Carbon disulfide induces mitochondria-mediated apoptosis in Sertoli-germ cells coculture

Wei Wang,Zhen Zhang,Yinsheng Guo,Yu Dong,Xiaoyu Huang1,Yijun Zhou,Guoyuan Chen 대한독성 유전단백체 학회 2015 Molecular & cellular toxicology Vol.11 No.2

Carbon disulfide (CS2), a common organic solvent, induces a variety of adverse effects in the male reproductive system. In this study, we investigated the cytotoxicity, ultrastructural changes, and potential apoptotic induction mechanisms of CS2 in mixed cultures of Sertoli and germ cells. Sertoli and germ cells were cocultured and treated with CS2 for 24 h. Growth rates were noted, and apoptotic cells were identified by Hoechst 33258 staining. Ultrastructure changes were observed via transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Mitochondrial membrane potential and expressions of apoptosis-related factors (cytochrome c, Bax, Bcl- 2, caspase-3 and caspase-9) were examined by JC-1 staining, western blot, and real-time PCR. The results showed that CS2 treatment was associated with reduced growth rates of Sertoli-germ cells. Ultrastructure changes in Sertoli-germ cells treated with CS2 were typical of apoptosis. In addition, CS2 treatment depolarized mitochondrial membrane potential, upregulated Bax levels and downregulated Bcl-2 levels, released cytochrome c from the mitochondrial intermembrane space to the cytosol, and triggered mitochondria-mediated apoptosis. Subsequently, caspase-9 and caspase-3 were activated, resulting in Sertoli-germ cells apoptosis. The above data suggest that CS2 has adverse effect on the viability of Sertoli-germ cells and induces apoptosis through mitochondrial pathway.

CT-Guided Microcoil Localization of Small Peripheral Pulmonary Nodules to Direct Video-Assisted Thoracoscopic Resection without the Aid of Intraoperative Fluoroscopy

Huang Zhen-guo,Wang Cun-li,Sun Hong-liang,Li Chuan-dong,Gao Bao-xiang,Chen He,Yang Min-xing 대한영상의학회 2021 Korean Journal of Radiology Vol.22 No.7

Objective: To evaluate the feasibility, safety, and effectiveness of CT-guided microcoil localization of solitary pulmonary nodules (SPNs) for guiding video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS). Materials and Methods: Between June 2016 and October 2019, 454 consecutive patients with 501 SPNs who received CTguided microcoil localization before VATS in our institution were enrolled. The diameter of the nodules was 0.93 ± 0.49 cm, and the shortest distance from the nodules to the pleura was 1.41 ± 0.95 cm. The distal end of the microcoil was placed less than 1 cm away from the nodule, and the proximal end was placed outside the visceral pleura. VATS was performed under the guidance of implanted microcoils without the aid of intraoperative fluoroscopy. Results: All 501 nodules were marked with microcoils. The time required for microcoil localization was 12.8 ± 5.2 minutes. Microcoil localization-related complications occurred in 179 cases (39.4%). None of the complications required treatment. A total of 463 nodules were successfully resected under the guidance of implanted microcoils. VATS revealed 38 patients with dislocated microcoils, of which 28 underwent wedge resection (21 cases under the guidance of the bleeding points of pleural puncture, 7 cases through palpation), 5 underwent direct lobectomy, and the remaining 5 underwent a conversion to thoracotomy. In 4 cases, a portion of the microcoil remained in the lung parenchyma. Conclusion: CT-guided microcoil localization of SPNs is safe and reliable. Marking the nodule and pleura simultaneously with microcoils can effectively guide the resection of SPNs using VATS without the aid of intraoperative fluoroscopy.

Deformation Response Induced by Surcharge Loading above Shallow Shield Tunnels in Soft Soil

Zhen Huang,Hai Zhang,Helin Fu,Shaokun Ma,Ying Liu 대한토목학회 2020 KSCE JOURNAL OF CIVIL ENGINEERING Vol.24 No.8

In the case of sudden surcharge loading, shallow shield tunnels in areas with soft soil experience substantial deformation responses. It is very important to understand the different loading modes and control measures above the shallow shield tunnels in soft soil for improving the safety of tunnel structure and reducing the influence of deformation. In this study, a three-dimensional numerical model of shallow shield tunnels in soft soil is established with FLAC3D. Ground and tunnel deformations are analyzed under different loading modes, and the effects of different deformation control measures are also studied. The numerical simulations in this paper show that the surface and tunnel deformation responses vary when induced by different loading modes above shallow shield tunnels in soft soil. After surface hardening with a 20-cm-thick layer of C20 concrete, the surface settlement is effectively controlled, and the uneven longitudinal settlement of the tunnel vault is improved. However, controlling the height of the surcharge is the most direct deformation control method. When the height of the surcharge is reduced from 6 m to 4 m and 2 m, the maximum ground settlement is reduced by 37.8% and 69.4%, respectively, and the maximum longitudinal settlement of the tunnel vault is reduced by 35.3% and 65.2%, respectively. During the operation of shallow shield tunnel in soft soil area, sudden surcharge loading should not be allowed. In the inevitable case, the surcharge loading on one side of the tunnel should be prevented and the surcharge loading height should be strictly limited.

