Comparison of Physicochemical Properties of Noodles Fortified with Commercial Calcium Salts versus Calcium Citrate from Oyster Shells.

This study examined the physicochemical effects of the fortification of noodles with 0.25-1.00% (w/w) calcium salts, viz. calcium acetate, calcium carbonate, calcium citrate, and calcium lactate. Fortification with calcium citrate, calcium acetate, and calcium carbonate increased the pH and breaking force of the dried noodles. However, the fortification of noodles with any concentration of calcium did not increase the extent of elongation of the control raw noodles. The L* and b* values of the raw and dried noodle color increased with increasing concentrations of calcium salts, except for noodles with added calcium citrate. Fortification with calcium citrate yielded no significant influence on color, texture, adhesiveness, springiness, flavor, and overall scores for cooked noodles. Noodles fortified with 0.5% calcium citrate made from oyster shells were compared with a control sample of noodles and noodles fortified with commercially available calcium citrate. The particle size of the calcium citrate made from oyster shells (258 nm) was smaller than that of the purchased calcium citrate (2631 nm). Noodles fortified with calcium citrate made from oyster shells showed no significantly difference compared to noodles fortified with commercially available calcium citrate. These results suggest that calcium citrate made from oyster shells may be used as the additive of choice for the manufacture of calcium-fortified noodles.

Decomposition and decoupling research of Chinese power sector carbon emissions through the consumption accounting principle.

The Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index (LMDI) model is applied to study Chinese national and regional power sector carbon emission changes through consumption side from 2003 to 2017, and regional power sector carbon emissions are estimated through the production and consumption accounting principle. The two-factor ANOVA and one-factor ANOVA are used to compare the differences of regional power sector carbon emissions through the two principles. In addition, the Tapio decoupling analysis model is used to investigate the decoupling state between carbon emissions of power sector and the corresponding driving forces through the consumption side. There are several results: (1) Through the two different principles, regional power sector carbon emissions are statistically significant, yet national power sector carbon emissions are not statistically significant; (2) the main factors contributing to the power sector carbon emission growth are economic scale effect and income level effect, and the main restraining factors are electricity consumption carbon intensity effect and production sector electricity intensity effect; (3) the highest contribution effect to the decoupling indexes between various influencing factors and power sector carbon emissions was scale effect, and technical effect had the second largest contribution value; (4) in 2003-2017, economic scale effect was the first significant factor causing the difference of regional power sector carbon emissions, followed by production sector electricity intensity effect and electricity consumption carbon intensity through the regional decomposition analysis. Finally, this paper gives some targeted suggestions for the low-carbon development of the power sector through national and regional perspectives.

Knocking down LINC01116 can inhibit the regulation of TGF-ß through miR-774-5p axis and inhibit the occurrence and development of glioma.

BACKGROUND: Many studies have shown that non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs), including long non-coding RNA (LncRNA) and micro RNA (miRNA), play a crucial regulatory role in glioma. LINC01116 is a newly discovered LncRNA, and the relationship between LncRNA and glioma is still under exploration. METHOD: LncRNAs with potential differences were screened through GEO database, and the expressions of LINC01116 and miR-744-5p/TGF-ß1 in glioma tissues were tested using qRT-PCR. Changes in proliferation and migration/invasion of glioma were tested using CCK-8 and transwell assay. The expression changes of TGF-ß1 were tested using qRT-PCR and Western blot. Targeted binding among LINC01116, miR-744-5p and TGF-ß1 was verified using double luciferase reporter, RNA Immunoprecipitation (PIR) and RNA pull-down experiments. The effect of LINC01116 on tumor growth was determined by tumor allografting test. RESULTS: GEO database and clinical research revealed that the expression level of LINC01116 in glioma increased, and the elevation of LINC01116 was closely related to the adverse prognosis of clinical patients. Functional experiments showed that the inhibition of LINC01116 could up-regulate miR-744-5p-mediated proliferation and metastasis of glioma cells. Western blot analysis and qRT-PCR analysis showed that LINC01116 regulated TGF-ß1 by mediating miR-744-5p. Further cell behavior experiments showed that LINC01116 acted as miR-744-5p sponge to inhibit proliferation and metastasis caused by TGF-ß1. Finally, the analysis of animal models in vivo showed that LINC01116 could regulate the tumor growth of glioma. CONCLUSION: LncRNA LINC01116 acts as an oncogene and promotes TGF-ß1 mediated proliferation and metastasis by acting as competitive endogenous RNA (ceRNA) in glioma.

