Exploring the tissue distribution propensity of active alkaloids in normal and stomach heat syndrome rats following oral administration of Zuojin Pill based on pharmacokinetics and mass spectrometry imaging.

Ethnopharmacological Relevance: Zuojin Pill (ZJP) is a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) formula composed of Coptidis Rhizoma and Euodiae Fructus in a ratio of 6:1 (w/w), which has been widely used for treating gastrointestinal disorders, especially stomach heat syndrome (SHS). However, the active alkaloids in ZJP showed low plasma exposure in rats following oral administration, which failed to explain their potent pharmacological effects, thereby limiting further mechanism studies.

Aim Of The Study: This study aimed to investigate the in vivo exposure and tissue distribution propensities of the active alkaloids in normal and SHS rats following oral administration of ZJP.

Green synthesized MgO combined with dielectric barrier discharge plasma enhanced phosphorus (P) recovery from livestock wastewater: A dual approach for management of wastewater and P resources.

Phosphorus (P) recovery from wastewater using integrated techniques i.e., adsorption combined with advanced oxidation technologies is a novel approach for cleaning wastewater and preventing eutrophication.

Mechanism and application of sulfhydryl-modified chitosan derivative for decontamination of Pb(II) and Cd(II) in water bodies.

The accumulation of lead and cadmium in water bodies is a serious threat to environmental safety and human health, and they must be removed from wastewater. Based on this this study, a novel sulfhydryl-modified chitosan derivative (SHCS) was prepared by grafting method using chitosan as a substrate for the removal of Pb(II) and Cd(II) from polluted water bodies. The results showed that the SHCS derivative was a mesoporous biosorbent with a specific surface area of 0.

Exploring the role of smart cities in supporting ageing-in-place in Chongqing, China.

Objective: Through interviews with older adults and professionals in Chongqing, China, this paper explores the challenges and opportunities faced by smart cities that undertake to better support ageing-in-place.

Methods: We undertook a qualitative multi-methods approach, engaging 46 professional stakeholders and 64 older people to examine the role of smart cities in enabling older people to age-in-place in Chongqing, China.

Results: With the development of smart cities, technology has the potential to facilitate ageing-in-place by creating opportunities for heathy and active ageing.

Dietary gallic acid as an antioxidant: A review of its food industry applications, health benefits, bioavailability, nano-delivery systems, and drug interactions.

Gallic acid (GA), a dietary phenolic acid with potent antioxidant activity, is widely distributed in edible plants. GA has been applied in the food industry as an antimicrobial agent, food fresh-keeping agent, oil stabilizer, active food wrap material, and food processing stabilizer. GA is a potential dietary supplement due to its health benefits on various functional disorders associated with oxidative stress, including renal, neurological, hepatic, pulmonary, reproductive, and cardiovascular diseases.

Protoberberine alkaloids: A review of the gastroprotective effects, pharmacokinetics, and toxicity.

Background: Stomach diseases have become global health concerns. Protoberberine alkaloids (PBAs) are a group of quaternary isoquinoline alkaloids from abundant natural sources and have been shown to improve gastric disorders in preclinical and clinical studies. The finding that PBAs exhibit low oral bioavailability but potent pharmacological activity has attracted great interest.

CellBiAge: Improved single-cell age classification using data binarization.

Aging is a major risk factor for many diseases. Accurate methods for predicting age in specific cell types are essential to understand the heterogeneity of aging and to assess rejuvenation strategies. However, classifying organismal age at single-cell resolution using transcriptomics is challenging due to sparsity and noise.

Fabrication of pH-dependent solid dispersion for oral colon-targeted delivery of notoginsenoside R1 and its protective effects on ulcerative colitis mice.

Notoginsenoside R1 (R1), which originated from the rhizomes and roots of Panax notoginseng, is classified as a Biopharmaceutical Classification System class III drug with good solubility but poor oral absorption. Although R1 can alleviate the inflammation of dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced colitis in mice, the problem of acid degradation and low bioavailability limit its application. The purpose of this study was aimed to design one kind of pH-dependent solid dispersion for oral colon-targeted delivery of R1.

Isotoosendanin exerts inhibition on triple-negative breast cancer through abrogating TGF--induced epithelial-mesenchymal transition directly targeting TGFR1.

