Effects of the novel angiotensin II receptor type I antagonist, fimasartan on myocardial ischemia/reperfusion injury

Han, J.,Park, S.J.,Thu, V.T.,Lee, S.R.,Long, L.T.,Kim, H.K.,Kim, N.,Park, S.W.,Jeon, E.S.,Kim, E.J.,Yoon, C.H.,Cho, G.Y.,Choi, D.J. Elsevier/North-Holland Biomedical Press 2013 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CARDIOLOGY Vol.168 No.3

Background: The aim of this study was to investigate the cardioprotective effect of fimasartan, a newly developed angiotensin II receptor type I blocker (ARB), against myocardial ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury and to identify the mechanism by which it reduces mitochondrial damage. Methods: Fimasartan was administered intravenously to Sprague-Dawley rats (3mg/kg), cardiomyocytes (50μM), and H9c2 cells (50μM) before ischemia or hypoxia. Myocardial infarction (MI), echocardiograms, DNA fragmentation, terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP in situ nick-end labeling, immunoblotting, oxygen consumption, confocal microscopic appearance, and L-type Ca<SUP>2+</SUP> current (I<SUB>Ca,L</SUB>) were then assessed. Results: Fimasartan pretreatment remarkably reduced the rate of MI and improved cardiac performance well after I/R (n=9/group). Fimasartan also reduced apoptotic cell death both in vivo and in hypoxia/reoxygenation (H/R)-treated H9c2 cells (n=5~8/group). H/R-induced mitochondrial O<SUB>2</SUB><SUP>-</SUP> production and collapse of membrane potential were markedly attenuated in fimasartan-treated cardiomyocytes (n=4~6/group). Additionally, mitochondrial Ca<SUP>2+</SUP> overload during reoxygenation was suppressed by fimasartan (n=4~6/group), and this was found to be possibly related to the inhibition of I<SUB>Ca,L</SUB> and mitochondrial Ca<SUP>2+</SUP> uniporter. Furthermore, fimasartan pretreatment increased phosphorylations of Akt and glycogen synthase kinase-3β (n=5~7/group), decreased pro-apoptotic p53 levels, and increased anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 levels (n=4) during reperfusion. Conclusions: Fimasartan preconditioning has the potential to modulate Bcl-2 and suppress I/R-induced Ca<SUP>2+</SUP> overload by inhibiting I<SUB>Ca,L</SUB> and MCU. These beneficial effects could prevent the mitochondrial dysfunction and apoptosis accompanied by I/R.

Nanoparticle additions for enhanced flux pinning in YBCO HTS films

N.M. Strickland,N.J. Long,E.F. Talantsev,P. Hoefakker,J.A. Xia,M.W. Rupich,W. Zhang,X. Li,T. Kodenkandath,Y. Huang 한국물리학회 2008 Current Applied Physics Vol.8 No.3,4

We describe a method for forming a nanoparticle dispersion in YBa₂Cu₃O7 superconducting lms grown by metal-organic depositionon RABiTS substrates. Two separate precursor modications have been shown by transmission electron microscopy to give nanopar-ticles of (Y,Dy)₂O₃ and BaZrO₃ with size distributions of 10-50 nm and 10-25 nm, respectively and that are well dispersed in the lm.These particles are eective ux pinning centers and enhance the transport critical current by up to 100% at 77 K for a magnetic eld of 1.5 T applied perpendicular to the tape. The processing required to grow these lms is not greatly altered from that of unmodied YBCO and can be readily transferred to continuous processing of long-length wires.

High temperature superconductor films and devices for the microwave communication industry

N. J. Long,J. Joubert,T. Kemmitt,L. J. Campbell,A. J. Bubendorfer 한국물리학회 2004 Current Applied Physics Vol.4 No.2-4

High temperature superconductor (HTS) thin lms can be used to construct microwave devices such as lters and antennas withsuperior performance. We show how the lms can be manufactured using a solgel method which has the advantage of being able toproduce large area lms quickly, at low cost on simple equipment. We have developed a solgel precursor which has the additionalbenets of using commonly available non-toxic reagents, and which can be prepared quickly. HighTc and high Jc lms have beenmade with this precursor. These lms can be patterned to make microwave lters with better sensitivity and selectivity than con-ventional lters. Adesignfora microstriplayout ofaquasi-elliptic bandpass filter which can be implemented ona10 m×10mm film is described. Simulated results comparing lter implementations with metal and superconductor films operating at 77 K are given.

