Four new sesqui-lignans isolated from Acanthopanax senticosus and their diacylglycerol acyltransferase (DGAT) inhibitory activity

Li, J.L.,Li, N.,Lee, H.S.,Xing, S.S.,Qi, S.Z.,Tuo, Z.D.,Zhang, L.,Li, B.B.,Chen, J.G.,Cui, L. Elsevier 2016 Fitoterapia Vol.109 No.-

<P>Four new sesqui-lignans, (7R, 7'R, 7 '' S, 8S, 8'S, 8 '' S)-4',5 ''-dihydroxy-3,5,3',4 ''-tetramethoxy-7,9':7',9-diepoxy4,8 ''-oxy-8,8'-sesquineo-lignan-7',9 ''-diol (1), (7R, 7'R, 7 '' S, 8S, 8'S, 8 '' S)-4',3'-dihydroxy-3,5,3',5',4'pentamethoxy-7,9':7',9-diepoxy-4,8'-oxy-8,8'-sesquineo-lignan-7',9'-diol (2), (7R, 7'R, 7'S, 8S, 8'S, 8'S)-3',4'dihydroxy-3,5,4',5 ''-tetramethoxy-7,9':7',9-diepoxy-4,8'-oxy-8,8'-sesquineo-lignan-7',9'-diol (3) and acanthopanax A (7) together with three known compounds (4-6) were isolated from the EtOAc-soluble extract of Acanthopanax senticosus. Their structures were elucidated on the basis of spectroscopic and physicochemical analyses. All the isolates were evaluated for in vitro inhibitory activity against DGAT1 and DGAT2. Among them, compounds 1-6 were found to exhibit selective inhibitory activity on DGAT1 with IC50 values ranging from 61.1 1.3 to 97.7 1.1 111\4 and compound 7 showed selective inhibition of DGAT2 with IC50 value 93.2 1.2. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.</P>

In vitro reconstitution of the cyclosporine specific P450 hydroxylases using heterologous redox partner proteins

Sun, Y.,Ma, L.,Han, D.,Du, L.,Qi, F.,Zhang, W.,Sun, J.,Huang, S.,Kim, E. S.,Li, S. SPRINGER 2017 Journal of industrial microbiology & biotechnology Vol.44 No.2

<P>The cytochrome P450 enzymes (CYPs) CYP-sb21 from Sebekia benihana and CYP-pa1 from Pseudonocardia autotrophica are able to hydroxylate the immunosuppressant cyclosporin A (CsA) in a regioselective manner, giving rise to the production of two hair-stimulating agents (with dramatically attenuated immunosuppressant activity), gamma-hydroxy-N-methyl-l-Leu4-CsA (CsA-4-OH) and gamma-hydroxy-N-methyl-l-Leu9-CsA (CsA-9-OH). Recently, the in vitro activity of CYP-sb21 was identified using several surrogate redox partner proteins. Herein, we reconstituted the in vitro activity of CYP-pa1 for the first time via a similar strategy. Moreover, the supporting activities of a set of ferredoxin (Fdx)/ferredoxin reductase (FdR) pairs from the cyanobacterium Synechococcus elongatus PCC 7942 were comparatively analyzed to identify the optimal redox systems for these two CsA hydroxylases. The results suggest the great value of cyanobacterial redox partner proteins for both academic research and industrial application of P450 biocatalysts.</P>

Effects of Dietary Octacosanol on Growth Performance, Carcass Characteristics and Meat Quality of Broiler Chicks

Long, L.,Wu, S.G.,Yuan, F.,Wang, J.,Zhang, H.J.,Qi, G.H. Asian Australasian Association of Animal Productio 2016 Animal Bioscience Vol.29 No.10

