Characteristics of registered studies for Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19): a systematic review

Ming Yang,Ya-xi Shang,Zi-yu Tian,Min Xiong,Chun-li Lu,Jiang Yue,Zhang Yao,Zhang Ying-ying,Jin Xin-yan,Jin Qiu-bai,Zhang Ying-ying,Willcox Merlin L.,Liu Jian-ping 한국한의학연구원 2020 Integrative Medicine Research Vol.9 No.3

Background: The World Health Organization characterized the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) as a pandemic on March 11th. Many clinical trials on COVID-19 have been registered, and we aim to review the study characteristics and provide guidance for future trials to avoid duplicated effort. Methods: Studies on COVID-19 registered before March 3rd, 2020 on eight registry platforms worldwide were searched and the data of design, participants, interventions, and outcomes were extracted and analyzed. Results: Three hundred and ninety-three studies were identified and 380 (96.7%) were from mainland China, while 3 in Japan, 3 in France, 2 in the US, and 3 were international collaborative studies. Two hundred and sixty-six (67.7%) aimed at therapeutic effect, others were for prevention, diagnosis, prognosis, etc. Two hundred and two studies (51.4%) were randomized controlled trials. Two third of therapeutic studies tested Western medicines including antiviral drugs (17.7%), stem cell and cord blood therapy (10.2%), chloroquine and derivatives (8.3%), 16 (6.0%) on Chinese medicines, and 73 (27.4%) on integrated therapy of Western and Chinese medicines. Thirty-one studies among 266 therapeutic studies (11.7%) used mortality as primary outcome, while the most designed secondary outcomes were symptoms and signs (47.0%). Half of the studies (45.5%) had not started recruiting till March 3rd. Conclusion: Inappropriate outcome setting, delayed recruitment and insufficient numbers of new cases in China implied many studies may fail to complete. Strategies and protocols of the studies with robust and rapid data sharing are warranted for emergency public health events, helping the timely evidence-based decision-making.

A survey of career guidance needs of industrial design students in Taiwanese Universities

Ming-Ying Yang 서울대학교 교육연구소 2010 Asia Pacific Education Review Vol.11 No.4

School pupils in Taiwan spend most of their time in studying and having examinations, and consequently many of them decide what major to study in universities rather hastily. Industrial design (ID) programs in universities nowadays recruit students from general and vocational senior high schools through a variety of channels. As a consequence, ID students may vary considerably in their abilities, aptitudes, and career goals, and they are in urgent need of career guidance. This paper reports a survey of the career guidance needs of ID students in Taiwan. Eight focus groups (fifty-six students in total) were interviewed and a sample of 360 ID students, from four Taiwanese universities, were surveyed. Based on the implications of the findings, we make some proposals for design education and further research.

Schisandrin B Improves the Hypothermic Preservation of Celsior Solution in Human Umbilical Cord Mesenchymal Stem Cells

Zhang Ying,Wang Peng,Jin Mei-xian,Zhou Ying-qi,Ye Liang,Zhu Xiao-juan,Li Hui-fang,Zhou Ming,Li Yang,Li Shao,Liang Kang-yan,Wang Yi,Gao Yi,Pan Ming-xin,Zhou Shu-qin,Peng Qing 한국조직공학과 재생의학회 2023 조직공학과 재생의학 Vol.20 No.3

BACKGROUND: Human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (hUCMSCs) have emerged as promising therapy for immune and inflammatory diseases. However, how to maintain the activity and unique properties during cold storage and transportation is one of the key factors affecting the therapeutic efficiency of hUCMSCs. Schisandrin B (SchB) has many functions in cell protection as a natural medicine. In this study, we investigated the protective effects of SchB on the hypothermic preservation of hUCMSCs. METHODS: hUCMSCs were isolated from Wharton’s jelly. Subsequently, hUCMSCs were exposed to cold storage (4 C) and 24-h re-warming. After that, cells viability, surface markers, immunomodulatory effects, reactive oxygen species (ROS), mitochondrial integrity, apoptosis-related and antioxidant proteins expression level were evaluated. RESULTS: SchB significantly alleviated the cells injury and maintained unique properties such as differentiation potential, level of surface markers and immunomodulatory effects of hUCMSCs. The protective effects of SchB on hUCMSCs after hypothermic storage seemed associated with its inhibition of apoptosis and the anti-oxidative stress effect mediated by nuclear factor erythroid 2–related factor 2 signaling. CONCLUSION: These results demonstrate SchB could be used as an agent for hypothermic preservation of hUCMSCs.

