Treating senile dementia with traditional Chinese medicine

Senile dementia is a syndrome in the elderly involving deficits in memory and cognition. There has been a long history of research and medical practice in dementia in China, during which the ancient Chinese people have formed a whole theory and accumulated abundant experience in the treatment of dementia. During recent decades, with new theories and technologies being digested and integrated, progress has been made in the medical and pharmacy research on senile dementia in China. In this review, we will focus on the traditional opinion, clinical practice, and recent progress in pharmacological research in China towards the treatment of dementia. We also discuss the potential trends of global convergence

Effects of tumor metabolic microenvironment on regulatory T cells

Recent studies have shown that on one hand, tumors need to obtain a sufficient energy supply, and on the other hand they must evade the body’s immune surveillance. Because of their metabolic reprogramming characteristics, tumors can modify the physicochemical properties of the microenvironment, which in turn affects the biological characteristics of the cells infiltrating them. Regulatory T cells (Tregs) are a subset of T cells that regulate immune responses in the body. They exist in large quantities in the tumor microenvironment and exert immunosuppressive effects. The main effect of tumor microenvironment on Tregs is to promote their differentiation, proliferation, secretion of immunosuppressive factors, and chemotactic recruitment to play a role in immunosuppression in tumor tissues. This review focuses on cell metabolism reprogramming and the most significant features of the tumor microenvironment relative to the functional effects on Tregs, highlighting our understanding of the mechanisms of tumor immune evasion and providing new directions for tumor immunotherapy

Urban energy consumption and CO2 emissions in Beijing: current and future

This paper calculates the energy consumption and CO2 emissions of Beijing over 2005–2011 in light of the Beijing’s energy balance table and the carbon emission coefficients of IPCC. Furthermore, based on a series of energy conservation planning program issued in Beijing, the Long-range Energy Alternatives Planning System (LEAP)-BJ model is developed to study the energy consumption and CO2 emissions of Beijing’s six end-use sectors and the energy conversion sector over 2012–2030 under the BAU scenario and POL scenario. Some results are found in this research: (1) During 2005–2011, the energy consumption kept increasing, while the total CO2 emissions fluctuated obviously in 2008 and 2011. The energy structure and the industrial structure have been optimized to a certain extent. (2) If the policies are completely implemented, the POL scenario is projected to save 21.36 and 35.37 % of the total energy consumption and CO2 emissions than the BAU scenario during 2012 and 2030. (3) The POL scenario presents a more optimized energy structure compared with the BAU scenario, with the decrease of coal consumption and the increase of natural gas consumption. (4) The commerce and service sector and the energy conversion sector will become the largest contributor to energy consumption and CO2 emissions, respectively. The transport sector and the industrial sector are the two most potential sectors in energy savings and carbon reduction. In terms of subscenarios, the energy conservation in transport (TEC) is the most effective one. (5) The macroparameters, such as the GDP growth rate and the industrial structure, have great influence on the urban energy consumption and carbon emissions

A correction method of deep laterolog responses under under-balanced logging conditions

Under-balanced drilling and under-balanced logging are very important techniques for directly identifying and protecting hydrocarbon reservoirs and enhancing productivity. The wellhead assembly under under-balanced logging is greatly different from that under conventional logging. Therefore, the length of cable electrode for dual laterolog should be reduced to adapt to the wellhead assembly, which causes the deep laterolog responses to drop and cannot truly reflect the reservoir property. The rule of electrode coefficient varying with the cable electrode length under under-balanced conditions has been computed using finite element method, that is, the longer the cable electrode, the smaller the electrode coefficient. The deep laterolog resistivity correction method under under-balanced condition is introduced. Field data examples are used to test the new method and shows that this method is reliable. This method can be used to any length of cable electrode and can be applied to field pretreatment directly. The corrected deep laterolog resistivity can be used in logging interpretation and quantitative hydrocarbon evaluation. Key words: under-balanced logging, hydrocarbon reservoir protection, dual laterolog, electrode coefficient, apparent resistivity correction, finite element metho

NUPR1 inhibitor ZZW-115 induces ferroptosis in a mitochondria-dependent manner

International audienceAbstract Ferroptosis is an iron-dependent cell death characterized by the accumulation of hydroperoxided phospholipids. Here, we report that the NUPR1 inhibitor ZZW-115 induces ROS accumulation followed by a ferroptotic cell death, which could be prevented by ferrostatin-1 (Fer-1) and ROS-scavenging agents. The ferroptotic activity can be improved by inhibiting antioxidant factors in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC)- and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC)-derived cells. In addition, ZZW-115-treatment increases the accumulation of hydroperoxided lipids in these cells. We also found that a loss of activity and strong deregulation of key enzymes involved in the GSH- and GPX-dependent antioxidant systems upon ZZW-115 treatment. These results have been validated in xenografts induced with PDAC- and HCC-derived cells in nude mice during the treatment with ZZW-115. More importantly, we demonstrate that ZZW-115-induced mitochondrial morphological changes, compatible with the ferroptotic process, as well as mitochondrial network disorganization and strong mitochondrial metabolic dysfunction, which are rescued by both Fer-1 and N-acetylcysteine (NAC). Of note, the expression of TFAM, a key regulator of mitochondrial biogenesis, is downregulated by ZZW-115. Forced expression of TFAM is able to rescue morphological and functional mitochondrial alterations, ROS production, and cell death induced by ZZW-115 or genetic inhibition of NUPR1. Altogether, these results demonstrate that the mitochondrial cell death mediated by NUPR1 inhibitor ZZW-115 is fully rescued by Fer-1 but also via TFAM complementation. In conclusion, TFAM could be considered as an antagonist of the ferroptotic cell death

Two tagSNPs rs352493 and rs3760908 within SIRT6 Gene Are Associated with the Severity of Coronary Artery Disease in a Chinese Han Population

SIRT6 has been demonstrated to exert protective effects on endothelial cells and is closely associated with lipid metabolism, glucose metabolism, and obesity, indicating an important role in the pathogenesis and progression of coronary artery disease (CAD). Nonetheless, the biological significance of SIRT6 variants on CAD is far to be elucidated. Here we aimed to investigate the influence of SIRT6 polymorphisms on individual susceptibility and severity of CAD. Multivariate logistic regression analysis exhibited no significant association between these five polymorphisms and CAD risk in the genotype and allele frequencies. However, we found that the rs352493 polymorphism in SIRT6 exhibited a significant effect on the severity of CAD; C allele (χ2 = 7.793, adjusted P=0.013) and the combined CC/CT genotypes (χ2 = 5.609, adjusted P=0.031) presented the greater CAD severity. In addition, A allele (χ2 = 5.208, adjusted P=0.046) and AA (χ2 = 4.842, adjusted P=0.054) of rs3760908 were also associated with greater CAD severity in Chinese subjects. Our data provided the first evidence that SIRT6 tagSNPs rs352493 and rs3760908 play significant roles in the severity of CAD in Chinese Han subjects, which might be useful predictors of the severity of CAD

Catalytic Site-Selective Acylation of Carbohydrates Directed by Cation–<i>n</i> Interaction

Site-selective functionalization of hydroxyl groups in carbohydrates is one of the long-standing challenges in chemistry. Using a pair of chiral catalysts, we now can differentiate the most prevalent <i>trans-</i>1,2-diols in pyranoses systematically and predictably. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations indicate that the key determining factor for the selectivity is the presence or absence of a cation<i>–n</i> interaction between the cation in the acylated catalyst and an appropriate lone pair in the substrate. DFT calculations also provided a predictive model for site-selectivity and this model is validated by various substrates