Identification of Dalbergiae Odoriferae Lignum active ingredients and potential mechanisms in the treatment of adriamycin-induced cardiotoxicity based on network pharmacology and experimental verification.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the ingredients and mechanisms through which Dalbergiae Odoriferae Lignum (DOL) reduces adriamycin-induced cardiotoxicity. DOL's ingredients and drug targets were acquired from Traditional Chinese Medicine System Pharmacology Database and Analysis Platform (TCMSP), and adriamycin-induced cardiotoxicity disease targets were gathered from GeneCards and National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI). The therapeutic targets of DOL against adriamycin-induced cardiotoxicity were identified by intersecting drug and disease targets. Gene Ontology (GO), Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) were conducted using R. Subsequently, core targets were determined and used for molecular docking with DOL ingredients. In vitro and in vivo experiments validated DOL's primary ingredients against adriamycin-induced cardiotoxicity efficacy. Western blot and immunohistochemistry verified its impact on target protein. After intersecting 530 drug targets and 51 disease targets, 19 therapeutic targets for DOL alleviated adriamycin-induced cardiotoxicity were received. Molecular docking demonstrated that DOL primary ingredient formononetin had a robust binding affinity for nitric oxide synthase 3 (NOS3). Experimental results showed that formononetin effectively mitigated adriamycin-induced cardiotoxicity. Additionally, western blot and immunohistochemistry showed that formononetin improved NOS3 expression. The network pharmacology and experimentation suggest that the primary ingredient of DOL, formononetin, may target NOS3 to act as a therapeutic agent for adriamycin-induced cardiotoxicity.

Multi-pathway neuroprotective effects of a novel salidroside derivative SHPL-49 against acute cerebral ischemic injury.

SHPL-49 ((2R,3S,4S,5R,6R)-2-(hydroxymethyl)-6-(4-(4-methoxyphenyl) butoxy) tetrahydro-2H-pyran-3,4,5-triol) is a novel glycoside derivative obtained from structural modification of salidroside, which is isolated from the medicinal plant Rhodiola rosea L. SHPL-49 was administered to rats with permanent middle cerebral artery occlusion (pMCAO) for 5 days, and it was found that SHPL-49 could alleviate the cerebral infarct volume and reduce the neurological deficit score. Moreover, the effective time window of SHPL-49 in the pMCAO model was from 0.5 to 8 h after embolization. In addition, the result of immunohistochemistry showed that SHPL-49 could increase the number of neurons in the brain tissue and reduce the occurrence of apoptosis. Morris water maze and Rota-rod experiments showed that SHPL-49 could improve neurological deficits, repair neurocognitive and motor dysfunction, and enhance learning and memory ability in the pMCAO model after 14 days of SHPL-49 treatment. Further in vitro experiments showed that SHPL-49 significantly reduced the calcium overload of PC-12 cells and the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) induced by oxygen and glucose deprivation (OGD), and increased the levels of antioxidant enzymes superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), decreased the production of malondialdehyde (MDA). Furthermore, SHPL-49 could reduce cell apoptosis by increasing protein expression ratio of anti-apoptotic factor Bcl-2 to pro-apoptotic factor Bax in vitro. SHPL-49 also regulated the expression of Bcl-2 and Bax in ischemic brain tissue, and even inhibited the caspase cascade of pro-apoptotic proteins Cleaved-caspase 9 and Cleaved-caspase 3. Taken together, SHPL-49 exhibited neuroprotective effects against cerebral ischemic injury through multiple pathways, such as alleviating calcium overload, reducing oxidative stress damage, and inhibiting apoptosis.

Clinical Efficacy of Nutritional Intervention Combined with Muscle Exercise on Sarcopenia Patients with Femoral Fracture: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial.

