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Gut microbial dysbiosis and alteration of gut microbiota composition in Parkinson's disease (PD) have been increasingly reported, no recognized therapies are available to halt or slow progression of PD and more evidence is still needed to illustrate its causative impact on gut microbiota and PD and mechanisms for targeted mitigation. Epidemiological evidence supported an association between milk intake and a higher incidence of Parkinson's disease (PD), questions have been raised about prospective associations between dietary factors and the incidence of PD. Here, we investigated the significance of casein in the development of PD. The mice were given casein (6.75 g/kg i.g.) for 21 days after MPTP (25 mg/kg i.p. × 5 days) treatment, the motor function, dopaminergic neurons, inflammation, gut microbiota and fecal metabolites were observed. The experimental results revealed that the mice with casein gavage after MPTP treatment showed a persisted dyskinesia, the content of dopamine in striatum and the expression of TH in midbrain and ileum were decreased, the expression of Iba-1, CD4, IL-22 in midbrain and ileum increased continuously with persisted intestinal histopathology and intestinal barrier injury. Decreased intestinal bile secretion in addition with abnormal digestion and metabolism of carbohydrate, lipids and proteins were found, whereas these pathological status for the MPTP mice without casein intake had recovered after 24 days, no significant differences were observed with regard to only treated with casein. Our study demonstrates that intestinal pathologic injury, intestinal dysbacteriosis and metabolism changes promoted by casein in MPTP mice ultimately exacerbated the lesions to dopaminergic neurons.

Long non-coding RNA (LncRNA) contributes to the occurrence and development of osteosarcoma (OS), although the underlying mechanism is not clear. In the present study, we showed that lncRNA MRPL23-AS1 was remarkably increased in OS tissues and cell lines. Stable knockdown of MRPL23-AS1 evidently attenuated cell viability and invasive ability, meanwhile inhibited in vivo tumor growth and dissemination. In terms of mechanism, luciferase reporter, RNA pull-down and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) assays showed that MRPL23-AS1 competitively interacted with miR-30b, increasing myosin heavy chain 9 (MYH9) expression, a trans- activator of β-catenin, resulting in the activation of Wnt/β-catenin pathway, thereby promoting OS tumorigenesis and metastasis. Importantly, high MRPL23-AS1 was positively correlated with MYH9, while conversely correlated with miR-30b, suggesting that the regulatory axis of MRPL23-AS1/miR-30b/MYH9 does exist in OS. Clinically, OS patients with high MRPL23-AS1 had larger tumor size, higher stage and easier metastasis than those with low MRPL23-AS1, moreover, MRPL23-AS1 was identified as an adverse prognostic factor for OS survival. In conclusion, our results show that MRPL23-AS1 is a key oncogenic lncRNA in OS, targeting of MRPL23-AS1 may be a promising treatment for OS patients., GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

Sonodynamic therapy (SDT) has the advantages of high penetration, non-invasiveness, and controllability, and it is suitable for deep-seated tumors. However, there is still a lack of effective sonosensitizers with high sensitivity, safety, and penetration. Now, ultrasound (US) and glutathione (GSH) dual responsive vesicles of Janus Au-MnO nanoparticles (JNPs) were coated with PEG and a ROS-sensitive polymer. Upon US irradiation, the vesicles were disassembled into small Janus Au-MnO nanoparticles (NPs) with promoted penetration ability. Subsequently, GSH-triggered MnO degradation simultaneously released smaller Au NPs as numerous cavitation nucleation sites and Mn2+ for chemodynamic therapy (CDT), resulting in enhanced reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation. This also allowed dual-modality photoacoustic imaging in the second near-infrared (NIR) window and T1 -MR imaging due to the released Mn2+ , and inhibited orthotopic liver tumor growth via synergistic SDT/CDT.

