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Arabinoxylans (AXs) treated with enzymes, pentosanase (Pn) and glucose oxidase (GOX) not only offer a promising way to improve wheat product quality but also change their prebiotic potentials by modifying the structures of AXs. In the present study, the different crosslinking degrees of water-extracted arabinoxylans (WEAXs) treated with GOX alone or in combination with Pn + GOX were examined. The structural features and candidate prebiotic capabilities were investigated. It was demonstrated that WEAXs treated with 50 μg g

The nutritional components in oat and tartary buckwheat had been assessed to have cholesterollowering effects. However, The effect of oat and tartary buckwheat based-food (OF) on cholesterol-lowering and gut microbiota in hypercholesterole hamsters was still limited studied because they are usually consumed in whole gran as well as after being processed. In this study, normal diets, high fat diet (HFD) with/without OF were fed to hamsters for 30 days respectively and growth parameters, metabolic parameters, and gut microbiota were investigated, respectively. It was found that OF significantly decreased plasma total cholesterol (TC) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-cholesterol), lowered liver TC, cholesterol ester (CE), and triglycerides (TG) concentrations, and increased fecal weight and bile acids (BA) concentrations, compared with HFD (p < 0.05). Moreover, the concentrations of acetate, propionate, butyrate and total short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) were significantly increased in hamsters fed with OF, compared with HFD (p < 0.05). OF changed the overall structure of gut microbiota. The relative abundances of Erysipelotrichaceae, Ruminococcaceae, and Lachnospiraceae were decreased and the relative abundance of Eubacteriaceae was increased, compared with HFD. These results suggested that OF could reduce the concentrations of plasma lipid by inhibiting cholesterol absorption in liver and promoting excretions of fecal lipid and BA. And it also increased SCFAs and modulated the gut microbiota effectively to exert the hypocholesterolemic effects.

We propose a news-implied rare disaster risk indicator and study its predictive power on the returns of U.S. Treasury bonds. We find that the predictive power of this factor is both statistically significant and economically important and is not spanned by the current yield curve. The disaster risk factor delivers a counter cycle bond risk premium, and the predictability of disaster risk is more significant during periods of economic downturn. Our empirical findings show that disaster risk accounts for a sizable portion of variations in the time-varying bond risk premium.

Cardiac fibrosis plays an important role in hypertension-related contractile dysfunction and heart failure. Qingda granule (QDG), derived from the Qingxuan Jiangya decoction, has been used clinically for more than 60 years to treat hypertension. However, the effect of QDG on hypertensive cardiac fibrosis remains largely unknown. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of QDG on cardiac fibrosis and explore the underlying mechanism in vivo and in vitro. For in vivo experiments, 30 male spontaneously hypertensive rats were randomly divided into groups that received no QDG or one of three doses (0.45, 0.9 or 1.8 g/kg/day). Positive-control animals received valsartan (VAL, 7.2 mg/kg/day). Treatments were administered by gavage for 10 weeks. All three doses of QDG and VAL led to significantly lower blood pressure than in SHR animals. Besides, all three doses of QDG and VAL attenuated pathological changes in SHR animals. However, only intermediate, high concentrations of QDG and VAL led to significantly lower left ventricle ejection fraction and left ventricle fractional shortening than in SHR animals. Therefore, the minimum and effective QDG dose (intermediate concentration of QDG) was selected for subsequent animal experiments in this study. Our results showed that intermediate concentration of QDG also significantly mitigated the increases in levels of α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA), proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA), collagen III, transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) and in the ratio of phospho-Smad2/3 to total Smad2/3 protein in cardiac tissue, based on immunohistochemistry, Western blotting, and Masson staining. For in vitro experiments, primary cardiac fibroblasts were stimulated with 100 nM angiotensin II in the presence or absence of QDG. And we tested different concentrations of QDG (3.125, 6.25, 12.5, 25, 50 μg/mL) in the cell viability experiment. Our results showed that 3.125, 6.25 and 12.5 μg/mL of QDG treatment for 24 h didn’t affect the cell viability of cardiac fibroblasts. Consistently, QDG at 6.25 or 12.5 μg/mL significantly reduced cell viability and down-regulated α-SMA in primary cardiac fibroblasts were stimulated with 100 nM angiotensin II. Therefore, QDG at 12.5 μg/mL was chosen for the following cell experiment. Our results showed that QDG at 12.5 μg/mL alleviated the increase of PCNA, collagen Ⅲ, TGF-β1 expression, and the ratio of phospho-Smad2/3 to total Smad2/3 protein. Our studies in vitro and in vivo suggest that QDG reduces blood pressure and cardiac fibrosis as well as protecting cardiac function, and that it exerts these effects in part by suppressing TGF-β1/Smad2/3 signaling.

Objective The aim of this study is to systematically analyze the transcriptional sequencing data of cervical cancer (CC) to find an Tumor microenvironment (TME) prognostic marker to predict the survival of CC patients. Methods The expression profiles and clinical follow-up information of CC were downloaded from the TCGA and GEO. The RNA-seq data of TCGA-CESC samples were used for CIBERSORT analysis to evaluate the penetration pattern of TME in 285 patients, and construct TMEscore. Other data sets were used to validate and evaluate TMEscore model. Further, survival analysis of TMEscore related DEGs was done to select prognosis genes. Functional enrichment and PPI networks analysis were performed on prognosis genes. Results The TMEscore model has relatively good results in TCGA-CESC (HR = 2.47,95% CI = 1.49–4.11), TCGA-CESC HPV infection samples (HR = 2.13,95% CI = 1–4.51), GSE52903 (HR = 2.65, 95% CI = 1.06–6.6), GSE44001 (HR = 2.1, 95% CI = 0.99–4.43). Patients with high/low TMEscore have significant difference in prognosis (log-rank test, P = 0.00025), and the main difference between high TMEscore subtypes and low TMEscore subtypes is immune function-related pathways. Moreover, Kaplan-Meier survival curves found out a list of identified prognosis genes (n = 86) which interestingly show significant enrichment in immune-related functions. Finally, PPI network analysis shows that highly related nodes such as CD3D, CD3E, CD8A, CD27 in the module may become new targets of CC immunotherapy. Conclusions TMEscore may become a new prognostic indicator predicting the survival of CC patients. The prognostic genes (n = 86) may help provide new strategies for tumor immunotherapy.

