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The gene mutation of coding sodium channel is one of the most important mechanisms in the pathogenesis of epilepsy. There exists a large inter-individual variation in the efficacy of valproic acid (VPA) against epilepsy. What are the genetic polymorphism influences of sodium channels on VPA response is still under discussion. In this study, a meta-analysis was used to further explore the effects of SCN1A and SCN2A gene polymorphism on VPA response in children with epilepsy.

Cerebral palsy is caused by non-progressive brain damage in developing fetuses or infants, and it can be cured by rehabilitation training, including exercise therapy, occupational therapy and so on. In recent years, massage has achieved high efficacy in treating cerebral palsy, while different literature reports are inconsistent. Therefore, in this study, meta-analysis was carried out to evaluate the effects of massage on spasm and motor function in children with cerebral palsy, so as to provide evidence for rehabilitation treatment.

Although the pathway and transcription factor regulation of anthocyanin biosynthesis in tea plants [Camellia sinensis (L.) O. Ktze] are known, post-transcriptional regulation mechanisms involved in anthocyanin accumulation have not been comprehensively studied. We obtained the full-length transcriptome of a purple cultivar (‘Zijuan’) and a normal green cultivar (‘Yunkang 10#) of C. sinensis var. asssamica (Masters) showing different accumulation of anthocyanins and catechins through PacBio isoform sequencing (Iso-Seq). In total, 577,557 mapped full-length cDNAs were obtained, and 2,600 average-length gene isoforms were identified in both cultivars. After gene annotations and pathway predictions, we found that 98 key genes in anthocyanin biosynthesis pathways could have undergone alternative splicing (AS) events, and identified a total of 238 isoforms involved in anthocyanin biosynthesis. We verified expression of the C4H, CHS, FLS, CCOM, F3′5’H, LAR, PAL, CCR, CYP73A13, UDP75L12, UDP78A15/UFGT, UDP94P1, GL3, MYB113, ANR, ANS, F3H, 4CL1, CYP98A3/C3H, CHI, DFR genes and their AS transcripts using qRT-PCR. Correlation analysis of anthocyanin biosynthesis and gene expression results revealed that C4H1, FLS1, PAL2, CCR2, UDP75L122 and MYB113-1 are crucial AS transcripts for regulating anthocyanin biosynthesis in C. sinensis var. assamica. Our results reveal post-transcriptional regulation of anthocyanin biosynthesis in tea plants, and provide more new insights into the regulation of secondary metabolism.

Tannase (E.C. 3.1.1.20) is hypothesized to be involved in the metabolism of gallates and gallic acid (GA) in pu-erh tea fermentation. In this work, we measured tannase in Aspergillus niger fermented tea leaves and confirmed the production of fungal tannase during pu-erh tea fermentation. A decrease in catechin and theaflavin gallates and a significant increase in GA content and the relative peak areas of ethyl gallate, procyanidin A2, procyanidin B2, procyanidin B3, catechin-catechin-catechin, epiafzelechin, and epicatechin-epiafzelechin [variable importance in the projection (VIP) > 1.0, p 1.5] were observed using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and metabolomics analysis of tea leaves fermented or hydrolyzed by tannase. In vitro assays showed that hydrolysis by tannase or polymerization of catechins increased the antioxidant activity of tea leaves. In summary, we identified a metabolic pathway for gallates and their derivatives in tea leaves hydrolyzed by tannase as well as associated changes in gallate and GA concentrations caused by fungal tannase during pu-erh tea fermentation.

