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Increasing antibiotics pollution is becoming an urgent public health issue. Biochar is a kind of promising solution for antibiotic removal in aqueous environment. However, the adsorption and degradation performance of pristine biochar was limited because of the relatively lower specific surface. The remediation efficiencies could be highly improved through developing new biochar-based composites which have high interactions and bonding abilities with antibiotic. In this study, a novel magnetic graphoxide/biochar composite (mGO/TBC) was fabricated as an efficient and recyclable persulfate (PS) activator for degradation and removal of sulfonamides (SAs) and quinolones (QNs) antibiotics. Based on the synergism presorption and degradation of graphoxide and biochar, the removal rates of mGO/TBC for sarafloxacin hydrochloride, sulfadimethoxine, sulfapyridine, sulfado xine, sulfamonomethoxine, sulfachloropyridazine, enrofloxacin, and ciprofloxacin were increased above 85%. Quenching experiment and ESR analysis had proved that 1O2, •OH and SO4•− from mGO/TBC/PS system were the primary oxidation active species to degrade SAs and QNs. Furthermore, the mGO/TBC is easy to be batch produced due to simple synthesis steps. It is a promising substrate for antibiotic bioremediation with good application prospects.

Traditional Chinese medicines such as hyperoside-rich Acanthopanax senticosus and Crataegus pinnatifida have been confirmed to exhibit anti-oxidative stress properties. Hyperoside, the main ingredient of numerous antioxidant herbs, may have the ability to postpone the onset of neurodegenerative diseases This study investigates the possible therapeutic mechanism of hyperoside as a natural antioxidant against Alzheimer’s disease (AD) in Caenorhabditis elegans and PC12 cells. Specifically, hyperoside reduced reactive oxygen species (ROS) level and Aβ42-induced neurotoxicity in C. elegans worms. Meanwhile, hyperoside reduced ROS production and increased mitochondrial membrane potentialin Aβ42-induced PC12 cells, which possibly due to the increase of antioxidant enzymes activity and the diminution of malondialdehyde levels. Hoechst 33342 staining and real-time PCR results suggested that hyperoside reverses cell apoptosis. Network pharmacology predicts potentially relevant hypericin targets and pathways in AD therapy. As anticipated, hyperoside reversed Aβ42-stimulated downregulation of the PI3K/Akt/Nrf2/HO-1. The PI3K inhibitor LY294002 partially abolished the protective capability of hyperoside. The results of molecular docking further indicated that the PI3K/Akt pathways may be involved in the protection of Aβ42-induced PC12 cells by hyperoside treatment. The study provides theoretical information for research and development of hyperoside as an antioxidant dietary supplement.

To understand the mechanisms of immunomodulatory effect

Given the dire state of global warming, it is critical to investigate the elements that influence carbon emissions intensity and to precisely monitor progress in carbon emissions intensity growth in order to meet the aim of lowering CO2 emissions. This research explores the association among renewable energy and non-renewable energy consumption, the urban population, research and development expenditure, technological innovation, and carbon emissions intensity in China using annual time series data over the period 1990 to 2019. The Dynamic ARDL simulation technique was utilized to investigate the long-run and short-run correlations between renewable and non-renewable energy consumption and CEI. The results suggest that there is strong evidence of a long-run correlation between the variables. The findings indicate that in the long-run, renewable energy and non-renewable energy consumption, and research and development expenditure have a positive influence on CEI by 0.27%, 0.75%, and 0.21%, whereas the urban population has a negative influence by 2.31%, respectively. However, the urban population and technological innovation have positively affected the short-run CEI by 12.17% and 0.23%, respectively. Policies should focus on continuous investment in renewable energy sources, clean energy innovation, improving energy efficiency, forest restoration, and carbon neutrality initiatives to lessen the environmental extreme pressure associated with CO2 emissions.

UAV obstacle avoidance technology is directly related to work safety in substations, and is an important topic in the current domestic power system. Therefore, the obstacle avoidance and positioning technology of UAVs in substations are deeply studied. Through camera imaging, matching image features are extracted. And camera imaging can be combined with ultrasonic obstacle avoidance to realize the overall obstacle avoidance technology of UAVs. The coordinates are established through parameter optimization, and the substation UAV positioning technology is realized after the positioning accuracy is clarified. This solution can effectively solve the contradiction between the workload of the substation system and human and material resources, detect risks in time, ensure safety, provide a complete and reliable guarantee for the unattended mode in the substation, and achieve the autonomy of UAVs in the substation and positioning and obstacle avoidance functions. CLC number: TM744 Document identification code: A.

