The Defensive Role of Endogenous H2S in Brassica rapa against Mercury-Selenium Combined Stress.

Plants are always exposed to the environment, polluted by multiple trace elements. Hydrogen sulfide (H2S), an endogenous gaseous transmitter in plant cells, can help plant combat single elements with excess concentration. Until now, little has been known about the regulatory role of H2S in response to combined stress of multiple elements. Here we found that combined exposure of mercury (Hg) and selenium (Se) triggered endogenous H2S signal in the roots of Brasscia rapa. However, neither Hg nor Se alone worked on it. In roots upon Hg + Se exposure, the defensive role of endogenous H2S was associated to the decrease in reactive oxygen species (ROS) level, followed by alleviating cell death and recovering root growth. Such findings extend our knowledge of plant H2S in response to multiple stress conditions.

Targeting sine oculis homeoprotein 1 (SIX1): A review of oncogenic roles and potential natural product therapeutics.

Sine oculis homeoprotein 1 (SIX1), a prominent representative of the homeodomain transcription factors within the SIX family, has attracted significant interest owing to its role in tumorigenesis, cancer progression, and prognostic assessments. Initially recognized for its pivotal role in embryonic development, SIX1 has emerged as a resurgent factor across a diverse set of mammalian cancers. Over the past two decades, numerous investigations have emphasized SIX1's dual significance as a developmental regulator and central player in oncogenic processes. A mounting body of evidence links SIX1 to the initiation of diverse cancers, encompassing enhanced cellular metabolism and advancement. This review provides an overview of the multifaceted roles of SIX1 in both normal development and oncogenic processes, emphasizing its importance as a possible therapeutic target and prognostic marker. Additionally, this review discusses the natural product agents that inhibit various pro-oncogenic mechanisms associated with SIX1.

Six new diterpenoids with anti-inflammatory and cytotoxic activity from Isodon serra.

Diterpenoids occupy an important slot of the natural products diversity space with wide ranges of bioactivities and complex structures, providing potential applications for the development of therapeutics. In this study, we reported four new abietane-type diterpenoids viroxocin B-E (1-4), a new totarane-type diterpenoid viroxocin F (5), and a new sempervirane-type diterpenoid viroxocin G (6) along with four known compounds (7-10), isolated and identified from a widely used Traditional Chinese Medicine, Isodon serra (I. serra). Their structures were established by spectroscopic data analysis, experimental and calculated electronic circular dichroism (ECD) data, as well as X-ray diffraction analysis. Compounds 2, 5, 7, 8 and 10 exhibited promising anti-inflammatory activities in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced RAW 267.4 cells, and their inhibition rates on NO production were more than 60% at 10 µM. Compound 7 showed cytotoxicity against human renal cell carcinoma 769P at 20 µM, the inhibition rate was 52.66%.

Assessing the Quality of Online Health Information About Breast Cancer from Chinese Language Websites: Quality Assessment Survey.

BACKGROUND: In China, the internet has become one of the most important ways to obtain information about breast cancer. However, quantitative evaluations of the quality of Chinese health websites and the breast cancer treatment information they publish are lacking. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to evaluate the quality of Chinese breast cancer websites and the value, suitability, and accuracy of the breast cancer treatment information they publish. METHODS: Chinese breast cancer health websites were searched and manually screened according to their Alexa and Baidu search engine rankings. For each website included in the survey, which was conducted on April 8, 2019, the three most recently published papers on the website that met the inclusion criteria were included for evaluation. Three raters assessed all materials using the LIDA, DISCERN, and Suitability Assessment of Materials (SAM) tools and the Michigan Checklist. Data analysis was completed with the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20.0 and Microsoft Excel 2010. RESULTS: This survey included 20 Chinese breast cancer websites and 60 papers on breast cancer treatment. The LIDA tool was used to evaluate the quality of the 20 websites. The LIDA's scores of the websites (mean=54.85, SD 3.498; total possible score=81) were low. In terms of the layout, color scheme, search facility, browsing facility, integration of nontextual media, submission of comments, declaration of objectives, content production method, and robust method, more than half of the websites scored 0 (never) or 1 (sometimes). For the online breast cancer treatment papers, the scores were generally low. Regarding suitability, 32 (53.33%) papers were evaluated as presenting unsuitable material. Regarding accuracy, the problems were that the papers were largely not original (44/60, 73%) and lacked references (46/60, 77%). CONCLUSIONS: The quality of Chinese breast cancer websites is poor. The color schemes, text settings, user comment submission functions, and language designs should be improved. The quality of Chinese online breast cancer treatment information is poor; the information has little value to users, and pictorial information is scarcely used. The online breast cancer treatment information is accurate but lacks originality and references. Website developers, governments, and medical professionals should play a full role in the design of health websites, the regulation of online health information, and the use of online health information.

Evaluating the Quality of Health-Related WeChat Public Accounts: Cross-Sectional Study.

BACKGROUND: As representatives of health information communication platforms accessed through mobile phones and mobile terminals, health-related WeChat public accounts (HWPAs) have a large consumer base in the Chinese-speaking world. However, there is still a lack of general understanding of the status quo of HWPAs and the quality of the articles they release. OBJECTIVE: The aims of this study were to assess the conformity of HWPAs to the Health on the Net Foundation Code of Conduct (HONcode) and to evaluate the suitability of articles disseminated by HWPAs. METHODS: The survey was conducted from April 23 to May 5, 2019. Based on the monthly (March 1-31, 2019) WeChat Index provided by Qingbo Big Data, the top 100 HWPAs were examined to evaluate their HONcode compliance. The first four articles published by each HWPA on the survey dates were selected as samples to evaluate their suitability. All materials were assessed by three raters. The materials were assessed using the HONcode checklist and the Suitability Assessment of Materials (SAM) score sheet. Data analysis was performed with SPSS version 17.0 (SPSS Inc, Chicago, IL, USA) and Excel version 2013 (Microsoft Inc, Washington DC, USA). RESULTS: A total of 93 HWPAs and 210 of their released articles were included in this study. For six of the eight principles, the 93 HWPAs nearly consistently did not meet the requirements of the HONcode. The HWPAs certified by Tencent Corporation (66/93, 71%) were generally slightly superior to those without such certification (27/93, 29%) in terms of compliance with HONcode principles. The mean SAM score for the 210 articles was 67.72 (SD 10.930), which indicated "adequate" suitability. There was no significant difference between the SAM scores of the articles published by certified and uncertified HWPAs (P=.07), except in the literacy requirements dimension (tdf=97=-2.418, P=.02). CONCLUSIONS: The HWPAs had low HONcode conformity. Although the suitability of health information released by HWPAs was at a moderate level, there were still problems identified, such as difficulty in tracing information sources, excessive implicit advertisements, and irregular usage of charts. In addition, the low approval requirements of HWPAs were not conducive to improvement of their service quality.