Dreyfus scale-based feedback increased medical students’ satisfaction with the complex cluster part of a interviewing and physical examination course and improved skills readiness in Taiwan

Shiau-Shian Huang,Chia-Chang Huang,Ying-Ying Yang,Shuu-Jiun Wang,Boaz Shulruf,Chen-Huan Chen 한국보건의료인국가시험원 2019 보건의료교육평가 Vol.16 No.-

PurposeIn contrast to the core part of the clinical interviewing and physical examination (PE) skills course, corresponding to the basic, head-to-toe, and thoracic systems, learners need structured feedback in the cluster part of the course, which includes the gastrointestinal, neuromuscular, and musculoskeletal systems. This study evaluated the effects of using Dreyfus scale-based feedback, which has elements of continuous professional development, instead of Likert scale-based feedback in the cluster part of training in Taiwan. MethodsInstructors and final-year medical students in the 2015-2016 classes of National Yang-Ming University, Taiwan comprised the regular cohort, whereas those in the 2017-2018 classes formed the intervention cohort. In the intervention cohort, Dreyfus scale-based feedback, rather than Likert scale-based feedback, was used in the cluster part of the course. ResultsIn the cluster part of the course in the regular cohort, pre-trained standardized patients rated the class climate as poor, and students expressed low satisfaction with the instructors and course and low self-assessed readiness. In comparison with the regular cohort, improved end-of-course group objective structured clinical examination scores after the cluster part were noted in the intervention cohort. In other words, the implementation of Dreyfus scale-based feedback in the intervention cohort for the cluster part improved the deficit in this section of the course. ConclusionThe implementation of Dreyfus scale-based feedback helped instructors to create a good class climate in the cluster part of the clinical interviewing and PE skills course. Simultaneously, this new intervention achieved the goal of promoting medical students’ readiness for interviewing, PE, and self-directed learning.

The USP21/YY1/SNHG16 axis contributes to tumor proliferation, migration, and invasion of non-small-cell lung cancer

Pei Xu,Haibo Xiao,Qi Yang,Rui Hu,Lianyong Jiang,Rui Bi,Xueyan Jiang,Lei Wang,Ju Mei,Fangbao Ding,Jianbing Huang 생화학분자생물학회 2020 Experimental and molecular medicine Vol.52 No.-

Deubiquitinases (DUBs) and noncoding RNAs have been the subjects of recent extensive studies regarding their roles in lung cancer, but the mechanisms involved are largely unknown. In our study, we used The Cancer Genome Atlas data set and bioinformatics analyses and identified USP21, a DUB, as a potential contributor to oncogenesis in nonsmall-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). We further demonstrated that USP21 was highly expressed in NSCLCs. We then conducted a series of in vitro and in vivo assays to explore the effect of USP21 on NSCLC progression and the underlying mechanism involved. USP21 promoted NSCLC cell proliferation, migration, and invasion and in vivo tumor growth by stabilizing a well-known oncogene, Yin Yang-1 (YY1), via mediating its deubiquitination. Furthermore, YY1 transcriptionally regulates the expression of SNHG16. Moreover, StarBase bioinformatics analyses predicted that miR4500 targets SNHG16 and USP21. A series of in vitro experiments indicated that SNHG16 increased the expression of USP21 through miR-4500. In summary, the USP21/YY1/SNHG16 axis plays a role in promoting the progression of NSCLC. Therefore, the USP21/YY1/SNHG16/miR-4500 axis may be a potential therapeutic target in NSCLC treatment.

