Browsing by Author "Zhang, Ping"

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    Alcohol abuse and disorder of granulopoiesis.
    (Pharmacology & therapeutics, 2019-06) Shi, Xin; DeLucia, Angelo L; Bao, Jianxin; Zhang, Ping
    Granulocytes are the major type of phagocytes constituting the front line of innate immune defense against bacterial infection. In adults, granulocytes are derived from hematopoietic stem cells in the bone marrow. Alcohol is the most frequently abused substance in human society. Excessive alcohol consumption injures hematopoietic tissue, impairing bone marrow production of granulocytes through disrupting homeostasis of granulopoiesis and the granulopoietic response. Because of the compromised immune defense function, alcohol abusers are susceptible to infectious diseases, particularly septic infection. Alcoholic patients with septic infection and granulocytopenia have an exceedingly high mortality rate. Treatment of serious infection in alcoholic patients with bone marrow inhibition continues to be a major challenge. Excessive alcohol consumption also causes diseases in other organ systems, particularly severe alcoholic hepatitis which is life threatening. Corticosteroids are the only therapeutic option for improving short-term survival in patients with severe alcoholic hepatitis. The existence of advanced alcoholic liver diseases and administration of corticosteroids make it more difficult to treat serious infection in alcoholic patients with the disorder of granulopoieis. This article reviews the recent development in understanding alcohol-induced disruption of marrow granulopoiesis and the granulopoietic response with the focus on progress in delineating cell signaling mechanisms underlying the alcohol-induced injury to hematopoietic tissue. Efforts in exploring effective therapy to improve patient care in this field will also be discussed.
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    Have China's provinces achieved their targets of energy intensity reduction? Reassessment based on nighttime lighting data
    (Energy Policy, 2019-05) Zhang, Ping; Shi, XunPeng; Sun, YongPing; Cui, Jingbo; Shao, Shuai
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    Pri-miR-124 rs531564 and pri-miR-34b/c rs4938723 polymorphisms are associated with decreased risk of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma in Chinese populations.
    (PloS one, 2014-01) Zhang, Junjie; Huang, Xuewen; Xiao, Juanjuan; Yang, Yajun; Zhou, Yinghui; Wang, Xiaofeng; Liu, Qingmei; Yang, Jingmin; Wang, Mengyun; Qiu, Lixin; Zheng, Yabiao; Zhang, Ping; Li, Jin; Wang, Ya'nong; Wei, Qingyi; Jin, Li; Wang, Jiucun; Wang, Minghua
    MicroRNAs are a new class of small non-protein-coding RNAs that sometimes function as tumor suppressors or oncogenes. Aberrant expression and structural alteration of microRNAs have been reported to be involved in tumorigenesis and cancer development. Recently, rs531564/pri-miR-124-1, rs4938723/pri-miR-34b/c, rs7372209/pri-miR-26a-1, rs895819/pre-miR-27a, and rs11134527/pri-miR-218 were reported to be associated with risks of various cancers. In order to evaluate the relationship of these SNPs and esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) risk, we conducted a case-control study with 1109 ESCC patients and 1275 control subjects to examine the potential association of these pri/pre-miRNA polymorphisms with ESCC susceptibility. As a result, two SNPs were associated with a significant risk of ESCC. We found that the GG genotype of pri-miR-124-1 rs531564 was associated to a significantly decreased risk of ESCC comparing with the CC/CG genotypes (p = 0.005; OR = 0.61, 95% CI = 0.43-0.86). In addition, the CC genotype of pri-miR-34b/c rs4938723 was associated with a significant decreased risk of ESCC (CC VS.p = 0.007, OR = 0.82, 95% CI = 0.71-0.95) in Chinese population. The present study provides the first evidence that pri-miR-124-1 rs531564 and pri-miR-34 rs4938723 were associated with the risk of ESCC in Chinese population.