Infrared Imageries of Human Body Activated by Tea Match the Hypothesis of Meridian System.

Human meridian (Jingluo) system was hypothesized by traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) for thousands of years, suggesting 12 normal meridian channels going through respective organs, carrying fluid and energy, and laying thermal effects. Some treatments based on meridians have been proved effective. However, existence of meridians has never been confirmed, let alone the lack of measurement for meridian phenotypes. Thermal effect is one of the major phenotypes of meridian metabolism. Infrared photograph was employed to display the picture of meridians since 1970. Unfortunately, no satisfactory results have been obtained. It is possible that only when a certain meridian is activated will there be thermal effect for successful infrared photograph. In this study, 13 types of tea were selected out of the herbs to activate the hypothesized 12 meridians for imagery taking. Forty-two volunteers took part in the experiment lasted for 13 days. Different tea was tested in different day. Infrared imageries of the human bodies were taken immediately after each tea was drunk. The highest temperatures of the fingers, palms, and above the organs were derived from the imageries and analyzed. The temperatures of the organs and fingers possibly connected by 12 hypothesized meridians rose together significantly following the meridian hypothesis. Infrared imageries showed quite clear shapes of the organs activated by different kinds of tea, e.g., heart and kidneys by yellow tea, etc. Some high temperature lines also matched the hypothetic meridians. Our work displayed the probable imageries of all the 12 hypothetic meridians for the first time, and proved with data that different foods may activate different organs following the meridian hypothesis, shedding light on a possible new method of targeted drug designs. Measurements of meridian phenotypes can be developed based on this method of activation. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s43657-022-00090-x.

Market integration, income inequality, and kinship system among the Mosuo of China.

Increased access to defensible material wealth is hypothesised to escalate inequality. Market integration, which creates novel opportunities in cash economies, provides a means of testing this hypothesis. Using demographic data collected from 505 households among the matrilineal and patrilineal Mosuo in 2017, we test whether market integration is associated with increased material wealth, whether increased material wealth is associated with wealth inequality, and whether being in a matrilineal vs. patrilineal kinship system alters the relationship between wealth and inequality. We find evidence that market integration, measured as distance to the nearest source of tourism and primary source of household income, is associated with increased household income and 'modern' asset value. Both village-level market integration and mean asset value were associated negatively, rather than positively, with inequality, contrary to predictions. Finally, income, modern wealth and inequality were higher in matrilineal communities that were located closer to the centre of tourism and where tourism has long provided a relatively stable source of income. However, we also observed exacerbated inequality with increasing farm animal value in patriliny. We conclude that the forces affecting wealth and inequality depend on local context and that the importance of local institutions is obscured by aggregate statistics drawn from modern nation states.

PPARG: A Novel Target for Yellow Tea in Kidney Stone Prevention.

Kidney stones are a common urological disorder with increasing prevalence worldwide. The treatment of kidney stones mainly relies on surgical procedures or extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy, which can effectively remove the stones but also result in some complications and recurrence. Therefore, finding a drug or natural compound that can prevent and treat kidney stones is an important research topic. In this study, we aimed to investigate the effects of yellow tea on kidney stone formation and its mechanisms of action. We induced kidney stones in rats by feeding them an ethylene glycol diet and found that yellow tea infusion reduced crystal deposits, inflammation, oxidative stress, and fibrosis in a dose-dependent manner. Through network pharmacology and quantitative structure-activity relationship modeling, we analyzed the interaction network between the compounds in yellow tea and kidney stone-related targets and verified it through in vitro and in vivo experiments. Our results showed that flavonoids in yellow tea could bind directly or indirectly to peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARG) protein and affect kidney stone formation by regulating PPARG transcription factor activity. In conclusion, yellow tea may act as a potential PPARG agonist for the prevention and treatment of renal oxidative damage and fibrosis caused by kidney stones.

Potential role of tea drinking in preventing hyperuricaemia in rats: biochemical and molecular evidence.

BACKGROUND: Lifestyle and diet play a significant role in hyperuricaemia. Accumulating evidence indicates that tea consumption is associated with hyperuricaemia and gout. However, diverse compounds in different types of tea make it quite difficult to determine the relevant molecular mechanism. Here, we compared the effects of six types of tea on hyperuricaemia induced by potassium oxonate (PO) and hypoxanthine in rats and investigated the possible underlying mechanisms. METHODS: Rats were randomly assigned to ten groups: the control, hyperuricaemia model, benzbromarone positive control, traditional Chinese medicine Simiao San positive control, green tea, yellow tea, black tea, white tea, red tea, and cyan tea treatment groups. After 21 days, uric acid (UA), xanthine oxidase (XOD), alanine aminotransferase (ALT),blood urea nitrogen (BUN), and creatinine (CRE) were assessed. Serum levels of interleukin-1ß (IL-1ß) were measured with an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Haematoxylin-eosin staining and immunohistochemistry were used to assess liver and kidney injury. RESULTS: The levels of UA, CRE, and BUN in the treatment group were decreased to varying degrees. There was a significant reduction in UA, CRE, and BUN levels for yellow tea compared to the positive control drugs. Yellow tea suppressed XOD activity and alleviated hepatic and kidney injury. Network pharmacology and untargeted metabolomics indicated that ten yellow tea bioactive ingredients and 35 targets were responsible for preventing hyperuricaemia, which was mediated by 94 signalling pathways, including IL-1ß and TNF. CONCLUSION: These findings indicate that green tea cannot reduce the serum uric acid level of hyperuricaemic rats. Yellow tea can significantly improve hyperuricaemia by regulating the inflammatory response, autophagy, and apoptosis. This study provides a potential candidate for the treatment of hyperuricaemia and a basis for selecting therapeutic tea for patients with hyperuricaemia.

