Search

The main purpose of the present study was to clarify the differences present in the multi-element and metabolite profiles between two varieties of eggplants. A total of 54 elements were identified by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry, 16 elements were significantly different between peel (n = 3) and flesh (n = 3). Besides, untargeted metabolomics combined with chemometric approach based on UHPLC-Q-TOF/ MS was used to identify the peel (n = 4) and flesh (n = 4).178 metabolites were screened with criteria of p 1.5 or 1 for the PLS-DA model prediction score. Amino acid compounds, maltitol and Kaempferol 3-O-rutinoside are the most important identification components of the two varieties of eggplant. Results showed that the two varieties of eggplants could be distinguished based on their multi-element and metabolite profiles, which may provide new directions for eggplant function research.

The main purpose of the present study was to clarify the differences present in the multi-element and metabolite profiles between two varieties of eggplants. A total of 54 elements were identified by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry, 16 elements were significantly different between peel (n = 3) and flesh (n = 3). Besides, untargeted metabolomics combined with chemometrics was used to discriminate the peel (n = 4) and flesh (n = 4) of the two varieties of eggplants. A total of 178 metabolites were screened out with criteria of p 0.05, fold change 1.5 or 0.67 and variable importance in projection score 1 for the PLS-DA model. Maltitol and d-proline were the most important discriminants of the two varieties of eggplants. Kaempferol-3-O-rutinoside was the most important identification components between peel and flesh of the two varieties of eggplant. Results showed that the two varieties of eggplants could be distinguished based on their multi-element and metabolite profiles, which may provide new directions for eggplant function research.

Diversity multi-criteria decision-making methods have been developed to address different complex decision-making problems, and the analytic network process has been found to be one of the most effective techniques. There is an increase in the quality and quantity of publications related to the analytic network process. This detailed overview can provide the research status and development characteristics of analytic network process research and will be useful to researchers for future research directions. To achieve these goals, bibliometric techniques were used. In addition, past and present hotspots of analytic network process research were concluded, and future research trends were determined. The bibliometric analysis was carried out from various aspects including countries and regions, institutions, journals, authors, research areas, articles and author keywords based on data harvested from the Web of Science database. There were 1485 analytic network process-related publications retrieved from the Web of Science. The results show that Expert Systems with Applications was the most productive journal publishing articles in analytic network process research (118); its number of publications has decreased dramatically since 2013, while Journal of Cleaner Production has shown an upward trend in recent years and ranks second with 47 publications. The most collaborative country is the United States. Taiwan takes a leading position in analytic network process research with 436 publications (29.36%), and National Chiao Tung University, which is located in Taiwan, produced the most articles and has gained the highest h-index (28). The major hot topics that employ analytic network process are sustainability, environmental management and supply chain management. These topics may continue to attract more attention in the future.

This study explored the anti-obesity effect of 6-shogaol and the underlying mechanisms by using Network pharmacology for the prediction and verification of molecular targets and pathways of 6-shogaol against obesity. Furthermore, the results were verified by molecular docking and cell experiments. A total of 86 core targets of 6-shogaol towards obesity were identified. Among them, AKT1 and PIK3CA were confirmed by using the molecular docking. In 3T3-L1 preadipocyte model, 6-shogaol significantly inhibited proliferation and differentiation, reducing the accumulation of lipid droplets. Compared with the control group, the inhibition rates of 6-shogaol on TG and TC were 90.8% and 40.0%, respectively. Additionally, 6-shogaol down-regulated the expression of PPAR-γ and C/EBP-α, while it decreased the phosphorylation of IRS-1, PI3K and AKT. This study, for the first time, confirmed the effect of 6-shogaol on improving obesity through PI3K/AKT pathway. An anti-obesity bioactivity study was further recommended for the development of novel anti-obesity products.

Laser processing technology is one of the most important technologies in the 21st century and is becoming an area of great potential in manufacturing. There is an increase in the quality and quantity of publications related to this topic. To formally illustrate the research status of laser processing at a global level, the bibliometric analysis was used based on Web of Science database; 3958 documents were retrieved and countries or regions, institutions, journals, authors, research areas, author keywords, and highly cited articles were discussed in detail, respectively. Results show that China is the dominant country in this field, followed by the USA and Germany. Greece has the most collaborated articles, and Germany was the most active country that cooperated with another 19 countries or regions, especially with the USA, France, and China. Applied Surface Science is the most productive journal with the highest influence factor, and the University of California System has the highest h-index. “Material science, Multidisciplinary” is the most attractive area, with 1777 documents involved in it. In addition, the major hot topics concluded by author keywords are “laser processing,” “micro-structure,” and “thin film.” Finally, “intelligent laser processing” and “production scheduling” are given as the potential research hotspot in the near future.

