Global burden and trends of transport injuries from 1990 to 2019: an observational trend study.

BACKGROUND: Transport injuries (TIs) are a major cause of global disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) and mortality. In this study, we aimed to assess the global burden and trends of TIs from 1990 to 2019. METHODS: We assessed the annual age-standardised incidence rate (ASIR) and age-standardised DALYs rate of TIs by sex, age, Social Development Index (SDI) and geographical region from 1990 to 2019 from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019. The changing trends were described by estimated annual percentage changes (EAPCs). RESULTS: Globally, in 2019, the ASIR and age-standardised DALYs rates of TIs were 134 6.06/100 000 (95% UI 11 42.6/100 000-157 5.57/100 000) and 97 7.91/100 000 (86 8.91/100 000-107 6.81/100 000), respectively. From 1990 to 2019, the global ASIR of TIs presented significant upwards trends with the EAPC (0.25%, 95% CI 0.19% to 0.31%), and it was significantly increased in the age groups of 15-49 (0.37%, 95% CI 0.29% to 0.45%), 50-69 (0.40%, 95% CI 0.36% to 0.44%) and 70+ (0.22%, 95% CI 0.17% to 0.28%). Prominent increases in ASIR were detected in middle-SDI areas (0.72%, 95% CI 0.57% to 0.87%), low-middle SDI areas (0.66%, 95% CI 0.59% to 0.72%) and low-SDI areas (0.21%, 95% CI 0.17% to 0.26%). The global age-standardised DALYs rate presented downwards trends with the EAPC (-1.27%, 95% CI -1.35% to -1.2%), and it was significantly decreased in all age groups and SDI areas. CONCLUSION: Globally, TIs still cause a serious burden, and the incidence has significantly increased, especially in people above the age of 14 and in middle-SDI and low-SDI areas, thus necessitating more attention and health interventions.

Butylphthalide improves brain damage induced by renal ischemia-reperfusion injury rats through Nrf2/HO-1 and NOD2/MAPK/NF-κB pathways.

Renal ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury leads to irreversible brain damage with serious consequences. Activation of oxidative stress and release of inflammatory mediators are considered potential pathological mechanisms. Butylphthalide (NBP) has anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects on I/R injuries. However, it is unclear whether NBP can effectively mitigate renal I/R secondary to brain injury as well as its mechanism, which are the aims of this study. Both renal I/R injury rats and oxygen and glucose deprivation cell models were established and pre-intervened NBP. The Morris water maze assay was used to detect behavior. Hippocampal histopathology and function were examined after renal I/R. Apoptosis and tube-forming capacity of brain microvascular endothelial cells (BMVECs) were tested. Immunohistochemistry and Western blot were used to measure protein expression of nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2)/Heme Oxygenase-1 (HO-1) pathway and NOD-like receptor C2 (NOD2)/Mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPK)/Nuclear factor kappa-B (NF-κB) pathway. NBP treatment attenuated renal I/R-induced brain tissue damage and learning and memory dysfunction. NBP treatment inhibited apoptosis and promoted blood-brain barrier restoration and microangiogenesis. Also, it decreased oxidative stress levels and pro-inflammatory factor expression in renal I/R rats. Furthermore, NBP enhanced BMVECs' viability and tube-forming capacity while inhibiting apoptosis and oxidative stress. Notably, the alleviating effects of NBP were attributed to Nrf2/HO-1 pathway activation and NOD2/MAPK/NF-κB inhibition. This study demonstrates that NBP maintains BBB function by activating the Nrf2/HO-1 pathway and inhibiting the NOD2/MAPK/NF-κB pathway to suppress inflammation and oxidative stress, thereby alleviating renal I/R-induced brain injury.

High-Order Neural-Network-Based Multi-Model Nonlinear Adaptive Decoupling Control for Microclimate Environment of Plant Factory.

