Characterization and Antioxidant Evaluation of Four Kinds of Marine Oils in vitro.

The objective of this study was to characterize the lipid class and fatty acid composition of four kinds of marine oils including Phaeodactylum tricornutum oil (PO), Laminaria japonica oil (LO), krill oil (KO) and fish oil (FO), and evaluate their antioxidant capacities in vitro. The results indicated that compared to other three oils, PO showed the highest contents of total lipids and fucoxanthin (194.70 and 7.48 mg/g dry weight, respectively), the relatively higher content of long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids including eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) (30.94 % in total fatty acids), and total phenolic content (675.88 mg gallic acid equivalent /100 g lipids), thereby contribute to great advantages in scavenging free radicals such as 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), 2-azino-bis (3-ethylbenzthiazoline)-6-sulfonic acid (ABTS), peroxyl radical, as well as reducing FRAP value. In conclusion, PO should be considered as a potential ingredient for dietary supplement with antioxidant capacity.

QMRA of beach water by Nanopore sequencing-based viability-metagenomics absolute quantification.

The majority of the current regulatory practices for routine monitoring of beach water quality rely on the culture-based enumeration of faecal indicator bacteria (FIB) to develop criteria for promoting the general public's health. To address the limitations of culture methods and the arguable reliability of FIB in indicating health risks, we developed a Nanopore metagenomic sequencing-based viable cell absolute quantification workflow to rapidly and accurately estimate a broad range of microbes in beach waters by a combination of propidium monoazide (PMA) and cellular spike-ins. Using the simple synthetic bacterial communities mixed with viable and heat-killed cells, we observed near-complete relic DNA removal by PMA with minimal disturbance to the composition of viable cells, demonstrating the feasibility of PMA treatment in profiling viable cells by Nanopore sequencing. On a simple mock community comprised of 15 prokaryotic species, our results showed high accordance between the expected and estimated concentrations, suggesting the accuracy of our method in absolute quantification. We then further assessed the accuracy of our method for counting viable Escherichia coli and Vibrio spp. in beach waters by comparing to culture-based method, which were also in high agreement. Furthermore, we demonstrated that 1 Gb sequences obtained within 2 h would be sufficient to quantify a species having a concentration of ≥ 10 cells/mL in beach waters. Using our viability-resolved quantification workflow to assess the microbial risk of the beach water, we conducted (1) screening-level quantitative microbial risk assessment (QMRA) to investigate human illness risk and site-specific risk patterns that might guide risk management efforts and (2) metagenomics-based resistome risk assessment to evaluate another layer of risk caused by difficult illness treatment due to antimicrobial resistance (AMR). In summary, our metagenomic workflow for the rapid absolute quantification of viable bacteria demonstrated its great potential in paving new avenues toward holistic microbial risk assessment.

Assembly and comparative analysis of the first complete mitochondrial genome of Acer truncatum Bunge: a woody oil-tree species producing nervonic acid.

BACKGROUND: Acer truncatum (purpleblow maple) is a woody tree species that produces seeds with high levels of valuable fatty acids (especially nervonic acid). The species is admired as a landscape plant with high developmental prospects and scientific research value. The A. truncatum chloroplast genome has recently been reported; however, the mitochondrial genome (mitogenome) is still unexplored. RESULTS: We characterized the A. truncatum mitogenome, which was assembled using reads from PacBio and Illumina sequencing platforms, performed a comparative analysis against different species of Acer. The circular mitogenome of A. truncatum has a length of 791,052 bp, with a base composition of 27.11% A, 27.21% T, 22.79% G, and 22.89% C. The A. truncatum mitogenome contains 62 genes, including 35 protein-coding genes, 23 tRNA genes and 4 rRNA genes. We also examined codon usage, sequence repeats, RNA editing and selective pressure in the A. truncatum mitogenome. To determine the evolutionary and taxonomic status of A. truncatum, we conducted a phylogenetic analysis based on the mitogenomes of A. truncatum and 25 other taxa. In addition, the gene migration from chloroplast and nuclear genomes to the mitogenome were analyzed. Finally, we developed a novel NAD1 intron indel marker for distinguishing several Acer species. CONCLUSIONS: In this study, we assembled and annotated the mitogenome of A. truncatum, a woody oil-tree species producing nervonic acid. The results of our analyses provide comprehensive information on the A. truncatum mitogenome, which would facilitate evolutionary research and molecular barcoding in Acer.

