Expression of IER3 in Primary Hepatocarcinoma: Correlation with Clinicopathological Parameters

Liu, Zhong,Wang, Xin-Mei,Jia, Tong-Fu,Zhai, Yi,Sun, Ling-Yan,Cheng, Yu-Ping,Zhang, Yue-Min,Liu, Shi-Hai,Liang, Jun Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2015 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.16 No.2

Background: Studies indicate the immediate early response gene 3 (IER3) is involved in many biological processes. Recently, it was discovered that IER3 plays an important role in tumorigenesis and tumor progression. Thus it may be a valuable biomarker in tumor. This study was designed to investigate the expression status of IER3 in primary hepatocarcinoma (PHC) and correlation with clinicopathological parameters. Materials and Methods: Real-time PCR was performed to evaluate the expression levels of IER3 in 62 pathologically diagnosed human PHC specimens. Results: A statistically significant association was disclosed between the expression of IER3 and P53 mutant protein (short for P53), Ki-67, EGFR and the biggest diameter, differentiation grade of tumor. Conclusions: This work is the first to shed light on the potential clinical usefulness of IER3, as an efficient tumor biomarker in PHC.

Identification and expression profiles of chitin deacetylase genes in the rice leaf folder, Cnaphalocrocis medinalis

Hai-Zhong Yu,Ming-Hui Liu,Xue-Yang Wang,Xin Yang,Wan-Ling Wang,Lei Geng,Dong Yu,Xue-Lan Liu,Gui-Ying Liu,Jia-Ping Xu 한국응용곤충학회 2016 Journal of Asia-Pacific Entomology Vol.19 No.3

Chitin deacetylase (CDA) is an insect chitin degradation enzyme that catalyzes the deacetylation of chitin to form chitosan. In this study, combination of rapid-amplification of cDNA ends (RACE) technology with Cnaphalocrocis medinalis transcriptome database analysis revealed the presence of at least five C. medinalis CDAs (CmCDAs), which were CmCDA1, CmCDA2, CmCDA4, CmCDA5, and CmCDA6. The cDNA sequences of CmCDA1, CmCDA2, and CmCDA4 hadwhole open reading frame (ORF) for further analysis. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that insect CDAs could be categorized into five groups. CmCDAs' structural domain analysis revealed that all three CDAs contained the chitin deacetylase-like catalytic domain. CmCDA1 and CmCDA2 belong to Group I because they both contain the chitin-binding peritrophin-A domain (ChBD), low-density lipoprotein receptor class A domain (LDLa), and chitin deacetylase-like catalytic domain. CmCDA4 only contains ChBD and chitin deacetylase-like catalytic domain thus belongs to Group III. Tissue and developmental stage expression analysis showed that the expression levels of CmCDA1, CmCDA2, and CmCDA4 are significantly higher in the head than other tissues and also significantly higher in adults than in larvae. CmCDA5 had significantly higher expression in the integument than other tissues, suggesting potential roles in the process of degradation of chitin. In contrast, CmCDA5 showed relatively high expression in larvae. In conclusion, this study analyzed the cDNA sequences of three CDA genes and determined their expression and molecular characteristics, which provided a new sequence resource and improved the development of bio-pesticides and the biological pest control and contributed to management of this important agricultural pest.

Mitochondrial citrate accumulation drives alveolar epithelial cell necroptosis in lipopolysaccharide-induced acute lung injury

Yang Hui-Hui,Jiang Hui-Ling,Tao Jia-Hao,Zhang Chen-Yu,Xiong Jian-Bing,Yang Jin-Tong,Liu Yu-Biao,Zhong Wen-Jing,Guan Xin-Xin,Duan Jia-Xi,Zhang Yan-Feng,Liu Shao-Kun,Jiang Jian-Xin,Zhou Yong,Guan Cha-Xi 생화학분자생물학회 2022 Experimental and molecular medicine Vol.54 No.-

