3-Cinnamoyl-4-hydroxy-6-methyl-2H-pyran-2-one ameliorates diabetic peripheral neuropathy in type 2 diabetes mellitus rats via PI3K/Akt signaling pathway

Purpose: To investigate the curative effects of 3-cinnamoyl-4-hydroxy-6-methyl-2H-pyran-2-one (CHMP) on streptozotocin (STZ)-induced model of diabetic SD rats, and the underlying mechanism. Method: Diabetes was induced in rats using single intraperitoneal injection of STZ. Subsequently, diabetic and non-diabetic rats were randomly grouped into five experimental groups. Six weeks after the STZ-injection, the diabetic animals were orally administered test compound (CHMP) at two doses of 10 and 20 mg/kg body weight for 6 weeks. Thereafter, the rats were anesthetised, and body weight, blood sugar, and motor nerve conduction velocity (MNCV) were determined. Moreover, real time-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and western blot analysis were used to assay the expression levels of genes in PIK3/Akt pathway and Glut4. Results: Treatment of diabetic rats with CHMP significantly reduced levels of fasting blood glucose and enhanced average rat body weight, relative to diabetic control (p ˂ 0.05). Motor nerve conduction velocity (MNCV) was remarkably increased in CHMP-treated rats (54.2 ± 2.2), when compared to the diabetic control rats (46 ± 4.1, p < 0.01). Results from RT-PCR and western blot indicated increased expressions of PI3K, Akt and IRS-1, and down regulation of GSK-3B expression in skeletal muscle. The CHMP treatment also upregulated the Glut4 expression in skeletal muscle. Conclusion: These findings show that CHMP may be beneficial in the management of diabetic neuropath

Evaluation of a computer-aided diagnostic model for corneal diseases by analyzing in vivo confocal microscopy images

ObjectiveIn order to automatically and rapidly recognize the layers of corneal images using in vivo confocal microscopy (IVCM) and classify them into normal and abnormal images, a computer-aided diagnostic model was developed and tested based on deep learning to reduce physicians’ workload.MethodsA total of 19,612 corneal images were retrospectively collected from 423 patients who underwent IVCM between January 2021 and August 2022 from Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University (Wuhan, China) and Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University (Wuhan, China). Images were then reviewed and categorized by three corneal specialists before training and testing the models, including the layer recognition model (epithelium, bowman’s membrane, stroma, and endothelium) and diagnostic model, to identify the layers of corneal images and distinguish normal images from abnormal images. Totally, 580 database-independent IVCM images were used in a human-machine competition to assess the speed and accuracy of image recognition by 4 ophthalmologists and artificial intelligence (AI). To evaluate the efficacy of the model, 8 trainees were employed to recognize these 580 images both with and without model assistance, and the results of the two evaluations were analyzed to explore the effects of model assistance.ResultsThe accuracy of the model reached 0.914, 0.957, 0.967, and 0.950 for the recognition of 4 layers of epithelium, bowman’s membrane, stroma, and endothelium in the internal test dataset, respectively, and it was 0.961, 0.932, 0.945, and 0.959 for the recognition of normal/abnormal images at each layer, respectively. In the external test dataset, the accuracy of the recognition of corneal layers was 0.960, 0.965, 0.966, and 0.964, respectively, and the accuracy of normal/abnormal image recognition was 0.983, 0.972, 0.940, and 0.982, respectively. In the human-machine competition, the model achieved an accuracy of 0.929, which was similar to that of specialists and higher than that of senior physicians, and the recognition speed was 237 times faster than that of specialists. With model assistance, the accuracy of trainees increased from 0.712 to 0.886.ConclusionA computer-aided diagnostic model was developed for IVCM images based on deep learning, which rapidly recognized the layers of corneal images and classified them as normal and abnormal. This model can increase the efficacy of clinical diagnosis and assist physicians in training and learning for clinical purposes

Creation of hollow SAPO-34 single crystals via alkaline or acid etching

Hollow SAPO-34 crystals are created via selective etching of their precursor under controlled alkaline or acid conditions. The abundant/interconnected Si-O-Al domains and Si-O-Si networks at the outer layer of SAPO-34 crystals are revealed to be decisive factors for the base and acid treatments respectively to achieve a well-preserved hollow structure

Does Dietary Lipid Level Affect the Quality of Triploid Rainbow Trout and How Should It Be Assessed?

