Pharmacokinetics of simvastatin lactone and its active metabolite simvastatin hydroxy acid in healthy Chinese male and female volunteers.

BACKGROUND: Gender differences in pharmacokinetics have been reported to have important clinical consequences; however, no information about differences in the pharmacokinetics of the cholesterol-lowering drug simvastatin lactone and its metabolite, simvastatin hydroxy acid, in males and females is available. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of gender on the pharmacokinetics of simvastatin lactone and simvastatin hydroxy acid in healthy Han Chinese volunteers. METHODS: 16 healthy volunteers (8 males and 8 females) were orally administered a single dose of 40 mg simvastatin lactone after an overnight fast. Plasma was then collected 24 hours after simvastatin lactone administration. Concentrations of simvastatin lactone and simvastatin hydroxy acid were measured by high performance liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry/mass spectrometry (HPLC/MS/MS). RESULTS: There were no significant associations between the pharmacokinetic parameters of simvastatin lactone and gender. For simvastatin hydroxy acid, peak plasma concentrations (Cmax) and dose-normalized by the subject weight Cmax (NCmax) were higher in females than in males. Furthermore, NCmax and dose-normalized by the subject weight AUC (NAUC0-24h, NAUC0-∞) ratios of simvastatin hydroxy acid to simvastatin lactone in females were higher than in males. CONCLUSION: This study indicates that gender affects the plasma concentrations of active simvastatin hydroxy acid, but has no significant effect on parent simvastatin lactone. Raised plasma concentrations of simvastatin hydroxy acid in females may enhance the risk of systemic adverse effects during simvastatin lactone treatment.

Zinc glycerolate (Glyzinc): A novel foliar fertilizer for zinc biofortification and cadmium reduction in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.).

Sustainable strategies are essential for zinc (Zn) biofortification and cadmium (Cd) reduction in staple food crops. Herein, we evaluated the phytotoxicity of Glyzinc under foliar and root application (FA&RA) in a lab-scale experiment, and then investigated its Zn efficiency and Cd reduction through foliar application on wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) under field conditions. Compared to RA, FA of Glyzinc exhibited no adverse effect on wheat growth and oxidative stresses at all doses. In field conditions, FA of Glyzinc remarkably increased Zn (28.7 %), S (10.4 %), Cu (17.3 %) and crude protein (9.1 %) content in wheat grain at 100 mg/L without damaging wheat yield. Furthermore, FA of Glyzinc significantly reduced the grain phytic acid (PA) (23.7 %) and Cd level (19.5 %), as well as PA to Zn molar ratio (32.3 %). Overall, our results indicate that Glyzinc has great potential as a high-efficiency foliar fertilizer for Zn biofortification and safe crop production in nano-enabled agriculture.

Microplastics in plant-microbes-soil system: A review on recent studies.

Microplastics (MPs) and nanoplastics (NPs) have been widely studied, mostly focusing on the methods of separation, detection, and adsorption or the ecological effects in aquatic ecosystems. When different sources and types of MPs/NPs enter the soil, they can affect the biogeochemical cycle in terms of the direct impacts on soil physicochemical properties and soil organisms, and the indirect impact on soil biota through changes in soil material cycling. To date, a few studies have focused on the effects of MPs/NPs on soil ecosystems, including soil properties, microbial communities, soil fauna, and plants, as well as the potential or affirmed correlations among them. In this review, we summarized the recent literature on soil MPs/NPs focusing on their types, sources, separation, and ecological impacts on soil properties, microbes, and plants. We attempted to establish an overall relationship between MPs/NPs and soil plant system. Based on existing studies, we also highlight the research gaps and propose several directions for future studies.

Combined effects of degradable film fragments and micro/nanoplastics on growth of wheat seedling and rhizosphere microbes.

Multiple sources of microplastics (MPs) in farmland could result in the changing of microbial community and the plant growth. Most studies of MPs in agricultural system have focused on the effects of single types of MPs on growth of plants, while neglect interactions between multiple types of MPs. In this study a pot-experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of multiple types of MPs, including polystyrene beads: M1, 5 µm, M2, 70 nm and degradable mulching film (DMF) fragments on growth of wheat seedlings and associated rhizosphere microbial community. CKD (adding DMF) significantly reduced plant height and base diameter of wheat seedlings. DMF in combination with M2, significantly increased plant height and aboveground biomass, but decreased the base diameter. Actinobacteria was the dominant taxa in the rhizosphere bacterial community in various treatments. PCoA analysis showed that the bacterial composition in M2HD (100 mg kg-1 M2 with DMF) was significantly different from that of CKD and M2LD (10 mg kg-1 M2 with DMF). At the level of genera, the dominant fungi in CKD and M2LD were in the genus Fusarium, which is the cause of wheat fusarium blight and Alternaria, which results in decreased base diameter. In CK (control group) and M2HD, Blastobotrys exhibited the greatest abundance, which assisted wheat seedlings in resisting Verticillium disease. Cluster and PCoA analysis showed the fungal composition in CKD was significantly different from CK, M2LD and M2HD. These findings suggest MPs potentially have selective effects on pathogens that affect growth of plants and potentially safety of the food.

