@article{PengLiuWangetal.2018, author = {Peng, Junjie and Liu, Danxu and Wang, Yingtao and Zeng, Ying and Cheng, Feng and Zhang, Wenqiang}, title = {Weight-based strategy for an I/O-intensive application at a cloud data center}, series = {Concurrency and computation : practice \& experience}, volume = {30}, journal = {Concurrency and computation : practice \& experience}, number = {19}, publisher = {Wiley}, address = {Hoboken}, issn = {1532-0626}, doi = {10.1002/cpe.4648}, pages = {14}, year = {2018}, abstract = {Applications with different characteristics in the cloud may have different resources preferences. However, traditional resource allocation and scheduling strategies rarely take into account the characteristics of applications. Considering that an I/O-intensive application is a typical type of application and that frequent I/O accesses, especially small files randomly accessing the disk, may lead to an inefficient use of resources and reduce the quality of service (QoS) of applications, a weight allocation strategy is proposed based on the available resources that a physical server can provide as well as the characteristics of the applications. Using the weight obtained, a resource allocation and scheduling strategy is presented based on the specific application characteristics in the data center. Extensive experiments show that the strategy is correct and can guarantee a high concurrency of I/O per second (IOPS) in a cloud data center with high QoS. Additionally, the strategy can efficiently improve the utilization of the disk and resources of the data center without affecting the service quality of applications.}, language = {en} } @article{LuZengChenetal.2013, author = {Lu, Yong-Ping and Zeng, De-Ying and Chen, You-Peng and Liang, Xu-Jing and Xu, Jie-Ping and Huang, Si-Min and Lai, Zhi-Wei and Wen, Wang-Rong and von Websky, Karoline and Hocher, Berthold}, title = {Low birth weight is associated with lower respiratory tract infections in children with hand, foot, and mouth disease}, series = {Clinical laboratory : the peer reviewed journal for clinical laboratories and laboratories related to blood transfusion}, volume = {59}, journal = {Clinical laboratory : the peer reviewed journal for clinical laboratories and laboratories related to blood transfusion}, number = {9-10}, publisher = {Clin Lab Publ., Verl. Klinisches Labor}, address = {Heidelberg}, issn = {1433-6510}, doi = {10.7754/Clin.Lab.2012.120725}, pages = {985 -- 992}, year = {2013}, abstract = {Background: Low birth weight (LBW) might be a risk factor for acquiring lower respiratory tract infections (LRTIs) associated with disease related complications in early childhood. HFMD, a frequent viral infection in southern China, is a leading cause of lower respiratory tract infections in children. We analyzed whether LBW is a risk factor for children with HFMD to develop lower respiratory tract infections. Methods: A total of 298 children with HFMD, admitted to a hospital in Qingyuan city, Guangdong province, were recruited. Demographic data and clinical parameters such as serum glucose level and inflammatory markers including peripheral white blood cell count, serum C-reactive protein, and erythrocyte sedimentation rate were routinely collected on admission. Birth weight data were derived from birth records. Results: Mean birth weight (BW) was 167 g lower in patients with HFMD and LRTIs as compared to patients with solely HFMD (p = 0.022) and the frequency of birth weight below the tenth percentile was significantly higher in patients with HFMD and LRTIs (p = 0.002). Conclusions: The results of the study show that low birth weight is associated with a higher incidence of lower respiratory tract infections in young children with HFMD.}, language = {en} } @article{ChengvandenBerghZengetal.2013, author = {Cheng, Shifeng and van den Bergh, Erik and Zeng, Peng and Zhong, Xiao and Xu, Jiajia and Liu, Xin and Hofberger, Johannes and de Bruijn, Suzanne and Bhide, Amey S. and Kuelahoglu, Canan and Bian, Chao and Chen, Jing and Fan, Guangyi and Kaufmann, Kerstin and Hall, Jocelyn C. and Becker, Annette and Br{\"a}utigam, Andrea and Weber, Andreas P. M. and Shi, Chengcheng and Zheng, Zhijun and Li, Wujiao and Lv, Mingju and Tao, Yimin and Wang, Junyi and Zou, Hongfeng and Quan, Zhiwu and Hibberd, Julian M. and Zhang, Gengyun and Zhu, Xin-Guang and Xu, Xun and Schranz, M. Eric}, title = {The Tarenaya hassleriana Genome Provides insight Into Reproductive Trait and Genome Evolution of Crucifers}, series = {The plant cell}, volume = {25}, journal = {The plant cell}, number = {8}, publisher = {American Society of Plant Physiologists}, address = {Rockville}, issn = {1040-4651}, doi = {10.1105/tpc.113.113480}, pages = {2813 -- 2830}, year = {2013}, abstract = {The Brassicaceae, including Arabidopsis thaliana and Brassica crops, is unmatched among plants in its wealth of genomic and functional molecular data and has long served as a model for understanding gene, genome, and trait evolution. However, genome information from a phylogenetic outgroup that is essential for inferring directionality of evolutionary change has been lacking. We therefore sequenced the genome of the spider flower (Tarenaya hassleriana) from the Brassicaceae sister family, the Cleomaceae. By comparative analysis of the two lineages, we show that genome evolution following ancient polyploidy and gene duplication events affect reproductively important traits. We found an ancient genome triplication in Tarenaya (Th-alpha) that is independent of the Brassicaceae-specific duplication (At-alpha) and nested Brassica (Br-a) triplication. To showcase the potential of sister lineage genome analysis, we investigated the state of floral developmental genes and show Brassica retains twice as many floral MADS (for MINICHROMOSOME MAINTENANCE1, AGAMOUS, DEFICIENS and SERUM RESPONSE FACTOR) genes as Tarenaya that likely contribute to morphological diversity in Brassica. We also performed synteny analysis of gene families that confer self-incompatibility in Brassicaceae and found that the critical SERINE RECEPTOR KINASE receptor gene is derived from a lineage-specific tandem duplication. The T. hassleriana genome will facilitate future research toward elucidating the evolutionary history of Brassicaceae genomes.