Improving water quality and mitigating CH4 and N2O production in urban landscape water simultaneously by optimizing calcium peroxide dosage.

Recent studies show that greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from urban landscape water are significant and cannot be overlooked, underscoring the need to develop effective strategies for mitigating GHG production from global freshwater systems. Calcium peroxide (CaO2) is commonly used as an eco-friendly reagent for controlling eutrophication in water bodies, but whether CaO2 can reduce GHG emissions remains unclear. This study investigated the effects of CaO2 dosage on the production of methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) in urban landscape water under anoxic conditions during summer. The findings reveal that CaO2 addition not only improved the physicochemical and organoleptic properties of simulated urban landscape water but also reduced N2O production by inhibiting the activity of denitrifying bacteria across various dosages. Moreover, CaO2 exhibited selective effects on methanogens. Specifically, the abundance of acetoclastic methanogen Methanosaeta and methylotrophic methanogen Candidatus_Methanofastidiosum increased whereas the abundance of the hydrogenotrophic methanogen Methanoregula decreased at low, medium, and high dosages, leading to higher CH4 production at increased CaO2 dosage. A comprehensive multi-objective evaluation indicated that an optimal dosage of 60 g CaO2/m2 achieved 41.21 % and 84.40 % reductions in CH4 and N2O production, respectively, over a 50-day period compared to the control. This paper not only introduces a novel approach for controlling the production of GHGs, such as CH4 and N2O, from urban landscape water but also suggests a methodology for optimizing CaO2 dosage, providing valuable insights for its practical application.

Membrane fusion, potential threats, and natural antiviral drugs of pseudorabies virus.

Pseudorabies virus (PrV) can infect several animals and causes severe economic losses in the swine industry. Recently, human encephalitis or endophthalmitis caused by PrV infection has been frequently reported in China. Thus, PrV can infect animals and is becoming a potential threat to human health. Although vaccines and drugs are the main strategies to prevent and treat PrV outbreaks, there is no specific drug, and the emergence of new PrV variants has reduced the effectiveness of classical vaccines. Therefore, it is challenging to eradicate PrV. In the present review, the membrane fusion process of PrV entering target cells, which is conducive to revealing new therapeutic and vaccine strategies for PrV, is presented and discussed. The current and potential PrV pathways of infection in humans are analyzed, and it is hypothesized that PrV may become a zoonotic agent. The efficacy of chemically synthesized drugs for treating PrV infections in animals and humans is unsatisfactory. In contrast, multiple extracts of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) have shown anti-PRV activity, exerting its effects in different phases of the PrV life-cycle and suggesting that TCM compounds may have great potential against PrV. Overall, this review provides insights into developing effective anti-PrV drugs and emphasizes that human PrV infection should receive more attention.

Electroacupuncture ameliorates inflammatory response induced by retinal ischemia-reperfusion injury and protects the retina through the DOR-BDNF/Trkb pathway.

Objectives: Retinal ischemia-reperfusion injury (RIRI) is the common pathological basis of many ophthalmic diseases in the later stages, and inflammation is the primary damage mechanism of RIRI. Our study aimed to assess whether electroacupuncture (EA) has a protective effect against RIRI and to elucidate its related mechanisms. Methods: A high-intraocular pressure (HIOP) model was used to simulate RIRI in Wistar rats. EA was applied to the EA1 group [Jingming (BL1) + Shuigou (GV26)] and the EA2 group [Jingming (BL1) + Hegu (LI4)] respectively for 30 min starting immediately after the onset of reperfusion and repeated (30 min/time) at 12 h and then every 24 h until days 7 after reperfusion. The pathological changes in the retina were observed by H and E staining after HIOP. Terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) staining was utilized to observe retinal cell apoptosis. The mRNA expression of IL1-ß, TNF-α, IL-4, IL-10, δ-opioid receptor (DOR), brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), and tropomyosin-related kinase B (TrkB) in the retina was measured by quantitative real-time PCR. Results: HIOP caused structural disorders of the retina, decreased RGCs, and increased retinal cell apoptosis. At 1 and 3 days of RIRI, retinal apoptotic cells in the EA group were significantly reduced, while there was no distinct difference in the EA group compared with the HIOP group at 7 days of RIRI. Compared with that in the HIOP group, the expression of anti-inflammatory factors, DOR and TrkB was increased, and the expression of pro-inflammatory factors was decreased in the EA group. In contrast, HIOP had no appreciable effect on BDNF expression. Conclusion: EA at Jingming (BL1) and Shuigou (GV26) or at Jingming (BL1) and Hegu (LI4) may inhibit RIRI induced inflammation through activating the DOR-BDNF/TrkB pathway to protect the retina, especially the pair of Jingming (BL1) and Shuigou (GV26) has better inhibitory effects on inflammation.

The effect of different tea products on flavor, texture, antioxidant and in vitro digestion properties of fresh instant rice after commercial sterilization at 121 °C.

The conventional process of commercial sterilization at 121 °C resulted in undesirable flavor, injured texture and fast starch digestion of fresh instant rice (FIR) with non-dehydration. In this study, tea products, such as instant green tea (IGT), instant black tea (IBT) and matcha (Mat) were chosen as ingredients to improve the quality of FIR. The results showed thatadding tea products endowed FIR with subtle flavors and higher antioxidant capacity. And the data of XRD, FTIR and SEM indicated that the improved texture of FIR with suitable chewiness was attributed to the stability of non-crystal structure. Furthermore, compared with IBT and Mat, IGT increased the ability against digestion from 10.18% to 30.44% and delayed the retrogradation rate from 18.89% to 4.38% evidenced by T2 values after stored for 14 d. Therefore, adding tea products will be a new way to improve the quality of FIR.

Effects of tea products on in vitro starch digestibility and eating quality of cooked rice using domestic cooking method.

Cooked rice (CR) is a staple diet for many people, but exhibits the high glycemic index that makes it difficult to control the blood glucose. Herein, instant green tea (IGT), instant black tea (IBT) and matcha (Mat) (1, 2 and 3% w/w, rice basis) were added to lower the in vitro starch digestibility and improve the eating quality of CR prepared with an electric rice cooker. The results showed that adding tea products at each level could remarkably reduce the in vitro starch digestibility of CR. Compared with IGT and IBT, 3% of Mat significantly decreased the contents of rapidly digestible starch (RDS) from 72.96% to 60.99%, the digestion rate constant (K) from 11.4 × 10-2 to 8.68 × 10-2 min-1 and the expected glycemic index (eGI) from 77.55 to 66.86. Furthermore, the gas chromatography-ion migration spectrum was analysed to confirm that the tea products endowed the cooked rice with a refreshing flavor by inducing the redistribution of the main aroma components. Moreover, it was found that increasing the ordered crystal structure of rice grains played a major role on lowering the starch digestion, which was demonstrated by the results of the Rapid Visco Analyser, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. These findings suggested that cooking rice with tea products, especially Mat, can be useful in enhancing the palatability and slowing the in vitro digestion properties of CR.