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Against the backdrop of a global paper resource shortage, there is a growing need to identify fast-growing tree species capable of producing long-lasting paper. Three plant species namely Broussonetia kazinoki, Broussonetia papyrifera and hybrid paper mulberry, belong to the Broussonetia genus, were collected from China to study their white bark suitability for pulp and papermaking. Their chemical composition revealed that the holocellulose content in Broussonetia kazinoki and Broussonetia papyrifera was more than 80%. The molecular weight distribution of several holocellulose/α-cellulose is observed by GPC, which allows us to better observe the changes of various components on the molecular weight. The yield, lignin, whiteness, and molecular weight of the pulps obtained by NaOH treatment were determined. Optical microscope was used to characterize the fiber length-width ratio and rigidity. Finally, the improvement of the fiber rigidity method based on the Kratky-Porod chain model makes it more theoretical and further reveals the influencing factors of fiber rigidity. This study demonstrates the high potentiality of these three species for papermaking applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Mechanical force plays an important role in modulating stem cell fate and behaviours. However, how periodontal ligament stem cells (PDLSCs) perceive mechanical stimulus and transfer it into biological signals, and thereby promote alveolar bone remodelling, is unclear. Materials and Methods: An animal model of force‐induced tooth movement and a compressive force in vitro was used. After force application, tooth movement distance, mesenchymal stem cell and osteoclast number, and proinflammatory cytokine expression were detected in periodontal tissues. Then, rat primary PDLSCs with or without force loading were isolated, and their stem cell characteristics including clonogenicity, proliferation, multipotent differentiation and immunoregulatory properties were evaluated. Under compressive force in vitro, the effects of the ERK signalling pathway on PDLSC characteristics were evaluated by Western blotting. Results: Mechanical force in vivo induced PDLSC proliferation, which was accompanied with inflammatory cytokine accumulation, osteoclast differentiation and TRPV4 activation; the force‐stimulated PDLSCs showed greater clonogenicity and proliferation, reduced differentiation ability, improved induction of macrophage migration, osteoclast differentiation and proinflammatory factor expression. The biological changes induced by mechanical force could be partially suppressed by TRPV4 inhibition. Mechanistically, force‐induced activation of TRPV4 in PDLSCs regulated osteoclast differentiation by affecting the RANKL/OPG system via ERK signalling. Conclusions: Taken together, we show here that TRPV4 activation in PDLSCs under mechanical force contributes to changing their stem cell characteristics and modulates bone remodelling during tooth movement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fluorescence-based probes have received considerable attention because of their superiority in high selectivity and sensitivity. In this work, two novel luminescent isostructural coordination polymers (CPs), namely, [Zn 3 (HL) 2 (DMF) 2 (H 2 O) 2 ]·2H 2 O ( 1 ) and [Cd 3 (HL) 2 (DMF) 2 (H 2 O) 2 ]·2H 2 O ( 2 ), were successfully prepared by using a new resorcin[4]arene-based tetracarboxylic acid H 4 L under solvothermal conditions. In 1 and 2 , HL 3- anions bridge four metal cations to form charming 2D double layer structures. Drastically, the highly selective and sensitive luminescent detection of small organic molecules, metal cations and anions, particularly of Fe 3+ , Cr 2 O 7 2- and nitrobenzene, has been studied using 1 or 2 as a promising luminescent sensor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Smartphone-based NIRS technique was used for onsite nutritional diagnosis. • Two tea plant varieties widely cultivated in China were analyzed and studied. • Two novel algorithms, VCPA and VCPA-GA, were introduced to simplify the models. • The simplified models for three photosynthetic pigments yielded good performance. A rapid and accurate diagnosis of nutritional status in field crops is crucial for site-specific fertilizer management. The micro near-infrared spectrometer (Micro-NIRS) is an extremely portable optical device that can be connected to a smartphone through a Bluetooth connection. In this study, a Micro-NIRS was used to evaluate pigment contents, namely chlorophyll a (Chl-a), chlorophyll b (Chl-b), and carotenoid (Car) in two varieties of field tea plants. A variable combination population analysis (VCPA), genetic algorithm (GA), and VCPA-GA hybrid strategy were used to select characteristic wavelengths; a partial least squares regression (PLSR) algorithm was employed for modeling. Results indicated that the simplified VCPA-GA-PLSR models provided the most favorable performance among all models for Chl-a, Chl-b, and Car content prediction; the correlation coefficients in prediction (Rps) were 0.9226, 0.9006, and 0.8313, respectively; the root mean square errors in prediction (RMSEPs) were 0.0952, 0.0771, and 0.0373 mg/g, respectively; the relative prediction deviations (RPDs) were 2.55, 1.92, and 1.79, respectively. Extracted characteristic variables occupied <13.63% of full spectra. The current work provided a useful example for implementing a smartphone-based Micro-NIRS system that can diagnose plant nutrition rapidly, nondestructively, and at low cost. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new method for characterizing fiber bending flexibility was developed by worm-like chain model proposed by Kratky-Porod,[1] which was first introduced to the pulp and paper field in this study. For the three types of pulps, the experimental results were compared with the KP chain model, and the resulting determination coefficients were all above 0.95, which proved that the model was feasible to be applied to these three fibers. The relation between fiber bending rigidity and that of cellulosic chains inside was discussed to deduce the fiber bending flexibility. The flexibility of an individual fiber can be approximated as the contribution of that of all the cellulose chains inside. By this method, the fiber flexibility values were determined to be in the range of 0.6×1011−3.5×1011 N−1·m−2, which was comparable to that of the conventional methods recorded in the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To explore the presence of serum anti-retinal antibodies (ARAs) in the Chinese patients with presumed autoimmune retinopathy (AIR). Methods: Twenty-three Chinese patients with presumed AIR, disease controls including 40 RP patients, 22 