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Abstract: Sepsis refers to the dysregulated host response to infection; its incidence and mortality rates are high. It is a worldwide medical problem but there is no specific drug for it. In recent years, clinical and experimental studies have found that many monomer components of traditional Chinese medicine have certain effects on the treatment of sepsis. This paper reviews the advances in research on the active ingredients of traditional Chinese medicine involved in the treatment of sepsis in recent years according to their chemical structure; it could provide ideas and references for further research and development in Chinese materia medica for the treatment of sepsis.

The Xin’an River ecological compensation mechanism is China’s first horizontal compensation mechanism to improve the ecological environment of the downstream areas and increase the fiscal revenues ...

Cardiac dysfunction can be a fatal consequence of sepsis and lead to increased inflammatory responses or reduced fatty acid oxidation and final ATP depletion. Fenofibrate, which is an agonist of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor α, has been used primarily in hypercholesterolemia and mixed dyslipidemia. Recent studies found that fenofibrate could alleviate energy metabolism and inflammation caused by cardiac damage during sepsis, and thus it had been paid great attention. This study was to investigate the possible protective roles of fenofibrate against cardiac damage in septic BALB/c mice. Methods: Forty male BALB/c mice aged 8 weeks old were divided randomly into four groups: control group; fenofibrate group; cecal ligation and puncture (CLP) group; and fenofibrate + CLP group. After administering fenofibrate or saline for 2 weeks, CLP was performed. Cardiac tissue and plasma were obtained 48 hours later. Plasma Troponin-T (Tnt), ATP, ADP and reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels were determined. PPARα and 53 protein levels were detected using western blotting. IL-6 and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNFα) were also assayed. We found that fenofibrate decreased plasma cTnT, ROS and increased the ratio of ATP/ADP. The elevations of IL-6, TNFα and P53 induced by sepsis were significantly suppressed by fenofibrate. Our results suggest that fenofibrate can regulate energy metabolism efficiently, which makes it a possible agent for treating sepsis-induced cardiac damage.

Background "Herbal tea" is a kind of "tea" made from the roots, stems, leaves, flowers, fruits, and even whole plants of herbal plants. In southwestern Guizhou Province, where ethnic minorities gathering, drinking herbal tea has always been one of the methods used by the local people to prevent common diseases. Systematical records of the use of herbal tea are urgent of ethnic groups. The present study sought to investigate and analyze the traditional knowledge of the herbal tea plants used by the minority people in Qianxinan Buyi and Miao Autonomous Prefecture of southwestern Guizhou province, and reveal their utilization characteristics and its formation factors. Methods: In 2020 and 2021, field surveys of four villages were conducted in Qianxinan, with ethnobotanical methods such as semi-structured interviews and participatory observation. The relative frequency of citation (RFC) was used to determine the commonly used herbal tea plants. Herbal tea plant specimens were identified according to the Flora of China (http://www.iplant.cn/). Results: A total to 114 species of herbal tea plants belonging to 59 families 103 genera in Qianxinan, with 60% of herbal tea plants grow in wild. The families with the richest species were Asteraceae (19 species). Of the 114 species, herbaceous were common (59%); the most popular used plant parts were whole plants (35%); processing methods of most herbal tea were dried in the sun (38%); most of herbal tea preparation forms were decocted in water for oral dose (50%). 33 major medicinal functions of herbal tea were recorded, which clearing heat, detoxify, and diuresis being the most commonly. The RFC index determined the most used species was Houttuynia cordata (RFC=0.51). Conclusions: After investigation, the resources of herbal tea plants in Qianxinan are rich. However, the traditional knowledge and sustainable development and utilization of herbal tea plants need more extensive basic investigations as support. This study records the types of herbal tea plants and related information used in the Buyi and Miao Autonomous Prefecture in Southwest Guizhou Province, and lays the foundation for the development, protection and sustainable use of herbal tea resources.

Objective Sepsis is a systemic and deleterious host reaction to severe infection. Cardiac dysfunction is an established serious outcome of multiorgan failure associated with this condition. Therefore, it is important to develop drugs targeting sepsis-induced cardiac damage and inflammation. Thymoquinone (TQ) has anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, anti-fibrotic, anti-tumor, and anti-apoptotic effects. This study examined the effects of thymoquinone on sepsis-induced cardiac damage. Methods Male BALB/c mice were randomly segregated into four groups: control, TQ, cecal ligation and puncture (CLP), and CLP + TQ groups. CLP was performed after gavaging the mice with TQ for 2 weeks. After 48 hours, we estimated the histopathological changes in the cardiac tissue and the serum levels of cardiac troponin-T. We evaluated the expression of factors associated with inflammation, apoptosis, oxidative stress, and the PI3K/AKT pathway. Results TQ significantly reduced intestinal histological alterations and inhibited the upregulation of interleukin-6, tumor necrosis factor-α, Bax, NOX4, p-PI3K, and p-AKT. TQ also increased Bcl-2, HO-1, and NRF2 expression. Conclusion These results suggest that TQ effectively modulates pro-inflammatory, apoptotic, oxidative stress, and PI3K/AKT pathways, making it indispensable in the treatment of sepsis-induced cardiac damage.

