About

Nan Li is an Assistant Professor of Criminology, Law and Society at the University of Florida. Her research focuses on criminology and criminal justice, contributing to the academic understanding of these fields through her scholarly work. She holds a Ph.D. in Criminology from Florida State University. Her background and specific research interests are not detailed in the provided page text.

Research topics

• Surgery
• Biochemistry
• Biology
• Medicine
• Chemistry
• Cell biology
• Physical therapy

Selected publications

• Exploring the mechanism of modified <italic>Gexia Zhuyu Decoction</italic> (膈下逐瘀汤) in chronic salpingitis-induced infertility with qi stagnation and blood stasis syndrome based on the TLR4/MyD88/NF-κB/NLRP3 signaling pathway

  Lishizhen medicine and materia medica research · 2025-04-01

  articleOpen access

  <sec> <title>目的</title> 观察膈下逐瘀汤加减方基于TLR4/MyD88/NF-κB/NLRP3信号通路对气滞血瘀型输卵管炎性不孕（SOI）大鼠输卵管组织结构的影响。 </sec> <sec> <title>方法</title> 制备慢性SOI病证结合模型，使用膈下逐瘀汤加减方和TLR4通路抑制剂TAK-242进行干预后，采集各组大鼠血浆、血清及输卵管组织，采用酶联免疫吸附测定法（ELISA）检测大鼠血清中白介素1β（IL-1β）、肿瘤坏死因子α（TNF-α）水平；血液流变学检测气滞血瘀状态；HE染色观察输卵管组织病理变化；免疫组化法检测TLR4、NLRP3表达水平；RT-pcr、WB检测TLR4、MyD88、NF-κB、NLRP3、Bax、Bcl-2 mRNA及蛋白表达水平；观察各组大鼠受孕率。 </sec> <sec> <title>结果</title> 与模型组大鼠相比，中药组血浆粘度、全血粘度3.0显著降低；中药组及抑制剂组血清IL-1β、TNF-α含量显著降低，组织中TLR4、MyD88、NF-κB、NLRP3、Bax mRNA及蛋白表达降低，Bcl-2 mRNA及蛋白表达升高，输卵管病理状态改善，大鼠受孕率增加。 </sec> <sec> <title>结论</title> 膈下逐瘀汤加减方能通过TLR4/MyD88/NF-κB/NLRP3通路治疗气滞血瘀型慢性SOI，减少凋亡，TAK-242可以发挥类中药作用改善疾病的炎性指标、病理状态，但是对中医证候无明显效果。 </sec>

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Clinicopathological characteristics and survival outcomes in early-stage endometrial clear cell carcinoma: a dual-center retrospective study

  BMC Cancer · 2025-09-24

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  To investigate clinicopathological predictors and evaluate the impact of adjuvant therapy on survival outcomes in patients with early-stage (FIGO 2023 Stage I-II) endometrial clear cell carcinoma (ECCC). This dual-center retrospective study enrolled patients newly diagnosed with stage I-II ECCC between January 1, 2010 and December 31, 2023 at two tertiary hospitals in China. Clinicopathological parameters and survival outcomes were systematically analyzed. Kaplan-Meier curves and Cox regression analyses were used to assess the associations between variables and overall survival (OS) or progression-free survival (PFS). Among 80 eligible patients (median age: 59 years), 30.0% (n = 24) were stage I and 70.0% (n = 56) stage II. After a median follow-up of 76 months, 11 patients experienced disease progression and 6 died, with 5-year PFS and OS rates of 87.0% and 91.6%, respectively. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis demonstrated no significant differences in PFS or OS between patients undergoing surgery alone versus surgery with adjuvant therapy. Multivariate Cox analysis identified positive peritoneal washing cytology (PWC) (HR = 8.062, 95% CI: 1.208–53.814, P = 0.031) and deep myometrial invasion (≥ 1/2) (HR = 7.455, 95% CI: 1.187–46.803, P = 0.032) as independent adverse prognostic factors for OS. Diabetes mellitus emerged as the only significant predictor for reduced PFS (HR = 3.831, 95% CI: 1.053–13.935, P = 0.042). Positive PWC and deep myometrial invasion (≥ 1/2) were independent adverse prognostic factors for OS in stage I-II ECCC, while diabetes mellitus emerged as the sole predictor of poorer PFS. Notably, adjuvant therapy failed to demonstrate any significant survival benefit compared to surgery alone in this cohort. These findings challenge the routine use of adjuvant therapy for stage I-II ECCC and underscore the importance of individualized risk stratification incorporating PWC, myometrial invasion depth and diabetic status.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• WDR3 undergoes phase separation to mediate the therapeutic mechanism of Nilotinib against osteosarcoma