Rice bran was first treated by superheated steam to inactivate the enzyme and then fermented with single Rhizopus oryzae, Aspergillus oryzae, or their mixture, respectively. The prebiotic potentials of fungi fermented rice bran were investigated by in vitro human fecal microbiota fermentation. Compared with the fermented rice bran, the fungi fermented rice bran significantly increased soluble sugar, soluble protein, and total phenol content (P

The combined effects of xylanase (XYL) and glucose oxidase (GOX) during whole wheat buns making was investigated based on the reconstituted model dough system including starch, gluten, and water-unextractable solids (WUS). The results showed that the combinations of GOX and XYL significantly (P

The phenolic compounds and antioxidant activity of brown rice are well known but the extent to which phenolics and antioxidant activity varies within rice (Oryza sativa) is not known. This study evaluated the natural variation of phenolic compounds in brown rice of the major cultivars currently grown in China. Free phenolics were extracted with chilled methanol, while bound phenolics were released and extracted by alkaline hydrolysis. There were significant differences in phenolic and flavonoid content between these cultivars and significant differences in bound and total phenolics between japonica and indica samples. Ferulic and p-coumaric acids were the major phenolic acids and existed in both free and bound forms, with the bound form of ferulic acid being a dominant phenolic compound in brown rice. Phenolic compounds were the major contributor to the antioxidant capacity of brown rice and bound phenolics contributed more than free phenolics as estimated using ABTS+ radical scavenging method. This study provides additional information on brown rice from japonica and indica subspecies and may assist in retaining or increasing phenolics and antioxidant activity in rice.

The quality improvement capability of pentosanase (Pn) for whole-wheat Chinese steamed bread (CSB) is not as efficient as that for refined CSB. However, the underlying mechanism remains to be elucidated. In this work, water-extractable arabinoxylan (WEAX) and water-unextractable solids (WUS) were extracted from whole and refined wheat flour, and then treated with Pn under the conditions similar to CSB-making. Solubilisation and degradation of arabinoxylan (AX) caused by Pn treatment were determined.; Results: WEAX from whole flour exhibited higher molecular weight than that from refined flour before and after the treatment with equivalent Pn. Compared with WUS from refined flour, WUS from whole flour had a much lower dissolution degree but the degradation of AX released from the WUS was more efficiently. Moreover, AX released from WUS for refined flour showed a higher Ara/Xyl ratio and the percentage of residual ferulic acid in WUS decreased more significantly.; Conclusion: The difference in quality improvement degree for Pn in whole-wheat and refined CSB might be mainly explained by its effect on WUS. That is, Pn contributed much more to the solubilisation of WUS from refined flour but provoked degradation predominantly on AX solubilised from WUS isolated from whole flour. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry.; © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry.

Summary Background and objective Correlations between overall survival (OS) and other endpoints have been evaluated in patients with metastatic breast cancer (MBC) who received first-line chemotherapy. However, no corresponding analysis has been accomplished for patients who have undergone second- or third-line chemotherapy. Methods We evaluated the potential of progression-free survival (PFS)/time to progression (TTP) and objective response rate (ORR) as surrogates of OS when OS data were not available. Correlations were evaluated by Spearman's rank correlation coefficient ( r s ) and weighted linear regression model. Subgroup analyses were performed for previous chemotherapy, regimen, study endpoint, study period and HER2 status. Results Twenty-four randomized trials involving 8617 patients were included for analysis. The correlation between PFS/TTP and OS was 0.7824 (95% CI: 0.6034–0.8702), whereas ORR did not strongly correlate with OS ( r s = 0.5398, 95%CI: 0.2942–0.7233). Further, the association between hazard ratios (HRs) of PFS/TTP and OS of the 22 randomized studies showed a moderate correlation ( r s = 0.5725, 95%CI: 0.1735–0.8277); the slope of the regression model ( β ) was 0.5366 (95%CI: 0.3479–0.7253). In particular, the PFS/OS correlation for HER2-positive MBC patients was stronger ( r s = 0.9515, 95%CI: 0.7009–1.0000; β = 0.8728, 95%CI: 0.0795–1.6661). Conclusions These results suggest that PFS/TTP is a useful early endpoint for patients with MBC who have undergone second- or third-line chemotherapy, especially for those who are HER2-positive.

BACKGROUND The majority of phenolic acids in wheat bran are bound to the cell walls. Hence, a high proportion of phenolic acids cannot be extracted with conventional extraction methods. This study aimed to investigate the efficiency of steam explosion pre-treatment in increasing the extractability of phenolic compounds from wheat bran. RESULTS Bound phenolic acids (BPA) can be released by steam explosion-assisted extraction. Within the experimental range, soluble free phenolic acids (FPA) and soluble conjugated phenolic acids (CPA) increased gradually with residence time and temperature. After steam explosion at 215 °C for 120 s, the total FPA and CPA reached 6671.8 and 2578.6 µg GAE g(-1) bran, respectively, which was about 39-fold and seven-fold higher than that of the untreated sample. Ferulic acid, the major individual phenolic acids in bran, increased from 55.7 to 586.3 µg g(-1) for FPA, and from 44.9 to 1108.4 µg g(-1) for CPA. The antioxidant properties of FPA and CPA extracts were significantly improved after treated. Correlation analysis indicated that the antioxidant capacity was in close relationship with phenolic content in FPA and CPA. CONCLUSION Steam explosion pre-treatment could be effectively used to release of BPA and enhance the antioxidant capacity of wheat bran. © 2015 Society of Chemical Industry.

