The Ameliorative and Neuroprotective Effects of Dietary Fiber on Hyperuricemia mice：A perspective from Microbiome and Metabolome.

The effect of single dietary fiber (DF) on lowering uric acid (UA) level has been reported in the literature. However, the potential protective mechanism of dietary fibre against potassium oxybate-induced hyperuricaemia (HUA), as modelled by prophylactic administration, remains unclear.The data demonstrates that DF significantly decreased serum and cerebral tissue UA concentrations, inhibited xanthine oxidase (XOD) expression and activity in the liver, and reduced levels of creatinine (Cr) and urea nitrogen (BUN) in the serum. Additionally, it mitigated the deposition of amyloid-ß (Aß) in cerebral tissue. Correlation analysis showed that DF modulated the TLR4/NF-κB signaling pathway, attenuating oxidative stress and inflammatory responses in HUA mice. Additionally, DF helps to maintain the composition of the gut microbiota, reducing harmful Desulfovibrio and enriching beneficial Akkermansia and Ruminococcus populations.The results of the faecal metabolomics analysis indicate that DF facilitates the regulation of metabolic pathways involved in oxidative stress and inflammation. These pathways include pyrimidine metabolism, tryptophan metabolism, nucleotide metabolism, and vitamin B6 metabolism. Additionally, the study found that DF has a preventive effect on anxiety-like behaviour induced by HUA. In summary, DF shows promise in mitigating HUA and cognitive deficits, primarily by modulating gut microbiota and metabolites.

The accumulation of heavy metals in agricultural land and the associated potential ecological risks in Shenzhen, China.

Accumulation of heavy metals in agricultural land and their ecological risks are key issues in soil security studies. This study investigated the concentrations of six heavy metals--copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), lead (Pb), nickel (Ni), and chromium (Cr) in Shenzhen's agricultural lands and examined the potential hazards and possible sources of these metals. Eighty-two samples from agricultural topsoil were collected. Potential ecological risk index was used to calculate the potential risk of heavy metals. Principal component analysis (PCA) was applied to explore pollution sources of the metals. Finally, Kriging was used to predict the spatial distribution of the metals' potential ecological risks. The concentrations of the heavy metals were higher than their background values. Most of them presented little potential ecological risk, except for the heavy metal cadmium (Cd). Four districts (Longgang, Longhua, Pingshan, and Dapeng) exhibited some degree of potential risk, which tended to have more industries and road networks. Three major sources of heavy metals included geochemical processes, industrial pollutants, and traffic pollution. The heavy metal Cd was the main contributor to the pollution in agricultural land during the study period. It also poses the potential hazard for the future. High potential risk is closely related to industrial pollution and transportation. Since the 1980s, the sources of heavy metals have evolved from parent rock weathering, erosion, degradation of organics, and mineralization to human disturbances resulting in chemical changes in the soil.

[Spatial distribution of soil PCBs congeners in typical area of Yangtze River Delta region].

191 surface farmland soil samples were collected from an area of 27 km2 in typical polluted county of the Yangtze River Delta region and analyzed for concentrations of 16 kinds of polychlorinated biphenyls. The results of statistical analysis indicated that the concentrations of PCBs in the soils ranged from 0.01-484.5 ng/g, with the average concentration of 35.52 ng/g. In farmland soils tri- and tetra-chlorinated biphenyls were the main congeners, and some proportional penta- and hexachlorinated biphenyls also existed. The spatial analysis showed that the PCBs concentrations were stronger correlated in a given spatial range, and indicated that in the farmland soil PCBs spatial distribution pattern had an extent relationship with the activities of dismantling electronic wastes, burning plastic cable and line, wastewater irrigation and some pollution enterprises position in this typical region.