Camel whey protein alleviates heat stress-induced liver injury by activating the Nrf2/HO-1 signaling pathway and inhibiting HMGB1 release.

This study aimed to investigate the mechanism by which camel whey protein (CWP) inhibits the release of high-mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) in heat stress (HS)-stimulated rat liver. Administration of CWP by gavage prior to HS inhibited the cytoplasmic translocation of HMGB1 and consequently reduced the inflammatory response in the rat liver, and downregulated the levels of the NLR pyrin domain containing 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome, interleukin (IL)-1ß, and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α. The use of N-acetyl-L-cysteine (NAC), an inhibitor of reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, indicated that this downregulation effect may be attributed to the antioxidant activity of CWP. We observed that CWP enhanced nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor (Nrf)2 and heme-oxygenase (HO)-1 expression, which inhibited ROS production, nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate oxidase (NOX) activity, and malondialdehyde (MDA) levels, and increased superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1) activity and reduced glutathione (GSH) content in the HS-treated liver, ultimately increasing the total antioxidant capacity (TAC) in the liver. Administration of Nrf2 or HO-1 inhibitors before HS abolished the protective effects of CWP against oxidative damage in the liver of HS-treated rats, accompanied by increased levels of HMGB1 in the cytoplasm and IL-1ß and TNF-α in the serum. In conclusion, our study demonstrated that CWP enhanced the TAC of the rat liver after HS by activating Nrf2/HO-1 signaling, which in turn reduced HMGB1 release from hepatocytes and the subsequent inflammatory response and damage. Furthermore, the combination of CWP and NAC abolished the adverse effects of HS in the rat liver. Therefore, dietary CWP could be an effective adjuvant treatment for HS-induced liver damage.

Equilibrium and hysteresis formation of water vapor adsorption on microporous adsorbents: Effect of adsorbent properties and temperature.

Water vapor has been one of the vital problems in purification of volatile organic compounds. In this study, the adsorption-desorption equilibrium of water vapor were conducted at 298, 308, 318, and 328 K on three adsorbents: hypercrosslinked polymeric adsorbents (HPA), activated carbon fiber (ACF) and granular activated carbon (GAC). The obtained isotherms were type V and the adsorption capacity at the same condition was: GAC>ACF>HPA. cluster formation induced micropore filling (CIMF) model was adopted to fit the adsorption isotherms and the fitting parameters showed that adsorption capacities of water vapor on micropores and functional groups had a negative logarithmic linear relationship with temperature. The existence of functional groups could weaken the negative influence of temperature on the water adsorption performance, while the influence of temperature had negligible relationship with microporous volume. The hysteresis loops at different temperatures on three adsorbents had similar shape, the size of which were also: GAC>ACF>HPA. They mainly occurred in micropore adsorption, but their size had positive relationships with both functional groups and microporous volume. The hysteresis became smaller along with the increase of temperature, closely related with the stability of water clusters. In conclusion, temperature, functional groups and porous structure played crucial roles for water vapor adsorption and the formation of hysteresis.Implications: Water vapor is one of the vital influence for VOCs recovery, so studying the adsorption mechanism of water vapor is important to weaken its negative effect. Adsorption capacities of water vapor on both micropores and functional groups had a negative logarithmic linear relationship with temperature. The existence of functional groups could weaken the negative influence of temperature on the water adsorption performance, while the influence of temperature had negligible relationship with microporous volume. The hysteresis loops on three adsorbents mainly occurred in micropore adsorption, but their size had positive relationships with both functional groups and microporous volume.

Hydrolyzed camel whey protein alleviated heat stress-induced hepatocyte damage by activated Nrf2/HO-1 signaling pathway and inhibited NF-κB/NLRP3 axis.

Liver damage is the most severe complication of heat stress (HS). Hydrolyzed camel whey protein (CWP) possesses bioactive peptides with obviously antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities. The current study aims to investigate whether CWP that is hydrolyzed by a simulated gastrointestinal digestion process, named S-CWP, protects BRL-3A hepatocytes from HS-induced damage via antioxidant and anti-inflammatory mechanisms. BRL-3A cells were pretreated with S-CWP before being treated at 43 °C for 1 h, and the levels of the cellular oxidative stress, inflammation, apoptosis, biomarkers for liver function, the activities of several antioxidant enzymes, and the cell viability were analyzed. The expression level of pivotal proteins in correlative signaling pathways was evaluated by western blotting. We confirmed that S-CWP alleviated HS-induced hepatocytes oxidative stress by decreased reactive oxygen species (ROS), nitric oxide (NO), 8-Hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG), lipid peroxidation (LPO), protein carbonylation (PCO), and the activities of NADPH oxidase while enhanced superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) activities, and GSH content. S-CWP suppressed HS-induced inflammatory response by reducing the phosphorylation of NF-κB p65, the expression of NLRP3, and caspase-1 and finally alleviated caspase-3-mediated apoptosis. S-CWP also alleviated HS-induced hepatocyte injury by reducing alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) levels and restoring Heat Shock Protein 70 (HSP70) expression. Furthermore, S-CWP treatment significantly enhanced the expression of NF-E2-related nuclear factor erythroid-2 (Nrf2) and HO-1. The antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects of S-CWP were weakened by ML385, a specific Nrf2 inhibitor. Additionally, zinc protoporphyrin (ZnPP), a specific HO-1 inhibitor, significantly reversed S-CWP-induced reduction in the phosphorylation of NF-κB p65. Thus, our results revealed that S-CWP protected against HS-induced hepatocytes damage via activating the Nrf2/HO-1 signaling pathway and inhibiting NF-κB/NLRP3 axis.

Internet behaviors and associated factor among Chinese primary school students / 中国学校卫生

Objective@#To analyze Internet behaviors of children and adolescents and their influencing factors, and to provide scientific basis for health education guidance and prevention measures.@*Methods@#A stratified cluster sampling method was used. From January to June 2019, 30 955 primary school students in 16 provinces (municipalities), from eastern, central, and western economic zones of China were selected to conduct a questionnaire survey, regarding general demographics, diet and exercise, tobacco, alcohol and sleep, Internet and electronics usage, etc.@*Results@#Among them, 43.1% of students had never been online with girls (44.7%) higher than boys (41.8%)(χ2=21.04, P<0.01); 1.3% of students reported online time for more than 4 hours a day, boys were significantly higher than girls(χ2=15.87, P<0.01); Internet addiction was detected in 2.4% of elementary school students, with boys (3.0%) higher than girls(1.7%)(χ2=331.77, P<0.01), and the trend increases with grade. With sixth grade (3.3%) were significantly higher than children from the first grade (0.8%) and other grades(χ2=163.96, P<0.01). Children’s tendency to Internet addiction was 11.9%, of which boys were 13.0% and girls were 10.6%, boys were significantly higher than girls(χ2=117.66, P<0.01). Pearson correlation analysis revealed that, after controlling gender age, boarding school, family relationship, single parents and regrouped families, smoking, drinking sugary drinks, eating fried foods, and left-behind were positively related to Intenet addiction(r=0.06, 0.07, 0.27, 0.44, 0.07, 0.11, 0.09, P<0.01), while medium and high intensity sports, effective physical education, health education in school, AIDS education and parental restrictions on TV and computer games, were negatively associated with internet addiction(r=-0.74, -0.65, -0.04, -0.05, -0.63, P<0.01).@*Conclusion@#The internet addiction of Chinese primary school students is common and increases by year. High-intensity, high-density sports, effective physical education, and health education could help prevent Internet addiction among children.