Comparative transcriptomic profiles of Paulownia catalpifolia under different degrees of chilling stress during the seedling stage.

BACKGROUND: Paulownia, an ecologically and economically valuable plant species native to China, is notable for its excellent timber quality and strong adaptability. Among them, Paulownia catalpifolia displays the ability to survive in cold climate, a trait associated with northern China. Yet, the molecular information for its cold-tolerance has not been explored. This study was to investigate the changes in physiological indices and transcript levels of P. catalpifolia following cold exposure, which could provide evidence for revealing whether there were differences in the genetic basis of inducing physiological perturbations between moderate low temperature (MLT) and extreme low temperature (ELT). RESULTS: The detection of physiological indices under diverse degrees of chilling stress showed similar patterns of alteration. Enhanced accumulation of osmoregulatory substances, such as soluble sugar and soluble protein, were more conducive under ELT compared to MLT in P. catalpifolia. Moreover, we observed leaf wilting symptoms distinctly after exposure to ELT for 48 h, while this effect was not obvious after MLT exposure for 48 h. Comparative transcriptomic analysis between MLT and ELT demonstrated 13,688 differentially expressed genes (DEGs), most of them appeared after 12 h and 48 h of treatment. GO and KEGG analyses elucidated prominent enrichment in aromatic-L-amino-acid decarboxylase activity term and carbohydrate metabolism pathways. Therefore, it was speculated that the DEGs involved in the above processes might be related to the difference in the contents of soluble protein and soluble sugar between MLT and ELT. Time series clustering analyses further highlighted several key genes engaged in the 'Glycosyltransferases', 'Galactose metabolism' and 'Starch and sucrose metabolism' pathways as well as the 'tyrosine decarboxylase activity' term. For instance, cellulose synthase-like A (CLSA2/9), raffinose synthase (RafS2), ß-amylase (BAM1) and tyrosine/DOPA decarboxylase (TYDC1/2/5) genes, diverging in their expression trends between MLT and ELT, might significantly affect the soluble sugar and soluble protein abundance within P. catalpifolia. CONCLUSION: Between MLT and ELT treatments, partial overlaps in response pathways of P. catalpifolia were identified, while several genes regulating the accumulation of osmotic adjustment substances had disparate expression patterns. These findings could provide a novel physiological and molecular perspective for P. catalpifolia to adapt to complex low temperature habitats.

Icariside II in NSCLC and COVID-19: Network pharmacology and molecular docking study.

BACKGROUND: Patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) are susceptible to coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19), but current treatments are limited. Icariside II (IS), a flavonoid compound derived from the plant epimedin, showed anti-cancer,anti-inflammation and immunoregulation effects. The present study aimed to evaluate the possible effect and underlying mechanisms of IS on NSCLC patients with COVID-19 (NSCLC/COVID-19). METHODS: NSCLC/COVID-19 targets were defined as the common targets of NSCLC (collected from The Cancer Genome Atlas database) and COVID-19 targets (collected from disease database of Genecards, OMIM, and NCBI). The correlations of NSCLC/COVID-19 targets and survival rates in patients with NSCLC were analyzed using the survival R package. Prognostic analyses were performed using univariate and multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression models. Furthermore, the targets in IS treatment of NSCLC/COVID-19 were defined as the overlapping targets of IS (predicted from drug database of TMSCP, HERBs, SwissTarget Prediction) and NSCLC/COVID-19 targets. Gene Ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes enrichment analysis of these treatment targets were performed aiming to understand the biological process, cellular component, molecular function and signaling pathway. The hub targets were analyzed by a protein-protein interaction network and the binding capacity with IS was characterized by molecular docking. RESULTS: The hub targets for IS in the treatment of NSCLC/COVID-19 includes F2, SELE, MMP1, MMP2, AGTR1 and AGTR2, and the molecular docking results showed that the above target proteins had a good binding degree to IS. Network pharmacology showed that IS might affect the leucocytes migration, inflammation response and active oxygen species metabolic process, as well as regulate the interleukin-17, tumor necrosus factor and hypoxia-inducible factor-1 signaling pathway in NSCLC/COVID-19. CONCLUSIONS: IS may enhance the therapeutic efficacy of current clinical anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer therapy to benefit patients with NSCLC combined with COVID-19.

Complete genome sequence of a novel virus belonging to the genus Badnavirus in jujube (Ziziphus jujuba Mill.) in China.