  Journal of Experimental & Clinical Cancer Research · 2025-07-11 · 3 citations

  articleOpen access

  BACKGROUND: Osteosarcoma is highly invasive with a poor prognosis. The phenomenon of liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS) can promote the formation of biomolecules and participate in the tumor regulation mechanism. Therefore, mining prognostic markers related to LLPS could allow patients to benefit from targeted therapies. METHOD: Microarray analysis was performed to identify LLPS-related biomarkers, followed by the validation of binding interactions between genes and drugs via molecular docking analysis. Functions of key genes were investigated in U2-OS cells and xenograft mice. LLPS of WDR3 were observed by the droplet formation assay and fluorescence recovery after photobleaching. The intrinsically disordered region (IDR) of WDR3 was mutated to disrupt LLPS, which was then rescued by the fusion of hnRNAP1 IDR. Therapeutic mechanism of Nilotinib mediated by LLPS was explored in vitro and in vivo. RESULTS: Five LLPS-related biomarkers were screened by bioinformatics analyses to predict the osteosarcoma prognosis. These prognostic genes were significantly associated with the immune cell infiltration, tumor immune escape and drug sensitivity. Among them, WDR3 was a prognostic risk factor for osteosarcoma and stably bound to Nilotinib in the molecular docking model. In transfected U2-OS cells and xenograft mice, the downregulation of WDR3 significantly inhibited the malignant progression of osteosarcoma. More importantly, WDR3 could form droplets in U2-OS cells and restore the fluorescence intensity of WDR3 condensates with liquid-like behavior after photobleaching. The mutation in IDR impaired the phase separation ability of WDR3, whereas the fusion with hnRNAP1 IDR rescued the phase separation abnormality caused by WDR3 mutation. Moreover, the treatment with Nilotinib improved the progression of osteosarcoma in vivo and in vitro, while inhibiting the production of WDR3 phase-separated condensates. CONCLUSION: WDR3 phase separation involves in the therapeutic mechanism of Nilotinib against osteosarcoma, and thus may serve as a potent biomarker to ameliorate adverse events following osteosarcoma treatment.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• PPDPF-mediated regulation of BCAA metabolism enhances mTORC1 activity and drives cholangiocarcinoma progression

  Oncogene · 2025-03-01 · 2 citations

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Optimal fresh air distribution control strategy for multi-zone variable air volume air conditioning systems

  Applied Thermal Engineering · 2025-07-30 · 2 citations

  articleCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Subarachnoid hemorrhage and finger-like projection predict recurrence in patients with lobar intracerebral hemorrhage

  Journal of Neurology · 2025-01-24 · 2 citations

  articleOpen access

  BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Lobar intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) is associated with a high risk of recurrence, particularly in elderly patients, where cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA) is often the primary cause. Diagnostic markers of CAA-related ICH, including subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) and finger-like projection (FLP), have recently been developed. Here, we aimed to explore the associations between SAH, FLP and the risk of ICH recurrence in lobar ICH patients. METHODS: We analyzed data from consecutive lobar ICH patients using the method of cohort study. We divided them into 4 groups on the basis of the presence or absence of SAH and FLP on CT imaging. The Cox regression model and competing risk model were used to analyze the associations of SAH and FLP with the risk of ICH recurrence at 1 year. RESULTS: In total, 353 patients with lobar ICH (median age 74 [62, 81] years, 57.2% male) were included in our study. During follow-up, recurrence occurred in 34 patients (10.6%), and 90 patients (28.1%) died. The competing risk model revealed that patients in the SAH + FLP- (HR 2.88, 95% CI 1.12-7.44, p = 0.03) and SAH + FLP + (HR 8.38, 95% CI 3.40-20.66, p < 0.001) groups had higher risks of ICH recurrence within 1 year than did those in the SAH-FLP- group. CONCLUSION: SAH is an important predictor of ICH recurrence, and this predictive ability is further enhanced when FLP is present. These findings suggest that SAH, especially with FLP, can be a valuable tool for assessing prognosis in lobar ICH patients.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• WDR3 undergoes phase separation to mediate the therapeutic mechanism of Nilotinib against osteosarcoma

  Research Square · 2025-05-15

  preprintOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• HONO Formation Mechanisms and Impacts on Ambient Oxidants in Coastal Regions of Fujian, China

