Fatty Acid-Binding Protein 4 in Patients with and without Diabetic Retinopathy

Ping Huang,Xiaoqin Zhao,Yi Sun,Xinlei Wang,Rong Ouyang,Yanqiu Jiang,Xiaoquan Zhang,Renyue Hu,Zhuqi Tang,Yunjuan Gu 대한당뇨병학회 2022 Diabetes and Metabolism Journal Vol.46 No.4

Background: Fatty acid-binding protein 4 (FABP4) has been demonstrated to be a predictor of early diabetic nephropathy. However, little is known about the relationship between FABP4 and diabetic retinopathy (DR). This study explored the value of FABP4 as a biomarker of DR in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).Methods: A total of 238 subjects were enrolled, including 20 healthy controls and 218 T2DM patients. Serum FABP4 levels were measured using a sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The grade of DR was determined using fundus fluorescence angiography. Based on the international classification of DR, all T2DM patients were classified into the following three subgroups: non-DR group, non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy (NPDR) group, and proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) group. Multivariate logistic regression analyses were employed to assess the correlation between FABP4 levels and DR severity.Results: FABP4 correlated positively with DR severity (<i>r</i>=0.225, <i>P</i>=0.001). Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis was used to assess the diagnostic potential of FABP4 in identifying DR, with an area under the curve of 0.624 (37% sensitivity, 83.6% specificity) and an optimum cut-off value of 76.4 μg/L. Multivariate logistic regression model including FABP4 as a categorized binary variable using the cut-off value of 76.4 μg/L showed that the concentration of FABP4 above the cut-off value increased the risk of NPDR (odds ratio [OR], 3.231; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.574 to 6.632; <i>P</i>=0.001) and PDR (OR, 3.689; 95% CI, 1.306 to 10.424; <i>P</i>=0.014).Conclusion: FABP4 may be used as a serum biomarker for the diagnosis of DR.

Application of RBF Neural Network in Fault Diagnosis of FOG SINS

Wu Lei,Sun Rong-Ping,Cheng Jian-Hua 제어로봇시스템학회 2008 제어로봇시스템학회 국제학술대회 논문집 Vol.2008 No.10

Taking FOG SINS (fiber-optic gyroscope strapdown inertial system) as an object, a new fault diagnostic scheme based on RBF(radial basis function) neural network is proposed. Being capable of training and simulating data off-line, neural networks provide a solution to overcome some drawbacks of the quantitative fault diagnosis. The fault tree of FOG SINS is analyzed, which is the basis of the study of neural network fault diagnosis technology. The structure and inferential mechanism of RBF network used for elementary fault diagnosis are discussed in detail. Training simulation results of the neural network are given and an improved effect with real data is obtained, which show the feasibility of the proposed scheme.

Comparative Analysis of Water Stress-Responsive Transcriptomes in Drought-Susceptible and -Tolerant Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)

Yong Chun Li,Fan Rong Meng,Chun Yan Zhang,Ning Zhang,Ming Shan Sun,Jiang Ping Ren,Hong Bin Niu,Xiang Wang,Jun Yin 한국식물학회 2012 Journal of Plant Biology Vol.55 No.5

To understand better the mechanisms that regulate the water stress response in wheat, we conducted a comparative analysis of transcript profiles in roots from two wheat genotypes -- drought-tolerant ‘Luohan No. 2’ (LH)and drought-susceptible ‘Chinese Spring’ (CS). In LH roots,3831 transcripts displayed changes in expression of at least two-fold over the well-watered control when drought treatment was applied. Of these, 1593 were induced while 2238 were repressed. Relatively fewer transcripts were drought-responsive in CS; i.e., 1404 transcripts were induced and 1493 were repressed. In common between LH and CS,569 transcripts were induced and 424 transcripts were repressed. In all, 689 transcripts (757 probe sets) identified from LH and 537 transcripts (575 probe sets) from CS were annotated and classified into 10 functional categories. Among those annotated transcripts from LH and CS that had fold-change ratios of at least 4, 92 induced transcripts were common to both, while 23 transcripts were specifically induced in LH. Gene ontology analysis of these induced genes showed highly significant enrichment for multiple terms related to abiotic stimuli, organic acid biosynthesis,and lipid metabolism. This suggests that these gene groups play important roles during the stress response in LH and CS, and might also be responsible for differences in drought tolerance between those genotypes.

