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Abstract Golden buckwheat, also called Fagopyrum dibotrys (D. Don) H. Hara, is a plant of the genus Buckwheat in the buckwheat family. The aim of this study was to screen the bioactive ingredients of golden buckwheat extract and investigate the protective effect on acute lung injury (ALI). The ethyl acetate extract (EAE) was identified as the active fraction in LPS‐induced RAW264.7 cells, with gallic acid, proanthocyanidin B2, and epicatechin at 0.0563%, 0.3707%, and 0.3868%, respectively. At the same time, 20 compounds (mainly flavonoids and organic acids) were identified by UPLC‐Q‐Exactive Orbitrap‐HRMS in EAE. Furthermore, the EAE reduced lung histopathology scores in mice with ALI, decreased the dry‐to‐wet weight ratio of lung tissue, and significantly inhibited the concentrations of IL‐1β, TNFα, and IL‐6 in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF). It also reduced the number of leukocytes, decreased the activity of MPO in lung tissue, and inhibited the levels of TLR4/NLRP3 pathway mRNA and protein in lung tissue. Our study indicated that golden buckwheat as a source of functional food prevents or treats associated lung diseases by modulating the activation of the TLR4/NLRP3 signaling pathway.

AbstractContext Diabetic kidney disease (DKD) affects nearly 40% of diabetic patients, often leading to end-stage renal disease that requires renal replacement therapies, such as dialysis and transplantation. The gut microbiota, an integral aspect of human evolution, plays a crucial role in this condition. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has shown promising outcomes in ameliorating DKD by addressing the gut microbiota.Objective This review elucidates the modifications in gut microbiota observed in DKD and explores the impact of TCM interventions on correcting microbial dysregulation.Methods We searched relevant articles from databases including Web of Science, PubMed, ScienceDirect, Wiley, and Springer Nature. The following keywords were used: diabetic kidney disease, diabetic nephropathy, gut microbiota, natural product, TCM, Chinese herbal medicine, and Chinese medicinal herbs. Rigorous criteria were applied to identify high-quality studies on TCM interventions against DKD.Results Dysregulation of the gut microbiota, including Lactobacillus, Streptococcus, and Clostridium, has been observed in individuals with DKD. Key indicators of microbial dysregulation include increased uremic solutes and decreased short-chain fatty acids. Various TCM therapies, such as formulas, tablets, granules, capsules, and decoctions, exhibit unique advantages in regulating the disordered microbiota to treat DKD.Conclusion This review highlights the importance of targeting the gut-kidney axis to regulate microbial disorders, their metabolites, and associated signaling pathways in DKD. The Qing-Re-Xiao-Zheng formula, the Shenyan Kangfu tablet, the Huangkui capsule, and the Bekhogainsam decoction are potential candidates to address the gut-kidney axis. TCM interventions offer a significant therapeutic approach by targeting microbial dysregulation in patients with DKD.

Abstract American ginseng (Panax quinquefolius L.) contains various biological macromolecules, such as polysaccharides, saponins, and proteins, which have various pharmacological activities, including antioxidant, anti‐inflammatory, and hypoglycemic effects. Consequently, the utilization of novel processing technologies developed an American ginseng beverage to meet people's health needs and the preferences of young people. This study was the first to use American ginseng as a primary raw material, utilizing a three‐step enzymatic hydrolysis approach with cellulase, pectinase, amylase, maltase, and flavor protease enzymes to prepare an American ginseng beverage. The basic nutritional and active ingredient contents of the product were determined. The antioxidant activity of enzymatic beverages was evaluated by calculating the free radical clearance rates of DPPH and ABTS, and the effect of enzymatic beverages on α‐glucosidase activity was also tested. The anti‐inflammatory activity of RAW264.7 cells induced by LPS was evaluated by measuring the production of NO, TNF‐α, and IL‐6 during the enzymatic hydrolysis process. The results indicated that the nutritional components of American ginseng beverage products met the beverage industry standards. Moreover, the application of enzymatic hydrolysis technology had improved the antioxidant and anti‐inflammatory activities of American ginseng beverages. In addition, the enzymatic beverage of American ginseng exhibited certain hypoglycemic activity. Consequently, the established enzymatic hydrolysis technology provided a reference for the production of other beverage products.

Abstract Background The implantation of left ventricular assist devices (LVADs) as a bridge to transplantation or as destination therapy in end-stage heart failure patients is frequently complicated by the emergence of ventricular arrhythmias (VAs). These arrhythmias have been implicated in precipitating deleterious clinical outcomes, increased mortality rates and augmented healthcare expenditures. Case Presentation We present a challenging case of a 49-year-old male with a history of dilated cardiomyopathy who received an LVAD. Post-implantation, the patient suffered from intractable VAs, leading to multiple rehospitalizations and hemodynamic deterioration. Despite exhaustive medical management and electrical cardioversion attempts, the patient’s VAs persisted, ultimately necessitating prioritization for cardiac transplantation. Discussion This case highlights the challenges in managing VAs in LVAD patients and the importance of multidisciplinary collaboration. While pharmacological intervention is the initial strategy, catheter ablation may be considered in selected cases when medication is insufficient. In instances of intractable VAs, expeditious listing for heart transplantation as a high-priority candidate is advisable when feasible.

In order to elucidate the sound source characteristics during the noise propagation process of converter transformers, a series of experimental studies were conducted based on finite element simulation and proportional prototype design of converter transformers. It was found that it was unreasonable to equate converter transformers with point sound sources in previous studies. On the contrary, it should be divided into dipole and multipole distribution characteristics. Meanwhile, research has found that the noise distribution of converter transformers exhibits dipole and dipole distribution characteristics under power frequency and harmonic excitation, respectively. The contribution of harmonic components at different frequencies in the formation process of bipolar sound sources was quantified through simulation and experiments, and the key harmonic frequencies for forming multipole sound sources were determined as paired combinations of 5, 7, 11, 13, 23, and 25. Based on the above research conclusions, a noise reduction approach for converter transformers based on bipolar and multipole boundary effects is proposed.

Abstract Background The GRAS transcription factor family plays a crucial role in various biological processes in different plants, such as tissue development, fruit maturation, and environmental stress. However, the GRAS family in rye has not been systematically analyzed yet. Results In this study, 67 GRAS genes in S. cereale were identified and named based on the chromosomal location. The gene structures, conserved motifs, cis-acting elements, gene replications, and expression patterns were further analyzed. These 67 ScGRAS members are divided into 13 subfamilies. All members include the LHR I, VHIID, LHR II, PFYRE, and SAW domains, and some nonpolar hydrophobic amino acid residues may undergo cross-substitution in the VHIID region. Interested, tandem duplications may have a more important contribution, which distinguishes them from other monocotyledonous plants. To further investigate the evolutionary relationship of the GRAS family, we constructed six comparative genomic maps of homologous genes between rye and different representative monocotyledonous and dicotyledonous plants. The response characteristics of 19 ScGRAS members from different subfamilies to different tissues, grains at filling stages, and different abiotic stresses of rye were systematically analyzed. Paclobutrazol, a triazole-based plant growth regulator, controls plant tissue and grain development by inhibiting gibberellic acid (GA) biosynthesis through the regulation of DELLA proteins. Exogenous spraying of paclobutrazol significantly reduced the plant height but was beneficial for increasing the weight of 1000 grains of rye. Treatment with paclobutrazol, significantly reduced gibberellin levels in grain in the filling period, caused significant alteration in the expression of the DELLA subfamily gene members. Furthermore, our findings with respect to genes, ScGRAS46 and ScGRAS60, suggest that these two family members could be further used for functional characterization studies in basic research and in breeding programmes for crop improvement. Conclusions We identified 67 ScGRAS genes in rye and further analysed the evolution and expression patterns of the encoded proteins. This study will be helpful for further analysing the functional characteristics of ScGRAS genes.

