Chemerin reverses the malignant phenotype and induces differentiation of human hepatoma SMMC7721 cells

Ming Li,Pengcheng Sun,Kaikai Dong,Ye Xin,Aslee TaiLulu,Qinyu Li,Jing Sun,Min Peng,Ping Shi 대한약학회 2021 Archives of Pharmacal Research Vol.44 No.2

Chemerin exhibits an inhibitory eff ect on hepatocellularcarcinoma; however, the underlying mechanismis unclear. Here, low chemerin expression was confi rmedin samples of liver cancer patients and hepatoma cells. Chemerin altered hepatoma cell morphology but had noeff ect on normal hepatocytes. Chemerin inhibited proliferationof several human hepatoma cell lines. Real-time PCRdetection of hepatocellular carcinoma markers showed thatmRNA levels of albumin and A-type gamma-glutamyltransferase increased whereas those of alpha-fetoprotein,alkaline phosphatase, B-type gamma-glutamyl transferase,insulin-like growth factor II, and human telomerase reversetranscriptase decreased in chemerin-treated SMMC7721cells. Western blotting revealed that chemerin up-regulatedalbumin and vimentin expressions, and downregulated alpha-fetoprotein expression. Phosphorylated STAT3 wassignifi cantly up-regulated, whereas phosphorylated ERKand AKT were signifi cantly downregulated by chemerin. Chemerin decreased phosphorylated ERK and AKT expressionand the cell proliferation induced by PI3K activator 740Y-P but could not signifi cantly alter phosphorylated STAT3expression and the cell growth induced by STAT3 inhibitorNSC74859. In conclusion, chemerin reversed the malignantphenotype and induced SMMC7721 cell diff erentiation byinhibiting MAPK/ERK and PI3K/AKT signaling; growthinhibition by chemerin is not directly related to the JAK/STAT signaling pathway. Our study provides novel evidencethat chemerin could be utilized for liver cancer treatment.

Micro-/Nanocombined Gas Sensors With Functionalized Mesoporous Thin Film Self-Assembled in Batches Onto Resonant Cantilevers

Haitao Yu,Pengcheng Xu,Xiaoyuan Xia,Dong-Weon Lee,Xinxin Li IEEE 2012 IEEE transactions on industrial electronics Vol.59 No.12

<P>This paper reports a novel top-down/bottom-up combined resonant microcantilever chemical sensor, where the nanosensing material of a functionalized mesoporous thin film (MTF) is directly self-assembled on the sensing region of the integrated microcantilever. By using the batch-producible nano-on-micro construction technique, a large number of such sensors can be batch fabricated with uniform performance and low cost. More importantly, the sensing molecule terminals can be simultaneously constructed at the pore inner surface when the MTF is directly grown on the cantilever. With -NH<SUB>2</SUB>-group-functionalized MTF directly grown onto the surface of the cantilever free end, the micro-/nanocombined gravimetric sensor has experimentally exhibited quick response and highly sensitive detection of CO<SUB>2</SUB> gas.</P>

Effectiveness of the Endplate Reduction Technique Combined With Bone Grafting for the Treatment of Thoracolumbar Fractures by Using Posterior Short-Segment Fixation

Jiguang Hou,Dong Ren,Yufeng Chen,Lindan Geng,Shuangquan Yao,Haotian Wu,Pengcheng Wang 대한척추신경외과학회 2023 Neurospine Vol.20 No.1

Objective: This study aimed to examine the effect of the endplate reduction (EPR) technique combined with bone grafting for treating thoracolumbar burst fractures using posterior shortsegmental fixation. Methods: Patients with thoracolumbar fractures admitted between January 2018 and October 2021 were retrospectively analyzed, and those meeting the criteria were assigned to the EPR group and the intermediate screws (IS) group. The vertebral wedge angle (VWA), Cobb angle (CA), anterior vertebral body height (AVBH), middle vertebral body height (MVBH), upper endplate line (UEPL), upper intervertebral angle (UIVA), and upper intervertebral disc height (UIDH) indices were examined and compared preoperatively, first day postoperatively, as well as at 12 months postoperatively. Results: The result indicated that the EPR group achieved better MVBH reduction (p < 0.001), UEPL reduction (p < 0.001), vertebral body fracture healing (p = 0.006), as well as implant breakage (p = 0.04) than the IS group; VWA (p < 0.001), CA (p = 0.005), AVBH (p < 0.001), MVBH (p < 0.001), UEPL (p < 0.001), and UIDH (p < 0.001) were lost after reduction less than those in the IS group. There was no significant difference in operative time (p = 0.315) and intraoperative bleeding (p = 0.274) between the 2 groups. Conclusion: The EPR group achieved better results in repositioning and maintaining MVBH and endplate morphology, with less correction loss after the reduction of the VWA, CA, AVBH, and endplate morphology. The EPR group exhibited a better healing pattern after vertebral fracture and disc degeneration was better relieved.

