Displaying publications 1 - 20 of 120 in total

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  1. Liu J, Chai Z, Wang H, Ivanov A, Kubelka V, Freckleton R, et al.
    iScience, 2023 Jun 16;26(6):106928.
    PMID: 37305692 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.106928
    Arctic environments are changing rapidly and if we are to understand the resilience of species to future changes, we need to investigate alterations in their life histories. Egg size and egg shape are key life-history traits, reflecting parental investment as well as influencing future reproductive success. Here we focus on egg characteristics in two Arctic shorebirds, the Dunlin (Calidris alpina) and the Temminck's stint (Calidris temminckii). Using egg photos that encompass their full breeding ranges, we show that egg characteristics exhibit significant longitudinal variations, and the variation in the monogamous species (Dunlin) is significantly greater than the polygamous species (Temminck's stint). Our finding is consistent with the recent "disperse-to-mate" hypothesis which asserts that polygamous species disperse further to find mates than monogamous species, and by doing so they create panmictic populations. Taken together, Arctic shorebirds offer excellent opportunities to understand evolutionary patterns in life history traits.
  2. Li SZ, Liu J, Ke XC, Cheng G, Wang B
    Zookeys, 2024;1189:33-54.
    PMID: 38314114 DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.1189.115621
    The Torrent frogs of the genus Amolops are widely distributed in Nepal and northern India eastwards to southern China and southwards to Malaysia. The genus currently contains 84 species. Previous studies indicated underestimated species diversity in the genus. In the context, a new species occurring from the mountains in the northwestern Guizhou Province, China is found and described based on morphological comparisons and molecular phylogenetic analyses, Amolopsdafangensissp. nov. Phylogenetic analyses based on DNA sequences of the mitochondrial 16S rRNA and COI genes supported the new species as an independent lineage. The uncorrected genetic distances between the 16S rRNA and COI genes in the new species and its closest congener were 0.7% and 2.6%, respectively, which are higher than or at the same level as those among many pairs of congeners. Morphologically, the new species can be distinguished from its congeners by a combination of the following characters: body size moderate (SVL 43.2-46.8 mm in males); head length larger than head width slightly; tympanum distinct, oval; vocal sacs absent; vomerine teeth present; dorsolateral folds weak formed by series of glands; nuptial pads present on the base of finger I; heels overlapping when thighs are positioned at right angles to the body; tibiotarsal articulation reaching the level far beyond the tip of the snout when leg stretched forward.
  3. Li C, Liu J, Shaozhou W, Bai X, Zhang Q, Hua R, et al.
    Viruses, 2016 Nov 10;8(11).
    PMID: 27834908
    Duck Tembusu virus (DTMUV) causes substantial egg drop disease. DTMUV was first identified in China and rapidly spread to Malaysia and Thailand. The antigenicity of the DTMUV E protein has not yet been characterized. Here, we investigated antigenic sites on the E protein using the non-neutralizing monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) 1F3 and 1A5. Two minimal epitopes were mapped to (221)LD/NLPW(225) and (87)YAEYI(91) by using phage display and mutagenesis. DTMUV-positive duck sera reacted with the epitopes, thus indicating the importance of the minimal amino acids of the epitopes for antibody-epitope binding. The performance of the dot blotting assay with the corresponding positive sera indicated that YAEYI was DTMUV type-specific, whereas (221)LD/NLPW(225) was a cross-reactive epitope for West Nile virus (WNV), dengue virus (DENV), and Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) and corresponded to conserved and variable amino acid sequences among these strains. The structure model of the E protein revealed that YAEYI and LD/NLPW were located on domain (D) II, which confirmed that DII might contain a type-specific non-neutralizing epitope. The YAEYI epitope-based antigen demonstrated its diagnostic potential by reacting with high specificity to serum samples obtained from DTMUV-infected ducks. Based on these observations, a YAEYI-based serological test could be used for DTMUV surveillance and could differentiate DTMUV infections from JEV or WNV infections. These findings provide new insights into the organization of epitopes on flavivirus E proteins that might be valuable for the development of epitope-based serological diagnostic tests for DTMUV.
  4. Li G, Pan P, He Q, Kong X, Wu K, Zhang W, et al.
    Virol Sin, 2017 Feb;32(1):63-72.
    PMID: 28120220 DOI: 10.1007/s12250-016-3872-8