Objective: To study the clinical efficacy of nutritional intervention combined with muscle exercise on sarcopenia patients with femoral fracture. Methods: From January 2019 to January 2021, a total of 100 sarcopenia patients with femoral fracture were included in this study and were divided into a control group (routine postoperative care) and a research group (nutritional intervention and muscle exercise), 50 cases in each group. Primary clinical outcomes included sarcopenia-related indicators and functional independence assessed by activities of daily living scale (ADL). Secondary clinical outcomes included time of fracture healing and hospital stay, pain score as assessed by visual analogue scale (VAS), and nursing satisfaction. Results: Before the intervention, there was no significant difference in the indicators of sarcopenia and the indicators of functional independence assessed by ADL between the two groups (P > 0.05). After 3 months of intervention, the BMI, grip strength, calf circumference, pace, and body muscle rate of the patients in the research group were significantly higher than those in the control group (P < 0.05), while body fat rates were significantly lower than those in the control group (P < 0.05), and the capability of eating, walking, bathing, and doing housework in research group were all significantly higher than those in control group (P < 0.05). In addition, the time of fracture healing and hospital stay in research group were all significantly lower than those in control group (P < 0.05), and the VAS scores of the control group at each time point after intervention were significantly higher than those of the research group (P < 0.05). The nursing satisfaction of the patients in the research group was significantly higher than that in the control group (94.00% vs. 76.00%, P < 0.05). Conclusion: Nutritional intervention combined with muscle exercise can help improve sarcopenia symptoms and promote fracture recovery in patients with sarcopenic femoral fractures.

Protective effect and underlying mechanism of muscone on acute cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury in rats.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Musk is a widely used traditional Chinese medicine, which has resuscitation, activating blood, and disperse swelling effects. Musk is commonly used in the prevention of myocardial infarction and ischemic stroke, and muscone is its main active component. AIM OF THE STUDY: The effect and mechanism of muscone to improve the condition of ischemic stroke is not clear, accordingly, we verified its efficacy in ischemia-reperfused rats, and investigated its mechanism by PC12 and THP-1 cells. METHODS: A transient middle cerebral artery occlusion (tMCAO) rat model was established for in vivo experiments. 2,3,5-Triphenyl Tetrazolium Chloride (TTC) staining was used to calculate infarct rate. Neuroprotection and angiogenesis were assessed by Hematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining, nissl staining, immunofluorescence staining, and quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR). Oxygen glucose deprivation-reperfusion (OGD/R) model of PC12 cells was established for neuroprotection analysis, where CCK-8 assay was used to measure cell viability, flow cytometry and Hoechst 33258 staining were used to demonstrate apoptosis, and protein levels were detected by Western blot. For angiogenesis analysis, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and qRT-PCR were used to detect angiogenic factors expressed by THP-1. Cell viability assay, scratch wound assay, and tube formation assay were used to evaluate angiogenic effect of HUVECs treated with medium of THP-1. And the angiogenic pathway in HUVECs was detected by Western blot. RESULTS: According to the results, in cerebral ischemia-reperfusion rats, the infarct rate and tissue damage were significantly reduced by muscone, and the expression of neurotrophic factors and angiogenesis-related factors were all elevated. In OGD/R-PC12 cell models, muscone could increase cell viability and inhibit apoptosis via Bax/Bcl-2/Caspase-3 pathway. In THP-1-mediated angiogenesis of HUVECs, muscone promoted the secretion of angiogenesis-related factors in THP-1 and thus indirectly promoted the proliferation, migration and tube formation of HUVECs, and then regulated phosphorylation of VEGFR2 and Akt in HUVECs. CONCLUSIONS: Our study indicated that muscone may be a potential neuroprotective and proangiogenic agent in cerebral ischemia.

SWIFTSIN: A High-Resolution Ion Isolation Waveform for the Miniaturized Linear Ion Trap Mass Spectrometer by Coarse to Fine Excitation.