Macroalgae Laminaria japonica (MLJ) has been reported to exhibit various biological activities including improving immunity, anti-aging, anti-tumor, anti-atherosclerosis and anti-diabetic, but the protective mechanisms of MLJ consumption against non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) associated with hyperlipidemia remain poorly understood. This study demonstrated that MLJ consumption prevented high-fat diet (HFD)-induced NAFLD associated with hyperlipidemia in a rat model, and improved hyperlipidemia-related parameters, e.g. serum and hepatic lipid profiles. Moreover, histological analysis showed that MLJ reduced lipid deposition in adipocytes and hepatocytes compared with the HFD group. Such beneficial effects may be associated with the modulation of the intestinal microbiota, especially some key microbial phylotypes involved in lipid metabolism homeostasis. The underlying protective mechanisms of MLJ consumption against HFD-induced NAFLD associated with hyperlipidemia were also studied by ultra-high performance liquid chromatography with quadruple-time of flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-QTOF/MS)-based liver metabolomics coupled with pathway analysis. The metabolic pathway enrichment analysis of the differentially abundant hepatic metabolites indicated that primary bile acid biosynthesis metabolism and cysteine and methionine metabolism were the two main metabolic pathways altered by MLJ consumption when compared with the model group. The analysis of the transcription levels of liver-related genes by RT-qPCR and the expressions of liver-related proteins by immunohistochemistry (IHC) showed that MLJ consumption could regulate the levels of mRNA transcription and protein expression related to hepatic lipid metabolism. In short, this study indicates that MLJ could be developed as functional food supplement for the prevention or treatment of NAFLD associated with hyperlipidemia.

Background : The gene mutation of coding sodium channel is one of the most important mechanisms in the pathogenesis of epilepsy. There exists a large inter-individual variation in the efficacy of valproic acid (VPA) against epilepsy. What are the genetic polymorphism influences of sodium channels on VPA response is still under discussion. In this study, a meta-analysis was used to further explore the effects of SCN1A and SCN2A gene polymorphism on VPA response in children with epilepsy. Methods : The PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure, Chinese Science and Technique Journals Database, China Biology Medicine disc, and Wan Fang Database were searched up to April 2021 for appropriate studies regarding the association between SCN1A and SCN2A gene polymorphism on VPA response in children suffering from epilepsy. The meta-analysis was conducted by Review Manager 5.3 software. Results : The results of this meta-analysis will be submitted to a peer-reviewed journal for publication. Conclusion : This meta-analysis will summarize the effects of SCN1A and SCN2A gene polymorphisms on VPA response in children with epilepsy. OSF Registration Number: DOI 10.17605/OSF.IO/N2786.

Tea is the second most widely consumed beverage and contains various bioactive compounds. A simple method to analyze these compounds is of great scientific and commercial interest. In this work, a 30 min HPLC method was developed using a simple gradient elution system, and the mobile phases and elution gradients were optimized. This method separated 17 polyphenols and three alkaloid compounds in tea extracts, including catechins, alkaloids, phenolic acids, flavonols, and flavone, which are responsible for the bioactivity and flavor of tea. Excellent linearity was observed for all standard calibration curves, and correlation coefficients were above 0.9994. Heatmap analysis demonstrated significant separation between green, black, and pu-erh tea samples. The method described here is accurate and sensitive enough for the determination of active components in tea and could potentially be applied to other food products for the comprehensive investigation of their quality.

One new Metal-Organic Frameworks, [Co4O(L)2]·(DMF)8·(H2O)8 (1, H3L = 4-[N,N-bis(4-methylbenzoic acid)amino]benzoic acid), had been successfully constructed under hydrothermal conditions, which firstly presents the [Co4O(COO)6] secondary-building unit similar to the typical [Zn4O(COO)6] one via single-crystal X-ray diffraction studies. All of the cobalt ions exhibit the four-coordinate environment, and possess more open metal sites. Heterogeneous catalytic experiments on allylic oxidation of cyclohexene indicate that 1 exhibits high catalytic activity by utilizing the tert-butylhydroperoxide (t-BuOOH) as the oxidant. The activation energy for the whole process of oxidation of cylcohexene had been calculated as 40.6 kJ mol−1, which indicate the important role of the special [Co4O(COO)6] cluster in the resulted heterogeneous catalyst.

