Excessive mechanical strain accelerates intervertebral disc degeneration by disrupting intrinsic circadian rhythm

Ding Sheng-Long,Zhang Tai-Wei,Zhang Qi-Chen,Ding Wang,Li Ze-Fang,Han Guan-Jie,Bai Jin-Song,Li Xi-Lei,Dong Jian,Wang Hui-Ren,Jiang Li-Bo 생화학분자생물학회 2021 Experimental and molecular medicine Vol.53 No.-

Night shift workers with disordered rhythmic mechanical loading are more prone to intervertebral disc degeneration (IDD). Our results showed that circadian rhythm (CR) was dampened in degenerated and aged NP cells. Long-term environmental CR disruption promoted IDD in rats. Excessive mechanical strain disrupted the CR and inhibited the expression of core clock proteins. The inhibitory effect of mechanical loading on the expression of extracellular matrix genes could be reversed by BMAL1 overexpression in NP cells. The Rho/ROCK pathway was demonstrated to mediate the effect of mechanical stimulation on CR. Prolonged mechanical loading for 12 months affected intrinsic CR genes and induced IDD in a model of upright posture in a normal environment. Unexpectedly, mechanical loading further accelerated the IDD in an Light-Dark (LD) cycle-disrupted environment. These results indicated that intrinsic CR disruption might be a mechanism involved in overloading-induced IDD and a potential drug target for night shift workers.

한국인 및 중국 한족 정신분열병 환자의 5-HT2A 수용체 유전자 -1438A/G 다형성

이장호,이광철,이승부,오용인,최영근,조아랑,정주호,장환일 大韓神經精神醫學會 2005 신경정신의학 Vol.44 No.1

Objectives : The purpose of the present study was to investigate the association between -1438A/G polymorphism of 5-HT2A receptor gene and schizophrenia in Korean and Han Chinese population. Methods : A sample of 184 Korean patients with schizophrenia and 96 Korean healthy normal controls and 96 Han Chinese patients with schizophrenia and 96 Han-Chinese healthy normal controls were genotyped for a single nucleotide polymorphism with in 5-HT2A receptor gene (promoter region, A-1438G) by Msp I Resthction Fragment Length Polymorphism (RFLP). Results : There was no difference in allelic frequencies and genotype frequencies of -1438A/G polymorphism between Korean schizophrenics and controls (p=0.13) and Han Chinese schizophrenics and controls (p=0.40). Also, -1438A/G Poly-morphism did not show ethnical difference between Korean and Han Chinese controls. The Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms (SANS) scores showed no significant differences between genotypes of -1438A/G polymorphism in both of Korean and Han Chinese schizophrenics. Conclusion : These results suggest that -1438A/G polymorphism of the 5-HT2A receptor gene is not causally related to the development of schizophrenia in Korean and Han Chinese population, and there no ethnic difference between Korean and Han Chinese population.

Occurrence and Source Effect of Novel Brominated Flame Retardants (NBFRs) in Soils from Five Asian Countries and Their Relationship with PBDEs

Li, Wen-Long,Ma, Wan-Li,Zhang, Zi-Feng,Liu, Li-Yan,Song, Wei-Wei,Jia, Hong-Liang,Ding, Yong-Sheng,Nakata, Haruhiko,Minh, Nguyen Hung,Sinha, Ravindra Kumar,Moon, Hyo-Bang,Kannan, Kurunthachalam,Sverko, American Chemical Society 2017 Environmental science & technology Vol.51 No.19

<P>This paper presents the first comprehensive survey of 19 novel brominated flame retardants (NBFRs) in soil samples collected among five Asian countries. High variability in concentrations of all NBFRs was found in soils with the geometric mean (GM) values ranging from 0.50 ng/g dry weight (dw) in Vietnam to 540 ng/g dw in the vicinity of a BFR manufacturer in China. In urban, rural, and background locations, the GM concentrations of Sigma(19)NBFRs decreased in the order of Japan > South Korea > China > India > Vietnam. Correlations among different NBFR compounds were positive and statistically significant (p < 0.05), suggesting that they originate from similar sources. Evidence for simultaneous application between polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and NBFRs were also noted. Principal component analysis of NBFR concentrations revealed specific pollution sources for different NBFRs coming from urban, BFR-related industrial, and e-waste sites. For the first time, this study demonstrates a 'point source fractionation effect' for NBFRs and PBDEs. The concentrations of all NBFRs and PBDEs were negatively and significantly correlated with the distance from BFR-related industrial and e-waste regions. Positive and significant correlation between population density and NBFR concentrations in soils was identified. Our study revealed that the primary sources effects were stronger than the secondary sources effects in controlling the levels and distribution of NBFRs and PBDEs in soils in these five Asian countries.</P>

Mobility-Sensitive Multicast Protocol in NEMO

Long-Sheng Li,Hung-I Chi,Kai-Chung Xie,Din-Yuan Chan 한국인터넷정보학회 2022 KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Syst Vol.16 No.6

