Research on the Low-Temperature Impact Toughness of a New 100-mm Ultra-Thick Offshore Steel Fabricated Using the Narrow-Gap Laser Wire Filling Welding Process.

Ultra-thick offshore steel, known for its high strength, high toughness, and corrosion resistance, is commonly used in marine platforms and ship components. However, when offshore steel is in service for an extended period under conditions of high pressure, extreme cold, and high-frequency impact loads, the weld joints are prone to fatigue failure or even fractures. Addressing these issues, this study designed a narrow-gap laser wire filling welding process and successfully welded a 100-mm new type of ultra-thick offshore steel. Using finite element simulation, EBSD testing, SEM analysis, and impact experiments, this study investigates the weld's microstructure, impact toughness, and fracture mechanisms. The research found that at -80 °C, the welded joint exhibited good impact toughness (>80 J), with the impact absorption energy on the surface of the weld being 217.7 J, similar to that of the base material (225.3 J), and the fracture mechanism was primarily a ductile fracture. The impact absorption energy in the core of the weld was 103.7 J, with the fracture mechanism mainly being a brittle fracture. The EBSD results indicated that due to the influence of the welding thermal cycle and the cooling effect of the narrow-gap process, the grains gradually coarsened from the surface of the welded plate to the core of the weld, which was the main reason for the decreased impact toughness at the joint core. This study demonstrates the feasibility of using narrow-gap laser wire filling welding for 100-mm new type ultra-thick offshore steel and provides a new approach for the joining of ultra-thick steel plates.

Assessment of nursing faculty retirement projections.

BACKGROUND: Nursing faculty retirement is a critical factor contributing to the nursing faculty shortage. PURPOSE: To assess the accuracy of projections on 2016 to 2025 nursing faculty retirements made in a previous study by Fang and Kesten (2017). METHODS: The 2016 to 2022 full-time nursing faculty data collected by American Association of Colleges of Nursing were used to examine the accuracy of the retirement projections for the same years. DISCUSSION: The study found that the mean age of full-time nursing faculty decreased for the first time; the number of faculty retirees and their age distributions projected by Fang and Kesten (2017) were accurate; there was a larger loss of nursing faculty at senior ranks to retirements than was anticipated; nursing faculty aged 50 to 59 in 2015 have made significant progress in doctoral attainment, senior rank, and graduate-level teaching by 2022, but they were still underrepresented in senior ranks compared to the 2016 to 2022 retirees; and for nursing faculty with a PhD degree, their growth was slower than their loss to retirements. CONCLUSION: The findings demonstrate the usefulness of the specific methods for faculty retirement projections. The decline in the mean age of nursing faculty is a positive sign that there is an increased recruitment of younger nurses into academia. The increase in the number of younger nurses entering academia with Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP)-degree preparation can be leveraged through PhD-DNP collaboration to prepare practice-ready nursing graduates who contribute to health care improvements. Nursing schools need to implement innovative strategies to mentor younger faculty for their successful succession.

Enhanced dewatering extent of sludge by Fe3O4-driven heterogeneous Fenton.

Homogeneous Fenton (Fe2+/H2O2) serves as a high-efficiency conditioning method for sludge dewatering due to the generation of strong oxidizing hydroxyl radicals (OH). However, high dose of ferric salts produces iron-rich dewatered sludge and decrease sludge organic matters, which will not be conducive to the subsequent disposal and reutilization. Considering advantages of Fe3O4 as heterogeneous Fenton catalyst, Fe3O4-activated H2O2 (Fe3O4 + H2O2) in this study was adopted to improve sludge deep-dewatering. Reduction efficiency of the bound water (71.3 %) after Fe3O4 + H2O2 treatment (after a reaction time of 30 min) were much higher than those in the Fe2++H2O2 treatment. Especially, the moisture content of treated sludge cake by Fe3O4 + H2O2 remarkably decreased from 86.4 % to 61.3 %. Improvement mechanism of sludge dewatering after Fe3O4 + H2O2 treatment mainly included electrostatic neutralization, reactive radical oxidation, and skeleton building by analysis of contribution factors. The generation of H+ in acidification could neutralize the negatively charged compounds to promote sludge hydrophobicity. Meanwhile reactive radicals generated from Fe3O4 + H2O2 destroyed sludge extracellular polymeric substances and cell structure to release intracellular water. Furthermore, Fe3O4 as a skeleton builder could reconstruct destructive sludge flocs and form new dewatering channels. Finally, low Fe leaching content and recoverability of Fe3O4 effectively will decrease environmental implication.