To figure out the reason for the drawback of the stored waveform inverse Fourier transform (SWIFT) waveform and realize the high-resolution ion isolation on the miniaturized linear ion trap mass spectrometer, we studied the efficiency that ions can be excited under different excitation durations and amplitudes at different frequencies and compared the overlap ratios of the effective excitation frequency bandwidths of the adjacent ions. According to this, we proposed a new coarse-to-fine isolation waveform named SWIFTSIN. By superposing one or more sinusoidal waveforms on the SWIFT waveform and modulating the phases of the superposed sinusoidal waveforms, the generated SWIFTSIN waveform can achieve unit mass isolation on the miniaturized linear ion trap mass spectrometer without reducing the intensity of the target ion. The isolation ability of the SWIFTSIN waveform was verified by isolating a single isotope peak in the mixed samples.

Fully Bio-Based Adhesive from Tannin and Sucrose for Plywood Manufacturing with High Performances.

Fully bio-based adhesives are beneficial to reduce the dependence of the wood adhesive industry on synthetic resins based on petrochemical resources and enhance the market competitiveness of adhesives. A fully bio-based wood adhesive composed of tannin and sucrose was developed and successfully used in the preparation of plywood. Effects of the preparation technology on the bonding strength and water resistance of plywood were investigated, and the properties of the adhesive were analyzed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), thermogravimetry (TG) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) in this study. The results showed that: (1) Compared with other biomass adhesives, tannin-sucrose adhesive had the characteristics of high-solid content and low viscosity, which had the potential to prepare particleboard and fiberboard. (2) A proper mass ratio of tannin to sucrose was key to obtaining a tannin-sucrose adhesive with better properties. (3) The optimum preparation process of tannin-sucrose adhesive for plywood was as follows: hot-pressing temperature of 210 °C, hot-pressing time of 1.2 min/mm, m(tannin):m(sucrose) of 60:40 and adhesive loading of 160 g/m2. Under these conditions, the water-resistant bonding strength of the plywood was 0.89 MPa, which met the strength requirements of the Type II standard of plywood in GB/T 17657-2013. (4) The hot-pressing temperature played a decisive role in the tannin-sucrose adhesive, and the good performance of the plywood was maintained when the temperature was 210 °C or above. Thus, the prepared tannin-sucrose adhesive had high-bonding strength, good water resistance and thermal stability.

Rapid screening of illegally added drugs in functional food using a miniature ion trap mass spectrometer.

With the expansion of the functional food market, the qualification assessment of these products has become a major challenge, and efficient analytical tools are urgently needed. Here, a miniature mass spectrometer (MS) with self-aspiration capillary electrospray ionization (SACESI) source and ion trap analyzer was developed for rapid screening of various illegally added drugs in functional foods. No chromatographic separation was required, but a simplified two-step pretreatment method was developed to reduce the operational procedures and time consumption of the entire analysis. SACESI source uses capillary action to drive solution injection, which utilizes a simple structure and convenient operation to constitute a kind of disposable MS detection solution. To achieve accurate and automatic identification, an intelligent recognition algorithm with steps of spectrum preprocessing, characteristic peak matching, and support vector machine learning was constructed. The relative accuracy of rapid screening of 31 suspicious drugs in various samples is up to 99.78%. It achieves 100% correct identification for the 55 batches of actual samples captured by on-site inspection, which demonstrates the feasibility of the proposed analytical system and strategy in food safety applications.

Reshaping Food Policy and Governance to Incentivize and Empower Disadvantaged Groups for Improving Nutrition.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has exacerbated global malnutrition challenges, disrupted food supply chains, and left poor and vulnerable people unable to produce and access safe and affordable food, especially in developing countries. Food policy and governance are currently malfunctioning, despite their recognized roles in improving food security and public nutrition in many local and national contexts. This article reviews existing food policies and governance with implications for disadvantaged groups in the food systems, particularly smallholder farmers, women, and small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), highlighting the importance of reshaping food policies and governance. To end malnutrition in the post-COVID era, multiple sectors, including health, agriculture, social protection, education, and infrastructure, must make greater collaborative efforts to develop and implement food and nutrition policies. Several recommendations for reshaping food policy interventions and governance are summarized.

