury purchases to stand out from members of their in-group. Equally, there was evidence of participants using luxury goods to fit in with others in their in-group, as well as using them to of distance themselves from various out-groups.

Predicting the Compression Index of Saturated Reconstituted Contaminated Clays Using Index Properties

Ridong Fan,Jiaping Liu,Songyu Liu,Yanjun Du,Martin Liu,Sunan You 대한토목학회 2021 KSCE JOURNAL OF CIVIL ENGINEERING Vol.25 No.9

An empirical equation was proposed to predict compression index (Cc) of saturated reconstituted contaminated clays. Experimental data from 464 oedometer tests from literature were analyzed, aiding to develop a method for predicting the Cc of saturated reconstituted contaminated clays. The predictive capacity of three existing empirical equations of Cc with either liquid limit (wL), plasticity index (PI) or initial porosity (n0) was assessed. It was found that these equations previously used for clean soils roughly predict the Cc value of saturated reconstituted contaminated clays. To better predict the Cc, a series of empirical equations were established by regression analysis of the experimental data. Finally, the “best” equation was determined by an assessment of goodness of fit.

Phase transition in bulk single crystals and thin films ofVO2by nanoscale infrared spectroscopy and imaging

Liu, Mengkun,Sternbach, Aaron J.,Wagner, Martin,Slusar, Tetiana V.,Kong, Tai,Bud'ko, Sergey L.,Kittiwatanakul, Salinporn,Qazilbash, M. M.,McLeod, Alexander,Fei, Zhe,Abreu, Elsa,Zhang, Jingdi,Goldflam, American Physical Society 2015 Physical review. B, Condensed matter and materials Vol.91 No.24

A 4x Time-Domain Interpolation 6-bit 3.4 GS/s 12.6 mW Flash ADC in 65 nm CMOS

Liu, Jianwei,Chan, Chi-Hang,Sin, Sai-Weng,U, Seng-Pan,Martins, Rui Paulo The Institute of Electronics and Information Engin 2016 Journal of semiconductor technology and science Vol.16 No.4

A 6-bit 3.4 GS/s flash ADC in a 65 nm CMOS process is reported along with the proposed 4x time-domain interpolation technique which allows the reduction of the number of comparators from the conventional $2^N-1$ to $2^{N-2}$ in a N-bit flash ADC. The proposed scheme effectively achieves a 4x interpolation factor with simple SR-latches without extra clocking and calibration hardware overhead in the interpolated stage where only offset between the $2^{N-2}$ comparators needs to be calibrated. The offset in SR-latches is within ${\pm}0.5$ LSB in the reported ADC under a wide range of process, voltage supply, and temperature (PVT). The design considerations of the proposed technique are detailed in this paper. The prototype achieves 3.4 GS/s with 5.4-bit ENOB at Nyquist and consumes 12.6 mW power at 1 V supply, yielding a Walden FoM of 89 fJ/conversion-step.

Health-related quality of life associated with regorafenib treatment in refractory advanced gastric adenocarcinoma

Martin, Andrew J.,Gibbs, Emma,Sjoquist, Katrin,Pavlakis, Nick,Simes, John,Price, Tim,Shannon, Jenny,Gill, Sanjeev,Jain, Vikram,Liu, Geoffrey,Kannourakis, George,Kim, Yeul Hong,Kim, Jin Won,Goldstein, Springer-Verlag 2018 Gastric cancer Vol.21 No.3

Background Surface Estimation for Reverse Engineering of Reliefs

Liu, Shenglan,Martin, Ralph R.,Langbein, Frank C.,Rosin, Paul L. Society for Computational Design and Engineering 2007 International Journal of CAD/CAM Vol.7 No.1

Reverse engineering of reliefs aims to turn an existing relief superimposed on an underlying surface into a geometric model which may be applied to a different base surface. Steps in this process include segmenting the relief from the background, and describing it as an offset height field relative to the underlying surface. We have previously considered relief segmentation using a geometric snake. Here, we show how to use this initial segmentation to estimate the background surface lying under the relief, which can be used (i) to refine the segmentation and (ii) to express the relief as an offset field. Our approach fits a B-spline surface patch to the measured background data surrounding the relief, while tension terms ensure this background surface smoothly continues underneath the relief where there are no measured background data points to fit. After making an initial estimate of relief offset height everywhere within the patch, we use a support vector machine to refine the segmentation. Tests demonstrate that this approach can accurately model the background surface where it underlies the relief, providing more accurate segmentation, as well as relief height field estimation. In particular, this approach provides significant improvements for relief concavities with narrow mouths and can segment reliefs with small internal holes.