Octacosanol, which has prominent physiological activities and functions, has been recognized as a potential growth promoter in animals. A total of 392 1-d-old male Arbor Acres broiler chicks with similar body weight were randomly distributed into four dietary groups of seven replicates with 14 birds each supplemented with 0, 12, 24, or 36 mg octacosanol (extracted from rice bran, purity >92%)/kg feed. The feeding trial lasted for six weeks and was divided into the starter (day 1 to 21) and the grower (day 22 to 42) phases. The results showed that the feed conversion ratio (FCR) was significantly improved in broilers fed a diet containing 24 mg/kg octacosanol compared with those fed the control diet in the overall phase (day 1 to 42, p = 0.042). The average daily gain and FCR both showed linear effects in response to dietary supplementation of octacosanol during the overall phase (p = 0.031 and 0.018, respectively). Broilers fed with 24 or 36 mg/kg octacosanol diet showed a higher eviscerated yield, which increased by 5.88% and 4.26% respectively, than those fed the control diet (p = 0.030). The breast muscle yield of broilers fed with 24 mg/kg octacosanol diet increased significantly by 12.15% compared with those fed the control diet (p = 0.047). Eviscerated and breast muscle yield increased linearly with the increase in dietary octacosanol supplementation (p = 0.013 and 0.021, respectively). Broilers fed with 24 or 36 mg/kg octacosanol diet had a greater (p = 0.021) $pH_{45min}$ value in the breast muscle, which was maintained linearly in response to dietary octacosanol supplementation (p = 0.003). There was a significant decrease (p = 0.007) in drip loss value between the octacosanol-added and the control groups. The drip loss showed linear (p = 0.004) and quadratic (p = 0.041) responses with dietary supplementation of octacosanol. These studies indicate that octacosanol is a potentially effective and safe feed additive which may improve feed efficiency and meat quality, and increase eviscerated and breast muscle yield, in broiler chicks. Dietary supplementation of octacosanol at 24 mg/kg diet is regarded as the recommended dosage in the broilers' diet.

Flow boiling of liquid nitrogen in narrow annular channels

Zhang P.,L., Qi S.,Z., Wang R. The Korean Society of Superconductivity and Cryoge 2008 한국초전도저온공학회논문지 Vol.10 No.4

Flow and heat transfer characteristics of liquid nitrogen in narrow annular channels are very important for many practical applications. In the present study, the experimental investigation of flow boiling of liquid nitrogen in narrow annular channels with gap size of 0.2 and 0.5 mm is carried out. The pressure drop and heat transfer coefficients are experimentally measured. The comparison of the theoretical models for the pressure drop and the correlations of the flow boiling to the experimental results are carried out.

FUEL PROPERTIES AND EMISSIONS CHARACTERISTICS OF ETHANOL-DIESEL BLEND ON SMALL DIESEL ENGINE

Xu, B.Y.,Qi, Y.L.,Zhang, W.B.,Cai, S.L. The Korean Society of Automotive Engineers 2007 International journal of automotive technology Vol.8 No.1

Phase separation and low cetane number are the main barriers to the large-scale use of ethanol-diesel blend fuel on small diesel engines. In this paper, an additive package is designed on the basis of the blended fuel properties to overcome these limitations. The experiments show that the solubility of ethanol in diesel is evidently increased by adding $1{\sim}2%$ (in volume) of the additive package and the flammability of ethanol-diesel blend fuel with the additive has reached the neat diesel level under the cold start conditions. Effects of the ethanol content in diesel on fuel economy, combustion characteristics, and emission characteristics are also investigated with the ethanol blend ratios of 10%, 20% and 30%. The increase in ethanol content shows that the specific fuel consumption and the brake thermal efficiency are both gradually increased compared to neat diesel. The soot concentrations of the three blended fuels are all greatly lower than that of neat diesel. $NO_x$ emission is increased with an increase in the engine load and is reduced with the increase in the ethanol blend ratio under a high load.

FUEL PROPERTIES AND EMISSIONS CHARACTERISTICS OF ETHANOL-DIESEL BLEND ON SMALL DIESEL ENGINE

B. Y. XU,Y. L. QI,W. B. ZHANG,S. L. CAI 한국자동차공학회 2007 International journal of automotive technology Vol.8 No.1

Phase separation and low cetane number are the main barriers to the large-scale use of ethanol-diesel blend fuel on small diesel engines. In this paper, an additive package is designed on the basis of the blended fuel properties to overcome these limitations. The experiments show that the solubility of ethanol in diesel is evidently increased by adding 1~2% (in volume) of the additive package and the flammability of ethanol-diesel blend fuel with the additive has reached the neat diesel level under the cold start conditions. Effects of the ethanol content in diesel on fuel economy, combustion characteristics, and emission characteristics are also investigated with the ethanol blend ratios of 10%, 20% and 30%. The increase in ethanol content shows that the specific fuel consumption and the brake thermal efficiency are both gradually increased compared to neat diesel. The soot concentrations of the three blended fuels are all greatly lower than that of neat diesel. NOx emission is increased with an increase in the engine load and is reduced with the increase in the ethanol blend ratio under a high load.