    The dengue virus (DENV) is a vital global public health issue. The 2014 dengue epidemic in Guangzhou, China, caused approximately 40,000 cases of infection and five deaths. We carried out a comprehensive investigation aimed at identifying the transmission sources in this dengue epidemic. To analyze the phylogenetics of the 2014 dengue strains, the envelope (E) gene sequences from 17 viral strains isolated from 168 dengue patient serum samples were sequenced and a phylogenetic tree was reconstructed. All 17 strains were serotype I strains, including 8 genotype I and 9 genotype V strains. Additionally, 6 genotype I strains that were probably introduced to China from Thailand before 2009 were widely transmitted in the 2013 and 2014 epidemics, and they continued to circulate until 2015, with one affinis strain being found in Singapore. The other 2 genotype I strains were introduced from the Malaya Peninsula in 2014. The transmission source of the 9 genotype V strains was from Malaysia in 2014. DENVs of different serotypes and genotypes co-circulated in the 2014 dengue outbreak in Guangzhou. Moreover, not only had DENV been imported to Guangzhou, but it had also been gradually exported, as the viruses exhibited an enzootic transmission cycle in Guangzhou.
  5. Hussain AI, Cordeiro M, Sevilla E, Liu J
    Vaccine, 2010 May 14;28(22):3848-55.
    PMID: 20307595 DOI: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2010.03.005
    Currently MedImmune manufactures cold-adapted (ca) live, attenuated influenza vaccine (LAIV) from specific-pathogen free (SPF) chicken eggs. Difficulties in production scale-up and potential exposure of chicken flocks to avian influenza viruses especially in the event of a pandemic influenza outbreak have prompted evaluation and development of alternative non-egg based influenza vaccine manufacturing technologies. As part of MedImmune's effort to develop the live attenuated influenza vaccine (LAIV) using cell culture production technologies we have investigated the use of high yielding, cloned MDCK cells as a substrate for vaccine production by assessing host range and virus replication of influenza virus produced from both SPF egg and MDCK cell production technologies. In addition to cloned MDCK cells the indicator cell lines used to evaluate the impact of producing LAIV in cells on host range and replication included two human cell lines: human lung carcinoma (A549) cells and human muco-epidermoid bronchiolar carcinoma (NCI H292) cells. The influenza viruses used to infect the indicators cell lines represented both the egg and cell culture manufacturing processes and included virus strains that composed the 2006-2007 influenza seasonal trivalent vaccine (A/New Caledonia/20/99 (H1N1), A/Wisconsin/67/05 (H3N2) and B/Malaysia/2506/04). Results from this study demonstrate remarkable similarity between influenza viruses representing the current commercial egg produced and developmental MDCK cell produced vaccine production platforms. MedImmune's high yielding cloned MDCK cells used for the cell culture based vaccine production were highly permissive to both egg and cell produced ca attenuated influenza viruses. Both the A549 and NCI H292 cells regardless of production system were less permissive to influenza A and B viruses than the MDCK cells. Irrespective of the indicator cell line used the replication properties were similar between egg and the cell produced influenza viruses. Based on these study results we conclude that the MDCK cell produced and egg produced vaccine strains are highly comparable.
  6. Liu J, Andersson A, Zhong G, Geng X, Ding P, Zhu S, et al.
    Sci Total Environ, 2020 Jul 03;744:140359.
    PMID: 32688001 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.140359
    Black Carbon (BC) deteriorates air quality and contributes to climate warming, yet its regionally- and seasonally-varying emission sources are poorly constrained. Here we employ natural abundance radiocarbon (14C) measurements of BC intercepted at a northern Malaysia regional receptor site, Bachok, to quantify the relative biomass vs. fossil source contributions of atmospheric BC, in a first year-round study for SE Asia (December 2015-December 2016). The annual average 14C signature suggests as large contributions from biomass burning as from fossil fuel combustion. This is similar to findings from analogous measurements at S Asian receptors sites (~50% biomass burning), while E Asia sites are dominated by fossil emission (~20% biomass burning). The 14C-based source fingerprinting of BC in the dry spring season in SE Asia signals an even more elevated biomass burning contribution (~70% or even higher), presumably from forest, shrub and agricultural fires. This is consistent with this period showing also elevated ratio of organic carbon to BC (up from ~5 to 30) and estimates of BC emissions from satellite fire data. Hence, the present study emphasizes the importance of mitigating dry season vegetation fires in SE Asia.
  7. Shi L, Liu J, Gao B, Sillanpää M
    Sci Total Environ, 2022 Mar 20;813:152397.
    PMID: 34923007 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.152397
