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The medicinal constituents of Chinese herbal medicine honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica Thunb) vary at different flower stages. In order to ensure that the medicinal value is maximized, it is necessary to identify its flower stage before harvesting. However, at present, this study can only be accomplished by manual visual recognition, which is inefficient and costly. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop an automatic detection technique with high maturity, fast detection speed, and strong model deployment capability. In order to adapt to the problems of different flower size and color texture similarity and complex background, this study chooses YOLOv5s algorithm for adaptive modification. First, a small detection layer is added to the network to enhance feature extraction and improve the accuracy of identifying small honeysuckle. Second, attention mechanism is incorporated into the backbone network to suppress background interference and improve identification accuracy. Finally, the original IoU-NMS is replaced by the DIoU-NMS algorithm, which improves the bounding box regression rate while reducing the leakage rate when overlapping or occluded. The test results showed that the P was increased from 80.0% to 92.7%, the R was increased from 78.6% to 80.2%, and the mean average precision was increased from 86.2% to 90.6%. Furthermore, the model was verified at both long range and short range, and the tests data indicate that the identification accuracy was no less than 90% in 3 m without serious occlusion. This study laid a solid foundation for accurate honeysuckle flower stage identification and provided technical support for real-time machine picking honeysuckle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using Sino‐Securities Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) ratings data, we examine how environmental uncertainty affects the ESG performance of Chinese A‐share non‐financial listed firms from 2008 to 2020. Our findings show that environmental uncertainty harms corporate ESG performance. In particular, when environmental uncertainty increases, a firm's ESG score and ESG ratings decline due to factors such as financial constraints and industry competition. We argue that as the environmental risk premium rises, it increases the real options value of postponing sustainable investment for a firm. Consequently, the firms tend to cut down their ESG investment by weighing the long‐term benefits and short‐term direct costs. The value of real options changes with the investment opportunities available to the firms and the financing constraints and competitive pressure changes the size of investment opportunities. We argue that higher financing constraints and industry competition restrict available investment opportunities and dilute the negative impact of environmental uncertainty on corporate ESG performance. These results add to the existing literature investigating the impact of uncertainty on corporate ESG performance and offer insights to regulators and enterprise managers. These results are robust to alternate proxies of ESG performance and alternate regression techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Livestock grazing and the collection of bamboo shoots are the main threats to giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) habitat in the Liangshan Mountains in China. It is important to clarify the effect of these disturbances to the giant panda to formulate targeted management policies. Based on species distribution models and daily activity models, we investigated the effects of livestock grazing and bamboo shoot collection on giant pandas from May 2021 to July 2022. Our results indicated the giant panda's suitable habitat in the reserve covered 51.83 km² (15.02% of the reserve area). Grazing and bamboo shoot collection led to losses of 19.08 km² and 7.68 km² of suitable habitat, respectively. Together, the 2 activities resulted in a loss of 28.35 km² of suitable habitat, which was more than half of the area of panda habitat. The areas of suitable habitat for giant pandas significantly overlapped with the areas affected by both disturbances. Giant pandas did not show significant differences in daily activity rhythms under a single disturbance, but the daily activity rhythms of giant pandas differed when we compared the area combining the 2 disturbances with the undisturbed area. Our study reveals that the anthropogenic disturbances in the reserve have varying effects on the suitable habitat range and daily activity rhythm of giant pandas and evidence of a synergistic effect. Therefore, when formulating relevant conservation policies, it is important to fully evaluate the extent and characteristics of anthropogenic disturbances in shaping the population distribution