The genome sequence of a novel circular DNA virus related to members of the genus Badnavirus was identified in diseased jujube trees by high-throughput sequencing and verified by conventional Sanger sequencing of cloned PCR products. The name "jujube badnavirus WS" (JuBWS) is proposed for this virus. Diseased jujube leaves showed yellow mosaic and malformation symptoms, with round chlorotic spots found on diseased fruit. The genome of this virus has a length of 6450 nt and has a typical badnavirus genomic structure with three open reading frames (ORFs). JuBWS was identified as a novel badnavirus based on nucleotide differences in the RNase (RT + RNase H) coding region of ORF3. The JuBWS sequence showed 70.48-76.41% nucleotide sequence identity to other known badnaviruses, thus meeting the taxonomic criterion for establishing a new species within the genus Badnavirus. This study suggested that the novel badnavirus might be a pathogen associated with jujube mosaic disease, and this will be investigated in the future.

Chromosome doubling influences the morphological, physiological, biochemical and genetic traits related to essential oil biosynthesis of peppermint (Mentha piperita) under salinity stress.

Peppermint (Mentha piperita L.) is an important medicinal aromatic plant. In this study, the morphology, physiology, biochemistry and gene expression of chromosomes doubling peppermint (D1 lines) were analyzed. The analysis showed that D1 lines had larger, thicker and darker leaves, and stronger roots when planted in the pots, but delayed growth in the field condition. Under NaCl stress, the D1 lines increased cell oxidative defense through more active antioxidant enzymes and decreased the oxidative damages of cell membrane, leading to a significantly greater survival rate and photosynthesis intensity than WT lines. The size and density of glandular trichomes of D1 lines was larger, which contributed to its higher essential oil yield. In addition, chromosome doubling reduced the inhibition of NaCl stress on essential oil yield and quality, through changing the expression of genes in the oil biosynthesis pathway. The traits of chromosome doubling peppermint provide new technical and theoretical evidence for peppermint germplasm improvement.

Baicalin ameliorates cigarette smoke-induced airway inflammation in rats by modulating HDAC2/NF-κB/PAI-1 signalling.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a chronic inflammatory disease distinguished by airway remodelling and progressive inflammation. PAI-1 is an important regulator of fibrosis. Recent studies have shown that PAI-1 seems to be involved in COPD progression. Elevated levels of PAI-1 have been found in the lungs of patients with acute inflammation. PAI-1 has been shown to regulate the levels of proinflammatory cytokines in the lungs, such as tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-α and interleukin (IL)-6, indicating that PAI-1 may play a fundamental role during inflammation. In the present study, we investigated the anti-inflammatory role of baicalin, the main active component of Scutellaria baicalensis, against cigarette smoke (extract) (CS/CSE)-induced airway inflammation in vivo and in vitro. For the in vivo study, SD rats were exposed to CS for 1 h/day, 6 days/week, for 24 weeks and treated with baicalin (40, 80 and 160 mg/kg) or budesonide (0.2 mg/kg). For this study, HBE cells were pretreated with baicalin (10, 20, 40 µM) or dexamethasone (10-7 M) and then exposed to CSE. We found that baicalin treatment could ameliorate CS-induced airway inflammatory infiltration in rats and decrease PAI-1 expression. The ELISA results showed that baicalin significantly inhibited the levels of TNF-α and IL-1ß in CS/CSE-exposed rats and cells. Mechanistic studies showed that baicalin enhanced histone deacetylase 2 (HDAC2) protein expression and inhibited the expression of NF-κB and its downstream target PAI-1, and these effects were reversed by the HDAC2 inhibitor CAY-10683. In conclusion, baicalin ameliorated CS-induced airway inflammation in rats, and these effects were partially attributed to the modulation of HDAC2/NF-κB/PAI-1 signalling.

Genome-Wide Identification, Characterization and Expression Analysis of TCP Transcription Factors in Petunia.

