Knockdown of lncRNA PVT1 Inhibits Vascular Smooth Muscle Cell Apoptosis and Extracellular Matrix Disruption in a Murine Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Model

Zhang, Zhidong,Zou, Gangqiang,Chen, Xiaosan,Lu, Wei,Liu, Jianyang,Zhai, Shuiting,Qiao, Gang Korean Society for Molecular and Cellular Biology 2019 Molecules and cells Vol.42 No.3

This study was designed to determine the effects of the long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) plasmacytoma variant translocation 1 (PVT1) on vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) apoptosis and extracellular matrix (ECM) disruption in a murine abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) model. After injection of PVT1-silencing lentiviruses, AAA was induced in Apolipoprotein E-deficient ($ApoE^{-/-}$) male mice by angiotensin II (Ang II) infusion for four weeks. After Ang II infusion, mouse serum levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines were analysed, and aortic tissues were isolated for histological, RNA, and protein analysis. Our results also showed that PVT1 expression was significantly upregulated in abdominal aortic tissues from AAA patients compared with that in controls. Additionally, Ang II treatment significantly increased PVT1 expression, both in cultured mouse VSMCs and in AAA murine abdominal aortic tissues. Of note, the effects of Ang II in facilitating cell apoptosis, increasing matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2 and MMP-9, reducing tissue inhibitor of MMP (TIMP)-1, and promoting switching from the contractile to synthetic phenotype in cultured VSMCs were enhanced by overexpression of PVT1 but attenuated by knockdown of PVT1. Furthermore, knockdown of PVT1 reversed Ang II-induced AAA-associated alterations in mice, as evidenced by attenuation of aortic diameter dilation, marked adventitial thickening, loss of elastin in the aorta, enhanced aortic cell apoptosis, elevated MMP-2 and MMP-9, reduced TIMP-1, and increased pro-inflammatory cytokines. In conclusion, our findings demonstrate that knockdown of lncRNA PVT1 suppresses VSMC apoptosis, ECM disruption, and serum pro-inflammatory cytokines in a murine Ang II-induced AAA model.

Controlled synthesis of Co₂C nanochains using cobalt laurate as precursor: Structure, growth mechanism and magnetic properties

Zhang, Yajing,Zhu, Yuan,Wang, Kangjun,Li, Da,Wang, Dongping,Ding, Fu,Meng, Dan,Wang, Xiaolei,Choi, Chuljin,Zhang, Zhidong Elsevier 2018 Journal of magnetism and magnetic materials Vol.456 No.-

<P><B>Abstract</B></P> <P>Cobalt carbides (Co<SUB>2</SUB>C and Co<SUB>3</SUB>C) nanocomposites exhibit interesting hard magnetic property, controlled synthesis of individual phase facilitates to clarify the magnetism of each, but it is difficult to obtain the single phase. We present a new approach to address this issue via a polyol refluxing process, using cobalt laurate as the precursor. The single phase Co<SUB>2</SUB>C magnetic nanochains self-assembled by nanoparticles are synthesized. The precursor is the key factor for controlling the growth kinetics of the Co<SUB>2</SUB>C nanochains. Cobalt, instead of cobalt carbides, is produced if cobalt chloride, acetate and acetylacetonate replace cobalt laurate as the precursor, respectively. The evolution of the growth process has been studied. In the formation of Co<SUB>2</SUB>C, first fcc-Co produces, then it transforms into Co<SUB>2</SUB>C by carbon diffusion process, and the produced carbon first exists in disordered state and then a small amount of them transforms into graphite. Saturation magnetization (<I>Ms</I>) of Co<SUB>2</SUB>C nanochains obtained at 300 °C for 20, 60, and 180 min are 27.1, 18.9, and 10.9 emu g<SUP>−1</SUP>, respectively. The decrease of <I>Ms</I> caused by increasing carbon content, and the carbon content are much larger than the stoichiometric ratio value of Co<SUB>2</SUB>C (9.2 wt%). The Co<SUB>2</SUB>C nanochains have mesoporous pore of 3.8 nm and the specific surface area of 48.6 m<SUP>2</SUP> g<SUP>−1</SUP>.</P> <P><B>Highlights</B></P> <P> <UL> <LI> The Co<SUB>2</SUB>C magnetic nanochains are synthesized using cobalt laurate as the precursor in TEG. </LI> <LI> The precursor of cobalt laurate is the key factor for controlling the growth kinetics of Co<SUB>2</SUB>C nanochains. </LI> <LI> Ms of Co<SUB>2</SUB>C nanochains obtained at 300 °C for 20, 60, and 180 min are 27.1, 18.9, and 10.9 emu g<SUP>−1</SUP>, respectively. </LI> <LI> The decrease of Ms is caused by increasing carbon content with increasing reaction time. </LI> </UL> </P> <P><B>Graphical abstract</B></P> <P>We present a new approach to obtain single phase Co<SUB>2</SUB>C nanochains by using cobalt laurate as the precursor.</P> <P>[DISPLAY OMISSION]</P>