and habitat preferences of the giant panda and other wildlife to enhance the efficacy of conservation management practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Folic acid and vitamin B12 (FV), being B vitamins, not only facilitate the remethylation of homocysteine (Hcy) but also contribute to embryonic development. This study aimed to assess the impact of FV supplementation during late pregnancy on sows' reproductive performance, amino acid metabolism, placental angiogenesis, and related parameters. Twenty primiparous sows at day 60 of gestation were randomly allocated to two groups: a basal diet (CON) group and a group receiving a basal diet supplemented with folic acid at 20 ppm and vitamin B12 at 125 ppb. RESULTS: The findings revealed that dietary FV supplementation significantly reduced the incidence of intrauterine growth retardation compared to the CON group (P < 0.05). Furthermore, it led to a decrease in the Hcy levels in umbilical cord serum (P < 0.05) and activation of the placental mechanistic target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1) signaling pathway (P < 0.05). Additionally, FV supplementation lowered placental malondialdehyde levels (P < 0.05) and increased the expression of placental thioredoxin (P = 0.05). Moreover, maternal FV supplementation notably elevated placental vascular density (P < 0.05) and the expression of sodium-coupled neutral amino acid transporter 2 (SNAT2) (P < 0.05), as well as amino acid concentrations in umbilical cord blood (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Maternal FV supplementation during medium to late gestation reduced Hcy levels in umbilical cord blood and positively impacted fetal development. This improvement was closely associated with increased placental antioxidant capacity and vascular density, as well as activation of the placental mTORC1-SNAT2 signaling pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Catheter ablation (CA) combined with left atrial appendage occlusion (LAAO) is a feasible approach for atrial fibrillation (AF) patients. Its role in octogenarians with AF is unclear. Hypothesis: In AF patients over 80 years, CA combined with LAAO is a feasible way in restoring sinus rhythm and preventing stroke. Methods: This is a single‐center retrospective study. Patients who underwent CA and LAAO in a single procedure between March 2018 and December 2020 were included. Efficacy endpoints included procedural success rate, AF recurrence rate, and thromboembolic events. Safety endpoints included pericardial effusion/cardiac tamponade, device‐related thrombus (DRT), all‐cause death, and major bleeding. Results: Five hundred and five patients (mean age 69.5 ± 7.7 years; 230 [45.5%] female) were included, with 46 (9.1%) patients aged ≥80 years old (octogenarian group). Prevalence of paroxysmal AF (25 [54.3%] vs. 207 [45.1%], p < 0.001) and CHA2DS2VASc score (4.1 ± 1.3 vs. 3.1 ± 1.4, p < 0.0001) were higher in octogenarian patients. There were six cases (1.2%) of pericardial effusion (all in nonoctogenarian patients). At 3 months postprocedure, 437 patients underwent TEE/CT. Thirty‐two (80%) octogenarian patients and 308 (77.6%) nonoctogenarian patients had no peri‐device leak. After a mean follow‐up of 26.9 ± 9.1 months, AF was documented in 10 (21.7%) patients in octogenarian group and in 103 (22.4%) patients in nonoctogenarian group (p = 0.99). The annual thromboembolic risk was 2.1% and 0.8% in the octogenarian group and nonoctogenarian group, respectively. Death occurred in 16 nonoctogenarian patients. One major bleeding was recorded in the octogenarian group. Conclusions: The combination of CA and LAAO in a single procedure is a feasible treatment option in octogenarians with comparable efficacy and safety profile. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

MYH9 encodes the heavy chain of nonmuscle myosin IIA, a ubiquitously expressed cytoplasmic myosin that regulates the actin cytoskeleton, cell migration, cell polarization, and signal transduction in cancer cells. Here, we investigated the role of MYH9 in cancer stem cells (CSCs) associated with esophageal cancer (EC). The subcellular localization of MYH9 was investigated in SKGT‐4 cells through immunofluorescent analysis. MYH9+ and MYH9− spheroid cells were derived from SKGT‐4 cells by flow cytometry and compared for self‐renewal capacity, tumorigenicity, CD133 positivity, cisplatin resistance, and phosphatidylinositol‐3‐kinase/protein kinase B/mammalian target of rapamycin (PI3K/AKT/mTOR) activity. MYH9 messenger RNA expression was assessed in 30 EC patients by quantitative reverse transcription‐polymerase chain reaction. Kaplan–Meier curves were plotted to explore the influence of MYH9 on EC survival. MYH9 localized to the plasma membrane, cytoplasm, and nucleus of SKGT‐4 cells. Spheroid cells displayed higher MYH9 expression and positivity