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Acute lung injury (ALI) is a severe disease for which effective drugs are still lacking at present. Forsythia suspensa is a traditional Chinese medicine commonly used to relieve respiratory symptoms in China, but its functional mechanisms remain unclear. Therefore, forsythoside A (FA), the active constituent of F. suspensa , was studied in the present study. Inflammation models of type II alveolar epithelial MLE-12 cells and BALB/c mice stimulated by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) were established to explore the effects of FA on ALI and the underlying mechanisms. We found that FA inhibited the production of monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1/CCL2) in LPS-stimulated MLE-12 cells in a dose-dependent manner. Moreover, FA decreased the adhesion and migration of monocytes to MLE-12 cells. Furthermore, miR-124 expression was upregulated after FA treatment. The luciferase report assay showed that miR-124 mimic reduced the activity of CCL2 in MLE-12 cells. However, the inhibitory effects of FA on CCL2 expression and monocyte adhesion and migration to MLE-12 cells were counteracted by treatment with a miR-124 inhibitor. Critically, FA ameliorated LPS-induced pathological damage, decreased the serum levels of tumor necrosis factor-α and interleukin-6, and inhibited CCL2 secretion and macrophage infiltration in lungs in ALI mice. Meanwhile, administration of miR-124 inhibitor attenuated the protective effects of FA. The present study suggests that FA attenuates LPS-induced adhesion and migration of monocytes to type II alveolar epithelial cells though upregulating miR-124, thereby inhibiting the expression of CCL2. These findings indicate that the potential application of FA is promising and that miR-124 mimics could also be used in the treatment of ALI. • Acute lung injury is a life-threatening disease without effective treatments now. • Forsythia suspense is used to treat pneumonia with its anti-inflammatory activity. • Forsythoside A is a natural product from Forsythia suspense. • Forsythoside A protects mice from lipopolysaccharide-induced acute lung injury. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Objectives: Infection with high-risk human papillomavirus (hr-HPV) is an important factor associated with cervical cancer. The genetic mutation of HPV16 E6 and integration of HPV16 DNA in the cervical carcinoma tissues are considered important genetic changes in cervical lesion progression. But the studies of hr-HPV epidemiology are relatively less in the area of Sichuan, China. Therefore, we investigated the prevalence of 9 high-risk subtypes and analyzed the genetic mutation characteristic of HPV16 E6 and physical state of HPV16 DNA. Methods: The fragments of L1 and E6 genes were amplified by PCR or nested PCR and then directly sequenced. Further, the multiplex PCR for HPV16 E2 and E6 genes was performed for detection of integration. Results: HPV16, 58 and 18 were prominent, accounting for 78.6%, 20.0% and 9.7%, respectively in 145 isolates. E6 variants revealed that the European (EP) prototype and East Asia (EA) strain were 26 (23.0%) and 34 (30.1%), respectively. Furthermore, there were 14 base substitutions in E6 regions of the study group, of which 12 resulted in amino acid changes and the rest was silent mutation. Significantly, the 240G substitution exactly located the P53 degradation site. Overall, 8 of 114 (7.0%) isolates only contained integrated HPV16 DNA, 43 (37.7%) only contained episomal DNA and 63 (55.3%) contained both integrated and episomal DNA. The proportion of disruption of an intact E2 gene in the patients with cervical cancer is much lower than that in the previous studies. Conclusions: HPV16, 58 and 18 were mainly prevailing subtypes in patients with cervical cancer from Sichuan areas, China and EP/EA strains were predominant in these areas. Some mutations of E6 gene, which lead to the amino acid changes, may be more potentially carcinogenic and the proportion of disruption of an intact E2 gene is much lower. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Forest ecosystem conservation practice frequently sacrifices human livelihood, since there exists a structural conflict between both aspects in the degraded forest ecosystem. To reconcile the conflict has been widely viewed as a core issue, in which the payment of ecosystem service (PES) may play a critical role in solving this issue. In order to better understand the practical effectiveness of PES and explore the solution to reconcile the contradiction between conservation and livelihood, we investigated the decadal changes in the Sloping Land Conversion Program as a PES strategy in the Qilian Mountains, a degraded forest ecosystem of northwest China, and its effects on natural and social systems across the 10-year implementation period (2001–2011). The regional NDVI of study site was promoted from 46.24% to 61.28%, showing that vegetation cover had a massive increase during the whole implementation period. Also, the PES strategy had impelled more labor forces as migrant workers into the non-agricultural industries or urban areas. The migration dynamics in three industries demonstrated that the population of primary industry followed a gradually declining trend, and its percentage in total population was lowered from 33.44% to 19.82%. According to our household survey, local farmers reduced the economic investment in agriculture, and this enabled more labor forces to be released from agricultural industry. Interestingly, the attitudes towards the PES program for local inhabitants were gradually shifted from negative at initial stage to acceptable at middle stage, and finally to positive at late stage, as a consequence of PES application. In such case, the PES-led vegetation restoration strategy has been effectively implemented, which can reconcile the contradiction between conservation and livelihood, and ultimately achieve a win-win consequence. Our study provided a successful practical paradigm of coupled human and natural system (CHANS) in forest ecosystem restoration. • We analyzed the dilemma between forest conservation and human livelihood in China. • Sloping Land Conversion Program acted as the Payment for Ecosystem Service (PES). • The PES strategy accelerated the transfer of labors into non-agricultural industries. • Livelihood improvements promoted a fine shift of farmers' attitudes towards PES. • We established a CHANS model to highlight the role of PES in forest conservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]