Background: Contemporary functional MRI (fMRI) methods can provide a wealth of information about the neural mechanisms associated with primary insomnia (PI), which centrally involve neural network circuits related to spatial working memory. Methods: A total of 30 participants diagnosed with PI and without atypical brain anatomy were selected along with 30 age- and gender-matched healthy controls. Subjects were administered the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression and clinical assessments of spatial working memory, followed by an MRI scan and fMRI in spatial memory task state. Results: Statistically significant differences between PSQI and spatial working memory were observed between PI patients and controls (p < 0.01). Activation of neural networks related to spatial memory task state in the PI group was observed at the left temporal lobe, left occipital lobe and right frontal lobe. Lower levels of activation were observed in the left parahippocampal gyrus, right parahippocampal gyrus, bilateral temporal cortex, frontal cortex and superior parietal lobule. Conclusion: Participants with PI exhibited characteristic abnormalities in the neural network connectivity related to spatial working memory. These results may be indicative of an underlying pathological mechanism related to spatial working memory deterioration in PI, analogous to recently described mechanisms in other mental health disorders.

The aim of the present study is to investigate the antitumor activity and immunostimulatory effect of the water-soluble polysaccharides (DDP) from stem of Dendrobium devonianum in S180 tumor-bearing mice. The mice were divided into 3 groups, and then DDP or Ganoderma lucidum polysaccharides (GLP) dissolved in deionized water were given to the mice at a dose of 200 mg kg−1 for 30 days. DDP, as well as GLP, significantly inhibited the growth of mouse transplantable tumors and promoted spleen indexes, delayed-type hypersensitivity reaction, natural killer cell activity, macrophage phagocytosis and lymphocyte proliferation. Moreover, DDP and GLP increased the colonic acetate, butyrate and total short-chain fatty acid (SCFA) concentrations. These results indicated that oral administration of DDP significantly inhibited the growth of transplanted tumors in S180 tumor-bearing mice by improving specific and non-specific immune responses, as well as increasing colonic SCFAs.

Xylanase (XYL) and glucose oxidase (GOX) have been applied to improve the crumb structure of whole wheat buns. However, their effects on the constituents dissolved in the dough liquor (DL), which supposedly contributed to gas cell stabilization and crumb structure, have not been elucidated. In this study, we aimed to unravel the effects of these enzymes on the protein and arabinoxylan contents, DL yields, bulk viscosity, as well as foaming properties. DL was first separated through ultracentrifugation from whole wheat dough prior treated by XYL and GOX. The results indicated that XYL and GOX treatment increased the DL yields. Moreover, while XYL increased the water extractable arabinoxylan content, GOX increased the protein level in the DL. The free sulfhydryl groups of soluble proteins declined significantly in the presence of GOX. Moreover, GOX might have catalyzed the formation of large protein aggregates and protein-polysaccharide complexes. Furthermore, while the foaming capacity of DL increased only in the presence of XYL, the foam stability was increased by both XYL and GOX, especially under heat treatment. The present research might help to understand the mechanism of crumb structure improvement of whole wheat buns by XYL/GOX treatment from the view of their effects on the DL.

The existence of β-naphthoxyacetic acid (BNOA) pesticide in water system has aroused serious environmental problem because of its potential toxicity for humans and organisms. Therefore, exploiting an efficient method without secondary pollution is extremely urgent. Herein, a promising Ti/PbO2–Co-Pr composite electrode has been successfully fabricated through simple one-step electrodeposition for efficiently electrocatalytic degradation of BNOA. Compared with Ti/PbO2, Ti/PbO2–Co and Ti/PbO2-Pr electrodes, Ti/PbO2–Co-Pr electrode with smaller pyramidal particles possesses higher oxygen evolution potential, excellent electrochemical stability and outstanding electrocatalytic activity. The optimal degradation condition is assessed by major parameters including temperature, initial pH, current density and Na2SO4 concentration. The degradation efficiency and chemical oxygen demand removal efficiency of BNOA reach up to 94.6% and 84.6%, respectively, under optimal condition (temperature 35 °C, initial pH 5, current density 12 mA cm−2, Na2SO4 concentration 8.0 g L−1 and electrolysis time 3 h). Furthermore, Ti/PbO2–Co-Pr electrode presents economic energy consumption and superior repeatability. Finally, the possible degradation mechanism of BNOA is put forward according to the main intermediate products identified by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometer. The present research paves a new path to degrade BNOA pesticide wastewater with Ti/PbO2–Co-Pr electrode.

This study aimed at comparing the effects of carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) and soybean soluble polysaccharides (SSPS) on the stability of mung bean protein isolates (MBPI) in aqueous solution at both neutral and acidic pH. The polysaccharide type and concentration significantly affected the physical stability and solubility of MBPI in aqueous solution. At higher polysaccharide concentration, segregative phase separation only occurred around neutral pH with MBPI-CMC mixtures; the presence of polysaccharide enhanced the protein solubility of MBPI at pH 4.5 from 1.69% to 43.62% with CMC and 4.29% with SSPS, respectively. Besides, the ITC results showed that at pH 7.0, there were no significant interactions between MBPI and polysaccharide; at pH 4.5, there was probably the formation of non-covalent bonds (van der Waals forces, electrostatic interactions or hydrogen bonds) between MBPI and polysaccharide and the change of absolute surface charge showed that the electrostatic interaction was significant, especially for MBPI-CMC mixtures. The results obtained suggested that CMC with higher charge density and viscosity produced better MBPI solution at pH 4.5 and SSPS with lower charge didn't affect the stability of MBPI solution at pH 7.0.

