Network pharmacology-based study on mechanism of Zhi-Huang-Zhi-Tong powder in rheumatoid arthritis treatment / 中国药理学通报

Aim To discover the potential active compounds and possible mechanisms in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) treatment with Zhi-Huang-Zhi-Tong powder (ZHZTP) by using network pharmacology and in vitro study. Methods The active ingredient targets and disease targets of Zhihuang Zhitong Powder were searched and screened by database; they intersected to get a common target; and the "drug-component-target" relationship network diagram was constructed for GO and KEGG enrichment analysis of the overlapping genes; then the core components were docked with the core targets. Finally, based on the inflammation model of HUVECs in vitro, the efficacy and mechanism of Zhihuang Zhitong powder were verified by MTT method, plate scratch test and Western blot. Results Active compounds involved in RA treatment were screened in the present study, and the top two were ursolic acid and emodin, all playing crucial roles in RA treatment with ZHZTP. Additionally, the key target was AKTA, TNF and IL-6. GO and KEGG enrichment analysis revealed that ZHZTP regulated BP, MF and CC, and also focused on regulating AKTA, TNF and IL-6 signaling pathway. Molecular docking showed that interactions between key active compounds and key targets were stable. In vitro ZHZTP significantly inhibited cell viability and migration of TNF-a-stimulated HUVECs, and the involved mechanism may be associated with PI3K/AKT/m-TOR signaling. Conclusions The present study reveals that the potential active compounds of ZHZTP are ursolic acid and emodin, and moreover, the involved mechanisms of ZHZTP for RA treatment are associated with PI3 K/AKT/m-TOR signaling.

A Strain Transfer Model for Detection of Pitting Corrosion and Loading Force of Steel Rebar with Distributed Fiber Optic Sensor.

Steel rebar corrosion is one of the predominant factors influencing the durability of marine and offshore reinforced concrete structures, resulting in economic loss and the potential threat to human safety. Distributed fiber optic sensors (DFOSs) have gradually become an effective method for structural health monitoring over the past two decades. In this work, a strain transfer model is developed between a steel rebar and a DFOS, considering pitting-corrosion-induced strain variation in the steel rebar. The Gaussian function is first adopted to describe the strain distribution near the corrosion pit of the steel rebar and then is substituted into the governing equation of the strain transfer model, and the strain distribution in the DFOS is analytically obtained. Tensile tests are also conducted on steel rebars with artificially simulated corrosion pits, which are used to validate the developed model. The results show that the Gaussian function can be used to describe the strain variation near a corrosion pit with a depth less than 50% of the steel rebar diameter, and the strain distribution in the DFOS analytically determined based on the developed strain transfer model agrees well with the tensile test results. The corrosion pit depth and loading force in the steel rebars estimated based on the proposed model agree well with the actual values, and therefore, the developed strain transfer model is effective in detecting pitting corrosion and loading force in steel rebars.

Intervention of physcion-8-O-β-D-monoglucoside on acute liver injury induced by CCl 4 in mice by regulating PI3K/AKT/NF-κB / 中国药理学通报

Aim To investigate the effect of PI3K/AKT/NF-κB signaling pathway in the treatment of physicion-8-O-β-D-monoglu-coside(PMG) on acute liver injury induced by carbon tetracloride(CCl 4) in mice . Methods Mice were randomly assigned into control group, model group, PMG low-dose, medium-dose and high-dose groups and Bifendate groups. After the continuous intervention with PMG for three days, CCl 4oil solution was intraperitoneally injected to establish acute liver injury mouse models, and samples were collected sixteen hours later. HE staining was used to observe the pathological changes of liver tissue. Hoechst 33342 staining was used to detect the number of apoptotic hepatocytes. Western blot was employed to detect the expression levels of caspase-3, PI3K, p-PI3K, AKT, p-Akt, IκB, p-IκB total protein and the nuclear protein NF-κB p65 in mouse liver tissue. The proportion of Th17 cells in mouse liver tissue was detected by FACS. Results After three days of PMG treatment, the pathological injury of liver tissue was relieved, the apoptosis of liver cells and the protein levels of caspase-3(P<0.01) were induced compared with model group.PMG could significantly decrease the nuclear expression of NF-κB p65 in the liver of mice with acute liver injury(P<0.05 or P<0.01). The phosphorylation levels of PI3K, AKT and IκB significantly decreased by PMG(P<0.05 or P <0.01). Otherwise, the proportion of Th17 cells in liver tissue was significantly reduced after PMG treatment(P<0.01). Conclusion PMG can alleviate CCl4 - induced acute liver injury through PI3K/AKT/NF-κB signaling pathway.

