1. Epigenetic silencing of AATK in acinar to ductal metaplasia in murine model of pancreatic cancer
Ding et al. (2020) Clinical Epigenetics, 12(1), 87. Cite this article
Cancer subtype switching, which involves unclear cancer cell origin, cell fate decision, and transdifferentiation of cells within a confined tumor microenvironment, remains a major problem in pancreatic cancer (PDA). By analyzing PDA subtypes in The Cancer Genome Atlas, we identified that epigenetic silencing of Apoptosis Associated Tyrosine Kinase (AATK) inversely was correlated with mRNA expression and was enriched in the quasi-mesenchymal cancer subtype. By comparing early mouse pancreatic lesions, the non-invasive regions showed AATK co-expression in cells with acinar-to-ductal metaplasia, but the invasive lesions revealed diminished AATK expression in cells with poorly differentiated histology. Transiently activated AATK initiates acinar differentiation into a ductal cell fate to establish apical-basal polarization in acinar-to-ductal metaplasia. Silenced AATK and ectopically expressed p63 and HNF1α allow the proliferation of ductal PanINs in mice. Epigenetic silencing of AATK regulates the cellular transdifferentiation, proliferation, and cell cycle progression in converting PDA-subtypes.
2. Evaluation of Vertical Ground Reaction Forces Pattern Visualization in Neurodegenerative Diseases Identification Using Deep Learning and Recurrence Plot Image Feature Extraction.
To diagnose neurodegenerative diseases (NDDs), physicians have been clinically evaluating symptoms. However, these symptoms are not very dependable—particularly in the early stages of the diseases. This study has therefore proposed a novel classification algorithm that uses a deep learning approach to classify NDDs based on the recurrence plot of gait vertical ground reaction force (vGRF) data. In the preprocessing process, the 5-min vGRF data divided into 10-s successive time windows. In the feature transformation process, the time-domain vGRF data are modified into an image using a recurrence plot. The principal component analysis (PCA) is used in this stage for feature enhancement. Lastly, the convolutional neural network (CNN), as a deep learning classifier, is employed in the classification process and evaluated using the leave-one-out cross-validation (LOOCV). The experimental results included two-class and multiclass classifications with the best average accuracy were 98.65% and 97.86%, respectively.
3. Differentiating anomalous disease intensity with confounding variables in space.
Wu, C.-C., & Shete, S. (2020). International Journal of Health Geographics, 19(1), 37. Cite this article
With the identification of disease clusters of statistical significance, to determine whether or not the detected disease clusters can be explained by known or suspected risk factors is a logical next step. The models allowing for confounding variables permit the investigators to determine if some risk factors can explain the occurrence of geographical clustering of disease incidence and to investigate other hidden spatially related risk factors if there still exist geographical disease clusters, after adjusting for risk factors.We propose to develop statistical methods for differentiating incidence intensity of geographical disease clusters of peak incidence and low incidence in a hierarchical manner, adjusted for confounding variables.With the information on hierarchy in adjusted intensity levels, epidemiologists and public health officials can better prioritize the regions with the highest rates for thorough etiologic studies, seeking hidden spatially related risk factors and precisely moving resources to areas with genuine highest abnormalities.
4. Long Short-Term Memory Approach to Estimate Battery Remaining Useful Life Using Partial Data.
Chinomona, B., Chung, C., Chang, L.-K., Su, W.-C., & Tsai, M.-C. (2020). IEEE Access, 8, 165419–165431.Cite this article
Due to the increasing demand of electrical vehicles, prognostics of the battery state is of paramount importance. The nonlinearity of the signal results in the complexity of analyzing the degradation of the battery. The drawbacks of the previous prediction algorithms are insufficient or irrelevant features to explicitly model the battery aging and use of fully charged/discharged datasets, which might result in poor prediction accuracy. Therefore, this study proposes a feature selection technique to adequately select optimum statistical feature subset and the use of partial data to determine the battery remaining useful life (RUL). The proposed approach demonstrated exceptional RUL prediction results, with RMSE of 0.00286 and MAE of 0.00222 using partial discharge data. The method shows prediction in comparison with the use of full data and state-of-the-art outcomes from previous studies of the same open data from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration prognostic battery data sets.
5. Anti-IL-20 antibody improved motor function and reduced glial scar formation after traumatic spinal cord injury in rats.
