Search

A new AAPH-Incubating HPLC-DAD-HR MS/MS method was developed for the rapid and high-throughput screening of antioxidants directly in natural products and applied to Gardenia jasminoides fruit. This method was assumed that the peak areas of compounds with potential antioxidant activity in HPLC chromatograms would be significantly reduced or disappeared after incubating with the AAPH which can release ROO at physiological conditions (37 °C, pH 7.4). Additionally, the activity of antioxidants can be evaluated by comparing the peak reduction rates and the screened components can be further identified by HRMS/MS. Then, 17 potential natural antioxidants from the crude extract of GJF was screened. Among them, three major components including crocin I, crocin II and crocetin showed excellent ROO scavenging activity, which were further validated by the ORAC assay. In conclusion, our study provided a simple and effective strategy to rapidly screen antioxidants in natural products.

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a factor with great risk in the course of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) due to its high glucotoxicity and lipotoxicity. Trilobatin, a glycosylated dihydrochalcone derived from the leaves of the Chinese sweet tea Lithocarpus polystachyus Rehd, is reported to possess various pharmacological activities. Nevertheless, it is still unclear regarding if trilobatin can alleviate liver injury in diabetic mice with NAFLD and its mechanism. Our aim was to investigative the protective effects of trilobatin against DM with NAFLD and its mechanism of action. A DM mice model was established by high-fat diet (HFD) feeding with streptozocin (STZ) injections, and treated with trilobatin for 10 weeks. The biochemical results showed that trilobatin restored glucose metabolic disorder and liver function in diabetic mice. The histopathological evaluation revealed that trilobatin improved liver injury by alleviating lipid accumulation and liver fibrosis. Mechanistically, trilobatin decreased expression of NLRP3, p65 NF-κB, cleaved-Caspase-1 and N-GSDMD, as well as the release of IL-18 and IL-1β, leading to a alleviation of inflammation and pyroptosis. Taken together, we determined for the first time found that trilobatin could prevent liver injury in diabetic mice with NAFLD by suppressing NLRP3 inflammasome activation to reduce inflammation and pyroptosis.

Methylglyoxal (MGO), a cytotoxic byproduct of glycolysis in biological systems, can induce endothelial cells dysfunction, implicated in diabetic vascular complications. Pterostilbene (PTS), a naturally occurring resveratrol derivative, is involved in various pharmacological activities. This study aimed to explore the effects of PTS on MGO induced cytotoxicity in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) and the underlying mechanisms for the first time. In the current study, it has been demonstrated that PTS could enhance the level of glyoxalase 1 (GLO-1) and elevate glutathione (GSH) content to active the glyoxalase system, resulting in elimination of the toxic MGO as well as advanced glycation end products (AGEs) in HUVECs. Meanwhile, PTS could also suppress oxidative stress and thus exert cytoprotective effects by elevating Nrf2 nuclear translocation and the corresponding down-stream antioxidant enzymes in MGO induced HUVECs. In addition, PTS could alleviate MGO induced apoptosis in HUVECs via inhibition of oxidative stress and associated downstream mitochondria-dependent signaling apoptotic cascades, as characterized by preventing caspases family activation. Taken together, these findings suggest that PTS could protect against MGO induced endothelial cell cytotoxicity by regulating glyoxalase, oxidative stress and apoptosis, suggesting that PTS could be beneficial in the treatment of diabetic vascular complications.

Large scale cesium lead-halide (CsPbX

Background Diet-related cardiovascular diseases have produced a large health burden in China. Coal miners are a high-risk population for cardiovascular disease, but there is little evidence concerning associations between coal miners’ dietary patterns and their 10-year cardiovascular disease risk score levels. Methods The study included 2632 participants and focused on dietary patterns associated with higher 10-year cardiovascular disease risk score levels. A valid semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire was used to collect data regarding dietary intake, and dietary patterns were identified using factor analysis combined with cluster analysis. Logistic regression was used to assess associations between dietary patterns and 10-year cardiovascular disease risk score levels. Results For ground workers, compared with the ‘Healthy’ pattern, the ‘High-salt’ and ‘Refined grains’ patterns were significantly associated with higher 10-year atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease risk score level (OR: 1.50, 95% CI: 1.02–2.21; OR: 1.92, 95% CI: 1.26–2.93) and 10-year ischemic cardiovascular disease risk score level (OR: 2.18, 95% CI: 1.25–3.80; OR: 2.64, 95% CI: 1.48–4.72) adjusted for gender, and behavioural and socioeconomic factors. The ‘High-fat and salt’ pattern was significantly associated with higher 10-year ischemic cardiovascular disease risk score level (OR: 1.97, 95% CI: 1.13–3.42). For underground workers, the ‘High-salt’ pattern was significantly associated with higher 10-year atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease risk score level (OR: 1.65, 95% CI: 1.16–2.36) and 10-year ischemic cardiovascular disease risk score level (OR: 1.76, 95% CI: 1.09–2.84). Conclusions This study provides evidence for dietary patterns associated with higher 10-year cardiovascular disease risk score levels in Chinese miners, and facilitates relevant departments in designing effective dietary guidelines to ameliorate dietary structures.

