Improving linolenic acid content in rapeseed oil by overexpression of CsFAD2 and CsFAD3 genes.

With the increasing public attention to the health benefit of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) and demand for linolenic acid (C18:3), it is of great significance to increase the C18:3 content in our meal. As an oil crop with high content of C18:3, Camelina sativa has three homologous copies of FAD2 and three homologous copies FAD3. In this study, we seed-specifically overexpressed two Camelina sativa fatty acid desaturase genes, CsFAD2 and CsFAD3, in rapeseed cultivar Zhongshuang 9. The results show that C18:3 content in CsFAD2 and CsFAD3 overexpressed seeds is increased from 8.62% in wild-type (WT) to 10.62-12.95% and 14.54-26.16%, respectively. We crossed CsFAD2 and CsFAD3 overexpression lines, and stable homozygous digenic crossed lines were obtained. The C18:3 content was increased from 8.62% in WT to 28.46-53.57% in crossed overexpression lines. In addition, we found that the overexpression of CsFAD2 and CsFAD3 had no effect on rapeseed growth, development, and other agronomic traits. In conclusion, we successfully generated rapeseed germplasms with high C18:3 content by simultaneously overexpressing CsFAD2 and CsFAD3, which provides a feasible way for breeding high C18:3 rapeseed cultivars. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11032-024-01445-0.

Nanofiber-based wound dressing in wound healing of elderly patients.

Introduction: With the aging of the population, it has become a serious problem that the wounds of elderly patients are not easy to heal. Aim: To explore the application of nanofiber wound dressing in wound healing of elderly patients. Material and methods: In this article, 86 elderly patients with chronic wounds admitted to the Affiliated Hospital of Shaanxi University of Chinese Medicine from January 2023 to September 2023 were enrolled, and they were randomly divided into control and experimental groups, with 43 cases in each group. Controls used traditional wound dressings in care. The experimental group used nanofiber wound dressings. The wound healing efficacy, inflammatory factors, side effects, wound infection degree, healing time, and pain were compared between the two groups. Results: The total effective rate of the experimental group (97.67%) was higher as against controls (86.04%). Wound germiculture positive (7.14 ±2.76%) was lower in the experimental group as against controls (22.13 ±3.27%. The wound healing time of the experimental group (18.68 ±5.78 d) was shorter as against controls (30.24 ±6.19 d). The visual analogue scale (VAS) score of the experimental group (2.68 ±0.41 s) was lower as against controls (3.57 ±0.89 s) after 16 days of care (p < 0.05). Conclusions: The use of nanofiber dressings is an effective means to promote wound healing in elderly patients, which is worthy of application in practical care.

[KEAP1/PGAM5/AIFM1 mediated oxeiptosis pathway in TDCIPP-induced reduction of TM4 cell viability].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the toxic effects and potential mechanisms of tri(1, 3-dichloro-2-propyl) phosphate(TDCIPP) exposure on the mouse testicular supporting cell line(TM4 cells). METHODS: TM4 cells were treated with different concentrations of TDCIPP(0, 12.5, 25 and 50 µmol/L), or 50 µmol/L TDCIPP combined with antioxidant N-acetylcysteine(NAC) for 24 h. Cell viability was assessed using the CCK8 assay, intracellular ROS levels were detected using the DCFH-DA probe, and the protein levels of oxeiptosis-related proteins, such as KEAP1, PGAM5, AIFM1 and phosphorylated AIFM1(p-AIFM1), were detected using Western blot. RESULTS: TDCIPP dose-dependently reduced TM4 cell viability(P<0.05). ROS levels in TM4 cells treated with 12.5, 25 and 50 µmol/L TDCIPP were 9.44±1.42, 17.25±1.81 and 18.38±2.66, respectively, significantly higher than the control group's 5.08±0.90(P<0.05). ROS levels in the 5 mmol/L NAC+50 µmol/L TDCIPP group were 14.70±0.50, significantly lower than the corresponding TDCIPP group's 26.44±0.73(P<0.05). The activity of TM4 cells in KEAP1siRNA+TDCIPP group and PGAM5siRNA+TDCIPP group were 77.00±1.73 and 76.67±1.53, respectively, significantly higher than TDCIPP group 68.67±1.53(P<0.05). The relative expression of KEAP1 protein in TM4 cells treated with 25 and 50 µmol/L TDCIPP were 0.77±0.04 and 0.82±0.02, respectively, significantly higher than the control group's 0.57±0.01(P<0.05). The relative expression of PGAM5 protein in TDCIPP-treated TM4 cells were 1.17±0.04, 1.38±0.03 and 1.41±0.03, respectively, significantly higher than the control group's 0.81±0.02(P<0.05). The relative expression of AIFM1 protein were 0.42±0.01, 0.63±0.01 and 0.68±0.02, respectively, significantly higher than the control group's 0.34±0.02(P<0.05). The relative expression of p-AIFM1 protein were 1.73±0.02, 1.52±0.02 and 0.73±0.01, respectively, significantly lower than the control group's 2.25±0.02(P<0.05). In the 5 mmol/L NAC+50 µmol/L TDCIPP group, the relative expression of KEAP1, PGAM5 and AIFM1 proteins in TM4 cells were 0.61±0.01, 0.58±0.01 and 0.48±0.03, respectively, significantly lower than the TDCIPP group's 0.86±0.12(P<0.05), 0.74±0.02(P<0.05) and 0.92±0.01(P<0.05). The relative expression of p-AIFM1 protein in the 5 mmol/L NAC+50 µmol/L TDCIPP group was 0.45±0.11, significantly higher than the TDCIPP group's 0.23±0.01(P<0.05). CONCLUSION: The reduction of TM4 cell viability induced by TDCIPP may be related to ROS-mediated regulation of the KEAP1/PGAM5/AIFM1 pathway, leading to oxeiptosis.