Thinned unripe kiwifruits (TUK) are considered the major agro by-products in kiwifruit production. To promote their potential applications, polyphenols and biological effects of unripe fruits from nine commercial kiwifruit cultivars were compared. Our findings showed that TUK were rich in bioactive polyphenols, which varied greatly by different cultivars. Indeed, catechin, epicatechin, procyanidin PB1, procyanidin B2, protocatechuic acid, neochlorogenic acid, and gallic acid were measured as the major phenolic components in most TUK, with the highest levels observed in ‘Hongao’ and ‘Cuiyu’ cultivars. Furthermore, TUK exerted strong in vitro antioxidant capacities, inhibitory effects on digestive enzymes, and anti-inflammatory activities. Particularly, their stronger antioxidant effects and inhibitory effects on digestive enzymes were probably attributed to their higher contents of phenolic compounds, especially procyanidin B2. Collectively, our findings reveal that TUK are potential resources of valuable polyphenols, which can be exploited as natural antioxidants and natural inhibitors of α-glucosidase and α-amylase.

Buckwheat sprouts are rich in pectic polysaccharides, which possess numerous health-improving benefits. However, the precise structure–activity relationship of pectic polysaccharides from Tartary buckwheat sprouts (TP) is still scant, which ultimately restricts their applications in the food industry. Hence, both ultrasound-assisted Fenton treatment (UAFT) and mild alkali treatment (MATT) were utilized for the modification of TP, and then the effects of physicochemical characteristics of original and modified TPs on their bioactivities were assessed. Our findings reveled that the UAFT treatment could precisely reduce TP’s molecular weight, with the levels decreased from 8.191 × 104 Da to 0.957 × 104 Da. Meanwhile, the MATT treatment could precisely reduce TP’s esterification degree, with the values decreased from 28.04 % to 4.72 %. Nevertheless, both UAFT and MATT treatments had limited effects on the backbone and branched chain of TP. Moreover, our findings unveiled that the UAFT treatment could notably promote TP’s antioxidant, antiglycation, and immunostimulatory effects, while remarkedly reduce TP’s anti-hyperlipidemic effect, which were probably owing to that the UAFT treatment obviously reduced TP’s molecular weight. Additionally, the MATT treatment could also promote TP’s immunostimulatory effect, which was probably attributed to that the MATT treatment significantly decreased TP’s esterification degree. Interestingly, the MATT treatment could regulate TP’s antioxidant and antiglycation effects, which was probably attributed to that the MATT treatment simultaneously reduced its esterification degree and bound phenolics. Our findings are conducive to understanding TP’s structure–activity relationship, and can afford a scientific theoretical basis for the development of functional or healthy products based on TPs. Besides, the UAFT treatment can be a promising approach for the modification of TP to improve its biological functions.

Tartary buckwheat (Fagopyrum tataricum (L.) Gaertn) leaf has abundant rhamnogalacturonan-I enriched pectic polysaccharides, which exert various health-promoting effects. Nevertheless, the potential relationship between the chemical structure and the biological function of pectic polysaccharides from Tartary buckwheat leaves (TBP) remains unclear. Therefore, to bridge the gap between the chemical structure and the biological function of TBP, the impacts of ultrasound-assisted Fenton degradation (UFD) and mild alkaline de-esterification (MAD) on structural properties and biological effects of TBP were systematically studied. Compared with the native TBP (molecular mass, 9.537 × 104 Da), the molecular masses of degraded TBPs (TBP-MMW, 4.811 × 104 Da; TBP-LMW, 2.101 × 104 Da) were significantly reduced by the UFD modification, while their primary chemical structures were overall stable. Besides, compared with the native TBP (esterification degree, 22.73 %), the esterification degrees of de-esterified TBPs (TBP-MDE, 14.27 %; TBP-LDE, 6.59 %) were notably reduced by the MAD modification, while their primary chemical structures were also overall stable. Furthermore, the results revealed that both UFD and MAD modifications could significantly improve the antioxidant, antiglycation, and immunostimulatory effects of TBP. Indeed, TBP’s biological effects were negatively correlated to its molecular mass and esterification degree, while positively linked to its free uronic acids. The findings demonstrate that both UFD and MAD modifications are promising techniques for the structural modification of TBP, which can remarkedly promote its biological effects. Besides, the present results are conducive to better understanding TBP’s structure-bioactivity relationship.

The influence of uranium (U) mining on the fungal diversity (FD) and communities (FC) structure was investigated in this work. Our results revealed that soil FC richness and FD indicators obviously decreased due to U, such as Chao1, observed OTUs and Shannon index (P

A special microenvironment called the “pre-metastatic niche” is thought to help primary tumor cells migrate to new tissues and invade them, in part because the normal barrier function of the vascular endothelium is compromised. While the primary tumor itself can promote the creation of such niches by secreting pro-metastatic factors, the underlying molecular mechanisms are still poorly understood. Here, we show that the injection of primary tumor-secreted pro-metastatic factors from B16F10 melanoma or 4T1 breast cancer cells into healthy mice can induce the destruction of the vascular endothelial glycocalyx, which is a polysaccharide coating on the vascular endothelial lumen that normally inhibits tumor cell passage into and out of the circulation. However, when human umbilical vein endothelial cultures were treated in vitro with these secreted pro-metastatic factors, no significant destruction of the glycocalyx was observed, implying that this destruction requires a complex in vivo microenvironment. The tissue section analysis revealed that secreted pro-metastatic factors could clearly upregulate macrophage-related molecules such as CD11b and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) in the heart, liver, spleen, lung, and kidney, which is associated with the upregulation and activation of heparanase. In addition, macrophage depletion significantly attenuated the degradation of the vascular endothelial glycocalyx induced by secreted pro-metastatic factors. This indicates that the secreted pro-metastatic factors that destroy the vascular endothelial glycocalyx rely primarily on macrophages. Our findings suggest that the formation of pre-metastatic niches involves degradation of the vascular endothelial glycocalyx, which may hence be a useful target for developing therapies to inhibit cancer metastasis.

