Raw rehmannia radix polysaccharide can effectively release peroxidative injury induced by duck hepatitis A virus

Background: Duck viral hepatitis (DVH), caused by duck hepatitis A virus (DHAV), is a fatal contagious infectious disease which spreads rapidly with high morbidity and high mortality, and there is no effective clinical drug against DVH.Materials and Methods: Raw Rehmannia Radix Polysaccharide (RRRP), Lycii Fructus polysaccharides and Astragalus Radix polysaccharides were experimented in vitro and in vivo. Mortality rate, livers change, liver lesion scoring, peroxidative injury evaluation indexes in vitro and in vivo, and hepatic injury evaluation indexes of optimal one were detected and observed in this experiment.Results: RRRP could reduce mortality with the protection rate about 20.0% compared with that of the viral control (VC) group, finding that RRRP was the most effective against DHAV. The average liver scoring of the VC, blank control (BC), RRRP groups were 3.5, 0, 2.1. Significant difference (P<0.05) appeared between any two groups, demonstrating that it can alleviate liver pathological change. RRRP could make the hepatic injury evaluation indexes similar to BC group while the levels of the VC group were higher than other two groups in general. The levels of SOD, GSH-Px, CAT of RRRP group showed significant higher than that of VC group while the levels of NOS and MDA showed the opposite tendency, thus, RRRP could release peroxidative injury.Conclusion: RRRP was the most effective against duck hepatitis A virus (DHAV). RRRP could reduce mortality, alleviate liver pathological change, down-regulate liver lesion score, release peroxidative injury and hepatic injury. The antiviral and peroxidative injury releasing activity of RRRP for DHAV provided a platform to test novel drug strategies for hepatitis A virus in human beings.Keywords: Raw Rehmannia Radix Polysaccharide; duck hepatitis A virus; peroxidative injury; hepatic injur

RAW REHMANNIA RADIX POLYSACCHARIDE CAN EFFECTIVELY RELEASE PEROXIDATIVE INJURY INDUCED BY DUCK HEPATITIS A VIRUS

Background: Duck viral hepatitis (DVH), caused by duck hepatitis A virus (DHAV), is a fatal contagious infectious disease which spreads rapidly with high morbidity and high mortality, and there is no effective clinical drug against DVH. Materials and Methods: Raw Rehmannia Radix Polysaccharide (RRRP), Lycii Fructus polysaccharides and Astragalus Radix polysaccharides were experimented in vitro and in vivo. Mortality rate, livers change, liver lesion scoring, peroxidative injury evaluation indexes in vitro and in vivo, and hepatic injury evaluation indexes of optimal one were detected and observed in this experiment. Results: RRRP could reduce mortality with the protection rate about 20.0% compared with that of the viral control (VC) group, finding that RRRP was the most effective against DHAV. The average liver scoring of the VC, blank control (BC), RRRP groups were 3.5, 0, 2.1. Significant difference (

Phosphorylation of Icariin Can Alleviate the Oxidative Stress Caused by the Duck Hepatitis Virus A through Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases Signaling Pathways

The duck virus hepatitis (DVH) caused by the duck hepatitis virus A (DHAV) has produced extensive economic losses to the duck industry. The currently licensed commercial vaccine has shown some defects and does not completely prevent the DVH. Accordingly, a new alternative treatment for this disease is urgently needed. Previous studies have shown that icariin (ICA) and its phosphorylated derivative (pICA) possessed good anti-DHAV effects through direct and indirect antiviral pathways, such as antioxidative stress. But the antioxidant activity showed some differences between ICA and pICA. The aim of this study is to prove that ICA and pICA attenuate oxidative stress caused by DHAV in vitro and in vivo, and to investigate their mechanism of action to explain their differences in antioxidant activities. In vivo, the dynamic deaths, oxidative evaluation indexes and hepatic pathological change scores were detected. When was added the hinokitiol which showed the pro-oxidative effect as an intervention method, pICA still possessed more treatment effect than ICA. The strong correlation between mortality and oxidative stress proves that ICA and pICA alleviate oxidative stress caused by DHAV. This was also demonstrated by the addition of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) as an intervention method in vitro. pICA can be more effective than ICA to improve duck embryonic hepatocytes (DEHs) viability and reduce the virulence of DHAV. The strong correlation between TCID50 and oxidative stress demonstrates that ICA and pICA can achieve anti-DHAV effects by inhibiting oxidative stress. In addition, the superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) of ICA and pICA showed significant difference. pICA could significantly inhibit the phosphorylation of p38, extra cellular signal regulated Kinase (ERK 1/2) and c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK), which were related to mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) signaling pathways. Ultimately, compared to ICA, pICA exhibited more antioxidant activity that could regulate oxidative stress-related indicators, and inhibited the phosphorylation of MAPKs signaling pathway