DNAzyme based dual signal amplification strategy for ultrasensitive myocardial ischemia related MiRNA detection.

Abnormal expression of microRNAs (miRNAs) is closely associated with a diverse of important biological processes, such as metastasis, myocardial ischemia and progression. Development of a facile and enzyme-free method for sensitive miRNA detection remains a huge challenge. Herein, we proposed a cross-catalytic circuit for trace miRNA detection by facilely integrating hairpin catalytic reaction (HCR) and DNAzyme biocatalyst through an ingenious feedback loop. The DNAzyme functional part was originally grafted in the designed hairpin structure probes, which would be released from hairpin structure probe and induce subsequent signal amplification after the recognition of target miRNA and the formation of double-strand DNA products. Through the dual signal amplification, the method exhibited a favorable detection sensitivity with a low of detection of 56 fM. These two indispensable catalytic reactions play vital roles in executing high-performance signal amplification, as demonstrated experimentally and theoretically.

In situ photo-initiated polymerized oligonucleotide-functionalized hydrophilic capillary affinity monolith for highly selective in-tube microextraction of ochratoxin A mycotoxin.

A photo-initiated polymerized oligonucleotide-grafted hydrophilic affinity monolithic column was synthesized in situ, and exploited for selective in-tube solid phase micro-extraction (IT-SPME) protocol towards the sensitive detection of ochratoxin A (OTA). Only 7 min was required for the rapid polymerization of aptamer-based affinity monolith, which was much less than the reaction time of most thermal polymerization (12-16 h) and sol-gel chemistry methods (up to 52 h). Characterizations such as polymerization recipes, structure morphology, FTIR spectrum, elemental mapping, mechanical stability, and specific recognition performance were evaluated. A significantly hydrophilic nature with a low contact angle of 15° was observed, and a mixed-mode mechanism including aptamer affinity recognition and hydrophilic interaction (HI) was employed. By coupling with HPLC-fluorescence detection, the highly specific online recognition performance was achieved with an extremely low nonspecific adsorption of the analogues. The calibration curve of OTA was obtained in the concentration range 0.05-50.00 ng·mL-1 with a limit of detection (LOD, S/N = 3) of 0.012 ng·mL-1. Applied to sample analysis, acceptable recovery yields of 95.1 ± 1.4% - 99.5 ± 2.2% (n = 3) were obtained in beer and red wine. The proposed method lighted a promising way to efficiently preparing a hydrophilic aptamer-affinity monolith for highly specific recognition of trace mycotoxin by IT-SPME coupled with HPLC. A hydrophilic oligonucleotide-based affinity capillary monolith was explored via in situ photopolymerization for overcoming low preparation efficiency and achieving high-performance online IT-SPME of OTA mycotoxin.

Towards highly specific aptamer-affinity monolithic column by efficient UV light-initiated polymerization in "one-pot".

Time-consuming or tedious operation in multiple-step process might is the obstacle for efficiently preparing aptamer-affinity monolithic column. Here, a new and facile strategy to prepare aptamer-based hybrid affinity monolith in "one-pot" at room temperature was exploited, in which UV light-initiated free-radical polymerization and "thiol-ene" click reaction were implemented simultaneously. Only 7 min was cost for finishing the polymerization reaction, which was only 1/100 of that for the traditional thermal polymerization. Using ochratoxin A (OTA) as the model analyte, the recipe for photo-initiated polymerization was optimized, and SEM morphology, FTIR, EDS, pore size distribution and specific recognition performance were also studied. Compared with traditional thermal polymerization, the resultant monolith was achieved more facilely and displayed better results such as more homogeneous skeleton structure, higher reaction efficiency of aptamer (>88.2%) and better specific selectivity to OTA. Besides, an extremely low nonspecific adsorption of analogues was obtained and showed a level at only 1/25 of that in the similar aptamer-affinity monolith prepared by thermal polymerization. Applied to beer and red wine samples, good recovery yields about 99.7 ± 4.0% -101.2 ± 2.3% (n = 3)was achieved with the acceptable RSDs. It would open up a rapid and promising access to efficiently preparing high-performance aptamer-based affinity monolithic columns for online specific recognition.