compared to parental SKGT‐4 cells. MYH9+ cells showed strong CSC characteristics, including in vivo tumorigenicity, migration, invasion, cisplatin resistance, and CD133+ positivity. MYH9 activated the PI3K/AKT/mTOR axis in CSCs and was upregulated in EC patients with poor survival. Collectively, these data show that MYH9 significantly promotes tumorigenesis by regulating PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling in EC. MYH9 expression remarkably correlates with poor prognosis and represents a novel biomarker and drug target for the diagnosis and treatment of EC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: We aimed to investigate the immunophenotype, differential diagnosis, and clinicopathological characteristics of signet‐ring cell carcinoma (SRCC) derived from gastric foveolar epithelium. Methods: Clinical characteristics, endoscopic findings, histopathological features, and follow‐up data of seven cases of SRCC derived from gastric foveolar epithelium with small intramucosal lesions were analyzed. Results: Seven patients with a mean age of 38.3 years were diagnosed with SRCC derived from gastric foveolar epithelium and small intramucosal lesions, all of them were negative for CDH‐1 germline mutation. The glands proliferated and expanded, and then morphologically transformed into signet‐ring cells and formed clonal hyperplastic SRCC, which expanded laterally along the gastric foveolar cells to a length of 3–6 mm. Periodic acid Schiff staining was positive, while CK7 and MUC6 were negative, in all cases. Ki‐67‐positive cells ranged 37%–60%. During a follow‐up period of 6–30 months, no patients experienced tumor recurrence or metastasis. Conclusions: SRCC derived from gastric foveolar epithelium is originated from the proliferative region of the bottom of the gastric pit and gland neck. It is easily missed diagnosed or misdiagnosed as it grows laterally along the gastric foveolar cells. Biological behavior, genetics, and etiology of such SRCC, as well as the clinicopathological characteristics, need to be further studied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a dataset of Chinese listed companies from 2009 to 2018, this study empirically examines the relationship between a company's institutional environment, the ultimate controller's characteristics and its level of corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure in China. The results show that Chinese companies operating in better institutional environments have higher CSR disclosure. Moreover, the type of the ultimate controller of a company is significantly related to the level of CSR disclosure, which is higher in state‐controlled companies than in nonstate‐controlled companies. The results are robust to different proxies of CSR disclosure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aluminum–metal batteries show great potential as next‐generation energy storage due to their abundant resources and intrinsic safety. However, the crucial limitations of metallic Al anodes, such as dendrite and corrosion problems in conventional aluminum–metal batteries, remain challenging and elusive. Here, we report a novel electrodeposition strategy to prepare an optimized 3D Al anode on carbon cloth with an uniform deposition morphology, low local current density, and mitigatory volume change. The symmetrical cells with the 3D Al anode show superior stable cycling (>450 h) and low‐voltage hysteresis (~170 mV) at 0.5 mA cm−2. High reversibility (~99.7%) is achieved for the Al plating/stripping. The graphite | | Al‐4/CC full batteries show a long lifespan of 800 cycles with 54 mAh g−1 capacity at a high current density of 1000 mA g−1, benefiting from the high capacitive‐controlled distribution. This study proposes a novel strategy to design 3D Al anodes for metallic‐Al‐based batteries by eliminating the problems of planar Al anodes and realizing the potential applications of aluminum–graphite batteries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To explore the value of detecting the peri‐device leak (PDL) and device endothelialization after left atrial appendage closure (LAAC) by cardiac computed tomography (CT) in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF), who underwent Watchman LAAC combined with radiofrequency ablation of atrial fibrillation (AFCA). Methods: Patients with symptomatic drug‐refractory atrial fibrillation at high risk of stroke (CHA2DS2‐VASc Score ≥ 2), who underwent Watchman LAAC combined with AFCA in our center from March 2017 to December 2018 were enrolled. Maximum diameter of LAA orifice was determined by preoperative CCTA. A standardized view of Watchman device was obtained by postoperative CCTA multiplannar reconstruction to evaluate the PDL and device endothelialization. Results: Approximately 84 patients post successful LAAC and AFCA were enrolled in this study. The satisfactory