[Characteristics of Bacterial Community Structure in the Sediment of Rural Black and Odorous Water Bodies].

Sediment microorganisms are the main drivers of the material circulation and organic matter degradation processes in rural black and odorous water bodies(RBOWB), and the community structure of sediment microorganisms follows the changes in the external environment. Here, the pollutant indicators, including nitrogen, phosphorus, and heavy metals in the overlying water and sediment of 29 RBOWB in Dongming County of Heze City were measured, respectively. Combined with Illumina sequencing results, the composition and diversity characteristics of sediment bacterial communities in RBOWB and their correlation with environmental factors were further analyzed. The experimental results showed a wide distribution of pollutants in both of the overlying water and sediment in the RBOWB of this region. Compared with agricultural non-point source pollution, the concentrations of nitrogen and phosphorus pollutants in the overlying water with domestic sewage as the main source of pollution were 3.1 and 1.5 times higher than those of agricultural non-point source pollution, respectively. In addition, the contents of heavy metals in the sediments of RBOWB were generally lower than the soil element background value in Heze City. The dominant bacteria phyla in the sediments of the RBOWB were Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Chloroflexi, Firmicutes, and Acidobacteria, and the total abundance of these five dominant phyla accounted for 70.3%-83.6% of all sequences. The dominant classes were γ-Proteobacteria, α-Proteobacteria, Anaerolineae, and Actinobacteria. The dominant genera were Thiobacillus and Pseudarthrobacter. Moreover, Spearman correlation analysis showed that the environmental factors of DO, COD, TN, TP, and organic matter exerted significant effects(P<0.05) on sediment bacterial genera in RBOWB, and sediment bacterial community richness was significantly influenced by TN(P<0.05). The above results provided the microbiological knowledge for treating RBOWB.

[Antipyretic effect of active components of Mahuang Decoction and its correlation with pharmacokinetics in febrile rats].

To investigate the antipyretic effect of active components of Mahuang Decoction in febrile rats, and explore its correlation with pharmacokinetics at different time points. The feverished rat models were induced by dry yeast, and intragastrically administered with the effective components of Mahuang Decoction with different orthogonal compatibility ratios. At different time points after administration, body temperature was measured; blood was taken from orbital vena plexus, and the contents of interleukin-6(IL-6), interleukin-1ß(IL-1ß), and tumor necrosis factor-α(TNF-α) in rat serum were determined with the kits. Combined with the pharmacokinetic data of the seven effective components in Mahuang Decoction, PK-PD(pharmacokinetics-pharmacodynamics) data fitting was conducted by using the analysis method of non-atrioventricular model, and then the pharmacodynamic parameters were calculated to determine the optimal binding model. The results showed that the effective components of Mahuang Decoction inhibited the release of heat-causing factors IL-6, IL-1ß and TNF-α, and reduced the increase of body temperature. There was a significant lag between drug effect and blood drug concentration, which was consistent with Sigmoid-E_(max) model. The model fitting value showed a good correlation with mea-sured data, which could be used to evaluate and predict the correlation between PK and PD in Mahuang Decoction, and further applied to the multiple-indicator and multiple-effect study of PK-PD in other compound traditional Chinese medicines.

Synthesis, characterization and application of magnetic and acid modified biochars following alkaline pretreatment of rice and cotton straws.

The development of distinct biochar from agricultural waste for soil and environment remediation is valuable. Moderate pretreatment with sodium hydroxide may open the lignocellulosic structure of crop straw and then enhance the impregnation of iron oxides and phosphates, finally leading to the production of distinct biochars. In this study, two common agricultural wastes of rice and cotton straw were first treated with a dilute NaOH solution and then soaked in either Fe-Co nitrate or H3PO4 solution. The biochars produced through a slow pyrolysis process were then analyzed with respect to their physico-chemical and adsorptive properties. The results showed that all pretreatments remarkably changed the physico-chemical properties of the feedstocks and subsequently endowed the biochars with distinct characteristics. The biochars had specific surface areas (SSAs) ranging from 12.26 to 581.13 m2/g, total pore volumes (TPVs) ranging from 0.033 to 0.3736 cm3/g and average pore volumes (APSs) ranging from 2.57 to 10.76 nm. They also contained a large amount of positive charge, an anion exchange capacity (pH 3.5) ranging from 251.78 to 810.13 mmol/kg, and a certain amount of negative charge as well, cation exchange capacity (pH 7.0) ranging from 108.22 to 464.67 mmol/kg. The adsorption capacities of the modified biochars toward both Pb2+ and Cd2+ were 23.07-82.74% and 16.90-556.33% higher than those of pristine biochars, respectively. Of the modified biochars, the Fe-Co-composite biochar showed many promising physico-chemical and adsorptive properties for adsorbing divalent metals of both Pb2+ and Cd2+ and might thus have high potential as a soil amendment and an alternative adsorbent for environmental remediation.

[Pharmacokinetics of compatible effective components of Mahuang Decoction in febrile rats].

