Effect of moxibustion on the SIRT1/FOXO3a signaling pathway in ApoE-/- mice with atherosclerosis. / 艾灸对ApoE-/-åŠ¨è„‰ç²¥æ ·ç¡¬åŒ–å°é¼ SIRT1/FOXO3a信号通路的影响.

OBJECTIVES: To observe the effects of moxibustion on blood lipid metabolism, pathological morphology of thoracic aorta, and the expression of silent information regulator 1 (SIRT1) and forkhead box transcription factor O3a (FOXO3a) in ApoE-/- atherosclerosis (AS) mice, so as to explore the potential mechanism of moxibustion in preventing and treating AS. METHODS: Ten C57BL/6J mice were fed a normal diet as the control group, and 30 ApoE-/- mice were fed a high-fat diet to establish the AS model, which were randomly divided into the model group, simvastatin group, and moxibustion group, with 10 mice in each group. From the first day of modeling, mice in the moxibustion group received mild moxibustion treatment at "Shenque"(CV8), "Yinlingquan"(SP9), bilateral "Neiguan"(PC6) and "Xuehai"(SP10) for 30 min per time；the mice in the simvastatin group were given simvastatin orally (2.5 mg·kg-1·d-1), with both treatments given once daily, 5 times a week, with a total intervention period of 12 weeks. The body weight and general condition of the mice were observed and recorded during the intervention period. After the intervention, the contents of serum total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) were measured using an automated biochemistry analyzer. Hematoxylin eosin (HE) staining was used to observe the pathological morphology of the thoracic aorta. ELISA was used to measure the contents of serum oxidized low-density lipoprotein (ox-LDL) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity. Western blot and real-time fluorescent quantitative PCR analysis were used to detect the expression levels of SIRT1 and FOXO3a protein and mRNA in the thoracic aorta. RESULTS: Compared with the control group, body weight at the 8th and 12th week, serum TC, TG, LDL-C, and ox-LDL contents of the model group mice were significantly increased(P<0.05, P<0.01), while the HDL-C contents, SOD activity, and the expression levels of SIRT1 protein and mRNA in the thoracic aorta were significantly decreased(P<0.05, P<0.01). HE staining showed thickening of the aortic intima, endothelial cell degeneration, swelling, and shedding. Compared with the model group, body weight at the 8th and 12th week, serum TC, TG, LDL-C, and ox-LDL contents of mice in the simvastatin group and moxibustion group were significantly decreased(P<0.01), while the serum SOD activity, expression levels of SIRT1 protein and mRNA in the thoracic aorta were significantly increased(P<0.01). The HDL-C contents were significantly increased in the simvastatin group(P<0.05). The thoracic aortic structure was more intact in both groups, with a more regular lumen and orderly arrangement of the elastic membrane in the media, and a slight amount of endothelial cell degeneration and swelling in the intima. There was no significant difference in the evaluated indexes between the moxibustion group and the simvastatin group and the pathological changes in the thoracic aorta were similar between the two groups. CONCLUSIONS: Moxibustion can reduce the body weight of AS model mice, regulate lipid levels, repair vascular intima, and alleviate endothelial damage. Its mechanism of action may be related to the regulation of the SIRT1/FOXO3a signaling pathway to improve oxidative damage.

Differentiation of ethanol-water clusters in Fenjiu by two-dimensional correlation fluorescence and Raman spectra.

The taste of different flavor liquor is multifarious, but the same brand liquor with different quality is truth. The essence of supramolecular ethanol-water clusters and their intrinsic structural differences in three kinds of Fenjiu are studied by two-dimensional correlation spectra (2D-COS) of fluorescence and Raman. The 2D-COS of fluorescence reveals the prominent emission peaks of three Fenjiu are apparently different. The central fluorescence peak of Fenjiu (a) is located at 330 nm, corresponding to the cluster of (H2O)m(EtOH)n. In Fenjiu (b), the emission peak appears near 310 nm, while those of Fenjiu (c) appear mainly near 310 and 373 nm, corresponding to the clusters of (H2O)(EtOH)n and (H2O)m(EtOH), respectively. Based on 2D-COS of Raman, the peak of Fenjiu (b) at 3440 cm-1 changes initially, indicating its disorder degree is getting higher with continuous dilution with water. However, along with the dilution of Fenjiu (a) and Fenjiu (c), the peak located near 3200 cm-1 changes in priority, indicating that the degree of association between ethanol and water is high, and the clusters formed there are stable. Therefore, this work provides the combined methods to distinguish different supramolecular sets in Fenjiu, applying liquor differentiation in the future.

Carbon Nanomaterials: A New Sustainable Solution to Reduce the Emerging Environmental Pollution of Turbomachinery Noise and Vibration.

The vibration and noise that resulted from turbomachinery, such as fans, compressors, and centrifugal pumps, are known to bring considerable disturbance and pollution to the machine itself, the environment, and the operators. Hence, how to cope with the vibration and noise has become a recent research focus. With the advancement of materials science, more and more new nanomaterials have been applied in the field of noise and vibration reduction. To be specific, carbon-based nanomaterials, such as carbon fibers, carbon nanotubes, and graphenes, have achieved outstanding results. Carbon nanocomposites, such as carbon nanofibers, carbon nanotubes, and graphenes, are characterized by their low densities, high strengths, and high elastic moduli, all of which made carbon nanocomposites the most promising vibration and noise-reduction composites, thanks to their damping properties, compatibilities, noise and vibration absorption qualities, and wide wave-absorbing frequency bands. In light of this, this paper summarizes the progresses and application prospects of such carbon nanocomposites as carbon nanofibers, carbon nanotubes, and graphenes in the field of turbomachinery vibration and noise reduction.