As the most aggressive breast cancer, triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is still incurable and very prone to metastasis. The transform growth factor (TGF-)-induced epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is crucially involved in the growth and metastasis of TNBC. This study reported that a natural compound isotoosendanin (ITSN) reduced TNBC metastasis by inhibiting TGF--induced EMT and the formation of invadopodia.

Metabolism and toxicity of usnic acid and barbatic acid based on microsomes, S9 fraction, and 3T3 fibroblasts combined with a UPLC-Q-TOF-MS method.

Usnic acid (UA) and barbatic acid (BA), two typical dibenzofurans and depsides in lichen, have a wide range of pharmacological activities and hepatotoxicity concerns. This study aimed to clarify the metabolic pathway of UA and BA and illuminate the relationship between metabolism and toxicity. An UPLC-Q-TOF-MS method was developed for metabolite identification of UA and BA in human liver microsomes (HLMs), rat liver microsomes (RLMs), and S9 fraction (RS9).

The protective effect of Buzhong Yiqi decoction on ischemic stroke mice and the mechanism of gut microbiota.

Buzhong Yiqi decoction (BZYQD) has been developed for preventing or reducing the recurrence of ischemic stroke for a long time in China. However, the mechanism of action of the BZYQD is not completely understood. Our research aims to determine whether the mechanism of action of BZYQD is by regulating gut microbiota using 16SR RNA and fecal microbiota transplantation.

A randomized controlled trial of Baduanjin exercise to reduce the risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease in patients with prediabetes.

To investigate the effectiveness of long-term Baduanjin and aerobic training on the 10-year risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease in prediabetic patients. This study was single-blind randomized controlled trial. A total of 98 participants with prediabetes were randomly divided into three groups: the BDJ (n = 34), AT (n = 32), and control (n = 32) groups.

Dynamic Changes of Endogenic or Exogenic β-Carboline Alkaloid Harmine in Different Mammals and Human at Developmental and Physiological States.

Objective: Several β-carboline alkaloids (βCBs), such as harmine, harmaline, harmane, and nor-harmane, are effective for Alzheimer's disease mouse models. They can be found in some plants, common foodstuffs, and blank plasma of various mammals. However, whether these compounds in mammals are exogenous or endogenous remain unclear.

Experiences of Older People and Social Inclusion in Relation to Smart "Age-Friendly" Cities: A Case Study of Chongqing, China.

Whilst cities can be sites of creativity, innovation, and change, they can also reproduce the conditions for the exclusion of vulnerable groups. Older people report experiencing specific barriers to accessing the city and are often excluded from the resources for ageing well. The smart city agenda has attempted to bring about technological change whilst also delivering improved quality of life for urban citizens.

Simultaneous LC-MS/MS bioanalysis of alkaloids, terpenoids, and flavonoids in rat plasma through salting-out-assisted liquid-liquid extraction after oral administration of extract from Tetradium ruticarpum and Glycyrrhiza uralensis: a sample preparation strategy to broaden analyte coverage of herbal medicines.

Herbal medicines have historically been practiced in combinatorial way, which achieves therapeutic efficacy by integrative effects of multi-components. Thus, the accurate and precise measurement of multi bioactive components in matrices is inalienable to understanding the metabolism and disposition of herbal medicines. In this study, aiming to provide a strategy that improves analyte coverage, evaluation of six protocols employing sample pretreatment methods- protein precipitation (PPT), liquid-liquid extraction (LLE), sugaring-out-assisted liquid-liquid extraction (SULLE), and salting-out-assisted liquid-liquid extraction (SALLE)- was performed by LC-MS/MS using rat plasma and a mixture of alkaloid (evodiamine, rutaecarpine, dehydroevodiamine), terpenoid (limonin, rutaevin, obacunone), and flavonoid (liquiritin, isoliquiritin, liquiritigenin) standards isolated from Tetradium ruticarpum and Glycyrrhiza uralensis.

Chitosan crosslinked with polyamine-co-melamine for adsorption of Hg: Application in purification of polluted water.

A batch experiment was carried out in order to remove Hg from the aqueous solution as well as the polluted water using modified chitosan (CS) with polyamine compounds (triethylenetetramine (TETA), tetraethylenepentamine (TEPA)), and melamine. The obtained polyamine-co-melamine crosslinked CS derivatives (MCS-4N and MCS-5N) were characterized and used as adsorbents. In comparison to the raw CS, the modification significantly promoted the adsorption of Hg ions.