Many Margalefidinium species are cosmopolitan harmful algal bloom (HAB) species that have caused huge economic and ecological damage. Despite extensive research on Margalefidinium species, the biodiversity and spatial-temporal dynamics of these species remain obscure. Jiaozhou Bay is an ideal area for HAB research, being one of the earliest marine survey areas in China. In this study, we carried out the first metabarcoding study on the temporal and spatial dynamics of Margalefidinium species using the 18S rDNA V4 region as the molecular marker and samples collected monthly at 12 sampling sites in Jiaozhou Bay in 2019. Two harmful Margalefidinium species (M. polykrikoides and M. fulvescens) were identified with potentially high genetic diversity (although we cannot rule out the possibility of intra-genome sequence variations). Both M. polykrikoides and M. fulvescens demonstrated strong temporal preference with a sharp peak of abundance in early autumn (September), but without showing strong location preference in Jiaozhou Bay. Our results revealed that temperature might be the main driver for their temporal dynamics. Knowledge of biodiversity and spatial-temporal dynamics of the Margalefidinium species may shed light on the understanding of mechanisms underlying strongly biased occurrences of Margalefidinium blooms recorded globally.

Background Skeletonema species are prominent primary producers, some of which can also cause massive harmful algal blooms (HABs) in coastal waters under specific environmental conditions. Nevertheless, genomic information of Skeletonema species is currently limited, hindering advanced research on their role as primary producers and as HAB species. Mitochondrial genome (mtDNA) has been extensively used as “super barcode” in the phylogenetic analyses and comparative genomic analyses. However, of the 21 accepted Skeletonema species, full-length mtDNAs are currently available only for a single species, S. marinoi. Results In this study, we constructed full-length mtDNAs for six strains of five Skeletonema species, including S. marinoi, S. tropicum, S. grevillei, S. pseudocostatum and S. costatum (with two strains), which were isolated from coastal waters in China. The mtDNAs of all of these Skeletonema species were compact with short intergenic regions, no introns, and no repeat regions. Comparative analyses of these Skeletonema mtDNAs revealed high conservation, with a few discrete regions of high variations, some of which could be used as molecular markers for distinguishing Skeletonema species and for tracking the biogeographic distribution of these species with high resolution and specificity. We estimated divergence times among these Skeletonema species using 34 mtDNAs genes with fossil data as calibration point in PAML, which revealed that the Skeletonema species formed the independent clade diverging from Thalassiosira species approximately 48.30 Mya. Conclusions The availability of mtDNAs of five Skeletonema species provided valuable reference sequences for further evolutionary studies including speciation time estimation and comparative genomic analysis among diatom species. Divergent regions could be used as molecular markers for tracking different Skeletonema species in the fields of coastal regions.

The environmental pollutions by organic pollutants and radionuclides have aroused great concern. Developing highly efficient elimination methods becomes an imperious demand. In this study, a nanocomposite of K2Ti6O13 (KTO) nanobelts hybridized graphene oxide (GO) nanosheets (GO/KTO) was used to photodegrade RhB (dye) and photoreduce U(VI) (radionuclide), which was synthesized by a facile hydrothermal method. The adsorption capacity and the slope (k) of the curve -ln(C/C) versus time in photodegradation of RhB by GO/KTO were higher than that by GO and KTO. In the presence of different free radical scavengers, superoxide radical (·O2-) was found to play the most significant role in the reaction. The XPS experiment indicates U(VI) was successfully photoreduced to less toxic U(IV). The pH dependent photocatalytic experiments on RhB and U(VI) both showed the best performance at neutral pH value (from pH 6 to pH 8). To investigate the reason for the enhanced photocatalysis of GO/KTO, the morphology/microstructure, optical and photo-electrochemical properties were examined. The enhanced abilities of separation of photo electrons and holes and the adsorption of GO/KTO were ascribed to the structure of KTO nanobelts laying on the surface of GO nanosheets, which may maximize the contacting area between KTO and GO, and thus greatly reduce the surface related oxygen defects to enhance the electron interface transfer between KTO and GO and decrease the recombination efficiency of electrons and holes. These results showed the GO/KTO has great application potential in environmental treatment of organic pollutants and high valent heavy/radionuclide ions at neutral condition.

A conceptually distinct strategy enabling malonylamination of alkenes with abundant amines and iodonium ylides without assistance of any transition metal was developed. Succinimide was identified as a proton shuttle that can not only largely accelerate the process of trapping highly unstable radical ion pairs with alkenes but also significantly improve the chemical yields.