Quantitative analysis of coal maceral is crucial for objectively evaluating the properties and quality of coal, thereby enabling its efficient utilization. However, due to irregularities in operation or broken tools, it is easy to cause the scratch of the polished grain mounts, which affects the further automatic analysis, and the re-making of the polished grain mounts will cause the waste of manpower and resources. In view of this, in order to repair scratch areas in coal photomicrographs, a deep learning-based photomicrographs scratch detection and repair strategy is proposed. Firstly, a dual-attention model combining spatial attention and channel attention is designed for scratch detection, which fully mines the semantic information of coal photomicrographs and integrates it with U-Net semantic segmentation network to improve the accuracy of scratch detection. Then, to address the issue of texture differences between the scratch-removed areas and surrounding areas in image repair algorithms based on patch matching, a coal photomicrographs restoration network combining contextual attention and generative adversarial learning is designed. The network adaptively fills the scratched area of coal with reasonable content and improves the quality of image restoration. Experimental results show that the average pixel accuracy and mean Intersection over Union for scratch detection reached 90.93% and 83.95%, respectively, while the peak signal-to-noise ratio and structural similarity (SSIM) of the repaired images reached 43.29 dB and 99.32%, respectively. Compared to traditional patch-matching-based algorithms, these represent improvements of 8.76 dB and 1.65%, respectively, verifying the effectiveness of the proposed scratch detection and repair method.

Tartary buckwheat (Fagopyrum tataricum (L.) Gaertn) is a crop of significant interest due to its nutritional value and resilience to drought conditions. However, drought, particularly following flowering, is a major factor contributing to yield reduction. This research employed two distinct Tartary buckwheat genotypes to investigate the effects of post-anthesis drought on growth and physicochemical characteristics. The study aimed to elucidate the response of Tartary buckwheat to drought stress. The findings indicated that post-anthesis drought adversely impacted the growth, morphology, and biomass accumulation of Tartary buckwheat. Drought stress enhanced the maximum photosynthetic capacity (Fv/Fm) and light protection ability (NPQ) of the ‘Xiqiao-2’ genotype. In response to drought stress, ‘Dingku-1’ and ‘Xiqiao-2’ maintained osmotic balance by accumulating soluble sugars and proline, respectively. Notably, ‘Xiqiao-2’ exhibited elevated levels of flavonoids and polyphenols in its leaves, which helped mitigate oxidative damage caused by drought. Furthermore, rewatering after a brief drought period significantly improved plant height, stem diameter, and biomass accumulation in ‘Dingku-1’. Overall, ‘Xiqiao-2’ demonstrated greater long-term tolerance to post-anthesis drought, while ‘Dingku-1’ was less adversely affected by short-term post-anthesis drought.

At present, the optimization of public transportation networks and vehicle scheduling are carried out independently in stages. However, through analysis, it has been found that scheduling information such as route schedules is an important factor related to passenger route selection. Therefore, in order to further improve the optimization effect, this article proposes an innovative idea of simultaneously optimizing the line network and scheduling. Based on the construction of a real–virtual public transportation network, this article constructs a synchronous optimization model for the line network and scheduling by considering both passenger waiting and on-board time. To achieve the consideration of passengers for different route choices, a shortest path traversal algorithm based on Yen was proposed to analyze the number and weight of the shortest paths between the same OD, and a genetic algorithm was used to solve the model. Finally, the effectiveness of the model was verified through numerical examples, and the results showed that synchronous optimization was superior to phased optimization: the passenger time cost was reduced by 21.5%, the bus operation cost was reduced by 13.7%, and the total bus system cost was reduced by 18.0%.

Yellow wine fermented from highland barley is an alcoholic beverage with high nutritional value. However, the industrialization of barley yellow wine has been constrained to a certain extent due to the lack of a systematic starter culture. Therefore, the present study aims to simulate barley yellow wine fermentation using a starter culture consisting of Rhizopus arrhizus, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Pichia kudriavzevii, and Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus. In this study, changes in enzyme activity, fermentation characteristics, volatile substance production, and amino acid content during the fermentation of highland barley yellow wine brewed with different starter cultures were evaluated. The results of this study show that regulating the proportion of mixed starter bacteria can effectively control the various stages of the fermentation process and improve the organoleptic characteristics and quality of yellow wine to varying degrees. Additionally, we found that the addition of probiotics could effectively improve the palatability of yellow wine. To the best of our knowledge, we have validated for the first time the use of the above multispecies starter culture, consisting of R. arrhizus, S. cerevisiae, P. kudriavzevii, and L. rhamnosus, in the production of highland barley yellow wine. The obtained findings provided reference data for optimizing highland barley yellow wine fermentation.

Objectives The objective of this study was to evaluate the early predictors of bacterial pneumonia infection in children with congenital heart disease (CHD) after cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB).Design Retrospective study.Setting A freestanding tertiary paediatric hospital in China.Participants Patients admitted to the hospital due to CHD who underwent open-heart surgery.Outcome measures We retrospectively reviewed and analysed data from 1622 patients with CHD after CPB from June 2018 to December 2020 at the Children’s Hospital of Nanjing Medical University. Enrolled patients were assigned to an infection group or a non-infection group according to the presence of postoperative bacterial pneumonia infection, and the differences in clinical indicators were compared. Potential predictors were analysed by multivariate logistic regression analysis and area under the curve (AUC) analysis.Results Among the 376 patients (23.2%) in the infection group, the three most common bacteria were Streptococcus pneumoniae in 67 patients (17.8%), Escherichia coli in 63 patients (16.8%) and Haemophilus influenzae in 53 patients (14.1%). The infection group exhibited a lower weight (8.0 (6.0–11.5) kg vs 11.0 (7.5–14.5) kg, p

Arachidonic acid (AA) is a main component of cell membrane lipids. AA is mainly metabolized by three enzymes: cyclooxygenase (COX), lipoxygenase (LOX) and cytochrome P450 (CYP450). Esterified AA is hydrolysed by phospholipase A2 into a free form that is further metabolized by COX, LOX and CYP450 to a wide range of bioactive mediators, including prostaglandins, lipoxins, thromboxanes, leukotrienes, hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acids and epoxyeicosatrienoic acids. Increased mitochondrial oxidative stress is considered to be a central mechanism in the pathophysiology of the kidney. Along with increased oxidative stress, apoptosis, inflammation and tissue fibrosis drive the progressive loss of kidney function, affecting the glomerular filtration barrier and the tubulointerstitium. Recent studies have shown that AA and its active derivative eicosanoids play important roles in the regulation of physiological kidney function and the pathogenesis of kidney disease. These factors are potentially novel biomarkers, especially in the context of their involvement in inflammatory processes and oxidative stress. In this review, we introduce the three main metabolic pathways of AA and discuss the molecular mechanisms by which these pathways affect the progression of acute kidney injury (AKI), diabetic nephropathy (DN) and renal cell carcinoma (RCC). This review may provide new therapeutic targets for the identification of AKI to CKD continuum.

