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Introduction: A. truncatum Bunge (Sapindaceae or formerly Aceraceae) is a tall deciduous tree native to China. Traditionally, the leaves of A. truncatum are decocted and used by Chinese Mongolians, Koreans, and Tibetans to treat skin itching, dry cracks, and other skin ailments, which indicates A. truncatum leaves may have a potential inhibitory effect on various skin inflammations. Methods: To examine the protective effect against skin inflammations of A. truncatum leaf extract (ATLE), an in vitro dermatitis model was established using sodium dodecyl sulfate (SLS)-induced HaCaT cells. The antiinflammatory effect of ATLE was evaluated by analyzing cell viability, apoptosis, reactive oxygen species (ROS), interleukin 6 (IL-6), and prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) levels. Results: Orthogonal experiments showed that the pretreatment with ATLE can reduce the IL-6 levels, PGE2 levels, and apoptosis increased in SLS-stimulated HaCaT cells, which indicates that ATLE has positive efficacy for dermatitis. Furthermore, three flavonoid compounds kaempferol-3-O-a-L-rhamnoside, quercetin-3-O-a-L-rhamnopyranoside, kaempferol-3,7-di-O-a-L-rhamnoside, and 1,2,3,4,6-Penta-O-galloyl-ß-D-glucopyranose (PGG) were isolated and identified. Among them, kaempferol-3,7-di-O-a-L-rhamnoside was isolated from this plant for the first time. These compounds have been proven to have an anti-inflammatory effect. They may contribute to the efficacy of A. truncatumin treating skin inflammation. Discussion: The results revealed that ATLE has the potential to be used as an additive in various skin care products to prevent skin inflammations and may be incorporated in formulations for topical application as a therapeutic approach against dermatitis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is characterized by chronic and relapsing intestinal inflammation, which currently lacks safe and effective medicines. Astragalus membranaceus (AM), also named Huangqi, is one of the most commonly used fundamental herbs in China. Here, we aimed to investigate mechanism and bioactive compounds of AM on treating sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS)- induced colitis in Drosophila flies. Our data showed that AM extract (AME) supplementation had no toxic effect in flies, and protected flies against SDS-induced lifespan shortening, intestinal morphological damage, and colon length shortening. Moreover, AME supplementation remarkably rescued SDS-induced intestinal stem cell (ISC) overproliferation and increased reactive oxygen species (ROS) level in the intestine. Mechanistically, AME remarkably rescued the altered expression levels of genes and proteins in c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) and JAK-STAT signaling pathways induced by SDS in gut. Additionally, formononetin, isoliquiritigenin, isorhamnetin, astragaloside I, astragaloside III, vanillic acid, and caffeic acid in AM had protection against SDS-induced inflammatory damage in flies. Taken together, AME could ameliorate the intestinal inflammation partially by suppressing oxidative stress-associated JNK signaling and JAK-STAT signaling pathways. AME may provide a theoretical basis for natural medicine toward treating intestinal inflammatory disease in human. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, a surfactant-mediated ultrasonic-assisted process was used for the first time to produce an antioxidant-enriched extract from Chaenomeles speciosa (Sweet) Nakai (C. speciosa, a popular fruit grown widely in the temperate regions of China). Ultrasonic treatment at 51 °C and 200 W for 30 min with sodium dodecyl sulfate as the surfactant led to a phenolic yield of 32.42 mg/g from dried C. speciosa powder, based on single-factor experiments, the Plackett–Burman design and the Box–Behnken design. The phenolic content increased from 6.5% (the crude extract) to 57% (the purified extract) after the purification, using LSA-900C macroporous resin. Both the crude and purified extracts exhibited a significant total reducing power and DPPH/ABTS scavenging abilities, with the purified extract being more potent. The purified extract exerted significant antioxidant actions in the tert-butyl hydroperoxide-stimulated HepG2 cells, e.g., increasing the activities of superoxide dismutase and catalase, while decreasing the reactive oxygen species and malondialdehyde levels, through the regulation of the genes and proteins of the Nrf2/Keap1 signaling pathway. Therefore, the extract from C. speciosa is a desirable antioxidant agent for the oxidative damage of the body to meet the rising demand for natural therapeutics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the adulteration of dietary supplements with synthetic drugs remains a prevalent issue, the inclusion of anti-obesity agents may pose health risks, potentially leading to central nervous