    The generation of free radicals is the key to the photocatalytic efficiency. In this study, the degradation mechanism of photoelectrocatalysis (PEC) membrane could be adequately explained by exploring the generation pathway of different free radicals. The PEC membrane was prepared by gas phase polymerization of poly (3, 4-ethylene dioxythiophene) (PEDOT) on non-woven fabric, industrial filter cloth, ceramic membrane and polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) membrane, respectively. Three-dimensional fluorescence test showed that the optimal degradation of mixed or monomer contamination (bovine serum protein, sodium humate, and sodium alginate) was achieved by modified ceramic membrane under PEC condition. As for self-cleaning experiment, the membrane resistance decreased 65.7% when the reaction conditions changed from dark to PEC for 30 min. Combined with the characterization results, PEDOT as photocapacitance extended electron lifetime and promoted free radical generation. This system was mainly dependent on superoxide free radicals (0.01 mmol/L) and singlet oxygen (0.10 mmol/L), which came from energy and electron transfer. Oxygen vacancy could adsorb oxygen to produce superoxide radicals, which was further oxidized to singlet oxygen. In addition, the π-electron conjugated system of PEDOT accelerated the hole transfer and the separation of electrons and holes. Also, this study provided a new view of reactive oxygen species generation mechanism from PEDOT modified membrane.
  8. Tan S, Zhou G, Yang Q, Ge S, Liu J, Cheng YW, et al.
    Sci Total Environ, 2023 Mar 15;864:160990.
    PMID: 36539095 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.160990
    Traditional disposal of animal manures and lignocellulosic biomass is restricted by its inefficiency and sluggishness. To advance the carbon management and greenhouse gas mitigation, this review scrutinizes the effect of pyrolysis in promoting the sustainable biomass and manure disposal as well as stimulating the biochar industry development. This review has examined the advancement of pyrolysis of animal manure (AM) and lignocellulosic biomass (LB) in terms of efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and operability. In particular, the applicability of pyrolysis biochar in enhancing the crops yields via soil remediation is highlighted. Through pyrolysis, the heavy metals of animal manures are fixated in the biochar, thereby both soil contamination via leaching and heavy metal uptake by crops are minimized. Pyrolysis biochar is potentially use in soil remediation for agronomic and environmental co-benefits. Fast pyrolysis assures high bio-oil yield and revenue with better return on investment whereas slow pyrolysis has low revenue despite its minimum investment cost because of relatively low selling price of biochar. For future commercialization, both continuous reactors and catalysis can be integrated to pyrolysis to ameliorate the efficiency and economic value of pyrolysis biochar.
  9. Aralappanavar VK, Mukhopadhyay R, Yu Y, Liu J, Bhatnagar A, Praveena SM, et al.
    Sci Total Environ, 2024 May 10;924:171435.
    PMID: 38438042 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.171435
    The harmful effects of microplastics (MPs) pollution in the soil ecosystem have drawn global attention in recent years. This paper critically reviews the effects of MPs on soil microbial diversity and functions in relation to nutrients and carbon cycling. Reports suggested that both plastisphere (MP-microbe consortium) and MP-contaminated soils had distinct and lower microbial diversity than that of non-contaminated soils. Alteration in soil physicochemical properties and microbial interactions within the plastisphere facilitated the enrichment of plastic-degrading microorganisms, including those involved in carbon (C) and nutrient cycling. MPs conferred a significant increase in the relative abundance of soil nitrogen (N)-fixing and phosphorus (P)-solubilizing bacteria, while decreased the abundance of soil nitrifiers and ammonia oxidisers. Depending on soil types, MPs increased bioavailable N and P contents and nitrous oxide emission in some instances. Furthermore, MPs regulated soil microbial functional activities owing to the combined toxicity of organic and inorganic contaminants derived from MPs and contaminants frequently encountered in the soil environment. However, a thorough understanding of the interactions among soil microorganisms, MPs and other contaminants still needs to develop. Since currently available reports are mostly based on short-term laboratory experiments, field investigations are needed to assess the long-term impact of MPs (at environmentally relevant concentration) on soil microorganisms and their functions under different soil types and agro-climatic conditions.
  10. Li Z, Xia Y, Feng LN, Chen JR, Li HM, Cui J, et al.
    Lancet Oncol, 2016 Sep;17(9):1240-7.
    PMID: 27470079 DOI: 10.1016/S1470-2045(16)30148-6
    BACKGROUND: Extranodal natural killer T-cell lymphoma (NKTCL), nasal type, is a rare and aggressive malignancy that occurs predominantly in Asian and Latin American populations. Although Epstein-Barr virus infection is a known risk factor, other risk factors and the pathogenesis of NKTCL are not well understood. We aimed to identify common genetic variants affecting individual risk of NKTCL.