Dyeing sludge-derived biochar for efficient removal of antibiotic from water.

Adsorption is one of the most effective methods for ecotoxic antibiotics removal, while developing high-performance adsorbents with excellent adsorption capacity is indispensable. As the unavoidable by-product of wastewater, sewage sludge has dual properties of pollution and resources. In this study, dyeing sludge waste was converted to biochar by KOH activation and pyrolysis, and used as an efficient adsorbent for aqueous antibiotics removal. The optimized dyeing sludge-derived biochar (KSC-8) has excellent specific surface area (1178.4 m2/g) and the adsorption capacity for tetracycline (TC) could reach up to 1081.3 mg/g, which is four and five times higher than those without activation, respectively. The PSO (pseudo-second-order) kinetic model and the Langmuir isotherm model fitted better to the experimental data. The obtained KSC-8 has stabilized adsorption capacity for long-term fixed-bed experiments, and maintained 86.35% TC removal efficiency after five adsorption-regeneration cycles. The adsorption mechanism involves electrostatic attraction, hydrogen bonding, π-π interactions and pore filling. This work is a green and eco-friendly way as converting the waste to treat waste in aiming of simultaneous removal of antibiotics and resource recovery of dyeing sludge.

Gap-free genome assembly of Salangid icefish Neosalanx taihuensis.

Neosalanx taihuensis is widely distributed in freshwater and brackish water areas in China. Due to its high commercial value, it has been artificially introduced into many lakes and reservoirs, showing strong ecological adaptability. Here, a gap-free chromosome-level reference genome was constructed by combining short reads, PacBio HiFi long reads, Nanopore ultralong reads and Hi-C data. The reference genome of N. taihuensis was 397.29 Mb with a contig N50 of 15.61 Mb. The assembled sequences were anchored to 28 chromosomes. Furthermore, 20,024 protein-coding genes and 98.16% of the predicted genes were annotated in publicly available biological databases. This high-quality gap-free assembled genome will provide an essential reference for studying the evolution and ecological adaptability of N. taihuensis.

Thiazolopyrimidinone Derivative H5-23 Enhances Daptomycin Activity against Linezolid-Resistant Enterococcus faecalis by Disrupting the Cell Membrane.

The increasing emergence and dissemination of multidrug-resistant (MDR) Gram-positive pathogens pose a serious threat to global public health. Previous reports have demonstrated that the compound H5-23, which has a thiazolopyrimidinone core structure, exhibited antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus epidermidis in vitro. However, the antibacterial activity in vivo and mechanism of action of H5-23 against MDR bacteria have not been fully studied. In this study, we report that H5-23 has wide-spectrum antibacterial activity against Gram-positive bacteria. When combined with daptomycin (DAP), H5-23 demonstrates enhanced antimicrobial activity, effectively killing both planktonic and persister cells, as well as eradicating biofilm formation by linezolid-resistant Enterococcus faecalis. The development of resistance shows that H5-23 has a low propensity to induce antibiotic resistance compared to that of linezolid in vitro. Mechanistic studies reveal that H5-23 increases membrane permeability and disrupts membrane integrity, resulting in increased production of reactive oxygen species (ROS), metabolic perturbations, and ultimately cell death. Additionally, we demonstrate the synergistic antibacterial effect of H5-23 combined with DAP in a murine model. These findings suggest that H5-23 is a promising antimicrobial agent and provides a potential strategy for enhancing the efficacy of DAP in combating multidrug-resistant E. faecalis.

Effects of Clostridium butyricum on Intestinal Microflora and Metabolism of Eriocheir sinensis.

