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Phosphovanadate Y(V 0.2 P 0.8 O 4 ):Eu 3+ nanorods have been created via a simple hydrothermal method and used for the highly sensitive and selective fluorescence detection of Cr 3+ over other common heavy metal ions within a 10 min period. It was found that the fluorescence intensity of Y(V 0.2 P 0.8 O 4 ):Eu 3+ linearly decreases with Cr 3+ concentrations ranging from 1 × 10 -9 to 1.2 × 10 -6 M. The sensing mechanism for Cr 3+ is ascribed to the aggregation of Y(V 0.2 P 0.8 O 4 ):Eu 3+ nanorods triggered by Cr 3+ ions owing to the high affinity of phosphate groups to metal ions. The excellent chemical stability, photostability over a wide pH range of 3-12, and high salt-tolerance performance with ionic strength from 1× 10 -3 to 12 M of Y(V 0.2 P 0.8 O 4 ):Eu 3+ allow these nanorods to successfully overcome the photobleaching and pH-dependent fluorescence property of traditional organic fluorescence probes. These characteristics ensure their applicability to environmental monitoring of Cr 3+ . The sensitive determination of Cr 3+ in different environmental water samples demonstrated the potential application of Y(V 0.2 P 0.8 O 4 ):Eu 3+ as a practical environmental probe. With the help of a UV lamp (254 nm), the visual Cr 3+ values for dynamic monitoring in industrial wastewater further verified that this method can even exhibit on-site visible features in daytime and night easily. This allows for the direct monitoring of environmental Cr 3+ .

2',4'-Dihydroxy-6'-methoxy-3',5'-dimethylchalcone (DMC), one of the flavonoids isolated and purified from the dried flower buds of Cleistocalyx operculatus, was explored for its function in glucose uptake/glycogen synthesis in insulin-sensitive tissue cells and its effect and mechanism on 3T3-L1 preadipocyte differentiation. DMC (10 μM) treatment remarkably promoted glucose uptake in differentiated 3T3-L1 adipocytes (P < 0.05 vs control group), whereas the glucose uptake in L6 myoblasts and glycogen synthesis in HepG2 hepatocytes were not affected by the treatment. DMC had paradoxical effects on lipid accumulation in 3T3-L1 cells compared with differentiation control. High concentrations of DMC (10 and 20 μM) markedly diminished lipid accumulation; however, a low concentration of DMC (2.5 μM) enhanced lipid storage in 3T3-L1 cells (P < 0.01 vs differentiation control group), and 5 μM DMC did not impose a significant effect. It was demonstrated that the effect of DMC in lipid accumulation was controlled by the expression of PPAR-γ.