Effect of Co Content on the Microstructure and Corrosion Behavior of Al0.3CoxCrFeNi High Entropy Alloys

Zequn Zhang,Qijuan Dong,Zhibin Chen,Junsheng Wu,Jiuyang Xia,Kang Huang,Pengcheng Zuo,Wei Xue,Bowei Zhang 대한금속·재료학회 2024 METALS AND MATERIALS International Vol.30 No.2

The influence of Co content on the microstructure and corrosion behavior of Al0.3CoxCrFeNi (x = 0.25, 0.5 and 1.0) highentropy alloys were investigated. The results indicated that the increased content of Co improve the corrosion resistanceof alloy, which can be attributed to the distinction of phase composition in alloys caused by different Co content. TheAl0.3CoxCrFeNi alloy shows a double-phase (FCC + BCC) structure for x = 0.25 and 0.5, and BCC phase consists of (Al,Ni)-rich B2 phase and (Cr, Fe, Co)-rich A2 phase. The increase of Co content induces the transformations of crystalstructuresfrom BCC to FCC, resulting in the decrease of BCC phase proportion. The Al0.3CoCrFeNi alloy exhibits thesingle FCC structure, and all elements tend to be homogeneously distributed. The difference in the potential of FCC andBCC phases indicates the BCC phase acts as anode resulting to localized corrosion, while B2 phase preferentially dissolvescompared to the A2 phase due to the lower potential. Therefore, the existence of selective corrosion is found in thealloys with double-phase, by contrast, the alloy with single FCC phase shows random pitting corrosion.

Bio-protective potential of lactic acid bacteria: Effect of Lactobacillus sakei and Lactobacillus curvatus on changes of the microbial community in vacuum-packaged chilled beef

Zhang, Yimin,Zhu, Lixian,Dong, Pengcheng,Liang, Rongrong,Mao, Yanwei,Qiu, Shubing,Luo, Xin Asian Australasian Association of Animal Productio 2018 Animal Bioscience Vol.31 No.4

Objective: This study was to determine the bacterial diversity and monitor the community dynamic changes during storage of vacuum-packaged sliced raw beef as affected by Lactobacillus sakei and Lactobacillus curvatus. Methods: L. sakei and L. curvatus were separately incubated in vacuumed-packaged raw beef as bio-protective cultures to inhibit the naturally contaminating microbial load. Dynamic changes of the microbial diversity of inoculated or non-inoculated (control) samples were monitored at $4^{\circ}C$ for 0 to 38 days, using polymerase chain reaction-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (PCR-DGGE). Results: The DGGE profiles of DNA directly extracted from non-inoculated control samples highlighted the order of appearance of spoilage bacteria during storage, showing that Enterbacteriaceae and Pseudomonas fragi emerged early, then Brochothrix thermosphacta shared the dominant position, and finally, Pseudomonas putida showed up became predominant. Compared with control, the inoculation of either L. sakei or L. curvatus significantly lowered the complexity of microbial diversity and inhibited the growth of spoilage bacteria (p<0.05). Interestingly, we also found that the dominant position of L. curvatus was replaced by indigenous L. sakei after 13 d for L. curvatus-inoculated samples. Plate counts on selective agars further showed that inoculation with L. sakei or L. curvatus obviously reduced the viable counts of Enterbacteraceae, Pseudomonas spp. and B. thermosphacta during later storage (p<0.05), with L. sakei exerting greater inhibitory effect. Inoculation with both bio-protective cultures also significantly decreased the total volatile basic nitrogen values of stored samples (p<0.05). Conclusion: Taken together, the results proved the benefits of inoculation with lactic acid bacteria especially L. sakei as a potential way to inhibit growth of spoilage-related bacteria and improve the shelf life of vacuum-packaged raw beef.