system or cardiovascular diseases. However, surveillance studies on the use of anti-obesity agents by the Chinese population are limited. This study aims to establish an efficient and rapid hair pretreatment method using dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction (DLLME) combined with high-speed grinding and develop a sensitive and accurate analytical method employing ultra high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS) for detecting 13 potential anti-obesity agents in hair samples. Herein, hair samples were washed sequentially with 0.1% sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), water and acetone, and then ground at high speed using 1 mL of an extraction solution (internal standard solution-n-butanol-1.2 mol/L Na 2 HPO 4 , pH10.0, 100:400:500, v / v / v for procaterol; internal standard solution-ethyl acetate-1.2 mol/L Na 2 HPO 4 , pH8.0, 100:300:600, v / v / v for other 12 anti-obesity agents) while simultaneously performing DLLME. The developed method successfully detected 13 anti-obesity agents within 11 min, including bambuterol, clenbuterol, ractopamine, clorprenaline, formoterol, salbutamol, terbutaline, procaterol, phentermine, bupropion, sibutramine, desmethyl sibutramine, and N , N -didesmethyl sibutramine, which improved the screening efficiency. The calibration curves exhibited good linearity of 0.025–5 ng/mg, achieving correlation coefficients of r ≥ 0.99. The lower limits of quantification (LLOQs) for the analytes were 0.025 ng/mg, demonstrating acceptable levels of accuracy and precision. Recovery rates ranged between 73.30% and 107.47% across the three concentrations of 0.075, 0.375, and 3.75 ng/mg. The validated method was successfully applied to 369 real cases and detected six analytes, including bambuterol, salbutamol, terbutaline, sibutramine, desmethyl sibutramine, and N , N -didesmethyl sibutramine. This method offers several advantages, including simple pretreatment, high extraction efficiency, rapid extraction, solvent economy, and pollution mitigation, making it highly suitable for large-scale surveillance of usage of added anti-obesity agents. [Display omitted] • The simultaneous research on 13 illegally added anti-obesity agents. • A dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction method was improved and applied. • The consumption of three beta-agonists was estimated in a province in China. • The illegal use of sibutramine was discovered in a province in China. • The method provides an efficient tool for the large-scale surveillance of drugs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In foam flooding, foams stabilized by conventional surfactants are usually unstable in contacting with crude oil, which behaves as a strong defoaming agent. In this article, synergistic effects between different surfactants were utilized to improve foam stability against crude oil. Targeted to reservoir conditions of Daqing crude oil field, China (45 °C, salinity of 6778 mg L−1, pH = 8–9), foams stabilized by typical anionic surfactants fatty alcohol polyoxyethylene ether sulfate (AES) and sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) show low composite foam index (200–500 L s) and low oil tolerance index (0.1–0.2). However, the foam stability can be significantly improved by mixing the anionic surfactant with a sulfobetaine surfactant, which behaves as a foam stabilizer increasing the half‐life of foams, and those with longer alkyl chain behave better. As an example, by mixing AES and SDS with hexadecyl dimethyl hydroxypropyl sulfobetaine (C16HSB) at a molar fraction of 0.2 (referring to total surfactant, not including water), the maximum composite foaming index and oil tolerance index can be increased to 3000/5000 L s and 1.0/4.0, respectively, at a total concentration between 3 and 5 mM. The attractive interaction between the different surfactants in a mixed monolayer as reflected by the negative βs parameter is responsible for the enhancement of the foam stabilization, which resulted in lower interfacial tensions and therefore negative enter (E), spreading (S), and bridging (B) coefficients of the oil. The oil is then emulsified as tiny droplets dispersed in lamellae, giving very stable pseudoemulsion films inhibiting rupture of the bubble films. This made it possible to utilize typical conventional anionic surfactants as foaming agents in foam flooding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Peanuts known as important oil crops are widely planting for a high yield in China. As an energy dense food, peanut contains a large amount of fat, proteins, carbohydrate, vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals. Peanut protein is one of valuable byproducts from the oil extraction due to its excellent nutritional source of high-quality protein, while a low dose of anti-nutritive factors. However, low aqueous solubility and emulsification occurred in peanut protein