The plant-specific TCP transcription factors are well-characterized in both monocots and dicots, which have been implicated in multiple aspects of plant biological processes such as leaf morphogenesis and senescence, lateral branching, flower development and hormone crosstalk. However, no systematic analysis of the petunia TCP gene family has been described. In this work, a total of 66 petunia TCP genes (32 PaTCP genes in P. axillaris and 34 PiTCP genes in P. inflata) were identified. Subsequently, a systematic analysis of 32 PaTCP genes was performed. The phylogenetic analysis combined with structural analysis clearly distinguished the 32 PaTCP proteins into two classes-class Ι and class Ⅱ. Class Ⅱ was further divided into two subclades, namely, the CIN-TCP subclade and the CYC/TB1 subclade. Plenty of cis-acting elements responsible for plant growth and development, phytohormone and/or stress responses were identified in the promoter of PaTCPs. Distinct spatial expression patterns were determined among PaTCP genes, suggesting that these genes may have diverse regulatory roles in plant growth development. Furthermore, differential temporal expression patterns were observed between the large- and small-flowered petunia lines for most PaTCP genes, suggesting that these genes are likely to be related to petal development and/or petal size in petunia. The spatiotemporal expression profiles and promoter analysis of PaTCPs indicated that these genes play important roles in petunia diverse developmental processes that may work via multiple hormone pathways. Moreover, three PaTCP-YFP fusion proteins were detected in nuclei through subcellular localization analysis. This is the first comprehensive analysis of the petunia TCP gene family on a genome-wide scale, which provides the basis for further functional characterization of this gene family in petunia.

Genome-wide identification and characterization of the ALOG gene family in Petunia.

BACKGROUND: The ALOG (Arabidopsis LSH1 and Oryza G1) family of proteins, namely DUF640 (domain of unknown function 640) domain proteins, were found in land plants. Functional characterization of a few ALOG members in model plants such as Arabidopsis and rice suggested they play important regulatory roles in plant development. The information about its evolution, however, is largely limited, and there was no any report on the ALOG genes in Petunia, an important ornamental species. RESULTS: The ALOG genes were identified in four species of Petunia including P. axillaris, P. inflata, P. integrifolia, and P. exserta based on the genome and/or transcriptome databases, which were further confirmed by cloning from P. hybrida 'W115' (Mitchel diploid), a popular laboratorial petunia line susceptible to genetic transformation. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that Petunia ALOG genes (named as LSHs according to their closest Arabidopsis homologs) were grouped into four clades, which can be further divided into eight groups, and similar exon-intron structure and motifs are reflected in the same group. The PhLSH genes of hybrid petunia 'W115' were mainly derived from P. axillaris. The qPCR analysis revealed distinct spatial expression patterns among them suggesting potentially functional diversification. Moreover, over-expressing PhLSH7a and PhLSH7b in Arabidopsis uncovered their functions in the development of both vegetative and reproductive organs. CONCLUSIONS: Petunia genome includes 11 ALOG genes that can be divided into eight distinct groups, and they also show different expression patterns. Among these genes, PhLSH7b and PhLSH7a play significant roles in plant growth and development, especially in fruit development. Our results provide new insight into the evolution of ALOG gene family and have laid a good foundation for the study of petunia LSH gene in the future.

Reduced Expression of CbUFO Is Associated with the Phenotype of a Flower-Defective Cosmos bipinnatus.

LEAFY (LFY) and UNUSUAL FLORAL ORGANS (UFO) homologous genes have been reported to play key roles in promoting the initiation of floral meristems in raceme- and cyme-type plants. Asteraceae, a large family of plants with more than 23,000 species, has a unique head-like inflorescence termed capitulum. Here, we report a floral defective plant of the garden cosmos named green head (gh), which shows homogeneous inflorescence, indistinguishable inflorescence periphery and center, and the replacement of flower meristems by indeterminate inflorescence meristems, coupled with iterative production of bract-like organs and higher order of inflorescences. A comparison of the LFY- and UFO-like genes (CbFLY and CbUFO) isolated from both the wild-type and gh cosmos revealed that CbUFO may play an important role in inflorescence differentiation into different structures and promotion of flower initiation, and the reduced expression of CbUFO in the gh cosmos could be associated with the phenotypes of the flower-defective plants. Further expression analysis indicated that CbUFO may promote the conversion of inflorescence meristem into floral meristem in early ray flower formation, but does not play a role in its later growth period.

Genome-wide identification and characterization of the SBP-box gene family in Petunia.