Plant factory is an important field of practice in smart agriculture which uses highly sophisticated equipment for precision regulation of the environment to ensure crop growth and development efficiently. Environmental factors, such as temperature and humidity, significantly impact crop production in a plant factory. Given the inherent complexities of dynamic models associated with plant factory environments, including strong coupling, strong nonlinearity and multi-disturbances, a nonlinear adaptive decoupling control approach utilizing a high-order neural network is proposed which consists of a linear decoupling controller, a nonlinear decoupling controller and a switching function. In this paper, the parameters of the controller depend on the generalized minimum variance control rate, and an adaptive algorithm is presented to deal with uncertainties in the system. In addition, a high-order neural network is utilized to estimate the unmolded nonlinear terms, consequently mitigating the impact of nonlinearity on the system. The simulation results show that the mean error and standard error of the traditional controller for temperature control are 0.3615 and 0.8425, respectively. In contrast, the proposed control strategy has made significant improvements in both indicators, with results of 0.1655 and 0.6665, respectively. For humidity control, the mean error and standard error of the traditional controller are 0.1475 and 0.441, respectively. In comparison, the proposed control strategy has greatly improved on both indicators, with results of 0.0221 and 0.1541, respectively. The above results indicate that even under complex conditions, the proposed control strategy is capable of enabling the system to quickly track set values and enhance control performance. Overall, precise temperature and humidity control in plant factories and smart agriculture can enhance production efficiency, product quality and resource utilization.

The effects and drivers of green financial reform in promoting environmentally-biased technological progress.

Promoting green financial reform is an important measure to support environmentally-biased technological progress (EBTP) and achieve sustainable economic and social development. Although China launched a green finance reform and innovation pilot zone (GFRIPZ) policy in 2017, little is known about whether and how such a policy affects EBTP. Based on mathematical deduction, this paper studies the mechanism through which green financial reform influences EBTP. The analysis employs panel data of Chinese prefecture-level cities and a generalized synthetic control method to examine the policy effect of the establishment of GFRIPZ in EBTP. It is found that establishing GFRIPZ significantly promotes EBTP, and that the policy effect shows "ahead-of-policy" and dynamically increasing features. Potential mechanisms reside in the pilot policy's easing of financing constraints and upgrading of industrial structure. Further heterogeneity analyses reveal that great disparities exist in the policy effects of different pilot zones, with a steadily increasing policy effect in Zhejiang and Guangdong, a lagging policy effect in Jiangxi and Guizhou, and an inverse U-shaped policy effect in Xinjiang. Policy effects are much stronger in regions with a higher degree of marketization and a higher level of attention to education. Additional tests of economic performance indicate that the pilot policy, interweaved with its driving effect on EBTP, is conducive to promoting an energy-conservation and low-carbon-energy transition. The findings shed light on applying green financial reform to encourage environment-friendly technological research and development.

Analgesic effectiveness of preoperative ultrasound-guided erector spinae plane block versus paravertebral nerve block for breast surgery: A systematic review and meta-analysis of four randomized controlled trials.

OBJECTIVE: Our meta-analysis aimed to compare the analgesic effectiveness of ultrasound-guided preoperative erector spinae plane block (ESPB) versus paravertebral nerve block (PVB) in breast surgery. METHODS: PubMed, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Library were searched for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) between January 1, 1980 and April 31, 2021. The primary endpoints were perioperative pain score, analgesic consumption, and assessment of the block procedure. The secondary endpoints were intraoperative hemodynamic response, duration of surgery, postoperative antiemetic consumption, and adverse effects. RESULTS: Four RCTs comprised a total of 310 patients were included in our meta-analysis. No significant differences in the perioperative pain score and analgesic consumption were observed between ESPB and PVB in the operating room, post-anesthesia care unit (PACU), and ward (at 1, 16, 12, and 24 h), and the morning of postoperative day 1 (POD1) (all p > 0.05). Similarly, no significant differences in the duration of block, time to first analgesic, hemodynamic response, duration of surgery, postoperative antiemetic consumption, and adverse effects were observed (all p > 0.05). However, our meta-analysis revealed that ultrasound-guided preoperative ESPB significantly reduced the duration of procedure time and frequency of guidance interventions, as well as increased the block success rate among residents (all p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Both ultrasound-guided preoperative ESPB and PVB showed comparable analgesic effects in patients undergoing breast surgery. However, with a significantly shorter procedure time and higher block success rate, our findings suggest that ESPB may be a simple alternative to PVB in breast surgery.

