Search

Background SLC2A5 is a high-affinity fructose transporter, which is frequently upregulated in multiple human malignant tumours. However, the function and molecular mechanism of SLC2A5 in colorectal cancer (CRC) remain unknown. Methods We detected the expression levels of SLC2A5 in CRC tissues and CRC cell lines by western blotting, qRT-PCR and immunohistochemistry. CRC cell lines with stable overexpression or knockdown of SLC2A5 were constructed to evaluate the functional roles of SLC2A5 in vitro through conventional assays. An intrasplenic inoculation model was established in mice to investigate the effect of SLC2A5 in promoting metastasis in vivo. Methylation mass spectrometry sequencing, methylation specific PCR, bisulphite sequencing PCR, ChIP-qPCR and luciferase reporter assay were performed to investigate the molecular mechanism underlying transcriptional activation of SLC2A5. Results We found that SLC2A5 was upregulated in colorectal tumour tissues. Functionally, a high level of SLC2A5 expression was associated with increased invasion and metastasis capacities of CRC cells both in vitro and in vivo. Mechanistically, we unveiled that S100P could integrate to a specific region of SLC2A5 promoter, thereby reducing its methylation levels and activating SLC2A5 transcription. Conclusions Our results reveal a novel mechanism that S100P mediates the promoter demethylation and transcription activation of SLC2A5, thereby promoting the metastasis of CRC.

The phase states of primarily emitted and secondarily formed aerosols from gasoline vehicle exhausts were investigated by quantifying the particle rebound fraction (f). The rebound behaviors of gasoline vehicle emission-related aerosols varied with engines, fuel types, and photochemical aging time, showing distinguished differences from biogenic secondary organic aerosols. The nonliquid-to-liquid phase transition of primary aerosols emitted from port fuel injection (PFI) and gasoline direct injection (GDI) vehicles started at a relative humidity (RH) = 50 and 60%, and liquefaction was accomplished at 60 and 70%, respectively. The RH at which f declined to 0.5 decreased from 70 to 65% for the PFI case with 92# fuel, corresponding to the photochemical aging time from 0.37 to 4.62 days. For the GDI case, such RH enhanced from 60 to 65%. Our results can be used to imply the phase state of traffic-related aerosols and further understand their roles in urban atmospheric chemistry. Taking Beijing, China, as an example, traffic-related aerosols were mainly nonliquid during winter with the majority ambient RH below 50%, whereas they were mostly liquid during the morning rush hour of summer, and traffic-related secondary aerosols fluctuated between nonliquid and liquid during the daytime and tended to be liquid at night with increased ambient RH.

Negative feelings caused by external stress can continually agonize adrenergic receptors via promoting catecholamine secretion, causing cardiovascular disease. This study examines the mechanism by which persistent β-adrenergic receptor agonism induces myocardial injury. A rat model of cardiac injury was herein established using isoproterenol (5 mg/kg, continuous intraperitoneal injection for 3 days), and multiomics technology combined with metabolomics and proteomics was used to explore the mechanism by which persistent β-adrenergic receptor agonism induces myocardial injury. The mechanism underlying this phenomenon was further verified at the cellular level. Isoproterenol-induced persistent β-adrenergic receptor agonism promoted the release of reactive oxygen species, and P53, S100-A9, and complement 3 were shown to be involved in complement system activation pathways. Our data have demonstrated that isoproterenol could trigger ROS/P53/S100-A9 positive feedback to aggravate myocardial damage associated with complement activation.

