Anti-Inflammatory Effect of Spirulina platensis in Macrophages Is Beneficial for Adipocyte Differentiation and Maturation by Inhibiting Nuclear Factor-κB Pathway in 3T3-L1 Adipocytes

Tho X. Pham,Ji-Young Lee 한국식품영양과학회 2016 Journal of medicinal food Vol.19 No.6

We previously showed that the organic extract of a blue-green alga, Spirulina platensis (SPE), had potent anti-inflammatory effects in macrophages. As the interplay between macrophages and adipocytes is critical for adipocyte functions, we investigated the contribution of the anti-inflammatory effects of SPE in macrophages to adipogenesis/lipogenesis in 3T3-L1 adipocytes. 3T3-L1 preadipocytes were treated with 10% conditioned medium from lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated RAW 264.7 macrophages (CMC) or LPS-stimulated, but SPE-pretreated, macrophages (CMS) at different stages of adipocyte differentiation. The expression of adipocyte differentiation markers, such as CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein α, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ, and perilipin, was significantly repressed by CMC when added on day 3, while the repression was attenuated by CMS. Oil Red O staining confirmed that adipocyte maturation in CMS-treated cells, but not in CMC-treated cells, was equivalent to that of control cells. Nuclear translocation of nuclear factor κB (NF-κB) p65 was decreased by CMS compared to CMC. In lipid-laden adipocytes, CMC promoted the loss of lipid droplets, while CMS had minimal effects. Histone deacetylase 9 mRNA and protein levels were increased during adipocyte maturation, which were decreased by CMC. In conclusion, by cross-talking with adipocytes, the anti-inflammatory effects of SPE in macrophages promoted adipocyte differentiation/maturation, at least in part, by repressing the activation of NF-κB inflammatory pathways, which otherwise can be compromised in inflammatory conditions.

The Potential Role of an Endotoxin Tolerance-Like Mechanism for the Anti-Inflammatory Effect of Spirulina platensis Organic Extract in Macrophages

Tho X. Pham,박영기,배민경,이지영 한국식품영양과학회 2017 Journal of medicinal food Vol.20 No.3

Endotoxin tolerance is a phenomenon where exposure of innate immune cells to lipopolysaccharide (LPS) induces a refractory state to subsequent endotoxin exposures. The goal of this study was to investigate if Spirulina platensis organic extract (SPE) induces an endotoxin tolerance-like state. We used splenocytes and peritoneal macrophages from C57BL/6J mice fed a high-fat/high-sucrose (HF/HS) control or a HF/HS diet containing 0.25% (w/w) SPE for 16 weeks for ex vivo LPS stimulation and endotoxin-tolerant (ET) macrophages to evaluate the effects of SPE on endotoxin tolerance. Cells from SPE-fed mice displayed significantly less expression of proinflammatory genes than those from control mice. ET macrophages were produced in vitro by incubating RAW 264.7 macrophages with low-dose LPS to determine the energy phenotype of naive, SPE-treated, and ET macrophages. Compared to naive macrophages exposed to a high-dose LPS (100 ng/mL) for the first time, ET macrophages showed significantly less proinflammatory gene expression after LPS stimulation, which was also observed with SPE treatment. Consistently, nuclear translocation of p65 was markedly reduced in both ET- and SPE-treated macrophages on LPS stimulation with increase in nuclear protein levels of p50 and B cell lymphoma 3-encoded protein. In conclusion, the anti-inflammatory effect of SPE is at least partly attributable to the induction of an endotoxin tolerance-like state in macrophages, which shares common characteristics of macrophage endotoxin tolerance.

Carbon Nanotube-Bridged Graphene 3D Building Blocks for Ultrafast Compact Supercapacitors

Pham, Duy Tho,Lee, Tae Hoon,Luong, Dinh Hoa,Yao, Fei,Ghosh, Arunabha,Le, Viet Thong,Kim, Tae Hyung,Li, Bing,Chang, Jian,Lee, Young Hee American Chemical Society 2015 ACS NANO Vol.9 No.2