Clostridium butyricum, a new probiotic in recent years, can produce butyric acid and short-chain fatty acids. It has the characteristics of strong acid and alkali resistance, high temperature resistance, and strong resistance to most antibiotics, and has more advantages than other probiotics. However, the action mechanism of C. butyricum on Eriocheir sinensis is still unclear and needs further study. In this study, when C. butyricum was added to the basic diet, the number of living bacteria was 0, 1 × 106 and 1 × 108 CFU/g, respectively. The E. sinensis were randomly divided into three groups: (blank control group, experimental group 1 (1 × 106 CFU/g) and experimental group 2 (1 × 108 CFU/g)). They were fed an experimental diet for 28 days. The effects of C. butyricum on E. sinensis were studied by detecting the differences in non-specific immune indexes, intestinal microflora, and metabolites between serum and hepatopancreas. The results showed that C. butyricum could improve the antioxidant ability of E. sinensis serum and hepatopancreas, protect intestinal tissues, and promote the absorption of nutrients. At the same time, it can enhance the microbial diversity and richness of the E. sinensis gut flora. LC-MS metabolomics was used to detect the metabolism of intestinal flora. It was found that C. butyricum could up-regulate lysophosphatidylcholine in the intestine. Through the KEGG enrichment pathway, it was found that significantly different metabolites were mainly concentrated in six metabolic pathways. The purine metabolism and alanine, aspartate, and glutamate metabolism pathways showed a downward trend, indicating that the addition of C. butyricum to feed could reduce purine metabolism, promote the water-salt balance of the organism's cells, and reduce inflammation. In this study, it was found that the addition of certain concentrations of C. butyricum to feed could improve the antioxidant ability of E. sinensis, improve the intestinal flora environment, and promote the growth of beneficial bacteria in the gut. This can promote the body's metabolism, which is more conducive to its growth.

Elemental sulfur redox bioconversion for selective recovery of phosphorus from Fe/Al-bound phosphate-rich anaerobically digested sludge: Sulfur oxidation or sulfur reduction?

The biological oxidation of elemental sulfur (S0) to sulfate and the reduction of S0 to sulfide provide a potential route for extracting and reclaiming phosphorus (P) from anaerobically digested sludge (ADS). However, the treatment performance, stability, and cost-effectiveness of the two opposing bioprocesses based on S° for selective P recovery from ADS remain unclear. This study aimed to compare the roles of S0-oxidizing bacteria (S0OB) and S0-reducing bacteria (S0RB) in liberating insoluble P from ADS through single-batch and consecutive multibatch experiments. Changes in P speciation in the sludge during the biological extraction processes were analyzed by using complementary sequential extraction and P X-ray absorption near-edge spectroscopy. Results showed that S0OB treatment extracted more phosphate from the sludge compared with S0RB treatment, but it also released a considerable amount of metal cations (e.g., heavy metals, Mg2+, Al3+, Ca2+) and negatively affected sludge dewaterability due to intense sludge acidification and cell lysis. At pH 1.2, the S0OB treatment released 92.9% of P from the sludge, with the dissolution of HAP, Fe-PO4, Mg3(PO4)2, and P-fehrrihy contributing 26.8%, 22.1%, 12.8%, and 10.5%, respectively. The S0RB treatment released 63.6% of P from the sludge at pH 7.0, with negligible dissolution of metal cations, thereby avoiding costly purification of the extract and alkali neutralization for pH adjustment. This treatment involved the replacement of phosphates bounded with Fe-PO4 (FePO4 and P-fehrrihy) and Al-PO4 (P-Alumina and AlPO4) with biogenic sulfides, with contributions of 72.7%, and 20.9%, respectively. Consecutive bioprocesses for P extraction were achieved by recirculating the treated sludge. Both S0OB and S0RB treatments did not affect the extent of sludge dewatering but considerably weakened the dewatering rate. The S0OB-treated sludge exhibited prolonged filtration time (from 3010 s to 9150 s) and expressing time (from 795 s to 4690 s) during compression dewatering. After removing metal cations using cation exchange resin (CER) and neutralizing using NaOH, a vivianite product Fe3(PO4)2·8H2O (purity: 84%) was harvested from the S0OB-treated extract through precipitation with FeSO4·7H2O. By contrast, a vivianite product Fe3(PO4)2·8H2O (purity: 81%) was directly obtained from the S0RB-treated extract through precipitation with FeSO4·7H2O. Ultimately, 79.8 and 57.9wt% of P were recovered from ADS through S0OB extraction-CER purification-alkali neutralization-vivianite crystallization, and S0RB extraction-vivianite crystallization, respectively. Collectively, biological S0 reduction is more applicable than biological S0 oxidation for selectively reclaiming P from Fe/Al-associated phosphate-rich ADS due to better cost-effectiveness and process simplicity. These findings are of significance for developing sludge management strategies to improve P reclamation with minimal process inputs.