Unstable angina (UA) is a coronary disease with a high mortality and morbidity worldwide. The present study aimed to use non-invasive techniques to identify urine biomarkers in patients with UA, so as to provide more information for the early diagnosis and treatment of the disease. Based on metabolomics, urine samples from 28 patients with UA and 28 healthy controls (HCs) were analyzed using ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-Q-TOF/MS). A total of 16 significant biomarkers that could distinguish between patients with UA and HCs, including D-glucuronic acid, creatinine, succinic acid and N-acetylneuraminic acid, were identified. The major metabolic pathways associated with UA were subsequently analyzed by non-targeted metabolomics. The results demonstrated that amino acid and energy metabolism, fatty acid metabolism, purine metabolism and steroid hormone biosynthetic metabolism may serve important roles in UA. The results of the current study may provide a theoretical basis for the early diagnosis of UA and novel treatment strategies for clinicians. The trial was registered with the Chinese Clinical Trial Registration Center (registration no. ChiCTR-ROC-17013957) at Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Abundant metabolic fuels have been implicated as potential drivers of CRC. However, it remains unclear whether fructose, an ample sugar in daily diets, is essential for CRC growth. In the present study, we found that glucose levels were always insufficient in human CRC tissues. Compensating for this, fructose was flexibly utilized by tumor cells as an alternative energy source to maintain proliferation and exert chemotherapy resistance in vitro by upregulating GLUT5, a major fructose transporter encoded by SLC2A5. Mechanistically, in glucose-deprived but fructose-rich environments, GLUT5 could interact with ketohexokinase and inhibit its autophagy-dependent degradation, thus trapping fructose into glycolysis and tricarboxylic acid cycle for the malignant growth of CRC cells. In addition, reducing dietary fructose or pharmacological blockade of fructose utilization significantly reduced CRC growth and sensitized CRC cells to chemotherapy in vivo. Taken together, our findings highlight the role of elevated fructose utilization mediated by the GLUT5-KHK axis in governing CRC growth and imply that efforts to refine fructose intake or inhibit fructose-mediated actions may serve as potential therapeutic strategies.

Sorting nexin 16 (SNX16), a member of the sorting nexin family, has been implicated in tumor development. However, the function of SNX16 has not yet been investigated in colorectal cancer (CRC). Here, we showed that SNX16 expression was significantly upregulated in CRC tissues compared with normal counterparts. Upregulated mRNA levels of SNX16 predicted poor survival of CRC patients. Functional experiments showed that SNX16 could promote CRC cells growth both in vitro and in vivo. Knockdown of SNX16 induced cell cycle arrest and apoptosis, whereas ectopic overexpression of SNX16 had the opposite effects. Mechanistically, SNX16‐eukaryotic translation elongation factor 1A2 (eEF1A2) interaction could inhibit the degradation and ubiquitination of eEF1A2, followed by activation of downstream c‐Myc signaling. Our study unveiled that the SNX16/eEF1A2/c‐Myc signaling axis could promote colorectal tumorigenesis and SNX16 might potentially serve as a novel biomarker for the diagnosis and an intervention of CRC., Sorting nexin 16 (SNX16), which is significantly upregulated in colorectal cancer, could interact with and inhibit proteasome‐dependent ubiquitination of eukaryotic translation elongation factor 1 A2 (eEF1A2), thereby activating c‐myc signaling, Our study unveiled that SNX16/eEF1A2/c‐Myc signaling axis could promote colorectal tumorigenesis and SNX16 might potentially serve as a novel biomarker for the diagnosis and intervention of colorectal cancer.

The phase states of atmospheric aerosol particles affect their physical, chemical, and optical properties. Particles with different phase states exhibit different viscosities and various shapes tha...

Background As a recognized risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD), hyperlipidemia (HLP) has developed into a high incidence disease that seriously threatens human health. Finding a new target for effective treatment of HLP will be a powerful way to reduce the incidence of CVD. The purpose of this study was to find potential biomarkers in urine of HLP patients and analyze their metabolic pathways to study the pathogenesis of HLP. Methods An UPLC-Q-TOF/MS technology was used to detect the metabolites in urine of 60 HLP patients and 60 normal controls. Based on PLS-DA pattern recognition, potential biomarkers related to HLP were screened out. Results 22 potential biomarkers related to HLP were identified, which involved amino acid metabolism, fatty acid metabolism, nucleotide metabolism, steroid hormone metabolism and intestinal flora metabolism, and their possible pathogenesis was found to be related to inflammatory reaction and oxidative stress. Conclusion The non-targeted metabolomic method based on UPLC-Q-TOF/MS technology can effectively identify potential biomarkers in the urine of HLP patients and explore the possible pathogenesis. Our research will lay a foundation for finding new targets for the treatment of HLP and provide a basis for clinical research on the treatment of HLP.