Moisture variation analysis of the green plum during the drying process based on low-field nuclear magnetic resonance.

Green plums were dried at 50, 60, 70, and 80 ℃ to study the dynamic changes of internal moisture during the drying process. Low-field nuclear magnetic resonance (LF-NMR) was used to study the dynamic changes across the T2 relaxation spectrum, while magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) provided visualization of the plums throughout the process. The results indicate a negative linear relationship between the lost moisture of the plums (p < 0.05) as drying time increased. Relaxation times T21 , T22, and T23 , and the peak areas of A21 and A23 decreased significantly during the drying process. The MRI results also show that the brightness of the images decreased as the drying time increased, indicating that the higher the temperature, the greater the water loss inside the plums. Color measurements demonstrated that the high temperature dried plums had better sensory quality. Correlation analysis implies a strong positive relationship between A23 and Atotal and water content, with coefficients of 0.958 and 0.936, respectively. Principal component analysis results show that the drying temperature has a significant effect on the sample's internal moisture release. LF-NMR is a fast, convenient, and feasible technique for monitoring the moisture variation of green plums during the drying process. PRACTICAL APPLICATION: Low-field nuclear magnetic resonance (LF-NMR) was used to study the moisture dynamic changes of green plums across the T2 relaxation spectrum, while magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) provided visualization of plums throughout the process. The drying temperature has a significant effect on the green plum's internal moisture release and may affect the quality of the plums. LF-NMR might be a complementary technique in monitoring the moisture variation of green plums during the drying process.

Identification and Mapping of Stable QTLs for Seed Oil and Protein Content in Soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.].

This research aimed to identify stable quantitative trait loci (QTL) associated with oil and protein content in soybean. A population of 196 recombinant inbred lines (RILs) derived from Huachun 2 × Wayao was used to evaluate these target traits. A high-density genetic linkage map was constructed by using high-throughput genome-wide sequencing technology, which contained 3413 recombination bin markers and spanned 5400.4 cM with an average distance of 1.58 cM between markers. Eighteen stable QTLs controlling oil and protein content were detected. Among them, qOil-11-1 was identified for the first time as a novel QTL, while qOil-5-1, qPro-10-1, and qPro-14-1 were strong and stable QTLs with high log-likelihood (LOD) values. Sixteen differentially expressed genes (DEGs) within these four QTLs were shown to be highly expressed during seed development based on RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) data analysis. Our results may contribute toward gene mining and marker-assisted selection (MAS) for breeding a high-quality soybean in the future.

Characterization of the Complete Chloroplast Genome of Acer truncatum Bunge (Sapindales: Aceraceae): A New Woody Oil Tree Species Producing Nervonic Acid.

Acer truncatum, which is a new woody oil tree species, is an important ornamental and medicinal plant in China. To assess the genetic diversity and relationships of A. truncatum, we analyzed its complete chloroplast (cp) genome sequence. The A. truncatum cp genome comprises 156,492 bp, with the large single-copy, small single-copy, and inverted repeat (IR) regions consisting of 86,010, 18,050, and 26,216 bp, respectively. The A. truncatum cp genome contains 112 unique functional genes (i.e., 4 rRNA, 30 tRNA, and 78 protein-coding genes) as well as 78 simple sequence repeats, 9 forward repeats, 1 reverse repeat, 5 palindromic repeats, and 7 tandem repeats. We analyzed the expansion/contraction of the IR regions in the cp genomes of six Acer species. A comparison of these cp genomes indicated the noncoding regions were more diverse than the coding regions. A phylogenetic analysis revealed that A. truncatum is closely related to A. miaotaiense. Moreover, a novel ycf4-cemA indel marker was developed for distinguishing several Acer species (i.e., A. buergerianum, A. truncatum, A. henryi, A. negundo, A. ginnala, and A. tonkinense). The results of the current study provide valuable information for future evolutionary studies and the molecular barcoding of Acer species.