LAA occlusion rate was 100%. There was no death, bleeding, stroke, and device‐related thrombus (DRT) events. At 6‐month postprocedure, CCTA images evidenced complete endothelialization in 44 patients (no contrast enhancement in LAA); contrast enhancement in LAA and visible PDL in 33 patients; contrast enhancement in LAA but without PDL in seven patients (incomplete device endothelialization). Maximum diameter of LAA orifice could independently predict the occurrence of PDL (odds ratio, 1.31; 95% confidence interval, 1.11–1.55; p =.002), sensitivity was 69.7% and specificity was 80.4% with the cutoff value of maximum diameter of LAA orifice more than 28.2 mm on predicting PDL. Conclusions: CCTA is feasible to evaluate PDL and device endothelialization after LAAC. The maximum diameter of LAA orifice derived from CT can independently predict the occurrence of post‐LAAC PDL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The electrochemical nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR) over single‐atom catalysts (SACs) anchored on Mo vacancies of Mo2CO2 MXene nanosheets under ambient conditions suffers from poor selectivity, low yield, and low Faradaic efficiency because of their sluggish kinetics and the competing hydrogen evolution reaction. Herein, density functional theory calculations are performed to improve the understanding of the selectivity and yielding of ammonia through NRR over various isolated SACs, that is, from Sc to Au, anchored on the Mo vacancy of the Mo2CO2 MXene nanosheet (denoted as MO2CO2‐MSA). The potential‐determining step of the NRR shows that eight candidates (i.e., Y, Zr, Nb, Hf, Ta, W, Re, and Os) confined on the defective Mo2CO2 layer could promote the electroreduction from N2 to NH3. Among these, Mo2CO2‐YSA presented the lowest reported reaction Presents the lowest reported reaction energy barrier (0.08 eV) through the distal pathway and high selectivity to NRR compared with the previously synthesized Mo2CO2‐RuSA with a relatively high energy barrier (0.65 eV) and poor selectivity. In addition, the formation energy of Mo2CO2‐YSA is more negative than that of the Mo2CO2‐RuSA catalyst, suggesting that the experimental preparation of the Mo2CO2‐YSA catalyst is highly feasible. This work lays a solid foundation for improving the rational design of MXene‐based systems as efficient electrocatalysts for the synthesis of ammonia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND Camptothecin (CPT) and matrine (MAT) have potential as botanical pesticides against several pest species. However, the mechanisms of metabolic and physiological changes in pests induced by CPT and MAT are unknown. In this study, a toxicological test, an NMR‐based metabolomic study, an enzymatic test, and an RT quantitative PCR (RT‐qPCR) experiment were all conducted to examine the effect of CPT and MAT on Spodoptera litura. RESULTS: CPT (0.5–1%) exerted high toxicity against larvae of S. litura and caused growth stagnation and high mortality of larvae. A variety of metabolites were significantly influenced by 0.5% CPT, including several energy‐related metabolites such as trehalose, lactate, succinate, citrate, malate, and fumarate. In contrast, MAT showed low toxicity against larvae and induced almost no changes in hemolymph metabolites of S. litura. Enzymatic tests showed that trehalase activity was significantly decreased in larvae after feeding with 0.5% CPT. RT‐qPCR showed that the transcription levels of alanine aminotransferase, malate dehydrogenase, and isocitrate dehydrogenase were decreased while lactate dehydrogenase was increased in the 0.5% CPT‐treated group. CONCLUSIONS: These data indicate that one of the important mechanisms of CPT against S. litura larvae is via the inhibition of trehalose hydrolysis and glycolysis. Our findings also suggest that CPT exhibits a stronger toxicological effect than MAT against S. litura, which provides basic information for the application of CPT in the control of S. litura or other lepidoptera pests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: There has been a significant increase, to epidemic levels, of obese and overweight women of reproductive age, causing impairments to reproductive health. Time-restricted feeding (TRF) including isocaloric intake has shown to be preventive of obesity-related disorders. However, its therapeutic ability to improve the reproductive function of female remains largely unknown. Methods: Here, we investigated the ability of TRF to improve the reproductive function in wild-type and liver-specific FGF21 knockout female mice. To study fertility, a continuous and a short-term fertility test, gonadotropin releasinghormone (GnRH), and Kisspeptin test were performed. Immortalized GnRH neuron was used to examine the direct role of liver fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21) on GnRH secretion. Results:We