Empirical and theoretical research has shown that consumers’ willingness to pay (WTP) has a significant impact on manufacturers’ decisions. Based on these findings, we establish models for multiple remanufacturing modes considering WTP heterogeneity or different remanufactured products, in one-period and two-period closed-loop supply chain (CLSC) scenarios, to identify the optimal recycling and remanufacturing decisions of manufacturers. We find that manufacturers should participate in remanufacturing in one-period or two-period settings to earn more profits. In the one-period scenario, hybrid remanufacturing is better for the manufacturer than single remanufacturing, and the manufacturer chooses its remanufacturing partner based on the lower remanufacturing cost. In the two-period scenario, when the WTP ratio is above a certain threshold, the manufacturer chooses the third party as its joint recycling partner to obtain higher consumer surplus, a higher recycling rate, and higher profits. If the WTP ratio is high enough, hybrid remanufacturing is better for the manufacturer. The manufacturer does not authorize the distributor to engage in remanufacturing, for this choice yields the lowest profits for the manufacturer independent of WTP ratio. These results have policy implications from the perspective of CLSC cooperative recycling and remanufacturing.

To mitigate climate change, the governments of various countries have formulated and implemented corresponding low-carbon emission reduction policies. Meanwhile, consumers’ awareness of the necessity of environmental protection is gradually improving, and more consumers pay attention to the environmental attributes of products, which all encourages enterprises to have great power to implement low carbon technology. As rational decision makers, members tend to show the characteristics of risk aversion. How to meet the needs of consumers and reduce their own risks has become a key point of low-carbon supply chain management. Considering carbon quota policy, in this paper, the optimal pricing decision-making process of a supply chain system is discussed under risk-neutral and risk-avoidance decision-making scenarios by game theory, and a cost-sharing contract is used to coordinate the decision-making process of a supply chain system. By analyzing the influence of the risk aversion coefficient on the optimal strategies of participants, we find that when the manufacturer has the risk aversion characteristic, the risk aversion coefficient will further reduce the carbon emission rate, the wholesale price of the product and the manufacturer’s profit but increase the product order quantity and the retailer’s profit. In addition, if consumers have a high preference for low-carbon products, the manufacturer’s risk-aversion coefficient will lead to a lower selling price than in the centralized decision-making situation, and the profit of the supply chain system will also be further reduced. When the cost-sharing contract is adopted for coordination, the Pareto improvement of supply chain members’ profits can be achieved when the parameters of the cost-sharing contract are appropriate, regardless of the manufacturer’s risk-neutral decision or risk-aversion decision.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has a significant impact on the operation of enterprises. This study analyzes the production and coordination decisions of closed-loop supply chain (CLSC) by establishing two assumptions of endogenous and exogenous CSR. The results reveal that, for ordinary consumers, CSR is quantified as the parameter of consumer surplus, which has an impact on the patent licensing fee, revenue-sharing ratio, and so on, and which not only increases the sales quantity in CLSC but also creates more value for the manufacturer and the retailer. Considering endogenous CSR, the study found that the manufacturer’s CSR level and the manufacturer’s and the retailer’s profits both increase with the proportion of CSR-sensitive consumers. In the endogenous model, the manufacturer sets a higher wholesale price and lower patent licensing fee than in the exogenous model. Perfect coordination in the two models can be achieved by setting a revenue-sharing ratio related to wholesale price and patent licensing fee. In practice, improving the social responsibility consciousness of consumers and raising enterprises’ CSR level can achieve a win-win situation for revenues and social welfare.

In this work, a novel and convenient strategy for synthesis of a well-defined polymer containing both aldehyde and ferrocene functional groups by grafting 4-hydroxybenzaldehyde and ferrocenecarboxylhydrazide onto linear poly (vinylbenzyl chloride) was developed. The designed polymer film (polymer CAF) could be used as a new support matrix for fabrication of a label-free electrochemical immunosensor with high sensitivity, good stability and repeatability. With human IgG as an analyte model, the proposed electrochemical immunosensor showed a linear concentration range from 0.1 to 20 ng mL −1 with a detection limit of 0.07 ng mL −1 (S/N=3). Moreover, interfering proteins including HSA, IgM, and IgE were added into the analyte, the developed immnnosensor can detect human IgG with high specificity.

The paper investigates interactions in a two-period closed-loop supply chain consisting of a single manufacturer and a single remanufacturer. In the context of recycling and remanufacturing by the remanufacturer, the manufacturer and remanufacturer choose different production strategies. By comparing the costs, profits and equilibrium quantity of supply chain members in decentralized and centralized models, we focus on the conditions under which the remanufacturer chooses to sell the remanufactured products and compete with the manufacturer. Different cooperative strategies can affect closed-loop supply chain decision-making. The article analyzes the impact of each cost and recycling rate on the productions and profits of the manufacturer and remanufacturer, and compares the total profits of members between two models. The sensitivity analysis of the models shows that the centralized model can be an effective way of achieving greater efficiency in terms of the overall supply chain. This study provides insights into the remanufacturing theory, which might guide remanufacturing operations and strategies.

The optimized weight spectrum sequence (OWSS) is utilized as a design criterion in this paper to determine the periodic puncturing pattern and the non-periodic puncturing pattern of partially systematic RCPT (PS-RCPT) codes for LTE systems. It is shown that the OWSS-criterion based PS-RCPT codes outperform the pseudo-random puncturing (PRP) based PS-RCPT codes. Meanwhile, it is unveiled that, the puncturing ratio of information bits should be carefully determined in PS-RCPT codes generation to achieve reasonable tradeoff between the waterfall region and the error floor region performance. © 2012 IEEE.