Saponins from Dolichos lablab seeds with anti-inflammatory activity.

As one of a traditional Chinese medicine with dual applications in both medicinal treatment and dietary consumption, the mature seeds of D. lablab were reported to be rich in saponins and have a good effect on inflammatory related diseases. However, the substance basis for its anti-inflammatory activity remains unclear. Thus, a comprehensive phytochemical investigation on triterpenoid saponins from D. lablab seeds was carried out, resulting in the isolation and identification of twenty-one new triterpenoid saponins including dolilabsaponins A1-A4, B, C, D1-D3, E-M, N1, N2 and O (1-21) along with thirteen known analogs (22-34). Notably, the known saponins, 31, 32, and 34 were obtained from Leguminosae family for the first time. The 1H and 13C NMR data of saponins 24 and 28 were firstly reported here. Additionally, lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated RAW264.7 cells model was utilized to assess inhibitory activities of compounds 1-34 on nitric oxide (NO) production. The results revealed that compounds 1-3, 9, 10, 13-15, 18, 22, 23 and 28-34 significantly suppressed the elevation of NO levels in LPS-induced RAW264.7 cells at the concentration of 30 µM, exhibiting a concentration-dependent manner at 3, 10, and 30 µM. The results suggested that compounds 1-3, 9, 10, 13-15, 18, 22, 23, and 28-34 possessed potential anti-inflammatory activity. Further western blot assay demonstrated that 1, 9, 10, 13, 14, and 18 suppressed inflammatory response via down-regulated the expression levels of inflammatory factors, tumor necrosis factor-alpha and interleukin-6.

Dual-channel geometric meta-holograms with complex-amplitude modulation based on bi-spectral single-substrate-layer meta-atoms.

Metasurfaces with complex-amplitude modulation are superior in power regulation and hologram imaging resolution compared with those with phase-only modulation. Nevertheless, a single-cell metasurface with multi-band independent phase and amplitude controls is still a great challenge for the circularly polarized incidences. In this work, we propose and design a single-substrate-layer single-cell metasurface with independent complex-amplitude modulations at two discrete frequencies. Based on this emerging technique, a bi-spectral meta-hologram is designed and verified by both full-wave simulations and experiments, which could reconstruct two Chinese characters at the imaging plane at two frequencies. The proposed method shows great potential in multifunctional meta-devices with enhanced performance.

A Novel Approach Analysing the Dynamic Brain Functional Connectivity for Improved MCI Detection.

OBJECTIVE: Dynamic functional connectivity (dFC) of the brain has been explored for the detection of mild cognitive impairment (MCI), preventing potential development of Alzheimer's disease. Deep learning is widely used method for dFC analysis but is unfortunately computationally expensive and unexplainable. Root mean square value (RMS) of the pairwise Pearson's correlation of the dFC is also proposed but is insufficient for accurate MCI detection. The present study aims at exploring the feasibility of several novel features for dFC analysis, and thus, reliable MCI detection. METHODS: A public resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging dataset containing healthy controls (HC), early MCI (eMCI), and late MCI (lMCI) patients was used. In addition to RMS, nine features were extracted from the pairwise Pearson's correlation of the dFC, inducing amplitude-, spectral-, entropy-, and autocorrelation-related features, and time reversibility. A Student's t-test and a least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression were employed for feature dimension reduction. A SVM was then adopted for two classification objectives: HC vs. lMCI and HC vs. eMCI. Accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, F1-score, and area under the receiver operating characteristic curve were calculated as performance metrics. RESULTS: 6109 out of 66700 features are significantly different between HC and lMCI and 5905 between HC and eMCI. Besides, the proposed features produce excellent classification results for both tasks, outperforming most of the existing methods. SIGNIFICANCE: This study proposes a novel and general framework for dFC analysis, providing a promising tool for the detection of many neurological brain diseases using different brain signals.

Pollution level and health risk assessment of the total petroleum hydrocarbon in marine environment and aquatic products: a case of China.

To evaluate the pollution level and health risk of total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH), seawater, sediments, and aquatic organisms were sampled from the southern sea area of Zhejiang Province (Yangtze River Delta, China) between 2017 and 2019. TPH was widely present in the aquatic environment and products, and its concentration was highly variable. The average value of pollution index (PI) exceeded 1 from 2017 to 2018, and 45.46-69.19% of seawater samples and 56.87-50.00% of sediment samples were polluted. The results showed significant differences in the TPH concentration in various species of aquatic organisms. The average TPH value in aquatic organisms could be ranked in the order as follows: bivalve > shrimp > crab > fish, further reflecting that the ability to accumulate and metabolize TPH existed differently among aquatic organisms within the same pond aquaculture environment. It was relatively safe to eat aquatic products since the exposure risk index was found to be far below the threshold value in this study. Therefore, it would be prudent to undertake regular monitoring of TPH to ensure effective ecosystem functioning and seafood safety in the southern Zhejiang ocean.

Highly selective SERS detection of acetylcholinesterase in human blood based on catalytic reaction.

Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) is a key hydrolase in the cholinergic system, which directly determines the degradation of neurotransmitters. Therefore, it is a significant challenge to detect AChE in human blood with high sensitivity and selectivity in physiological and pathological processes. A novel nanoprobe by decorating the surface of gold nanoparticles with neostigmine (NE) AuNPs/NE was constructed for the AChE assay in serum. The principle is based on the specific recognition and cleavage of carbamate bonds in AuNPs/NE by AChE to form hydroxyl groups, resulting in changes of SERS spectra. The results show that 10 nm AuNPs/NE exhibit excellent catalytic activity for this reaction and the reaction rate is six times higher than that of 70 nm AuNPs/NE. Benefiting from the combined advantages of catalytic reaction specificity and molecular finger printing provided by SERS technology, AuNPs/NE exhibit high selectivity for AChE. The limit of detection (LOD) of this method for AChE activity was low to 0.02 U/mL. In addition, the spiked recovery of AChE in serum samples was 75.0%-119.2%. The proposed sensor also exhibits long-term stability and high biocompatibility with the increasing incubation time. More importantly, this work provides a new perspective for elucidating the role of AChE regulated by oxidative stress in the pathology of depression.

Asymmetric copper-catalyzed propargylic amination with amine hydrochloride salts.

The highly enantioselective copper-catalyzed propargylic amination of propargylic esters with amine hydrochloride salts has been realized for the first time using copper salts with chiral N,N,P-ligands. This method features a broad substrate scope and wide functional group tolerance, generating propargylic amines in good to excellent yields with high enantioselectivities (up to 99% ee). The utility of the approach was demonstrated by late-stage functionalization of marketed pharmaceuticals.