In order to elucidate the antibacterial activity and mechanism of S. alboflavus TD-1 active metabolites, the minimal inhibitory concentration of R. solanacearum and other effects on cell wall, cell membrane, nucleic acid, protein and cell morphology were studied. Besides, based on LCMS-IT-TOF, the active metabolites of S. alboflavus TD-1 were preliminarily analyzed. In this study, We found that the active metabolites had obvious inhibitory effect on R. solanacearum, and the minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) of R. solanacearum was 3.125 mg/mL. And the treatment of 10 mg/mL active metabolites can increase the permeability of R. solanacearum membranes, destroy the cell wall integrity, inhibit the synthesis of bacterial nucleic acids and proteins, and cause leakage of bacterial nucleic acids and proteins, obstruct the normal expression of proteins and destroy their bacterial morphology. At the same time, We speculated the molecular weights corresponding to the six compounds were 618, 615, 615, 615, 646, 646, respectively among the active metabolites, and it was found that were highly unstable. The active metabolites produced by S. alboflavus TD-1 liquid fermentation contain components that can significant inhibitory effects on R. solanacearum. It had the potential to develop biocontrol agents against bacterial wilt and be a kind potential sources for the preparation of functional anti-pathogenic microbial agents.

To establish experimental high uric acid model in C. elegans. Hypoxanthine, adenine, xanthine, and uric acid were used to treat C. elegans and then hyperuricemic C. elegans was evaluated by allopurinol. Hyperuricemic C. elegans were obtained after normal worms were treated by xanthine (0.25 mg/mL, 18 h). For hyperuricemic worms, there was a statistically significant increase in the uric acid level (p 0.05). Moreover, the model was proved to keep a high uric acid level for up to 12 h. After given allopurinol (0.25 mg/mL, 12 h), the uric acid of hyperuricemic C. elegans had a significant reduction by 15%. Furthermore, xanthine oxidase activity in hyperuricemic C. elegans showed a statistically significant increase (p

Two novel absorbents were synthesized for the first time by banana and pomegranate peels using diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid (DTPA) modification to eliminate Cd(II) and Ni(II) of sewage. The DTPA-modified peels performed significantly higher adsorption capacity than unmodified materials. Adsorption isotherm and kinetics models were simulated to determine their removal efficiency and potential for recovery of these two heavy metals. As the results, the adsorption reached equilibrium within 5 minutes and was well described by the pseudo-second order model and Langmuir isotherm. The surface morphology analysis of the synthetic materials by Scanning Electron Microscopy-Energy Dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy, implied that ion exchange, complexation and physical adsorption may together contribute to Cd(II) and Ni(II) loading on DTPA-modified peels. This study demonstrates the feasibility of waste peels as cost-efficient bio-absorbents to remove Cd(II) and Ni(II) in sewage systems, and discovers potential adsorption mechanism of efficiency improvements after DTPA modification.

The coupling reactions of amines into imines oxidized by persulfate with the assistance of ultrasound were carried out. The reaction conditions were optimized and the effect of ultrasonic was also investigated. The results indicated that Na2S2O8 in combination with ultrasound possessed excellent oxidative performance, which made this transformation smoothly proceed under the conditions of solvent-/catalyst- free, and low reaction temperature, giving excellent yields of imines in short reaction time. Our procedure had high reaction tolerance to various primary benzylic amines, demonstrating good universality. Furthermore, a tentative reaction mechanism and pathway were proposed.