BACKGROUND: SQUAMOSA PROMOTER BINDING PROTEIN (SBP)-box genes encode a family of plant-specific transcription factors (TFs) that play important roles in many growth and development processes including phase transition, leaf initiation, shoot and inflorescence branching, fruit development and ripening etc. The SBP-box gene family has been identified and characterized in many species, but has not been well studied in Petunia, an important ornamental genus. RESULTS: We identified 21 putative SPL genes of Petunia axillaris and P. inflata from the reference genome of P. axillaris N and P. inflata S6, respectively, which were supported by the transcriptome data. For further confirmation, all the 21 genes were also cloned from P. hybrida line W115 (Mitchel diploid). Phylogenetic analysis based on the highly conserved SBP domains arranged PhSPLs in eight groups, analogous to those from Arabidopsis and tomato. Furthermore, the Petunia SPL genes had similar exon-intron structure and the deduced proteins contained very similar conserved motifs within the same subgroup. Out of 21 PhSPL genes, fourteen were predicted to be potential targets of PhmiR156/157, and the putative miR156/157 response elements (MREs) were located in the coding region of group IV, V, VII and VIII genes, but in the 3'-UTR regions of group VI genes. SPL genes were also identified from another two wild Petunia species, P. integrifolia and P. exserta, based on their transcriptome databases to investigate the origin of PhSPLs. Phylogenetic analysis and multiple alignments of the coding sequences of PhSPLs and their orthologs from wild species indicated that PhSPLs were originated mainly from P. axillaris. qRT-PCR analysis demonstrated differential spatiotemperal expression patterns of PhSPL genes in petunia and many were expressed predominantly in the axillary buds and/or inflorescences. In addition, overexpression of PhSPL9a and PhSPL9b in Arabidopsis suggested that these genes play a conserved role in promoting the vegetative-to-reproductive phase transition. CONCLUSION: Petunia genome contains at least 21 SPL genes, and most of the genes are expressed in different tissues. The PhSPL genes may play conserved and diverse roles in plant growth and development, including flowering regulation, leaf initiation, axillary bud and inflorescence development. This work provides a comprehensive understanding of the SBP-box gene family in Petunia and lays a significant foundation for future studies on the function and evolution of SPL genes in petunia.

[Automatic Classification of Dry Cough and Wet Cough Based on Improved Reverse Mel Frequency Cepstrum Coefficients].

Automatic classification of different types of cough plays an important role in clinical.In the previous research of cough classification or cough recognition,traditional Mel frequency cepstrum coefficients(MFCC)which extracts feature mainly from low frequency band is usually used as feature expression.In this paper,by analyzing the distributions of spectral energy of dry/wet cough,it is found that spectral difference of two types of cough exits mainly in middle frequency band and high frequency band.To better reflect the spectral difference of dry cough and wet cough,an improved method of extracting reverse MFCC is proposed.In this method,reverse Mel filter-bank in which filters are allocated in reverse Mel scale is adopted and is improved by placing filters only in the frequency band with high spectral energy.As a result,features are mainly extracted from the frequency band where two types of cough show both high spectral energy and distinguished difference.Detailed process of accessing improved reverse MFCC was introduced and hidden Markov models trained by 60 dry cough and 60 wet cough were used as cough classification model.Classification experiment results for 120 dry cough and 85 wet cough showed that,compared to traditional MFCC,better classification performance was achieved by the proposed method and the total classification accuracy was raised from 89.76%to 93.66%.

CO2 Fixation, Lipid Production, and Power Generation by a Novel Air-Lift-Type Microbial Carbon Capture Cell System.

An air-lift-type microbial carbon capture cell (ALMCC) was constructed for the first time by using an air-lift-type photobioreactor as the cathode chamber. The performance of ALMCC in fixing high concentration of CO2, producing energy (power and biodiesel), and removing COD together with nutrients was investigated and compared with the traditional microbial carbon capture cell (MCC) and air-lift-type photobioreactor (ALP). The ALMCC system produced a maximum power density of 972.5 mW·m(-3) and removed 86.69% of COD, 70.52% of ammonium nitrogen, and 69.24% of phosphorus, which indicate that ALMCC performed better than MCC in terms of power generation and wastewater treatment efficiency. Besides, ALMCC demonstrated 9.98- and 1.88-fold increases over ALP and MCC in the CO2 fixation rate, respectively. Similarly, the ALMCC significantly presented a higher lipid productivity compared to those control reactors. More importantly, the preliminary analysis of energy balance suggested that the net energy of the ALMCC system was significantly superior to other systems and could theoretically produce enough energy to cover its consumption. In this work, the established ALMCC system simultaneously achieved the high level of CO2 fixation, energy recycle, and municipal wastewater treatment effectively and efficiently.