N-Heterocycles have been found in a large number of natural products, drug molecules, and bioactive compounds, and they thereby play a vital role in diverse research disciplines including drug discovery, organic synthesis, chemical biology, and material science. To this end, the development of new methods and strategies for the construction of N-heterocyclic frameworks is arguably one of the most dynamic and significant research areas in organic synthesis. One of these powerful approaches to the synthesis of N-heterocycles is to establish cyclization reactions based on the transformation of tertiary amines, which has emerged as an attractive research topic. In this Minireview, the significant achievements in the construction of N-heterocycles through cyclization of tertiary amines are highlighted and a comprehensive overview of the rational design, development, and application of these synthetic methods is presented.

Multiplex detection of tumor markers in blood with high specificity and high sensitivity is critical to cancer diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis. Herein, we demonstrate a strategy for simultaneous detection of multiple tumor markers in blood by functional liquid crystal (LC) sensors assisted with target-induced dissociation (TID) of an aptamer for the first time. Magnetic beads (MBs) coated with an aptamer (apt1) are employed to specifically capture target proteins in blood. After incubation of the obtained protein-coated MBs with duplexes of another aptamer (apt2) and signal DNA, sandwich complexes of apt1/protein/apt2 are formed on the MBs due to specific recognition of target proteins by apt2, which induces release of signal DNA into the aqueous solution. Subsequently, signal DNA is specifically recognized by highly sensitive DNA-laden LC sensors. Using this strategy, a 3D printed optical cell was employed to enable simultaneous detection of multiple tumor markers such as carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), alpha-fetoprotein (AFP), and prostate specific antigen (PSA) with high specificity and high sensitivity. Overall, this effective and low-cost multiplex approach takes advantage of the easy separation of MBs, high specificity of aptamer-based recognition, and high sensitivity of functional LC sensors. Plus, it offers a performance that is competitive to that of commercial ELISA kits without potential interference from hemolysis, which makes it very promising in multiplex detection of tumor markers in clinical applications.

Described herein is a direct cyclization of simple tertiary aryl amines with iodonium ylides leading to a broad range of N-heterocycles. Completely different from the known reactivity of iodonium ylides, the finding reported herein is that an iodonium ylide is capable of cleaving a C(sp3 )-H bond and accepting two hydrogen atoms of a tertiary aryl amine, thus inducing a novel cyclization process. This transformation can proceed without the assistance of a transition-metal catalyst and eliminates the need for the premodification of the amine or the use of an additional initiator/oxidant.

There is an increase in demand to develop simple, convenient, and low-cost approaches for rapid and label-free detection of antibiotics. Herein, we propose a new principle for the detection of kanamycin using the surface-anchored liquid crystal (LC) droplets. The optical images of the LC droplets uniformly change from four-clover, uniformly dark, and dark cross appearance gradually with the increase of surfactant concentration. The detection of kanamycin is fulfilled with the aid of a cationic surfactant cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) and a kanamycin aptamer. The LC droplets show uniformly dark appearance and four-clover appearance in the presence of the aqueous solutions of CTAB and CTAB/aptamer complex, respectively. However, the specific binding of kanamycin to its aptamer can release the CTAB, which induces the uniformly dark appearance of the LC droplets. A portable device is built to measure the optical luminance of the LC droplets. This system can detect kanamycin with a concentration below 0.1 ng/mL (~0.17 nM) and also allows the detection of kanamycin in real samples such as milk and honey. Therefore, it is very promising in the development of new types of LC-based sensors by the surface-anchored LC droplets assisted with a portable optical device.

Accumulating evidence indicates that the haptophyte species Phaeocystis globosa, which plays an important role in climate control and may cause harmful algal blooms (HABs), displays a rich genetic diversity that may be responsible for differences in colonial sizes, different toxicity during blooms, and differential optimum growth temperature. In this project, we demonstrated that COX1 can be used as an effective molecular marker for its low intra-genome variations and high resolution in differentiating different P. globosa strains. Analyzing 57 P. globosa strains and seven field samples revealed high P. globosa genetic diversity with at least seven distinct clades. This study not only demonstrated for the first time that the common molecular marker COX1 can be used for differentiating P. globosa strains with high-resolution, and for tracking dynamics of different P. globosa strains during bloom development, but also revealed that P. globosa had high genetic diversity in the field.