Particle phase state plays a key role in gas-particle partitioning, heterogeneous and multiphase reactions, and secondary aerosol formation. In this work, the rebound fraction and chemical composition of submicron particles were simultaneously measured to investigate the particle phase state and its link to chemical composition in a subtropical coastal urban city (Shenzhen, China). Submicron particles were found to be in the liquid state for most of the measurement period in spring. During the sampling time, both high relative humidity (RH, ranged from 40% to 93%) and inorganic mass fraction in particles (62.6 ± 12.4% of dry particles, on average) resulted in abundant aerosol liquid water (43 ± 6% in the wet PM

Aging often leads to an increase risk of age-related diseases, and the development of anti-aging drugs have become the trend and focus of the current scientific research. In this experiment, serum samples from healthy people of different ages were analyzed based on clinical lipidomics, and a total of 10 potential biomarkers in middle-aged and youth group, 20 biomarkers in the youth and the elderly group were obtained. Furthermore, dhSph and dhCer involved above may affect the aging process through sphingolipid metabolic pathway. As the first and rate-limiting step of catalyzing de novo sphingolipid pathway, SPT may play a key role in human anti-aging, which is revealed by lipidomics liposome tracer analysis. The potential active components in ginseng on SPT was further verified by molecular docking virtual screening and atomic force microscope. Four ingredients of ginseng may reduce the levels of metabolites dhSph and dhCer by inhibiting the activity of SPT, and play an anti-aging effect by affecting the sphingolipid metabolism pathway.A clinical trials registration number: ChiCTR1900026836.

A non-parametric ensemble model was proposed to estimate the long-term (2015-2019) particle surface area concentrations (S

With the development of Internet of things technology, the smart elderly care mode is attracting more and more attention. Based on the questionnaire data of adult residents in some cities of Jiangsu Province, this paper analyzes the multiple linear regression model between the intelligent elderly care mode and its possible influencing factors. And it can be found that for participants aged 59 and under, their educational level, blood type, professional identity and age have a significant impact on intelligent old-age care mode. For participants aged 60 and over, only their educational level and age have a significant impact on the smart old-age care approach. Finally, this paper puts forward some suggestions about the development of industries related to intelligent elderly care to build an integrated intelligent community old-age care pattern, integrated pattern of intelligent home-based care or integrated smart home-based care service center, adjust and perfect the existing elderly care institutions, and improve intelligence old-age care institutions pattern to promote the development of intelligent industry related to smart elderly care.

Currently, research on cardiac injury by aconitine focuses on its effect to directly interfere with the function of cardiac ion channels. Further, abnormal lipid metabolism could cause cardiac injury via inflammatory signaling pathway. In our preliminary study, we discovered that aconitine could alter the metabolism processes of various substances, including palmitic acid. Inspired by these studies, we investigated how elevation of palmitic acid by aconitine causes cardiac injury. Aconitine induced cardiac injury in rats (0.32 mg/kg, d = 7), and the cardiac injury was confirmed by electrocardiogram and serum biochemical study. The proteomic and metabolomic results showed that the palmitic acid level increases in heart tissue, and the NOD-like receptor (NLR) signaling pathway showed a strong effect of cardiac injury. The palmitic acid results in cell viability decline and activates NLR signaling in vitro. The shRNA-mediated knockdown of NLRP3 and NOD1/2 attenuates palmitic acid-induced inhibitory effect on cells and inhibited activation of the NLR signaling pathway. Collectively, this study reveals that aconitine provoked palmitic acid elevation could aggravate cardiac injury via the NLR signaling pathway. This study suggests that drug triggered disorder of the metabolism process could evoke cardiac injury and could propose a new strategy to study drug cardiac injury.

As the aging population grows, the demand for elderly care services is increasing. Different demands for elderly care services will bring about different economic growth points. Based on data from the questionnaire for the people aged 59 and younger, and the people aged 60 and over in Jiangsu province, China, the paper makes regression analysis between blood type of the respondents as the independent variable and options about their preference for the aged care mode or consumption habits as the dependent variable to find out which regression models are statistically significant. And then, according to the distribution of blood type of the local residents, their aged care mode, consumption habits, the hard and soft environment in the area, the paper puts forward suggestion on the development of the elderly service industry matching the actual situation of the region to drive the development of the upstream, midstream and downstream industries, so as to build an industrial chain of the elderly service industry in line with its regional characteristics, thus promote the growth of the local economy.