found that TRF rescues femalemice from bodyweight gain and glucose intolerance, as well as ovarian follicle loss and dysfunction of estrus cyclicity induced by high-fat diet. Furthermore, the beneficial effects of the TRF regimen on the reproductive performance were also observed in mice fed both chow and high-fat diet. However, those beneficial effects of TRF on metabolism and reproduction were absent in liver-specific FGF21 knockout mice. In vitro, FGF21 directly acted on GnRH neurons to modulate GnRH secretion via extracellular regulated protein kinases (ERK1/2) pathway. Conclusions: Overall, time-restricted feeding improves the reproductive function of female mice and liver FGF21 signaling plays a key role in GnRH neuron activity in female mice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the ultra‐high‐frequency (UHF) antenna for partial discharge (PD) detection is optimised to simultaneously satisfy the requirements of low return loss and high fidelity factor (FF) in the frequency band of interest by using the modified non‐dominated sorting genetic algorithm II (MNSGA‐II). Based on the labour division strategy, the MNSGA‐II adopts an adaptive crossover and mutation possibilities instead of the fixed ones, resulting in the significant improvement of convergence rate and exploration ability. One of the Pareto‐optimal solutions is presented as the authors' proposed UHF antenna, whose performance is compared with those of both the antenna optimised by genetic algorithm and the existing wideband antennas. The experimental results show that the proposed antenna with a compact size of 0.201 λL × 0.198 λL realises the reflection coefficient less than −10 dB from 490 MHz to 1.52 GHz, and its FFs in the face‐to‐face and side‐by‐side scenarios are 0.897 and 0.845, respectively. Furthermore, the simulation results reveal that the high FF of antenna greatly increases the accuracy of PD source localisation. It indicates that the MNSGA‐II provides an excellent solution to the multiobjective optimisation problems in antenna design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An aperiodic substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) wide‐angle scanning phased array with low side‐lobe levels (SLLs) is presented. The proposed C‐band array has 16 SIW‐slot elements with aperiodic distribution. The TE10 mode of each element is excited to obtain a wide beamwidth for wide‐angle scanning potential. In addition, a genetic algorithm is used to optimize the placement of the elements to reduce the scanning SLLs of the phased array, especially in wide‐angle scanning areas. The proposed approach provides superior performance of SLLs < −11.5 dB, particularly small gain fluctuation (±1.5 dB) when scanning form −68° to +68°. Compared with the same aperture uniform array, the scanning angle and the SLLs of the proposed array have been significantly improved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Glioma is the most aggressive primary brain tumor and is notorious for resistance to chemoradiotherapy. Although its associated mechanisms are still not completely understood, Notch signaling, an evolutionarily conserved pathway, appears to be the key processes involved. Nevertheless, its mechanisms are sophisticated, due to a variety of targets and signal pathways, especially microRNA. MicroRNAs, which are small noncoding regulatory RNA molecules, have been proposed as one of the key mechanisms in glioma pathogenesis. Among the known glioma associated microRNA, microRNA‐129, microRNA‐34 family, and microRNA‐326 have been shown to influence the progress of glioma through Notch signaling. Evidence also indicates that recurrence is due to development or persistence of the glioma stem‐like cells and active angiogenesis, which are tightly regulated by a variety of factors, including Notch signaling. In this review, we summarize the recent progress regarding the functional roles of Notch signaling in glioma, including Notch ligand, microRNA, intracellular crosstalk, glioma stem‐like cells and active angiogenesis and explore their clinical implications as diagnostic or prognostic biomarkers and molecular therapeutic targets for glioma. Notch signaling and its ligands act as an oncogene in glioma; microRNAs influence the progress of glioma through Notch signaling; a combination of chemoradiotherapy and disruption of Notch signaling might be a new method of glioma therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a case study of a 44-year-old male patient with repeated syncope for 5 years referred to our hospital. An electrophysiological study was performed. In addition, increasing the output from the proximal CS region may alter the atrial inputs by penetrating the AV node at more than one input. This phenomenon of treatment can be explained as vagal response caused by adjacent vagus ganglion capture.

