Maslinic acid prevents IL-1ß-induced inflammatory response in osteoarthritis via PI3K/AKT/NF-κB pathways.

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a degenerative joint disease characterized by destruction of articular cartilage. The inflammatory response is the most important factor affecting the disease process. As interleukin-1ß (IL-1ß) stimulates several key mediators in the inflammatory response, it plays a major role in the pathogenesis of OA. Maslinic acid (MA) is a natural compound distributed in olive fruit. Previous studies have found that maslinic acid has an inhibitory effect on inflammation, but its specific role in the progression of OA disease has not been studied so far. In this study, we aim to assess the protective effect of MA on OA progression by in vitro and in vivo experiments. Our results indicate that, in IL-1ß-induced inflammatory response, MA is effective in attenuating some major inflammatory mediators such as nitric oxide (NO) and prostaglandin E2, and inhibits the expression of IL-6, inducible nitric oxide synthase, cyclooxygenase-2, and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) in a concentration-dependent manner. Also, MA downregulated the expression levels of thrombospondin motif 5 (ADAMTS5) and matrix metalloproteinase 13 in chondrocytes, resulting in reduced degradation of its extracellular matrix. Mechanistically, MA exhibits an anti-inflammatory effect by inactivating the PI3K/AKT/NF-κB pathway. In vivo, the protective effect of MA on OA development can be detected in a surgically induced mouse OA model. In summary, these findings suggest that MA can be used as a safe and effective potential OA therapeutic strategy.

[Effects of aerosol optical thickness on the optical remote sensing imaging quality].

In recent years, due to changes in atmospheric environment, atmospheric aerosol affection on optical sensor imaging quality is increasingly considered by the load developed departments. Space-based remote sensing system imaging process, atmospheric aerosol makes optical sensor imaging quality deterioration. Atmospheric medium causing image degradation is mainly forward light scattering effect caused by the aerosol turbid medium. Based on the turbid medium radiation transfer equation, the point spread function models were derived contained aerosol optical properties of atmosphere in order to analyze and evaluate the atmospheric blurring effect on optical sensor imaging system. It was found that atmospheric aerosol medium have effect on not only energy decay of atmospheric transmittance, but also the degradation of image quality due to the scattering effect. Increase of atmospheric aerosol optical thickness makes aerosol scattering intensity enhanced, variation of aerosol optical thickness is also strongly influences the point spread function of the spatial distribution. it is because the degradation of aerosol in spatial domain, which reduces the quality of remote sensing image, in particularly reduction of the sharpness of image. Meanwhile, it would provide a method to optimize and improve simulation of atmospheric chain.

[Modeling continuous scaling of NDVI based on fractal theory].

Scale effect was one of the very important scientific problems of remote sensing. The scale effect of quantitative remote sensing can be used to study retrievals' relationship between different-resolution images, and its research became an effective way to confront the challenges, such as validation of quantitative remote sensing products et al. Traditional up-scaling methods cannot describe scale changing features of retrievals on entire series of scales; meanwhile, they are faced with serious parameters correction issues because of imaging parameters' variation of different sensors, such as geometrical correction, spectral correction, etc. Utilizing single sensor image, fractal methodology was utilized to solve these problems. Taking NDVI (computed by land surface radiance) as example and based on Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) image, a scheme was proposed to model continuous scaling of retrievals. Then the experimental results indicated that: (a) For NDVI, scale effect existed, and it could be described by fractal model of continuous scaling; (2) The fractal method was suitable for validation of NDVI. All of these proved that fractal was an effective methodology of studying scaling of quantitative remote sensing.

Functions and mechanisms of cytosolic phospholipase A2 in central nervous system trauma.

Central nervous system (CNS) trauma, including traumatic brain injury and spinal cord injury, has a high rate of disability and mortality, and effective treatment is currently lacking. Previous studies have revealed that neural inflammation plays a vital role in CNS trauma. As the initial enzyme in neuroinflammation, cytosolic phospholipase A2 (cPLA2) can hydrolyze membranous phosphatides at the sn-2 position in a preferential way to release lysophospholipids and ω3-polyunsaturated fatty acid dominated by arachidonic acid, thereby inducing secondary injuries. Although there is substantial fresh knowledge pertaining to cPLA2, in-depth comprehension of how cPLA2 participates in CNS trauma and the potential methods to ameliorate the clinical results after CNS trauma are still insufficient. The present review summarizes the latest understanding of how cPLA2 participates in CNS trauma, highlighting novel findings pertaining to how cPLA2 activation initiates the potential mechanisms specifically, neuroinflammation, lysosome membrane functions, and autophagy activity, that damage the CNS after trauma. Moreover, we focused on testing a variety of drugs capable of inhibiting cPLA2 or the upstream pathway, and we explored how those agents might be utilized as treatments to improve the results following CNS trauma. This review aimed to effectively understand the mechanism of cPLA2 activation and its role in the pathophysiological processes of CNS trauma and provide clarification and a new referential framework for future research.

Complexity dynamics and simulations in a discrete switching ecosystem induced by an intermittent threshold control strategy.

Pest control is a worldwide challenge. An approach that has been developed to meet this challenge is the integrated pest management (IPM) strategy, which aims to offer environmentally sensitive solutions to pest problems, and takes into account the complex dynamics involved in the design of controlling pests. In this paper, we propose a discrete switching host-parasitoid model with a threshold control strategy, meanwhile, provide some qualitative analyses of the complexity of dynamic behaviors of the model that includes single and multi-parameter bifurcations and chaos. Furthermore, we do some numerical bifurcations and parameter sensibility analysis, revealing how the key control parameters and initial interaction state between the two populations affect pest control, as well as the dynamical balance between of the hosts and parasitoids. The model and analytical techniques developed in this work could be applied in other settings relevant to threshold control strategies.