Digestive System of Anourosorex squamipes - Appearance and Morphological Features

Background: Anourosorex squamipes have a wide range of feeding habits, which is a kind of omnivorous animal. As an indispensable part of organisms, the differentiation degree of digestive system indicates the evolution degree of species. The higher the evolution degree of animals, the higher the differentiation of digestive system. At present, the research on Anourosorex squamipes digestive system mainly focuses on its feeding habits and mainly depends on the direct observation of gastric contents with the naked eye, but the research on the morphology of digestive system has not been reported. Materials, Methods & Results: Twenty adult Anourosorex squamipes were selected to investigate the characteristics of the appearance, including the contour parameters (body weight, body length, forefoot length, posterior foot length, nasal length, tail length), digestive system parameters (length of esophagus, intestinal length, intestinal weight, stomach weight and liver weight) and morphological structure of the small intestine by histological methods. The results showed that there were no significant differences in body weight, body length, forefoot length, posterior foot length, nasal length and tail length between males and females in Anourosorex squamipes, and no significant differences were observed in parameters of digestive system in length of esophagus, intestinal length, intestinal weight, stomach weight and liver weight. There were no significant differences in villus height, muscular layer thickness and villus height/recess depth (V/C) between males and females, but only ileal crypt depth decreased significantly in males. Discussion: Animal morphological characteristics are closely related to their life habits, unique organs and lifestyles ensure that they thrive on earth. In our study, we found that unique characters are found by observing the appearance of Anourosorex squamipes, the snout is blunt and short, the eyes are degenerated, and the tail is very short and covered with scales, which may be related to its feeding habits, the living environment-long-term nocturnal life in underground with minimal exposure to sunlight, and the unique tail can reduce the friction between tail and soil during the movement. There are certain differences in the appearance parameters of male and female Anourosorex squamipes, but are not significant. The esophagus, stomach, intestine, liver and other parameters of Anourosorex squamipes have little difference between males and females, indicating that Anourosorex squamipes don’t have obvious distinctions between males and females in food intake. However, the liver weight of male Anourosorex squamipes is larger than female, indicating that the physiological metabolic capacity of male is larger than female. It is speculated that this may be related to the difference in the amount of activity between males and females in daily life. Males are more active and require more energy, but their digestion and absorption abilities are weaker than females. Therefore, the male Anourosorex squamipes needs more food to provide energy to meet the daily physiological metabolism, and the larger stomach capacity provides the essential conditions for the male to store more food. In addition, we found that the crypt depth of male Anourosorex squamipes is generally greater than that of females, especially in the ileal crypt depth, indicating that the female’s cell maturation rate is greater than that of the male. It is speculated that the female has a greater demand for nutrient absorption and better digestion and absorption of food, because females need to give birth to offspring and require greater nutrition.   Keywords: Anourosorex squamipes, contour characteristics, digestive system, small intestine

Cyprinus carpio Decoction Improves Nutrition and Immunity and Reduces Proteinuria through Nephrin and CD2AP Expressions in Rats with Adriamycin-Induced Nephropathy

Cyprinus carpio decoction (CCD) is a well-known Chinese food medicine formula, accepted widely as a useful therapy in preventing edema and proteinuria caused by renal disease. However, the mechanism underlying this effect remains unclear. The current study investigated the potential mechanism of CCD in alleviating nephropathy induced by adriamycin (ADR) in rats. 70  eight-week-old Wistar rats were randomly divided into normal, model, fosinopril, YD, YG groups. All rats except for the normal group received 6.5 mg/kg·bw of ADR injection into the vena caudalis once. Different doses of CCD (11.3 and 22.5 g kg−1) were lavaged to rats in YD and YG groups, respectively. Then the serum biochemical values of the total protein (TP), albumin (ALB), blood urea nitrogen (BUN), creatinine (Cr), electrolyte levels, and the urinary protein (UP) content in 12 hr urine were measured. Interleukin-4 (IL-4) and interferon (INF-γ) were measured by enzyme-like immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The pathomorphological analysis was observed using light and electron microscopy, and the expressions of nephrin and CD2-associated protein (CD2AP) in renal tissues were determined by immunohistochemical assay. The results indicated that CCD can relieve ADR-induced nephropathy (ADN) by improving the nutrition status, regulating the immunity, and inhibiting proteinuria by increasing nephrin and CD2AP expressions

Total coloring of planar graphs without some chordal 6-cycles

A k-total-coloring of a graph G is a coloring of vertex set and edge set using k colors such that no two adjacent or incident elements receive the same color. In this paper, we prove that if G is a planar graph with maximum ∆ ≥ 8 and every 6-cycle of G contains at most one chord or any chordal 6-cycles are not adjacent, then G has a (∆ + 1)-total-coloring

Preparation of Microporous Carbon from Sargassum horneri by Hydrothermal Carbonization and KOH Activation for CO2 Capture

