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In order to investigate the influence of laser wavelength on the detection of the metals in Artemisia annua, pulsed lasers operating at wavelengths of 1064 nm and 532 nm for laser induced breakdown...

Introduction Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is a life-threatening medical condition. It is characterized by serious lung inflammation or injury. Characterizing novel miRNAs implicated in ARDS pathogenesis may provide new therapeutic strategy for managing ARDS. Methods We employed LPS-induced lung injury model to profile miRNAs associated with ARDS. We isolated one miRNA candidate and characterized its role in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced proinflammatory cytokine production in lung macrophages. We further evaluated its functional role in ARDS model by assessing histological change, neutrophil activation, tissue permeability and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFα) production. We also characterized its downstream target using luciferase assay, Western blotting, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and cell inflammation assay. Results Microarray profiling revealed miR-802 was significantly downregulated in ARDS mouse model. LPS-induced miR-802 downregulation was confirmed in lung macrophages. Overexpression of miR-802 significantly suppressed LPS-induced inflammatory cytokine production in vitro and alleviates LPS-induced acute lung injury in vivo. Peli2 was identified as a downstream target of miR-802 and found upregulated in ARDS model. Overexpressing Peli2 abolished the antagonizing effect of miR-802 on LPS-mediated inflammatory response. Conclusion MiR-802 carried a protective role against LPS-induced acute lung injury by downregulating Peli2. MiR-802/Peli2 axis may act as intervening targets to manage ARDS.

Edge-to-edge is the most common form of contact in a two-dimensional joint block system. Discontinuous deformation analysis (DDA) is a powerful tool for handling block systems and treats an edge-to-edge contact as two vertex-to-edge contacts with a couple of normal and shear springs at the extremes of the contact segment. However, this method is unsuitable for evaluating the tensile failure of a joint under asymmetrical tension conditions, even though it can simplify the contact type and increase computational efficiency. This is mainly because the distributed forces at an edge-to-edge contact are simplified as two couples of concentrated forces. To solve this problem, this paper proposes incorporating a multi-spring edge-to-edge contact model with DDA. In the model, several contact pairs with normal and shear springs on an edge-to-edge contact are set to simulate the distributed forces. Several benchmark tests were performed to demonstrate the discrepancy between the original and improved DDAs. The results revealed that the latter more accurately models the stress distribution across the edge-to-edge contact, providing a more reasonable acceleration required to topple a series of blocks resting on an inclined stepped base.

A hollow anode-solution cathode glow discharge (HA-SCGD) was designed as a plasma excitation source for optical emission spectrometry. The operation parameters such as the discharge current, argon ...

Solution cathode glow discharge-atomic emission spectrometry (SCGD-AES) has attracted wide attention globally in recent years. The technology has the advantages of on-line detection of various meta...

Not only dose oral administration have the highest safety, convenience and patient compliance, but also can improve patients' quality of life and reduce health care costs in many cases when compared to the parenteral route. However, many drugs, especially most anticancer drugs such as paclitaxel (PTX), are not orally bioavailable, which is attributed to low aqueous solubility, poor intestinal permeability, and the high level of P-glycoprotein (P-gp) efflux. In this study, we developed a nano-porous silica aerogel delivery system for oral administration of PTX that improved the bioavailability, reduced the side effects of the drug and inhibited tumor growth. The advantages of nano-porous silica aerogel include very high porosities, vast specific surface areas, high drug-loading rate, high biological safety, excellent biocompatibility, and biological inertia, which can also be applied to a variety of drugs. The aerogel delivery system is a universal pharmaceutical system that has huge potential in the field of pharmacy.

Joint property in three-dimensional discontinuous deformation analysis (3-D DDA) is crucial. The joint property in a contact relies upon just one of the contacting objects in original 3-D DDA, which is not always sufficiently accurate and can even yield unreasonable results. To overcome the limitations in original 3-D DDA, an improved joint definition and determination method that simultaneously considers the joint properties of both connected objects for contacts is proposed, which permits the applied joint parameters to change in the simulation. Several numerical examples are evaluated to demonstrate the advantage and applicability of the proposed method. The simulation results computed by the improved 3-D DDA accord well with the analytical expectations and physical reality, while the original 3-D DDA shows unphysical results. The improved 3-D DDA can provide more reliable information in rockslide disaster prevention and mitigation because joint parameters in a contact can be chosen appropriately in real time during simulations. Therefore, the improved 3-D DDA is more applicable and accurate, which can be further extended to more generalized theoretical and engineering problems.

Two novel polysaccharides were obtained from flowers of Apocynum venetum L., and named as Vp2a-II and Vp3. Their average molecular weights were 7 kDa and 9 kDa, respectively. Methods of monosaccharide analysis, acid hydrolysis and methylation analysis, Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy were used to identify the structure of Vp2a-II and Vp3. Vp2a-II was composed of →6)-β- d -Glcp-(1 → 6)-α- d -Galp-(1→ residues. Vp3 was composed of α- d -GlcpA-(3 → α- d -GalpA residues. The anticoagulant activity was evaluated by activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT), thrombin time (TT), prothrombin time (PT), and fibrinogen (FIB) assays in vitro. Results indicated that Vp3 exhibited the anticoagulant activity.

