Emodin enhances osteogenesis and inhibits adipogenesis

BACKGROUND: It has been suggested that the formation of osteoblasts in bone marrow is closely associated with adipogenesis, and the balance between osteogenesis and adipogenesis differentiation of MSCs (mesenchymal stem cells) is disrupted in osteoporosis. In order to improve the treatment of osteoporosis, available agents with roles of regulating the balance is highly desirable. Emodin is a natural anthraquinone derivative extracted from Chinese herbs, which have been used to treat bone diseases for thousands of years. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms of emodin in modulating osteogenesis and adipogenesis remain poorly understood. METHODS: The molecular mechanisms of emodin on the processes of osteogenesis and adipogenesis in ovariectomized mouse and BMSCs (bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells) have been studied. We have analyzed the effects of emodin in vivo and in vitro. Female ICR mice were assigned to three groups: sham group, ovariectomy group, emodin group. Efficacy was evaluated by H&E, immunohistochemical assay and Micro-CT. In vitro, we analyze the effect of emodin—at concentrations between 0.1 μM and 10 μM-on the processes of inducing osteogenesis and inhibiting adipogenesis in BMSCs by ALP, Oil red O staining, real time RT-PCR and western blot. RESULTS: As our experiment shows that emodin could increase the number of osteoblast, BMD (bone mineral density), BV/TV (trabecular bone volume fraction), Tb.N (trabecular number) and Conn.D (connectivity density) of OVX (ovariectomized) mice and decrease the bone marrow fat tissue and adipocytes. The genes and proteins expression of osteogenesis markers, such as Runx2, osterix, collagen type I, osteocalcin, or ALP were up-regulated. While, the genes and proteins involved in adipogenesis, PPARγ, C/EBPα and ap2 were down-regulated. CONCLUSION: It proves that emodin inhibits adipocyte differentiation and enhances osteoblast differentiation from BMSCs

4-(4-Nitro­benzene­sulfonamido)pyridinium trichloro­acetate

In the crystal structure of the title compound, C11H10N3O4S·C2Cl3O2, the dihedral angle between the two six-membered rings is 69.2 (1)°. The mol­ecules are connected via inter­molecular N—H⋯O hydrogen bonding

Peptide-fluorescent bacteria complex as luminescent reagents for cancer diagnosis

Currently in clinic, people use hematoxylin and eosin stain (H&E stain) and immunohistochemistry methods to identify the generation and genre of cancers for human pathological samples. Since these methods are inaccurate and time consuming, developing a rapid and accurate method to detect cancer is urgently demanded. In our study, binding peptides for lung cancer cell line A549 were identified using bacteria surface display method. With those binding peptides for A549 cells on the surface, the fluorescent bacteria (Escherichia coli with stably expressed green fluorescent protein) were served as specific detecting reagents for the diagnosis of cancers. The binding activity of peptide-fluorescent bacteria complex was confirmed by detached cancer cells, attached cancer cells and mice tumor xenograft samples. A unique fixation method was developed for peptide-bacteria complex in order to make this complex more feasible for the clinic use. This peptide-fluorescent bacteria complex has great potential to become a new diagnostic tool for clinical application

Supermassive Black Holes with High Accretion Rates in Active Galactic Nuclei. IV. Hβ\beta Time Lags and Implications for Super-Eddington Accretion

