Association of Six Susceptibility Loci with Prostate Cancer in Northern Chinese Men

Zhang, Yu-Rong,Xu, Yong,Yang, Kuo,Liu, Ming,Wei, Dong,Zhang, Yao-Guang,Shi, Xiao-Hong,Wang, Jian-Ye,Yang, Fan,Wang, Xin,Liang, Si-Ying,Zhao, Cheng-Xiao,Wang, Fei,Chen, Xin,Sun, Liang,Zhu, Xiao-Quan,Zh Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2012 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.13 No.12

Background/Aim: Six prostate cancer (PCa) susceptibility loci were identified in a genome-wide association study (GWAS) in populations of European decent. However, the associations of these 6 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) with PCa has remained tobe clarified in men in Northern China. This study aimed to explore the loci associated with PCa risk in a Northern Chinese population. Methods: Blood samples and clinical information of 289 PCa patients and 288 controls from Beijing and Tianjin were collected. All risk SNPs were genotyped using polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-high resolution melting curve technology and gene sequencing. Associations between PCa and clinical covariates (age at diagnosis, prostate-specific antigen [PSA], Gleason score, tumor stage, and level of aggressiveness) and frequencies of alleles and genotypes of these SNPs were analyzed using genetic statistics. Results: Among the candidate SNPs, 11p15 (rs7127900, A) was associated with PCa risk (P = 0.02, odds ratio [OR] = 1.64, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.09-2.46). Genotypes showed differences between cases and controls on 11p15 (rs7127900, A), 11q13 (rs7931342, T), and HNF1B (rs4430796, A) (P = 0.03, P = 0.01, and P = 0.04, respectively). The genotype TG on 11q13 (rs7931342, T) was positively associated with an increased Gleason score (P = 0.04, OR = 2.15, 95% CI = 1.02-4.55). Patients carrying TG on 17q24 (rs1859962, G) were negatively associated with an increased body mass index (BMI) (P = 0.03, OR = 0.44, 95% CI = 0.21-0.92) while those with AG on HNF1B (rs4430796, A) were more likely to have PSA increase (P = 0.002). Conclusion: Our study suggests that 11p15 (rs7127900, A) could be a susceptibility locus associated with PCa in Northern Chinese. Genotype TG on 11q13 (rs7931342, T) could be related to an increased Gleason score, AG on HNF1B (rs4430796, A) could be associated with PSA increase, and TG on 17q24 (rs1859962, G) could be negatively associated with an increased BMI in Chinese men with PCa.

Hand Gesture Segmentation Method Based on YCbCr Color Space and K-Means Clustering

Zhang Qiu-yu,Lu Jun-chi,Zhang Mo-yi,Duan Hong-xiang,Lv Lu 보안공학연구지원센터 2015 International Journal of Signal Processing, Image Vol.8 No.5

Aiming at the problems that current skin-color detection segmentation technologies have unsatisfied segmentation results under conditions of complex illumination or backgrounds, we present a new method based on YCbCr color space and K-means clustering algorithm for segmentation hand gesture. Firstly, image in RGB color space is converted to YCbCr color space; and then YCbCr color space of image is divided into luminance Y and chrominance Cb and Cr. Lastly, the binary image is achieved by clustering values of chrominance using k-means clustering algorithm, and hand gesture segmentation is completed by conducting morphological process of binary image obtained. The experimental results illustrate that the proposed method can segment hand gestures from complex backgrounds and obtain segmentation results. The phenomena of similar skin color interference and skin color overlapping are solved with this method effectively. In addition, it is robust to illumination condition.

The Finite Element Method for the Buried Pipes in Groud Source Heat Pump System

Hong Yu,Hong Zhang,Chunli Yu 보안공학연구지원센터 2015 International Journal of Smart Home Vol.9 No.5

Directed at the key problem about the heat transfer between heat pipes and piles found in the ground source heat pump system (GSHP), a new finite element method is adopted in this paper to provide a finite element scheme for piles and U-bent tubes.And then a calculation on the term of heat transfer between the pile and the U-bent tube through the point integration method is made.Then the value of the convective heat transfer coefficient h will be determined through the definition of the Nussellt number. Finally three illustrative examples are given in this paper to verify the rationality of our format. The model proposed in this paper has broken through the restrictions of the traditional analytical solutions, making it able to be applied widely in various projects.