Flavour is a crucial sensory element that determines the consumers' preference for food and beverages. In this study, we determined the effects of complex gum arabic (GA) and tannic acid (TA) on the aroma release of flavour oil emulsions in vitro by simulating oral processing conditions. GA and TA were used to stabilize flavour oil emulsions. Visualization of in vitro retention using ex vivo porcine tongue, detection of aroma release in the model mouth, and sensory evaluation of flavour emulsions were performed to determine the effect of TA and GA. The results indicated that the retention of emulsions and the release of aroma compounds were modulated by TA and GA, which could be because of interactions that occurred between GA and TA in emulsions and mucins on the tongue. GA enhanced aroma release, whereas TA contributed to the retention or slow release of target aroma compounds.

Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and Influenza A are common disease caused by viral infection. The clinical symptoms and transmission routes of the two diseases are similar. However, there are no relevant studies on laboratory diagnostic models to discriminate COVID-19 and influenza A. This study aims at establishing a signature of laboratory findings to tell patients with COVID-19 apart from those with influenza A perfectly. Materials: In this study, 56 COVID-19 patients and 54 influenza A patients were included. Laboratory findings, epidemiological characteristics and demographic data were obtained from electronic medical record databases. Elastic network models, followed by a stepwise logistic regression model were implemented to identify indicators capable of discriminating COVID-19 and influenza A. A nomogram is diagramed to show the resulting discriminative model. Results: The majority of hematological and biochemical parameters in COVID-19 patients were significantly different from those in influenza A patients. In the final model, albumin/globulin (A/G), total bilirubin (TBIL) and erythrocyte specific volume (HCT) were selected as predictors. Using an external dataset, the model was validated to perform well. Conclusion: A diagnostic model of laboratory findings was established, in which A/G, TBIL and HCT were included as highly relevant indicators for the segmentation of COVID-19 and influenza A, providing a complimentary means for the precise diagnosis of these two diseases., 26 pages,3 figures

In this paper, SD rat constipation model was established with loperamide hydrochloride to study the effect of Chrysanthemum morifolium polysaccharide on the improvement of functional constipation, and the mechanism of improving constipation was investigated with the proteomics and intestinal flora. The results showed that the HD group of C. morifolium polysaccharide could significantly increase the levels of water content of stool pellets, small intestine propulsion rate, gastrin (MTL), gastrin (GAS) and substance P (SP), decrease the level of growth inhibitor (SS) and improved gastrointestinal motility in rats. Gut microbial studies showed that C. morifolium polysaccharide could significantly increase species abundance and flora diversity and improve flora structure. The relative abundance of Lactobacillus and Romboutsia increased, while the relative abundance of Lachnospiraceae_NK4A136_group and Roseburia decreased compared with the MC group. Proteomics studies suggested that C. morifolium polysaccharides could reduce intestinal lesions, enhance intestinal homeostasis, increase amino acid uptake, promote intestinal motility and relieve constipation by regulating the expression of RAS, FABP1 and SLC1A5 proteins.

A water-soluble glucomannogalactan was isolated from P. geesteranus fruit bodies by hot water extraction and column chromatography method. The structure, chain conformation and immune effect of PGP-1c (20.9 kDa) were investigated comprehensively based on high purity and neutral sugar content (94.7 ± 0.5%). Confirmed by monosaccharide composition, methylation and NMR analysis, PGP-1c was composed of unsubstituted (1,6-α-Gal and 1,6-α-3-OMe-Gal) and monosubstituted (1,2,6-α-Gal and 1,2,6-α-3-OMe-Gal) galactose units in the backbone through α-(1 → 6) glycosidic bonds and the possible branches that a long-branched chain composed of →3)-Glc-(1 → Man and a few fucoses were connected at the O-2 of galactose with a branching degree of 48%. Through the conformational behavior of the molecular chain, it was observed that PGP-1c might have a long-branched or stacked macromolecular network caused by O-CH

Background Genetic programs underlying preimplantation development and early lineage segregation are highly conserved across mammals. It has been suggested that nonhuman primates would be better model organisms for human embryogenesis, but a limited number of studies have investigated the monkey preimplantation development. In this study, we collect single cells from cynomolgus monkey preimplantation embryos for transcriptome profiling and compare with single-cell RNA-seq data derived from human and mouse embryos. Results By weighted gene-coexpression network analysis, we found that cynomolgus gene networks have greater conservation with human embryos including a greater number of conserved hub genes than that of mouse embryos. Consistently, we found that early ICM/TE lineage-segregating genes in monkeys exhibit greater similarity with human when compared to mouse, so are the genes in signaling pathways such as LRP1 and TCF7 involving in WNT pathway. Last, we tested the role of one conserved pre-EGA hub gene, SIN3A, using a morpholino knockdown of maternal RNA transcripts in monkey embryos followed by single-cell RNA-seq. We found that SIN3A knockdown disrupts the gene-silencing program during the embryonic genome activation transition and results in developmental delay of cynomolgus embryos. Conclusion Taken together, our study provided new insight into evolutionarily conserved and divergent transcriptome dynamics during mammalian preimplantation development.