Hot flushes are common in menopause. Norepinephrine (NE), primarily synthesized in the locus coeruleus (LC), plays a major role in central thermoregulation. Furthermore, we previously observed decreased dopamine beta hydroxylase (DβH), a key enzyme in NE synthesis, in LC neurons following ovariectomy. In this study, we explore the mechanisms underlying decreased NE levels in the LC (LC-NE) in ovariectomized (OVX) rats, and the modulating effects of estradiol valerate (E2) and black cohosh (ICR). We used high-performance liquid chromatography to detect LC-NE in SHAM, OVX, OVX-E2, and OVX-ICR groups. Western blotting and immunohistochemistry were performed to investigate the expression of NE metabolic enzymes, the NE reuptake transporter (NET), and estrogen receptors (ERs) in the LC. We observed significant LC-NE decreases in the OVX group. E2 and ICR enhanced LC-NE but did not restore them to SHAM levels. Ovariectomy affected NE synthesis, degradation, and reuptake. Levels of NE catabolic enzymes monoamine oxidase A (MAOA) and catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) decreased, while NET expression increased. E2 restored MAOA and COMT to SHAM levels but had no effect on NET. ICR restored COMT and NET to SHAM levels but had no effect on MAOA. Moreover, the OVX group also exhibited decreased expression of ERα and ERβ. E2 enhanced the expression of ERα and ERβ, while ICR only enhanced ERβexpression. Taken together, reduced NE in OVX rats resulted from reduced synthesis and increased degradation and reuptake. E2 and ICR may regulate these processes in different ways through various ERs.

Described herein is an unprecedented method that enables the installation of hydroxylamines and oximes into a broad range of alkenes with iodonium ylides. For the first time, the single electron transfer process between iodonium ylides and oxygen-based Lewis bases was demonstrated in this transformation.

With the rapid development of DNA nanotechnology, strands-based DNA polyhedra have been reported and widely applied in chemical biology, drug delivery and materials science. A fundamental problem is to determine which topological structures such a DNA polyhedron will allow. Our goal in this paper is to determine all permissible nontrivial topological structures for DNA trigonal bipyramids with double-helical edges, which have been partially realized by one-step self-assembly of multiple DNA single-strands designed rationally. Here oriented trigonal bipyramid links (OTB links) are constructed as the mathematical models for DNA trigonal bipyramids and are further classified into 451 link types. In this process, an OTBL program is designed in the Python programming language to generate all OTB link diagrams and also to remove the same topological structures produced by the rotational symmetry of trigonal bipyramid. Our result gives a list of candidates for further synthesized DNA trigonal bipyramid prisms with required topological structures.

The visualization of glycosylation states of specific proteins in vivo is of great importance for uncovering their roles in disease development. However, the ubiquity of glycosylation makes probing the glycans on a certain protein as difficult as looking for a needle in a haystack. Herein, we demonstrate a proximity-induced hybridization chain reaction (HCR) strategy for amplified visualization of protein-specific glycosylation. The strategy relies on designing two kinds of DNA probes, glycan conversion probes and protein recognition probes, which are attached to glycans and target proteins, respectively. Upon sequential binding to the targets, the proximity-induced hybridization between two probes occurs, which leads to the structure-switching of protein recognition probes, followed by triggering of HCR assembly. This strategy has been used to visualize tyrosine-protein kinase 7-specific sialic acid in living CEM cells and zebrafish and to monitor its variation during drug treatment. It provides a potential tool for investigating protein-specific glycosylation and researching the relation between dynamic glycans state and disease process.

