Optimization of extraction condition for phytic acid from peanut meal by response surface methodology

Phytic acid (PA), a molecule with high commercial value, is one of the important component in peanutmeal. However, PA has not yet been isolated from peanut meal and played its role. This paper reportedthe extraction conditions of PA from peanut meal after removed protein. The independent variables werehydrochloric acid (HCl) concentration, solid to liquid ratio, extraction time and extraction temperature.Response surface methodology (RSM) was used to optimize the extraction conditions based on the extractionyield of PA. The results show that the second-order polynomial models derived from responseswell with the experimental (R2 = 0.9783). The optimal extraction condition was obtained with solid toliquid ratio of 1:16 (g:mL), HCl concentration of 0.02 mol/L, extraction time of 105 min, and extractiontemperature of 30 °C. At this condition, PA with higher purity were obtained. the extraction ratio was6.12%, and the content of PA was 182.7 mg/g dry PA extract. The experimental values under optimal conditionwere in good consistent with the predicted values. The PA extracted from peanut meal was verifiedqualitatively by IR spectra. The extraction technology of PA from peanut meal has a strong potential forrealized high-value utilization of peanut meal

Improved representation of river runoff in Estimating the Circulation and Climate of the Ocean Version 4 (ECCOv4) simulations: Implementation, evaluation, and impacts to coastal plume regions

In this study, we improve the representation of global river runoff in the Estimating the Circulation and Climate of the Ocean Version 4 (ECCOv4) framework, allowing for a more realistic treatment of coastal plume dynamics. We use a suite of experiments to explore the sensitivity of coastal plume regions to runoff forcing, model grid resolution, and grid type. The results show that simulated sea surface salinity (SSS) is reduced as the model grid resolution increases. Compared to Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) observations, simulated SSS is closest to SMAP when using daily, point-source runoff (DPR) and the intermediate-resolution LLC270 grid. The Willmott skill score, which quantifies agreement between models and SMAP, yields up to 0.92 for large rivers such as the Amazon. There was no major difference in SSS for tropical and temperate coastal rivers when the model grid type was changed from the ECCO v4 latitude-longitude-polar-cap grid to the ECCO2 cube-sphere grid. We also found that using DPR forcing and increasing model resolution from the coarse-resolution LLC90 grid to the intermediate-resolution LLC270 grid elevated the river plume area, volume, stabilized the stratification and shoal the mixed layer depth (MLD). Additionally, we find that the impacts of increasing model resolution from the intermediate-resolution LLC270 grid to the high-resolution LLC540 grid are regionally dependent. The Mississippi River Plume is more sensitive than other regions, possibly because the wider and shallower Texas-Louisiana shelf drives a stronger baroclinic effect, as well as relatively weak sub-grid vertical mixing and adjustment in this region. Since rivers deliver large amounts of freshwater and anthropogenic materials to coastal regions, improving the representation of river runoff in global, high-resolution models will advance studies of coastal hypoxia, carbon cycling, and regional weather and climate and will ultimately help to predict land-ocean-atmospheric feedbacks seamlessly in the next generation of Earth system models

Gas-rich Ultra-diffuse Galaxies Are Originated from High Specific Angular Momentum

Ultra-diffuse galaxies, characterized by comparable effective radii to the Milky Way but possessing 100-1,000 times fewer stars, offer a unique opportunity to garner novel insights into the mechanisms governing galaxy formation. Nevertheless, the existing corpus of observational and simulation studies has not yet yielded a definitive constraint or comprehensive consensus on the formation mechanisms underlying ultra-diffuse galaxies. In this study, we delve into the properties of ultra-diffuse galaxies enriched with neutral hydrogen using a semi-analytic method, with the explicit aim of constraining existing ultra-diffuse galaxy formation models. We find that the gas-rich ultra-diffuse galaxies are statistically not failed $L^{\star}$ galaxies nor dark matter deficient galaxies. In statistical terms, these ultra-diffuse galaxies exhibit comparable halo concentration, but higher baryonic mass fraction, as well as higher stellar and gas specific angular momentum, in comparison to typical dwarf galaxy counterparts. Our analysis unveils that higher gas specific angular momentum serves as the underlying factor elucidating the observed heightened baryonic mass fractions, diminished star formation efficiency, expanded stellar disk sizes, and reduced stellar densities in ultra-diffuse galaxies. Our findings make significant contributions to advancing our knowledge of ultra-diffuse galaxy formation and shed light on the intricate interplay between gas dynamics and the evolution of galaxies.Comment: comments welcom

