The therapeutic role and potential mechanism of EGCG in obesity-related precocious puberty as determined by integrated metabolomics and network pharmacology

Objective(-)-Epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) has preventive effects on obesity-related precocious puberty, but its underlying mechanism remains unclear. The aim of this study was to integrate metabolomics and network pharmacology to reveal the mechanism of EGCG in the prevention of obesity-related precocious puberty.Materials and methodsA high-performance liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization ion-trap tandem mass spectrometry (LC-ESI-MS/MS) was used to analyze the impact of EGCG on serum metabolomics and associated metabolic pathways in a randomized controlled trial. Twelve weeks of EGCG capsules were given to obese girls in this trail. Additionally, the targets and pathways of EGCG in preventing obesity-related precocious puberty network pharmacology were predicted using network pharmacology. Finally, the mechanism of EGCG prevention of obesity-related precocious puberty was elucidated through integrated metabolomics and network pharmacology.ResultsSerum metabolomics screened 234 endogenous differential metabolites, and network pharmacology identified a total of 153 common targets. These metabolites and targets mainly enrichment pathways involving endocrine-related pathways (estrogen signaling pathway, insulin resistance, and insulin secretion), and signal transduction (PI3K-Akt, MAPK, and Jak-STAT signaling pathways). The integrated metabolomics and network pharmacology indicated that AKT1, EGFR, ESR1, STAT3, IGF1, and MAPK1 may be key targets for EGCG in preventing obesity-related precocious puberty.ConclusionEGCG may contribute to preventing obesity-related precocious puberty through targets such as AKT1, EGFR, ESR1, STAT3, IGF1, and MAPK1 and multiple signaling pathways, including the estrogen, PI3K-Akt, MAPK, and Jak-STAT pathways. This study provided a theoretical foundation for future research

The Inner Dynamics of Kidult Culture: Trending Toys and games, Theme Parks, and Animated Movies

Trending toys, Disneyland, animation movies , which are traditionally connoted as children’s synonymous entertainment, have progressively gathered a growing number of elder children and adults, which is called Kidult. This article analyzes and interprets kidult culture from three types of phenomena in an attempt to understand and explore the inner factors of the contributors. Meanwhile, it also provides aesthetic instructions and practical implications for the kidult-derived cultural and creative industries

Nitrogen cycles in global croplands altered by elevated CO2

Croplands are the foundation of global food security and represent the largest nitrogen flows on Earth. Elevated atmospheric CO2 levels are a key driver of climate change with multiple impacts on food production and environmental sustainability. However, our understanding of how the cropland nitrogen cycle responds to elevated CO2 levels is not well developed. Here we demonstrate that elevated CO2 (eCO2) alone would induce a synergistic intensification of the nitrogen and carbon cycles, promoting nitrogen-use efficiency by 19% (95% confidence interval, 14–26%) and biological nitrogen fixation by 55% (95% confidence interval, 28–85%) in global croplands. This would lead to increased crop nitrogen harvest (+12 Tg yr−1), substantially lower fertilizer input requirements (−34 Tg yr−1) and an overall decline in reactive nitrogen loss (−46 Tg yr−1) under future eCO2 scenarios by 2050. The impact of eCO2 on the altered cropland nitrogen cycle would amount to US$668 bn of societal benefits by avoiding damages to human and ecosystem health. The largest benefits are expected to materialize in China, India, North America and Europe. It is paramount to incorporate the effect of rising CO2 on the nitrogen cycle into state-of-the-art Earth system models to provide robust scientific evidence for policymaking