Schwertmannite-based heterogeneous Fenton for enhancing sludge dewaterability over a wide pH range.

Fe-based Fenton technology is commonly used to enhance sludge dewaterability, but it requires subsequent neutralization, resulting in excessive chemical consumption. In this study, we investigated the feasibility of using schwertmannite-composited Fe3O4 (Sch/Fe3O4) as a heterogeneous Fenton catalyst to enhance sludge dewaterability without the need for pH adjustment. A high reduction efficiency of sludge specific resistance to filtration (94.4%), moisture content (11.4%) and bound water (45.5%) after Sch/Fe3O4 +H2O2 treatment at initial pH 7.5 were obtained, suggesting that Sch/Fe3O4 +H2O2 posed good dehydration performance without any acidification. SO42- and H+ generation in Sch/Fe3O4 system played an important role in sludge pH decrease, which facilitated sludge cell lysis, intracellular water release, and provided a suitable pH for Fenton reaction. Reactive species (•OH, •O2-, and 1O2) from Sch/Fe3O4 +H2O2 could effectively destroy sludge EPS, releasing more bound water. Additionally, the negatively charged compounds were neutralized by dissolved Fe2+/Fe3+. Sch/Fe3O4, as a skeleton builder, rearranged the dissociative sludge flocs to improve the incompressibility and permeability of sludge cake. Finally, sludge treated with Sch/Fe3O4 +H2O2 achieved organic matters reserve, heavy metals reduction, further benefiting the final disposal.

Promoting dewatering efficiency of sludge by bioleaching coupling chemical flocculation.

In recent years, bioleaching has emerged as a cost-effective technology for enhancing the dewaterability of sludge. However, the lengthy treatment time involved in sludge bioleaching processes limits daily treatment capacity for sludge. Here, a novel approach was developed through a short time of sludge bioleaching with A. ferrooxidans LX5 (A. f) and A. thiooxidans TS6 (A. t) followed by polyferric sulfate (PFS) flocculation (A. f + A. t + PFS). After 12.5 h of the A. f + A. t + PFS treatment (30% A. f, 10% A. t, 40 mg/g DS S0, 60 mg/g DS FeSO4•7H2O, and 120 mg/g DS PFS), the reduction efficiency of specific resistance to filtration (SRF) and sludge cake moisture content reached 94.0% and 11.6%, respectively, which were comparable to the results achieved through 24 h of completed bioleaching treatment. In pilot-scale applications, the mechanical dewatering performance was notably improved following A. f + A. t + PFS treatment, with the low moisture content of the treated sludge cake (∼59.2%). This study provides new insights into the A. f + A. t + PFS process and holds potential for developing efficient and promising sludge dewatering strategies in engineering application.

HGF/c-Met signaling promotes the migration and proliferation of deer antler MSCs.

The complete regeneration of deer antlers is based on the proliferation and differentiation of stem cells. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) of antlers have an important role in antler regeneration and rapid growth and development. HGF is mainly synthesized and secreted by mesenchymal cells. After binding to its receptor c-Met, which transduces signals into cells to stimulate cell proliferation and migration in various organs to promote tissue morphogenesis and angiogenesis. However, the role and mechanism of the HGF/c-Met signaling pathway on antler MSCs are still unclear. In this study, we established antler MSCs with overexpression and interference of HGF gene by lentivirus and small interference RNA, observed the effect of HGF/c-Met signal pathway on the proliferation and migration of antler MSCs, and detected the expression of downstream related signal pathway genes, to explore the mechanism of HGF/c-MET signal pathway on the proliferation and migration of antler MSCs. The results showed that the HGF/c-Met signal affects the expression of RAS, ERK and MEK genes, regulates the proliferation of pilose antler MSCs through Ras/Raf, MEK/ERK pathway, affects the expression of Gab1, Grb2, AKT and PI3K genes, and regulates the migration of MSCs of pilose antler through Gab1/Grb2 and PI3K/AKT pathway.

Rapid Adaptation of Chimonobambusa opienensis Leaves to Crown-Thinning in Giant Panda Ecological Corridor, Niba Mountain.