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a high-incidence neurodegenerative disorder, characterized by cognitive impairment, memory loss, and psychiatric abnormalities. Ganoderma lucidum is a famous medicinal fungus with a long history of dietary intake, containing various bioactive components, and have been documented to exhibit antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-tumor, anti-aging, and immunomodulatory effects, among others. Recent studies have shown that G. lucidum and its components have promising therapeutic potential against AD from various aspects, which can delay the progression of AD, improve cognitive function and quality of life. The underlying mechanisms mainly include inhibiting tau hyperphosphorylation, inhibiting Aβ formation, affecting activated microglia, regulating NF-κB/MAPK signalling pathway, inhibiting neuronal apoptosis, modulating immune system, and inhibiting acetylcholinesterase, etc. This paper systematically reviewed the relevant studies on the therapeutic potential of G. lucidum and its active components for treatment of AD, key points related with the mechanism studies and clinical trials have been discussed, and further perspectives have been proposed. Totally, as a natural medicinal mushroom, G. lucidum has the potential to be developed as effective adjuvant for AD treatment owing to its therapeutic efficacy against multiple pathogenesis of AD. Further mechanical investigation and clinical trials can help unlock the complete potential of G. lucidum as a therapeutic option for AD.

To promote the potentially industrial applications of thinned unripe kiwifruits, two deep eutectic solvent-based methods, including deep eutectic solvent-assisted extraction (DAE) and microwave-assisted deep eutectic solvent extraction (MDE), were optimized for the extraction of polysaccharides from thinned unripe kiwifruits (YKP). Results showed that the yields of YKP-D prepared by DAE and YKP-DM prepared by MDE were extremely higher than YKP-H prepared by hot water extraction. Furthermore, YKP-H, YKP-D, and YKP-DM were mainly composed of pectic polysaccharides, including homogalacturonan (HG) and rhamnogalacturonan I (RG I) domains. Besides, both YKP-D and YKP-DM exhibited stronger antioxidant, anti-glycosylation, and immunomodulatory effects than those of YKP-H, and their higher contents of uronic acids and bound polyphenols as well as lower molecular weights could partially contribute to their bioactivities. Overall, these results revealed that the developed MDE method could be utilized as a promising method for highly efficient extraction of YKP with superior beneficial effects.

Buckwheat is a famous edible and medicinal coarse cereal which contain abundant of bioactive flavonoids, such as rutin. In this study, the composition and diversity of endophytic fungi in eight different buckwheat seeds were analyzed by high-throughput sequencing of ITS rDNA. Results showed that, the fungal sequences reads were allocated to 272 OTUs, of them, 49 OTUs were shared in eight buckwheat seeds. These endophytic fungi could be classified into 6 phyla, 19 classes, 41 orders, 79 families, 119 genera, and 191 species. At genus level, Alternaria sp. was the domain fungal endophyte. Besides, fungal endophytes belonged to the genera of Epicocum, Cladosporium, Botrytis, Filbobasidium, Stemphylium, and Vishniacozyma were highly abundant in buckwheat seeds. The total flavonoids and rutin contents in tartary buckwheat cultivars (CQ, XQ, CH, K2) were much higher than those in common buckwheat cultivars (HT, T2, T4, T8). For tartary buckwheat cultivars, the total flavonoids and rutin contents were ranging from 2.6% to 3.3% and 0.9% to 1.3%, respectively. Accordingly, the tartary buckwheat samples displayed stronger antioxidant activity than the common buckwheat. Spearman correlation heat map analysis was successfully found that certain fungal species from the genera of Alternaria, Botryosphaeria, Colletorichum and Diymella exhibited significant positive correlation with flavonoids contents. Results of this study preliminary revealed the fungi-plant interaction relationship at secondary metabolite level, and could provide novel strategy for increasing the flavonoids accumulation of buckwheat seeds, as well as improving their quality.

In this study, we investigated the effect of solid-state fermentation of Pleurotus eryngii on the composition and antioxidant activity of Tartary buckwheat (TB). Firstly, the solid-state fermentation of P. eryngii mycelium with buckwheat was carried out, and the fermentation process was explored. The results of the extraction process and method selection experiments showed that the percolation extraction method was superior to the other two methods. The results of extraction rate, active components and antioxidant activity measurements before and after fermentation of TB extract showed that the extraction rate increased about 1.7 times after fermentation. Total flavonoids, rutin and triterpene contents were increased after fermentation compared to control. Meanwhile, LC-MS results showed an increase in the content of the most important substances in the fermented TB extract and the incorporation of new components, such as oleanolic acid, ursolic acid, amino acids, and D-chiral inositol. The fermented TB extract showed stronger antioxidant activity, while the protein and amino acid contents increased by 1.93-fold and 1.94-fold, respectively. This research was the first to use P. eryngii to ferment TB and prepared a lyophilized powder that could be used directly using vacuum freeze-drying technology. Not only the use of solid-state fermentation technology advantages of edible fungi to achieve value-added buckwheat, but also to broaden the scope of TB applications. This study will provide ideas and directions for the development and application of edible mushroom fermentation technology and TB.

Renal fibrosis is increasingly recognized as a global public health problem. Acute kidney injury (AKI) and chronic kidney disease (CKD) both result in renal fibrosis. Oxidative stress and inflammation play central roles in progressive renal fibrosis. Oxidative stress and inflammation are closely linked and form a vicious cycle in which oxidative stress induces inflammation through various molecular mechanisms. Ample evidence has indicated that a hyperactive nuclear factor kappa B (NF-ƙB) signaling pathway plays a pivotal role in renal fibrosis. Hyperactive NF-ƙB causes the activation and recruitment of immune cells. Inflammation, in turn, triggers oxidative stress through the production of reactive oxygen species and nitrogen species by activating leukocytes and resident cells. These events mediate organ injury through apoptosis, necrosis, and fibrosis. Therefore, developing a strategy to target the NF-ƙB signaling pathway is important for the effective treatment of renal fibrosis. This Review summarizes the effect of the NF-ƙB signaling pathway on renal fibrosis in the context of AKI and CKD (immunoglobulin A nephropathy, membranous nephropathy, diabetic nephropathy, hypertensive nephropathy, and kidney transplantation). Therapies targeting the NF-ƙB signaling pathway, including natural products, are also discussed. In addition, NF-ƙB-dependent non-coding RNAs are involved in renal inflammation and fibrosis and are crucial targets in the development of effective treatments for kidney disease. This Review provides a clear pathophysiological rationale and specific concept-driven therapeutic strategy for the treatment of renal fibrosis by targeting the NF-ƙB signaling pathway.

Abstract Second near-infrared (NIR-II) fluorescence imaging in the range of 1000–1700 nm has great prospects for in vivo imaging and theranostics monitoring. At present, few NIR-II probes with theranostics properties have been developed, especially the high-performance organic theranostics material remains underexploited. Herein, we demonstrate a selenium (Se)-tailoring method to develop high-efficient NIR-II imaging-guided material for in vivo cancer phototheranostics. Via Se-tailoring strategy, conjugated oligomer TPSe-based nanoparticles (TPSe NPs) achieve bright NIR-II emission up to 1400 nm and exhibit a relatively high photothermal conversion efficiency of 60% with good stability. Moreover, the TPSe NPs demonstrate their photothermal ablation of cancer cells in vitro and tumor in vivo with the guidance of NIR-II imaging. It is worth noting that the TPSe NPs have good biocompatibility without obvious side effects. Thus, this work provides new insight into the development of NIR-II theranostics agents.