    METHODS: We did a genome-wide association study of 189 patients with extranodal NKTCL, nasal type (WHO classification criteria; cases) and 957 controls from Guangdong province, southern China. We validated our findings in four independent case-control series, including 75 cases from Guangdong province and 296 controls from Hong Kong, 65 cases and 983 controls from Guangdong province, 125 cases and 1110 controls from Beijing (northern China), and 60 cases and 2476 controls from Singapore. We used imputation and conditional logistic regression analyses to fine-map the associations. We also did a meta-analysis of the replication series and of the entire dataset.

    FINDINGS: Associations exceeding the genome-wide significance threshold (p<5 × 10(-8)) were seen at 51 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) mapping to the class II MHC region on chromosome 6, with rs9277378 (located in HLA-DPB1) having the strongest association with NKTCL susceptibility (p=4·21 × 10(-19), odds ratio [OR] 1·84 [95% CI 1·61-2·11] in meta-analysis of entire dataset). Imputation-based fine-mapping across the class II MHC region suggests that four aminoacid residues (Gly84-Gly85-Pro86-Met87) in near-complete linkage disequilibrium at the edge of the peptide-binding groove of HLA-DPB1 could account for most of the association between the rs9277378*A risk allele and NKTCL susceptibility (OR 2·38, p value for haplotype 2·32 × 10(-14)). This association is distinct from MHC associations with Epstein-Barr virus infection.

    INTERPRETATION: To our knowledge, this is the first time that a genetic variant conferring an NKTCL risk is noted at genome-wide significance. This finding underlines the importance of HLA-DP antigen presentation in the pathogenesis of NKTCL.

    FUNDING: Top-Notch Young Talents Program of China, Special Support Program of Guangdong, Specialized Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education (20110171120099), Program for New Century Excellent Talents in University (NCET-11-0529), National Medical Research Council of Singapore (TCR12DEC005), Tanoto Foundation Professorship in Medical Oncology, New Century Foundation Limited, Ling Foundation, Singapore National Cancer Centre Research Fund, and the US National Institutes of Health (1R01AR062886, 5U01GM092691-04, and 1R01AR063759-01A1).

