Preparation, structural characteristics and pharmacological activity of polysaccharides from Polygala tenuifolia: A review.

Polygala tenuifolia is a traditional Chinese medicine with a long history of application, with the efficacy of suppressing cough, calming asthma, tranquilizing the mind, and benefiting the intellect. It is classified as a top-quality medicine in Shennong's Classic of Materia Medica. Polysaccharide is an important active ingredient in Polygala tenuifolia, which consists of several monosaccharides, including Ara, Gal, Glc, and so on. In this review, the preparation methods, structural characteristics, and biological activities of polysaccharides from Polygala tenuifolia are summarized, and the problems in the current studies are discussed to support further research, development, and utilization.

Critical review on modified floating photocatalysts for emerging contaminants removal from landscape water: problems, methods and mechanism.

Due to the disorderly discharge in modern production and daily life of people, emerging contaminants(ECs) began to appear in landscape water, and have become a key public concern. Because of the unique characteristics of landscape water, it is difficult to efficiently remove ECs either by natural purification or by traditional large-scale sewage treatment facilities. The ideal purification method is to remove them while maintaining a beautiful environment. Possessing the feature of low-density, floating photocatalysts could harvest sufficient light on the surface of the water for photocatalytic degradation, which may be an important supplement for ECs treatment in landscape water. This paper gave a review related to floating photocatalysts and proposed an idea of combining floating photocatalysts to construct bionic photocatalytic materials for contaminative landscape water treatment. Six types of common floating substrates and corresponding applications for floating photocatalysts were concluded in this paper, and the main problem leading to the low efficiency of photocatalysts and three corresponding three improvement strategies were discussed. Besides, the modification mechanisms of photocatalysts were discussed thoroughly. On this basis, the engineering application prospects of bionic photocatalytic materials were proposed to remove ECs in landscape water.

Progress in semiconductor materials for photocathodic protection: Design strategies and applications in marine corrosion protection.

Metal protection of offshore equipment is very complicated owing to the complex marine environment. Photocathodic protection (PCP) is one of the popular research topics in marine metal protection. The protection efficiency of photoanode depends largely on the photoelectric properties of semiconductor materials, viz. the process of charge separation, charge migration, and light absorption. In this article, the enhancement strategies, photoelectrochemical properties, and electron transfer mechanisms of different composites for PCP were reviewed and highlighted. Some photoanodes with unusual and striking properties were emphasized. In addition, the outlooks and challenges of the application of PCP and the design of photoanodes materials are proposed.

Liquiritigenin Decreases Aß Levels and Ameliorates Cognitive Decline by Regulating Microglia M1/M2 Transformation in AD Mice.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is one of the most common neurodegenerative diseases and is currently incurable. Amyloid ß protein (Aß) deposition is the main pathogenesis of AD, and many studies have shown that Aß accumulation is toxic to neurons, leading to the inflammatory reaction, neuronal apoptosis, and neurofibrillary tangles. Thus, reducing Aß levels might be a potential therapeutic strategy for AD. Liquiritigenin (LG), a dihydroflavone monomer compound extracted from natural plant licorice, has a variety of biological activities such as antioxidant, anti-tumor, anti-inflammatory and anti-virus. However, the exact function of LG in the pathogenesis of AD is elusive. Here, we reported that LG could significantly attenuate neuronal apoptosis in Aß-induced N2A cells and APP/PS1 transgenic mice. Our in vivo and in vitro studies revealed that LG could alleviate the inflammation response, reflected by the reduction of NLRP3 and cleaved caspase-1. Meanwhile, we also found that LG was able to shift M1 type microglia towards M2 type microglia in Aß-induced BV2 cells and AD mice. Furthermore, LG could reduce the Aß levels by decreasing APP processing and accelerating Aß clearance in AD mice. More importantly, daily treatment of LG (30 mg/kg day) for 90 days dramatically ameliorated the spatial learning and memory of AD mice. Taken together, these results suggest that LG can reduce the Aß levels by regulating the M1/M2 transformation of microglia, thereby reversing memory decline during AD development, suggesting that LG may be a potential therapeutic agent for treating AD.

Dynamic changes of autophagic flux induced by Abeta in the brain of postmortem Alzheimer's disease patients, animal models and cell models.

Autophagy has been reported to play a dual "double-edged sword" role in the occurrence and development of Alzheimer's disease (AD). To assess the relationship between AD and autophagy, the dynamic changes of autophagic flux in the brain of postmortem AD patients, animal models and cell models were studied. The results showed that autophagosomes (APs) accumulation and expression of lysosomal markers were decreased in the brains of AD patients. In the brain of APP/PS1 double transgenic mice, APs did not accumulate before the formation of SPs but accumulated along with the deposition of SPs, as well as the level of lysosomal markers cathepsin B and Lamp1 protein decreased significantly. In the brains of APP/PS1/LC3 triple - transgenic mice, the number of APs increased with age, but the number of ALs did not increase accordingly. The activation of autophagy is mainly due to the increase in Aß rather than the overexpression of mutated APP gene. However, both the treatment with exogenous Aß25-35 and the mutation of the endogenous APP gene blocked the fusion of APs with lysosomes and decreased lysosomal functioning in AD model cells, which may be the main mechanism of autophagy dysregulation in AD.

Carbon inequality and economic development across the Belt and Road regions.

