Search

BackgroundA few studies focused on statin therapy as specific prophylactic measures of contrast-induced nephropathy have been published with conflicting results. In this meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials, we aimed to assess the effectiveness of short-term high-dose statin treatment for the prevention of CIN and clinical outcomes and re-evaluate of the potential benefits of statin therapy.MethodsWe searched PubMed, OVID, EMBASE, Web of science and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials databases for randomized controlled trials comparing short-term high-dose statin treatment versus low-dose statin treatment or placebo for preventing CIN. Our outcome measures were the risk of CIN within 2-5 days after contrast administration and need for dialysis.ResultsSeven randomized controlled trials with a total of 1,399 patients were identified and analyzed. The overall results based on fixed-effect model showed that the use of short-term high-dose statin treatment was associated with a significant reduction in risk of CIN (RR =0.51, 95% CI 0.34-0.76, p =0.001; I(2) = 0%). The incidence of acute renal failure requiring dialysis was not significant different after the use of statin (RR = 0.33, 95% CI 0.05-2.10, p = 0.24; I(2) = 0%). The use of statin was not associated with a significant decrease in the plasma C-reactive protein level (SMD -0.64, 95% CI: -1.57 to 0.29, P = 0.18, I(2) = 97%).ConclusionsAlthough this meta-analysis supports the use of statin to reduce the incidence of CIN, it must be considered in the context of variable patient demographics. Only a limited recommendation can be made in favour of the use of statin based on current data. Considering the limitations of included studies, a large, well designed trial that incorporates the evaluation of clinically relevant outcomes in participants with different underlying risks of CIN is required to more adequately assess the role for statin in CIN prevention.

BACKGROUND: Interstitial fibrosis plays an important role in progressive renal dysfunction in autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD). In our previous studies, we confirmed that PPAR-γ agonist, rosiglitazone could protect renal function and prolong the survival of a slowly progressive ADPKD animal model by reducing renal fibrosis. However, the mechanism remains unknown. METHODS: Primary culture epithelial cells pretreated with TGF-β1 were incubated with rosiglitazone. Extracellular matrix proteins were detected using real-time PCR and Western blotting. MAPK and Smad2 phosphorylation were measured with western blot. ERK1/2 pathway and P38 pathway were inhibited with the specific inhibitors PD98059 and SB203580. The Smad2 pathway was blocked with the siRNA. To address whether PPAR-γ agonist-mediated inhibition of TGF-β1-induced collagen type I expression was mediated through a PPAR-γ dependent mechanism, genetic and pharmaceutical approaches were used to block the activity of endogenous PPARγ. RESULTS: TGF-β1-stimulated collagen type I and fibronectin expression of ADPKD cyst-lining epithelia were inhibited by rosiglitazone in a dosage-dependent manner. Smad2, ERK1/2 and P38 pathways were activated in response to TGF-β1; however, TGF-β1 had little effect on JNK pathway. Rosiglitazone suppressed TGF-β1 induced Smad2 activation, while ERK1/2 and P38MAPK signals remained unaffected. Rosiglitazone could also attenuate TGF-β1-stimulated collagen type I and fibronectin expression in primary renal tubular epithelial cells, but had no effect on TGF-β1-induced activation of Smad2, ERK1/2 and P38 pathways. There was no crosstalk between the Smad2 and MAPK pathways in ADPKD cyst-lining epithelial cells. These inhibitory effects of rosiglitazone were reversed by the PPARγ specific antagonist GW9662 and PPARγ siRNA. CONCLUSION: ADPKD cyst-lining epithelial cells participate in TGF-β1 mediated fibrogenesis. Rosiglitazone could suppress TGF-β1-induced collagen type I and fibronectin expression in ADPKD cyst-lining epithelia through modulation of the Smad2 pathway. Our study may provide therapeutic basis for clinical applications of rosiglitazone in retarding the progression of ADPKD.