Silver (Ag)/chemically reduced graphene (Ag/CGN) composite succeeded prepared using a simple chemical reduction method. X-ray diffraction, Raman spectra, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy results revealed the formation of Ag and the reduction of graphite oxide to graphene during the synthesis process. Scanning electron microscopy observation showed that Ag particles were wrapped by graphene. The resistance of Ag/CGN circuits changed <10% when bended at a radius of 10 mm after 500 cycles and <15% when folded after 50 cycles, indicating the printed Ag/CGN fine circuits possess good electrical conductivity, flexibility and electrical stability under mechanical deformations. Furthermore, the Ag/CGN circuits exhibited high thermal stability, indicating its potential application for fabricating high performance flexible printed circuits [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dissolved gas analysis (DGA) is a popular method for diagnosing faults inside power transformers. However, some of the recorded data for the analysis are with ambiguous characteristic, leading to misdiagnosis of conventional methods. In this work, a hybrid method, which combines the relevance vector machine (RVM) and the adaptive neural fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) has been proposed to address this issue. Given the fuzziness between DGA records and fault type, and to minimise the number of rules that ANFIS needs to extract, the RVM algorithm performs binary separation firstly, and then ANFIS is utilised to achieve further fault diagnosis in this study. The experimental results demonstrate that the hybrid RVM–ANFIS algorithm can achieve an accuracy rate as high as 95%. Moreover, the proposed algorithm exceeds single ANFIS, support vector machine, and artificial neural network on distinguishing multiple faults and samples with ambiguous characteristic. The engineering application results also demonstrate the effectiveness and superiority of the proposed RVM–ANFIS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A compact and wideband ultra-high-frequency antenna is developed in this work. Based on the Minkowski fractal geometry of the lateral boundaries of monopole and the upper boundary of ground plane, miniaturization is realized. Meanwhile, by optimizing the dimension of the semi-elliptical part of monopole and the triangular notch of ground plane, the impedance bandwidth is enhanced. To confirm the performance of antenna, a series of experiments are conducted. The size and ratio bandwidth of antenna are compared with existing broadband ones. The proposed antenna with size of 0.3 λL × 0.25 λL covers the frequency ranging from 700 MHz to more than 3 GHz and possesses an average gain of 4.08 dBi. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

PRDM ( PRDI- BF1 and RIZ domain-containing) proteins constitute a family of zinc finger proteins and play important roles in multiple cellular processes by acting as epigenetic modifiers. PRDM5 is a recently identified member of the PRDM family and may function as a tumor suppressor in several types of cancer. However, the role of PRDM5 in murine melanoma remains largely unknown. In our study, effect of PRDM5 on murine melanoma cells was determined and results showed that PRDM5 overexpression significantly promoted proliferation, migration, and invasion of murine melanoma B16F10 cells. Consistently, silencing of PRDM5 expression significantly inhibited proliferation, invasion, and migration of B16F10 cells. In vivo study also showed that PRDM5 silencing significantly inhibited the growth and metastasis of melanoma in mice. PRDM5 was then found to increase the expression and activation of JNK in B16F10 cells. JNK silencing significantly reduced PRDM5-mediated up-regulation of JNK expression and blocked the PRDM5-induced proliferation and invasion of B16F10 cells. To further verify the involvement of JNK signaling in PRDM5-induced progression of B16F10 cells, a specific JNK inhibitor was employed to inhibit the JNK signaling pathway, and results showed that PRDM5-induced proliferation and invasion of B16F10 cells were abolished. We conclude that PRDM5 promotes the proliferation and invasion of murine melanoma cells through up-regulating JNK expression and strategies targeting PRDM5 may be promising for the therapy of melanoma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Qishenyiqi dropping pill (QSYQ), is a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) prescription for treating heart diseases in China. Knowledge concerning the systemic identification of active compounds and metabolic components of QSYQ is generally lacking. Therefore, it is essential