Abstract Oral administration is preferred over other drug delivery methods due to its safety, high patient compliance, ease of ingestion without discomfort, and tolerance of a wide range of medications. However, oral drug delivery is limited by the poor oral bioavailability of many drugs, caused by extreme conditions and absorption challenges in the gastrointestinal tract. This review thoroughly discusses the targeted drug vehicles to the intestinal lymphatic system (ILS). It explores the structure and physiological barriers of the ILS, highlighting its significance in dietary lipid and medication absorption and transport. The review presents various approaches to targeting the ILS using spatially precise vehicles, aiming to enhance bioavailability, achieve targeted delivery, and reduce first-pass metabolism with serve in clinic. Furthermore, the review outlines several methods for leveraging these vehicles to open the ILS window, paving the way for potential clinical applications in cancer treatment and oral vaccine delivery. By focusing on targeted drug vehicles to the ILS, this article emphasizes the critical role of these strategies in improving therapeutic efficacy and patient outcomes. Overall, this article emphasizes the critical role of targeted drug vehicles to the ILS and the potential impact of these strategies on improving therapeutic efficacy and patient outcomes.

In recent years, heavy metal pollution has become increasingly prominent, severely damaging ecosystems and biodiversity, and posing a serious threat to human health. However, the results of current methods for heavy metal restoration are not satisfactory, so it is urgent to find a new and effective method. Peptides are the units that make up proteins, with small molecular weights and strong biological activities. They can effectively repair proteins by forming complexes, reducing heavy metal ions, activating the plant’s antioxidant defense system, and promoting the growth and metabolism of microorganisms. Peptides show great potential for the remediation of heavy metal contamination due to their special structure and properties. This paper reviews the research progress in recent years on the use of peptides to remediate heavy metal pollution, describes the mechanisms and applications of remediation, and provides references for the remediation of heavy metal pollution.

Polyimide (PI) is widely used in aerospace applications due to its excellent properties. However, the high concentration of atomic oxygen (AO) in low-earth orbit (LEO) significantly degrades its performance. This study employs reactive molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to analyze the AO erosion resistance of fluorinated polyimide (FPI) and polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS) composite polyimide models. The 35 ps simulation results indicate that the PI/POSS composite exhibits the best protective performance. The protection mechanism involves the formation of an SiO2 carbonized layer that prevents the transmission of AO and heat to the polyimide matrix, resulting in a normalized mass of 84.1% after erosion. The FPI model shows the second-best protective effect, where the introduction of -CF3 groups enhances the thermal stability of the polyimide matrix, resulting in a normalized mass of 80.7% after erosion. This study explores the protective effects and mechanisms of different polyimide protection methods at the molecular level, providing new insights for the design of AO erosion protection systems.

Since industrialization, global temperatures have continued to rise. Human activities have resulted in heavy metals being freed from their original, fixed locations. Because of global warming, glaciers are melting, carbon dioxide concentrations are increasing, weather patterns are shifting, and various environmental forces are at play, resulting in the movement of heavy metals and alteration of their forms. In this general context, the impact of heavy metals on ecosystems and organisms has changed accordingly. For most ecosystems, the levels of heavy metals are on the rise, and this rise can have a negative impact on the ecosystem as a whole. Numerous studies have been conducted to analyze the combined impacts of climate change and heavy metals. However, the summary of the current studies is not perfect. Therefore, this review discusses how heavy metals affect ecosystems during the process of climate change from multiple perspectives, providing some references for addressing the impact of climate warming on environmental heavy metals.

The diversity of alcohol beverage microorganisms is of great significance for improving the brewing process and the quality of alcohol beverage products. During the process of making alcoholic beverages, a group of microorganisms, represented by yeast and lactic acid bacteria, conducts fermentation. These microorganisms have complex synergistic or competitive relationships, and the participation of different microorganisms has a major impact on the fermentation process and the flavor and aroma of the product. Strain selection is one of the key steps. Utilizing scientific breeding technology, the relationship between strains can be managed, the composition of the alcoholic beverage microbial community can be improved, and the quality and flavor of the alcoholic beverage products can be increased. Currently, research on the microbial diversity of alcohol beverages has received extensive attention. However, the selection technology for dominant bacteria in alcohol beverages has not yet been systematically summarized. To breed better-quality alcohol beverage strains and improve the quality and characteristics of wine, this paper introduces the microbial diversity characteristics of the world’s three major brewing alcohols: beer, wine, and yellow wine, as well as the breeding technologies of related strains. The application of culture selection technology in the study of microbial diversity of brewed wine was reviewed and analyzed. The strain selection technology and alcohol beverage process should be combined to explore the potential application of a diverse array of alcohol beverage strains, thereby boosting the quality and flavor of the alcohol beverage and driving the sustainable development of the alcoholic beverage industry.

This study utilized 16S rRNA high-throughput sequencing technology to analyze the community structure and function of endophytic bacteria within the roots of three plant species in the vanadium–titanium–magnetite (VTM) mining area. The findings indicated that mining activities of VTM led to a notable decrease in both the biodiversity and abundance of endophytic bacteria within the root systems of Eleusine indica and Carex (p < 0.05). Significant reductions were observed in the populations of Nocardioides, concurrently with substantial increments in the populations of Pseudomonas (p < 0.05), indicating that Pseudomonas has a strong adaptability to this environmental stress. In addition, β diversity analysis revealed divergence in the endophytic bacterial communities within the roots of E. indica and Carex from the VTM mining area, which had diverged to adapt to the environmental stress caused by mining activity. Functional enrichment analysis revealed that VTM mining led to an increase in polymyxin resistance, nicotinate degradation I, and glucose degradation (oxidative) (p < 0.05). Interestingly, we found that VTM mining did not notably alter the endophytic bacterial communities or functions in the root systems of Dodonaea viscosa, indicating that this plant can adapt well to environmental stress. This study represents the primary investigation into the influence of VTM mining activities on endophytic bacterial communities and the functions of nearby plant roots, providing further insight into the impact of VTM mining activities on the ecological environment.

Mining activities in the kaolin mining area have led to the disruption of the ecological health of the mining area and nearby soils, but the effects on the fungal communities in the rhizosphere soils of the plants are not clear. Three common plants (Conyza bonariensis, Artemisia annua, and Dodonaea viscosa) in kaolin mining areas were selected and analyzed their rhizosphere soil fungal communities using ITS sequencing. The alpha diversity indices (Chao1, Shannon, Simpson, observed-species, pielou-e) of the fungal communities decreased to different extents in different plants compared to the non-kauri mining area. The β-diversity (PCoA, NMDS) analysis showed that the rhizosphere soil fungal communities of the three plants in the kaolin mine area were significantly differentiated from those of the control plants grown in the non-kaolin mine area, and the extent of this differentiation varied among the plants. The analysis of fungal community composition showed that the dominant fungi in the rhizosphere fungi of C. bonariensis and A. annua changed, with an increase in the proportion of Mycosphaerella (genus) by about 20% in C. bonariensis and A. annua. An increase in the proportion of Didymella (genus) by 40% in D. viscosa was observed. At the same time, three plant rhizosphere soils were affected by kaolin mining activities with the appearance of new fungal genera Ochrocladosporium and Plenodomus. Predictive functional potential analysis of the samples revealed that a significant decrease in the potential of functions such as biosynthesis and glycolysis occurred in the rhizosphere fungal communities of kaolin-mined plants compared to non-kaolin-mined areas. The results show that heavy metals and plant species are the key factors influencing these changes, which suggests that selecting plants that can bring more abundant fungi can adapt to heavy metal contamination to restore soil ecology in the kaolin mining area.