Cholesterol is an essential compound for maintaining cellular homeostasis and human healthy. Sensitive detection of cholesterol and efficient elimination of excess cholesterol have become the essential manipulations in clinical diagnosis and health management. To date, it is still quite challenging that cholesterol detection and elimination tasks are carried out simultaneously. In this study, bifunctional magnetic nanoparticles (Fe3O4@PDA-PBA-CD) are designed and fabricated to overcome this difficulty. Taking advantages of competitive host-guest interaction and magnetic separation, highly efficient, reusable and simultaneous cholesterol detection and elimination can be achieved. The limit of detection is determined to be 4.3 nM, which is comparable or even lower than existing methods. The distinguished performance may attribute to the high loading efficiency and magnetic enrichment of nanoparticles. Besides, this efficient strategy is resistant to interfering substances, thus realizing sensitive cholesterol detection in real sample. Simultaneously, the bifunctional magnetic nanoparticles also have up to 95% cholesterol elimination efficiency, which is higher than previous reported methods. Furthermore, the nanoparticles are turned out to be reusable within 5 times without noticeable loss in cholesterol elimination efficiency. Therefore, the bifunctional magnetic nanoparticles fabricated here could hold great potential for simultaneous cholesterol detection and elimination in practical applications.

A (salen)Mn(iii)-catalyzed chemoselective acylazidation of olefins was developed based on strategic application of the distinct reactivity of oxomanganese(v) species., We describe a (salen)Mn(iii)-catalyzed three-component reaction of aldehydes, olefins, and sodium azide for the installation of two useful groups (C 0000000000000000000000000000000000 0000000000000000000000000000000000 0000000000000000000000000000000000 0000000000000000000000000000000000 0000000000000000000000000000000000 0000000000000000000000000000000000 0000000000000000000000000000000000 0000000000000000000000000000000000 0000000000000000000000000000000000 0000000000000000000000000000000000 0000000000000000000000000000000000 0000000000000000000000000000000000 0000000000000000000000000000000000 0000000000000000000000000000000000 0000000000000000000000000000000000 1111111111111111111111111111111111 1111111111111111111111111111111111 0000000000000000000000000000000000 0000000000000000000000000000000000 0000000000000000000000000000000000 0000000000000000000000000000000000 1111111111111111111111111111111111 1111111111111111111111111111111111 0000000000000000000000000000000000 0000000000000000000000000000000000 0000000000000000000000000000000000 0000000000000000000000000000000000 0000000000000000000000000000000000 0000000000000000000000000000000000 0000000000000000000000000000000000 0000000000000000000000000000000000 0000000000000000000000000000000000 0000000000000000000000000000000000 0000000000000000000000000000000000 O and N3) into the double bond. Traditionally, (salen)Mn(iii) in conjunction with iodosobenzene is a classical catalysis system for epoxidation of olefins. Owing to the highly competitive oxygenation approaches, it is a true challenge to establish a distinct strategy for the exploration of new olefin transformations based on this (salen)Mn(iii) catalysis system. Herein, the key to this (salen)Mn(iii)-catalyzed acylazidation of olefins was the rational application of the distinct reactivity of oxomanganese(v) species which is capable of abstracting a hydrogen atom from a substrate C–H bond. This chemoselective reaction occurred in a precisely designed reaction sequence and tolerates complex molecular structures.

Modified clay (MC) removed harmful algae Karenia mikimotoi effectively, and significantly inhibited residual algae growth. Hydrogen peroxides (H2O2) and malondialdehyde (MDA) contents of K. mikimotoi increased significantly after treatment, indicating that MC induced oxidative stress. Moreover, H2O2 content was significantly correlated with cell density, indicating that increased reactive oxygen species (ROS) were likely responsible for the growth inhibition. Further investigation showed that MC caused damage to photosynthesis of residual algae, indicated by decreased maximal photochemical efficiency (Fv/Fm) and performance index (PIABS). The density of reaction center (RC) decreased, indicating that MC induced partially inactivated RCs, then caused residual activated RCs to be over-excited. The electron transport chain was also blocked, indicated by increased WK and VJ, and decreased Sm. These effects of photosystem II (PSII) were supposed to be the main contributors to ROS over-accumulation during photosynthesis. Overall, treatment with MC is an appropriate method for controlling K. mikimotoi blooms.

