Is diet related to skin condition? A Mendelian randomization study.

Observational studies have revealed associations between various dietary factors and skin conditions. However, the causal relationship between diet and skin condition is still unknown. Data on 17 dietary factors were obtained from the UK Biobank. Data on four skin conditions were derived from the UK Biobank and another large-scale GWAS study. Genetic predictions suggested that the intake of oily fish was associated with a lower risk of skin aging (OR: 0.962, P = 0.036) and skin pigmentation (OR: 0.973, P = 0.033); Tea intake was associated with a lower risk of skin pigmentation (OR: 0.972, P = 0.024); Salad/raw vegetables intake was associated with a lower risk of keratinocyte skin cancer (OR: 0.952, P = 0.007). Coffee intake was associated with increased risk of skin aging (OR: 1.040, P = 0.028); Pork intake was associated with increased risk of skin aging (OR: 1.134, P = 0.020); Beef intake was associated with increased risk of cutaneous melanoma (OR: 1.013, P = 0.016); Champagne plus white wine intake was associated with increased risk of cutaneous melanoma (OR: 1.033, P = 0.004); Bread intake was associated with increased risk of keratinocyte skin cancer (OR: 1.026, P = 0.013). Our study results indicate causal relationships between genetically predicted intake of oily fish, tea, salad/raw vegetables, coffee, pork, beef, champagne plus white wine, and bread and skin conditions.

Vicatia thibetica de Boiss: Botany, Traditional Uses, Phytochemistry, Quantitative Analysis, and Pharmacology.

BACKGROUND: Vicatia thibetica de Boiss is a common Tibetan medicine used for both medicine and food, belonging to the family Apiaceae. This plant has the functions of dispelling wind, removing dampness, dispersing cold, and relieving pain. It has great development potential and application prospects in food development and medicinal value. METHODS: The related references on botany, traditional uses, phytochemistry, quantitative analysis, and pharmacology of V. thibetica de Boiss had been retrieved from both online and offline databases, including PubMed, ScienceDirect, Web of Science, Elsevier, Willy, SpringLink, SciFinder, Google Scholar, Baidu Scholar, ACS publications, SciHub, Scopus, and CNKI. RESULTS: V. thibetica de Boiss exerts nourishing, appetizing, and digestive effects according to the theory of Tibetan medicine. Phytochemical reports have revealed that V. thibetica de Boiss contains flavonoids, coumarins, sterols, and organic acids. Meanwhile, the quantitative analysis of the chemical constituents of V. thibetica de Boiss has been done by means of UPLC-Q-TOF-MS. It has also been found that V. thibetica de Boiss possesses multiple pharmacological activities, including anti-fatigue, anti-oxidant, anti-aging, and non-toxic activities. CONCLUSION: This paper has comprehensively summarized botany, traditional uses, phytochemistry, quantitative analysis, and pharmacology of V. thibetica de Boiss. It will not only provide an important clue for further studying V. thibetica de Boiss, but also offer an important theoretical basis and valuable reference for in-depth research and exploitation of this plant in the future.

A Comprehensive Review of Structures, Structure-activity Relationships, Extractions, and Bioactivities of Flavonoids from Citrus medica.

BACKGROUND: Citrus medica is a kind of medicinal and edible plant. It not only contains rich nutrients but also has a variety of therapeutic functions, including relieving pain, harmonizing the stomach, removing dampness, reducing phlegm, cleaning the liver, and relieving qi in traditional Chinese diagnosis. METHODS: The references of C. medica were mainly collected from the online database, such as PubMed, SciFinder, Web of Science, Google Scholar, Elsevier, Willy, SpringLink, and CNKI. The other related references were sorted by consulting books and documents. RESULTS: This review summarized and analyzed the different types of flavonoids of C. medica, including flavone-O-glycosides, flavone-C-glycosides, dihydroflavone-O-glycosides, flavonol aglycones, flavonoid aglycones, dihydroflavonoid aglycones, and bioflavonoids. The extraction methods of flavonoids were summarized in this review. Meanwhile, the multiple bioactivities of these flavonoids, including anti-atherosclerotic, hypolipidemic, anti-oxidant, hypoglycemic, and other activities. Their structure-activity relationships were reviewed and discussed in this paper. CONCLUSIONS: This review summarized the different extraction methods of diverse flavonoids with multiple bioactivities of C. medica, and their structure-activity relationships were discussed in this paper. This review may provide a valuable reference for researching and exploiting C. medica.

Short communication: diversity of endogenous avian leukosis virus subgroup E elements in 11 chicken breeds.

