The effects of codon usage on the formation of secondary structures of nucleocapsid protein of peste des petits ruminants virus

Xiao‑xia Ma,Yi‑ning Wang,Xiao‑an Cao,Xue‑rui Li,Yong‑sheng Liu,Jian‑hua Zhou,Xue‑peng Cai 한국유전학회 2018 Genes & Genomics Vol.40 No.9

The nucleocapsid (N) protein of peste des petits ruminants virus (PPRV) with a conserved amino acid usage pattern plays an important role in viral replication. The primary objective of this study was to estimate roles of synonymous codon usages of PPRV N gene and tRNA abundances of host in the formation of secondary structure of N protein. The potential effects of synonymous codon usages of N gene and tRNA abundances of host on shaping different folding units (α-helix, β-strand and the coil) in N protein were estimated, based on the information about the modeling secondary structure of PPRV N protein. The synonymous codon usage bias was found in different folding units in PPRV N protein. To better understand the role of translation speed caused by variant tRNA abundances in shaping the specific folding unit in N protein, we modeled the changing trends of tRNA abundance at the transition boundaries from one folding unit to another folding unit (β-strand → coil, coil → β-strand, α-helix → coil, coil → α-helix). The obvious fluctuations of tRNA abundance were identified at the two transition boundaries (β-strand → coil and coil → β-strand) in PPRV N protein. Our findings suggested that viral synonymous codon usage bias and cellular tRNA abundance variation might have potential effects on the formation of secondary structure of PPRV N protein.

Synthesis and Characteristic of Novel Soluble Triazoleimide Oligomers with Terminated Arylacetylene

Zhou, Xiao'an,Du, Lei,Wan, Liqiang,Wang, Xiaofei,E, Yanpeng,Huang, Farong Korean Chemical Society 2010 Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society Vol.31 No.9

Novel soluble triazoleimide oligomers terminated with arylacetylene terminated were synthesized by the Cu(I)-catalysed 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition polymerization of diazides and imide-containing dialkyne. Several molecular weight triazoleimide oligomers were prepared from diazide and dialkyne monomers with different stoichiometric combinations. The curing behaviors of the oligomers were tested by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The thermal properties of the cured products were evaluated by DSC and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). These cured oligomers showed the glass transition temperature of about $225-235^{\circ}C$ and the decomposition temperature (at 5% weight loss) of about $385-393^{\circ}C$ in nitrogen.

Synthesis and Characteristic of Novel Soluble Triazoleimide Oligomers with Terminated Arylacetylene

Xiao’an Zhou,Lei Du,Liqiang Wan,Xiaofei Wang,Yanpeng E,Farong Huang 대한화학회 2010 Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society Vol.31 No.9

Novel soluble triazoleimide oligomers terminated with arylacetylene terminated were synthesized by the Cu(I)-catalysed 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition polymerization of diazides and imide-containing dialkyne. Several molecular weight triazoleimide oligomers were prepared from diazide and dialkyne monomers with different stoichiometric combinations. The curing behaviors of the oligomers were tested by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The thermal properties of the cured products were evaluated by DSC and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). These cured oligomers showed the glass transition temperature of about 225 - 235 oC and the decomposition temperature (at 5% weight loss) of about 385 - 393 oC in nitrogen.

HGFK1 is Associated with a Better Prognostis and Reverses Inhibition by Gefitinib in NSCLC Cases

Zhou, Xiao-Hui,Tang, Li-Na,Yue, Lu,Min, Da-Liu,Yang, Yi,Huang, Jian-An,Shen, Zan Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2012 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.13 No.4

Purpose: Non small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is the leading worldwide source of cancer-related deaths. Although some drugs targeting EGFR mutations have been developed, most advanced cases are still incurable. New targets for anticancer drugs are demanded. The kringle 1 domain of hepatocellular growth factor alpha chain (HGFK1) is a potent anti-angiogenesis factor. It has also emerged as a potential anticancer factor in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The expression of HGFK1 protein in patients with NSCLC has not been reported to date. Method: Here, we assessed HGFK1 expression by Western blotting in 103 cases with advanced NSCLC to investigate the impact of HGFK1 on survival. Results: Results revealed 33 (30.1%) patients were classified as high expressors, this being significantly associated with less remote metastasis (P = 0.002) but not with lymph node metastasis (P = 0.062). There was also a significant association between HGFK1 expression and tumor size (P = 0.025) as well as clinical stage (P = 0.012). Kaplan-Meier survival analysis showed that both overall survival (OS) and progression free survival (PFS) of patients with HGFK1 expression were longer than those of patients without HGFK1 expression (P = 0.004 and P = 0.001 respectively). HGFK1 reversed gefitinib inhibition in the resistent NSCLC cell line A431/GR but did not inhibit the proliferation of NSCLC cells A431 and A431/GR directly. Reversion of gefitinib inhibition in A431/GR cells by HGFK1 was related to decreased phosphorylation of ERK and STAT5. Conclusions: HGFK1 may be a useful prognostic factor of advanced NSCLC patients and a potential drug for gefitinib resistant patients.