Redox-Responsive, Reconfigurable All-Liquid Constructs.

Using host-guest chemistries in a biphasic system, a novel supramolecular nanoparticle surfactant (s-NPS) with redox-responsiveness is presented to structure liquids. The in situ assembly/jamming and disassembly/unjamming of s-NPSs at the oil-water interface are reversibly controlled by a switchable redox process, imparting a nanoscale redox-responsiveness, affecting the assemblies on all length scales. "Smart" all-liquid constructs including structured emulsions and programmable liquid devices are easily prepared, showing promising applications in responsive delivery, release, and reaction systems.

Dietary patterns of Chinese puerperal women and their association with postpartum weight retention: Results from the mother-infant cohort study.

Dietary intake may affect maternal health, but it remains unclear about puerperal dietary intake and its association with maternal health. This study investigated the dietary patterns and their related factors and association with postpartum weight retention (PPWR) in Chinese puerperal women. Participants were from the mother-infant cohort study, in which both mothers and infants were followed up from childbirth to the next 2 years, in seven cities around China. Maternal puerperal dietary patterns were derived by a food frequency questionnaire and principal component analysis (PCA) within 1 month postpartum. PPWR was assessed by the difference of weight at 42 days and 6 months postpartum minus the pre-pregnancy weight. Of 503 postpartum women, four dietary patterns were identified, including 'plant food' pattern (rice and vegetables as dominant foods), 'diverse' pattern (starchy roots, fruit, livestock meat and aquatic products), 'traditional northern' pattern (poultry, eggs and soup) and 'marine-flour' pattern (flour, coarse food grains and marine fish). The diverse pattern was associated with professional puerperal family care and counselling service (p < .05). PPWRs at 42 days and 6 months postpartum were 6.37 and 4.70 kg averagely. The plant food dietary pattern tended to be associated with higher 42-day PPWR (ß = .105, p < .05), and diverse pattern was associated with lower 6-months PPWR (ß = -.137, p < .05). Conclusively, this study presented four dominant dietary patterns in Chinese postpartum women and showed a lower PPWR in adherence to diverse dietary pattern. The results would provide evidence to furtherly guide dietary practice and improve maternal health.

Molecular Brush Surfactants: Versatile Emulsifiers for Stabilizing and Structuring Liquids.

Using amphiphilic molecular brushes to stabilize emulsions usually requires the synthesis of specific side chains, which can be a time-consuming and difficult challenge to meet. By taking advantage of the electrostatic interactions between water-soluble molecular brushes and oil-soluble oligomeric ligands, the in situ formation, assembly and jamming of molecular brush surfactants (MBSs) at the oil-water interface is described. With MBSs, stable emulsions including o/w, w/o and o/w/o can be easily prepared by varying the molar ratios of the molecular brushes to the ligands. Moreover, when jammed, the binding energy of MBSs at the interface is sufficiently strong to allow the stabilization of liquids in nonequilibrium shapes, i.e., structuring liquids, producing an elastic film at the interface with exceptional mechanical properties. These structured liquids have numerous potential applications, including chemical biphasic reactions, liquid electronics, and all-liquid biomimetic system.

Polydopamine Coated PB-MnO2 Nanoparticles as an Oxygen Generator Nanosystem for Imaging-Guided Single-NIR-Laser Triggered Synergistic Photodynamic/Photothermal Therapy.

