Polyphenol-Assisted Natural Coloration on Various Synthetic Textile Materials

Liang He,Vicky Lai Lai So,Suju Fan,John H. Xin 한국섬유공학회 2018 Fibers and polymers Vol.19 No.7

With the increasing awareness of sustainability development and public health in the modern society, environmentally-friendly coloration process draws tremendous attention in the textile industry. Toxic heavy metal mordants are forbidden to be used in the application of natural colorants in the coloration process. In this study, an environmentallyfriendly coloration process with natural colorants on various synthetic textile materials was developed in the presence of dopamine, whose in-situ self-polymerization could produce rich polyphenolic coloration anchors. Using the proposed method, various synthetic textile materials could be easily coloured with natural colorants in a simple process, which is especially suitable to those materials which are difficult to be colored. Compared with the control process, synthetic textile materials were endowed with better exhaustions of natural colorants, as verified by their deeper colour appearance and higher K/S values. The colored materials were also characterized by colorimetric analysis as well as scanning electron microscopy and optical microscopic analysis, which also confirmed the successful application of the proposed coloration process. Moreover, the proposed strategy could also be applied on a wide variety of materials. It is an innovative green coloration process in the textile material fields.

Tip60 and p300 function antagonistically in the epigenetic regulation of HPV18 E6/E7 genes in cervical cancer HeLa cells

Yongwei Lai,Zhao He,Aowei Zhang,Zhinan Yan,Xiao Zhang,Shiyue Hu,Nan Wang,Hongpeng He 한국유전학회 2020 Genes & Genomics Vol.42 No.6

Background High-risk HPV is a causative factor of cervical cancer. HPV DNA fragments integrate into host genome resulting in the constitutive expression of HPV genes E6 and E7 under the regulation of transcription factors, such as p300 and Tip60. Interestingly, Tip60, a factor with HAT (histone acetyl transferase) activity, represses HPV18 E6/E7 genes while another HAT p300 activates the transcription of HPV18 E6/E7. Objective To explore the mechanism for the opposite roles of Tip60 and p300 in the virus gene regulation, and the influence of Tip60 and p300 in histone modifications in the regulatory sequence of HPV18 genes. Methods Tip60 or p300 was either knocked down or overexpressed in HeLa cells. The effects on HPV E6E7 expression were determined with RT-qPCR. The association of RNA polymerase II and the enrichment of acetylated or methylated histones in HPV promoter region were measured by ChIP assays with specific antibodies. Results ChIP results showed that Tip60 and p300 differently affected the modifications of histone H3K9 and the deposition of nucleosomes in HPV18 long control region (LCR). HPV18 LCR in HeLa cells is bivalent chromatin carrying both the active histone H3K9 acetylation mark and the repressive histone H3K9 trimethylation mark, the balance is maintained by Tip60 and p300. Conclusion(s) Based on the roles of Tip60 and p300 in HPV gene regulation, chemical compounds targeting Tip60 or p300 are potential anti-cervical cancer drugs.

Sensitivity Experiments of the Local Wildland Fire with WRF-Fire Module

Lai Shaojun,Chen Haishan,He Fen,Wu Weijie 한국기상학회 2020 Asia-Pacific Journal of Atmospheric Sciences Vol.56 No.4

