Incorporating Health Cobenefits into Province-Driven Climate Policy: A Case of Banning New Internal Combustion Engine Vehicle Sales in China.

Incorporating health cobenefits from coabated air pollution into carbon mitigation policy making is particularly important for developing countries to boost policy efficiency. For sectors that highly depend on electrification for decarbonization, it remains unclear how the increased electricity demand and consequent health impacts from sectoral mitigation policy in one province would change the scale and the regional and sectoral distributions of the overall health impacts in the whole country. This study chooses the banning of new sales of internal combustion engine vehicles in the private vehicle sector in China as a case. The results show that, without carbon neutrality and air pollution control goals in electricity generation, 53% of CO2 reduction and 65% of health benefits from the private vehicle sector would be offset by increased electricity demand. The regional distributions of CO2 reduction and health benefits due to a province-driven ban policy are greatly uneven, as the top five provinces take up over one-third of the total impact in China. Health benefits per ton of carbon reduction (H/C) may vary by up to 8 times across provinces. Finally, the provinces in southeast China and the Sichuan Basin, with their stably high H/C values, are suggested to enact the province-driven ban policy first.

Alternative Pathway to Phase Down Coal Power and Achieve Negative Emission in China.

Although widely recognized as the key to climate goals, coal "phase down" has long been argued for its side effects on energy security and social development. Retrofitting coal power units with biomass and coal co-firing with a carbon capture and storage approach provides an alternative way to avoid these side effects and make deep carbon dioxide emission cuts or even achieve negative emission. However, there is a lack of clear answers to how much the maximum emission reduction potential this approach can unlock, which is the key information to promote this technology on a large scale. Here, we focus on helping China's 4536 coal power units make differentiated retrofit choices based on unit-level heterogeneity information and resource spatial matching results. We found that China's coal power units have the potential to achieve 0.4 Gt of negative CO2 emission in 2025, and the cumulative negative CO2 emission would reach 10.32 Gt by 2060. To achieve negative CO2 emission, the biomass resource amount should be 1.65 times the existing agricultural and forestry residues, and the biomass and coal co-firing ratio should exceed 70%. Coal power units should grasp their time window; otherwise, the maximum negative potential would decrease at a rate of 0.35 Gt per year.

The G2A Receptor Deficiency Aggravates Atherosclerosis in Rats by Regulating Macrophages and Lipid Metabolism.

The orphan G protein-coupled receptor G2A has been linked to atherosclerosis development. However, available data from mouse models are controversial. Rat G2A receptor bears more similarities with its human homolog. We proposed that the atherosclerosis model established from Ldlr -/- rat, which has been reported to share more similar phenotypes with the human disease, may help to further understand this lipid receptor. G2A deletion was found markedly aggravated in the lipid disorder in the rat model, which has not been reported in mouse studies. Examination of aortas revealed exacerbated atherosclerotic plaques in G2A deficient rats, together with increased oxidative stress and macrophage accumulation. In addition, consistently promoted migration and apoptosis were noticed in G2A deficient macrophages, even in macrophages from G2A single knockout rats. Further analysis found significantly declined phosphorylation of PI3 kinase (PI3K) and AKT, together with reduced downstream genes Bcl2 and Bcl-xl, suggesting possible involvement of PI3K/AKT pathway in G2A regulation to macrophage apoptosis. These data indicate that G2A modulates atherosclerosis by regulating lipid metabolism and macrophage migration and apoptosis. Our study provides a new understanding of the role of G2A in atherosclerosis, supporting it as a potential therapeutic target.

A rule-based method to downscale provincial level power sector projection results to plant level.

Usually, previous studies on the future development pathway of coal power are based on the economic models to provide the administrative pathways, or the coal-fired power plants dataset to provide bottom-up pathways with the multi-scenario hypothesis. However, these two methods above are difficult to be combined: there is a gap between the comprehensive consideration of economic, policy, and environmental factors, with the high spatial resolution of technology and space. This study narrows the gap between regional projection and unit data, and also considers the uncertainty of the operating units with the Monte Carlo Method. Firstly, we evaluate the score of each unit according to its technical parameters and other attribute information, which is based on a sufficient dataset of coal-fired power units with their geographical spatial coordinates. And next, the probability distribution function is built according to the scores of the candidate units. Then, we do sampling from the candidate units until the total capacity reaches the regional projection of the coal power development goal. Based on this method, we could identify the spatial distribution probability of coal-fired power units in the future, and therefore it can help us explore the environmental impacts in high-resolution space.•The method calculates the probability of operating status of candidate units using technical and attribute information-base scores with Monte Carlo method.•This paper describes the uncertainties in determining the spatial distribution of future power plants, and verifies the robustness of the results.•This method narrows the scale gap between regional projection and unit-level data.

