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【Objective】The aim was to explore the effects of potassium application rate on the growth and development, yield and quality of tobacco leaves and potassium utilization efficiency of new flue-cured tobacco variety 'chuanyan 200', so as to provide theoretical support for rational application of potassium fertilizer.【Method】Taking 'chuanyan 200' as the test object, a field experiment was carried out with six potassium application rates of 0, 240, 285, 315, 345 and 390 kg/hm2 (named K0, K240, K285, K315, K345 and K390, respectively). The characteristics of agronomic traits, yield, output value, internal chemical composition and potassium utilization efficiency of tobacco plants under different potassium application rates were analyzed.【Result】The application of potassium fertilizer could promote the growth and development of tobacco plants in the early stage (before the rosette stage), especially the growth of plant height, effective leaf number and pitch, but had little effect on the growth in the middle stage (from the rosette stage to the topping stage). Compared with K0 (CK), the yield, output value and average price of flue-cured tobacco increased by 19.02%-22.60%, 24.65%-47.28% and 3.26%-20.33% respectively after potassium application. K315 treatment showed the best performance in all indexes, and the proportion of superior tobacco in K315 treatment was the largest, which was 5.5 percentage points higher than that of K0 (CK). Compared with K0 (CK), potassium application could significantly increase the nicotine content in tobacco leaves by 37.29%-66.10%, and the application amount of potassium fertilizer in 315-345 kg/hm2 was more conducive to the coordination of chemical components in tobacco leaves. Compared with K0 (CK), the appropriate application of potassium fertilizer could increase the biomass of each organ and the whole plant of tobacco plant. The biomass accumulation of stem was the highest in K315 treatment, which was 1 585.77 kg/hm2. There was no significant difference in biomass accumulation of root, leaf and whole plant among different potassium treatments.The distribution characteristics of potassium in different organs of flue-cured tobacco were leaf>stem>root, and potassium was mainly distributed in leaves. The distribution ratio of potassium in leaves treated with K315 was as high as 50.89%. Compared with K0 (CK), potassium application significantly increased the accumulation of potassium in tobacco leaves by 54.27%-109.31%. The accumulation of potassium in stem, leaf and whole plant of K315 treatment was the largest, which was 25.73, 35.06 and 68.90 kg/hm2, respectively. The apparent use efficiency, recovery rate and economic utilization efficiency of potassium fertilizer increased first and then decreased with the increase of potassium application rate, and K315 treatment showed the best performance. The apparent use efficiency, recovery rate and economic utilization efficiency of potassium fertilizer were 14.06%, 13.15% and 7.01%, respectively. However, the agronomic efficiency, partial factor productivity and physiological efficiency of potassium fertilizer decreased with the increase of potassium application rate, and the surplus amount of soil potassium also increased significantly with the increase of potassium application rate.【Conclusion】Reasonable application of potassium fertilizer can increase the yield and output value of tobacco leaves, increase the proportion of high-quality tobacco leaves, coordinate the chemical composition of tobacco leaves, promote nutrient absorption, and improve the utilization efficiency of potassium fertilizer. Considering the quality, economic traits and potassium fertilizer utilization efficiency of tobacco leaves, the reasonable recommended amount of potassium fertilizer for 'chuanyan 200' in Guangyuan tobacco area is 315 kg/hm2.

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), a multifactorial and complicated metabolic disorder, is a growing public health problem. Numerous studies have indicated that bioactive compounds from herbal medicine have beneficial effects on T2DM prevention and treatment, owing to their numerous biological properties. Curcumin, the major curcuminoid of turmeric, is one of the most studied bioactive components of herbal supplements, and has a variety of biological activities. Clinical trials and preclinical research have recently produced compelling data to demonstrate the crucial functions of curcumin against T2DM via several routes. Accordingly, this review systematically summarizes the antidiabetic activity of curcumin, along with various mechanisms. Results showed that effectiveness of curcumin on T2DM is due to it being anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, antihyperglycemic, anti-apoptotic, and antihyperlipidemic, among other activities. In light of these results, curcumin may be a promising prevention/treatment choice for T2DM.