In this paper, it is discussed the performance of theWeather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model coupled with a wildland firebehavior module (WRF-Fire model) by the observational data collected in an experiment with a low-intensity prescribed fire (LIPF) conducted in the New Jersey Pine Barrens (NJPB) on March 6, 2012. The sensitivity experiments of theWRF-Fire model are carried out to investigate the interactions between the wildland fire and the atmospheric planetary boundary layer. The twoway WRF-Fire model conofigured with fire and large eddy simulation (LES) mode is used to explore the fire characteristics of perimeter shape, intensity, spread direction and external factors ofwind speed, and to discuss how these external parameters affect the fire, and the interactions between the atmosphere and fire. Results show that the sensitive experiments can provide the meteorological elements close to observations, such as the temperatures, winds and turbulent kinetic energy near the surface in the vicinity of the fire. The simulations also can reproduce the fire spread shape and speed, fire intensity, and heat flux released from fire. From the view of energy, the heat flux feed back to the atmospheric model and heat the air near the surface, which will induce strong thermal and dynamic instability causing strong horizontal convergence and updraft, and form the fire-induced convective boundary layer. The updraft will be tilted downstream of the fire area based on the height of the ambient winds. Due to the effect of the this updrafts, the particles and heat from the fuel combustion can be transported to the downwind and lateral regions of the fire area. Meanwhile, there is a downdraft flow with higher momentum nearby the fire line transporting fresh oxygen to the near surface, which will increase winds behind the fire line, accelerate the rate of spread (ROS) and make the fire spread to a larger area. Ultimately, a fire-induced climate is established.

Theoretical analysis on vibration characteristic of a flexible tube under the interaction of seismic load and hydrodynamic force

Lai, Jiang,He, Chao,Sun, Lei,Li, Pengzhou Korean Nuclear Society 2020 Nuclear Engineering and Technology Vol.52 No.3

The reliability of the spent fuel pool instrument is very important for the security of nuclear power plant, especially during the earthquake. The effect of the fluid force on the vibration characteristics of the flexible tube of the spent fuel pool instrument needs comprehensive analysis. In this paper, based on the potential flow theory, the hydrodynamic pressures acting on the flexible tube were obtained. A mathematical model of a flexible tube was constructed to obtain the dynamic response considering the effects of seismic load and fluid force, and a computer code was written. Based on the mathematical model and computer code, the maximum stresses of the flexible tube in both safe shutdown earthquake and operating basis earthquake events on the spent fuel pool with three typical water levels were calculated, respectively. The results show that the fluid force has an obvious effect on the stress and strain of the flexible tube in both safe shutdown earthquake and operating basis earthquake events.

PPNC: Privacy Preserving Scheme for Random Linear Network Coding in Smart Grid

( Shiming He ),( Weini Zeng ),( Kun Xie ),( Hongming Yang ),( Mingyong Lai ),( Xin Su ) 한국인터넷정보학회 2017 KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Syst Vol.11 No.3

In smart grid, privacy implications to individuals and their families are an important issue because of the fine-grained usage data collection. Wireless communications are utilized by many utility companies to obtain information. Network coding is exploited in smart grids, to enhance network performance in terms of throughput, delay, robustness, and energy consumption. However, random linear network coding introduces a new challenge for privacy preserving due to the encoding of data and updating of coefficients in forwarder nodes. We propose a distributed privacy preserving scheme for random linear network coding in smart grid that considers the converged flows character of the smart grid and exploits a homomorphic encryption function to decrease the complexities in the forwarder node. It offers a data confidentiality privacy preserving feature, which can efficiently thwart traffic analysis. The data of the packet is encrypted and the tag of the packet is encrypted by a homomorphic encryption function. The forwarder node random linearly codes the encrypted data and directly processes the cryptotext tags based on the homomorphism feature. Extensive security analysis and performance evaluations demonstrate the validity and efficiency of the proposed scheme.

Effects of sweetener sucralose on diet preference, growth performance and hematological and biochemical parameters of weaned piglets

Zhang, Wenwei,He, Holden,Gong, Limin,Lai, Wenqing,Dong, Bing,Zhang, Liying Asian Australasian Association of Animal Productio 2020 Animal Bioscience Vol.33 No.5