Eric Henry Liddell 100 Years on from 1924

At the former Stade Olympique de Colombes in Paris on March 22, 2024 a plaque was unveiled as a tribute to Eric Henry Liddell. The stadium was the main stadium for the 1924 Summer Olympic Games in which the Chinese born athlete, of Scottish parentage, running for Great Britain won Olympic Gold in the 400 metres in a world record time of 47.6 s. This was not the only medal that the athlete won at these Olympic Games, but it was perhaps the most significant due to the circumstances. Because of his religious beliefs Liddell had refused to run in the 100 metres, one of the events that he had been selected for, because the heats for the event were scheduled for the Sunday. The core of the athlete’s faith as a Scottish evangelical was a burning conviction in personal salvation through the merits of Jesus and this meant honouring the sabbath and not running on the Sunday. An act that was to contribute to the David Puttnam produced film Chariots of Fire, first released in 1981 and re-released on July 13, 2012 in support of the 2012 London Olympic Games. This paper examines the life of Eric Henry Liddell and its enduring significance 100 years on from the 1924 Paris Olympic Games. The research was supported by a grant from the Eric Liddell Foundation which enabled research assistance from the United Kingdom (UK) and the People’s Republic of China (China). The paper draws upon newspaper reports, documents, memorabilia form the Eric Liddell Foundation archives and film footage from the BBC archives

PPAR-α Agonist Fenofibrate Upregulates Tetrahydrobiopterin Level through Increasing the Expression of Guanosine 5′-Triphosphate Cyclohydrolase-I in Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells

Tetrahydrobiopterin (BH4) is an essential cofactor for endothelial nitric oxide (NO) synthase. Guanosine 5′-triphosphate cyclohydrolase-I (GTPCH-I) is a key limiting enzyme for BH4 synthesis. In the present in vitro study, we investigated whether peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor α (PPAR-α) agonist fenofibrate could recouple eNOS by reversing low-expression of intracellular BH4 in endothelial cells and discussed the potential mechanisms. After human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) were treated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) for 24 hours, the levels of cellular eNOS, BH4 and cell supernatant NO were significantly reduced compared to control group. And the fluorescence intensity of intracellular ROS was significantly increased. But pretreated with fenofibrate (10 umol/L) for 2 hours before cells were induced by LPS, the levels of eNOS, NO, and BH4 were significantly raised compared to LPS treatment alone. ROS production was markedly reduced in fenofibrate group than LPS group. In addition, our results showed that the level of intracellular GTPCH-I detected by western blot was increased in a concentration-dependent manner after being treated with fenofibrate. These results suggested that fenofibrate might help protect endothelial function and against atherosclerosis by increasing level of BH4 and decreasing production of ROS through upregulating the level of intracellular GTPCH-I

Total muscle-to-fat ratio influences urinary incontinence in United States adult women: a population-based study

PurposeThis study aims to investigate the relationship between the total muscle-to-fat ratio (tMFR) and female urinary incontinence (UI), determine whether tMFR can serve as a useful index for predicting UI, and identify factors that may influence this relationship.MethodsWe retrospectively analyzed data from 4391 adult women participating in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) conducted between 2011 and 2018. The correlation between tMFR and UI was examined using a dose-response curve generated through a restricted cubic spline (RCS) function, LASSO and multivariate logistic regression. Furthermore, predictive models were constructed incorporating factors such as age, race, hypertension, diabetes, cotinine levels, and tMFR. The performance of these predictive models was evaluated using training and test datasets, employing calibration curves, receiver operating characteristic curves, and clinical decision curves. Mediation effects were also analyzed to explore potential relationships between tMFR and female UI.ResultsIn a sample of 4391 adult women, 1073 (24.4%) self-reported experiencing UI, while 3318 (75.6%) reported not having UI. Based on the analyses involving LASSO regression and multivariate logistic regression, it was found that tMFR exhibited a negative association with UI (OR = 0.599, 95% CI: 0.497-0.719, P < 0.001). The results from the restricted cubic spline chart indicated a decreasing risk of UI in women as tMFR increased. Furthermore, the model constructed based on logistic regression analysis demonstrated a certain level of accuracy (in the training dataset: area under the curve (AUC) = 0.663; in the test dataset: AUC = 0.662) and clinical applicability. The mediation analysis revealed that the influence of tMFR on the occurrence of UI in women might potentially occur through the blood index lymphocyte count (P = 0.040).ConclusionA high tMFR serves as a protective factor against UI in women. Furthermore, lymphocyte might be involved in the relationship between tMFR and female UI