Protein hydrolysates have attained great attention due to a good nutritive food ingredient and higher biological activities. In this study, thermosonication, ultrasound and heat were used as a pre-treatment to obtain (3KDa) hydrolysate from mung bean and white kidney bean to understand the mechanism of cholesterol absorption into micelle and inhibition of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase (HMG-CoA) activity. Size exclusion high performance liquid chromatography (SE-HPLC) results of mung bean showed that the concentration of peptides (0.5KDa-1KDa and 1-3KDa) in the hydrolysate were significantly (p 0.05) increased after thermosonication while, the peptides concentration (1-3KDa) in white kidney bean was significantly (p 0.05) decreased. Thermosonication of mung bean hydrolysate exhibited higher inhibition of cholesterol solubilization, hydrophobicity and antioxidant activities. In addition, there was no difference observed in HMG-CoA activity and hydrophobicity between ultrasound alone and ultrasound combined with heat i.e. thermosonication treated hydrolysate of white kidney bean. Changes in secondary and tertiary structures were also analyzed under different processing conditions with maximum change due to thermosonication. Results indicated that mung bean hydrolysate had a great potential for inhibition of cholesterol synthesis and its solubility in the micelle, antioxidant activity and also convinced for its application in food and nutraceutical industries.

In this paper, we study a stochastic chemostat model with Beddington–DeAngelis functional response. By constructing a suitable stochastic Lyapunov function, we establish sufficient conditions for the existence of a unique ergodic stationary distribution to the model. The existence of a stationary distribution implies stochastic weak stability.

Bioactive peptides are generally obtained from plant protein hydrolysates. These peptides possess physiological activities, such as lowering blood cholesterol. In the current study, proteins from adzuki bean ( Vigna angularis ) and faba bean ( Vicia faba) were thermally processed, and low molecular weight peptides (

To improve the textural properties of brown rice noodles and reduce the nutrient loss, slight milling combined with cellulase enzymatic (milling-enzyme) treatment was used to produce the rice noodles. The physicochemical compositions, pasting properties, mineral elements, vitamin B components and tocopherols of the rice flours and the texture profiles, cooking qualities, microstructure, glycaemic index (GI), total phenolic and vitamin contents of the rice noodles were investigated. Compared with the brown rice flour, the milling-enzyme treatment changed the physicochemical components and increased the pasting viscosities of the rice flour. The milling-enzyme rice noodles had similar texture profiles, cooking qualities and microstructure as the polished rice noodles. In addition, the milling-enzyme treatment improved the retention rates of dietary fibres, mineral elements and vitamins in the rice flour and yielded a lower GI value and higher total phenolic and vitamin contents in the rice noodles than in the polished ones.

This paper is concerned with the dynamical behavior of a hybrid switching SVIR epidemic model with vaccination and Levy noise. Besides a standard geometric Brownian motion, another two driving processes are considered: a stationary Poisson point process and a continuous time finite-state Markov chain. To begin with, we obtain sufficient conditions for persistence in the mean of the disease. Then we establish sufficient conditions for extinction of the disease. Furthermore, in the case of persistence, we also obtain sufficient conditions for the existence of positive recurrence of the solutions by constructing a suitable stochastic Lyapunov function with regime switching.

Aberrant activation of platelets has a critical role in thrombotic vascular events, including atherosclerosis, arterial thrombosis and myocardial infarction. The process of platelet activation is associated with multiple intracellular signaling pathways, including the phosphoinositide 3‑kinase/AKT serine/threonine kinase (Akt) pathway. The well‑known medicinal herb Rhizoma Ligusticum Wallichii (RLW) has long been used in China to clinically treat various cardiovascular disorders. As the most pharmacologically active component of RLW, ligustrazine has been demonstrated to possess a potent antiplatelet activity. However, the precise mechanisms mediating the bioactivities of ligustrazine have not been thoroughly elucidated. The present study evaluated the effects of ligustrazine hydrochloride (LH; the clinical‑grade form of ligustrazine) on platelet activation and investigated the underlying molecular mechanisms. In vitro and ex vivo platelet activation models were used, established by stimulating rat platelet‑rich plasma either with the platelet activator adenosine diphosphate (ADP) or with the specific Akt pathway activator insulin‑like growth factor‑1 (IGF‑1). The results demonstrated that treatment with LH significantly and dose‑dependently inhibited ADP‑induced platelet aggregation, in addition to thromboxane A2 (TXA2) secretion and intracellular Ca2+ mobilization in platelets, in vitro and ex vivo. In addition, LH markedly suppressed ADP‑induced Akt phosphorylation in vitro and ex vivo. Furthermore, LH markedly inhibited IGF‑1‑induced Akt phosphorylation, platelet aggregation, TXA2 formation and Ca2+ mobilization in vitro. Finally, LH was able to reverse adrenaline‑induced shortening of bleeding time. Taken together, these results suggested that ligustrazine possesses a broad range of antiplatelet activities without apparent hemorrhagic side-effects, and suppression of Akt signaling may be one of the mechanisms by which ligustrazine exerts its antiplatelet activities.

Essential hypertension (EH), a major cause of cardiovascular diseases, is an important public health issue. However, the molecular mechanisms involved in EH remain unknown. Circular RNA (circRNA) is a novel promising biomarker for the disease. The purpose of the present study was to determine the expression of circRNAs in the blood of EH patients and to evaluate the performance of circRNA for early diagnosis of EH. A total of 178 subjects were recruited in the case-control study. Initial screening was done by using the Agilent human circRNA microarray followed by qRT-PCR validation. Finally, miRNAs were combined with circRNAs to create a new early prediction model for EH. The expression level of hsa_circ_0126991 in EH patients was significantly higher in comparison with healthy controls (p < 0.0001). Using the interaction of miR-10a-5p in combination with hsa_circ_0126991 led to a sensitivity of 0.708, a specificity of 0.764, and combined area under the curve of 0.774 (95% CI: 0.705-0.843) for early diagnosis of EH. In summary, the present study uncovered a novel perspective that hyperexpression of hsa_circ_0126991 is correlated with the risk of EH and may serve as a stable biomarker for early diagnosis of EH.