  11. Murphy A, Palafox B, O'Donnell O, Stuckler D, Perel P, AlHabib KF, et al.
    Lancet Glob Health, 2018 Mar;6(3):e292-e301.
    PMID: 29433667 DOI: 10.1016/S2214-109X(18)30031-7
    BACKGROUND: There is little evidence on the use of secondary prevention medicines for cardiovascular disease by socioeconomic groups in countries at different levels of economic development.

    METHODS: We assessed use of antiplatelet, cholesterol, and blood-pressure-lowering drugs in 8492 individuals with self-reported cardiovascular disease from 21 countries enrolled in the Prospective Urban Rural Epidemiology (PURE) study. Defining one or more drugs as a minimal level of secondary prevention, wealth-related inequality was measured using the Wagstaff concentration index, scaled from -1 (pro-poor) to 1 (pro-rich), standardised by age and sex. Correlations between inequalities and national health-related indicators were estimated.

    FINDINGS: The proportion of patients with cardiovascular disease on three medications ranged from 0% in South Africa (95% CI 0-1·7), Tanzania (0-3·6), and Zimbabwe (0-5·1), to 49·3% in Canada (44·4-54·3). Proportions receiving at least one drug varied from 2·0% (95% CI 0·5-6·9) in Tanzania to 91·4% (86·6-94·6) in Sweden. There was significant (p<0·05) pro-rich inequality in Saudi Arabia, China, Colombia, India, Pakistan, and Zimbabwe. Pro-poor distributions were observed in Sweden, Brazil, Chile, Poland, and the occupied Palestinian territory. The strongest predictors of inequality were public expenditure on health and overall use of secondary prevention medicines.

    INTERPRETATION: Use of medication for secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease is alarmingly low. In many countries with the lowest use, pro-rich inequality is greatest. Policies associated with an equal or pro-poor distribution include free medications and community health programmes to support adherence to medications.

    FUNDING: Full funding sources listed at the end of the paper (see Acknowledgments).

  12. Chai JF, Kao SL, Wang C, Lim VJ, Khor IW, Dou J, et al.
    J Clin Endocrinol Metab, 2020 Dec 01;105(12).
    PMID: 32936915 DOI: 10.1210/clinem/dgaa658
    CONTEXT: Glycated hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) level is used to screen and diagnose diabetes. Genetic determinants of HbA1c can vary across populations and many of the genetic variants influencing HbA1c level were specific to populations.

    OBJECTIVE: To discover genetic variants associated with HbA1c level in nondiabetic Malay individuals.

    DESIGN AND PARTICIPANTS: We conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) analysis for HbA1c using 2 Malay studies, the Singapore Malay Eye Study (SiMES, N = 1721 on GWAS array) and the Living Biobank study (N = 983 on GWAS array and whole-exome sequenced). We built a Malay-specific reference panel to impute ethnic-specific variants and validate the associations with HbA1c at ethnic-specific variants.

    RESULTS: Meta-analysis of the 1000 Genomes imputed array data identified 4 loci at genome-wide significance (P 