Modified Bushen Yiqi Formula mitigates pulmonary inflammation and airway remodeling by inhibiting neutrophils chemotaxis and IL17 signaling pathway in rats with COPD.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a major global health concern characterized by pulmonary inflammation and airway remodeling. Traditional Chinese medicine, such as Modified Jiawei Bushen Yiqi Formula (MBYF), has been used as a complementary therapy for COPD in China. AIM OF THE STUDY: To investigate the therapeutic potential of MBYF in a rat model of COPD induced by cigarette smoke (CS) exposure and explore the underlying mechanism. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The COPD rat model was established through 24 weeks of CS exposure, with MBYF administration starting in the 9th week. Pulmonary function, histological analysis, inflammatory cell count and molecular assays were employed to assess the effects of MBYF on airway remodeling, pulmonary inflammation, neutrophils chemotaxis and the IL17 signaling pathway. RESULTS: MBYF treatment effectively delayed airway remodeling, as evidenced by improved pulmonary function parameters. Histological examination and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid analysis revealed that MBYF mitigated CS-induced pulmonary inflammation by reducing inflammatory cell infiltration. Pharmacological network analysis suggested that MBYF may act through the IL17 signaling pathway to regulate inflammatory responses. RNA-sequencing and molecular assays indicated that MBYF inhibited neutrophils chemotaxis through downregulating the CXCL1/CXCL5/CXCL8-CXCR2 axis, and suppressed IL17A, IL17F and its downstream cytokines, including IL6, TNFα, IL1ß, and COX2. Furthermore, MBYF inhibited the activation of NF-κB and MAPKs in the IL17 signaling pathway. CONCLUSION: MBYF exhibits potential as an adjunct or alternative treatment for COPD, effectively mitigating CS-induced pulmonary inflammation and airway remodeling through the inhibition of neutrophil chemotaxis and IL17 signaling pathway.

Self-assembly formation of Co quantum dot loaded N-doped porous carbon cathode for quinoline degradation in the electro-Fenton system.

Quinoline is high toxicity and difficult biodegradation in oil washing wastewater. Therefore, efficient removal of quinoline contaminant from water bodies poses a major challenge. Hence, Co quantum dot loaded N-doped porous carbon (CoNC) nanosheets grown in situ on carbon cloth were fabricated as cathode for the degradation of quinoline in electro-Fenton system. Under optimal conditions (c(Fe2+) = 0.5 mM, U = -0.3 V, pH = 3), quinoline was completely degraded within 15 min with superior apparent rate constant of 0.385 min-1, which was 19.6 times higher than that of the ZIF-L precursor, due to the abundance of Co QDs active sites and hydrophilicity and electrical conductivity of N-doped porous carbon. In addition, three reaction pathways for quinoline were deduced by combining Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculation and Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS). More importantly, in situ FTIR and free energy calculations were analyzed to reveal that pathway Ⅰ as spontaneous reaction was the main reaction pathway. Finally, the toxicity of the intermediates was assessed with ECOSAR software and E. coli experiments, and the overall toxicity decreased during the degradation reactions. This work provides novel perspectives on environmental protection by designing in-situ grown cathodes through self-assembly method, thereby effectively purifying pollutants from wastewater.

Effect and safety of electroacupuncture on weight loss in obese patients with pre-diabetes: study protocol of a randomised controlled trial.

INTRODUCTION: Obesity has been identified as a significant risk factor for several chronic conditions, including diabetes, tumours and cardiovascular disease, and has been associated with increased mortality rates. Despite the well-established clinical practice of electroacupuncture (EA) as a potential treatment option for obesity, its efficacy remains questionable, primarily due to the paucity of empirical evidence supporting its therapeutic benefits. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: The present study aims to investigate the efficacy and safety of EA for weight loss in obese individuals with pre-diabetes, using a randomised, placebo-controlled clinical trial design. A total of 256 eligible patients will be randomly assigned to one of two groups: EA (comprising EA treatment with health education) or superficial acupuncture (SA) (comprising SA treatment with health education). The intervention will be administered three times per week for the initial 12 weeks, two times per week for the subsequent 8 weeks and one time per week for the final 4 weeks, with a 24-week follow-up period. The primary outcome measure will be the percentage of patients who achieve a reduction of 10% or more in their body weight at week 24. Secondary outcome measures will include changes in body weight and body mass index, blood test results, data collected by the body composition analyser, size of adipose tissue scanned by MRI of the abdomen and the Impact of Weight on Quality of Life, the 21-item Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire-Revised and the Food Craving Questionnaire-Trait. The Treatment Emergent Symptom Scale will be employed to monitor every adverse reaction from baseline to follow-up. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: This trial has received ethical clearance from the Ethics Committee of Shanghai Municipal Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine under the registration number 2021SHL-KY-74. All participants will provide their written informed consent prior to their enrolment. The findings of this investigation will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publications and scholarly conferences. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NCT05237089.