During the conversion of muscle to meat, a series of biochemical changes are required for meat aging. Protein phosphorylation, a dynamic regulation mechanism of proteins, regulates almost every major biological process, and is one of the extensive post-translational modifications in the biological world. Therefore, studying the relationship between protein phosphorylation and postmortem muscle is helpful to the development of the meat industry. This article begins with an introduction to protein phosphorylation, discusses the technical progress in phosphorylated protein detection, summarizes the proteins that are phosphorylated in muscle after slaughter and the influential factors of protein phosphorylation, and reviews the effect of protein phosphorylation on meat quality attributes such as tenderness, color and water-holding capacity. The application of salts and amino acids in improving postmortem meat quality is reviewed and future research directions are also proposed.

为提高水代法提取油茶籽油的提油率，将油茶籽经过脱壳、粉碎、过筛、加水过胶体磨、离心分离得到乳状液，经冻融破乳后离心分离得油茶籽油。以提油率为指标，探究了加热冻融、乙醇冻融、调pH冻融、加盐冻融等冻融破乳方法对水代法提取油茶籽油的影响，并通过共聚焦激光扫描显微镜对破乳前后乳状液的微观结构进行了观察。结果表明：乙醇冻融和加盐冻融使油茶籽的提油率降低；调pH可提高提油率，在pH为8时提油率为92.17%；加热冻融法是最佳的冻融破乳方法，在加热温度60 ℃、加热时间20 min条件下，提油率最高，达到92.57%；加热冻融处理后油滴聚集，粒径明显增大。采用加热冻融法对乳状液进行破乳可有效提高水代法提取油茶籽油的提油率。 In order to improve the oil extraction rate of oil-tea camellia seed oil by aqueous extraction method, the oil-tea camellia seed was treated by peeling, crushing, sieving, mixing with water through colloid mill and centrifugation to get the emulsion, and the oil-tea camellia seed oil was obtained by centrifugation after freeze-thaw demulsification. With the oil extraction rate as the index, the effects of freeze-thaw demulsification methods, such as heating freeze-thaw, ethanol freeze-thaw, pH adjustment freeze-thaw, salt freeze-thaw, on the extraction of oil-tea camellia seed oil by aqueous extraction method were studied. The microstructure of the emulsion before and after demulsification was observed by confocal laser scanning microscope. The results showed that ethanol freeze-thaw and salt freeze-thaw reduced the oil extraction rate. The oil extraction rate increased by adjusting pH, and it was 92.17% at pH 8. Heating freeze-thaw was the best method of freeze-thaw demulsification. Under heating temperature 60 ℃ and heating time 20 min, the oil extraction rate was the highest, reaching 92.57%. After heating freeze-thaw, the oil droplets gathered and its particle size increased significantly. Demulsification of emulsion by heating freeze-thaw method can effectively increase the oil extraction rate of oil-tea camellia seed oil by aqueous extraction method.