Pretreatment with the Total Flavone Glycosides of Flos Abelmoschus manihot and Hyperoside Prevents Glomerular Podocyte Apoptosis in Streptozotocin-Induced Diabetic Nephropathy

Lei Zhou,Xiao-Fei An,Shi-Chao Teng,Jing-Shun Liu,Wen-Bin Shang,Ai-Hua Zhang,Yang-Gang Yuan,Jiang-Yi Yu 한국식품영양과학회 2012 Journal of medicinal food Vol.15 No.5

Diabetic nephropathy (DN) is an important diabetic complication, and podocyte apoptosis plays a critical role in the development of DN. In the present study, we examined the preventive effect of the total flavone glycosides of Flos Abelmoschus manihot (TFA) on urinary microalbumin and glomerular podocyte apoptosis in experimental DN rats. The preliminary oral administration of TFA (200 mg/kg/day) for 24 weeks significantly decreased the urinary microalbumin to creatinine ratio and 24-h urinary total protein in streptozotocin-induced DN rats. Terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferasemediated dUTP nick end-labeling assay indicated glomerular cell apoptosis in DN rats was significantly improved by pretreatment with TFA. Furthermore, fluorescence-activated cell sorting and Hoechst 33342 staining suggested preincubation with hyperoside (50 and 200 lg/mL), the major active constituent of TFA, could significantly mitigate cultured podocyte apoptosis induced by the advanced glycation end-products (AGEs). Western blot analysis showed that increased caspase-3 and caspase-8 expressions induced by AGEs were also inhibited by pretreatment with hyperoside at both doses. Our results demonstrate that TFA pretreatment can decrease urinary albumin excretion in early-stage DN, which might be accomplished by preventing renal damage and podocyte apoptosis.

Negative sequence control for DC voltage balancing in three‑phase cascaded H‑bridge rectifiers considering DC‑port failures

Xinyu Zhu,Xiao Liang,Kaiyue Gong,Xu Peng,Jun Cai,Xiaohan Liu,Chao Zhou,Siqi An,Chao Wu,Pengcheng Han 전력전자학회 2022 JOURNAL OF POWER ELECTRONICS Vol.22 No.12

As a vital component of power electronic transformers (PET), the reliability of a cascaded H-bridge rectifier (CHBR) is essential. Therefore, in this paper, a DC-port voltage balance strategy considering DC-port failure is researched to ensure the stable operation of a CHBR. However, if the DC-port voltage balance strategy is adopted to realize the single-phase balance of a CHBR, the three-phase currents become unbalanced. This paper uses a negative sequence control (NSC) strategy that is conducive to balancing DC-port voltage to achieve three-phase current balance. For the DC-port voltage balance, the matrix generation modulation (MGM) algorithm is proposed. In addition, the DC-port voltage balance boundary is analyzed to determine the range of the DC-port voltage balance in the CHBR. A 3-module cascading topology is adopted to demonstrate the MGM algorithm and the NSC strategy. Through experiments, results show the correctness and feasibility of the proposed strategy.

Voltage balance strategy for DC‑port failures of three‑phase cascaded H‑bridge rectifiers based on negative sequence current injection

Xiaohan Liu,Xiao Liang,Kaiyue Gong,Siqi An,Xu Peng,Jun Cai,Xinyu Zhu,Chao Zhou 전력전자학회 2022 JOURNAL OF POWER ELECTRONICS Vol.22 No.8

The three-phase cascaded H-bridge rectifier (CHBR) is widely used in high power and high voltage applications. This paper focuses on the load removed from the DC port of a three-phase CHBR, which can cause single-phase DC-port voltage unbalance issues and three-phases DC-port voltage unbalance issues. This paper proposes a voltage balance control strategy based on negative sequence current injection for three-phase CHBR to deal with the unbalance problem. An individual DC-port voltage control strategy is designed to balance the DC-port voltage in the faulty phase. In addition, a negative sequence current injection control strategy is responsible for balancing the DC-port voltages in the three phase CHBR. The effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed voltage control strategy based on negative sequence current injection is verified by the experimental results.