Organoleptic properties and nutritional value are the most important characteristics of fish fillet quality, which can be determined by a series of quality evaluation indexes and closely related to fish nutrition. Systematic organoleptic and nutritional quality evaluation indexes consisting of 139 indexes for physical properties and chemical compositions of triploid rainbow trout were established. Besides, effects of dietary lipid levels (6.6%, 14.8%, 22.8% and 29.4%) on the quality of triploid rainbow trout were analyzed in the study. The main results showed that, for fillet appearance quality, fish fed diets with lipid levels above 22.8% had higher fillet thickness and redness but lower gutted yield and fillet yield (p p p p < 0.05). For nutritional value, a high lipid diet could increase the lipid nutrition level (such as the content of long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids increased from 3.47 to 4.41 g/kg muscle) but decease tryptophan and selenium content (from 2.48 to 1.60 g/kg muscle and from 0.17 to 0.11 g/kg muscle, respectively). In total, a high lipid diet could improve the quality of triploid rainbow trout. The minimum dietary lipid level for triploid rainbow trout should be 22.8% to keep the better organoleptic and nutritional quality

Comparative study on the fillet nutritional quality of diploid and triploid rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss)

This study was conducted to investigate the fillet nutritional quality difference of diploid and triploid rainbow trout with the same genetic background, farming condition and body weight. The results showed that, 1) diploid rainbow trout had significantly higher content of protein, valine, cysteine, histidine and proline, and higher essential amino acid index, nutrition index and biological value than triploid rainbow trout (P  0.05), which indicated that both diploid and triploid rainbow trout fillets were balanced and suitable for human consumption. 2) Triploid rainbow trout had significantly higher content of lipid, C18:1n-9, C18:2n-6, C20:5n-3, C22:6n-3, unsaturated fatty acids (UFA), polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids, n-3 series fatty acids, n-6 series fatty acids and total fatty acids (TFA) than diploid rainbow trout (P  0.05). Based on PUFA/SFA, UFA/SFA, PUFA/TFA, atherogenic index, and thrombogenic index, both diploid and triploid rainbow trout consumption were beneficial for human health, triploid fish had an even greater advantage. 3) Triploid rainbow trout had higher content of sodium, calcium, iron, manganese and zinc but lower content of magnesium, copper and selenium than diploid rainbow trout (P < 0.05). Multivariate statistical analysis of 79 quality indicators also showed that the fillet nutritional composition of triploid rainbow trout was different with its diploid counterparts. The reason may be related to the difference of lipid metabolism in rainbow trout with different ploidy

Achieving a Superlong Lifetime in the Zeolite-Catalyzed MTO Reaction under High Pressure: Synergistic Effect of Hydrogen and Water

Zeolites are usually considered to be acid catalysts, which are prone to deactivation due to the coke deposition in the hydrocarbon conversions such as methanol-to-olefins (MTO) reaction. Herein, a high-pressure MTO process with cofeeding H-2 and H2O is reported, which can effectively prolong the catalytic lifetime of SAPO-34. The corresponding methanol handling capacity is about 200 times larger than that under the normal-pressure condition. Investigation reveals that the ultralong lifetime originates from the hydrogenation ability of the acid sites on SAPO-34 for aromatic species, which can hydrogenate the heavy aromatic deposits (especially the phenanthrene composed of three benene rings) to active aromatic intermediates (methylbenzenes and methylnaphthalenes) and thus slow down the evolution of coke species. A positive synergistic effect between H-2 and H2O on prolonging the catalyst lifetime is observed at higher H2O partial pressure, likely resulting from the reduced barriers of hydrogenation reactions in the presence of H2O. Furthermore, the evolution pathways of coke species are markedly affected by reaction temperature, and fast deactivation may occur below 400 degrees C due to the formation of large molecule diadamantanes