Leaf traits reflect the ecological strategy in heterogeneous contexts and are widely used to explore the adaption of plant species to environmental change. However, the knowledge of short-term effect of canopy management on understorey plant leaf traits is still limited. Here, we studied the short-term effect of crown-thinning on the leaf morphological traits of bamboo (Chimonobambusa opienensis), an important understorey plant and staple food for the giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) of Niba Mountain. Our treatments were two crown-thinnings (spruce plantation, CS, and deciduous broad-leaved forest, CB) and two controls (broad-leaved forest canopy, FC, and the bamboo grove of clearcutting, BC). The results showed that: the CS enhanced the annual leaf length, width, area, and thickness, CB decreased almost all annual leaf traits, and perennial leaf traits in CS and CB were the opposite. The log-transformed allometric relationships of length vs. width, biomass vs. area were significantly positive while those of specific leaf area vs. thickness were significantly negative, which varied largely in treatments and age. The leaf traits and allometric relationships suggested that the CS created a more suitable habitat for bamboo growth. This study highlighted that the understorey bamboo leaf traits could adapt the improved light environment induced by crown-thinning rapidly.

Learning Many-Body Hamiltonians with Heisenberg-Limited Scaling.

Learning a many-body Hamiltonian from its dynamics is a fundamental problem in physics. In this Letter, we propose the first algorithm to achieve the Heisenberg limit for learning an interacting N-qubit local Hamiltonian. After a total evolution time of O(ε^{-1}), the proposed algorithm can efficiently estimate any parameter in the N-qubit Hamiltonian to ε error with high probability. Our algorithm uses ideas from quantum simulation to decouple the unknown N-qubit Hamiltonian H into noninteracting patches and learns H using a quantum-enhanced divide-and-conquer approach. The proposed algorithm is robust against state preparation and measurement error, does not require eigenstates or thermal states, and only uses polylog(ε^{-1}) experiments. In contrast, the best existing algorithms require O(ε^{-2}) experiments and total evolution time. We prove a matching lower bound to establish the asymptotic optimality of our algorithm.

Phytophthora sojae boosts host trehalose accumulation to acquire carbon and initiate infection.

Successful infection by pathogenic microbes requires effective acquisition of nutrients from their hosts. Root and stem rot caused by Phytophthora sojae is one of the most important diseases of soybean (Glycine max). However, the specific form and regulatory mechanisms of carbon acquired by P. sojae during infection remain unknown. In the present study, we show that P. sojae boosts trehalose biosynthesis in soybean through the virulence activity of an effector PsAvh413. PsAvh413 interacts with soybean trehalose-6-phosphate synthase 6 (GmTPS6) and increases its enzymatic activity to promote trehalose accumulation. P. sojae directly acquires trehalose from the host and exploits it as a carbon source to support primary infection and development in plant tissue. Importantly, GmTPS6 overexpression promoted P. sojae infection, whereas its knockdown inhibited the disease, suggesting that trehalose biosynthesis is a susceptibility factor that can be engineered to manage root and stem rot in soybean.

Enhancing sludge dewatering efficiency through bioleaching facilitated by increasing reactive oxygen species.

Bioleaching facilitated by iron-oxidizing bacteria is regarded as a promising sludge dewatering method due to excellent dewaterability and low cost. However, a two-days bioleaching time for sludge conditioning decreased its daily treatment capacity. In fact, Fe2+ easily reacts with O2 to produce reactive oxygen species (ROS) with high oxidizing activity. Can bioleaching performed in Fe2+-rich system generate ROS to decompose sludge extracellular polymeric substances (EPS)? Here both contribution of ROS produced in bioleaching to improve sludge dewaterability and the increase of ROS content to shorten sludge bioleaching treatment time were investigated. The introduction of H2O2 in sludge bioleaching treatment (BS+H2O2) to increase ROS could simultaneously improve sludge dewaterability and decrease bioleaching time. Specific resistance to filtration (SRF) and capillary suction time (CST) reduction ratios (90.3% and 80.9%) in BS+H2O2 process were much higher than those in other processes after only 30 min reaction. Mechanisms of improving sludge dewaterability in BS+H2O2 mainly included ROS oxidation and Fe3+ flocculation by analysis of the contribution factors. These findings not only provide an effectively method to promote sludge dewatering efficiency of bioleaching, but also give new sights into the design of cost-efficient processes for improving the sludge dewatering.

Improvement of fungal extraction of phosphorus from sewage sludge ash by Aspergillus niger using sludge filtrate as nutrient substrate.