to develop a valid method for the analysis of active compounds of the combined prescription and determination of interactions among the herbs. The absorbable compounds and metabolites of QSYQ were profiled using computational chemistry prediction, an improved everted gut sac in vitro experiment, the Caco-2 cell monolayer in vitro test, a rat in vivo experiment and ultra-performance liquid chromatography/diode array detection/quadrupole-time of flight mass spectrum (UPLC/DAD/Q-TOF MS). In total, 42 prototype compounds were recognized as absorbable compounds, and eight metabolites were identified by UPLC/DAD/Q-TOF MS. The absorption rates of phenolic acids and saponins were significantly improved and the absorption of isoflavone was inhibited after compatibility. The volatile oil component had an improved effect on the absorption of other compounds, while its own absorption was inhibited. In conclusion, the present study established a rapid and effective strategy for demonstrating the absorption and metabolism of QSYQ and revealing the compatible relationship among herbs. This investigation can provide a reference for the compatibility of prescriptions and the modernization of TCM. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two new megastigmane glycosides, eleganosides A and B ( and , resp.), and one new iridoid glycoside, gouwenoside A (), together with two known compounds, foliasalacioside B () and loganin (), were isolated from the aerial parts of Gelsemium elegans ( et (Loganiaceae). Their structures were elucidated by spectroscopic methods including 1D- and 2D-NMR techniques. The absolute configuration of was determined by CD spectroscopy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Free-fatty acids (FFAs) are well-characterized factor for causing production of inflammatory factors and insulin resistance in adipocytes. Using cultured adipocytes, we demonstrate that FFAs can activate endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress pathway by examination of ER stress sensor activation and marker gene expression. Chemical chaperone tauroursodeoxycholic acid (TUDCA) can reduce FFA-induced adipocyte inflammation and improve insulin signaling whereas overexpression of spliced X-box protein 1 (XBP-1s) only attenuates FFA-induced inflammation. PKR-like eukaryotic initiation factor 2α kinase (PERK) is one of the three major ER stress sensor proteins and deficiency of PERK alleviates FFA-induced inflammation and insulin resistance. The key downstream target of FFA-induced ER stress is IκB kinase β (IKKβ), a master kinase for regulating expression of inflammatory genes. Deficiency of PERK attenuates FFA-induced activation of IKKβ and deficiency of IKKβ alleviates FFA-induced inflammation and insulin resistance. Consistently, overexpression of IKKβ in 3T3-L1 CAR adipocytes causes inflammation and insulin resistance. In addition, IKKβ overexpression has profound effect on adipocyte lipid metabolism, including inhibition of lipogenesis and promotion of lipolysis. Furthermore, increased endogenous IKKβ expression and activation is also observed in isolated primary adipocytes from mice injected with lipids or fed on high-fat diet (HFD) acutely. These results indicate that ER stress pathway is a key mediator for FFA-induced inflammation and insulin resistance in adipocytes with PERK and IKKβ as the critical signaling components. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on a novel composite right/left‐handed unit cell, a wideband frequency‐scanning network with a large scanning angle ranging towards both negative and positive elevation angles is proposed. The measured results show that the insertion loss variation of the designed frequency‐scanning network is 7.2 ± 1 dB when the frequency ranges from 4.33 to 8.53 GHz and the phase differences of adjacent output ports scan from −50° to 50° when the frequency ranges from 4.76 to 8.26 GHz (53.8%). The proposed network can be used in wideband systems that require a large scanning angle range. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on a novel composite right/left-handed unit cell, a wideband frequency- scanning network with a large scanning angle ranging towards both negative and positive elevation angles is proposed. The measured results show that the insertion loss variation of the designed frequencyscanning network is 7.2 ± 1 dB when the frequency ranges from 4.33 to 8.53 GHz and the phase differences of adjacent output ports scan from -50° to 50° when the frequency ranges from 4.76 to 8.26 GHz (53.8%). The proposed network can be used in wideband systems that require a large scanning angle range. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]