Diabetic cardiomyopathy (DCM) is one of the chief diabetes mellitus complications. Inflammation factors may be one reason for the damage from DM. The purpose of this research is to study the potential protective effects of puerarin on DM and the possible mechanisms of action related to NF-κB signal pathway. Following administration of puerarin to the disease model rat, several changes were observed including the changes of serum biochemical index, improved diastolic dysfunction, and enhanced endogenous antioxidant enzymes activities, further NF-κB signaling activation. Puerarin showed cardio-protective effects on DCM by inhibiting inflammation, and it might be a potential candidate for the treatment of DCM.

Objective:This study aimed to investigate the relationship between metabolic syndrome (MetS) and physical activity (PA) in different domains among male coal miners of Shanxi Province in China.Method:The study was conducted from July 2013 to December 2013. A two-stage stratified cluster sampling method was used. Data regarding the general information of participants were collected by well-trained interviewers. MetS was defined according to IDF criteria. Self-reported PA was obtained with the IPAQ and categorized into three tertiles of intensity levels across occupation, transportation, household, and leisure-time domains. Univariate and multiple logistic regression analysis were applied to compute the odds ratios and their 95% confidence interval (CI).Results:A total of 3076 males aged 18–65 years old were recruited in this cross-sectional study. The prevalence of MetS was 40.5% in the study subjects. The percentages of vigorous-intensity PA in MetS and non-MetS groups were 70.07% and 62.92%, respectively. Participants spent most of their time on occupation (2034 MET-min/w) and transportation (693MET-min/w) domains. Higher-intensity levels in occupation domains were significantly associated with lower risk of MetS (OR: 0.759, 95% CI: 0.633–0.911; OR: 0.627, 95% CI: 0.516–0.762).Conclusions:Across four types of workers, the relationships between PA domains and MetS were different. For underground and underground auxiliary workers, the negative relationship was found between occupation PA and MetS. For office workers, the negative relationship was found between household PA and MetS. For ground workers, only leisure-time PA had positively related to MetS.

Few studies have investigated gender differences in dietary intake. The objective of this cross-sectional study was to examine gender differences in dietary patterns and their association with the prevalence of metabolic syndrome. The food intakes of 3794 subjects enrolled by a two-stage cluster stratified sampling method were collected using a valid semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire (FFQ). Metabolic syndrome (MetS) was defined according to the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) and its prevalence was 35.70% in the sample (37.67% in men and 24.67% in women). Dietary patterns were identified using factor analysis combined with cluster analysis and multiple group confirmatory factor analysis was used to assess the factorial invariance between gender groups. The dominating dietary pattern for men was the “balanced” dietary pattern (32.65%) and that for women was the “high-salt and energy” dietary pattern (34.42%). For men, the “animal and fried food” dietary pattern was related to higher risk of MetS (odds ratio: 1.27; 95% CI: 1.01–1.60), after adjustment for age, marital status, socioeconomic status and lifestyle factors. For women, the “high-salt and energy” dietary pattern was related to higher risk of MetS (odds ratio: 2.27; 95% CI: 1.24–4.14). We observed gender differences in dietary patterns and their association with the prevalence of MetS. For men, the “animal and fried food” dietary pattern was associated with enhancive likelihood of MetS. For women, it was the “high-salt and energy” dietary pattern.

We propose to further research the protective effect of MMI on myocardium ischemic rat model and H9c2 cells that underwent cell apoptosis induced by hypoxia. We established the myocardium ischemic rat model via the cardiac surgical procedures in vivo and treated the model rats with different concentration of MMI. In vitro, with the pretreatment of MMI for 12 h in the model of Na2S2O4-induced hypoxia injury, the H9c2 cells viability was determined by MTT assay. We found that MMI had significantly improved cardiac function of the myocardial ischemia, and significantly decreased the reactive oxygen species level. The expression of P53, Bcl-2, Bax, and caspase-9 was also induced by MMI. In vitro study revealed a concentration-dependent increase in cell viability associated with MMI pretreatment. Annexin V-FITC and PI staining results showed that MMI had a preventive effect on hypoxia-induced apoptosis in H9c2 cells. MMI also inhibited the mitochondrial membrane potential decrease and increased total ATPase activity during hypoxia in H9c2 cells. In conclusion, MMI can enhance the cardiac function in myocardial ischemic rat and increase cell viability and attenuate the apoptosis in H9c2 cells induced by hypoxia, which was associated with inhibiting MMP decreasion and increasing total ATPase activity.

