Silicon composition and stoichiometric ratios with other nutrients in the lower Minjiang River, Southeast China.

Over the past decades, rivers have delivered imbalanced nutrient loads to coastal marine ecosystems due to human activities, which leads to serious regional or global eutrophication problems. The Minjiang River is heavily influenced by human activities. To understand the changing characteristics of nutrient transport ratios in the Minjiang River waters, we measured the seasonal variations of carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus and silicon nutrients in the lower surface waters of the Minjiang River between July 2019 and July 2020.

Mechanisms of Traditional Chinese Medicine Bushenantai granules in promoting angiogenesis at the maternal-fetal interface of recurrent spontaneous abortion mice.

Objective: To assess the effects of Bushenantai (BSAT) granule() on angiogenesis-related factors [E2, P, and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)] at the maternal-fetal interface of recurrent spontaneous abortion (RSA) mice, and to evaluate the role of BSAT in promoting angiogenesis at the maternal-fetal interface by influencing the expression of sex hormones, and VEGF.

Methods: A mouse model with normal pregnancy and another with Clark's classic RSA were established. The RSA mice were randomly assigned to six groups: normal, model, progesterone, high-doseBSAT granule (BSAT-H), medium-dose-BSAT granule (BSAT-M), and low-dose-BSAT granule (BSAT-L) (n = 10 for each group).

Tanshinone IIA inhibits lipopolysaccharide‑induced inflammatory responses through the TLR4/TAK1/NF‑κB signaling pathway in vascular smooth muscle cells.

To aim of the present study was to determine whether Tanshinone IIA (Tan IIA) inhibits lipopolysaccharide (LPS)‑induced inflammation in vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) from rats and elucidate the underlying molecular mechanism. VSMCs were primarily cultured and then treated with LPS (1 µg/l) and Tan IIA (25, 50 and 100 µmol/l) for 24 h. Monocyte chemoattractant protein (MCP)‑1, interleukin (IL)‑6 and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)‑α levels were detected by ELISA and reverse transcription‑quantitative polymerase chain reaction.

[Effects of different LED light qualities on photosynthetic characteristics, fruit production and quality of strawberry].

Taking 'Miaoxiang No.7' strawberry as material, full red light, full blue light, full yellow light, full white light, red/blue/yellow (7/2/1), red/blue (7/2) light generated by light emitting diode (LED) was applied to accurately modulate with white light generated as control. The indicators of photosynthetic and fluorescence parameters, pigment content, fruit production and quality, root activity were investigated.

De novo assembly and characterization of the Welsh onion (Allium fistulosum L.) transcriptome using Illumina technology.

Welsh onion (Allium fistulosum L.) has long been cultivated as a vegetable and spice for its flavor and aroma. However, transcriptomic and genomic data for A.

[Effect of cadmium stress on physiological characteristics of garlic seedlings and the alleviation effects of exogenous calcium].

In the experiment, the effects of exogenous cadmium (Cd2+) and calcium (Ca2+) in nutrient solution on growth, photosynthetic characteristics, enzymes activities, main mineral elements absorption of garlic seedlings were studied. The results showed that cadmium could obviously inhibit the growth of garlic seedlings, decrease the pigment contents and photosynthetic parameters (P(n), E, g(s)) of leaves, reduced the enzymes (SOD, POD, CAT) activities and increase the MDA content of leaves, and also could reduce the N, P, K, Ca, Mg contents and increase the Cd content of roots. The growth was promoted after adding exogenous calcium to garlic seedlings under cadmium stress, which reflected that the morphological indexes were increased at first and then decreased with the increase of exogenous calcium concentrations, and were maximized when the exogenous calcium was 2 or 3 mmol x L(-1).

Curcumin attenuates cardiac fibrosis in spontaneously hypertensive rats through PPAR-γ activation.

Aim: To investigate the effects of curcumin (Cur) on cardiac fibrosis in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRs) and the mechanisms underlying the anti-fibrotic effect of Cur in rat cardiac fibroblasts (CFs) in vitro.

Methods: SHRs were orally treated with Cur (100 mg·kg(-1)·d(-1)) or Cur (100 mg·kg(-1)·d(-1)) plus the PPAR-γ antagonist GW9662 (1 mg·kg(-1)·d(-1)) for 12 weeks. Cultured CFs were treated with angiotensin II (Ang II, 0.

[Prophylactic immunization of dangguibuxue decoction against Cryptosporidium infection in immune suppressed mice].

Objective: To explore the prophylaxis of dangguibuxue decoction, a traditional Chinese medicine made from Angelica sinensis and Radix astragalus, on immunosuppressed mice infected by Cryptosporidium parvum.

Methods: 48 BALB/c mice were randomly divided into 4 groups: normal control (A), immunosuppressed control (B), high dose (C), and low dose (D). Mice in groups B, C and D were intragastrically administered with dexamethasone (DXM) for 8 days, and in the same time mice in groups C and D were given high dose (2 g/kg) and low dose (1 g/kg) dangguibuxue decoction respectively.