Effect of iron-loaded sludge biochar amendments on phytoremediation potential of Cr-contaminated soils by Leersia hexandra swartz.

In this study, the effect of iron-loaded sludge biochar (ISBC) with different amendment dosages (mass ratio of biochar to soil equal to 0, 0.01, 0.025 and 0.05) on the phytoremediation potential of Leersia hexandra swartz (L. hexandra) to Cr-contaminated soil was investigated. With increasing ISBC dosage from 0 to 0.05, plant height, aerial tissue biomass and root biomass increased from 15.70 cm, 0.152 g pot-1 and 0.058 g pot-1 to 24.33 cm, 0.304 g pot-1 and 0.125 g pot-1, respectively. Simultaneously, the Cr contents in aerial tissues and roots increased from 1039.68 mg kg-1 to 2427.87 mg kg-1 to 1526.57 mg kg-1 and 3242.62 mg kg-1, respectively. Thus, the corresponding bioenrichment factor (BCF), bioaccumulation factor (BAF), total phytoextraction (TPE) and translocation factor (TF) values were also increased from 10.52, 6.20, 0.158 mg pot-1 (aerial tissue)/0.140 mg pot-1 (roots) and 0.428 to 15.15, 9.42, 0.464 mg pot-1 (aerial tissue)/0.405 mg pot-1 (roots) and 0.471, respectively. The significant positive effect of ISBC amendment was primarily attributed to the following three aspects: 1) the root resistance index (RRI), tolerance index (TI) and growth toxicity index (GTI) of L. hexandra to Cr were increased from 100%, 100% and 0%-216.88%, 155.02% and 42.18%, respectively; 2) the bio-available Cr content in the soil was decreased from 1.89 mg L-1 to 1.48 mg L-1, while the corresponding TU (toxicity units) value was declined from 0.303 to 0.217; 3) the activities of urease, sucrase and alkaline phosphatase in soil were increased from 0.186 mg g-1, 1.40 mg g-1 and 0.156 mg g-1 to 0.242 mg g-1, 1.86 mg g-1 and 0.287 mg g-1, respectively. In summary, ISBC amendment was able to significantly improve the phytoremediation of Cr-contaminated soils by L. hexandra.

Multi-level fingerprinting and cardiomyocyte protection evaluation for comparing polysaccharides from six Panax herbal medicines.

The role of polysaccharides in quality control of ginseng is underestimated. Large-scale comparison on the polysaccharides of Panax ginseng (PG), P. quinquefolius (PQ), P. notoginseng (PN), Red ginseng (RG), P. japonicus (ZJS), and P. japonicus var. major (ZZS), was performed by both chemical and biological approaches. Holistic fingerprinting at polysaccharide and the hydrolyzed oligosaccharide and monosaccharide levels utilized various chromatography methods, while OGD and OGD/R models on H9c2 cells were introduced to evaluate the protective effects on cell viability and mitochondrial function. Polysaccharides from six ginseng species exhibited remarkable content difference (RG > PG/ZZS/ZJS/PQ > PN), but weak differentiations in molecular weight distribution and oligosaccharide profiles, while Glc and GalA were richer for monosaccharide compositions of PG and RG polysaccharides, respectively. RG polysaccharides (25/50/100 µg/mL) showed significant cardiomyocyte protection by regulating mitochondrial functions. These new evidences may provide support for the supplementary role of polysaccharides in quality control of ginseng.

Prediction of Metabolic Disorders Using NMR-Based Metabolomics: The Shanghai Changfeng Study.

A metabolically healthy status, whether obese or not, is a transient stage with the potential to develop into metabolic disorders during the course of life. We investigated the incidence of metabolic disorders in 1078 metabolically healthy Chinese adults from the Shanghai Changfeng Study and looked for metabolites that discriminated the participants who would develop metabolic disorders in the future. Participants were divided into metabolically healthy overweight/obesity (MHO) and metabolically healthy normal weight (MHNW) groups according to their body mass index (BMI) and metabolic status. Their serum metabolomic profile was measured using a 1H nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer (1H-NMR). The prevalence of diabetes, hypertriglyceridemia, hypercholesterolemia and metabolic syndrome was similar between the MHNW and MHO participants at baseline. After a median of 4.2 years of follow-up, more MHO participants became metabolically unhealthy than MHNW participants. However, a subgroup of MHO participants who remained metabolically healthy (MHO → MHO) had a similar prevalence of metabolic disorders as the MHNW participants at the follow-up examination, despite a significant reduction in their serum concentrations of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) and an elevation in valine, leucine, alanine and tyrosine. Further correlation analysis indicated that serum intermediate-density lipoprotein (IDL) and very low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (VLDL-CH) might be involved in the transition from metabolically healthy to unhealthy status and could be valuable to identify the MHNW and MHO with increased metabolic risks.