Effects of Mixed Nut Consumption on Blood Glucose, Insulin, Satiety, and the Microbiome in a Healthy Population: A Pilot Study

Martin Rosas Jr.,Changqi Liu,홍미영 한국식품영양과학회 2023 Journal of medicinal food Vol.26 No.5

Nuts contain many health-promoting nutrients, fiber, and phytochemicals. Nut consumption has been reported to improve several chronic disease risk factors. Most studies to date have investigated single variety nut consumption. A nut mixture may offer a more diverse array of nutrients over single variety nuts. The primary outcome of this study was to examine the effects of mixed nut consumption on postprandial glucose, insulin, and satiety in healthy young adults. Exploratory outcomes include the effects of daily nut consumption on stool microbiome and bowel movement patterns. Twenty participants were randomized to consume either 42 g of mixed nuts or 46 g of potato chips daily for 3 weeks. Mixed nut consumption did not alter postprandial blood glucose and insulin, while potato chip consumption increased glucose and insulin (P < .05). There were no significant differences in fasting blood glucose or insulin for either snack after 3 weeks of daily consumption. Both snacks increased satiety while there were no significant differences in body weight, body fat, blood pressure, waist-to-hip ratio, or anxiety. After 3 weeks of snack consumption, both groups significantly reduced straining during bowel movements while the mixed nut group slightly increased stool amount. There were no significant changes in microbiome composition for either group; however, there was a nonsignificant trend toward increased Firmicutes to Bacteroidetes ratio in the potato chip group and an opposite trend in the mixed nut group. The results of this study suggest that mixed nuts are a healthy alternative for blood sugar control. The study was registered at ClinicalTrials.gov, Number: NCT03375866.

Pseudocapacitive Characteristics of Low-Carbon Silicon Oxycarbide for Lithium-Ion Capacitors

Halim, Martin,Liu, Guicheng,Ardhi, Ryanda Enggar Anugrah,Hudaya, Chairul,Wijaya, Ongky,Lee, Sang-Hyup,Kim, A-Young,Lee, Joong Kee American Chemical Society 2017 ACS APPLIED MATERIALS & INTERFACES Vol.9 No.24

<P>Lithium-ion capacitors (LICs) and lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) are important energy storage devices. As a material with good mechanical, thermal, and chemical properties, low-carbon silicon oxycarbide (LC-SiOC), a kind of silicone oil-derived SiOC, is of interest as an anode material, and we have examined the electrochemical behavior of LC-SiOC in LIB and LIC devices. We found that the lithium storage mechanism in LC-SiOC, prepared by pyrolysis of phenyl-rich silicon oil, depends on an oxygen-driven rather than a carbon-driven mechanism within our experimental scope. An investigation of the electrochemical performance of LC-SiOC in half- and full-cell LIBs revealed that LC-SiOC might not be suitable for full-cell LIBs because it has a lower capacity (238 mAh g(-1)) than that of graphite (290 mAh g(-1)) in a cutoff voltage range of 0-1 V versus Li/Li+, as well as a substantial irreversible capacity. Surprisingly, LC-SiOC acts as a pseudocapacitive material when it is tested in a half-cell configuration within a narrow cutoff voltage range of 0-1 V versus Li/Li+. Further investigation of a 'hybrid' supercapacitor, also known as an LIC, in which LC-SiOC is coupled with an activated carbon electrode, demonstrated that a power density of 156 000 W kg(-1) could be achieved while maintaining an energy density of 25 Wh kg(-1). In addition, the resulting capacitor had an excellent cycle life, holding similar to 90% of its energy density even after 75 000 cycles. Thus, LC-SiOC is a promising active material for LICs in applications such as heavy-duty electric vehicles.</P>