Two new cassane diterpenoids from the seed kernels of Caesalpinia sinensis.

Two new cassane diterpenoids, sucupiranin MN (1) and sucupiranin ML (2), together with two known compounds sucutinirane C (3) and deacetylsucutinirane C (4) were isolated from the seed kernels of Caesalpinia sinensis. Their structures were elucidated by means of analysis of comprehensive spectroscopic data, especially HRESIMS and 1D/2D NMR spectroscopy. Compounds 1-4 are typical furan-type cassane derivatives with an aromatized C ring. Biological evaluation revealed that compounds 1-4 at the concentration of 10 µM could inhibit the overproduction of NO in LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 macrophages.

"Polyoxometalate electron sponge" induces the accurate regulation of electron states at Ni sites to enhance oxidation of water.

Because of their special features, NiFe-LDHs (nickel iron layered double hydroxides) are prospective OER (oxygen evolution reaction) catalysts that might be utilized to catalyse the electrolysis of water and produce hydrogen to address the energy crisis. In this work, the electronic structure and electrocatalytic performance of the NiFe-LDH were accurately regulated by optimizing the Ni sites, which was enabled by adjacent metal sites coordinated with the "polyoxometalate electron sponge". With extension of the modification time, the Ni 2p binding energy, the Ni3+/Ni2+ ratio and the OER properties were gradually tuned, which indicated accurate regulation of active Ni sites by the "polyoxometalate electron sponge" on a temporal scale. Additionally, NiFe-LDH-PW12-12 h (NiFe-LDH modified by polyoxometalate anions for 12 h) showed the highest OER performance along with fast electron transfer, superior reaction kinetics and electrochemical durability, with an overpotential ∼68 mV lower than that of NiFe-LDH. This work provides an accurate strategy for regulating the electronic structures of active metal sites for the OER.

Single-Atom Mn Catalysts via Integration with Mn Sub Nano-Clusters Synergistically Enhance Oxygen Reduction Reaction.

Integrating single atoms and clusters into one system represents a novel strategy for achieving the desired catalytic performance. In comparison to single-atom catalysts, catalysts combining single atoms and clusters harness the advantages of both, thus displaying greater potential. Nevertheless, constructing single-atom-cluster systems remains challenging, and the fundamental mechanism for enhancing catalytic activity remains elusive. In this study, a directly confined preparation of a 3D hollow sea urchin-like carbon structure (MnSA/MnAC-SSCNR) is developed. Mn single atoms synergistically interact with Mn clusters, optimizing and reducing energy barriers in the reaction pathway, thus enhancing reaction kinetics. Consequently, in contrast to Mn single-atom catalysts (MnSA-SSCNR), MnSA/MnAC-SSCNR exhibits significantly improved oxygen reduction activity, with a half-wave potential (E1/2) of 0.90 V in 0.1 m KOH, surpassing that of MnSA-SSCNR and Pt/C. This work demonstrates a strategy of remote synergy between heterogeneous single atoms and clusters, which not only contributes to electrocatalytic reactions but also holds potential for reactions involving more complex products.

ECG Utilization Patterns of Patients With Arrhythmias During COVID-19 Epidemic and Post-SARS-CoV-2 Eras in Shanghai, China.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has led to concerns around its subsequent impact on global health. Objective: To investigate the health-seeking behavior, reflected by ECG utilization patterns, of patients with non-COVID-19 diseases during and after COVID-19 epidemic. Methods: Taking advantage of the remote ECG system covering 278 medical institutions throughout Shanghai, the numbers of medical visits with ECG examinations during the lockdown (between January 23 and April 7, 2020), post-lockdown (between April 8 and December 31, 2020) and post-SARS-CoV-2 (between January 23 and April 7, 2021) periods were analyzed and compared against those during the same periods of the preceding years (2018 and 2019). Results: Compared with the same period during pre-COVID years, the number of medical visits decreased during the lockdown (a 38% reduction), followed by a rebound post-lockdown (a 17% increase) and a fall to the baseline level in post-SARS-CoV-2 period. The number of new COVID-19 cases announced on a given day significantly correlated negatively with the numbers of medical visits during the following 7 days. Medical visit dynamics differed for various arrhythmias. Whereas medical visits for sinus bradycardia exhibited a typical decrease-rebound-fallback pattern, medical visits for atrial fibrillation did not fall during the lockdown but did exhibit a subsequent increase during the post-lockdown period. By comparison, the volume for ventricular tachycardia remained constant throughout this entire period. Conclusion: The ECG utilization patterns of patients with arrhythmias exhibited a decrease-rebound-fallback pattern following the COVID-19 lockdowns. Medical visits for diseases with more severe symptoms were less influenced by the lockdowns, showing a resilient demand for healthcare.

The integrated impact of GDP growth, industrialization, energy use, and urbanization on CO2 emissions in developing countries: Evidence from the panel ARDL approach.