Dispersible Ferromagnetic FePt Nanoparticles

Jaemin Kim,Chuanbing Rong,J. Ping Liu,Shouheng Sun 한국자기학회 2008 한국자기학회 학술연구발표회 논문개요집 Vol.- No.-

Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) Gene Polymorphisms and Breast Cancer Risk in a Chinese Population

Luo, Ting,Chen, Long,He, Ping,Hu, Qian-Cheng,Zhong, Xiao-Rong,Sun, Yu,Yang, Yuan-Fu,Tian, Ting-Lun,Zheng, Hong Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2013 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.14 No.4

Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is a potent regulator of angiogenesis and thereby involved in the development and progression of solid tumours. Associations between three VEGF gene polymorphisms (-634 G/C, +936 C/T, and +1612 G/A) and breast cancer risk have been extensively studied, but the currently available results are inconclusive. Our aim was to investigate associations between three VEGF gene polymorphisms and breast cancer risk in Chinese Han patients. We performed a hospital-based case-control study including 680 female incident breast cancer patients and 680 female age-matched healthy control subjects. Polymerase chain reaction restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) analysis was performed to detect the three VEGF gene polymorphisms. We observed that women carriers of +936 TT genotypes [odds ratio (OR) =0.46, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.28, 0.76; P=0.002] or 936 T-allele (OR=0.81, 95% CI= 0.68, 0.98; P=0.03) had a protective effect concerning the disease. Our study suggested that the +1612G/A polymorphism was unlikely to be associated with breast cancer risk. The -634CC genotype was significantly associated with high tumor aggressiveness [large tumor size (OR=2.63, 95% CI=1.15, 6.02; P=0.02) and high histologic grade (OR=1.47, 95% CI= 1.06, 2.03; P=0.02)]. The genotypes were not related with other tumor characteristics such as regional or distant metastasis, stage at diagnosis, or estrogen or progesterone receptor status. Our study revealed that the VEGF -634 G/C and +936 C/T gene polymorphisms may be associated with breast cancer in Chinese Han patients.

Fine mapping and candidate gene analysis of the dwarf gene d162(t) in rice (Oryza sativa L.)

Fan-tao Zhang,Xiao-ling Gao,Ping-rong Wang,Chang-hui Sun,Bing Wang,Xiu-lan Li,Jian-qing Zhu,Xiao-jian Deng 한국유전학회 2011 Genes & Genomics Vol.33 No.1

In our previous study, d162(t), a single recessive gene, which caused rice dwarf mutant, had been mapped on the short arm of chromosome 3. In this study, the d162(t) gene was fine mapped to a confined region about 0.82 cM by RM14641 and RM3134, and co-segregated with InDel361-2, InDel361-3,InDel361-5, RM14645, RM1022 and RM14643, where no known gene involved in plant height has been identified. Based on the annotation results of TIGR, dozens of open reading frames (ORFs) were predicted in this region, among them,five ORFs were the most possible genes related to the phenotype. In these ORFs, Os03g13010, related to U-box domain containing protein, had a 62bp segment deletion in the coding region in 162d (mutant type, MT). The results of RT-PCR showed that the transcriptional level of Os03g13010was significantly different between Shuhui162 (wild type, WT)and 162d (MT). Therefore, the gene (Os03g13010) encoding a U-box domain containing protein was considered as the candidate gene of d162(t).

Biocatalysis and Fermentation Technology : Purification and Characterization of a Thermostable Xylanase from Paenibacillus sp. NF1 and its Application in Xylooligosaccharides Production

( Hong Chen Zheng ),( Ming Zhe Sun ),( Ling Cai Meng ),( Hai Sheng Pei ),( Xiu Qing Zhang ),( Zheng Yan ),( Wen Hui Zeng ),( Jing Sheng Zhang ),( Jin Rong Hu ),( Fu Ping Lu ),( Jun She Sun ) 한국미생물 · 생명공학회 2014 Journal of microbiology and biotechnology Vol.24 No.4

High levels of extracellular xylanase activity (211.79 IU/mg) produced by Paenibacillus sp. NF1 were detected when it was submerged-cultured. After three consecutive purification steps using Octyl-Sepharose, Sephadex G75, and Q-Sepharose columns, a thermostable xylanase (XynNF) was purified to homogeneity and showed a molecular mass of 37 kDa according to SDS-PAGE. The specific activity of the purified XynNF was up to 3,081.05 IU/mg with a 14.55-fold purification. The activity of XynNF was stimulated by Ca2+, Ba2+, DTT, and β-mercaptoethanol, but was inhibited by Fe3+, Zn2+, Fe2+, Cu2+, SDS, and EDTA. The purified XynNF displayed a greater affinity for oat spelt xylan with the maximal enzymatic activity at 60°C and pH 6.0. XynNF, which was shown to be cellulose-free, with high stability at high temperature (70°C-80°C) and low pH range (pH 4.0-7.0), is potentially valuable for various industrial applications. The enzyme hydrolyzed oat spelt xylan to yield mainly xylooligosaccharides (95.8%) of 2-4 degree of polymerization (DP2-4). Moreover, the majority of the xylooligosacharides (DP2- 4) products was xylobiose (61.5%). The thermostable xylanase (XynNF) thus seems potentially usefull in the production of xylooligosaccharides.