High temperature (HT) causes male sterility and decreases crop yields. Our previous works have demonstrated that sugar and auxin signaling pathways, Gossypium hirsutum Casein kinase I (GhCKI), and DNA methylation are all involved in HTinduced male sterility in cotton. However, the signaling mechanisms leading to distinct GhCKI expression patterns induced by HT between HT-tolerant and HT-sensitive cotton anthers remain largely unknown. Here, we identified a GhCKI promoter (ProGhCKI) region that functions in response to HT in anthers and found the transcription factor GhMYB4 binds to this region to act as an upstream positive regulator of GhCKI. In the tapetum of early-stage cotton anthers, upregulated expression of GhMYB4 under HT and overexpressed GhMYB4 under normal temperature both led to severe male sterility phenotypes, coupled with enhanced expression of GhCKI. We also found that GhMYB4 interacts with GhMYB66 to form a heterodimer to enhance its binding to ProGhCKI. However, GhMYB66 showed an expression pattern similar to GhMYB4 under HT but did not directly bind to ProGhCKI. Furthermore, HT reduced siRNA-mediated CHH DNA methylations in the GhMYB4 promoter, which enhanced the expression of GhMYB4 in tetrad stage anthers and promoted the formation of the GhMYB4/GhMYB66 heterodimer, which in turn elevated the transcription of GhCKI in the tapetum, leading to male sterility. Overall, we shed light on the GhMYB66-GhMYB4-GhCKI regulatory pathway in response to HT in cotton anthers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Straw strip mulching (SM) is a new mulching technology. From 2012 to 2018, SM's effects on soil moisture and temperature and production performances were compared with other mulching practices, using three treatments: full-cover plastic mulch (PM), no mulch with wheat sown in rows as the control (CK), and SM with 50% to 59% of the field area mulched. Compared with CK, on average over six growing seasons, SM and PM increased grain yield by 27.0% and 21.7%, straw yield by 21.6% and 22.6%, kernels ha-1 by 26.6% and 19.0%, net income by 29.8% and -25.0%, soil temperature at 5 cm by -1.5 °C and 0.2 °C from overwintering to maturity, and soil water storage at 0-200 cm by 25 and 22 mm, respectively. The increase in soil moisture in SM and PM was greater in the early period (overwintering to jointing) than in the later period (booting to maturity) and at 0 to 120 cm than at 120-200 cm in the early period. Although the mean evapotranspiration of whole growth period across six seasons was similar among treatments, SM and PM increased water consumption during the key formation period of yield components after overwintering by 16 and 32 mm, respectively, while reducing it before overwintering. Compared with CK, SM and PM had the effects of warming during overwintering and cooling after jointing. By increasing water consumption after overwintering and ratio of transpiration to evapotranspiration and providing favorable soil temperature for multiple growth stages and more sufficient soil moisture, SM and PM promoted vegetative growth and increased kernels ha-1, the main mechanisms by which SM and PM increased grain yield relative to CK. Relative to PM, SM is a more economically beneficial and environment-friendly technology for dryland wheat production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Straw returning (SR) is an important means of straw utilization, which has been tested and is helpful for improving soil fertility and crop production. However, the effects of SR on plant growth and yield of paddy rice (Oryza sativa L. subsp. japonica Kato) under water-saving irrigation (WSI) are rarely investigated. In the 2015 and 2016 rice seasons, field experiments were conducted with four treatments, namely controlled irrigation with conventional fertilization (CICF), controlled irrigation with straw returning (CI-SR), flooding irrigation with conventional fertilization (FI-CF), and flooding irrigation with straw returning (FI-SR). The objective of the present study was to investigate the response of plant height, number of tillers, biomass, and yield to SR and irrigation management. Results indicated that SR enhanced rice yield on average by 7.9% and 7.5% and improved irrigation water use efficiency (IWUE) by 6.3% and 8.3% in 2015 and 2016, respectively. The CI-SR combination significantly increased IWUE compared with FI-CF. These results suggested that SR could offset the inhibition of rice growth caused by CI, and the CI-SR combination could be an effective measure to enhance soil fertility, maintain the rice field, and increase IWUE. Furthermore, rice growth (plant height, number of tillers, and biomass) was slightly inhibited by SR during the first 20 d of the rice season, but increased after the jointing stage (approximately 40 d after transplanting). This implied that diverting some top-dressed chemical N fertilizer into basal application may be necessary for fertilizer management to better meet crop nutrient uptakes in rice fields with SR application, especially with CI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The unique physical property of negative thermal expansion (NTE) is not only interesting for scientific research but also important for practical applications. Chemical modification generally tends to weaken NTE. It remains a challenge to obtain enhanced NTE from currently available materials. Herein, we successfully achieve enhanced NTE in Pb(Ti1-xVx)O3 by improving its ferroelectricity. With the chemical substitution of vanadium, lattice tetragonality (c/a) is highly promoted, which is attributed to strong spontaneous polarization, evidenced by the enhanced covalent interaction in the V/Ti-O and Pb-O2 bonds from firstprinciples calculations. As a consequence, Pb(Ti0.9V0.1)O3 exhibits a nonlinear and much stronger NTE over a wide temperature range with a volumetric coefficient of thermal expansion αV = -3.76×10-5/°C (25-550 °C). Interestingly, an intrinsic giant volume contraction (∼3.7%) was obtained at the composition of Pb(Ti0.7V0.3)- O3 during the ferroelectric-to-paraelectric phase transition, which represents the highest value ever reported. Such volume contraction is well correlated to the effect of spontaneous volume ferroelectrostriction. The present study extends the scope of the NTE family and provides an effective approach to explore new materials with large NTE, such as through adjusting the NTE-related ferroelectric property in the family of ferroelectrics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]