Combined Effects of Microplastics and Biochar on the Removal of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons and Phthalate Esters and Its Potential Microbial Ecological Mechanism.

Microplastics (MPs) have been attracting wide attention. Biochar (BC) application could improve the soil quality in the contaminated soil. Currently, most studies focused on the effect of MPs or BC on the soil properties and microbial community, while they neglected the combined effects. This study investigated the combined effects of BC or ball-milled BC (BM) and polyethylene plastic fragments (PEPFs) and degradable plastic fragments (DPFs) on the removal of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and phthalate esters (PAEs) from the PAH-contaminated soil and the potential microbial ecological mechanisms. The results showed that BC or BM combined with PEPF could accelerate the removal of PAHs and PAEs. PEPF combined with BM had the most significant effect on the removal of PAHs. Our results indicating two potential possible reasons contribute to increasing the removal of organic pollutants: (1) the high sorption rate on the PEPF and BC and (2) the increased PAH-degrader or PAE-degrader abundance for the removal of organic pollutants.

Effects of phosphorus modified nZVI-biochar composite on emission of greenhouse gases and changes of microbial community in soil.

The effect of modified biochar on the greenhouse gas emission in soil is not clear until now. In this study, biochar (BC) was modified by phosphoric acid (P) and further combined with nano-zero-valent iron (nZVI) to form nZVI-P-BC composite. The P modified biochar could significantly increase the available phosphorus in soil. The release of CO2 and N2O in soil was inhibited during the initial stage of the experiment, with inhibition becoming more obvious over time. On the contrary, CH4 and N2O emission in soil was enhanced by nZVI-P-BC composite. The proportion of Sphingomonas and Gemmatimonas were the most abundant bacterial species, which were related to the metabolism and transformation of nitrogen. The community structure of the fungus was also affected by nZVI-P-BC composite with Fusarium as the main species. PCoA analysis result suggested that bacterial community was more affected by the incubation time while fungal community was more related to the addition of different biochar and modified biochars.

Effects of microplastics on greenhouse gas emissions and the microbial community in fertilized soil.

Microplastics (MPs) are characterized by small particle sizes (<5 mm) and are widely distributed in the soil environment. To date, little research has been conducted on investigating the effects of MPs on the soil microbial community, which plays a vital role in biogeochemical cycling. In the present study, we investigate the influence of two particle sizes of MPs on dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and its relative functional groups, fluxes of greenhouse gases (GHGs), and the bacterial and fungal communities in fertilized soil. The results showed that a 5% concentration of MPs had no significant effect on soil DOC, whereas the formation of aromatic functional groups was accelerated. In fertilized soil, the existence of MPs decreased the global warming potential (GWP) as a result of a reduction in N2O emissions during the first three days. A potential mechanism for this reduction in N2O emissions might be that MPs inhibited the phylum Chloroflexi, Rhodoplanes genera, and increased the abundance of Thermoleophilia on day 3. An increase in N2O emissions was observed on day 30, mainly due to the acceleration of the NO3- reduction and a decrease in the abundance of Gemmatimonadacea. The CH4 uptake was significantly correlated with Hyphomicrobiaceae on day 3 and Rhodomicrobium on day 30. In soil with MPs, Actinobacteria replaced Proteobacteria as the dominant phylum. Larger MPs increased the richness (Chao1) and abundance-based coverage estimators (ACE) and diversity (Shannon) of the bacterial community on day 3, whereas these decreased on day 30. The richness and diversity of the fungal community were also reduced on days 3 and 30. Smaller MPs increased the community richness and diversity of both bacterial and fungal communities in fertilized soil. Our findings suggest that MPs have selective effects on microbes and can potentially have a serious impact on terrestrial biogeochemical cycles.

Green Biosynthesis of Silver Nanoparticles Using Eriobotrya japonica (Thunb.) Leaf Extract for Reductive Catalysis.

This article reports on silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) that were green-synthesized by using Eriobotrya japonica (Thunb.) leaf extract and their use for the catalytic degradation of reactive dyes. The properties of biogenic AgNPs were characterized using UV-vis absorption spectroscopy, field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscope (TEM), Fourier transforming infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), and selected area electron diffraction (SAED) analysis. The UV-vis spectroscopy and X-ray analyses confirmed the formation of AgNPs and showed the strong absorbance around 467 nm with surface plasmon resonance (SPR). The mean diameter of biogenic AgNPs at room (20 °C), moderate (50 °C), and high temperatures (80 °C) were 9.26 ± 2.72, 13.09 ± 3.66, and 17.28 ± 5.78 nm, respectively. The reaction temperature had significant impacts on the sizes of synthesized AgNPs. The higher the synthesis temperature, the larger size and the lower catalysis activity for reductive decomposition of reactive dyes via NaBH4. The results supported a bio-green approach for developing AgNPs with a small size and stable degradation activity of reactive dyes over 92% in 30 min by using Eriobotrya japonica (Thunb.) leaf extract at pH 7, 20 °C, and 1:10 ratio of silver nitrate added to the leaf extract.