The mechanism and experimental verification of Ixeris sonchifolia promoting apoptosis of hepatocellular carcinoma based on network pharmacology: Ixeris sonchifolia Induces Hepatocellular Carcinoma Apoptosis via the PI3K/AKT Pathway.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Ixeris sonchifolia alias Kudiezi, it was named Ixeris sonchifolia (Bunge) Hance, a synonym for Crepidiastrum sonchifolium (Bunge) Pak & Kawano in the https://www.iplant.cn/. And it was first published in J. Linn. Soc., Bot. 13: 108 (1873), which was named Ixeris sonchifolia (Maxim.) Hance in the MPNS (http://mpns.kew.org). As a widely distributed medicinal and edible wild plant, it possesses unique bitter-cold characteristics and constituents with various pharmacological activities. Its main antitumor substances, same as artemisinin and paclitaxel, are classified as terpenoids and have become research foci in recent years. However, its specific biological activity and role in antitumor treatment remain largely unclear. AIM OF THE STUDY: This study aimed to elucidate the molecular targets and potential mechanisms of hepatocellular carcinoma apoptosis induced by Ixeris sonchifolia. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We used network pharmacology methods to analyze and screen the active ingredients and possible underlying mechanisms of Ixeris sonchifolia in treating liver cancer and employed integrative time- and dose-dependent toxicity, transcriptomics, and molecular biology approaches to comprehensively verify the function of Ixeris sonchifolia extract (IsE) in human hepatoblastoma cell (HepG2) apoptosis and its potential mechanism. RESULTS: A total of 169 common targets were screened by network pharmacology, and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment analysis showed that IsE inhibited HepG2 cell activity in a time- and dose-dependent manner. Western blot analysis confirmed that IsE promoted HepG2 cell apoptosis by inhibiting the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway and that the PI3K/AKT inhibitor LY294002 also substantially enhanced IsE-induced apoptosis. The PI3K/AKT signaling pathway exhibited significant differences compared to that in the control group. CONCLUSION: Combining network pharmacology with experimental verification, IsE inhibited mitochondrial function and the PI3K/AKT pathway while inducing hepatoma cell apoptosis. IsE may have promising potential for liver cancer treatment and chemoprevention.

Acute stress regulates nociception and inflammatory response induced by bee venom in rats: possible mechanisms.

Restraint stress modulates pain and inflammation. The present study was designed to evaluate the effect of acute restraint stress on inflammatory pain induced by subcutaneous injection of bee venom (BV). First, we investigated the effect of 1 h restraint on the spontaneous paw-flinching reflex (SPFR), decrease in paw withdrawal mechanical threshold (PWMT) and increase in paw volume (PV) of the injected paw induced by BV. SPFR was measured immediately after BV injection, and PWMT and PV were measured 2 h before BV and 2-8 h after BV. The results showed that acute restraint inhibited significantly the SPFR but failed to affect mechanical hyperalgesia. In contrast, stress enhanced significantly inflammatory swelling of the injected paw. In a second series of experiments, the effects of pretreatment with capsaicin locally applied to the sciatic nerve, systemic 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA), and systemic naloxone were examined on the antinociception and proinflammation produced by acute restraint stress. Local capsaicin pretreatment inhibited BV-induced nociception and inflammatory edema, and had additive effects with stress on nociception but reduced stress enhancement of edema. Systemic 6-OHDA treatment attenuated the proinflammatory effect of stress, but did not affect the antinociceptive effect. Systemic naloxone pretreatment eliminated the antinociceptive effect of stress, but did not affect proinflammation. Taken together, our data indicate that acute restraint stress contributes to antinociception via activating an endogenous opioid system, while sympathetic postganglionic fibers may contribute to enhanced inflammation in the BV pain model.

Effects of baicalin on airway remodeling in asthmatic mice.