Exploring a combined phototherapeutic strategy to overcome the limitations of a single mode therapy and inducing high anticancer efficiency is highly promising for precision cancer nanomedicine. However, a single-wavelength laser activates dual photothermal/photodynamic therapy (PTT/PDT) treatment is still a formidable challenge. Herein, we strategically design and fabricate a multifunctional theranostic nanosystem based on chlorin e6-functionalized polydopamine (PDA) coated prussian blue/manganese dioxide nanoparticles (PB-MnO2@PDA-Ce6 NPs). Interestingly, the obtained PB-MnO2@PDA NPs not only offer an effective delivery system for Ce6 but also provide strong optical absorption in the near-infrared range, endowing high antitumor efficacy of PTT. More importantly, the as-prepared PB-MnO2@PDA-Ce6 nanoagents exhibit an effective oxygen generation, superior reactive oxygen species (ROS), and outstanding photothermal conversion ability to greatly improve PTT and PDT treatments. As a result, both in vitro and in vivo treatments guided by MR imaging on liver cancer cells reveal the complete cell/tumor eradication under a single wavelength of 660 nm laser irradiation, implying the simultaneous synergistic PDT/PTT effects triggered by PB-MnO2@PDA-Ce6 nanoplatform, which are much higher than individual treatment. Taken together, our phototherapeutic nanoagents exhibit an excellent therapeutic performance, which may act as a nanoplatform to find safe and clinically translatable routes to accelerate cancer therapeutics.

CYP76B74 Catalyzes the 3''-Hydroxylation of Geranylhydroquinone in Shikonin Biosynthesis.

Shikonin and its derivatives are the most abundant naphthoquinone pigments formed in species of the medicinally and economically valuable Boraginaceae. A key step in the shikonin biosynthetic pathway, namely the C-3'' hydroxylation of the prenylated phenolic intermediate geranylhydroquinone, is expected to be catalyzed by a cytochrome P450. To identify cytochrome P450 candidates with transcription profiles similar to those of genes known to be involved in shikonin biosynthesis, we carried out coexpression analysis of transcriptome data sets of shikonin-proficient and shikonin-deficient cell lines and examined the spatial expression of candidate genes in different organs of Arnebia euchroma In biochemical assays using geranylhydroquinone as the substrate, CYP76B74 exhibited geranylhydroquinone 3''-hydroxylase activity and produced 3''-hydroxy-geranylhydroquinone. In CYP76B74 RNA interference A. euchroma hairy roots, shikonin derivative accumulation decreased dramatically, which demonstrated that CYP76B74 is required for shikonin biosynthesis in the plant. Phylogenetic analysis confirmed that CYP76B74 belonged to the CYP76B subfamily and was most likely derived from an ancestral geraniol 10-hydroxylase. In a subcellular localization analysis, a GFP-CYP76B74 fusion localized to endoplasmic reticulum membranes. Our results demonstrate that CYP76B74 catalyzes the key hydroxylation step in shikonin biosynthesis with high efficiency. The characterization of the CYP76B74 described here paves the way for further exploration of the ring closure reactions generating the naphthoquinone skeleton as well as for the alternative metabolism of geranylhydroquinone 3''-hydroxylase to dihydroechinofuran.

Discovery and Biosynthesis of Pepticinnamins G-M Featuring Three Enzymes-Catalyzed Nonproteinogenic Amino Acid Formation.

Since pepticinnamin E was discovered almost 30 years ago, no other pepticinnamin family of natural products has been reported to date. Here, we report the discovery of pepticinnamins G-I (1-3) from a marine Streptomyces sp. PKU-MA01144 and pepticinnamins J-M (4-7) from several mutants, and these new compounds contain different N-methyl-l-alanine and l-tyrosine residues compared to pepticinnamin E. Genome sequencing, heterologous expression, gene deletion, and reconstitution of enzymatic reaction in vitro identified the biosynthetic gene cluster of 1-7 and first experimentally established the biosynthesis of the nonproteinogenic 2-chloro-3-hydroxy-4-methoxy-l-phenylalanine residue by a biopterin-dependent hydroxylase Pep10, an O-methyltransferase Pep9, and a flavin-dependent halogenase Pep1. The biosynthetic research and heterologous expression system in this study set the stage for pathway engineering for more pepticinnamins generation in the future.