The incidence of diseases associated with a high sugar diet has increased in the past years, and numerous studies have focused on the effect of high sugar intake on obesity and metabolic syndrome. However, how a high sugar diet influences gut homeostasis is still poorly understood. In this study, we used Drosophila melanogaster as a model organism and supplemented a culture medium with 1 M sucrose to create a high sugar condition. Our results indicate that a high sugar diet promoted differentiation of intestinal stem cells through upregulation of the JNK pathway and downregulation of the JAK/STAT pathway. Moreover, the number of commensal bacteria decreased in the high sugar group. Our data suggests that the high caloric diet disrupts gut homeostasis and highlights Drosophila as an ideal model system to explore gastrointestinal disease.

Purpose Retinal-derived fluorophores that accumulate as RPE lipofuscin are implicated in pathological mechanisms of AMD. One component of RPE lipofuscin has been characterized as pdA2E, a pyridinium adduct derived from all-trans-retinal and excess ethanolamine. One-step preparation and biosynthetic studies of pdA2E and its novel isomer called isopdA2E are reported. Methods Biosynthetic reaction mixtures, RPE/choroids and neural retinas dissected from bovines, eyes harvested from Abca4(-/-)Rdh8(-/-) mice, irradiated samples, and enzyme-treated solutions were analyzed by HPLC, mass spectrometry, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, fluorescence spectrophotometry, and density functional theory (DFT). Results Optimization of the in vitro synthesis of pdA2E resulted in a biomimetic preparation of this pigment in a yield of 15%; this protocol also allowed the identification of isopdA2E, a double-bond isomer of pdA2E at the C13C14 position in bovine RPE lipofuscin. Interconversion between these two molecules occurs when either pdA2E or isopdA2E is exposed to light. A phospholipase D-based assay demonstrated the possibility of pdA2-PE being formed in neural retina and served as a precursor of pdA2E in the biosynthetic pathway. DFT calculations revealed that the 492-nm absorbance was assigned to the long arm of pdA2E/isopdA2E and the 340/342-nm absorbance to the short arm. Fluorescence efficiency of pdA2E and isopdA2E is very similar, but is much weaker in comparison with A2E, isoA2E, and iisoA2E. Conclusions Our results facilitate the understanding of compositions and biosynthetic pathways of adverse RPE lipofuscin.

Gene and drug therapies are being developed to alleviate vision loss in patients with Stargardt’s disease and age-related macular degeneration (AMD). To evaluate the therapeutic effects of these treatments, organic solvents are routinely used to extract and quantify bisretinoid lipofuscin constituents, such as N-retinylidene-N-retinyl-ethanolamine (A2E) and all-trans-retinal dimer (ATR-dimer). By high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), we found that A2E and ATR-dimer were both altered by tetrahydrofuran (THF) and chloroform, but were stable in dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) or methanol (MeOH). In addition, cyclohexane and ethanol (EtOH) did not alter ATR-dimer, whereas an alteration of A2E occurred in EtOH. On the basis of these findings, we designed processes II–IV, generated by modifications of process I, a routine method to measure bisretinoid compounds in vivo. Extra amounts of either ATR-dimer or A2E in mouse eyecups were released by processes II–IV versus process I. Efforts to clarify the effects of organic solvents on lipofuscin pigments are important because such studies can guide the handling of these fluorophores in related experiments.

Toxic lipofuscin in the RPE (retinal pigment epithelium) is implicated in blindness in AMD (age-related macular degeneration) or recessive Stargardt's disease patients. In the present study, we identified a novel fluorescent lipofuscin component in human and bovine RPEs. Using 1D and 2D NMR and MS, we confirmed the structure of this pigment and called it pdA2E. It exhibits absorbance maxima at 492 and 342 nm, and is susceptible to photocatalytic isomerization and oxidation. This fluorophore was also detected in the eyecup extracts of Abca4−/−Rdh8−/− (Abca4 encodes ATP-binding cassette transporter 4 and Rdh8 encodes retinol dehydrogenase 8) mice, an AMD/recessive Stargardt's disease model. Excess amassing of pdA2E within RPE cells caused significant cell viability loss and membrane damage. The formation of pdA2E occurred when atRAL (all-trans-retinal) reacted with excess ethanolamine in the absence of acetic acid, and the process is likely to involve the participation of three atRAL molecules. Our findings suggest that endogenous pdA2E may serve as a sensitizer for yielding singlet oxygen and a singlet oxygen quencher, as well as a by-product of retinal metabolism, and its complete characterization facilitates the understanding of biosynthetic pathways by which adverse RPE lipofuscin constituents form.