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Duzhi Wan (DZW) has been extensively used in the prevention and treatment of ischemic stroke, but the mechanisms underlying its effects remain unclear. In this study, a combination of transcriptomics, metabolomics and network analysis was applied to identify the preventive mechanism of DZW in middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO)-induced ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury.The mice were divided into five groups: the sham group, I/R group, I/R + Ginaton group, I/R+DZW-L group, and I/R+DZW-H group. Neurological deficit scores and regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF), hematoxylin and eosin (HE) and Nissl staining results were evaluated. Transcriptomics analysis and metabolomics analysis were applied to identify the key genes and metabolites, and qRT-PCR, ELISA, and immunofluorescence were applied to verify the key targets.DZW significantly decreased the infarction size and neurological deficit scores, increased the rCBF percentage and neuronal number and improved neuronal morphology after MCAO. Transcriptomics and metabolomics analysis revealed that C3 and C5ar1 were core targets of DZW and indirectly regulated downstream purine metabolism, the pentose phosphate pathway, and glycerophospholipid metabolism-associated pathways via inflammatory cells. Moreover, ELISA, qRT-PCR, and immunofluorescence further confirmed that DZW significantly decreased the expression of C3, C5ar1, C5 and downstream inflammatory cytokines, including IL-6, IL-1β and MMP-9, at the gene and protein levels, suggesting that DZW decreased neuroinflammation and inhibited related metabolic pathways.C3 and C5 play important roles in the neuroprotective and antineuroinflammatory effects of DZW in protecting against cerebral I/R. This study provides novel insights into the neuroprotective effects of DZW and its clinical application.

Background Invasion and metastasis of synovial sarcoma is the leading cause of death in patients. Epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT) accelerates tumor cell invasion and metastasis. MiR-9 promotes tumor metastasis by inducing EMT. However, the role of miR-9 in synovial sarcoma is still not clear. Methods Overexpression or knockdown of miR-9 in human synovial sarcoma (HSS) cell lines was carried out by miR-9 mimics or miR-9 inhibitors transfection. Cell proliferation, apoptosis, migration and invasion were detected using MTS and colony formation assays, flow cytometry, wound healing and transwell assays, respectively. Luciferase reporter assay was applied to study the interaction between miR-9 and CDH1. Nude mice xenograft model was established, and immunohistochemistry staining assessed Ki-67 level. The related mRNA and protein expression levels were evaluated by qRT-PCR and Western blotting. Results The bioinformatics analyses and luciferase reporter assay showed that miR-9 can target CDH1 3′-UTR. Moreover, miR-9 could induce EMT of HSS cells via targeting CDH1. The negative regulation of miR-9 on CDH1 expression was also confirmed in a mouse xenograft model of synovial sarcoma. Furthermore, miR-9 was observed to induce HSS cell proliferation, migration and invasion and inhibit apoptosis. MAPK/ERK and Wnt/β-catenin signal pathways were activated by the miR-9 overexpression in HSS cells, and then further enhancing tumorigenesis of HSS, which was further confirmed in the mouse model. Conclusion MiR-9 induces EMT by targeting CDH1, and activates MAPK/ERK and Wnt/β-catenin signal pathways, thus promoting HSS tumorigenesis.

This article has been retracted: please see Elsevier Policy on Article Withdrawal ( http://www.elsevier.com/locate/withdrawalpolicy ). This article has been retracted at the request of corresponding author Dr. Huang. On 3 August 2017 the Editorial Office of Inorganica Chimica Acta received a message from Dr. Huang stating that the paper has been submitted to the journal without the knowledge of the former supervisor Prof. Ying-Ji Sun. Prof. Sun only learned of the paper after it was published. Upon inquiry it was found that the former student Dr. Huang had registered an e-mail address using Prof. Sun’s name, and had submitted the manuscript without prior discussion of this with Prof. Sun. All the research had been performed while Dr. Huang was a Ph. D. student in the laboratory of Prof. Sun, and was funded by grants secured by Prof. Sun, have no relevence with Dr. Huang’s current institution and the funds acknowledged in this paper. Apologies are offered to the readers of this journal that this was not detected during the submission process.

Good sleep is necessary for optimal health, especially for mental health. Insomnia, sleep deprivation will make your ability to learn and memory impaired. Nevertheless, the underlying pathophysiological mechanism of sleep disorders-induced cognitive decline is still largely unknown. In this study, the sleep deprivation of animal model was induced by chronical sleep interruption (CSI), the behavioral tests, biochemical index determinations, and a liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) based serum metabolic profiling analysis were performed to explore the effects of CSI on cognitive function and the underlying mechanisms. After 14-days CSI, the cognitive function of the mice was evaluated by new objects preference (NOP) task and temporal order judgment (TOJ) task. Serum corticosterone (CORT), and brain Malondialdehyde (MDA), Superoxide Dismutase (SOD), and Catalase (CAT) levels were determined by ELISA kits. Data were analyzed by Principal Component Analysis (PCA), Partial Least Squares project to latent structures-Discriminant Analysis (PLS-DA), and Student's t-test. We found that the cognitive function of the mice was significantly affected by CSI. Besides, levels of CORT and MDA were higher, and SOD and CAT were lower in CSI mice than those of control. Obvious body weight loss of CSI mice was also observed. Thirteen potential serum biomarkers including choline, valine, uric acid, allantoic acid, carnitines, and retinoids were identified. Affected metabolic pathways involve metabolism of purine, retinoid, lipids, and amino acid. These results showed that CSI can damage the cognitive performance notably. The cognitive decline may ascribe to excessive oxidative stress and a series of disturbed metabolic pathways.

