• Title/Summary/Keyword: KAI-1

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Towards Routine Clinical Use of Radial Stack-of-Stars 3D Gradient-Echo Sequences for Reducing Motion Sensitivity

  • Block, Kai Tobias;Chandarana, Hersh;Milla, Sarah;Bruno, Mary;Mulholland, Tom;Fatterpekar, Girish;Hagiwara, Mari;Grimm, Robert;Geppert, Christian;Kiefer, Berthold;Sodickson, Daniel K.
    • Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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    • v.18 no.2
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    • pp.87-106
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    • 2014
  • Purpose : To describe how a robust implementation of a radial 3D gradient-echo sequence with stack-of-stars sampling can be achieved, to review the imaging properties of radial acquisitions, and to share the experience from more than 5000 clinical patient scans. Materials and Methods: A radial stack-of-stars sequence was implemented and installed on 9 clinical MR systems operating at 1.5 and 3 Tesla. Protocols were designed for various applications in which motion artifacts frequently pose a problem with conventional Cartesian techniques. Radial scans were added to routine examinations without selection of specific patient cohorts. Results: Radial acquisitions show significantly lower sensitivity to motion and allow examinations during free breathing. Elimination of breath-holding reduces failure rates for non-compliant patients and enables imaging at higher resolution. Residual artifacts appear as streaks, which are easy to identify and rarely obscure diagnostic information. The improved robustness comes at the expense of longer scan durations, the requirement for fat suppression, and the nonexistence of a time-to-center value. Care needs to be taken during the configuration of receive coils. Conclusion: Routine clinical use of radial stack-of-stars sequences is feasible with current MR systems and may serve as substitute for conventional fat-suppressed T1-weighted protocols in applications where motion is likely to degrade the image quality.

The Effect of Dry Cupping Treatment Applied to Back-shu Points on the Autonomic Nervous System through HRV (흉배부(胸背部)에 시행한 부항요법(附缸療法)이 자율신경계에 미치는 영향 - 심박변이도 측정을 통한 연구 -)

  • Hwang, Eun-Mi;Wang, Kai-Hsia;Bae, Jae-Ik;Keum, Dong-Ho
    • Journal of Korean Medicine Rehabilitation
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    • v.23 no.1
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    • pp.51-64
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    • 2013
  • Objectives : This study was performed to evaluate the effect of dry cupping treatment applied to back-shu points on the autonomic nervous system. Methods : Two groups of sympathicotonia and normal with each 30 volunteers were set up for this experiment. The sympathicotonia group was selected by the criterion for sympathicotonia by the questionnaire composed of 11 items. After 10 minutes for environmental adaptation, the first HRV(heart rate variability) test was conducted, and then, dry cupping therapy was applied to back-shu points for 5 minutes to stimulate sympathetic ganglia lying along the spine. The second HRV test was carried out just after the cupping therapy under the same condition and then, the third test was repeated after two hours based on the first test time. Results : 1. In sympathicotonia group, SDNN(standard deviation of all normal R-R intervals), RMSSD(the square root of the mean of the sum of the squares of differences between adjacent normal R-R intervals), Ln(HF)(high frequency power), nmHF(normalized high frequency power) increased and mHR(mean heart rate), nmLF(normalized low frequency power) decreased significantly right after dry cupping therapy which means dry cupping affects on autonomic nervous system. The effect lasts in these items of nmLF, Ln(HF), nmHF, rLHF(rate ratio of LF/HF). 2. In normal group, SDNN, RMSSD increased and mHR decreased significantly right after dry cupping therapy, too. But, Ln(LF)(low frequency power), nmLF, rLHF unexpectedly increased and nmLF, rLHF stay increased up to 2 hours. Conclusions : The results suggest that the dry cupping therapy has effect on the autonomic nervous system. It is effective to stabilize hyper-sympathetic tone of people diagnosed as Sympathicotonia and activate parasympathetic tone.