Maternal postpartum feeding anxiety was associated with infant feeding practices: results from the mother-infant cohort study of China.

BACKGROUND: Maternal feeding anxiety (FA) was prevalent during puerperium and might affect infant feeding practices. This study was aimed to investigate the FA status in Chinese postpartum women and its relationship with infant feeding practices (FPs). METHODS: Participants were from the Mother-Infant Cohort Study of China, in which the dietary and feeding practices, physical and psychiatric health for both mothers and infants were followed up from childbirth to next 2 years. In this study the maternal feeding anxiety (FA) status at 0-3 months postpartum was assessed by Li's Self-rating Feeding Anxiety Scale (SFAS). Infant feeding practices (FPs) at 0-3 months, including breastfeeding-related behaviors, responsive feeding and infant food refusal were investigated by self-designed questionnaire. RESULTS: In total 456 mothers the average feeding anxiety scores (FAS) was 41.02 ± 8.02 (mean ± SD), and maternal FA prevalence were 61.4% (FAS>38) with severe FA being 8.6% (FAS>52) at 0-3 months postpartum. The FAS was related with infant FPs, and lower maternal FAS was significantly related with infant colostrum feeding (40.86 ± 8.02 vs 44.74 ± 11.33, P < 0.05), but higher FAS was related with bottle feeding (41.95 ± 8.28 vs 39.69 ± 7.92, P < 0.05). The mothers with severe feeding anxiety (FAS > 53) were more likely to feed infants with bottle (ORs, 95%CI: 2.41, 1.11 ~ 5.19). There were not significant association between FAS and exclusive breastfeeding and responsive feeding practices (P > 0.05). The higher FAS was associated with infant food refusal behaviors, the maternal scores whose infant "never", "rarely", "sometimes" and "often" spat out food when feeding were 39.86 ± 8.02, 41.47 ± 8.18, 41.36 ± 7.44 and 42.14 ± 12.03 increasingly (P > 0.05), and the FA prevalence was significantly different among groups (P < 0.05). The infants whose mother was identified as feeding anxiety were more likely to refuse opening the mouth when feeding (P < 0.05). Multivariate analysis indicated maternal FAS was positively related to infant bottle feeding (ßi = 2.487, P < 0.05) and outdoor sunshine exposure practice (ßi = 1.787, P < 0.05), and negatively related to household income level (ßi = - 0.118, P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Maternal postpartum feeding anxiety was associated with some infant feeding practices, including bottle feeding and infant food refusal behaviors.

Optoelectronic properties and anisotropic stress of Mo:ZnO thin films deposited on flexible substrates by radio frequency magnetron sputtering.

This research investigated the optoelectronic properties and anisotropic stress of Mo-doped ZnO (MZO) films, which were deposited on polyethylene terephthalate and polycarbonate flexible substrates with radio frequency magnetron sputtering. The optical properties, x-ray diffraction (XRD) spectra, Hall effect measurements, and self-made phase-shift shadow moiré interferometer readings were utilized to evaluate the performances of the MZO films. Based on the results, the transmittance and (002) peak size of the XRD spectra decreased when the substrate temperature increased. However, this took place especially when the oxygen flow was on the increase. Also, carrier mobility, carrier concentration, and anisotropic stresses increased at higher substrate temperatures, but this was not the case when the oxygen flow increased. The energy gap (Eg) of the MZO films showed a blueshift with an increase in the substrate temperatures, but this rather changed to a redshift when the oxygen flow was observed to be on the rise.

Fluostatins M-Q Featuring a 6-5-6-6 Ring Skeleton and High Oxidized A-Rings from Marine Streptomyces sp. PKU-MA00045.