Lymph Node Ratio is More Predictive than Traditional Lymph Node Stratification in Lymph Node Positive Invasive Breast Cancer

Bai, Lian-Song,Chen, Chuang,Gong, Yi-Ping,Wei, Wen,Tu, Yi,Yao, Feng,Li, Juan-Juan,Wang, Li-Jun,Sun, Sheng-Rong Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2013 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.14 No.2

Objective: To evaluate the relationships between lymph node ratio (LNR, the ratio of positive lymph nodes in excised axillary lymph nodes) and disease-free survival (DFS) by comparing with traditional absolute positive lymph node number (pN classification) for prediction of breast cancer (BC) progrnosis. Methods and Patients: We retrospectively reviewed patients who received comprehensive therapy in Department of Breast Surgery, Hubei Cancer Hospital, China from Jan 2002 to Dec 2006 (Group A), and Department of Breast and Thyroid Surgery, Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, China from Jun 2008 to May 2012 (Group B). Patients were allocated to low-risk (${\leq}0.20$), intermediate-risk (> 0.20 but ${\leq}0.65$), high-risk (>0.65) groups by LNR. The primary endpoint was 5-DFS. Results: A total of 294 patients were included in our study. LNR was verified as a negative prognostic factor for DFS (P=0.002 in Group A, P<0.0001 in Group B). Then we found the effects of pN and LNR delamination on disease-free survival (DFS) had statistical significance (P=0.012 for pN and P=0.031 for LNR stratification in Group A, both of them P<0.001 in Group B). Compared to pN staging, LNR staging displayed superior performance in prognosis, the adjusted hazard ratio of recurrence being 2.07 (95%CI, 1.07 to 4.0) for intermediate risk group (P=0.030) and 2.44 (95%CI, 1.21 to 4.92) for high risk group (P=0.013) in Group A. Conclusions: LNR stratification proved an adverse prognostic factor of DFS in lymph nodes positive invasive BC using cut-off values 0.20 and 0.65, and was more predictive than traditional pN classification for 5-DFS.

Self-Healing and Shape Memory Linear Polyurethane Based on Disulfide Linkages with Excellent Mechanical Property

Lei Ling,Jinhui Li,Guoping Zhang,Rong Sun,Ching-Ping Wong 한국고분자학회 2018 Macromolecular Research Vol.26 No.4

Self-healing polymeric materials have attracted extensively interests due to the ability to heal the damage autonomously. The self-healing systems based on dynamic disulfide bonds have been the most promising due to the efficient healing capacity at a mild condition. However, it is still of great challenge for designing the polymer with excellent mechanical and self-healing property by a simple synthetic route. Herein, a novel series of self-healing linear polyurethanes with the disulfide linkage as the grafting point were developed. The synthetic polymers all exhibited excellent mechanical properties (breaking strength and elongation at break were as much as 31.91 MPa and 1156% for PU-A). Meanwhile, the effects of different ratios of soft/hard segments on the mechanical properties and healing efficiencies have been investigated by stress-strain tests. The results showed that with the increase of soft segments contents, the breaking strength and elongation at break of the polymer improved significantly, while the healing efficiency and Young’s modulus showed a declining trend. The self-healing polyurethane can quickly restore its over 90% of mechanical property after healing at moderate temperature for 10 min. The cyclic tensile tests also showed the dissipated efficiencies and self-recovery abilities of the polymers. Finally, the recovery capability tests verified the shape memory effect in the polymers, which can replace an external force to accelerate the healing process.

Thermally Self-Healable Titanium Dioxide/Polyurethane Nanocomposites with Recoverable Mechanical and Dielectric Properties

Xudong Wu,Jingyu Huang,Shuhui Yu,Panpan Ruan,Rong Sun,Ching-Ping Wong 한국고분자학회 2020 Macromolecular Research Vol.28 No.4

Dielectric materials with self-healing property after the occurrence of detrimental events such as tearing or scratch are highly desired, which guarantees reliability and lifetime of the electric and electronic systems. Here, a self-healing covalently bonded titanium dioxide/polyurethane (TiO2/PU) nanocomposite with enhanced dielectric constant was prepared by in-situ polymerization based upon Diels-Alder reaction. The PU prepolymer was prepared from TiO2, poly(tetramethylene glycol) and 4,4-diphenylmethane diisocyanate. Then the linking between the prepolymer and Diels-Alder adducts of bifunctional maleimide blocked by furfuryl alcohol was carried out. The in-situ polymerization method allows the TiO2 filler, the PU polymer matrix, and the DA healing portion to be tightly connected, resulting in a stable nanocomposite system. Due to the reversibility of covalent bonds, the TiO2/PU nanocomposites exhibited thermal self-healing properties after being cut. The dielectric constant and loss, mechanical properties can be effectively restored to their original state after damage.