Necroptosis is the major cause of death in alveolar epithelial cells (AECs) during acute lung injury (ALI). Here, we report a previously unrecognized mechanism for necroptosis. We found an accumulation of mitochondrial citrate (citratemt) in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-treated AECs because of the downregulation of Idh3α and citrate carrier (CIC, also known as Slc25a1). shRNA- or inhibitor–mediated inhibition of Idh3α and Slc25a1 induced citratemt accumulation and necroptosis in vitro. Mice with AEC-specific Idh3α and Slc25a1 deficiency exhibited exacerbated lung injury and AEC necroptosis. Interestingly, the overexpression of Idh3α and Slc25a1 decreased citratemt levels and rescued AECs from necroptosis. Mechanistically, citratemt accumulation induced mitochondrial fission and excessive mitophagy in AECs. Furthermore, citratemt directly interacted with FUN14 domain-containing protein 1 (FUNDC1) and promoted the interaction of FUNDC1 with dynamin-related protein 1 (DRP1), leading to excessive mitophagy-mediated necroptosis and thereby initiating and promoting ALI. Importantly, necroptosis induced by citratemt accumulation was inhibited in FUNDC1-knockout AECs. We show that citratemt accumulation is a novel target for protection against ALI involving necroptosis.

Comparative microbiome analysis reveals bacterial communities associated with Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus infection in the Huanglongbing insect vector Diaphorina citri

Liu Kai,Pang Rui,Guan Zi-ying,Zhong Ming-zhao,He Jia-wei,Han Qun-xin 한국응용곤충학회 2022 Journal of Asia-Pacific Entomology Vol.25 No.2

The Asian citrus psyllid (Diaphorina citri) is a major pest of the citrus industry and is also the vector for Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus (CLas), a destructive Huanglongbing (HLB) disease of citrus trees. Insect endosymbionts and gut bacteria play important roles in vector-pathogen interactions and host immunity. Thus, our aim was to evaluate the correlation between CLas infection and the microbiome in D. citri by conducting 16S rRNA amplification sequencing on insects successfully and unsuccessfully infected with CLas (CLas-infected and noninfected). Genera Candidatus Profftella, Wolbachia, and Candidatus Carsonella were highly abundant genera in all tested samples. Compared with the non-infected and control groups, CLas-infected samples harboured more observed OTUs and showed higher alpha diversity metrics. Principal coordinate analysis based on beta-diversity metrics indicated two distinct clusters between the CLas-infected samples and non-infected/control samples. Subsequent LEfSe analysis revealed that Candidatus Profftella was more abundant in the non-infected group than in the control and CLas-infected groups. The interaction network also indicated a co-exclusion relationship be tween Candidatus Profftella and CLas, while CLas co-existed with Wolbachia, several Enterobacteriaceae spp., and multiple other bacteria. Our study provides insight into the interaction between the microbiome community in D. citri and CLas, which can facilitate the management of this pest and its associated pathogen.

Field measurement-based wind-induced response analysis of multi-tower building with tuned mass damper

Xin Chen,Zhiqiang Zhang,Aiqun Li,Hu, Liang,Liu, Xianming,Fan, Zhong,Sun, Peng 한국풍공학회 2021 Wind and Structures, An International Journal (WAS Vol.32 No.2

The 246.8-m-tall Beijing Olympic Tower (BOT) is a new landmark in Beijing City, China. Its unique architectural style with five sub-towers and a large tower crown gives rise to complex dynamic characteristics. Thus, it is wind-sensitive, and a double-stage pendulum tuned mass damper (DPTMD) has been installed for vibration mitigation. In this study, a finite-element analysis of the wind-induced responses of the tower based on full-scale measurement results was performed. First, the structure of the BOT and the full-scale measurement are introduced. According to the measured dynamic characteristics of the BOT, such as the natural frequencies, modal shapes, and damping ratios, an accurate finite-element model (FEM) was established and updated. On the basis of wind measurements, as well as wind-tunnel test results, the wind load on the model was calculated. Then, the wind-induced responses of the BOT with the DPTMD were obtained and compared with the measured responses to assess the numerical wind-induced response analysis method. Finally, the wind-induced serviceability of the BOT was evaluated according to the field measurement results for the wind-induced response and was found to be satisfactory for human comfort.

