Analysis of Phenolic Content and Its Antioxidant and Anti-inflammatory Activities during the Fermentation Process of Rosa rugosa 'Dianhong'

Objective: The aim of this study was to analyze the changes of phenolic content, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities of fermented Rosa rugosa 'Dianhong', the most frequently used rose in Dali Bai ethnic group area. Methods: Medicinal and edible rose varieties were confirmed by investigation using ethnobotanical methods. The object of the study was to imitate the traditional rose sugar fermentation process. Antioxidant activity of fermented Rosa rugosa 'Dianhong' (FDR) with different sugar content and time were evaluated using DPPH and ABTS+ methods. Lipopolysaccharide-induced RAW 264.7 cell model (NO inhibition rate) was established to evaluate the anti-inflammatory activity of the extracts. The correlations between phenolic content and antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities were performed. Results: Among seven rose species loccally used as medicinal and food homologous plants, the frequency value (f) of R. rugosa 'Dianhong' was highest. During the fermentation process of R. rugosa 'Dianhong' fermented by Saccharomyces rouxii, the phenolic content (total flavonoids, total phenols), DPPH and ABTS+ free radical scavenging rates and NO inhibition rates of FDR-2 (35% brown sugar, 65% petals) and FDR-3 (25% brown sugar, 75% petals) showed an increasing trend at first and then decreasing trend. All indicators of FDR-2 and FDR-3 reached the highest value at 7 d of fermentation, i.e. the phenolic content, the DPPH and ABTS+ free radical scavenging rates and NO inhibition rates significantly increased (P<0.05) compared to samples before fermentation. However, FDR-1 (50% brown sugar, 50% petals) presented decreasing the contents of phenolic (total flavonoids, total phenols), and declining rates of DPPH and ABTS+ free radical scavenging capacity, as well as NO inhibition after fermentation. Besides, in this study correlation analysis showed that the phenolic content of fermented R. rugosa 'Dianhong' extracts presented positive correlation (P<0.05), significantly with activities of antioxidant and anti-inflammatory. Conclusion: With the highest phenolic content of fermented extracts, the strongest capacity of antioxidant and anti-inflammatory carried out in this study for seven days’ fermentation is when the brown sugar ratio with R. rugosa 'Dianhong' petal is 25%~35%

Efficient solar-driven CO2-to-fuel conversion via Ni/MgAlO_x@SiO₂ nanocomposites at low temperature

Solar-driven CO2-to-fuel conversion assisted by another major greenhouse gas CH4 is promising to concurrently tackle energy shortage and global warming problems. However, current techniques still suffer from drawbacks of low efficiency, poor stability, and low selectivity. Here, a novel nanocomposite composed of interconnected Ni/MgAlOx nanoflakes grown on SiO2 particles with excellent spatial confinement of active sites is proposed for direct solar-driven CO2-to-fuel conversion. An ultrahigh light-to-fuel efficiency up to 35.7%, high production rates of H2 (136.6 mmol min−1g− 1) and CO (148.2 mmol min−1g−1), excellent selectivity (H2/CO ratio of 0.92), and good stability are reported simultaneously. These outstanding performances are attributed to strong metal-support interactions, improved CO2 absorption and activation, and decreased apparent activation energy under direct light illumination. MgAlOx @SiO2 support helps to lower the activation energy of CH* oxidation to CHO* and improve the dissociation of CH4 to CH3* as confirmed by DFT calculations. Moreover, the lattice oxygen of MgAlO x participates in the reaction and contributes to the removal of carbon deposition. This work provides promising routes for the conversion of greenhouse gasses into industrially valuable syngas with high efficiency, high selectivity, and benign sustainability

Efficient organic solar cells enabled by simple non-fused electron donors with low synthetic complexity

Abstract Fused‐ring electron donors boost the efficiency of organic solar cells (OSCs), but they suffer from high cost and low yield for their large synthetic complexity (SC > 30%). Herein, the authors develop a series of simple non‐fused‐ring electron donors, PF1 and PF2, which alternately consist of furan‐3‐carboxylate and 2,2′‐bithiophene. Note that PF1 and PF2 present very small SC of 9.7% for their inexpensive raw materials, facile synthesis, and high synthetic yield. Compared to their all‐thiophene‐backbone counterpart PT‐E, two new polymers feature larger conjugated plane, resulting in higher hole mobility for them, especially a value up to ≈10 −4 cm 2 V −1 ·s for PF2 with longer alkyl side chain. Meanwhile, PF1 and PF2 exhibit larger dielectric constant and deeper electronic energy level versus PT‐E. Benefiting from the better physicochemical properties, the efficiencies of PF1‐ and PF2‐based devices are improved by ≈16.7% and ≈71.3% relative to that PT‐E‐based devices, respectively. Furthermore, the optimized PF2‐based devices with introducing PC 71 BM as the third component deliver a higher efficiency of 12.40%. The work not only indicates that furan‐3‐carboxylate is a simple yet efficient building block for constructing non‐fused‐ring polymers but also provides a promising electron donor PF2 for the low‐cost production of OSCs.A simple structure non‐fused‐ring electron donor PF2 alternately consisting of furan‐3‐carboxylate and 2,2′‐bithiophene presents very small synthetic complexity of 9.7% as well as low material cost of ≈19.0 $ g −1 . More importantly, PF2 delivers a high efficiency of 12.4% coupled with strong operational stability. imag

Antifungal activity of nisin against clinical isolates of azole-resistant Candida tropicalis

