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Chemical composition is a critical factor for determining the efficacy of any traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and can be used as an indicator of commercial quality. To develop a new strategy for discovering potential quality markers (Q-markers) of TCM by integrating ultra-performance liquid chromatography-Q-extractive orbitrap/mass spectrometry (UPLC-Q-Extractive Orbitrap/MS), chemometric analysis, and network pharmacology, using Schisandra chinensis (Turcz.) Baill. (S. chinensis) as an example. The chemical profiling of S. chinensis was performed using UPLC-Q-Extractive Orbitrap/MS, followed by identification of hepatoprotective Q-markers through a comprehensive understanding of chemometric analysis and virtual target prediction of network pharmacology. Six compounds were considered potent candidates for Q-markers, which were identified as schisandrol A (6), angeloylgomisin H (10), schisantherin A (17), schisantherin B (18), schisandrin A (23), and schisandrin C (26). All Q-markers exhibited significant hepatoprotective activity, as evidenced by in vitro experiments. Subsequently, a method for simultaneous quantification was established and employed to analyse seven batches of S. chinensis. Therefore, the integrated approach of UPLC-Q-Extractive Orbitrap/MS, chemometrics, and network pharmacology proved to be an effective strategy for the discovery of Q-markers that can assist in assessing the overall chemical consistency of samples and provide a basis for quality evaluation of the material basis of S. chinensis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Amblyopia is a developmental visual disorder that causes substantial visual deficits. Studies using resting‐state functional magnetic resonance imaging have disclosed abnormal brain functional connectivity (FC) both across long‐range cortical sites and within the visual cortex in amblyopes, which is considered to be related to impaired visual functions. However, little work has examined whether restoring the vision of amblyopes accompanies with an improvement of FC. Here in adult amblyopes and healthy participants, we compared their brain FC before and after an altered‐reality adaptation training. Before the training, the voxel‐wise FCs of amblyopia patients were substantially weaker than those of healthy control participants both within and across the early visual areas. After the training, visual acuities improved in amblyopes but not in the control participants. The effect kept strengthening in the subsequent month without further adaptation. Importantly, we observed enhanced voxel‐wise FC both within and across the early visual areas of amblyopes. Moreover, the enhancement continued for at least 1 month. These results suggest that the effective treatment can improve both the amblyopes' vision and functional connections in the visual cortex. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Catechins are the major flavor substances in teas, which have a variety of health effects; however, high catechin and high sensory quality are a pair of contradictions that are difficult to coordinate. To explore the processing procedure with high catechins and high sensory quality, a single-factor processing experiment was carried out over the processing production of oolong tea. Combined with orthogonal partial least square discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA), correlation analysis, and principal component analysis (PCA), the optimal production procedure for oolong tea is as follows: red light withering for 8 h, leaf rotating for 10 min with a total standing time for 8 h, drum roasting for 5 min at 290 °C, low-temperature rolling (flattening at 4 °C for 5 min, without pressure for 1 min and under pressure for 5 min), microwave drying (800 W for 7.5 min). This study demonstrates a significant increase in the retention of catechins, which contributes to the mellow and brisk tastes of oolong tea, addressing the challenge of catechin content and sensory quality. Our study provides a novel insight into the relationship between the oolong tea processing and flavor formation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The slotted disk spring has been widely used given its nonlinear characteristics. However, the number of studies on them is limited, and the influences of nonuniform thickness have not been investigated theoretically and experimentally. Additionally, the hysteresis caused by friction has been neglected in most studies. By introducing the symmetric friction condition and the dimensionless thickness variation parameter, the present study establishes a mathematical model for slotted disk springs with linearly graded thickness. By treating the slotted segment as a number of cantilever beams with both a linearly gradient thickness and width, a new analytical formula is developed to characterize the load–deflection of slotted disk springs based on the moment equilibrium equation. The proposed model allows the direct quantification of the influences of the thickness variation parameter and the symmetric friction condition on the load–deflection characteristics. To validate the proposed model, slotted disk springs with different parameter configurations are designed and tested. Comparisons between measured and theoretical results illustrate that the proposed model can effectively describe the load–deflection characteristics of slotted disk springs with both uniform thickness and linearly gradient thickness. Due to the hypothetic linear variable width of slotted segments, the proposed model has a better performance in predicting slotted disk springs with rectangular slots. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a member of the forkhead box L gene family, foxl2 plays a significant role in gonadal development and the regulation of reproduction. During the evolution of deuterostome, whole genome duplication (WGD)-enriched lineage diversifications and regulation mechanisms occurs. However, only limited research exists on foxl2 duplication in teleost or other vertebrate species. In this study, two foxl2 paralogs, foxl2 and foxl2l, were identified in the transcriptome of spotted knifejaw (Oplegnathus punctatus), which had varying expressions in the gonads. The foxl2 was expressed higher in the ovary, while foxl2l was expressed higher in the testis. Phylogenetic reconstruction, synteny analysis, and the molecular evolution test confirmed that foxl2 and foxl2l likely originated from the first two WGD. The expression patterns test using qRT-PCR and ISH as well as motif scan analysis revealed evidence of potentially functional divergence between the foxl2 and foxl2l paralogs in spotted knifejaw. Our results indicate that foxl2 and foxl2l may originate from the first two WGD, be active in transcription, and have undergone functional divergence. These results shed new light on the evolutionary trajectories of foxl2 and foxl2l and highlights the need for further detailed functional analysis of these two duplicated paralogs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To study the problem that there is a horizontal sidesway between transfer and receiver coils in magnetic resonance coupling wireless power transfer, the mutual inductance coupling theory and twoport network theory is adopting for modeling analysis.The expression of normalized transmission power and transmission efficiency expressed by s parameter by mathematical derivation.The HFSS software is utilized to simulate the impact of the horizontal sidesway on system's transmission performance under the condition of overcoupling, critical coupling and undercoupling.An optimal structure for improving the system is presented.In the end, the reliability of simulation results is verified by experiment, and the experiment proves that the optimized structure should eliminate the negative effect brought by the sidesway effectively, and improve the transmission efficiency of the system.

