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A novel vortex-assisted dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction method based on deep eutectic solvent (VA–DLLME–DES) completed in syringe has been established to extract 12 quinolones from honey. This method is an improvement of traditional DLLME. In this work, the green DES prepared with heptanoic acid and thymol was used for extractant rather than traditional organic extraction solvent. Without centrifugation, the phases were separated in the way of removing aqueous phase by pushing the syringe and extractant phase was collected for ultra performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (UPLC–MS) analysis. The stability of DES and some experimental parameters (type, molar ratios and volume of extraction solvent, type and volume of dispersant, vortex time and effect of pH and NaCl) were evaluated. In the range of 2–100 ng/mL, the proposed method showed good linearities (r2 ranged from 0.996 to 0.999). The extraction recoveries were obtained in the range of 75.01%–117.05% and relative standard deviations were less than 13.83% for inter- (n = 6) and intra-day (n = 3) precisions. The limits of detection and quantification were 3 ng g−1 and 10 ng g−1, respectively. The developed method with the advantages of simple operation, short extraction time and less consumption organic solvent provides a technical idea for green, simple and time-saving sample preparation methods.

From the points of view of phenomena and experience, aging and constipation are inextricably correlated. However, experimental support and underlying mechanisms are still lacking. The purpose of this study is to explore the relationships between aging and constipation from the perspectives of fecal metabolites and network pharmacology. The behavioral analyses of aging and constipation were carried out on both aging rats and constipation rats. We found that aging rats exhibited not only significant aging behaviors but also significant constipation behaviors, while constipation rats exhibited both significant constipation and aging behaviors. Additionally, fecal metabolomics was carried out and found that 23 metabolites were aging-related and 22 metabolites were constipation-related. Among them, there were 16 differential metabolites in common with 11 metabolic pathways. Network pharmacology was applied to construct the target-pathway network of aging and constipation, revealing that pathway in cancer was the most associated signaling pathway. The current findings will provide not only a novel perspective for understanding aging and constipation, but a theoretical association and understanding the traditional Chinese medicine theory and the Western medicine theory about aging and constipation, as well as support for the clinical research and development of medicine related to constipation in the elderly. Published version

Recently, an increasing number of studies have reported that dysregulation of circular RNA (circRNA) expression plays critical roles in the progression of several cancers, including colorectal cancer (CRC). However, the detailed molecular mechanisms of circRNAs involvement in CRC remain largely unknown. Here, we confirmed that the level of circEGFR was significantly increased in CRC tissues compared to matched adjacent non-tumor tissues, and a high level of circEGFR was correlated with poor clinicopathological characteristics and poor prognosis in patients with CRC. Moreover, increased circEGFR expression promoted CRC cell proliferation, migration, and invasion in vitro. Mechanistically, circEGFR acted as a ceRNA for miR-106a-5p to relieve the repressive effect of miR-106a-5p on DDX5 mRNA. Moreover, circEGFR enhanced DDX5 expression, thereby upregulating p-AKT levels. Together, these findings showed that circEGFR promoted CRC cell proliferation, migration, and invasion through the miR-106a-5p/DDX5/AKT axis, and may serve as a promising diagnostic marker and therapeutic target for CRC patients.

This article, in order to precisely impose friction on aircraft and weapon actuation systems, presents a new friction loading method characteristic of “torque-zero velocity” switching control with an electro-hydraulic load simulator. As the general Stribeck friction model has little related to static friction, it proposes a “torque-zero velocity” switcher, in which a zero-velocity controller is developed to load the static friction and a torque controller the kinetic friction. With the help of mathematical modeling, this article designs a “torque-zero velocity” switching controller and, correspondingly, provides a “dual-threshold judgment” algorithm. Simulation results indicate that the proposed method can be successfully used to carry out the static and kinetic friction simulation with an electro-hydraulic load simulator.