The rapid emergence of invasive infections caused by azole-resistant Candida tropicalis has become a public health concern, and there is an urgent need for alternative treatment strategies. Studies have demonstrated the antibacterial effects of nisin, a well-known peptide naturally produced by Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis. However, there is scant information about the antifungal effect of nisin against C. tropicalis. The present study aims to investigate the in vitro antifungal activity of nisin against clinical isolates of azole-resistant C. tropicalis strains, as well as its inhibitory effect on biofilm formation. A total of 35 C. tropicalis strains isolated from patients with invasive fungal infections were divided into the azole-resistant group and the azole-sensitive group, containing 21 and 14 strains, respectively. The relative expression levels of the ERG11 and UPC2 genes in the azole-resistant group were higher than those in the azole-sensitive group (p &lt; 0.0001), while no significant differences were observed in the expression levels of the MDR1 and CDR1 genes. The minimum inhibitory concentration of nisin against C. tropicalis ranged from 2 to 8 μg/mL. Nisin treatment inhibited the growth of azole-resistant C. tropicalis, with over a four-fold reduction in OD600 nm values observed at the 8-h time point, while it promoted the transition of C. tropicalis from the spore phase to the hyphal phase, as observed on cryo-scanning electron microscopy. The results of biofilm quantification using crystal violet staining indicated a significant decrease in OD570 nm values in the nisin-treated group compared to the controls (p &lt; 0.0001). Among the 21 azole-resistant C. tropicalis strains, the biofilm formation was inhibited in 17 strains (17/21, 81%), and more than 85% inhibition of biofilm formation was observed in the representative strains. With regard to the molecular mechanisms, the expression of the BCR1 and UPC2 genes in the azole-resistant strains was down-regulated on nisin treatment (p &lt; 0.05). In conclusion, we demonstrated, for the first time, that nisin has antifungal activity and significant anti-biofilm activity against clinical isolates of azole-resistant C. tropicalis strains. Based on the findings, nisin could be a promising alternative antifungal agent for combating azole-resistant C. tropicalis infections

Inhalation of Hydrogen Attenuates Progression of Chronic Heart Failure via Suppression of Oxidative Stress and P53 Related to Apoptosis Pathway in Rats

Background: Continuous damage from oxidative stress and apoptosis are the important mechanisms that facilitate chronic heart failure (CHF). Molecular hydrogen (H2) has potentiality in the aspects of anti-oxidation. The objectives of this study were to investigate the possible mechanism of H2 inhalation in delaying the progress of CHF.Methods and Results: A total of 60 Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were randomly divided into four groups: Sham, Sham treated with H2, CHF and CHF treated with H2. Rats from CHF and CHF treated with H2 groups were injected isoprenaline subcutaneously to establish the rat CHF model. One month later, the rat with CHF was identified by the echocardiography. After inhalation of H2, cardiac function was improved vs. CHF (p &lt; 0.05), whereas oxidative stress damage and apoptosis were significantly attenuated (p &lt; 0.05). In this study, the mild oxidative stress was induced in primary cardiomyocytes of rats, and H2 treatments significantly reduced oxidative stress damage and apoptosis in cardiomyocytes (p &lt; 0.05 or p &lt; 0.01). Finally, as a pivotal transcription factor in reactive oxygen species (ROS)-apoptosis signaling pathway, the expression and phosphorylation of p53 were significantly reduced by H2 treatment in this rat model and H9c2 cells (p &lt; 0.05 or p &lt; 0.01).Conclusion: As a safe antioxidant, molecular hydrogen mitigates the progression of CHF via inhibiting apoptosis modulated by p53. Therefore, from the translational point of view and speculation, H2 is equipped with potential therapeutic application as a novel antioxidant in protecting CHF in the future

Recent Development on Narrow Bandgap Conjugated Polymers for Polymer Solar Cells

There have been exciting developments in the field of polymer solar cells (PSCs) as the potential competitor to the traditional silicon-based solar cells in the past decades. The most successful PSCs are based on the bulk hetero-junction (BHJ) structure, which contains a bicontinuous nanoscale interpenetrating network of a conjugated polymer and a fullerene blend. The power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) of BHJ PSCs have now exceeded 11%. In this review, we present an overview of recent emerging developments of narrow bandgap conjugated polymers for PSCs. We focus on a few important acceptors used in the donor-acceptor type conjugated polymers for highly efficient PSCs. We also reviewed the emerged donor-π-acceptor (D-π-A) side chains polymers. The band-gaps and energy levels as well as the photovoltaic performances of conjugated polymers are discussed

Data underlying the research into Experimental study on seismic performance of lightweight steel-desert sand lightweight aggregate concrete composite shear wall

The dataset includes the experimenta and numerical simulation data of Experimental Study on Seismic Performance of Lightweight Steel-Desert Sand Lightweight Aggregate Concrete Composite Shear Wal

Study of the mechanical-electrical-magnetic properties and the microstructure of three-layered cement-based absorbing boards

In this paper, a three-layered cement-based wave-absorbing board is designed and prepared by mixing wave-absorbing fillers such as nano-Si3N4, multi-layer nano graphene platelets (NGPs), nano-Ni, carbon fiber (CF) and carbon black (CB) into cement slurry. The effect of the amount of wave-absorbing fillers on the mechanical properties, resistivity and wave-absorbing reflectivity of cement slurry is studies. The microstructure of NGPs, nano-Si3N4 and the wave-absorbing board are characterized by TEM and SEM. Research shows that low content of NGPs and other wave-absorbing fillers can significantly reduce the resistivity of cement slurry and improve its mechanical strength, and dense massive crystals are precipitated in the cement hydration products. The reflectivity test reveals that in the frequency range of 2~18 GHz, the minimum reflectivity of the three-layered cement-based wave absorbing board reaches −18.8 dB, and the maximum bandwidth less than −10 dB reaches 15.3 GHz. This study can serve as reference for the preparation of new three-layered cement-based wave absorbing boards