• BMB Reports
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• v.52 no.2
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• pp.157-162
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• 2019

Our previous study found that two novel cancer-related genes, PRR11 and SKA2, constituted a classic gene pair that was regulated by p53 and NF-Y in lung cancer. However, their role and regulatory mechanism in breast cancer remain elusive. In this study, we found that the expression levels of PRR11 and SKA2 were upregulated and have a negative prognotic value in breast cancer. Loss-of-function experiments showed that RNAi-mediated knockdown of PRR11 and/or SKA2 inhibited proliferation, migration, and invasion of breast cancer cells. Mechanistic experiments revealed that knockdown of PRR11 and/or SKA2 caused dysregulation of several downstream genes, including CDK6, TPM3, and USP12, etc. Luciferase reporter assays demonstrated that wild type p53 significantly repressed the PRR11-SKA2 bidirectional promoter activity, but not NF-Y. Interestingly, NF-Y was only essential for and correlated with the expression of PRR11, but not SKA2. Consistently, adriamycin-induced (ADR) activation of endogenous p53 also caused significant repression of the PRR11 and SKA2 gene pair expression. Notably, breast cancer patients with lower expression levels of either PRR11 or SKA2, along with wild type p53, exhibited better disease-free survival compared to others with p53 mutations and/or higher expression levels of either PRR11 or SKA2. Collectively, our study indicates that the PRR11 and SKA2 transcription unit might be an oncogenic contributor and might serve as a novel diagnostic and therapeutic target in breast cancer.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.349-358
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• 2021

The Brazilian test has been widely used to determine the indirect tensile strength of rock, concrete and other brittle materials. The basic assumption for the calculation formula of Brazilian tensile strength is that the elastic moduli of rock are the same both in tension and compression. However, the fact is that the elastic moduli in tension and compression of most rocks are different. Thus, the formula of Brazilian tensile strength under the assumption of isotropy is unreasonable. In the present study, we conducted Brazilian tests on flat disk-shaped rock specimens and attached strain gauges at the center of the disc to measure the strains of rock. A tension-compression bi-modular model is proposed to interpret the data of the Brazilian test. The relations between the principal strains, principal stresses and the ratio of the compressive modulus to tensile modulus at the disc center are established. Thus, the tensile and compressive moduli as well as the correct tensile strength can be estimated simultaneously by the new formulas. It is found that the tensile and compressive moduli obtained using these formulas were in well agreement with the values obtained from the direct tension and compression tests. The formulas deduced from the Brazilian test based on the assumption of isotropy overestimated the tensile strength and tensile modulus and underestimated the compressive modulus. This work provides a new methodology to estimate tensile strength and moduli of rock simultaneously considering tension-compression bi-modularity.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.139-151
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• 2022

The mechanical properties of expansive soil are very unstable, highly sensitive to water, and thus easy to cause major engineering accidents. In this paper, the expansive soil foundation pit project of the East Huada Square in the eastern suburb of Chengdu was studied, the moisture content of the expansive soil was considered as an important factor that affecting the mechanics properties of expansive soil and the stability of the non-equal-length double-row piles in the foundation pit support. Three groups of direct shear tests were carried out and the quantitative relationships between the moisture content and shear strength τ, cohesion c, internal friction angle φ were obtained. The effect of cohesion and internal friction angle on the maximum displacement and the maximum bending moment of piles were analyzed by the finite element software MIDAS/GTS (Geotechnical and Tunnel Analysis System). Results show that the higher the moisture content, the smaller the matrix suction, and the smaller the shear strength; the cohesion and the internal friction angle are exponentially related to the moisture content, and both are negatively correlated. The maximum displacement and the maximum bending moment of the non-equal length double-row piles decrease with the increase of the cohesion and the internal friction angle. When the cohesion is greater than 33 kPa or the internal friction angle is greater than 25.5°, the maximum displacement and maximum bending moment of the piles are relatively small, however, once crossing the points (the corresponding moisture content value is 24.4%), the maximum displacement and the maximum bending moment will increase significantly. Therefore, in order to ensure the stability and safety of the foundation pit support structure of the East Huada Square, the moisture content of the expansive soil should not exceed 24.4%.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.426-437
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• 2024