[HFD-induced obesity triggers testicular cell senescence and endoplasmic reticulum stress in male mice].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate high-fat diet-induced obesity-triggered testicular cell senescence and endoplasmic reticulum stress. METHODS: We randomly and equally divided 10 four-week-old male C57BL/6J mice into a control and a high-fat group, the former fed with a diet of 10% fat content while the latter with a diet of 60% fat content to establish an obesity model. After eight weeks of feeding, we observed the pathological changes in the testis tissue of the mice by HE staining, detected the serum T content by ELISA, measured the telomere length in the testis cells by RT-PCR, and examined the activity of senescence-associated ß-galactosidase (SA-ß-gal) by histochemical staining. Using RT-qPCR and Western blot, we determined the protein and mRNA expressions of the cell senescence markers p16 and p21 as well as the protein expressions of the endoplasmic reticulum stress markers GRP78 and CHOP in the testis tissue. RESULTS: Compared with the controls, the animals of the high-fat group showed a 45% increase in the body weight, disordered structure of the spermatogenic cells, reduced level of serum T and shortened telomere length of the testis cells (P < 0.01). The mRNA and protein expressions of p16 and p21 were dramatically higher in the high-fat than in the control group (P<0.01), so were the intracellular SA-ß-gal activity and the protein expressions of CHOP and GRP78 (P<0.01). CONCLUSION: High-fat diet-induced obesity triggers testicular cell senescence and endoplasmic reticulum stress in male mice.

Characteristics, treatment patterns and burden of illness in US patients with asthma newly initiating multiple-inhaler triple therapy.

INTRODUCTION: For patients with asthma who remain symptomatic on medium-dose inhaled corticosteroid/long-acting ß2-agonist, add-on long-acting muscarinic antagonist is a treatment option, which can be administered as multiple-inhaler triple therapy (MITT). A high proportion of patients (61.5%-88.2%) discontinue MITT use within 1 year postinitiation; however, which patients discontinue and their treatment patterns at initiation are unknown. This study aimed to understand the demographic, clinical and treatment-related characteristics of patients with asthma who newly initiated MITT, by discontinuation status. METHODS: This retrospective cohort study used administrative data from IBM Truven MarketScan Commercial Claims and Encounters Database with Medicare supplement between 1 January 2016 and 31 December 2019. Adult patients with asthma who initiated MITT between 1 January 2017 and 31 March 2019 were included and were classified based on their discontinuation status. 'Continuous users' had continuous use of MITT and 'discontinuers' discontinued treatment within the 6-month period postinitiation. Demographics and clinical characteristics, asthma treatment use prior to MITT initiation (12-month baseline period), mode of MITT initiation and complexity of regimen were described. RESULTS: Of 4132 patients (mean age: 49.0 years, 67.9% female), 78.0% (n=3224) were discontinuers; 22.0% (n=908) were continuous users. Demographic and other clinical and treatment-related characteristics during baseline were broadly similar between cohorts. A significantly higher proportion of continuous users versus discontinuers had ≥6 dispensed claims for short-acting ß2-agonist canisters (16.0% vs 12.5%; p=0.006) during baseline and initiated a once-daily MITT regimen (35.2% vs 26.2%; p<0.001). Fewer continuous MITT users used a mix of once-daily and twice-daily regimens than those who discontinued MITT (64.3% vs 72.3%; p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Most patients with asthma discontinued MITT within 6 months. Results indicate that patients with a history of uncontrolled, symptomatic asthma and those using less complex triple therapy regimens at initiation are less likely to discontinue MITT than patients with controlled asthma and those using a complex MITT regimen.