bilateral uveitis patients, 18 acute zonal outer occult retinopathy (AZOOR) patients, and 30 healthy donors were included. Serum samples of all the subjects were obtained and analyzed for the presence of four ARAs including recoverin, α-enolase, carbonic anhydraseII (CAII), and collapsin response-mediated protein (CRMP)-5 by Western bolt assay. Results: ARAs were present in the serum of either presumed AIR patients, disease control, or healthy donors. One or more ARAs were present in the 78.2% of presumed AIR while they were indicated in the 35.0% of RP patients (p < 0.01) and 33.3% of healthy donors (p < 0.01). The prevalence of ARAs in the bilateral uveitis and AZOOR was 63.3% and 100% respectively. Positive rate of α-enolase antibody present in the presumed AIR, disease control, and healthy donors was 73.9%, 47.5%, and 33.3% respectively. Positive rate of CAII antibody present above groups was 52.1%, 50%, and 33.3% respectively. Recoverin antibody seemed to be specifically present in the serum of patients with cancer-associated retinopathy. Conclusion: Presence of serum ARAs including recoverin, α-enolase, CAII, or CRMP-5 in the Chinese patients with presumed AIR occurred significantly more often than RP patients and healthy donors. Seropositivity of ARAs had diagnostic value for the presumed AIR but mere presence was not sufficient for the diagnosis due to identification of them in the healthy controls and other retinal diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the present study was to investigate the potential mechanism underlying the anti-obesity-asthmatic effects of resveratrol (RSV) in a rat model of obese-asthma. Rat models of obesity and asthma were established using a high-fat diet and the administration of ovalbumin, respectively. Rats were divided into 7 different groups: A normal control, a normal obese, a normal asthma, a normal obese + asthma, a RSV obese, a RSV asthma and a RSV obese + asthma group. Body weight, Lee index, body fat and lung histopathological changes were evaluated. Serum lipid levels were evaluated using calorimetric methods. Levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) were examined using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. Cellular antioxidant enzyme activities were measured using commercial kits. Levels of kelch-like ECH associated protein 1 (Keap-1) and nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) was examined using western blot analysis. The results indicated that obese and asthma rat models were successfully established. It was also demonstrated that RSV decreased fasting blood glucose in obese, asthmatic and obese-asthmatic rats. RSV altered serum lipid levels; it significantly increased high density lipoprotein cholesterol levels and significantly decreased serum triglyceride, serum total cholesterol and very low density lipoprotein levels, compared with untreated obese, asthmatic and obese-asthmatic rats (P<0.05). ROS levels were significantly decreased in the RSV treatment group compared with obese, asthmatic and obese-asthmatic rats (P<0.05). RSV treatment significantly increased catalase, glutathione, glutathione peroxidase and total superoxide dismutase levels compared with untreated obese, asthmatic and obese-asthmatic rats (P<0.05). Furthermore, RSV treatment significantly downregulated Keap-1 and upregulated Nrf2 levels in the heart, lung and kidney tissues of rats compared with untreated controls. Therefore, the results demonstrate that RSV protects against oxidative stress by activating the Keap-1/Nrf2 antioxidant defense system in obese-asthmatic rat models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND The genus Monascus includes several species of fungi valued across Asia for their culinary uses and diverse medicinal properties. In this study, we evaluated the applicability of random amplified polymorphic DNA ( RAPD) and inter-simple sequence repeats ( ISSR) markers in characterizing the genetic diversity in 41 Monascus strains collected from various regions of Fujian Province, the leading producer of Monascus in China. RESULTS Seven screened ISSR primers generated 56 polymorphic bands, of which 93.33% were polymorphic. The genetic similarity coefficients ( GSC) of the strains ranged from 0.50 to 1.00. Comparative sequence analysis using seven screened RAPD primers amplified a total of 49 polymorphic bands, of which 81.67% were polymorphic; GSC values ranged from 0.62 to 1.00. CONCLUSION Correlation analysis revealed a significant positive correlation in genetic distances assessed using above two markers, which indicated they were suitable for Monascus species characterization. ISSR markers were more suitable for the classification and determination of Monascus species, while RAPD markers appear to be preferable for analyzing the differences among strains within the same species. Our study revealed that Monascus possesses rich genetic diversity, and that the genetic relationships among the selected strains were, to a very limited extent, correlated to their geographical variation. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In cataract surgery, it is often found that patients infected hepatitis B virus (HBV) are likely to suffer from more pain than other patients. In order to assess the inflammation status of the aqueous humor in the eyes of cataract patients infected with HBV. RayBio Human Inflammation Array was used to assay aqueous humor samples collected from 14 eyes of patients infected with HBV and 14 eyes of cataract patients without HBV infection (the controls) during the cataract surgery. RayBio Human Quantibody Cutom Array was adopted for the validation of the screened cytokines, with aqueous humor samples collected from 40 eyes of patients infected with HBV and 40 eyes of the controls. A pain questionnaire survey about the surgery was conducted in all patients after operation. The results of questionnaire showed that patients infected with HBV were more likely to have pain during operation. The Human Inflammation Array revealed that the expression levels of monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1), tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α) and tumor necrosis factor β (TNF-β) were very high in HBV infected patients and IL-1ra was much lower in patients infected with HBV (all, P < 0.05). In validation, the Human Quantibody Cutom Array revealed that the expression levels of MCP-1 and TNF-α were high in HBV infected patients with significant difference (all P < 0.05). These results revealed that pain-related inflammatory factors MCP-1 and TNF-α were increased in aqueous humor of cataract patients infected with HBV, which indicates that patients infected with HBV may be more prone to intraoperative pain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]