In recent years, using metabolomics technology to study hypertension has made some progress. However, in actual clinical studies, there are few studies on hypertension related metabonomics with human urine as samples. In this study, the urine samples of patients with essential hypertension (EH) were studied by comparing with healthy people to explore the changes of urine metabolites between hypertensive patients and healthy people in order to find potential biomarkers and metabolic pathways.An ultra performance liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-Q-TOF/MS) technology was used to analyze the urine metabolites of 75 cases of essential hypertension group (EH) and 75 cases of healthy control group (HC).According to the PLS-DA pattern recognition analysis, substances with significant differences (P .05) between the EH group and the HC group were screened out, including 10 potential biomarkers such as L-methionine. The metabolic pathways involved were amino acid metabolism, fatty acid metabolism steroid hormone, biosynthesis and oxidative stress.The non-targeted metabolomics based on UPLC-Q-TOF/MS technology can effectively identify the differential metabolites of potential biomarkers in the urine of essential hypertensive patients and provide a theoretical basis for the treatment of clinical hypertension.

The phase state of biomass burning aerosols (BBA) remains largely unclear, impeding our understanding of their effects on air quality, climate and human health, due to its profound roles in mass transfer between gaseous and particulate phase. In this study, the phase state of BBA was investigated by measuring the particle rebound fraction ƒ combining field observations and laboratory experiments. We found that both ambient and laboratory-generated BBA had unexpectedly lower rebound fraction ƒ (0.6) under the dry conditions (RH = 20-50%), indicating that BBA were in non-solid state at such low RH. This was obviously different from the secondary organic aerosols (SOA) derived from the oxidation of both anthropogenic and biogenic volatile organic compounds, typically with a rebound fraction ƒ larger than 0.8 at RH below 50%. Therefore, we proposed that the diffusion coefficient of gaseous molecular in the bulk of BBA might be much higher than SOA under the dry conditions.

The particle phase state is a key factor for determining gas particle partitioning, particle reactive gas uptake, and multiphase chemical reactions, with associated links to secondary aerosol formation. In this study, the particle phase state was investigated by measuring particle rebound fraction f in the highly polluted atmosphere of Beijing, China. The particle phase state was sensitive to ambient relative humidity (RH). The particles changed from rebounding to adhering when the RH increased above 60%, suggesting a transition from the semisolid to liquid state. This transition RH was below the deliquescence RH of both (NH4)2SO4 and NH4NO3. Submicrometer particles were in the liquid state during heavy haze episodes. This might be because the elevated RH and inorganic fraction in particles resulted in an increase in aerosol liquid water content. The transition to a liquid phase state, marking the beginning of the haze episode, might kick off a positive feedback loop. The liquid particles might readily ta...

Background Coronary heart disease (CHD) is the leading cause of death worldwide, and its pathogenesis has attracted much attention. Metabolomics serves as an important tool for diagnosing diseases and exploring their pathogenesis in recent years. In this study, CHD patients were studied by comparing them with normal subjects to elucidate biomarkers that are linearly correlated with the severity of coronary stenosis. Methods An ultra performance liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-Q-TOF/MS) was used to analyze the urine metabolites of CHD patients and normal subjects. A total of 131 subjects included 27 patients who presented with 50–69% coronary stenosis, 22 with 70–89% stenosis, 29 with 90–99% stenosis, 24 with 100% stenosis, and 29 normal subjects. Results A total of 14 potential biomarkers associated with CHD were identified, and among them 4 biomarkers were linearly correlated with the severity of coronary stenosis in CHD patients. The metabolic pathways involved were amino acid metabolism, fatty acid metabolism, energy metabolism, and other pathways. Conclusion This study identified the biomarkers and metabolic pathways that may be involved in the occurrence and development of CHD, laying a theoretical foundation for better diagnosis and treatment of CHD in the future.

