Carrageenan in meat: improvement in lipid metabolism due to Sirtuin1-mediated fatty acid oxidation and inhibited lipid bioavailability.

Kappa-carrageenan (κ-CGN) is widely used in the meat industry. However, its impact on the host metabolism is less revealed. The current study investigated the effect of κ-CGN in pork-based diets on the lipid metabolism of male C57BL/6J mice. The κ-CGN supplement significantly suppressed the increase in body weight by 6.79 g on an average. Supplement of κ-CGN in high-fat diets significantly upregulated the genes and protein expression of Sirtuin1, which was accompanied by the increased gene expression of downstream fatty acids oxidation (Cpt1a and Acadl). The sirtuin1-mediated improvement of lipid metabolism was negatively associated with the levels of bile acids, especially for deoxycholic acid, 3ß-cholic acid, glycodeoxycholic acid and glycolithocholic acid. Moreover, κ-CGN in high-fat diets inhibited lipid digestion and absorption, being associated with the decrease in lipid accumulation and improved serum lipid profile. These results highlighted the role of κ-CGN in alleviating diet-induced adiposity by promoting energy expenditure and suppressing the bioavailability of ingested lipids.

Plant-Based Meat Analogues Weaken Gastrointestinal Digestive Function and Show Less Digestibility Than Real Meat in Mice.

Real meat and plant-based meat analogues have different in vitro protein digestibility properties. This study aims to further explore their in vivo digestion and absorption and their effects on the gastrointestinal digestive function of mice. Compared with the real pork and beef, plant-based meat analogues significantly reduced the number of gastric parietal cells, the levels of gastrin/CCKBR, acetylcholine/AchR, Ca2+, CAMK II, PKC, and PKA, the activity of H+, K+-ATPase, and pepsin, the duodenal villus height, and the ratio of villus height to crypt depth and downregulated the expression of most nitrogen nutrient sensors. Peptidomics revealed that plant-based meat analogues released fewer peptides during in vivo digestion and increased the host- and microbial-derived peptides. Moreover, the real beef showed better absorption properties. These results suggested that plant-based meat analogues weaken gastrointestinal digestive function of mice, and their digestion and absorption performance in vivo is not as good as the real meat.

Exploring the Effects of Industrial Land Transfer on Urban Air Quality Using a Geographically and Temporally Weighted Regression Model.

This paper explores the spatial-temporal heterogeneity of the impact of industrial land transfer on urban air quality using the air quality index (AQI) and primary land market transaction data of 284 cities from 2015 to 2019 in China. Based on a three-dimensional conceptual framework including scale, price and style effect of industrial land transfer, we find that: (1) The scale effect shows an obvious characteristic of spatial agglomeration, and the agglomerations transfer from central and northern China to the western and southeast coastal regions. (2) Industrial land transfer price has a greater impact on air quality than transfer scale no matter whether the effect is positive or negative, which may be because the expansion scale of construction land is restricted strictly by indicators. (3) The scale of industrial land transferred by agreement in the west and northeast will reduce the air quality. (4) The impact of industrial land price transferred by bidding, auction and listing on AQI is gradually decreasing, but that of land transferred by agreement is still high in the northwest and northeast regions. Finally, we put forward policy recommendations based on the spatial and temporal heterogeneity of these effects, which will help alleviate or avoid environmental problems caused by land resources mismatch and industrial development.

Effect of Maternal Administration of Edible Bird's Nest on the Learning and Memory Abilities of Suckling Offspring in Mice.

Although human brains continue developing throughout the underage developmental stages, the infancy period is considered the most important one for the whole life. It has been reported that sialic acid from edible bird's nest (EBN) can facilitate the development of brain and intelligence. In this study, by oral administration of EBN to female mice during the pregnancy or lactation period, the effects of EBN on the levels of sialic acid in mouse milk were determined using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Furthermore, the spatial learning performances of their offspring were assessed using the Morris water maze test. Additionally, cerebral malondialdehyde (MDA), superoxide dismutase (SOD), choline acetyltransferase (ChAT), and acetylcholinesterase (AChE) in cubs nursed by the female mice given the EBN homogenate were examined, while BDNF immunohistochemical staining and neuron count in hippocampi were investigated as well. These results showed that administration with EBN in maternal mice during pregnancy or lactation period can improve the learning and memory functions in their offspring, possibly by increasing the activities of SOD and ChAT and, at the meantime, decreasing the levels of MDA and activities of AChE. Moreover, BDNF levels for CA1, CA2, and CA3 regions in hippocampi and the numbers of dyed neurons in CA1, CA2, CA3, and DG regions among the offspring were significantly enhanced due to the intake of EBN by the maternal mice. We concluded that maternal administration of EBN during the pregnancy and lactation periods can improve the spatial learning performances in the offspring.

[Construction of urban green space ecosystem by using corridor network: a case study in west urban area of Dongying City, Shandong Province].

This paper discussed the ecological significance of urban green corridors network in urban green space ecosystem, analyzed the present status of green space ecosystem in the west urban area of Dongying in Shangdong Province, and figured out the ways of constructing urban green corridors network in this area to strengthen the linkage between its fragmented greenbelts, and between these greenbelts and rural natural environment. Through the construction of this network, the greenbelt area in the west urban area of Dongying would increase 1400 hm2, greenbelt area per capita would increase to 66 m2, and urban and rural greenbelts would be integrated into a whole system to serve the whole city, giving a powerful support to enhance the life quality of local people and the stability of urban ecosystem.

[Influence of copper, cadmium on growth and cation exchange capacity of two kinds of ectomycorrhizal funguses].

Ectomycorrhizal fungus has the ability to enhance the growth of higher plants in the contaminated area, especially ruined by heavy metals. And much attention was focused on how the fungus could enhance the resistance of higher plants. We focused on the resistance of ectomycorrhizal fungus in vitro to heavy metals. In the first experiment, the mycelium biomasses of two ectomycorhizal funguses growing in the Kottke media treated with different concentrations of Cu and Cd were measured after growth as well as the pH value of the medium. The results indicated that heavy metals could reduce the biomasses of the two funguses. Gomplhidius viscidus has higher tolerance to Cu but less Cd than that of Boletus edulis. With development of fungal mycila, the pH value of medium dropped significantly, and this effect might play an important role in enhancing its tolerance. In addition, the higher pH value change per biomass indicated that the fungus treated with heavy metals had the ability to adjust environment of pH more significantly. In the second experiment, the cation exchange capacity (CEC) of the cell walls of the fungus treated with heavy metals was measured according to Marschner's. The results indicated that with the increasing of the concentrations of Cu or Cd, the CEC of Gomphidius viscidus increased, but the CEC of Boletus edulis dropped.