  13. Li H, Liu L, Dang M, Zhang W, Liu J
    Int J Neurosci, 2020 Jun;130(6):533-540.
    PMID: 31516045 DOI: 10.1080/00207454.2019.1667797
    Aim of the Study: This study was designed to explore the relative susceptibility of in vitro fertilization (IVF)-conceived mice to global cerebral ischemic injury with the possible role of hydrogen sulphide and enzymes responsible for its production.Materials and Methods: IVF was carried to obtain pups, which were allowed to grow to the age of eight weeks. Thereafter, male mice were subjected to 20 min of global ischemia and 24 h of reperfusion. The mice obtained from other groups including normal mating, superovulation but normal mating and normal mating but embryo implantation were also subjected to global ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury.Results: IVF-derived mice exhibited significant more injury in response to I/R injury in comparison to other groups assessed in terms of impairment in locomotor activity, development of motor in coordination, neurological severity score, cerebral infarction and apoptosis markers (caspase-3 activity and Bcl-2 expression). Moreover, there was a relative decrease in the brain levels of hydrogen sulphide (H2S) and its biosynthetic enzymes viz. cystathionine-β-synthase and cystathionine-γ-lyase. Interestingly, the levels of H2S and cystathionine-γ-lyase were significantly low in IVF-derived mice in basal conditions also, i.e. before subjecting to I/R injury and these biochemical alterations were associated with the behavioural deficits in mice, even before subjecting to I/R injury.Conclusion: It is concluded that in vitro fertilization-derived mice are more susceptible to global cerebral I/R injury, which may be possibly due to decreased levels of hydrogen sulphide and its biosynthetic enzymes viz., cystathionine-β-synthase and cystathionine-γ-lyase.
  14. Li F, Ao M, Pham GH, Sunarso J, Chen Y, Liu J, et al.
    Small, 2020 Apr;16(14):e1906276.
    PMID: 32130789 DOI: 10.1002/smll.201906276
    Direct conversion of syngas to dimethyl ether (DME) through the intermediate of methanol allows more efficient DME production in a simpler reactor design relative to the conventional indirect route. Although Cu/ZnO-based multicomponent catalysts are highly active for methanol synthesis in this process, the sintering issue of Cu during the prolonged reaction generally deteriorates their performance. In this work, Cu/ZnO catalysts in a novel octahedron structure are prepared by a two-step pyrolysis of Zn-doped Cu-BTC metal-organic framework (MOF) in N2 and air. The catalyst CZ-350/A, hybrid of MOF-derived Cu/ZnO sample CZ-350 and γ-Al2 O3 for methanol dehydration, displays the best activity for DME formation (7.74% CO conversion and 70.05% DME selectivity) with the lowest deterioration rate over 40 h continuous reaction. Such performance is superior to its counterpart CZ-CP/A made via the conventional coprecipitation method. This is mainly due to the confinement of Cu nanoparticles within the octahedron matrix hindering their migration and aggregation. Besides, partial reduction of ZnO in the activated CZ-350 prompts the formation of Cu+ -O-Zn, further facilitating the DME production with the highest selectivity compared to literature results. The results clearly indicate that Cu and ZnO distribution in the catalyst architecture plays an important role in DME formation.
  15. Liu Y, Gan Y, Song Y, Liu J
    Sensors (Basel), 2021 Mar 13;21(6).
    PMID: 33805702 DOI: 10.3390/s21062037
    Contemporarily, almost all the global IT giants have aimed at the smart home industry and made an active strategic business layout. As the early-stage and entry-level product of the voice-enabled smart home industry, the smart speakers have been going through rapid development and rising fierce market competition globally in recent years. China, one of the most populous and largest markets in the world, has tremendous business potential in the smart home industry. The market sales of smart speakers in China have gone through rapid growth in the past three years. However, the market penetration rate of related smart home devices and equipment still stays extremely low and far from mass adoption. Moreover, the market sales of smart speakers have also entered a significant slowdown and adjustment period since 2020. Chinese consumers have moved from early impulsive consumption to a rational consumption phase about this early-stage smart home product. Trust in the marketing field is considered an indispensable component of all business transactions, which plays a crucial role in adopting new technologies. This study explores the influencing factors of Chinese users' perceived trust in the voice-enabled smart home systems, uses structural equation