Study on Adaptation of Blackcurrant to Soil Ph Value

Zhidong Zhang 한국원예학회 2006 한국원예학회 기타간행물 Vol.- No.-

Knockdown of lncRNA PVT1 Inhibits Vascular Smooth Muscle Cell Apoptosis and Extracellular Matrix Disruption in a Murine Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Model

Zhidong Zhang,Gangqiang Zou,Xiaosan Chen,Wei Lu,Jianyang Liu,Shuiting Zhai,Gang Qiao 한국분자세포생물학회 2019 Molecules and cells Vol.42 No.3

This study was designed to determine the effects of the long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) plasmacytoma variant translocation 1 (PVT1) on vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) apoptosis and extracellular matrix (ECM) disruption in a murine abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) model. After injection of PVT1-silencing lentiviruses, AAA was induced in Apolipoprotein E-deficient (ApoE?/?) male mice by angiotensin II (Ang II) infusion for four weeks. After Ang II infusion, mouse serum levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines were analysed, and aortic tissues were isolated for histological, RNA, and protein analysis. Our results also showed that PVT1 expression was significantly upregulated in abdominal aortic tissues from AAA patients compared with that in controls. Additionally, Ang II treatment significantly increased PVT1 expression, both in cultured mouse VSMCs and in AAA murine abdominal aortic tissues. Of note, the effects of Ang II in facilitating cell apoptosis, increasing matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2 and MMP-9, reducing tissue inhibitor of MMP (TIMP)-1, and promoting switching from the contractile to synthetic phenotype in cultured VSMCs were enhanced by overexpression of PVT1 but attenuated by knockdown of PVT1. Furthermore, knockdown of PVT1 reversed Ang II-induced AAA-associated alterations in mice, as evidenced by attenuation of aortic diameter dilation, marked adventitial thickening, loss of elastin in the aorta, enhanced aortic cell apoptosis, elevated MMP-2 and MMP-9, reduced TIMP-1, and increased proinflammatory cytokines. In conclusion, our findings demonstrate that knockdown of lncRNA PVT1 suppresses VSMC apoptosis, ECM disruption, and serum pro-inflammatory cytokines in a murine Ang II-induced AAA model.

Constant Envelope Enhanced FQPSK and Its Performance Analysis

Zhidong Xie,Gengxin Zhang,Dongming Bian 한국통신학회 2011 Journal of communications and networks Vol.13 No.5

It’s a challenging task to design a high performance modulation for satellite and space communications due to the limited power and bandwidth resource. Constant envelope modulation is an attractive scheme to be used in such cases for their needlessness of input power back-off about 2∼3 dB for avoidance of nonlinear distortion induced by high power amplifier. The envelope of Feher quadrature phase shift keying (FQPSK) has a least fluctuation of 0.18 dB (quasi constant envelope) and can be further improved. This paper improves FQPSK by defining a set of new waveform functions, which changes FQPSK to be a strictly constant envelope modulation. The performance of the FQPSK adopting new waveform is justified by analysis and simulation. The study results show that the novel FQPSK is immune to the impact of HPA and outperforms conventional FQPSK on bit error rate (BER) performance. The BER performance of this novel modulation is better than that of FQPSK by more than 0.5 dB at least and 2 dB at most.

Brep2Seq: a dataset and hierarchical deep learning network for reconstruction and generation of computer-aided design models

Zhang Shu-Ming,Guan Zhidong,Jiang Hao,Ning Tao,Wang Xiao-Dong,Tan Pingan 한국CDE학회 2024 Journal of computational design and engineering Vol.11 No.1

Three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction is a significant research topic in the field of computer-aided design (CAD), which is used to recover editable CAD models from original shapes, including point clouds, voxels, meshes, and boundary representations (B-rep). Recently, there has been considerable research interest in deep model generation due to the increasing potential of deep learning methods. To address the challenges of 3D reconstruction and generation, we propose Brep2Seq, a novel deep neural network designed to transform the B-rep model into a sequence of editable parametrized feature-based modeling operations comprising principal primitives and detailed features. Brep2Seq employs an encoder-decoder architecture based on the transformer, leveraging geometry and topological information within B-rep models to extract the feature representation of the original 3D shape. Due to its hierarchical network architecture and training strategy, Brep2Seq achieved improved model reconstruction and controllable model generation by distinguishing between the primary shape and detailed features of CAD models. To train Brep2Seq, a large-scale dataset comprising 1 million CAD designs is established through an automatic geometry synthesis method. Extensive experiments on both DeepCAD and Fusion 360 datasets demonstrate the effectiveness of Brep2Seq, and show its applicability to simple mechanical components in real-world scenarios. We further apply Brep2Seq to various downstream applications, including point cloud reconstruction, model interpolation, shape constraint generation, and CAD feature recognition.