Solving dense linear systems of equations is quite time consuming and requires an efficient parallel implementation on powerful supercomputers. Du, Zheng and Wang presented some new iterative methods for linear systems [Journal of Applied Analysis and Computation, 2011, 1(3): 351-360]. This paper shows that their methods are suitable for solving dense linear system of equations, compared with the classical Jacobi and Gauss-Seidel iterative methods.

There are few reports on the biological activities of chaetoglobosin V

The dry bulbs of Fritillaria cirrhosa species can help resolve phlegm, soothe cough, clear heat, and moisten the lung, and the main active components responsible for these effect are its alkaloids. However, it is unclear whether or how edpetiline in Fritillaria can inhibit the excessive inflammatory response and oxidative stress. In this research, we aimed to examine this aspect using lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated RAW264.7 macrophages as an inflammatory model. The quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction and western blot analysis results showed that edpetiline significantly inhibited the content and mRNA expression levels of proinflammatory cytokines (TNF-α and IL-6) in LPS-induced RAW264.7 cells, significantly increased the mRNA expression of IL-4 (anti-inflammatory cytokine), and markedly downregulated the inflammatory mediators inductible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) mRNA and protein expression levels. The oxidative stress induced by LPS was also inhibited by edpetiline, as the level of intracellular reactive oxygen species decreased notably. Edpetiline may exert anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects through inhibiting the phosphorylation of IκB and the nuclear transcription of nuclear transcription factor-κB p65 and decreasing the phosphorylation of p38 and ERK in the mitogen-activated protein kinase signaling pathway, without activating the JNK/mitogen-activated protein kinase signaling pathway. These findings suggest that edpetiline may be a potential therapeutic agent for the prevention or treatment of inflammation- and oxidative stress-related pathophysiological processes and diseases.

ObjectiveTo explore longitudinal change patterns of key laboratory tests in patients with COVID-19, and to identify independent prognostic factors by examining the associations between laboratory findings and outcomes of patients.MethodsThe multicenter study prospectively included 59 patients with COVID-19 treated at Jilin province from January 21, 2020 to May 5, 2020. Laboratory tests were included haematological, biochemical, and immunological tests.ResultsLaboratory findings, the characteristics of epidemiological and demographic data were extracted from electronic medical records. Eosinopenia was shown in 52.6% cases at onset, and the average value of eosinophil continued to significantly increase thereafter. Lymphopenia was found in 40.4% cases at onset, and the average value of lymphocyte was slowly elevated after day 5. Thrombocytopenia was shown in 12.3% cases at onset, and the average value of mean platelet volume was decreased sharply after day 7. The values of aspartate aminotransferase, lactate dehydrogenase, creatine kinase, creatinine kinase-muscle/brain activity, and cardiac troponin I, serum cardiac markers, were beyond the upper limit of RI from 6.1% to 30.6% at onset. The abnormity of liver function tests, kidney function tests, electrolytes was 2.0%∼59.2%, 2.0%∼4.1%, 6.0%∼30.0%, respectively. Eosinophil, platelet and carbondioxide combining power were selected as the prognostic factors.ConclusionsThe haematological, biochemical, and immunological tests were found significant abnormity at onset and longitudinal change patterns in the patients with COVID-19. Age, Eosinophil, PLT and CO2 may used to predict the recovery probability. Risk stratification and management could be improved for the patients with COVID-19 according to temporal trajectories of laboratory tests.Article SummaryThe longitudinal change patterns of the laboratory characteristics of affected patients were important to identify prognosis. Eosinophil, platelet and carbondioxide combining power may be independent predictors of recovery in patients with COVID-19.

Ganoderma lucidum is widely used in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Ganoderic acid A and D are the main bioactive components with anticancer effects in G. lucidum. To obtain the maximum content of two compounds from G. lucidum, a novel extraction method, an ionic liquid-based ultrasonic-assisted method (ILUAE) was established. Ionic liquids (ILs) of different types and parameters, including the concentration of ILs, ultrasonic power, ultrasonic time, rotational speed, solid&ndash, liquid ratio, were optimized by the orthogonal experiment and variance analysis. Under these optimal conditions, the total extraction yield of the two compounds in G. lucidum was 3.31 mg/g, which is 36.21% higher than that of the traditional solvent extraction method. Subsequently, an artificial neural network (ANN) was developed to model the performance of the total extraction yield. The Levenberg&ndash, Marquardt back propagation algorithm with the sigmoid transfer function (logsig) at the hidden layer and a linear transfer function (purelin) at the output layer were used. Results showed that single hidden layer with 9 neurons presented the best values for the mean squared error (MSE) and the correlation coefficient (R), with respectively corresponding values of 0.09622 and 0.93332.