Discovery of the anti-angiogenesis effect of eltrombopag in breast cancer through targeting of HuR protein.

HuR (human antigen R), an mRNA-binding protein responsible for poor prognosis in nearly all kinds of malignancies, is a potential anti-tumor target for drug development. While screening HuR inhibitors with a fluorescence polarization (FP) based high-throughput screening (HTS) system, the clinically used drug eltrombopag was identified. Activity of eltrombopag on molecular level was verified with FP, electrophoretic mobility shift assay (EMSA), simulation docking and surface plasmon resonance (SPR). Further, we showed that eltrombopag inhibited in vitro cell proliferation of multiple cancer cell lines and macrophages, and the in vivo anti-tumor activity was also demonstrated in a 4T1 tumor-bearing mouse model. The in vivo data showed that eltrombopag was efficient in reducing microvessels in tumor tissues. We then confirmed the HuR-dependent anti-angiogenesis effect of eltrombopag in 4T1 cells and RAW264.7 macrophages with qRT-PCR, HuR-overexpression and HuR-silencing assays, RNA stability assays, RNA immunoprecipitation and luciferase assays. Finally, we analyzed the in vitro anti-angiogenesis effect of eltrombopag on human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) mediated by macrophages with cell scratch assay and in vitro Matrigel angiogenesis assay. With these data, we revealed the HuR-dependent anti-angiogenesis effect of eltrombopag in breast tumor, suggesting that the existing drug eltrombopag may be used as an anti-cancer drug.

Salvianolate reduces neuronal apoptosis by suppressing OGD-induced microglial activation.

AIMS: The aim of this study was to investigate the mechanism of pro-inflammatory phenotype transformation of microglia induced by oxygen-glucose deprivation (OGD), and how salvianolate regulates the polarization of microglia to exert neuroprotective effects. MAIN METHODS: The immunofluorescence and western blot experiments were used to verify the injury effect on neuronal cells after inflammatory polarization of microglia. Secondly, immunofluorescence staining and western blot were analyzed inflammatory phenotype of microglia and TLR4 signaling pathway after salvianolate treatment. RT-qPCR and ELISA assays were showed the levels of RNA and proteins of inflammatory factors in microglia. Finally, flow cytometry and western blot assay proved that salvianolate had a certain protective effect on neuronal injury after inhibiting the phenotype of microglia. KEY FINDINGS: The OGD condition could promote inflammation and activate of TLR4 signal pathway in microglia, and the polarization of microglia triggered caspase-3 signal pathway of neuronal cell. The optimal concentrations of salvianolate were incubated with microglia under OGD condition, which could reduce the reactive oxygen species (ROS) expression (P = 0.002) and also regulate the activity of SOD, CAT and GSH-px enzymes (P < 0.05). Moreover, salvianolate treatment could inhibit TLR4 signal pathway (P = 0.012), suppress the pro-inflammatory phenotype of microglia in OGD condition (P = 0.018), and reduce the expression of IL-6 and TNF-α (P < 0.05). Finally, neuronal damage induced by microglia under OGD condition was reversed after administration of the microglia supernatant after salvianolate treatment. SIGNIFICANCE: Salvianolate, as an antioxidant, plays a neuroprotective role by inhibiting the pro-inflammatory phenotype and decreasing the expression of ROS in microglia.

Are Lipid Profiles in Middle Age Associated with Famine Exposure during Prenatal and Early Postnatal Period?