modeling (SEM) to analyze the interaction mechanism between different variables, and establishes a perceived trust model through 475 valid samples. The model includes six variables: system quality, familiarity, subjective norm, technology optimism, perceived enjoyment, and perceived trust. The result shows that system quality is the essential influence factor that impacts all other variables and could significantly affect the perceived trust. Perceived enjoyment is the most direct influence variable affected by system quality, subjective norm, and technology optimism, and it positively affects the perceived trust in the end. The subjective norm is one of the most distinguishing variables for Chinese users, since China has a collectivist consumption culture. People always expect their behavior to meet social expectations and standards to avoid criticism and acquire social integration. Therefore, policy guidance, authoritative opinions, and people with important reference roles will significantly affect consumers' perceived trust and purchase intention. Familiarity and technology optimism are important influential factors that will have an indirect impact on the perceived trust. The related results of this study can help designers, practitioners, and researchers of the smart home industry produce products and services with higher perceived trust to improve consumers' adoption and acceptance so that the market penetration rate of related products and enterprises could be increased, and the maturity and development of the voice-enabled smart home industry could be promoted.
  16. Yi C, Jiang F, Yang C, Chen Z, Ding Z, Liu J
    Sensors (Basel), 2021 Mar 05;21(5).
    PMID: 33807746 DOI: 10.3390/s21051813
    Inertial measurement unit (IMU)-based joint angle estimation is an increasingly mature technique that has a broad range of applications in clinics, biomechanics and robotics. However, the deviations of different IMUs' reference frames, referring to IMUs' individual orientations estimating errors, is still a challenge for improving the angle estimation accuracy due to conceptual confusion, relatively simple metrics and the lack of systematical investigation. In this paper, we clarify the determination of reference frame unification, experimentally study the time-varying characteristics of reference frames' deviations and accordingly propose a novel method with a comprehensive metric to unify reference frames. To be specific, we firstly define the reference frame unification (RFU) and distinguish it with drift correction that has always been confused with the term RFU. Secondly, we design a mechanical gimbal-based experiment to study the deviations, where sensor-to-body alignment and rotation-caused differences of orientations are excluded. Thirdly, based on the findings of the experiment, we propose a novel method to utilize the consistency of the joint axis under the hinge-joint constraint, gravity acceleration and local magnetic field to comprehensively unify reference frames, which meets the nonlinear time-varying characteristics of the deviations. The results on ten human subjects reveal the feasibility of our proposed method and the improvement from previous methods. This work contributes to a relatively new perspective of considering and improving the accuracy of IMU-based joint angle estimation.
  17. Han H, Chou CC, Li R, Liu J, Zhang L, Zhu W, et al.
    Sci Rep, 2018 06 22;8(1):9566.
    PMID: 29934599 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-27724-3
    Chalocomoracin (CMR), one of the major secondary metabolites found in fungus-infected mulberry leaves, is a potent anticancer agent. However, its anticancer mechanism remains elusive. Here, we demonstrated the potent anti-tumor activity and molecular mechanism of CMR both in vitro and in vivo. We showed for the first time that CMR treatment markedly promoted paraptosis along with extensive cytoplasmic vacuolation derived from the endoplasmic reticulum, rather than apoptosis, in PC-3 and MDA-MB-231cell lines. Additional studies revealed that ectopic expression of Myc-PINK1 (PTEN-induced kinase 1), a key regulator of mitophagy, rendered LNCap cells susceptible to CMR-induced paraptosis, suggesting that the mitophagy-dependent pathway plays a crucial role in inducing paraptosis by activating PINK1. CMR treatment directly upregulated PINK1 and downregulated Alix genes in MDA-MB-231 and PC-3 cell lines. Furthermore, mitophagy signaling and paraptosis with cytoplasmic vacuolation could be blocked by antioxidant N-acetylcysteine (NAC), indicating the novel pathway was triggered by reactive oxygen species (ROS) production. An in vivo MDA-MB-231 xenograft tumor model revealed that CMR suppressed tumor growth by inducing vacuolation production through the same signal changes as those observed in vitro. These data suggest that CMR is a potential therapeutic entity for cancer treatment through a non-apoptotic pathway.