Hyperlipidemia can easily cause atherosclerosis and induce cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. Red yeast rice (RYR) contains a variety of active ingredients and is commonly used as medicine and food, and has pharmacological effects such as lowering blood lipids. In this study, we select Monascus strain SHM1105 with a high yield of Monacolin K and monascus pigment (PIG), and studied the effects of the RYR and PIG fermented by this strain on blood lipids, intestinal flora, and liver transcriptome in hyperlipidemia model rats. The experimental results show that, compared with the high-fat model group, the weight growth rate, liver weight ratio, kidney weight ratio, spleen weight ratio, and fat weight ratio of rats in the gavage lovastatin (LOV), RYR, and PIG group were all significantly decreased (p < 0.05). Intervention with RYR and PIG can significantly reduce the serum TC, TG, and LDL-C levels, which has the effect of lowering blood lipids. The 16SrDNA sequencing results showed that the ratio of Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes decreased significantly (p ≤ 0.01) after the intervention of LOV, RYR, and PIG; the abundance of the ratio of Lachnospiraceae, Ruminococcaceae, Prevotellaceae, and Bacteroidales-S24-7-group also changed. The combined analysis of transcriptome and metabolome showed that lovastatin, RYR, and PIG can all improve lipid metabolism in rats by regulating Steroid hormone biosynthesis, Glycerolipid metabolism, and the Arachidonic acid metabolism pathway. In addition, RYR and PIG also have a unique way of regulating blood lipids. Although a lot of research on the lipid-lowering components of Monascus rice and the single pigment component of Monascus has been carried out, the actual application is RYR and pigments as mixtures, as a mixture of RYR and PIG contains a variety of biologically active ingredients, and each component may have a synergistic effect. Hence it has a lipid-lowering mechanism that lovastatin does not have. Therefore, RYR and PIG are effective in reducing lipid potential development and can be utilized in functional foods.

Dill (Anethum graveolens L.) has been shown strong antioxidative and immune propertise, but the precise potency and action mechanisms remain largely elusive. This study is to dissect the different fractions' antioxidant power and antiinflammatory function. We extracted 4 fractions from China original dill with ether (DI-E), ethyl acetate (DI-EA), n-butanol (DI-B) and water (DI-W), and performed 4 different kinds of antioxidative analysis together with vitamine C (Vc): DPPH, ABTS, reducing power and TPTZ-FRAP. For correlated compounds in antioxidant assays Folin-Ciocalteu's analysis was performed. For antiinflammation, cell proliferation by MTT, NO molecules and interleukin-1 and 6 in supernatant were detected by Griess reaction and Elisa, respectively, and gene expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) was analyzed by RT-PCR. The strength of antioxidant activity was Vc > DI-EA > DI-B > DI-W > DI-E. Folin-Ciocalteu's analysis showed that antioxidant power was correlated to phenolic compounds. However, in antiinflammatory assays DI-E was most active one by cell proliferation, iNOS's gene expression, and secretion of interleukin IL-1 and 6 in macrophage RAW264.7. The antioxidant fraction and antiinflammatory fraction of the dill were determined. The certain fractions of dill may be strong at antioxidation, but weak at antiinflammation, vice versa. Thus dill has anti-ageing and anticancer potential, a good resource for functional food and ancillary drugs of rehabilitation.

This paper estimated and evaluated the spatial&ndash, temporal evolution of the concentration of healthcare resources (HCRs), in 31 provinces in China between 2004 and 2017, by using the entropy method. The spatial Durbin model (SDM) was used to further analyze the mechanisms behind the spatial driving forces at the national and regional levels. The findings revealed that: (i) The concentration of HCRs differed significantly among eastern, central, and western regions. The eastern, followed by the central region, had the highest concentration. Going east to west, the concentration of HCRs in the first echelon decreased, while it increased in the second and third echelons, (ii) places with higher concentrations clustered, while those with lower concentrations agglomerated, and (iii) economic development, population size, and urbanization promoted concentration. Education facilitated HCR concentration in the eastern and central regions, income stimulated HCR concentration in the eastern and western regions, and fiscal expenditure on healthcare promoted HCR concentration in the eastern region. Economic development inhibited HCR concentration in neighboring regions, population size restrained HCR concentration in neighboring areas in the western region, urbanization and income curbed HCR concentration in neighboring areas in the eastern and western regions, and fiscal expenditure on healthcare hindered HCR concentration in neighboring areas in the eastern region. Policy recommendations were proposed toward optimizing allocation of healthcare resources, increasing support for healthcare and education, and accelerating urbanization.