The visualization of residential electricity consumption is the basis of energy-saving work, whose key is to understand the load and power consumption features of typical domestic electrical appliances on the user side. By analyzing various types of load features, some features with higher identification are selected as the main contents of load feature library. By constructing the electric data acquisition platform in the laboratory, the typical appliance power consumption data is collected to extract load features using a certain mathematical method, and then the load feature library is formed. Finally, a visual interface of load feature library is constructed by MATLAB in order to facilitate the invocation and analysis of load features and lay a foundation for subsequent load identification.

Objective The aim of the study was to investigate the biological role of growth arrest special 5 (GAS5) in the radio sensitivity of cervical cancer (CC). Methods The expressions of GAS5, miR-106b and immediate early response 3 (IER3) were detected in CC tissues and CC cell lines. RNA immunoprecipitation and RNA pull-down assays were performed to test the interaction of GAS5 and miR-106b. Dual-luciferase reporter assay was used to detect the regulatory relationship between miR-106b and IER3. The nude mouse model of CC was established for verifying the effects of GAS5 on the resistance of CC to radiation therapy in vivo. Results GAS5 and IER3 were low expressed in the radio-resistant human CC tissues and SiHa cells, while miR-106b expression was highly expressed. Overexpression of IER3 or GAS5 enhanced radio-sensitivity in SiHa cells, while knockdown of IER3 or GAS5 decreased radio-sensitivity in ME180 cells. Moreover, GAS5 served as a miR-106b sponge, and miR-106b negatively regulated IER3 expression. Besides, GAS5 could regulate IER3 expression through miR-106b, and GAS5 enhanced the radio-sensitivity in CC cells through inhibiting miR-106b both in vitro and in vivo. Conclusion Overexpression of GAS5 enhanced the sensitivity of CC cells to radiation treatment via up-regulating IER3 through miR-106b.

During embryogenesis and embryo implantation, the copy number of mtDNA is elaborately regulated to meet the cellular demand for division, growth and differentiation. With large numbers of mitochondria for energy production, placental cells possess strong endocrine functionalities and capacities for efficient signaling communication. Recently, several environmental epidemiological studies have shown an association between mitochondrial DNA copy number, adverse birth outcomes and maternal exposure to air pollution, which has shed light on the possible effect of pollutants on placental molecular events. Because the mtDNA replication is thought to be a direct drive of mtDNA change, we tried to highlight the essential factors involved in the process of mtDNA replication. Then we traced the mtDNA change in the formation of placenta during embryogenesis, and evaluated the importance of mitochondrial genome maintenance during gestation. The possible mechanism from the epidemiological and experimental studies were reviewed and summarized, and recommendations were proposed for future studies to improve the precision of the estimated difference. The issue will be well-understood if the integrated profiles, such as familial genetic tendency, maternal genetic information, identification of mitochondrial DNA copy number in each placental cell type, and total personal exposure assessment, are considered in the future study.

Rice α-globulin has been reported to possess anti-atherosclerotic activity, but the key peptides in the rice α-globulin and the underlying mechanisms remain unknown. The anti-atherosclerotic effects of the rice α-globulin peptides YYGGEGSSSEQG and SESEM were observed in apolipoprotein E-deficient (ApoE−/−) mice in this study. The synthetic peptides were orally administered to ApoE−/− mice at a dose of 100 mg/kg body weight. The lesion area in the aorta and the aortic root were significantly reduced by the peptides. The peptides increased the activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD) while decreased the level of malondialdehyde (MDA), as well as reducing the serum levels of TNF-α and vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1). The TNF-α induced vascular endothelial cells injury was decreased significantly by the peptide treatment in vitro. These results demonstrated that the YYGGEGSSSEQG and SESEM can potentially act as anti-atherosclerotic agents through a combination of three mechanisms: anti-apoptotic, anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory.

Lung cancer is one of the major causes of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Notably, miR-155-5p is one of the most amplified miRNAs in non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC). However, the role of miR-155-5p in lung cancer metastasis has not been fully evaluated. In the present study, miR-155-5p mimic and inhibitor were used to investigate the effects of miR-155-5p on the metastasis of human lung carcinoma A549 cells. The study indicated that transfection of miR-155-5p mimic significantly suppressed cell proliferation, migration and invasion of A549 cells, whereas its inhibition significantly promoted cell proliferation, migration and invasion of A549 cells, suggesting a potential therapeutic application of miR-155-5p in controlling lung cancer metastasis. Moreover, transfection of miR-155-5p mimic suppressed the expression of Smad2/3, ZEB1, ZEB2 and N-cadherin and induced that of E-cadherin, whereas its inhibition significantly upregulated the expression of Smad2/3, ZEB1, ZEB2 and N-cadherin and downregulated that of E-cadherin. Collectively, the findings suggest that miR-155-5p suppresses the proliferation, migration and invasion of A549 cells. Therefore, loss of miR-155-5p may serve an essential role in tumorigenesis and tumour progression in lung cancers.