The Effect of Transformation on the Virulence of Streptococcus pneumoniae

  • Zhang Xue-Mei;Yin Yi-Bing;Zhu Dan;Chen Bao-De;Luo Jin-Yong;Deng Vi-Ping;Liu Ming-Fang;Chen Shu-Hui;Meng Jiang-Ping;Lan Kai;Huang Yuan-Shuai;Kang Ge-Fei
    • Journal of Microbiology
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    • v.43 no.4
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    • pp.337-344
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    • 2005
  • Although pneumococcus is one of the most frequently encountered opportunistic pathogen in the world, the mechanisms responsible for its infectiveness have not yet been fully understood. In this paper, we have attempted to characterize the effects of pneumococcal transformation on the pathogenesis of the organism. We constructed three transformation-deficient pneumococcal strains, which were designated as Nos. 1d, 2d, and 22d. The construction of these altered strains was achieved via the insertion of the inactivated gene, comE, to strains 1, 2 and 22. We then conducted a comparison between the virulence of the transformation-deficient strains and that of the wild-type strains, via an evaluation of the ability of each strain to adhere to endothelial cells, and also assessed psaA mRNA expression, and the survival of hosts after bacterial challenge. Compared to what was observed with the wild-type strains, our results indicated that the ability of all of the transformation-deficient strains to adhere to the ECV304 cells had been significantly reduced (p < 0.05), the expression of psaA mRNA was reduced significantly (p < 0.05) in strains 2d and 22d, and the median survival time of mice infected with strains Id and 2d was increased significantly after intraperitoneal bacterial challenge (p < 0.05). The results of our study also clearly indicated that transformation exerts significant effects on the virulence characteristics of S. pneumoniae, although the degree to which this effect is noted appears to depend primarily on the genetic background of the bacteria.

Broiler responses to dietary 3,4,5-trihydroxybenzoic acid and oregano extracts under Eimeria challenge conditions

  • Yu, Myunghwan;Jeon, Jong Oh;Cho, Hyun Min;Hong, Jun Seon;Kim, Yu Bin;Nawarathne, Shan Randima;Wickramasuriya, Samiru Sudharaka;Yi, Young-Joo;Lee, Hans;Wan, Vannie;Ng, Noele Kai Jing;Tan, Chuan Hao;Heo, Jung Min
    • Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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    • v.63 no.6
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    • pp.1362-1375
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    • 2021
  • This study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of a combination 3,4,5-trihydroxybenzoic acid (THB) and oregano extracts (i.e., Carvacrol and Thymol) at intake/dietary different levels on growth performance, intestinal health indicators, immune responses and fecal oocyst shedding in broiler chickens under Eimeria challenged condition. A total of 336 one-day-old broilers were randomly assigned to one of six dietary treatments with seven replications per treatment. Dietary treatments were: i) Non-challenged bird without any dietary treatment (NCNT), ii) Challenged bird without any dietary treatment (CNT), iii) Challenged birds fed a THB diet (0.1 g/kg, THB), iv) Challenged birds fed a combination of THB and oregano extracts diet (0.1 g/kg, COM 100), and a gradual increase of combination of THB and oregano extracts likely v) 0.15 g/kg (COM 150), and 0.2 g/kg (COM 200). On day 14, all groups except for NCNT have orally challenged with a 10-fold dose of Livacox® T anticoccidial vaccine to trigger coccidiosis. The results indicated that Eimeria-challenged broilers fed COM 100 and COM 200 diets increased (p < 0.05) body weight than CNT diet on day 35. Furthermore, birds fed COM 100 and COM 200 diets increased (p < 0.05) average daily gain compared to those fed CNT diets for the entire experimental period. There is no significant (p > 0.05) in average daily feed intake, feed efficiency between NCNT and birds fed with combined THB and oregano extracts for the entire experimental period. A combination of THB and oregano extract regardless of concentration levels or THB alone reduced (p < 0.05) lesion score in ileum compared to the CNT diet for 7 days post-infection (dpi). Birds fed COM 100 diet had lower (p < 0.05) intestinal lesion scores in jejunum and caeca on 7 dpi compared to those were in the CNT diet. No (p > 0.05) difference was observed in the oocysts per gram of feces count, intestinal morphology, carcass traits and blood cytokine concentration among the infected treatments. Collectively, we conclude that birds fed with a combination of THB and oregano extracts regardless of the ratios that were used demonstrated better recovery of health after the coccidial challenge than using only THB alone.