Breviscapine Ameliorates Fear Extinction and Anxiety in BALB/cJ Mice

Wei Liang(Wei Liang),Jing Huang(Jing Huang),Shuya Yang(Shuya Yang),Peng Huang(Peng Huang),Jun Chen(Jun Chen),Chen Chen(Chen Chen),Qun Yang(Qun Yang),Fengzhan Li(Fengzhan Li) 대한신경정신의학회 2023 PSYCHIATRY INVESTIGATION Vol.20 No.3

Objective In this research, the influence of breviscapine on anxiety, fear elimination, and aggression and the potential mechanism was investigated. Methods Anxiety and locomotion were analyzed by elevated plus maze and open field test in mice. Bussey-Saksida Mouse Touch Screen Chambers were used to perform fear conditioning. Territorial aggression was assessed by resident intruder test. Protein levels were evaluated by Western blot. Breviscapine improved fear-extinction learning in BALB/cJ mice. Results Breviscapine at 20-100 mg/kg increased center cross number, total distance traveled, and velocity in a dose-dependent manner. On the other hand, breviscapine at 20-100 mg/kg decreased the immobility time in open field test. In addition, breviscapine at 20-100 mg/kg increased the ratio of time on the open arm, time on the distal parts of the open arm, and total distance traveled in elevated plus maze. Breviscapine at 100 mg/kg increased the average attack latency and decreased the number of attacks over the last 3 days of resident intruder test. In hippocampus, protein levels of postsynaptic density protein-95 and synaptophysin were elevated by breviscapine at these three doses. Conclusion The administration of breviscapine alleviates fear extinction, anxiety, and aggression, while increases locomotor in a dose-dependent manner, which might be associated with its influence on synaptic function.

Wogonin attenuates vascular remodeling by inhibiting smooth muscle cell proliferation and migration in hypertensive rat

Yang Yang,Huang Shan,Wang Jun,Nie Xiao,Huang Ling,Li Tianfa 대한약리학회 2024 The Korean Journal of Physiology & Pharmacology Vol.28 No.1

Wogonin, extracted from the roots of Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi, has been shown to suppress collagen deposition in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRs). This study was performed to investigate the role and mechanism of wogonin underlying vascular remodeling in SHRs. After injection of SHRs with 40 mg/kg of wogonin, blood pressure in rats was measured once a week. Masson's trichrome staining was conducted to observe the changes in aortas and mesenteric arteries. Vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) isolated from rat thoracic aortas were treated with Angiotensin II (Ang II; 100 nM) in the presence or absence of varying concentrations of wogonin. The viability and proliferation of VSMCs were examined using Cell Counting Kit-8 assay and 5-ethynyl-2’-deoxyuridine assay, respectively. The migration of VSMCs was examined using wound healing assay and transwell assay. We found that wogonin administration alleviated hypertension, increased lumen diameter, and reduced the thickness of the arterial media in SHRs. Ang II treatment enhanced the viability of VSMCs, which was inhibited by wogonin in a concentration -dependent manner. Wogonin reversed Ang II-induced increases in the viability, proliferation, and migration of VSMCs. Moreover, wogonin inhibited Ang II-induced activation of mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling in VSMCs. Overall, wogonin repressed the proliferative and migratory capacity of VSMCs by regulating the MAPK signaling pathway, thereby attenuating vascular remodeling in hypertensive rats, indicating that wogonin might be a therapeutic agent for the treatment of vascular diseases.

Equal Z standard-setting method to estimate the minimum number of panelists for a medical school’s objective structured clinical examination in Taiwan: a simulation study

Ying-Ying Yang,Pin-Hsiang Huang,Ling-Yu Yang,Chia-Chang Huang,Chih-Wei Liu,Shiau-Shian Huang,Chen-Huan Chen,Fa-Yauh Lee,Shou-Yen Kao,Boaz Shulruf 한국보건의료인국가시험원 2022 보건의료교육평가 Vol.19 No.-