In this study, to construct the riboflavin-producing strain R1, five key genes, ribA, ribB, ribC, ribD, and ribE, were cloned and ligated to generate the plasmid pET-AE, which was overexpressed in Escherichia coli BL21. The R1 strain accumulated 182.65 ± 9.04 mg/l riboflavin. Subsequently, the R2 strain was constructed by the overexpression of zwf harboring the constructed plasmid pAC-Z in the R1 strain. Thus, the level of riboflavin in the R2 strain increased to 319.01 ± 20.65 mg/l (74.66% increase). To further enhance ribB transcript levels and riboflavin production, the FMN riboswitch was deleted from E. coli BL21 with CRISPR/Cas9 to generate the R3 strain. The R4 strain was constructed by cotransforming pET-AE and pAC-Z into the R3 strain. Compared to those of E. coli BL21, the ribB transcript levels of R2 and R4 improved 2.78 and 3.05-fold, respectively. The R4 strain accumulated 437.58 ± 14.36 mg/l riboflavin, increasing by 37.17% compared to the R2 strain. These results suggest that the deletion of the FMN riboswitch can improve the transcript level of ribB and facilitate riboflavin production. A riboflavin titer of 611.22 ± 11.25 mg/l was achieved under the optimal fermentation conditions. Ultimately, 1574.60 ± 109.32 mg/l riboflavin was produced through fed-batch fermentation with 40 g/l glucose. This study contributes to the industrial production of riboflavin by the recombinant E. coli BL21.

Vine tea has been used as an herbal tea by several ethnic minorities for hundreds of years in China. Flavonoids, a kind of indispensable component in a variety of nutraceutical, pharmaceutical and cosmetic applications, are identified to be the major metabolites and bioactive ingredients in vine tea. Interestingly, vine tea exhibits a wide range of significant bioactivities including anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-tumor, antidiabetic, neuroprotective and other activities, but no toxicity. These bioactivities, to some extent, enrich the understanding about the role of vine tea in disease prevention and therapy. The health benefits of vine tea, particularly dihydromyricetin and myricetin, are widely investigated. However, there is currently no comprehensive review available on vine tea. Therefore, this report summarizes the most recent studies investigating bioactive constituents, pharmacological effects and possible mechanisms of vine tea, which will provide a better understanding about the health benefits and preclinical assessment of novel application of vine tea.

Abstract The sound velocities of water in the Hugoniot states are investigated by laser shock compression of precompressed water in a diamond anvil cell. The obtained sound velocities in the off-Hugoniot region of liquid water at precompressed conditions are used to test the predictions of quantum molecular dynamics (QMD) simulations and the SESAME equation-of-state (EOS) library. It is found that the prediction of QMD simulations agrees with the experimental data while the prediction of SESAME EOS library underestimates the sound velocities probably due to its improper accounting for the ionization processes.

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the leading cause of dementia throughout the world. It is characterized by major amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs), which are composed of amyloid-β (Aβ) peptide and hyperphosphorylated Tau (p-Tau), respectively. Exosomes, which are secreted by cells, are single-membrane lipid bilayer vesicles found in bodily fluids and they have a diameter of 30–150 nm. Recently, they have been considered as critical carriers and biomarkers in AD, as they facilitate communication between cells and tissues by delivering proteins, lipids, and nucleic acids. This review demonstrates that exosomes are natural nanocontainers that carry APP as well as Tau cleavage products secreted by neuronal cells and that their formation is associated with the endosomal–lysosomal pathway. Moreover, these exosomes can transfer AD pathological molecules and participate in the pathophysiological process of AD; therefore, they have potential diagnostic and therapeutic value for AD and might also provide novel insights for screening and prevention of the disease.

Shaoyao-Gancao Decoction (SGD) is a well-known classic traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) with antispasmodic, anti-inflammatory, and analgesic effects. This preparation has been widely used to treat spasticity diseases in the clinic. To date, the material basis of SGD remains unclear, and the spectrum-effect correlation of its antispasmodic activity has not been reported yet. In this study, high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was used to establish the fingerprint and determine the multiple components of SGD. The common peaks of fingerprints were evaluated by the similarity with the chromatographic fingerprints of the TCM. Meanwhile, the multiple components were quantified and analysed using the heatmap and box size analysis. Furthermore, data on the antispasmodic effect were extracted through in vitro smooth muscle contraction assay. Grey relational analysis combined with partial least square regression was used to study the spectrum–effect correlation of SGD. Finally, the potential antispasmolytic components were validated using an isolated tissue experiment. The HPLC fingerprint was established, and 20 common peaks were identified. The similarities of 15 batches of SGD were all above 0.965. The HPLC method for simultaneous determination of the multiple components was accurate and reliable. The contents of albiflorin, paeoniflorin, liquiritin, and glycyrrhizic acid were higher than the other components in SGD. The heatmap and box size also showed that X3 (albiflorin), X4 (paeoniflorin), X5 (liquiritin), X11 (liquirtigenin), and X16 (glycyrrhizic acid) could be used as quality indicators in the further establishment of quality standards. The spectrum–effect correlation results indicated that X4, X11, and X16 were highly correlated with antispasmolytic activity. Verification tests showed that paeoniflorin (11.7–29.25 μg/mL) and liquirtigenin (17.19–28.65 μg/mL) could significantly reduce the maximum contractile (P