The quality of Schisandra chinensis (Turcz.) Baill. (S. chinensis) is principally attributed to lignan compounds. In this paper, a simple and rapid strategy for simultaneous extraction and determination of 10 lignans from S. chinensis was established through matrix solid-phase dispersion (MSPD) assisted by diol-functionalized silica (Diol). The experimental parameters for MSPD extraction were screened using the response surface methodology (RSM). Diol (800 mg) was used as a dispersant and methanol (MeOH, 85%, v/v) as an eluting solvent (10 mL), resulting in a high extraction efficiency. MSPD extraction facilitated the combination of extraction and purification in a single step, which was less time-consuming than and avoided the thermal treatment involved in traditional methods. The simultaneous qualification and quantification of 10 lignans was achieved by combining MSPD and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The proposed method offered good linearity and a low limit of detection starting from 0.04 (schisandrin C) to 0.43 μg/mL (schisantherin B) for lignans, and the relative standard deviation (RSD, %) values of precision were acceptable, with a maximum value of 1.15% (schisantherin B and schisanhenol). The methodology was successfully utilized to analyze 13 batches of S. chinensis from different cultivated areas of China, which proved its accuracy and practicability in the quantitative analysis of the quality control of S. chinensis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gibberellic acids had been proven to improve the fruit quality and storability by delaying deterioration and maintaining the antioxidant system. In this study, the effect of GA3 spraying at different concentrations (10, 20, and 50 mg L−1) on the quality of on-tree preserved 'Shixia' longan was examined. Only 50 mg L−1 GA3 significantly delayed the decline of soluble solids (22.0% higher than the control) and resulted in higher total phenolics content (TPC), total flavonoid content (TFC), and phenylalanine ammonia-lyase activity in pulp at the later stages. The widely targeted metabolome analysis showed that the treatment reprogrammed secondary metabolites and up-regulated many tannins, phenolic acids, and lignans during the on-tree preservation. More importantly, the preharvest 50 mg L−1 GA3 spraying (at 85 and 95 days after flowering) led to significantly delayed pericarp browning and aril breakdown, as well as lower pericarp relative conductivity and mass loss at the later stages of room-temperature storage. The treatment also resulted in higher antioxidants in pulp (vitamin C, phenolics, and reduced glutathione) and pericarp (vitamin C, flavonoids, and phenolics). Therefore, preharvest 50 mg L−1 GA3 spraying is an effective method for maintaining the quality and up-regulating antioxidants of longan fruit during both on-tree preservation and room-temperature storage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Training of viewing an altered‐reality environment dichoptically has been found to reactivate human adult ocular dominance plasticity, allowing improvement of vision for amblyopia. One suspected mechanism for this training effect is ocular dominance rebalancing through interocular disinhibition. Here, we investigated whether the training modulated the neural responses reflecting interocular inhibition. Thirteen patients with amblyopia and 11 healthy controls participated in this study. Before and after six daily altered‐reality training sessions, participants watched flickering video stimuli with their steady‐state visually evoked potential (SSVEP) signals recorded simultaneously. We assessed the amplitude of SSVEP response at intermodulation frequencies, which was a potential neural indicator of interocular suppression. The results showed that training weakened the intermodulation response only in the amblyopic group, which was in agreement with the hypothesis that the training reduced interocular suppression specific to amblyopia. Moreover, even one month after the training ended, we could still observe this neural training effect. These findings provide preliminary neural evidence in support of the disinhibition account for treating amblyopia. We also explain these results with the ocular opponency model, which, to our knowledge, is the first time for this binocular rivalry model to be used in explaining long‐term ocular dominance plasticity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]