Aim of this study was to investigate the effect of ultrasonic treatment on the biological activities of schizophyllan (SPG) from Schizophyllum commune. The immunoregulatory and antitumor activity in vitro and in vivo of SPG and ultrasonic-treated SPG (USPG) were evaluated by splenic lymphocytes, macrophages RAW264.7 and human breast carcinoma T-47D cells. Compared with SPG, USPG fractions had small molecular weight and narrow distribution. Meantime, more enhancement of NO production in macrophages RAW264.7, lymphocytes proliferation rates, IL-2 and TNF-α level from spleen lymphocytes and T-47D cells inhibition rates were observed in USPG fractions groups. This result indicated that the immune-enhancing and antitumor activity of SPG was significantly improved after ultrasonic treatment. USPG60 exhibited the highest biological activity in this study. In conclusion, application of ultrasonic technology on SPG preparation is an efficient approach to get high biological polysaccharide, and USPG60 might be a potential functional component for immunoregulatory and cancer treatment.

BACKGROUND The aim of present study was to investigate the hypocholesterolaemic effects of oat proteins (OP) in hamsters fed with a hypercholesterolaemic diet. The hamsters were divided into five groups and fed with the experimental diets containing oat, OP, oat β-glucan (OG), or OP+OG for 30 days. RESULTS OP and the OG significantly lowered the concentrations of plasma low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol and liver total cholesterol (TC), and increased the excretion of faecal bile acid and TC. Plasma and liver TC in the OP+OG group were significantly lower than those in the OP or OG groups. Both OP and OG increased the activity of liver cholesterol 7α-hydroxylase (CYP7A1), while its activity in the OP+OG group was strongly increased compared with the OP or OG groups. CONCLUSION These results indicated that dietary OP could improve hypercholesterolaemia, while dietary OP and OG together would have better hypocholesterolaemic effects. © 2015 Society of Chemical Industry

Liya Liu, Hao Yu, Lihong Huang, Fang Shao, Jianling Bai, Donghua Lou, Feng Chen Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, People’s Republic of China Background: The correlation between overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) has been evaluated in patients with metastatic or advanced gastric cancer who have received first-line and/or second-line chemotherapy. However, no corresponding analysis has been done for patients who have undergone third-line or later-line chemotherapy.Methods: A total of 303 patients from the Phase II/III studies of apatinib were pooled (the Phase II study as a training data set, the Phase III study as a testing data set). Landmark analyses of PFS at 2months from randomization were performed to minimize lead time bias. The Cox proportional hazard model was used to test for the significance effect of PFS rate at 2months in predicting OS. Additionally, the PFS/OS correlations were evaluated by the normal induced copula (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) estimation model.Results: The median OS was 3.37months (95% confidence interval 2.63–3.80) in patients who experienced progression at 2months and 5.67months in patients who did not (95% confidence interval 4.83–6.67; P

BACKGROUND β-Glucan is widely considered to be the major ingredient responsible for the hypolipidaemic effects of oat. Determination of the β-glucan content in naked oat cultivars in China has been largely performed for breeding and food processing. Since oat is generally consumed as oat flakes in China, evaluation of the bioactivity of oat flakes might be more direct and comprehensive than determination of the internal β-glucan. However, the hypolipidaemic activity of oat flakes processed from Chinese oat cultivars has rarely been reported. RESULTS The nutritional components of four naked oat cultivars were analysed before they were processed to oat flakes. The hypolipidaemic effects of oat flakes and the extracted β-glucans were tested on rats fed a high-fat diet for 30 days. Oat flakes and β-glucans of different origins showed different preventative effects on hyperlipidaemia. Among the four cultivars, β-glucan of ‘Bayou-1’ showed the greatest hypolipidaemic effect. However, oat flake processed from ‘Dingyou-7’ showed the best bioactivity to mediate the increase of serum lipid. CONCLUSION The hypolipidaemic effect of oat might not only depend on β-glucan, but might also be related to other components. ‘Dingyou-7’ might be suitable for oat flake processing because of its superior bioactivity. © 2015 Society of Chemical Industry

Molecular weight degradation effects of schizophyllan (SPG) under ultrasonic treatments were investigated in this study. The degradation product was treated by alcohol fractional precipitation technology, and the molecular weight and rheological properties of ultrasonic-treated SPG (USPG) fractions were evaluated. Average molecular weight of SPG decreased significantly after ultrasonic treatments, and degradation product had more narrow distribution of molecular weight. The molecular weight degradation kinetics of SPG is adequately described by a second-order reaction. USPG fractions with different molecular weight were obtained by fractional precipitation for final alcohol concentration fractions 0–40%, 40–60% and 60–80%, respectively. USPG fractions had near-Newtonian flow behaviors, and USPG80% exhibited viscous responses over the entire accessible frequency range. Therefore, ultrasonic treatment is a viable modification technology for SPG and other polymer materials with high molecular weight.

To investigate the effects of semidry-milling on the quality attributes of rice flour and rice noodles, the properties of rice flours and cooking properties of rice noodles prepared with wet-, dry- and semidry-milled rice flours were characterized. The level of starch damage of semidry-milled rice flour at 30% moisture was significantly decreased to the level of wet-milled rice flour (P

Objective. The objective of this study was to evaluate the molecular mechanism by which Qianliening capsule (QC) treats benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH).Methods. Benign prostatic hyperplasia epithelial cell line BPH-1 was treated with 0, 1.25, 2.5, and 5 mg/mL QC for 48 h, respectively. Evaluation of cell viability and observation of morphologic changes of BPH-1 cell gene expression and miRNA expression profiles were analyzed. Real-time quantitative PCR was used to confirm changes in miRNA and gene expression. GO and KEGG pathway-based approaches were used to investigate biological functions and signaling pathways affected by differentially expressed mRNAs.Results. QC inhibited BPH-1 cell proliferation. Differential expression of 19 upregulated and 2 downregulated miRNAs was observed in QC-treated BPH-1 cells compared to untreated control cells. 107 upregulated and 71 downregulated genes were identified between the two groups. Significantly enriched signaling pathways based on deregulated mRNAs were mainly involved in regulation of cell proliferation, apoptosis, and so on. Additionally, miRNA-mRNA network analysis integrated these miRNAs and genes by outlining interactions of miRNA and related genes.Conclusion. The study was the first report of differentially expressed miRNA and mRNA in QC-treated BPH-1 cells.

