Mining Important Herb Combinations of Traditional Chinese Medicine against Hypertension Based on the Symptom-Herb Network Combined with Network Pharmacology.

Although data mining methods are extensively used in the rule analysis of famous old traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) experts' prescriptions for the treatment of hypertension, most of them only mine the association between herbs and herbs, ignoring the importance of symptoms in the disease. This study collected 439 cases of hypertension treated by famous old TCM experts from the FangNet platform. Using the structure network algorithm, the symptom-herb network was constructed, which redefined the importance of herb in disease. Based on the network, 21 driver herbs, 76 herb pairs, and 41 symptom-herb associations were mined. Finally, the basic prescription composed of Gouteng (Uncariae Ramulus cum Uncis), Huanglian (Coptidis Rhizoma), Chuanxiong (Chuanxiong Rhizoma), Gegen (Puerariae Lobatae Radix), Danggui (Angelicae Sinensis Radix), and Huangqin (Scutellariae Radix) was found. These herbs are the most significant among all herbs, and they have a potential correlation with each other. To further verify the rationality of the data mining results, we adopted the network pharmacology method. Network pharmacological analysis shows that the five core targets in the basic prescription include IL6, VEGFA, TNF, TP53, and EGF, which link 10 significant active compounds and 7 important KEGG pathways. It was predicted that anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, vascular endothelial protection, emotion regulation, and ion channel intervention might be the main mechanisms of the basic prescription against hypertension. This study reveals the prescription rule of famous old TCM experts for treating hypertension from a new perspective, which provides a new approach to inherit the academic experience of famous old TCM experts and develop new drugs.

[Effects of polystyrene microplastics (PS-MPs) on the growth, physiology, and biochemical characteristics of Hydrilla verticillata]. / 聚苯乙烯微塑料对黑藻生长及生理生化特征的影响.

In order to evaluate the effects of polystyrene microplastics (PS-MPs) on the growth, physiology, and biochemical characteristics of submerged plants, we exposed a typical submerged plant, Hydrilla verticillata, to a series of concentrations (i.e. 0, 5, 10, 30, 50, 100 mg·L-1) of 3 µm polystyrene microplastics (PS-MPs) and measured parameters including height, biomass, chlorophyll content, antioxidant enzyme activity, photosynthetic fluorescence. The results showed that the height of H. Verticillata significantly decreased at the high PS-MP concentrations (50 to 100 mg·L-1), while the fresh weight significantly increased at the low PS-MP concentration (5 mg·L-1). The fresh weight of H. verticillata gradually decreased with the increasing PS-MP concentration but the dry weight did not change. The total amount of chlorophyll, chlorophyll a, and chlorophyll a/b significantly decreased with the increases of the PS-MP concentrations, while the chlorophyll b did not change. PS-MPs affected the antioxidant enzyme activities of H. verticillata. The activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and peroxidase (POD) were first increased and then decreased with the increasing PS-MP concentration. The chlorophyll fluorescence parameters (Fo, Fm, Fv/Fm) decreased with the increasing concentration of PS-MP and the 1-Qp-Lss value (reflective of the closing of PSⅡ reaction center) was increased under the stable state, probably due to the inhibited PSⅡ reaction center. The overall intensity of fluorescence imaging of H. verticillata decreased with the increasing concentration of PS-MPs. When the PS-MP concentration was lower than 10 mg·L-1, the photosynthetic activity of the leaves was normal. In contrast, when the PS-MP concentration was higher than 30 mg·L-1, it caused significant adverse effects on leaves, including weaker photosynthetic intensity and the presence of yellow or withered leaves. Our results suggested that H. verticillata could tolerate PS-MP pollution but its growth and photosynthesis would be inhibited at high concentrations (>30 mg·L-1). Our results provided basic information to better understand the eco-physiological effects of PS-MPs in the freshwater environment.

Taxonomic bias in occurrence information of angiosperm species in China.

Taxonomic bias is a well-known shortcoming of species occurrence databases. Understanding the causes of taxonomic bias facilitates future biological surveys and addresses current knowledge gaps. Here, we investigate the main drivers of taxonomic bias in occurrence data of angiosperm species in China. We used a database including 5,936,768 records for 28,968 angiosperm species derived from herbarium specimens and literature sources. Generalized additive models (GAMs) were applied to investigate explanatory powers of 17 variables on the variation in record numbers of species. Five explanatory variables were selected for a multi-predictor GAM that explained 69% of the variation in record numbers: plant height, range size, elevational range, numbers of scientific publications and web pages. Range size was the most important predictor in the model and positively correlated with number of records. Morphological and phenological traits and social-economic factors including economic values and conservation status had weak explanatory powers on record numbers of plant species, which differs from the findings in animals, suggesting that causes of taxonomic bias in occurrence databases may vary between taxonomic groups. Our results suggest that future floristic surveys in China should more focus on range-restricted and socially or scientifically less "interesting" species.