Microstructure of metal-organic deposited YBa₂Cu₃O7-δ wires with Dy and Zr additions observed by TEM

J.A. Xia,N.J. Long,N.M. Strickland,P. Hoefakker,E.F. Talantsev 한국물리학회 2008 Current Applied Physics Vol.8 No.3,4

The improvement of critical current densities of superconducting wires is essential for commercial applications. Many approacheshave been demonstrated to enhance ux pinning of YBa₂Cu₃O7-δ (YBCO) second-generation (2G) superconducting wires and thereforedensity through ux pinning by nanoparticles in metal-organic deposited (MOD) YBCO lms with Dy or Zr additions. Transmissionelectron microscopy (TEM) observation revealed that large densities of nanoparticles can be formed in YBCO lms through alteringthe precursor stoichiometry and cation additions. Most of these nanoparticles are in the range of 10-50 nm, and are well dispersed, mak-ing them ideal for ux pinning in YBCO 2G wires. The eects on critical current of these nanoparticles acting as ux pinning centers areinvestigated.

Chemical Components of Ardisia splendens Leaves and Their Activity against Coxsackie A16 Viruses

Van, N.T.H.,Vien, T.A.,Nhiem, N.X.,Van Kiem, P.,Van Minh, C.,Long, P.Q.,Anh, L.T.,Cuong, N.M.,Song, J.-H.,Ko, H.-J. NATURAL PRODUCT COMMUNICATIONS 2014 Natural product communications Vol.9 No.5

Carbon depth profiling of superconducting YBCO thin films on nanometer scale

V. J. Kennedy,A. Markwitz,A. Bubendorfer,N. Long,N. Dytlewski 한국물리학회 2004 Current Applied Physics Vol.4 No.2-4

Ion beam analysis techniques have been used to probe for carbon contamination in high temperature superconductor thin lms.These techniques provide a powerful tool to detect C with limit of detection close to 0.01 at.% and to measure carbon depth proleson the nanometer scale with a depth resolution of 10 nm at the surface. In the present study, a series of YBa2Cu3O7. d (YBCO) lmshave been formed on MgO substrates by a solgel method. Dierent lm thicknesses and heat treatments were studied. Typicalformation temperatures were 770850.C resulting in thicknesses from 50 to 600 nm. It was found that, depending on the samplepreparation conditions, carbon was incorporated in the lms at a concentration of 0.54.6 at.%. Carbon was homogeneously distributed throughout the films.

Association analyses of East Asian individuals and trans-ancestry analyses with European individuals reveal new loci associated with cholesterol and triglyceride levels

Spracklen, C. N.,Chen, P.,Kim, Y. J.,Wang, X.,Cai, H.,Li, S.,Long, J.,Wu, Y.,Wang, Y. X.,Takeuchi, F. IRL Press 2017 Human molecular genetics Vol.26 No.9

<P>Large-scale meta-analyses of genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified > 175 loci associated with fasting cholesterol levels, including total cholesterol (TC), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), and triglycerides (TG). With differences in linkage disequilibrium (LD) structure and allele frequencies between ancestry groups, studies in additional large samples may detect new associations. We conducted staged GWAS meta-analyses in up to 69,414 East Asian individuals from 24 studies with participants from Japan, the Philippines, Korea, China, Singapore, and Taiwan. These meta-analyses identified (P < 5 x 10(-8)) three novel loci associated with HDL-C near CD163-APOBEC1 (P = 7.4 x 10(-9)), NCOA2 (P = 1.6 x 10(-8)), and NID2-PTGDR (P = 4.2 x 10(-8)), and one novel locus associated with TG near WDR11-FGFR2 (P = 2.7 x 10(-10)). Conditional analyses identified a second signal near CD163-APOBEC1. We then combined results from the East Asian meta-analysis with association results from up to 187,365 European individuals from the Global Lipids Genetics Consortium in a trans-ancestry meta-analysis. This analysis identified (log(10)Bayes Factor a 6.1) eight additional novel lipid loci. Among the twelve total loci identified, the index variants at eight loci have demonstrated at least nominal significance with other metabolic traits in prior studies, and two loci exhibited coincident eQTLs (P < 1 x 10(-5)) in subcutaneous adipose tissue for BPTF and PDGFC. Taken together, these analyses identified multiple novel lipid loci, providing new potential therapeutic targets.</P>

