Wind-induced response control model for high-rise buildings based on resizing method

A variety of methods have been applied to reduce the effect of the wind-induced vibration of a high-rise building as the excessive wind-induced vibration at the top of a high-rise building can cause physical and psychological discomfort to the user or the residents. For structural engineers, the most effective approach to control the wind-induced responses of high-rise buildings would be to control the stiffness or natural frequency of the building. This paper presents a practical design model to control the wind-induced responses of a high-rise building. In the model, the stiffness of a high-rise building is maximized to increase the natural frequency of the building by the resizing algorithm. The proposed design model is applied to control the wind-induced vibration of an actual 37-storey building during the initial stage of its structural design

Alcohol induces cell proliferation via hypermethylation of ADHFE1 in colorectal cancer cells

BACKGROUND: The hypermethylation of Alcohol dehydrogenase iron containing 1 (ADHFE1) was recently reported to be associated with colorectal cancer (CRC) differentiation. However, the effect of alcohol on ADHFE1 hypermethylation in CRC is still unclear. METHODS: The methylation status and expression levels of ADHFE1 were investigated in primary tumor tissues and adjacent normal tissues of 73 patients with CRC, one normal colon cell line, and 4 CRC cell lines (HT-29, SW480, DLD-1, and LoVo) by quantitative methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction (QMSP) and real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (real time PCR), respectively. The effect of alcohol on the methylation status of ADHFE1 was analyzed in HT-29, SW480, DLD-1, and CCD18Co cells using QMSP, real-time PCR, immunoblot, and cell proliferation assay. RESULTS: ADHFE1 was hypermethylated in 69 of 73 CRC tissues (95%) compared to adjacent normal tissues (p < 0.05). The mRNA expression of ADHFE1 was significantly reduced in CRC compared to adjacent normal tissues (p < 0.05) and its expression was decreased in the alcohol consumption group (p < 0.05). ADHFE1 was hypermethylated and its expression was decreased in 4 CRC cell lines compared with normal colon cell line. Alcohol induced hypermethylation of ADHFE1, decreased its expression, and stimulated cell proliferation of HT-29, SW480, and DLD-1cells. CONCLUSION: These results demonstrate that the promoter hypermethylation of ADHFE1 is frequently present in CRC and alcohol induces methylation-mediated down expression of ADHFE1 and proliferation of CRC cells

Functional analyses of miRNA-146b-5p during myogenic proliferation and differentiation in chicken myoblasts

Background In the poultry and livestock industries, precise genetic information is crucial for improving economic traits. Thus, functional genomic studies help to generate faster, healthier, and more efficient animal production. Chicken myoblast cells, which are required for muscle development and regeneration, are particularly important because chicken growth is closely related to muscle mass. Results In this study, we induced expression of microRNA-146b-5p mediated by the piggyBac transposon system in primary chicken myoblast (pCM) cells. Subsequently, we analyzed and compared the proliferation and differentiation capacity and also examined the expression of related genes in regular pCM (rpCM) cells and pCM cells overexpressing miRNA-146b-5p (pCM-146b OE cells). pCM-146b OE cells showed increased proliferation and upregulated gene expression related to cell proliferation. In addition, next-generation sequencing analyses were performed to compare global gene expression patterns between rpCM cells and pCM-146b OE cells. We found that the higher proliferation in pCM-146b OE cells was the result of upregulation of gene sets related to the cell cycle. Moreover, miRNA-146b-5p overexpression had inhibitory effects on myotube differentiation in pCM cells. Conclusions Collectively these results demonstrate that miR-146b-5p is closely related to the proliferation and differentiation of chicken myogenic cells as a modulator of post-transcription.This work was carried out with the support of Cooperative Research Program for Agriculture Science & Technology Development (Project No.PJ01334801) Rural Development Administration, Republic of Korea. The funding bodies played no role in the design of the study and collection, analysis, and interpretation of data and in writing the manuscript

Diversity of Cladosporium (Cladosporiales, Cladosporiaceae) species in marine environments and report on five new species