A novel-pulsed electrolyte cathode atmospheric pressure discharge (pulsed-ECAD) plasma source driven by an alternating current (AC) power supply coupled with a high-voltage diode was generated under normal atmospheric pressure between a metal electrode and a small-sized flowing liquid cathode. The spatial distributions of the excitation, vibrational, and rotational plasma temperatures of the pulsed-ECAD were investigated. The electron excitation temperature of H Texc(H), vibrational temperature of N2 Tvib(N2), and rotational temperature of OH Trot(OH) were from 4900 ± 36 to 6800 ± 108 K, from 4600 ± 86 to 5800 ± 100 K, and from 1050 ± 20 to 1140 ± 10 K, respectively. The temperature characteristics of the dc solution cathode glow discharge (dc-SCGD) were also studied for the comparison with the pulsed-ECAD. The effects of operating parameters, including the discharge voltage and discharge frequency, on the plasma temperatures were investigated. The electron number densities determined in the disch...

Solution cathode glow discharge–atomic emission spectrometry (SCGD–AES) has attracted increasing attention in recent years in water and environmental analysis. In this article, the traditional spec...

Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy has been applied for the quantitative analysis of Ca, Mg, and K in the roots of Angelica pubescens Maxim. f. biserrata Shan et Yuan used in traditional Chinese medicine. Ca II 317.993 nm, Mg I 517.268 nm, and K I 769.896 nm spectral lines have been chosen to set up calibration models for the analysis using the external standard and artificial neural network methods. The linear correlation coefficients of the predicted concentrations versus the standard concentrations of six samples determined by the artificial neural network method are 0.9896, 0.9945, and 0.9911 for Ca, Mg, and K, respectively, which are better than for the external standard method. The artificial neural network method also gives better performance comparing with the external standard method for the average and maximum relative errors, average relative standard deviations, and most maximum relative standard deviations of the predicted concentrations of Ca, Mg, and K in the six samples. Finally, it is proved that the artificial neural network method gives better performance compared to the external standard method for the quantitative analysis of Ca, Mg, and K in the roots of Angelica pubescens.

According to our previous research, the structure of pepsin-soluble undenatured type II collagen (SC II) was severely damaged after gastric digestion under pH 2.0, which might make it lose its biological activity. In the present study, the protective effects of guar gum (GG), xanthan gum (XG) and carrageenan (CG) on the gastric digestion of SC II under pH 2.0 were explored by in vitro simulated gastric digestion. Based on the results of sodium dodecyl sulfonate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) and circular dichroism spectroscopy (CD), anionic polysaccharides including XG and CG improved the gastric digestive stability of SC II. After digestion, the content of SC II with intact structure in XG-SC II and CG-SC II group was 1.52–3.10 and 1.99–2.73 times of that in control group, while the protective effect of GG was limited (only 1.03–1.42 times). The results of rheology, ζ-potential, confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) and CD showed that, at the ratio of 0.1:1–0.2:1, CG could improve the thermal stability of SC II to protect it from degradation, while XG could form insoluble complexes with SC II and slightly prevent the binding of pepsin; at the ratio of 0.4:1–1.5:1, both CG and XG could form extensive insoluble complexes with SC II, which might hinder the binding of pepsin, and thus inhibited the gastric digestion of SC II. Therefore, through electrostatic interaction, a small amount of CG could have a great protective effect on the gastric digestion of SC II under pH 2.0, while XG required a higher dosage.

Two novel pectic polysaccharides DZM-A (5.1 kDa) and DZM-B (160.8 kDa) were isolated from durian peel and purified by DEAE-52 column and Sephadex G-100 column. The structures of two polysaccharides were analyzed by infrared spectrum (IR), gas chromatography (GC) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). It was deduced that DZM-A had a complicated main and branch chain with →4)-α- d -GalA-(1→, →5)-α- l -Araf-(1→ and →4,2)-α- l -Rha-(1→, a small amount of galactose and glucose. The structure of DZM-B was mainly composed of →4)-α- d -GalA-(1→. DZM-A showed anticoagulant effects through endogenous and exogenous coagulation pathways in vitro and in vivo. DZM-A could also regulate the content of ET-1 and eNOs, change the state of blood flow, and have anticoagulant effect in vivo.

An improved micro-plasma source for the quantitative analysis of heavy metal elements by solution cathode glow discharge-optical emission spectrometry (SCGD-OES) was developed. The glow-discharge plasma source was fabricated using a geometrically optimized stainless steel auxiliary cathode solution and a tungsten anode. Optimum discharge could be attained at reduced solution flow rates under the following operating conditions: pH 1.0 (HNO3); a discharge current of 80 mA; a solution flow rate of 1.65 mL/min; and a discharge gap of 2.5 mm. The detection limits (DLs) of the improved micro-plasma source for K, Na, Ni, Cd, Co and Hg were 0.17, 0.06, 18, 10, 25 and 66 μg/L, respectively. The recoveries of metal elements from spiked samples of spring river, Yangtze River and reservoir water measured by SCGD-OES showed good agreement with those obtained using ICP-OES. The results from this study may provide a new direction for the design of glow discharge sources for the in situ determination of metal elements in complex water samples.

