Protective effect of alcohol extract of Yulangsan leaf on chemically-induced liver injury in mice

Purpose: To investigate the protective effect of Millettia pulchra Kurz var. Laxior (Dunn) Z. Wei (Yulangsan) leaf (YLSL) on chemically-induced liver injury in mice.Methods: Models of carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) and D-galactosamine (D-GalN)-induced liver injury in Kunming mice were prepared by intraperitoneal injection. Sixty mice were randomly divided into normal saline (NS) group, liver-injury group, low-, medium- and high-dose YLSL groups (7.5, 15 and 30 g/kg dose, respectively), and biphenyldicarboxylate (BPDC) group, with 10 animals per group. Indices for liver, spleen and thymus were assessed. Serum aspartate transaminase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) activities, levels of malondialdehyde (MDA) in liver tissues and reduced glutathione (GSH) as well as activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) in liver tissue were assayed. Liver tissue damage was assessed histologically.Results: YLSL could significantly decrease the elevation of AST or ALT in liver injuries induced by CCl4 or D-GalN in mice, which showed a dose-effect relationship obviously. The high dose YLSL significantly decreased thymus weight relative to CCl4 and D-GalN (CCL4 CCL4+YLSL: 4.4213 ± 1.0544 vs 3.7120 ± 0.8534; D-GalN vs YLSL + D-GalN: 3.7272 ± 1.1655 vs 1.9548 ± 1.2996, p < 0.01). However, SOD activity was significantly increased (p < 0.01, p < 0.05). In treatment groups exposed to CCl4, GSH-Px activity was significantly increased (p < 0.01) and GSH levels decreased (middle dose group and positive control group). In treatment groups with D-GalN, GSH content was significantly increased (p < 0.01 or p < 0.05), while GSH-Px activity decreased (p <0.01).Conclusion: YLSL has protective effect against chemically-induced liver injury in mice. The mechanism may be related to attenuation of free radical-induced lipid peroxidation.Keywords: Millettia pulchra, Liver injury, Biochemical parameters, Thymus, Antioxidant, Dgalactosamine, Biphenyldicarboxylat

SDSS-IV MaNGA: A Serendipitous Observation of a Potential Gas Accretion Event

The nature of warm, ionized gas outside of galaxies may illuminate several key galaxy evolutionary processes. A serendipitous observation by the MaNGA survey has revealed a large, asymmetric Hα complex with no optical counterpart that extends ≈8\u27\u27 (≈6.3 kpc) beyond the effective radius of a dusty, starbursting galaxy. This Hα extension is approximately three times the effective radius of the host galaxy and displays a tail-like morphology. We analyze its gas-phase metallicities, gaseous kinematics, and emission-line ratios and discuss whether this Hα extension could be diffuse ionized gas, a gas accretion event, or something else. We find that this warm, ionized gas structure is most consistent with gas accretion through recycled wind material, which could be an important process that regulates the low-mass end of the galaxy stellar mass function

Ecological responses of typical Antarctic marine organisms to climate change and anthropogenic impacts

To improve our understanding and ability to predict biological responses to global climate change, it is important to be able to distinguish the influences of natural forcing from anthropogenic impacts. In the ice-free areas of Antarctica, lake and terrestrial sediments that contain penguin guanos, seal excrement and other biological remains provide natural archives of ecological, geological and climatic information that range from hundreds to thousands of years old. Our review focuses on the paleoecology of typical Antarctic marine organisms (penguins, seals and Antarctic krill) and their responses to climate change and human activities over centennial and millennial timescales. Land-based seabirds and marine mammals play an important role in linking the marine and terrestrial ecosystems and act as bio-vectors, transporting large amounts of nutrients and contaminants from ocean to land

Paeonol Ameliorates Glucose and Lipid Metabolism in Experimental Diabetes by Activating Akt

Our previous study proved that paeonol (Pae) could lower blood glucose levels of diabetic mice. There are also a few reports of its potential use for diabetes treatment. However, the role of Pae in regulating glucose and lipid metabolism in diabetes remains largely unknown. Considering the critical role of serine/threonine kinase B (Akt) in glucose and lipid metabolism, we explored whether Pae could improve glucose and lipid metabolism disorders via Akt. Here, we found that Pae attenuated fasting blood glucose, glycosylated serum protein, serum cholesterol and triglyceride (TG), hepatic glycogen, cholesterol and TG in diabetic mice. Moreover, Pae enhanced glucokinase (GCK) and low-density lipoprotein receptor (LDLR) protein expressions, and increased the phosphorylation of Akt. In insulin-resistant HepG2 cells, Pae increased glucose uptake and decreased lipid accumulation. What’s more, Pae elevated LDLR and GCK expressions as well as Akt phosphorylation, which was consistent with the in vivo results. Knockdown and inhibition experiments of Akt revealed that Pae regulated LDLR and GCK expressions through activation of Akt. Finally, molecular docking assay indicated the steady hydrogen bond was formed between Pae and Akt2. Experiments above suggested that Pae ameliorated glucose and lipid metabolism disorders and the underlying mechanism was closely related to the activation of Akt

The DEEP2 Galaxy Redshift Survey: Design, Observations, Data Reduction, and Redshifts