Purpose Undertaking a standard-setting exercise is a common method for setting pass/fail cut scores for high-stakes examinations. The recently introduced equal Z standard-setting method (EZ method) has been found to be a valid and effective alternative for the commonly used Angoff and Hofstee methods and their variants. The current study aims to estimate the minimum number of panelists required for obtaining acceptable and reliable cut scores using the EZ method. Methods The primary data were extracted from 31 panelists who used the EZ method for setting cut scores for a 12-station of medical school’s final objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) in Taiwan. For this study, a new data set composed of 1,000 random samples of different panel sizes, ranging from 5 to 25 panelists, was established and analyzed. Analysis of variance was performed to measure the differences in the cut scores set by the sampled groups, across all sizes within each station. Results On average, a panel of 10 experts or more yielded cut scores with confidence more than or equal to 90% and 15 experts yielded cut scores with confidence more than or equal to 95%. No significant differences in cut scores associated with panel size were identified for panels of 5 or more experts. Conclusion The EZ method was found to be valid and feasible. Less than an hour was required for 12 panelists to assess 12 OSCE stations. Calculating the cut scores required only basic statistical skills.

GC–MS analysis of chemical constituents and determination of the total antioxidant capacity of adult powder of Periplaneta americana

Yang Zhen,Xie Jiqin,Huang Feiyun,Yang Yu,Zhang Xiuyue,Yue Bisong 한국곤충학회 2022 Entomological Research Vol.52 No.2

Edible insects are alternative sources of high protein. Southeast Asia, South America, Africa, and Europe have recorded edible insects and, especially in Europe and America, there are factories that produce insects as food. In some areas of China, there has also been the habit of eating insects since ancient times. Periplaneta americana is an insect with the homology of medicine and food. In recent years, its medicinal and nutritional functions have attracted extensive attention and research. Its adult powder has been certified as a health product. It not only contains a variety of proteins but also is rich in fatty acids. The composition and antioxidant function of adult powder extract was analyzed in this study. Using adult P. americana powder as the raw material, it was extracted with n-Hexane, dichloromethane, and ethyl acetate, respectively. Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) removed a total of 60 compounds, and many active components were extracted from P. americana powder for the first time. The parts and relative content of each extracted sample were obtained, and the total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC) of each extracted piece was determined, among which the antioxidant activity of ethyl acetate was the highest.

CNC Corner Milling Parameters Optimization Based on Variable-Fidelity Metamodel and Improved MOPSO Regarding Energy Consumption

Yang Yang,Yuan Wang,Qianfeng Liao,Jiongliang Pan,Junyu Meng,Hao Huang 한국정밀공학회 2022 International Journal of Precision Engineering and Vol.9 No.4

In the corner milling process, processing energy consumption is a very important objective, since the energy efficiency of CNC machine is barely above 14.8%. Meanwhile, the excessive processing temperature will increase the thermal deformation of the product and leads to quality decline. Improper process parameters will lead to unnecessary high temperature and energy consumption. By optimizing the process parameters, the appropriate temperature and Specific Energy Consumption can be obtained. This study investigated into modeling Specific Energy Consumption and temperature in corner milling process using variable-fidelity metamodels. The adopted variable-fidelity metamodels are constructed by Hierarchical Kriging, in which 48 sets of low-fidelity data obtained from the AdvantEdge software simulation are used to reflect the trends of the metamodels, and 16 sets of high-precision data obtained from physical experiments are used to calibrate the trends. The experimental cost is reduced and the prediction accuracy is increased by making full use of both sets of data. An improved K-means Multi-objective Particle Swarm Optimization algorithm was adopted and applied on the multi-objective corner milling parameters optimization problem to find satisfactory specific energy consumption and temperature. The obtained Pareto solutions can provide guidance for selecting process parameters according to different requirements, such as reducing energy consumption or temperature.