}, language = {en} } @article{PengZhuDongetal.2015, author = {Peng, Tao and Zhu, Ganghua and Dong, Yunpeng and Zeng, Junjie and Li, Wei and Guo, Weiwei and Chen, Yong and Duan, Maoli and Hocher, Berthold and Xie, Dinghua}, title = {BMP4: a possible key factor in differentiation of auditory neuron-like cells from bone-derived mesenchymal stromal cells}, series = {Clinical laboratory : the peer reviewed journal for clinical laboratories and laboratories related to blood transfusion}, volume = {61}, journal = {Clinical laboratory : the peer reviewed journal for clinical laboratories and laboratories related to blood transfusion}, number = {9}, publisher = {Clin Lab Publ., Verl. Klinisches Labor}, address = {Heidelberg}, issn = {1433-6510}, doi = {10.7754/Clin.Lab.2015.150217}, pages = {1171 -- 1178}, year = {2015}, abstract = {Background: Previous studies have shown that BMP4 may play an important part in the development of auditory neurons (ANs), which are degenerated in sensorineural hearing loss. However, whether BMP4 can promote sensory fate specification from mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) is unknown so far. Methods: MSCs isolated from Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were confirmed by expression of MSC markers using flow cytometry and adipogenesis/osteogenesis using differentiation assays. MSCs treated with a complex of neurotrophic factors (BMP4 group and non-BMP4 group) were induced into auditory neuron-like cells, then the differences between the two groups were analyzed in morphological observation, cell growth curve, qRT-PCR, and immunofluorescence. Results: Flow cytometric analysis showed that the isolated cells expressed typical MSC surface markers. After adipogenic and osteogenic induction, the cells were stained by oil red O and Alizarin Red. The neuronal induced cells were in the growth plateau and had special forms of neurons. In the presence of BMP4, the inner ear genes NF-M, Neurog1, GluR4, NeuroD, Calretinin, NeuN, Tau, and GATA3 were up-regulated in MSCs. Conclusions: MSCs have the capacity to differentiate into auditory neuron-like cells in vitro. As an effective inducer, BMP4 may play a key role in transdifferentiation.}, language = {en} } @article{LiShenZhangetal.2022, author = {Li, Jian and Shen, Jinhua and Zhang, Xiaoli and Peng, Yangqin and Zhang, Qin and Hu, Liang and Reichetzeder, Christoph and Zeng, Suimin and Li, Jing and Tian, Mei and Gong, Fei and Lin, Ge and Hocher, Berthold}, title = {Risk factors associated with preterm birth after IVF/ICSI}, series = {Scientific reports}, volume = {12}, journal = {Scientific reports}, number = {1}, publisher = {Nature Research}, address = {Berlin}, issn = {2045-2322}, doi = {10.1038/s41598-022-12149-w}, pages = {9}, year = {2022}, abstract = {In vitro fertilization/intracytoplasmic sperm injection (IVF/ICSI) is associated with an increased risk of preterm (33rd-37th gestational week) and early preterm birth (20th-32nd gestational week). The underlying general and procedure related risk factors are not well understood so far. 4328 infertile women undergoing IVF/ICSI were entered into this study. The study population was divided into three groups: (a) early preterm birth group (n = 66), (b) preterm birth group (n = 675) and (c) full-term birth group (n = 3653). Odds for preterm birth were calculated by stepwise multivariate logistic regression analysis. We identified seven independent risk factors for preterm birth and four independent risk factors for early preterm birth. Older (> 39) or younger (< 25) maternal age (OR: 1.504, 95\% CI 1.108-2.042, P = 0.009; OR: 2.125, 95\% CI 1.049-4.304, P = 0.036, respectively), multiple pregnancy (OR: 9.780, 95\% CI 8.014-11.935, P < 0.001; OR: 8.588, 95\% CI 4.866-15.157, P < 0.001, respectively), placenta previa (OR: 14.954, 95\% CI 8.053-27.767, P < 0.001; OR: 16.479, 95\% CI 4.381-61.976, P < 0.001, respectively), and embryo reduction (OR: 3.547, 95\% CI 1.736-7.249, P = 0.001; OR: 7.145, 95\% CI 1.990-25.663, P = 0.003, respectively) were associated with preterm birth and early preterm birth, whereas gestational hypertension (OR: 2.494, 95\% CI 1.770-3.514, P < 0.001), elevated triglycerides (OR: 1.120, 95\% CI 1.011-1.240, P = 0.030) and shorter activated partial thromboplastin time (OR: 0.967, 95\% CI 0.949-0.985, P < 0.001) were associated only with preterm birth. In conclusion, preterm and early preterm birth risk factors in patients undergoing assisted IVF/ICSI are in general similar to those in natural pregnancy. The lack of some associations in the early preterm group was most likely due to the lower number of early preterm birth cases. Only embryo reduction represents an IVF/ICSI specific risk factor.}, language = {en} }