Objective: Two experiments were conducted to investigate the effects of dietary sucralose on diet preference and growth performance of weaned piglets, and a third experiment was a 28-d safety study to examine if high-dose sucralose could affect the health state of weaned piglets. Methods: In experiment one, 48 piglets had free access to a corn-soybean based diet and the same diet supplemented with 150 mg/kg sucralose for 15 d. In experiment two, 180 piglets were blocked into 5 treatments with 6 replications. They were fed basal diets supplemented with 0, 75, 150, 225, and 300 mg/kg sucralose for 28 days. In experiment three, 108 piglets were randomly assigned to 3 treatments and fed diets supplemented with 0, 150 (suitable level), and 1,500 (ten-fold suitable level) mg/kg sucralose for 28 d. Results: The experiment 1 showed that piglets preferred (p<0.05) diets containing sucralose during experimental period. In experiment 2, piglets fed a diet supplemented with 150 mg/kg sucralose had a higher average daily gain (ADG) and average daily feed intake (ADFI) than pigs in the control group and other treatment groups during the experiment period. The concentrations of sucralose over 150 mg/kg may decrease feed intake. However, no difference in feed conversion ratio was observed. In experiment 3, piglets fed diet supplemented with 150 mg/kg sucralose had a higher ADG and ADFI than that of pigs in the control group and 1,500 mg/kg treatment groups during the experiment period. Clinical blood metabolites, organ index and histological morphology were not significantly different between sucralose treatments. Conclusion: Sucralose can promote feed intake and thereby improve growth performance of weaned piglets. Moreover, inclusion of 1,500 mg/kg sucralose was demonstrated to have no observed adverse effects. Supplementing 150 mg/kg sucralose for weaned piglets is recommended in this study.

Adsorptive Granulocyte and Monocyte Apheresis in the Treatment of Ulcerative Colitis: The First Multicenter Study in China

( Ya-min Lai ),( Wei-yan Yao ),( Yao He ),( Xuan Jiang ),( Yu-bei Gu ),( Min-hu Chen ),( Yu-lan Liu ),( Yao-zong Yuan ),( Jia-ming Qian ) 대한소화기학회 2017 Gut and Liver Vol.11 No.2

Background/Aims: Patients with active ulcerative colitis (UC) have elevated levels of activated myeloid-derived leukocytes as a source of inflammatory cytokines. The selective deple-tion of these leukocytes by adsorptive granulocyte/monocyte apheresis (GMA) with an Adacolumn should alleviate inflammation, promote remission and enhance drug efficacy. However, studies have reported contrasting efficacy out-comes based on patients` baseline demographic variables. This study was undertaken to understand the demographic features of GMA responders and nonresponders. Methods: This was a multicenter study in China involving four institutions and 34 patients with active UC. Baseline conventional medications were continued without changing the dosage. The treatment efficacy was evaluated based on the endo-scopic activity index and the Mayo score. Results: Thirty of the 34 patients completed all 10 GMA treatment sessions. The overall efficacy rate was 70.59%. The receiver operating characteristic analysis showed that the area under the curve was approximately 0.766 for a Mayo score of ≤5.5 with 0.273 specificity and 0.857 sensitivity (Youden index, 0.584) for GMA responders. No GMA-related serious adverse events were observed. Conclusions: The overall efficacy of GMA in patients with active UC who were taking first-line medications or were corticosteroid refractory was encouraging. Addition-ally, GMA was well tolerated and had a good safety profile. (Gut Liver 2017;11:216-225)

Residual stress field of ballised holes

Man On Lai,Zhimin He 대한기계학회 2012 JOURNAL OF MECHANICAL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY Vol.26 No.5

"Ballising, involving pushing a slightly over-sized ball made of hard material through a hole, is a kind of cold working process. Applying ballising process to fastener holes produces compressive residual stress on the edge of the holes, and therefore increases the fatigue life of the components or structures. Quantification of the residual stress field is critical to define and precede the ballising process. In this article, the ballised holes are modeled as cold-expanded holes. Elastic-perfectly plastic theory is employed to analyze the holes with cold expansion process. For theoretical simplification, an axially symmetrical thin plate with a cold expanded hole is assumed. The elasticplastic boundaries and residual stress distribution surrounding the cold expanded hole are derived. With the analysis, the residual stress field can be obtained together with actual cold expansion process in which only the diameters of hole before and after cold expansion need to be measured. As it is a non-destructive method, it provides a convenient way to estimate the elastic-plastic boundaries and residual stresses of cold worked holes. The approach is later extended to the case involving two cold-worked holes. A ballised hole is looked upon as a cold expanded hole and therefore is investigated by the approach. Specimens ballised with different interference levels are investigated. The effects of interference levels and specimen size on residual stresses are studied. The overall residual stresses of plates with two ballised holes are obtained by superposing the residual stresses induced on a single ballised hole. The effects of distance between the centers of the two holes with different interference levels on the residual stress field are revealed."