  2025-08-08

  articleOpen access

  Abstract. Nitrous acid (HONO) is a vital precursor of hydroxyl radicals (OH) in the troposphere, leading to the formation of secondary air pollutants, including ozone (O3) and secondary aerosols. Previous studies have mainly focused on investigating the chemical fate of HONO in polluted urban areas of China and found a general diurnal variation featuring the minimum concentration around noon. However, this study reported a significantly higher daytime HONO concentrations based on one-month measurement during May of 2024 over the coastal regions of Fujian in southeastern China. Using an updated chemical transport model, we captured the magnitude and temporal variation observed in coastal HONO levels, and improved the model performance on diurnal patterns of the NO2 and O3. Further process analysis revealed that two light-dependent chemical sources, i.e., the heterogeneous uptake of NO2 on the ground surface and NOx photo-oxidation, were the main contributors to HONO formation, particularly at high concentrations around noon in the presence of persistent intensive solar radiation. In addition, we assessed that shipping emissions contributed 20 % to the midday HONO production rate in coastal regions. Subsequently, model results indicated that HONO photolysis accounted for 34 % of primary OH sources during the daytime. Model sensitivity experiments demonstrated that incorporating multiple HONO sources increased the daily maximum OH and average O3 concentrations by 61 % and 44 %, respectively, in coastal regions. Overall, this study highlights the unique formation mechanisms of HONO and its significant contribution to ambient oxidants in typical coastal regions.

  PublisherDOI

• The impact of early pregnancy uric acid on gestational diabetes risk: a prospective cohort study in Northwest China

  BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth · 2025-12-15

  articleOpen access

  BACKGROUND: Elevated uric acid (UA) has become a global health concern. We aimed to investigate the impact of UA in women during early pregnancy on the subsequent risk of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). METHODS: Pregnant women in their first trimester were recruited from a birth cohort study conducted in Xi'an, China, between July 2018 and December 2023. A generalized linear model (GLM) was used to calculate risk ratios (RRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for the effects of UA levels. RESULTS: Compared with the first quartile of UA, the second (RR = 1.15, 95% CI = 1.04-1.28), third (RR = 1.27, 95% CI = 1.15-1.41), and fourth (RR = 1.46, 95% CI = 1.32-1.61) quartiles were associated with an increased risk of GDM. Moreover, UA was the strongest predictor among all variables in the random forest model except for BMI. Importantly, higher UA levels were associated with an increased risk of GDM (OR = 1.39, 95% CI = 1.29-1.50) as long as BMI exceeded 18.5 kg/m². The highest GDM risk was observed in high UA/high BMI combinations. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrated that higher UA levels during early pregnancy were associated with an increased risk of GDM. These findings suggest a link that warrants further investigation to determine if UA plays a causal role or is a marker of underlying pathology.

  PublisherDOI

• Artificial intelligence empowering evidence-based medicine: an L0-L5 evolutionary framework toward personalized precision medicine

  Intelligent Medicine · 2025-08-29 · 2 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Evidence-based medicine (EBM) faces inherent challenges in bridging population-based evidence with personalized medical needs. The rapid advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) offers unprecedented opportunities to transform this paradigm. However, applications without theoretical guidance pose risks to the application, regulation and orderly development of AI technologies such as large language models (LLMs). This paper proposes a novel L0-L5 evolutionary framework to systematically guide the integration of LLMs into evidence-based clinical decision-making. The framework delineates a progressive path from current EBM practices (L0) through AI-assisted evidence retrieval (L1), accelerated evidence synthesis (L2), real-world data analysis (L3), digital twin-based personalized evidence (L4), to generative model-driven virtual evidence creation (L5). Each level represents increasing capabilities in addressing the core tensions between evidence timeliness, personalization resolution, and decision transparency. This framework offers a structured approach to harness the transformative potential of LLMs while preserving the fundamental principles of EBM, ultimately enabling truly personalized precision medicine grounded in robust evidence.

  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Gang Hu

  Pennington Biomedical Research Center

  316 shared

• Annick Bogaerts

  KU Leuven

  293 shared

• Helena Teede

  292 shared

• Roland Devlieger

  GZA Ziekenhuizen Campus Sint-Augustinus

  292 shared

• Rebecca F. Goldstein

  Monash University

  292 shared

• Sally K. Abell

  Monash University

  292 shared

• Margaretha Haugen

  Norwegian Institute of Public Health

  291 shared

• Marie Misso

  291 shared

Labs

• Computational Sociology and Criminology LabPI