PGC-1α Participates in the Protective Effect of Chronic Intermittent Hypobaric Hypoxia on Cardiomyocytes

Background/Aims: Myocardial ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) or hypoxia/reoxygenation (H/R) injury is always characterized by Ca2+ overload, energy metabolism disorder and necrocytosis of cardiomyocytes. We showed previously that chronic intermittent hypobaric hypoxia (CIHH) improves cardiac function during I/R through improving cardiac glucose metabolism. However, the underlying cellular and molecular mechanisms of CIHH treatment improving energy metabolism in cardiomyocytes are still unclear. In this study, we determined whether and how CIHH protects cardiomyocytes from Ca2+ overload and necrocytosis through energy regulating pathway. Methods: Adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into two groups: control (CON) and CIHH group. CIHH rats received a hypobaric hypoxia simulating 5,000-m altitude for 28 days, 6 hours each day, in hypobaric chamber. Rat ventricular myocytes were obtained by enzymatic dissociation. The intracellular calcium concentration ([Ca2+]i) and cTnI protein expression were used to evaluate the degree of cardiomyocytes injury during and after H/R. The mRNA and protein expressions involved in cardiac energy metabolism were determined using quantitative PCR and Western blot techniques. PGC-1α siRNA adenovirus transfection was used to knock down PGC-1α gene expression of cardiomyocytes to determine the effect of PGC-1α in the energy regulating pathway. Results: H/R increased [Ca2+]i and cTnI protein expression in cardiomyocytes. CIHH treatment decreased [Ca2+]i (p< 0.01) and cTnI protein expression (p< 0.01) in cardiomyocytes after H/R. Both mRNA and protein expression of PGC-1α increased after CIHH treatment, which was reversed by PGC-1α siRNA adenovirus transfection. Furthermore, CIHH treatment increased the expression of HIF-1α, AMPK and p-AMPK in cardiomyocytes, and pretreatment with AMPK inhibitor dorsomorphin abolished the enhancement of PGC-1α protein expression in cardiomyocytes by CIHH (p< 0.01). In addition, PGC-1α knock down also abolished the increased protein level of GLUT4 (p< 0.01) and decreased the protein level of CPT-1b (p< 0.05) in cardiomyocytes by CIHH treatment. Conclusion: CIHH treatment could reduce the calcium overload and H/R injury in cardiomyocytes by up-regulating the expression of PGC-1α and regulating the energy metabolism of glucose and lipid. The HIF-1α-AMPK signaling pathway might be involved in the process

Genetically predicted causal effects of gut microbiota on spinal pain: a two-sample Mendelian randomization analysis

BackgroundObservational studies have hinted at a correlation between the gut microbiota and spinal pain (SP). However, the impact of the gut microbiota on SP remains inconclusive.MethodsIn this study, we employed a two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis to explore the causal relationship between the gut microbiota and SP, encompassing neck pain (NP), thoracic spine pain (TSP), low back pain (LBP), and back pain (BP). The compiled gut microbiota data originated from a genome-wide association study (GWAS) conducted by the MiBioGen consortium (n = 18,340). Summary data for NP were sourced from the UK Biobank, TSP from the FinnGen Biobank, and LBP from both the UK Biobank and FinnGen Biobank. Summary data for BP were obtained from the UK Biobank. The primary analytical approach for assessing causal relationships was the Inverse Variance Weighted (IVW) method, supplemented by various sensitivity analyses to ensure result robustness.ResultsThe IVW analysis unveiled 37 bacterial genera with a potential causal relationship to SP. After Benjamini-Hochberg corrected test, four bacterial genera emerged with a strong causal relationship to SP. Specifically, Oxalobacter (OR: 1.143, 95% CI 1.061–1.232, P = 0.0004) and Tyzzerella 3 (OR: 1.145, 95% CI 1.059–1.238, P = 0.0007) were identified as risk factors for LBP, while Ruminococcaceae UCG011 (OR: 0.859, 95% CI 0.791–0.932, P = 0.0003) was marked as a protective factor for LBP, and Olsenella (OR: 0.893, 95% CI 0.839–0.951, P = 0.0004) was recognized as a protective factor for low back pain or/and sciatica. No significant heterogeneity or horizontal pleiotropy was observed through alternative testing methods.ConclusionThis study establishes a causal relationship between the gut microbiota and SP, shedding light on the “gut-spine” axis. These findings offer novel perspectives for understanding the etiology of SP and provide a theoretical foundation for potential interventions targeting the gut microbiota to prevent and treat SP