We describe the design and data sample from the DEEP2 Galaxy Redshift Survey, the densest and largest precision-redshift survey of galaxies at z ~ 1 completed to date. The survey has conducted a comprehensive census of massive galaxies, their properties, environments, and large-scale structure down to absolute magnitude M_B = -20 at z ~ 1 via ~90 nights of observation on the DEIMOS spectrograph at Keck Observatory. DEEP2 covers an area of 2.8 deg^2 divided into four separate fields, observed to a limiting apparent magnitude of R_AB=24.1. Objects with z < 0.7 are rejected based on BRI photometry in three of the four DEEP2 fields, allowing galaxies with z > 0.7 to be targeted ~2.5 times more efficiently than in a purely magnitude-limited sample. Approximately sixty percent of eligible targets are chosen for spectroscopy, yielding nearly 53,000 spectra and more than 38,000 reliable redshift measurements. Most of the targets which fail to yield secure redshifts are blue objects that lie beyond z ~ 1.45. The DEIMOS 1200-line/mm grating used for the survey delivers high spectral resolution (R~6000), accurate and secure redshifts, and unique internal kinematic information. Extensive ancillary data are available in the DEEP2 fields, particularly in the Extended Groth Strip, which has evolved into one of the richest multiwavelength regions on the sky. DEEP2 surpasses other deep precision-redshift surveys at z ~ 1 in terms of galaxy numbers, redshift accuracy, sample number density, and amount of spectral information. We also provide an overview of the scientific highlights of the DEEP2 survey thus far. This paper is intended as a handbook for users of the DEEP2 Data Release 4, which includes all DEEP2 spectra and redshifts, as well as for the publicly-available DEEP2 DEIMOS data reduction pipelines. [Abridged]Comment: submitted to ApJS; data products available for download at http://deep.berkeley.edu/DR4

SDSS-IV MaNGA: properties of galaxies with kinematically decoupled stellar and gaseous components

We study the properties of 66 galaxies with kinematically misaligned gas and stars from MaNGA survey. The fraction of kinematically misaligned galaxies varies with galaxy physical parameters, i.e. M∗, SFR and sSFR. According to their sSFR, we further classify these 66 galaxies into three categories, 10 star-forming, 26 ‘Green Valley’ and 30 quiescent ones. The properties of different types of kinematically misaligned galaxies are different in that the starforming ones have positive gradient in Dn4000 and higher gas-phase metallicity, while the green valley/quiescent ones have negative Dn4000 gradients and lower gas-phase metallicity on average. There is evidence that all types of the kinematically misaligned galaxies tend to live in more isolated environment. Based on all these observational results, we propose a scenario for the formation of star-forming galaxies with kinematically misaligned gas and stars − the progenitor accretes misaligned gas from a gas-rich dwarf or cosmic web, the cancellation of angular momentum from gas–gas collisions between the pre-existing gas and the accreted gas largely accelerates gas inflow, leading to fast centrally concentrated star formation. The higher metallicity is due to enrichment from this star formation. For the kinematically misaligned green valley and quiescent galaxies, they might be formed through gas-poor progenitors accreting kinematically misaligned gas from satellites which are smaller in mass

SDSS-IV MaNGA: star formation cessation in low-redshift galaxies I: dependence on stellar mass and structural properties

We investigate radial gradients in the recent star formation history (SFH) of 1917 MaNGA galaxies with 0.01 < z < 0.14. For each galaxy, we obtain two-dimensional maps and radial profiles for three spectroscopically-measured parameters that are sensitive to the recent SFH: Dn(4000) (the 4000̊A break), EW(HδA) and EW(Hα) (equivalent width of the Hδ absorption and Hα emission line). The majority of the spaxels are consistent with models of continuously declining star formation rate, indicating that starbursts occur rarely in local galaxies with regular morphologies. We classify the galaxies into three classes: fully star-forming (SF), partly quenched (PQ) and totally quenched (TQ). The galaxies less massive than 10 10 M present at most weak radial gradients in the diagnostic parameters. In contrast, massive galaxies with stellar mass above 10 10 M present significant gradients in the three diagnostic parameters if classified as SF or PQ, but show weak gradients in D n (4000) and EW(H δ A ) and no gradients in EW(H α ) if in the TQ class. This implies the existence of a critical stellar mass (∼ 10 10 M) above which the star formation in a galaxy gets shutdown from the inside out. Galaxies tend to evolve synchronously from inner to outer regions before their mass reaches the critical value. We have further divided the sample at fixed mass by both bulge-to-total luminosity ratio and morphological type, finding that our conclusions hold regardless of these factors: it appears that the presence of a central dense object is not a driving parameter, but rather a byproduct of the star formation cessation process

Recovery brachiopod associations from the lower Silurian of South China and their paleoecological implications

A recovery brachiopod fauna occurs in the lower Niuchang Formation (upper Rhuddanian-lower Aeronian, Llandovery) of the Xinglongchang section, Meitan County, northern Guizhou Province, South China. Nine collections were made at the section, all of which are dominated by brachiopods, and three associations are recognized here and their paleoecology is discussed. Paleoenvironmental analysis shows a shallowing upward trend for the lower Niuchang Formation although a global transgression was happening at that time. The balance between the global transgression and the regional Qianzhong Uplift guaranteed a stable environment for the formation of the Niuchang Formation and the recovery of brachiopods in South China after the end-Ordovician mass extinction. In addition to the traditional methods of PCA and CA, a relatively new technique to paleontology, “Network Analysis” (NA), is applied successfully in this study. It is suggested that Network Analysis could be used as one of the supporting methods in investigating brachiopod paleoecology.The accepted manuscript in pdf format is listed with the files at the bottom of this page. The presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the manuscript may differ slightly between what is listed on this page and what is listed in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript; that in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript is what was submitted by the author