Constant Envelope Enhanced FQPSK and Its Performance Analysis

Xie, Zhidong,Zhang, Gengxin,Bian, Dongming The Korea Institute of Information and Commucation 2011 Journal of communications and networks Vol.13 No.5

It's a challenging task to design a high performance modulation for satellite and space communications due to the limited power and bandwidth resource. Constant envelope modulation is an attractive scheme to be used in such cases for their needlessness of input power back-off about 2~3 dB for avoidance of nonlinear distortion induced by high power amplifier. The envelope of Feher quadrature phase shift keying (FQPSK) has a least fluctuation of 0.18 dB (quasi constant envelope) and can be further improved. This paper improves FQPSK by defining a set of new waveform functions, which changes FQPSK to be a strictly constant envelope modulation. The performance of the FQPSK adopting new waveform is justified by analysis and simulation. The study results show that the novel FQPSK is immune to the impact of HPA and outperforms conventional FQPSK on bit error rate (BER) performance. The BER performance of this novel modulation is better than that of FQPSK by more than 0.5 dB at least and 2 dB at most.

The Construction of the Heterostructural Bi2O3/g-C3N4 Composites with an Enhanced Photocatalytic Activity

Jinhua Zhang,Huiyue Qian,Wencheng Liu,Hao Chen,Yang Qu,Zhidong Lin 성균관대학교(자연과학캠퍼스) 성균나노과학기술원 2018 NANO Vol.13 No.6

A heterostructural composite composed of g-C3N4 and Bi2O3 was achieved by the one-pot and thermal-induced polycondensation method using melamine and Bi(NO3)3 as precursor at 550 ℃ under air atmosphere. The crystalline phase, components and morphologies of the as-prepared composites were investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Besides, the photocatalytic activity of composites was evaluated by degrading RhB aqueous solution at room temperature under visible light irradiation. Compared with bulk g-C3N4, the photocatalytic efficiency of the 0.5% Bi2O3/g-C3N4 (Bi–CN) was increased by up to four times. The introduction of Bi2O3 enhances not only the light absorption ability, but also the separation of photogenerated electron–hole pairs.

Synthesis, crystal structure, and near-infrared reflective properties of ZnSxSe1-x nanopigments

Ti Zhang,Yanmin Wang,Shanjun Ke,Zhidong Pan 한양대학교 세라믹연구소 2022 Journal of Ceramic Processing Research Vol.23 No.4

In this research, a series of near-infrared (NIR) reflecting nanopigments, based on ZnSxSe1-x (x = 1, 0.75, 0.55, and 0.35), havebeen synthesized via a coprecipitation reaction and subsequent calcination. Furthermore, their crystal structure, particlemorphology, chromatic properties, and NIR reflectance have been investigated in detail; the results show that ZnSxSe1-xpigments have a cubic zinc-blende structure with a space group of F-43m(216), and the pigments’ microstructure presents theagglomerates composed of the spherical particles of different nanosizes. ZnSxSe1-x pigments exhibit not only colors rangingfrom ivory white to bright yellow but also significant NIR solar reflectance, ranging from 80.96% to 86.65%.

Carbon Coated α‑Fe2O3 Photoanode Synthesized by a Facile Anodic Electrodeposition for Highly Efficient Water Oxidation

Honglei Zhang,Longzhu Li,Changhai Liu,Wenchang Wang,Penghua Liang,Naotoshi Mitsuzak,Zhidong Chen 대한금속·재료학회 2018 ELECTRONIC MATERIALS LETTERS Vol.14 No.3

This work provides a facile anodic electrodeposition method for synthesizing carbon coated α-Fe2O3 photoanode followedby annealing treatment with argon atmosphere. Compared with bare hematite photoanode, the carbon coated α-Fe2O3 photoanodesannealed at lower temperature (Fe2O3/C-L) and higher temperature (Fe2O3/C-H) have higher photocurrent densityas 0.3 and 0.5 mA cm−2 (at 1.23 V vs. RHE), respectively. The excellent PEC performance is attributed to the synergisticreaction of carbon and vacancy oxygen. The morphology and properties of the sample were characterized with scanningelectron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, UV–Vis spectra, X-raydiffractometry, X-ray photoelectron spectra, and photoelectrical measurements.