In view of the past, the mobility of the multicast source in the mobility networks is seldom discussed in the traditional multicast protocols. It is a heavy cost for the traditional multicast protocols to reconstruct the multicast tree in the Network Mobility (NEMO) environment. This article proposes an alternative multicast protocol, referred to as Mobility-Sensitive Multicast protocol (MSM), for the NEMO environment. The MSM can be considered as an alternative version of the Multicast Listener Discovery (MLD) protocol to maintain the multicast tree in the NEMO. There are two obvious contributions for the MSM. Reconstruct mechanism could rebuild the multicast tree for the mobility of the multicast source. Multi-group suppression mechanism reduce the multicast tree maintaining cost for the mobility of the multicast members. Through the performance evaluations and analyses, the MSM has less cost to maintain the multicast tree than the traditional multicast protocols, especially for a large numbers of multicast groups. Moreover, the MSM allows the mobility of the multicast source to reconstruct the multicast tree easily.

A SANDWICH-INJECTION METHOD FOR MICROCHIP ELECTROPHORESIS

JIAN-LONG ZHAO,GANG LI,GUI-SHENG ZHUANG,HONG-BO ZHOU,YUAN-SEN XU 성균관대학교(자연과학캠퍼스) 성균나노과학기술원 2007 NANO Vol.2 No.6

In microchip electrophoresis (μ-CE), sample injection is generally achieved through cross, double-T, or T-form injector structures. In these reported approaches, the separation efficiency and detection sensitivity of μ-CE is significantly influenced by the shape and size of the sample plug introduced into the separation channel or sample leakage in separation phase. Here, we present a sandwich-injection method for controlling discrete sample injection in μ-CE. This method involves four accessory arm channels in which symmetrical potentials are loaded to form a unique parallel electric field distribution at the intersection of sample and separation channels. The parallel electric field effectuate a virtual wall to confine the shape of a sample plug and depress the spreading of the sample plug at the junction of sample and separation channels, and also prevent sample leakage during separation step. The key features of this method are the ability to inject well-defined sample plugs at the original sample concentration and the ability to control the sample plug size. The virtues of the novel injection technique were demonstrated with numerical models and validated with fluorescence visualizations of electrophoretic experiments.

Carboxymethyl Flavonoids and A Monoterpene Glucoside from Selaginella moellendorffii

Hong-Sheng Wang,Ling Sun,Yue-Hu Wang,Ya-Na Shi,Gui-Hua Tang,Fu-Wei Zhao,Hong-Mei Niu,Chun-Lin Long,Ling Li 대한약학회 2011 Archives of Pharmacal Research Vol.34 No.8

A new dihydroflavone, 5-carboxymethyl-7,4'-dihydroxyflavonone (1), and its glucoside 5-carboxymethyl-7,4'-dihydroxyflavonone-7-O-β-D-glucopyranoside (2), and one new monoterpene glucoside, (4Z,6E)-2,7-dimethyl-8-hydroxyocta-4,6-dienoic acid 8-O-β-D-glucopyranoside (3), were isolated from the whole plants of Selaginella moellendorffii. Their structures were determined by spectroscopic methods and chemical transformation. Compound 2 was evaluated for the ability to enhance glucose consumption in normal and insulin-resistant L6 muscle cells induced by high concentrations of insulin and glucose. Glucose consumption in insulin-resistant cells (but not in normal cells) was increased 15.2 ± 3.3% (p < 0.01) by compound 2 at a concentration of 0.1 μM in the presence of insulin (1 nM).

Heavy concrete shielding properties for carbon therapy

Jin-Long Wang,Jiade J Lu,Da-Jun Ding,Wen-Hua Jiang,Ya-Dong Li,Rui Qiu,Hui Zhang,Xiao-Zhong Wang,Huo-Sheng Ruan,Yan-Bing Teng,Xiao-Guang Wu,Yun Zheng,Zi-Hao Zhao,Kai-Zhong Liao,Huan-Cheng Mai,Xiao-Dong Korean Nuclear Society 2023 Nuclear Engineering and Technology Vol.55 No.6

As medical facilities are usually built at urban areas, special concrete aggregates and evaluation methods are needed to optimize the design of concrete walls by balancing density, thickness, material composition, cost, and other factors. Carbon treatment rooms require a high radiation shielding requirement, as the neutron yield from carbon therapy is much higher than the neutron yield of protons. In this case study, the maximum carbon energy is 430 MeV/u and the maximum current is 0.27 nA from a hybrid particle therapy system. Hospital or facility construction should consider this requirement to design a special heavy concrete. In this work, magnetite is adopted as the major aggregate. Density is determined mainly by the major aggregate content of magnetite, and a heavy concrete test block was constructed for structural tests. The compressive strength is 35.7 MPa. The density ranges from 3.65 g/cm³ to 4.14 g/cm³, and the iron mass content ranges from 53.78% to 60.38% from the 12 cored sample measurements. It was found that there is a linear relationship between density and iron content, and mixing impurities should be the major reason leading to the nonuniform element and density distribution. The effect of this nonuniformity on radiation shielding properties for a carbon treatment room is investigated by three groups of Monte Carlo simulations. Higher density dominates to reduce shielding thickness. However, a higher content of high-Z elements will weaken the shielding strength, especially at a lower dose rate threshold and vice versa. The weakened side effect of a high iron content on the shielding property is obvious at 2.5 µSv=h. Therefore, we should not blindly pursue high Z content in engineering. If the thickness is constrained to 2 m, then the density can be reduced to 3.3 g/cm³, which will save cost by reducing the magnetite composition with 50.44% iron content. If a higher density of 3.9 g/cm³ with 57.65% iron content is selected for construction, then the thickness of the wall can be reduced to 174.2 cm, which will save space for equipment installation.