Conversion of poplar into bio-oil via subcritical hydrothermal liquefaction: Structure and antioxidant capacity.

Subcritical hydrothermal liquefaction of poplar was performed at 220-280 °C, and the liquid phase produced was extracted by ethyl acetate to obtain light oil (LO), which contained LO1 (water-soluble) and LO2 (ethyl acetate-soluble). The residue was further extracted with acetone to produce heavy oil (HO) and solid residue (SR). The highest bio-oil yield of 19.88% was obtained at 260 °C. The HO produced at 260 °C had the highest content of C (69.13%) and the higher heating value was 27.97 MJ/kg. The O/C and H/C ratios of LO were higher than those of HO due to less aromatics in LO. Oxidative inhibition rates of bio-oils, measured in DPPH-ethanol solution at a concentration of 0.1 mg/mL, reached 60.76% for LO1 while 90.29% and 90.85% for LO2 and HO, respectively. The bio-oil with good antioxidant activity can be utilized as an additive in bio-diesel to improve oxidation stability.

Prevalence and risk factors for asthma among children aged 0-14 years in Hangzhou: a cross-sectional survey.

BACKGROUND: Asthma is a global problem. Prevalence varies among different countries and cities. We aimed to obtain the prevalence, describe the characteristics, and discover factors that may relate to asthma in Hangzhou. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted in Hangzhou. The subjects were children aged 14 years and younger. A control group of non-asthma children that matched in age and sex with each asthmatic patient was also randomly selected and interviewed. International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood and National Epidemiology study of Asthma and Allergies in China questionnaires were used in this survey. RESULTS: We have questionnaired 13,877 children, and 665 (4.8 %) children were diagnosed asthma. The guardians regarded the cost of asthma management affordable in 49.4 %, tolerable in 46.9 %, and intolerable in 3.7 %. Both guardians and children have been absent from work or school due to children's asthma. Respiratory tract infection was the most common trigger of asthma attacks (85.1 %). Other common causes included cold air, house dust, exercise, fish and shrimp, pollen, and et al. Interestingly, we also found in children 6 years and older, some triggers happened more than that in children 5 years and younger. Those factors included exercise, emotional changes, house dust, pollen, renovation works in the home, mosquito-repellent incense and pets (all the p values were <0.05). We compared some factors may relate to asthma development. Higher percentage of family history of asthma, personal history of allergy (atopic dermatitis, drug allergy and food allergy), comorbidities (allergic rhinitis, sinusitis, adenoidal hypertrophy, and urticaria), caesarean birth and complications ever happened during pregnancy were discovered in asthma children than in non-asthma children (all the p values were <0.05). Exclusive breastfeeding within first 6 months and keeping animals had higher percentage in non-asthma children than in asthma (both the p values were <0.05). Inhaled corticosteroid (ICS)/ICS + long-acting beta2 agonists (LABA) was applied to 46.2 % of patients. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) was used in 44.2 % of asthma children, while leukotriene receptor antagonist (LTRA) was used in 36.4 % of them. The adherence scored higher in TCM than in ICS/ICS + LABA (P = 0.003) and LTRA. CONCLUSIONS: In conclusion, we conducted an epidemiology study in Hangzhou. The prevalence of childhood asthma was 4.8 %. Asthma was an economic and social burden to both children and guardians. Risk factors of asthma development may include caesarean birth, personal history of allergy and concomitant allergic diseases. Exclusive breastfeeding within first 6 months and keeping animals might be protecting factors. TCM was really popular in China besides ICS/ICS + LABA and LTRA.