Crude longan polysaccharide (CLP) was extracted from longan (Dimocarpus longan Lour.) pulp. Its chemical composition was determined by chemical analysis, high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and gel permeation chromatography (GPC). The flow and viscoelastic behavior of a CLP solution was investigated by carrying out steady shear and small amplitude oscillatory shear (SAOS) experiments, respectively. The results showed that the CLP solution was a polysaccharide–protein complex. The rheology experiments showed that it underwent a pseudoplastic flow at various shear rates (0.1–100 s−1). Both the flow behavior and viscoelastic behavior of CLP were influenced by cations such as Na+ and Ca2+. Increases of the apparent viscosity, G′ and G′′ accompanied the addition of Na+ and Ca2+. A polysaccharide named LPB-2-M was obtained from isolation and purification of CLP; this polysaccharide was shown to consist of a single component due to the narrow molecular weight distribution, which was evident by the polydispersity index (PDI = Mw/Mn). The average molecular weight (Mw) of LPB-2-M was 80 kDa.

Patrinia scabiosaefolia (PS) has long been used as an important component in traditional Chinese medicine formulas to treat gastrointestinal malignancies including colorectal cancer (CRC). We recently reported that PS can inhibit CRC growth through induction of apoptosis and inhibition of tumor angiogenesis. To further elucidate the mode of action of PS, in the present study, we used a CRC mouse xenograft model and a human CRC cell line HT-29 to evaluate the effect of the ethanol extract of PS (EEPS) on cancer cell proliferation and investigated the underlying molecular mechanisms. We found that EEPS inhibited CRC growth both in vivo and in vitro, which was associated with the inhibitory effects of EEPS on cancer cell proliferation. In addition, EEPS treatment significantly blocked G1 to S phase cell cycle progression in HT-29 cells. Moreover, EEPS treatment decreased the expression of pro-proliferative CyclinD1 and CDK4, at both the mRNA and protein levels. Thus, inhibition of cell proliferation via G1/S cell cycle arrest might be a potential mechanism whereby PS effectively treats cancers.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is characterized by uncontrolled proliferation and the deregulation of apoptotic signaling, although its molecular pathogenesis is not fully characterized. The ability to inhibit excessive proliferation and induce the apoptosis of cancer cells are crucial characteristics of anticancer drugs. Pien Tze Huang (PZH) is a widely used traditional Chinese medicine for the treatment of various types of cancer, and has exhibited promising therapeutic effects in clinical trials of HCC. However, the underlying mechanisms for its action are unclear. In the present study, the aim was to explore the effect of PZH on the proliferation and apoptosis of the BEL-7402 HCC cell line, and the associated mechanisms. PZH treatment significantly inhibited BEL-7402 cell viability, confluence and clonogenicity, inducing cell cycle arrest and promoting apoptosis. In addition, PZH treatment suppressed the expression of the pro-proliferative genes cyclin D1 and cyclin-dependent kinase 4, and decreased the expression of the anti-apoptotic gene Bcl-2. PZH treatment also upregulated the expression of a key microRNA (miR), miR-16. The study demonstrated that PZH can effectively inhibit cancer cell proliferation and induce apoptosis in BEL-7402 HCC cells via the upregulation of the tumor suppressor miR-16.

To evaluate the inhibitory effect of bear bile powder (BBP) on hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) growth in vivo and investigate the underlying mechanisms. A HCC xenograft mouse model was developed by producing with huh7 cells. After 5 days following xenograft implantation, ten HCC xenograft mice were given intra-gastric administration with 10 mg/(kg•d) dose of BBP or saline for 3 weeks. Tumor growth in HCC xenograft mice was evaluated by measuring the tumor weight and volume. Cell apoptosis, proliferation or tumor angiogenesis were examined via immunohistochemical (IHC) staining for transferase-mediated deoxyuridine triphosphate-biotin nick end labeling (TUNEL), proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) or cluster of differentiation 31 (CD31), respectively. Phosphorylation of signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) were determined by Western blot. The mRNA and protein expressions of Bcl-2, Bax, Cyclin D1 and Cyclin-dependent kinase 4 (CDK4) in HCC tumor tissues were respectively determined by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and Western blot. The protein expression of vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGF-A) in tumor tissues was examined by IHC staining. BBP treatment led to a significant decrease on tumor volume and tumor weight in HCC mice (P

In the past few years, genome-wide association study (GWAS) has made great successes in identifying genetic susceptibility loci underlying many complex diseases and traits. The findings provide important genetic insights into understanding pathogenesis of diseases. In this paper, we present an overview of widely used approaches and strategies for analysis of GWAS, offered a general consideration to deal with GWAS data. The issues regarding data quality control, population structure, association analysis, multiple comparison and visual presentation of GWAS results are discussed; other advanced topics including the issue of missing heritability, meta-analysis, set-based association analysis, copy number variation analysis and GWAS cohort analysis are also briefly introduced.

Summary It is believed that rare variants play an important role in human phenotypes; however, the detection of rare variants is extremely challenging due to their very low minor allele frequency. In this paper, the likelihood ratio test (LRT) and restricted likelihood ratio test (ReLRT) are proposed to test the association of rare variants based on the linear mixed effects model, where a group of rare variants are treated as random effects. Like the sequence kernel association test (SKAT), a state-of-the-art method for rare variant detection, LRT and ReLRT can effectively overcome the problem of directionality of effect inherent in the burden test in practice. By taking full advantage of the spectral decomposition, exact finite sample null distributions for LRT and ReLRT are obtained by simulation. We perform extensive numerical studies to evaluate the performance of LRT and ReLRT, and compare to the burden test, SKAT and SKAT-O. The simulations have shown that LRT and ReLRT can correctly control the type I error, and the controls are robust to the weights chosen and the number of rare variants under study. LRT and ReLRT behave similarly to the burden test when all the causal rare variants share the same direction of effect, and outperform SKAT across various situations. When both positive and negative effects exist, LRT and ReLRT suffer from few power reductions compared to the other two competing methods; under this case, an additional finding from our simulations is that SKAT-O is no longer the optimal test, and its power is even lower than that of SKAT. The exome sequencing SNP data from Genetic Analysis Workshop 17 were employed to illustrate the proposed methods, and interesting results are described.