Lee, J.-S., Hsu, Y.-H., Chiu, Y.-S., Jou, I.-M., & Chang, M.-S. (2020). Journal of Neuroinflammation, 17(1), 156. Cite this article
Spinal cord injury (SCI) causes neurological devastating consequences, which result in partial or total paralysis. The irreversible neurological deficits and glial scar formation are characteristic of SCI. Inflammatory responses play a central role in regulating the pathogenesis of SCI. IL-20 is a proinflammatory cytokine involved in renal fibrosis and liver cirrhosis through upregulating TGF-β1 production. However, the role of IL-20 in SCI remains unclear. We used the in-vivo and in-vitro studies to delineate the association between IL-20 and SCI. We found that IL-20 was highly expressed in spinal cord after SCI in rats and upregulated the expression levels of inflammatory cytokines, whereas anti-IL-20 mAb 7E treatment remarkably inhibited the inflammatory response through inhibiting the levels of IL-20 and TGF-β1. Both motor and sensory functions were improved with anti-IL-20 mAb 7E treatment. These findings give evidence that IL-20 may be a promising target for SCI treatment.
6. Progress in biomass torrefaction: Principles, applications and challenges.
Chen, W.-H., Lin, B.-J., Lin, Y.-Y., Chu, Y.-S., Ubando, A. T., Show, P. L., Ong, H. C., Chang, J.-S., Ho, S.-H., Culaba, A. B., Pétrissans, A., & Pétrissans, M. (2021). Progress in Energy and Combustion Science , 82, 100887. Cite this article
The development of biofuels has been considered as an important countermeasure to abate anthropogenic CO2 emissions and greenhouse effect. Thermochemical conversion processes are considered as the most efficient routes. In recently developing biomass conversion technologies, torrefaction has attracted much attention since it can effectively upgrade solid biomass and produce coal-like fuel. To provide a comprehensive review of the progress in biomass torrefaction technologies, this study performs an in-depth literature survey of torrefaction principles, processes, systems, and identifies a current trend in practical torrefaction development, and environmental performance. Moreover, the encountered challenges and perspectives from torrefaction development are underlined. Integrating torrefaction with other processes such as co-firing, gasification, pyrolysis, and ironmaking, etc., makes it more efficient and economically feasible in contrast to using a single process. By virtue of capturing carbon dioxide during the growth stage of biomass, negative carbon emissions can even be achieved from torrefied biomass.
Dengue virus (DENV) infection is the most prevalent mosquito-borne viral infection and can lead to severe dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) and even life-threatening dengue shock syndrome (DSS). Although the cytokine storm has been revealed as a critical factor in dengue disease, the limited understanding of dengue immunopathogenesis hinders the development of effective treatments. Macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) is a pleiotropic proinflammatory cytokine that mediates diverse immune responses, and the serum level of MIF positively correlates with disease severity in patients with dengue. MIF is involved in DENV replication and many pathological changes, such as vascular leakage, during DENV infection. In this paper, the pathogenic roles of MIF and the regulation of MIF secretion during DENV infection are reviewed. Furthermore, whether MIF is a potential therapeutic target against DENV infection is also discussed.
8. Global greenness in relation to reducing the burden of cardiovascular diseases: ischemic heart disease and stroke.
Asri, A. K., Yu, C.-P., Pan, W.-C., Guo, Y. L., Su, H.-J., Lung, S.-C. C., Wu, C.-D., & Spengler, J. D. (2020).Environmental Research Letters , 15(12), 124003. Cite this article
This ecological study aimed to identify the association between greenness and cardiovascular diseases in terms of ischemic heart disease (IHD) and stroke in 183 countries worldwide. The country-level disability-adjusted life year (DALY) database provided by the WHO was used to represent the health burden due to IHD and stroke for the study countries. Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) was assessed to estimate the greenness in each country. After considering potential covariates, the generalized linear mixed model penalized quasi-likelihood (GLMMPQL) was applied to identify the greenness in relation to DALY loss due to IHD and stroke. A consistently significant negative association was found between greenness and both IHD and stroke; the NDVI coefficients of the main model were -11.245 (95% CI: -16.770, -5.720) and -4.387 (95% CI: -7.926, -0.085), respectively, in the DALY changes based on the increase of NDVI from 0 to 1.