Highly Oriented Monolayer Graphene Grown on a Cu/Ni(111) Alloy Foil

Huang, Ming,Biswal, Mandakini,Park, Hyo Ju,Jin, Sunghwan,Qu, Deshun,Hong, Seokmo,Zhu, Zhili,Qiu, Lu,Luo, Da,Liu, Xiaochi,Yang, Zheng,Liu, Zhongliu,Huang, Yuan,Lim, Hyunseob,Yoo, Won Jong,Ding, Feng,Wa American Chemical Society 2018 ACS NANO Vol.12 No.6

<P>Fast-growth of single crystal monolayer graphene by CVD using methane and hydrogen has been achieved on “homemade” single crystal Cu/Ni(111) alloy foils over large area. Full coverage was achieved in 5 min or less for a particular range of composition (1.3 at.% to 8.6 at.% Ni), as compared to 60 min for a pure Cu(111) foil under identical growth conditions. These are the bulk atomic percentages of Ni, as a superstructure at the surface of these foils with stoichiometry Cu<SUB>6</SUB>Ni<SUB>1</SUB> (for 1.3 to 7.8 bulk at.% Ni in the Cu/Ni(111) foil) was discovered by low energy electron diffraction (LEED). Complete large area monolayer graphene films are either single crystal or close to single crystal, and include folded regions that are essentially parallel and that were likely wrinkles that “fell over” to bind to the surface; these folds are separated by large, wrinkle-free regions. The folds occur due to the buildup of interfacial compressive stress (and its release) during cooling of the foils from 1075 °C to room temperature. The fold heights measured by atomic force microscopy (AFM) and scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) prove them to all be 3 layers thick, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) imaging shows them to be around 10 to 300 nm wide and separated by roughly 20 μm. These folds are always essentially perpendicular to the steps in this Cu/Ni(111) substrate. Joining of well-aligned graphene islands (in growths that were terminated prior to full film coverage) was investigated with high magnification SEM and aberration-corrected high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (TEM) as well as AFM, STM, and optical microscopy. These methods show that many of the “join regions” have folds, and these arise from interfacial adhesion mechanics (they are due to the buildup of compressive stress during cool-down, but these folds are different than for the continuous graphene films-they occur due to “weak links” in terms of the interface mechanics). Such Cu/Ni(111) alloy foils are promising substrates for the large-scale synthesis of single-crystal graphene film.</P> [FIG OMISSION]</BR>

Lack of Association of the Cyclooxygenase-2 Gene 8473T>C Polymorphism with Breast Cancer Risk: a Meta-analysis

Yang, Xi,Zhao, Fen,Li, Yue-Hua,Huang, Min,Huang, Ying,Yi, Cheng Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2014 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.15 No.22

Background: Associations between the 8473T>C polymorphism (rs5275) in the cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) gene and breast cancer (BC) risk are still inconclusive and ambiguous. The aim of this meta-analysis was to comprehensively estimate the genetic risk of 8473T>C polymorphism in the COX-2 gene for BC. Materials and Methods: We searched PubMed, Web of Science, Medline, Chinese biomedical (CBM), Weipu, China national knowledge infrastructure (CNKI), and Wanfang databases, covering all publications (last search was updated on Aug 17, 2014). Statistical analyses were performed using Revman 5.3 and STATA 10.0 software. Results: A total of 6,720 cases and 9,794 controls in 12 studies were included in this study. The results indicated no significant associations between the 8473T>C polymorphism of the COX-2 gene and BC risk for the CC+TC vs TT model (pooled odds ratio (OR)=0.97, 95% confidence interval (CI)=0.90-1.03, and p=0.29). On subgroup analysis, we also found that subdivision on ethnicity among Caucasians, Asians and others also revealed no relationship with BC susceptibility. With the study design (CC+TC vs TT), no significant associations were found in either population-based case-control studies (PCC), or hospital-based case-control studies (HCC). Conclusions: This present meta-analysis suggests that the 8473T>C polymorphism in the COX-2 gene is not a conspicuous low-penetrant risk factor for developing BC.

The finite-time ruin probability in two non-standard renewal risk models with constant interest rate and dependent subexponential claims

Yang Yang,Jinguan Lin,Chao Huang,Xin Ma 한국통계학회 2012 Journal of the Korean Statistical Society Vol.41 No.2

This paper considers an ordinary renewal risk model and a compound renewal risk model with constant interest rate, subexponential claims and a general premium process. We derive some asymptotic results on the finite-time ruin probabilities.