A study on the impact of homestay sharing platform on guests' online comment willingness

  • Zou, Ji-Kai;Liang, Teng-Yue;Dong, Cui
    • Journal of the Korea Society of Computer and Information
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    • v.25 no.12
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    • pp.321-331
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    • 2020
  • The purpose of this study is to explore the impact of home stay platform on guests' willingness to comment online under the Shared home stay business model. Shared platform of home stay facility in addition to providing a variety of support services, help the landlord to the tenant do offline accommodation services, implementation, trading, will need to take some measures to actively promote the tenant groups to the landlord, the evaluation is objective, effective and sufficient number in order to better promote the sharing credit ecological establishment of home stay facility. In this study, consumers who have used the Shared home stay platform are taken as the research objects. The survey method adopts network questionnaire survey and Likert seven subscales. The statistical software SPSS24.0 program is used to process the data. Firstly, descriptive statistical analysis was conducted, followed by validity analysis and reliability analysis. After the reliability and validity of the questionnaire were determined, correlation analysis and regression analysis were used to verify the proposed hypothesis. The research results of this study are summarized as follows :(1) the usability of platform comment function, guest satisfaction and platform reward have a positive impact on the guest online comment willingness; (2) The credit mechanism of the platform has a positive regulating effect on the process of tenant satisfaction influencing tenant comment intention.

Comparison of amino acid digestibility of soybean meal, cottonseed meal, and low-gossypol cottonseed meal between broilers and laying hens

  • Kai Qiu;Xiao-cui Wang;Jing Wang;Hao Wang;Guang-hai Qi;Hai-jun Zhang;Shu-geng Wu
    • Animal Bioscience
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    • v.36 no.4
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    • pp.619-628
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    • 2023
  • Objective: This study aimed to determine and compare the apparent ileal digestibility (AID) and the standardized ileal digestibility (SID) of amino acids (AA) in soybean meal (SBM), cottonseed meal (CSM), and low-gossypol cottonseed meal (LCSM) fed to broiler chickens and laying hens. Methods: Three semi-purified diets containing the identical crude protein concentration at 20% were formulated to contain SBM, CSM, or LCSM as the sole source of N. A N-free diet was also formulated to estimate the basal ileal endogenous losses of AA for broilers and hens. A total of 300 male Ross 308 chicks at one-day-old and 144 Hy-Line Brown laying hens at 30-week-old with initial egg production rate of 88.3%±1.0% were randomly allocated into 1 of 4 dietary treatments, respectively. Results: CSM and LCSM showed more Arg and Cys+Met while less Lys, Ile, Leu, and Thr relative to SBM. Significant interactions existed between species and experimental diets for AID (except for Arg, Asp, Glu, Gly, and Pro) and SID (except for Arg, His, and Phe) of most AA. Most AA in diets showed higher AID (except for Lys) and SID (except for Lys, Met, and Ser) in broilers relative to laying hens. The AID and SID of all AA were significantly different between the three diets. In broilers, the AID and SID of most indispensable AA except for Arg in SBM and LCSM was higher than CSM. In laying hens, the AID and SID of most indispensable AA except for Arg, Met+Cys, and Phe in SBM was higher than CSM and LCSM. Conclusion: The accurate determination of AID and SID of AA in CSM and LCSM for broilers and layers benefits the application of CSM and LCSM in chicken diets. The cottonseed by-products CSM or LCSM showed the species-specific AA digestibility values for broilers and layers.

