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In this study, we aim to investigate moscatilin in alleviating symptoms of autoimmune liver disease (ALD) in a concanavalin A (ConA)-induced liver injury mouse model and elucidate the underlying mechanisms. ALD mouse models were constructed by intravenous injection of ConA (20 mg/kg) and the serum level of alanine aminotransferase (ALT) was measured using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Moscatilin in various doses was administered for two days starting from a day before the ConA injection. We showed that moscatilin dose-dependently decreased ALT levels in liver tissue of ALD mouse models. Ifng and Tnfa also showed significant downregulation in liver tissues. Macrophages only showed significant Tnfa downregulation and CD4+ T cells only showed significant Ifng downregulation at high moscatilin doses. In vivo administration of moscatilin induced interleukin-37 upregulation in hepatic tissues. In vitro, moscatilin also induced IL-37 upregulation in hepatic stellate cell line JS-1 rather than immune cells represented by RAW264.7 and CTLL-2 cell lines, suggesting that the hepatic stellate cell is majorly responsive to moscatilin treatment in terms of interleukin (IL)-37 upregulation. Our data indicate that moscatilin could alleviate liver injury in ConA-induced ALD mouse models through anti-inflammatory activities, warranting further development of moscatilin as a new drug in treating ALD.

Rhizobia and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are symbiotic microorganisms important for plants grown in nutrient-deficient and heavy metal-contaminated soils. However, it remains unclear how plants respond to the coupled stress by heavy metal and nitrogen (N) deficiency under co-inoculation. Here, we investigated the synergistic effect of Mesorhizobium huakuii QD9 and Funneliformis mosseae on the response of black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia L.) grown in sand culture to cadmium (Cd) under N deficiency conditions. The results showed that single inoculation of AMF improved the growth and Cd resistance of black locust, co-inoculation improved the most. Compared to non-inoculated controls, co-inoculation mediated higher biomass and antioxidant enzyme activity, reduced oxidative stress, and promoted nodulation, mycorrhizal colonization, photosynthetic capacity, and N, P, Fe and Mg acquisition when exposed to Cd. This increase was significantly higher under N deficiency compared to N sufficiency. In addition, the uptake of Cd by co-inoculated black locust roots increased, but Cd translocation to the above-ground decreased under both N deficiency and sufficiency. Thus, in the tripartite symbiotic system, not merely metabolic processes but also Cd uptake increased under N deficiency. However, enhanced Cd detoxification in the roots and reduced allocation to the shoot likely prevent Cd toxicity and rather stimulated growth under these conditions., (© 2024 Scandinavian Plant Physiology Society.)

Objective: To identify the distribution of research hotspots and frontiers of multidrug-resistant bacteria in intensive care units in China through the method of visualization, and to predict future research directions, analyze the research development process, so as to provide reference basis for further research in this field., Methods: Studies related to multidrug-resistant bacteria in intensive care units published in China from 2000 to 2019 by CNKI were reviewed. According to the keywords by CiteSpace 5.6.R2, the co-occurring network was generated to analyze the distribution of research hotspots in this field. Meanwhile, the mutation map of keywords was used to forecast the future research directions to a certain extent., Results: A total of 1 324 articles were finally included in the quantitative analysis. From 2000 to 2019, the number of publications in the field of multi-drug resistant bacteria in intensive care units showed a gradual increase, of which the number of publications increased rapidly from 2008 to 2014 (the number of publications increased from 34 to 124 articles). In the initial stage of research, conceptual keywords appeared, such as intensive care unit, infection, pathogenic bacteria and drug resistance among others. A dense keywords group appeared from 2008 to 2014, which covered several aspects, such as nosocomial infection, Acinetobacter baumannii, pathogenic bacteria, drug resistance, pulsed field gel electrophoresis and nursing etc., suggesting that research in this field has entered a period of vigorous development. High-frequency keywords, such as risk factors, pathogens, antibiotics, nosocomial infections, drug resistance genes and homology appeared from 2015 to 2019, thus representing the hotspots in recent years., Conclusions: The overall research on multidrug-resistant bacteria in intensive care units in China has gradually improved. The current studies focus on homology analysis and multidrug-resistant bacteria infections, among other topics. Further explorations at the genetic level will be conducted to fill the research vacancy in this field and to provide molecular biological basis for reducing the occurrence of multidrug-resistant bacteria in the future.