compared with soybean protein. It is necessary to improve the functional properties of peanut protein for the better applications in food industry. Recently, protein glycation has become a safe method most commonly used to produce non-health-hazardous byproducts during protein modification. Protein glycation involves the formation of covalent bonds between proteins (free amine groups, i.e., terminal or side chain) and polysaccharides (reducing terminal carbonyl group) via the Maillard reaction. This study aims to improve the solubility of Peanut Protein Isolate (PPI) using Non-Thermal Plasma (NTP) treatment for glycation of peanut protein isolate–dextran. NTP has become an emerging technique to treat many high energy radicals, such as atomic oxygen (O), superoxide (O2 ·-), nitric oxide (·NO), and hydroxyl radicals (·OH), while the treatment can be fast, nonthermal, operationally flexible, and nonhazardous. During treatment, these obtained particles can break the covalent bonds to trigger various chemical reactions. Therefore, an experiment has been conducted to investigate the effect of NTP treatment time (0、0.5、1.5、2.0、 3.0 min) on the glycation of PPI and Dextran (Dex). Under the NTP power of 70 W and solution temperature of 60 ℃, the Degree of Grafting (DG) of PPI-Dex increased with the extension of NTP treatment time, where the maximum DG of PPI-Dex was 21.62% at 1.5 min. The grafting time of PPI-Dex was greatly reduced, when compared with ultrasonic grafting of 40 min, and the traditional wet grafting of 24 h. After PPI-Dex grafting, there was a remarkable increase in the solubility and emulsification of PPI-Dex conjugates, where the solubility increased by 22.28% compared with that of untreated. A systematic analysis has been carried out to measure molecular weight, amino acid content, infrared spectrum and protein surface hydrophobicity index (Ho), in order to evaluate the effects of NTP treatment on the structure and functional properties of peanut protein. Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate Polyacrylamide Gel Electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) analysis confirmed the coupling of PPI with dextran to form conjugates. The amino acid content analysis revealed a decrease in the content of lysine and phenylalanine, indicating that lysine and phenylalanine can be involved in glycosylation during NTP treatment. Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) showed an increase in the absorption of the characteristic hydroxyl peaks at 3 000-3 500 cm-1 and 1 000-1 260 cm-1 of PPI-Dex grafts, when NTP treatment time at 1.5 min, compared with that of untreated, and a decrease in the content of α-helix and β-sheets, while an increase in the content of β-turns. A significant decrease in Ho of PPI indicated the increase of hydrophilicity of PPI surface. This variation in the reaction can attribute to the alteration of PPI structure from compact/hydrophobic to dense/hydrophilic during NTP treatment. When PPI was glycosylated with Dex, the reaction sites can be lysine and phenylalanine. The finding demonstrated that the NTP method can be successfully applied to accelerate the graft reactions of peanut protein isolate for the peanut food production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The permeability of coal pores to water is very limited. • High temperature can hinder the wetting process of water injection. • Surfactant molecules limit the effective wetting range of coal seam water. • SDS limits the effective wetting range of coal seam water more than CTAB. Coal seam water injection is vital in mitigating dust pollution in coal mining operations. To investigate water imbibition and adsorption behavior on the coal surface following injection into coal seams, as well as the impact of surfactants, coal particles with sizes of 6–8 mm, 3–5 mm, and 0.4–0.85 mm were selected from the Dongtan Coal Mine in Shandong Province, China. Coal particle imbibition experiments were designed for coal particles at varying surfactant concentrations and temperatures, and molecular simulation was employed to examine the micro adsorption behavior of water within coal rock pores. The findings indicate that smaller coal particles exhibit significantly higher water absorption capacity compared to larger particles when ample water supply is present. This suggests that coal pore water absorption is inherently limited. Moreover, elevated formation temperatures hinder the wetting process of water injection. Importantly, introducing surfactants leads to the blockage of coal fractures, constriction of fracture channels, and restriction of the effective wetting range of coal seam water. Furthermore, the influence of sodium dodecyl sulfate is greater than that of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide. In low-temperature environments, surfactants exert a more prominent inhibitory effect on water injection wetting. These research