Blue light, as an important environmental factor, can regulate the production of various secondary metabolites of Monascus purpureus M9, including mycotoxin-citrinin, pigments, and monacolin K. The analysis of citrinin in Monascus M9 exposed to blue light for 0 min./d, 15 min./d, and 60 min./d showed that 15 min./d of blue light illumination could significantly increase citrinin production, while 60 min./d of blue light illumination decreased citrinin production. Analysis of long non-coding RNA (LncRNA) was performed on the transcripts of Monascus M9 under three culture conditions, and this analysis identified an lncRNA named AOANCR that can negatively regulate the mraox gene. Fermentation studies suggested that alternate respiratory pathways could be among the pathways that are involved in the regulation of the synthesis of citrinin by environmental factors. Aminophylline and citric acid were added to the culture medium to simulate the process of generating cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) in cells under illumination conditions. The results of the fermentation showed that aminophylline and citric acid could increase the expression of the mraox gene, decrease the expression of lncRNA AOANCR, and reduce the yield of citrinin. This result also indicates a reverse regulation relationship between lncRNA AOANCR and the mraox gene. A blue light signal might regulate the mraox gene at least partially through lncRNA AOANCR, thereby regulating citrinin production. Citrinin has severe nephrotoxicity in mammals, and it is important to control the residual amout of citrinin in red yeast products during fermentation. LncRNA AOANCR and mraox can potentially be used as new targets for the control of citrinin production.

The inconsistent direction between environmental regulation and technological progress is receiving increasing attention, but scholars have neglected the relationship between the two in the open economy. Against this background and based on the panel data of 30 provinces in China from 2003 to 2015, we examined the effect of environmental regulation on the international research and development (R&D) spillover effect and its regional differences in three economic regions: The Bohai Rim, Pan-Yangtze River Delta, and Pan-Pearl River Delta economic regions. The results show that (1) at China’s macro level, and at that of the three economic regions, the level of environmental regulation and international R&D spillover from import trade or foreign direct investment channels show an inverted N relationship; that is, in all provinces the weak environmental regulation initially inhibited the international technology spillover. However, as the intensity of environmental regulation increased, the level of international R&D spillovers continually rose, but overly harsh environmental regulation was not conducive to the overflow of international technology; (2) the adoption of different environmental regulations will affect the international R&D spillover effect and the inverted N relationship of environmental regulation, thus changing the inflection point of environmental regulation; and (3) currently, the level of environmental regulation is relatively low, as most provinces have not yet broken through the first turning point of the inverted N, and only a few provinces are within the rising stage of the inverted N curve. This paper provides corresponding policy suggestions according to the above conclusions.

Under the background of global economic integration, the technology spillover effect is playing a more and more important role in the technological progress of developing countries. In this circumstance, this paper conducted an in-depth analysis on the 12-year spatial-temporal evolution of the international technology spillover effect and its driving determinants in China during the period of 2003 to 2014. Analytical results highlighted that: (1) As a whole, the international technology spillover effect in general has shown an upward trend in China, except in 2008 and 2012, which are observed as deep-V plunge variations. The plunge in 2008 was more dramatic. After 2011, the growth rate of international technology spillover effect from international import trade and foreign direct investment (FDI) respects slowed obviously down. (2) The spatial distribution of the international technology spillover effect from FDI in China transferred from the ribbon-like pattern to the flake-like pattern, while the effect from import trade held steady with little difference in regional spatial distribution. (3) From the drivers, human capital, economic development, trade openness, and institutional factors promoted the technological spillover effect of import trade channels positively, and financial development, human capital, economic development, and institutional factors promoted the technological spillover effect of FDI channels positively.

Aspergillus flavus is a soilborne pathogenic fungus that poses a serious public health threat due to it contamination of food with carcinogenic aflatoxins. Our previous studies have demonstrated that benzenamine displayed strong inhibitory effects on the mycelial growth of A. flavus. In this study, we systematically investigated the inhibitory effects of benzenamine on the development, aflatoxin biosynthesis, and virulence in A. flavus, as well as the underlying mechanism. The results indicated that benzenamine exhibited great capacity to combat A. flavus at a concentration of 100 &micro, L/L, leading to significantly decreased aflatoxin accumulation and colonization capacity in maize. The transcriptional profile revealed that 3589 genes show altered mRNA levels in the A. flavus after treatment with benzenamine, including 1890 down-regulated and 1699 up-regulated genes. Most of the differentially expressed genes participated in the biosynthesis and metabolism of amino acid, purine metabolism, and protein processing in endoplasmic reticulum. Additionally, the results brought us to a suggestion that benzenamine affects the development, aflatoxin biosynthesis, and pathogenicity of A. flavus via down-regulating related genes by depressing the expression of the global regulatory factor leaA. Overall, this study indicates that benzenamine have tremendous potential to act as a fumigant against pathogenic A. flavus. Furthermore, this work offers valuable information regarding the underlying antifungal mechanism of benzenamine against A. flavus at the level of transcription, and these potential targets may be conducive in developing new strategies for preventing aflatoxin contamination.

