The association between dietary mineral intake and the risk of preeclampsia in Chinese pregnant women: a matched case-control study.

Previous studies on the relationship between dietary minerals and preeclampsia (PE) have given inconsistent results. The aim of this study was to further clarify the relationship between dietary minerals intake and PE in Chinese pregnant women. In this study, 440 pairs of hospital-based preeclamptic and healthy women were matched 1:1. Dietary intake was obtained through a 78-item semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire. Multivariate conditional logistic regression was used to estimate the odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Restricted cubic splines were plotted to evaluate the dose-response relationship between dietary minerals intake and PE. This study found significant inverse associations for dietary intake of calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, iron, copper, manganese and zinc and the risk of PE in both univariate and multivariate models (all P- trend < 0.05). After adjusting for possible confounders, compared with the lowest quartile, the odds ratio of the highest quartile was 0.74 (95% CI 0.56-0.98) for calcium, 0.63 (95% CI 0.42-0.93) for magnesium, 0.45 (95% CI 0.31-0.65) for phosphorus, 0.44 (95% CI 0.30-0.65) for iron, 0.72 (95% CI 0.53-0.97) for copper, 0.66 (95% CI 0.48-0.91) for manganese and 0.38 (95% CI 0.25-0.57) for zinc. In addition, a reverse J-shaped relationship between dietary minerals intake and PE risk was observed (P-overall association < 0.05). In Chinese pregnant women, a higher intake of dietary minerals, including calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, copper, iron, manganese, and zinc was associated with a lower odds of PE.

Detection of volatile organic compounds in adulterated tea using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and Proton-transfer-reaction mass spectrometry.

Aroma is a key factor used to evaluate tea quality. Illegal traders usually add essence to expired or substandard tea to improve its aroma so as to gain more profit. Traditional physical and chemical testing methods are time-consuming and costly. Furthermore, rapid detection techniques, such as near-infrared spectroscopy and machine vision, can only be used to detect adulterated powdered solid essences in tea. In this study, proton-transfer reaction mass spectrometry (PTR-MS) and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) were employed to detect volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in samples, and rapid detection of different tea adulterated liquid essence was achieved. The prediction accuracies of PTR-MS and FTIR reached over 0.941 and 0.957, respectively, and the minimum detection limits were lower than the actual used values in both. In this study, the different application scenarios of the two technologies are discussed based on their performance characteristics.

The association between dietary fatty acid intake and the risk of developing preeclampsia: a matched case-control study.

The association between dietary fat intake during pregnancy and the risk of developing preeclampsia has been examined in many epidemiological studies, but the results remain inconsistent. The aim of this study was to clarify this association in pregnant Chinese women. After conducting 1:1 matching, 440 pairs consisting of pregnant women with preeclampsia and hospital-based, healthy pregnant women matched by gestational week (± 1 week) and age (± 3 years) were recruited. A 79-item semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire administered during face-to-face interviews was used to estimate the participants' dietary intake of fatty acids. We found that the intakes of arachidonic acid (AA), eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) were inversely associated with the risk of developing preeclampsia. Compared with the lowest quartile intake, the multivariate-adjusted odds ratios (95% confidence interval) of the highest quartile intake were 0.42 (0.26-0.68, p-trend < 0.001) for EPA, 0.52 (0.3-0.83, p-trend = 0.005) for DHA, and 0.41 (0.19-0.88, p-trend = 0.007) for AA. However, we did not observe any significant associations between the intake of total fatty acids, saturated fatty acids, and mono-unsaturated fatty acids and the risk of developing preeclampsia. Our results showed that the dietary intake of long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (i.e., EPA, DHA, and AA) may protect pregnant Chinese women against the development of preeclampsia.

A high whey protein, vitamin D and E supplement preserves muscle mass, strength, and quality of life in sarcopenic older adults: A double-blind randomized controlled trial.