Traditional uses, phytochemistry, pharmacology, pharmacokinetics and toxicology of the fruit of Tetradium ruticarpum: A review.

Ethnopharmacological Relevance: The fruit of Tetradium ruticarpum (FTR) known as Tetradii fructus or Evodiae fructus (Wu-Zhu-Yu in Chinese) is a versatile herbal medicine which has been prescribed in Chinese herbal formulas and recognized in Japanese Kampo. FTR has been clinically used to treat various diseases such as headache, vomit, diarrhea, abdominal pain, dysmenorrhea and pelvic inflammation for thousands of years.

Aim Of The Review: The present paper aimed to provide comprehensive information on the ethnopharmacology, phytochemistry, pharmacology, pharmacokinetics, drug interaction and toxicology of FTR in order to build up a foundation on the mechanism of ethnopharmacological uses as well as to explore the trends and perspectives for further studies.

circRNA-UBAP2 promotes the proliferation and inhibits apoptosis of ovarian cancer though miR-382-5p/PRPF8 axis.

Objective: circular RNAs (circRNAs) have been reported to be essential regulators of multiple malignant cancers. However, the functions of circRNAs in ovarian cancer need to be further explored. The aim of our study is to explore the role of circRNA-UBAP2 in ovarian cancer and its mechanism.

Modification of Rhizosphere Bacterial Community Structure and Functional Potentials to Control Replant Disease.

Replant disease caused by negative plant-soil feedback commonly occurs in a monoculture regime. Here, barcoded pyrosequencing of 16S ribosomal DNA amplicons combined with phylogenetic investigation of communities by reconstruction of unobserved states (PICRUSt) analysis was applied to study the shifts in soil bacterial community structure and functional potentials in the rhizosphere of under consecutive monoculture and different soil amendments (i.e.

Polyamine-co-2, 6-diaminopyridine covalently bonded on chitosan for the adsorptive removal of Hg(II) ions from aqueous solution.

In the present study, 2, 6-diaminopyridine (PD) and polyamine compounds (ethylenediamine (EDA), triethylenetetramine (TETA), and tetraethylenepentamine (TEPA)) were used to modify chitosan (CS). The obtained derivatives (PD-CS, PD-EDA-CS, PD-TETA-CS, and PD-TEPA-CS) were identified and employed as adsorbents in batch experiments for the removal of Hg(II) from aqueous solutions. The results confirmed that successful modification improves the Hg(II) adsorption significantly compared to pristine CS.

Decontamination of Hg(II) from aqueous solution using polyamine-co-thiourea inarched chitosan gel derivatives.

Ethylenediamine (EDA), triethylenetetramine (TETA) and tetraethylenepentamine (TEPA) had been successfully introduced into the structure of thiourea (TC) modified chitosan (CS) by using formaldehyde as linkage, respectively. The resulted materials, TC-CS, TC-EDA-CS, TC-TETA-CS, and TC-TEPA-CS were characterized and employed as adsorbents in batch experiment for the Hg(II) removal. We have found the modification enhanced the Hg(II) adsorption significantly in comparison with raw CS.

Removal of Cd(II) and Cr(VI) ions by highly cross-linked Thiocarbohydrazide-chitosan gel.

A highly cross-linked Thiocarbohydrazide-modified chitosan (TCCS) gel was synthesized by using formaldehyde as linkage, and was used in removal of Cd(II) and Cr(VI) from aqueous solution. The results showed that TCCS could be used in a wider pH range and had higher adsorption abilities than raw chitosan for Cd(II) and Cr(VI) ions. The maximum adsorption capacities of the synthetic TCCS for two ions reached 81.

A decision analysis model for KEGG pathway analysis.

Background: The knowledge base-driven pathway analysis is becoming the first choice for many investigators, in that it not only can reduce the complexity of functional analysis by grouping thousands of genes into just several hundred pathways, but also can increase the explanatory power for the experiment by identifying active pathways in different conditions. However, current approaches are designed to analyze a biological system assuming that each pathway is independent of the other pathways.

Results: A decision analysis model is developed in this article that accounts for dependence among pathways in time-course experiments and multiple treatments experiments.