Investigation of muscle-specific beef color stability at different ultimate pHs

Wu Shuang,Han Jina,Liang Rongrong,Dong Pengcheng,Zhu Lixian,Hopkins David L.,Zhang Yimin,Luo Xin 아세아·태평양축산학회 2020 Animal Bioscience Vol.33 No.12

Objective: This study was aimed to investigate the muscle-specific beef color stability at normal and high ultimate pHs. Methods: The impact of muscle (Longissimus lumborum [LL] vs psoas major [PM]) and pH (normal ultimate pH [Np] vs high pH dark cutting beef [Hp]) on color stability, indicated by basic color traits, metmyoglobin reducing activity (MRA) and oxygen consumption (OC), as well as the lipid oxidation, were determined over 7 days of display at 4°C. Results: Hp-LL had the highest pH (6.92), followed by Hp-PM (6.01), Np-PM (5.76), and Np-LL (5.52). Hp-LL had increased (p<0.05) a*, chroma and % oxymyoglobin during display. Hp-LL also had the highest metmyoglobin (MMb) reducing activity and OC among all the samples, thus, the greatest color stability, although very dark throughout storage, with lowest values for lightness (L*) and yellowness (b*). Np-LL also exhibited relatively high color stability, as a result of its lower % MMb and OC and higher MRA than psoas muscle samples. The 0.2 unit difference of the pH between Hp and Np psoas muscle, resulted in the difference of the color intensity, not the color stability. Interestingly, high pH psoas muscle (Hp-PM) did not have better color stability than Np-PM, and in fact had lower color stability than even Np-LL. The similar level of OC and lipid oxidation cannot explain the difference in color stability between Hp-PM and Np-LL. Conclusion: The Hp does not always show better color stability compared with Np beef, which depends on the muscle type. The balance of MRA and OC is important to keep the color in great intensity and stability in the meantime.

Models of Pseudomonas Growth Kinetics and Shelf Life in Chilled Longissimus dorsi Muscles of Beef

Zhang, Yimin,Mao, Yanwei,Li, Ke,Dong, Pengcheng,Liang, Rongrong,Luo, Xin Asian Australasian Association of Animal Productio 2011 Animal Bioscience Vol.24 No.5

The aim of this study was to confirm Pseudomonas spp. as the specific spoilage organism (SSO) of chilled beef during aerobic storage and to establish a model to predict the shelf life of beef. Naturally contaminated beef was stored at $4^{\circ}C$, and the spoilage limit of Pseudomonas organisms was determined by measuring several quality indicators during storage, including the number of Pseudomonas organisms, total number of bacteria, total volatile basic nitrogen (TVBN) values, L value color scale scores and sensory evaluation scores. The beef was then stored at 0, 4, 7, 10, 15 or $20^{\circ}C$ for varying amounts of time, and the number of Pseudomonas organisms were counted, allowing a corresponding growth model to be established. The results showed that the presence of Pseudomonas spp. was significantly correlated to each quality characteristic (p<0.01), demonstrating that Pseudomonas spp. are the SSO of chilled beef and that the spoilage limit was $10^{8.20}$ cfu/g. The Baranyi and Roberts equation can predict the growth of Pseudomonas spp. in beef, and the $R^2$ value of each model was greater than 0.95. The square root model was used as follows, and the absolute values of the residuals were less than ${0.05:\;{\mu_{max}}^{1/2}$ = 0.15604 [T+(-0.08472)] (p<0.01), $R^2$ = 0.98, $\lambda^{-1/2}$ = 0.0649+0.0242T (p<0.01, $R^2$ = 0.94). The model presented here describes the impact of different temperatures on the growth of Pseudomonas spp., thereby establishing a model for the prediction of the shelf life of beef stored between 0 to $20^{\circ}C$.

Hierarchical carbon layer coated NiCoP nanoparticles embedded on nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes for high-performance supercapacitors

Fuyao Huang,Yuhang Jia,Shaopei Yang,Yuhong Long,Yuman Dong,Pengcheng Du 한국공업화학회 2023 Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Vol.128 No.-