Enhanced mechanical properties and antibacterial activities of chitosan films through incorporating zein-gallic acid conjugate stabilized cinnamon essential oil Pickering emulsion.

In this study, zein-gallic acid covalent complex prepared by alkali treatment was utilized as an emulsifier to stabilize cinnamon essential oil (CEO) Pickering emulsion, and the chitosan-based (CZGE) films loaded with CEO Pickering emulsion were prepared by blending. The influences of different contents of CEO Pickering emulsion on the physical properties and biological activities of CZGE films were investigated. The results showed that Pickering emulsion had good compatibility with chitosan matrix and enhanced the interaction between film-forming matrix polymer. In addition, incorporating with CEO Pickering emulsion (15 %, v/v) significantly improved the mechanical and barrier properties of the films, and also enhanced the light transmittance and thermal stability of the films. Furthermore, the loading of emulsion also improved the antioxidant activities of the films and led to the formation of high antimicrobial property against food pathogens, and the slow-release behavior of CEO could effectively extend the biological activity of the films. These results suggested that Pickering emulsion has potential as a loading system and a plasticizer in active packaging, and the feasibility of CZGE film in food packaging.

Highly efficient adsorption of ciprofloxacin from aqueous solutions by waste cation exchange resin-based activated carbons: Performance, mechanism, and theoretical calculation.

This study focused on the preparation of a highly efficient activated carbon adsorbent from waste cation exchange resins through one-step carbonization to remove ciprofloxacin (CIP) from aqueous solutions. Scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, Fourier-transform infrared spectrometry, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy were used to characterize the physicochemical properties of the carbonized materials. The CIP removal efficiency, influencing factors, and adsorption mechanisms of CIP on the carbonized resins were investigated. Density functional theory (DFT) computations were performed to elucidate the adsorption mechanisms. The CIP removal reached 93 % when the adsorbent dosage was 300 mg/L at 25 °C. The adsorption capacity of the carbonized resins to CIP gradually decreased with an increasing pH from 3.0 to 7.0 and sharply declined with a pH from 7.0 to 11.0. The adsorption process better fitted by the pseudo second-order kinetic and Langmuir models, indicating that the interaction between CIP and the carbonized resins was monolayer adsorption. The maximum adsorption capacity fitted by the Langmuir model was 384.4 mg/g at 25 °C. Microstructural analysis showed that the adsorption of CIP on the carbonized resins was a joint effect of H-bonding, ion exchange, and graphite-N adsorption. Computational results signified the strong H-bonding and ion exchange interactions existed between CIP and carbonized resins. The high adsorption and reusability suggest that waste cation exchange resin-based activated carbons can be used as an effective and reusable adsorbent for removing CIP from aqueous solutions.

Self-standing membranes for separation: Achievements and opportunities.

Supported membranes and mixed matrix membranes have a limitation of harming the mass transfer due to the incompatibility between the support layer or the matrix and the active components of the membrane. Self-standing membranes, which could structurally abandon the support layer, altogether avoid the adverse effect, thus greatly facilitating the transmembrane mass transfer process. However, the abandonment of the support layer also reduces the membrane's mechanical properties and formability. In this review, our emphasis will be on self-standing membranes within the realm of materials and separation engineering. We will explore the materials employed in the fabrication of self-standing membranes, highlighting their ability to simultaneously enhance membrane performance and promote self-standing characteristics. Additionally, we will delve into the diverse techniques utilized for crafting self-standing membranes, encompassing interfacial polymerization, filtration, solvent casting, Langmuir-Blodgett & layer-by-layer assembly, electrospinning, compression, etc. Throughout the discussion, the merits and drawbacks associated with each of these preparation methods were elucidated. We also provide a brief overview of the applications of self-standing membranes, including water purification, gas separation, organic solvent nanofiltration, electrochemistry, and membrane reactor, as well as a brief description of the general strategies for performance enhancement of self-standing membranes. Finally, the current status of self-standing membranes and the challenges they may encounter were discussed.