Field Validation of a Magnetic Sensor to Monitor Borehole Deviation during Tunnel Excavation.

In this article, a magnetic sensor is proposed to monitor borehole deviation during tunnel excavation. It is made by piling four super-strong N42 NdFeB cylinder magnets and then encasing them in an aluminum alloy hollow cylinder. The distribution of the magnetic field produced by the magnetic sensor and its summation with the geomagnetic field (GMF) in a global coordinate system are derived based on the theory of magnetic fields. An algorithm is developed to localize the position of the magnetic sensor. The effect of the GMF variation on the effective monitoring range of the magnetic sensor is also studied numerically. Field validation tests are conducted at Jinzhai Pumped-Storage hydroelectric power station, during the excavation of an inclined tunnel in Anhui Province of China. Test results show that the algorithm and the magnetic sensor are used successfully to detect the deviation of the borehole with an estimated error of approximately 0.5 m. The errors are mainly from the measurement errors of the coordinates, of both the test and the measurement points. The effective monitoring range of the magnetic sensor is dependent on the direction of the magnetic sensor as well as the variation of the GMF.

Biodegradation of two organophosphorus pesticides in whole corn silage as affected by the cultured Lactobacillus plantarum.

Biodegradation of the pesticides is considered as one of the safest and cheapest ways. The aim of the present study was to reveal if the inoculated Lactic acid bacteria widely used in silage could provide beneficial safety to guarantee dairy feedstuffs and fresh milk. Organophosphorus pesticides (OPPs) degradation in whole corn silage was investigated. Two OPPs, chlorpyrifos and phorate, were added to the whole corn, which was inoculated with L. plantarum 1.0315, L. plantarum 1.0624, L. plantarum 1.0622 and their combination at room temperature for 10 weeks. OPPs residues in the whole corn silage at different weeks were analyzed by gas chromatography after OPPs extraction and purification. The degradation rate constants were calculated according to the OPPs residues results at different fermentation stage. The data showed that the inoculated microorganisms and strain combination exhibited obvious acceleration on OPPs degradation as the wild microorganisms did, and resulted in decreased levels of OPPs from 24.9 to 33.4 %. Strains combination brought about greater OPPs degradation than single strain or the wild microorganisms. Compared to phorate, clorpyrifos had lower degradation rate constants (0.0274-0.0381 vs. 0.0295-0.0355 week-1) and was more stable. The present result indicates safety benefit of lactic acid bacteria on corn silage besides lactic acid fermentation.

π-π stacking, spin density and magnetic coupling strength.

The π-π stacking interaction, one of the main intermolecular forces, sometimes leads to amazing magnetic properties. Although the concept has been raised that spin density is one of the main factors that contribute to the magnetic coupling strength in intermolecular magnetic coupling systems, it has not been confirmed either experimentally or theoretically to date. Herein we present a study on the magnetostructural data of seven unpublished Cu(II) complexes and ten reported radicals. It is confirmed for the first time that the spin density on short contact atoms is a major factor that contributes to the π-π stacking magnetic coupling strength. Based on the reported data to date, when the short contact distance is larger than the default contact radius, medium or relatively strong magnetic coupling strength could be obtained only if the spin density on the short contact atoms is greater than 0.1350; when the C···C short contact is less than the default contact radius of 3.4 Å, but not less than 3.351 Å, and the spin density is less than 0.1, neither medium nor strong magnetic coupling strength could be observed. Further, when the short contact distance decreases with a temperature drop, the spin densities on the relevant short contact atoms increase. In the complexes reported the small spin densities on the relevant short contact atoms are the major factors that result in the weak π-π magnetic coupling strength.

Noise smoothing for structural vibration test signals using an improved wavelet thresholding technique.

In structural vibration tests, one of the main factors which disturb the reliability and accuracy of the results are the noise signals encountered. To overcome this deficiency, this paper presents a discrete wavelet transform (DWT) approach to denoise the measured signals. The denoising performance of DWT is discussed by several processing parameters, including the type of wavelet, decomposition level, thresholding method, and threshold selection rules. To overcome the disadvantages of the traditional hard- and soft-thresholding methods, an improved thresholding technique called the sigmoid function-based thresholding scheme is presented. The procedure is validated by using four benchmarks signals with three degrees of degradation as well as a real measured signal obtained from a three-story reinforced concrete scale model shaking table experiment. The performance of the proposed method is evaluated by computing the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and the root-mean-square error (RMSE) after denoising. Results reveal that the proposed method offers superior performance than the traditional methods no matter whether the signals have heavy or light noises embedded.