Decoupling analysis between carbon dioxide emissions and the corresponding driving forces by Chinese power industry.

This study applied the Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index (LMDI) model to analyze changes in carbon dioxide emissions by Chinese power industry from 2003 to 2017. Besides, the Tapio decoupling analysis model is applied to explore the decoupling states between power industry carbon dioxide emissions and the corresponding influence factors. Several conclusions were obtained: (1) the power industry carbon dioxide emissions only displayed a slight downward trend during 2011-2012, 2013-2014, and 2014-2015; (2) the factors promoting the growth in power industry carbon dioxide emissions are energy consumption structure effect and total power generation effect. Power generation structural effect and fossil energy conversion efficiency effect inhibit the power industry carbon dioxide emissions from increasing, but they were far from offsetting the positive contribution value brought by total power generation effect; (3) changes in carbon dioxide emissions by the power industry were not sensitive to the change of fossil energy conversion efficiency and power production structure but were sensitive to the change of total power generation; (4) the contributions of technical effect were higher than those of structural effect on the decoupling index between impact factors and power industry carbon dioxide emissions.

Vitamin A status and recurrent respiratory infection among Chinese children: A nationally representative survey.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Vitamin A is involved in immune function, vision, reproduction, and cell differentiation and is essential for child growth. Vitamin A deficiency (VAD) contributes significantly to mortality and morbidity in developing countries. This study assessed the current vitamin A status in Chinese children. METHODS AND STUDY DESIGN: A cross-sectional survey was conducted in 26 provinces in China between 2015 and 2018, and 277,064 children aged 0-14 years were enrolled. Data on sociodemographic factors and dietary supplements were obtained through interviews with their parents. Serum vitamin A concentrations were measured using HPLC. To reduce the sampling error, a weighted distribution was produced to estimate the distribution of serum vitamin A concentration in Chinese children. A new method was used calculate the CI. RESULTS: The results revealed that 10.4% (23.9 million) (95% CI: 10.1%-10.8%) of Chinese children aged 0-14 years were at risk of suffering from subclinical VAD (SVAD) (<0.2 mg/L). Sick children, especially those with recurrent respiratory infections (21.3%, 95% CI: 20.5%-22.2%), were vulnerable to SVAD. A high prevalence of SVAD was observed in western and northeastern areas in China. Serum vitamin A concentrations in ethnic minority groups were significantly lower than those in Han Chinese children (p<0.01). CONCLUSIONS: VAD is still a moderate public health problem in Chinese children, especially in those with respiratory symptoms. Regular consumption of vitamin A-rich foods should be promoted through nutrition education for parents.

Nanoparticles of Antroquinonol-Rich Extract from Solid-State-Cultured Antrodia cinnamomea Improve Reproductive Function in Diabetic Male Rats.