Making university and curricular sustainable entrepreneurship: a case study of Tsinghua University

Zhong Zhou,Feng, Fan,Li Jizhen,Liu, Xin,Cao, Yue,Liao, Ying 서울대학교 교육연구소 2022 Asia Pacific Education Review Vol.23 No.4

Making the university and its teachers and students alike as sustainable entrepreneurs are central endeavours in this age of sustainable development today. This paper presents an in-depth case study to examine the development of sustainable entrepreneurship of Tsinghua University of China at institutional and curricular levels. The paper first proposes an analytical model of the sustainable university as the alignment of six elements based on three interrelated propositions. The paper then applies the model to study Tsinghua’s culture of sustainability and entrepreneurship and its strategies from green university to sustainable university. Next the paper discusses five cases courses in sustainability education from diverse disciplines with shared goal to foster sustainability competence as global competence and shared pedagogies for experiential learning. The paper concludes with theoretical discussions of institutional-level sustainable entrepreneurship and also practical discussions of shared characteristics and challenges of curricular-level sustainable entrepreneurship with special references of pedagogical and digital opportunities and challenges. The paper presents findings from a self-reflective practitioner-as-researcher action research jointly conducted by the instructors of case courses. The paper used a mixed-method approach with participatory observation, interview, focus-group, survey, and curricular development experiments.

Clinical Effectiveness of Preoperative Embolization for Cerebellar Hemangioblastoma

Liu, Ai-Hua,Peng, Tang-Ming,Wu, Zhen,Xiao, Xin-Ru,Jiang, Chu-Han,Wu, Zhong-Xue,Li, You-Xiang Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2013 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.14 No.9

The cerebellar hemangioblastoma (CHB) has an abundant blood supply and deep anatomical location. Complete surgical resection is generally very difficult. This study investigated the safety and effectiveness of preoperative embolization followed by surgical resection of CHB in a large cohort of patients. A database of 125 CHB patients with surgical resection in Beijing Tiantan Hospital between July 2006 and July 2012 was reviewed. Of those, 46 cases (experimental group) received preoperative embolization, 79 cases (control group) underwent surgery without embolization. Patient demographics, tumor size, duration of surgery, blood loss, blood transfusion, complications and follow-up results were collected and analyzed retrospectively. In the experimental group, the Kamofsky score (KS) was 80-100 in 40 cases (86.9%), 40-70 in 4 cases (8.7%), and below 40 in 2 cases (4.3%). Among 31 cases with follow-up, KS was 80-100 in 27 cases (87.1%), 40-70 in 2 cases (6.5%), and 0 in 2 cases (6.5%). In control group, KS was 80 -100 in 65 cases (82.2%), 40-70 in 6 cases (7.6%), 10-30 in 3 cases (3.8%), and 0 in 3 cases (3.8%). Among 53 cases with follow-up, KS was 80-100 in 44 cases (83.0%), 40-70 in 4 cases (7.5%), 10-30 in 1 case (1.9%), and 0 in 4 cases (7.5%). There were statistically significant differences between the experimental and control groups in tumor size, duration of surgery, amount of intraoperative blood loss and transfusion (p<0.01). However, complications (p=0.31) and follow-up results (p=0.76) showed no significant differences between groups. Selective preoperative embolization of those CHB patients with richer blood supply, higher hemorrhage risk, is safe and effective, and is a reliable adjuvant therapy for complete surgical resection of CHB.