Abstract The capacities for neural stem cells (NSCs) self-renewal with differentiation are need to be precisely regulated for ensuring brain development and homeostasis. Recently, increasing number of studies have highlighted that long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are associated with NSC fate determination during brain development stages. LncRNAs are a class of non-coding RNAs more than 200 nucleotides without protein-coding potential and function as novel critical regulators in multiple biological processes. However, the correlation between lncRNAs and NSC fate decision still need to be explored in-depth. In this review, we will summarize the roles and molecular mechanisms of lncRNAs focusing on NSCs self-renewal, neurogenesis and gliogenesis over the course of neural development, still more, dysregulation of lncRNAs in all stage of neural development have closely relationship with development disorders or glioma. In brief, lncRNAs may be explored as effective modulators in NSCs related neural development and novel biomarkers for diagnosis and prognosis of neurological disorders in the future.

In this work, gold nanoparticles were biosynthesized via Plectranthus amboinicus leaf extract as the reducing agent. A series of techniques were used for sample analysis. The biosynthesized gold nanoparticles (bAuNPs) are a uniform size with a spherical shape. The FTIR analysis reveals the presence of many oxygen-containing functional groups on the bAuNP surface. The cyclic voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopic characterizations reveal that while the bAuNPs have a slightly lower conductivity than chemically synthesized AuNPs (cAuNPs). However, the bAuNPs have a superior electrocatalytic performance toward nicotine reduction. After optimization, the bAuNP-modified SPE could detect nicotine linearly from 10 to 2,000 μM with a low detection limit of 2.33 μM. In addition, the bAuNPs/SPE have been successfully used for nicotine-containing-product analysis.

A rapid, simple and sensitive ultra-high performance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometric (UPLC–MS/MS) method was developed and validated for the determination of hederasaponin B, an active triterpenoid saponin widely existed in Hedera helix L. Plasma samples were processed by protein precipitation with acetonitrile and separated on a Thermo Hypersil GOLD C18 (2.1 mm × 50 mm,1.9 µm) at flow rate of 0.3 ml/min, with a gradient elution consisting of acetonitrile and water containing 0.1% (v/v) formic acid at 30 °C and detected by electrospray ionization mass spectrometry in the positive multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode. The linearity was found to be within the concentration range of 0.5–5000 ng/ml with a lower limit of quantification of 0.5 ng/ml. The absolute oral bioavailability of hederasaponin B was 0.24 ± 0.49%. This indicated that the concentration-time course of the hederasaponin B existed a double-peak phenomenon. This method was further applied to the determination of hederasaponin B in rat plasma and showed good practicability, for the first time, after intragastric (25 mg/kg) and intravenous (2 mg/kg) administration in rats.

In this paper we introduce the wide regime equation of state (WEOS) developed in Institute of Applied Physics and Computational Mathematics (IAPCM). A semi-empirical model of the WEOS is given by a thermodynamically complete potential of the Helmholtz free energy which combines several theoretical models and has some adjustable parameters calibrated via some experimental and theoretical data. The validation methods of the equation of state in wide regime are presented using copper as a prototype. The results of the WEOS are well consistent with the available theoretical and experimental data, including ab initio cold curve under compression, isotherm, Hugoniot, off-Hugoniot and sound velocity data. It enhances our confidence in the accuracy of the WEOS, which is very important for the validation and verification of equation of state in high temperature and pressure technology.