Bideposited silver nanocolloid arrays with strong plasmon-induced birefringence for SERS application.

Silver nano-rod, nano-zigzag, nano-saw, and nano-particle arrays are fabricated with glancing angle bideposition. The structure-dependent anisotropic optical properties of those bideposited nanostructured arrays are measured and investigated. The equivalent birefringence values of nano-rod and nano-zigzag arrays are much larger than crystals found in nature and liquid crystal used in display products. The fact that induced localized plasmon-magnetic field between nanorods dominates the strong phase retardation between p-polarized and s-polarized transmitted wave. For the nano-saw, the strong localized electric field induced between the saw teeth leads to strong SERS signals. Although the bideposited nanoparticles own weak morphological anisotropy, strong optical phase retardation is still detected at wavelengths near 400 nm.

Predicting the dynamic distribution of Sphagnum bogs in China under climate change since the last interglacial period.

Sphagnum bogs possess irreplaceable ecological and economic value, and they are scarce in China, with a fragmented distribution. Based on 19 high-resolution bioclimatic environmental datasets and 71 bog center point locations, we employed a maximum entropy model (MaxEnt) to reconstruct and predict the spatial-temporal geographical distribution patterns of Sphagnum bogs from the last interglacial (LIG) period to two typical CO2 representative concentration pathway scenarios (RCP2.6, RCP8.5) in the future. We further computed the migratory paths of the distribution center points. Finally, a jackknife test was used to uncover the crucial environmental factors restricting the geographical distribution of the bogs. Our data indicated that the MaxEnt niche model had a high simulation precision with an area under the ROC curve value of 0.957. Spatially, the suitable bog habitats are currently centralized in northeastern China, including the Greater Khingan Mountains, the Lesser Khingan Mountains, and the Changbai Mountains, as well as peripheral areas of the Sichuan Basin. Temporally, the contours of Sphagnum bogs were similar to the present and rendered from the last glacial maximum (LMG) period, and had much more total area than the current. The total area in LIG was nearly the same as the current because of the similar climate. It was worth noting that there would be a reduction of the total area in the future. Loss of area occurred at the edges of bogs, especially under RCP8.5. The distribution center of bogs will shift to the northwest in the immediate future. The precipitation of driest month, the mean temperature of warmest quarter and the precipitation of warmest quarter were identified as crucial climatic factors affecting the distribution of Sphagnum bogs. Overall, our research provides scientific evidence for the long-term protection and effective management of these rare, precious natural resources and suggestions for in situ conservation.

Effect and Mechanism of Elaeagnus angustifolia Flower and Its Major Flavonoid Tiliroside on Inhibiting Non-enzymatic Glycosylation.

This study aimed to evaluate the antiglycation ability of Elaeagnus angustifolia flower extract and to elucidate the mechanism with its major compound. The results indicated that E. angustifolia flower extract and its major compound tiliroside (24.2 mg/g of extract) exhibited excellent antiglycation ability with inhibition rates of 92.1 and 78.9% at 37.5 µg/mL, which are much higher than that of aminoguanidine (55.3% at 37.5 µg/mL). The stable tiliroside-ovalbumin (OVA) complexes were formed through a spontaneous exothermic progress in an equimolar manner, and hydrophobic interaction, hydrogen bond, and van der Waals forces were the major driving forces. Tiliroside could significantly ameliorate the conformation changes of OVA induced by the glycation reaction, quench its fluorescence by a static mechanism, and change the microenvironment adjacent to tryptophan and tyrosine. Molecular docking revealed that tiliroside inserted into the OVA hydrophobic pocket resulted in the formation of five hydrogen bonds. Orbitrap tandem mass spectrometry showed that tiliroside significantly suppressed the glycation of OVA, and the number of glycation sites was reduced from 9 to 5 after tiliroside was added. The above results indicated that E. angustifolia flowers and tiliroside have a good antiglycation effect and can be used as food additives to suppress the undesired glycation reaction during food processing.