Aspergillus flavus is a soilborne pathogenic fungus that poses a serious public health threat due to it contamination of food with carcinogenic aflatoxins. Our previous studies have demonstrated that benzenamine displayed strong inhibitory effects on the mycelial growth of A. flavus. In this study, we systematically investigated the inhibitory effects of benzenamine on the development, aflatoxin biosynthesis, and virulence in A. flavus, as well as the underlying mechanism. The results indicated that benzenamine exhibited great capacity to combat A. flavus at a concentration of 100 µL/L, leading to significantly decreased aflatoxin accumulation and colonization capacity in maize. The transcriptional profile revealed that 3589 genes show altered mRNA levels in the A. flavus after treatment with benzenamine, including 1890 down-regulated and 1699 up-regulated genes. Most of the differentially expressed genes participated in the biosynthesis and metabolism of amino acid, purine metabolism, and protein processing in endoplasmic reticulum. Additionally, the results brought us to a suggestion that benzenamine affects the development, aflatoxin biosynthesis, and pathogenicity of A. flavus via down-regulating related genes by depressing the expression of the global regulatory factor leaA. Overall, this study indicates that benzenamine have tremendous potential to act as a fumigant against pathogenic A. flavus. Furthermore, this work offers valuable information regarding the underlying antifungal mechanism of benzenamine against A. flavus at the level of transcription, and these potential targets may be conducive in developing new strategies for preventing aflatoxin contamination.

In this paper, a novel BiOI/Bi2WO6 heterojunction photocatalyst that responds to visible light was synthesized by hydrothermal method. The photocatalyst is a flower-like layered microsphere structure composed of many nanosheets. The influence of the molar ratio of BiOI and Bi2WO6 on heterojunction photocatalyst activity was investigated, compared with pure BiOI and pure Bi2WO6, BiOI/Bi2WO6 which formed heterojunctions showed higher photocatalytic activity, among which BiOI/Bi2WO6(2,1) had the highest photocatalytic activity for phenol. Five cycles of photocatalytic experiments, it was found that the photocatalytic performance of the sample did not significantly reduced, indicating that the photocatalyst has good stability and reusability. In addition, the enhancement mechanism of photocatalytic activity was explored, and it was proved that hole was the main active substance, and the enhancement of photocatalytic activity was mainly since the generated electrons and holes are separated in the two semiconductor materials, inhibiting their recombination. This study provides a new idea and method for visible light degradation of organic pollutants.

Haze has seriously threatened the ecological environment and public health, so researching environmental efficiency under haze constraints is significant in managing pollution and evaluating the balance between economic development and environmental health. Based on the panel data of China's 99 cities during 2005–2017, this paper uses α-convergence and β-convergence models to analyze the spatial convergence of environmental efficiency under haze constraints and its drivers in China,specifically in Eastern China, Central China, and Western China.The main results are as follows: (1) The trend of environmental efficiency under haze constraints in these regions evidently follows a dumbbell curve. In recent years, it has been growing slowly in Eastern China, Central China, and Western China, and the environmental efficiency in the Eastern China is the highest, the Central China is the second, and the Western China is the lowest; (2) it demonstrates both α-convergence and β-convergence in Central China, Western China, and Eastern China, and the speed of convergence is the fastest in the Central China, the second in the Western China and the slowest in the Eastern China; there is a “catch-up effect” in cities from less environmentally efficient regions to more efficient regions; and (3) Industrial structure and degree of trade dependence have a significantly negative correlation; characteristics of the region and dependence on foreign investment have significantly positive correlations with the environmental efficiency of Eastern China and Central China; environmental regulations and economic scale limit the improvement of environmental efficiency of Central China and Western China; and technological innovation significantly impacts Eastern China only. Although the paper refers to the specific evidence of China, with haze as a new indicator in the comprehensive evaluation of environmental efficiency can be extended to other developing countries as well as to other pollutants such as land pollution and waste water. The understanding of drivers of environmental efficiency under haze constraints in China provides international policy-makers with valuable reference for formulating effective measures to balance the dilemma between economic development and environmental health.