Understanding the drivers of plant phenology is critical to predict the impact of future warming on terrestrial ecosystem carbon cycling and feedbacks to climate. Using indoor growth chambers, air humidity is reported to influence spring phenology in temperate trees. However, previous studies have not investigated the effect of air humidity on the spring phenology using long-term and large-scale ground observations. Therefore, the role of humidity in spring phenology in temperate trees still remains poorly understood. Here, we synthesized 229,588 records of leaf unfolding dates in eight temperate tree species, including four early-successional and four late-successional species, at 1716 observation sites during 1951–2015 in Europe, and comprehensively analyzed the effect of humidity on the spring phenology. We found that rising humidity significantly delayed spring leaf unfolding for all eight temperate tree species. Leaf unfolding was more sensitive to humidity in early-successional species compared to late-successional species. In addition, the delaying effect of humidity on leaf unfolding increased as temperature warmed over the past 65 years. Our results provide evidence that spring leaf unfolding of temperate trees was significantly delayed by rising humidity. The delaying effect of humidity may restrict earlier spring phenology induced by warming, especially for early-successional species, under future climate warming scenarios in temperate forests.

There are a number of secondary metabolites having medicinal values in Ligustri Lucidi Fructus. In this study, the target analytes salidroside, ligustroflavone, specnuezhenide, oleuropein, oleanolic acid and ursolic acid were chosen, aiming to establish a method to investigate the content of six compounds during eight growth stages of Ligustri Lucidi Fructus. Even though the results indicated that the contents of six compounds in different growth periods reached their maximum value, they displayed a downward trend. The antioxidant activity of the analyzed samples also decreased along with the growth period. The relationship between the content of six secondary metabolites and the activity has been elucidated. Hence, this research provides a theoretical basis for guiding efficient use of Ligustri Lucidi Fructus.

The effects of Malus halliana Koehne polysaccharides on functional constipation was investigated in this study. The rats were divided into six groups: normal group, model group, positive control group, M. halliana polysaccharides high dose groups 1200 mg/ kg, medium dose groups 1000 mg/ kg and low dose groups 800 mg/kg. The model of constipation was established by loperamide hydrochloride. Feces weight at 6 and 24 hours after treatment, Colon moisture content, in addition the levels of motilin (MTL), gastrin (Gas), somatostatin (SS), substance P (SP) in serum were used to evaluate the preventive effects of M. halliana polysaccharides on constipation. Compared with the model group, the positive control group, M. halliana polysaccharide high, medium and low dose group 6 h weight of feces, colon moisture content, the levels of motilin (MTL), gastrin (GAS) and substance P(SP) significantly (p M. halliana polysaccharide could effectively improve functional constipation. Amongst these doses, the low dose group was better than others.

Herein, a pulsed electrolyte cathode atmospheric pressure discharge (pulsed-ECAD) system was developed as a radiation source for the atomic emission spectroscope (AES) for metal element determination in aqueous solutions. The time-resolved emission spectra of the pulsed-ECAD were obtained at various frequencies, and their evolution behaviours during the modulation period were found to exhibit a strong dependence on the modulation frequency. The temporal behaviors of the metal element spectral intensities of K, Na, Li, Rb, Sr, and Mg as well as the atomic and molecular species emissions originating from water and air (OH, Hα, Hβ, N2, and O) were characterized from the plasma. The temporal evolutions of the pulsed-ECAD plasma parameters, including the rotational temperature, electron density, and ionization temperature, were analyzed. The results showed that the rotational temperatures varied between 950 K and 1350 K. The electron density and ionization temperature ranges of Mg were from 4.3 × 1014 to 2.2 × 1015 cm−1 and from 5200 K to 5500 K, respectively.

In sample measurements, matrix effects are unavoidable. The matrix effects are one of the main factors affecting the accuracy of the pulsed electrolyte cathode atmospheric pressure discharg...

Multifunctional capsules have great applications in biomedical fields. In this study, novel polysaccharide-based nanocapsules were prepared via a layer-by-layer technique using silica as the templates. The shell was constructed based on the electrostatic interactions between pectin and chitosan. The pectin-chitosan nanocapsules ((Pec/Cs)3Pec) could keep good colloidal stability within 96h in PBS solution and 48h in BSA solution. Meanwhile, the nanocapsules exhibited a high drug loading and pH-sensitive release property for doxorubicin hydrochloride. Moreover, (Pec/Cs)3Pec nanocapsules had no cytotoxicity to both human hepatocellular carcinoma cells (HepG2 cells) and mouse fibroblast cells (L929 cells). More importantly, (Pec/Cs)3Pec nanocapsules could be more easily uptaken by HepG2 cells when compared with L929 cells. In vitro anticancer activity tests indicated the carriers could effectively kill HepG2 cells. Overall, (Pec/Cs)3Pec nanocapsules have great potential as a novel anticancer drug carrier as a result of their pH-sensitivity, good colloidal stability and anticancer activity.

Chinese herbal medicine has attracted increasing attention because of the unique and significant efficacy in various diseases. In this paper, three types of Chinese herbal medicine, the roots of An...

Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy was used for the analysis of the Chinese traditional medicine, Ligusticum wallichii. The laser energy and delay time were optimized to obtain best spectral quality. The limits of detection for lead and copper were 15.7 and 6.3 µg g−1, respectively. Multiple linear regression models between the laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy intensity and the mass fraction of lead and copper were constructed. Good agreement was observed between the actual concentrations and predicted values obtained by the models. These results demonstrate that the laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy coupled with multiple linear regression is suitable for the determination of heavy metals in Chinese traditional medicine.

Skin stem cells can regenerate epidermal appendages; however, hair follicles (HF) lost as a result of injury are barely regenerated. Here we show that macrophages in wounds activate HF stem cells, leading to telogen–anagen transition (TAT) around the wound and de novo HF regeneration, mostly through TNF signalling. Both TNF knockout and overexpression attenuate HF neogenesis in wounds, suggesting dose-dependent induction of HF neogenesis by TNF, which is consistent with TNF-induced AKT signalling in epidermal stem cells in vitro. TNF-induced β-catenin accumulation is dependent on AKT but not Wnt signalling. Inhibition of PI3K/AKT blocks depilation-induced HF TAT. Notably, Pten loss in Lgr5+ HF stem cells results in HF TAT independent of injury and promotes HF neogenesis after wounding. Thus, our results suggest that macrophage-TNF-induced AKT/β-catenin signalling in Lgr5+ HF stem cells has a crucial role in promoting HF cycling and neogenesis after wounding.

The prevalence of constipation increases rapidly with the increased pressure of some people's life, which seriously affects the quality of life in related patients. In this study, the improvement of functional constipation by Durio zibethinus Murr rind polysaccharide (DZMP) and the effects of DZMP on intestinal microbiota were investigated in a constipation model of Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats established by loperamide hydrochloride. Results showed that DZMP at 200 mg/kg could significantly (P 0.05) increase the intestinal transit rate, motilin, gastrin, substance P levels and concentration of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), reduce the somatostatin levels and improve the gastrointestinal peristalsis of rats. Sequencing showed that the Lachnospiraceae-NK4A136-group in the rats given 200 mg/kg DZMP (16.07%) was significantly higher than that of the model group (10.13%), while the Desulfovibrio was lower (2.99%) than that of the model group (4.19%). Principal co-ordinates analysis (PcoA) revealed a significant difference in intestinal microbiota composition between the model group and the high-dose DZMP group (200 mg/kg). The results demonstrated that DZMP has a regulatory effect of treating functional constipation and regulating intestinal flora in rats.

The frequent occurrence of urban waterlogging constantly affects cities&rsquo, stability, bringing about a lot of economic losses and casualties. Coupled with the deficient rescue activities, waterlogging often exacerbates the impact of urban rainstorm disasters. By setting up a diverse distribution of shelters and various types of pedestrians, the evacuation route choice of pedestrians in an urban rainstorm disaster is simulated and analyzed through multi-agent system simulation. Then, clustering analysis is applied to discover population characteristics in different survival scenarios. The simulations for sustainable rescue after pedestrians reach the shelters are also carried out. It was found that the pedestrians&prime, herd mentality and the distribution of shelters have a significant impact on the success rate of post-disaster evacuation. The results could help pedestrians to make decisions in the evacuation. The wide scope of the shelters&rsquo, allocation facilitates the effect of disaster relief.

Effect of Nigella sativa seed polysaccharides (NSSP) on type 2 diabetic mice and its gut microbiota was investigated on the type 2 diabetic mice model feed by high-fat diet. Fasting blood glucose (FBG), biochemical parameters, expression levels of cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin-1β (IL-1β), and phosphor-AKT (p-AKT) protein, membrane glucose transporter 4 (GLUT4) in skeletal muscles, as well as the change of gut microbiota profile in mice model were measured. Results showed that the high-dose NSSP could significantly lower the levels of FBG, glycosylated serum protein (GSP), triglycerides (TG), total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), malondialdehyde (MDA), TNF-α, IL-6 and IL-1β, and significantly increased insulin (INS), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDLC), total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC), superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and the expression levels of p-AKT and GLUT4 in mice. Besides, the high-dose NSSP has significantly increased the abundance of f_Muribaculaceae_Unclassified and Bacteroides, which were significantly suppressed in the mice gut after the treatment of streptozotocin (STZ). These results indicated that NSSP could improve the abnormal state of diabetic mice by regulating the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway with simultaneous changes of the gut microbiota profile.

Supplemental material, Supplementary material, for Effective Compounds From Caesalpinia sappan L. on the Tyrosinase In Vitro and In Vivo by Yun Niu, Shengfeng Wang, Changqin Li, Jinmei Wang, Zhenhua Liu and Wenyi Kang in Natural Product Communications