Analysis of Environmental Factors Related to Seasonal Variation of Bacteria and Heterotrophic Nanoflagellate in Kyeonggi Bay, Korea (경기만에서 박테리아와 종속영양편모류의 계절변화에 미치는 환경요인 분석)

  • Baek, Seung Ho;You, Kai;Han, Myung-Soo
    • Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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    • v.35 no.2
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    • pp.198-206
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    • 2017
  • From June 2007 to May 2008, seasonal variations of bacterial abundance and heterotrophic nanoflagellate (HNF), together with environmental factors, were investigated at weekly and monthly intervals in Kyeonggi Bay. During the study period, the water temperature and salinity varied from $1.9^{\circ}C{\sim}29.0^{\circ}C$ and 31~35.1 psu, respectively. The concentration of ammonia, nitrate+nitrite, phosphate, and silicate ranged from 0.01 to $3.22{\mu}M$, 2.03 to $15.34{\mu}M$, 0.06 to $1.82{\mu}M$, and 0.03 to $18.3{\mu}M$, respectively. The annual average concentration of Chl. a varied from $0.86{\mu}g\;L^{-1}$ to $37.70{\mu}g\;L^{-1}$; the concentration was twice as much at the surface than at the deeper layers. The abundance of bacteria and HNF ranged from $0.29{\times}10^6$ to $7.62{\times}10^6cells\;mL^{-1}$ and $1.00{\times}10^2$ to $1.26{\times}10^3cells\;mL^{-1}$, respectively. In particular, there were significant correlations between bacteria and HNF abundance (p<0.05), and then the high abundance of HNF was frequently observed with an increase of bacterial abundance in summer (p<0.001). Our results therefore indicate that bacterial abundance in the bay was mainly controlled by resources supplied as organic and inorganic substances from Lake Shihwa due to the daily water exchange after dike construction. Also, the bacterial abundance was significantly controlled by HNF grazing pressure (top-down) in the warm seasons, i.e. excluding winter, in the Kyeonggi Bay.

Risk Factors for Cervical Cancer in Rural Areas of Wuhan China: a Matched Case-control Study

  • Zhang, Bin;Zhou, Ai-Fen;Zhu, Chang-Cai;Zhang, Ling;Xiang, Bing;Chen, Zhong;Hu, Rong-Hua;Zhang, Ya-Qi;Qiu, Lin;Zhang, Yi-Ming;Xiong, Chao-Du;Du, Yu-Kai;Shi, Yu-Qin
    • Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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    • v.14 no.12
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    • pp.7595-7600
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    • 2013
  • Cervical cancer is a serious public health problem in developing countries. We investigated possible risk factors for cervical cancer in rural areas of Wuhan China using a matched case-control study with 33 women diagnosed with cervical cancer and 132 healthy women selected from the same area as matched controls. A questionnaire, which included questions about general demography conditions, environmental and genetic factors, the first sexual intercourse, first marriage age, age at first pregnancy, pregnancy first child's age, female personal health history, social psychological factors, dietary habits, smoking and alcohol status and other living habits was presented to all participants. At the same time, HPV infection of every participant was examined in laboratory testing. Results showed HPV infection (P<0.000, OR=23.4) and pregnancy first child's age (P<0.000, OR=13.1) to be risk factors for cervical cancer. Menopause (P=0.003, OR=0.073) was a protective factor against cervical cancer. However, there was no indication of associations of environmental (drinking water, insecticide, disinfectant) genetic (cancer family history), or life-style factors (smoking status, alcohol status, physical training, sleep quality), including dietary habits (intake of fruit and vegetable, meat, fried food, bean products and pickled food) or social psychological factors with cervical cancer. The results suggest that the risk of cervical cancer in Chinese rural women may be associated with HPV infection, menopause and the pregnancy first child's age.