Three new Metal-Organic Frameworks, Zn(L1)(H2O)·NMP (1), [Zn4O(L2)(NMP)(H2O)]·(NMP)2 and [Zn2(OH)(L3)(NMP)(H2O)]·NMP (3) (H2L1 = 1,4-Naphthalate, H2L2 = iso-Phthalic acid, H3L3 = 1,3,5-Benzenetricarboxylic acid), have been successfully constructed under the same reaction conditions. Although these ligands have been widely utilized for the construction of versatile MOFs by adjusting the reaction conditions, rare samples had been fabricated via the utilization of N-Methyl pyrrolidone (NMP). Different to the previous reported MOFs, the diversities of the title structures should be caused by the choice of pure solvent N-Methyl pyrrolidone and the configurations of the selected linkers. Guided by the synergistic effect between metal ions, the configuration of linkers and NMP, the different metal secondary building units (SBUs), porous structures and topological structures have been formed in these MOFs. In addition, all of these activated samples for these MOFs could reserve certain porosities and exhibit the corresponding gas adsorption for CO2 and H2.

Two new Metal-Organic Frameworks, [Zn3(tdc)3(H2O)2]·2.5(dioxane) (1) and [Mn3(H2O)3(tdc)3(dioxane)]·2(dioxane) (2), have been successfully constructed by the utilization of 2,5-thiophenedicarboxylate ligand (H2L) and Zn/Mn ions. Although trinuclear metal secondary building units (SBUs) have been stabilized in these two final frameworks, the different connection modes are exhibited due to the difference of coordination habits of metal ions. The trinuclear [Zn3(COO)6] SBU exhibits the 6-connected mode via six L ligands, whilst the trinuclear [Mn3(COO)6] SBU presents the 8-connected mode via six L ligands and two p-dioxane molecules. The different connection modes of two trinuclear SBUs lead to the formation of distinct topological structures (6-connected pcu for 1; 8-connected tsi for 2). Both of the activated samples for these two MOFs could reserve the certain porosities and exhibit the corresponding gas sorption for H2.

Developing an effective method to improve the quality of Pu-erh tea is of great scientific and commercial interest. In this work, Penicillium chrysogenum P1 isolated from Pu-erh tea was inoculated in sterilized or unsterilized sun-dreid green tea leaves to develop pure-culture fermentation (PF) and enhanced fermentation (EF) of Pu-erh tea. Spectrophotometry and high performance liquid chromatography determined that contents of free amino acids (FAA), total tea polyphenols and eight polyphenolic compounds in PF were significantly lower than these in non-inoculation control test (CK) (P 0.05), whereas the contents of soluble sugars and theabrownins (TB) in PF were significantly higher (P 0.05) than in CK. A total of 416 volatile compounds were detected by headspace solid-phase micro-extraction combined with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Comparison to CK, 124 compounds in PF were degraded or decreased significantly [Variable importance in projection [(VIP) 1.0, P 0.05, fold change (FC) 0.5], whereas 110 compounds in PF were formed or increased significantly (VIP 1.0, P 0.05, FC 2). Compared with normal fermentation (NF), the levels of gallic acid, (+)-catechin, (-)-epicatechin and 64 volatile compounds in EF were significantly lower (VIP 1.0, P 0.05, FC 0.5), whereas the levels of FAA and 39 volatile compounds were significantly higher (VIP 1.0, P 0.05, FC 2). Amplicon sequencing of fungal internal transcribed spacer 1 (ITS1) revealed that P. chrysogenum P1 didn't become the dominant fungus in EF; while the fungal communities in EF were different from those in NF, in that the relative abundances of Blastobotrys bambusae and P. chrysogenum in EF were higher, and the relative abundances of Aspergillus niger and Kluyveromyces marxianus in EF were lower. Overall, inoculation of P. chrysogenum in unsterilized sun-dreid green tea leaves changed the the fungal communities in fermentation of Pu-erh tea, and chemical compounds in fermented tea leaves, i.e., the levels of TB and the compounds responsible for the stale flavor, e.g., 2-amino-4-methoxybenzothiazole were increased, resulting in improvement of the sensory quality, including mellower taste and stronger stale flavor.