High-performance microporous activated carbon (AHC) for CO2 capture was prepared from an emerging marine pollutant, Sargassum horneri, via hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) and KOH activation. The as-synthesized carbon material was characterized by N2 sorption-desorption measurement, TGA, SEM, XRD, FTIR, and elemental analysis. Impressively, the activated carbon exhibited high specific surface area (1221 m2/g), narrow distributed micropores (∼0.50 nm), and a relatively high nitrogen content (3.56 wt.%), which endowed this carbon material high CO2 uptake of 101.7 mg/g at 30°C and 1 bar. Moreover, the carbon material showed highly stable CO2 adsorption capacity and easy regeneration over four adsorption-desorption cycles. Two kinetic models were employed in this work and found that the pseudo-first-order kinetic model (R2 = 0.99) provided the best description. In addition, the high CO2 uptake is mainly attributed to the presence of abundant narrow microporous. The macroporous structure of hydrochar (HC) played an important role in the production of microporous carbon with high adsorption properties. This work provides an efficient strategy for preparing microporous activated carbon from Sargassum horneri, and AHC is a promising candidate acting as an efficient CO2 adsorbent for further industrial application

Gut stem cell aging is driven by mTORC1 via a p38 MAPK-p53 pathway.

Nutrients are absorbed solely by the intestinal villi. Aging of this organ causes malabsorption and associated illnesses, yet its aging mechanisms remain unclear. Here, we show that aging-caused intestinal villus structural and functional decline is regulated by mTORC1, a sensor of nutrients and growth factors, which is highly activated in intestinal stem and progenitor cells in geriatric mice. These aging phenotypes are recapitulated in intestinal stem cell-specific Tsc1 knockout mice. Mechanistically, mTORC1 activation increases protein synthesis of MKK6 and augments activation of the p38 MAPK-p53 pathway, leading to decreases in the number and activity of intestinal stem cells as well as villus size and density. Targeting p38 MAPK or p53 prevents or rescues ISC and villus aging and nutrient absorption defects. These findings reveal that mTORC1 drives aging by augmenting a prominent stress response pathway in gut stem cells and identify p38 MAPK as an anti-aging target downstream of mTORC1

Anti-Apoptosis Effect of Astragaloside Iv on Alzheimer's Disease Rat Model via Enhancing the Expression of Bcl-2 And Bcl-Xl

The aim is to explore the protective effect of Astragaloside IV on Alzheimer’s disease (AD) in rats induced  by amyloid-ß peptide (Aß1-42) and its potential therapeutic mechanism. Methods: 50 Male Sprague Dawley  rats were divided into five groups (10 rats for each): control group, model group, treatment groups 1~3.  10μg Aß1-42 was injected bilaterally into the dorsal dentate gyrus of the hippocampus of rats in the model  and treatment groups to prepare the AD models. 24h after modeling, Astragaloside IV administration, with  different drug dosages of 20mg/(kg•day), 40mg/(kg•day) and 60mg/(kg•day), was performed by gastric  perfusion for rats in the treatment group 1~3. Later on, the cognitive ability of rats was examined by a series  of behavioral tests, and the expression of Bcl-2 and Bcl-xl in the hippocampus of rats was detected by the  fluorescein based Quantitative RT-PCR. Results: The spontaneous alternation test in a Y maze and Morris  water maze task have demonstrated that the repeated daily administration of Astragaloside IV at the doses  of 20mg/kg bw/day) (p<0.05), 40mg/kg bw/day) (p<0.01), and 60mg/kg bw/day) (p<0.01) significantly  ameliorated the impairment of performance caused by Aß1–42. Furthermore, Astragaloside IV also enhanced  the expression of Bcl-2 and Bcl-xl in hippocampal neurons of rats in a dosage-dependent manner. Conclusion:  These findings suggest that Astragaloside IV could alleviate cognitive impairment and enhance the  expression of Bcl-2 and Bcl-xl in hippocampus of rat models with AD.

A potential role for protein palmitoylation and zDHHC16 in DNA damage response

10.1186/s12867-016-0065-9BMC Molecular Biology1711

Fluctuation of primary motor cortex excitability during cataplexy in narcolepsy

Objective Cataplexy is a complicated and dynamic process in narcolepsy type 1 (NT1) patients. This study aimed to clarify the distinct stages during a cataplectic attack and identify the changes of the primary motor cortex (PMC) excitability during these stages. Methods Thirty-five patients with NT1 and 29 healthy controls were recruited to this study. Cataplectic stages were distinguished from a cataplectic attack by video-polysomnogram monitoring. Transcranial magnetic stimulation motor-evoked potential (TMS-MEP) was performed to measure the excitability of PMC during quiet wakefulness, laughter without cataplexy, and each cataplectic stage. Results Based on the video and electromyogram observations, a typical cataplectic attack (CA) process is divided into four stages: triggering (CA1), resisting (CA2), atonic (CA3), and recovering stages (CA4). Compared with healthy controls, NT1 patients showed significantly decreased intracortical facilitation during quiet wakefulness. During the laughter stage, both patients and controls showed increased MEP amplitude compared with quiet wakefulness. The MEP amplitude significantly increased even higher in CA1 and 2, and then dramatically decreased in CA3 accompanied with prolonged MEP latency compared with the laughter stage and quiet wakefulness. The MEP amplitude and latency gradually recovered during CA4. Interpretation This study identifies four stages during cataplectic attack and reveals the existence of a resisting stage that might change the process of cataplexy. The fluctuation of MEP amplitude and MEP latency shows a potential participation of PMC and motor control pathway during cataplexy, and the increased MEP amplitude during CA1 and 2 strongly implies a compensatory mechanism in motor control that may resist or avoid cataplectic attack