Polymorphisms in the uncoupling protein 3 gene and their associations with feed efficiency in chickens

  • Jin, Sihua;Yang, Lei;He, Tingting;Fan, Xinfeng;Wang, Yiqiu;Ge, Kai;Geng, Zhaoyu
    • Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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    • v.31 no.9
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    • pp.1401-1406
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    • 2018
  • Objective: The uncoupling protein 3 (UCP3) is a member of the mitochondrial anion carrier superfamily and has crucial effects on growth and feed efficiency in many species. Therefore, the objective of the present study was to examine the association of polymorphisms in the UCP3 gene with feed efficiency in meat-type chickens. Methods: Six single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of the UCP3 gene were chosen to be genotyped using matrix-assisted laser desorption-ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry in meat-type chicken populations with 724 birds in total. Body weight at 49 (BW49) and 70 days of age (BW70) and feed intake (FI) in the interval were collected, then body weight gain (BWG) and feed conversion ratio (FCR) were calculated individually. Results: One SNP with a low minor allele frequency (<1%) was removed by quality control and data filtering. The results showed that rs13997809 of UCP3 was significantly associated with BWG and FCR (p<0.05), and that rs13997811 had significant effects on BW70 and BWG (p<0.05). Rs13997812 of UCP3 was strongly associated with BW70, FI, and FCR (p<0.05). Furthermore, individuals with AA genotype of rs13997809 had significantly higher BWG and lower FCR (p<0.05) than those with AT genotype. The GG individuals showed strongly higher BW70 and BWG than AA birds in rs13997811 (p<0.05). Birds with the TT genotype of rs13997812 had significantly greater BW70 and lower FCR compared with the CT birds (p<0.05). In addition, the TAC haplotype based on rs13997809, rs13997811, and rs13997812 showed significant effects on BW70, FI, and FCR (p<0.05). Conclusion: Our results therefore demonstrate important roles for UCP3 polymorphisms in growth and feed efficiency that might be used in meat-type chicken breeding programs.

HDAC6 siRNA Inhibits Proliferation and Induces Apoptosis of HeLa Cells and its Related Molecular Mechanism

  • Qin, Hai-Xia;Cui, Hong-Kai;Pan, Ying;Yang, Jun;Ren, Yan-Fang;Hua, Cai-Hong;Hua, Fang-Fang;Qiao, Yu-Huan
    • Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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    • v.13 no.7
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    • pp.3367-3371
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    • 2012
  • Objective: To investigate the effects of histone deacetylase 6 (HDAC6) siRNA on cell proliferation and cell apoptosis of the HeLa cervical carcinoma cell line and the molecular mechanisms involved. Methods: Division was into three groups: A, the untreated group; B, the control siRNA group; and C, the HDAC6 siRNA group. Lipofectamine 2000 was used for siRNA transfection, and Western blot analysis was used to determine the protein levels. Cell proliferation and apoptosis were characterized using a CCK-8 assay and flow cytometry, respectively. Results: HDAC6 protein expression in the HDAC6 siRNA-transfection group was significantly lower (P < 0.05) than in the untreated and control siRNA groups. The CCK-8 kit results demonstrated that the proliferation of HeLa cells was clearly inhibited in the HDAC6 siRNA transfection group (P < 0.05). In addition, flow cytometry revealed that the early apoptotic rate ($26.0%{\pm}0.87%$) was significantly elevated (P < 0.05) as compared with the untreated group ($10.6%{\pm}1.19%$) and control siRNA group ($8.61%{\pm}0.98%$). Furthermore, Western blot analysis indicated that bcl-2 protein expression in the HDAC6 siRNA-transfection group was down-regulated, whereas the expression of p21 and bax was up-regulated. Conclusion: HDAC6 plays an essential role in the occurrence and development of cervical carcinoma, and the down-regulation of HDAC6 expression may be useful molecular therapeutic method.