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Globally, obesity has become the fifth leading risk factor for death, and discoverying prebiotics with preventive and therapeutic effects on obesity is a hot topic in current research. Marine polysaccharides, a special class of bioactive substances from marine organisms, have novel structural features and unique bioactivities due to the unique environment of the ocean. Marine polysaccharides have an excellent potential to treat obesity by regulating glucose and lipid metabolism, inflammatory factor levels, and the gut microbiota. This article reviews the types of marine polysaccharides, the effects of their structures and compositions on their antiobesity activity, and the underlying mechanisms of action. With the aim of providing a basis for the development of antiobesity drugs using marine polysaccharides, the article focuses on discussing the signaling pathways by which marine polysaccharides inhibit obesity through the gut microbiota, and gives an outlook on the application of marine polysaccharides for obesity inhibition.

Sea cucumber, an important marine food and medicinal resource, contains polysaccharides, which are one of the most important active substances in it. Sulfate groups play an important role in the biological activity of polysaccharides, and sea cucumber sulfated polysaccharides may specifically affect the growth of certain intestinal microorganisms and the production of related metabolites due to their different chemical structures, which contribute to the variable health promoting effects. As a complex ecosystem of the human body, the intestinal flora plays an irreplaceable role in life activities such as nutritional metabolism. Sea cucumber sulfated polysaccharides can be used as prebiotics to alleviate diseases caused by intestinal flora disorder by regulating its composition. This review article summarizes the structures of sea cucumber sulfated polysaccharides, with a focus on the latest progress in research on their influence on glycolipid metabolism through the gut microbiota. These studies will contribute to a better understanding of the health promoting mechanism of sea cucumber sulfated polysaccharides and provide a scientific basis for their application in functional foods.

In this paper, the spectral problem of the mKdV equation satisfying the compatibility condition on time scales is directly constructed. By using the zero-curvature equation on time scales, the mKdV equation on time scales is obtained. When  x ∈ R  and  t ∈ R , the equation degenerates to the classical mKdV equation. Then, the single-soliton, two-soliton, and N-soliton solutions of the mKdV equation under the zero boundary condition on time scales are presented via employing the Darboux transformation (DT). Particularly, we obtain the corresponding single-soliton solutions expressed using the Cayley exponential function on four different time scales (R ,  Z , q-discrete,  C). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We aimed to explore the anti-obesity mechanism from the microbiome, metabolome, and transcriptome viewpoints, focusing on the sulfated polysaccharides found in the cooking liquid of Apostichopus japonicus (CLSPAJ) to explore the potential mediators of the anti-obesity effects in mice fed a high-fat diet (HFD). The mice treated with CLSPAJ showed a decrease in obesity and blood lipid levels. Gut microbiome dysbiosis caused by the HFD was reversed after CLSPAJ supplementation, along with increased levels of indole-3-ethanol, N-2-succinyl-L-glutamic acid 5-semialdehyde, and urocanic acid. These increases were positively related to the increased Akkermansia, Lactobacillus, Roseburia, and Phascolarctobacterium. Transcriptome analysis showed that B cell receptor signaling and cytochrome P450 xenobiotic metabolism were the main contributors to the improvement in obesity. Metabolome–transcriptome analysis revealed that CLSPAJ reversal of obesity was mainly due to amino acid metabolism. These findings suggest that CLSPAJ could be a valuable prebiotic preparation for preventing obesity-related diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The drought of water resources is the key factor that limits the sustainable development of irrigation areas. In order to improve the ability of drought prevention and control of irrigation area and make it play a better role in water saving and disaster reduction, Pishihang Irrigation District is taken as the study area. By dividing the sub-units of water resources allocation and setting up regulation and storage nodes, the optimal fairness and the minimum water supply shortage rate is used as the objective function, total quantity control, water supply capacity and different quality water supply as constraints, the non-dominant genetic algorithm based on elite strategy is adopted to solve the problem, and the regional General Water Allocation and Simulation Model(GWAS) is constructed. With 2022 as the base year and combined with 2023 planning year, it is divided into two categories: continuous drought and discontinuous drought. Based on the regulation idea of "three times balance of emergency drought" of water resources in irrigated areas, and on the basis of analyzing water shortage in irrigated areas under different drought scenarios, the drought resistance allocation of water resources in irrigation area is studied. The supply and demand balance of water resources under different drought relief schemes is deduced and analyzed. The results show that in the continuous drought year and the 2023 planning year of irrigation district, under the water inflow frequency of scenario I (P=90%) and scenario II (P= 80%), there are different degrees of water shortage in each township allocation unit, and the total regional water shortage rates are 35.1% and 20.8%, respectively. In the discontinuous drought years, in the 2023 planning year, under the water frequency of scenario III (P= 50%), the benchmark water allocation of the model can basically meet the water demand of villages and towns in the region, and the total water shortage rate of the region is 5.9%. After the optimal allocation of water replenishment at the tail pumping station of different drought relief schemes, adjustment of crop planting structure and external water transfer, the total water shortage rate in the three scenarios is finally reduced to 0%. After optimization, the water supply improvement effect of each configuration unit is significant. The research results can provide a technical support for the reasonable adjustment of water resources under different drought types in Pishihang Irrigation District in the future, and provide a theoretical basis for realizing unified water resources management and unified allocation of water resources in this region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sea cucumber is an essential nutrient source and a significant economic marine resource associated with successful aquaculture. However, sea cucumbers are highly susceptible to autolysis induced by endogenous protease after postmortem, and the phenomenon of body wall "melting" occurs, which seriously affects the food quality of products and the degree of acceptance by consumers. To satisfy the growing demand for fresh or processed sea cucumbers, we must clarify the autolysis mechanism of sea cucumbers and the methods to achieve autolysis regulation. In this paper, the factors leading to the quality deterioration and texture softening of sea cucumbers are reviewed, with emphasis on enzymatic characteristics, the autolysis mechanism, the effects of autolysis on the physicochemical properties of the body wall of the sea cucumber, and the development of potential natural protease inhibitors. We aim to provide some reference in future preservation and processing processes for sea cucumbers, promote new processing and preservation technologies, and advance the sea cucumber industry's development.