9. Carcinogenesis of Male Oral Submucous Fibrosis Alters Salivary Microbiomes.
Chen, M. Y., Chen, J. W., Wu, L. W., Huang, K. C., Chen, J. Y., Wu, W. S., Chiang, W. F., Shih, C. J., Tsai, K. N., Hsieh, W. T., Ho, Y. H., Wong, T. Y., Wu, J. H., & Chen, Y. L. (2020).Journal of Dental Research. Cite this article
Most oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) tumors arise from oral premalignant lesions. Oral submucous fibrosis (OSF) is a premalignant stromal disease characterized by a high malignant transformation rate and high prevalence. Although a relationship between the inhabited microbiome and carcinogenesis has been proposed, the changes of the salivary microbiome during cancer formation remain unclear. This study compared the salivary microbiomes of male patients with OSCC and a predisposing OSF background (OSCC-OSF group). The results of high-throughput sequencing of the bacterial 16S rRNA gene indicated that the microbiome profile of OSF-related malignancy was associated with increased microbial stochastic fluctuation. Artificial intelligence selection algorithms consistently identified 5 key species in the OSCC-OSF group. Robust accuracy in predicting oral carcinogenesis was obtained with our exploratory and validation data sets. In conclusion, our results provided new insights into salivary microbiome alterations during the malignant transformation of OSF.
Cordycepin, a bioactive constituent from the fungus Cordyceps sinensis, could inhibit cancer cell proliferation and promote cell death via induction of cell cycle arrest, apoptosis and autophagy. We observed that cordycepin down-regulated the mRNA levels of FGF9, FGF18, FGFR2 and FGFR3 genes in MA-10 cells. The in vitro study revealed that cordycepin decreased FGF9-induced MA-10 cell proliferation by inhibiting p-ERK1/2, p-Rb and E2F1 expressions, and reducing the expressions of cyclins and CDKs. Moreover, an allograft model was performed with FGF9 intratumoral injection and/or intraperitoneal cordycepin injection to MA-10-tumor bearing C57BL/6J mice. Results showed that FGF9-induced tumor growth in cordycepin-treated mice was significantly smaller than PBS-treated control group. Furthermore, cordycepin decreased FGF9-induced FGFR1-4 protein expressions in vitro and in vivo. In summary, cordycepin inhibited FGF9-induced testicular tumor growth by suppressing the ERK1/2, Rb/E2F1, cell cycle pathways, and FGFR1-4 expressions, suggesting cordycepin can be used as novel anticancer drug for testicular cancers.
In this work, the gallium oxide (Ga2O3) films were deposited using a plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition system. The performance of the Ga2O3 films annealed at various temperatures was investigated using X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and photoluminescence (PL). According to the measurement results, the performance of the Ga2O3 films was improved with the annealed temperature increase. The Ga2O3 films were applied to the deep metal-semiconductor-metal ultraviolet C photodetectors (MSM UVC-PDs). The cut-off wavelength and the photoresponsivity of the MSM UVC-PDs were 250 nm and 22.19 A/W, respectively.
12. Dynamic Modeling and Experimental Validation of an Impact-Driven Piezoelectric Energy Harvester in Magnetic Field.
Chen, C.-D., Wu, Y.-H., & Su, P.-W. (2020). Sensors，20(21), 6170. Cite this article
In this study, an impact-driven piezoelectric energy harvester (PEH) in magnetic field is presented. The PEH consists of a piezoelectric cantilever beam and plural magnets. The impact between magnets produces an impact energy and causes a transient beam vibration. The electric energy is generated by the piezoelectric effect. Based on the energy principle, a multi-degree of freedom mathematical model was developed to calculate the displacements, velocities, and voltage outputs of the PEH. A prototype of the PEH was fabricated. The maximum generated energy was about 0.4045 mJ for a single impact. A comparison between numerical and experimental results was presented in detail. It showed that the predictions based on the model agree with the experimental measurements. The PEH was connected to a diode bridge rectifier and a storage capacitor. The experiments showed that the energy stored in the capacitor can light up the LED.