Ginkgo tea is a kind of health food produced from Ginkgo biloba leaves. The market of Ginkgo tea encountered many difficulties because of its bad palatability and vague function statement. In this study, two kinds of glycosidase were used to improve the flavor of Ginkgo tea, and three kinds of bioactivities were selected to investigate the health care function of the tea infusion. The aroma components extracted by headspace absorb (HSA) method during the making of Ginkgo tea were analyzed by GC-MS. The flavonoids and ginkgolides released into the tea infusion were studied by HPLC. A combination of &beta, glucosidase (&beta, G) and &alpha, rhamnosidase (&alpha, R) was applied during the making of the tea. The contents of characteristic aroma components and the release of total flavonoids and ginkgolides were increased significantly by adding &beta, G and &alpha, R. The composition of flavone glycosides was changed greatly. The free radical scavenging, inhibition of inflammatory cell activation, and tumor cytotoxicity activities of the tea were demonstrably improved. According to the release of active components, Ginkgo tea can be brewed repeatedly for at least three times. The enzymes used here show potential application prospects in the making of Ginkgo tea or tea drink to get higher contents of flavonoids, ginkgolides, and aroma components.

Coronary heart disease (CHD) threatens human health. The discovery and assessment of potential biometabolic markers for different syndrome types of CHD may contribute to decipher pathophysiological mechanisms and identify new targets for diagnosis and treatment. On the basis of UPLC-Q-TOF/MS metabolomics technology, urine samples of 1072 participants from nine centers, including normal control, phlegm and blood stasis (PBS) syndrome and Qi and Yin deficiency (QYD) syndrome, and other syndromes of CHD, were conducted to find biomarkers. Among them, the discovery set ( n = 125) and the test set ( n = 337) were used to identify and validate biomarkers, and the validation set ( n = 610) was used for the application and evaluation of the support vector machine (SVM) prediction model. We discovered 15 CHD-PBS syndrome biomarkers and 12 CHD-QYD syndrome biomarkers, and the receiver-operator characteristic (ROC) area-under-the-curve (AUC) values of them were 0.963 and 0.990. The established SVM model has a good diagnostic ability and can well distinguish the two syndromes of CHD with a high predicted accuracy98.0%. The discovery of biomarkers and metabolic pathways in different syndrome types of CHD provides a basis for the diagnosis and evaluation of CHD, thereby improving the accurate diagnosis and precise treatment level of Chinese medicine.

Hydrolytic activity for chlorogenic acid (CGA) has been recognized as an important side activity of some types of ferulic acid esterases. The purpose of this work was to enhance the efficient expression of ferulic acid esterase (FAE) and to explore its application in the processing of sunflower seed. Two novel FAEs from Aspergillus aculeatus (AaSD14) were expressed in genetically engineered E. coli BL21 (DE3), and their properties, including temperature, pH, metal ions and substrate specificity, were characterized after purification. Competitive CGA hydrolysis activity was observed in these recombined ferulic acid esterases (reFAEs) with reFAE1 of 246.37 U/g and reFAE2 of 340.95 U/g, which were 56.6 and 78.4 times higher than that of the wild strain (4.35 U/g), respectively. Meanwhile, the fermentation cycle was greatly shortened to 2.0 d. These reFAEs were recognized as type C FAE through substrate specificity assays. Treatment of sunflower seed protein (SSP) using reFAE2 resulted in a remarkable color change, from green to milk-white, confirming the activity of CGA biodegradation. Therefore, it shows certain potential in the processing of sunflower seed and other related foodstuffs.

Students with different blood types have different degrees of dependence on the Internet and mobile devices by online survey results for university students. It implies that students with different blood types spend different length of the time on mobile devices every day, and they mainly use mobile devices to chat, listen to music, watch movies, study knowledge and read novels and so on; students with different blood groups have different viewpoint in improving their abilities for learning by mobile devices. It shows that blood type have different influence on the behavior of students..

