Natural antioxidants are widely distributed in food and medicinal plants. These natural antioxidants, especially polyphenols and carotenoids, exhibit a wide range of biological effects, including ...anti-inflammatory, anti-aging, anti-atherosclerosis and anticancer. The effective extraction and proper assessment of antioxidants from food and medicinal plants are crucial to explore the potential antioxidant sources and promote the application in functional foods, pharmaceuticals and food additives. The present paper provides comprehensive information on the green extraction technologies of natural antioxidants, assessment of antioxidant activity at chemical and cellular based levels and their main resources from food and medicinal plants.
Breast cancer is the most common cancer among females worldwide. Several epidemiological studies suggested the inverse correlation between the intake of vegetables and fruits and the incidence of ...breast cancer. Substantial experimental studies indicated that many dietary natural products could affect the development and progression of breast cancer, such as soy, pomegranate, mangosteen, citrus fruits, apple, grape, mango, cruciferous vegetables, ginger, garlic, black cumin, edible macro-fungi, and cereals. Their anti-breast cancer effects involve various mechanisms of action, such as downregulating ER-α expression and activity, inhibiting proliferation, migration, metastasis and angiogenesis of breast tumor cells, inducing apoptosis and cell cycle arrest, and sensitizing breast tumor cells to radiotherapy and chemotherapy. This review summarizes the potential role of dietary natural products and their major bioactive components in prevention and treatment of breast cancer, and special attention was paid to the mechanisms of action.
During liver fibrogenesis, the reciprocal crosstalk among capillarized liver sinusoidal endothelial cells (LSECs), activated hepatic stellate cells (HSCs), and dysfunctional hepatocytes constructs a ...self‐amplifying vicious cycle, greatly exacerbating the disease condition and weakening therapeutic effect. Limited by the malignant cellular interactions, the previous single‐cell centric treatment approaches show unsatisfactory efficacy and fail to meet clinical demand. Herein, a vicious cycle‐breaking strategy is proposed to target and repair pathological cells separately to terminate the malignant progression of liver fibrosis. Chondroitin sulfate‐modified and vismodegib‐loaded nanoparticles (CS‐NPs/VDG) are designed to efficiently normalize the fenestrae phenotype of LSECs and restore HSCs to quiescent state by inhibiting Hedgehog signaling pathway. In addition, glycyrrhetinic acid‐modified and silybin‐loaded nanoparticles (GA‐NPs/SIB) are prepared to restore hepatocytes function by relieving oxidative stress. The results show successful interruption of vicious cycle as well as distinct fibrosis resolution in two animal models through multiregulation of the pathological cells. This work not only highlights the significance of modulating cellular crosstalk but also provides a promising avenue for developing antifibrotic regimens.
The manuscript prompts a vicious cycle breaking therapy to terminate the endless malignant interplay among various pathological hepatic cells in liver fibrosis. Far beyond single cell‐centric approaches, the precise regulation of cellular crosstalk of “hepatic stellate cells‐liver sinusoidal endothelial cells‐hepatocytes” shows synergetic effect in two animal models and reverses the vicious cycle back to the virtuous loop.
Liver injuries and diseases are serious health problems worldwide. Various factors, such as chemical pollutants, drugs, and alcohol, could induce liver injuries. Liver diseases involve a wide range ...of liver pathologies, including hepatic steatosis, fatty liver, hepatitis, fibrosis, cirrhosis, and hepatocarcinoma. Despite all the studies performed up to now, therapy choices for liver injuries and diseases are very few. Therefore, the search for a new treatment that could safely and effectively block or reverse liver injuries and diseases remains a priority. Melatonin is a well-known natural antioxidant, and has many bioactivities. There are numerous studies investigating the effects of melatonin on liver injuries and diseases, and melatonin could regulate various molecular pathways, such as inflammation, proliferation, apoptosis, metastasis, and autophagy in different pathophysiological situations. Melatonin could be used for preventing and treating liver injuries and diseases. Herein, we conduct a review summarizing the potential roles of melatonin in liver injuries and diseases, paying special attention to the mechanisms of action.
Our previous study reported that the fruit of
, an edible wild fruit, possessed strong antioxidant activity. In this study, a microwave-assisted extraction (MAE) method was established to extract ...antioxidants from the fruit of
. The influence of five parameters, including ethanol concentration, solvent/material ratio, extraction time, extraction temperature and microwave power, was investigated by single-factor experiments. Three factors, namely ethanol concentration, solvent/material ratio, extraction time, were found to exert a major influence on extraction efficacy, and were further studied by response surface methodology to investigate their interactions. Ethanol concentration of 36.89%, solvent/material ratio of 29.56 mL/g, extraction time of 71.04 min, temperature of 40 °C, and microwave power of 400 W were found to be the optimal condition. The TEAC value was 198.16 ± 5.47 µmol Trolox/g DW under the optimal conditions, which was in conformity to the predicted value (200.28 µmol Trolox/g DW). In addition, the MAE method was compared with two conventional methods (Soxhlet extraction and maceration extraction). Results showed that the antioxidant capacity of the extract obtained by MAE method was stronger than that obtained by maceration (168.67 ± 3.88 µmol Trolox/g DW) or Soxhlet extraction (114.09 ± 2.01 µmol Trolox/g DW). Finally, several phenolic compounds in the extract were identified and quantified by UPLC-MS/MS, which were rutin, gallic acid, protocatechuic acid, epicatechin, epicatechin gallate, 2-hydrocinnamic acid,
-coumaric acid, quercetin, chlorogenic acid and ferulic acid.
