Fu Jen Catholic University

About: Fu Jen Catholic University is a education organization based out in Taipei, Taiwan. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Medicine. The organization has 6842 authors who have published 9512 publications receiving 171005 citations. The organization is also known as: FJU & Fu Jen.

Gene Expression-Based Chemical Genomics Identifies Potential Therapeutic Drugs in Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Abstract: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is an aggressive tumor with a poor prognosis. Currently, only sorafenib is approved by the FDA for advanced HCC treatment; therefore, there is an urgent need to discover candidate therapeutic drugs for HCC. We hypothesized that if a drug signature could reverse, at least in part, the gene expression signature of HCC, it might have the potential to inhibit HCC-related pathways and thereby treat HCC. To test this hypothesis, we first built an integrative platform, the “Encyclopedia of Hepatocellular Carcinoma genes Online 2”, dubbed EHCO2, to systematically collect, organize and compare the publicly available data from HCC studies. The resulting collection includes a total of 4,020 genes. To systematically query the Connectivity Map (CMap), which includes 6,100 drug-mediated expression profiles, we further designed various gene signature selection and enrichment methods, including a randomization technique, majority vote, and clique analysis. Subsequently, 28 out of 50 prioritized drugs, including tanespimycin, trichostatin A, thioguanosine, and several anti-psychotic drugs with anti-tumor activities, were validated via MTT cell viability assays and clonogenic assays in HCC cell lines. To accelerate their future clinical use, possibly through drug-repurposing, we selected two well-established drugs to test in mice, chlorpromazine and trifluoperazine. Both drugs inhibited orthotopic liver tumor growth. In conclusion, we successfully discovered and validated existing drugs for potential HCC therapeutic use with the pipeline of Connectivity Map analysis and lab verification, thereby suggesting the usefulness of this procedure to accelerate drug repurposing for HCC treatment.

An extended chaotic-maps-based protocol with key agreement for multiserver environments

Abstract: Due to the rapid development and growth of computer networks, there have been greater and greater demands for remote password authentication protocols. Recently, the focus has been on protocols for multiserver environments that run on smart cards. These protocols typically count on the nonce or timestamp to provide protection against the replay attack. However, as Tsaur et al. pointed out, these protocols have some security issues such as disturbance in clock synchronization and vulnerability to the man-in-the-middle attack. In order to solve the above problems, Tsaur et al. proposed a multiserver authentication scheme with key agreement in 2012, and they claimed that their scheme could effectively achieve password-authenticated key agreement while getting around the technical difficulty of implementing clock synchronization in multiserver environments. Unfortunately, we found out that Tsaur et al.’s protocol still has the following weaknesses: (1) inability to resist privileged insider attack, (2) inability to resist known-plaintext attack, (3) inability to provide user anonymity, and (4) lack of perfect forward secrecy. To fix these secure flaws of Tsaur et al.’s protocol, in this paper, we shall propose an improved multiserver authentication protocol with key agreement based on extended chaotic maps. We shall also offer formal proof of smooth execution of the improved authenticated key agreement protocol.

N-acetylcysteine abrogates acute lung injury induced by endotoxin.

