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Stigmasterol has significant anti-arthritis and anti-inflammatory effects, but its role in immune and inflammatory diseases is still unclear. The potential advantages of stigmasterol in asthma were explored in IL-13-induced BEAS-2B cells and asthmatic mice. The optimal target of stigmasterol was confirmed in asthma. After detecting the cytotoxicity of stigmasterol in BEAS-2B cells, 10 μg/mL and 20 μg/mL stigmasterol were incubated with the BEAS-2B cell model for 48 h, and anti-inflammation and antioxidative stress were verified. Asthmatic mice were induced by OVA and received 100 mg/kg stigmasterol for 7 consecutive days. After 28 days, lung tissues and BAL fluid were collected for the following study. To further verify the role of NK1-R, 0.1 μM WIN62577 (NK1-R specific antagonist), and 1 μM recombinant human NK1-R protein were applied. NK1-R was the potential target of stigmasterol. When the concentration of stigmasterol is 20 μg/mL, the survival rate of BEAS-2B cells is about 98.4%, which is non-toxic. Stigmasterol exerted anti-inflammation and antioxidant stress in a dose-dependent manner and decreased NK1-R expression in IL-13-induced BEAS-2B. Meanwhile, in vivo assay also indicated the anti-inflammation and antioxidant stress of stigmasterol after OVA challenge. Stigmasterol inhibited inflammation infiltration and mucus hypersecretion, and NK1-R expression. The protective effect of stigmaterol on asthma and its underlying mechanism have been discussed in depth, providing a theoretical basis and more possibilities for its treatment of asthma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Commercial electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) systems generally use interplanar angle matching for pattern indexing, and thus, they are unable to distinguish between some similar phases with close interplanar angles, such as Al and Si. The interplanar spacing is more diagnostic but generally difficult to apply in pattern indexing because it lacks precision. In this study, we proposed an efficient approach for accurately measuring interplanar spacing by correcting the reciprocal‐lattice vector (RLV). The phase discrimination of Al and Si was performed by interplanar spacing matching. The Kikuchi bands were identified automatically by the self‐developed method using pattern rotation combined with grey gradient recognition without the help of human eyes. The reliable RLV relationship was extracted by accurately drawing reciprocal‐lattice vectors. The lengths of RLVs were corrected, and then the RLVs were used for evaluating lattice spacing. The results of five Kikuchi patterns with different clarity showed that this new method reduced the average error of interplanar spacings by 50.611% and achieved an average accuracy of 1.644% for lattice spacing calculation. The method could distinguish structures with a difference in lattice spacing of at least 3.3%. This method was also effective for fuzzy patterns and partially missing Kikuchi bands and might be used as a new strategy for improving the calculation accuracy of lattice spacing for fuzzy patterns. The method did not have additional requirements concerning the number of detected Kikuchi bands and poles. The accuracy of lattice spacing could be effectively improved by correcting the RLVs based on routine pattern recognition. This method might be used as an auxiliary approach to differentiate between similar phases and is well‐adapted to the existing commercial EBSD system. LAY DESCRIPTION: Electron Backscatter Diffraction (EBSD) is a scanning electron microscope‐based technique for microstructure characterisation. The phase identification is an important function of EBSD. However, commercial EBSD systems generally use interplanar angle matching for pattern indexing, and thus, they are unable to distinguish between some similar phases with close interplanar angles, which restrict the application of this technology. The interplanar spacing is more diagnostic but generally difficult to apply in pattern indexing because it lacks precision. In our work, we proposed an efficient approach for accurately measuring interplanar spacing by correcting the reciprocal‐lattice vector (RLV). The phase discrimination of Al and Si was performed by interplanar spacing matching. The Kikuchi bands were identified automatically by the self‐developed method without the help of human eyes. The lengths of RLVs were corrected, and then the RLVs were used for evaluating lattice spacing. This method was also effective for fuzzy patterns and partially missing Kikuchi bands. The method did not have additional requirements concerning the number of detected Kikuchi bands and poles. Based on routine pattern recognition, the accuracy of lattice spacing might be effectively improved by correcting the RLVs. This method might be used as an auxiliary approach for differentiating between similar phases to improve the characterisation ability of EBSD and is well‐adapted to the existing commercial EBSD system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work described the one-pot synthesis of orange pectin encapsulated Fe3O4 nanoparticles (Fe3O4@Pectin NPs) which is prepared by co-precipitation of Fe(II/(III) ions in alkaline solution mediated by pectin. This process led to formation of magnetic nanoparticles within the network of pectin. Physicochemical characterization of the as-synthesized Fe3O4@Pectin NPs was carried out through Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), electron microscopy (SEM and TEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The in vitro cytotoxic and anti-liver cancer effects of biologically synthesized Fe3O4@Pectin NPs against pleomorphic hepatocellular carcinoma (SNU-387), hepatic ductal carcinoma (LMH/2A), morris hepatoma (McA-RH7777), and novikoff hepatoma (N1-S1 Fudr) cancer cell lines were assessed. The anti-liver cancer properties of the Fe3O4@Pectin NPs could significantly remove pleomorphic hepatocellular carcinoma (SNU-387), hepatic ductal carcinoma (LMH/2A), morris hepatoma (McA-RH7777), and novikoff hepatoma (N1-S1 Fudr) cancer cell lines in a time and concentration-dependent manner by MTT assay. The IC50 of the Fe3O4@Pectin NPs were 8, 13, 10, and 7 µg/mL against pleomorphic hepatocellular carcinoma (SNU-387), hepatic ductal carcinoma (LMH/2A), morris hepatoma (McA-RH7777), and novikoff hepatoma (N1-S1 Fudr) cancer cell lines. The antioxidant activity of Fe3O4@Pectin NPs was determined by DPPH method. The Fe3O4@Pectin NPs showed the high antioxidant activity according to the IC50 value. It seems that the anti-human liver cancer effect of recent nanoparticles is due to their antioxidant effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]