The epidemiological studies have indicated a possible oncostatic property of melatonin on different types of tumors. Besides, experimental studies have documented that melatonin could exert growth ...inhibition on some human tumor cells in vitro and in animal models. The underlying mechanisms include antioxidant activity, modulation of melatonin receptors MT1 and MT2, stimulation of apoptosis, regulation of pro-survival signaling and tumor metabolism, inhibition on angiogenesis, metastasis, and induction of epigenetic alteration. Melatonin could also be utilized as adjuvant of cancer therapies, through reinforcing the therapeutic effects and reducing the side effects of chemotherapies or radiation. Melatonin could be an excellent candidate for the prevention and treatment of several cancers, such as breast cancer, prostate cancer, gastric cancer and colorectal cancer. This review summarized the anticancer efficacy of melatonin, based on the results of epidemiological,experimental and clinical studies, and special attention was paid to the mechanisms of action.
Ganoderma meroterpenoids (GMs) containing 688 structures to date were discovered to have multiple remarkable biological activities. 65.6% of meroterpenoids featuring stereogenic centers from ...Ganoderma species are racemates. Further, GMs from different Ganoderma species seem to have their own characteristics. In this review, a comprehensive summarization of GMs since 2000 is presented, including GM structures, structure corrections, biological activities, physicochemical properties, total synthesis, and proposed biosynthetic pathways. Additionally, we especially discuss the racemic nature, species‐related structural distribution, and structure–activity relationship of GMs, which will provide a likely in‐house database and shed light on future studies on GMs.
This retrospective study was designed to explore whether neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR) is a prognostic factor in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19). A cohort of patients with ...COVID‐19 admitted to the Tongren Hospital of Wuhan University from 11 January 2020 to 3 March 2020 was retrospectively analyzed. Patients with hematologic malignancy were excluded. The NLR was calculated by dividing the neutrophil count by the lymphocyte count. NLR values were measured at the time of admission. The primary outcome was all‐cause in‐hospital mortality. A multivariate logistic analysis was performed. A total of 1004 patients with COVID‐19 were included in this study. The mortality rate was 4.0% (40 cases). The median age of nonsurvivors (68 years) was significantly older than survivors (62 years). Male sex was more predominant in nonsurvival group (27; 67.5%) than in the survival group (466; 48.3%). NLR value of nonsurvival group (median: 49.06; interquartile range IQR: 25.71‐69.70) was higher than that of survival group (median: 4.11; IQR: 2.44‐8.12; P < .001). In multivariate logistic regression analysis, after adjusting for confounding factors, NLR more than 11.75 was significantly correlated with all‐cause in‐hospital mortality (odds ratio = 44.351; 95% confidence interval = 4.627‐425.088). These results suggest that the NLR at hospital admission is associated with in‐hospital mortality among patients with COVID‐19. Therefore, the NLR appears to be a significant prognostic biomarker of outcomes in critically ill patients with COVID‐19. However, further investigation is needed to validate this relationship with data collected prospectively.
Highlights
NLR is a significant prognostic biomarker of outcomes in critically ill patients with COVID‐19.
COVID‐19 is more likely to infected those elder men with chronic comorbidities.
NLR may also help in the early identification of older patients at higher risk of COVID‐19.
Close monitoring and timely intervention are needed for elderly patients with COVID‐19.
Obstructive nephropathy is the end result of a variety of diseases that block drainage from the kidney(s). Transforming growth factor‐β1 (TGF‐β1)/Smad3‐driven renal fibrosis is the common ...pathogenesis of obstructive nephropathy. In this study, we identified petchiether A (petA), a novel small‐molecule meroterpenoid from Ganoderma, as a potential inhibitor of TGF‐β1‐induced Smad3 phosphorylation. The obstructive nephropathy was induced by unilateral ureteral obstruction (UUO) in mice. Mice received an intraperitoneal injection of petA/vehicle before and after UUO or sham operation. An in vivo study revealed that petA protected against renal inflammation and fibrosis by reducing the infiltration of macrophages, inhibiting the expression of proinflammatory cytokines (interleukin‐1β and tumour necrosis factor‐α) and reducing extracellular matrix deposition (α‐smooth muscle actin, collagen I and fibronectin) in the obstructed kidney of UUO mice; these changes were associated with suppression of Smad3 and NF‐κB p65 phosphorylation. Petchiether A inhibited Smad3 phosphorylation in vitro and down‐regulated the expression of the fibrotic marker collagen I in TGF‐β1‐treated renal epithelial cells. Further, we found that petA dose‐dependently suppressed Smad3‐responsive promoter activity, indicating that petA inhibits gene expression downstream of the TGF‐β/Smad3 signalling pathway. In conclusion, our findings suggest that petA protects against renal inflammation and fibrosis by selectively inhibiting TGF‐β/Smad3 signalling.
This paper combines the fuzzy cognitive diagnostic model and the four-parameter Logistics model to analyze students’ cognitive states of ideology, politics and English education. Following that, a ...design method based on fuzzy cognitive mapping is proposed based on cognitive diagnosis theory and educational goal classification theory, and the construction process of learners’ fuzzy cognitive mapping is specified from three perspectives: course knowledge mapping construction, learners’ cognitive level diagnosis, and cognitive mapping visualization. Finally, a personalized learning platform with a learning style tendency test, quantitative assessment of cognitive level, accurate construction of the cognitive map, dynamic pushing of learning paths, and similar recommendation of learning peers was constructed. The results showed that in the study of the impact of the teaching model incorporating Civics on the comprehensive level of English, a significant t=3.43 at 0.01 level, p=0.0018 was presented between the experimental group and the reference group, and the mean value of the experimental group exceeded that of the reference group by 13.23.
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