National Chung Hsing University

About: National Chung Hsing University is a education organization based out in Taichung, Taiwan. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Catalysis & Thin film. The organization has 19443 authors who have published 24060 publications receiving 540154 citations. The organization is also known as: NCHU.

ALFIN-LIKE 6 is involved in root hair elongation during phosphate deficiency in Arabidopsis.

Abstract: Phosphate (Pi) starvation in plants induces dense and elongated root hairs, which increase the absorptive surface area of the roots and play a critical role in Pi uptake. The molecular mechanism underlying these changes remains unclear. Forward and reverse genetic approaches were employed to identify novel genes involved in root hair formation on Pi starvation. The mutant per2, with defects in root hair elongation specifically under low Pi conditions, was identified in a large-scale genetic screen of T-DNA insertion lines. The phenotype was caused by a mutation in the homeodomain protein ALFIN-LIKE 6 (AL6). From a screen of mutants defective in genes that showed lower transcript abundance in per2 relative to wild-type roots on low Pi medium, we identified four putative downstream targets of AL6, namely ETC1, NPC4, SQD2 and PS2, all of which were critical in root hair elongation of Pi-deficient plants. The results further indicate that AL6 is involved in the control of growth and several key responses to Pi starvation. Our findings demonstrate that AL6 controls the transcription of a suite of genes critical for root hair elongation under low Pi conditions, suggesting a novel physiological function for an Alfin gene in Arabidopsis.

Induction of apoptosis by the Anthocyanidins through regulation of Bcl-2 gene and activation of c-Jun N-terminal kinase cascade in hepatoma cells.

Abstract: Anthocyanidins that are reddish pigments widely distributed in fruit and vegetables have been reported to possess antioxidant and anticancer activities. To understand the molecular basis of the putative anticancer activity of anthocyanidins, we investigated the antiproliferation effects of anthocyanidins in human hepatoma cell lines. Delphinidin, cyanidin, and malvidin exhibited strong growth inhibitory effects against human hepatoma HepG(2), but were less effective against Hep3B. According to the appearance of the caspase-3 fragments and stimulated proteolytic cleavage of poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) in time-dependent studies, delphinidin induced apoptotic cell death characterized by internucleosomal DNA fragmentation and caused a rapid induction of caspase-3 activity. RT-PCR and Western blot data revealed that delphinidin stimulated an increase in the c-Jun and JNK phosphorylation expression at mRNA and protein levels, respectively. Moreover, delphinidin-induced apoptotic cell death was accompanied by up-regulation of Bax and down-regulation of Bcl-2 protein. Dephinidin-induced DNA fragmentation was blocked by N-acetyl-l-cysteine and catalase, suggesting that the death signaling was triggered by oxidative stress. Our experiments provide evidence that delphinidin is an effective apoptosis inducer in HepG(2) cells through regulation of Bcl-2 family moleculars and activation of c-Jun N-terminal kinase cascade. The results suggest that induction of apoptosis by anthocyanidins is a pivotal mechanism of their cancer chemopreventive functions.

Multianalyte sensor for the simultaneous determination of hypoxanthine, xanthine and uric acid based on a preanodized nontronite-coated screen-printed electrode

Abstract: Simultaneous determinations of purine bases of hypoxanthine (Hx), xanthine (X), and uric acid (UA) were demonstrated on preanodized nontronite-coated screen-printed carbon electrodes (NSPEs∗). Good enhancement in the electrochemical sensitivity was noticed upon preanodization at 2.0 V versus Ag/AgCl. The measured interaction parameter “r” reveals a strong attractive force of the purine bases to the NSPE∗. Cyclic voltammetric studies show different charge transfer behavior among the purine bases on the NSPE∗. The experimental parameters were systematically optimized for each analyte of Hx, X, and UA. The calibration curves were all linear in the range of 4–30, 2–40, and 2–40 μM with detection limits (S/N=3) of 0.34, 0.07, and 0.42 μM for Hx, X, and UA, respectively. The analytical performance of the NSPE∗ was demonstrated for the simultaneous determination of Hx, X, and UA in blood plasma and urine samples. The estimation of the fish freshness by monitoring the Hx content was also established with very good reproducibility.

Low-power parallel multiplier with column bypassing

Abstract: A low-power parallel multiplier design, in which some columns in the multiplier array can be turned-off whenever their outputs are known, is proposed. This design maintains the original array structure without introducing extra boundary cells, as was the case in previous designs. Experimental results show that it saves 10% of power for random input. Higher power reduction can be achieved if the operands contain more 0's than 1's.