The immunomodulatory effects of Malus halliana flower polysaccharide (MHFP) were investigated in this paper. The model of immunosuppressive mice was established by cyclophosphamide, which was treated with different dosages of MHFP (600, 400, and 200 mg/kg·d-1). The results showed that MHFP significantly increased the index of the spleen and thymus and improved the atrophy of immune organs. MHFP enhanced the ability of carbon clearance and phagocytosis of mononuclear phagocytes in mice. Meanwhile, MHFP promoted the proliferation of splenic lymphocytes. MHFP could enhance the content of serum hemolysin and improve the decrease of hemolysin induced by cyclophosphamide. The contents of ACP and LDH in the serum and spleen were determined, indicating that MHFP could enhance the activity of macrophages. MHFP promoted the content of cytokines (IL-2, IL-6, TNF-α, and IFN-γ) and mRNA expression. At the same time, the pathological changes of the spleen tissue also showed that MHFP could improve the immunosuppression induced by cyclophosphamide. In addition, MHFP increased the content of SOD, T-AOC, and CAT in the serum and spleen tissue, decreased the level of MDA, and improved the oxidative stress caused by cyclophosphamide. In conclusion, MHFP could effectively improve the immunosuppression and oxidative stress induced by cyclophosphamide and enhance the immune capacity of mice.

Trelagliptin inhibits the enzyme dipeptidyl-4 (DPP-4) to treat type 2 diabetes and it may possess the potential to improve insulin resistance. However, the molecular mechanism is not known. In this study, the effect of trelagliptin succinate in improving insulin resistance was investigated. The differentiation system of 3T3-L1 mouse preadipocytes was used to determine the content of adipokines and the content of GLUT4 in the outer membrane. The expression of AKT, P-AKT, IRS-1 and P-IRS-1 in differentiated 3T3-L1 adipocytes was determined by western blotting. Our results demonstrated that trelagliptin succinate increased the expression of AKT, P-AKT, IRS-1 and P-IRS-1 in the PI-3K/AKT insulin signaling pathway. These events promote the trans-membrane function of GLUT4 and concomitant glucose intake in adipocytes. In addition, the secretion of free fatty acids and resistin were decreased. In conclusion, our study suggested that trelagliptin succinate improved insulin resistance in adipocytes via regulation of PI-3K/AKT/GLUT4 insulin signaling pathway.

The immunomodulatory effects of Malus halliana flower polysaccharide (MHFP) were investigated in this paper. The model of immunosuppressive mice was established by cyclophosphamide, which was treated with different dosages of MHFP (600, 400, and 200 mg/kg·d−1). The results showed that MHFP significantly increased the index of the spleen and thymus and improved the atrophy of immune organs. MHFP enhanced the ability of carbon clearance and phagocytosis of mononuclear phagocytes in mice. Meanwhile, MHFP promoted the proliferation of splenic lymphocytes. MHFP could enhance the content of serum hemolysin and improve the decrease of hemolysin induced by cyclophosphamide. The contents of ACP and LDH in the serum and spleen were determined, indicating that MHFP could enhance the activity of macrophages. MHFP promoted the content of cytokines (IL-2, IL-6, TNF-α, and IFN-γ) and mRNA expression. At the same time, the pathological changes of the spleen tissue also showed that MHFP could improve the immunosuppression induced by cyclophosphamide. In addition, MHFP increased the content of SOD, T-AOC, and CAT in the serum and spleen tissue, decreased the level of MDA, and improved the oxidative stress caused by cyclophosphamide. In conclusion, MHFP could effectively improve the immunosuppression and oxidative stress induced by cyclophosphamide and enhance the immune capacity of mice.

Summary The development of the mammalian retina is a complicated process involving the generation of distinct types of neurons from retinal progenitor cells (RPCs) in a spatiotemporal-specific manner. The progression of RPCs during retinogenesis includes RPC proliferation, cell-fate commitment, and specific neuronal differentiation. In this study, by performing single-cell RNA sequencing of cells isolated from human embryonic stem cell (hESC)-derived 3D retinal organoids, we successfully deconstructed the temporal progression of RPCs during early human retinogenesis. We identified two distinctive subtypes of RPCs with unique molecular profiles, namely multipotent RPCs and neurogenic RPCs. We found that genes related to the Notch and Wnt signaling pathways, as well as chromatin remodeling, were dynamically regulated during RPC commitment. Interestingly, our analysis identified that CCND1, a G1-phase cell-cycle regulator, was coexpressed with ASCL1 in a cell-cycle-independent manner. Temporally controlled overexpression of CCND1 in retinal organoids demonstrated a role for CCND1 in promoting early retinal neurogenesis. Together, our results revealed critical pathways and novel genes in early retinogenesis of humans., Graphical Abstract, Highlights • Fate transition occurring in RPC is concomitant with onset of retinal neurogenesis • Molecular dynamics underlying RPC commitment are dissected • CCND1 promotes retinal neurogenesis in a cell-cycle-independent manner, Retinogenesis is a complicated process involving generating distinct types of neurons from retinal progenitor cells (RPCs) in a spatiotemporal-specific manner. By taking the advantage of hESC-derived retinal organoids and single-cell RNA sequencing, Fan, Liu, Hu and colleagues show the genetic program dynamics during RPC progression. Their results revealed critical pathways and novel genes involved in early retinogenesis of humans.