Incorporating Health Cobenefits in Decision-Making for the Decommissioning of Coal-Fired Power Plants in China.

China's coal-fired power industry urgently needs deep decarbonization to meet the challenge of climate change. Regional air quality improvement and the health benefits can motivate efforts to achieve low-carbon goals. However, the health cobenefit per amount of carbon reduction may vary drastically across power plant units. The strategy of targeting more health cobenefits has been considered in designing an efficient carbon mitigation pathway, whereas this issue has not been analyzed at the unit level. In this study, an indicator called health benefit by carbon reduction (H/C) was constructed for each power unit to assess the relative potential of obtaining health cobenefits. The results reveal that the distribution of H/C values among units is extremely uneven: the first 1, 5, and 20% of the total carbon emission contributed to nearly 20, 40, and 70%, respectively, of the total health effects. The additional health benefits from H/C optimization were evaluated, and the decommissioning pathway of China's coal-fired power industry for achieving more health benefits was explored.

GPR54 deficiency reduces the Treg population and aggravates experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis in mice.

GPR54 is highly expressed in the central nervous system and plays a crucial role in pubertal development. However, GRP54 is also expressed in the immune system, implying possible immunoregulatory functions. Here we investigated the role of GPR54 in T cell and immune tolerance. GPR54 deficiency led to an enlarged thymus, an increased number of thymocytes, and altered thymic micro-architecture starting around puberty, indicating GPR54 function in T-cell development through its regulatory effect on the gonadal system. However, flow cytometry revealed a significant reduction in the peripheral regulatory T cell population and a moderate decrease in CD4 single-positive thymocytes in prepubertal Gpr54-/- mice. These phenotypes were confirmed in chimeric mice with GPR54 deficient bone marrow-derived cells. In addition, we found elevated T cell activation in peripheral and thymic T cells in Gpr54-/- mice. When intact mice were immunized with myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein, a more severe experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) developed in the Gpr54-/- mice. Interestingly, aggravated EAE disease was also manifested in castrated and bone marrow chimeric Gpr54-/- mice compared to the respective wild-type control, suggesting a defect in self-tolerance resulting from GPR54 deletion through a mechanism that bypassed sex hormones. These findings demonstrate a novel role for GPR54 in regulating self-tolerant immunity in a sex hormone independent manner.

Kisspeptin Receptor GPR54 Promotes Adipocyte Differentiation and Fat Accumulation in Mice.

GPR54, Kisspeptin-1 receptor (KISS1R), a member of rhodopsin family, plays a critical role in puberty development and has been proposed to be involved in regulation of energy metabolism. This study aims to explore the function of GPR54 in adipogenesis, lipid metabolism, and obesity in addition to its effect through hormones. Results showed that when fed a high-fat diet, the weight growth of castrated or ovariectomized Gpr54-/- mice was significantly slower than that of WT control, together with a lower triglyceride concentration. The ratio of white adipose tissue was lower, and average size of adipocytes was smaller in Gpr54-/- mice. Meanwhile, there were less adipose tissue macrophages (ATMs), especially pro-inflammatory macrophages. Expression of inflammatory related genes also indicated that inflammatory response caused by obesity was not as drastic in Gpr54-/- mice as in WT mice. Liver triglyceride in Gpr54-/- mice was reduced, especially in female mice. On the other hand, oil drop formation was accelerated when hepatocytes were stimulated by kisspeptin-10 (Kp-10). Primary mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) of Gpr54-/- mice were less likely to differentiate into adipocytes. When stimulated by Kp-10, 3T3-L1 cell differentiation into adipocytes was accelerated and triglyceride synthesis was significantly promoted. These data indicated that GPR54 could affect obesity development by promoting adipocyte differentiation and triglyceride accumulation. To further elucidate the mechanism, genes related to lipid metabolism were analyzed. The expression of genes involved in lipid synthesis including PPARγ, ACC1, ADIPO, and FAS was significantly changed in Gpr54-/- mice. Among them PPARγ which also participate in adipocyte differentiation displayed a marked reduction. Moreover, phosphorylation of ERK, which involved in GPR54 signaling, was significantly decreased in Gpr54-/- mice, suggesting that GPR54 may promote lipid synthesis and obesity development by activating MAP kinase pathway. Therefore, in addition to the involvement in hormone regulation, our study demonstrated that GPR54 directly participates in obesity development by promoting adipocyte differentiation and fat accumulation. This provided evidence of involvement of GPR54 in lipid metabolism, and revealed new potentials for the identification and development of novel drug targets for metabolic diseases.