Spatially explicit assessment of heat health risk by using multi-sensor remote sensing images and socioeconomic data in Yangtze River Delta, China

Abstract Background The increase in the frequency and intensity of extreme heat events, which are potentially associated with climate change in the near future, highlights the importance of heat health risk assessment, a significant reference for heat-related death reduction and intervention. However, a spatiotemporal mismatch exists between gridded heat hazard and human exposure in risk assessment, which hinders the identification of high-risk areas at finer scales. Methods A human settlement index integrated by nighttime light images, enhanced vegetation index, and digital elevation model data was utilized to assess the human exposure at high spatial resolution. Heat hazard and vulnerability index were generated by land surface temperature and demographic and socioeconomic census data, respectively. Spatially explicit assessment of heat health risk and its driving factors was conducted in the Yangtze River Delta (YRD), east China at 250 m pixel level. Results High-risk areas were mainly distributed in the urbanized areas of YRD, which were mostly driven by high human exposure and heat hazard index. In some less-urbanized cities and suburban and rural areas of mega-cities, the heat health risks are in second priority. The risks in some less-developed areas were high despite the low human exposure index because of high heat hazard and vulnerability index. Conclusions This study illustrated a methodology for identifying high-risk areas by combining freely available multi-source data. Highly urbanized areas were considered hotspots of high heat health risks, which were largely driven by the increasing urban heat island effects and population density in urban areas. Repercussions of overheating were weakened due to the low social vulnerability in some central areas benefitting from the low proportion of sensitive population or the high level of socioeconomic development. By contrast, high social vulnerability intensifies heat health risks in some less-urbanized cities and suburban areas of mega-cities

Template-free solvothermal synthesis of hierarchical boehmite hollow microspheres with strong affinity toward organic pollutants in water

Three-dimensional hierarchical boehmite hollow microspheres with a very high yield at low cost were successfully synthesized via a one-pot template-free solvothermal route using aluminum chloride hexahydrate as precursor in a mixed ethanol-water solution with assistance of trisodium citrate. The as-synthesized products were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and nitrogen adsorption/desorption techniques. The results show that Cl- and addition amount of trisodium citrate have significant effect on the morphologies of the resultant products, and 6-8 mmol of trisodium citrate is optimal for the synthesis of boehmite hollow microspheres assembled from randomly interconnecting and aligned nanorods with solvothermal time no less than 15 h. A synergistic mediation mechanism of citrate ions and Cl- to form boehmite hollow spheres via self-assembly morphology evolution was proposed based on the experimental results. Interestingly, the typical boehmite hollow microspheres with a surface area of 102 m(2) g(-1), pore volume of 0.37 cm(3) g(-1), and the average pore size of 14.6 nm show superb adsorption properties for Congo red with maximum capacity of 114.7 mg g(-1) which is higher than that of a commercial boehmite. This simple synthetic route is a very promising way for the design and synthesis of new functional hierarchical nanostructured materials with desired adsorptive properties. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Polysaccharides from Traditional Chinese Medicines: Extraction, Purification, Modification, and Biological Activity

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has been used to treat diseases in China for thousands of years. TCM compositions are complex, using as their various sources plants, animals, fungi, and minerals. Polysaccharides are one of the active and important ingredients of TCMs. Polysaccharides from TCMs exhibit a wide range of biological activities in terms of immunity- modifying, antiviral, anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidative, and anti-tumor properties. With their widespread biological activities, polysaccharides consistently attract scientist's interests, and the studies often concentrate on the extraction, purification, and biological activity of TCM polysaccharides. Currently, numerous studies have shown that the modification of polysaccharides can heighten or change the biological activities, which is a new angle of polysaccharide research. This review highlights the current knowledge of TCM polysaccharides, including their extraction, purification, modification, and biological activity, which will hopefully provide profound insights facilitating further research and development