Flow boiling of liquid nitrogen in narrow annular channels

K. Zhang P,Qi. S. L,Wang R. Z 한국초전도저온학회 (구 한국초전도저온공학회) 2008 한국초전도저온공학회논문지 Vol.10 No.4

Nonlocal Transport in the Quantum Spin Hall State

Roth, A.,Brune, C.,Buhmann, H.,Molenkamp, L. W.,Maciejko, J.,Qi, X.-L.,Zhang, S.-C. American Association for the Advancement of Scienc 2009 Science Vol.325 No.5938

<P>Nonlocal transport through edge channels holds great promise for low-power information processing. However, edge channels have so far only been demonstrated to occur in the quantum Hall regime, at high magnetic fields. We found that mercury telluride quantum wells in the quantum spin Hall regime exhibit nonlocal edge channel transport at zero external magnetic field. The data confirm that the quantum transport through the (helical) edge channels is dissipationless and that the contacts lead to equilibration between the counterpropagating spin states at the edge. The experimental data agree quantitatively with the theory of the quantum spin Hall effect. The edge channel transport paves the way for a new generation of spintronic devices for low-power information processing.</P>

NUMERICAL ANALYSIS OF FUEL INJECTION IN INTAKE MANIFOLD AND INTAKE PROCESS OF A MPI NATURAL GAS ENGINE

B. Y. XU,F. Y. LIANG,S. L. CAI,Y. L. QI 한국자동차공학회 2005 International journal of automotive technology Vol.6 No.6

Unsteady state free natural gas jets injected from several types of injectors were numerically simulated. Simulations showed good agreements with the schlieren experimental results. Moreover, injections of natural gas in intake manifolds of a single-valve engine and a double-valve engine were predicted as well. Predictions revealed that large volumetric injections of natural gas in intake manifolds led to strong impingement of natural gas with the intake valves, which as a result, gave rise to pronounced backward reflection of natural gas towards the inlets of intake manifolds, together with significant increase in pressure in intake manifold. Based on our simulations, we speculated that for engines with short intake manifolds, reflections of the mixture of natural gas and air were likely to approach the inlets of intake manifolds and subsequently be inbreathed into other cylinders, resulting in non-uniform mixture distributions between the cylinders. For engines with long intake manifolds, inasmuch as the degrees of intake interferences between the cylinders were not identical in light of the ignition sequences, non-uniform intake charge distributions between the cylinders would occur.

Ferrochelatase is a therapeutic target for ocular neovascularization

Basavarajappa, Halesha D,Sulaiman, Rania S,Qi, Xiaoping,Shetty, Trupti,Sheik Pran Babu, Sardar,Sishtla, Kamakshi L,Lee, Bit,Quigley, Judith,Alkhairy, Sameerah,Briggs, Christian M,Gupta, Kamna,Tang, Bu John Wiley & Sons Ltd 2017 EMBO molecular medicine Vol.9 No.6

<P><B>Abstract</B></P><P>Ocular neovascularization underlies major blinding eye diseases such as “wet” age‐related macular degeneration (AMD). Despite the successes of treatments targeting the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) pathway, resistant and refractory patient populations necessitate discovery of new therapeutic targets. Using a forward chemical genetic approach, we identified the heme synthesis enzyme ferrochelatase (FECH) as necessary for angiogenesis <I>in vitro</I> and <I>in vivo</I>. FECH is overexpressed in wet AMD eyes and murine choroidal neovascularization; siRNA knockdown of <I>Fech</I> or partial loss of enzymatic function in the <I>Fech</I><SUP>m1Pas</SUP> mouse model reduces choroidal neovascularization. <I>FECH</I> depletion modulates endothelial nitric oxide synthase function and VEGF receptor 2 levels. FECH is inhibited by the oral antifungal drug griseofulvin, and this compound ameliorates choroidal neovascularization in mice when delivered intravitreally or orally. Thus, FECH inhibition could be used therapeutically to block ocular neovascularization.</P>