Curcumin targets vascular endothelial growth factor via activating the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway and improves brain hypoxic-ischemic injury in neonatal rats

Jia Li,Yan An,Jia-Ning Wang,Xiao-Ping Yin,Huan Zhou,Yong-Sheng Wang 대한생리학회-대한약리학회 2020 The Korean Journal of Physiology & Pharmacology Vol.24 No.5

This study aimed to evaluate the effect of curcumin on brain hypoxicischemic (HI) damage in neonatal rats and whether the phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)/Akt/vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) signaling pathway is involved. Brain HI damage models were established in neonatal rats, which received the following treatments: curcumin by intraperitoneal injection before injury, insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) by subcutaneous injection after injury, and VEGF by intracerebroventricular injection after injury. This was followed by neurological evaluation, hemodynamic measurements, histopathological assessment, TUNEL assay, flow cytometry, and western blotting to assess the expression of p-PI3K, PI3K, p-Akt, Akt, and VEGF. Compared with rats that underwent sham operation, rats with brain HI damage showed remarkably increased neurological deficits, reduced right blood flow volume, elevated blood viscosity and haematocrit, and aggravated cell damage and apoptosis; these injuries were significantly improved by curcumin pretreatment. Meanwhile, brain HI damage induced the overexpression of p-PI3K, p-Akt, and VEGF, while curcumin pretreatment inhibited the expression of these proteins. In addition, IGF-1 treatment rescued the curcumin-induced down-regulated expression of p- PI3K, p-Akt, and VEGF, and VEGF overexpression counteracted the inhibitory effect of curcumin on brain HI damage. Overall, pretreatment with curcumin protected against brain HI damage by targeting VEGF via the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway in neonatal rats.

Improving the quality of breast ultrasound examination performed by inexperienced ultrasound doctors with synchronous tele-ultrasound: a prospective, parallel controlled trial

Yi-Kang Sun,Xiao-Long Li,Qiao Wang,Bo-Yang Zhou,An-Qi Zhu,Chuan Qin,Le-Hang Guo,Hui-Xiong Xu 대한초음파의학회 2022 ULTRASONOGRAPHY Vol.41 No.2

Purpose: This prospective study explored the value of synchronous tele-ultrasound (US) to aid doctors inexperienced in US with breast US examinations.Methods: In total, 99 patients were enrolled. Two trainee doctors who were inexperienced in US (trainee A [TA] and trainee B [TB]) and one doctor who was an expert in US completed the US examinations sequentially. TA completed the US examinations independently, while TB was instructed by the expert using synchronous tele-US. Subsequently, the expert performed on-site US examinations in person. Separately, they selected the most clinically significant nodule as the target nodule. Consistency with the expert and image quality were compared between TA and TB to evaluate tele-US. Furthermore, TB and the patients evaluated tele-US through questionnaires.Results: TB demonstrated higher consistency with the expert in terms of target nodule selection than TA (93.3% vs. 63.3%, P<0.001). TB achieved good inter-observer agreement (ICC, >0.75) with the expert on five US features (5/9, 55.6%), while TA only did so for one (1/9, 11.1%) (P=0.046). TB’s image quality was higher than TA’s in gray value, time gain compensation, depth, color Doppler adjustment, and the visibility of key information (P=0.018, P<0.001, P<0.001, P=0.033, and P=0.006, respectively). The comprehensive assessment score was higher for TB than for TA (3.96±0.82 vs. 3.09±0.87, P<0.001). Tele-US was helpful in 69.7% of US examinations and had a training effect in 68.0%. Furthermore, 63.6% of patients accepted tele-US and 60.6% were willing to pay.Conclusion: Tele-US can help doctors inexperienced in US to perform breast US examinations.

Effective adsorption of phenols using nitrogen-containing porous activated carbon prepared from sunflower plates

Zhengguo Zhang,Xiaoqin Feng,Xiao-Xia Yue,Fu-Qiang An,Wen-Xia Zhou,Jian-Feng Gao,Tuo-Ping Hu,Chin-Chuan Wei 한국화학공학회 2015 Korean Journal of Chemical Engineering Vol.32 No.8

Nitrogen-containing porous carbons, the 800SP-NH3, were synthesized using sunflower plates as the major carbon source carbonized at 800 oC and activated with concentrated aqueous ammonia at the same temperature. The porous carbons were characterized by nitrogen physical adsorption-desorption, surface area analyzer, FT-IR, and SEM. The adsorption properties of the porous carbons towards phenols were also investigated by batch methods. The test results show that the average pore diameter of porous carbon is smaller than 2 nm, and nitrogen-containing chemical groups are formed on its surface. The adsorption capacity for phenol, 4-chlorophenol, and p-nitrophenol is 316.5mg/g, 330.24mg/g and 387.62mg/g due to its developed pore structure and nitrogen-containing chemical groups. The adsorption isotherm data greatly obey the Langmuir model.