findings provide valuable theoretical guidance for coal seam dust prevention efforts and water injection technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The presence of multidrug-resistant bacterial pathogens in the environment poses a serious threat to public health. The opportunistic Acinetobacter spp. are among the most prevalent causes of nosocomial infections. Here, we performed complete genome sequencing of the Acinetobacter calcoaceticus strain XM1570, which was originally cultivated from the sputum of a patient diagnosed with pneumonia in Xiamen in 2010. We identified carbapenem resistance associated gene blaNDM-1 located on a 47.3-kb plasmid. Three methods – natural reproduction, sodium dodecyl sulfate treatment and nalidixic acid treatment – were used to eliminate the blaNDM-1-encoding plasmid, which achieved elimination rates of 3.32% (10/301), 83.78% (278/332), and 84.17% (298/354), respectively. Plasmid elimination dramatically increased antibiotic sensitivity, reducing the minimum bacteriostatic concentration of meropenem from 256 µg/ml in the clinical strain to 0.125 µg/ml in the plasmid-eliminated strain. Conjugation transfer assays showed that the blaNDM-1-containing plasmid could be transferred into Escherichia coli DH5α:pBR322 in vitro as well as in vivo in mice. The blaNDM-1 genetic environment was in accordance with that of other blaNDM-1 genes identified from India, Japan, and Hong-Kong. The multilocus sequence type of the isolate was identified as ST-70. Two novel genes encoding intrinsic OXA and ADC were identified and named as OXA-417 and ADC-72. The finding of blaNDM-1 in species like A. calcoaceticus demonstrates the wide spread of this gene in gram-negative bacteria which is possible by conjugative plasmid transfer. The results of this study may help in the development of a treatment strategy for controlling NDM-1 bacterial infection and transmission. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The effect of wx genes on amylose content, physicochemical properties of wheat starches, and the quality of Chinese crisp stick were investigated using near-isogenic lines (NILs) with null wx alleles in Yangmai 17 and Yangmai 01-2 backgrounds. wx genes showed significant effects on amylose content and other traits. The triple-null genotype had the lowest amylose content among eight genotypes, followed by double-null, single-null, and wild-type genotypes. The triple-null also showed lower flour yield, higher percentage of type B-granules on a volume basis and higher crystallinity than non-waxy genotypes, and showed significant differences in all pasting and thermal transition parameters compared to non-waxy genotypes, except for degree of retrogradation at day 14. For the quality of Chinese crisp stick, the hardness, crispness, fracturability, and specific volume of waxy genotype were 3.91 kg, 11.0, 1.85 mm and 104.4 ml, whereas the corresponding ranges for non-waxy genotypes were 5.39–5.70 kg, 0.5–0.9, 0.69–0.86 mm and 49.5–57.6 ml, respectively, in Yangmai 17 background. This indicates that waxy genotypes showed significantly better crisp stick quality than non-waxy genotypes. A similar trend was also observed in Yangmai 01-2 background. This indicated the potential utilization of waxy wheat for producing traditional products. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Background: Human repeated insult patch test (HRIPT) is regarded as one of the confirmatory test in determining the safety of skin sensitizers. A number of important factors should be considered when conducting and interpreting the results of the HRIPT. Objective: To investigate for probable critical factors that influence the results of HRIPT with the same protocol in Shanghai and Mumbai. Methods: Two HRIPTs were carried out in Shanghai and Mumbai in 2011. Six identical products and 1% sodium lauryl sulfate were tested. Two Chinese dermatologists performed the grading in the two cities. Climate conditions of Shanghai and Mumbai were also recorded. Results: For four lower reaction ratio products, cumulative irritation scores in the induction phase were higher in individuals whose ethnicity was Indian rather than Chinese. Reaction ratio of the same four products was highly correlated to the climatic parameters. The other two higher reaction ratio products and the positive control had no difference between the two ethnicities. Conclusion: Greater attention ought to be paid to the impact of climate on the results of HRIPT, especially for the mild irritation cosmetics when giving the interpretation. Greater emphasis also needs to be placed on the ethnicity of the subjects. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• SDS can hinder the seepage phase, but is good for the wetting phase. • Analyze the influence of influencing factors on coal seam water injection. • The influence mechanism of SDS on coal seam water injection is studied. Coal seam water injection is a disaster prevention technology that is commonly used in the mining of underground coal resources. Surfactants are widely used in the coal industry in China to enhance the effect of coal seam water injection. Surfactants may have a potential impact on the seepage stage while enhancing wetting. In order to study the characteristics of surfactants on coal seam water injection, we adopted sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) as a surfactant in this study. Based on the research background of the Houwenjialiang Coal Mine in Ordos City, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China, we examined the effect of the surfactant SDS on the seepage stage of coal seam water injection using a laboratory triaxial seepage system. The influence of the surfactant SDS on the coal seam water injection wetting stage was investigated with a laboratory bottom-up imbibition experiment method. The main conclusions are as follows. The addition of surface activity can enhance the wetting effect but impede the seepage stage of coal seam water injection, which deteriorates the permeability coefficient. After the addition of surfactant, the permeability coefficient shows a rapid decrease first and then gradually stabilizes. The reason for the compromise to the permeability coefficient is mainly due to the small cracks or pores caused by the adsorption of SDS, which slows down the flow of the liquid. The addition of surfactants can effectively reduce the surface tension of the liquid, minimize the contact angle, and enhance the coal seam water injection wetting stage. The research results provide valuable information for evaluating coal seam water injection effect and the development of water injection technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The new challenges to adsorption are imposed for the diversity of contaminants in wastewater in recent years. Herein, titanate-based materials (peroxide sodium titanate, PST) were modified by three different kinds of surface charged surfactant: dodecyl dimethyl betaine (BS-PST), sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS-PST) and dodecyltrimethyl ammonium chloride (DTAC-PST) to enhance the versatile adsorption performance for four typical contaminants including ammonia nitrogen (NH 4 +, inorganic and cationic), phosphate (H 2 PO 4 −, inorganic and anionic), methylene blue (MB, organic and cationic) and Acid Red G (ARG, organic and anionic). The batch adsorption experiments showed that the DTAC-PST exhibited better in the removal of MB, ARG and H 2 PO 4 − than that of other adsorbents. The theoretical maximum adsorption capacity of DTAC-PST is 49.28 mg g−1 for NH 4 +, 34.74 mg g−1 for TP, 81.87 mg g−1 for MB and 545.81 mg g−1 for ARG. The simultaneous adsorption results showed that the concentration (10 mg L−1 of NH 4 +, 3 mg L−1 of TP, 50 mg L−1 of MB and 50 mg L−1 of ARG) of all the four chemicals in simulated wastewater could be controlled to be below the discharge levels in China (GB, 18918–2002) by DTAC-PST at the pH of 3.0. The FT-IR spectra demonstrated that ion exchange was the main way for NH 4 + removal, however, electrostatic attraction and ligand exchange were the reason for MB adsorption. In addition, C–N+ from DTAC modification made main contribution to the excellent adsorption performance for ARG and H 2 PO 4 −. The saturated DTAC-PST could be conveniently regenerated by 0.5 mol L−1 NaOH solution and maintained about 80% of adsorption capacity after five cycles. Image 1 • Three types of surfactants were used to modify titanate-based materials. • The versatile adsorption performance of modified materials was highly enhanced. • Ion exchange is the main route for cationic contaminants removal. • C–N+ from cationic surfactant is responsible for anionic contaminants adsorption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To determine whether there is diversity among clinical isolates of Helicobacter pylori in Chinese patients with peptic ulcer disease, 40 strains of H. pylori were isolated from antral biopsy specimens obtained at the gastroenterology clinic of Xiangya Hospital from January 1996 to June 1998. Total protein profile by sodium dodecyl sulphate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) and DNA diversity by polymerase chain reaction-random amplified polymorphic DNA (PCR-RAPD) fingerprinting were performed with these isolates. All the isolates from peptic ulcer disease were relatively homogeneous in protein profiles, but they showed a great DNA sequence diversity by PCR-RAPD fingerprinting. In Chinese patients H. pylori demonstrated an enormous diversity. The diversity among clinical isolates of H. pylori could be distinctly demonstrated and this observation will be helpful in the management of intrafamilial and recurrent H. pylori infection. PCR-RAPD fingerprinting is an efficient method of distinguishing between clinical isolates of H. pylori.