Cloning and Functional Analysis of the Gβ Gene Mgb1 and the GγGene Mgg1 in Monascus ruber

Li Li,Lu He,Yong Lai,Yanchun Shao,Fusheng Chen 한국미생물학회 2014 The journal of microbiology Vol.52 No.1

The ascomycetous fungus Monascus ruber is one of the most well-known species widely used to produce Monascus-fermentation products for natural food colorants and medicine. Our previous research on the Gα subunit Mga1 and the regulator of G protein signaling MrflbA indicated that heterotrimeric G protein signaling pathways were involved in aspects of growth, sporulation and secondary metabolite production in M. ruber. To better understand the G protein signaling pathways in this fungus, a Gβ subunit gene (Mgb1)and a Gγ subunit gene (Mgg1) were cloned and investigated in the current study. The predicted Mgb1 protein consisted of 353 amino acids and Mgg1 consisted of 94 amino acids,sharing marked similarity with Aspergillus Gβ and Gγ subunits,respectively. Targeted deletion (Δ) of Mgb1 or Mgg1resulted in phenotypic alterations similar to those resulting from ΔMga1, i.e., restricted vegetative growth, lowered asexual sporulation, impaired cleistothecial formation, and enhanced citrinin and pigment production. Moreover, deletion of Mgg1suppressed the defects in asexual development and in biosynthesis of citrinin and pigment caused by the absence of MrflbA function. These results provide evidence that Mgb1and Mgg1 form a functional Gβγ dimer and the dimer interacts with Mga1 to mediate signaling pathways, which are negatively controlled by MrflbA, for growth, reproduction and citrinin and pigment biosynthesis in M. ruber.

Sclareol Protects Staphylococcus aureus-Induced Lung Cell Injury via Inhibiting Alpha-Hemolysin Expression

( Ouyang Ping ),( Sun Mao ),( He Xuewen ),( Wang Kaiyu ),( Yin Zhongqiong ),( Fu Hualin ),( Li Yinglun ),( Geng Yi ),( Shu Gang ),( He Changliang ),( Liang Xiaoxia ),( Lai Weiming ),( Li Lixia ),( Zou 한국미생물 · 생명공학회 2017 Journal of microbiology and biotechnology Vol.27 No.1

Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) is a common gram-positive bacterium that causes serious infections in humans and animals. With the continuous emergence of methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) strains, antibiotics have limited efficacy in treating MRSA infections. Accordingly, novel agents that act on new targets are desperately needed to combat these infections. S. aureus alpha-hemolysin plays an indispensable role in its pathogenicity. In this study, we demonstrate that sclareol, a fragrant chemical compound found in clary sage, can prominently decrease alpha-hemolysin secretion in S. aureus strain USA300 at sub-inhibitory concentrations. Hemolysis assays, western-blotting, and RT-PCR were used to detect the production of alpha-hemolysin in the culture supernatant. When USA300 was co-cultured with A549 epithelial cells, sclareol could protect the A549 cells at a final concentration of 8 μg/ml. The protective capability of sclareol against the USA300-mediated injury of A549 cells was further shown by cytotoxicity assays and live/dead analysis. In conclusion, sclareol was shown to inhibit the production of S. aureus alpha-hemolysin. Sclareol has potential for development as a new agent to treat S. aureus infections.