<P>The main obstacles to achieving high electrochemical energy density while retaining high power density are the trade-offs of energy <I>versus</I> power and gravimetric <I>versus</I> volumetric density. Optimizing structural parameters is the key to circumvent these trade-offs. We report here the synthesis of carbon nanotube (CNT)-bridged graphene 3D building blocks <I>via</I> the Coulombic interaction between positively charged CNTs grafted by cationic surfactants and negatively charged graphene oxide sheets, followed by KOH activation. The CNTs were intercalated into the nanoporous graphene layers to build pillared 3D structures, which enhance accessible surface area and allow fast ion diffusion. The resulting graphene/CNT films are free-standing and flexible with a high electrical conductivity of 39 400 S m<SUP>–1</SUP> and a reasonable mass density of 1.06 g cm<SUP>–3</SUP>. The supercapacitors fabricated using these films exhibit an outstanding electrochemical performance in an ionic liquid electrolyte with a maximum energy density of 117.2 Wh L<SUP>–1</SUP> or 110.6 Wh kg<SUP>–1</SUP> at a maximum power density of 424 kW L<SUP>–1</SUP> or 400 kW kg<SUP>–1</SUP>, which is based on thickness or mass of total active material.</P><P><B>Graphic Abstract</B> <IMG SRC='http://pubs.acs.org/appl/literatum/publisher/achs/journals/content/ancac3/2015/ancac3.2015.9.issue-2/nn507079x/production/images/medium/nn-2014-07079x_0008.gif'></P><P><A href='http://pubs.acs.org/doi/suppl/10.1021/nn507079x'>ACS Electronic Supporting Info</A></P>

A review of anaerobic digestion systems for biodegradable waste: Configurations, operating parameters, and current trends

Dinh Pham Van,Takeshi Fujiwara,Bach Leu Tho,Pham Phu Song Toan,Giang Hoang Minh 대한환경공학회 2020 Environmental Engineering Research Vol.25 No.1

With benefits to the human health, environment, economy, and energy, anaerobic digestion (AD) systems have attracted remarkable attention within the scientific community. Anaerobic digestion system is created from (bio)reactors to perform a series of bi-metabolism steps including hydrolysis/acidogenesis, acetogenesis, and methanogenesis. By considering the physical separation of the digestion steps above, AD systems can be classified into single-stage (all digestion steps in one reactor) and multi-stage (digestion steps in various reactors). Operation of the AD systems does not only depend on the type of digestion system but also relies on the interaction among growth factors (temperature, pH, and nutrients), the type of reactor, and operating parameters (retention time, organic loading rate). However, these interactions were often reviewed inadequately for the single-stage digestion systems. Therefore, this paper aims to provide a comprehensive review of both single-stage and multi-stage systems as well as the influence of the growth factors, operating conditions, and the type of reactor on them. From those points, the advantages, disadvantages, and application range of each system are well understood.

Optical Spectra of the Colloidal Fe-doped Manganate CaMn1−xFexO3 (x = 0, 0.01, 0.03, 0.05)

Duc Huyen Yen Pham,Duc Tho Nguyen,Duc Thang Pham,Nam Nhat Hoang,The Tan Pham 한국물리학회 2013 THE JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN PHYSICAL SOCIETY Vol.62 No.12

We report the optical behaviors of the Fe-doped CaMnO3 family of compounds at low dopingconcentrations x 5%. The study aims at assisting the evaluation of the competition between ferroandantiferromagnetic orderings, which is believed to be a cause of many interesting properties of thisclass of compounds, including the magnetization reversal effect recently discovered. The structuralcharacterization showed a predominant orthorhombic phase with slightly increased cell constantsdue to doping. The Raman spectra revealed changes associated with the Mn sites, and the IRabsorption spectrum showed a characteristic Fe band at 1.2 eV, which should be accompanied bya change of spin. The analysis of the magnetization data allowed us to predict that while thedoping reduced the ferromagnetic coupling strength, and therefore the TC, the maximal dopingconcentration for the effective exchange to be zero was around 14%.

MODEL TEST AND SIMULATION OF AN INVERTED CONE TYPE-5MW FLOATING OFFSHORE WIND TURBINES MOORED BY THREE CATENARY MOORING LINES

Pham Thanh Dam,Kwangjin Jung,Hoang Van Tho,Jaehyun Cho,Kwangrock Kim,Hyunkyoung Shin,Wooseob Lee 한국신재생에너지학회 2013 AFORE Vol.2013 No.-

Direct fabrication of graphitic carbon nitride-wrapped titanate nanotube arraystoward photoelectrochemical water oxidation in neutral medium

Tho Truong Nguyen,Hong-Huy Tran,Thi Minh Cao,Viet Van Pham 한국화학공학회 2022 Korean Journal of Chemical Engineering Vol.39 No.9