Hyperlipidemia induces typical atherosclerosis development in Ldlr and Apoe deficient rats.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Low-density lipoprotein receptor (Ldlr) and apolipoprotein E (Apoe) knockout (KO) mice have been widely used as animal models of atherosclerosis. However, data suggested that it is difficult to develop typical atherosclerosis in rats. To this end, Ldlr and Apoe KO rats were generated and the potential to develop novel atherosclerosis models was evaluated. METHODS: We established Apoe/Ldlr single and double KO (DKO) rats via the CRISPR/Cas9 system in the same background. Phenotypes of dyslipidemia and atherosclerosis in these KO rats were systematically characterized. RESULTS: Knockout of either gene led to severe dyslipidemia and liver steatosis. Significant atherosclerotic plaques were observed in the abdominal aorta of all mutant rats fed a normal diet for 48 weeks. Western diet greatly aggravated atherosclerosis and fatty liver. In addition, we found mononuclear cell infiltration in early lesions. Increased expression of inflammatory cytokines, as well as macrophage accumulation in lesions of mutants, was observed, indicating that mononuclear cell trafficking and endothelial inflammation affected atherogenesis. Moreover, mutant rats displayed a sex difference profile more similar to humans in which males had heavier plaque burdens than females. CONCLUSIONS: Deficiency of either Ldlr or Apoe genes induced hyperlipidemia, which promoted endothelial inflammation and led to typical atherosclerosis in rats on normal or Western diets. These models display certain advantages, which will benefit future investigations of atherosclerotic pathology and antiatherosclerotic therapeutics.

Analysis of bioactive constituents from the leaves of Amorpha fruticosa L.

Amorpha fruticosa L. is a Chinese folk medicine and rich in polyphenols. Fifteen known compounds were isolated and identified from the leaves of A. fruticosa L. They are tephrosin (1), 6a,12a-dehydrodeguelin (2), vitexin (3), afrormosin-7-O-ß-d-glucopyranoside (4), 2″-O-α-l-rhamnopyranosyl isovitexin (5), rutin (6), chrysoeriol (7), 7-O-methylluteolin (8), trans-p-coumaric acid (9), 2-benzyl-4,6-dihydroxybenzoic acid-4-O-ß-d-glucopyranoside (10), formononetin (11), quercetin (12), apigenin (13), ß-sitosterol (14), and ß-daucosterol (15). Compounds 3, 4, 5, and 7-9 were isolated from A. fruticosa L. for the first time. Cytotoxicity of individual compounds 3-10 and 90% ethanol extract against human cancer cell lines HCT116 and HepG2 were reported. The results suggested that compounds 7 and 8, and the crude extract exhibited inhibitory effects on human cancer cell line HCT116, at concentrations of 100 µg/mL, 5 µg/mL, and 25 µg/mL at <60% of cell viability rate, respectively. In addition, a valid high-performance liquid chromatography diode array detector method was established to quantitatively analyze compounds 1-12 in the leaves of A. fruticosa L., which was harvested at three different stages of maturity from May 20 to August 10, 2014. The results demonstrated that contents were greatly influenced by the maturity. Total amounts of the analytical constituents gradually increased from May 20 to August 10, with the values ranging from 10.86 mg/g to 18.84 mg/g, whereas bioactive compounds 7 and 8 presented the opposite variation trend. The results of this study may provide data for further study and comprehensive utilization of A. fruticosa L.

Simultaneous characterization and quantification of 17 main compounds in Rabdosia rubescens by high performance liquid chromatography.

