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Effect of Panax notoginseng on anti-aging in Caenorhabditis elegans. • Panax notoginseng powder is a widely used dosage form in China. The results suggest the fine powder is the optimal sizes for Panax notoginseng powder. • Using the Caenorhabditis elegans as an in vivo model, the research found out that Panax notoginseng canprolong the life of C. elegans via Insulin/IGF-1 signaling pathway. Panax notoginseng (Burk.) F.H. Chen (PN) has been widely used as an edible and medicinal resource in China, with PN powder being used in dosage form. The present study aimed to investigate the optimal powder size of PN and evaluate its anti-ageing effect in Caenorhabditis elegans. Firstly, four PN powders of different sizes were prepared and their extracts were obtained. These extracts improved the lifespan of Caenorhabditis elegans , with FPE having the greatest effect. Moreover, FPE increased the activity of antioxidant enzymes and reduced the accumulation of reactive oxygen species. FPE also decreased the lipofuscin level and the carbonylated protein content. At the same time, FPE affected the mRNA expression levels of sod-3 , hsp-16.2 , daf-2 , and daf-16 involved in the insulin/IGF-1 signaling pathway, as detected by RT-PCR. Furthermore, the upregulation of SOD-3::GFP and HSP-16.2::GFP following addition of FPE was quantitated using fluorescence. Daf-2 and daf-16 mutants were used for the survival assay, and no life span extension was observed. These observations not only revealed that fine powder is the optimal particle size for PN, but also validated that the anti-ageing effects of PN are mediated by the insulin/IGF-1 signaling pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Trimethylamine-N-oxide (TMAO), gut microbiota-dependent metabolites, has been shown to be associated with cardiovascular diseases. However, little is known about the relationship between TMAO and vascular aging. Here, we observed a change in TMAO during the aging process and the effects of TMAO on vascular aging and endothelial cell (EC) senescence. We analyzed age-related plasma levels of TMAO in young adults (18–44 years old), older adults (≥ 65 years old), and 1-month-old, 3-month-old, 6-month-old and 10-month-old senescence-accelerated mouse prone 8 (SAMP8) and age-matched senescence-accelerated mouse resistance 1 (SAMR1) models. We found that circulating TMAO increased with age both in humans and mice. Next, we observed that a TMAO treatment for 16 weeks induced vascular aging in SAMR1 mice and accelerated the process in SAMP8 mice, as measured by an upregulation of senescence markers including senescence-associated β-galactosidase (SA-β-gal), p53, and p21, vascular dysfunction and remodeling. In vitro , we demonstrated that prolonged TMAO treatment induced senescence in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs), characterized by reduced cell proliferation, increased expressions of senescence markers, stagnate G0/G1, and impaired cell migration. Furthermore, TMAO suppressed sirtuin 1 (SIRT1) expression and increased oxidative stress both in vivo and in vitro and then activated the p53/p21/Rb pathway resulting in increased p53, acetylation of p53, p21, and decreased CDK2, cyclinE1, and phosphorylation of Rb. In summary, these data suggest that elevated circulating TMAO during the aging process may deteriorate EC senescence and vascular aging, which is probably associated with repression of SIRT1 expression and increased oxidative stress, and, thus, the activation of the p53/p21/Rb pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although Hmgn3 is involved in the regulation of development and cellular differentiation, its physiological roles on decidualization are still unknown. Here we showed that Hmgn3 was highly expressed in the decidua and decidualizing stromal cells. Overexpression of Hmgn3 variants, Hmgn3a or Hmgn3b, enhanced the expression of decidualization markers Prl8a2 and Prl3c1, whereas inhibition of Hmgn3 reduced their expression. Hmgn3 could mediate the effects of Hoxa10 and cAMP on the expression of Prl8a2 and Prl3c1. Further study found that Hmgn3 directed the process of decidualization through influencing the expression of Hand2. Progesterone could induce the expression of Hmgn3 in the ovariectomized mouse uterus, uterine epithelial cells and stromal cells. Knockdown of Hoxa10 with siRNA alleviated the induction of progesterone and cAMP on Hmgn3 expression. Simultaneously, siRNA-mediated down-regulation of Hmgn3 in the uterine stromal cells could attenuate the effects of progesterone, cAMP and Hoxa10 on the expression of Hand2. Collectively, Hmgn3 may play an important role during mouse decidualization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tradeoff of Exploitation-protection and Suitability Evaluation of Low-slope Hilly can provide a basis for the optimal allocation of regional land resources, and is also of great practical significance for promoting the development and protection of low-slope hilly and realizing the optimization of "Production-living-ecological" and ecological development. This study takes the administrative village as the evaluation unit, constructs the evaluation system from the perspective of "Production-living-ecological" optimization and introduces ordered weighted averaging (OWA) operator to weigh the functional potential of the low-slope hilly in Dali City in the preferences of urbanization