BACKGROUND: Undernutrition during early life may increase the risk of chronic diseases in adulthood, including dyslipidemia. Few investigations have confirmed the relationship between early life undernutrition and dyslipidemia in adulthood in China. OBJECTIVES: To assess the relationship between the Great Chinese Famine exposure during prenatal period or early postnatal period and lipid profiles in adulthood. DESIGN: Data were extracted from the China Nutrition and Health Survey (CNHS) in 2010-2012, which included the participants who experienced the Great Chinese Famine during early life. RESULTS: Participants who experienced the Great Chinese Famine in early postnatal period had a significantly higher prevalence of elevated total cholesterol (TC) (odds ratio: 1.60; 95% CI: 1.27, 2.02) than unexposed participants. Female (odds ratio: 1.71; 95% CI: 1.27, 2.31) were high risk than male (odds ratio: 1.46; 95% CI: 1.01, 2.11) and physical inactivity group (odds ratio: 1.65; 95% CI: 1.18, 2.29) were high risk than adequate physical activity group (odds ratio: 1.58; 95% CI: 1.21, 2.07). Similar effect of famine exposure on elevated low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) was observed, except that no significant difference was found between adequate physical activity group and physical inactivity group. Participants who experienced the Great Chinese Famine in prenatal period had a significantly higher prevalence of lowed high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) (odds ratio: 1.19; 95% CI: 1.03, 1.37) than unexposed. Female were more likely to have lower HDL-C (odds ratio: 1.44; 95% CI: 1.18, 1.74), but not found in male. Participants with physical inactivity were more likely to have lower HDL-C (odds ratio: 1.28; 95% CI: 1.02, 1.61), but not found in adequate physical activity group. CONCLUSIONS: People who experienced the Great Chinese Famine during early life, especially in females and people physical inactivity, would impair of lipid profiles in later life. Healthy lifestyle like adequate physical activity may partially alleviate the adverse effects.

[Improving college students sub-threshold depression by music neurofeedback].

Sub-threshold depression refers to a psychological sub-health state that fails to meet the diagnostic criteria for depression. Appropriate intervention can improve the state and reduce the risks of disease development. In this paper, we focus on music neurofeedback stimulation improving emotional state of sub-threshold depression college students.Twenty-four college students with sub-threshold depression participated in the experiment, 16 of whom were members of the experimental group. Decompression music based on spectrum classification was applied to 16 experimental group participants for 10 min/d music neural feedback stimulation with a period of 14 days, and no stimulation was applied to 8 control group participants. Three feature parameters of electroencephalogram (EEG) relative power, sample entropy and complexity were extracted for analysis. The results showed that the relative power of αã€ß and θ rhythm increased, while δ rhythm decreased after the stimulation of musical nerofeedback in the experimental group. The sample entropy and complexity were significantly increased after the stimulation, and the differences of these parameters pre and post stimulation were statistically significant ( P < 0.05), while the differences of all feature parameters in the control group were not statistically significant. In the experimental group, the scores of self-rating depression scale(SDS) decreased after the stimulation of musical nerofeedback, indicating that the depression was improved. The result of this study showed that music neurofeedback stimulation can improve sub-threshold depression and may provides an effective new way for college students to self-regulation of emotion.

Neuroprotective effect of salvianolate on cerebral ischaemia-reperfusion injury in rats by inhibiting the Caspase-3 signal pathway.

Salvianolate has been widely used for the treatment of cerebrovascular diseases. However, the detailed molecular mechanism of how it alleviates cerebral ischaemia-reperfusion injury is not well understood. In the present study, we investigated the neuroprotective effects of salvianolate in acute cerebral infarction using the PC12 cell oxygen-glucose deprivation (OGD) model in vitro and the rat transient middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) model in vivo. The results showed that the salvianolate significantly reduced the level of reactive oxygen species and inhibited the Caspase-3 signalling pathway in vitro; at the same time, in vivo experiments showed that salvianolate obviously reduced the infarct area (12.9%) and repaired cognitive function compared with the model group (28.28%). In conclusion, our data demonstrated that the salvianolate effectively alleviated cerebral ischaemia-reperfusion injury via suppressing the Caspase-3 signalling pathway.

Preparation and evaluation of highly hydrophilic aptamer-based hybrid affinity monolith for on-column specific discrimination of ochratoxin A.