Effects of Tea Treatments against High-Fat Diet-Induced Disorder by Regulating Lipid Metabolism and the Gut Microbiota.

High-fat diet (HFD) may induce changes of metabolism and gut microbiota changes, and these changes are susceptible to diet adjustments such as tea treatment. However, the treatment effects may vary among different types of tea. In this study, we evaluated the effects of six types of tea on glucose and lipid metabolism and gut microbiota in HFD mice. We established HFD mouse model by 12 weeks feed with 60% fat diet, then treated with teas for six weeks. Here, we showed that treatment with different types of tea can inhibit weight gain and insulin resistance though different ways. Green tea regulated lipid metabolism by regulating the expression of adenosine 5'-monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK) and carnitine palmitoyltransferase-I (CPT-1). The effect of dark tea and white tea in reducing liver weight seemed to be related to activities of acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACC). Yellow tea exhibited the best anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects and effects of recovering the disorder of model mouse microbiota. The decrease in blood sugar and the upregulation of gluconeogenesis-related enzymes seemed to be related to the decrement of unclassified Lachnospiraceae. These different effects may result from the unique chemical compositions contained by different types of tea, which can regulate different lipid and glucose metabolism-related proteins. Despite variations in its compositions and metabolic reactions, tea is a potent antiobesity and hypoglycemic agent.

Matriliny reverses gender disparities in inflammation and hypertension among the Mosuo of China.

Women experience higher morbidity than men, despite living longer. This is often attributed to biological differences between the sexes; however, the majority of societies in which these disparities are observed exhibit gender norms that favor men. We tested the hypothesis that female-biased gender norms ameliorate gender disparities in health by comparing gender differences in inflammation and hypertension among the matrilineal and patrilineal Mosuo of China. Widely reported gender disparities in health were reversed among matrilineal Mosuo compared with patrilineal Mosuo, due to substantial improvements in women's health, with no concomitant detrimental effects on men. These findings offer evidence that gender norms limiting women's autonomy and biasing inheritance toward men adversely affect the health of women, increasing women's risk for chronic diseases with tremendous global health impact.

High-altitude adaptations mitigate risk for hypertension and diabetes-associated anemia.

BACKGROUND: Human populations native to high altitude exhibit numerous genetic adaptations to hypobaric hypoxia. Among Tibetan plateau peoples, these include increased vasodilation and uncoupling of erythropoiesis from hypoxia. OBJECTIVE/METHODS: We tested the hypothesis that these high-altitude adaptations reduce risk for hypertension and diabetes-associated anemia among the Mosuo, a Tibetan-descended population in the mountains of Southwest China that is experiencing rapid economic change and increased chronic disease risk. RESULTS: Hypertension was substantially less common among Mosuo than low-altitude Han populations, and models fit to the Han predicted higher probability of hypertension than models fit to the Mosuo. Diabetes was positively associated with anemia among the Han, but not the Mosuo. CONCLUSION: The Mosuo have lower risk for hypertension and diabetes-associated anemia than the Han, supporting the hypothesis that high-altitude adaptations affecting blood and circulation intersect with chronic disease processes to lower risk for these outcomes. As chronic diseases continue to grow as global health concerns, it is important to investigate how they may be affected by local genetic adaptations.

High-molecular-weight glutenin subunit-deficient mutants induced by ion beam and the effects of Glu-1 loci deletion on wheat quality properties.

BACKGROUND: High-molecular-weight glutenin subunits (HMW-GSs) play a critical role in determining the viscoelastic properties of wheat. Mutations induced by ion beam radiation have been applied to improve the yield and quality of crop. In this study, HMW-GS-deficient mutant lines were selected and the effects of Glu-1 loci deletion on wheat quality properties were illustrated according to the analysis of dry seeds of common wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) Xiaoyan 81 treated with a nitrogen ion beam. RESULTS: Three HMW-GS-deficient mutant lines were obtained and then detected by sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Large-chromosome-fragment deletion resulted in specific deficiencies, and the deleted region sizes were determined using molecular markers. Agronomic characters, quantity and proportion of glutenins and dough microstructure of the deletion lines all proved to be quite different from those of wild-type Xiaoyan 81. Analysis of quality properties suggested that GluA1(-) had superior property parameters, while GluB1(-) and GluD1(-) both showed a significant decrease in quality properties compared with Xiaoyan 81. CONCLUSION: The effects of the three Glu-1 loci on flour and dough quality-related parameters should be Glu-D1 > Glu-B1 > Glu-A1. Ion beam radiation can be used as a mutagen to create new crop mutants.

[FTIR spectroscopic analysis of HeLa cell irradiated by low-energy ions].

In the present paper, low-energy N+ ions produced by low-energy ionic radiometer were used to simulate low-energy ions in astrospace implanting HeLa cell. Then, the effect and mechanism of low-energy ion on the cell were studied with FTIR spectroscopic analysis. In this study, low-energy ions were produced and accelerated in vacuum, and cells would be affected by vacuum when they were implanted by low-energy ions, so mineral oil was used to protect cells from water evaporation. Cells were collected after being implanted, then the change in the content and constructional form in cellular macromolecule with infrared spectrometry. Result indicated that the spectroscopic peak position of differently worked cells was obviously different as compared to the control cell (3300 cm(-1)). Spectroscopic peak position of all samples except implanting 5 x 10(14) N+ x cm(-2) removed to longer wavelength, and the peak position in vacuum of 2 x 10(15) N+ x cm(-2) sample moved to 3420 cm(-1). In addition, the 1378 and 2360 cm(-1) spectroscopic peak positions in control cell all moved to longer wavelength in every worked group. In a word, FTIR spectroscopic analysis indicates that low-energy ion implantation could arouse change in nucleic acid or protein in HeLa cell.