Elevated FBXL6 expression in hepatocytes activates VRK2-transketolase-ROS-mTOR-mediated immune evasion and liver cancer metastasis in mice

Zhang Jie,Lin Xiao-Tong,Yu Hong-Qiang,Fang Lei,Wu Di,Luo Yuan-Deng,Zhang Yu-Jun,Xie Chuan-Ming 생화학분자생물학회 2023 Experimental and molecular medicine Vol.55 No.-

Metastatic hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most lethal malignancy and lacks effective treatment. FBXL6 is overexpressed in human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), but whether this change drives liver tumorigenesis and lung metastasis in vivo remains unknown. In this study, we aimed to identify FBXL6 (F-Box and Leucine Rich Repeat Protein 6) as a key driver of HCC metastasis and to provide a new paradigm for HCC therapy. We found that elevated FBXL6 expression in hepatocytes drove HCC lung metastasis and was a much stronger driver than Kras mutation (KrasG12D/+;Alb-Cre), p53 haploinsufficiency (p53+/-) or Tsc1 loss (Tsc1fl/fl;Alb-Cre). Mechanistically, VRK2 promoted Thr287 phosphorylation of TKT and then recruited FBXL6 to promote TKT ubiquitination and activation. Activated TKT further increased PD-L1 and VRK2 expression via the ROS-mTOR axis, leading to immune evasion and HCC metastasis. Targeting or knockdown of TKT significantly blocked FBXL6-driven immune evasion and HCC metastasis in vitro and in vivo. Notably, the level of active TKT (p-Thr287 TKT) was increased and was positively correlated with the FBXL6 and VRK2 expression levels in HCC patients. Our work provides novel mechanistic insights into FBXL6-driven HCC metastasis and suggests that targeting the TKT-ROS-mTOR-PD-L1/VRK2 axis is a new paradigm for treating patients with metastatic HCC with high FBXL6 expression.

Dynamic Hand Gesture Trajectory Recognition Based on Block Feature and Skin-Color Clustering

Zhang Qiu-yu,Lv Lu,Lu Jun-chi,Zhang Mo-yi,Duan Hong-xiang 보안공학연구지원센터 2016 International Journal of Multimedia and Ubiquitous Vol.11 No.12

In recent years, dynamic hand gesture recognition has been a research hotspot of human-computer interaction. Since most existing algorithms contain problems with high computational complexity, poor real-time performance and low recognition rate, which cannot satisfy the need of many practical applications. Moreover, key frames obtained by inter-frame difference degree algorithm contain less information, which leads to less identified species and lower recognition rate. To solve these problems, we present a dynamic hand gesture trajectory recognition method based on the theory of block feature to extract key frames and the skin-color clustering’s hand gesture segmentation. Firstly, this method extracts block feature of degree of difference between frames in hand gesture sequence to select key frames accurately. Secondly, the method based on skin-color clustering is applied to obtain the area of hand gesture after segmenting hand gestures from images. Finally, hidden Markov model (HMM), in which the angle data of hand gesture trajectories are input, is used for modeling and identifying dynamic hand gestures. Experimental results show that the method of key-frame extraction is used to obtain information of dynamic hand gestures accurately, which would improve the recognition rate of dynamic hand gesture recognition and, at the same time, can guarantee the real-time of hand gesture recognition system. The average recognition rate is up to 86.67%, and the average time efficiency is 0.39s.

Enhancing hydrogen production efficiency in microbial electrolysis cell with membrane electrode assembly cathode

Yu Hong Jia,Jae Hun Ryu,Cho Hui Kim,Woo Kyung Lee,Thi Van Trinh Tran,Hyo Lee Lee,Rui Hong Zhang,안대희 한국공업화학회 2012 Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Vol.18 No.2

Microbial electrolysis cell is a device which can produce hydrogen gas from biomass through microbial catalyzed process and thus reduce the organic matter. For the real application in wastewater treatment,the scale-up of microbial electrolysis cell is an important issue but few tests were conducted with relatively large size. In this study, a 3.7 L microbial electrolysis cell (liquid volume 3.2 L) equipped with a membrane electrode assembly cathode was designed and tested. The internal resistance was examined,hydrogen generation and organic removal performance was investigated under different conditions. A maximum overall hydrogen efficiency of 41% was achieved at an applied voltage of 1.2 V with acetate as substrate, corresponding to a volumetric hydrogen production rate of approximately 0.12 m3 H2/m3reactor liquid volume/day. The results obtained in this study could help to further develop pilot-MEC for practical applications.

Metastasis associated genomic aberrations in stage II rectal cancer

Hong Zhao,Zhi-Zhou Shi,Rui Jiang,Dong-Bing Zhao,Hai-Tao Zhou,Jian-Wei Liang,Xin-Yu Bi,Jian-Jun Zhao,Zhi-Yu Li,Jian-Guo Zhou,Zhen Huang,Ye-Fan Zhang,Jian Wang,Xin Xu,Yan Cai,Ming-Rong Wang,Yu Zhang 한국유전학회 2016 Genes & Genomics Vol.38 No.11