VSV-G Viral Envelope Glycoprotein Prepared from Pichia pastoris Enhances Transfection of DNA into Animal Cells

( Xin Liu ),( Ying Dong ),( Jingquan Wang ),( Long Li ),( Zhenmin-zhong ),( Yun-pan Li ),( Shao-jun Chen ),( Yu-cai Fu ),( Wen-can Xu ),( Chi-ju Wei ) 한국미생물생명공학회(구 한국산업미생물학회) 2017 Journal of microbiology and biotechnology Vol.27 No.6

Vesicular stomatitis virus G glycoprotein (VSV-G) has been widely used for pseudotyping retroviral, lentiviral, and artificial viral vectors. The objective of this study was to establish a potential approach for large-scale production of VSV-G. To this end, VSV-G was cloned with an N-terminal His-tag into Pichia pastoris expression vector pPIC3.5K. Three clones (Mut^s) containing the VSV-G expression cassette were identified by PCR. All clones proliferated normally in expansion medium, whereas the proliferation was reduced significantly under induction conditions. VSV-G protein was detected in cell lysates by western blot analysis, and the highest expression level was observed at 96 h post induction. VSV-G could also be obtained from the condition medium of yeast protoplasts. Furthermore, VSV-G could be incorporated into Ad293 cells and was able to induce cell fusion, leading to the transfer of cytoplasmic protein. Finally, VSV-G-mediated DNA transfection was assayed by flow cytometry and luciferase measurement. Incubation of VSV-G lysate with the pGL3-control DNA complex increased the luciferase activity in Ad293 and HeLa cells by about 3-fold. Likewise, incubation of VSV-G lysate with the pCMV-DsRed DNA complex improved the transfection efficiency into Ad293 by 10% and into HeLa cells by about 1-fold. In conclusion, these results demonstrate that VSV-G could be produced from P. pastoris with biofunctionalities, demonstrating that large-scale production of the viral glycoprotein is feasible.

Holistic Joint Optimal Cooperative Spectrum Sensing and Transmission Based on Cooperative Communication in Cognitive Radio

( Weizhi Zhong ),( Kunqi Chen ),( Xin Liu ),( Jianjiang Zhou ) 한국인터넷정보학회 2017 KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Syst Vol.11 No.3

In order to utilize the licensed channel of cognitive radio (CR) when the primary user (PU) is detected busy, a benefit-exchange access mode based on cooperative communication is proposed to allow secondary user (SU) to access the busy channel through giving assistance to PU`s communication in exchange for some transmission bandwidth. A holistic joint optimization problem is formulated to maximize the total throughput of CR system through jointly optimizing the parameters of cooperative spectrum sensing (CSS), including the local sensing time, the pre-configured sensing decision threshold, the forward power of cooperative communication, and the bandwidth and transmission power allocated to SUs in benefit-exchange access mode and traditional access mode, respectively. To solve this complex problem, a combination of bi-level optimization, interior-point optimization and exhaustive optimization is proposed. Simulation results show that, compared with the tradition throughput maximizing model (TTMM), the proposed holistic joint optimization model (HJOM) can make use of the channel effectively even if PU is busy, and the total throughput of CR obtains a considerable improvement by HJOM.

Multi-objective optimization model of high-temperature ceramic filter

Longfei Liu,Zhongli Ji,Xin Luan 한국화학공학회 2020 Korean Journal of Chemical Engineering Vol.37 No.5

Ceramic filters have been widely used in industrial engineering, such as the Shell coal gasification process (SCGP) and Integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC), where the performance of the ceramic filter is achieved by the pulse jet. Residual pressure drop and gas consumption are directly related to reverse-flow pulse (RFP) pressure. However, in the process of operation, the RFP pressure is too large and gas consumption is too high. In this study, the effects of RFP pressures on filter’s cleaning efficiency, residual pressure drop, and gas consumption were investigated on a ceramic filter. Within a certain range, the cleaning efficiency gradually increased with increased RFP pressure. When the RFP pressure reached a certain value, the cleaning efficiency did not increase with increased pressure, showing a quadratic relationship between cleaning efficiency and RFP pressure. The residual pressure drop and RFP pressure were also in a quadratic relationship. Besides, the gas consumption increased linearly as increased RFP pressure according to the theoretical model. Based on the research results, a multi-objective optimization model of a ceramic filter was established with the cleaning efficiency as a constraint condition, gas consumption and residual pressure drop as the optimization objectives. A fuzzy decision-making method was used to solve the optimization model and calculate the residual pressure drop and gas consumption, from which the optimal RFP pressure was obtained.