This research utilized “GaoFen-1” 2 m panchromatic, 8 m and 16 m multispectral satellite data to monitor the planting area of winter wheat. Calculate the correction coefficient by the results of planting area of winter wheat gotten from “GaoFen-1” 16 m multispectral satellite data and micro unmanned aerial vehicle data. Correct the area extraction result of “GaoFen-1” 16 m multispectral satellite data and verify the accuracy of the results got from fusion data of 2 m resolution and 8 m resolution of “GaoFen-1” by micro unmanned aerial vehicle data. Then compare with the area extraction results, extracted from the data of fusion data of 2 m resolution and 8 m resolution of “GaoFen-1” and the corrected 16 m multispectral satellite data, in Jizhou. The study result show that the corrected extraction result of planting area of winter wheat, from “GaoFen-1” 16 m multispectral satellite data, is accurate relatively and could better meet the requirements of the crop dynamic monitoring business operational running.

Formaldehyde (HCHO) is one of the most important intermediate products of atmospheric photochemical reactions and is also a radical source that promotes ozone formation. Given its high solubility, HCHO is likely to exist in particulate form. In this work, gaseous HCHO (HCHOg) and particulate HCHO (HCHOp) were separated and collected by a rotating wet annular denude (RWAD) and an aerosol growth chamber–coil aerosol cooler (AC). The collected HCHO from the RWAD and AC are measured by two online Hantzsch method-based formaldehyde analyzers. The comprehensive campaign was held in the Yangtze River Delta of China from 15 May to 18 June 2018, which is during the harvest season. Several biomass burning events were identified by using acetonitrile as a tracer. During the period influenced by biomass burning, the mixing ratios of HCHOg and HCHOp were respectively 122% and 231% higher than those during other time periods. The enhancement ratio of HCHOg to acetonitrile obtained from this work generally agrees with those from the existing literature. Biomass burning contributed 14.8% to HCHOg, but the abundant freshly discharged precursors it emitted greatly promoted the secondary production of HCHOg. We suggest that the high concentration of HCHOp during the biomass burning period was from uptake of HCHOg by aerosols during their transportation; the liquid state particles are conducive to HCHOg uptake. High relative humidity, a low particle rebound fraction f, as well as low temperatures may result in higher uptake coefficient values.

Lithium ion (Li-ion) batteries work as the basic energy storage components in modern railway systems, hence estimating and improving battery efficiency is a critical issue in optimizing the energy usage strategy. However, it is difficult to estimate the efficiency of lithium ion batteries accurately since it varies continuously under working conditions and is unmeasurable via experiments. This paper offers a learning-based simulation method that employs experimental data to estimate the continuous-time energy efficiency and coulombic efficiency of lithium ion batteries, taking lithium titanate batteries as an example. The state of charge (SOC) regions and discharge current rates are considered as the main variables that may affect the efficiencies. Over eight million empirical datasets are collected during a series of experiments performed to investigate the efficiency variation. A back propagation (BP) neural network efficiency estimation and simulation model is proposed to estimate the continuous-time energy efficiency and coulombic efficiency. The empirical data collected in the experiments are used to train the BP network model, which reveals a test error of 10−4. With the input of continuous SOC regions and discharge currents, continuous-time efficiency can be estimated by the trained BP network model. The estimated and simulated result is proven to be consistent with the experimental results.

To investigate the clinical, enzymological and mitochondrial gene profiles of complex I deficiency in Chinese, clinical and laboratory data of the patients (79 boys, 54 girls) were retrospectively assessed. Activities of mitochondrial respiratory chain complexes in peripheral leucocytes were spectrophotometrically measured. The entire mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequence was analyzed in 62 patients. Restriction fragment length polymorphism and gene sequencing analyses were performed in 15 families. Ninety-one patients had isolated complex I deficiency; 42 had combined deficiencies of complex I and other complexes. The main clinical presentations were neuromuscular disorders (107 patients) and non-neurological dysfunction (hepatopathy, renal damage and cardiomyopathy; 26 patients). In 32 of 62 patients who underwent mtDNA sequencing, 24 mutations were identified in 15 mitochondrial genes. The 12338T>C, 4833A>G and 14502T>C mutations were found in 12.9%, 11.3% and 4.8% patients, respectively. Seven patients had multiple mutations. Three novel mutations were identified. Chinese patients with complex I deficiency presented heterogeneous phenotypes and genotypes. Twenty-four mutations were identified in 15 mitochondrial genes in 51.6% patients. mtDNA mutations were more common in isolated complex I deficiency than in combined complex deficiencies. The 12338T>C, 4833A>G and 14502T>C mutations were common.