Fungal extraction is a promising approach for reclaiming phosphorus (P) from sewage sludge ash (SSA). However, this approach faces notable technical and economic challenges, including an unknown P speciation evolution and the addition of expensive chemical organic carbon. In this study, the use of an organic-rich effluent produced in sludge dewatering as nutrient source is proposed to initiate the fungal extraction of SSA-borne P with Aspergillus niger. The changes in P speciation in the ash during fungal treatment was analyzed by combined sequential extraction, solid-state 31P nuclear magnetic resonance, and P X-ray absorption near edge spectroscopy. Results showed that after 5 days of fungal treatment using sludge-derived organics, 85 % of P was leached from SSA. Dominantly, this considerable release of P resulted from the dissolution of Ca3(PO4)2, AlPO4, FePO4, and Mg3(PO4)2 in the ash, and their individual contribution rates to P released accounted for 28.0 %, 24.3 %, 20.6 %, and 18.8 %, respectively. After removal of metal cations (e.g., Mg2+, Al3+, Fe3+, and heavy metals) by cation exchange resin (CER), a hydroxyapatite (HAP) product with a purity of > 85 % was harvested from the extract by precipitation with CaCl2. By contrast, without CER purification, a crude product of Ca/Mg-carbonates and phosphates mixture were obtained from this extract. A total of 73.2 wt% of P was ultimately recovered from SSA through integrated fungal extraction, CER purification, and HAP crystallization. These findings provide a mechanistic basis for the development of waste management strategies for improved P reclamation with minimal chemical organics consumption.

Decreased in vitro bioaccessibility of Cd and Pb in an acidic Ultisol through incorporation of crop straw-derived biochar.

Studies analyzing the in vitro bioaccessibility (BAc) of heavy metals in biochar-amended soils are currently lacking. The present study aimed to assess the metal BAc in Cd- and Pb-spiked acidic Ultisol samples treated individually with 2% (w/w) maize, rice, wheat, soybean, and pea straw-derived biochar. The results indicate that the Cd-BAc simulated in gastric phase (GP) decreased from 78.4% to 66.5-72.3% and the Pb-BAC decreased from 74.3% to 67.2-69.2%; however, the Cd-BAc in the intestinal phase (IP) decreased from 35.6% to 27.9-33.5% and the Pb-BAc decreased from 34.7% to 29.7-32.9% after 120 d of incubation with biochar application compared to the un-amended Ultisol. The Cd- and Pb-BAc in both GP and IP were significantly negatively correlated with soil pH, CEC, and organic carbon (P < 0.05), which increased after biochar application. The soybean straw-derived biochar amendment has the greatest potential to decrease the BAc of Cd and Pb in the GP and IP, owing to the highest level of CEC, SOC, TC and TN among all soil samples. Moreover, the BAc was positively correlated with the exchangeable, and exchangeable + carbonate-bound Cd and Pb fractions (P < 0.05), indicating these fractions had a dominant influence on the BAc of cationic heavy metals. Therefore, crop straw-derived biochar amendment can decrease the BAc of Cd and Pb in acidic Ultisol, and thus mitigate the health risks posed by these metals from incidental ingestion.