Li 4 SiO 4 and Li 2 TiO 3 have been regarded as the most favored ceramic breeders of the test blanket modules (TBMs). The lithium density of Li 4 SiO 4 is higher than that of Li 2 TiO 3 ; however, the thermo-mechanical stability of Li 2 TiO 3 is better than that of Li 4 SiO 4 . Hence, the biphasic y Li 2 TiO 3 –(1− y )Li 4 SiO 4 ( y = 25%, 50%, 75%, molar ratio) pebbles were fabricated by a graphite bed process for the next generation of advanced tritium breeder materials. The pebbles with interesting core–shell structure (core: Li 2 TiO 3 and Li 4 SiO 4 , shell: Li 2 TiO 3 ) were fabricated for the first time. The thickness of Li 2 TiO 3 shell can be controlled by sintering time. Crystal structure, microstructure, and mechanical properties of the biphasic pebbles were investigated. The experimental results showed that the core–shell structure improved the crush load dramatically. The average crush load of 50%Li 2 TiO 3 –50%Li 4 SiO 4 pebbles sintered at 1100 °C for 5 h was up to104.79 N.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of verapamil on the pharmacokinetics of pristimerin in rats. A sensitive and reliable LC-MS/MS method was developed and applied for the determination of pristimerin in rat plasma. The pharmacokinetics of orally administered pristimerin with and without verapamil pretreatment was investigated. The results indicated that, when the rats were pretreated with verapamil, the peak concentration of pristimerin increased from 189.13 to 277.53 ng/mL (46.7%), and the AUC0-t increased by approximately 82.0%. Additionally, the effects of verapamil on the absorption and metabolic stability of pristimerin were investigated using the Caco-2 cell transwell model and rat liver microsomes. A markedly higher transport of pristimerin across the Caco-2 cells was observed in the basolateral-to-apical direction and was abrogated in the presence of the P-gp inhibitor, verapamil. These results indicated that P-gp might be involved in the absorption of pristimerin. Of note, the metabolic half-life of pristimerin was prolonged by the pretreatment with verapamil. In conclusion, verapamil could affect the pharmacokinetics of pristimerin, and it might work through increasing the absorption of pristimerin by inhibiting P-gp, or through slowing down the metabolism of pristimerin in the rat liver. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Lithium based ceramics have been regarded as the promising ceramic breeders of the test blanket modules. As lithium burn-up of ceramic pebbles in the fusion reactor will be limited to about 15 % due to Li transmutation. The phase and composition (Li+ transferring process) of Li2TiO3–Li4SiO4 ceramic pebbles with a certain amount of Li loss (−xLi2TiO3 and −xLi4SiO4, x = 0, 5, 10, 20 %, molar ratio) were simulated by thermogravimetry and differential scanning calorimetry and X-ray diffractometer for the first time. The results showed that the Li+ of Li4SiO4 could move to Li4Ti5O12 to form Li2SiO3 and Li2TiO3 as the octahedral (16c) sites of Li4Ti5O12 are empty. In order to tailor the properties for optimization, 20 % Li2TiO3–80 % Li4SiO4 pebbles were fabricated by a graphite bed process. In combining these materials, the pebbles obtained reasonable pores, small grains, and relative high crush load.

Bi12TiO20 ceramics were prepared via a modified sol–gel route using citric acid as a metal chelating agent. The pH value of the initial precursor was adjusted from 6 to 13 by the addition of ammonium hydroxide (NH4OH). The effects of pH value on the formation of chelate complex between citric acid and metal ions were systematically investigated in this work. Furthermore, the crystal structure, microstructure and microwave dielectric properties of Bi12TiO20 ceramics derived at various pH values were characterized. Scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive spectroscopy indicated that a single Bi12TiO20 phase with high relative densities above 96 % of the theoretical density was successfully achieved at pH 11. The variations in density, ionic polarizability and microstructure had a remarkable effect on the microwave dielectric properties of Bi12TiO20 ceramics. In the case of pH 11, Bi12TiO20 ceramics sintered at 750 °C exhibited promising microwave dielectric properties: e r = 39.55, Q × f = 3950 GHz, and τ f = − 17 ppm/°C, indicating that they were promising dielectric candidates for LTCC applications.