Short-range magnetic order in La1-xBaxCoO3 cobaltites

Phan The Long,Dimitar N. Petrov,J. Ćwikd,N.T. Dang,Viet Dongquoc 한국물리학회 2018 Current Applied Physics Vol.18 No.11

Magnetization versus temperature and magnetic-field measurements, M(T, Ha), have been carried out to study the magnetic and critical properties of polycrystalline La1-xBaxCoO3 (x=0.3 and 0.5) cobaltites. These compounds with the density of ∼6.2 g/cm3 crystallized in the R3c rhombohedral and Pm3m cubic structures, respectively. With an applied field Ha=200 Oe, M(T) data have revealed that the samples with x=0.3 and 0.5 exhibit the ferromagnetic-paramagnetic (FM-PM) phase transition at the Curie temperature points TC=202 and 157 K, respectively. At 4.2 K, the saturation magnetization (Msat) decreases from 35.9 emu/g for x=0.3–26.1 emu/g for x=0.5. Particularly, the critical-behavior analyses in the vicinity of TC reveal all samples undergoing a second-order phase transition, with critical exponent values (β=0.328 and γ=1.251 for x=0.3, and β=0.331 and γ=1.246 for x=0.5) close to those expected for the 3D Ising model. This proves short-range magnetic order existing in La1-xBaxCoO3. We believe that magnetic inhomogeneities due to the mixture of holerich FM regions (confined in the trivalent-cobalt hole-poor anti-FM matrix) and uniaxial anisotropy prevent longrange order in La1-xBaxCoO3.

Surface smoothing of thin HTc YBa2Cu3O7-superconducting films by high-energy iodine ions

A. Markwitz,V. J. Kennedy,A. Bubendorfer,N. Long 한국물리학회 2004 Current Applied Physics Vol.4 No.2-4

A variety of techniques were applied to probe for surface modications and structural changes in thin highTcYBa2Cu3O7. d(YBCO) superconducting lms prepared onto MgO substrates after time of ight heavy ion elastic recoil detection analysis(HERDA).Films have been prepared by ex-situ processing of a spin-coated organic solgel precursor.Evidence is provided for the smoothening of the surface of the films accompanied with an amorphisation of the YBCO lms in the HERDA spot region.Thevirgin surface roughness of 30-50 nm could be reduced to 1-2 nm after bombarding the lm for a short time with pA current.However, large scale surface roughness on the 200 nm scale remained unchanged.Importantly, the integrity of the superconductorlms did not change signicantly during HERDA allowing simultaneous measurements of high resolution Y, Cu, Mg and C depth proles.Further research will utilise the HERDA depth proling capability for carbon and copper since the copper stoichiometry and fraction of carbon as an impurity are crucial for an understanding of the performance of the YBCO films.

Critical current anisotropy for second generation HTS wires

E.F. Talantsev,N.M. Strickland,P. Hoefakker,J.A. Xia,N.J. Long 한국물리학회 2008 Current Applied Physics Vol.8 No.3,4

Angular anisotropies of critical currents with respect to an applied magnetic eld,Ic(B,h), were experimentally studied for two typesof second-generation high-temperature superconductor (HTS) tapes synthesized by metal-organic and E-beam deposition. We alsoexamine the angular dependence of the power-law exponent in the electric eld-current density relation. The angular dependence of theseparameters provides an insight into the nature of the ux-pinning mechanisms in these tapes.