Structural Dynamic Response of a Frame Tunnel Under Coupled Impact–Explosion Loading

Zhen Huang,Maojiang Qin,Chenlong Zhang,Wenjun Zhang,Zhaojian Hu 대한토목학회 2023 KSCE Journal of Civil Engineering Vol.27 No.12

As the main structural bodies of underground facilities such as subway stations, frame tunnel structures play an important role in urban development and construction. In recent years, with the frequent occurrence of explosions after vehicle impacts in tunnels, which have caused severe damage to frame tunnels, the lack of relevant papers makes it necessary to develop a dynamic response analysis of frame tunnels. In this paper, by optimizing the design of an original frame tunnel structure, a dynamic response numerical model of the frame tunnel considering the impact effect of a 3D solidified vehicle and the joint effect is investigated. The deformation trend and damage evolution of the frame tunnel are analysed under different collision masses (1.4, 2.4, 6 and 15 t), collision angles (5, 10, 15 and 75°), collision speeds (60, 80 and 100 km/h), blast delay times (10, 20 and 30 ms) and blast equivalents (50, 100 and 200 kg TNT). This paper improves the active and passive robustness of frame tunnels using both improved operational management and the optimal design of the tunnel structure as a way to ensure the structural safety and functional resilience of frame tunnels.

DETECTION OF MULTIPLE BIPOLAR FLOWS IN NGC 7027 WITH SUBMILLIMETER ARRAY

Huang, Zhen-Yuan,Hasegawa, Tatsuhiko I.,Dinh-V-Trung,,Kwok, Sun,Muller, Sebastien,Hirano, Naomi,Lim, Jeremy,Muthu Mariappan, C.,Lyo, Aran IOP Publishing 2010 The Astrophysical journal Vol.722 No.1

Characterization of a GH8 β-1,4-Glucanase from Bacillus subtilis B111 and Its Saccharification Potential for Agricultural Straws

( Zhen Huang ),( Guorong Ni ),( Xiaoyan Zhao ),( Fei Wang ),( Mingren Qu ) 한국미생물 · 생명공학회 2021 Journal of microbiology and biotechnology Vol.31 No.10

Herein, we cloned and expressed an endo-β-1,4-glucanase gene (celA1805) from Bacillus subtilis B111 in Escherichia coli. The recombinant celA1805 contains a glycosyl hydrolase (GH) family 8 domain and shared 76.8% identity with endo-1,4-β-glucanase from Bacillus sp. KSM-330. Results showed that the optimal pH and temperature of celA1805 were 6.0 and 50°C, respectively, and it was stable at pH 3-9 and temperature ≤50°C. Metal ions slightly affected enzyme activity, but chemical agents generally inhibited enzyme activity. Moreover, celA1805 showed a wide substrate specificity to CMC, barley β-glucan, lichenin, chitosan, PASC and avicel. The K_m and V_max values of celA1805 were 1.78 mg/ml and 50.09 μmol/min/mg. When incubated with cellooligosaccharides ranging from cellotriose to cellopentose, celA1805 mainly hydrolyzed cellotetrose (G4) and cellopentose (G5) to cellose (G2) and cellotriose (G3), but hardly hydrolyzed cellotriose. The concentrations of reducing sugars saccharified by celA1805 from wheat straw, rape straw, rice straw, peanut straw, and corn straw were increased by 0.21, 0.51, 0.26, 0.36, and 0.66 mg/ml, respectively. The results obtained in this study suggest potential applications of celA1805 in biomass saccharification.

Aberrant Expression of the Autocrine Motility Factor Receptor Correlates with Poor Prognosis and Promotes Metastasis in Gastric Carcinoma

Huang, Zhen,Zhang, Neng,Zha, Lang,Mao, Hong-Chao,Chen, Xuan,Xiang, Ji-Feng,Zhang, Hua,Wang, Zi-Wei Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2014 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.15 No.2