The influences of fenugreek fibre on the hydration and viscoelastic properties of bread dough, as well as the quality of fortified bread were studied using low-field NMR relaxation, farinograph, and texture analyser. Results from farinograph revealed that the incorporation of fenugreek fibre delayed the dough development time and increased the dough stable time. Low field NMR relaxation analysis indicated a distinct interaction of water with wheat flour protein and fenugreek fibre during mixing. Using homestyle Bread Maker, the high fenugreek fibre (9 g/100 g flour) bread with various dough water absorptions was prepared. The impacts of water absorption on bread quality in terms of loaf volume and gas cellular distribution were determined; the texture profiles along storage time were investigated as well, which indicated that fenugreek fibre could maintain bread quality during storage through enhancing the water-holding capacity and lowering starch retrogradation (i.e. staling) rate.

Citation: Zhu, L., Jones, C., Guo, Q., Lewis, L., Stark, C. R., & Alavi, S. (2016). An evaluation of total starch and starch gelatinization methodologies in pelleted animal feed. Journal of Animal Science, 94(4), 1501-1507. doi:10.2527/jas2015-9822

We measured the health resource agglomeration capacities of 31 Chinese provinces (or municipalities) in 2004&ndash, 2018 based on the entropy weight method. Using a modified spatial gravity model, we constructed and analyzed the spatial correlation network of these health resource agglomeration capacities and their influencing factors through social network analysis. We found that: (i) China&rsquo, s health resource agglomeration capacity had a gradual strengthening trend, with capacity weakening from east to west (strongest in the eastern region, second strongest in the central region, and weakest in the western region). (ii) The spatial network of such capacities became more densely connected, and the network density and level (efficiency) showed an upward (downward) trend. (iii) In terms of centrality, the high-ranking provinces (or municipalities) were Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Guangdong, Shandong, Hunan, Hubei, Fujian, Anhui, Jiangxi, and Tianjin, while the low-ranking were Tibet, Qinghai, Gansu, Ningxia, Inner Mongolia, Heilongjiang, Yunnan, Guizhou, Xinjiang, Hainan, Shaanxi, and Shanxi. (iv) Block 1 (eight provinces or municipalities), including Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei, had a &ldquo, net spillover&rdquo, effect in the spatial network of health resource agglomeration capacities, Block 2, (seven provinces or municipalities), including Shanghai, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang, had a &ldquo, bidirectional spillover&rdquo, effect in the spatial network, Block 3 (seven provinces or municipalities), including Anhui, Hubei, and Hunan, had a &ldquo, mediator&rdquo, effect in the network, and Block 4, (nine provinces or municipalities), including Sichuan, Guizhou, and Tibet, had a &ldquo, net beneficial&rdquo, effect in the network. (v) The economic development, urbanization wage, and financial health expenditure levels, and population size had significant positive correlations with the spatial network of health resource agglomeration capacities. Policy recommendations to enhance the radiating role of health resources in core provinces (or municipalities), rationally allocate health resources, and transform ideas to support public health resource services were provided.

Asparagus (Asparagus officinalis L.) is a perennial herb with various bioactivities and has been widely used as medicine and food since ancient times. With the reputation of “the king of vegetables” in the international market, its health benefits and biological functions have attracted increasing interests from both public and academia. This review summarizes the nutritional values, bioactive compounds, biological functions and the food and non-food applications of asparagus. Moreover, the relationships between health benefits and its bioactive components are also discussed. Asparagus contains various phytochemical compounds such as polysaccharides, polyphenols, anthocyanins and saponins, which exhibit anti-cancer, anti-tumor, antioxidant, immunomodulatory, hypoglycemic, anti-hypertensive and anti-epileptic effects through in vitro and in vivo experiments. However, it is critical to bridge the gap between bioactive components and human health and to uncover their corresponding mechanisms. This paper will help to facilitate the food and medicinal application of Asparagus in the future.