A well-defined amphiphilic diblock copolymer, poly[ N , N -(dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate]-block-polystyrene (PDMAEMA- b -PS), was synthesized using activators regenerated by electron transfer atom transfer radical polymerization. The formation and transition of morphologies in PDMAEMA- b -PS thin films annealed under the vapors of water, tetrahydrofuran, and their binary mixed solvents were first investigated by using atomic force microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. By changing the composition of the annealing solvent, morphological evolution with increasing vapor preferential affinity was observed. A vertical nanocylinder structure forms in the PDMAEMA- b -PS thin film when it is annealed under a mixed solvent vapor with Δ χ ∼ −0.975 having a strong preferential affinity for the minority PDMAEMA block at ambient temperature. The self-assembly of PDMAEMA- b -PS thin films provides a new convenient way to fabricate stimuli-responsive substrates with potential applications in adhesion control, wetting, and binding or release of functional molecules at surfaces.

A novel method was established for the simultaneous determination of resorcinol and phloroglucinol in environmental water samples by ion chromatography with chemiluminescence detection. Using 50 mM NaOH as eluent, resorcinol and phloroglucinol can be separated well with IonPac AS19 column and determined on the basis of chemiluminescence reaction of luminol and K4Fe(CN)6 in a alkaline medium. The optimal CL conditions were 6.0 × 10−4 M luminol, 0.1 M K4Fe(CN)6 and 5.5 × 10−5 M K3Fe(CN)6. The absence of methanol and acetonitrile in mobile phase made the proposed method more sensitive. Under the optimal conditions, the detection limit (LOD) of resorcinol and phloroglucinol were 4.0 and 4.3 μg L−1, respectively. The method showed good linearity within the range of 0.05-1.0 mg L−1. The relative standard deviations (RSD) for 0.1 mg L−1 resorcinol and phloroglucinol standard solutions were 0.9% and 1.1% (n = 11). The method was successfully applied to the determination of resorcinol and phloroglucinol in environmental water samples.

Objective To analyze the component law of Chinese patent medicines for anti-influenza and develop new prescriptions for anti-influenza by unsupervised data mining methods. Methods Chinese patent medicine recipes for anti-influenza were collected and recorded in the database, and then the correlation coefficient between herbs, core combinations of herbs and new prescriptions were analyzed by using modified mutual information, complex system entropy cluster and unsupervised hierarchical clustering, respectively. Results Based on analysis of 126 Chinese patent medicine recipes, the frequency of each herb occurrence in these recipes, 54 frequently-used herb pairs, 34 core combinations were determined, and 4 new recipes for influenza were developed. Conclusion Unsupervised data mining methods are able to mine the component law quickly and develop new prescriptions.

Ruminants have a distinct digestive system which serves a unique symbiotic relationship between the host animal and predominantly anaerobic rumen bacteria and protozoa. Rumen fermentation can be both beneficial by enabling utilization of cellulose and non-protein nitrogen and detrimental by reducing the nutritive value of some carbohydrates, high biological value proteins and by hydrogenating unsaturated lipids. In addition it can also result in the modification and inactivation of many pharmacologically active ingredients administered to the host animal via the oral route. The advances in ruminant nutrition and health demand a rumen-stable delivery system which can deliver the active ingredient post-ruminally while simultaneously meet efficacy, safety and cost criteria. In contrast to drug delivery systems for humans, the demand for low-cost has hindered the development of effective rumen-stable delivery systems. Historically, heat and chemical treatment of feed components, low solubility analogues or lipid-based formulations have been used to achieve some degree of rumen-stability, and products have been developed accordingly. Recently, a polymeric pH-dependent rumen-stable delivery system has been developed and commercialized. The rationale of this delivery system is based on the pH difference between ruminal and abomasal fluids. The delivery system is composed of a basic polymer, a hydrophobic substance and a pigment material. It can be applied as a coating to solid particles via a common encapsulation method such as air-suspension coating. In the future, the delivery system could be used to deliver micronutrients and pharmaceuticals post-ruminally to ruminant animals. A further possible application of the delivery system is that it could also be combined with other controlled delivery devices/systems in order to enhance slow release or to achieve targeted delivery needs for ruminants. This paper discusses the rumen protection and the abomasal release mechanism of the polymeric coating. It also reviews other rumen stable delivery systems and methods for evaluating their in vitro and in vivo performance.

1. 1.Spin label measurement have been performed on the hydrated binary lipid system, dielaidoyl/dipalmitoyl phosphatidylcholine in order to determine the state of lipid fluidity as a function of temperature. The results are interpreted in terms of a binary phase diagram describing lateral phase separations within the plane of the lipid bilayer membrane. 2. 2.For a given temperature and composition the phase diagram rationale imposes certain restrictions on local lipid fluidity and composition. At intermediate temperatures the lipid bilayers are expected to contain domains of different composition. Critical predictions of the spin label-derived phase diagram have been tested using freeze-fracture electron microscopy. The results show that the phase diagram approach can be profitably applied to the understanding of lipid distribution in bilayer binary lipid systems.