Cladosporium species are cosmopolitan fungi, characterized by olivaceous or dark colonies with coronate conidiogenous loci and conidial hila with a central convex dome surrounded by a raised periclinal rim. Cladosporium species have also been discovered in marine environments. Although many studies have been performed on the application of marine originated Cladosporium species, taxonomic studies on these species are scarce. We isolated Cladosporium species from three under-studied habitats (sediment, seawater, and seaweed) in two districts including an intertidal zone in the Republic of Korea and the open sea in the Western Pacific Ocean. Based on multigenetic marker analyses (for the internal transcribed spacer, actin, and translation elongation factor 1), we identified fourteen species, of which five were found to represent new species. These five species were C. lagenariiforme sp. nov., C. maltirimosum sp. nov., C. marinum sp. nov. in the C. cladosporioides species complex, C. snafimbriatum sp. nov. in the C. herbarum species complex, and C. marinisedimentum sp. nov. in the C. sphaerospermum species complex. Morphological characteristics of the new species and aspects of differences with the already known species are described herein together with molecular data

Efficient Photoelectrochemical Water Oxidation by Metal-Doped Bismuth Vanadate Photoanode with Iron Oxyhydroxide Electrocatalyst

Intensive attention has been currently focused on the discovery of semiconductor and proficient cocatalysts for eventual applications to the photoelectrochemical water splitting system. A W-Mo-doped BiVO4 semiconductor was prepared by the surfactant-assisted thermal decomposition method on a fluorine-doped tin oxide conductive film. The W-Mo-doped BiVO4 films showed a porous morphology with the grain sizes of about 270 nm. Because the hole diffusion length of BiVO4 is about 100 nm, the W-Mo-doped BiVO4 film in this study is an ideal candidate for the photoelectrochemical water oxidation. Iron oxyhydroxide (FeOOH) electrocatalyst was chemically deposited on the W-Mo-doped BiVO4 to investigate the effect of the electrocatalyst on the semiconductor. The W-Mo-doped BiVO4/FeOOH composite electrode showed enhanced activity compared to the pristine W-Mo-doped BiVO4 electrode for water oxidation reaction. The chemical deposition is a promising method for the deposition of FeOOH on semiconductor

Focal Nodular Hyperplasia with Retraction of Liver Capsule: A Case Report

Focal nodular hyperplasia (FNH) is characterized by the presence a central scar with radiating fibrous septa. Our case had a capsular retraction, which was the result of an extension of the central scar to the surface. In addition, a hypointense scar on the T2-weighted image and a minimal enhancing central scar on the enhanced T1-weighted image, which was due to dense, sclerotic collagenous tissue, were observed. We report the first case of FNH with a capsular retraction

Muscle differentiation induced up-regulation of calcium-related gene expression in quail myoblasts

Objective In the poultry industry, the most important economic traits are meat quality and carcass yield. Thus, many studies were conducted to investigate the regulatory pathways during muscle differentiation. To gain insight of muscle differentiation mechanism during growth period, we identified and validated calcium-related genes which were highly expressed during muscle differentiation through mRNA sequencing analysis. Methods We conducted next-generation-sequencing (NGS) analysis of mRNA from undifferentiated QM7 cells and differentiated QM7 cells (day 1 to day 3 of differentiation periods). Subsequently, we obtained calcium related genes related to muscle differentiation process and examined the expression patterns by quantitative reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). Results Through RNA sequencing analysis, we found that the transcription levels of six genes (troponin C1, slow skeletal and cardiac type [TNNC1], myosin light chain 1 [MYL1], MYL3, phospholamban [PLN], caveolin 3 [CAV3], and calsequestrin 2 [CASQ2]) particularly related to calcium regulation were gradually increased according to days of myotube differentiation. Subsequently, we validated the expression patterns of calcium-related genes in quail myoblasts. These results indicated that TNNC1, MYL1, MYL3, PLN, CAV3, CASQ2 responded to differentiation and growth performance in quail muscle. Conclusion These results indicated that calcium regulation might play a critical role in muscle differentiation. Thus, these findings suggest that further studies would be warranted to investigate the role of calcium ion in muscle differentiation and could provide a useful biomarker for muscle differentiation and growth

Measuring Complex Refractive Indices of a Nanometer-Thick Superconducting Film Using Terahertz Time-Domain Spectroscopy with a 10 Femtoseconds Pulse Laser

