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The exploitation of clean and efficient fire extinguishing materials has substantial implications for improving disaster prevention, mitigation, and relief capabilities, maintaining public safety, and protecting people's lives and property as well as the natural environment. Natural polymer hydrogel with high water containment, excellent film formation, high heat insulation, ecofriendliness, and degradability has huge potential in achieving new breakthroughs for developing clean and efficient fire extinguishing materials and products. In recent years, the exploitation of hydrogel extinguishing materials and the fabrication of products has attracted great attention, gradually replacing traditional fire extinguishing products. In this perspective, an in-depth review of the evolution of hydrogels applied for fire extinguishing and prevention is presented. Firstly, the extinguishing principles of hydrogel extinguishants are explained. Secondly, the preparation strategies and evaluation system of the hydrogel extinguishants are emphatically discussed. Although great progress has been made in developing high-performance hydrogel extinguishants, it remains challenging to develop cost-effective, degradable, and easy-to-use hydrogel extinguishants. Additionally, we highlight the importance of considering the commercial aspects of hydrogel extinguishants. Looking into the future, hydrogel extinguishants are promising, but continued investment in research and development is necessary to overcome the challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chinese herbal medicine with the same origin as medicine and food as botanical drug supplements, Asian countries not only appear as spices and flavorings in various cooking products, but also for the multi-target pharmacological active ingredients in the multi-mechanism of drug delivery and the safety of human absorption are widely used for health care, prevention or treatment of various diseases. As the only tropical province in China, South China is rich in natural medicinal plant resources and diverse ginger plants with unique and important value, providing a variety of choices for food, seasoning, medicine, natural dyes and spices and other products. Many studies at home and abroad have shown that, many active pharmacological and chemical components contained in ginger plants have potential medicinal use in plants, and two of the four southern medicines are ginger plants. In addition, many ginger plants recorded in the 2020 edition of Pharmacopoeia are abundant in Hainan, indicating that ginger plants have potential medicinal and research value in Hainan. This paper summarizes the research on the main ginger plants in Hainan as therapeutic drugs in related diseases, providing ideas for the development, research and clinical treatment of ginger plants in Hainan, and also promoting the cultivation industry of ginger plants in Hainan, increasing the added value of its products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydrogen bonded azomethines were studied as building blocks for semiconducting polymers. The single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis revealed that hydrogen bonds were formed between the carbamate hydrogens of side chains and azomethine nitrogen in building block CTB and CTP. The CTP also had additional weak hydrogen bonds between azomethine hydrogen and imine nitrogen of pyrazine. These hydrogen bonds improved the coplanarity of the building blocks and promoted π-electron delocalization and intermolecular stacking. Two conjugated polymers PBBDT and PPBDT based on the new building blocks were synthesized via a Stille cross-coupling reaction. These conjugated polymers showed broad and strong optical absorption in the visible region. The bulk heterojunction organic solar cells with PBBDT and PPBDT as electron donors and small molecular non-fullerene acceptors were studied. The solar cells based on PBBDT as the electron donor and Y6 as an electron acceptor showed a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 10.2%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Numerous epilepsy‐related genes have been identified in recent decades by unbiased genome‐wide screens. However, the available druggable targets for temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) remain limited. Furthermore, a substantial pool of candidate genes potentially applicable to TLE therapy awaits further validation. In this study, we reveal the significant role of KCNQ2 and KCNQ3, two M‐type potassium channel genes, in the onset of seizures in TLE. Our investigation began with a quantitative analysis of two publicly available TLE patient databases to establish a correlation between seizure onset and the downregulated expression of KCNQ2/3. We then replicated these pathological changes in a pilocarpine seizure mouse model and observed a decrease in spike frequency adaptation due to the affected M‐currents in dentate gyrus granule neurons. In addition, we performed a small‐scale simulation of the dentate gyrus network and confirmed that the impaired spike frequency adaptation of granule cells facilitated epileptiform activity throughout the network. This, in turn, resulted in prolonged seizure duration and reduced interictal intervals. Our findings shed light on an underlying mechanism contributing to ictogenesis in the TLE hippocampus and suggest a promising target for the development of antiepileptic drugs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our previous studies have found that total flavonoid of Alpinia officinarum Hance (Zingiberaceae) (F.AOH) had protective effects on gastric ulcer (GU). To investigate the protective mechanism of F.AOH on acetic acid-induced chronic GUs in rats and ethanol-induced GES-1 cells damage. In vivo: Gastric damage was induced in SD rats by administering acetic acid after oral treatment with F-AOH at 54, 27 and 13.5 mg/kg (2 weeks of continuous gavage). After a comprehensive evaluation of rats' serum and gastric tissue-related indicators, gene transcriptome sequencing, qPCR and Western blotting were used to investigate the mechanism further. In vivo: GES-1 cells were incubated with F-AOH (8, 4 and 2 μg/mL) for 16 h and treated with 7% ethanol for 4 h. Transwell and flow cytometry were employed to detect migration and apoptosis of cells. F.AOH effectively reduced the area of GUs in rats (from 11.2 ± 1.89 to 2.19 ± 0.95), reversing ethanol-induced cells apoptosis (from 23 ± 1.3 to 8.11 ± 0.93%). It also inhibited the expression of endothelin-1 (ET-1) and iNOS proteins, decreasing the levels of TNF-α IL-6 in serum, improving oxidative stress levels and increasing the expression of Bcl-2/Bax dimer genes. In addition, 4005 differentially expressed genes between the acetic acid model and the drug groups. Through experimental verification, F.AOH can inhibit the activation of TLR4/NF-κB signalling pathway and TRPV1 receptor. F.AOH, as an effective gastric protective plant component, had potential therapeutic value in anti-inflammatory pain and antioxidative stress gastrointestinal diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]