Gout Party is a Chinese medicine prescription composed of Aconiti Lateralis Radix Praeparaia, Aconiti Radix Cocta, Cremastrae Pseudobulbus Pleiones Pseudobulbus, Smilacis Glabrae Rhizoma, Rehmanniae Radix, and Glycyrrhizae Radix et Rhizoma, which can relieve joint pain caused by gouty arthritis (GA) and rheumatoid, and has a therapeutic effect on acute gouty arthritis (AGA). However, little information is available on the molecular biological basis and therapeutic mechanism of Gout Party for the treatment of AGA. AGA model was established by injecting sodium urate, and colchicine served as a positive control drug. We established a metabolomic method based on ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography&ndash, tandem quadrupole/time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UHPLC&ndash, Q&ndash, TOF/MS) to analyze the plasma samples of model group rats and blank group rats. Multiple statistical analyses, including principal component analysis (PCA) and partial least square discrimination analysis (PLS-DA), were used to examine metabolite profile changes in plasma samples. Finally, we identified 2&ndash, ketobutyric acid, 3&ndash, hexenedioic acid, but&ndash, 2&ndash, enoic acid, and so on, 22 endogenous metabolites associated with AGA. After successful molding, we found that 2&ndash, enoic acid, argininic acid, galactonic acid, lactic acid, equol 4&prime, &ndash, O&ndash, glucuronide, deoxycholic acid glycine conjugate, glycocholic acid, sphinganine 1&ndash, phosphate, LPE (0:0/20:3), LPE (0:0/16:0), LPC (15:0) decreased significantly (p &lt, 0.05 or p &lt, 0.01), alanine, erythrulose, 3&ndash, dehydrocarnitine, m&ndash, methylhippuric acid, 3&ndash, hydroxyoctanoic acid, p&ndash, cresol sulfate, estriol 3&ndash, sulfate 16&ndash, glucuronide, 10&ndash, hydroxy&ndash, 9&ndash, (phosphonooxy)octadecenoate, docosahexaenoic acid increased significantly (p &lt, 0.01). After Gout Party treatment, 14 biomarkers had a tendency to normal conditions. These above biomarkers were mainly involved in fatty acid metabolism, bile acid metabolism, amino acid metabolism, and energy metabolism pathways. These results suggested that Gout Party exerted therapeutic effects of treating AGA by improving energy metabolism disorder and amino acid metabolism dysfunction, and attenuating fatty acid metabolism abnormal and inflammation. The results of this experiment provided a reference for revealing the metabolic mechanism produced by Gout Party in the treatment of AGA, but the subsequent studies need to be further improved and supported by relevant cell experiments and clinical experiments.

Ethnopharmacological evidence The Dan-Lou tablet (DLT), a well-known Chinese prescription, has definitive clinical efficacy in the treatment of precordial discomfort and pain caused by coronary heart disease (CHD). However, the pharmacological mechanism of DLT in the treatment of CHD has not been clearly elucidated and needs to be further explored. Aim of the study We aimed to identify relevant biological pathways by assessing changes in biomarkers in response to DLT intervention in CHD to reveal the potential biological mechanism of DLT treatment for CHD. Materials and methods The major chemical components in DLT were qualitatively analyzed using ultra-performance liquid chromatography quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-Q-TOF/MS), and a model of CHD in rats was subsequently established with a high-fat diet and left anterior coronary artery ligation (LADCA) followed by DLT intervention. Next, the metabolic profile of rat serum samples was analyzed using nontargeted metabolomics, wherein changes in the metabolites in serum samples before and after DLT administration were measured by PLS-DA, and two pathways of DLT treatment for CHD were predicted. Finally, predicted metabolomic pathways were verified by detecting and analyzing tissues from the rat model, revealing the mechanism of DLT in the treatment of CHD. Results Forty-five major chemical components were identified by the chemical characterization of DLT. In terms of metabolism, 17 biomarkers of CHD in rats were identified. Among these biomarkers, linoleic acid, γ-linolenic acid and lysophosphatidylcholines (LPCs) were found to play an important role in energy metabolism and glycerophospholipid metabolism. Protein analysis revealed that EGFR phosphorylation was inhibited in CHD rats after DLT treatment, which lowered the expression of TNF-α, IL-6 and MMP9, decreased the expression levels of ox-LDL and MDA, and increased the expression of SOD. Conclusion The mechanism of DLT in the treatment of CHD involves inhibiting the expression of EGFR and the activation of the MAPK signaling pathway by regulating glycerophospholipid metabolism (LPCs) and energy metabolism (linoleic acid and γ-linolenic acid). Therefore, inflammation-related (TNF-α, IL-6, MMP9) and oxidative stress-related (ox-LDL, MDA, SOD) indicators are affected, leading to the regulation of the oxidative stress state and anti-inflammatory effects.