Abstract: 1. Acute lung injury (ALI) or acute respiratory distress syndrome is a serious clinical problem with high mortality. N-Acetylcysteine (NAC) is an anti-oxidant and a free radical scavenger. It has been reported recently that NAC ameliorates organ damage induced by endotoxin (lipopolysaccharide; LPS) in conscious rats. The present study was designed to evaluate the effects of NAC on LPS-induced ALI and other changes in anaesthetized rats. 2. Sprague-Dawley rats were anaesthetized with pentobarbital (40 mg/kg, i.p.). Endotracheal intubation was performed to provide artificial ventilation. Arterial pressure and heart rate were monitored. The extent of ALI was evaluated with the lung weight (LW)/bodyweight ratio, LW gain, exhaled nitric oxide (NO) and protein concentration in bronchoalveolar lavage (PCBAL). Haematocrit, white blood cells, plasma nitrate/nitrite, methyl guanidine (MG), tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha and interleukin (IL)-1b were measured. Pathological changes in the lung were examined and evaluated. 3. Endotoxaemia was produced by injection of 10 mg/kg, i.v., LPS (Escherichia coli). Animals were randomly divided into three groups. In the vehicle group, rats received an i.v. drip of physiological saline solution (PSS) at a rate of 0.3 mL/h. The LPS group received an i.v. drip of PSS for 1 h, followed by LPS (10 mg/kg by slow blous injection, i.v., over 1-2 min). Rats in the LPS + NAC group received NAC by i.v. drip at a rate of 150 mg/kg per h (0.3 mL/h) for 60 min starting 10 min before LPS administration (10 mg/kg by slow blous injection, i.v., over 1-2 min). Each group was observed for a period of 6 h. 4. N-Acetylcysteine treatment improved the LPS-induced hypotension and leukocytopenia. It also reduced the extent of ALI, as evidenced by reductions in LW changes, exhaled NO, PCBAL and lung pathology. In addition, NAC diminished the LPS-induced increases in nitrate/nitrite, MG, TNF-a and IL-1b. 5. In another series of experiments, LPS increased the mortality rate compared with the vehicle group (i.v. drip of PSS at a rate of 0.3 mL/h) during a 6 h observation period. N-Acetylcysteine, given 10 min prior to LPS, significantly increased the survival rate. 6. The results of the present study suggest that NAC exerts a protective effect on the LPS-induced ALI. The mechanisms of action may be mediated through the reduction of the production of NO, free radicals and pro-inflammatory cytokines.

Are real exchange rates stationary based on panel unit‐root tests? Evidence from Pacific Basin countries

Abstract: Recently, there have been many studies that apply the panel unit-root test of Levin and Lin (1992) to support the validity of long-run purchasing power parity (PPP) for industrial countries. This paper applies two recently developed panel unit-root tests, provided by Im et al. (1995) and Maddala and Wu (1998), respectively, to re-examine the PPP hypothesis for eight Pacific Basin countries. The empirical evidence fails to support PPP for Pacific Basin countries. This finding is robust to different base countries and to different subsets of the panel. Copyright @ 1999 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. All rights reserved.

Amelioration of insulin resistance in women with PCOS via reduced insulin receptor substrate-1 Ser312 phosphorylation following laparoscopic ovarian electrocautery

Abstract: Background Increased Ser(312) phosphorylation of insulin receptor substrate (IRS)-1 is one possible molecular mechanism of insulin resistance in polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). We investigated whether laparoscopic ovarian electrocautery (LOE) improved insulin sensitivity in women with PCOS and examined the underlying molecular mechanism of LOE. Methods Adipose tissue and blood samples from 12 women with PCOS before, and 3 months after, LOE were analysed. Results Before LOE, women with PCOS were found to have significantly higher 2 h glucose, fasting and 2 h insulin levels, homeostasis model insulin resistance index and lower fasting glucose-to-insulin ratio (G(0)/I(0)) than healthy, lean, age-matched controls. Serum levels of glucose and insulin were significantly decreased, and G(0)/I(0) ratio was significantly increased 3 months after LOE. Levels of activated extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 in PCOS women were higher than in controls, but were significantly decreased after LOE. Levels of insulin receptor, glucose transporter-4 and phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase were lower in PCOS patients before LOE than in controls and increased after LOE. Levels of Ser(312)-phosphorylated IRS-1 in PCOS women before LOE were higher than in controls and decreased significantly after LOE, whereas IRS-1 tyrosine phosphorylation in PCOS women before LOE was lower than in controls and increased significantly after LOE. Conclusion Over the short observation period of this study, our results demonstrated that LOE effectively ameliorated insulin resistance in women with PCOS via decreased IRS-1 Ser(312) phosphorylation.