Objective: Cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) is a diagnostic tool that provides precise and reproducible information about cardiac structure, function, and tissue characterization, aiding in the monitoring of chemotherapy response in patients with light-chain cardiac amyloidosis (AL-CA). This study aimed to evaluate the feasibility of CMR in monitoring responses to chemotherapy in patients with AL-CA. Materials and Methods: In this prospective study, we enrolled 111 patients with AL-CA (50.5% male; median age, 54 [interquartile range, 49-63] years). Patients underwent longitudinal monitoring using biomarkers and CMR imaging. At follow-up after chemotherapy, patients were categorized into superior and inferior response groups based on their hematological and cardiac laboratory responses to chemotherapy. Changes in CMR findings across therapies and differences between response groups were analyzed. Results: Following chemotherapy (before vs. after), there were significant increases in myocardial T2 (43.6 ± 3.5 ms vs. 44.6 ± 4.1 ms; P = 0.008), recovery in right ventricular (RV) longitudinal strain (median of -9.6% vs. -11.7%; P = 0.031), and decrease in RV extracellular volume fraction (ECV) (median of 53.9% vs. 51.6%; P = 0.048). These changes were more pronounced in the superior-response group. Patients with superior cardiac laboratory response showed significantly greater reductions in RV ECV (-2.9% [interquartile range, -8.7%-1.1%] vs. 1.7% [-5.5%-7.1%]; P = 0.017) and left ventricular ECV (-2.0% [-6.0%-1.3%] vs. 2.0% [-3.0%-5.0%]; P = 0.01) compared with those with inferior response. Conclusion: Cardiac amyloid deposition can regress following chemotherapy in patients with AL-CA, particularly showing more prominent regression, possibly earlier, in the RV. CMR emerges as an effective tool for monitoring associated tissue characteristics and ventricular functional recovery in patients with AL-CA undergoing chemotherapy, thereby supporting its utility in treatment response assessment.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.20 no.7
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• pp.1092-1099
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• 2007

Two experiments were conducted to determine the additivity of apparent or true digestibility of phosphorus (P) in soybean meal (SBM), peas, faba beans, corn, oats, broken rice meal, rough rice meal, buckwheat, and sorghum for growing pigs. Chromic oxide (0.3%) was used as a digestion marker in both experiments. Each experiment lasted for 12 d, which consisted of a 7-d dietary adaptation period followed by a 5-d fecal collection period. Experiment 1 involved 6 diets: the SBM-based control diet; 4 diets with corn, oats, rough rice meal and broken rice meal substituted for SBM; and an additional diet with a representative mixture of the 5 ingredients. In Experiment 2, 6 diets were prepared similarly, except that the tested ingredients besides SBM were faba beans, peas, buckwheat, and sorghum. In each experiment, six barrows with an initial average individual BW of 20.5 kg were fed one of the six diets according to a $6{\times}6$ Latin square design. The apparent and true P digestibility values for the nine tested ingredients were determined by the substitution method. There were no differences (p>0.05) between the determined and the predicted true P digestibility values for the mixture of ingredients in Experiments 1 and 2. However, the determined and the predicted apparent P digestibility values for the mixture of ingredients differed (p = 0.059) in Experiment 1, but not in Experiment 2. These results indicate that true P digestibility values are additive in ingredients containing low levels of phytate phosphorus and anti-nutritional factors, whereas the apparent P digestibility values are not always additive in single feed ingredients for growing pigs.

• Asian Journal of Turfgrass Science
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.163-176
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• 2009

Investigating endophyte distribution, naturally occurring in native grasses, is important for understanding endophyte-grass associations and using the beneficial effects of endophytes in cultivated plants. The goal of this study was to investigate endophytes from natural Festuca spp. in Yunnan, Guizhou, and Sichuan Provinces of China, and to study the compatibility between the endophytes and turf type tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea) which is widely used for lawn and athletic fields in that region. Of 628 accessions in F. ovina, 421 had endophytes identified in leaf sheath from on-site microscopic examination. From Festuca spp, three isolates were obtained from the seeds and ninety isolates were obtained from seedlings established from the collected seeds. The isolates from F. ovina and F. stapfii were tentatively identified as Neotyphodium typhinum and Neotyphodiumstarii, respectively. We tested compatibility of the two fungal species with seven tall fescue cultivars, Little Hero, Sub Boy, Eldorado, Arid III, Millennium, Crossfire, and Fawn. N. typhinum or N. starii did not infect 'Fawn' with either seed injection or seed soaking method. The highest infection rate byboth N. typhinum and N. starii was in 'Sun Boy' and 'Eldorado'. There were significant interaction effects between tall fescue cultivar and type of endophyte on infection.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.17
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• pp.8003-8008
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• 2015

Background: The aim of this study was to investigate whether family history of cancer is associated with head and neck cancer risk in a Chinese population. Materials and Methods: This case-control study included 921 cases and 806 controls. Recruitment was from December 2010 to January 2015 in eight centers in East Asia. Controls were matched to cases with reference to sex, 5-year age group, ethnicity, and residence area at each of the centers. Results: We observed an increased risk of head and neck cancer due to first degree family history of head and neck cancer, but after adjustment for tobacco smoking, alcohol drinking and betel quid chewing the association was no longer apparent. The adjusted OR were 1.10 (95% CI=0.80-1.50) for family history of tobacco-related cancer and 0.96 (95%CI=0.75-1.24) for family history of any cancer with adjustment for tobacco, betel quid and alcohol habits. The ORs for having a first-degree relative with HNC were higher in all tobacco/alcohol subgroups. Conclusions: We did not observe a strong association between family history of head and neck cancer and head and neck cancer risk after taking into account lifestyle factors. Our study suggests that an increased risk due to family history of head and neck cancer may be due to shared risk factors. Further studies may be needed to assess the lifestyle factors of the relatives.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.12
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• pp.6077-6081
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• 2012