Parameterization and Mapping of Solar Radiation in Data Sparse Regions

Ji-Long Chen,Guo-Sheng Li 한국기상학회 2012 Asia-Pacific Journal of Atmospheric Sciences Vol.48 No.4

Knowledge of temporal and spatial variation of solar radiation is essential for many applications. In this work, a simple and feasible procedure is conducted to map the daily solar radiation for Liaoning province, one of the most important agricultural areas in China, but with sparsely measured solar radiation data. The daily sunshine duration are interpolated to the whole area, subsequently,solar radiation are calculated by Ångström-Prescott model, the generic parameters of which are determined by least square to minimize the overall fitting residual between the ratio of actual to potential sunshine duration and the ratio of actual to extra-terrestrial solar radiation of the sites where solar radiation are available. In other local regions with sparse data, mapping of the solar radiation could be done following the simple procedure. In the present study area,using the interpolated daily sunshine duration data by ANUSPLIN,Ångström-Prescott model with the generic parameters (a = 0.505,and b = 0.204) returns reasonable results, with the overall RMSE of 2.255 MJ m−2, and RRMSE of 16.54%. The daily solar radiation varies between 5.26 in December and 22.74 MJ m−2 in May, and shows an obviously spatial variation which is mainly contributed to the climate and topography. The substitution of solar radiation from nearby station is preferred to estimation by Ångström-Prescott model if the distance between the stations falls below the threshold of 135 ± 15 km. The RMSE of such substitution increases by approximately 0.157 MJ m−2 per 10 km.

Effects of Nutritional and Environmental Conditions on Planktonic Growth and Biofilm Formation of Citrobacter werkmanii BF-6

( Gang Zhou ),( Long Jie Li ),( Qing Shan Shi ),( You Sheng Ouyang ),( Yi Ben Chen ),( Wen Feng Hu ) 한국미생물 · 생명공학회 2013 Journal of microbiology and biotechnology Vol.23 No.12

Citrobacter sp. is a cause of significant opportunistic nosocomial infection and is frequently found in human and animal feces, soil, and sewage water, and even in industrial waste or putrefaction. Biofilm formation is an important virulence trait of Citrobacter sp. pathogens but the process and characteristics of this formation are unclear. Therefore, we employed in vitro assays to study the nutritional and environmental parameters that might influence biofilm formation of C. werkmanii BF-6 using 96-well microtiter plates. In addition, we detected the relative transcript levels of biofilm formation genes by RT-PCR. Our results indicated that the capacity of C. werkmanii BF-6 to form biofilms was affected by culture temperature, media, time, pH, and the osmotic agents glucose, sucrose, NaCl, and KCl. Confocal laser scanning microscopy results illustrated that the structure of biofilms and extracellular polysaccharide was influenced by 100 mM NaCl or 100 mM KCl. In addition, nine biofilm formation genes (bsmA, bssR, bssS, csgD, csgE, csgF, mrkA, mrkB, and mrkE) were found to contribute to planktonic and biofilm growth. Our data suggest that biofilm formation by C. werkmanii BF-6 is affected by nutritional and environmental factors, which could pave the way to the prevention and elimination of biofilm formation using proper strategies.

The development of training platform for CiADS using cave automatic virtual environment

Jin-Yang Li,Jun-Liang Du,Long Gu,You-Peng Zhang,Xin Sheng,Cong Lin,Yongquan Wang Korean Nuclear Society 2023 Nuclear Engineering and Technology Vol.55 No.7

The project of China initiative Accelerator Driven Subcritical (CiADS) system has been started to construct in southeast China's Guangdong province since 2019, which is expected to be checked and accepted in the year 2025. In order to make the students in University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS) better understand the main characteristic and the operation condition in the subcritical nuclear facility, the training platform for CiADS has been developed based on the Cave Automatic Virtual Environment (CAVE) in the Institute of Modern Physics Chinese Academy of Sciences (IMPCAS). The CAVE platform is a kind of non-head mounted virtual reality display system, which can provide the immersive experience and the alternative training platform to substitute the dangerous operation experiments with strong radioactivity. In this paper, the CAVE platform for the training scenarios in CiADS system has been presented with real-time simulation feature, where the required devices to generate the auditory and visual senses with the interactive mode have been detailed. Moreover, the three dimensional modeling database has been created for the different operation conditions, which can bring more freedom for the teachers to generate the appropriate training courses for the students. All the user-friendly features will offer a deep realistic impression to the students for the purpose of getting the required knowledge and experience without the large costs in the traditional experimental nuclear reactor.