The main chemical components of saponins extracted from quinoa and the components in the blood of rat after oral administration were analyzed and identified by ultra-performance liquid chromatography coupled with Q-Exactive mass spectrometry (UPLC-Q-Exactive-MS/MS). Hypersil Gold VANQUISH C18 column (2.1 mm×100 mm，1.8 μm) was used. The mobile phase was formic acid water-formic acid acetonitrile gradient elution, the column temperature was 30 ℃, the analysis time was 35 min, the flow rate was 0.3 mL·min−1. Electrospray ion source (ESI), positive and negative ion sources and Full ms/dd-ms2 mode were used for detection. The results showed that the recovery rate, matrix effect, precision and stability of the method met the requirements of biological samples. A total of 15 saponins were identified in the saponin extract of quinoa, which were divided into three oleanolic acid saponin types, five hederagenin saponin types, six phytolaccagenic acid saponin types and one serjanic acid saponin type according to the configuration of aglycones. Male Sprague Dawley (SD) rats were selected as the experimental object, after intragastric administration of quinoa saponin extract at 175.5 mg·kg−1, at 0, 0.5, 1, 2 and 4 hours after administration, blood was taken from the orbit, the plasma of rats took buspirone hydrochloride as the internal standard, precipitated protein with methanol, centrifuged, filtered by microporous membrane, and then injected for analysis. The results showed that six prototype saponins and trace hydrolyzed hederagenin and serjanic acid glycosides were detected in the blood components of rat plasma. Through the analysis of the components of the extract and the components entering the blood, 15 saponins in quinoa saponins were identified and their cleavage laws were found, and the changes in the relative contents of the components into the blood of rat plasma were found. The chemical composition and metabolic characteristics of triterpenoid saponins in quinoa were preliminaries elucidated, which provided a theoretical basis for further research and application of quinoa.

Oat β-glucan is a prebiotic that affects intestinal microbiota and maintains energy homeostasis. Oat β-glucan helps treat diarrhea and other associated disorders, because it can regulate intestinal microbiota. We investigated the therapeutic effects and mechanism of oat β-glucan combined with montmorillonite powder on diarrhea induced by Senna leaf extract in young Sprague-Dawley rats. Compared with the diarrhea-induced model group (DM), the combined treatment, especially in the group treated with a medium dose of Montmorillonite powder plus oat β-glucan (M+G2), effectively reduced the diarrhea (P

Abstract Apiotrichum is a diverse anamorphic basidiomycetous yeast genus, and its mitogenome characterization has not been revealed. In this study, we assembled two Apiotrichum mitogenomes and compared them with mitogenomes from Agaricomycotina, Pucciniomycotina and Ustilaginomycotina. The mitogenomes of Apiotrichum gracile and A. gamsii comprised circular DNA molecules, with sizes of 34,648 bp and 38,096 bp, respectively. Intronic regions were found contributed the most to the size expansion of A. gamsii mitogenome. Comparative mitogenomic analysis revealed that 6.85–38.89% of nucleotides varied between tRNAs shared by the two Apiotrichum mitogenomes. The GC content of all core PCGs in A. gamsii was lower than that of A. gracile, with an average low value of 4.97%. The rps3 gene differentiated the most among Agaricomycotina, Pucciniomycotina and Ustilaginomycotina species, while nad4L gene was the most conserved in evolution. The Ka/Ks values for cob and rps3 genes were > 1, indicating the two genes may be subjected to positive selection in Agaricomycotina, Pucciniomycotina and Ustilaginomycotina. Frequent intron loss/gain events and potential intron transfer events have been detected in evolution of Agaricomycotina, Pucciniomycotina and Ustilaginomycotina. We further detected large-scale gene rearrangements between the 19 mitogenomes from Agaricomycotina, Pucciniomycotina and Ustilaginomycotina, and fifteen of the 17 mitochondrial genes shared by Apiotrichum varied in gene arrangements. Phylogenetic analyses based on maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference methods using a combined mitochondrial gene dataset revealed different taxonomic assignment of two Apiotrichum species, wherein A. gamsii had a more closely relationship with Trichosporon asahii. This study served as the first report on mitogenomes from the genus Apiotrichum, which promotes the understanding of evolution, genomics, and phylogeny of Apiotrichum.

Abstract Background Photoperiod is an important environmental cue interacting with circadian clock pathway to optimize the local adaption and yield of crops. Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa) in family Amaranthaceae has been known as superfood due to the nutritious elements. As quinoa was originated from the low-latitude Andes, most of the quinoa accessions are short-day type. Short-day type quinoa usually displays altered growth and yield status when introduced into higher latitude regions. Thus, deciphering the photoperiodic regulation on circadian clock pathway will help breed adaptable and high yielding quinoa cultivars. Results In this study, we conducted RNA-seq analysis of the diurnally collected leaves of quinoa plants treated by short-day (SD) and long-day conditions (LD), respectively. We identified 19,818 (44% of global genes) rhythmic genes in quinoa using HAYSTACK analysis. We identified the putative circadian clock architecture and investigated the photoperiodic regulatory effects on the expression phase and amplitude of global rhythmic genes, core clock components and transcription factors. The global rhythmic transcripts were involved in time-of-day specific biological processes. A higher percentage of rhythmic genes had advanced phases and strengthened amplitudes when switched from LD to SD. The transcription factors of CO-like, DBB, EIL, ERF, NAC, TALE and WRKY families were sensitive to the day length changes. We speculated that those transcription factors may function as key mediators for the circadian clock output in quinoa. Besides, we identified 15 novel time-of-day specific motifs that may be key cis elements for rhythm-keeping in quinoa. Conclusions Collectively, this study lays a foundation for understanding the circadian clock pathway and provides useful molecular resources for adaptable elites breeding in quinoa.

Rheumatoid arthritis is a systemic inflammatory disease that can lead to articular cartilage destruction and periarticular bone erosion, thus ultimately compromising joint integrity and function. Anti-inflammatory drugs and biological agents are commonly used to treat rheumatoid arthritis, but they cannot selectively target inflamed joints, because of their systemic mechanisms, short half-lives and low bioavailability. Consequently, these agents must be used at high doses and delivered frequently, thereby increasing costs and the risk of adverse effects. Drug delivery systems, such as nanoparticles, liposomes and micelles, can significantly prolong drug half-life in the body and enable targeted delivery into the joints. In this review, we comprehensively describe the pathogenesis and clinical diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis, and summarize recent advances in targeted therapeutic strategies, particularly nano-targeting systems for rheumatoid arthritis.