The active components of Malus pumila flowers on antioxidant and tyrosinase activity were investigated with the method of spectrum-effect relationship and knock-out. Some compounds were identified by UPLC-MS/MS method. The chemical fingerprints were established by HPLC and the activity of antioxidant and tyrosinase were assayed in vitro. Chromatographic peaks P34, P35, P39, P44, P45 and P49 were identified as phloridzin, hyperoside, astragalin, afzelin, quercetin and kaempferol by UPLC-MS/MS method. Hyperoside and kaempferol were identified in M. pumila flowers for the first time. When the concentration was 1 g/mL of sample (equivalent to raw material), the scavenging capacity of P35 (hyperoside) on DPPH free radicals were consistent with the spectrum-effect relationship. The scavenging capacity of P34 (phloridzin) and P45 (quercetin) on ABTS free radicals were consistent with the spectrum-effect relationship. The activation effect of P45 (quercetin) on tyrosinase was consistent with the spectrum-effect relationship. The inhibitory effect of P34 (phloridzin), P35 (hyperoside) on tyrosinase were consistent with the spectrum-effect relationship.

Background: We aimed to describe the laboratory characteristics of patients with laboratory confirmed coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), and to compare the laboratory data between recovered and non-recovered patients. Methods: This is a multi-center study and 68 COVID-19 patients were recruited in Jilin Province, China, from January 21, 2020 to February 21, 2020. Laboratory tests were conducted at admission. Outcomes were followed up until February 21, 2020. Results: Of the 68 patients, 63 were diagnosed as mild and 5 as moderate or severe. After follow-up, there are 28 and 40 patients in recovered and non-recovered group, respectively. Lymphocytes, including immature leukocyte subpopulation, were significantly increased after day 10 in recovered patients. Platelets and thrombocytocrit were significantly increased, while mean platelet volume was reduced markedly from day 6 in recovered patients. High-sensitivity C-reactive protein was elevated at onset and continued to decline at day 7 in recovered patients. Cardiac troponin I is always higher from onset to recovery in recovered patients, yet it is sharply declined below the upper limit of reference interval after day 10. Cholinesterase and alanine aminotransferase were higher during the recovery process in recovered patients than in non-recovered patients. Both eosinophil and age were identified as independent predictors for recovery. Conclusions: Some markers had different change patterns between the recovered and non-recovered patients. Eosinophil may serve as an independent predictor for recovery in addition to age. The monitoring of the dynamic level of markers can give more effective clues for the judgment of the progress in COVID-19 patients. © 2021 AME Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

As an important part of state-owned assets, roads and other transportation infrastructure are an important foundation for the sustained and healthy development of the national economy. It is extremely important to increase the service life of roadways. Aiming at the highly restricted multi-objective optimization problem of roadway maintenance, this paper considers the three dimensions of construction schedule, cost and quality, and proposes an elitist evolutionary multi-objective optimization algorithm based on the concept of ϵ-dominance, called ϵ-multi-objective genetic algorithm variable (εv-MOGA) to solve roadway maintenance problems. Experimental results show that the algorithm can help decision makers choose the most suitable solution among a large number of feasible solutions.

Solution-cathode glow discharge-atomic emission spectrometry (SCGD-AES) with a portable spectrometer was used to detect metal elements in solution. A modified pulsation damper was designed and optimized to improve discharge plasma stability. The effects of pulsation damper parameters as well as the discharge current and solution flow rate were investigated. The plasma stability of Na, K and Li elements under optimized parameters with the modified pulsation damper was discussed and they showed good stability over a long time. The standard deviation (SD) of background intensity was low, and the detection limits for Zn, Mg, Ag, Pb, Sr, Na, Li, K, Rb and Cs were 72, 2.1, 1.2, 35, 86, 0.04, 0.16, 0.14, 0.38 and 1.1 μg L−1, respectively. Ag, Zn and Pb elements in a certified reference material were quantitatively analyzed, and the measurement results obtained by SCGD-AES agreed well with the reference values. Specifically, the precision (relative standard deviation of 10 measured values) of detection was lower than 1.85%. The results show that the SCGD-AES system with the modified pulsation damper can accurately and stably detect the content of metal elements in water.

An experimental setup of laser-induced graphite plasma was built and the spectral characteristics and properties of graphite plasma were studied. From the temporal behavior of graphite plasma, the duration of CN partials (B2 Σ+ → X2 Σ+) emission was two times longer than that of atomic carbon, and all intensities reached the maximum during the early stage from 0.2 μs to 0.8 μs. The electron temperature decreased from 11807 K to 8755 K, the vibration temperature decreased from 8973 K to 6472 K, and the rotational temperature decreased from 7288 K to 4491 K with the delay time, respectively. The effect of the laser energy was also studied, and it was found that the thresholds and spectral characteristics of CN molecular and C atomic spectroscopy presented great differences. At lower laser energies, the electron excited temperature, the electron density, the vibrational temperature and rotational temperature of CN partials increased rapidly. At higher laser energies, the increasing of electron excited temperature and electron density slow down, and the vibrational temperature and rotational temperature even trend to saturation due to plasma shielding and dissociation of CN molecules. The relationship among the three kinds of temperatures was Telec>Tvib>Trot at the same time. The electron density of the graphite plasma was in the order of 1017 cm−3 and 1018 cm−3.