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Cachexia is a late consequence of various diseases that is characterized by systemic muscle loss, with or without fat loss, leading to significant mortality. Multiple signaling pathways and molecules that increase catabolism, decrease anabolism, and interfere with muscle regeneration are activated. Non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs), such as microRNAs (miRNAs), long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), and circular RNAs (circRNAs), play vital roles in cachexia muscle atrophy. This review mainly provides the mechanisms of specific ncRNAs to regulate muscle loss during cachexia and discusses the role of ncRNAs in cachectic biomarkers and novel therapeutic strategies that could offer new insights for clinical practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective To determine the effect of Polygonum multiflorum extract (PME) on DNA methylation and transcriptome levels in the brain tissue of D-galactose-induced senescence C57BL/6 mice, and explore its mechanism of delaying aging. Methods Fifty C57BL/6 mice were randomly divided into 5 groups, that is, normal control group (CC), aging group (MC), high-, medium- and low-dosed PME groups (MH, MM and ML). Except the CC group, the mice of the other 4 groups were induced to establish an aging model by D-galactose. Sixty days later, the mice of the MH, MM and ML groups were given intragastrical infusion with PME at 1, 0.6 and 0.3 g·mL-1·kg-1 for 60 d, and those of CC group and the MC group received same volume of normal saline. All the mice were anesthetized, and the eyeballs were removed to collect blood samples for malondialdehyde (MDA) content, and superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) activities to determine the establishment of aging model and the effect of Polygonum multiflorum in delaying aging in mice. The DNA methylation level and transcription level in brain tissue of each group of mice were detected by reduced representation bisulfite sequencing (RRBS) and RNA-seq sequencing. And bioinformatics analysis was used to analyze the differentially methylated region (DMR) and differentially expressed genes in the brain samples of each group. The related genes in the promoter region of DMR were analyzed by GO clustering and KEGG pathway analysis. Real-time qPCR was used to verify the expression of some genes. Results Compared with the CC group, the activities of SOD and GSH-Px were decreased obviously (P < 0.05), and the content of MDA was increased significantly in the MC group (P < 0.05). After PME treatment, the activities of antioxidant enzymes and MDA content in aging mice were distinctly relieved, especially in the MM group (P < 0.05). In DNA methylation sequencing, there were 52 related genes in the promoter region of DMR with methylation changes between the CC group and the MC group, and between the MC group and the MM group. Among these genes, the methylation levels of 7 genes were negatively correlated with transcriptome results, including Synpo and Mapkapk5 (associated with senescence), while the methylation levels of 13 genes were positively correlated with the transcriptome, including Tcf7 and Rab15 (associated with senescence). The mRNA levels of these 4 genes were consistent with the transcriptome sequencing results. Conclusion PME exerts a delaying senescence effect probably by regulating the methylation of Synpo, Mapkapk5, Tcf7 and Rab15 genes, and thereby regulating their transcription levels in senescent mice.

Rice seedlings were treated with different concentrations of Pb solutions or /and CO2 (Pb 0 μM + CO2 400 ± 20 μmol/mol, AC; Pb 0 μM + 800 ± 20 µmol/mol, EC; Pb 50 μM + CO2 400 ± 20 μmol/mol, L; Pb 150 μM + CO2 400 ± 20 μmol/mol, H; Pb 50 μM + CO2 400 ± 20 μmol/mol, EC + L; Pb 150 μM + CO2 800 ± 20 μmol/mol, EC + H;), so as to study the effects of Pb stress and/or elevated CO2 on growth, photosynthesis, and endogenous hormones. We measured the biomass, photosynthetic gas exchange parameters, fluorescence parameters and their curves (O-J-I-P, Variable fluorescence) and the contents and ratio of endogenous hormones in rice seedlings. The results show that: (1) Both L and H had negative effects on the growth of rice seedlings. However, H treatment had a significant negative effect on PSII of rice seedlings, but L treatment had no significant effect. In addition, JA (jasmonic acid) and ABA (abscisic acid) were significantly associated with the decrease of GS in Rice under Pb stress. (2) Under EC treatment, the secretion of growth hormones increased significantly. More importantly, the content of JA increased significantly while GS decreased, but ABA did not, which may mean that JA is more sensitive to stomatal regulation under EC. (3) Compared with L and H, EC + L and EC + H manifested in the enhancement of photosynthetic performance and adjustment of hormone ratio. Compound treatment significantly increased the ratio of "promoting-hormone to ABA" compare with L and H treatment. The biomass accumulation of rice seedlings increased significantly after being affected by changes in hormone ratios and enhanced photosynthesis. Therefore, the high concentration CO2 reduces the harm of Pb to a certain extent. However, this relief is also limited. Compared with H, EC + H has no alleviating effect on rice seedling most growth and photosynthetic parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the face of increasing energy demand, the approach of transformation that combines energy restructuring and environmental governance has become a popular research direction. As an important part of electrocatalytic reactions for gas molecules, reduction reactions of oxygen (ORR) and carbon dioxide (CO 2 RR) are very indispensable in the field of energy conversion and storage. However, the non-interchangeability and irreversibility of electrode materials have always been a challenge in electrocatalysis. Hereon, nickel and nitrogen decorated biomass carbon-based materials (Ni/N-BC) has been prepared by high temperature pyrolysis using agricultural waste straw as raw material. Surprisingly, it possesses abundant active sites and specific surface area as a bifunctional electrocatalyst for ORR and CO 2 RR. The three-dimensional porous cavity structure for the framework of biomass could not only provide a strong anchoring foundation for the active site, but also facilitate the transport and enrichment of reactants around the site. In addition, temperature modulation during the preparation process also optimizes the composition and structure of biomass carbon and nitrogen. Benefit from above structure and morphology advantages, Ni/N-BC-800 exhibits the superior electrocatalytic activity for both ORR and CO 2 RR simultaneously. More specifically, Ni/N-BC-800 exhibits satisfactory ORR activity in terms of initial potential and half wave potential, while also enables the production of CO under high selective. The research results provide ideas for the development and design of electrode materials and green electrocatalysts, and also expand new applications of agricultural waste in fields such as energy conversion, environmental protection, and resource utilization., (© 2024 IOP Publishing Ltd.)