Among the strategies for treating harmful algal blooms, flocculation using modified clay (MC) has been widely applied in the field. This paper studied the mitigation of MC on Amphidinium carterae Hulburt, finding that MC could not only effectively remove A. carterae, but also affect the physiological activities of the residual algae and inhibit their normal growth. The superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity, catalase (CAT) activity and malondialdehyde (MDA) content of the residual algae significantly increased compared with the control, indicating that MC stimulated the accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in algal cells. In addition, the cell density was significantly correlated with the SOD activity, CAT activity and MDA content in the experiment groups, suggesting that intracellular ROS might be the main internal factor inhibiting cell growth. To reveal the mechanism of ROS generation, this paper further evaluated the effect of MC on photosynthesis in the residual microalgae, and found that compared with the control the absorption flux per photosystem II (PSII) reaction center (ABS/RC), the trapping flux per RC (TR0/RC) and the electron transport flux per RC (ET0/RC) increased, while the TR0/ABS and ET0/ABS decreased after adding 0.10 g/L and 0.25 g/L MC. These findings indicate that the MC led to an imbalance between photosynthetic light absorption and energy utilization and that the partial RCs became non-primary quinone electron acceptor (QA)-RCs, further inducing the over-excitation of the active RCs. And MC caused the suppression of the electron transport chain (ETC): the ETC from the QA to the secondary quinone electron acceptor (QB) was blocked and the size of plastoquinone pool decreased, which could induce the over-reduction of PSII. The over-excitation of PSII and the damaged ETC likely induce the generation of ROS during photosynthesis. Thus, MC likely induced the accumulation of intracellular ROS due to photosynthesis inhibition, consequently hindering the growth of the residual algae.

Menopause is a cardiovascular risk factor in women, and cardiovascular changes during perimenopause can increase the risk. We observed the influence of plasma adrenalin and norepinephrine and their metabolites on the cardiovascular system and the rectification effect of estrogen in ovariectomized rats. Fifty-four adult female Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into sham (Sham), ovariectomized (OVX), or ovariectomized+estrogen treatment groups (OVX+E), with 18 rats in each. The Sham and OVX groups were given normal saline and the OVX+E group was given estradiol valerate beginning 2weeks after ovariectomy and continuing for 4weeks. Radioimmunoassay, high-performance liquid chromatography, high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry, and chromatography-spectrophotometry were used to detect estradiol, adrenalin, norepinephrine, metanephrine, and normetanephrine in plasma and vanillylmandelic acid in urine. Echocardiography, Doppler blood flow detection technologyand hamnatodynamometer were applied to assess cardiovascular function. After ovariectomy, levels of estrogen reduced, adrenalin and metanephrine increased, and norepinephrine and normetanephrine in the plasma and vanillylmandelic acid in urine decreased. Symptoms indicative of cardiac diastolic dysfunction, including decreased diastolic left ventricular cavity capacity, increased wall thickness and decreased cardiac rate were observed. Different degrees of vasomotor dysfunction appeared in different peripheral positions, and the tail vessels were in relatively systolic conditions. However, the claw pad vessels were diastolic. Besides, blood pressure also increased. After ovariectomy, estrogen levels reduced and the metabolic processes of adrenalin and norepinephrine changed, which impacted cardiovascular functions. Changes of adrenalin and norepinephrine and its metabolites were correlated with the cardiovascular function. Cardiovascular disease occurred during the perimenopausal period. Estrogen replacement therapy can mitigate, rectify, and improve menopause-related conditions such as hot flash.

The distribution and nature of defects induced by H ion, He ion, and mixed-beam H and He ion implantation in China low-activation martensitic (CLAM) steel were studied by positron-annihilation spectroscopy. The evolution of vacancy-type defects in the CLAM steel was detected when the ion implantation dosage was varied. Significant differences in the S parameter-positron energy profile in response to the different implanted ions were observed. The implantation-induced defects were analyzed using VEPFIT. One type of defect was found in all ion-implanted samples. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.