Nonspecific adsorption is a challenge of specific recognition on aptamer-based affinity monoliths. Here, a novel highly hydrophilic polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS)-containing aptamer-based hybrid-silica affinity monolith with a good recognition nature was prepared and used for specific discrimination of ochratoxin A (OTA). A homogeneous polymerization mixture consisted of POSS chemicals, hydrophilic monomers and aptamer solution was directly polymerized via the "one-pot" method. Preparation and characterization of the resultant affinity monolith were studied in detail. A highly hydrophilic nature was obtained and the typical hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography (HILIC) was observed when acetonitrile (ACN) content in mobile phase was 25%, which reached the highest hydrophilicity of POSS-based hybrid monoliths. By using OTA as model analyte, the nonspecific adsorption was effectively suppressed. The recovery of the analogue ochratoxin B (OTB) was only about 0.1% even if the content of OTB was 50 times more than OTA, which was much better than other POSS-containing monoliths and polar siloxane-based hybrid monoliths. Applied to beer samples, the adsorption of background materials was drastically resisted, and efficient recognition of OTA was obtained with the recoveries of 94.9-99.8%. Much less disturbance was observed than that occurred in hydrophobic POSS-based affinity monolith. It lights an attractive implement with high hydrophilicity and specificity for online selective recognition of OTA.

Highly hydrophilic polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS)-containing aptamer-modified affinity hybrid monolith for efficient on-column discrimination with low nonspecific adsorption.

A novel polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS)-containing aptamer-modified hybrid affinity monolith with excellent hydrophilicity and unique architecture without Si-OH groups is presented herein, and the nonspecific adsorption caused by the hydrophobic nature of the monolithic column or polar interaction with silanol groups is minimized. Via a simple "one-pot" procedure, hydrophilic monomers were facilely polymerized with the POSS-methacryl substituted (POSS-MA) and aptamer; a highly hydrophilic nature was obtained and the lowest contact angle of 11° was achieved. By using ochratoxin A (OTA) as the model analyte, highly selective recognition of OTA in the mixture was achieved and the control of nonspecific interactions and the cross-reactivity of OTB and AFB1 were significantly improved. The recovery yield of OTB caused by nonspecific adsorption in the resultant monolith was only about 0.1% and remained steady even with the coexistence of a high OTB content (OTA : OTB = 1 : 50), which reached the best level to date and was obviously less than the 6.1% occurring in the hydrophobic POSS-containing control monolith, 8.3% in the POSS-PEI@AuNPs@aptamer affinity monolith and 18.7% in the silica-hybrid affinity monolith. When applied to wine and wheat samples, the nonspecific adsorption was significantly reduced and efficient discrimination of OTA was obtained with better results than that of the hydrophobic POSS-containing affinity column. This provides an attractive tool for minimizing the nonspecific adsorption for highly selective on-column recognition.

Synthesis of tetrakis (hydroxymethyl) phosphonium chloride by high-concentration phosphine in industrial off-gas.

With increasing consumption of phosphate rock and acceleration of global phosphate production, the shortage of phosphate resources is increasing with the development and utilization of phosphate. China's Ministry of Land and Resources has classified phosphate as a mineral that cannot meet China's growing demand for phosphate rock in 2010. The phosphorus chemical industry is one of the important economic pillars for Yunnan province. Yellow phosphorus production in enterprises has led to a significant increase in the amount of phosphorus sludge. This paper focuses on phosphine generation in the process of phosphoric sludge utilization, where the flame retardant tetrakis (hydroxymethyl) phosphonium chloride (THPC) is synthesized by high concentrations of phosphine. The optimum conditions are determined at a space velocity of 150 h(-1), a reaction temperature of 60 °C, 0.75 g of catalyst, and a ratio of raw materials of 4:1. Because of the catalytic oxidation of copper chloride (CuCl2), the synthesis of THPC was accelerated significantly. In conclusion, THPC can be efficiently synthesized under optimal conditions and with CuCl2 as a catalyst.