Real-Time Monitoring of Translocation, Dissipation, and Cumulative Risk of Maleic Hydrazide in Potato Plants and Tubers by Ion Exclusion Chromatography.

In this paper, a high-performance ion exclusion chromatographic (ICE) method was developed and applied for monitoring maleic hydrazide (MH) translocation in complex potato plant tissue and tuber matrices. After middle leaf uptake, most MH was trapped and dissipated in the middle leaf, and the rest was transported to other parts mainly through the phloem. Soil absorption significantly reduced the uptake efficiency of the root system, in which MH was partitioned to dissipate in root protoplasts or transfer through the xylem and persisted in the plant. Tuber uptake enabled MH to remain in the flesh and maintain stable levels under storage conditions, but during germination, MH was translocated from the flesh to the growing buds, where it dissipated through the short-day photoperiodic regime. The results demonstrated successful application of the ICE method and provided necessary insights for real-time monitoring of MH translocation behavior to effectively improve potato edible safety.

Comparison of ashing and pyrolysis treatment on cadmium/zinc hyperaccumulator plant: Effects on bioavailability and metal speciation in solid residues and risk assessment.

Phytoremediation of metal(loid)s contaminated sites is widely used, while there is scarce of investigation on the metal-enriched biomass waste safely disposal which resulted in risks of causing secondary pollution to the soil and water bodies and even to human health. Thus, this study compared the effects of ashing and pyrolysis treatments on cadmium (Cd) and zinc (Zn) hyperaccumulation plant Sedum plumbizincicola. Chemical speciation, the Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure (TCLP), and diethylenetriamine pentaacetic acid (DTPA) extraction were employed to characterize the bioavailability and leachability of Cd and Zn in the solid residues after pyrolysis and ashing. The risk assessment code (RAC) and potential ecological risk index (RI) were subsequently used to evaluate the risk of the solid residues to the environment. The results showed that both ashing and pyrolysis treatments could transform the bioavailable Cd and Zn in S. plumbizincicola into a more stable form, and the higher the temperature the greater the stablility. Pyrolysis converted a maximum of 80.0% of Cd and 70.3% of Zn in S. plumbizincicola to the oxidisable and residual fractions, compared with ashing which achieved only a ∼42% reduction. The pyrolysis process minimised the risk level of Cd and Zn to the environment based on the RAC and RI assessments. The results of the TCLP test, and DTPA extraction confirmed that the leaching rate and the bioavailable portion of Cd and Zn in the biochars produced by pyrolysis were invariably significantly (p < 0.05) lower than the solid residues produced by ashing, and reached the lowest at 650 °C. In other words, pyrolysis was better than ashing for thermal treatment of the metal-enriched hyperaccumulator plant, in view of minimising the bioavailability and leachability of Cd and Zn from the solid residues to the environment. This study provides fundamental data on the choice of treatments for the disposal of metal-enriched plant biomass.

Insulin-Like Growth Factor Binding Protein 7 Predicts Renal and Cardiovascular Outcomes in the Canagliflozin Cardiovascular Assessment Study.

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the association between concentrations of plasma insulin-like growth factor binding protein 7 (IGFBP7) with renal and cardiac outcomes among participants with type 2 diabetes and high cardiovascular risk. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: Associations between IGFBP7 levels and clinical outcomes were assessed among participants in the Canagliflozin Cardiovascular Assessment Study (CANVAS) with type 2 diabetes and high cardiovascular risk. RESULTS: Among CANVAS participants, 3,577 and 2,898 had IGFBP7 measured at baseline and 1 year, respectively. Per log-unit higher concentration, baseline IGFBP7 was significantly associated with the composite renal end point of sustained 40% reduction in estimated glomerular filtration rate, need for renal replacement therapy, or renal death (hazard ratio [HR] 3.51; P < 0.001) and the composite renal end point plus cardiovascular death (HR 4.90; P < 0.001). Other outcomes, including development or progression of albuminuria, were also predicted by baseline IGFBP7. Most outcomes were improved by canagliflozin regardless of baseline IGFBP7; however, those with baseline concentrations ≥96.5 ng/mL appeared to benefit more from canagliflozin relative to the first progression of albuminuria compared with those with lower baseline IGFBP7 (HR 0.64 vs. 0.95; P interaction = 0.003). Canagliflozin did not lower IGFBP7 concentrations by 1 year; however, at 1 year, higher IGFBP7 concentrations more strongly predicted the composite renal end point (HR 15.7; P < 0.001). Patients with rising IGFBP7 between baseline and 1 year had the highest number of composite renal events. CONCLUSIONS: Plasma IGFBP7 concentrations predicted renal and cardiac events among participants with type 2 diabetes and high cardiovascular risk. More data are needed regarding circulating IGFBP7 and progression of diabetic kidney disease and its complications.

PromarkerD Predicts Renal Function Decline in Type 2 Diabetes in the Canagliflozin Cardiovascular Assessment Study (CANVAS).

