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Cistanche deserticola Ma (CD) has historically been recognized for its dual role as a culinary and therapeutic parasitic herb, offering noteworthy medicinal and nutritional properties. Polysaccharides extracted and purified from CD have received an increasing great quantity of research attention due to their various pharmacological activities. In this study, using ultrasound combined with complex enzyme extraction, ethanol precipitation, DEAE‐cellulose column (26 mm × 400 mm) chromatography, and Sephacryl S‐400 HR column (26 mm × 1000 mm) chromatography, the heteropolysaccharides polysaccharide, named CDP‐2, was separated and purified from the CDP. CDP‐2 was a molecular weight of 65.60 kDa and consisted of Ara, Gal, Glc, Rha, Xyl, Man, Fuc, Gal‐UA, Glc‐UA, Man‐UA, Gul‐UA at a molar ratio of 39.05 : 23.17 : 16.29 : 11.10 : 1.79 : 1.22 : 0.47 : 3.28 : 2.48 : 0.62 : 0.55. The backbones of CDP‐2 contained ⟶4)‐α‐D‐Glcp‐(1⟶, ⟶3,6)‐β‐D‐Galp‐(1⟶, and ⟶5)‐α‐L‐Araf‐(1⟶, with a minor component of ⟶3)‐β‐D‐Galp‐(1⟶. The side chains are mainly formed by α‐L‐Araf‐(1⟶ or α‐L‐Rhap‐(1⟶ linked to the O‐6 position of residue ⟶3,6)‐β‐D‐Galp‐(1⟶. Biological assays revealed CDP‐2's efficacy in augmenting the proliferation of specific Bacteroides strains. Additionally, it was observed to facilitate the production of short‐chain fatty acids by these bacterial strains. Cumulatively, these insights underscore the CDP‐2's prospective role in bolstering gastrointestinal health via fostering Bacteroides colonization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. Bisphenol A (BPA) disrupts glucose homeostasis via inflammatory pathways in liver cells, affecting insulin sensitivity. This study examines sulforaphane (SFN), known for its anti‐inflammatory and antioxidative properties, for counteracting BPA's effects. Methods. We evaluated SFN's impact on BPA‐exposed C57/BL6J mice and HepG2 cells, focusing on metabolic parameters, insulin signaling, and inflammatory markers. Mice were treated with SFN (10 mg/kg) for six weeks, with assessments including body weight, serum glucose, insulin levels, and glucose tolerance. Molecular analyses in both models included gene expressions related to glucose metabolism, insulin and MAPK signaling pathways, and markers of inflammation and oxidative stress. Results. SFN reduced blood glucose and improved glucose tolerance of BPA‐treated mice. In BPA‐treated HepG2 cells, SFN significantly boosted glucose consumption in vitro. Moreover, SFN treatment enhanced the protein expression of phosphorylated‐insulin receptor and phosphorylated‐AKT and reversed glycolytic and gluconeogenic gene expression in HepG2 cells and mice liver. SFN also decreased phosphorylation levels of p38 and JNK and reduced inflammation and oxidative stress markers in vitro and in vivo. Conclusion. Our findings underscore SFN's capacity to ameliorate BPA‐induced glucose intolerance and insulin resistance by enhancing hepatic insulin signaling and metabolic functions. This action is likely mediated through SFN's inhibitory effects on inflammatory and oxidative pathways. Consequently, SFN holds promise as an intervention for mitigating BPA‐related metabolic disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays, human activities intensified the combined pollution of fluoride and lead in acidic tea garden soil. The key to eliminating this combined pollution is to immobilize pollutants simultaneously, thus preventing their migration from tea garden soil to tea trees. In this paper, the natural product bayberry tannin was employed as raw material to fabricate functional materials (TF-Zr) for simultaneous adsorption of fluorine (F) and lead (Pb) in water and soil by the reactivity of tannin with Pb2+ and the affinity of Zr with F. SEM-Mapping, EDS, FT-IR, XPS were utilized to probe the immobilization mechanisms. The results showed that TF-Zr could simultaneously and efficiently adsorb F– and Pb2+ from water with the adsorption capacity of 5.02 mg/g (Pb) and 4.55 mg/g (F). The adsorption processes were both in accordance with the proposed secondary kinetic adsorption model. Besides, the presence of F– promoted the adsorption of Pb2+ by TF-Zr. The materials were applied into tea garden soil to explore its effect on the variation of F and Pb forms in the soil. It was found that the proportion of water-soluble fluorine, exchangeable fluorine and exchangeable lead in the tea garden soil decreased significantly, while the proportion of residual fluorine and lead increased evidently, illustrating TF-Zr possessed eximious fixation effect on the highly reactive fluorine and lead in the soil and facilitated their conversion to the more stable residue state. Therefore, TF-Zr can be used for the efficient and simultaneous immobilization of fluorine and lead in water and tea garden soil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we study the uniqueness of nodal radial solutions to nonlinear elliptic equations in the unit ball in ℝ3$$ {\mathrm{\mathbb{R}}}^3 $$. Under suitable conditions, we prove that, for any given positive integer k$$ k $$, the problem we considered has at most one solution possessing exactly k−1$$ k-1 $$ nodes. Together with the results presented by Nagasaki [J. Fac. Sci. Univ. Tokyo Sect. IA Math. 36 (2): 211–232, 1989] and Tanaka [Proc. Roy. Soc. Edinburgh Sect. A. 138 (6): 1331–1343, 2008], we can prove that more types of nonlinear elliptic equations have the uniqueness of nodal radial solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For multivariate non-Gaussian involving copulas, likelihood inference is dominated by the data in the middle, and fitted models might not be very good for joint tail inference, such as assessing the strength of tail dependence. When preliminary data and likelihood analysis suggest asymmetric tail dependence, a method is proposed to improve extreme value inferences based on the joint lower and upper tails. A prior that uses previous information on tail dependence can be used in combination with the likelihood. With the combination of the prior and the likelihood (which in practice has some degree of misspecification) to obtain a tilted log-likelihood, inferences with suitably transformed parameters can be based on Bayesian computing methods or with numerical optimization of the tilted log-likelihood to obtain the posterior mode and Hessian at this mode. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper contributes to the discussion of fuzzy boundaries by investigating negative assessments of the recipient and non-present parties that are syntactically incomplete. Particularly, it explores how the speaker uses syntax and bodily visual conduct to accomplish the delicate action of negatively assessing others and to solicit the recipient to collaboratively complete negative assessments. Based on an examination of approximately 5 h of everyday Mandarin face-to-face conversations, the study shows that incomplete syntax, facial expressions, and head shakes constitute multimodal practices in making negative assessments of the recipient and a non-present third party. Leaving assessments syntactically incomplete and displaying negative evaluative stance through facial expressions such as lip-pursing and eyebrow furrows and head shakes show the speaker’s orientation to the negative assessments as a delicate action. The facial expressions after incomplete syntax demonstrate that participants orient to the hesitation in the delivery of a TCU/turn-in-progress not as production problem, but rather an interactional problem. This study shows that the boundaries of assessment turns may be blurry, and that one assessment may be collaboratively produced by two participants, which exemplifies a specific aspect of weak cesuras and fuzzy boundaries of units and actions in interaction.