Microstructure and Performance of Fe₅₀Mn₃₀Cr₁₀Ni₁₀ High-Entropy Alloy Produced by High-Efficiency and Low-Cost Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing

High-entropy alloys exhibiting superior properties have great potential applications in various fields. The ability to achieve efficient and economical production of large size and complex structures of high-entropy alloy is of great significance to promoting its engineering application. Additive manufacturing is the key method to produce the complex component; however, the current trend in additive manufacturing of high-entropy alloys focuses on laser additive manufacturing, which is expensive and time-consuming. Herein, we developed a wire arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) method with high-efficiency and a low-cost Fe50Mn30Cr10Ni10 high-entropy alloy was successfully produced. The as-produced alloy was composed of face-centered cubic (FCC) phase with minor σ phase. Its microstructure mainly exhibited dendritic and cytosolic dendritic crystals. Mechanical strength of the additive manufactured alloy reached about 448 MPa with a high fracture elongation up to 80%. The additive manufactured alloy had good corrosion resistance with a protecting layer formed on the surface after corrosion testing, which was much better than 45 steel. Additionally, the frictional performance of the additive manufactured alloy was characterized against the grinding parts of steel and Al2O3 balls, and the corresponding friction mechanism was discussed

Microstructure and Performance of Fe50Mn30Cr10Ni10 High-Entropy Alloy Produced by High-Efficiency and Low-Cost Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing

High-entropy alloys exhibiting superior properties have great potential applications in various fields. The ability to achieve efficient and economical production of large size and complex structures of high-entropy alloy is of great significance to promoting its engineering application. Additive manufacturing is the key method to produce the complex component; however, the current trend in additive manufacturing of high-entropy alloys focuses on laser additive manufacturing, which is expensive and time-consuming. Herein, we developed a wire arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) method with high-efficiency and a low-cost Fe50Mn30Cr10Ni10 high-entropy alloy was successfully produced. The as-produced alloy was composed of face-centered cubic (FCC) phase with minor σ phase. Its microstructure mainly exhibited dendritic and cytosolic dendritic crystals. Mechanical strength of the additive manufactured alloy reached about 448 MPa with a high fracture elongation up to 80%. The additive manufactured alloy had good corrosion resistance with a protecting layer formed on the surface after corrosion testing, which was much better than 45 steel. Additionally, the frictional performance of the additive manufactured alloy was characterized against the grinding parts of steel and Al2O3 balls, and the corresponding friction mechanism was discussed

Anti-DHAV-1 reproduction and immuno-regulatory effects of a flavonoid prescription on duck virus hepatitis

Context: The flavonoid prescription baicalin-linarin-icariin-notoginsenoside R1 (BLIN) has a curative effect on duck virus hepatitis (DVH) caused by duck hepatitis A virus type 1 (DHAV-1). However, the mechanism of this curative effect is not understood. Objective: This study investigates the mechanism of the curative effect of BLIN on DVH caused by DHAV-1. We analyzed the anti-DHAV-1 reproduction mechanism and immuno-regulatory effect of BLIN. Materials and methods: The anti-DHAV-1 reproduction effects of BLIN at 20, 10, 5 and 2.5 μg/mL in vitro, as well as the influence of BLIN at 20 μg/mL on DHAV-1 adsorption, replication and release were tested using the qRT-PCR method. The promotion abilities of BLIN at 20, 10, 5 and 2.5 μg/mL on T- and B-lymphocyte proliferation were investigated by the MTT method. IL-2 and IFN-γ levels and total anti-DHAV-1 antibody secretion after treatment with DHAV-1 for 4, 8 and 54 h were determined by ELISA. Results: BLIN showed a dose-dependent DHAV-1 reproduction inhibitory effect. The inhibitory effect was highest at 20 μg/mL, where DHAV-1 adsorption and release were significantly lower. Meanwhile, BLIN at 5 μg/mL significantly increased T and B lymphocyte proliferation. BLIN stimulated total anti-DHAV-1 antibody secretion in ducklings at the dosage of 4 mg per duckling, but did not stimulate IL-2 and IFN-γ secretion significantly. Conclusions: BLIN inhibits DHAV-1 reproduction by suppressing its adsorption and release. Additionally, BLIN promoted the duckling antiviral response