Taking oat, adlay, quinoa, brown rice, yellow millet, barley, highland barley, tartary buckwheat, and rye as raw materials, and wheat as a control, 10 kinds of polysaccharides were obtained by water extraction and alcohol precipitation, respectively. The antioxidant activity of different polysaccharides, the inhibition of HCT116 activity of colon cancer cells and the effect on the growth of probiotics were determined and compared, and the polysaccharides with strong in vitro activity were screened out. In this study, DPPH, ABTS and hydroxyl radical assays were used to study the in vitro antioxidant activities of different polysaccharides, and MTT assay was used to detect the inhibitory effects of different polysaccharides on the proliferation of HCT116 cells at 48 and 72 h. Bifidobacterium longum Reuter, Bifidobacterium breve Reuter, Bifidobacterium adolescentis and Lactobacillus rhamnosus were cultured in vitro to study their effects on the growth of probiotics.The results showed that there were significant differences in the in vitro activities of different coarse cereal polysaccharides. Ten kinds of polysaccharides had scavenging abilities to DPPH, ABTS and hydroxyl radicals. Among them, tartary buckwheat polysaccharide had the strongest scavenging ability to three free radicals, which were 12.76 μmol Trolox/g DW, 39.56 μmol Trolox/g DW and 1615.32 μmol VC/g DW, respectively. In terms of the effect on the growth of probiotics, 1% concentration of yellow millet, barley and oat polysaccharides could be more easily selected and utilized by Bifidobacterium breve Reuter, Bifidobacterium adolescentis and Lactobacillus rhamnosus. At 48 h, the inhibitory activity of polysaccharide on HCT116 cell proliferation was as follows: Wheat>brown rice>adlay>yellow millet; at 72 h, the inhibitory activity of polysaccharide on HCT116 cell proliferation was as follows: Wheat>adlay>brown rice>yellow millet>barley. The experimental results would provide reference for the quality evaluation of miscellaneous coarse cereals, and provide the basis for the selection of raw materials in the development of functional food.

Titanium has been reported to have positive effects on crop growth and production in various species. However, the impact of titanium on the Tartary buckwheat crops has not yet been studied. Therefore, an experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of spraying different concentrations of ionic titanium on the growth, photosynthesis, and uptake of mineral nutrients in Tartary buckwheat. The results showed that the application of titanium significantly improved dry matter accumulation, internode diameter, main stem node, root length, root average diameter, root surface area, root volume, grains per plant, and weight of grains per plant. Additionally, chlorophyll and photosynthetic parameters showed improvement regardless of the concentration of titanium used. The study found that titanium accumulation was mainly in leaves. The content of titanium in leaves showed a significant positive correlation with K, Ca, Mg, Mn, Cu, Zn, and B. This suggests a potential synergistic relationship between titanium and minerals in Tartary buckwheat leaves. Furthermore, the study also observed a significant increase in the total accumulation of P, K, Ca, Mg, Mn, Cu, Zn, and B in Tartary buckwheat plants. Overall, this study provides evidence for the positive effects of titanium on Tartary buckwheat and offers a theoretical foundation for practical production.

Distributed renewable sources are one of the most promising contributors for DC microgrids to reduce carbon emission and fuel consumption. Although the battery energy storage system (BESS) is widely applied to compensate the power imbalance between distributed generators (DGs) and loads, the impacts of disturbances, DGs, constant power loads (CPLs) and cyber attacks on this system are not simultaneously considered. Based on this, a distributed fuzzy output consensus control strategy is proposed to realize accurate current sharing and operate normally in the presence of denial of service (DoS) attacks and false data injection (FDI) attacks. Firstly, the whole model of the BESS in DC microgrids embedded into disturbance items, DGs, CPLs and resistive loads, is firstly built. This model could be further transformed into standard linear heterogeneous multi-agent systems with disturbance, which lays the foundation for the following control strategy. Then the model of FDI and DoS attacks are built. Meanwhile, the fuzzy logic controller (FLC) is applied to reduce the burden of communication among batteries. Based on these, a distributed output consensus fuzzy control is proposed to realize accurate current sharing among batteries. Moreover, the system under the proposed control in different cases is analyzed. Finally, the feasibility of the proposed control strategy is verified by numerical simulation results and experiment results.

Plant-derived exosome-like nanovesicles (PELNs) are bilayer membrane-enclosed nanovesicles secreted by plant cells, serving as carriers of various substances such as proteins, RNA, and metabolites. The mounting evidence suggests that PELN plays a crucial role in transmembrane signaling, nutrient transportation, apoptosis, and regulation of gut microbiota composition. This makes it a promising “dark nutrient” for plants to modulate human physiology and pathogenesis. A comprehensive understanding of PELN formation, uptake, and functional mechanisms can offer novel insights into plant nutrition and functional properties, thereby facilitating the precise development of plant-based foods and drugs. This article provides a summary of PELN extraction and characterization, as well as absorption and delivery processes. Furthermore, it focuses on the latest discoveries and underlying physiological mechanisms of PELN’s functions while exploring future research directions.

The physicochemical traits of highland barley prominently affect the quality of Tsampa. To find out the relevance between the physicochemical properties of raw material and the texture parameters of processed products, twenty-five physicochemical traits and ten quality parameters for seventy-six varieties of highland barley were measured and analyzed. The results showed that there was a significant difference between the physicochemical indexes for highland barleys of various colors. The dark highland barley generally has more fat, protein, total dietary fiber, phenolic, Mg, K, Ca, and Zn and less amylose, Fe, Cu, and Mo than light colored barley. Then, these highland barleys were made into Tsampa. A comprehensive quality evaluation model based on the color and texture parameters of Tsampa was established through principal component analysis. Then, cluster analysis was used to classify the tested samples into three edible quality grades predicated on the above evaluation model. At last, the regression analysis was applied to establish a Tsampa quality predictive model according to the physicochemical traits of the raw material. The results showed that amylose, protein, β-Glucan, and a* and b* could be used to predict the comprehensive quality of Tsampa. The predicted results indicated that 11 of 14 validated samples were consistent with the actual quality, and the accuracy was above 78.57%. Our study built the approach of the appropriate processing varieties evaluation. It may provide reference for processing specific highland barley.

Tartary buckwheat green leaves are considered to be among the most important by-products in the buckwheat industry. Although Tartary buckwheat green leaves are abundant in pectic polysaccharides, their potential applications in the food industry are quite scarce. Therefore, to promote their potential applications as functional or fortified food ingredients, both deep-eutectic-solvent-assisted extraction (DESE) and high-pressure-assisted deep eutectic solvent extraction (HPDEE) were used to efficiently and selectively extract pectic polysaccharides from Tartary buckwheat green leaves (TBP). The results revealed that both the DESE and HPDEE techniques not only improved the extraction efficiency of TBP but also regulated its structural properties and beneficial effects. The primary chemical structures of TBP extracted using different methods were stable overall, mainly consisting of homogalacturonan and rhamnogalacturonan-I (RG-I) pectic regions. However, both the DESE and HPDEE methods could selectively extract RG-I-enriched TBP, and the proportion of the RG-I pectic region in TBP obviously improved. Additionally, both the DESE and HPDEE methods could improve the antioxidant and anti-glycosylation effects of TBP by increasing its proportion of free uronic acids and content of bound polyphenolics and reducing its molecular weight. Moreover, both the DESE and HPDEE methods could partially intensify the immunostimulatory effect of TBP by increasing its proportion of the RG-I pectic region. These findings suggest that DES-based extraction techniques, especially the HPDEE method, can be promising techniques for the efficient and selective extraction of RG-I-enriched TBP.