Airway remodeling is an important characteristic of asthma, linking inflammation with airway hyperresponsiveness. Baicalin, a major active component, was isolated from Radix Scutellariae. Many studies show that baicalin has anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial, and anti-allergic effects. Here we investigate the influence of baicalin on asthmatic airway remodeling and the mechanism underlining the anti-remodeling effect in vivo.Asthmatic airway remodeling mice model was established by ovalbumin exposure. Seventy female BALB/c mice were randomly assigned to seven experimental groups: blank, ovalbumin, hexadecadrol, control, and baicalin (25 mg/kg, 50 mg/kg, 100 mg/kg) groups. Pulmonary function was measured using a whole-body plethysmograph in conscious and unrestrained mice. The lung pathology was observed and measured. The production of cytokines in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid and serum was measured using enzyme-labeled immunosorbent assay kits, and the expression levels of transforming growth factor-ß1 and vascular endothelial growth factor were detected by immunohistochemistry. The protein expression levels of transforming growth factor-ß1, vascular endothelial growth factor, extracellular signal-regulated kinase, and p21ras were measured using Western blot. The results show that ovalbumin exposure significantly increased the expression of interleukin-13 in BALF and serum, and transforming growth factor-ß1, vascular endothelial growth factor, extracellular signal-regulated kinase and p21ras expressions in the lungs. Baicalin attenuated the effects of ovalbumin significantly.It can be concluded that baicalin has significant anti-remodeling effect on ovalbumin-induced asthmatic airway remodeling mice model by decreasing expression of transforming growth factor-ß1, interleukin-13, and vascular endothelial growth factor and inhibiting the activation of the extracellular signal-regulated kinase pathway.

[The application of "preventive treatment theory" in chronic airway inflammatory disease].

Bronchial asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), as chronic airway inflammatory diseases, seriously threaten the health of human beings. Chinese medicine has obvious advantages in prevention and treatment of them. "Preventive treatment theory" is a sort summarization of preventive medicine in Chinese medicine. The theory is not only reflected at the disease prevention levels, also embodied in the active treatment and the rehabilitation process. It was especially deep and colorfully embodied in the prevention and treatment of chronic airway inflammatory diseases such as asthma and COPD. In this paper,clarified were the prevention and treatment targets, ways of thinking and methods in different stages of asthma and COPD from various viewpoints including prevention before disease occurrence, treating disease at disease onset, preventing the aggravation once disease occurs, and consolidation after disease occurs. We hope to improve ways of thinking and prevention and treatment levels of bronchial asthma and COPD by Chinese medicine.

[Analysis of 'treating different diseases by the same method' from aspect of theoretical research and clinical application of 'replenishing Qi and strengthening Shen'].

Treating different diseases by the same method is one of the most important characteristics in Chinese medicine, and as the main principle of treatment it has been widely applied in Chinese clinics. Its clinical effect is clear. The integration of 'differentiation of diseases' and 'differentiation of syndrome' should be the prerequisite and basis of 'treating different diseases by the same method'. Only if different diseases have the same syndrome, the same treatment can be used on them. Replenishing qi and strengthening Shen is a widely used method that carries out 'treating different diseases by the same method'. It is indicated that the method of 'replenishing qi and strengthening Shen' has preferable effects on many diseases. Part of its mechanism is associated with the improvement of function of neuro-endocrine-immune network, and therefore, it has the clinical effect of 'adjustment of the whole and improvement of the part' on partial disorders. Asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), uterine bleeding in puberty, anovulatory infertility, Kidney syndrome and aging, although they are attributed to different diseases and states, only if they have the syndrome of Shen deficiency, the principle of 'treating different diseases by the same method' and the method of 'replenishing qi 'and strengthening Shen' can be used effectively.

Single event response of ferroelectric spacer engineered SOI FinFET at 14 nm technology node.

The impact of spacer on the single event response of SOI FinFET at 14 nm technology node is investigated. Based on the device TCAD model, well-calibrated by the experimental data, it is found that the spacer presents the enhancement on single event transient (SET) compared with no spacer configuration. For single spacer configuration, due to enhanced gate control capability and fringing field, the increments in SET current peak and collected charge for HfO2 are the least with 2.21%, 0.97%, respectively. Four possible dual ferroelectric spacer configurations are proposed. The placement of ferroelectric spacer at S side and HfO2 spacer at D side brings to weaken SET with the variation in current peak and collected charge by 6.93%, 1.86%, respectively. The reason may be its enhanced gate controllability over the S/D extension region, which improves the driven current. With linear energy transfer increasing, SET current peak and collected charge present the trend of increase while the bipolar amplification coefficient reduces.