Study on the mechanism of Fufang E'jiao Jiang on precancerous lesions of gastric cancer based on network pharmacology and metabolomics.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Fufang E'jiao Jiang (FEJ) is a prominent traditional Chinese medicine prescription, which consists of Asini Corii Colla (Donkey-hide gelatin prepared by stewing and concentrating from the hide of Equus asinus Linnaeus., ACC), Codonopsis Radix (the dried roots of Codonopsis pilosula (Franch.) Nannf., CR), Ginseng Radix et Rhizoma Rubra (the steamed and dried root of Panax ginseng C.A. Mey., GRR), Crataegi Fructus (the mature fruits of Crataegus pinnatifida Bunge., CF), and Rehmanniae Radix Praeparata (the steamed and sun dried tuber of Rehmannia glutinosa (Gaertn.) Libosch. ex Fisch. & C.A. Mey., RRP). It is a popularly used prescription for "nourishing Qi and nourishing blood". AIM OF THE STUDY: To explore the potential mechanism of FEJ on precancerous lesion of gastric cancer in rats by combining network pharmacology and metabolomics. METHODS: Traditional Chinese Medicine Systems Pharmacology and Bioinformatics Analysis Tool for Molecular mechanism of Traditional Chinese Medicine were used to identify the ingredients and potential targets of FEJ. GeneCards database was used to define PLGC-associated targets. We built a herb-component-disease-target network and analyzed the protein-protein interaction network. Underlying mechanisms were identified using Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway enrichment analysis. In addition, 40% ethanol, N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitroguanidine and irregular eating were used to establish PLGC rats model. We also evaluated the efficacy of FEJ on MNNG-induced PLGC rats by body weight, histopathology, blood routine and cytokine levels, while the predicted pathway was determined by the Western blot. Ultra-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry-based serum non-targeted metabolomics was used to select potential biomarkers and relevant pathways for FEJ in the treatment of PLGC. RESULTS: Network pharmacology showed that FEJ exhibited anti-PLGC effects through regulating ALB, TNF, VEGFA, TP53, AKT1 and other targets, and the potential pathways mainly involved cancer-related, TNF, PI3K-AKT, HIF-1, and other signaling pathways. Animal experiments illustrated that FEJ could suppress inflammation, regulate gastrointestinal hormones, and inhibit the expression of PI3K/AKT/HIF-1α pathway-related proteins. Based on serum non-targeted metabolomics analysis, 12 differential metabolites responding to FEJ treatment were identified, and metabolic pathway analysis showed that the role of FEJ was concentrated in 6 metabolic pathways. CONCLUSION: Based on network pharmacology, animal experiments and metabolomics, we found that FEJ might ameliorate gastric mucosal injury in PLGC rats by regulating gastrointestinal hormones and inhibiting inflammation, and its mechanism of action is related to the inhibition of excessive activation of PI3K/AKT/HIF-1α signaling pathway and regulation of disorders of body energy metabolism. This comprehensive strategy also provided a reasonable way for unveiling the pharmacodynamic mechanisms of multi-components, multi-targets, and multi-pathways in Traditional Chinese Medicine.

Formyl Radical Generation from α-Chloro N-Methoxyphthalimides Enables Selective Aldehyde Synthesis.

The aldehydes installation by radical formylation constitutes an attractive synthetic strategy. However, the generation of formyl radicals for organic synthesis applications remains unknown. Herein we report the first formyl radical generation from α-chloro N-methoxyphthalimides, which selectively synthesize aldehydes by alkene hydroformylation under mild photoredox conditions. The aldehydes can be installed on acrylates, acrylamides, vinyl sulfones, vinyl ketones, and complex steroids by radical hydroformylation in excellent chemoselectivity and regioselectivity. The concerted hydrochloride elimination for the formyl radical generation from α-chloro methoxy radicals is established by experimental and computational approaches.

A Comprehensive Analysis of Physiologic and Hormone Basis for the Difference in Room-Temperature Storability between 'Shixia' and 'Luosanmu' Longan Fruits.

Although the effects of phytohormones (mainly salicylic acid) on the storability of longan fruit have been reported, the relationship between postharvest hormone variation and signal transduction and storability remains unexplored. The basis of physiology, biochemistry, hormone content and signalling for the storability difference at room-temperature between 'Shixia' and 'Luosanmu' longan fruit were examined. 'Luosanmu' longan exhibited faster pericarp browning, aril breakdown and rotting during storage. 'Luosanmu' pericarp exhibited higher malondialdehyde but faster decreased total phenolics, flavonoid, glutathione, vitamin C, catalase activity and gene expression. Higher H2O2 and malondialdehyde but lower glutathione, glutathione-reductase and peroxidase activities, while higher activities and gene expressions of polygalacturonase, ß-galactosidase and cellulose, lower covalent-soluble pectin, cellulose and hemicellulose but higher water-soluble pectin were observed in 'Luosanmu' aril. Lower abscisic acid and methyl jasmonate but higher expressions of LOX2, JAZ and NPR1 in pericarp, while higher abscisic acid, methyl jasmonate and salicylic acid together with higher expressions of ABF, JAZ, NPR1 and PR-1 in 'Luosanmu' aril were observed. In conclusion, the imbalance between the accumulation and scavenging of active oxygen in 'Luosanmu' longan might induce faster lipid peroxidation and senescence-related hormone signalling and further the polymerization of phenolics in pericarp and polysaccharide degradation in aril.