To evaluate the effects of naked oat cultivars on their phenolic contents and antioxidant activities, the oat seeds from 21 different cultivars in China were collected, and their major nutritional components, compositions of polyphenols, and antioxidant activities were measured. As the results, oat cultivars affected its phenolic composition and antioxidant activity significantly. Vanillin, chlorogenic acid, ferulic acid, avenanthramide C (Bc), avenanthramide A (Bp), and avenanthramide B (Bf) in oat polyphenols extracts were detected in all cultivars of oat, while caffeic acid, p-coumaric acid and rutin were partly detected. All oat cultivars showed significant free radical scavenging activity, although their activities were lower than that of vitamin C (VC). Different oat varieties showed different antioxidant activities, among which Yanke 1 had the best ability to scavenge ·OH ((58.78±1.99) μg mL−1), Baiyan 10 showed the strongest DPPH· ((22.00±0.43) μg mL−1) and ABTS·+ ((6.92±0.44) μg mL−1) scavenging activity, and Dingyou 1 showed good scavenging ability of DPPH· ((22.71±0.42) μg mL−1) and ·OH ((81.50±1.73) μg mL−1). In addition, the correlation coefficients of contents between the major nutritional components in different cultivars of oat and phenolic compounds indicated that determination of main nutrients could be used as an easy technique to evaluate approximately the contents and compositions of oat polyphenols, which simplifies the selection of good oat cultivar.

One of the most common causes of chronic liver disease, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), is strongly associated with obesity and dysregulated insulin action in the liver. However, there are no pharmacological agents currently established for the treatment of NAFLD. A flowering plant in the Asteraceae family, Cirsium japonicum (CJ), exhibits a variety of pharmacological and antioxidative properties that promote hepatoprotection. In the present study, CJ ethanol extract was shown to reduce hepatic triglyceride (TG) and cholesterol accumulation. CJ significantly increased AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) phosphorylation in HepG2 hepatocytes and downregulated the level of the target genes, acetyl-CoA carboxylase and fatty acid synthase. In addition, CJ upregulated the expression of carnitine palmitoyltransferase-1, which is involved in fatty acid oxidation. The results of the present study indicated that the positive effects of CJ extract on high-fat diet-induced hepatic TG accumulation were mediated via the AMPK signaling pathway, indicating a potential target for the preventative treatment of NAFLD.

Recent literature has attempted to apply Extreme Value Theory (EVT) in the identification of currency crises. However, these approaches seem to have confused the thresholds in extreme modeling with the cutoffs of currency crises. Our paper proposes a Return Level Identification Approach, also based on EVT but overcoming this pitfall. Besides, it includes the conventional identification approach in the most literature as a special case, but relaxes the embedded normality assumption. A detailed procedure is outlined to demonstrate the implementation of the new approach, further illustrated by an empirical study on identifying the currency crises of China. Results are compared and evaluated by different approaches, and reveal remarkable improvement of our approach. We further combine our method with Early Warning Systems and the second-generation crisis models. Results demonstrate better performance of models with crises identified by our approach than those by conventional approach and also the necessity to include market-expectation variables in the prediction.

The traditional Chinese medicine formula Pien Tze Huang (PZH) has long been used as a folk remedy for cancer. To elucidate the mode of action of PZH against cancer, in the present study we used a 5-FU resistant human colorectal carcinoma cell line (HCT-8/5-FU) to evaluate the effects of PZH on multidrug resistance (MDR) and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) as well as the activation of TGF-βpathway. We found that PZH dose-dependently inhibited the viability of HCT-8/5-FU cells which were insensitive to treatment of 5-FU and ADM, demonstrating the ability of PZH to overcome chemoresistance. Furthermore, PZH increased the intercellular accumulation of Rhodamine-123 and downregulated the expression of ABCG2 in HCT-8/5-FU cells. In addition, drug resistance induced the process of EMT in HCT-8 cells as evidenced by EMT-related morphological changes and alteration in the expression of EMT-regulatory factors, which however was neutralized by PZH treatment. Moreover, PZH inhibited MDR/EMT-enhanced migration and invasion capabilities of HCT-8 cells in a dose-dependent manner and suppressed MDR-induced activation of TGF-βsignaling in HCT-8/5-FU cells. Taken together, our study suggests that PZH can effectively overcome MDR and inhibit EMT in human colorectal carcinoma cells via suppression of the TGF-βpathway.

The aim of the present study is to investigate the hypocholesterolemic effect of dietary oat oil in rats, fed with a hypercholesterolemic diet. The rats were divided into three groups and fed with the experiment diets for 30days, containing soybean oil, oat oil, or rice bran oil at a dose of 70g/kg. It was found that the oat oil lowered plasma total and LDL-cholesterol, and also reduced liver total, free cholesterol, cholesterol ester, and triglycerides concentrations significantly, as well as rice bran oil. Moreover, the faecal weight, total lipids, and bile acids concentrations, in the oat oil and rice bran oil groups, were significantly increased compared with that in the soybean oil group. We can conclude that dietary oat oil improves hypercholesterolemia in rats fed a hypercholesterolemic diet, by promoting excretions of faecal lipids and bile acids.