Realizing a long-term, high-performance, and affordable photocatalytic setting for water splitting processesremains challenging despite the tremendous promise. We present a direct fabrication of graphitic carbon nitride-wrappedtitanate nanotube array (gC3N4-wrapped TNA) heterojunction photoelectrodes via a chemical vapor deposition-likeprocess that leverages the pyrolysis and sublimation of melamine at 500 oC. The gC3N4-wrapped TNA heterojunctionphotoelectrodes show a 16 times enhancement of current density and photo-response than bare TNAs. Such a remarkableenhancement comes from the effective charge separation of the gC3N4/TNA interfaces, consequently acceleratingwater splitting to generate oxygen under visible light. In addition, our gC3N4-wrapped TNA photoelectrodes are developedunder a neutral condition that significantly increases their widespread use for practical devices.

Building a mathematics model for lane-change technology of autonomous vehicles

Pham Anh Phuong,Huynh Cong Phap,Quach Hai Tho 한국전자통신연구원 2022 ETRI Journal Vol.44 No.4

In the process of autonomous vehicle motion planning and to create comfort for vehicle occupants, factors that must be considered are the vehicle’s safety features and the road’s slipperiness and smoothness. In this paper, we build a mathematical model based on the combination of a genetic algorithm and a neural network to offer lane-change solutions of autonomous vehicles, focusing on human vehicle control skills. Traditional moving planning methods often use vehicle kinematic and dynamic constraints when creating lane-change trajectories for autonomous vehicles. When comparing this generated trajectory with a man-generated moving trajectory, however, there is in fact a significant difference. Therefore, to draw the optimal factors from the actual driver’s lanechange operations, the solution in this paper builds the training data set for the moving planning process with lane change operation by humans with optimal elements. The simulation results are performed in a MATLAB simulation environment to demonstrate that the proposed solution operates effectively with optimal points such as operator maneuvers and improved comfort for passengers as well as creating a smooth and slippery lane-change trajectory.

Applying the IoT platform and green wave theory to control intelligent traffic lights system for urban areas in Vietnam

( Cao Tho Phan ),( Duy Duong Pham ),( Hoang Vu Tran ),( Trung Viet Tran ),( Phat Nguyen Huu ) 한국인터넷정보학회 2019 KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Syst Vol.13 No.1

This paper proposes an intelligent system performing an application with assistance of an Internet of Things (IoT) platform to control a traffic lights system. In our proposed systems, the traffic lights can be remotely controlled through the Internet. Based on IoT platform, the traffic conditions at different intersections of roads are collected and the traffic lights are controlled in a central manner. For the software part, the algorithm is designed based on the green wave theory to maximize the green bandwidth of arterial roads while addressing a challenging issue: the rapid changes of parameters including cycle time, splits, offset, non-fixed vehicles’ velocities and traffic flow along arterial roads. The issue typically happens at some areas where the transportation system is not well organized like in Vietnam. For the hardware part, PLC S7-1200 are placed at the intersections for two purposes: to control traffic lights and to collect the parameters and transmit to a host machine at the operation center. For the communication part, the TCP/IP protocol can be done using a Profinet port embedded in the PLC. Some graphical user interface captures are also presented to illustrate the operation of our proposed system.

Evaluation of cavitation erosion of a propeller blade surface made of composite materials

Nhut Pham-Thanh,Hoang Van Tho,염영진 대한기계학회 2015 JOURNAL OF MECHANICAL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY Vol.29 No.4

Cavitation erosion strongly impacts the efficiency and strength of marine propellers. This is more important for propellers made fromdifferent types of composite materials. Thus, an investigation of cavitation erosion on the blade surface of composite ship propellers isnecessary. A small three-blade propeller was made from fiberglass combined with epoxy, polyester and gelcoat resin. This propeller wastested in a circulating water channel and revolution speed and depth were determined by conditions of cavitation number. Cavitation erosionwas observed and evaluated by images, weight loss and cavitation area. The results indicated that the cavitation erosion occurred atregions 0.4 R (Radius) and 0.7 R from the center, and cavitation also occurred randomly on pressure or suction surfaces and leading ortrailing edges. Most damaged regions propagated along the circumferential direction of the propeller. Among the blade materials, the Ge-GF blade had the best property. This material had the smallest cavitation area and the most stable cavitation area rate. The Po-GF blade hadthe worst property with strong progression of the cavitation area, and the Ep-GF blade was of medium quality with a small reduction of thedamage area rate. Besides, the depth of the damaged area of the Ge-GF blade was also lower than that of the Ep-GF and Po-GF blade.