Coevolution between Human's Anticancer Activities and Functional Foods from Crop Origin Center in the World

Zeng, Ya-Wen,Du, Juan,Pu, Xiao-Ying,Yang, Jia-Zhen,Yang, Tao,Yang, Shu-Ming,Yang, Xiao-Meng Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2015 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.16 No.6

Cancer is the leading cause of death around the world. Anticancer activities from many functional food sources have been reported in years, but correlation between cancer prevalence and types of food with anticancer activities from crop origin center in the world as well as food source with human migration are unclear. Hunger from food shortage is the cause of early human evolution from Africa to Asia and later into Eurasia. The richest functional foods are found in crop origin centers, housing about 70% in the world populations. Crop origin centers have lower cancer incidence and mortality in the world, especially Central Asia, Middle East, Southwest China, India and Ethiopia. Asia and Africa with the richest anticancer crops is not only the most important evolution base of humans and origin center of anticancer functional crop, but also is the lowest mortality and incidence of cancers in the world. Cancer prevention of early human migrations was associated with functional foods from crop origin centers, especially Asia with four centers and one subcenter of crop origin, accounting for 58% of the world population. These results reveal that coevolution between human's anticancer activities associated with functional foods for crop origin centers, especially in Asia and Africa.

Support Vector Machine Based on Type-2 Fuzzy Training Samples

Ming-hu Ha,Jia-ying Huang,Yang Yang,Chao Wang 대한산업공학회 2012 Industrial Engineeering & Management Systems Vol.11 No.1

In order to deal with the classification problems of type-2 fuzzy training samples on generalized credibility space. Firstly the type-2 fuzzy training samples are reduced to ordinary fuzzy samples by the mean reduction method. Secondly the definition of strong fuzzy linear separable data for type-2 fuzzy samples on generalized credibility space is introduced. Further, by utilizing fuzzy chance-constrained programming and classic support vector machine, a support vector machine based on type-2 fuzzy training samples and established on generalized credibility space is given. An example shows the efficiency of the support vector machine.

Oxaloacetate hydrolase gene links the cytoplasmic route of oxalate formation to differentiation and virulence of entomopathogenic fungus Beauveria bassiana

Yang Gao,Ming-Guang Feng,Sheng-Hua Ying 한국응용곤충학회 2018 Journal of Asia-Pacific Entomology Vol.21 No.1

Oxalic acid is used as a functional molecule by most filamentous fungi, and produced via cytoplasmic pathwayand mitochondrial pathway. The cytoplasmic pathway of oxalate production from oxaloacetate is a one-stepreaction catalyzed by oxaloacetate hydrolase. The entomopathogenic fungus Beauveria bassiana contains a uniqueoxaloacetate hydrolase gene (BbOAH). The role of cytoplasmic pathway of oxalate production in B. bassianadevelopment and virulence was studied via construction of a targeted gene disruption mutant of BbOAH. Disruption of BbOAH resulted in a slight decrease (~30%) in oxalate production, but has no significant influenceon fungal growth. The mutant strain displayed a significant delay at early stage of conidial development, and asignificant defect in dimorphic transition. Additionally, bioassay using the greater waxmoth as host indicated aslight (~20%) decrease in mortality caused by the gene disruption strain. The phenotypic defects of the ΔBbOAHstrain could be restored by ectopic integration of BbOAH. Our findings indicate that BbOAH gene connects thecytoplasmic route of oxalate production to fungal development and virulence, although the cytoplasmic route isnot indispensable for oxalate production in B. bassiana.

Association of Genetic Polymorphisms at 1q22 but not 10q23 with Gastric Cancer in a Southern Chinese Population

Yang, Xue-Xi,Li, Fen-Xia,Zhou, Cui-Ping,Hu, Ni-Ya,Wu, Ying-Shong,Li, Ming Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2012 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.13 No.6

Objective: Data from a recent genome-wide association studiesy of gastric cancer (GC) and oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma in Chinese living in the Taihang Mountains of north-central China suggest that 1q22 and 10q23 are susceptibility-associated regions for GC. However, this has not been confirmed in southern Chinese populations. The aim of this study was to investigate whether these polymorphisms at 1q22 and 10q23 are associated with the risk of GC in a southern Chinese population. Methods: We selected seven top significant associated single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) at 1q22 and 10q23 and conducted a population-based case-control study in a southern Chinese population. Genotypes were determined using MassARRAYTM system (Sequenome, San Diego, CA). Results: Two SNPs at 1q22, rs4072037 and rs4460629, were significantly associated with a reduced risk of GC, best fitting the dominant genetic model. Logistic regression models adjusted for age and sex showed that rs4072037 AG and GG (OR=0.64, P=0.017, compared with AA) and rs4460629 CT and TT (OR=0.54, P=0.0016, compared with TT) significantly reduced the risk of GC. However, no significant results for the five SNPs at 10q23 were obtained in this study. Conclusion: These outcomes indicate that 1q22 is associated with GC susceptibility in this southern Chinese population, while an association for the locus at 10q23 was not confirmed.

