Quercetin inhibits hypertonicity-induced inflammatory injury in human corneal epithelial cells via the PTEN/PI3K/AKT pathway.

Dry eye is a prevalent ophthalmic disease. Ocular surface inflammation in the hyperosmolar environment of the tear film is critical in dry eye progression. Quercetin has strong anti-inflammatory effects; however, its exact mechanism of action in dry eye is not fully understood. Therefore, this study investigated whether quercetin could inhibit the damage sustained to human corneal epithelial cells (HCECs) in a hyperosmolar environment through its anti-inflammatory effects. HCECs were cultured in a complete medium and were divided into four groups: normal, model, quercetin, and inhibitor. The proliferation of HCECs was detected by Ki67 staining; the expression levels of PTEN, p-PI3K and p-AKT were detected by Western blotting and immunofluorescence staining; the relative mRNA expression levels of PTEN, PI3K, AKT, IL-6 and TNF-ɑ were detected by quantitative real-time PCR; the relative expression levels of IL-6 and TNF-α were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. In this study, the proliferation of HCECs in the model group was found to be significantly inhibited compared with that in the normal group; however, quercetin was effective in improving the proliferation of HCECs, decreasing the relative expression of p-PI3K, p-AKT, IL-6, TNF-ɑ as well as increasing PTEN. In conclusion, this study demonstrated that quercetin could promote the proliferation of HCECs and reduce the expression of inflammatory factors by inhibiting the PTEN/PI3K/AKT pathway in the hyperosmolarity-induced HCECs model.

Research trends of ferroptosis and pyroptosis in Parkinson's disease: a bibliometric analysis.

Objective: This study aims to visualize the trends and hotspots in the research of "ferroptosis in PD" and "pyroptosis in PD" through bibliometric analysis from the past to 2024. Methods: Literature was retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC) from the past to February 16, 2024, and bibliometric analysis was conducted using Vosviewer and Citespace. Results: 283 and 542 papers were collected in the field of "ferroptosis in PD" and "pyroptosis in PD." The number of publications in both fields has increased yearly, especially in "ferroptosis in PD," which will become the focus of PD research. China, the United States and England had extensive exchanges and collaborations in both fields, and more than 60% of the top 10 institutions were from China. In the fields of "ferroptosis in PD" and "pyroptosis in PD," the University of Melbourne and Nanjing Medical University stood out in terms of publication numbers, citation frequency, and centrality, and the most influential journals were Cell and Nature, respectively. The keyword time zone map showed that molecular mechanisms and neurons were the research hotspots of "ferroptosis in PD" in 2023, while memory and receptor 2 were the research hotspots of "pyroptosis in PD" in 2023, which may predict the future research direction. Conclusion: This study provides insights into the development, collaborations, research themes, hotspots, and tendencies of "ferroptosis in PD" and "pyroptosis in PD." Overall situation of these fields is available for researchers to further explore the underlying mechanisms and potential treatments.

[Cultivation of Aerobic Granular Sludge with Real Low Concentration Domestic Wastewater and Its Denitrification Performances Under the Continuous Flow].

The COD, ammonia and total nitrogen removal efficiency, as well as the physical properties of aerobic granular sludge (AGS) and its denitrification kinetics were studied in the continuous flow reactor. The experimental results showed that the AGS was successfully cultivated in the continuous flow system within 40 days. The nitrogen and carbon removal efficiencies were gradually improved with the improvement of sludge granulation. In the running stage of 41 - 60 days, the COD, ammonia and TN removal efficiency could reach 85. 54% , 95. 5% and 65. 56%, respectively. And the nitrate and nitrite nitrogen accumulation was not high in the reaction process. Mature AGS had more void structure and a large number of extracellular polymeric substances. It had significant advantages compared with the seed sludge in the aspects of moisture content, wet density, sedimentation rate, mechanical strength, and SVI values. The simultaneous nitrification and denitrification efficiency was 81. 69% , the nitrification rate and denitrification rate were 5.78 mg . (L.h) -1 and 4. 90 mg . (L.h) -1, respectively.

[Process Optimization of Aerobic Granular Sludge Continuous-Flow System for the Treatment of Low COD/N Ratio Sewage].

The mature aerobic granular sludge (AGS) was inoculated in a continuous-flow joint constructor reactor to treat low chemical oxygen demand/nitrogen (COD/N) ratio sewage. The effects of aeration intensity and hydraulic retention time (HRT) on the denitrification and phosphorus removal efficiencies and the granular sludge stabilization were investigated. When the aeration intensity was 300 mL x min(-1) (superficial air upflow velocity of 1.2 cm x s(-1)) and the HRT was 7.5 h, the average removal efficiencies of COD, TN and TP were 76.34%, 51.23% and 53.70%, respectively. The mixed liquor suspended solids (MLSS) was only about 2 000 mg x L(-1), the sludge volume index ( SVI) was below 50 mL x g(-1), and the AGS exhibited complete forms and good settling performances. Additionally, the low COD/N ratios sewage could promote the production of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) of AGS, and the PN proteins in EPS played a pivotal role in the maintenance of AGS stabilization.