Transition metal phosphides (TMPs) have been widely recognized as an ideal choice for supercapacitors(SCs) due to exceptional pseudocapacitance performance. Otherwise, reasonable structural design ofTMPs can overcome the defects of low rate performance and poor cycle life. Furthermore, the incorporationof carbon materials can enhance electronic conductivity, thereby enabling rapid electron transmission. Herein, we present a novel hierarchical carbon layer coated NiCoP nanoparticles embedded onnitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes (NiCoP/NCNTs), synthesized through a calcination/phosphorizationprocess. By incorporating a carbon layer to anchor nanoscale NiCoP, an increased number of active sitesand improved structural stability are achieved. Furthermore, the presence of NCNTs enhances the electronicconductivity. These combined features result in impressive performance, with NiCoP/NCNTsexhibiting an impressive specific capacitance of 1628.4 F/g at 1 A/g, and good rate capability of 78.5 %up to 50 A/g. Moreover, it also exhibits outstanding cycling stability, maintaining a capacitance retentionof 71.4% after 10 000 cycles. Moreover, the asymmetric SCs based on NiCoP/NCNTs and AC deliver a highenergy density of 45.46 Wh/kg, and exhibit excellent cycling stability of 92.5% after 5000 cycles. Theseresults highlight the potential of NiCoP/NCNTs as a novel battery-type electrode material for energystoragedevices.

Redox-active 2D porous organic polymers for high-performance supercapacitor

Daping Hu,Yuhang Jia,Shaopei Yang,Fuyao Huang,Yuman Dong,Pengcheng Du 한국공업화학회 2023 Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Vol.123 No.-

Porous organic polymers (POPs) have been received considerable attention due to their advantages oflarge surface areas, good stability and functionalities, which are considered an ideal electrode materialfor the energy storage device that has been developed and applied in lithium batteries, zinc ion batteriesand supercapacitors. Here we describe the synthesis of four kinds of redox-active 2D POPs via solvothermalSchiff base condensation using aniline oligomers with different chain lengths as building units thatexhibit reversible electrochemical processes. Among them, the Tp-AT-POP based on 1,3,5-triformylphloroglucinol (Tp) and aniline trimer (AT) deliver high electrochemical performance mainlycontributed by redox units exhibiting high specific capacitance up to 348.3 F/g at a current density of0.5 A/g and possessing excellent cycling stability of 71% after 5000 cycles. In addition, the Tp-AT-POPis developed to assemble a symmetric supercapacitor with specific capacitances of 167 F/g at 0.3 A/gand good cycling stability. This work provides an efficient strategy for developing the redox-active 2DPOPs with aniline oligomer structure for the next-generation advanced high-performance energy storagedevice.

Effect of different short-term high ambient temperature on chicken meat quality and ultra–structure

Minghao Zhang,Lixian Zhu,Yimin Zhang,Yanwei Mao,Mingyue Zhang,Pengcheng Dong,Lebao Niu,Xin Luo,Rongrong Liang 아세아·태평양축산학회 2019 Animal Bioscience Vol.32 No.5

Objective: This study investigated the effect of different acute heat stress (HS) levels on chicken meat quality and ultra-structure. Methods: Chickens were randomly divided into 7 groups to receive different HS treatments: i) 36°C for 1 h, ii) 36°C for 2 h, iii) 38°C for 1 h, iv) 38°C for 2 h, v) 40°C for 1 h, vi) 40°C for 2 h, and vii) un-stressed control group (25°C). Blood cortisol level, breasts initial temperature, color, pH, water holding capacity (WHC), protein solubility and ultra-structure were analyzed. Results: HS temperatures had significant effects on breast meat temperature, lightness (L*), redness (a*), cooking loss and protein solubility (p<0.05). The HS at 36°C increased L*24 h value (p<0.01) and increased the cooking loss (p<0.05), but decreased a*24 h value (p<0.05). However, as the temperature increased to 38°C and 40°C, all the values of L*24 h, cooking loss and protein denaturation level decreased, and the differences disappeared compared to control group (p> 0.05). Only the ultimate pH24 h at 40°C decreased compared to the control group (p<0.01). The pH in 36°C group declined greater than other heat-stressed group in the first hour postmortem, which contributed breast muscle protein degeneration combining with high body temperature, and these variations reflected on poor meat quality parameters. The muscle fiber integrity level in group 40°C was much better than those in 36°C with the denatured position mainly focused on the interval of muscle fibers which probably contributes WHC and light reflection. Conclusion: HS at higher temperature (above 38°C) before slaughter did not always lead to more pale and lower WHC breast meat. Breast meat quality parameters had a regression trend as HS temperature raised from 36°C. The interval of muscle fibers at 24 h postmortem and greater pH decline rate with high body temperature in early postmortem period could be a reasonable explanation for the variation of meat quality parameters.