Rabdosia rubescens is a healthy herbal tea and well-known Chinese medicinal herb. To evaluate the quality of R. rubescens from China, a high performance liquid chromatography method with dual-wavelength detection was developed and validated. The method was successfully applied for the simultaneous characterization and quantification of 17 main constituents from four different cultivation regions in China. Under optimal conditions, analysis was performed on a Luna C-18 column and gradient elution with a solvent system of acetonitrile and 0.5% (v/v) acetic acid-water at a flow rate of 1.0 mL/min and wavelength of 220 nm and 280 nm. All standard calibration curves exhibited good linearity (r2 > 0.9992) within the test ranges. The precision was evaluated by intraday and interday tests, which revealed relative standard deviation values within the ranges of 0.57-2.35% and 0.52-3.40%, respectively. The recoveries were in the range of 96.37-101.66%. The relative standard deviation values for stability and repeatability were < 5%. The contents of some compounds were low and varied with different cultivars. The proposed method could serve as a prerequisite for quality control of R. rubescens materials and products.

Hepatoprotective standardized EtOH-water extract of the leaves of Ziziphus jujuba.

The hepatoprotective activity of the EtOH-water extract of Ziziphus jujuba leaves was evaluated against CCl4-induced hepatic damage in mice. The EtOH-water extract significantly alleviated liver damage as indicated by the decreased levels of serum ALT and AST and the decreased MDA content, the increased levels of SOD, GSH and GSH-Px, and the reduced pathological tissue injury induced by CCl4. A quantitative analysis of fifteen major constituents (1-15) of the EtOH-water extract of the leaves of Z. jujuba was conducted by HPLC-DAD. Based on our research results, it can be concluded that the EtOH-water extract of the leaves of Z. jujuba is efficacious for prevention and treatment of CCl4-induced hepatic injury in mice. Flavonoids might be the active ingredients responsible for the biological and pharmacological activities towards hepatoprotection.

Chemical characterization of the main bioactive constituents from fruits of Ziziphus jujuba.

The fruit of Ziziphus jujuba Mill., also called hongzao in Chinese, has a long history of cultivation in China. From the fruit of Z. jujuba, twenty-seven known compounds were isolated and identified as the main constituents of these fruits. They were 3-O-(trans-p-coumaroyl)-alphitolic acid (1), 3-O-(cis-p-coumaroyl)-alphitolic acid (2), 3ß-O-(trans-p-coumaroyl)-maslinic acid (3), pomonic acid (4), 2-oxo-pomolic acid (5), benthamic acid (6), terminic acid (7), oleanic acid (8), betulinic acid (9), quercetin 3-O-rutinoside (10), quercetin 3-O-robinobioside (11), apigenin (12), traumatic acid (13), (Z)-4-oxotetradec-5-enoic acid (14), 7(E)-9-keto-hexadec-7-enoic acid (15), 9(E)-11-oxo-octadecenoic acid (9CI) (16), and magnoflorine (27), etc. The HPLC fingerprint of Z. jujuba fruits was established at the same time. Compounds 4, 5, 7, 11, 14, 15 and 16 were isolated from Z. jujuba for the first time. Compound 14 was isolated from the nature for the first time. Furthermore, cytotoxicity against four human tumor cell lines (MCF-7, A549, HepG2 and HT-29) of the isolated compounds (1-17 and 27) was evaluated. Among these compounds, compounds 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 9 and 12 had strong growth inhibitory effects on cancer cell lines. These results indicated that jujube extracts exhibited cytotoxicity on these cancer cell lines.

Characterization of nine polyphenols in fruits of Malus pumila Mill by high-performance liquid chromatography.

Polyphenols are important bioactive substances in apple. To explore the profiles of the nine representative polyphenols in this fruit, a high-performance liquid chromatography method has been established and validated. The validated method was successfully applied for the simultaneous characterization and quantification of these nine apple polyphenols in 11 apple extracts, which were obtained from six cultivars from Shaanxi Province, China. The results showed that only abscission of the Fuji apple sample was rich in the nine apple polyphenols, and the polyphenol contents of other samples varied. Although all the samples were collected in the same region, the contents of nine polyphenols were different. The proposed method could serve as a prerequisite for quality control of Malus products.