In the present paper,after the febrile rat model was prepared by injecting yeast,orthogonally compatible effective components from prescription drugs of Mahuang Decoction( Ephedra sinica total alkaloids,Cinnamomum cassia essential oil,amygdalin,Glycyrrhiza uralensis total flavonoids+G. uralensis total saponins) with nine different dosage ratios were given by gavage administration.The plasma concentrations of main active ingredients including ephedrine hydrochloride,pseudoephedrine hydrochloride,methylephedrine hydrochloride,cinnamic acid,amygdalin,liquritin and glycyrrhizin at different time points were analyzed by liquid chromatograph mass spectrometer( LC-MS). Based on the pharmacokinetic parameters of non-compartmental model,the area under curve of total quantum( AUCt) and the mean chromatographic retention time of total quantum( MRTt) were further calculated,in order to evaluate the effect of compatibility on the total statistical moment parameters. The results showed that the pharmacokinetic characteristics of main active components in febrile rats were significantly different after treatment with orthogonally compatibility of E. sinica total alkaloids,C.cassia essential oil,amygdalin,G. uralensis total flavonoids and G. uralensis total saponins. Orthogonal analysis confirmed that different compatibility components had different effects on the total statistical moment parameters. The contribution of effective components of Mahuang Decoction to AUCtwas as follows in a descending order: E. sinica total alkaloids>C. cassia essential oil>amygdalin>G. uralensis total flavonoids+G. uralensis total saponin,while the contribution to MRTtwas: E. sinica total alkaloids >G. uralensis total flavonoids+G. uralensis total saponin>amygdalin>C. cassia essential oil. The E. sinica total alkaloid had the greatest effects on both of the above parameters,and the optimal combination was A_3B_3C_2D_1 for AUCt,and A_1B_1C_1D_1 for MRTt.

Optimal Function Prediction of Key Aberrant Genes in Early-onset Preeclampsia Using a Modified Network-based Guilt by Association Method.

BACKGROUND: To predict the optimal functions of key aberrant genes in early-onset preeclampsia (EOPE) by using a modified network-based gene function inference method. METHODS: First, differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were extracted using linear models for microarray data (LIMMA) package. Then the Spearman's rank correlation coefficient was calculated to assess co-expressed strength of each interaction between DEGs, based on which the co-expressed genes network was constructed to vividly exhibit their interlinking relationship. Subsequently, Gene ontology (GO) annotations for EOPE were collected according to known confirmed database and DEGs. Ultimately, the multifunctionality algorithm was used to extend the "guilt by association" method based on the co-expressed network, and a 3-fold cross validation was operated to evaluate the accuracy of the algorithm. RESULTS: During the process, the GO terms, of which the area under the curve (AUC) over 0.7 were screened as the optimal gene functions for EOPE. Six functions including the ion binding and cellular response to stimulus were determined as the optimal gene functions. CONCLUSION: Such findings should help to better understand the pathogenesis of EOPE, so as to provide some references for clinical diagnosis and treatment in the future.

JTC-801 inhibits the proliferation and metastasis of ovarian cancer cell SKOV3 through inhibition of the PI3K - AKT signaling pathway.

Ovarian cancer (OC) is the commonest cause of gynaecological cancer-associated death because of the wide metastasis and frequent recidivation. JTC-801 is a new synthetic compound with the function of reversing pain and anxiety symptoms as a selective opioid receptor-like1 receptor (belonging to the G-protein-coupled receptor) antagonist. We investigated the role and possible mechanisms of JTC-801 in the cell growth and metastasis of OC. It was observed that JTC-801 inhibited the proliferation, invasion and migration of cancer in SKOV3 cells. The apoptosis rate of SKOV3 cells treated with JTC-801 was significantly increased (P<0.05), and the expression results of relevant apoptosis proteins (BCL2, BAX, Active Caspase-3) indicated the JTC-801 could induce the apoptosis of SKOV3. Further, the expression levels of phosphorylated AKT, phosphorylated mTOR, P70 and CyclinD1 in the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway were obviously reduced in the JTC-801 treated SKOV3 group. This suggests that JTC-801 exerts its anticancer effect through the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway. Our data also highlights the possibility of using JTC-801 as a novel therapeutic drug for OC treatment mean while it plays the analgesic effect.

[In vitro microdialysis recoveries of nine active ingredients in Mahuang decoction].

To detect the in vitro probe microdialysis recoveries based on an HPLC-DAD method for simultaneous quantification of nine active ingredients (ephedrine, pseudoephedrine, methylephedrine, amygdalin, liquiritin, cinnamyl alcohol, cinnamic acid, cinnamaldehyde and glycyrrhizic acid) in Mahuang decoction, which provides reference for in vivo pharmacokinetic study. The concentrations of nine active ingredients in dialysate were detected by HPLC-DAD, to investigate the effect of flow rates (incremental method and subtraction method) and intraday stability of the probe recoveries and medium concentrations on the recoveries. Nine active ingredients could be well separated in 52 min. At the perfusion rate of 1.0 µL x min(-1), the relative recoveries of ephedrine, pseudoephedrine, methylephedrine, amygdalin, liquiritin, cinnamyl alcohol, cinnamic acid, cinnamaldehyde and glycyrrhizic acid were (50.95 ± 0.82)%, (52.74 ± 1.13)%, (51.29 ± 0.51)%, (32.56 ± 0.84)%, (45.36 ± 0.83)%, (70.94 ± 0.99)%, (69.98 ± 2.30)%, (71.68 ± 0.63)%, and (22.14 ± 0.48)%, respectively. And the probe kept steady in 7 hours. At the same medium concentration, the probe recoveries decreased exponentially with the increase in flow rates. The recoveries of seven ingredients detected by these two methods were similar at certain flow rates, except for amygdalin and cinnamaldehyde. At the same flow rate, the relative recoveries of cinnamyl alcohol, cinnamic acid and cinnamaldehyde changed greatly (9.55%-16.2%) and the others six ingredients had less change (3.27%-5.71%) with the changes in medium concentrations. Microdialysis method could be used to detect the in vitro recoveries of nine ingredients in Mahuang decoction. Reverse dialysis method could be used for the in vivo probe recovery calibration of ephedrine, pseudoephedrine, methylephedrine, liquiritin, cinnamyl alcohol and cinnamic acid at the flow rate of 2.0 µL x min(-1).