Considerable achievements were realized in illuminating underlying pathological mechanisms of patients with idiopathic membranous nephropathy (IMN). Although IMN patients are well diagnosed before they reach renal failure, no currently available drug intervention is effective in halting IMN progression. In this study, we assess Moshen granule (MSG) effect on IMN patients and cationic bovine serum albumin (CBSA)-induced rats. Increasing studies has indicated that activation of aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) was related to oxidative stress and inflammation. We further determine MSG effect on AHR, nuclear factor ƙB (NF-ƙB) and nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) in the CBSA-induced rats. MSG markedly reduces proteinuria and improves kidney function in both IMN patients and rats induced by CBSA. MSG markedly inhibits increased mRNA expressions of intrarenal AHR and its four downstream target genes including CYP1A1, CYP1A2, CYP1B1 and COX-2 compared with untreated CBSA-induced rats. This is accompanied by markedly downregulated protein expressions of p-IƙBα and NF-ƙB p65 and its downstream gene products including MCP-1, COX-2, 12-LOX, iNOS, p47phox and p67phox, while markedly preserves protein expressions of Nrf2 and its downstream gene products including catalase, HO-1, GCLM, GCLC, MnSOD and NQO1 in the kidney tissues. These data suggests MSG blunts podocyte damage through inhibiting activation of NF-ƙB/Nrf2 pathway via AHR signaling. This finding may provide a promising therapy for treatment of IMN through oxidative stress and inflammation.

Abstract Background Recombinant adeno-associated viruses (rAAV) are commonly used vectors for gene delivery in both basic neuroscience and clinical applications due to their nonpathogenic, minimally immunogenic, and sustained expression properties. However, several challenges remain for the wide-scale rAAV applications, including poor infection of many clinically important cell lines, insufficient expression at low titers, and diffusive transduction in vivo. Methods In this work, PEG, which is a safe and non-toxic polymer of ethylene oxide monomer, was applied as an auxiliary transduction agent to improve the expression of rAAV. In detail, a small dose of PEG was added into the rAAV solution for the transgene expression in cell lines in vitro, and in the central nervous system (CNS) in vivo. The biocompatibility of PEG enhancer was assessed by characterizing the immune responses, cell morphology, cell tropism of rAAV, neuronal apoptosis, as well as motor function of animals. Results The results show that small dose of PEG additive can effectively improve the gene expression characteristics of rAAV both in vitro and in vivo. Specifically, the PEG additive allows efficient transgene expression in cell lines that are difficult to be transfected with rAAV alone. In vivo studies show that the PEG additive can promote a spatially confined and efficient transgene expression of low-titer rAAV in the brain over long terms. In addition, no obvious side effects of PEG were observed on CNS in the biocompatibility studies. Conclusions This spatially confined and efficient transduction method can facilitate the applications of rAAV in fundamental research, especially in the precise dissection of neural circuits, and also improve the capabilities of rAAV in the treatment of neurological diseases which originate from the disorders of small nuclei in the brain.

Abstract In recent years, biologically active ingredients derived from natural plants or functional foods have raised considerable interests for its anti‐obesity effect. Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.) is a traditional staple food in the Andean regions of Peru which contains a variety of bioactive components. This study aimed to investigate the potential therapeutic effect of total saponins extracted from quinoa bran (TSQ) on obese rats and explore whether the underlying mechanism is related to intestinal microbiota. Results showed that TSQ could decrease the body weight gain and visceral fat accumulation in the obese rats. Moreover, trends in ameliorating insulin resistance and improved glucose tolerance were observed. Indeed, Pearson's correlations analysis revealed that the variation in gut microbial composition was highly correlated to insulin resistance, IL‐6, and LPS levels. Collectively, these results suggest that the prevention of obesity and inflammation by TSQ may be mediated by the modulation of gut microbial composition.

Recently, the hulless barley has drawn wide attention due to its abundant nutritional composition and unique biological activities. Resistant starch, lunasin polypeptide, unique fatty acid and non-starch polysaccharide composition and rich phenolic substances make hulless barley have good development potential in anti-cancer, hypoglycemic, hypolipidemic and other aspects. However, the low degree of processing and utilization and the rare of high value-added products hinder the development of the hulless barley industry. The components, biological activities, processing and utilization technology and high-value products of hulless barley are summarized in this paper to provide support for promoting the research and sustainable industry development of hulless barley.

Coarse grain is an important part of dietary structure, but the poor palatability and processing characteristics restrict the further development of coarse grain industry. After germination, its nutrients and functional active components are enhanced, and its taste and processing characteristics are changed. It is a new food raw material with great development potential. Different kinds of coarse grain sprouts provide consumers with diversified choices, but their nutritional function differences are lack of systematic analysis. This paper compares the contents of nutritional components and functional components of different kinds of coarse grain sprouts, expounds the lipid-lowering, hypoglycemic and anti-inflammatory effects of coarse grain sprouts and their products, and expoundes the production technology and quality improvement methods of coarse grain sprouts, so as to provide reference and ideas for improving people's dietary structure and the further development and utilization of coarse grain sprouts.

Abstract In the present study, we assembled and analyzed the mitogenomes of two Ramaria species. The assembled mitogenomes of Ramaria cfr. rubripermanens and R. rubella were circularized, with sizes of 126,497 bp and 143,271 bp, respectively. Comparative mitogenome analysis showed that intron region contributed the most (contribution rate, 43.74%) to the size variations of Ramaria mitogenomes. The genetic contents, gene length, tRNAs, and codon usages of the two Ramaria mitogenomes varied greatly. In addition, the evolutionary rates of different core protein coding genes (PCGs) in Phallomycetidae mitogenomes varied. We detected large-scale gene rearrangements between Phallomycetidae mitogenomes, including gene displacement and tRNA doubling. A total of 4499 bp and 7746 bp aligned fragments were detected between the mitochondrial and nuclear genomes of R. cfr. rubripermanens and R. rubella, respectively, indicating possible gene transferring events. We further found frequent intron loss/gain and potential intron transfer events in Phallomycetidae mitogenomes during the evolution, and the mitogenomes of R. rubella contained a novel intron P44. Phylogenetic analyses using both Bayesian inference (BI) and Maximum Likelihood (ML) methods based on a combined mitochondrial gene dataset obtained an identical and well-supported phylogenetic tree for Basidiomycota, wherein R. cfr. rubripermanens and Turbinellus floccosus are sister species. This study served as the first report on mitogenomes from the genus Ramaria, which provides a basis for understanding the evolution, genetics, and taxonomy of this important fungal group.