Investigation into the anti-thrombosis effect and contents of total saponins and flavonoids in the bioactive fraction of Naodesheng prescription.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Naodesheng prescription is a widely used traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), and mainly applied in clinics to treat cerebral arteriosclerosis, ischemic stroke, sequelae of cerebral hemorrhage etc. AIM OF THE STUDY: The present study was designed to investigate the anti-thrombosis effects of this prescription, and to search its bioactive fraction. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We evaluated the anti-thrombotic effects by measuring platelet aggregation in rats, and the clotting time and protection rate in mice. The contents of total saponins and flavonoids in the bioactive fraction were determined by UV-vis spectrophotometry. RESULTS: The results showed that Naodesheng has significant anti-thrombotic and anticoagulation effects. The contents of total saponins and flavonoids in the bioactive fraction were 7.885% and 8.434%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Such study will contribute to further exploration of Naodesheng in the therapy of thrombosis diseases and to its re-development based on the bioactive fraction and ingredients.

Multiple information contents derived from the chromatograms and their application to the modeling of quantitative profile-efficacy relationship.

Herbal medicine has been successfully applied in clinical therapeutics throughout the world. In this paper, various information contents in addition to a best-first search strategy are proposed for improving prediction quality of quantitative profile-efficacy relationship (QPER). As a demonstration, a QPER model was constructed to predict the blood-clotting time increasing effect of Naodesheng prescription, a widely used herbal medicine in China. Evaluated by both the self-consistency test and the rigorous jackknife test, the predictive accuracy was increased by feeding the model with the merged information contents compared to only with the common chromatographic peak areas. The confirmation experiment exhibited that the predicted blood-clotting time were well consistent with the observed values. Furthermore, it has not escaped from our notice that the important potential application of the current QPER model is to be extended to help search active fractions, which has attracted more and more attention in the re-developments of herbal medicines based on the active compounds.

[Simulation study of antithrombotic active fraction of Naodesheng by support vector machine].

OBJECTIVE: To screen the antithrombotic active fraction of Naodesheng. METHODS: The collagen and adrenaline-induced thrombosis by tail intravenous injection in mice was used. Based on orthogonal design, the support vector machine model was established for pharmacodynamics prediction of TCM prescriptions. RESULTS: The model established in this study could predict the drug actions of different combinations. CONCLUSION: The pharmacodynamic actions of several formulas are superior to that of the original formula and CD has the best effect.

A support vector machine based pharmacodynamic prediction model for searching active fraction and ingredients of herbal medicine: Naodesheng prescription as an example.

The complex chemical composition of herbal medicine leads to the lack of appropriate method for identifying active compounds and optimizing the formulation of herbal medicine. One of the most commonly used method is bioassay-guided fractionation. However, if the herbal medicine was divided into many fractions, it would cost much money and time in carrying out such a full bioassay. So, can we just perform the bioassay of a few fractions, and then develop a method to predict the bioactivities of other fractions? This study is designed to try to answer the question. In this work, a support vector machine (SVM) pharmacodynamic prediction model was introduced to search active fraction and ingredients of Naodesheng prescription. The prescription was first divided into five extracts, yielding a total of 25=32 combinations. Anti-platelet aggregation experiment with SD rats was just carried out on 16 combinations. The effects of the remained 32-16=16 combinations were then predicted by the SVM model. The prediction quality was evaluated by both the rigorous jackknife test and the independent dataset validation test. Furthermore, the present method was compared with the frequently used MLR, PCR and PLSR. The present method outperforms the other 3 methods, yielding: RMSECV=2.40, R=0.895 by the jackknife test and RMSEP=7.41, R=0.910 by the independent dataset test. It indicates that the SVM prediction model has good accuracy and generalization ability. The active fraction and ingredients of Naodesheng prescription were then predicted by the model. It is believed that the present model can be extended to help search the active fraction and ingredients of other herbal medicines.

A new alkaloid from the stem of Sparganium stoloniferum Buch.-Ham.

A new alkaloid (1), together with five known compounds (2-6), has been isolated from the stem of Sparganium stoloniferum Buch.-Ham. The structure of the new compound was elucidated as 3-isobutyl-tetrahydro-imidazo[1,2-a]pyridine-2,5-dione on the basis of physical and chemical evidence and spectral analysis. Compound 6 was obtained for the first time from the Sparganium genus.