PURPOSE: To characterize the nanoparticle of antroquinonol from A. cinnamomea and its ameliorative effects on the reproductive dysfunction in the diabetic male rat. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The chitosan-silicate nanoparticle was used as the carrier for the delivery of antroquinonol from solid-state-cultured A. cinnamomea extract (AC). The rats were fed with a high-fat diet and intraperitoneally injected with streptozotocin to induce diabetes. The rats were daily oral gavage by water [Diabetes (DM) and Control groups], three different doses of chitosan-silicate nanoparticle of antroquinonol from solid-state-cultured A. cinnamomea (nano-SAC, NAC): (DM+NAC1x, 4 mg/kg of body weight; DM+NAC2x, 8 mg/kg; and DM+NAC5x, 20 mg/kg), solid-state-cultured AC (DM+AC5x, 20 mg/kg), or metformin (DM+Met, 200 mg/kg) for 7 weeks. RESULTS: The nano-SAC size was 37.68±5.91 nm, the zeta potential was 4.13±0.49 mV, encapsulation efficiency was 79.29±0.77%, and loading capacity was 32.45±0.02%. The nano-SAC can improve diabetes-induced reproductive dysfunction by regulating glucose, insulin, and oxidative enzyme and by increasing the level of testosterone, follicle-stimulating hormone, luteinizing hormone, and sperm count as well as sperm mobility. In testicular histopathology, the seminiferous tubules of A. cinnamomea-supplemented diabetic rats showed similar morphology with the control group. CONCLUSION: The nanoparticle of antroquinonol from Antrodia cinnamomea can be used as an effective strategy to improve diabetes-induced testicular dysfunction.

lncRNA TTN­AS1 upregulates RUNX1 to enhance glioma progression via sponging miR­27b­3p.

Long non­coding RNAs (lncRNAs) contribute to the tumorigeneses of numerous types of cancer, including glioma. The present study was designed to unveil a novel lncRNA functioning in glioma and explore the underlying mechanisms. lncRNA titin­antisense RNA1 (TTN­AS1), miR­27b­3p and Runt­related transcription factor 1 (RUNX1) expression in glioma tissues and cell lines was estimated by RT­qPCR. Si­TTN­AS1 was transfected into glioma cell lines (U251 and LN229), and CCK­8 assay, flow cytometry, wound healing and Transwell assays were applied to estimate the function of TTN­AS1 in glioma cells. miR­27b­3p inhibitor was used to explore the mechanisms. The results revealed that TTN­AS1 was highly expressed in glioma specimens and cell lines. Downregulation of TTN­AS1 inhibited the proliferation, migration and invasion of the glioma cells, as well as increased the rate of apoptosis. In vivo, the tumor growth was also inhibited by TTN­AS1 depletion in nude mice. Furthermore, we revealed that TTN­AS1 exerted oncogenic effects via sponging miR­27b­3p and thereby positively regulating RUNX1 expression. In conclusion, the present study supported that TTN­AS1 acts as an oncogene in glioma by targeting miR­27b­3p to release RUNX1. This finding may contribute to gene therapy of glioma.

Enhancing Saltiness Perception Using Chitin Nanomaterials.

In the present study, we prepared and characterized chitin nanomaterials with different diameters, lengths, and degree of deacetylation (DD), and investigated their capability for enhancing saltiness perception. Chitin was isolated from squid pens and transformed into chitin nanofiber (CNF), deacetylated chitin nanofiber (DACNF), and chitin nanocrystal (CNC) by ultrasonication, alkali treatment followed by ultrasonication and acid hydrolysis, respectively. The diameters of CNF, CNC and DACNF were 17.24 nm, 16.05 nm and 15.01 nm while the lengths were 1725.05 nm, 116.91 nm, and 1806.60 nm, respectively. The aspect ratios of CNF and DACNF were much higher than that of CNC. The crystalline indices of CNF and CNC were lower than that of original ß-chitin, suggesting that ultrasonication and acid hydrolysis might change the molecular arrangement in crystalline region of chitin. The zeta-potentials were between 19.73 nV and 30.08 mV of chitin nanomaterials in distilled water. Concentrations of chitin nanomaterials (40-74 µg/mL) showed minimal effect on zeta-potential, whereas increasing the level of NaCl reduced the zeta-potential of solution. Moreover, NaCl solution (0.3%) with chitin nanomaterials addition produced significant higher saltiness perception than that of solution with NaCl alone. Therefore, chitin nanomaterials may be promising saltiness enhancers in the food industry.