In this work, we report a novel and efficient silicidation method to synthesize higher manganese silicide (HMS) nanowires with interesting characterization and physical properties. High density silicon nanowire arrays fabricated by chemical etching reacted with MnCl2 precursor through a unique double tube chemical vapor deposition (CVD) system, where we could enhance the vapor pressure of the precursor and provide stable Mn vapor with a sealing effect. It is crucial that the method enables the efficient formation of high quality higher manganese silicide nanowires without a change in morphology and aspect ratio during the process. X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) were utilized to characterize the HMS nanowires. High-resolution TEM studies confirm that the HMS nanowires were single crystalline Mn27Si47 nanowires of Nowotny Chimney Ladder crystal structures. The excellent physical properties of the HMS nanowires (NWs) make them attractive choices for applications in spintronic devices and field emitters.
14. Chitosan Oligosaccharides Suppress Nuclear Factor-Kappa B Activation and Ameliorate Experimental Autoimmune Uveoretinitis in Mice.
Hsu, S.-M., Yang, C.-H., Tsai, H.-Y., Lin, C.-J., Fang, Y.-H., Shieh, C.-C., & Chen, S.-H. (2020). International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 21(21). Cite this article
We investigated the therapeutic potential and mechanism of chitosan oligosaccharides (COS) for experimental autoimmune uveoretinitis (EAU) in mice. EAU was induced in C57/BL6 mice by injection of human interphotoreceptor retinoid binding protein (IRBP) peptides. At the same time, a high or low dose (20 or 10 mg/kg) of COS or phosphate buffered saline (PBS) was given to mice daily after EAU induction. We found that mouse EAU is ameliorated by the high-dose COS treatment when compared with PBS treatment. In the retinas of high-dose COS-treated mice, the nuclear translocation of NF-κB subunit (p65) was suppressed, and the expression of several key EAU inflammatory mediators, IFN-γ, TNF-α, IL-1α, IL-4, IL-5, IL-6, IL-10, IL-17, and MCP-1 was lowered. These results suggest that COS might be a potential treatment for posterior uveitis.
The photoreduction method is a potential method in terms of simplification, speed, and cost of the process. This paper presents a simple, novel, and inexpensive method for the direct synthesis of a gold nanoparticle (AuNP) monolayer with a droplet of gold precursor on the surface of SU-8 under UV exposure, and its application to surface enhanced Raman sensing (SERS). TEM study revealed that a monolayer of AuNPs with an fcc crystalline structure was reduced on the surface of SU-8. The interparticle spacing and particle size were adjustable by controlling SU-8 initial curing time and repeated reduction. Photoreduction on SU-8 nanostructures was also achievable. The nanopillars' high specific surface area can help improve the density of the SERS hot spots, thereby effectively improving the analyte's Raman signal. The AuNPs/nanopillar substrate was applied to the detection of malachite green (aquaculture drug), and the sensitivity is enough to meet the EU regulations.
17. A New High Entropy Glycerate for High Performance Oxygen Evolution Reaction.
Nguyen, T. X., Su, Y.-H., Lin, C.-C., Ruan, J., & Ting, J.-M. (2021). Advanced Science, 2002446. Cite this article
Herein, a new high entropy material is reported, i.e., a noble metal‐free high entropy glycerate (HEG), synthesized via a simple solvothermal process. The HEG consists of 5 different metals of Fe, Ni, Co, Cr, and Mn. The unique glycerate structure exhibits an excellent oxygen evolution reaction (OER) activity with a low overpotential of 229 and 278 mV at current densities of 10 and 100 mA cm−2, respectively, in 1 m KOH electrolyte, outperforming its subsystems of binary‐, ternary‐, and quaternary‐metal glycerates. The HEG also shows outstanding stability and durability in the alkaline electrolyte. The result demonstrates the significance of synergistic effect that gives additional freedoms to modify the electronic structure and coordination environment. Moreover, HEG@HEG electrolyzer shows a good overall water splitting performance and durability, requiring a cell voltage of 1.63 V to achieve a current density of 10 mA cm−2.
新穎高熵甘油酸酯氧釋放反應催化劑 本研究透過簡易的溶劑熱合成法合成無貴金屬之高熵甘油酸酯(HEG)。此HEG由鐵、鎳、鈷、鉻和錳5種不同的金屬組成，其獨特的甘油酸酯結構展現出優異的氧釋放反應活性，在1M KOH電解液中分別可在10和100 mA cm-2電流密度下獲得229和278 mV優異的低過電位，更勝於其二、三與四元金屬系統，同時更有著出色的穩定性和耐久性，顯現了協同效應在高熵材料中的重要性。