Genomic aberrations of rectal carcinoma, especially DNA copy number changes associated with metastasis were largely unclear. We aim to identify the metastasis associated biomarkers in stage II rectal cancer. Formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded primary tumor tissues of stage II rectal carcinoma were analyzed by array-based comparative genomic hybridization, and genomic aberrations were identified by Genomic Workbench and SAM software. Copy number changes and mRNA expressions were validated by Real-time PCR in an independent rectal cancer samples. The results showed that the most frequent gains in stage II rectal cancer were at 1q21.2-q23.1, 3p21.31, 11q12.2-q23.3, 12q24.11-q24.31, 12q13.11-q14.1 and losses in 18q11.2-q23, 17q21.33-q22, 13q31.1-q31.3, 21q21.1-q21.3, 8p23.3-p23.1 and 4q22.1-q23. Twenty-two amplifications and five homozygous deletions were also identified. We further found that S100A1 (1q21.3-q23.1), MCM7 (7q22.1) and JUND (19p13.11) were amplified and overexpressed in stage II rectal cancer. Interestingly, the genomic aberrations affected 14 signaling pathways including VEGF signaling pathway and fatty acid metabolism. Most importantly, loss of 13q31.1-q34 and gain of 1q44 were associated with distant metastasis. Our results indicated that these metastasis associated genomic changes may be useful to reveal the pathogenesis of rectal cancer metastasis and identify candidate biomarkers.

Expression and regulation of Angiopoietins and their receptor Tie-2 in sika deer antler

Hong-Liang Zhang,Bin Guo,Zhan-Peng Yue,Lu Zhang,Zhan-Qing Yang,Shuang Geng,Kai Wang,Hai-Fan Yu 한국통합생물학회 2017 Animal cells and systems Vol.21 No.3

The cartilage vascularization and chondrocyte survival are essential for endochondral ossification which occurs in the process of antler growth. Angiopoietins (Ang) is a family of major angiogenic growth factors and involved in regulating the vascularization. However, the expression and regulation of Angs in the antler are still unknown. The aim of this study is to localize the expression of Ang-1, Ang-2 and their receptor Tie-2 in sika deer antler using in situ hybridization and focused on analyzing the regulation of testosterone, estrogen, all-trans-retinoic acid (ATRA) and 9cRA on their expression in antler chondrocytes. The results showed that Ang-1, Ang-2 and Tie-2 were highly expressed in antler chondrocytes. Administration of testosterone to antler chondrocytes led to a notable increase in the expression of Ang-1 and Tie-2, and a reduction in the expression of Ang-2. The similar result was also observed after estrogen treatment. In contrast, ATRA and 9cRA could inhibit the expression of Ang-1 in antler chondrocytes and heighten the expression of Ang-2. Simultaneously, ATRA could downregulate the expression of Tie-2 in antler chondrocytes at 12 and 24 h, while 9cRA upregulate the expression of Tie-2 at 3 and 6 h. Collectively, Ang-1, Ang-2 and Tie-2 are expressed in antler chondrocytes and their expression can be affected by testosterone, estrogen, ATRA and 9cRA.

Dynamic Hand Gesture Segmentation Method Based on Improved Kalman Filter and Weighted Skin-Color Model

Zhang Qiu-yu,Lu Jun-chi,Wei Hui-yi,Zhang Mo-yi,Duan Hong-xiang 보안공학연구지원센터 2016 International Journal of Signal Processing, Image Vol.9 No.6

In order to improve the problems of segmentation accuracy and real-time existing in dynamic hand gesture under complex backgrounds, this paper presents a kind of dynamic hand gesture segmentation method based on improved Kalman filter and weighted skin-color model. Firstly, improved Kalman filter is utilized to process hand gesture image of hand gesture video sequences and get rough hand gesture results. Secondly, weighted skin-color model is applied to process rough results of hand gesture segmentation and segment hand gesture. Finally, morphological method is utilized to deal with gesture segmentation result, getting rid of the holes in the hand gesture’s binary image to realize the segmentation of dynamic hand gesture. Experiments show that the proposed method can segment hand gesture from dynamic hand gesture video sequences with complex backgrounds effectively. And the accuracy of hand gesture segmentation is high.

A Dynamic Gesture Trajectory Recognition Based on Key Frame Extraction and HMM

Zhang Qiu-yu,Lv Lu,Zhang Mo-yi,Duan Hong-xiang,Lu Jun-chi 보안공학연구지원센터 2015 International Journal of Signal Processing, Image Vol.8 No.6

Aiming at changing high computational complexity, underdeveloped real time, low recognition rate of dynamic gesture recognition algorithms, this paper present a real-time dynamic gesture trajectory recognition method based on key frame extraction and HMM. Key frames are selected without keeping track of all the details of one dynamic gesture, which is based on difference degree between frames. The trajectory data stream, sorted by the time-warping algorithm, is used to construct the Hidden Markov Method model of dynamic gesture. Finally, optimal transition probabilities are employed to implement dynamic gesture recognition. The result of this experiment implies that this method has high robustness and real time. The average recognition rate of dynamic gesture (0~9) is up to 87.67%, and average time efficiency is 0.46s.