  18. Liu J, Prager-van der Smissen WJC, Collée JM, Bolla MK, Wang Q, Michailidou K, et al.
    Sci Rep, 2020 Jun 16;10(1):9688.
    PMID: 32546843 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-65665-y
    In breast cancer, high levels of homeobox protein Hox-B13 (HOXB13) have been associated with disease progression of ER-positive breast cancer patients and resistance to tamoxifen treatment. Since HOXB13 p.G84E is a prostate cancer risk allele, we evaluated the association between HOXB13 germline mutations and breast cancer risk in a previous study consisting of 3,270 familial non-BRCA1/2 breast cancer cases and 2,327 controls from the Netherlands. Although both recurrent HOXB13 mutations p.G84E and p.R217C were not associated with breast cancer risk, the risk estimation for p.R217C was not very precise. To provide more conclusive evidence regarding the role of HOXB13 in breast cancer susceptibility, we here evaluated the association between HOXB13 mutations and increased breast cancer risk within 81 studies of the international Breast Cancer Association Consortium containing 68,521 invasive breast cancer patients and 54,865 controls. Both HOXB13 p.G84E and p.R217C did not associate with the development of breast cancer in European women, neither in the overall analysis (OR = 1.035, 95% CI = 0.859-1.246, P = 0.718 and OR = 0.798, 95% CI = 0.482-1.322, P = 0.381 respectively), nor in specific high-risk subgroups or breast cancer subtypes. Thus, although involved in breast cancer progression, HOXB13 is not a material breast cancer susceptibility gene.
  19. Liu J, Yinchai W, Siong TC, Li X, Zhao L, Wei F
    Sci Rep, 2022 Dec 01;12(1):20770.
    PMID: 36456582 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-23765-x
    For generating an interpretable deep architecture for identifying deep intrusion patterns, this study proposes an approach that combines ANFIS (Adaptive Network-based Fuzzy Inference System) and DT (Decision Tree) for interpreting the deep pattern of intrusion detection. Meanwhile, for improving the efficiency of training and predicting, Pearson Correlation analysis, standard deviation, and a new adaptive K-means are used to select attributes and make fuzzy interval decisions. The proposed algorithm was trained, validated, and tested on the NSL-KDD (National security lab-knowledge discovery and data mining) dataset. Using 22 attributes that highly related to the target, the performance of the proposed method achieves a 99.86% detection rate and 0.14% false alarm rate on the KDDTrain+ dataset, a 77.46% detection rate on the KDDTest+ dataset, which is better than many classifiers. Besides, the interpretable model can help us demonstrate the complex and overlapped pattern of intrusions and analyze the pattern of various intrusions.
  20. Liu J, He G, Zhang Y, Wong MP, Chu J, Kong L, et al.
    Sci Rep, 2023 Jul 26;13(1):12129.
    PMID: 37495629 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-39199-y
    The purpose is to analyze and compare postoperative recovery and complication incidence between a periareolar incision combined with Suspension-type Mastoscopic Axillary Lymph Node Dissection (SMALND) and traditional inflated Mastoscopic Axillary Lymph Node Dissection (MALND). This was a randomized trial conducted from June 1, 2020, to April 30, 2022, in the Department of Second Breast Surgery, Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University, and the Department of Thyroid and Breast Surgery, Zibo Central Hospital, in accordance with the criteria of inclusion and exclusion. Overall, 126 patients diagnosed and treated for early-stage breast cancer were selected to undergo periareolar-incision breast-conserving surgery. Those patients who underwent periareolar-incision surgery combined with SMALND formed the observation group (SMALND Group), while those who underwent periareolar-incision surgery combined with traditional inflation became MALND Group. In the two groups, paired data "t" was used to examine, analyze, and compare the postoperative daily drainage volume and drain removal time, while paired data "χ2" was used to examine, analyze, and compare the incidences of postoperative upper limb edema and paresthesia. There were 64 cases in the SMALND Group and 62 cases in the MALND Group. Between the two clusters, no differences were found in age, clinical staging, BMI, and breast cancer classification (P > 0.05). The intraoperative surgery time of the SMALND Group was 43.37 ± 6.27 min while that of the MALND Group was longer: 45.72 ± 4.25 min (P 
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