[Effect of miRNA from Glycyrrhiza uralensis decoction on gene expression of human immune cells].

MicroRNAs(miRNA) are small non-coding RNAs that regulate the expression of protein coding genes by repressing translation of protein coding mRNA or enhancing mRNA degradation. Its functions have attracted more and more attention from the public. In recent years, the cross-border regulation of miRNA has become a new research direction, and provides a new perspective for people to comprehensively understand the functions of miRNA. Plant miRNA is usually methylated and not easy to degrade. According to our previous researches, there were abundant small RNAs in the decoction of dried liquorice, which provides a new way to study the mechanism of action of licorice. In this study, small RNAs extracted from Glycyrrhiza uralensis decoction and synthesized miRNA mimics were used to treat peripheral blood mononuclear cells(PBMC) isolated from healthy volunteers. The gene expression of toll-like receptors(TLRs), some transcription factors, signal molecules and cytokines were analyzed by RT-PCR. The results showed that glycyrrhiza miRNA could significantly regulate PBMC by inhibiting the expression of genes involved in T cell differentiation, inflammation and apoptosis. The study brought new ideas to us in comprehensively studying the mechanism of licorice and developing the traditional Chinese medicine.

[Operational Characteristics of the Simultaneous Nitrogen and Phosphorus Removal and Removal of Phthalate Esters by Three-dimensional Biofilm-electrode Coupled with Iron/Sulfur Reactor].

In order to explore the technological characteristics of the simultaneous removal of phthalate esters (PAEs) as well as nitrogen and phosphorus by the novel technology of three-dimensional biofilm-electrode coupled with iron/sulfur reactor (3DBER-S-Fe), the changes of the total nitrogen (TN),total phosphorus (TP),DBP,DEHP,NO3--N, SO42- and pH value were analyzed under the hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 8 h, 6 h and 4 h respectively. The results showed that 3DBER-S-Fe could remove nitrogen, phosphorus and PAEs effectively. Under the HRT of 8 h, 6 h and 4 h, the removal rates of TN were 80.99%, 78.85% and 64.76%; TP were 65.18%, 67.17% and 43.44%; DBP were 96.72%, 97.32% and 96.53%; DEHP were 91.89%, 81.57% and 74.30%, respectively. There were heterotrophic denitrification, hydrogen autotrophic denitrification and sulfur autotrophic denitrification processes in the 3DBER-S-Fe, the elemental sulfur could compensate for the relative shortage of denitrification electron donor caused by the increase of NO3--N load in the influent as a result of maintaining a high efficiency of the denitrification system when the HRT was shortened from 8h to 4h; the iron ions produced by the corrosion of the sponge iron filler in the system had a sustainable and efficient function of removing phosphorus by precipitation; the 3DBER-S-Fe process combined the interactions of physical adsorption, biological degradation and electrochemical processes which supported its high removal rates of DBP and DEHP under the different HRT conditions.

[Allelopathy of Hydrodictyon reticulatum on Microcystis aeruginosa and its removal capacity on nitrogen and phosphorus].

The effects of liquid culture after cultured with Hydrodictyon reticulatum on the growth of Microcystis aeruginosa were investigated by measuring the D680 value and the chlorophyll-a content of M. aeruginosa. The inhibitory effects of H. reticulatum on M. aeruginosa were studied in both isolated culture and co-culture conditions. Nitrogen and phosphorus removal capacity of H. reticulatum was also tested. Results showed that H. reticulatum could inhibit the growth of M. aeruginosa obviously. After treated by the liquid culture after cultured with H. reticulatum for 8 days, the mortality rate of M. aeruginosa reached 92%. The inhibitory effects of H. reticulatum at different concentrations on M. aeruginosa were different. The strongest inhibitory effect occurred with 3 g/L H. reticulatum in the isolated culture as the D680 value reduced from 0.1 to 0.004 in 10 days, and it occurred with 4 g/L H. reticulatum in the co-culture as the suppression ratio was 96%. Comparing the large-scale death time for cells under these two conditions, the inhibitory effects of H. reticulatum in the isolated culture were stronger than those in the co-culture. The concentrations of nitrogen and phosphorus decreased sharply under both conditions, which showed that H. reticulatum had removal capacity on nitrogen and phosphorus. The decrease speed of nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations positively correlated to the concentrations of H. reticulatum. The highest decrease of nitrogen and phosphorus were 93.4 mg/L and 4.58 mg/L in 10 days, respectively.