Dexmedetomidine modulates mitochondrial dynamics to protect against endotoxin-induced lung injury via the protein kinase C-ɑ/haem oxygenase-1 signalling pathway.

BACKGROUND: Endotoxin-induced acute lung injury (ALI) has a high mortality rate, and there are limited effective treatment options available. The aim of the present study was to identify if dexmedetomidine could regulate mitochondrial fusion and fission through the protein kinase C (PKC)-α/haem oxygenase (HO)-1 pathway to protect against endotoxin-induced ALI. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Dexmedetomidine was administered by intraperitoneal injection once daily for three days prior to induction of lung injury to mice. Mice in the PKC-α inhibitor group received dexmedetomidine by intraperitoneal injection 1 h after each chelerythrine injection, and lipopolysaccharide was injected 1 h after the last dose of dexmedetomidine. The lung wet/dry weight ratio, oxidative stress, inflammatory response, and expression levels of PKC-α, Nrf2, HO-1, Mfn1, Mfn2, OPA1, Drp1, and Fis1 were determined. RESULTS: Dexmedetomidine administration attenuated lung oxidative stress, decreased inflammatory cytokines secretion, and downregulated the expression levels of Drp1 and Fis1. Moreover, dexmedetomidine increased levels of Mfn1, Mfn2, and OPA1, and alleviated endotoxin-induced lung injury. Administration of chelerythrine partially reversed the pneumoprotective effects of dexmedetomidine. CONCLUSIONS: Dexmedetomidine may activate the PKC-ɑ/HO-1 pathway to increase the expression of Mfn1, Mfn2, and OPA1, while decreasing Drp1 and Fis1 expression, thereby reduce endotoxin-induced acute lung injury.

Assessing the sustainability of renewable energy: An empirical analysis of selected 18 European countries.

There are many studies on the sustainability of renewable energy, mainly focusing on energy supply, economic, social, environmental and technological aspects, but there are few studies on the sustainability of renewable energy itself. This work focuses on the systematic and quantitative assessment of the sustainability of renewable energy itself by analyzing the sustainability of renewable energy in selected 18 European countries from 2007 to 2016. The consumption of renewable energy in these selected 18 countries accounts for ~95% of the consumption of renewable energy in the European Union. To scientifically evaluate the sustainability of renewable energy, 17 indicators are selected based on the energy-economy-environment theory. In order to deal with the high-dimensional, non-normal, and nonlinear complex data, and to assess the sustainability of renewable energy without standards, the projection pursuit algorithm and the real-coded accelerating genetic algorithm are combined to establish a comprehensive model to assess the sustainability of renewable energy. The results show that (i) the sustainability of renewable energy in Germany, the UK, France, and Italy is better than that in the other investigated countries; (ii) in the 17 indicators selected by the energy-economy-environment model, the factors of total energy demand, energy taxes, carbon dioxide emissions, sulfur oxides emissions, and nitrous oxides emissions exert a stronger impact on the sustainability of renewable energy; (iii) time-series analysis show that the general sustainable level is a wave of growth. Moreover, the proposed comprehensive model can effectively deal with the high-dimensional, non-normal, and nonlinear complex data, thus providing a feasible method for the quantitative analysis and evaluation of the sustainability of renewable energy.

[Identification of meat marker peptides and detection of adulteration by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry].

A liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS) method was established for the identification of meat marker peptides and quantitative detection of common exogenous meat in mutton adulteration. Samples were prepared by protein extraction, trypsin hydrolysis, and solid phase extraction. Proteins and peptides were identified using ultra-performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole/electrostatic orbitrap-high resolution mass spectrometry (UPLC-Q/Exactive-HRMS) combined with Proteinpilot software. Twenty species-specificity marker peptides in mutton, duck, pork, and chicken were identified by comparison of the basic local alignment search tool (BLAST) with the Uniprot database. Verification and multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) of these marker peptides were performed quantitatively using a UPLC-triple-quadrupole mass spectrometry (QqQ-MS) system. Duck, pork, and chicken were added to mutton at mass percentages of 1%, 5%, 10%, 20%, and 50%. The limit of detection for the adulterants was 0.25% for duck, 0.17% for pork, and 0.10% for chicken.