In this work, the properties of the CH 4 -CO 2 reforming reaction over the Fe/SiC catalyst during the whole process were studied under microwave irradiation and the reaction process was analyzed by mass spectrometry and Fourier transfer infrared spectrometry in real time. The effects of microwave power on the gas composition, conversion of reactants, and selectivity of products in the reaction were investigated. It was found that the microwave dry reforming reaction can be divided into a rapid reaction stage, slow reaction stage, and reaction equilibrium stage. The conversion of reactants and selectivity of products in the slow reaction stage were both higher than 95% under 90 W/g. In the long-term (~50 h) stability test, a combination of SEM, XRD, BET, and TG analyses found that the catalyst activity did not reduce significantly and the amount of carbon deposits (which was mainly C γ ) was negligible (~0.78 wt%). The results indicate that the cheap Fe-based catalyst has good catalytic activity and stability under microwave irradiation and hence has a promising application., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Objective: Humanin (HN) has been identified to suppress neuron death. Gly 14 -HN (HNG), as a variant of HN, can decrease infarct volume after ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury. This study aimed to investigate the neuroprotective mechanism of HNG on global cerebral I/R (GI) in rats., Methods: Rats were randomly divided into 13 groups: Sham group, GI groups and HNG groups. Both GI group and HNG groups included six time points (1, 3, 6, 12, 24, and 72 h). At 24 h after reperfusion, Nissl staining was used to observe positive neurons, and p-STAT3, MCL-1, SOCS3, Bax and Caspase-3 in different groups were detected by immunohistochemistry. qRT-PCR and western blot were used to evaluate the expression of STAT3, p-STAT3, MCL-1, and SOCS3., Results: The immunohistochemistry also showed a significant increase in Bax (0.29 ± 0.007 vs. 0.22 ± 0.007, P < 0.01) and Caspase-3 (0.24 ± 0.02 vs. 0.18 ± 0.006, P < 0.01) in GI group compared with Sham group, while Bax (0.26 ± 0.01 vs. 0.29 ± 0.008, P < 0.01) and Caspase-3 (0.20 ± 0.008 vs. 0.24 ± 0.02, P < 0.01) were significantly decreased by HNG-treatment compared with GI group. Along with immunohistochemistry, western blot and qRT-PCR indicated that the protein and mRNA levels of STAT3, MCL-1, and SOCS3 were up-regulated after administration of HNG at six time points after global cerebral I/R in rat., Conclusion: HNG might exert neuroprotective effects through alleviating apoptosis and activating of SOCS3 - STAT3 - MCL-1 signal transduction pathway. Highlights (1) Cerebral ischemia led to neuronal loss in hippocampal CA1 region of rats. (2) HNG had neuroprotective effects on ischemia/reperfusion rats. (3) The protective effect of HNG might be related to the SOCS3 - STAT3 - MCL-1 pathway.

Objective: To investigate the efficacy of bundle treatment on patients with moderate or severe acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS)., Methods: A multicenter prospective observational study comparing the result of historical treatment strategy and bundle treatment was conducted. According to the new Berlin standard of definition, 73 patients with moderate or severe ARDS due to pulmonary factors, age from 18 to 65 years, admitted to Department of Critical Care Medicine of Taian Central Hospital and Handan Central Hospital were enrolled. Thirty-three patients admitted during September 2012 to May 2014 (prospective observation period) were enrolled as the bundle treatment group. Forty patients with matched disease history admitted from January 2010 to August 2012 were enrolled as the control group. The patients in bundle treatment group received bundle treatment based on the treatment strategy of primary diseases. Bundle treatment included restrictive fluid management, respiratory support, high-dose ambroxol combined with Xuebijing injection, prevention of ventilation associated pneumonia (VAP), individualized sedation plan, installation of continuous blood purification treatment for critical patients. A special team was organized to ensure the successful implementation of all bundle measures. The acute physiology and chronic health evaluation II (APACHEII) score, oxygenation index, duration of mechanical ventilation, the length of intensive care unit (ICU) stay, incidence of VAP, and 28-day mortality 5 days after treatment were compared between two groups., Results: There were no significant differences in basic characteristics of patients between the two groups, including gender, age, etiology, severity, etc. (all P>0.05) with comparability. Compared with the control group, there was no significant difference in APACHE II score 5 days after treatment in bundle treatment group (15.1±2.8 vs. 16.2±3.0, t=1.618, P=0.110). Compared with control group, oxygenation index in bundle treatment group was significantly improved [mmHg (1 mmHg=0.133 kPa): 135.4±34.5 vs. 117.1±34.2, t=-2.273, P=0.026), the duration of mechanical ventilation was obviously reduced (days: 8.70±2.50 vs. 10.10±2.67, t=2.308, P=0.024), incidence of VAP was significantly lower [18.2% (6/33) vs. 32.5% (13/40), χ2=5.027, P=0.025], and 28-day mortality rate was obviously lowered [24.2% (8/33) vs. 37.5% (15/40), χ2=4.372, P=0.037], the length of ICU stay shown no statistical difference (days: 10.40±1.94 vs. 11.30±2.34, t=1.620, P=0.110)., Conclusions: Implementation of bundle treatment can significantly shorten the duration of mechanical ventilation, reduce the incidence of VAP, and improve the prognosis of patients.