R-/S-2-(2-Hydroxypropanamido) benzoic acid (R-/S-HPABA), a marine-derived anti-inflammatory drug, however, the antiplatelet and antithrombotic effects have not been investigated. In this paper, the in vitro antiplatelet activities and in vivo antithrombotic effects of R-/S-HPABA were investigated, for the first time. The effects of R-/S-HPABA on platelet aggregation induced by adenosine diphosphate (ADP), collagen (COLL) and arachidonic acid (AA) were evaluated. In addition, the in vivo bleeding time, clotting time, collagen-epinephrine induced pulmonary thrombosis and common carotid artery thrombosis were also investigated in rats. R-/S-HPABA significantly inhibited ADP, COLL and AA induced platelet aggregation in rabbit platelet rich plasma in vitro compared with control group, to a degree similar to that of aspirin. Besides, R-/S-HPABA prolonged bleeding time and clotting time as well as increased the recovery rate obviously in pulmonary thrombosis. Moreover, the level of thromboxane B2 (TXB2) was decreased while the production of 6-keto-prostaglandin F1α (6-keto-PGF1α) was increased markedly by R-/S-HPABA. Furthermore, R-/S-HPABA reduced carotid artery thrombosis weight. These results illustrated that R-/S-HPABA could be a potent antiplatelet aggregation and antithrombotic agent.

Seed germination is a vital developmental process that is tightly controlled by environmental signals, ensuring germination under favorable conditions. High temperature (HT) suppresses seed germination. This process, known as thermoinhibition, is achieved by activating abscisic acid and inhibiting gibberellic acid biosynthesis. The zinc-finger protein SOMNUS (SOM) participates in thermoinhibition of seed germination by altering gibberellic acid/abscisic acid metabolism, but the underlying regulatory mechanism is poorly understood. In this study, we report that SOM binds to its own promoter and activates its own expression in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) and identify the MADS-box transcription factor AGAMOUS-LIKE67 (AGL67) as a critical player in SOM function, based on its ability to recognize CArG-boxes within the SOM promoter and mediate the trans-activation of SOM under HTs. In addition, AGL67 recruits the histone mark reader EARLY BOLTING IN SHORT DAY (EBS), which recognizes H3K4me3 at SOM chromatin. In response to HTs, AGL67 and EBS are highly enriched around the SOM promoter. The AGL67-EBS complex is also necessary for histone H4K5 acetylation, which activates SOM expression, ultimately inhibiting seed germination. Taken together, our results reveal an essential mechanism in which AGL67 cooperates with the histone mark reader EBS, which bridges the process of H3K4me3 recognition with H4K5 acetylation, thereby epigenetically activating SOM expression to suppress seed germination under HT stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A rapid and sensitive high-performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) method had been developed and validated for the analysis of three main ingredients in analgesic bacteriostatic gel. Hydroxy-α-sanshool (HAS), hydroxyl-β-sanshool (HBS) and hydroxy-γ-sanshool (HRS) were separated on a Thermo Hypersil GOLD C18 column (150 mm x 4.6 mm, 5 µm) with gradient elution system. The mobile phase consisted of acetonitrile-water (v/v) with a flow rate of 1.0 mL/min and UV detection was performed at 270 nm. The method was validated according to the Chinese Pharmacopeia (2015). Linearity (r > 0.9990) was observed over the concentration ranges of 3.24-58.32, 0.656-11.81 and 0.304-5.48 mg/L for HAS, HBS and HRS. The average recovery for HAS, HBS and HRS was 96.9%, 97.2% and 97.9%. The method was found simple and rapid, which can be suitable for the determination of the three main ingredients in analgesic bacteriostatic gel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Depression is a psychiatric disorder with the highest suicide rate, and current medication for depression often comes with numerous side effects during long-term treatment. The causes and pathogenesis of depression are complex. Many studies have suggested that various flavonoids, which widely distributed in plants, are significantly effective in improving depression. Additionally, a substantial body of recent research has demonstrated a close relationship between changes in the gut microbiota and the development of depression. Flavonoids can alter the composition and metabolites of the gut microbiota, thereby affecting human emotion and behavior through the microbiota-gut-brain axis. This article provides a review of research findings on the interaction between the gut microbiota and depression. It also discusses the potential mechanism through which flavonoids, via the gut microbiota, could ameliorate depression by regulating inflammatory factors, neurotransmitters, short-chain fatty acids, and other related factors, hoping to provide ideas for follow-up research to explore the pathogenesis, prevention and improvement of depression.