Aromatic polyketides from marine actinomycetes have received increasing attention due to their unusual structures and potent bioactivities. Compared to their terrestrial counterparts, marine aromatic polyketides have been less discovered and their structural and biological diversities are far from being fully investigated. In this study, we employed a PCR-based genome mining method to discover aromatic polyketides in our marine bacteria collection. Five new atypical angucyclinones, fluostatins M-Q (1-5) featuring a unique 6-5-6-6 ring skeleton, were discovered from one "positive" Streptomyces sp. PKU-MA00045. The structures of fluostatins M-Q (1-5) were elucidated based on comprehensive spectroscopic analyses and the crystallographic structure of fluostatin P (4), which contains the most oxidized A-ring, was solved by X-ray diffraction analysis with Cu Kα radiation. Compared to the published 16 fluostatin analogues, fluostatins M-Q (1-5) contained a different methoxy group attached at C-7 and hydroxy group attached at C-4, enriching the structural diversity of aromatic polyketides from marine actinomycetes. Genome sequencing of Streptomyces sp. PKU-MA00045 revealed the biosynthetic gene cluster of fluostatins M-Q (1-5), which contained different genes and gene organizations compared to known fluostatin gene clusters, facilitating the investigation of the biosynthesis of the unique 6-5-6-6 ring skeleton in all fluostatins.

Production of 3-geranyl-4-hydroxybenzoate acid in yeast, an important intermediate of shikonin biosynthesis pathway.

Shikonin and its derivatives are the main active components in the medicinal plant Arnebia euchroma and possess extensive pharmaceutical properties. In this study, we developed an optimized yeast system to obtain high-level production of 3-geranyl-4-hydroxybenzoate acid (GBA), an important intermediate involved in shikonin biosynthesis pathway. For host selection, recombinant expression of p-hydroxybenzoate:geranyltransferase (PGT) derived from A. euchroma was performed in Saccharomyces cerevisiae WAT11U strain and high yield monoterpene strain. In shake flask culture with 1 mM p-hydroxybenzoate acid (PHBA), they could yield GBA at 0.1567 and 20.8624 mg L-1, respectively. Additionally, AePGT6 showed higher enzymatic activity than its homologs. Moreover, by combining improvement in the homologous mevalonate pathway with reconstruction in the heterologous shikimic pathway, a de novo GBA synthesis pathway was constructed in StHP6tHC with co-overexpressed SctHMG1, optimized EcUbiC and AePGT6. A high titer of 179.29 mg L-1 GBA was achieved in StHP6tHC under shake flask fermentation with 1 mM PHBA. These results suggest that yeast could be engineered systematically to enable an efficient monoterpene-quinone or naphthoquinone production.

[Secondary metabolic responses to treatment of 2-aminoindan-2-phosphonic acid in cell lines from Arnebia euchroma].

The accumulation of rosmarinic acid, acetylshikonin, deoxyshikonin, ß, ß'-dimethylacrylshikonin and isovalerylshikonin was investigated in cell suspension cultures of Arnebia euchroma (Royle) Johnst under the influence of 2-aminoindan-2-phosphonic acid (AIP), an inhibitor of phenylalanine ammonia lyase (PAL), and of the effector methyl jasmonate (MeJA). The results showed that methyl jasmonate promoted the accumulation of rosmarinic acid and shikonin derivatives. Conversely, 2-aminoindan-2-phosphonic acid suppressed the formation of rosmarinic acid, which indicated that AIP, indeed, was able to inhibit the phenylpropanoid pathway in A. euchroma. Meanwhile, the content of total shinkonins and other four kinds of shikonin derivatives, though varied in degrees, was also inhibited. And the inhibition was dose-dependent and time-dependent. Acetylshikonin responsed most rapidly to the treatment of AIP, the content reduced after 24 h of treatment and decreased to only half of those untreated control 48 h after teratment. ß, ß'-Dimethylacrylshikonin, difffer from acetylshikonin, responded much slowly to the treatment, inhibition could only be observed 96 h later. These suggest that phenylpropanoid pathway plays an important role in the shikoninsbiosynthesis, and this study provides a reference for the further research in metabolic regulation of producing shikonins by cell culture technology and biosynthesis pathways of shikonin derivatives. Still, shikonins biosynthesis pathways is complicated, the exact dose- and time-effect relationship of AIP and interaction between AIP and other effectors like MeJA need further research.

