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Weight loss is common in patients with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and associated with disease progression. Loss of appetite has been shown to be a contributor to weight loss in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). However, the reason of loss of appetite is not clear. The Council on Nutrition appetite questionnaire (CNAQ) and the simplified nutritional appetite questionnaire (SNAQ) are short and simple appetite assessment tools, which were using in ALS patients. In our study, the CNAQ and SNAQ were translated into Chinese, and their reliability and validity were tested. The Chinese version of the CNAQ (CNAQ-C) presented more appropriate reliability and validity than the SNAQ. Among the 94 ALS patients, 50 patients (53.2%) had loss of appetite, and we found that anxiety and/or depression contributed to the loss of appetite in the ALS patients. We reconfirmed that loss of appetite was associated with greater weight loss but not with clinical features of ALS. The loss of appetite caused by emotional problems in ALS patients should be taken seriously, and early intervention should be implemented to reduce weight loss.

Goji (Lycium barbarum L.) is a highly medicinal value tree species. The yield and nutritional contents of goji fruit are significant affected by fertilizer level. In this study, we analyzed the yield and nutritional contents change of goji fruit, which planted in pot (vermiculite:perlite, 1:2, v:v) in growth chamber under P0 (32.5 g/per tree), P1 (65 g/per tree), and P2 (97.5 g/per tree). Meanwhile, we utilized an integrated Ultra Performance Liquid Chromatography–Electrospray Ionization–Tandem Mass Spectrometry (UPLC–ESI–MS/MS) to analysis of the response of the metabolome in goji fruit to phosphorus level. The results show that the yield of goji fruits had strongly negative correlation with phosphorus level, especially in the third harvest time. The amino acids, flavonoids, polysaccharides, and betaine contents of goji fruits in the first harvest time had obvious correlated with the level of phosphorus level. The Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment results indicated that the impact of different phosphorus fertilizer levels on each group mainly involved the biosynthesis of flavonoids. The results provide new insights into the theoretical basis of the relationship between the nutritional contents of goji fruits and phosphorus fertilizer level.

Red wolfberry (or goji berry, Lycium barbarum; LB) is an important agricultural product with a high content of pharmacologically important secondary metabolites such as phenylpropanoids. A close relative, black wolfberry (L. ruthenicum; LR), endemic to the salinized deserts of northwestern China, is used only locally. The two fruits exhibit many morphological and phytochemical differences, but genetic mechanisms underlying them remain poorly explored. In order to identify the genes of interest for further studies, we studied transcriptomic (Illumina HiSeq) and metabolomic (LC-MS) profiles of the two fruits during five developmental stages (young to ripe). As expected, we identified much higher numbers of significantly differentially regulated genes (DEGs) than metabolites. The highest numbers were identified in pairwise comparisons including the first stage for both species, but total numbers were consistently somewhat lower for the LR. The number of differentially regulated metabolites in pairwise comparisons of developmental stages varied from 66 (stages 3 vs 4) to 133 (stages 2 vs 5) in both species. We identified a number of genes (e.g. AAT1, metE, pip) and metabolites (e.g. rutin, raffinose, galactinol, trehalose, citrulline and DL-arginine) that may be of interest to future functional studies of stress adaptation in plants. As LB is also highly suitable for combating soil desertification and alleviating soil salinity/alkalinity/pollution, its potential for human use may be much wider than its current, highly localized, relevance.

Granulosa cells play important roles in ovarian follicular development. To better understand the molecular mechanisms involved in this physiological process in chicken, high-throughput transcriptome analyses were performed to study the expression profiles of granulosa cells harvested from 6 mm white follicles, F5 follicles and F1 follicles. The analyses elucidated a clear tendency of granulosa cells in shifting its expression profile from proliferation to differentiation during follicular development. Transcripts down-regulated during this process were mainly associated with cell division, cell cycle and DNA replication while the up-regulated transcripts were related to ribosomal function, lipid metabolism and protein synthesis. Our study for the first time provides the complete gene expression profiles along follicular development supporting the active involvement of many genes characterized in cell signaling (AMH, Inhibins, Activins, BMPs) and transcription factors (SMAD3, SMAD5, ID1, ID2, ID3). Their temporal expression profiles support the notion of continual cross-talk between granulosa cells and its neighboring cells and shed light on the mechanisms behind avian follicular selection and pave the way to the better understanding of reproductive efficiency.