Three novel quinoline– and fluorene–coumarin hybrids were prepared and characterised by Fourier Transform–infrared spectroscopy, proton and carbon nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, elemental analysis and ultraviolet–visible spectrophotometry. Their photoluminescence properties were investigated. All of these hybrid molecules exhibited a broadband emission from ca. 450 to 800 nm when excited by a 325 nm helium–cadmium laser at room temperature. Importantly, the fluorene–coumarin hybrid shows a very bright red emission at ca. 650 nm and displays up to a 10-fold increase in fluorescence emission intensity, as compared with the other samples. The experimental results confirm that remarkable enhancements in the fluorescence emission intensity can be obtained by introducing a fluorene group into the azo-bridged coumarin-based π-conjugated framework. The geometry structures and frontier orbitals are calculated by the ab initio Hartree–Fock method.

B10, B 10 - , and B 10 + are examined at the B3LYP/6-311 + G (d) level to obtain the optimized geometries and vibrational frequencies. All calculations show that quasi-planar B10 is a closed shell, stable and compact molecule, which suggests that it may possess some special chemical properties. Then the investigations of MB10 and B10–M–B10 (M = Li, Na, K) indicate that quasi-planar B10 can sandwich a metal atom to form half or full sandwich-type metal complexes. The NBO, MOs and vibrational frequencies analyses reveal that stable quasi-planar B10 may be as a new ligand. These sandwich complexes can also be viewed as quasi-diatomic (or triatomic) systems.

A series of annular structures of C n (3 ⩽ n ⩽ 31) are optimized at DFT/B3LYP/6-31G ∗ theoretical level. The calculated results show that odd structures and even structures have different bonding characters and properties. NBO analyses indict that C 6 , C 10 , C 14 , C 18 , C 22 , C 26 and C 30 molecules have two big delocalized π-bonding and C 8 , C 12 , C 16 , C 20 , C 24 and C 28 molecules have only one big delocalized π-bonding. C 4 has aromaticity for it has different conformation which makes it have special bonding character. In addition, linear C n structures are calculated to further investigate the nature of annular C n structures.

Fourteen structures of C20 are studied at DFT/B3LYP/6-31G* theoretical level. Except ring, bowl, cage and isomer 1 which have been studied before, other isomers have not been reported so far. Calculated results show that the ring has the lowest energy at this level and isomers 1, 2, 3 and 4 have lower energies than that of cage. Analyses of optimized bond lengths, electronic structure indicate that some carbon atoms express super-valence property. In addition, NICS value is consistent with molecular orbital character in denoting aromaticity of C20 molecule. Delocalization character averts influence of curvature strain, which can well explain the stability of the cage.

Fourteen structures of (BN) 10 are optimized at DFT/B3LYP/6-31G* theoretical level and their properties are studied. The calculated results show that the stability of (BN) 10 is relevant to both the conformation and the number of B–B and N–N bonds. The gaps between HOMO and LUMO demonstrate that (BN) 10 material trends to semiconductor molecule with good stability. In addition, a series of ring structures containing boron, nitrogen and carbon atoms are investigated. The results indicate that the delocalized character of the ring is not only affected by the number of (BN) units, but also influenced by their locations.

A multiresolution curve representation, based on wavelets, provides more flexibility for curve smoothing, data compressing, and editing at different resolution levels. It requires no extra storage apart from that of the original control points. This paper presents the technique for wavelet-based multiresolution representations of C2 continuous closed cubic B-spline curves. Due to the requirement on continuity at the start/end point, closed B-spline curves need special processing when wavelets are applied to decompose or reconstruct them. The method for multiresolution editing of closed B-spline curves is also introduced. Users can edit the overall shape of a closed curve while preserving its details, or change its details without affecting its overall shape. The corresponding algorithms have been implemented and some examples are given to illustrate the editing of C2 continuous closed cubic B-spline curves at multiresolution levels.

Annular structures of (BN) x (2 ⩽ x ⩽ 19) clusters are optimized at DFT/B3LYP/6-31G ∗ theoretical level. NICS, NBO and MOs are calculated to investigate stability and property. The analyzed results show that (BN) x clusters have different bonding characters with the corresponding C 2 x molecules. And annular (BN) x clusters also have delocalized bonding although they are nonaromatic estimated with NICS values. (BN) 2 has aromaticity for it has different conformation which makes it have special bonding character.

Polycoordinate planar B compounds BX(n) (X=B, Al, C, N and Si; n=3-8) are optimized at B3LYP/6-311++G (3df,p) theoretical level. For X=B, center B atom can coordinate three to eight atoms, while for X=Al, C, Si, and N, it can only coordinate three to five atoms. The natural bond orbital analysis shows that the center B atom does not violate the octet rule, though the numbers of coordinated atom even reach 8. According to molecular orbital analysis and nucleus independent chemical shift value calculation, it seems that these polycoordinate planar B compounds BX(n) (X=B, Al, C, N, and Si; n=3-8) hold twofold (alpha and pi) aromatic, which play an important role in their stability and keeping all atoms in one plane.