Background: This study was performed to analyze the prognostic implications of pretreatment or preoperative thrombocytosis in women with gynecologic malignancies. Material and Methods: We surveyed 2 medical databases, PubMed and EMBASE, to identified all relevant studies. A total of 14 (n=3,490) that evaluated the link between thrombocytosis and 5-year survival were included. REVMAN version 5.1 was used for our analysis and publication bias was evaluated using the Begg's funnel plot and tested by STATA 11.0. Risk ratios (RRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) generated by the random effect model were used to assess the strength of any association. Results: 709(20.3%) of the 3,490 patients exhibited thrombocytosis (platelet counts > $400{\times}10^9/L$) at primary diagnosis, and their mortality was 1.62-fold higher compared with the others (RR=1.62, 95%CI=[1.28-2.05], p<0.0001). Thrombocytosis failed to have a stronger effect on the survival of advanced patients of stages III to IV in our study (n=478, RR=1.29, 95% CI=[1.13-1.48], p=0.0003), nor in women with cervical cancer in stage IB (n=1371, RR=1.73, 95% CI=[1.71-2.58], p=0.007). In addition, when adjusted for different carcinoma, it was associated with worse prognosis for all except the ones with vulvar cancer (n=201, RR=0.43, 95% CI=[0.14-1.29], p=0.13). Conclusions: This meta-analysis indicated that thrombocytosis might be associated with a worse prognosis for patients with gynecologic malignancies but without specificity or sensitivity for the ones in advanced stage. When adjusted for different gynecologic malignancies, it showed a significant effect on survival of all except vulvar cancers.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.667-673
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• 2010

The near fault ground motion (NFGM) is characterized by a single long period velocity pulse with large magnitude. NFGMs have been observed in recent strong earthquakes, Northridge (1994), Japan Kobe (1995), Turkey Izmit (1999), China Sichuan (2008), Haiti (2010) etc. These strong earthquakes have caused considerable damage to infrastructures because the epicenter was close to the urban area, called as NFGM. Extensive research for the far field ground motion (FFGM) have been carried out in strong seismic region, but limited research have been done for NFGM in low or moderate seismic regions because of very few records. The purpose of this research is to investigate and analyze the seismic response of reinforced concrete bridge piers subjected to near-fault ground motions. The seismic performance of six RC bridge piers depending on three confinement steel ratios and three superstructure mass was investigated on the shaking table. From these experimental results, it was confirmed that the reduction of seismic performance was observed for test specimens with lower confinement steel ratio or more deck weight. The displacement ductility of RC bridge piers in terms of the stiffness degradation is proposed based on test results the shaking table.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.339-346
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• 2017

Background: In this study, we investigated how to convert the Panax ginseng DNA sequence code and chemical fingerprints into a two-dimensional code. In order to improve the compression efficiency, GATC2Bytes and digital merger compression algorithms are proposed. Methods: HPLC chemical fingerprint data of 10 groups of P. ginseng from Northeast China and the internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS2) sequence code as the DNA sequence code were ready for conversion. In order to convert such data into a two-dimensional code, the following six steps were performed: First, the chemical fingerprint characteristic data sets were obtained through the inflection filtering algorithm. Second, precompression processing of such data sets is undertaken. Third, precompression processing was undertaken with the P. ginseng DNA (ITS2) sequence codes. Fourth, the precompressed chemical fingerprint data and the DNA (ITS2) sequence code were combined in accordance with the set data format. Such combined data can be compressed by Zlib, an open source data compression algorithm. Finally, the compressed data generated a two-dimensional code called a quick response code (QR code). Results: Through the abovementioned converting process, it can be found that the number of bytes needed for storing P. ginseng chemical fingerprints and its DNA (ITS2) sequence code can be greatly reduced. After GTCA2Bytes algorithm processing, the ITS2 compression rate reaches 75% and the chemical fingerprint compression rate exceeds 99.65% via filtration and digital merger compression algorithm processing. Therefore, the overall compression ratio even exceeds 99.36%. The capacity of the formed QR code is around 0.5k, which can easily and successfully be read and identified by any smartphone. Conclusion: P. ginseng chemical fingerprints and its DNA (ITS2) sequence code can form a QR code after data processing, and therefore the QR code can be a perfect carrier of the authenticity and quality of P. ginseng information. This study provides a theoretical basis for the development of a quality traceability system of traditional Chinese medicine based on a two-dimensional code.