development, farmland protection and ecological conservation. The results show that: ①Under the ecological preference scenario, the weights of vegetation coverage and water conservation index are increased, while the weights of cultivated land area and non-agricultural output value index under the production preference scenario are increased. The weights of population density and the index of GDP per capita are increased under the living preference scenario. ②Three kinds of suitability zoning results are selected from nine kinds of decision preference which illustrate the ecological conservation, farmland protection, and urbanization development respectively. Under the urbanization development scenario, the importance of urbanization development factor has been magnified and the regional space that is suitable for development is relatively large. Under the farmland protection scenario, low-slope hilly is not the main object needed protection and the proportion of village units that are restricted or prohibited to exploitation is not large. Under the ecological conservation scenario, the re-development of stock of land is an important way of urban expansion and spatial optimization, therefore, ecological resources are protected. It is concluded that trade-off between development and protection of Dali city as well as the multi-scenario suitability evaluation scheme provide scientific reference for the regional sustainable development. • This paper is to provide evidence for decision-making of the allocation optimization of land resources. • Preference analysis has scientific reference value for optimal use of national territory. • Ordered weighted average method can meet the fundamental requirements of preference model combination analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background & Aims: Dysregulation of Wnt signaling has been involved in gastric tumorigenesis by mechanisms that are not fully understood. The receptor for activated protein kinase C (RACK1, GNB2L1) is involved in development of different tumor types, but its expression and function have not been investigated in gastric tumors. Methods: We analyzed expression of RACK1 in gastric tumor samples and their matched normal tissues from 116 patients using immunohistochemistry. Effects of knockdown with small interfering RNAs or overexpression of RACK1 in gastric cancer cell lines were evaluated in cell growth and tumor xenograft. RACK1 signaling pathways were investigated in cells and zebrafish embryos using immunoblot, immunoprecipitation, microinjection, and in situ hybridization assays. Results: Expression of RACK1 was reduced in gastric tumor samples and correlated with depth of tumor infiltration and poor differentiation. Knockdown of RACK1 in gastric cancer cells accelerated their anchorage-independent proliferation in soft agar, whereas overexpression of RACK1 reduced their tumorigenicity in nude mice. RACK1 formed a complex with glycogen synthase kinase Gsk3β and Axin to promote the interaction between Gsk3β and β-catenin and thereby stabilized the β-catenin destruction complex. On stimulation of Wnt3a, RACK1 repressed Wnt signaling by inhibiting recruitment of Axin by Dishevelled 2 (Dvl2). Moreover, there was an inverse correlation between expression of RACK1 and localization of β-catenin to the cytoplasm/nucleus in human gastric tumor samples. Conclusions: RACK1 negatively regulates Wnt signaling pathway by stabilizing the β-catenin destruction complex and act as a tumor suppressor in gastric cancer cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Novel three-dimensional sea-urchin-like hierarchical TiO2 superstructures were synthesized on a Ti plate in a mixture of H2O2 and NaOH aqueous solution by a facile one-pot hydrothermal method at a low temperature, followed by protonation and calcination. The results of series of electron microscopy characterizations suggested that the hierarchical TiO2 superstructures consisted of numerous one-dimensional nanostructures. The microspheres were approximately 2–4μm in diameter, and the one-dimensional TiO2 nanostructures were up to 600–700nm long. A two-stage reaction mechanism, i.e., initial growth and then assembly, was proposed for the formation of these architectures. The three-dimensional sea-urchin-like hierarchical TiO2 microstructures showed excellent photocatalytic activity for the degradation of Rhodamine B aqueous solution under sunlight irradiation, which was attributed to the special three-dimensional hierarchical superstructure, and increased number of surface active sites. This novel superstructure has promising use in practical aqueous purification. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Both Li3TaO4 and Li3SbO4 ceramics were prepared via the solid state reaction method. With 1wt.% B2O3 addition, the sintering temperatures of both Li3TaO4 and Li3SbO4 ceramics can be lowered to near 930°C. The chemical compatibility of silver electrode and the low-firing ceramics has been considered, and the results showed that both the Li3TaO4 and Li3SbO4 ceramics are chemical compatible with Ag. Good microwave dielectric properties were obtained with permittivities of 14.1 and 10.3, quality factor Q f values of 29,900 (at 12.4GHz) and 14,600GHz (at 13.5GHz), and temperature coefficient of resonant frequency values of −48 and −28ppm/°C for Li3TaO4 and Li3SbO4 ceramics with 1wt.% B2O3 addition, respectively. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]