Investigation of methanol conversion over high-Si beta zeolites and the reaction mechanism of their high propene selectivity

Large pore high-Si beta zeolites (Si/Al = 136 to 340) were synthesized by a HF-assisted method, and their catalytic performance for the conversion of methanol to propene was explored. It is demonstrated that beta zeolites with low acid density facilitate the achievement of high propene selectivity and a high propene/ethene ratio. The HF dosage in the synthesis has great influence on the Al distribution in the framework, as evidenced by Al-27 MAS NMR and Al-27 MQ MAS NMR spectroscopy, which may influence the acidity and microstructure of acid sites and lead to a remarkable catalytic lifespan. A HF/SiO2 ratio of 0.45 is found to facilitate the synthesis of high-Si beta enriched with Al atoms located at the T9 sites; this helps the catalyst show the longest lifetime, with a propene selectivity of 49.7-58.3% at 550 degrees C and WHSV = 2 h(-1). With the aid of C-12/C-13-methanol switch experiments, we elucidated that the olefin-based mechanism dominates the reaction and contributes to the formation of ethene, propene, and higher olefins. Moreover, two phenol compounds are identified in the coke species, which have not been observed previously and have been found to be detrimental to the reaction

Seed-assisted synthesis of high silica ZSM-35 through interface-induced growth over MCM-49 seeds

High-silica ZSM-35 has been successfully synthesized by adding non-calcined MCM-49 seeds to the initial gel without the help of organic structure-directing agents (OSDAs). This is the first report of seed-assisted synthesis without the common composite building units (CBUs) contained in the seeds and products. High solid yields of 65-85% have been achieved, which are the highest values ever reported for the seed-assisted synthesis. Alkaline treatment and hyperpolarized Xe-129 NMR are employed to study the ZSM-35 products, and an interface-induced growth mechanism is proposed, in which ZSM-35 grows over partially dissolved MCM-49 through interface connection. It is supposed that similarity in the local atomic connection between the seeds and target zeolites, even without the common CBUs, would have the possibility to lead to a successful synthesis. The catalytic performance of H-ZSM-35 is tested in the dimethyl ether (DME) carbonylation, which shows excellent stability and high selectivity towards methyl acetate (MA). (C) 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved

Immunogenicity and safety of high-dose hepatitis B vaccine among drug users: A randomized, open-labeled, blank-controlled trial

Due to the low uptake, adherence, and completion of vaccination among drug users, and their compromised immune responses to hepatitis B vaccination, the current practice of hepatitis B vaccination may not provide optimal protection. The aim of this study was to evaluate the immunogenicity and safety of 60 µg and 20 µg hepatitis B vaccines among drug users. A randomized, open-labeled, blank-controlled trial was conducted among drug users at 2 drug rehabilitation centers in China. The eligible participants were drug users who were serologically negative for the hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and the hepatitis B surface antibody (anti-HBs). Participants were randomized in a ratio of 1:1:1 to receive 20 µg (IM20 group) or 60 µg (IM60 group) of hepatitis B vaccine or blank control at months 0, 1, and 6, and followed at months 6, 7, and 12. Seroconversion rates of 94.7% and 92.6% were observed in IM20 and IM60 groups at month 7, and correspondingly decreased to 89.5% and 91.7% respectively at month 12. The IM60 group showed significantly higher geometric mean concentrations (GMCs) of anti-HBs (2022.5 and 676.7 mIU mL–1) than the IM20 group did (909.6 and 470.5 mIU mL–1) at months 7 and 12 (P < 0.05). No safety concerns associated with vaccination were noted. Three-dose intramuscular immunization with hepatitis B vaccines showed good immunogenicity among the drug users