Transparent wood samples were fabricated from an environmentally-friendly hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) bleached basswood (Tilia) template using polymer impregnation. The wood samples were bleached ...separately for 30, 60, 90, 120 and 150 min to evaluate the effects on the changes of the chemical composition and properties of finished transparent wood. Experimental results showed decreases in cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin content with an increasing bleaching time and while decreasing each component to a unique extent. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) analysis indicated that the wood cell micro-structures were maintained during H2O2 bleaching treatment. This allowed for successful impregnation of polymer into the bleached wood template and strong transparent wood products. The transparent wood possessed a maximum optical transmittance up to 44% at 800 nm with 150 min bleaching time. Moreover, the transparent wood displayed a maximum tensile strength up to 165.1 ± 1.5 MPa with 90 min bleaching time. The elastic modulus (Er) and hardness (H) of the transparent wood samples were lowered along with the increase of H2O2 bleaching treatment time. In addition, the transparent wood with 30 min bleaching time exhibited the highest Er and H values of 20.4 GPa and 0.45 GPa, respectively. This findings may provide one way to choose optimum degrees of H2O2 bleaching treatment for transparent wood fabrication, to fit the physicochemical properties of finished transparent wood.
•First application of Fomitopsis pinicola in the solid fermentation of wheat bran.•Alkylresorcinols content were significantly improved, and the bran had a special flavor.•The textural and functional ...properties of the bread were significantly improved.
Wheat bran was solid state fermented by Fomitopsis pinicola. The results showed that the processing properties were increased by fermentation and the content of total phenol and alkylresorcinols was 5.91 and 1.55 times of the unfermented bran respectively by the 6th day. The total antioxidant capacity was 5.73 times of the unfermented sample by the 4th day. Electronic nose analysis showed that the fermented wheat bran had a special flavor. GC–MS analysis found that 4-ethyl-2-methoxy-phenol was the main flavor substance, which was sharply increased during the fermentation. Furthermore, the textural properties of the dough and bread containing fermented bran were significantly improved. The content of phytic acid in the bread was significantly decreased, while the protein, total phenol and alkylresorcinols contents were significantly increased. Results suggest that solid state fermentation by Fomitopsis pinicola is a promising way to improve wheat bran to a nutritious and flavorful cereal food ingredient.
Methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) has been scaled up by the Chinese government alongside persistent compulsory drug user detention, but the extent to which detention interferes with MMT is ...unknown. The study systematically reviews Chinese MMT retention rates, reasons for drop out, and behavioural changes.
Chinese and English databases of literature are searched for studies reporting retention rates, drug use and sexual behaviours among MMT participants in China between 2004 and 2013. The estimates are summarized through a systematic review and meta-analysis.
A total of 74 studies representing 43,263 individuals are included in this analysis. About a third of MMT participants drop out during the first three months of treatment (retention rate 69.0% (95% CI 57.7-78.4%)). Police arrest and detention in compulsory rehabilitation was the most common cause of drop out, accounting for 22.2% of all those not retained. Among retained participants, changing unsafe drug use behaviours was more effective than changing unsafe sexual behaviours. At 12 months following MMT initiation, 24.6% (15.7-33.5%) of MMT participants had a positive urine test, 9.3% (4.7-17.8%) injected drugs and only 1.1% (0.4-3.0%) sold sex for drugs. These correspond to 0.002 (<0.001-0.011), 0.045 (0.004-0.114) and 0.209 (0.076-0.580) times lower odds than baseline. However, MMT participants did not have substantial changes in condom use rates.
MMT is effective in drug users in China but participant retention is poor, substantially related to compulsory detention. Reforming the compulsory drug user detention system may improve MMT retention and effectiveness.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Transparent wood was prepared from basswood (Tilia) subjected to various degrees of delignification prior to its polymer impregnation. The chemistry and surface morphologies of wood samples were ...evaluated. The optical properties such as surface color, optical transmittance and optical haze of natural wood and each transparent wood product and their mechanical properties were monitored in order to better understand the influence of delignification. Experimental results indicated that the lightness of transparent wood increased with delignification, while the redness and yellowness decreased. The transparent wood exhibited a maximum optical transmittance of 61% at 800 nm with 9% lignin content and also possessed enhanced visual optical haze at different levels of delignification. In addition, transparent wood had a higher tensile strength than natural wood and displayed a maximum tensile strength up to 171.4 MPa with 15% lignin content among these transparent wood products pretreated with delignification. Our findings offer a view into how transparent wood can be produced to fit certain levels of optical and mechanical properties.
•The flavonoid contents in stored rice were higher than those in fresh rice.•Differential flavonoids at Month 3 and Month 5 of storage were more in composition and concentration.•Flavone, flavonol, ...isoflavone, and anthocyanidin were the main flavonoids in yellowed rice.•Rutin, farrerol, naringenin, and diosmetin were indicators of rice yellowing.•Anthocyanidin, flavone, flavonol and isoflavone co-determined the yellow color of rice.
Flavonoids are the main metabolites responsible for yellowing of rice. However, the accumulation pattern of flavonoids and the metabolic basis of flavonoid biosynthesis during rice yellowing remain unclear. Thus, flavonoid-targeted metabolomics was used to investigate the composition and concentration of flavonoids in rice during yellowing. The results indicated the differential flavonoids at Month 3 and Month 5 of storage were more in composition and concentration with higher antioxidant capacity. Accumulated flavonoids were mainly flavones, flavonols, isoflavones, and anthocyanidins, of which rutin, farrerol, naringenin, cyanidin 3-rutinoside, and diosmetin were the indicators of rice yellowing. Metabolic association among flavonoids demonstrated the formation of yellow pigments was jointly induced by flavones, flavonols, isoflavones, and anthocyanidins metabolism. Examination of flavonoid metabolism presented in this study enhanced current understanding of the relationship between flavonoid metabolites and development of rice yellowing. It also offers a theoretical basis for targeted prediction of rice yellowing in the future.