Regional decomposition analysis of electric carbon productivity from the perspective of production and consumption in China.

This study is concerned with the impact factors of electric carbon productivity change in China. Some influencing factors are identified by examining the time series decomposition of electric carbon productivity based on data from 2003 to 2015, where the usual Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index (LMDI) method is used but with the regional dimension taken into consideration. Moreover, this study analyzes the driving factors of electric carbon productivity change from the perspective of production and consumption in China's power industry, where the influences of power transfers among provinces, imports and exports, and transmission losses are considered. Based on the decomposition analysis of existing data in 30 provinces (including province-level municipalities), from the perspective of production, regional actual electric carbon productivity, and per capita GDP are the main influencing forces for the growth of electric carbon productivity, and the reciprocal of per capita electric carbon emissions, energy intensity, and energy emission intensity play dominate roles in the decline of electric carbon productivity. From the perspective of consumption, the main impact factors to improve electric carbon productivity are power transfers among provinces, imports and exports, the reciprocal of emission intensity of power consumption and regional electric carbon productivity, and the impact of energy consumption on thermal power generation, the proportion of thermal power to total electricity generation, and the effect of transmission losses. Finally, several conclusions are drawn that might be meaningful for the Chinese government to improve China's electric carbon productivity.

Human amniotic membrane-derived mesenchymal stem cells labeled with superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles: the effect on neuron-like differentiation in vitro.

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have the potential for self-renewal and multipotential differentiation to regenerate damaged tissues or recover functional absence in diseases. Superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) are used as contrast agents in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for labeling cells in vitro and for tracking SPION-labeled cells after transplantation in vivo. Human amniotic membrane-derived mesenchymal stem cells (hAM-dMSCs) have the capacity for neuron-like differentiation that could be used to cure central nervous system (CNS) diseases. The study investigated the impacts of cytotoxicity of SPIONs on neuron-like differentiation of hAM-dMSCs in both single (1×) and multiple (4×) SPIONs-labeled methods. hAM-dMSCs could be efficiently labeled at safe concentrations of SPIONs (≤14 µg/ml) without significantly affecting their viability (>80% after a MTT assay), special surface antigens (CD29, CD44, CD90, CD105 through flow cytometry), and neuron-like differentiation (nestin and neuron-specific enolase through immunocytochemistry and reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction). Compared with multiple (4×) SPION-labeled methods, a single (1×) SPION-labeled method avoided multiple SPION-labeled hAM-dMSCs and minimized the impact of cytotoxicity of SPIONs on neuron-like differentiation of hAM-dMSCs. Under safe concentrations of SPIONs, a single (1×) SPION-labeled method provided appropriate viability for SPIONs-labeled hAM-dMSCs and facilitated the MRI evaluation of hAM-dMSCs after transplantation.

[Treatment of brain injured rats through transplanting amniotic-derived mesenchymal stem cells in different ways].

OBJECTIVE: To compare the behavioral improvement to find the best transplantation approach for treating brain injury through transplanting amniotic-derived mesenchymal stem cells into brain injured rats in different ways. METHODS: Eighty brain injured Wista rats were randomly divided into a control group with brain injury alone (n=20) and a treatment group(n=60) which were further evenly divided into Group A (transplanted through the vena caudalis), Group B (transplanted through the ventriculus cerebri lateralis), and Group C (transplanted through the injured brain area). Each group was transplanted with amniotic-derived esenchymal stem cells, and their therapeutic efficacy would be evaluated through the neurological severity score (NSS). RESULTS: Compared with other groups, the behaviors of Group C had markedly improved. There was statistically significant difference in the 2 groups (P<0.05). Compared with the control group, the behaviors of Group A and Group B had marked improvement. There was statistically significant difference in the 3 groups (P<0.05). However, there was no significant difference between Group A and the control group (P>0.05). CONCLUSION: Transplanting the amniotic-derived mesenchymal stem cells into the injured brain area may be effective for brain injury in rats.