Developing economies are an important engine of world economic growth. However, ensuring the quality of environmental assets is maintained amid rapid economic change remains a major challenge for most developing countries. Using the Panel Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) approach and the heterogeneous causality test, this study analyzes the combined effects of energy usage, industrialization, gross domestic product (GDP) growth, and urbanization on CO2 emissions for 23 developing countries across the 1995 to 2018 period. From our analysis, the long-run results reveal that a 1% increase in energy use, economic growth, industrialization, and urbanization increases CO2 emissions by 0.23%, 0.17%, 0.54%, and 2.32%, respectively. Moreover, our model's short- to long-term equilibriums are adjusted at a yearly rate of 0.19%. Finally, to verify the panel ARDL long-run results, robustness tests were carried out using the Fully Modified Ordinary Least Squares (FMOLS) and Dynamic Ordinary Least Squares (DOLS) approaches. Our results confirm that in the case of developing countries, CO2 emissions are primarily influenced by GDP growth, energy use, industrialization, and urbanization. Furthermore, the panel causality analysis identified a bidirectional causal relationship between energy use, GDP growth, urbanization, industrialization, and CO2 emissions. While these results can play an instrumental role in formulating CO2 emission policies among our selected countries, our research can also assist policy makers and stakeholders in other developing economies implement important policy initiatives. These include, tax incentives and infrastructural developments that nurture environmentally friendly industrialization, deploy low-carbon technologies, promote sustainable forms of urbanization and urban planning, while also facilitating increases in both the investment in and adoption of renewable energy platforms. The establishment of such a comprehensive policy agenda can help emerging economies achieve strong and environmentally sustainable GDP growth over the long-term.

Epidemiology of Atrial Fibrillation and Related Myocardial Ischemia or Arrhythmia Events in Chinese Community Population in 2019.

Background: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common arrhythmia, and the incidence increases rapidly all over the world. The global prevalence of AF (age-adjusted) is 0.60% for men and 0.37% for women and the prevalence of AF in China is 0.65%. It is expected that the number of patients with AF will continue to rise in the future worldwide due to population aging. Objective: To explore the prevalence of AF in Chinese community population in 2019 and clarify the prevalence of AF complicated with other arrhythmias and myocardial ischemia (MI) events. Methods: The remote electrocardiogram (ECG) diagnosis system of Xinhua Hospital was assessed to the screen participants with ECG evidence of AF between January 1 and December 31, 2019. The prevalence rates of AF and its association with other arrhythmias and MI events were analyzed and subgroup analysis was performed between different sexes and age groups. Results: A total of 22,016 AF cases were identified out of all ECGs derived from the remote ECG diagnosis system in 2019. It is estimated that AF was presented in nearly 10.15 million people in China (age-adjusted standardized rate 0.72%, 95% CI 0.20-1.25%) in 2019 and 62% of the AF cases (6.27 million) affected people aged 65 years and above (age-adjusted standardized rate 3.56%, 95% CI 3.28-3.85%). The prevalence rate of AF in males was higher than that in females (p < 0.001), and the ventricular rate of AF patients was faster in females (p < 0.001) and younger patients (p < 0.001). AF patients with lower ventricular rate (under 60 beats per min) were associated with increased prevalence of ventricular escape/escape rhythm [p < 0.001, odds ratio (OR) 5.14] and third-degree atrioventricular block (p < 0.001, OR 32.05). Conclusion: The prevalence of AF is higher in the Chinese community population than that was previously reported. AF patients complicated with ECG patterns suggesting myocardial infarction is common in men, and stricter measures should be taken to control the common risk factors of AF and coronary heart disease. It is also important that more attention should be paid to recognize fatal arrhythmias, especially in elderly male patients with AF.

Betulinic Acid Ameliorates Cerebral Injury in Middle Cerebral Artery Occlusion Rats through Regulating Autophagy.

Cerebral ischemic stroke (CIS) is an acute cerebrovascular disease that is caused by the sudden rupture of blood vessels inside the brain and the intervention of reperfusion to the brain, resulting in severe cerebral injury. Autophagy has been reported to be involved in the occurrence and progression of CIS. Betulinic acid (BA) is a pentacyclic triterpene acid mainly extracted from birch bark. Studies have shown the neuroprotective effects of BA. Here, the effect and mechanism of BA on ischemia-reperfusion induced cerebral injury was explored using a CIS model in vivo via 1 h middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) and 24 h reperfusion in rats and in vitro via oxygen-glucose deprivation/reperfusion (OGD/R) of PC12 cells, respectively. We found that BA not only reduced cerebral injury by reducing oxidative stress but also activated the SIRT1/FoxO1 pathway to suppress autophagy and improve cerebral injury in MCAO rats. These results provide a basis for the potential clinical application of BA.

Optimization of ultrasonic-microwave assisted alkali extraction of arabinoxylan from the corn bran using response surface methodology.

In this study, Ultrasonic-Microwave assisted alkali (UMAA) was applied to extract water-unextractable arabinoxylan (WUAX) from the corn bran. The various factors including ultrasonic power, concentration of sodium hydroxide, solvent-to-material ratio and ultrasonic-microwave synergetic time were optimized by response surface methodology coupled with Box-Behnken design (BBD) on basis of the results of single factor experiments. The results showed that the maximum WUAX yield of 27.78 ±â€¯0.17% was obtained with ultrasonic power 500 W, concentration of sodium hydroxide 0.30 mol/L, solvent-to-material ratio 30 mL/g, ultrasonic-microwave synergetic time 25 min. FT-IR analysis processed the characteristic peaks of polysaccharide. Chemical composition analysis indicted WUAX was mainly composed of xylose, arabinose, glucose, galactose, rhamnose, mannose, glucuronic acid and galacturonic acid, at a ratio of 38.3:28.2:22.3:5.1:2.5:0.7:1.5:1.4, respectively. In addition, the antioxidant activity assay in vitro showed that WUAX processed strong Fe2+ chelating activity and good scavenging effect on DPPH radical. These results clearly indicated the UMAA is an effective method for extraction of antioxidant WUAX from corn bran and the polysaccharides could be exhibited broad development and application prospects.