We have completed two years of photometric and spectroscopic monitoring of a large number of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) with very high accretion rates. In this paper, we report on the result of the second phase of the campaign, during 2013--2014, and the measurements of five new H$\beta$ time lags out of eight monitored AGNs. All five objects were identified as super-Eddington accreting massive black holes (SEAMBHs). The highest measured accretion rates for the objects in this campaign are $\dot{\mathscr{M}}\gtrsim 200$, where $\dot{\mathscr{M}}= \dot{M}_{\bullet}/L_{\rm Edd}c^{-2}$, $\dot{M}_{\bullet}$ is the mass accretion rates, $L_{\rm Edd}$ is the Eddington luminosity and $c$ is the speed of light. We find that the H$\beta$ time lags in SEAMBHs are significantly shorter than those measured in sub-Eddington AGNs, and the deviations increase with increasing accretion rates. Thus, the relationship between broad-line region size ($R_{_{\rm H\beta}}$) and optical luminosity at 5100\AA, $R_{_{\rm H\beta}}-L_{5100}$, requires accretion rate as an additional parameter. We propose that much of the effect may be due to the strong anisotropy of the emitted slim-disk radiation. Scaling $R_{_{\rm H\beta}}$ by the gravitational radius of the black hole, we define a new radius-mass parameter ($Y$) and show that it saturates at a critical accretion rate of $\dot{\mathscr{M}}_c=6\sim 30$, indicating a transition from thin to slim accretion disk and a saturated luminosity of the slim disks. The parameter $Y$ is a very useful probe for understanding the various types of accretion onto massive black holes. We briefly comment on implications to the general population of super-Eddington AGNs in the universe and applications to cosmology.Comment: 53 pages, 12 figures, 7 tables, accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journa

Meta analysis of correlation between lipid accumulation product and hypertension in Chinese adults

Objective·To explore the correlation between lipid accumulation product (LAP) and hypertension in Chinese adults.Methods·By searching the English literature databases including PubMed and Web of Science, and the Chinese literature databases including CNKI and WanFang Data Knowledge Service Platform database, the earliest literature related to LAP and hypertension in Chinese adults that could be retrieved from databases establishment to August 2022. Two researchers independently screened all the retrieved literature according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, and used the diagnostic research scale developed by Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) to evaluate the literature quality of the selection, comparability, exposure evaluation and results of the study population. The sample size, gender, sensitivity, specificity and other information were extracted from the included literature. Stata 16.0 software was used for meta-analysis.Results·A total of 6 articles were included, including five in English and one in Chinese. The JBI bias scores of the included articles ranged from 14 to 17 points, all of which were greater than 70% of the total score, so the biases could be considered small. The total number of samples included was 48 329, including 15 746 patients with hypertension. The results of meta-analysis showed that in the total population, the sensitivity of LAP in predicting hypertension was 0.50 (95%CI 0.35‒0.64), and the specificity was 0.78 (95%CI 0.66‒0.86); In women, the sensitivity was 0.48 (95%CI 0.32‒0.64), and the specificity was 0.77 (95%CI 0.64‒0.86); In males, the sensitivity was 0.56 (95%CI 0.39‒0.72), and the specificity was 0.64 (95%CI 0.49‒0.77). The area under the summary receiver operator characteristic curve (SROC curve) of the total population included was 0.70 (95%CI 0.66‒0.74), indicating that there was a certain correlation between LAP and hypertension.Conclusion·In Chinese adult population, LAP is associated with hypertension to a certain extent

Density Functional Theory Study of Pt_3M Alloy Surface Segregation with Adsorbed O/OH and Pt_3Os as Catalysts for Oxygen Reduction Reaction

Using quantum mechanics calculations, we have studied the segregation energy with adsorbed O and OH for 28 Pt_3M alloys, where M is a transition metal. The calculations found surface segregation to become energetically unfavorable for Pt_3Co and Pt_3Ni, as well as for the most other Pt binary alloys, in the presence of adsorbed O and OH. However, Pt_3Os and Pt_3Ir remain surface segregated and show the best energy preference among the alloys studied for both adsorbed species on the surface. Binding energies of various oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) intermediates on the Pt(111) and Pt_3Os(111) surfaces were calculated and analyzed. Energy barriers for different ORR steps were computed for Pt and Pt_3Os catalysts, and the rate-determining steps (RDS) were identified. It turns out that the RDS barrier for the Pt_3Os alloy catalyst is lower than the corresponding barrier for pure Pt. This result allows us to predict a better ORR performance of Pt_3Os compared to that of pure Pt