Given the aim of maintaining global warming below 2 °C, carbon emission reduction has become a global top priority. Since the Belt and Road Initiative has increasing influence on manufacturing-oriented developing countries, more attention should be paid to carbon emission reduction in these regions. This study conducts a comprehensive analysis by analyzing the carbon inequality and regional development and compares the carbon emissions driven by final demand among countries in and outside the Belt and Road area from 1990 to 2015. It is found that the majority of the Belt and Road regions achieved a rapid GDP growth rate with increasing carbon emissions, in which the investment-driven type demonstrated a significant growth. In contrast, the developed countries outside the Belt and Road area maintained their economic growth while decreasing the carbon emissions owed to the declining of investment-driven emissions; however the consumption-driven emissions stably remained a relatively high level. Our results showed that the inequality of carbon emission within Belt and Road regions is lower than the global average, while the inequality of the investment-driven emissions showed an obviously increasing trend. By discussing the carbon inequality and regional development, rational and feasible strategies for countries and regions within and outside the Belt and Road area are essential, and different types of strategies such as low-carbon technologies transfers and overseas financial cooperation are suggested for regional carbon emission reduction and sustainable regional development under the Belt and Road Initiative.

Adiponectin reduces brain injury after intracerebral hemorrhage by reducing NLRP3 inflammasome expression.

Background and Purpose: Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) is a severe disease without effective therapeutic means. Adiponectin (APN) is strongly expressed in human brain tissue and cerebrospinal fluid and may play an anti-inflammatory role following ICH. NLR family pyrin domain-containing protein 3 (NLRP3) is a member of the nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain (NOD)-like receptor (NLR) family. Following ICH, activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome promotes neuroinflammation and brain edema. Here, we examined the effect of APN and the NLRP3 inflammasome on brain injury in an autologous blood model of ICH in rats and assessed whether APN could provide neuroprotection against inflammation by inhibiting NLRP3 activity.Methods: The ICH model was produced by injection of 50 µl fresh autologous blood into brain, we used lentiviral-mediated overexpression of APN to determine the efficacy and mechanism of APN therapy in ICH injury.Results: APN decreased interleukin-1ß(IL-1ß) and interleukin-18 (IL-18) production, attenuated neurological deficits, and reduced perihematomal brain edema 24 h after ICH. In rats with ICH, the protective effect of APN was associated with the reduced expression of NLRP3. APN and MCC950 (an NLRP3 inhibitor) both showed the same neuroprotective effect of reducing the expression of NLRP3, IL-1ß and IL-18.Conclusions: These results indicated that APN and the NLRP3 inflammasome inhibitor, MCC950, played the similar function in reducing brain injury and improving prognosis. Although further research is needed to confirm this, our findings suggest that APN may regulate inflammation injury via NLRP3 signaling.

Effects of ovarian hormone loss on neuritic plaques and autophagic flux in the brains of adult female APP/PS1 double-transgenic mice.

Epidemiologic studies have demonstrated that women account for two-thirds of Alzheimer's disease (AD) cases, for which the decline in circulating gonadal hormone is considered to be one of the major risk factors. In addition, ovarian hormone deficiency may affect ß-amyloid (Aß) deposition, which has a close relationship with autophagic flux. In this study, we investigated the impact of short-term or long-term ovarian hormone deprivation on two mouse models, the non-transgenic (wild-type) and the APP/PS1 double-transgenic AD (2×TgAD) model. Autophagy-related proteins (Beclin1, LC3, and p62) and lysosome-related proteins were detected to evaluate Aß deposition and autophagy. Our results showed that in the group with short-term depletion of ovarian hormones by ovariectomy (ovx), Beclin1, Cathepsin B (Cath-B), and LAMP1 levels were significantly decreased, while the levels of LC3-II and p62 were increased. In the long-term group, however, there was a sharp decline in Beclin1, LC3-II, Cath-B, and LAMP1 expression but not in p62 expression which is increased. It is worthwhile to note that the occurrence of neuritic plaque-induced ovarian hormone loss increased both the Aß level and neuritic plaque deposition in 2×TgAD mice. Therefore, autophagy may play an important role in the pathogenesis of female AD, which is also expected to help post-menopausal patients with AD.

Silencing DEK downregulates cervical cancer tumorigenesis and metastasis via the DEK/p-Ser9-GSK-3ß/p-Tyr216-GSK-3ß/ß-catenin axis.

Cervical cancer is the second most common gynecological malignancy. The mechanisms of the genesis and progression of cervical cancer are complicated and not thoroughly understood. DEK is reported as an oncogene in various cancers, such as acute myeloid leukemia, bladder cancer, breast cancer and hepatocellular cancer. However, its role in cervical cancer has not been well studied. In our study, we confirmed the DEK protein as an oncoprotein in cervical cancer tissues which is correlated to cervical cancer FIGO staging and tumor type. Moreover, in vitro loss of DEK inhibited cervical cancer cell proliferation, migration and invasion. We proved that silencing DEK downregulated Wnt/ß-catenin and MMP-9, and silencing DEK increased GSK-3ß activity via regulating its phosphorylation instead of translation. Silencing DEK reduced p-Ser9-GSK-3ß and increased p-Tyr216-GSK-3ß, which resulted in ß-catenin degradation. Finally, the xenograft model in nude mice proved that silencing DEK impaired cervical cancer cell tumorigenicity. This research unveiled the function of DEK in tumorigenesis and metastasis via the DEK/p-Ser9-GSK-3ß/p-Tyr216-GSK-3ß/ß-catenin axis in cervical cancer and gave insights into DEK-targeting therapy for patients suffering from cervical cancer.