The ability of current tests to predict chronic kidney disease (CKD) complicating diabetes is limited. This study investigated the prognostic utility of a novel blood test, PromarkerD, for predicting future renal function decline in individuals with type 2 diabetes from the CANagliflozin CardioVascular Assessment Study (CANVAS). PromarkerD scores were measured at baseline in 3568 CANVAS participants (n = 1195 placebo arm, n = 2373 canagliflozin arm) and used to predict incident CKD (estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) <60 mL/min/1.73m2 during follow-up in those above this threshold at baseline) and eGFR decline ≥30% during the 4 years from randomization. Biomarker concentrations (apolipoprotein A-IV (apoA4), CD5 antigen-like (CD5L/AIM) and insulin-like growth factor-binding protein 3 (IGFBP3) measured by mass spectrometry were combined with clinical data (age, serum high-density lipoprotein (HDL)-cholesterol, eGFR) using a previously defined algorithm to provide PromarkerD scores categorized as low-, moderate- or high-risk. The participants (mean age 63 years, 33% females) had a median PromarkerD score of 2.9%, with 70.5% categorized as low-risk, 13.6% as moderate-risk and 15.9% as high-risk for developing incident CKD. After adjusting for treatment, baseline PromarkerD moderate-risk and high-risk scores were increasingly prognostic for incident CKD (odds ratio 5.29 and 13.52 versus low-risk, respectively; both p < 0.001). Analysis of the PromarkerD test system in CANVAS shows the test can predict clinically significant incident CKD in this multi-center clinical study but had limited utility for predicting eGFR decline ≥30%.

Proposers' Economic Status Affects Behavioral and Neural Responses to Unfairness.

Economic status played an important role in the modulation of economic decision making. The present fMRI study aimed at investigating how economic status modulated behavioral and neural responses to unfairness in a modified Ultimatum Game (UG). During scanning, participants played as responders in the UG, and they were informed of the economic status of proposers before receiving offers. At the behavioral level, higher rejection rates and lower fairness ratings were revealed when proposers were in high economic status than in low economic status. Besides, the most time-consuming decisions tended to occur at lower unfairness level when the proposers were in high (relative to low) economic status. At the neural level, stronger activation of left thalamus was revealed when fair offers were proposed by proposers in high rather than in low economic status. Greater activation of right medial prefrontal cortex was revealed during acceptance to unfair offers in high economic status condition rather than in low economic status condition. Taken together, these findings shed light on the significance of proposers' economic status in responders' social decision making in UG.

Synthesis and assessment of the antioxidant and antitumor properties of asymmetric curcumin analogues.

In this study, 12 asymmetric curcumin (CUR) analogues and 5 symmetric curcumin derivatives were synthesized, the antioxidant activity of these derivatives were evaluated by radicals 1,1-diphenyl-2-picryl-hydrazyl (DPPH) assay, 2,2-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS) assay, ROO (TRAP) assay and O(2-) (NET) assay and anti-proliferative activities of these analogues were assessed against the human hepatoma cell line (SMMC-7721), the human breast cancer cell line (MCF-7) and the human prostate cancer cell lines (PC-3). Most of the asymmetric compounds showed stronger antioxidant activities than Vitamin C (Vc). Curcumin analogues reducing free radicals contain two reaction mechanisms: H-atom and electron transfer mechanisms. Compound 14 showed the most significant antioxidant activity compared with curcumin and other derivatives. Shorted the carbon chain of 14 can reduce the O-H bond dissociation enthalpy (BED) to improve the antioxidant activity. The antioxidant activity of 25 was similar to curcumin. All of the compounds performed better in an anti-proliferate assay than curcumin, especially compound 25, which exhibited the preferential cytotoxic activity against MCF-7 cells(25, IC50 = 9.11 µM, curcumin, IC50 = 70.2 µM). Considering these data, future studies should be performed to assess the therapeutic values of these asymmetric curcumin analogues.

Preclinical assessment of the distribution, metabolism, and excretion of S-propargyl-cysteine, a novel H2S donor, in Sprague-Dawley rats.

AIM: To study the distribution, metabolism and excretion of S-propargyl-cysteine (SPRC), a novel hydrogen sulfide (H2S) donor, after oral administration in rats. METHODS: Adult Sprague-Dawley rats were used. The tissue distribution of [(35)S] SPRC-derived radioactivity was measured using a liquid scintillation counter. The plasma protein binding of SPRC was examined using 96-well equilibrium dialysis. The excretion of SPRC in urine, bile and feces was analyzed using the LC-MS/MS method. The major metabolites in rat biomatrices were identified using MRM information-dependent, acquisition-enhanced product ion (MRM-IDA-EPI) scans on API 4000QTrap system. RESULTS: After oral administration of [(35)S]-SPRC at a dose of 75 mg/kg, [(35)S] SPRC-derived radioactivity displayed broad biological distribution in various tissues of rats, including its target organs (heart and brain) with the highest in kidney. On the other hand, the binding of SPRC to human, rat and dog plasma protein was low. Only 2.18% ± 0.61% and 0.77% ± 0.61% of the total SPRC administered was excreted unchanged in the bile and urine. However, neither intact SPRC nor its metabolites were detected in rat feces. The major metabolic pathway in vivo (rat bile, urine, and plasma) was N-acetylation. CONCLUSION: The preliminary results suggest that SPRC possesses acceptable pharmacokinetic properties in rats.