[Transcriptome-based gene mining and bioinformatics analysis of p-hydroxybenzoate geranyltransferase genes in Arnebia euchroma].

The p-hydroxybenzoate geranyltransferases(PGT) play an important role in the biosynthesis pathways of shikonin derivatives. Six PGTs were obtained from transcriptome datebase of Arnebia euchroma by using bioinformatics methods and the proteins＇physiochemical properties they encoded were predicted. The result of protein domain prediction showed all of the six protein sequences contained the conserved domain of Ubia prenyltransferase family and possessed the motif NDxxDxxxD for prenyldiphosphate binding and a GX(K/Y)STAL sequence for putative aromatic ring binding. The phylogenetic tree showed that PGT and p-hydroxybenzoate polyprenyltransferase(PPT) belonged to two different clades. The results of gene expression analyses showed that the expression levels in the red shikonin-proficient line and the overground part of A. euchroma that could produce shikonin derivatives was much higher than the white shikonin-deficient line and the underground part, which suggested a positive correlation between the expression levels of PGT genes and shikonin production. This study aims to lay a foudation for further understanding of the function and enzymatic properties of PGT and provide a basis for the biosynthesis pathways and metabolic regulation of shikonin derivatives.

[Advances in studies on chemical compositions of Atractylodes lancea and their biological activities].

This article mainly summarises the results of the chemical compositions and its pharmacological activities of Atractylodes Radix. The chemistry components isolated from Atractylodes Radix are mainly sesquiterpenoids, enediynes, triterpenoids, aromatic glycosides, and etc. Pharmacological results showed that Atractylodes Radix has inhibition of gastric acid secretion, promoting gastrointestinal movement and gastric emptying, hpyerglycemic, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, cardiovascular protection and nervous system activity, etc. This article hopefully to provide a reference for further research, development and utilization of Atractylodes Radix.

Optical coherence photoacoustic microscopy for in vivo multimodal retinal imaging.

We developed an optical coherence photoacoustic microscopy (OC-PAM) system, which can accomplish optical coherence tomography (OCT) and photoacoustic microscopy (PAM) simultaneously by using a single pulsed broadband light source. With a center wavelength of 800 nm and a bandwidth of 30 nm, the system is suitable for imaging the retina. Generated from the same group of photons, the OCT and PAM images are intrinsically registered in the lateral directions. To test the capabilities of the system on multimodal ophthalmic imaging, we imaged the retina of pigmented rats. The OCT images showed the retinal structures with quality similar to conventional OCT, while the PAM images revealed the distribution of absorbers in the retina. Since the absorption of hemoglobin is relatively weak at around 800 nm, the NIR PAM signals are generated mainly from melanin in the posterior segment of the eye, thus providing melanin-specific imaging of the retina.

[Advances in studies on chemical compositions and pharmacological activities of Arnebiae Radix].

This article mainly summarise the results of the chemical compositions and their pharmacological activities of Arnebiae Radix since 1966. The chemistry components isolated from Arnebiae Radix are mainly naphthoquinone, monoterpene phenol and quinone, phenolic acids and their salts, alkaloids, aliphatic and esters. Pharmacological results showed that the chemical compositions and the extracts of Arnebiae Radix have antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, anti-viral, hepatoprotection, antioxidant, anti-tumor and immune function and other activities. This article hopefully to provide a reference for further research, development and utilization of Arnebiae Radix.