A comparative experimental study on the cross-plane thermal conductivities of nano-constructed Sb2Te3/(Cu, Ag, Au, Pt) thermoelectric multilayer thin films

Yang Gang,Pan Jiahui,Fu Xuecheng,Hu Zhiyu,Wang Ying,Wu Zhimao,Mu Erzhen,Yan Xue-Jun,Lu Ming-Hui 나노기술연구협의회 2018 Nano Convergence Vol.5 No.22

Thermoelectric multilayer thin films used in nanoscale energy conversion have been receiving increasing attention in both academic research and industrial applications. Thermal transport across multilayer interface plays a key role in improving thermoelectric conversion efficiency. In this study, the cross-plane thermal conductivities of nano-constructed Sb2Te3/(Cu, Ag, Au, Pt) thermoelectric multilayer thin films have been measured using time-domain thermoreflectance method. The interface morphology features of multilayer thin film samples were characterized by using scanning and transmission electron microscopes. The effects of interface microstructure on the cross-plane thermal conductivities of the multilayer thin films have been extensively examined and the thermal transfer mechanism has been explored. The results indicated that electron–phonon coupling occurred at the semiconductor/metal interface that strongly affected the cross-plane thermal conductivity. By appropriately optimizing the period thickness of the metal layer, the cross-plane thermal conductivity can be effectively reduced, thereby improving the thermoelectric conversion efficiency. This work presents both experimental and theoretical understanding of the thermal transport properties of Sb2Te3/metal multilayer thin film junctions with important implications for exploring a novel approach to improving the thermoelectric conversion efficiency. Introduction Thermoelectric multilayer thin films used in nanoscale energy conversion have been receiving increasing attention in both academic research and industrial applications. Thermal transport across multilayer interface plays a key role in improving thermoelectric conversion efficiency. In this study, the cross-plane thermal conductivities of nano-constructed Sb2Te3/(Cu, Ag, Au, Pt) thermoelectric multilayer thin films have been measured using time-domain thermoreflectance method. The interface morphology features of multilayer thin film samples were characterized by using scanning and transmission electron microscopes. The effects of interface microstructure on the cross-plane thermal conductivities of the multilayer thin films have been extensively examined and the thermal transfer mechanism has been explored. The results indicated that electron–phonon coupling occurred at the semiconductor/metal interface that strongly affected the cross-plane thermal conductivity. By appropriately optimizing the period thickness of the metal layer, the cross-plane thermal conductivity can be effectively reduced, thereby improving the thermoelectric conversion efficiency. This work presents both experimental and theoretical understanding of the thermal transport properties of Sb2Te3/metal multilayer thin film junctions with important implications for exploring a novel approach to improving the thermoelectric conversion efficiency. Introduction

A novel method for the synthesis of 1,2-benzisoxazoline-3-one and its application to hypochlorite recognition

Yang, Yutao,Huo, Fangjun,Yin, Caixia,Xu, Ming,Hu, Ying,Chao, Jianbin,Zhang, Yongbin,Glass, Timothy E.,Yoon, Juyoung The Royal Society of Chemistry 2016 Journal of Materials Chemistry B Vol.4 No.30

<P>The reaction of salicylhydroxamic acid with hypochlorite produces 1,2-benzisoxazoline-3-one, a heterocycle that contains a fluorophore. As a result, this reaction was used as the basis for a new, selective and sensitive fluorescence system for the recognition of hypochlorite. The effectiveness of the method was demonstrated by its use to detect hypochlorite in a disinfectant solution as well as to image hypochlorite in cells.</P>

Karyotype Analysis of Nelumbo nucifera and Nelumbo Lutea by Chromosome Banding and Fluorescence In Situ Hybridization

Ying Diao,Jing Yu Liu,Guang Xu Yang,Zhong Li Hu,Ming Quan Zhou,Yun Chun Song 한국유전학회 2005 Genes & Genomics Vol.27 No.2