Treatment for Parkinson's disease (PD) is challenged by the presence of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) that significantly limits the effective drug concentration in a patient's brain for therapeutic ...response throughout various stages of PD. Curcumin holds the potential for α-synuclein clearance to treat PD; however, its applications are still limited due to its low bioavailability and poor permeability through the BBB in a free form.
Herein, this paper fabricated curcumin-loaded polysorbate 80-modified cerasome (CPC) nanoparticles (NPs) with a mean diameter of ~110 nm for enhancing the localized curcumin delivery into the targeted brain nuclei via effective BBB opening in combination with ultrasound-targeted microbubble destruction (UTMD).
The liposomal nanohybrid cerasome exhibited superior stability towards PS 80 surfactant solubilization and longer circulation lifetime (t
= 6.22 h), much longer than free curcumin (t
= 0.76 h). The permeation was found to be 1.7-fold higher than that of CPC treatment only at 6 h after the systemic administration of CPC NPs. Notably, motor behaviors, dopamine (DA) level and tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) expression all returned to normal, thanks to α-synuclein (AS) removal mediated by efficient curcumin delivery to the striatum. Most importantly, the animal experiment demonstrated that the 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP)-induced PD mice had notably improved behavior disorder and dopamine depletion during two-week post-observation after treatment with CPC NPs (15 mg curcumin/kg) coupled with UTMD.
This novel CPC-UTMD formulation approach could be an effective, safe and amenable choice with higher therapeutic relevance and fewer unwanted complications than conventional chemotherapeutics delivery systems for PD treatment in the near future.
The presence of blood‐brain barrier (BBB) greatly limits the availability of drugs and their efficacy against glioma. Focused ultrasound (FUS) can induce transient and local BBB opening for enhanced ...drug delivery. Here, we developed polysorbate 80‐modified paclitaxel‐loaded PLGA nanoparticles (PS‐80‐PTX‐NPs, PPNP) and examined the enhanced local delivery into the brain for glioma treatment by combining with FUS. Our result showed PPNP had good stability, fast drug release rate and significant toxicity to glioma cells. Combined with FUS, PPNP showed a stronger BBB permeation efficiency both in the in vitro and in vivo BBB models. Mechanism studies revealed the disrupted tight junction, reduced P‐glycoprotein expression and ApoE‐dependent PS‐80 permeation collectively contribute to the enhanced drug delivery, resulting in significantly stronger antitumour efficacy and longer survival time in the tumour‐bearing mice. Our study provided a new strategy to efficiently and locally deliver drugs into the brain to treat glioma.
To improve the functional properties of mulberry leaves, different methods were used to treat harvested mulberry leaves to accumulate γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA). The results showed that soaking, cold ...shock, and anoxic treatments all significantly increased GABA content in mulberry leaves, which were all closely related to the increase of glutamate decarboxylase (GAD) activity and Ca2+ content. Further studies showed that the water extract of the treated mulberry leaves had a higher angiotensin I-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitory activity than that of the untreated sample, which was close to the effects of using the same amount of GABA alone. The result of molecular docking showed that GABA was stretched into the hydrophobic pocket of ACE to form a stable hydrophobic binding with Ala-354 and Val-380 residues, and formed the hydrogen bond interaction with the residue Glu-384. Importantly, GABA could directly chelated with the zinc ion (bond lengths: 2.9 and 3.1 Å), which was the main interaction between the GABA and ACE. However, the inhibition of mulberry leaf extract on α-glucosidase was not closely related to the GABA content. The results showed that the α-glucosidase inhibitory activity was significantly increased by treating with 6 g/L sodium glutamate for 15 h (IC50 =0.29 mg/mL), and further LC/MS analysis demonstrated that some active compounds especially neochlorogenic acid, chlorogenic acid, cryptochlorogenic acid and rutin were significantly increased in the extract. These data indicated that GABA enrichment was an effective postharvest treatment of mulberry leaves, which can improve its prospects as functional raw materials for industrial production.
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•Compared GABA enrichment methods and mechanisms in mulberry leaves(mL).•GABA enrichment improved both hypoglycemic and hypotensive functions of mL.•Molecular docking results showed the directly interaction of GABA and ACE.
Rural widowed elderly women living alone may face higher risks of depression and loneliness than general elderly people, which will have an impact on their quality of life. This study aims to explore ...the correlation of depression and loneliness with quality of life among rural widowed elderly women living alone.
A two-stage cluster sampling method was used to select 234 rural widowed older women living alone in Longshan county, Xiangxi autonomous prefecture, Hunan Province, and a questionnaire survey was conducted with the General Situation Questionnaire, the Geriatric Depression Scale-15 (GDS-15), the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Loneliness Scale-8 (ULS-8), and the 36 Items Short Form Health Survey (SF-36).
The ages of 234 rural widowed older women living alone were (73.29±7.36) years. Among them, 103 (44.0%) women were detected as depressed, 114 (48.7%) were not lonely or mildly lonely, 111 (47.4%) were moderately lonely, and 9 (3.9%) were severely lonely. The total quality of life scores were 63.39±19.70. Depression and loneliness were negatively correlated with quality of life (all
<0.001). After adjusting for confounding factors, multiple linear regression analysis showed that age, number of acute and chronic diseases, personal monthly income, depression, and loneliness independently impacted the quality of life among rural widowed older women (all
<0.05).
Depression and loneliness can affect the quality of life of rural widowed older women living alone. In healthy aging efforts, the quality of life of these rural widowed older women can be improved by strengthening the management of underlying illnesses, increasing income, and alleviating depression and loneliness.
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