This study evaluates the feasibility of two thermal pretreatments including hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) and low temperature pyrolysis (LTP) on the production of Eucommia ulmoides biochar. The waste wood of Eucommia ulmoides Oliver was pretreated and characterized for fuel applications. The results confirm that both LTP and HTC are promising processes for improving fuel properties. However, for the same char yield, the required temperature for HTC is lower than LTP, as the char yields of H200 and L300 were quite close (66.50% vs. 66.74%). The surface morphology is significantly different between the pyrolytic carbon and the hydrochar. In addition, it was found that the H/C and O/C ratios of H300 were 0.82 and 0.21, respectively, and the H/C and O/C ratios of L340 were 0.77 and 0.22, respectively. They were similar to that of sub-bituminous. Moreover, under the same reaction temperature, hydrochar showed better grindability, hydrophobicity, and reduction in inorganic content. Comparing the integrated combustion characteristic index (S), LTP process had the better performance within the lower temperature under 220 °C while HTC process performed better at temperature higher than 300 °C. The results reveal that HTC has the potential to produce solid carbonized products with better fuel quality.

Non-classical squeezed states of light at a compatible atomic wavelength have a potential application in quantum information protocols for quantum states delaying or storaging. An optical parametric oscillator (OPO) with periodically poled potassium titanyl phosphate (PPKTP) is the most effective method for generating this squeezed state. However, it is a challege for the nonlinear interaction in PPKTP crystal at the D1 line of rubidium atomic, due to a strong blue-light-induced infrared absorption (BLIIRA). In this paper, we report an indirect measurement method for the BLIIRA through measuring the mode-matching efficiency in an optical parametric oscillator. In contrast to previous works, our method is not limited by the absolute power variation induced from the change of frequency conversion loss and the impedance matching originated from the change of absorption loss. Therefore, the measurement process is performed at the phase-matching condition. The measured results show that BLIIRA coefficient is quadratic dependence of blue light intensity below 1 kW per square centimeter in our PPKTP device, which will provide important basis for optimizing squeezed state generation at 795 nm.

Galangin suppresses proliferation and induces apoptosis and autophagy in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells, but the precise mechanism is not clear. In this study, we demonstrated that galangin induced autophagy, enhanced the binding of SIRT1-LC3 and reduced the acetylation of endogenous LC3 in HepG2 cells. But this autophagy was inhibited by inactivation of SIRT1 meanwhile, galangin failed to reduce the acetylation of endogenous LC3 after SIRT1 was knocked-down. Collectively, these findings demonstrate a new mechanism by which galangin induces autophagy via the deacetylation of endogenous LC3 by SIRT1.

Zeolite fibers have attracted growing interest for a range of new applications because of their structural particularity while maintaining the intrinsic performances of the building blocks of zeolites. The fabrication of uniform zeolite fibers with tunable hierarchical porosity and further exploration of their catalytic potential are of great importance. Here, we present a versatile and facile method for the fabrication of hierarchical ZSM-5 zeolite fibers with macro-meso-microporosity by coaxial electrospinning. Due to the synergistic integration of the suitable acidity and the hierarchical porosity, high yield of propylene and excellent anti-coking stability were demonstrated on the as-prepared ZSM-5 hollow fibers in the catalytic cracking reaction of iso-butane. This work may also provide good model catalysts with uniform wall thickness and tunable porosity for studying a series of important catalytic reactions.