Superconducting thin films are widely applied in various fields, including switching devices, because of their phase transition behaviors in relation to temperature changes. Therefore, it is important to quantitatively determine the optical constant of a superconducting material in the thin-film state. We performed a terahertz time-domain spectroscopy, based on a 10 femtoseconds pulse laser, to measure the optical constant of a superconducting GdBa2Cu3O7-x (GdBCO) thin film in the terahertz region. We then estimated the terahertz refractive indices of the 70 nm-thick GdBCO film using a numerical extraction process, even though the film thickness was approximately 1/10,000 times smaller than the terahertz wavelength range of 200 mu m to 1 mm. The resulting refractive indices of the GdBCO thin film were consistent with the theoretical results using the two-fluid model. Our work will help to further understand the terahertz optical properties of superconducting thin films with thicknesses under 100 nm, as well as provide a standard platform for characterizing the optical properties of thin films without the need of Kramers-Kronig transformation at the terahertz frequencies

Generation of host-directed and virus-specific antivirals using targeted protein degradation promoted by small molecules and viral RNA mimics.

Targeted protein degradation (TPD), as exemplified by proteolysis-targeting chimera (PROTAC), is an emerging drug discovery platform. PROTAC molecules, which typically contain a target protein ligand linked to an E3 ligase ligand, recruit a target protein to the E3 ligase to induce its ubiquitination and degradation. Here, we applied PROTAC approaches to develop broad-spectrum antivirals targeting key host factors for many viruses and virus-specific antivirals targeting unique viral proteins. For host-directed antivirals, we identified a small-molecule degrader, FM-74-103, that elicits selective degradation of human GSPT1, a translation termination factor. FM-74-103-mediated GSPT1 degradation inhibits both RNA and DNA viruses. Among virus-specific antivirals, we developed viral RNA oligonucleotide-based bifunctional molecules (Destroyers). As a proof of principle, RNA mimics of viral promoter sequences were used as heterobifunctional molecules to recruit and target influenza viral polymerase for degradation. This work highlights the broad utility of TPD to rationally design and develop next-generation antivirals

Apolipoprotein J is a hepatokine regulating muscle glucose metabolism and insulin sensitivity

Funding Information: This work was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health (R01DK111529 and R01DK106076 to Y.-B.K.) and in part by Merit Review Award (I01CX00635) from the United States Department of Veterans Affairs Clinical Sciences Research and Development Service (R.R.H.), grants from the Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education (2018R1D1A1B07049123 to J.A.S. and 2017R1A6A3A03003298 to W.-M.Y.), a grant from the Korean Diabetes Association (2017S-2 to J.A.S.), and a grant from Korea University (K1813091 to J.A.S.). The contents do not represent the views of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs or the United States Government. The Animal Metabolic Physiology Core (P30 DK057521 Barbara Kahn) performed in vivo glucose uptake. M.-C.K. is a recipient of a postdoctoral fellowship award from the American Diabetes Association (1-17-PDF-146), I.S.L. is a recipient of FCT fellowship from Portugal (SFRH/BD/71021/2010), and L.P.M is a recipient of São Paulo Research Foundation from Brazil (FAPESP 2013/ 14149-6). We would like to thank Barbara Kahn, Tony Hollenberg, and Terry Flier for helpful discussions, Odile Peroni for technical assistance on in vivo glucose uptake, Amira Klip for the C2C12-myc-Glut4 cell line, Sungman Cho for glucose uptake assays, Jin Sung Park for VLDL-secretion, Wendy Li for Immunofluorescent analysis, Zoltan Arany for myogenin-Cre transgenic mice, Inkyu Lee for ApoJ adenovirus, and Min Bon Hong for ApoJ recombinant protein. Publisher Copyright: © 2020, The Author(s).Crosstalk between liver and skeletal muscle is vital for glucose homeostasis. Hepatokines, liver-derived proteins that play an important role in regulating muscle metabolism, are important to this communication. Here we identify apolipoprotein J (ApoJ) as a novel hepatokine targeting muscle glucose metabolism and insulin sensitivity through a low-density lipoprotein receptor-related protein-2 (LRP2)-dependent mechanism, coupled with the insulin receptor (IR) signaling cascade. In muscle, LRP2 is necessary for insulin-dependent IR internalization, an initial trigger for insulin signaling, that is crucial in regulating downstream signaling and glucose uptake. Of physiologic significance, deletion of hepatic ApoJ or muscle LRP2 causes insulin resistance and glucose intolerance. In patients with polycystic ovary syndrome and insulin resistance, pioglitazone-induced improvement of insulin action is associated with an increase in muscle ApoJ and LRP2 expression. Thus, the ApoJ-LRP2 axis is a novel endocrine circuit that is central to the maintenance of normal glucose homeostasis and insulin sensitivity.publishersversionpublishe