OBJECTIVE: Sarcopenia, an age-related decline of muscle mass, strength, and physical function, was associated with falls, frailty, and poor quality of life. The aim of the current study is to examine the effect of nutritional supplement containing whey protein, vitamin D and E on measures of sarcopenia. METHODS: A total of 60 sarcopenic older adult subjects participated in the current randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled (iso-caloric control product) trial for 6 months. Muscle mass [Relative skeletal mass index (RSMI) measured by bioimpedance analysis (BIA)], muscle strength (handgrip strength), physical function (6-m gait speed, chair stand test, and timed-up-and-go test, TUG), quality of life (measured by Short-Form 36-Item Health Survey, SF-36), and blood biochemical indexes were measured before and after the 6-month intervention. RESULTS: Compared to placebo group, nutritional supplementation improves RSMI (mean difference: 0.18 kg/m2, 95%CI: 0.01-0.35, P = 0.040), handgrip strength (mean difference: 2.68 kg, 95%CI: 0.71-4.65, P = 0.009), SF-36 mental component summary (SF-36 MCS) (mean difference: 11.26, 95%CI: 3.86-18.65, P = 0.004), SF-36 physical component summary (SF-36 PCS) (mean difference: 20.21, 95%CI: 11.30-29.12, P < 0.001), serum IGF-1 (mean difference: 14.34 ng/mL, 95%CI: 2.06-26.73), IL-2 (mean difference: -575.32 pg/mL, 95%CI: -1116.94 âˆ¼ -33.70, P = 0.038), serum vitamin D3 (mean difference: 11.01 ng/mL, 95%CI: 6.44-15,58, P < 0.001), and serum vitamin E (mean difference: 4.17 ng/L, 95%CI: 1.89-6.45, P = 0.001). CONCLUSION: The current study demonstrated that the combined supplementation of whey protein, vitamin D and E can significantly improve RSMI, muscle strength, and anabolic markers such as IGF-I and IL-2 in older adults with sarcopenia. Further larger well-designed studies are warranted to evaluate whether long-term whey protein supplementation can blunt the declines of muscle function and mass in older adults with sarcopenia.

Baicalein Exerts Beneficial Effects in d-Galactose-Induced Aging Rats Through Attenuation of Inflammation and Metabolic Dysfunction.

Baicalein is a flavonoid isolated from the roots of Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi. This study aimed to ascertain the effects and potential underlying mechanisms of baicalein in d-galactose (d-gal)-induced aging rat model by integration of behavior examination, biochemical detection, and 1H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR)-based metabolomic approach. Our findings suggest that baicalein significantly attenuated memory decline in d-gal-induced aging model, as manifested by increasing recognition index in novel object recognition test, shortening latency time, and increasing platform crossings in Morris water maze test. Baicalein significantly inhibited the releases of inflammatory mediators such as nitric oxide, interleukin-6, interleukin-1 beta, and tumor necrosis factor-α in d-gal-induced aging model. Metabolomic study revealed that 10 endogenous metabolites in cerebral cortex were considered as potential biomarkers of baicalein for its protective effect. Further metabolic pathway analysis showed that the metabolic alterations were associated with alanine, aspartate and glutamate metabolism, glycine, serine and threonine metabolism, inositol phosphate metabolism, and energy metabolism. These data indicate that baicalein improves learning and memory dysfunction in d-gal-induced aging rats. This might be achieved through attenuation of inflammation and metabolic dysfunction.

Novel Phenanthrene Sorption Mechanism by Two Pollens and Their Fractions.

A pair of pollens (Nelumbo nucifera and Brassica campestris L.) and their fractions were characterized by elemental analysis and advanced solid-state (13)C NMR techniques and used as biosorbents for phenanthrene (Phen). Their constituents were largely aliphatic components (including sporopollenin), carbohydrates, protein, and lignin as estimated by (13)C NMR spectra of the investigated samples and the four listed biochemical classes. The structure of each nonhydrolyzable carbon (NHC) fraction is similar to that of sporopollenin. The sorption capacities are highly negatively related to polar groups largely derived from carbohydrates and protein but highly positively related to alkyl carbon, poly(methylene) carbon, and aromatic carbon largely derived from sporopollenin and lignin. The sorption capacities of the NHC fractions are much higher than previously reported values, suggesting that they are good sorbents for Phen. The Freundlich n values significantly decrease with increasing concentrations of poly(methylene) carbon, alkyl C, aromatic moieties, aliphatic components, and the lignin of the pollen sorbents, suggesting that aliphatic and aromatic structures and constituents jointly contribute to the increasing nonlinearity. To our knowledge, this is the first investigation of the combined roles of alkyl and aromatic moiety domains, composition, and accessibility on the sorption of Phen by pollen samples.

Molecular targets of Chinese herbs: a clinical study of hepatoma based on network pharmacology.

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has been used to treat tumors for years and has been demonstrated to be effective. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms of herbs remain unclear. This study aims to ascertain molecular targets of herbs prolonging survival time of patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) based on network pharmacology, and to establish a research method for accurate treatment of TCM. The survival benefit of TCM treatment with Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) was proved by Kaplan-Meier method and Cox regression analysis among 288 patients. The correlation between herbs and survival time was performed by bivariate correlation analysis. Network pharmacology method was utilized to construct the active ingredient-target networks of herbs that were responsible for the beneficial effects against HCC. Cox regression analysis showed CHM was an independent favorable prognostic factor. The median survival time was 13 months and the 5-year overall survival rates were 2.61% in the TCM group, while there were 6 months, 0 in the non-TCM group. Correlation analysis demonstrated that 8 herbs closely associated with prognosis. Network pharmacology analysis revealed that the 8 herbs regulated multiple HCC relative genes, among which the genes affected proliferation (KRAS, AKT2, MAPK), metastasis (SRC, MMP), angiogenesis (PTGS2) and apoptosis (CASP3) etc.