Accurate assessments of spatiotemporal patterns in net primary productivity and their links to climate are important to obtain a deeper understanding of the function, stability and sustainability of grassland ecosystems. We combined a satellite-derived NDVI time-series dataset and field-based samples to investigate spatiotemporal patterns in aboveground net primary productivity (ANPP), and we examined the effect of growing season air temperate (GST) and precipitation (GSP) on these patterns along a climaterelated gradient in an eastern Eurasian grassland. Our results indicated that the ANPP fluctuated with no significant trend during 2001-2012. The spatial distribution of ANPP was heterogeneous and decreased from northeast to southwest. The interannual changes in ANPP were mainly controlled by year-to-year GSP; a strong correlation of interannual variability between ANPP and GSP was observed. Similarly, GSP strongly influenced spatial variations in ANPP, and the slopes of fitted linear functions of the GSP-ANPP relationship increased from arid temperate desert grassland to humid meadow grassland. An exponential function could be used to fit the GSP-ANPP relationship for the entire region. An improved moisture index that combines the effects of GST and GSP better explained the variations in ANPP compared with GSP alone. In comparisons with the previous studies, we found that the relationships between spatiotemporal variations in ANPP and climate factors were probably scale dependent. We imply that the quantity and spatial range of analyzed samples contribute to these different results. Multi-scale studies are necessary to improve our knowledge of the response of grassland ANPP to climate change., Article, ENVIRONMENTAL EARTH SCIENCES.76(1):56(2017)

With the development both of the information technology and the aeronautics and astronautics technologies, the remote sensing technology has been used in agriculture widely and deeply. After completing the “Agriculture and Resources Inventory Surveys through Aerospace Remote Sensing” plan, remote sensing technology was widely used in agricultural sectors in the USA. Such as the planting area, yield estimation, crop spatial distribution, agricultural insurance, agricultural disaster monitoring, protection of agricultural environment, etc. And meanwhile built a basic database of agricultural remote sensing, based on the data of “Common Land Unit” CLU) and the “Cropland Data Layer” (CDL). The author went to America to visit some officers, professors and specialists, in order to learn the developing situation of remote sensing technology application in agriculture in America. Through communicating and discussing, he got a lot of information and materials and produced some thinking. This paper expounds the present situation of the development of American agricultural remote sensing from data sources, basic data platform and application of remote sensing technology, etc. At the same time, analyze the base about remote sensing technology used widely in American agriculture from based data storage, data sharing mechanism, operation and business system, the degree of automation, etc. Finally, the paper mentioned three points for discussion on the development direction of Chinese agricultural remote sensing. First, strengthen the concepts of universal, sharing, integration of remote sensing technology. Second, lay stress on the goals of guiding production, managing resource, servicing decision by remote sensing technology. Third, grasp the keys of basic data studying, data platform building, technologies advance.

Comprehensive, reliable and timely information of Brazil’s soybean area is necessary for China to make decisions on agricultural related problems. Spatial sampling method which combined remote sensing and sampling survey is widely used. Due to limitations of width and revisit cycle of medium resolution satellite, This study designed a typical investigation method about Brazil soybean area based on average samples change rate of two years and official statistics of a year before, typical samples were selected to survey, sampling frame was constructed on soybean planting state, the sampling unit was designed as 40 km × 40 km, the sampling proportion was 2 %, average samples change rate of two years were 2013 and 2014. Estimated area was compared with Brazil official harvested area in 2014 (published on 2015 April by Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics), the relative error is 2.37 %.