Avian leukosis virus subgroup E (ALVE) as a kind of endogenous retroviruses extensively exists in chicken genome. The insertion of ALVE has some effects on chicken production traits and appearance. Most of the work on ALVEs has been done with commercial breeds. We present here an investigation of ALVE elements in seven Chinese domestic breeds and four standard breeds. Firstly, we established an ALVE insertion site dataset by using the obsERVer pipeline to identify ALVEs from whole-genome sequence data of eleven chicken breeds, seven Chinese domestic breeds, including Beijing You (BY), Dongxiang (DX), Luxi Game (LX), Shouguang (SG), Silkie (SK), Tibetan (TB) and Wenchang (WC), four standard breeds, including White Leghorn (WL), White Plymouth Rock (WR), Cornish (CS), and Rhode Island Red (RIR). A total of 37 ALVE insertion sites were identified and 23 of them were novel. Most of these insertion sites were distributed in intergenic regions and introns. We then used locus-specific PCR to validate the insertion sites in an expanded population with 18~60 individuals in each breed. The results showed that all predicted integration sites in 11 breeds were verified by PCR. Some ALVE insertion sites were breeds specific, and 16 out of 23 novel ALVEs were found in only one Chinese domestic chicken breed. We randomly selected three ALVE insertions including ALVE_CAU005, ALVE_ros127, and ALVE_ros276, and obtained their insertion sequences by long-range PCR and Sanger sequencing. The insertion sequences were all 7525 bp, which were full-length ALVE insertion and all of them were highly homologous to ALVE1 with similarity of 99%. Our study identified the distribution of ALVE in 11 chicken breeds, which expands the current research on ALVE in Chinese domestic breeds.

Avian leukemia virus subgroup E (ALVE) is an endogenous retrovirus, which is extensively integrated with the chicken genome, and has some effects on chicken production traits and appearance. Most of the current studies on ALVE insertion sites were conducted in standard breeds. In this study, we performed a comprehensive analysis of ALVE insertion sites in seven Chinese domestic breeds and four standard breeds using whole genome sequencing data. A total of 37 ALVE insertion sites were identified and all of them were verified by PCR. Twenty-three of the insertion sites were novel. Some ALVE insertion sites were breeds specific, and 16 out of 23 novel ALVEs were found in only one Chinese domestic chicken breed. In addition, the whole sequences of three ALVE insertions were collected by long-range PCR and Sanger sequencing. We found all the insertion sequences were 7525 bp, which were full-length ALVE insertions and all of them were highly homologous to ALVE1 with similarity of 99%. These results provide a theoretical basis for further studies on the effects of ALVE on production traits and disease resistance traits in chickens. Distribution of ALVE insertions in the genome of 11 chicken breeds.

Hippophae rhamnoides L.: A Comprehensive Review on the Botany, Traditional Uses, Phytonutrients, Health Benefits, Quality Markers, and Applications.

Hippophae rhamnoides L. (sea buckthorn), consumed as a food and health supplement worldwide, has rich nutritional and medicinal properties. Different parts of H. rhamnoides L. were used in traditional Chinese medicines for relieving cough, aiding digestion, invigorating blood circulation, and alleviating pain since ancient times. Phytochemical studies revealed a wide variety of phytonutrients, including nutritional components (proteins, minerals, vitamins, etc.) and functional components like flavonoids (1-99), lignans (100-143), volatile oils (144-207), tannins (208-230), terpenoids (231-260), steroids (261-270), organic acids (271-297), and alkaloids (298-305). The pharmacological studies revealed that some crude extracts or compounds of H. rhamnoides L. demonstrated various health benefits, such as anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, hepatoprotective, anticardiovascular disease, anticancer, hypoglycemic, hypolipidemic, neuroprotective, antibacterial activities, and their effective doses and experimental models were summarized and analyzed in this paper. The quality markers (Q-markers) of H. rhamnoides L. were predicted and analyzed based on protobotanical phylogeny, traditional medicinal properties, expanded efficacy, pharmacokinetics and metabolism, and component testability. The applications of H. rhamnoides L. in juice, wine, oil, ferment, and yogurt were also summarized and future prospects were examined in this review. However, the mechanism and structure-activity relationship of some active compounds are not clear, and quality control and potential toxicity are worth further study in the future.

The Joint Toxicity of Organic Three-dimensional Layered Double Hydroxide and Methyl Orange to Green Algae Chlorella Vulgaris.

Organic modified layered double hydroxides (O-LDHs), known as attractive adsorbents for organic pollutants, may pose severe toxicity to the aquatic organisms during their large-scale application. However, little information is available on the toxicity of O-LDHs and the joint toxicity with the coexisted organic pollutants. Herein, we employed organic three-dimensional layered double hydroxide (O3D-LDH) and methyl orange (MO) as representative to investigate the toxicity mechanisms of single substance and its binary mixture on green algae Chlorella vulgaris. Results showed that O3D-LDH and MO presented concentration-dependent toxicity, the binary mixture showed additive effect after exposed to low O3D-LDH concentration (≤ 50 mg/L), but antagonism was observed for the other. It revealed that the agglomeration of O3D-LDH and microalgae influenced chlorophyll content, eventually inhibiting the growth of algae. Overall, this toxicity investigation was critical for understanding the environmental risk of organic LDHs to provide theorical guidance for their practical application in the water purification.