Purpose: Oral cancer ranks as the 6th most prevalent type of cancer accounting for significant mortality around the world and studies are being directed to develop efficient chemotherapy for oral cancer. In this study the anticancer effects of a carbazole alkaloid Murrayanine were investigated in vitro and in vivo., Methods: Cell counting assay and colony formation assay were used to examine cell viability. DAPI and propidium iodide (PI) staining were used to detect apoptosis. Western blotting was used to examine protein expression. Xenografted mice were used for in vivo study., Results: The results showed that Murrayanine decreased the viability of the oral cancer SCC-25 cells and exhibited an IC50 of 15 µM. The cytotoxicity of Murrayanine was also investigated on the normal hTERT-OME cells and it was found that this molecule exerted very low toxic effects on these cells exhibiting an IC50 of 92 µM. Murrayanine also caused considerable changes in the morphology of the SCC-25 cells and inhibited their colony forming potential. PI and DAPI staining revealed that Murrayanine prompted apoptosis of the SCC-25 cells. The apoptotic cells from 2.2% in the control increased to around 35% at 30 µM concentration. Moreover, Murrayanine caused increase in the Bax/Bcl-2 ratio and also increased the expression of Caspase-3. Murrayanine also deactivated the AKT/mTOR and Raf/MEK/ERK signalling pathways and suppressed the growth of the xenografted tumors in vivo., Conclusion: The findings of the present investigation suggest that Murrayanine may prove essential in the development of systemic therapy for oral cancers.

Moderate drought stress has been found to promote the accumulation of active ingredients in Glycyrrhiza uralensis root and hence improve the medicinal quality. In this study, the transcriptomes of 6-month-old moderate drought stressed and control G. uralensis root (the relative water content in soil was 40%-45% and 70%-75%, respectively) were sequenced using Illumina HiSeq 2000. A total of 80,490 490 and 82 588 278 clean reads, 94,828 and 305,100 unigenes with N50 sequence of 1,007 and 1,125 nt were obtained in drought treated and control transcriptome, respectively. Differentially expressed genes analysis revealed that the genes of some cell wall enzymes such as β-xylosidase, legumain and GDP-L-fucose synthase were down-regulated indicating that moderate drought stress might inhibit the primary cell wall degradation and programmed cell death in root cells. The genes of some key enzymes involved in terpenoid and flavonoid biosynthesis were up-regulated by moderate drought stress might be the reason for the enhancement for the active ingredients accumulation in G. uralensis root. The promotion of the biosynthesis and signal transduction of auxin, ethylene and cytokinins by moderate drought stress might enhance the root formation and cell proliferation. The promotion of the biosynthesis and signal transduction of abscisic acid and jasmonic acid by moderate drought stress might enhance the drought stress tolerance in G. uralensis. The inhibition of the biosynthesis and signal transduction of gibberellin and brassinolide by moderate drought stress might retard the shoot growth in G. uralensis.