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The incidence of metabolic diseases has progressively increased, which has a negative impact on human health and life safety globally. Due to the good efficacy and limited side effects, there is growing interest in developing effective drugs to treat metabolic diseases from natural compounds. Kaempferol (KMP), an important flavonoid, exists in many vegetables, fruits, and traditional medicinal plants. Recently, KMP has received widespread attention worldwide due to its good potential in the treatment of metabolic diseases. To promote the basic research and clinical application of KMP, this review provides a timely and comprehensive summary of the pharmacological advances of KMP in the treatment of four metabolic diseases and its potential molecular mechanisms of action, including diabetes mellitus, obesity, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD)/nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), and atherosclerosis. According to the research, KMP shows remarkable therapeutic effects on metabolic diseases by regulating multiple signaling transduction pathways such as NF-κB, Nrf2, AMPK, PI3K/AKT, TLR4, and ER stress. In addition, the most recent literature on KMP’s natural source, pharmacokinetics studies, as well as toxicity and safety are also discussed in this review, thus providing a foundation and evidence for further studies to develop novel and effective drugs from natural compounds. Collectively, our manuscript strongly suggested that KMP could be a promising candidate for the treatment of metabolic diseases.

Liuzhou river snail rice noodle is a local characteristic food of Liuzhou with fresh, spicy, sour and “smelly”. With the rapid development of pre-packaged river snail rice noodle, the concerns such as unstable quality and inconsistent standards have begun to emerge. The quality and unique flavor of Liuzhou river snail rice noodle are closely related to the flavor substances of its raw materials. The detection and analysis of its flavor substances is one of the key factors to measure the quality of river snail rice noodle. In this paper, based on the features of flavor substances of raw materials such as snails, sour bamboo shoots and chili oil in Liuzhou snail powder, the sources of its flavor substances were reviewed mainly according to the current research on river snail rice noodle and the related techniques of flavor substances detection. The effects of flavor substances of raw materials and excipients were systematically expounded. The development prospect of common detection techniques of flavor substances in the analysis of flavor substances and the key flavor substances of raw materials and excipients were further reviewed. The disadvantages of the research on the flavor substances of were pointed out, and the future research direction of its flavor substances was put forward, aming to provide theoretical support for the improvement, standardization and development of new products of Liuzhou river snail rice noodle.

Abstract Apis laboriosa is the largest honeybee that lives mainly on cliff faces, with strong migratory ability. In this study, we firstly sequenced and assembled two complete mitochondrial genomes of A. laboriosa isolated from two distant locations in China (Chongqing and Shangri‐La regions). Combined with the published mitochondrial genome of A. laboriosa from Nepal, comparative genomic analyses were conducted to gain insight into the genetic diversity of giant honeybees from different geographical distributions. The mitochondrial genomes of A. laboriosa from Chongqing and Shangri‐La regions were 15,579 and 15,683 bp in length, respectively, both larger than that from Nepal with the length of 15,510 bp. Three mitochondrial genomes all harbor 37 common genes and present the same AT bias and the frequency of codon usage. However, the fragments including COX1, SSUrRNA, LSUrRNA, and the AT‐rich region of the mitochondrial genome from Shangri‐La region demonstrate distinctive insertions and deletions compared to those from Chongqing and Nepal regions. Phylogenetic trees of mitochondrial genomes show that A. laboriosa from Chongqing is most closely related to that from Nepal, rather than to Shangri‐La. Genetic distance between Shangri‐La and Chongqing or Nepal was even larger than that between the various subspecies of Apis mellifera. Overall, these results unmark that A. laboriosa in different geographical distributions can exhibit high genetic diversity at the mitochondrial genomic level, and therein, A. laboriosa from Shangri‐La may be the subspecies. All these studies will contribute to our understanding of the geographical distribution and genetic differentiation of black giant honeybee in Asian region.

Abstract Background In plants, CONSTITUTIVELY PHOTOMORPHOGENIC 1 (COP1) is a key negative regulator in photoperiod response. However, the biological function of COP1-interacting protein 1 (CIP1) and the regulatory mechanism of the CIP1-COP1 interaction are not fully understood. Results Here, we identified the apple MdCIP1 gene based on the Arabidopsis AtCIP1 gene. Expression pattern analysis showed that MdCIP1 was constitutively expressed in various tissues of apple, and responded to stress and hormone signals at the transcriptional level. Ectopic expression of MdCIP1 complemented the phenotypes of the Arabidopsis cip1 mutant, and MdCIP1 inhibited anthocyanin biosynthesis in apple calli. In addition, the biochemical assay demonstrated that MdCIP1 could interact with MdCOP1 protein by their coiled-coil domain, and MdCIP1-OX/cop1–4 had a similar phenotype in photomorphogenesis with the cop1–4 mutant, suggesting that COP1 is epistatic to CIP1. Furthermore, the transient transformation assay indicated that MdCIP1 repressed anthocyanin biosynthesis in an MdCOP1-mediated pathway. Conclusion Take together, this study finds that MdCIP1 acts as a repressor in regulating hypocotyl elongation and anthocyanin biosynthesis through MdCOP1 in apple.