AMFR, autocrine motility factor receptor, also called gp78, is a cell surface cytokine receptor which has a dual role as an E3 ubiquitin ligase in endoplasmic reticulum-associated degradation. AMFR expression is associated with tumor malignancy. We here investigated the clinical significance of AMFR and its role in metastasis and prognosis in gastric cancer. Expression of AMFR, E-cadherin and N-cadherin in cancer tissues and matched adjacent normal tissues from 122 gastric cancer (GC) patients undergoing surgical resection was assessed by immunohistochemistry. Levels of these molecules in 17 cases selected randomly were also analysed by Western blotting. AMFR expression was significantly increased in gastric cancer tissues, and associated with invasion depth and lymph node metastasis. Kaplan-Meier analysis showed AMFR expression correlated with poor overall survival and an increased risk of recurrence in the GC cases. Cox regression analysis suggested AMFR to be an independent predictor for overall and recurrence-free survival. E-cadherin expression was decreased in gastric cancer tissues; conversely, N-cadherin was increased. Expression of AMFR negatively correlated with E-cadherin expression, whereas N-cadherin expression showed a significant positive correlation with AMFR expression. AMFR might be involved in the regulation of epithelial-mesenchymal transition, with aberrant expression correlating with a poor prognosis and promoting invasion and metastasis in GCs.

Numerical investigation of the three-dimensional dynamic process of sabot discard

HUANG Zhen-gui,WESSAM Mahfouz Elnaggar,CHEN Zhi-hua 대한기계학회 2014 JOURNAL OF MECHANICAL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY Vol.28 No.7

The sabot discard process of an armor-piercing, fin-stabilized discarding sabot (APFSDS) is crucial for the flight stability of the projectile. In this paper, the sabot discard behavior after projectile ejection from the muzzle is investigated at Mach number 4.0 and angle ofattack of 0°. 3D compressible equations implemented with a dynamic unstructured tetrahedral mesh are numerically solved with a commercialcomputational fluid dynamics (CFD) code (FLUENT 12.0). Six-degrees-of-freedom (6DOF) rigid-body motion equations issolved with the CFD results through a user-defined function to update the sabot trajectory at every time step. A combination of springbasedsmoothing and local re-meshing is employed to regenerate the meshes around the sabot and describe its movement at each timestep. Computational results show three different separation processes during the sabot discard process. Furthermore, the aerodynamicforces of APFSDS are calculated, and the trajectories of the three sabots are illustrated through the numerical solution of 6DOF equations. The results of the present study agree well with typical experimental results and provide detailed parameters that are important for analyzingthe stability of the projectile. The present computations confirm that the numerical solution of the governing equations of aerodynamicsand 6DOF rigid-body equations are a feasible method to study the sabot discard processes of APFSDS.

Effective 3-D FEM for large-scale high temperature superconducting racetrack coil

Huang, Xiangyu,Huang, Zhen,Xu, Xiaoyong,Li, Wan,Jin, Zhijian The Korea Institute of Applied Superconductivity a 2019 한국초전도저온공학회논문지 Vol.21 No.3

In various types of large-scale electrical applications, the number of coil turns in such machines is usually large. Electromagnetic simulation of large-scale superconducting coils (tens to hundreds of turns) is indispensable in the design process of superconducting electrical equipment. However, due to the large scale of the coil and the large aspect ratio of super-conducting material layer in HTS coated conductor, it is usually difficult or even unable to perform 3-D transient electromagnetic simulation. This paper introduces an effective 3-D electromagnetic simulation method for large-scale HTS coated conductor coil based on T-A formulation. The simulation and experimental results show that the 3-D model based on the T-A formulation using homogeneous strategy is more accurate than the traditional 2-D models. The memory usage is not sensitive to the number of turns and this model will be even more superior as the number of turns becomes larger.

Characterization of a Thermostable Lichenase from Bacillus subtilis B110 and Its Effects on β-Glucan Hydrolysis

( Zhen Huang ),( Guorong Ni ),( Fei Wang ),( Xiaoyan Zhao ),( Yunda Chen ),( Lixia Zhang ),( Mingren Qu ) 한국미생물생명공학회 2022 Journal of microbiology and biotechnology Vol.32 No.4

Lichenase is an enzyme mainly implicated in the degradation of polysaccharides in the cell walls of grains. Emerging evidence shows that a highly efficient expression of a thermostable recombinant lichenase holds considerable promise for application in the beer-brewing and animal feed industries. Herein, we cloned a lichenase gene (CelA203) from Bacillus subtilis B110 and expressed it in E. coli. This gene contains an ORF of 729 bp, encoding a protein with 242 amino acids and a calculated molecular mass of 27.3 kDa. According to the zymogram results, purified CelA203 existed in two forms, a monomer, and a tetramer, but only the tetramer had potent enzymatic activity. CelA203 remained stable over a broad pH and temperature range and retained 40% activity at 70℃ for 1 h. The K_m and V_max of CelA203 towards barley β-glucan and lichenan were 3.98 mg/ml, 1017.17 U/mg, and 2.78 mg/ml, 198.24 U/mg, respectively. Furthermore, trisaccharide and tetrasaccharide were the main products obtained from CelA203-mediated hydrolysis of deactivated oat bran. These findings demonstrate a promising role for CelA203 in the production of oligosaccharides in animal feed and brewing industries.