Monascus pigments (Mps) have been utilized as natural food colourants in Asia for centuries. However, the poor water-solubility and photo-instability greatly restrict their applications in food industry. As a kind of orange Mps, monascorubrin (denoted as O1) is easy to react with substances containing amino groups (named amination reactions) and turn to red colour consequently. In this study, to maintain the original colour, solid inclusion complexes of O1 with hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin (HP-β-CD) were prepared using freeze-drying method, and then investigated by SEM, FT-IR, PXRD, 1HNMR as well as molecular simulation method. Obtained results indicated that water solubility of O1 is significantly improved and its orange colour is successfully maintained at pH 3.5–9.0 upon complexation with HP-β-CD. Structural analysis suggested that O1 is encapsulated into the cavity of HP-β-CD, probably preventing it from amination reactions. Moreover, the pH and photo stability of Mps are markedly enhanced by complexation. This study provides an effective method for preparing water-soluble orange Mps that might be applicable in the beverage industry.

Dill (Anethum graveolens L.) has been shown strong antioxidative and immune propertise, but the precise potency and action mechanisms remain largely elusive. This study is to dissect the different fractions' antioxidant power and antiinflammatory function. We extracted 4 fractions from China original dill with ether (DI-E), ethyl acetate (DI-EA), n-butanol (DI-B) and water (DI-W), and performed 4 different kinds of antioxidative analysis together with vitamine C (Vc): DPPH, ABTS, reducing power and TPTZ-FRAP. For correlated compounds in antioxidant assays Folin-Ciocalteu's analysis was performed. For antiinflammation, cell proliferation by MTT, NO molecules and interleukin-1 and 6 in supernatant were detected by Griess reaction and Elisa, respectively, and gene expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) was analyzed by RT-PCR. The strength of antioxidant activity was VcDI-EADI-BDI-WDI-E. Folin-Ciocalteu's analysis showed that antioxidant power was correlated to phenolic compounds. However, in antiinflammatory assays DI-E was most active one by cell proliferation, iNOS's gene expression, and secretion of interleukin IL-1 and 6 in macrophage RAW264.7. The antioxidant fraction and antiinflammatory fraction of the dill were determined. The certain fractions of dill may be strong at antioxidation, but weak at antiinflammation, vice versa. Thus dill has anti-ageing and anticancer potential, a good resource for functional food and ancillary drugs of rehabilitation.

Continuous aggregation of socioeconomic factors is the key issue of sustainable development in urban agglomerations. To date, more attention has been paid to single urban agglomeration than to multiple agglomerations. In this paper, China&rsquo, s 19 urban agglomerations were selected as the case study and their spatial differences in factors aggregating ability were portrayed comparatively. Firstly, the spatial pattern of urban factors aggregating ability is relatively well distributed in all China&rsquo, s cases, most noticeably in the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration, closely followed by the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and the Pearl River Delta urban agglomerations. However, more significant differences on factors aggregating ability are noticeably seen between cities than among urban agglomerations. Meanwhile, the rank-size structure distribution of factors aggregating ability in China&rsquo, s 19 cases is in line with the Zipf&rsquo, s law of their urban systems, and divided into three types: Optimized, balanced, and discrete. Furthermore, the urban factors aggregation ability in one urban agglomeration is roughly negatively correlated with its primacy ratio of factors aggregating ability distribution. Lastly, urban agglomerations with higher average values of factors aggregating ability are concentrated on the three major urban agglomerations: The Yangtze River Delta, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and the Pearl River Delta. Otherwise, high-high clusters in the three urban agglomerations are distinctly observed as well.

The conflict between cultivated land protection and economic development has become increasingly acute in recent years. Despite, intensive researches made on this conflict, little attention has been paid to the spatial correlation of variables. In view of this, the paper introduces the spatial panel regression model to estimate, and test whether the relationship between economic growth and cultivated land conversion conforms to Kuznets curve. Research results show that the area of converted cultivated land in China exhibits strong spatial auto-correlation; the spatial panel model with time effect and fixed effect is more stable and significant than conventional panel mode, and that the relationship between economic growth and cultivated land conversion agrees with the inverted U-shape of Kuznets curve, with inflection point occurring when average per capita GDP reaches ¥31330.93 (calculated at comparable price of 1999). On the basis of analysis, it is suggested that the government, with a view to developing economy alongside protecting cultivated land, should attach more importance to land use and planning in the future, pay more attention to the spatial correlation of cultivated land planning in adjacent areas and make greater efforts to increase the input–output ratio of land.