Ruthenium (Ru) is an ideal substitute to commercial Pt/C for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Reducing the size of Ru to clusters can greatly increase the utilization of atoms, however, over‐strong RuH binding will be brought about. Additionally, the water dissociation ability of Ru clusters is unfavorable, leading to unsatisfactory activity in alkaline and neutral HER. Herein, a rational and versatile design strategy is proposed by exploring supports with both high work function and facilitated water dissociation ability to boost the pH‐universal HER activity of Ru clusters. As exemplified by Mo2C, density functional calculations verify that the introduction of Mo2C support can optimize the hydrogen adsorption energy and promote the kinetics of water dissociation. Guided by theoretical calculations, heterostructured Mo2C nanoparticles‐Ru clusters anchored carbon spheres (Mo2C‐Ru/C) are designed and prepared. A low overpotential of 22 mV at 10 mA cm−2 and a small Tafel slope of 25 mV dec−1 in alkaline solution is demonstrated by Mo2C‐Ru/C. The Mo2C‐Ru/C also exhibits excellent activity in alkaline seawater, acidic, and neutral solutions. When assembling Mo2C‐Ru/C with Zn foil to construct an alkaline‐acid Zn‐H2O battery, the as‐fabricated battery presents high discharge power density and excellent stability for simultaneous generation of electricity and hydrogen (H2). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the merits of high surface area and plentiful metal sites, metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) are promising catalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). However, the HER activity of MOFs is not satisfactory due to their poor electrical conductivity and fewer HER active sites. Herein, taking a nickel-terephthalic acid-based MOF (Ni MOF) as an example, a low-temperature, environmentally friendly, and time-efficient N2/H2 plasma activation strategy is developed to implant multiple HER active species (Ni, Ni3N and MoNi4) in molybdenum-based polyoxometalate (POM)-encapsulated Ni MOF nanosheet arrays (Ni MOF/POM). Endowed with enhanced conductivity and increased active sites, the plasma-activated Ni MOF/POM (P-Ni MOF/POM) exhibits a splendid HER activity (35 mV at 10 mA cm−2) and a long stability (up to 120 h) in alkaline solution. Excellent HER performance is also demonstrated by P-Ni MOF/POM in alkaline seawater. During the HER process, it is interesting to observe that the Ni MOF in P-Ni MOF/POM undergoes reconstruction into β-Ni(OH)2, while the HER active species (Ni, Ni3N and MoNi4) are largely maintained. The dynamic contact angle, in situ electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), and kinetic isotope effect (KIE) characterization studies suggest that plasma activation plays an important role in enhancing water adsorption and accelerating the kinetics of water dissociation, thus ensuring enhanced HER activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developing efficient electrocatalysts for CO2 reduction to syngas with tunable H2/CO ratios and high total faradaic efficiency is challenging. Herein, we report an effective catalyst composed of in situ reconstructed AgZn3 nanoparticles and Zn nanoplates for syngas synthesis, showing nearly 100% Faraday efficiency to syngas with a tunable H2/CO ratio from 2 : 1 to 1 : 2. Moreover, the in situ electrochemical measurements coupled with theoretical calculations disclose that the Zn site in AgZn3 nanoparticles and the hollow site between Ag and Zn in AgZn3 are the possible active sites for CO and H2 generation, respectively. This work has guiding significance for designing dual site catalysts for CO2 electroreduction to tunable syngas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electrocatalytic nitrate (NO3−) reduction reaction (NITRR) is an inspiring route for ammonia (NH3) synthesis at ambient condition. The metallic Cu‐based material with low cost and high activity is one of the most promising electrocatalysts for NITRR. However, due to the weaker atomic H*‐providing capacity, the produced intermediate—nitrite tends to accumulate on its surface, leading to unsatisfactory NH3 selectivity and Faradic efficiency (FE). Herein, a novel and facile O2/Ar plasma oxidation and subsequent electro‐reduction strategy is developed to synthesize a kind of metastable phase Cu. Excitingly, the metastable phase Cu demonstrates superior NITRR performance to conventional phase Cu with high NH4+ selectivity (97.8%) and FE (99.8%). Density function theory (DFT) calculations reveal that the upshift of the d‐band center to near the Fermi level in metastable phase Cu contributes to the enhanced activity, while the relatively strong adsorption of H* facilitates the conversion from NO2*/NO* to NOOH*/NOH* and thus ensures high selectivity and FE. Furthermore, when evaluated as cathode material in Zn‐NO3− battery, high power density (7.56 mW cm−2) and NH4+ yield (76 µmol h−1 cm−2) are achieved by the metastable phase Cu‐based battery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]